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ISSUES WITH JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL
Body Found Believed to be Missing Teen Jogger
Aired March 2, 2010 - 19:00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL, HOST (voice-over): Horrific, sad breaking news. The sheriff has just announced in a news conference that a body has been discovered near Lake Hodges where 17-year-old Chelsea King was jogging last Thursday afternoon. Authorities say the body is likely Chelsea`s. They say she was covered in a shallow grave, covered with debris.
Let`s listen to the news conference of the San Diego County sheriff.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHERIFF WILLIAM GORE, SAN DIEGO COUNTY: Great sadness this afternoon that we discovered shortly after 1 p.m. human remains near the water`s edge in a shallow grave within the area in which our search efforts had been concentrated. Although positive identification has not been made, there is strong likelihood that we have found Chelsea.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Here are some highlights of the news conference.
Obviously, we don`t need to tell you this. Chelsea`s family, completely destroyed, completely devastated. They were hoping somehow, some way, by some miracle, their precious straight-A student of a daughter, who was a volunteer, who was well liked, who was a long-distance runner, would somehow be found alive. But the body is believed to be that of Chelsea King`s.
The medical examiner is going to take over and analyze. We should have a positive I.D. back later this afternoon or early tomorrow. And of course, the D.A. now comes into play.
And the monster believed to be responsible, according to police, is going to be arraigned tomorrow. We`re talking about 30-year-old sex offender, John Gardner III. There he is.
Today, Chelsea`s mother told news stations that the item of clothing that police found, that police say they linked to this man`s DNA was her daughter`s underwear. OK.
This guy has a sickening, sickening, sickening criminal past. In 2000, ten years ago, he was convicted of molesting a 13-year-old girl. The victim`s terrifying ordeal was documented in the San Diego D.A.`s sentencing report. Quote, "Gardner rubbed his erect self against her private parts. He hit the victim repeatedly in the face, pulled her underwear down. The young woman says she was being suffocated by his hand over her mouth, and she, quote, `thought she was going to be raped,`" end quote.
So what kind of punishment did this sicko get? Five years. Five years for doing all that.
Now, we all know that if prosecutors had thrown the book at him and given him the max, he would have been behind bars when beautiful Chelsea King had decided to go for a jog last Thursday. And it gets worse than that. More on this obscenity in a moment.
Meanwhile, her dad, of course, has known since Thursday, when she didn`t come home, that something was terribly wrong.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRENT KING, CHELSEA`S FATHER: OK, she`s just at the park with a friend. And she forgot track of time when her phone`s not next to her. And once I got there and started driving around, it just overwhelmed me. I just knew that something bad, something bad happened to my daughter.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: And once again, in a news conference just moments ago, the San Diego County sheriff saying they did find a body of a young girl they believe is that of the daughter of those two people, Chelsea King.
I`m sorry, but this story is completely outrageous. And I want to hear from you at home. What are we going to do about this, America? It can`t keep happening over and over again. Every time a young, pretty young girl goes jogging that her parents have to worry is she going to come home? 1-877-JVM-SAYS. That`s 1-877-586-7297.
Straight out to my fantastic expert panel: Judge Marilyn Milian, host of the long-running syndicated court show, "The People`s Court". Judge Milian spent five years presiding over cases in Miami County, domestic violence court. Dr. Dale Archer, clinical psychiatrist; Mark Herald, law enforcement officer; Dan Gaffney, talk radio host from WGMD, 92.7 News Radio. And we begin with Jim Moret, attorney and senior correspondent for "Inside Edition."
This case is -- it just -- it just blows my mind. I cannot continue talking about this, and I know you don`t want to either, Jim, as just another news story. No, it`s gone way beyond that. This young girl didn`t have to die.
JIM MORET, "INSIDE EDITION": I`ll tell you what`s even worse. You talk about the case in 2000 where the 13-year-old girl was molested. She had a friend who was also 13. And this man, John Gardner, asked them both to skip school one day, because he had been grooming them, according to one of the girls` parents, grooming them for weeks to gain their trust.
Well, the one girl who went with him, you know what happened to her. The girl who didn`t go with him said that she didn`t go because she had a test and if she didn`t take that test at school, her mom would have clobbered her.
Well, I talked to that girl today. This girl lives just 16 houses away from this man, and I`ll tell you what`s horrible. When this man got out of prison, he went right back to this same neighborhood, and no one, no one in the neighborhood was even alerted to that fact. No one knew.
And last year, there was another teenager, Amber Dubois, who`s missing from the same neighborhood. Another teenager who they suspect may be linked to this man. This monster was allowed back into the neighborhood. And none of the potential victims were alerted. And it`s just down the street from an elementary school.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Listen, this is the big issue facing America today. And you can put up the big issue, because this is the big issue. We`re going to talk about it all night long. Junk justice. Show it to me. Junk justice. That`s what we`re dealing with in America. OK?
This is complete B.S. See all these people right there? They`re working hard. Taxpayer dollars are paying for them. But they didn`t have to be working on finding a dead body.
If the powers that be had done their job properly and our system was functional, we wouldn`t be searching for a dead girl. We wouldn`t have found a dead girl buried under debris near this lake because she made the horrific mistake of wanting to go for a jog. Because this guy would have been behind bars, OK?
In 2000, he attacked a 13-year-old girl and got on top of her and pummeled her face and molested her. And he -- she says he tried to rape her. And she ran out with one shoe, and she threw her at her neighbor`s house because she was so terrified.
And it gets worse than that. OK? Cops say this man has now been positively identified by another woman as the man who attacked her in the very same park as Chelsea went running in and disappeared in on December 27. Cops showed that woman Gardner`s mug shot and she said, "Yes, that`s him."
Back in December, they took DNA from that woman`s elbow, because she says she smacked him with her elbow in the nose and that`s how she got away. OK? Cops also think Gardner could be connected to the disappearance, as Jim mentioned, of Amber Dubois.
Amber Dubois was 14 years old when she disappeared. There she is. Look at that beautiful girl on her way to school just over a year ago. Her high school is less than ten miles away from where Chelsea King went missing while jogging.
We are honored to have with us tonight Amber`s mom, Carrie McGonigle.
Carrie...
CARRIE MCGONIGLE, MOTHER OF AMBER DUBOIS: Yes.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: This is such a horror right now, this poor girl`s body. You know, they`ve got to do the positive I.D. But they believe it`s her. And your daughter is missing -- went missing about ten miles away.
MCGONIGLE: Yes, it was about -- about 7 1/2 miles.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Seven and a half miles.
MCGONIGLE: I drove it on Friday.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Seven and a half miles.
MCGONIGLE: Yes.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Do you think in your gut this monster is connected to your daughter`s disappearance?
MCGONIGLE: I don`t want to think that it is, but the chances are they`re connected.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: What`s wrong with our -- what`s wrong with our criminal justice system? I mean, when your daughter disappeared, I understand that they didn`t even declare it to be a missing person right away. Didn`t -- issue all the alerts that they could because they said there was no evidence of foul play?
MCGONIGLE: Yes, there was no evidence of foul play. We didn`t have search and rescue come out for three weeks. I mean, we were out doing our own searches. We set up our own center and everything, but the sheriff did not come out and do -- bring out search and rescue, the full team until three weeks later.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: There`s so many things that have been done improperly here, it blows my mind, Judge Marilyn Milian.
For example, if they had taken that DNA swab off that woman`s elbow on December 27 and run a test, they would have come up with this face right here. How do I know that, judge? Because that`s what they did when they found Chelsea King`s underwear. They did a test and they came up with that man.
But I guess they didn`t bother to do that back on December 27, because well, she survived, right? She got away. She fought back, so let`s not worry about it, even though there`s a predator on the loose.
JUDGE MARILYN MILIAN, "PEOPLE`S COURT": I`ll tell you, what causes me the greatest concern, because I don`t know, statistically speaking, whether we could have gotten DNA off of her elbow, but I do know that, when the system did have him and had him dead to rights ten years ago, that`s when things failed.
And I used to be a prosecutor. I was a judge, and I presided over these types of cases in Miami, but I was also a prosecutor for ten years. And one of the problems that there are in these types of cases is that the prosecutor walks this tight rope between trying to get as much jail time as possible, and trying to spare the victim having to go through the ordeal.
And so it`s very difficult, you know, although you look at this and you say, "This guy should have done 30 year," I`d like to know a little bit more about why the plea offer was offered by the prosecutor`s office.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: You know what? I`m sorry.
MILIAN: I agree with you. I agree with you. Believe me. Sometimes you`ve just got to do what you`ve got to do, and you`ve just got to force the victim to testify.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Right here.
MILIAN: There could be other issues to consider. I saw it. I read the indictment. It`s outrageous, and he was dead to rights.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: If you ask that young girl who was attacked if she would prefer somebody else to die or for her to testify, I assure you she would have said, "I`d rather testify than see this guy continue to do what he`s doing."
MILIAN: But Jane, that`s not how it works. How it works is there`s a 13-year-old girl, a parent trying to protect them.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Right. OK.
MILIAN: And there are other issues that people consider.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: We`re going to pick this up on the other size.
MILIAN: ... say no to testifying.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: We`re all over this horrifying discovery. We`re taking your calls: 1-877-JVM-SAYS, 1-877-586-7297.
You know, the war on women is striking everywhere, even paradise. A beautiful woman vanishes hiking in Maui. Her brother suspects foul play. It just goes on and on.
But first, this horror story, breaking news. Cops say a body discovered is believed to be Chelsea`s. Another case of junk justice for a beautiful, precious, precious, priceless girl.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A sense of relief that this monster has been removed from hurting Chelsea anymore and anyone else that`s out there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GORE: It`s with great sadness this afternoon that we discovered, shortly after 1 p.m., human remains near the water`s edge in a shallow grave within the area in which our search efforts had been concentrated. Although positive identification has not been made, there is strong likelihood that we have found Chelsea.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: She was found in a shallow grave, covered with debris at the edge of a lake where she loved to go jogging. Her hobby turned into hell, and now a family is suffering unimaginable grief.
And the worst part of it all, it didn`t have to happen. Why? Because the suspect in this case, the man who is likely going to be arraigned on murder and rape charges tomorrow, attacked a girl, a 13-year-old, in 2000, pummeled her face and got on top of her. She says he tried to rape her, and he got off in how many years? Let`s just -- let`s just put it home. Let`s bring it home. Five years. Five years. That`s what he got.
Something is wrong with our system. This is junk justice. You heard of junk food. This is junk justice.
Dan Gaffney, I got to know you. You`re a talk radio host. We were talking about the pedophile pediatrician who allegedly attacked 101 girls in his office and everybody seemed to know. It was the talk of the town. Nothing was done for years. What is going on here, Dan?
DAN GAFFNEY, TALK SHOW HOST: Well, first of all, I`ll send my prayers to the family of Chelsea, her parents. And I ask Americans to do that, as well.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes.
GAFFNEY: It`s very difficult with them. I can`t imagine how horrible that is. Please, people, do that. Uplift them.
Also, I don`t know what it is in this culture. Americans are sick of this story repeating itself over and over and over again, OK? A sex offender doesn`t get the sentence he`s supposed to get, and then he`s out on the street to offend again. OK?
Listen, I don`t know what we need, maybe a Tea Party movement to tell the court system that they need to get tough on sex offenders once and for all. I mean, an uprising by the people? Something needs to happen short of, you know, castration that is going to make this stop once and for all.
The judges, I guess, are immersed in this sick culture that we are living in, where we sexualize children in the fashion industry, music industry...
No offense to you, Dan, but I think it also has to do with the fact that we`ve got a lot of men who are not females and who may not be able to know how horrible it is to be, as a 13-year-old girl, attacked in that manner. I mean, what other explanation could there be for not locking that guy up for 30 years?
GAFFNEY: That`s -- that`s part of the culture. That`s part of the culture I`m talking about. Somehow, somewhere, we have stopped taking this as seriously as we should.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: I got -- I`ve got to go to this call. Kim, California. Your question or thought.
CALLER: Yes, Jane. I`m so concerned about this. I live in Reading, California, and I live about 10 miles from a regional park. I do a lot of hiking. And my concern is, I go hiking. They put up, they`ve seen a mountain lion. You`ve seen a bear.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes.
CALLER: Posters everywhere. There`s a young woman in December who was attacked. There`s no posting.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Oh, yes. You`re absolutely right. Oh, boy, if there`s a bear out there, let`s go shoot them to kill them. But if there`s a sexual predator on the loose in a park, let`s not even tell -- Dr. Dale Archer, let`s not even tell the young women who are jogging in that area that there was a sexual predator who attacked on December 27. Ten seconds.
DR. DALE ARCHER, CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST: No. That`s so horrible in every single case. But what`s worse is they had a psychiatric eval, and the psychiatrist on this guy said, "Put him away; he`s at risk to relapse." What more do you want?
VELEZ-MITCHELL: It`s just sick. And we`re going to cover this throughout the hour with other examples, from Maui to California. There`s a big problem. To the East Coast. Coming up, new information about a disappearance of a young woman in Hawaii. An investigator working the case giving us details about hell in paradise.
And, of course, more on missing Chelsea King, the very latest.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARK EIGLARSH, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: His speedy trial rights tick away every single day. And so the question is why -- and I`m not necessarily suggesting they did anything wrong, but why didn`t they keep him under surveillance for a period of time, continue the search?
JOHN LUCICH, VETERAN CRIMINAL INVESTIGATOR: They found physical evidence linking him to this woman and arrested him on that. You know, leaving him out there under surveillance poses a tremendous threat to the community.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: They arrested John Gardner III before they found a body, but tragically, just a little while ago at the top of this broadcast, law enforcement announcing that they did find a body they believe is that of 17-year-old Chelsea King.
Look at that beautiful girl. They believe she was left in a shallow grave, covered with debris. The divers looking for her spotted something. They walked up, and they saw a body. And it`s just really only a matter of making it official for a medical examiner to positively identify this beautiful, beautiful young girl, who is an honors student, a runner, a volunteer as the victim.
This didn`t have to happen. Back in 2000, psychiatrists warned that John Gardner would attack again. He could have been locked up for 30 years, if he`d been prosecuted on more serious charges, like attempted rape and assault in that 2000 attack on a 13-year-old girl. This grinning idiot molested and beat her up, all right?
Here`s a little bit more from the sentencing document. He put his hand down the victim`s pants on her buttocks. She suffered a laceration to her lip, a contusion under her eye, bruises on her head and face. And as for him, not one scintilla of remorse. His actions, extremely predatory. He`s an extreme danger to society and should be in prison. He was going to do it again. They warned us.
Carol, Missouri, your question or thought.
CALLER: My question is why can`t they do something to these judges and these parole boards tat let these people loose? I mean, shouldn`t they be held responsible? Can`t we disbar them or something or charge them with child endangerment?
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Judge Marilyn Milian.
They need to be exposed -- they need to be exposed -- when they do this, they need to be exposed as publicly as possible.
GAFFNEY: Keep in mind, there are thousands of John Gardners like this all across the country, however. There are sex offender registries, America. You`ve got to read them. You`ve got to be vigilant to protect your family.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: I don`t think that would have helped at all.
MILIAN: If I could for a second?
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes.
MILIAN: The answer is no. They can`t, of course, be charged criminally when something like this happens.
But what everybody has to do in the criminal justice system is everybody has to do their job. No. 1, if you`re the prosecutor faced with this and you have a victim who may or may not be reticent to testify, you have to convince them of the importance of testifying so that he goes to jail for the maximum 30 years.
No. 2, even under the plea agreement, he was exposed to ten years, and the prosecution in that case, for reasons that are completely inexplicable to me, asked for only six of the ten years.
(CROSSTALK)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Carrie McGonigle -- hold on. Carrie McGonigle, you are the mother of Amber Dubois. Your daughter is missing. What is your reaction to the fact that you suspect that this guy could be involved -- so do cops -- that he didn`t have to be out when your daughter went missing. That he could have been behind bars.
MCGONIGLE: It makes me sick. I don`t -- I don`t understand why he was -- why he was out, why he was able to do this. And I don`t understand why he wasn`t brought in for questioning when my daughter went missing. He was so close to us.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: More on this horrifying story.
And a mystery in Maui. We`re going inside a brother`s desperate hunt for his sister. We`re going to talk to Laura Vogel, the missing woman`s, brother, next from Maui.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHERIFF WILLIAM GORE, SAN DIEGO COUNTY, CALIFORNIA: The body was found in an area shortly -- or not far from where we previously discovered a piece of evidence, a shoe. It was about 15 -- 10 to 15 feet away from a tributary that leads down to the lake. And it was covered in a shallow grave.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL: It breaks my heart to have to say that if you`re just joining us, they -- they believe they found the body of 17-year-old Chelsea King. They have found a young woman`s body right near where she went missing, and it was in a shallow grave, covered with debris.
And it`s pretty much just a matter of the medical examiner officially identifying -- positively identifying this beautiful, beautiful girl`s body as that of Chelsea King; an honor student, a runner and the daughter of two wonderful people who are living in hell.
Ok, something is wrong with our culture.
The suspect in this case was expected to be arraigned on murder and rape charges, attacked a 13-year-old girl in the year 2000, pummeling her face. She says he tried to rape her, he molested her. He got five years behind bars.
Had he gotten what he should have gotten, he wouldn`t have been free when Chelsea went jogging last Thursday. This is the guy we`re talking about. John Gardner III, registered sex offender, who was out and about when Chelsea went jogging and now he is the suspect in her horrific death.
And there`s something wrong with our country, because on both sides of the Pacific Ocean, there seems to be a war on women.
Let`s head across the Pacific from California to Maui where the search is being called off for a female hiker who vanished more than a week ago. But police tell ISSUES they are still investigating.
Forty-three-year-old Laura Vogel disappeared after texting a friend that she was camping and meeting the locals on Maui`s beautiful beach coast. Who are these locals Laura was talking about? Were they transients living in the area where Laura`s car was found? Her car was spotted with the passenger door wide open and the keys still in the ignition.
Tonight, brand-new details coming in to ISSUES; we spoke to an investigator working on the case. He tells us Laura`s car was parked on private property in a grassy brush-filled area, an area in Maui where many homeless locals are known to live out of their cars. He tells us, it`s very unusual for a hiker planning on being gone for just a day to park their car there.
We have spoken to everyone living around the area where Laura`s van was found. Laura`s family thinks somebody has to know what happened. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JESSICA VOGEL, LAURA VOGEL`S SISTER-IN-LAW: These people saw Laura. People know -- they saw her that night. People saw her that night and they know something. People know someone. Someone -- someone knows something and we need to find those people. People know what happened. People at least know what she was doing that night.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Laura`s very last call, she dialed a number that phone records show she had never, ever called before. And the number was not saved on her cell phone.
Ok, so who was the last person to speak to Laura Vogel? Police say they are one step closer to finding that mystery man.
Straight out to my awesome expert panel and also joining us, we`re delighted to have Laura`s sister-in-law, Jessica Vogel; also joining by phone, her brother Tim Vogel. Tim, are you still on the ground in Maui? And if so, what is the latest on your frantic search to find your precious sister?
TIM VOGEL, LAURA VOGEL`S BROTHER: I am here. If I could just say one thing real quick about -- what the police said is that it`s very unusual for someone to be there at night. I disagree with that. It`s a beautiful place overlooking the ocean, huge cliffs; it`s just a glorious looking place.
Laura had been there during the day and just thought it was beautiful. And she just went out there for the night. It`s a beautiful place. She just didn`t know what element was there. But it is not unusual for someone to go there.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: When you say element, what are you referring to?
T. VOGEL: There are homeless people that live out there.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes. This to me is clearly a foul play case. I mean, who leaves their door open when they go hiking or camping and who leaves their key in the ignition?
Jessica Vogel, you`re Laura`s sister-in-law. Police found the back of Laura`s cell phone, the part that holds the battery near that transient camp where they found her car. She apparently made two phone calls to a number that was not in her cell phone book. And when police called that number they got this voice mail of a very rough-sounding man.
And tonight, try to explain to this to us. Police are saying they tracked down the man who this number belongs to, but he says I haven`t used that number in more than ten years and he`s not the same person who has the same voice as the cell phone, the gruff figure on the cell phone voice mail?
J. VOGEL: Right. And to be honest, I can`t explain that to you. I don`t know any more information basically than that. That`s all I`ve been told. I don`t know if Tim has anything that he can elaborate on there.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. Tim, this cell phone, tell us what you know.
T. VOGEL: All I can say is the cell phone is proof, provided useful information which is -- and there are several other things that are coming in -- information on this case which has resulted in people being brought in and being questioned. So there is activity -- new activity happening on this case.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Police tell us they`re not sure what to think. Laura`s mom fears foul play; she worries police might believe her daughter just fell off the cliff.
Listen to her.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOAN VOGEL: I think they feel that she slipped and fell over the cliff which is a 50 to 60-foot sheer rock cliff that goes into the ocean. It`s extremely difficult because you just feel like your hands are tied. You don`t -- you don`t know what you can do. We need closure of some sort.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Jessica Vogel, police are apparently saying they don`t have any evidence to point them in either direction? How is that so? I mean who goes hiking and leaves their door open and keys in the ignition. What do you think?
J. VOGEL: You know, we definitely are extremely suspicious. We`re pretty certain that foul play is involved from our perspective. The police, I know, are investigating. They are in a full force investigation right now.
I think our primary focus right now is to find someone who knows something. We know for a fact that Laura was with people the night that she disappeared and we have not talked to those people. And we need to find those people. That`s our primary focus right now.
(CROSSTALK)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: And those -- are those people are the local that she is referred to? Having fun with the locals?
J. VOGEL: yes. Exactly. Exactly. She texted a message that said I`m meeting all the locals. So whoever the locals were that were immediately in that area that she was referring to are people that she was with and somebody knows something. We`re sure of it.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: And take a look -- we do have a photograph of the cliffs in this area and they are obviously very, very steep. And apparently, not far away from there is the ocean at the bottom.
So if someone were to fall off that cliff, it would mean sure death. But the family, as you`re hearing right now doesn`t think that she would go hiking. It doesn`t make any sense, all right? Because why would you go hiking late at night anyway? It would seem that there`s something that`s seriously wrong.
Laura`s friends have been searching the ground, scaling cliff, searching this area. And they`ve actually talked to some of these transients who say they know absolutely nothing. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
J. VOGEL: A guy was like oh, I have never seen her before. The way he was talking, you know they basically tell you some people are lying. And he said I was very suspicious of this guy in the first place.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Hawaii, I thought, was just this beautiful paradise where everybody golfs and surfs, but apparently there`s a widespread crystal meth problem which they call ice there.
Judge Marilyn Milian, there`s no area of the United States that`s exempt from crime, certainly not Hawaii.
JUDGE MARILYN MILIAN, "THE PEOPLE`S COURT": Right. I mean, you could -- there have been a lot of theories propounded about what could have possibly happened and whether, you know, perhaps anybody who is -- not she, of course, but somebody else who was involved in drugs, whether this could have somehow, you know, had something to do with it. We don`t know.
I think that the emphasis, just as the family stated now is to try to get people out there who are watching this right now, who may have spoken to her that night to come forward with the tiniest little bit of information that might lead to something that is usable and that can solve the pieces (ph).
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Mark Herald, you`re the investigator, what should they do? Tim, Laura`s brother, on the ground in Maui -- what would you tell him to do right now?
MARC HARROLD, VETERAN LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER: Well, this is a tough case. You`re going to start with the phone. You`re going to start with the car. You`re in the outdoors so physical evidence is tough.
But, yes, the bottom line here is, I agree. You`ve got to talk to the transient people and I`m not trying to be glib but it`s much easier to find people and interview them when they live somewhere.
You`ve got a group of people who by nature are moving around. They may not be very -- they may not come forward to the police. They may have had some interactions with the police that are not favorable. So I think you start with the technology, the phone, the physical evidence around the car and the people, the transients.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. We are going to stay on top of that case, Laura and Tim -- we are on your side.
Unfortunately, we have yet another story in the war on women. This time it`s a rape and kidnapping. Jaycee Dugard forced to live in captivity with her kidnapper and rapist for 18 long years. Now she is demanding answers.
The very latest next on ISSUES.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He`s sick. He`s not stupid and he`s not crazy. He`s sick. He should have been neutered before he got out of federal prison. That would have stopped all this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHERIFF WILLIAM GORE, SAN DIEGO COUNTY, CALIFORNIA: All the charges and all the investigation factual (ph) will be presented to the district attorney who will make those final charging determinations.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There could be more. Is that what you`re saying, sir?
GORE: I`ll leave that to the district attorney.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When do you expect to have positive identification of the body?
GORE: I would say probably sometime late today or tomorrow.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: That news conference happening less than an hour ago. A really horrific, horrific announcement by the San Diego County Sheriff`s Department that a female was found in a shallow grave covered with debris. They believe it is that beautiful girl you`re looking at right there, Chelsea King, 17 years old, an avid runner, straight-A student, a volunteer, a great daughter, a beautiful human being, dead.
And it didn`t have to happen because the prime suspect, John Gardner III was released after only five years, five years. Despite the fact that in 2000, he viciously attacked a 13-year-old girl that he had lured home on a pretext of watching a movie, got on top of her, pummeled her face and molested her. And he got five years for that.
And as you heard the district attorney is going to make the final decision but it is expected that John Gardner III will be arraigned tomorrow on murder and rape in the case of Chelsea King.
You know, it really revolts me to have to report on these stories day after day. We really do need -- as some guest said earlier on -- an uprising, a nonpolitical TEA party that`s just about law and order and says hey, enough. Our criminal justice system is junk justice. And I want to see that, because that`s our big issue tonight, junk justice.
If this guy had been locked up for 30 years, he wouldn`t have been out there roaming when Chelsea went jogging.
My next guest knows all about this, all too well. Katie Callaway Hall was kidnapped and raped by Phillip Garrido in 1976. That`s the man accused of kidnapping, raping and holding Jaycee Dugard captive for 18 long years.
We`re going to get to Katie in just a moment. There are new developments in Jaycee Dugard`s heart-wrenching saga. She and her family want to hold the state accountable for its role in Jaycee`s 18-year nightmare. The Dugards are expected to sue the California Department of Corrections. They contend parole officers repeatedly missed chances to bust rapist Phillip Garrido and end Jaycee`s captivity.
Police say Garrido and his wife Nancy held Jaycee captive in a filthy backyard compound and that he raped her repeatedly. Jaycee had two daughters allegedly by Garrido as a result of those rapes. For 18 years, parole officers regularly, "Hello, Mr. Garrido, are you home? Oh hey, how you doing? Oh, yes beautiful day out, see you next time."
Yes, parole officers visited over and over again. They failed to uncover this horrific secret.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MATTHEW CATE, CA DEPT. OF CORRECTIONS & REHABILITATION: We agree that serious errors were made over the last ten years. And we obviously deeply regret any error that could have possibly resulted in the victims living under these conditions for even one additional day.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: You know but I`ve got to tell you, I`ve been reading the wire copy. That spokesperson there who works for the same department -- the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation that is fighting -- fighting a court ruling that says you`re going to have to turn over all your documents related to the bungled parole of Philip Garrido.
So they are very sad and they are very sorry, but they are fighting like hell, tooth and nail to not have to release the documents in their possession that is going to show the full extent of their bungling in junk justice land.
Jaycee`s world was destroyed in 1991, 11 years old. She was abducted at a bus stop. Finally last August, the news everybody prayed for.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNDERSHERIFF FRED KOLLAR, EL DORADO COUNTY SHERIFF`S DEPT.: Jaycee Dugard was found alive in Antioch. Excuse me. She was found alive in Antioch.
And just to remind you just a little bit. She was kidnapped in June of 1991. She was taken off the street in front of her house. And as you all know, there was nothing then nor is there anything now to indicate that this was anything other than a stranger abduction of an 11-year-old.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes. No stranger to the Parole Department. No stranger to the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Jaycee and her daughters have been free for six months. Their nightmare however is far from over. It turns out, Jaycee and her two daughters are broke. That is a travesty. And in a moment, we`re going to tell you how you can help this family.
I want to welcome back my panel and I would like to start with Katie Callaway Hall. Katie, you were attacked by this monster, Phillip Garrido. What is your take on the plan by Jaycee and her family to sue the State of California?
KATIE CALLAWAY HALL, RAPED BY PHILLIP GARRIDO IN 1976: Well, I think it`s really sad that the people -- the good citizens of California -- the taxpayers are going to end up footing this bill, but I think there has to be something good to Jaycee and her family.
I mean, my goodness, there has to be accountability somewhere. You know, they don`t just get to get away to get away with not being accountable.
Even the files that have been released have got all the names blacked out, you know? So they`re not giving up anything yet.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: You know, Katie, you had your horror story, you were attacked by this man --
HALL: I do.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: -- and you`re so courageous for speaking out and you`re one of my heroes for speaking out.
And then he got 50 years for raping you and attacking you. And he got released in just over ten years and they never even bothered to call you and tell you they were releasing him. I mean, this is mind-boggling. This whole show has been a litany of horrific, deadly and potentially deadly errors by the justice system.
HALL: Yes, it has. And I`m telling you the parole system in Jaycee`s case and -- which has affected me too, they didn`t fail for 18 weeks or 18 months. They failed for 18 years, 18 years and like I said someone needs to be held accountable.
I think it`s a really sad state of affairs in this country that -- like you said, woman can`t go out walking or jogging by themselves, that they have to be so afraid. I think it`s horrible.
And I`m tired of giving these sexual predators chance two or chance three. I think one and you`re done, no more chances. They have to be put away.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: You`re absolutely right. Hang in there, Katie. Right after the break we`re going to come back with more on you and Jaycee Dugard`s continuing nightmare.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRENT KING, CHELSEA`S FATHER: Every morning she would say, "Good-bye, mom and dad, have a great day." And when she got home she`d always ask us, "How was your day?" We`d sit down and talk about, she`s just -- she couldn`t wait for the next day.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: That was an interview done with the family, the parents of Chelsea King before what is believed to be her body was discovered late this afternoon. The announcement was late this afternoon. It was discovered around 1:00 this afternoon.
Look at that beautiful girl. Medical examiner is now in the process of positively identifying and they expect will positively identify that body as that of this young woman we`re looking at.
There is really something fundamentally wrong going on in America that the person who is suspected of attacking her attacked a 13-year-old girl in 2000 and viciously pummeled her and she says tried to rape her and he got five years. Something sick about that and something`s got to change.
Katie Callaway Hall, you were talking about an uprising. I mean that`s what we need. We need a march on Washington where women, the women of the world and the men who love them, the fathers and the husbands, stand up with the women of the world and say, you know what? No. We are not taking this anymore. I am sick and tired of having nonviolent drug offenders doing more time than somebody who attacks a 13-year-old girl or in your case, Katie, he did ten years for the vicious rape that has completely shattered your life.
HALL: Yes. He should have never gotten out. And he should -- and this John Gardner person should have never gotten out either. These type of offenders need to just be put away forever and they need to have their own separate prison, I feel, for sexual offenders. These types of people can`t be rehabilitated. Just put them away. Lock them up.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Judge Marilyn Milian now we`re hearing that Phillip and Nancy Garrido, who held little Jaycee -- and we can say allegedly, they haven`t gone to trial yet -- for 18 long years, are now being allowed two five-minute phone conversations in jail. The judge says it`s up to Nancy to decide if she wants to talk to her husband.
Why are we worrying about them having -- this isn`t a hotel where you get to do room to room calls.
MILIAN: There is absolutely no constitutional right to communicate with a co-defendant in your case. In this case the defense had asked for them to be able to have a meeting to discuss family issues, which is quite ironic considering that the family issues that they want to discuss stem from the 18 years of criminal activity that created that family.
In the end what the judge allowed was two five-minute phone calls if she wants it. I don`t even -- I wouldn`t have allowed that. I don`t know that I can condemn that but I wouldn`t even have allowed it because they really have absolutely no right to it.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes. It`s ridiculous. It`s more junk justice. Dr. Dale Archer, the whole system is screwed up. You know that in California where all this is happening -- but it`s happening all over the country -- for every California parole officer there are 70 parolees. A 70 - 1 ratio which is one reason they never found this family living in this sicko`s backyard.
DR. DALE ARCHER, CLINICAL PSYCHIATRIST: Right. There are 704,777 registered sex offenders in America today. Obviously the system cannot cope with that and that`s why it`s broken.
You know what? The Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act was a great idea. The problem, we don`t have the resources.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. Got to leave it there. Thank you panel. And Katie, please come back. We need your voice.
And here`s how you can help Jaycee and h her family. Send a check to the Jaycee Dugard Trust Fund, care of Viewtech Financial Services, P.O. Box 596, Atwood, California. We need to help her.
END
