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NANCY GRACE

Misty Croslin Looking for Plea Deal?

Aired April 23, 2010 - 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: Breaking news tonight, Satsuma, Florida. A 5- year-old girl tucked into bed, five hours later, she`s gone. Daddy comes home from the night shift to find not a trace of little Haleigh. The last person to see her alive, new stepmother Misty Croslin, who takes to the airwaves claiming she`s innocent. But even in one brief interview, she can`t keep her story straight, including a 180 on a lie detector she flunked. Little Haleigh`s own father, Ronald Cummings, and baby-sitter- turned-stepmother Misty Croslin both handcuffed, arrested, booked. Charges, drug trafficking.

Bombshell tonight. Is Croslin set to take a plea deal? Misty Croslin goes all the way to the Florida governor, whining about her treatment. This as we obtain more secretly recorded jailhouse tapes, hours of Croslin yakking to Mommy and Daddy, you name it, all caught on video. As usual, it`s all about Misty Croslin, whining about life behind bars, Croslin breaking down in tears, actually blaming the little girl`s kidnap for ruing her life, repeatedly referring to the kidnapper as "he." This while Croslin`s own brother blames their alleged drug operation for Haleigh`s disappearance. But why? As police comb those jailhouse tapes for clues, tonight, where is 5-year-old Haleigh?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MISTY CROSLIN, HALEIGH`S BABY-SITTER: Today`s a very bad day for me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was taken to the crime scene, to the river.

MISTY CROSLIN: Tomorrow`s going to be a bad day for me, too, OK?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Detectives showed her what they had found.

MISTY CROSLIN: I was freaking out. I was, like, Man, they got me!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was shown bones.

GRACE: ... shown bones...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... bones and remains...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know that bones have been found in the river.

FLORA HOLLARS, MISTY`S GRANDMOTHER: She knows something.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Human bone or animal bone?

HOLLARS: She was pointing a spot out on the river on the TV.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They`re still denying that they found any human remains.

MISTY CROSLIN: It was crazy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... show her the bones...

GRACE: They put her in the car with brother Tommy Croslin.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And let`s say she has the reaction...

MISTY CROSLIN: I`m serious. I was, like, Oh, my God.

HOLLARS: Those three grandkids of mine is involved in this, and I don`t know why!

MISTY CROSLIN: The cops said there was a whole bunch of bricks...

It was a brick. Like, there was a brick on the floor.

-- but I`ve never seen any bricks at all.

HOLLARS: They have no remorse or something!

MISTY CROSLIN: I`m not hiding anything.

JOE OVERSTREET, MISTY`S COUSIN: I didn`t do it.

TOMMY CROSLIN, MISTY`S BROTHER: I don`t know where she is.

RONALD CUMMINGS, HALEIGH`S FATHER: If I find whoever has my daughter before y`all do, I`m killing him. I don`t care. I`ll spend the rest of my life in prison. I`m telling you, you can put it on recording, I don`t care.

MISTY CROSLIN: Well, youthful offender -- I would do it. I would take it. Three years in and four years out, I`ll take it. I`ll take it and run. It`s, like -- but I`d be in, like, a boot camp since I`m so young. If they put me in prison, I`ll be, like, in a boot camp.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us. Bombshell tonight. Is Misty Croslin, baby-sitter-turned- stepmother, the last person to see little Haleigh Cummings alive, set to take a plea deal? To what? Croslin goes all the way to the Florida governor complaining about her treatment. This as we obtain even more secretly recorded jailhouse tapes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People are starting to talk.

MISTY CROSLIN: I don`t know where she is.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People are starting to cooperate.

MISTY CROSLIN: There`s nothing to break me on.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think she`s come to realize that, you know, she`s in trouble.

LISA CROSLIN, MISTY`S MOTHER: I see the smile.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are reports of two cinderblocks retrieved from the river.

MISTY CROSLIN: It was a brick. Like, there was brick on the floor.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And my sources telling me police have obtained yellow rope from Tommy Croslin`s home.

TOMMY CROSLIN: I said, I can`t help you find her body. I don`t know where she is.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They told the family it`s time, they have enough evidence that they can start making funeral arrangements for little Haleigh.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Bring her back.

CUMMINGS: I know somebody took my little girl!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We just want our baby to come home.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They brought the family members in to the sheriff`s office.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He`s not as strong at home as he is on TV.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They told him that it was now a homicide investigation.

CHELSEA CROSLIN, MISTY`S SISTER-IN-LAW: It was the worst thing I`ve ever been through in my entire life.

LEONARD PADILLA, BOUNTY HUNTER: Misty is being very coy about answering the questions.

HOLLARS: She says, But Nanny, I was scared.

PADILLA: She has not told the truth.

HOLLARS: This is something you should have said a long time ago.

PADILLA: The truth is still within Misty.

MISTY CROSLIN: If people think that I had something to do with it -- if I had something to do with it, I knew where she was, we wouldn`t be sitting here today.

They ain`t never seen us, how we lived before. We always had nice stuff, nice things.

HANK CROSLIN: Been up and down all of our life, but we`ve always come out -- out of it. But this time -- I ain`t never -- this time`s terrible.

MISTY CROSLIN: I never thought, ever thought this would ever be, like, something to even think about happening.

HANK CROSLIN: Me neither. No way.

MISTY CROSLIN: Seen this (EXPLETIVE DELETED) on TV, and you know, I didn`t think it was -- you know, I didn`t think it ever could happen to us.

HANK CROSLIN: They`re out to get you, and they got you.

MISTY CROSLIN: They can`t charge me with stuff that I didn`t do.

HANK CROSLIN: Accessory, I guess.

MISTY CROSLIN: They can`t charge me with all these -- yes, but they can`t charge me for just trafficking.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Is she crazy? Eleanor, Eleanor Odom, she is behind bars, suspected in the murder of a 5-year-old little girl, and she`s saying she can`t go to boot camp, which is a diversion program where you basically go to a youth boot camp for a couple months and then you get cut loose?

ELEANOR ODOM, PROSECUTOR: I know. It`s hard to believe. She doesn`t even have any offer of that that we know of right now, and that would certainly be a generous offer, considering all the drugs she was selling.

GRACE: And let me make it clear. She is not a formal suspect. The police have not named her a person of interest or a suspect. What we do know is she`s the last person to see 5-year-old Haleigh alive.

Now with breaking news, investigative journalist Art Harris. Art, what can you tell us?

ART HARRIS, INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALIST: I can tell you, Nancy, that as I reported on Artharris.com last week, she has flunked a polygraph, a police polygraph, and now I know that her brother took one on Thursday. No results announced, but this is something that we`re all holding our breath about because if Tommy Croslin passes his test, then it`s back on Misty. If he doesn`t, then all bets are off.

GRACE: Well, it would seem to me, Art Harris, if she flunked yet another -- I think this would be the fourth polygraph, it`s not off Misty. It`s not on anybody else, it`s still on Misty Croslin.

HARRIS: That`s true. But there would be other possibilities beyond Misty, if Tommy Croslin knocked on the door of the trailer that night, says no one was home, we don`t know what the questions were that he was asked. But if there was any deception shown, Nancy, his story could be held up to the light of the truth.

GRACE: OK. Art -- with me, investigative journalist Art Harris. Art, what can you tell me about the conditions surrounding her most recent polygraph that we now learn, you`ve learned she flunked?

HARRIS: I can tell you, Nancy, that she was scheduled to take one a few days before. She was too sick to take it. They set it up again. It was given in the St. John`s County jail building, administrative building. Several detectives were there who`d been working on the case. An independent polygraph operator, who is a veteran...

GRACE: Who?

HARRIS: ... a woman named Patty Knight (ph) from a nearby county, came over to do it. It was done between 5:30, 8:30 PM in the evening. And she showed deception on every question.

GRACE: On every question.

HARRIS: That`s right.

GRACE: Art, how did you find that out?

HARRIS: Nancy, I`ll just say that I spoke with people who are familiar with the test.

GRACE: Do you have any idea what the questions were?

HARRIS: Well, we know that the question that she had -- that was raised in letters she wrote to her relatives revolved around the scenario she named, was that her brother, Tommy, and her cousin, Joe, the mystery cousin from Tennessee, were at the trailer that night. And she claimed that she saw them with Haleigh, that they came over to steal a gun from her husband, Ron Cummings, and the gun wasn`t there -- or then boyfriend. And so Tommy left, and cousin Joe was mad and took Haleigh.

Of course, they are not suspects. Cousin Joe has denied all involvement. He has a lawyer. He`s been interviewed twice by law enforcement. And he is right now in the clear.

GRACE: And so she flunked the polygraph all about that scenario. So that is just a crock of lies, right?

HARRIS: Nancy, we don`t know what to believe at this point.

GRACE: To Jean Casarez, legal correspondent, "In Session." Jean, after taking a listen to all of these newly obtained jailhouse recordings, what is she talking about a plea deal? Who has offered her, if anybody, jail for three years, or is that just something she dreamed up behind bars?

JEAN CASAREZ, "IN SESSION": Or is this something her attorney has talked to her about? Well, what`s interesting, Nancy, she`s charged with eight felony counts, charged as an adult with prescription drug trafficking. She`s saying that she will enter a plea deal as a youthful offender. That`s a juvenile. And that means she would go to a juvenile institution until she is 21, and then she said she`d get out on probation. So that`s what she`s believing. But with these counts, does she really even know what the reality is?

GRACE: Unleash the lawyers -- Eleanor Odom, prosecutor, Atlanta, Renee Rockwell, veteran defense attorney out of Atlanta, Peter Odom, defense attorney also out of Atlanta.

To you, Peter Odom. There is no -- first of all, it sounds to me like her idea that she`s getting from a jailhouse lawyer -- in other words, somebody that`s been around the block several times and thinks they know the system, telling her what she can hope to get on these drug charges. What do you make of it?

PETER ODOM, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I think that what she`s talking about, a three-year sentence or a boot camp sentence, is probably what`s going to happen with her. Nancy, keep it in perspective. All the drugs that she sold in their entirety could fit in a Ziploc bag, in a quart-lock Zip-size -- Ziploc bag, at that.

GRACE: Well, hold it!

PETER ODOM: It`s $4,000 worth of drugs.

GRACE: Wait! Wa-wait! Wait! You are misleading the viewers! First of all, Elizabeth, please pull up the video of Ms. Croslin doing a drug deal. Yes, it would only fill up a Ziploc bag. But it`s because it`s tiny, tiny...

PETER ODOM: Right.

GRACE: ... Oxycodone and Oxycontin pills, Eleanor...

PETER ODOM: Right.

GRACE: ... so you can fill up a bag with, like, a thousand of those.

PETER ODOM: Right, and that...

ELEANOR ODOM: Exactly. And remember, it`s a trafficking amount. That`s a lot of drugs, Nancy.

GRACE: What about it, Renee?

RENEE ROCKWELL, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: And not only that, Nancy, but eight different counts. Now, at the end of the day, a three-year sentence in a boot camp is not unreasonable. But she`s going to have to come to the table with something, and it`s going to have to be something about the disappearance of the baby.

GRACE: You are seeing video right now of undercover police surveillance from a pinhole camera inside a police undercover car, Misty Croslin leading the drug sale. And there you go with the first Ziploc bag full of illegal drugs.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MISTY CROSLIN: Hey. I`m in the car with him. Where do you want me to meet you?

I haven`t seen him.

HANK CROSLIN: Well, he said he didn`t -- he wasn`t going to leave you, he`s going to stick with you to the end.

MISTY CROSLIN: OK.

HANK CROSLIN: He just -- he just wishes that you would be straight with him because he`s your lawyer and he`s not going to do nothing to harm you.

MISTY CROSLIN: I know. I am, though.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HANK CROSLIN: If you could do something to help yourself, man, you would be home with us.

MISTY CROSLIN: Daddy, I -- there`s nothing I can do. I`ve told them everything, told them everything I know. If I knew anything else, they would know. Really. They would.

I don`t want to be here, man. I don`t want to be at this place. This place is not nowhere I want to be. It`s not scary or nothing, it`s just I don`t want to be here. I want to be able to do my -- have my own freedom and not treated like a dog. Of course I do.

I just want them to do whatever they`re going to do with me, and let`s get it done and over with because I`m tired of sitting in this (EXPLETIVE DELETED) jail. I mean, OK, what`s the point of me sitting in the jail? I could be at home sitting, doing the same thing, waiting for court, you know? I don`t understand. Now I have to wait another frickin` no telling how long for court.

HANK CROSLIN: You`re headed for a long haul, baby, hard road. I just wish you would have listened to me in the beginning.

MISTY CROSLIN: I know. I wish I would have, too. That first day when you were -- when you said that, I should have just listened and I wouldn`t be in this mess.

HANK CROSLIN: That`s why I cussed you out and everything.

MISTY CROSLIN: I have $1.3 million...

HANK CROSLIN: And you told me to mind my own business. Cussed me out and told me to mind my own business.

MISTY CROSLIN: I know I did.

HANK CROSLIN: You was my business.

MISTY CROSLIN: I know. I know. I wish -- you know, I wish my bond wasn`t this high because I could bond out.

HANK CROSLIN: Sure. Yes, it`s your first time ever getting in trouble, you know?

MISTY CROSLIN: My first time ever being in trouble, they`re going to put me at $1.3 million.

HANK CROSLIN: That`s because they think...

MISTY CROSLIN: I know.

HANK CROSLIN: ... you know more than what you`re saying.

MISTY CROSLIN: I know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Out to Marlaina Schiavo, our producer on the story. Marlaina, what is she -- why is she contacting the governor?

MARLAINA SCHIAVO, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: She said that she`s going to write to the governor because she doesn`t like how she`s being treated in jail. She`s in protective custody, and she thinks that that`s a punishment. Meanwhile, we spoke to the jail, and it`s for her protection because if they put her in general population, she might get hurt. So -- and she also says that she doesn`t like the food, Nancy, and she wants him to look into it.

GRACE: Doesn`t like the food and she wants the governor to look into it. OK. Renee -- Renee Rockwell, everything she writes to the governor will be admissible in court.

ROCKWELL: Yes, but I`m pretty sure that she`s just going to be writing about the food conditions. And Nancy, everything that she`s writing to anybody is going to be admissible in court, unless she`s writing to her attorney. So all these letters that she`s sending to all these relatives about what`s going on, what happened, what didn`t happen, those are absolutely fair game for the prosecution.

GRACE: To Dr. Jeff Gardere, psychologist, author of "Love Prescription." Dr. Jeff, here`s the bottom line. When you see her talking to her father, saying, I`ve told them everything I know, and breaking down crying and talking about wanting to go home, you`ve got to put that against the backdrop of four failed polygraphs, a failed voice stress test, and either a refusal or inability to go under hypnosis. If she really didn`t know anything, she wouldn`t be failing four different polygraphs -- four polygraphs!

JEFF GARDERE, PSYCHOLOGIST: Absolutely. This is a woman who`s not only immature, young woman who`s not only immature, but also a sociopath. We can just look at the fact that she was involved with Haleigh Cummings, the way that she was, the way that she didn`t really take care of her. And then finally, with the eyes of the world looking at you, Nancy, knowing law enforcement is monitoring you, then you get involved in drug deals. This is insanity.

GRACE: Jean Casarez, the reality is, looking at her, you want to believe her. You want to believe anyone that`s talking and take them at face value and believe them. But you can`t because we know that she flunked four polygraphs. Private polygraphs, police polygraphs, voice stress test, you name it, she flunked it.

CASAREZ: Now, let`s add more facts to what you just said. She just said in these recently released jailhouse tapes, basically, without naming a name -- she said she knows who did whatever happened to Haleigh, that he, singular, is walking around free while she`s in there. You hear her father respond that from the very beginning, they`ve told that to law enforcement. They`ve done nothing. And we know Art Harris has clued us in to who "he" is. Well, if police have done nothing, that`s because they have no probable cause, they have no evidence at all of this lone male person.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HANK CROSLIN: Well, as soon as they get this Haleigh case wrapped up, they`ll let us alone. I understand. I understand them to an extent, you know? I understand they want to find Haleigh. And I want them to find Haleigh, too, and find out who did this to Haleigh. I don`t care who it is. Well...

MISTY CROSLIN: Well, of course, but they don`t have to do this, like, this ruining of our life!

HANK CROSLIN: ... I think we let them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HANK CROSLIN: You just got to get your butt out of there. Do whatever you got to do to get out of there, Misty.

MISTY CROSLIN: I am, Daddy. I want out of here so bad. They can put me on an ankle bracelet, you know? That`s even -- that would even -- you know, being in jail, this isn`t even a lesson, OK? If I`m outside, out in the open and knowing I can`t leave the house, you know, that`s even tempting.

HANK CROSLIN: Well, they did that to somebody -- when your mom was in court last time, there was this girl and a guy got caught selling some pills to an undercover cop, and they gave them two years` house arrest and two years` probation.

MISTY CROSLIN: That`s -- I would love for that, man. Give me two years probation and two years house arrest, man? Give me six years, I don`t care!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Straight out to Leonard Padilla, bounty hunter who offered to bail Croslin out of jail. Of course, her attorney would have nothing to do with it because his condition was she help tell him what happened the night Haleigh went missing. Leonard Padilla joining us out of Sacramento via Skype. What do you make of the now bombshell that she`s flunked a fourth polygraph? There`s no way around it, she is lying.

LEONARD PADILLA, BOUNTY HUNTER: Well, Nancy, I don`t think she could tell the truth and pass. Her mind is so convoluted with what happens in her life, especially that particular evening, that there`s people that have many, many doubts as to whether she could pass a lie detector test even if she told the truth.

Now, Art Harris says that Tommy took a lie detector test Thursday, which obviously hasn`t been publicized. If he`d have passed it -- if he took it Thursday and he passed it, his attorney would be all over the media with it.

GRACE: Man, you`re not kidding.

PADILLA: So if he did take one Thursday -- if he took one Thursday and it ain`t been publicized for the past week...

GRACE: Yes, it can`t be good.

PADILLA: ... I can only wonder what happened.

GRACE: Paul Penzone, let`s talk about what Padilla just said -- Paul Penzone joining us out of Phoenix, director of prevention program Childhelp.org, former sergeant with the Phoenix PD. Paul, I think even if you were stoned out of your brain that night, you still would be telling the truth this many months later on a polygraph test when you say, I don`t remember. I did the laundry. I went to sleep. She was lying four feet away from me. I don`t think that being high as a kite the night of the incident would prevent her from passing a polygraph this many months later.

PAUL PENZONE, CHILDHELP.ORG: You`re absolutely correct because it`s about telling the truth, not so much her ability to remember every detail. As you know, I was a narcotics detective for many years, and I`ve interviewed hundreds if not thousands of people. She lacks any remorse, any conflict whatsoever in what occurred because she`s hiding something for herself still.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MISTY CROSLIN: They got me where they want me because that`s what they did. I didn`t go out doing that, you know?

HANK CROSLIN: You just fell into their game, Ronald`s and their game.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFF HARDY, PUTNAM COUNTY SHERIFF: At this point, I`m comfortable to go ahead and say that I`m going to call it a homicide.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If somebody had something to do with it, let them fry. So be it.

NANCY GRACE, HLN HOST: What, Miss Hollars, could be their possible motivation for killing a 5-year-old girl?

FLORA HOLLARS, MISTY AND TOMMY CROSLIN`S GRANDMOTHER: I still don`t know. Those three grandkids of mine is involved in this, and I don`t know why. But I sure would like to know why.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Sources telling CNN affiliate WJXT that two cinder blocks have been taken out of the St. Johns River. Forensic testing now taking place.

HARDY: I`m not going to discuss the particular items that I`ve taken for analysis.

MISTY CROSLIN, HALEIGH`S BABY-SITTER: The cops said there was a whole bunch of bricks about 50 feet away. But I`ve never seen any bricks at all.

HARDY: I think she`s come to realize that, you know, she`s in trouble.

HOLLARS: She said Joe Overstreet and Tommy wrapped the rope around Haleigh and carried her to the dock at the St. Johns River, and put a block around the other end of the rope and throw her in the river.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Art Harris.com reporting law enforcement has found a yellow rope inside brother Tommy Croslin`s home.

TOMMY CROSLIN, SUSPECT ON HALEIGH`S DISAPPEARANCE: I can`t help you find her body. I don`t know where she is.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Harris`s sources say it could be the possible murder weapon.

MISTY CROSLIN: We are like dogs in here in cages.

HANK CROSLIN: Yeah, I know.

MISTY CROSLIN: I`m serious. They make us -- we`re like -- everybody else is allowed to do you know, come out. We are dogs in here.

HANK CROSLIN: Well, don`t. I might be in there myself here real soon. And your mom.

MISTY CROSLIN: They treating us like we`re dogs. I really am. I`m starting to go off. I`m serious. Is it trafficking when you go state to state or place to place? Come on.

HANK CROSLIN: No. Trafficking I guess is just selling. But you -- it wasn`t you selling, anyways.

MISTY CROSLIN: Exactly.

HANK CROSLIN: I know that, and they know that. But they just -- they`ve got -- they got you. They picked --

MISTY CROSLIN: They got me, but they ain`t got me for all of them.

HANK CROSLIN: They targeted you and they got you.

MISTY CROSLIN: I know.

HANK CROSLIN: That`s all it was about.

MISTY CROSLIN: I know. I`d be all right because when I get done and get out there are -- I`m going to do what I`ve got to do, but I`m not doing -- I`m not taking the ride for all these charges, dad. I`m not. I`m not taking it. Because I didn`t do all of it. That`s not right. It`s not at all. It makes me angry when I think about it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: OK. That is B.S., Art Harris. She did do it. We`ve got it on video. My point is forget about the drugs, which we`re about to show you her doing the deal. You`ve got Ron Cummings in the back seat riding along.

Liz, do you have the sound that goes with that? Yes, no, maybe.

Liz, do you have the sound?

OK. Pump it up so we can hear it. She`s counting out the drugs.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`m not an accountant.

MISTY CROSLIN: Oh, man. Five minutes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: She looks like she`s high as a kite right there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MISTY CROSLIN: Hi. I`m in the car with him. Where do you want me to meet you? You want me to just go to my house?

Yeah, I`ll go to --

Oh, Lord, please don`t let --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, don`t do that.

MISTY CROSLIN: So this other dude, you don`t want to get him --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And he`s got what?

MISTY CROSLIN: 20 of them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 20 of them.

MISTY CROSLIN: So five times -- or 20 times five would be --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 25.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let me -- I`ll call my brother-in-law, and see how much time before they`re planning on going. Going to do like last time, drop them at --

MISTY CROSLIN: I`m mobile. (INAUDIBLE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Usually.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: So Art Harris, her denying this over and over to her father. She`s on video. We`re about to show you more. My point is if she`s so convincing, crying and anguished, that she didn`t sell dope, what about her denial she had anything to do with Misty`s disappearance? Excuse me, with Haleigh`s disappearance.

ART HARRIS, INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALIST: Well, Nancy, she`s trying to rewrite the subtitles of what we`ve actually seen with our own eyes here. And, you know, 80 percent of the times, according to statistics, the last person or family members who have seen a child are somehow involved, according to the FBI. So she is denying and denying. But you know, deception may just be in her DNA, Nancy. And no one can tell if she`s telling the truth about anything. She grew up this way. Her grandmother blames her parents. I`ve talked to her, Flora Hollars, in Tennessee, for how she was raised. And this is just something that --

GRACE: OK, Art, Art, Art, please, do not start about how it`s her mommy and daddy`s fault and it`s her grandparents and they said this. No, they were not there in the home the night Haleigh went missing. So don`t throw any psychobabble on me. This is -- you are right. Statistically, the last person with the child is responsible for what befell them.

And I want to go to Paul Penzone on that out of Phoenix, Arizona. She`s the last one with her. Her story doesn`t make sense. She`s failed four polygraphs. Her story has changed. It has altered. The many times she tells it, it changes.

What does that say to you, Penzone?

PAUL PENZONE, CHILDHELP`S DIRECTOR OF PREVENTION PROGRAMS: Well, we have to be honest with ourselves and say there are people, as your earlier guest stated, that are sociopaths. They have no moral fiber. They don`t care about others other than themselves. So she`s willing to lie at all costs to save her own soul. If she`s not involved in this, I would be amazed. I would put every year of my experience in law enforcement on the fact that she is involved in the disappearance of this beautiful baby.

GRACE: To Dr. Michael Hunter, forensic pathologist, medical examiner, joining us out of New York tonight.

Dr. Hunter, could there be any evidence left on the body of Haleigh Cummings even if, worst case scenario, she were left out in the elements?

DR. MICHAEL HUNTER, FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST: Well, if she`s left out in the elements, then given the time frame, she`s going to be skeletal. And I think probably completely skeletal. I think what a medical examiner can do, an anthropologist can do, can define possibly what injuries maybe she sustained. Head trauma, penetrating and perforating wounds such as gunshot wounds and stab wounds. Other than that you`re really left to the circumstances behind her disappearance and her discovery. Now, as far as evidence, DNA, and so forth that may tie someone to it, I really doubt that that`s going to be possible.

GRACE: And to you, Eleanor Odom, what do you make of it?

ELEANOR ODOM, PROSECUTOR: Well, I completely agree, Nancy, you`re not going to find that. But that doesn`t mean a person can`t be prosecuted for murder even if there`s not as much evidence as we would like, DNA and that sort of thing. You can still hold them accountable.

GRACE: Plus finding the body out in the elements or perhaps partially buried would indicate, of course, it was not an accidental death.

Everybody, as we go to break, happy birthday to South Carolina friend Kathy Evans. She loves classic movies, reading, and the love of her life, great niece, Abby. Happy birthday, Kathy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HANK CROSLIN: I loved Haleigh.

MISTY CROSLIN: Me too.

HANK CROSLIN: And they know I didn`t have nothing to do with it. I was in the damn hospital. Why you going to treat me like that?

MISTY CROSLIN: Because that`s just -- they`re just assholes, man.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MISTY CROSLIN: I`m not taking the ride for all these charges, dad. I didn`t do all this. I`m not taking all these charges. I didn`t do all that. I`m not doing it. The ones I`m not doing anything, it was -- in the video is the one I`m not doing it. I`m not. I`m not. I`m taking that (EXPLETIVE DELETED) to trial because I`m not going down for something that I didn`t do. I should not be --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Renee Rockwell, have you noticed how she keeps referring to "he" as the kidnapper?

RENEE ROCKWELL: I noticed that. And I like the way she says, Nancy, that she`s not going to take it, she`s not going to take the rap for all that. Here`s the deal. You`ve got eight trafficking counts against you. The prosecutor, if she wants to go to trial, is going to get the strongest one. There`s not going to be a trial. Nancy, what these law enforcement people want and are begging for is just for one straight story. Right?

GRACE: Well, she`s --

ROCKWELL: And then she can bargain her way out of there. Maybe. But they just can`t get it from her.

GRACE: And I imagine the reason they`re not getting it from her, Peter Odom, is because it implicates her.

PETER ODOM: She`s scared of something more than she`s scared of the prosecutors and jail. And I can`t speculate as to what. But she clearly knows something that she`s not saying, and something very powerful is keeping her from saying it.

GRACE: I would think that something may be, Eleanor Odom, the Florida death penalty.

ELEANOR ODOM: Well, very well, because clearly she knows something about Haleigh. As we`ve all said she was the last one to see Haleigh alive.

GRACE: And statistically, Eleanor, what is the likelihood that somebody else came into that home and took the child with nobody waking up, nobody hearing anything, when the child was about three feet away from her?

ELEANOR ODOM: Highly unlikely. She knows something. And she can`t open her mouth without lying. It`s just disgusting, Nancy.

GRACE: Marlaina, what do you know?

MARLAINA SCHIAVO, NANCY PRODUCER: Well, I do know that her attorney says he`s going to stick with her, but he is begging her to give her -- give him a straight story. And we also know that, Tommy, her brother, his lawyer dropped him as of yesterday because he doesn`t want to deal with this Haleigh thing anymore. He`s just going to represent him on the drug charges.

GRACE: Jean Casarez?

JEAN CASAREZ: Plea deal is right. Now, you know, Nancy, at the last hearing, I listened very closely, and I heard the judge say to Ronald`s attorney, now, you`re discussing something right now with the prosecutor, right? And he said, yes, we are. We`re not hearing that from Misty. That`s why they`re giving her the lie detector test. They want her to pass because they want information to be credible so they can help solve this case and give her probably a plea deal.

GRACE: What is your point about the prosecutor discussing what, a plea deal with Ronald Cummings?

CASAREZ: Yes. I think that -- I mean, we -- I think this is the time that something could happen if they could give -- if she could give them information, if Misty could. That`s the whole point that they`re trying to do.

GRACE: But Art Harris, Jean is correct. You do hear that. But Art Harris, if she keeps flunking polys, they can`t take anything she says to the bank, nothing.

HARRIS: That`s right, Nancy. They need someone to corroborate just an ounce, a shred of what she`s saying for her to be credible, for her information to be useful to anybody. No prosecutor can rely on anything she says right now.

GRACE: And to Dr. Michael Hunter out of New York, forensic pathologist, medical examiner. Dr. Hunter, just finding the body alone, depending on where it`s found and the condition in which it`s found, would likely be enough to support a murder charge.

HUNTER: Well, certainly you`d look at that, and given the circumstances, you would definitely classify a case like that as a homicide maybe by unspecified means if you`re not able to identify the particular cause. But I think anyone would be able to be comfortable with a homicide ruling.

GRACE: To Dr. Jeff Gardere, psychologist.

Jeff, we`ve talked about lie detector tests and the ability to lie. It would be very tough, in my opinion, for this girl, Misty Croslin, to beat a lie detector test. In fact, she`s flunked four of them. What does that say to you in when you take a look at her on these secretly recorded jailhouse tapes crying and crying about how she wasn`t involved.

DR. JEFF GARDERE, PSYCHOLOGIST: To me this is a very typical example. And Nancy, you said this early, you were right on it. If she can tell this boldfaced or bald-faced lie about what happened with this drug deal, then what does that tell you as to what she knows with Haleigh Cummings? She knows something, but she just does not have the ability to tell the truth.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HANK CROSLIN: It`s stupid. It`s just because who -- it`s just because of who we are. I mean, they`re messing with me about my grandkids. There`s no sense in that. I never hurt no kid, never would. I love my grandkids.

MISTY CROSLIN: That`s ridiculous.

HANK CROSLIN: If I found out somebody did hurt Haleigh, I`d be the first one to put a bullet in them. I don`t give a (EXPLETIVE DELETED) if it was my son or who.

MISTY CROSLIN: I know.

HANK CROSLIN: But I know my son had nothing to do with it. I know for a fact.

HANK CROSLIN: They`re probably going to have us all in jail before it`s all over with.

MISTY CROSLIN: You`ve got to stop saying that. No, they`re not.

HANK CROSLIN: Well, that`s what they want.

MISTY CROSLIN: You did nothing wrong. Mom did not do nothing wrong. I didn`t even do anything wrong. And they got me in here. I didn`t do nothing wrong. What they`re trying to get me that`s like, you know look at all the murderers and killers out here. They`re getting seven years in jail and (EXPLETIVE DELETED) like that. They arrest people that -- they shouldn`t be arrested. They shouldn`t be worried about (EXPLETIVE DELETED) like this. They should be worried about (EXPLETIVE DELETED) other (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

HANK CROSLIN: Drugs are bad business.

MISTY CROSLIN: Yes, it is. But I`m not what they say I am, man.

HANK CROSLIN: I know you`re not. And they know you`re not, too.

MISTY CROSLIN: I know.

HANK CROSLIN: They`re just -- let a little young girl fall into some stupid game that they had.

MISTY CROSLIN: I know.

HANK CROSLIN: That`s how they work.

MISTY CROSLIN: Can`t wait just to get out of jail and just be home with y`all.

HANK CROSLIN: They`re there to brake, Misty. That`s what they`re there to do. And they ain`t going to be easy on you.

MISTY CROSLIN: They can`t --

HANK CROSLIN: When it comes to -- when it comes to an innocent child, that`s how they are. They just want to know where she`s at and what happened.

MISTY CROSLIN: Well, I can`t tell them that. If I could, I would.

HANK CROSLIN: The only charge they got on me is the only charge they`re ever going to get on me.

MISTY CROSLIN: Exactly. These are the only charges they`re going to have on me, too, because when I`m done, get out of here, I ain`t never doing nothing wrong again.

HANK CROSLIN: I ain`t no damn thief. I ain`t never been no thief.

MISTY CROSLIN: I know. I can`t believe they won`t let mom come see me.

HANK CROSLIN: Because of this other charge.

MISTY CROSLIN: I know.

HANK CROSLIN: That`s a (EXPLETIVE DELETED) charge, too.

MISTY CROSLIN: I know.

HANK CROSLIN: But they`re going to find out. They got cameras there. They can find out what happened. Wal-Mart should have cameras.

MISTY CROSLIN: Oh, they do.

HANK CROSLIN: The lady, the lady said "oh, they`re Croslins." That`s the reason why she was saying that (EXPLETIVE DELETED). Your mom didn`t steal no (EXPLETIVE DELETED) purse. I`m sorry. I got to watch my mouth.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: And now CNN Heroes.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I entered the E.R. from a severe cold. I was 24 weeks pregnant. I had H1N1.

They put me in a coma to stabilize me. I was in a coma for roughly six weeks.

When I woke up, my husband said we had to take out the baby. And I immediately clenched my stomach, but he settled me down and was like, "No, no, he`s OK. He`s down in the NICU.

DR. SEAN DANESHMAND, CNN HERO: My daughter was born prematurely. And to see people hearing there`s something wrong with their baby, and then to have to worry about everything else around them, I mean, life doesn`t stop.

I`m Dr. Sean Daneshmand. I started an organization that provides assistance to families with babies in the NICU. I wanted to take some of the suffering that these women go through away from them so they can really focus on their baby.

It`s emotionally draining. And the way the economy now is, people are suffering.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I didn`t think this was going to be as hard. She`s going to do it. She`s going to be OK.

DANESHMAND: They need extra money for clothing, diapers, medical expenses, rent. These are families that, all of a sudden, in a time of crisis, now need extra help. And that`s what we`re about.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They helped us with our mortgage, with gas.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Something as simple as gas cards to be able to make it to the NICU every day just helped tremendously.

DANESHMAND: I can`t think of any other time in one`s life where you need someone to be there for you.

You`re good? You`ve got to stay strong right now.

I`ve got a very special rule in life. I never thought I`d be here. And, my God, I`m having a great time.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRACE: What a week in America`s courtrooms. Take a look at the stories and, more important, the people who touched our lives.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Items have been recovered at the search site.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The cinder blocks.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Cinder blocks.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Those cinder blocks --

HARDY: I`m not going to discuss the particular items that I`ve taken for analysis.

MISTY CROSLIN: I didn`t do anything with that little girl.

HARDY: I will not be mentioning any names at this time.

HOLLARS: I was told by Misty --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Misty.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Misty, she was the last one to see our daughter.

HOLLARS: She said, Nanny, I`m telling you everything I know.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a huge river.

HOLLARS: Tied Haleigh up with a yellow rope --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He could have potentially been put in.

HOLLARS: And tied a brick of block to the rope.

MISTY CROSLIN: Yes, it was brick, like it was a brick on the floor.

HOLLARS: And dropped her into the St. John`s River.

MISTY CROSLIN: I`ve never seen any bricks at all.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Haleigh Cummings is most likely deceased.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Law enforcement searching for 31-year-old missing Ohio mom, Tiffany Tehan. Friends and family fear she may be in danger.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Police hope anyone can lead them to the man in these pictures, who they are calling, a person of interest in the Tiffany Tehan case. It`s from convenience store in East Dayton.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Tiffany went shopping Saturday morning around 9:00 to look for clothes for her 1-year-old daughter. At around 11:00 am, Tiffany vanishes.

HARDY: It`s like looking for a needle in a haystack.

MISTY CROSLIN: Dad, there`s nothing.

HARDY: We were willing to go ahead and take the effort and time to go look for that needle.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who was with her, the last person with her? She was.

MISTY CROSLIN: I woke up, she was gone. The back door was wide open.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She is the one that holds the key information to finding out what happened.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tiffany has been found safely in Miami, Florida.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Now, after days of tension and frantic searching, missing church mom, Tiffany Tehan has been found.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She may have made some mistakes, but everyone does.

GRACE: Haleigh`s great grandmother, and Misty Croslin`s grandmother take side.

ANNETTE SYKES, HALEIGH`S GREAT GRANDMOTHER: Ronald being responsible because he left the children with her, and she was all strung out, but I was there and she was not strung out.

HOLLARS: I have a question for you. Why didn`t Theresa take those kids home with her when Misty offered to pay for her to take them home?

SYKES: I was not aware that she did.

HOLLARS: She most certainly did.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don`t know why she would want her to implicate three of her grandchildren? It`s just very sad to do that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don`t know. Does she have any contracts with any newspaper or any tabloid?

HOLLARS: I have not made a penny off this story. I have told exactly what those two kids have told me, and if none of them down there don`t like it, they can kiss where the sun don`t shine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GRACE: Let`s stop and remember Army Private First Class Omar Torres, 20, Chicago, Illinois, killed Iraq. Accepted as Ohio State scholar. Left studies to enlist, worked as hard on his sleeve, would give you the shirt off his back with a smile that lit up the room. Love sports, Chicago Bears, trained to being a politician.

Left behind grieving parents, Doris and Oscar. A veteran firefighter. Sister, Aurelia (ph), brother, Oscar.

Omar Torres, American hero.

Thanks to our guest, but especially to you for being with us tonight. And a special good night for the New York control room.

Good night Brett, Liz, Squeaky, Evil.

Everyone, I`ll see you tomorrow night, 8:00 sharp Eastern. Until then, good night, friend.

END