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NANCY GRACE

Teen Girl Kidnapped, Mother Found Dead

Aired December 6, 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, live, Virginia, the desperate search for a 12-year-old little girl in extreme danger. Cops head to the Salem suburbs and a beautiful home, complete with luxury pool, in an upscale neighborhood on a quiet cul-de-sac to find 12-year-old Brittany`s mom dead inside the family home, the family car missing, the 12- year-old little girl gone.

Bombshell tonight. As cops chase a dual investigation, homicide and kidnap, tonight, where is 12-year-old Brittany?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Breaking news. Amber Alert. Virginia State Police on the lookout for 12-year-old Brittany Mae Smith, Brittany last seen at her home, the same home where police have just discovered Brittany`s 41-year-old mom, Tina (ph) Smith, dead. Cops say Brittany is in extreme danger and believe she was abducted by 32-year-old Jeffrey Scott Easley, a friend of her mom`s. Time of the essence! Easley may have abducted Brittany in a 2000 red Chevy SUV or a 2005 silver Dodge four-door.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: And tonight, two Alabama toddlers, just 3 and 4 years old, vanish. But tonight, we learn family, friends, neighbors -- they say they haven`t seen the children for months. But wait. Not one of them bothered to call police? That`s some friends and family! And what do Daddy and stepmommy know? Tonight, to Mississippi and the search for baby Jonathan (SIC) and little Natalie.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police in Alabama are now using cadaver dogs to search for that brother and sister.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Three-year-old Chase and four-year-old Natalie.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We want to find these children.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The father, John DeBlase.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Behind bars, charged with child abuse and two counts of abuse of a corpse.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You said, no, you didn`t kill them?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police believe both John and the children`s stepmother, Heather Keaton (ph), are responsible for their deaths.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police have arrested 22-year-old Keaton, charging her with two counts of child abuse.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You do, at this point, believe that these two young children are dead?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Based on what he has told us, we believe that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Authorities think DeBlase buried his own children.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He`s given us an indication of where they -- of a location where they may be, or where he remembers burying the children.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Natalie and Chase DeBlase.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police and cadaver dogs are still searching for the bodies.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us. Bombshell tonight, live, Virginia, the desperate search for a 12- year-old little girl in extreme danger tonight. Police find her mother murdered in the family home, the family car missing, and no Brittany.

We are taking your calls live. First, I want to go out to Nicole Partin, investigative reporter. Nicole, what led the police to the home to start with?

NICOLE PARTIN, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER (via telephone): Good evening, Nancy. And welcome back. You`ve been in my prayers. So happy that you`re back with us tonight.

It`s friends and co-workers that led authorities to the home of Tina Smith. Apparently, her friends were looking for her. They noticed she was not communicating, not talking. No one had seen her. They placed a call to authorities. Authorities went to the home. It`s there they found 41- year-old Tina Smith deceased from what authorities are calling a homicide. From that point, authorities began to focus their search on Tina`s daughter, 12-year-old Brittany Smith, who is now missing.

GRACE: OK, you are seeing shots now of the little girl, 12-year-old Brittany Mae Smith. She`s a white female, 5 feet tall, 100 pounds, straight brown hair, brown eyes. She`s precious.

So you`re telling me, Nicole Partin, that co-workers of the mother, Tina Smith, when she doesn`t show up, they send cops to the home because she`s always shown up. She never misses work. Now, tell me about the neighborhood. I understand it`s pretty nice, a luxury pool in the back yard on a quiet cul-de-sac. What do they find when they get into the home?

PARTIN: Yes, from what we understand, great community. Neighbors keep in touch with one another. They kind of keep an eye out for one another. Authorities there arrived to find Tina Smith deceased, and her car is missing. Her daughter is missing. At that point, they realized something horrible has taken place, not only in the homicide, but now this young missing daughter.

GRACE: Now, a few moments ago, we showed you a shot of Brittany Smith with her older brother. He was living with his father. He died in a freak accident playing a game called the choking game. He passed away. Brittany lived with her mother there in Virginia.

To you, Alexis Weed, joining us on the story. What more can you tell me?

ALEXIS WEED, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Right, Nancy. The brother to Brittany, he was living in Tennessee. He died last year in August of 2009. He was playing this choking game. It seems to be purely an accident.

As Nicole said, they`re looking now for this vehicle, a 2005 silver Dodge Neon. This is the mother`s vehicle. Police have already located one vehicle in the case that they`ve been looking for. And I should also point out that police are not going so far to say that this is a homicide at this point. They`re calling it a possible homicide.

GRACE: Well, we`re getting conflicting reports, Alexis, because Nicole`s sources are telling her it`s a homicide. And police are officially saying a possible homicide.

We are taking your calls live. We are live right now in Virginia. Police rush to the home of Tina Smith. They find her dead, the mother dead. The 12-year-old girl is gone. Now, that leads many of us criminologists to believe that someone killed the mother in an effort to get the girl.

Out to the lines. Lakisha in Indiana. Hi, Lakisha.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Nancy. Welcome back to work. I`m happy, very happy to see you, and I`m sure everybody else is, too.

GRACE: You know what, Lakisha? Thank you very much. I hope any doctors aren`t watching. They told me to stay home for six weeks.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh! Well, you better be careful. Just don`t try to move so much.

GRACE: The hard part is the twins because the first thing they do in the morning, first, they go like that from their crib. They want me to pick them up. And as much as I discourage them from climbing in and out of the crib, now I`m helping them climb in and out of the crib, like acrobats. So that`s not a good thing.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You are a great mom, and if anybody deserves to be a mother, you deserve to be a mother, Nancy. I know you can hear my baby girl.

GRACE: I do.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She`s a (INAUDIBLE) baby. She`s 2 years old now, made 2 years old in August. But my question was, did anybody hear any cries for help from the home, like neighbors? Is he a registered sex offender also?

GRACE: Good question. Out to Alexis Weed. What do we know about this guy? Tell me about Jeffrey Easley. Now, this is what I know. I know that Easley was living in the home. He`s 32 years old. The mom is 41, I believe.

WEED: Right.

GRACE: Nobody knows for sure if it was romantic or if he was a roommate paying the rent. What do you know, Alexis Weed?

WEED: Nancy, we don`t know anything about any sort of criminal history beyond some possession of alcohol charges when he was a minor, as well as pleading to a lesser charge after having been charged with assaulting a government official.

GRACE: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! I got a contempt, 2002, threatening phone call. There was a charge. He was found not guilty.

WEED: That`s right.

GRACE: In `98, possession of alcohol, `97, alcohol, `96, assault, government official. That means he probably assaulted a cop during an arrest, is my guess. Go ahead.

WEED: Could be. But in any event, this Easley -- we talked to an aunt of the mother today, and this aunt tells us that Easley acted abnormally around the little girl, that he would touch her hair, that he would touch her hands, stroke her hair inappropriately, is what we`re hearing.

GRACE: Oh, oh, oh! Stop right there. OK, freaky. Touching her hair? Touching her skin, her face?

To Pat Brown, criminal profiler, author of "The Profiler," joining us tonight out of D.C., the nation`s capital. Pat, I don`t like it.

PAT BROWN, CRIMINAL PROFILER: I don`t like it, either, and I`m curious why the mother didn`t like it for a while. If the aunt already knew this was going on, why is that guy still in the home? That`s concerning. But it`s possible that he made the moves on the teenager and the mother did intervene at some point, which ended up in this horrible situation, where she ended up getting killed and the teenager is missing.

GRACE: I want to go to Kathryn Smerling, psychologist, joining us out of New York. You know, out of all the child molestation cases I prosecuted, Kathryn, I would say in about 95 percent, 98 percent of them, the mother never wanted to believe what was happening in her own home...

KATHRYN SMERLING, PSYCHOLOGIST: Right.

GRACE: ... always siding with the husband the boyfriend, the live-in. Always. They always side with them over the child.

SMERLING: That`s exactly what I believe has happened in this case. Unfortunately, I believe the mother stood in the way and became aware of what might be going on between this man and her young daughter, and she had to get out of the way.

Obviously, he has rage issues. You see from his previous arrests. He does have a criminal record. And God knows if there were drugs and alcohol involved in this. But I do believe that he took the child, and hopefully, she is still alive. But there is a possibility that he molested her and did horrible things to her, raped her, and may have, indeed, killed her himself, as well.

GRACE: Every hour is crucial. Tonight, the tip line, 540-777-8641. That`s the Roanoke County Police Department. We are talking about Brittany Smith, just 12 years old. Look at this guy. That`s who we think she`s with, Jeffrey Easley, age 32. They were in a 2005 silver Dodge Neon. Let`s see it, Liz. Virginia license, X-K-Kentucky-F-Frank-2365. Take a look.

Now, to Sheila Ellis, reporter with "The Roanoke Times." Did they recover the red SUV?

SHEILA ELLIS, "ROANOKE TIMES" (via telephone): Hi, Nancy. Yes, they have recovered the red SUV. However, the police is not giving any more information about the circumstances or any details about the red SUV and where they found it.

GRACE: What more can you tell us, Sheila Ellis? What about this neighborhood? What do we know?

ELLIS: We do know that it is in Roanoke County, nearby Salem, the city of Salem. We also know that it is, like you said, a neighborhood, a nice neighborhood, and the home was in a cul-de-sac.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Breaking news, Amber Alert, Virginia State Police on the lookout for 12-year-old Brittany Mae Smith, Brittany last seen at her home, the same home where police have just discovered Brittany`s 41- year-old mom, Tina Smith, dead.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Twelve-year-old Brittany Mae Smith is abducted, and police just issue an Amber Alert. Cops say Brittany is in extreme danger, believed to be taken by 32-year-old Jeffrey Scott Easley. Police issue the Amber Alert after they discover Brittany`s mom, Tina Smith, dead inside the family home, Brittany nowhere to be found. Just what does a 32- year-old man allegedly want with a 12-year-old girl?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: We are taking your calls tonight. Police say this 12-year-old little girl in extreme danger. They believe that she is with a 32-year-old man, Jeffrey Easley. Let`s see a shot of Easley. He was a friend of the mother`s. He`s a white male, 5-11, 265 pounds, brown hair, hazel eyes. He`s no stranger to a police cell, people. He was either a roommate or the romantic interest of the mother. She has been found dead. Police are not releasing the cause of death. What we know -- the 12-year-old little girl is gone.

Out to the lines. To Hope in Georgia. Hi, Hope.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Nancy.

GRACE: Hi, dear. What`s your question.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We watch your show every night.

GRACE: Thank you, my love. Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My question is, does the mother have a boyfriend that could be a possible suspect?

GRACE: Well, we`re not clear, Hope in Georgia, whether Jeffrey Easley is a boyfriend or not.

I want to go back to Sheila Ellis. She`s there on the scene, reporter with "The Roanoke Times," joining us there in Roanoke, Virginia. Sheila, can you clear up the relationship between the mother, who is now deceased, 41-year-old Tina Smith, and this Jeff Easley guy? Where did he come from? What was his position in the home?

ELLIS: Yes, Nancy. Actually, we have heard from neighbors, several neighbors, that Jeffrey is, in fact, the boyfriend of the mother.

GRACE: Well, there you have it, Hope in Georgia. So we`re not going to find another boyfriend. What were you saying, Sheila? Go ahead.

ELLIS: The neighbors had also told us that they had started seeing the red SUV, which is actually, we believe, to be Jeffrey`s vehicle, in their driveway starting this summer. And he had moved in just a couple months ago. That was her boyfriend.

GRACE: OK. Back to you, Alexis Weed. What were you telling me about the way he treated the 12-year-old little girl?

WEED: Right, Nancy. Well, this aunt of the mother has told us today that he acted abnormally when he was around Brittany. That he would touch her hair, that he would touch her hands inappropriate.

GRACE: Take a look at this guy.

Back to the lines. Lisa, Pennsylvania. Hi, Lisa.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Nancy.

GRACE: Hi, dear. What`s your question?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have been trying to get ahold of you for almost three years, you know? I`m so excited that I`m talking to you right now. You have no idea!

GRACE: Thank you. And thank you for calling in tonight.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You know, I was wondering what the -- I mean, I know that they said that the guy was kind of, like, funky with the kid. But what kind of relationship did she have with her mother? Like, nowadays, I mean, it`s not a far stretch for the kid and the boyfriend to get together and off the mom and run off together. I mean, it happens. And I just didn`t know what maybe the relationship...

GRACE: Well, I think that at her young age, that puts her in a different category than other cases that we know of. But I want to talk -- to you. What do you know about that, Alexis Weed. Can you answer that question?

WEED: Well, we don`t know exactly if there was anything going on there, beyond...

GRACE: Well, whoa, whoa, whoa. Wa-wait, wa-wait. Alexis, when you say "anything going on there," if "anything" is going on with a 12-year-old girl, that`s statutory rape or child molestation. It`s not like they have a relationship.

WEED: Right. What I was going to say, I don`t know if there was anything going on there aside from what we`ve heard, the allegations of this aunt of the mother, that he had his eyes glued on her all the time. But one thing that`s very peculiar is that Brittany`s MySpace and FaceBook pages list her name as Brittany Easley, the last name of Jeffrey Easley.

GRACE: We are taking your calls live. Very quickly to Marc Harrold, author of "Observations: White Noise," joining us from D.C. Weigh in, Marc.

MARC HARROLD, FMR. OFFICER, ATLANTA PD: Well, I hadn`t heard the thing about the FaceBook page. It`s a very dangerous situation, especially if he thinks he has some kind of relationship with this child, very inappropriate. But they`ve got to find this child because, hopefully, she`s still alive, but I hate to think what might be going on. These are the most dangerous situations. Hopefully, the Amber Alert will pay off and somebody will locate this vehicle.

GRACE: And very quickly, unleash the lawyers, Sue Moss, Joe Lawless, Hugo Rodriguez. Weigh in, Sue.

SUSAN MOSS, FAMILY LAW ATTORNEY: He stroked this 12-year-old`s hair, and in the house he was still there? The rest of the family didn`t seem to care? I don`t care if you`re an aunt, I don`t care if you`re a neighbor, a teacher, you call protective services if you see anything inappropriate like this!

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Twelve-year-old Brittany Mae Smith is abducted, and police just issue an Amber Alert. Cops say Brittany is in extreme danger, believed to be taken by 32-year-old Jeffrey Scott Easley.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Breaking news, Amber Alert, Virginia State Police on the lookout for 12-year-old Brittany Mae Smith, Brittany last seen at her home, the same home where police have just discovered Brittany`s 41- year-old mom, Tina Smith, dead. Cops say Brittany is in extreme danger and believe she was abducted by 32-year-old Jeffrey Scott Easley, a friend of her mom`s. Time of the essence. Easley may have abducted Brittany in a 2000 red Chevy SUV or a 2005 silver Dodge four-door.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: We are taking your calls. And since that newscast, the red SUV has been found. Not so for Tina Smith`s 2005 silver Dodge Neon, Virginia license X-K-Kentucky-F-Frank-2365. Every hour counts tonight. A 12-year-old little girl has been kidnapped. Her mother has been murdered. With the little girl tonight, we believe, the mother`s live-in, Jeffrey Easley, age 32. Take a look. There`s Easley in the bottom box.

We are taking your calls. To Briana in Florida. Hi, Briana.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Nancy. I`m so glad you`re back. And we`ve been praying for you.

GRACE: Hold on. I really believe, all right, when the twins were born and Lucy and I had so many problems...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right.

GRACE: ... I really believe that your prayers were heard because I`m telling you -- laugh if you want, mock me if you want, but I was not alone. I know that God was with me and pulled me through this. So I appreciate your prayers.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You`re welcome, Nancy. My question is, is it possible that this man has had some type of sick, you know, control maybe over this 12-year-old, and maybe possibly, you know, the 12-year-old and this man have done something to her mother and have taken off together?

GRACE: I think that it is entirely possible. I think the more likely scenario is that the man, the 32-year-old, killed the mother and took the girl. I think it`s going to be very, very difficult to get a 12-year-old to the point where she wants to kill her mother.

I don`t know. Kathryn Smerling, you`re the psychologist. What do you think?

SMERLING: I agree with you, Nancy. I don`t believe that she had any part in killing her mother, but anything is possible. I do believe that she might have seen her mother being killed, and then it was only a matter of time before Jeffrey Easley had to take her with him.

I do believe that there was something strange in the relationship between Jeffrey Easley and the young girl. Definitely because of her FaceBook page, which I did not -- I was not aware of, either. So that certainly is, you know, something to explore. But I believe that she might have been present when her mom was killed.

GRACE: Right. Back to the lawyers. Joe Lawless, renowned attorney out of Philadelphia, author of "Prosecutorial Misconduct," Hugo Rodriguez, defense attorney, former FBI, joining us out of Miami, Susan Moss, family law attorney out of New York. Weigh in, Joe.

JOE LAWLESS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Nancy, none of this is good. The FaceBook page part is particularly troubling because it suggests to me that there may have been some kind of a relationship between him and this girl.

GRACE: Why couldn`t it mean that she believed they were married and that her new last name was Easley? It could be just as simple as that.

LAWLESS: It just as easily could, there`s no question.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cops say Brittany is in extreme danger and believe she was abducted by 32-year-old Jeffrey Scott Easley, a friend of her mom. Time of the essence.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Twelve-year-old Brittany May Smith is abducted, and police just issue an Amber alert. Cops say Brittany is in extreme danger. Believed to be taken by 32-year-old Jeffrey Scott Easley.

Police issue the Amber alert after they discover Brittany`s mom, Tina Smith, dead inside the family home. Brittany, nowhere to be found.

Just what does a 32-year-old man allegedly want with a 12-year-old girl?

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

NANCY GRACE, HOST: We are taking your calls. Out to Cheryl in Ohio. Hi, Cheryl.

CHERYL, CALLER FROM OHIO: Hi, Nancy. How are you?

GRACE: I`m good, dear. What`s your question?

CHERYL: It`s more a statement.

GRACE: OK.

CHERYL: I don`t understand, why is it that these women move these guys in, that they`re not married to, have young girls, and then the mother end up dead and the girls either end up missing or dead their self.

GRACE: Or molested. Or molested, Cheryl in Ohio. Cheryl, I don`t know. And I`ve got to tell you something. Over all the years -- 10 years -- that I prosecuted felony crimes, violent crimes, I saw it over and over and over.

Women will let men move in. They will turn a blind eye to the husband, the boyfriend, the live-in, the guy they`re dating while they molest the child. Now, granted, the molestation is not happening, you know, out on the dining room table. It`s behind closed doors when the mom`s not around.

But there are signs that it`s happening. They don`t want to believe it. It`s a phenomenon. And I would look at the moms and go, you know what, you make me sick. Because you`ve allowed this to happen. But I don`t know that that`s the case here. I don`t know that the mom had any inkling about what was going on.

Unleash the lawyers again. Sue Moss, Joe Lawless, Hugo Rodriguez.

Hugo Rodriguez, right now Jeff Easley, age 32, is on the run, we believe, with this little girl. There he is in the bottom corner.

Jeffrey Easley, white male, hazel eyes, brown hair, 5`11", 265 pounds. A friend of Tina Smith, now we know, her boyfriend.

What is your advice tonight, Rodriguez?

HUGO RODRIGUEZ, DEFENSE ATTORNEY, FMR. FBI AGENT: I would tell Easley to make the girl available. There are manner and means -- we need to get this girl back safely.

After that, we`ll talk about his defense, his representation, and turning him in. The most paramount thing is getting this girl back safely. It is not going to do us any good for him to be on the run. Only bad things can happen.

GRACE: To Dr. Panchali Dhar, doctor of internal medicine, author of "Before the Scalpel." Dr. Dhar is joining us from New York.

Doctor, the police initially said they couldn`t tell if it was homicide or not. What modes of death would lend themselves to that kind of statement?

DR. PANCHALI DHAR, M.D., INTERNAL MEDICINE, AUTHOR OF "BEFORE THE SCALPEL": Nancy, all you`re telling me is that there`s a dead body in the room or in the house. What does that mean? She could have been strangled, she could have been shot, she could have been stabbed.

That`s not an obvious sign. She could have been poisoned. I mean, it`s entirely possible that he drugged her and then she dropped dead soon after, and ran off with the child. So that --

(CROSSTALK)

GRACE: I agree with you, Dr. Panchali Dhar.

With us, Dr. Panchali Dhar. Also taking your calls live.

When I first heard the police released it they could not determine, they could not deduce whether it was a homicide, I thought it either had to be asphyxiation, for instance, putting a pillow over her face, some kind of a strangulation, not with ligature, which would leave a mark. Possible poisoning or set up to look like a suicide, like a shot to the head, maybe.

But now we are learning through sources from Nicole Partin that they do believe it`s homicide.

Back to Nicole Partin, investigative reporter. What more can you tell us about the case, Nicole?

NICOLE PARTIN, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER: Well, Nancy, we are hearing from the detectives there involved that they do believe this to be a homicide. They are giving us no specific cause of death, being very tight lipped around the death and are focusing primarily on this 12-year-old daughter who`s missing.

Another interesting point of the story that I noticed, there are family members who say that they saw the 41-year-old mother, Tina, Mr. Easley, and the young daughter during the Thanksgiving holiday.

There is a family member who says she phoned Miss Smith and said, there`s something not right between Easley and your 12-year-old daughter. Miss Smith in return said he will be moving out soon. Yes, he lives in the home now, but he will be moving out soon.

This poses new questions. Was she beginning to separate from him? Did she realize something was going on and was trying to get rid of him? Lots to be determined there in this statement from her saying, yes, he lives here, but he`s getting out.

GRACE: Now, Nicole Partin, investigative reporter, joining us tonight out of Chattanooga, Tennessee, that`s an eye-opener. OK. So you know what, tell me again, you`re telling me relatives that saw them over Thanksgiving -- that`s just a couple of weeks ago -- saw what?

PARTIN: Thanksgiving dinner, they leave and a relative phones Miss Smith and says, I don`t like what I saw between your boyfriend and your daughter. Something is uneasy. I`m feeling uneasy. I didn`t like what I saw. Something is wrong with this relationship.

And Miss Smith says, he`s getting out. We`re not clear, was she going to put him out? Was she asking him to leave? Had he chosen to leave on his own? But she did tell this family member, he will be moving in a short time.

GRACE: Well, that leads me to a whole complete different deduction.

Back to you, Alexis Weed, it sounds to me like she confronted him. I mean Thanksgiving has been just a couple of weeks ago. Confronted him about moving out, and he retaliated.

ALEXIS WEED, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Could be, Nancy. The other interesting thing about this story is that we don`t know -- there`s still a question about how long Easley was there. We don`t know when he arrived. But we do know that these charges that you were talking about, his previous target, they were all in North Carolina.

And as far as we can tell, he has a couple of traffic citations in Salem, where he lists his address, his home address as Salem, Virginia. And that those charges are in August and September of this year.

GRACE: A seventh grade little girl is in danger tonight. Every hour counts. If you don`t believe he would hurt her, look what happened to her mother.

Out to the lines. Deborah in Kentucky. Hi, Deborah.

DEBORAH, CALLER FROM KENTUCKY: Hi, there. I was wondering, maybe he got scared and took off and you all are maybe looking for the wrong person?

GRACE: OK, then explain the dead body.

DEBORAH: I`m not sure.

GRACE: Yes. OK. Scared of what, Deborah in Kentucky? What do you think he`s scared of?

DEBORAH: Getting caught for other crimes?

GRACE: OK. What other crime would that be?

DEBORAH: Not sure.

GRACE: OK. Got any other answers to any of those questions? You say he took off because he`s scared. Scared of what? Being caught for another crime. What crime is that? Don`t know. So where`s the little girl, Deborah in Kentucky, is she hiding under the table?

DEBORAH: No, I think maybe another person had done the crime and was -- the other guy having a background with a record that`s scared and heard about the crime --

GRACE: OK, you know what, Deborah, doesn`t make any sense. But you know what, sometimes fact is stranger than fiction.

To Ruth in Indiana. Hi, Ruth. I think I`ve got Ruth in Indiana. Ruth, are you with me?

RUTH, CALLER FROM INDIANA: Yes, I am. Hi.

GRACE: Hi, dear. What`s your question?

RUTH: Has anyone talked to Brittany`s friends to see if she`s mentioned a relationship with this guy?

GRACE: Excellent question. To Sheila Ellis, reporter for the "Roanoke Times," joining us there on the scene.

Sheila, what do we know about this little girl`s friends?

SHEILA ELLIS, REPORTER, ROANOKE TIMES: Nancy, we do not have any information on any of Brittany`s friends.

GRACE: You know, isn`t she on Facebook? Wouldn`t she have friends listed there?

ELLIS: Yes, she is on Facebook. We`ve reached out to some of her friends, we have not heard from them.

GRACE: Marc Harrold, wouldn`t that be one of the first things police should do, other than talk to family, friends, and neighbors?

MARC HARROLD, FMR. OFFICER, ATLANTA PD & ATTY; AUTHOR OF "OBSERVATIONS OF WHITE NOISE": Absolutely. It would be very -- one of the first things they would do with Facebook. The social medium can be very helpful. It does give you a list of friends. It also may have some back and forth, you know, in the postings that tell a little bit about something.

You can also ask some of those friends when that name change happened and try to get some information. But you`ve got to talk to her friends. There`s no way --

GRACE: Hey, Marc. Marc, Marc, Marc.

HARROLD: Go ahead.

GRACE: When you`re saying the name change, tell the viewers that are just joining us what you`re talking about.

HARROLD: Well, as I understand it, at some point she used his last name, Easley. And that`s probably might not have been the name she used at the very beginning when she had people joining her as friends when she started her Facebook account.

So if that changed over time and people noticed that, they may have asked question, she may have given some explanation. Could lead to -- you know what mindset she was in when all of this started.

GRACE: Whatever mindset she`s in, she`s a 12-year-old girl. She cannot be complicit in any relationship with a 32-year-old man.

Everyone, quickly, I want to tell you about tonight`s case alert. It`s a search for a 9-year-old Philadelphia boy. He`s missing from his own home.

Look at this little angel. Jamar Anderson, last seen Saturday afternoon, 2:45 p.m., Arlington Avenue. The 9-year-old is 5`2", 85 pounds, brown eyes, low cut black hair, last seen in a navy sweat pants, light gray hooded sweatshirt, brown sneakers.

Please look. Look at Jamar. If you have information, call Philly`s Southwest Detective Division, 215-686-3183.

Where is Jamar?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: An Alabama father --

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Twenty-eight-year-old John Deblase.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Stepmother of two kids.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Heather Keaton.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Are under arrest on child abuse charges.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Charged with abuse of corpse and aggravated child abuse.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The children --

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Three-year-old Chase and 4-year-old Natalie.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: -- have not been seen since June.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Police believe both Deblase and the children`s stepmother, Heather Keaton, are responsible for their deaths.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He has been very cooperative.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He`s given us an indication of a location where they may be.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: There are still no sign of the children.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We want to see their little faces.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The search is on to find these kids.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: How can two tots be missing for this long and nobody says a word?

Straight out to Sherry Ward, reporter with the "Mississippi Register," joining us from Pascagoula, Mississippi.

I don`t get it, Sherry, what happened?

SHERRY WARD, REPORTER, MISSISSIPPI REGISTER: Well, from what we`ve been told by investigators, they actually left Mobile over the summer and moved to Kentucky, which is why no one had reported them missing because they thought they`d moved away.

Miss Keaton actually went to the Kentucky police one day last week and told them that she needed a protection order against her husband because she was fearful for her life. And during the investigation, it came out that these children were most likely dead.

Now currently, she`s pointing the finger at him, he`s pointing the finger at her. He has actually taken investigators into rural areas, one of them in Alabama, and one of them in Mississippi, and says that`s where the bodies of these children are. But so far investigators haven`t been able to find anything.

GRACE: Joining us right now, Ellie Jostad, our chief editorial producer.

Ellie, I don`t understand how now family and friends and relatives are saying, yes, I haven`t seen the kids for a couple of months now, and nobody bothered to call police?

ELLIE JOSTAD, NANCY GRACE CHIEF EDITORIAL PRODUCER: Right. That`s what`s disturbing about this, Nancy. You`ve got a family that moved from Mobile to Louisville, Kentucky. Apparently people said they saw the little girl back in June, maybe early July, around the time the family moved, but nobody apparently can account from this little boy`s whereabouts until since March.

So we don`t know the timeline here. But police say they believe boy killed in March, little girl may have been killed in June.

GRACE: Joining me right now, special guest, Chief Michael T. Williams with the Mobile, Alabama Police Department.

Chief, thank you for being with us. This whole case is a stunner to me. We`ve got no idea where the two tots are -- siblings. Take a look at them. They should be getting ready to write their letters to Santa Claus, to sit on his knee at some shopping mall somewhere. But instead, we`re trying to find out if they`re even alive.

You know, Chief, I just don`t know how you keep going when you have cases like this to deal with. What do you know, Chief?

I think I`ve got Chief Williams with me? Liz, do I have him? Can you get him up on satellite?

CHIEF MICHAEL T. WILLIAMS, MOBILE POLICE DEPARTMENT: Hello?

GRACE: Hi, Chief, thank you for being with us. What do we know about the case?

WILLIAMS: Hi, Nancy. I can tell you that we received information related to this investigation on November the 18th from Louisville, Kentucky. On December the 2nd, we found Mr. John Deblase -- he was arrested by Santa Rosa County Sheriff`s Department in Florida.

We brought him back to Mobile. We interviewed him. Based on the statements that he gave us, we believe that the two children are not alive. He gave us an indication of where the two children may be buried. During the weekend, we went to those two locations with search and rescue teams and did grid searches, attempting to locate those children.

We have not, at this time, located the children.

GRACE: With me is special guest, Chief Michael T. Williams, joining us from the Mobile, Alabama Police Department.

What I was saying right before you got hooked in, Chief, is I was looking at the pictures of these two little children. They`re so tiny. They`re, I think, ages 3 and 4. They should be getting ready to write their letters to Santa Claus and go sit on his knee at some shopping mall, and instead, we`re trying to find out if they`re dead or alive.

And there you are out, this close to Christmas, doing a grid search for a 3- and 4-year-old body. And what I don`t get, Chief, is she comes in to report that she thinks she`s in danger and she has never come in to report her children are missing?

WILLIAMS: That`s correct, Nancy. These would have been her stepchildren.

GRACE: What else did she tell you, Chief?

WILLIAMS: Of course, Nancy, our hearts are broken because of these two beautiful children are missing and presumed to be dead. We will continue our searches until we locate the bodies and that they are properly buried.

GRACE: OK. Ellie Jostad, at some point, didn`t he say or -- one of them said that they weren`t really clear about what happened, because they were high on pills at the time?

JOSTAD: Right. Well, the Jackson County sheriff in Mississippi says that the father claimed, he`s not sure where he left the little boy`s body, he was going to try to bury him. The ground is too hard, so he just threw the body out of the car. But they have not been able to pinpoint that exact location.

GRACE: We are taking your calls. Out to Bonnie in New York. Hi, Bonnie.

BONNIE, CALLER FROM NEW YORK: Hi, Nancy. Thank you for coming back. It`s nice to have you back.

GRACE: Bonnie, I want to tell you how blessed I am to be back. Thank you.

BONNIE: My question is where were all the family members, especially the biological mother?

GRACE: Good question. To Sherry Ward, reporter with the "Mississippi Register." Where is all the family?

WARD: Yes, I spoke with the children`s mother today and she is disheartened, as you can expect, and she told me that when she and her ex- husband were divorced that she was not in a suitable environment for the children so she thought that it was best for them to go with the father.

Now she claims at the time that he was a good person, a very loving guy. And that somewhere along the lines he changed and of course she said if she had any idea that he could possible do anything at all like this, that he certainly would not have -- she certainly would not have sent the children with him.

She did say today that she holds out hope that they are still alive. She said she will not believe it until an investigator actually said hey, we have your children`s body. So she said she`s praying for a miracle.

GRACE: Out to Pat Brown, criminal profiler and author. Pat, weigh in.

PAT BROWN, CRIMINAL PROFILER, AUTHOR OF "THE PROFILER": Well, I`m seeing a massive amount of dysfunction in these people. We have a mother who -- you know, maybe she gave the kids for good reason but she hasn`t heard from the children in a year.

You would think she will be -- you know, doing everything she can to at least talk to the children. I`d say we just have a lot of people who just don`t care that much about their kids.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Two young children, a brother and sister, have vanished.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Alabama police now say there is little hope that the two are alive.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Mobile police believe John buried his own children, 3-year-old Chase and 4-year-old Natalie.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: All family and friends want is to find little Chase and Natalie.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I wonder why we didn`t notice what really happened.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: So they can give them a proper burial.

WILLIAMS: He remembers burying the children.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Cadaver dog to search for that children and brother.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Children`s stepmother, I feel like he may have murdered his children.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: A horrific story, a terrible ending.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: We`re not altogether convinced that the children are in fact dead. We have no idea. But what`s interesting to me as I`m reading this woman`s police report where she goes to get protection for herself, she just happens to mention, oh, yes, I think the children are dead, too.

We are taking your calls, to Diane in California. Hi, Diane. Do I have Diane, Liz?

DIANE, CALLER FROM CALIFORNIA: Hello?

GRACE: Hi, dear. What`s your question.

DIANE: Hi, Nancy.

GRACE: Hi, dear.

DIANE: Every night, and my mother -- 82-year-old mother, we watch you every night and we love you, Nancy.

GRACE: Diane, thank you. Thank you so much.

DIANE: And we`re so glad -- we`re so glad that you`re well, or getting well. And God bless you.

GRACE: Thank you.

DIANE: I just have a question. Is his dad -- is he still out of jail?

GRACE: To the Chief Michael Williams. Michael T. Williams is joining us out of Mobile.

Chief, isn`t he behind bars?

WILLIAMS: He is, Nancy. He is housed in the Mobile County Correctional Center.

GRACE: And Chief Williams, I assume that Alabama does have the death penalty?

WILLIAMS: That`s correct.

GRACE: And what is it? The electric chair or lethal injection?

WILLIAMS: Lethal injection.

GRACE: Oh, that`s going to be way too good for him, Chief.

Everyone, the tip line. 251-208-7000.

Let`s stop and remember Army Specialist Joshua Dingler, just 19, Hiram, Georgia, killed Iraq. Awarded the Bronze Star, Operation Iraq Freedom medal, Global War on Terrorism Service medal. Loved God, country, outdoors, baseball, carving trees. Favorite treat, Lucy`s Peanut Butter tops. Never met a stranger.

Dreamed of marrying his high school sweetheart Katelynn, asking her dad for her hand in marriage before leaving for deploying. But losing his life before he could propose. Leaves behind grieving parents, Karen and Tommy, brother, Samuel.

Joshua Dingler, American hero.

Thanks to our guests but our biggest thank you is to you, and congratulations to Pennsylvania friends, Brian and Lori, for the birth of their new baby boy, tiny crime fighter, Rocco.

Oh, he`s beautiful.

Everyone, thank you for your prayers and your kind thoughts. I`ll see you tomorrow night, 8:00 sharp Eastern. Until then, good night, friend.

END