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NANCY GRACE

Police Release Details of Multiple Stabbing

Aired July 25, 2006 - 20:00:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


NANCY GRACE, HOST: Tonight, just released details that could crack the case of a Texas beauty, a local realtor found dead inside a model home. Did Sarah Anne Walker unwittingly reach out to her own killer on upscale dating sites? And was it a random murder or targeted crime of passion? Could tonight`s brand-new evidence in the case lead police straight to Sarah Anne Walker`s killer? And disturbing news that this type of crime, attacks on women realtors, is a growing trend. Tonight, we search for clues near Dallas in the model home murder mystery.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We think transactions that she made in the morning -- we went and got the videotape from the bank, and it shows her clearly wearing the watch and ring, so that investigators are concluding that she wore that jewelry to work.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: A Texas realtor goes to an upscale community to show a model home. She is never seen alive again. Out to Court TV`s Jean Casarez. Jean, new updates in the case, right?

JEAN CASAREZ, COURT TV: There is. There`s some brand-new evidence, Nancy. In that model home, investigators have found a second person`s blood besides the victim`s. Now, what this means -- they`ve already told us that there was a violent struggle, that she fought for her life and that she was stabbed 27 times. Well, it looks like maybe she turned the knife on him before she died.

GRACE: And Jean, it`s my understanding that police won`t release whether they have found the murder weapon or not, but they deduced this all from blood drops.

CASAREZ: That`s right, blood drops found at the scene. That`s exactly right. And they have released that she was stabbed 27 times, but they haven`t said exactly what she was stabbed with. So I think that`s information that`ll be forthcoming, but I think it`s very great evidence that they have blood from that second person.

GRACE: And now we`re learning bit by bit, as the evidence is trickling out, that she was robbed. What was taken, Jean?

CASAREZ: Well, interestingly enough, it looks like she went to a bank before she went to the model home that morning, and there was surveillance tape from that bank. And at that bank, she has on a watch and a ring. And at the crime scene, when her body was found, that watch and ring were gone.

GRACE: A watch and a ring. And it`s my understanding -- Rosie (ph), if you could come to me one moment -- apparently, the Rolex watch is one like this. What is it called, Ellie (ph)? What`s the type of it?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Rolex Date Jest (ph).

GRACE: Date Jest, a ladies Rolex Date Jest, and a David Yurman ring. What is that, Jean, is it like the silver -- the black and silver twisty jewelry?

CASAREZ: I think that`s the type it is. You know, you see it in the magazines. You see it in the fashion magazines, very expensive ring, very expensive watch. And her ex-husband has come out saying that the night before this happened, he spoke with her, and she said, Oh, I bought myself a present. Let me show it to you. I bought myself a Rolex watch. And he saw it the night before.

GRACE: Interesting.

I want to go out to Dr. Bruce Levy, medical examiner and forensic pathologist. Dr. Levy, when the case first broke, I was speculating there may be droplets of the defendant`s blood, of the suspect`s blood there at the scene because very commonly, in a multiple stabbing with a knife, with the intensity of the stab, the perpetrator`s hand -- and I`ve seen this in several cases myself -- goes down the sheath of the knife, and the perp`s hand actually gets cut on the murder weapon. And apparently, that`s what they`ve got here.

Now, what type of blood droplets or blood spatter do you expect to see?

DR. BRUCE LEVY, MEDICAL EXAMINER, FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST: Well, you`re exactly right. When -- in a stabbing like this, it`s almost inevitable that the suspect or the person who committed the crime is going to be injured, as well as the victim. And what the law enforcement people probably saw were blood droplets in areas removed from where this attack occurred, indicating that the person who was injured, as they were leaving, left blood evidence behind them.

GRACE: Take a listen to what police have to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our investigators, working through interviews and leads, discerned that she was -- she got a new watch the Friday night before we found her deceased. That watch and a ring were not found on her body. The theory is not that robbery was the motive, it was more that because of the assault, it was very violent, full of rage, and you don`t do that type of assault just to take a watch. So there was other reasons for the assault.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: The public information officer for the local police there in Dallas -- they have stated repeatedly that they don`t know where the murder weapon is, but they`re holding a lot of the evidence very close to the vest.

I want to go back to Jean Casarez with Court TV news, who`s been following the case from the very beginning. Jean, apparently, police also believe the perpetrator brought the weapon with him to the model home.

CASAREZ: Well, that`s interesting because she was found face down in the kitchen. So I think, initially, people thought, Well, gee, maybe there was a knife in the kitchen, since this was a model home, ready and built for people to look at. But if the weapon was brought with him, then that wouldn`t be the case.

GRACE: Joining us, psychologist Dr. Lillian Glass. Lillian, thank you for being with us. Police keep saying over and over that they believe this is someone that knew Sarah Anne Walker. Why? Why are they speculating that? They say robbery is not the motive, but yet she was robbed.

LILLIAN GLASS, PSYCHOLOGIST: The fact that she was stabbed 27 times shows that there was a lot of violence, that she may very well have known the perpetrator.

GRACE: But you know what`s interesting? To Don Clark, former head of the FBI Houston bureau. Don, do you remember Coral Eugene Watts? He was a random serial killer, now believed to be the single most prolific serial killer on U.S. soil. And he would drive around -- much like the Phoenix killer, the "baseline" road killer, he would drive around, find his target just at random, get out of the car, stab them multiple times, would not rob, would not rape, no assault, get back in his car and leave.

So how are they getting this theory, Don? I don`t know I necessarily agree that this is not random.

DON CLARK, FORMER HEAD OF FBI HOUSTON BUREAU: Yes, I do remember that individual that was going around doing this. I don`t think this one is random. And of course, I have no evidence, Nancy, but I don`t think this one is random. This one just appears to me, from what I`ve been able to research and find out about what`s happened there, that this was a lot of compassion -- a lot of passion that was going on, and this was an emotional type of a setting because normally -- normally, people who want to rob, they will do what they need to do to get what they need, but they don`t usually go to extremes in that fashion. It`s a different type of mindset. And this one seems to be someone to me that, in my experience, that you find that maybe there was some attachment there someplace, there was some argument or there was someone that clearly she knew.

I`m going to weigh in on the side that I think it`s someone that she knows, and I think when police start putting that list together of all the people she knows and start to interview them in detail, along with the DNA, then a name will surface.

GRACE: Back to Jean Casarez, who`s been on the case from the very beginning. Jean, interesting, this woman had been visiting some pretty upscale dating sites, if there is such a thing. One of them is Millionairematch.com. Is there a way. or do you believe, Jean, police are trying to trace through her Web sites who she had been talking to?

CASAREZ: Oh, I definitely think so. And in addition to that, remember, she saw her ex-husband the night before because he was getting their young child. He said that she said just hours before her murder, you know, I`ve been dating these guys 15 years younger than me, and they all want me to support them. So I`m sure people -- the investigators are going to use that statement right there, coupled with Millionairematch.com and any records they can get from that site.

GRACE: And another thing that is so disturbing -- and I want to go out to Don Clark on this, the former head of the FBI Houston bureau. Don, this is not the first time this has happened. Think back. Does the name Joan Malone ring a bell to you, 1997, back in Dallas? She`s showing a home, beautiful realtor. She is stabbed and left for dead. And then most recently, in the Atlanta jurisdiction, two real estate agents, Lori Brown, Cynthia Williams. One is already at the home, showing it. In the middle of the attack, the other comes to the home. She`s killed, as well. The perpetrator in that case, Stacey Ian Humphreys (ph). That happened three long years ago, in the Cobb County jurisdiction, and it hasn`t even gone to trial yet.

But what`s so disturbing, Don Clark, is how many women have to die in model homes, showing them as realtors, before somebody gets wise to what`s going on.

CLARK: Nancy, you make a great point. And if you look back a little bit, you`ll find that there have been a considerable number of women, in particular, who have been killed showing real estate properties around the country, and particularly in the areas that you mentioned there.

And I think what the industry has to do is recognize that there is a threat out there, without any question that there`s a threat, and we just can`t let these threats go. I mean, we`re talking about terrorism and a lot of other things, but what about a person who meets a stranger? And in that business, it`s almost stranger-related, almost totally, and if anything is known, it`s very little known about the contact that the realtor is going to meet.

And I don`t know if even the companies have any information. In fact, I would strongly suspect that they don`t have any information about to whom -- with whom a realtor is going out to meet. So I think they`re going to have to really work on that and put some security measures in place.

GRACE: Another issue I forgot to mention to you, Don. In 2002, four sales agents -- four sales agents -- robbed at gunpoint in the north Dallas area while showing homes. Now, what is it? Let`s analyze this, Don. You were at the FBI for years and years. What`s going on? We notice in Sarah Anne Walker, it`s a model home. So it seems to be model home versus previously lived-in homes. What could it be? Are they -- is it in the middle of a group of 50 or 60, a cluster of homes, where nobody`s living in the community, like a spec (ph) community, so it`s empty?

CLARK: Well, I think the idea of perhaps the thought process regarding the model homes happened to be there`s really no one around, not large numbers of people that are around. If they`re going into a home that`s inhabited by a family or something, that`s a greater risk for them to get involved in any type of criminal activity.

But Nancy, you know, you drive up to a model home. And I`ve gone in them, and it`s just myself and perhaps my spouse and the realtor, and that`s it that`s in there. And oftentimes, it could be myself that may have called to go back over to see something in a particular model home.

So the bottom line is there is no security whatsoever for the person who`s showing this, and if the person is of a mindset to do some harm to you, then they`re in trouble once they get inside that property.

GRACE: I want to go back to Jean Casarez. With all of the facts in this case regarding Sarah Anne Walker, it`s been dubbed the model home murder mystery. What else can you tell us about the scene itself, Jean?

CASAREZ: Well, the scene -- the entire model home, they`re saying, was a crime scene, and so I think what that shows is that she fought for her life and struggled. Also, her body had defensive wounds, so that shows that she struggled. And she was stabbed, obviously, the 27 times in the upper torso that we`re hearing.

But you know, Nancy, investigators are combing the evidence that they`ve gathered from that home now, from fingerprints to footprints to anything found at the autopsy, under her nails. If his blood was found, maybe some of his blood is on her, so they`re looking for that. So many things to decipher here.

GRACE: You know, you`re right. This whole model home has been turned into a crime scene. Why? Because Sarah Anne Walker fought back. And I would like to point out that today is the birthday of her little 3-year-old boy she left behind. He turns 4 today without his mother.

I want to go back to what the crime scene shows us. I`ve been thinking about it a lot, Joe Lawless, defense attorney, joining us out of the Philadelphia jurisdiction. In one of these model home communities where now -- this is just a cursory look on my part, to look at other real estate agents that were robbed or murdered while showing homes. You`ve got sometimes an empty community, a spec community, or a lot of empty homes. You`ve got nice stuff in the model home because you want to impress the person walking in -- the furnace, sometimes there`s televisions in them, and there`s no security yet.

JOE LAWLESS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, Nancy, what`s interesting from my perspective is right now, my wife and I are looking at homes and we go into a lot of model homes. And you`re absolutely right. There are some -- there are vases, there are paintings, there`s all kinds of things, stereos. And we`ve gone into these homes. The women are completely alone. It`s usually a woman realtor. You go in at different times of day, and it`s you and the realtor. If someone`s actually looking to commit a robbery, it`s a perfect target.

What`s frightening, though, is with Joan Malone in Texas a few years ago, the person who is charged with attacking her had been through other houses with her several times, and she felt secure with this person. So it puts the realtors at great risk when they`re showing these houses alone.

GRACE: Back to Jean Casarez. Jean, where were her purse, her cell phone, her car keys, her wallet?

CASAREZ: Well, those obviously weren`t taken, so maybe she had them hidden in the model home and so they weren`t visible. Her watch, her ring, they were right on her. That`s what we know, at this point, were taken.

GRACE: Well, Jean, I`m hearing unconfirmed reports -- and we`re trying to confirm them right now -- that her pocketbook, with the cell phone in it, was locked in her car and that she had taken those keys and hidden them in a drawer there in the model home. Again, we`re waiting to confirm that. Which means to me, Jean, the person that broke in did not ransack the home, or they would have found the keys, gone out to the car.

CASAREZ: That`s exactly right. And the case of Georgia -- in Georgia that you were talking about from 2003, the two realtors that were shot and killed, their car keys were taken, along with their wallets were stolen. And they were also just shot once and twice. And she was stabbed the 27 times. So there are differences with this one from the other murders.

GRACE: I`m asking tonight, everyone, how many lady real estate agents have to be robbed, attacked, even murdered before standardized rules are put in place across the country?

Very quickly -- we`ll all be right back -- let`s go to tonight`s "Case Alert,"Rosie. Police search for an 8-year-old South Carolina girl, missing along with her 54-year-old grandmother. Take a look. Little Angelica Livingston last seen West Columbia, South Carolina. A person of interest now in custody, arrested trying to cross the Canadian border. If you have the info on this little girl, Angelica Livingston, please call the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, 1-800-THE-LOST.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All I hear about is that she has left behind two children, one who is very small, who will never know her mother. I want the best for him and for her other son.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She had a really great way of making you laugh. Everything I can remember from her was, from a kid, you know, even today, she always made me smile. She had a certain chuckle after she`d say something, you know, to kind of keep you going. She wanted nothing but the best for everyone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: This Texas beauty, a mother of two, was found stabbed to death in a model home she was showing. She left for work that day, shortly before her 3-year-old`s 4th birthday, planning to come home, no suspicions that an intruder would come to the model home to do her harm. I`m talking about Sarah Anne Walker. And surprisingly, this is just one in a disturbing string of real estate brokers found dead, attacked, robbed while showing homes.

Let`s go out to our producer, Rupa Mikkilineni. Rupa, explain to me about the DNA found, the blood found at the scene.

RUPA MIKKILINENI, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Well, I spoke with the police this morning, Nancy, and they`d indicated that there were blood droppings found at the crime scene which were someone else`s blood, not the victim`s. And they are now waiting for evidence to return from the labs. They believe that this is the blood from the perpetrator, who might have been injured during this struggle with the victim.

GRACE: To the former head of the FBI Houston bureau, Don Clark. Do we have any type of a DNA blood bank, like the AFIS (ph) system, which -- once you`re arrested and your fingerprint is given, you`re part of the AFIS system. And if that print turns up anywhere else, you can get an automatic match, no matter where it is in the country.

CLARK: There are some comparisons you can make with the DNA that they find there. It`s not to the extent, because DNA is relatively young, as the fingerprint system is, Nancy, but they do have some on file. And they know serial killers that`s around. They have some of their DNA. They have other murderers that are around and other people who`ve committed crime, that they have that DNA, so they can compare that.

But I think in this case, that certainly will help, but they`re going to have to really identify a person that would have a confrontation with her and it result in such violent activities to match it to.

GRACE: To defense attorney Courtney Anderson. Even if the suspect`s blood, even if his DNA is somehow in the DNA bank, he`s got to have a reason to compare it to that individual, correct?

COURTNEY ANDERSON, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Oh, yes. Absolutely. I mean, that`s something that protects every single one of us. We wouldn`t any of us want the police to have our DNA and to be able to access it or allow anyone else to access it at any time. SO certainly, there would have to be probable cause, and you`d have to have a reason to be able to obtain and compare the DNA.

GRACE: We`ll all be right back. And when we come back, joining us will be a very special guest. Her name is Joan Malone. She was attacked while showing a home in the Dallas area and left for dead. And tonight, she is speaking out. So stay with us.

Very quickly, Rosie, let`s go to our "Amber Alert." The search for a 13-year-old Utah girl missing since last month goes on, Maria Guadalupe Valdez, last seen in the city of Ogden, 5-5, 120 pounds. She`s got brown eyes and brown hair. Police say she`s in danger and could be traveling with an adult male toward California, possibly in a blue 2001 Dodge Ram pick-up, Utah plate 024-VZD.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need -- this family needs closure on what happened to her. I mean, it`s just -- obviously, it`s the most important thing in the world not only to this family, but to this whole community. We got to make sure that stuff like this never happens again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: A disturbing trend of lady realtors being robbed, attacked, even murdered across this country. The most recent, Sarah Anne Walker in the Dallas area, showing a model home, found dead, stabbed 27 times, leaving behind two children.

Out to Captain Randy Roland. He is the PIO of the McKinney Police Department. Captain, thank you for being with us. Specifically, what do you think the timeframe is for Sarah`s murder?

CAPT. RANDY ROLAND, PIO, MCKINNEY POLICE DEPARTMENT: Our investigators have pretty much worked her morning schedule. And we talked to witnesses that, you know, last spoke to her at the model home or on the phone, and we think the window of opportunity for this crime is somewhere between 12:50 PM and 1:23, when the couple that wandered into the model home found her on the floor and called 911. So we`ve got a closing window of opportunity.

GRACE: Captain, can we confirm with you that her purse and cell phone were locked in her car?

ROLAND: That`s where the investigators found -- after a complete search of the crime scene, her keys were located, and her car was parked in its usual spot outside the mobile home. We obtained a search warrant for that car and did locate her purse and some other belongings, you know, date planner and things like that, inside the vehicle.

GRACE: Was her wallet and money and all that in the purse?

ROLAND: Everything was in there that you would expect.

GRACE: So Captain, does that add to your theory that while her ring - - a very expensive ring, I might add -- and her Rolex watch were taken, that this was not murder for robbery, that there was some other motive?

ROLAND: Well, the theory is that this type of assault, the brutality, the rage that was involved in this assault, is not indicative of a robbery, of somebody wanting to get in and get a piece of property and get out. Our suspect stayed in that house with the victim, and like you said earlier in the show, the 27 stab wounds. And you got to -- there`s got to be some serious rage to do that. That`s not indicative of a property crime.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I`m confident there`s going to be a resolution somehow, someway, by the promise that I was given by the McKinney police, that they are not going to stop. Somebody knows something, and somebody is going to come forward, that this will eventually be solved.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Texas realtor Sarah Anne Walker, killed on the job showing a model home. Still no arrest.

Joining us, Captain Randy Roland with the McKinney Police Department. Captain, again, thank you for being with us.

ROLAND: You`re welcome.

GRACE: Question: I`m wondering about the advertising for this model home showing. She was in there waiting. It`s my understanding there was an ATM photo of her that day showing her wearing the watch, the Rolex watch, and the ring. And then, within a couple of hours, she was dead.

So I`m wondering, was it in a gated community? Was it advertised out on a highway? Were there balloons and a sign out front? Was it on the Web site? Could anybody have logged onto that Web site and found out someone would be waiting in a model home?

ROLAND: Well, that whole area where this development is, is under construction. It`s part of a Craig Ranch Development that encompasses hundreds of thousands of acres of new homes and new businesses.

And so, if you`re going to look for a new home in that area, of varying price range, you`re going to drive -- you know about that. There`s signage. There`s advertisements. You know, it`s well-publicized that that`s the growing part of our community.

As far as the house, obviously, there was a sign out front that indicated that this was the model home office and that this was her place of business. This is where she conducted the business of selling homes, and met customers, and met prospective buyers. So they did the regular things that any business would do to attract customers in. And you could go to the Web site and find out where their locations were, yes.

GRACE: Is there a way, Captain, to figure out who hits on a Web site, like go to the Internet server or the computer number as to who all went to that Web site?

ROLAND: Well, there`s a number of things that we can do electronically with both the Web site, her e-mails, voice mails, and those things. And the investigators are certainly mining all of those growing mediums for communication.

And is it easy? Certainly not. But you can look and find out who`s been e-mailing her, what kind of questions and, you know, obviously what appointments she had that day, and our investigators are working all those angles.

GRACE: Captain, why do you believe the perpetrator brought the knife in with him?

ROLAND: Well, I have no theory on that. The M.E.`s office, the final report will narrow down what type of knife and length of the blade, those type of things, and will be able to define our search a little tighter. But, you know, it could be as simple as it was in the pocket. It was a small folding knife, you know, two, three, four inches in length, and it was easily concealed.

GRACE: Question: In the home, was the kitchen equipped with cutlery?

ROLAND: When I toured the crime scene, it had a lot of furniture, and it also had an office set up for them to conduct the business, but I don`t specifically remember that the drawers were full of anything, except that they had brochures for other floor plans and that like.

GRACE: Rupa, why do we believe that the perpetrator brought the knife to the home?

MIKKILINENI: My understanding is that the house was only equipped with furniture, but no stereo equipment, no television set. The kitchen wasn`t, either, equipped with knives or cooking utensils. So, you know, it`s believed that...

GRACE: Right.

MIKKILINENI: ... you know, he brought the...

GRACE: Back to Captain Roland. Was there a sex assault?

ROLAND: We`ve worked with the Collin County medical examiners to conduct a test to determine if our victim was sexually assaulted. From the initial search of the crime scene, as well as the victim, it did not appear. But at the same time, it was a very bloody and very -- you know, disturbed from the assault crime scene. And I don`t believe the investigators think that she was assaulted, but we`re not going to rule that out.

GRACE: OK, yes.

ROLAND: Or sexually assaulted, I should say.

GRACE: Well, the autopsy has been completed, so the medical examiner knows, correct?

ROLAND: Well, they send off the lab to -- you know, they send off their findings and any type of evidence that they gather. And to do the sexual assault, they shipped that off to a lab, and they`ll be able to tell if there is other types of DNA present in the victim that shouldn`t have been there.

GRACE: Joining me right now, a guest I told you about earlier, Ms. Joan Malone is with us. Ms. Malone was attacked while she was showing a home in the Dallas area, and left for dead.

Ms. Malone, you are truly a miracle, and I want to thank you for being with us.

JOAN MALONE, REAL ESTATE AGENT WHO SURVIVED AN ATTACK: How are you?

GRACE: I`m fine. What was your reaction when you learned about Sarah Anne Walker?

MALONE: It brought it back, the attack and so forth, and I feel -- I just have to say, I feel terrible for this family.

GRACE: What were the circumstances of your attack, Ms. Malone?

MALONE: I was showing an individual that had asked me to show him some homes. And this was actually the third time we had looked at property. And he hit me, knocked me down, strangled me, stabbed me, and basically left me for dead.

GRACE: The perpetrator was apprehended?

MALONE: Yes, he is. He`s in Huntsville right now.

GRACE: Ms. Malone, do you believe that enough precautions are taken to protect realtors?

MALONE: It`s a very difficult thing. When something like this happens, everyone wants to do something, but unfortunately we end up going right back to the way things are, because we`re all self-employed agents and no one gets paid to go with us or take care of us. Ultimately, the bottom line is: We`re responsible for our own safety.

GRACE: The person that attacked you, had you guys -- you guys had seen several homes together. How was he apprehended? Hadn`t he already absconded to another state?

MALONE: When I first met him, he gave me his name and a phone number, and it was his correct name.

GRACE: In light of the disturbing trend of attacks on realtors, let`s take a look at some safety tips. Number one: Don`t host an open house alone. Try to take a colleague. Bring a cell phone, and keep it with you. Tell somebody at your office you`ll call in on the hour.

Number three: Be careful how you dress. Expensive jewelry may get the wrong kind of attention. Fourth, don`t put your home phone number on your business card. Buy a voice pager instead of home calls. Five, always use your own car for showings. Don`t get in the car with a prospective purchaser. When you leave your car, lock it.

Six, let potential buyers lead when exploring a home. Avoid basements, if you can, and confined areas. That is a little unreasonable. Seven, always meet perspective buyers at your office for the first time. Ask for I.D. If they want to know why, say it`s company policy.

Eight, find out what you can about potential buyers, where they work, what they do, how much they earn. Ask the more questions, the better. Nine, preview the property so you can be familiar with the area. And last but not least, number 10, if you`re suspicious, it`s better to just walk away.

(NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This has been horrible. My mother is very ill. She just had surgery. I haven`t been able to talk to her even all that much. She can`t get up. She`s very, very sick. And then to have all this happen, I just don`t even know what her outcome is going to be. The whole thing is absolutely horrible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Sarah Anne Walker, a beautiful young Texas realtor, did not have to die. Lessons from history showed a disturbing trend of attacks on realtors. She leaves behind two sons, one turning 4 years old today.

Out to investigative reporter Leslie Snadowsky. The most recently developments, Leslie, do you think they can help crack the case. If so, why?

LESLIE SNADOWSKY, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER, "NEW YORK POST": Well, yes. I mean, I agree that the police feel that this was an attack for rage. I mean, there really wasn`t a robbery crime. But the truth is, this watch, I mean, is worth like $4,600 and the ring was very expensive.

But, you know, whoever is out there looking for this guy or woman is looking for someone with a bandaged hand and hot property. So I think the information the police released today -- over the weekend, excuse me -- is going to be very important to cracking the case.

GRACE: So psychologist Dr. Lillian Glass, Lillian, I`m noticing more and more that she is being portrayed as a high-spending socialite. I really resent that. No offense to all you guys, but if a guy was making it big in the real estate business, he`d be called a mogul. She`s being called a spend-thrift because she had a Rolex watch and a nice ring, a nice car. Haven`t you noticed, Lillian, that realtors always, like many of us, try to put on the best front when dealing with customers?

GLASS: Absolutely. It`s important to have your image correct, to look as though you`re successful, so people will perceive you as being successful and trust you. And that`s what it`s really about. And I couldn`t agree with you more, Nancy, because the fact that she was doing so well, she shouldn`t be portrayed that way.

GRACE: Why is that happening, Dr. Glass?

GLASS: I think...

GRACE: In every article you read about Sarah Anne Walker talks about her Rolex watch, that she wore really expensive clothes. I mean, every realtor that can does.

GLASS: I think they want to show that she`s glamorous, that she was really successful, and it...

GRACE: I don`t hear them talking about male victims that way.

GLASS: No, they don`t. But they do talk about female victims that way, unfortunately, and it is unfortunate that they speak of her that way. But then there are other people that talk about her so glowingly, that she had a vivacious personality, that she was lively, that she was exciting, spontaneous, and she really lived life to the fullest.

GRACE: Back out to Courtney Anderson, defense attorney. Let`s just get right down to it. Does the employer bear any civil responsibility here?

ANDERSON: They may. Absolutely, they may. Unlike most realtors, she was actually apparently an employee of the home builder. So she`s working for the home builder, helping to sell their property, these houses that they have that are on spec.

And if she`s an employee and she`s in the scope of employment, meaning she`s doing her job, and she`s ill, injured or killed, the employer may be responsible, absolutely, positively. And the sad thing is, we should be able to go out and make a living or even to look for love on the Internet and not have to risk our lives.

So I absolutely think that this could be a very important case for companies all over the country to look at.

GRACE: To Joe Lawless, a lot of blame, really, is being placed on the victim, that somehow she`s putting herself in harm`s way. I disagree with that.

LAWLESS: Well, it almost sounds like the media is suggesting she attracted it. Nancy, I`m wearing a custom made jacket. I have a Rolex. I wouldn`t be described that way if I was a victim.

She was a successful realtor. She was an attractive woman. That adds a salacious nature to the reporting that`s unfortunate.

It sounds to me like -- I agree with Courtney -- there`s a known risk to realtors. And I think that means the employer has an obligation to provide some level of protection that wasn`t there in this case. So I think the realtor, the real estate company, the builder has some serious exposure liability-wise.

GRACE: Well, what`s so disturbing is, I mean, we just talked to Joan Malone, Joe Lawless. She was attacked in much the same manner as a realtor, 1997, the Dallas area. There have been at least, that we know of, four robberies at gunpoint of north Dallas realtors since 2002.

Then, of course, there`s the horrific killing of Lori Brown (ph) and Cindy Williams (ph), showing a home in the very upscale Atlanta area, 2003. That case somehow ended up on the back burner. It`s a death penalty case that`s nobody`s heard of again since it was indicted. It`s just disappeared.

Speaking of the death penalty, Joe Lawless, now police say that with the developments, these recent developments, that the Rolex and the ring were stolen, suddenly this has turned into a capital death penalty murder case. Why?

LAWLESS: Well, they can look at the fact that you have a homicide committed in the course of a robbery. And even if the jewelry was stolen to make it look like a robbery and it wasn`t, if they walked off with property, that`s a homicide that takes place in the course of a robbery under the Texas capital murder statute. That`s an aggravating circumstance.

If a murder weapon was brought to the scene, that`s something that can show specific intent to kill beyond the normal split-second specific intent. That can be an aggravating circumstance.

They may ask for it. I don`t know if it`s going to be in the end result a capital murder case, but they certainly have the elements to push for it.

GRACE: Well, really, 27 stab wounds not enough for you, Lawless?

LAWLESS: No, I mean...

GRACE: I mean, what more do you want?

LAWLESS: Crime of passion, third degree, you could make that argument. But I think they certainly have enough to ask for it.

GRACE: Crime of passion with a targeted murder. All right, crime of passion and targeted...

LAWLESS: Assuming it`s a target.

GRACE: ... premeditated murder don`t go together. Ding, ding.

LAWLESS: Assuming it`s a targeted murder. It could also have been an instantaneous decision in a rage killing. You just don`t know at this point, Nancy.

GRACE: So a guy just shows up at a model home in a fairly isolated area, decides not to take her car, not to get her pocketbook, not to get her wallet.

LAWLESS: That`s one of the reasons I`m glad I never had to face you as a prosecutor, because that`s the argument for first-degree murder, absolutely.

GRACE: Because crime of passion, you think you`re going to get this case down to a voluntary manslaughter, but no. If you intentionally go to the home and you bring the murder weapon with you...

LAWLESS: First-degree murder.

GRACE: ... that means, translation, you planned it, and you`re looking at Old Sparky.

Joining me right now, with WBAP Radio, 820 reporter, Lance Liguez. Lance, thank you for being us.

Here`s the bottom line. With the new developments, with the watch and the ring being stolen, it does open the case up for a death penalty, because we didn`t know whether there had been a forced entry. This was a model home. Anybody could walk in. We don`t know if there is a sex attack, so there`s no other felony involved.

LANCE LIGUEZ, REPORTER, WBAP RADIO: The only felony that potentially is involved here is the walking off with the property of Ms. Walker. You`ve got two felonies here in the course -- or a felony in the course of a murder, rather, and that equals capital murder under Texas law.

GRACE: What happens next, Lance?

LIGUEZ: Well, what happens next? McKinney police are still waiting for their physical evidence to come back. They have processed that crime scene, took everything they found, sent it to the lab. You know, they`re in line at the lab. They`re waiting for other cases in front of them to get processed and get those facts out. So the next two or three weeks, hopefully, there`s a hint from the lab on blood or hair or something that locates a suspect.

GRACE: And to Dr. Bruce Levy, medical examiner, forensic pathologist, if there weren`t such a long line of crimes at the crime lab, typically how long would it take to perform these analyses at the crime lab?

LEVY: Well, the actual testing actually will only take a matter of a few days to finish, so it really won`t take a long amount of time.

GRACE: Quickly to tonight`s "All-Points Bulletin." Law enforcement across the country on the lookout for Malik Collins, the 2005 murder of Brahim Henie (ph), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Collins, 27, 5`10", 160 pounds, black hair, brown eyes. If you have info, call the FBI, 215-418-4000. Local news next for some of you, but we`ll all be right back. And, remember, live coverage, arson death of Michigan children, 3:00 to 5:00 Eastern, Court TV.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRACE: The last in a string of killings of lady realtors and attacks on them, Sarah Anne Walker lost her life showing a model home near Dallas, Texas.

Out to psychologist Dr. Lillian Glass. Lillian, let`s talk about the online dating aspect of the case for a moment, a lot of questioning as to whether she unwittingly reached out to her killer. What do you make of the online dating scene?

GLASS: Well, it`s a possibility. There are a lot of people out there that you don`t know. You don`t know who you`re getting online, and it can be very, very dangerous. So you really have to beware, because there are a lot of people that aren`t mentally balanced online.

GRACE: And back out to Lance Liguez. Thanks for being with us, Lance. Did you say -- no, it was the cop earlier who said this was in the middle of thousand and thousands of acres of residential homes. Was there construction or yard work going on, landscaping going on in the area?

LIGUEZ: Not on that street, to my knowledge, there wasn`t any landscaping. And by that, you mean were there any people out there?

GRACE: Yes.

LIGUEZ: Mowing lawns, planting flowers?

GRACE: Right.

LIGUEZ: We do not have that information. But if there were, certainly police have spoken to that person already.

GRACE: Back to Lillian, Dr. Lillian Glass, Lillian, people really believe this woman was killed, targeted by somebody she knows, but think about it. If the cop -- the captain was correct -- and I have no reason to disbelieve him -- that this is in the middle of thousands of acres of real estate, new construction, anyone could have driven by and seen her parked there. She clearly had been there before. This could be a crime of opportunity, which makes it less likely it will ever be solved.

GLASS: That`s so true, but the fact that she was stabbed so violently, 27 times, shows that there was a lot of anger involved. So whoever killed her was very, very angry, and that`s what we really know.

GRACE: You`re seeing footage of the funeral of Sarah Anne Walker. Her little boy turns 4 today.

Tonight, everyone, we stop to remember Army Private First Class Raymond Henry, just 21, killed Iraq. Henry, an only child from Anaheim, California, joined the Army just last year. He was a tremendous basketball player. And his dream? To become a firefighter. Raymond Henry, American hero.

Thank you to all of our guests. Our biggest thank you to you, for being with us, inviting us into your home. Nancy Grace signing off for tonight. See you right here tomorrow night, 8:00 sharp Eastern. And until then, good night, friend.

END

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