Return to Transcripts main page

JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL

Mistress Winning in Cross-Examinations with Prosecutor?; Humans to Blame for Severe Weather?; Government Feeding Poor Health

Aired October 29, 2013 - 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: Shocker tonight. Mistress Gypsy takes the stand and leaves prosecutors dazed and confused, doing her very best to help her ex-lover, the defendant, accused of murdering his wife.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GYPSY WILLIS, MARIN MACNEILL`S MISTRESS: Martin`s wife was found collapsed. He tried to resuscitate her. She was taken to the hospital, coded and then passed way.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you familiar with what was happening on April the 14th?

WILLIS: I believe that was the day of his wife`s funeral.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And did you attend that funeral?

WILLIS: I did.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Soon after this, you attended a nanny interview, correct?

WILLIS: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who conducted that interview?

WILLIS: It was at the MacNeill house. I guess Martin conducted it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Was there any question you were going to be hired as the nanny?

WILLIS: I don`t believe that Martin would have had me come and help if his children had objected strongly to me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That`s speculation.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Oh, Gypsy.

Dr. Martin MacNeill is accused of drowning his ex-beauty queen wife so he could start a new life with his mistress named Gypsy. She testified that the very day after Michele`s death -- are you sitting down? -- she sent sexy pictures of her back and her rear end to Dr. MacNeill, the supposedly grieving husband, who was her secret lover.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What are these pictures showing?

WILLIS: Me lying down on the floor.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. And what was the date that these were created?

WILLIS: Created date, 04/12.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Of what year?

WILLIS: I`m sorry, I`m 2007.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So these were taken the day after Michele MacNeill`s death?

WILLIS: Yes. They are of me in a mirror, and I`m, you know, exposing my back.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is it exposing below your back, as well?

WILLIS: There`s one picture where it`s a little bit suggestive.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Showing your buttocks.

WILLIS: Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Oh, just a little bit suggestive. Could be a parking ticket the way she`s talking.

She`s showing her buttocks in a photo to the defendant the day after he allegedly murdered his wife. I got to tell you, I think Gypsy owned this courtroom. We expected fireworks. We thought prosecutors would grill her about her secret affair with this guy. Not even close.

Instead, Gypsy seemed to throw little comments to help her ex-lover.

I have got a great Lion`s Den debate panel tonight. Straight out to former prosecutor, Wendy Murphy, author of "And Justice for Some."

Gypsy sailed through her testimony. She actually controlled -- controlled this courtroom. And you know, maybe I should start with a guy, actually, thinking about it. Because, Brian Claypool, you`re a defense attorney, but you`re also a man. And I think that this woman used her seductive, sultry manner on the prosecutors exactly the way she mesmerized Dr. MacNeill. They were like deer in the headlights: "Yes, ma`am. Yes, ma`am." Not "Didn`t you have a secret affair? Didn`t you send these photos a day after this woman died to your secret lover?"

BRIAN CLAYPOOL, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Hey, Jane, I`m not only a guy, but I`m a single guy. And I will tell you this. I have a little girl, too. Last Sunday, Jane, we had a little Tea Party. We did our first Tea Party. And guess what? We forgot to invite the prosecution. We should have had them come to our Tea Party, because that`s what this courtroom is. It`s like a little Tea Party.

The prosecution only has one chance to cross-examine MacNeill. He`s never going to take the stand. They had to do it through Gypsy Willis. This was their one shot, and they should have gone after her with venom. And they didn`t. Isn`t it true...

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Why? Why didn`t they? Why didn`t they? This is what I don`t understand. If they had been watching our show last week, I said, "Go after her." Jon Leiberman, you`re right, it was like -- it was like a tea party.

JON LEIBERMAN, HLN CONTRIBUTOR: Look, Jane, we`ve become accustomed to these dramatic courtroom moments where the prosecutor slams down his or her fist and really goes at the witness.

Now, while I agree, they could have gone at Gypsy in a much more harsh way, I think that in a subtle way -- and you`re going to see this in closing -- they got the points out that they wanted to get out.

No. 1, she`s a liar. She`s a cheat. She`s a con. There`s all of these inconsistencies. For example, on one hand, on one day she says that they were having a casual relationship. And today, we`re hearing about rings and engagement parties and how she passes herself off as his wife.

So prosecutors in closing will tie all that up for juries. And it`s a strange thing, Jane. You and I have covered hundreds of these cases, and sometimes juries like to put together the pieces for themselves. They don`t want...

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Sometimes, they...

LEIBERMAN: They don`t need it to be hammered into their heads.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: ... fail to put the pieces together and they say, "You know what? We thought the guy was guilty, but we just didn`t have the evidence to convict him. Because, remember, when there`s two possible reasonable alternatives for certain behavior, you have to pick the one that points toward innocence.

Now, let me say this. Right after his wife died, the defendant, Dr. Martin MacNeill, tried to get his mistress, who he`d already inserted into his home as the nanny an I.D. card to prove they were married, which they weren`t.

Listen to some of the very, very creepy details that came to light today while this woman was on the witness stand.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What name was used for you?

WILLIS: Jillian G. MacNeill.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And did you hold yourself out as married to someone?

WILLIS: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Married to whom?

WILLIS: Martin MacNeill.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And did you have a marriage date on this?

WILLIS: Marriage date is listed as April 14.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Of what year?

WILLIS: 2007.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What is the significance of April 14th of 2007?

WILLIS: That is the day of the funeral.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Of whose funeral?

WILLIS: Michele`s.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Creepy, creepy, creepy. OK?

On the very day that his wife is buried, the funeral day, OK, they use that date as their fake wedding date when they go to get a fake I.D. for this lady.

Wendy Murphy, I really believe the prosecution missed an opportunity to hold this woman to account, and what she did, I believe, was kind of dazzle and mesmerize them and did something very clever. She sort of swam to the wave. When they confronted her with something, she said, "Oh, yes, we filled out this application and we -- yes, we listed the date of Michele`s funeral as our wedding date. Big deal. So what?"

WENDY MURPHY, FORMER PROSECUTOR: Well, you know, you can say that comes across as an effective witness who otherwise is pretty much killing the defense by serving up herself as the motive, but sometimes you can be a little too cute. You know, she`s -- it`s almost sociopathy the way she`s presenting herself, that she doesn`t get why it`s creepy to have done that. Which means she clearly doesn`t care that the woman`s dead and doesn`t care.

And perhaps, the jury is going to say, "And that`s why we think you are the motive, and you were happy she was dead and you may well have been part of it."

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Listen...

CLAYPOOL: Hey, Jane?

VELEZ-MITCHELL: ... Gypsy Willis was not rattled. She did not appear embarrassed by any of these supposedly embarrassing things that they made her discuss. She did not appear intimidated. I believe she owned the courtroom.

Now, if she was going to be of any help to the prosecution, which called her, OK, they had to go after her hard. Hmm. What does that remind me of? Who could have inspired them? Watch this. The guy who put away Jodi Arias. Juan Martinez.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUAN MARTINEZ, PROSECUTOR: I`m asking you who`s making the money, aren`t I? Nothing here is to make the prosecutor happy. You understand that? Why don`t you want to answer my question? So when was the third time you met her?

Sir, am I asking you about the evening? I`m not, am I?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: OK. Brian Claypool, couldn`t we have used a little Juan Martinez in this examination of this crucial witness?

CLAYPOOL: Jane, absolutely. Let me tell you why. An effective cross-examination takes the witness out of his or her comfort zone. That`s the goal. You can`t let a witness sit there and be comfortable for two days. You have to prod, probe, ask direct questions. Get her out of her comfort zone so the jury can see the other side of her personality. That`s what they did not do. Patent failure.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. Prosecutors say the defendant`s motive for murder was starting a new life with mistress Gypsy. Get this: They started, the two of -- they started looking at wedding rings just two months after Michele`s, his wife`s, death. Check this out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Were you making bids on wedding rings?

WILLIS: Martin and I were. I do remember him proposing. Sorry.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where was that at?

WILLIS: It was in Wyoming. It was at a restaurant.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What kind of a ring was this?

WILLIS: It was a diamond ring.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How big?

WILLIS: How big, carat?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

WILLIS: It was 4 1/2 carats.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Remember the cost of that ring?

WILLIS: It was around $7,000.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Oh, just 7 grand for 4.5 carats? I don`t think so, honey. Maybe they should have brought a ring evaluator in to take the witness stand.

But despite all that, this shows that the defendant wasted no time planning his new life without Michele. He was having the affair before Michele died.

We also learned that this mistress knew that this woman was going to get a facelift. There`s speculation she knew before she did. In other words, the mistress knew before the wife did that the wife was going to be pressured into getting a facelift.

And yet, it`s very hard to connect the dots, Wendy Murphy, in the milquetoast way that these prosecutors questioned this woman, never -- never connecting the dots or bringing the point home that -- that she was part and parcel of a conspiracy of silence.

MURPHY: Ah, I don`t agree, Jane. You`ve got to play your case the way it is, and you`ve got to deal with the personality of the witness and understand your jury.

Look, underplaying things is sometimes far more effective when the evidence speaks for itself. If you go hard against a witness like this, No. 1, she`s been very well-prepped, clearly well-prepped by the defense. I mean, she was offering up gratuitous crap to try to make the killer look good.

And the jury isn`t stupid. The defense, you know, they`re happy she`s doing this, but the prosecution is happy, too, because...

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, we`ll...

MURPHY; ... when the jury sees this woman lie, that`s good and you don`t have to rub it in their faces.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: We`ll see. We`ll see. We`ll see what happens with this case, because my theory is that these two -- the mistress, Gypsy, and the defendant -- plan to hook up again. Could it be? If he`s acquitted? Is that the game plan? Is that the end game?

Now, the entire courtroom got a very emotional jolt when prosecutors played a video of little Ada MacNeill. She was just 6 years old when she found her mom motionless in the tub. A year later, she did a taped interview with an investigator where she described finding her mom in a very different way than Dr. MacNeill describes. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADA MACNEILL, DAUGHTER OF VICTIM: My dad came in. He was by the bathtub and he was, like, he was trying to pull my mom up, I guess. He just went in to see if she was there and found her in the bathtub and was...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK.

A. MACNEILL: ... she just was wetting her hair, but she was still in her clothes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What did you see when you walked into the bathroom?

A. MACNEILL: It was just, like, water.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just like water?

A. MACNEILL: Just a different color.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK.

A. MACNEILL: She was just laying down in the bathtub.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What was your dad doing? In the bathroom.

A. MACNEILL: He was screaming, "Quick, help. Go next door and get somebody."

She was just trying to wet her hair because she -- I don`t know what.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She was trying to wet her hair. Was she all the way in the bathtub or just part way in the bathtub?

A. MACNEILL: All the way.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She was all the way in the bathtub. Had you ever seen your mom wet her hair like that before?

A. MACNEILL: I don`t want to talk about it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hurricane-force winds in Britain. Death, destruction, and blackouts.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One of the biggest storms the U.K. had seen in decades.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Let`s be honest. It`s kind of exciting to watch videos like this one of the wildly destructive storm ripping through England right now. It has hurricane-force winds, and, wow, I think there`s even better pictures. We`re going to play some as we talk about this. It`s ripping the roofs off buildings.

Yes. Admit it, it`s fun to look at, especially the exciting stuff which we will get to in a second. There we go. That`s a little bit exciting. As long as we`re watching in a nice, dry room and not hanging out, and hanging onto a pole for dear life, OK?

This is giving me flashbacks to exactly a year ago when Hurricane Sandy hit the East Coast. Some people said that with 186 people dead and billions in destroyed property from Hurricane Sandy, it was just too cruel, too mean, to insensitive to bring up the issue of humans ruining our climate and causing more and more extreme weather. Well, sorry, I`m very sorry to inform you we cannot wait any longer. We need to talk about the elephant in the room, right now, because time is running out.

We, as in us human beings, are causing an increase in these kinds of natural disasters. You don`t need to be a Mensa member to figure out that storms of the century seem to be hitting way more often. We`re talking about raging fires and hurricanes hitting big cities. We`re talking about tornadoes. We`re talking about floods. We need to look at ourselves in the mirror and recognize our role in this ginormous mess.

We have a very simple choice. We can either make little small changes and adjust how we live a little bit or we can watch everything we own get swept away by a fire, a storm, a tornado, or some other freak weather phenomenon that`s the result of people destroying the environment and, yes, sorry climate change deniers, warming the planet.

Straight out to bestselling author Dr. Neil Barnard of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. Thanks for joining us, sir. Dr. Barnard, it`s almost considered rude, not dumb, to mention that we human beings are not just victims of extreme weather. We are the suspects in this crime. And this isn`t just my theory.

A just-released U.N. report says 1,000 of the world`s top scientists are now 95 percent sure human behavior is warming the planet which is causing more storms, floods and fires. So I ask you, what can we do to wake people up? That we`ve got to change now?

DR. NEIL BARNARD, PHYSICIANS COMMITTEE FOR RESPONSIBLE MEDICINE: We have no choice. It`s not just an environmental issue. It`s a medical issue because the more the planet heats up, the more it`s altering weather patterns and causing the high winds that led to sandy a year ago, but that`s not over. It`s getting worse and worse and worse. That means more trauma, more drownings, more problems, more death, more emergency rooms being crowded in these situations.

Doctors are now starting to speak out. So the question is, what can we do? Yes, there are the big things. There`s no question that we need to deal with factories and so forth. But there are a lot of things people can do in their lives right now.

So if you`re driving a bigger car, going to a smaller car does make sense. If you`re not using public transportation, when you could, that`s obviously something that we need to do. But we also found the U.N. speaking out about dietary choices that we`re making, and that`s all been surprising to us to see, as well.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: This is extreme weather, and it`s scary. Just check out this very freaky tornado.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Large wedge. Violent. Large tornado. Wow.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: The U.S. scientific report says if people keep spewing out carbon dioxide at this rate, the results are going to get deadlier. We`re going to see more wild storms.

Dr. Barnard, what are the specific actions people at home can do right now to reduce the chance that their home is going to get swept away in some kind of disaster like this?

BARNARD: OK. There`s two chemicals to think about. One is CO2. That`s where we do want to think about the cars we drive and think about factories. Those are areas where we can make a big difference. So using public transportation, driving less, a smaller car, all that makes sense.

The other compound is methane. We don`t talk about it, but it`s 37 percent more potent than CO2. Where`s that coming from? It`s coming largely from cattle and the way we do agriculture in this country.

If you could put all the cattle in the United States on one side of a balance, and all of the other people on the other side of the balance, the cattle weight substantially more. It`s a big seething mass belching out methane minute by minute, and it`s a more potent greenhouse chemical by far than CO2.

So the more we`re eating lower on the food chain, grains, beans, vegetables, fruits, that`s a choice you don`t have to wait for the government to make.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Just when you think you`re heard it all about the mess called Obama care, and the Web site, we have some new doozies to tell you about. This is breaking news. Fireworks surrounding Obama care`s Web site. And more.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So what you just said about keeping your health care plan isn`t true?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, they could keep it. The issue...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, they can`t keep it. They just got cancelation notices. Why are you saying you can? I don`t understand.

All right. Time has expired. Yo, yo, yo. Aflac. Wow.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you not know, do you not have any idea of how many people have enrolled?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We will not have those numbers available until mid-November. We`ll have those numbers available in mid-November.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have no idea?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We`ll have those numbers available in mid- November.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How do you not know how many people have enrolled?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Chairman Camp, we`ll have those numbers available in mid-November.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: I feel sorry for her, but I got to say that Obama care official sounds like a broken phone. We`ll know by mid-November. We`ll know by mid-November.

I`ll tell you what we know right now: Obama care is a fiasco. Breaking news tonight, we`re just learning officials were warned last month that the site was not ready to go live, and they launched it anyway.

So what are they doing on Capitol Hill? Shouting at each other.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What are you going to do about the approximately 17 million children with pre-existing conditions who could no longer be denied health insurance coverage? Want to go back? You want to say you are no longer covered any longer? You`re going to tell the parents of those kids?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Tonight, another brewing scandal. President Obama personally promised Americans that if they liked the individual health insurance plans they already had, they could keep it under Obama care. Listen to the promise.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor under the reform proposals that we put forth. If you like your private health insurance plan, you can keep it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Never mind. Not really. We`re now finding out that millions of Americans are getting cancelation letters for their health insurance, because those policies don`t meet the new Obama care standards. That`s something the Obama administration has allegedly known about for a long time.

Here`s my rant. Get this. There`s an even bigger scandal nobody`s talking about. Obama care is designed to fix people when they`re sick, but the U.S. government is making people sick.

That`s right. I believe that it`s the U.S. government that is subsidizing big ag. Big ag is turning out cheap, fast and junk food that would cost a heck of a lot more without those government subsidies, creating massive health problems including obesity, high cholesterol, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, on and on and on and on. That is the elephant in the room.

Back to Dr. Neal Barnard, bestselling author of "Power Foods for the Brain," many other bestsellers, must-reads. Dr. Barnard, tell us how the U.S. government uses our hard-earned tax dollars in a way that makes Americans sick.

BARNARD: Well, it`s really a ticking time bomb right now. Health care is now $2 trillion a year. And that`s set to explode. Why? Because Baby Boomers are hitting old age. That`s when more and more have diabetes, more and more have Alzheimer`s.

We now know that these are fueled, just as you said, by government policies, what we`re talking about. The government right now subsidizes all the fields of corn and soybeans that we see that are fed, what? To cattle, to hogs, to chickens. And so that`s producing the 1 million animals people eat every hour turning into chicken nuggets and burgers.

So why do we have a huge epidemic of diabetes? Why do we have a lot of cholesterol in this -- cholesterol problems in this country? It`s because we are subsidizing and making very inexpensive the fatty food, the high fructose corn syrup, but also the meats and dairy products fueling those very epidemics. So the price is artificially cheap and it shouldn`t be that way.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: And then when people get sick, we get burned on the other side by having to subsidize their health care. I`m all for health care for everyone, but let`s not make them sick first so it costs billions more.

That is the story nobody`s talking about. It`s the story behind the story. The one you`re going to hear here.

On the other side, a young girl grabbed from her own bedroom by a very dangerous predator.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We think there`s a predator out there, and he has to be stopped and he has to be caught.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I woke up, my dogs were barking like crazy because of the ambulances and fire trucks out here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police say the suspect removed a screen and was able to reach through an unlocked window. That`s how he grabbed hold of that little girl.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All apartments on this block, why just reach in there? So it had to be somebody they knew to know which room she was in and all that kind of stuff.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are treating this matter extremely seriously. We think there`s a predator out there, and he has to be stopped and he has to be caught.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL, HLN HOST: This is so scary. A dangerous predator is on the loose right now as we speak. Parents are locking up their kids, terrified to let them out of their sight, after a young girl is snatched, literally, from her own bedroom. Listen to this from ABC`s "Good Morning America".

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Looks like an unknown party came in through the daughter`s bedroom window.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: The eight-year-old girl was studying in her bed in her family`s Aurora, Colorado home late Sunday night when a mystery man slashed a screen and dragged her through the window. But this little girl wasn`t going to go quietly.

Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF DAN OATES, AURORA POLICE DEPARTMENT: This young girl immediately cried out, immediately put up a fuss and a struggle, and who knows if that might have saved her life. She was pulled out through the window, but she managed to escape.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Once the girl started screaming her head off, the abductor dropped her and ran away. Her father got outside the house just in time to see his daughter`s attacker speeding away in what looked like a silver or gray van -- possibly, actually, a sedan -- a BMW sedan. The girl was raced to the hospital where she was treated for minor injuries.

Now, investigators just released this sketch of the man described as having short blond hair. He was wearing a heavy black winter jacket and smelled of cigarettes. There`s a $20,000 reward for any information. Cops are terrified that he`s already on the hunt for his next victim.

Straight out to Marc Klaas, president and founder of KlaasKids Foundation; Marc, your beautiful, precious daughter, Polly, was kidnapped from her mother`s home by a stranger. What are the chances that this predator we`re talking about tonight will strike again if he`s not captured fast?

MARC KLAAS, PRESIDENT/FOUNDER, KLAASKIDS FOUNDATION (via telephone): Well, I think the chances are very good, Jane. I think that -- I think that really the very, very important thing is though to focus on in this case is that that little girl, whether it was because she was trained by her parents, it was a course she was taking in school, or she just followed her own instinct, did exactly the right thing.

She never would have been safer than she was at home. The farther removed she gets from her family, the farther removed she gets from the authorities and the more isolated she becomes, the more difficult it will be for her to be able to save herself. So she did exactly what she should do and she should be a lesson for every other child that might find themselves in a similar situation. And she should be an object lesson for every parent to talk about to their children so that if they find themselves in this situation, they fight, they scream, they kick -- they do everything they can to extricate themselves from the situation before they become isolated.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, I agree with you, Marc. I am so happy that this little girl screamed, screamed at the top of her lungs. She was in her bedroom doing her homework on her bunk bed as another child slept in the same room.

How did this sicko get inside? How did he get her outside? Watch this from ABC`s "Good Morning America".

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A relative tells the "Denver Post" the girl was awake doing homework. Police say the suspect came to her bedroom window, cutting and removing the screen, opening an unlocked window. He reaches in, grabs the girl and tries to get away, heading toward the alleyway behind her house.

But the girl begins screaming. The girl manages to break free, just as her father hears her scream. He comes running, just in time he tells police, to see a silver or gray car, possibly a BMW, speed away down the alley.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Chilling. Police believe the attempted kidnapper was a stranger, but get this, Jon Leiberman, investigator, the girl`s grandmother tells reporters the man told her granddaughter that he knew their family. What do you make of that?

JON LEIBERMAN, HLN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, that could have been a way simply to scare the potential victim into going along with this guy at first. But police do believe this is one of those very rare cases where it is a stranger potential abduction.

And I`ll tell you this, Jane, police believe this guy was lying in wait. They believe that he actually scoped out this house. He knew where this girl was going to be. He knew that window was going to be unlocked.

Right now, they`re really going along on two investigative angles, Jane. One is there are a large number of convicted sex offenders in a two- mile radius from this house. There`s more than 25 of them. Right now they`re trying to identify all of them and question them.

What they`re also doing is looking for any videotape that they might be able to procure from intersections around this house to see if they can catch that vehicle on tape.

But Marc Klaas hit the nail on the head. This little girl is the hero. She saved her own life here.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: And I`ll tell you something, every time you check one of these neighborhoods, tragically, bizarrely, there`s always a host of predators living in the neighborhood, convicted sex offenders. I mean it boggles my mind. Every time we check, we always find a huge number in any neighborhood we check.

Last year, another brave little girl fought off an attacker who tried to abduct her from a Georgia Wal-Mart. You probably remember this. Look at this incredible surveillance video. The girl, Britney Baxter, says she started -- look at that -- kicking and screaming and punching after the man tried to pick her up. And it was just what her family taught her to do.

Look. Look at this. It worked. He ran away. And he was eventually arrested.

Want to go out to the phone lines. Crystal, Iowa, what do you have to say about this?

CRYSTAL, IOWA (via telephone): I was wondering, for the little girl, do you think he targeted her, like, followed the family?

VELEZ-MITCHELL: You know, I -- I think that when you talk about a stranger abduction, I think there`s various levels of stranger. And, gee, I have to go back to Marc Klaas on this because for example, with Elizabeth Smart, she was kidnapped and fabulous news, she was found, of course, alive and now she`s a leading proponent and a speaker on this issue. But the sicko who kidnapped her had done some yard work at one point for the family. So could there be, like, a minor connection between this creep and this family?

KLAAS: Well, sure, Jane. Of course, there could. What they`ll do is look at family members first, then they`ll look at friends of the family then they`ll look at peripheral contacts. People like the meter readers, mailmen, people like that. And then ultimately they`ll go on to the registered sex offenders and then finally they`ll do the most difficult scenario of all, which would be the stranger scenario.

So I think it could be anything within that realm, but the good news is, they know what this guy looks like. They have a good idea of what he was driving and hopefully they`ll be able to get him before he strikes --

(CROSSTALK)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Marc, how would he know -- how would he know that there would be a little girl behind that particular screen?

KLAAS: It`s simple. He stalked the child. That`s what he did. It may have been -- we may never know how long he stalked the child for. He knew where she was. He knew how to get his hands on her and he acted upon that knowledge.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, I am so glad this little girl is safe and sound, but so many people in Aurora terrified. I hope authorities catch this creep soon. We`ll keep you posted.

Kanye West -- you won`t believe it this time. He`s declaring war and we`ll tell you on who -- it would be so funny if it wasn`t so bizarre.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KANYE WEST, SINGER: Tell me what it takes to be number one. Yo. Everybody out there, thank you so very much, you know, for weathering the storm with me, through my ups and my downs. And we`re definitely up right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Here`s your Crazy Video of the Day. The massive storm in Europe bringing these incredible, possibly record-breaking waves of more than 100 feet -- this is extreme weather, people. Surfers took on his very dangerous challenge. One surfer was knocked unconscious and had to be rescued -- oh, my gosh. We`re happy that that surfer`s ok, but just gives you the idea of the power of nature.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lot of people think you`re a jerk.

WEST: I`m a creative genius and there`s no other way to word it.

The only real luxury is, like, time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Kanye an incredible $100 million.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Kanye talked and he talked and then Kanye talked and then he talked.

WEST: You`re going to love me or you`re going to hate me but I`m going to be me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Another week, another ridiculous diatribe by Kanye West, this time the rapper is publicly blasting upscale brand Louis Vuitton for their extremely high prices. Give me a break, Kanye. You are the king of conspicuous consumption. Just last week you gave your soon to be wife Kim Kardashian a 15-carat -- there it is -- engagement ring reportedly worth about $5 million.

But now Kanye`s turning around and slamming the very line he used to design for? Listen to this from Power 106 FM.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WEST: If I had the opportunity to design for Louis Vuitton now, I wouldn`t because the prices are just too extreme and I don`t want to use my message to have, like, kids saving up that much, you know, to be a part of what the ideas are. You know, that`s the problem, to me, with luxury.

It`s kind of unfair that me and my level of communication for the past ten years, like, people say, oh, he`s arrogant when he says -- no, I`m like the most influential person in fashion of the past ten years.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Ok. Get this. Not only does Kanye wear luxury brands, he also sells them. Did he forget about his ultra, ultra pricey sneaker collection in collaboration with Louis Vuitton back in 2009? Yes - - prices ranged from $800 to over $1,000 for a pair of sneakers.

You may recall Kanye nicknamed himself the Louis Vuitton of don -- or the Louis Vuitton don -- something like that. From one of his hit songs.

(MUSIC)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: I think he`s obsessed with Louis Vuitton almost like a lover scorned, you know. How ridiculous.

Straight out to my very special guest, the wonderful, fabulous former star of Bravo`s "Real Housewives of New York", Jill Zarin.

JILL ZARIN, REALITY TV STAR: Hi, Janey.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Hi. Ok look, I can be very hypocritical. I try not to be super materialistic but I fail at times. But come on, the irony here is that Kanye is the king of materialism. I mean he is --

ZARIN: He is. But --

VELEZ-MITCHELL: How can he sit around and attack anybody --

ZARIN: Well, you know, I`ll tell you why. Because I don`t know if he`s attacking people, but I want to give him credit and say that everybody`s allowed to change, and I think he`s maturing. I think fatherhood and being a parent has made him, like, take a step back and maybe think about values and what`s important. And that`s really what he was saying.

He said he`s looking at his life and he`s saying material things are not as important as people and relationships. And I want to say something about the ring. I said the same thing. I called my mom before the show, and I said -- and I told her what the segment was about. I said, I know Jane`s going to say, well, for him to say that and then buy her a 15-carat diamond ring really doesn`t jive. So my mother said that --

VELEZ-MITCHELL: You think?

Zarin: -- that jewelry is different. No -- well, she said jewelry is an investment and that it got a lot of people out of Europe, pre-World War II in times of need. This is what my mother said. She said that people put their money into different things and that it`s ok to invest money in diamonds. I`m just saying.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Wait. So you think Kim is going to have to flee the United States? Because --

ZARIN: Well you know, based on some of the things that have happened lately -- she might. I don`t know, just kidding.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, look.

ZARIN: You like that? I thought that was pretty clever of my mom.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: You know what; for an imaginative defense, you should have been -- your mom should have been a defense attorney because she came up --

ZARIN: I know.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: -- with a very imaginative defense. Because to me, Exhibit A is the ring, ok?

ZARIN: I agree.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: So he`s dripping in high-end designer brands and his fiancee, Kim Kardashian, is waltzing around with this rock. I mean it`s amazing she can lift her hand -- 15 carats.

ZARIN: It`s true.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Listen to Kanye spill the beans to Ryan Seacrest about the proposal -- the marriage proposal.

ZARIN: But you know what, why don`t we take it and say that he`s trying to mature.

(CROSSTALK)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Listen to this for a second.

ZARIN: Oh, sorry.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, let`s listen and then we`ll debate it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WEST: I just didn`t tell anybody. They thought everybody that came in just thought it was a surprise party. So, of course, I didn`t tell her that anyone was coming in. At a certain point, she just knows I`m going to do something that turns up -- expecting, you know, something, like, awesome.

The guy who organized it was talking about all this, like, romantic lighting. I was like, enough already. We`re in a baseball field.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Jill, he rented out the San Francisco Giants Ballpark. He hired a huge orchestra. He flew in the entire sizable Kardashian clan.

ZARIN: I know. But honestly, he`s not supposed to be Mother Teresa. If he makes enough money and he can afford to do that for the woman he loves and have money left over to do other good things, I mean I -- what are we to say? If that`s how he wants to spend his money, if he earns it and pays his taxes -- and pays his taxes.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well look, then don`t say anything about Louis Vuitton.

I personally hate all these status symbols. I think that they`re a contrarian indicator. I think anybody who needs to walk around with a status symbol has low self-esteem. So they need to flash their bling to say, "Look, I`m important, I`m ok, I`m a VIP, whatever." If you know that you`re who you are, you don`t need that to justify who you are. You can just wear, like, a hemp -- look at this hemp bracelet that I wear. I bought it for a dollar in the park.

We`ll be right back.

(MUSIC)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Time for Pet of the Day. Send your pet pics in to hlntv.com/Jane.

Millie -- oh you`re so silly but I love you. Dakota -- devil in disguise but I say you`re an angel. Benji -- I wear a beautiful bandanna. And Annie -- oh, a pirate of the Caribbean.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OPRAH WINFREY, TALK SHOW HOST: What has happened to you?

TOM CRUISE, ACTOR: That`s how I feel about it.

WINFREY: Something happened to you. Something happened to you.

CRUISE: I`m in love.

WINFREY: We`ve never seen you behave this way before.

CRUISE: I know.

WINFREY: Have you ever felt this way before?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Ah. Oh, my gosh. Jill Zarin, has Kanye West become the new Tom Cruise?

ZARIN: Ooh, I didn`t think of that. Yes. Maybe a little bit. He`s really professing his love for his woman. I love it.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: But in a way that`s almost like so over the top that it kind of boomerangs a little bit. You know what I mean.

ZARIN: I don`t know if it boomerangs. But I was thinking about on commercial break saying to myself, I don`t think if anybody should be buying him any Louis Vuitton luggage any time soon for his birthday. He might not want to wheel it through the Paris airport. But you know, they can call me. I`m happy to be their spokesperson -- just kidding.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: You know what -- look at that jacket. You think that jacket he bought it at Wal-Mart? Come on. Look at that jacket.

ZARIN: No, no, no, no. He`s not saying that his behavior in the past is anything but horrific. He`s saying that he doesn`t buy into it anymore. That he`s a grown man. I think what he`s -- I think he`s maturing. I really do.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Got to leave it there. Say hi to your mom Gloria, ok, Jill?

ZARIN: I will.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. We won`t go shopping soon, but I love you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: And now your "Slice of Happiness". Our very own Nancy Grace stopped by the "Watch What Happens" live studio where host, Andy Cohen handed her a gavel and new title --- the "Housewife Matchmaker from Bravo".

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDY COHEN, TALK SHOW HOST: Since Marisol is single and ready to mingle and Nancy Grace is really good at snap judgments, we thought we would combine these two to help Marisol find a man.

Here`s what; we`re going to play a game called "Objections of Affections". I am going to show you both some possible mates for Marisol. Nancy will tell us if she approves or objects by --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, the gavel.

COHEN: -- banging on her gavel. Here you go, Nancy Grace -- I love giving Nancy a gavel. First up, Russell Brand, what`s the verdict?

NANCY GRACE, HLN HOST: Crazy. Don`t touch him.

COHEN: Ok. Next up, Bruce Jenner.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh no.

GRACE: Still married.

COHEN: Still married -- ok. That sucks. Usher?

GRACE: Go for it.

COHEN: Ok.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I like him.

COHEN: Next up, Nicolas Cage.

GRACE: No. Spends his money very unwisely.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. I don`t like that.

COHEN: Ok. Next up -- Tiger Woods.

GRACE: Serial cheater.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. That`s it for me.

COHEN: Ok. Next up -- Prince.

GRACE: Don`t do it.

COHEN: Ok.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He wears more makeup than I do.

COHEN: Ok. Seacrest?

GRACE: Go for it.

COHEN: Ok.

GRACE: Sorry Julianne.

COHEN: Wayne Newton.

GRACE: Still married.

COHEN: Ok. Oh, is he still married?

GRACE: I think so.

COHEN: Ok.

GRACE: Plus he just filed for bankruptcy. Don`t touch him.

COHEN: Oh my God.

Next up -- Chris Brown.

GRACE: No, no, no, unless you take boxing lessons first.

COHEN: Oh God. Thank you very much, Nancy Grace.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: That`s our Nancy. She`s next.

END