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PRIMETIME JUSTICE WITH ASHLEIGH BANFIELD

Hot Car Dad Found Guilty; Fiancee Killed, Buried in Basement; Mom of Todd Kohlhepp Claims Son "Not a Monster"; Desperate Search for Missing Moms. Aired 8-9p ET

Aired November 14, 2016 - 20:00:00   ET

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


[20:00:00] ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, HLNHOST: A multi-state manhunt after police find a woman`s body buried in a house of horrors.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(voice-over): A mom of three is found buried in the basement of her home, and tonight police are on the hunt for her accused killer.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can`t imagine what those girls, when they found out that she was down there.

BANFIELD: In an exclusive interview, the mother of a man who`s accused of chaining a woman in a storage container for months says her son is not a

monster.

REGGIE TAGUE, TODD KOHLHEPP`S MOTHER: He did some bad things, but a monster? No.

BANFIELD: The desperate search for a beautiful California mom who disappeared while jogging takes on a new twist as another mother from the

area is reported missing the same day. Is there a connection?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BANFIELD: Welcome to PRIMETIME JUSTICE, everyone. I`m Ashleigh Banfield.

We`re following breaking news. A jury in Georgia has found Justin Ross Harris guilty of murder and several other felonies in the death of his 22-

month-old son, Cooper. Harris faces life in prison when he`s sentenced next month for intentionally leaving little Cooper inside a hot SUV to die.

And prosecutors say that is who they were fighting for for more than two years.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHUCK BORING, COBB COUNTY ASST. DISTRICT ATTORNEY: We don`t celebrate something like this because it`s the end of a horrible set of

circumstances. But I think it`s validation of the work that the Cobb County police did and that our team did in this case to bring justice to

Cooper because that`s what it`s been about the whole time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: HLN senior producer Natisha Lance is following the case for us, and she`s live tonight in Brunswick, Georgia. Natisha, he looked stunned,

absolutely stunned with that verdict in that courtroom!

NATISHA LANCE, HLN SENIOR PRODUCER: Ashleigh, this is a case that was two years in the making. It has seen a change of venue, traveling 300 miles to

Brunswick in order to hear this case. The jurors heard 70 witnesses and looked at over 1,000 pieces of evidence before coming to their verdict

today.

And I was in that courtroom today sitting behind Justin Ross Harris. And you are right, he looked stunned, not much of reaction from him. Now, when

the jurors came into the courtroom, they didn`t look over at him, make any kind of eye contact. But when those first two counts were read as guilty,

there were at least two jurors who were sitting in the jury box who looked over at Justin Ross Harris, seemingly wanting to see some sort of reaction

from him, but they didn`t see much of one. I did hear him sigh at least two times deeply.

And there was an alternate juror -- there were four alternate jurors in this case, and there was one sitting in the jury box who had her hand over

her forehead and her eyes closed during the reading of the verdict.

Now, after court, we did hear from the prosecution and the defense. They had an opportunity to speak to jurors after they came up with their

verdict, and what they told the prosecution is that it wasn`t just one piece of evidence that led them to this verdict, but it was the totality of

evidence that came into this.

They did ask to see several different pieces of evidence again while they were going through deliberations. They have asked to see the interrogation

video with Justin Ross Harris and the lead detective, also that video of Justin Ross Harris and his ex-wife, Leanna, and also that surveillance

video outside Justin Ross Harris`s work, where he returned to the car at lunch and puts the lightbulbs in the car. And there was something about

that, they told the prosecutor, that was suspicious to them.

Now, we also heard from the defense in this case, and they said that they plan to file an appeal, but they also said that this was a breakdown of

justice. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MADDOX KILOGORE, HARRIS`S DEFENSE ATTORNEY: If you`ve been following the trial, I know you have, you know what a lot of those breakdowns were. But

on a more personal level, I`ll tell you that from the moment we met Ross Harris, we`ve never once, ever once wavered in our absolute belief that

he`s not guilty of what he`s just been convicted of.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LANCE: Now, Ashleigh, the next step in this case will be sentencing, and that will be taking place three weeks from now -- Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: All right, Natisha Lance, thank you for that. Appreciate it.

A manhunt is under way in Idaho tonight for an alleged killer, and police say here`s the man they`re looking for. His name is Jeremy James White.

He`s suspected of killing his own girlfriend of about 10 years. And police say by now, he could be anywhere in the country. They believe that he

killed Christin Caldwell and then buried the mother of three in the basement of the home they shared together after she was reported missing.

White is considered armed and dangerous tonight, and police are warning anyone out there, if you see him, do not approach him under any

circumstance.

In a very strange twist, he may actually be traveling with another woman who could also be in danger. Jeremy White has one very distinct feature

that stands out. He has his initials J.W. tattooed on his left forearm.

Stephan Rockefeller is a reporter with EastIdahoNews.com. He`s with me now live to talk a little bit more about this. How did they find this woman

buried in her basement?

STEPHAN ROCKEFELLER, EASTIDAHONEWS.COM (via telephone): Well, Ashleigh, children of this woman reported her missing, and police came to the house

and there was evidence in the home that indicated (INAUDIBLE) discovered (INAUDIBLE)

BANFIELD: When they had discovered her missing, it`s my understanding, Stephan, that they searched for her and crawled down into the basement

looking for her, didn`t they.

ROCKEFELLER: That`s right. They went down into the basement. They started looking on social media. They asked for help from friends and

family. It was a couple days later that they reported it (INAUDIBLE) They were waiting at Ms. Caldwell`s home for her to come home. They were

waiting for her to come home, not knowing that she was buried below them.

BANFIELD: What about Jeremy White, though? Did they just think that maybe he was missing, as well? For all intents and purposes, nobody thought that

this kind of a relationship could blow up like this.

ROCKEFELLER: No. Jeremy left in Ms. Caldwell`s car, so they had assumed that they were together.

BANFIELD: I want to play for you something that the -- that one of the police officers who was dealing with this, sheriff`s office, said about

this particular person, Jeremy White, and it is none too flattering given now that there is this incredible manhunt for this man. Have a listen to

what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SGT. BRYAN LOVELL, BONNEVILLE CO. SHERIFF`S OFFICE: We believe he`s armed and dangerous at this time, and the welfare of Ms. Aday -- we don`t know

the status of that, so we believe her to be endangered at this time.

So we would stress that anybody that sees them, they should call their local law enforcement immediately and not approach them. We don`t want

anybody else getting hurt or anything like that. So 911 or a call to their local law enforcement to react to whatever sighting or wherever they`re at

would be the appropriate thing to do to make sure we keep other people safe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Keep other people safe. One of the people who is of concern is that woman who was in the picture. Her name is Deena Aday. It`s thought,

Sheriff Paul Wilde, that Ms. Aday could be traveling with Jeremy White at this time. Can you help me understand, sir, what the connection is between

Jeremy White and this other woman who now is also potentially in danger?

SHERIFF PAUL WILDE, BONNEVILLE CO.: Well, right now, we are looking into that further. They are friends. They`ve known each other for some time.

And with the investigation and the information that`s been obtained, we believe that Ms. Aday left with Mr. White on her own free will. But at

this time, with the information from the homicide, that we believe that she may be endangered and we do have cause for concern for her.

BANFIELD: Sheriff, it`s sort of a unique circumstance that this couple was together for about 10 years. Nobody would have suspected that this kind of

thing could happen. And yet Christin Caldwell`s body was found in the basement of her home, buried in the dirt, and found by her family

(INAUDIBLE) Of course, sheriff`s deputies and police officers responding made the ultimate grisly discovery.

Is there a charge right now outstanding for Jeremy White? Is he a person of interest? Is he a suspect? Do they know -- I mean, is there some

evidence that we don`t know about that directly links him to that burial site?

WILDE: I`m sorry. There is a warrant, an arrest warrant for Jeremy White for the arrest -- for the charge of second degree murder.

BANFIELD: And what is it that connects him, other than the fact that he`s missing, to this grisly discovery of his girlfriend`s dead body?

WILDE: So during the investigation, evidence has been brought forward that indicates that he is the suspect and there is probable cause to have

sufficient probable cause to issue that search warrant for (INAUDIBLE)

BANFIELD: What kind of evidence?

WILDE: I`m sorry?

BANFIELD: What kind of evidence came up?

WILDE: So the evidence of him at the residence, talking with the kids, and then he leaving the area, and just the -- you know, his actions and

activities that well long before he left Idaho Falls (ph).

[20:10:07]BANFIELD: Do you -- are you able to tell us how Ms. Caldwell died? I know that the autopsy was just in the last few days. How did she

die?

WILDE: So the autopsy has been conducted. The medical examiner is holding off on their information for that. They would like to have toxicology back

and some other evidence finalized before they give us a cause of death.

BANFIELD: Sheriff, stand by for a moment, if you would.

I want to bring in Nancy Waters. She`s Christin Caldwell`s sister, and she joins me from Pastel (ph), Washington right now. Nancy, thank you so much

for joining us. And I am so sorry to be speaking to you under these circumstances, and our hearts go out to you knowing the death of your

sister, knowing the circumstances surrounding that.

I want to get your take on...

NANCY WATERS, VICTIM`S SISTER (via telephone): Thank you.

BANFIELD: I want to get your take on Jeremy White and what you know about him, the relationship he had with your sister, where he might be right now,

why they might suspect, other than him being missing, that he did this.

WATERS: (INAUDIBLE) questions. What I know about him is I`ve known him for about -- I don`t know, around 10 years. And he`s always seemed -- I

don`t know, he seemed (INAUDIBLE) enough, but he didn`t get our good graces at the beginning. But he -- you know, we`ve had a death -- my grandparents

died, and he came and he helped clean the place up, so he got in our good graces and he sort of redeemed himself.

And it ended up like this. And that was a complete shock and surprise. I have no idea how this could have happened or why.

BANFIELD: And as the search now for the man suspected in Christin Caldwell`s death continues right across the country, in fact, there is this

mystery of the victim`s telephone and the use of the telephone.

There is the picture on your screen and the tipline, as well. Jeremy James White is considered armed and dangerous, very dangerous, with the initials

J.W. tattooed on his left forearm.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:16:19]BANFIELD: When Christin Caldwell`s family had not heard from her for several days, concern quickly grew and the police were called in. And

then came the gruesome discovery. Her body was found in the basement of this house, the house she shared with her boyfriend. He is nowhere to be

seen. He`s on the run, and there`s a massive manhunt for him tonight.

Joining me again, Nancy Waters. She`s Christin Caldwell`s sister. Nancy, thank you so much for being with us. Tell me a little bit about your

sister`s telephone because as I understand it, after she went missing, her phone was actually active.

WATERS: Yes. Now, my sister called my mom at 5:00 o`clock every night when she gets off of work and she would talk to her. And -- but one

particular day, a Tuesday, she didn`t call. Jeremy called instead. He has never called. He has never had any business calling. But he called and he

said to my mom, I know this is a time that Christin usually calls you, but she`s sleeping right now so I thought I would call you.

(CROSSTALK)

BANFIELD: Nancy, weren`t there were text messages sent to your other sister and also to her work?

WATERS: Yes, there was. My sister`s -- one of my other sister`s birthday was the very next day. And there was a text message, a happy birthday text

message to her. And -- and she said some things that are not the way she would have said them. It was not her. It was not her message because my

sisters both have special birthday wishes that they give each other every year, so it wasn`t her at all texting.

BANFIELD: I want to bring Sheriff Wilde back in, if I can. Sheriff, do you have any idea, do you have any leads as to where Jeremy White might be?

And where are you fanning out to?

WILDE: Right now, it`s pretty broad. We -- with the evidence we have obtained, we know that they left this area. But it could be the Northwest.

It could be anywhere in the United States. So we appreciate having the opportunity to get on your show and put this information out. We believe

that with the community`s help and people watching, we can bring this man to justice.

BANFIELD: Nancy, if I can ask you, do you know who this Deena Aday is, this sort of mysterious woman who now he is suspected to be with, and whom

authorities think is in danger? Have you heard of her before?

WATERS: I never heard of her until just recently. I didn`t know anything about her.

BANFIELD: And do you have any suspicions as to where he might have gone? I mean, you`ve known him for 10 years. Any thoughts as to where he night

seek refuge or hide?

WATERS: Not a clue. I have no idea. I don`t know anything about his family. I don`t know if he`s got some place he would go. I just don`t

know.

BANFIELD: I want to bring in Julie Rendelman and Kirby Clements, a defense attorney, former prosecutor, respectively. Julie, really quickly, I get

it. When someone disappears, that`s pretty clear evidence you got to find them. But other than what the police have told us, which isn`t very much,

what do they have to go on here to actually, you know, launch that charge against him, second degree, and launch this all-out manhunt and suggest

he`s armed and dangerous?

JULIE RENDELMAN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I mean, one would assume that there`s a lot we don`t know. We already- we still don`t know what the autopsy

results were, so we don`t even know the cause of death. We don`t know anything about the intricacies of their relationship. We don`t know if

this was an accident. We don`t know if it was self-defense. So one would assume that they know more than we do at this point.

BANFIELD: Usually. Although when you`re looking for someone, you want to get as much information out there. Kirby Clements, if there is any advice

to a man on the run, like Jeremy White right now, the longer he stays out, is he in more trouble?

[20:20:10]KIRBY CLEMENTS, FORMER PROSECUTOR: Well, the longer he stays out, the more evidence can be used against him to show that there`s flight.

So it`d be better for him to find a lawyer and negotiate his surrender because if he`s contacted with the police, it may not end well.

BANFIELD: Yes. Nancy, really quickly. I want to come back to you, if I can. What are you and your family doing at this time? I understand you

are in mourning, but at the same time, there is this manhunt. What are you all doing to try to get through these horrible times?

WATERS: Well, right now, we`re pretty much past the shock and we`re at the anger stage. The only thing we can do is keep reaching out. My friends

and family have great people on Facebook, and they`re reaching out and it`s getting everywhere. It`s getting spread across. And we have such a good

support structure, wonderful friends, wonderful family, and it`s getting out there. And right now, we`re just in hopes (ph). We`re working hard to

get this -- get his face out there, just to bring him in.

BANFIELD: Well, Nancy, our thoughts are with you, and we do hope that you find some resolution to this. The tipline is up. The photo is up. But

make no mistake, don`t go near this man. If you see him, especially those J.W. letters, his initials tattooed on his left forearm, don`t go near him.

He is considered armed and dangerous. And he may be traveling with a woman named Deena Aday, whose photo you saw earlier. The tipline, 208-846-7676.

I want to take you to South Carolina now. Todd Kohlhepp`s anguished mother struggling to accept that her son just might be a serial killer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REGGIE TAGUE, TODD KOHLHEPP`S MOTHER: I`m so sorry! I am so sorry. If I had thought for two seconds early on that he had done it, I would have

called the sheriff.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:26:16]BANFIELD: When a South Carolina woman was found alive months after she went missing, the nation was understandably stunned, but even

more shocking was the way in which she was found. There it is right there. That woman was chained by the neck in a metal container on a large rural

property.

It turns out that the property owner, Todd Kohlhepp, allegedly killed three people whose bodies were found on that land. And authorities say he killed

four more, four other people in a motorcycle shop several years back. And now authorities are trying to figure out what brought on Todd Kohlhepp`s

alleged blood lust.

Tonight, some startling but mysterious clues in the words of Kohlhepp`s own mother, who has now spoken out on her son`s alleged crimes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REGGIE TAGUE, TODD KOHLHEPP`S MOTHER: I asked Todd why. Why did you do this? You had everything. I gave you everything. And he says, They

embarrassed me. He says, They made me feel so bad.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Joey Hudson is the host of WGTK 94.6 in Greenville, South Carolina. Joey, I cannot believe what I just heard. They embarrassed me,

they made me feel mad or bad, whatever it is. Is Todd`s mother honestly blaming what`s happened on embarrassment and anger? Joey, can you hear me,

Joey Hudson?

JOEY HUDSON, WGTK (via telephone): Yes.

BANFIELD: Yes, I`m kind of stunned at what I`m hearing from this mother. This sounds like the biggest excuse I`ve ever seen for a crime.

HUDSON: Yes. Well, she would like for us to believe that he`s just misunderstood, that he`s not a bad person, that he`s not a monster, and

that he didn`t do this out of enjoyment, but he was just mad and he was hurt.

BANFIELD: I`ve been mad and hurt a lot, but I don`t chain people up in a container and I don`t shoot people and bury them on my property and shoot

them in a restaurant or a bike store and leave them basically rotting. I am still astounded. There`s got to be more to this woman than what I`m

seeing.

HUDSON: Well, you know, we expect our moms, I guess, to support us, to give us that unconditional love. But to actually defend our actions

because we might have been angry or we might have been hurt -- according to his mom, he has had issues with anger his entire life, even as a child,

that he had uncontrollable rage. And she just, I guess, thinks that this is an excuse for him to allegedly kill people.

BANFIELD: It`s remarkable. I want to play something that he told -- that she told "48 Hours" in an interview, which if you thought what you just

heard was astounding, listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Your son is the definition of what`s known as a serial killer.

TAGUE: I hate that! Todd is not a monster. He`s never been a monster. He`s not even close to it. He did some bad things, but a monster? No.

Ted Bundy, I`d call a monster. But Todd, he wasn`t doing it for enjoyment. He was doing it because he was mad and he was hurt.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) her boyfriend?

TAGUE: Because he got nasty and got smart-mouthed. And Todd had hired him to do some stuff, and Todd pays well. And the guy got mouthy about it and

from what I gather, said some smart things to Todd, and -- I guess Todd shot him.

[20:30:04]

RAY: Is that how your son handled his anger, he just killed people when they mistreated him?

TAGUE: Never before.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: CNN`s Robert Ray went to Greenville and visited Todd Kohlhepp`s home. And Robert, you also spoke with Todd`s mother. Did you get the same

kind of -- look, I get it, she`s a mother. I get it, that`s her child.

But I also get it that he has confessed these things to her, if we are to believe her, and she`s making excuses about being mad and hurt and nasty

and smart mouthed victims. Did you get that same sense from her?

RAY: I did. But I got to tell you, Ashleigh. What I also got from Todd Kohlhepp`s mother is the fact that she made the statement to me last week

on the telephone that, you know, Todd was not a child to be left alone. That`s a quote from her. So clearly an admission of the fact that Todd had

a very troubled childhood.

If you go back through the public records, and we read all the different scenarios that psychiatrists laid out about Todd, and also the courts, this

is a person that, when he was a young man, actually abused animals, he was a bully to kids.

And then of course we know back when he was 12 years old, he moved from South Carolina to Arizona to live with his father, and at that point, at 15

years old, the neighbor girl just down the block, he took her, she was 14, at gun point. Walked her back to the father`s house. The father wasn`t home

at the time. He tied her up, and he raped her. So clearly, Ashleigh, a troubled child and it led into his adult life.

BANFIELD: This is incredible. He has been in the system before. Troubled child, troubled adult, troubled everything. Joey Hudson, I want to bring

you back in because I just want to show some of that video. We`ve got video of that container that Kayla Brown was held in for two months.

And now courtesy of her friend, Daniel Herren, we now know a lot more about what was happening inside that container, what those two months were like,

what her conditions were like, what she told Daniel she was going through. Have a listen.

(START VIDEO CLIP)

DANIEL HERREN, FRIEND OF KAYLA BROWN: She goes, I was locked up in this metal container and chains around my neck and I was in dark almost the

entire time. Todd would take her out of there from time to time to let her at least kind of walk around and see daylight.

Her words were, and then Todd dragged me over to somewhere on the property where he showed me three graves that had to be -- or that appeared to be

people buried in them. And Todd said to her, Kayla, if you try to escape, you`re going directly into one of those graves.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Joey Hudson, it is just astounding to think what those two months were like for Kayla Brown as she was in there and there`s more. Can you

describe the piece of information that the sheriff told us on this program last week?

He said she was in a cage, which everybody thought the cage was the container. There was actually a shark cage inside the container and she was

in that cage?

HUDSON: Ashleigh, that`s what the sheriff has said, yes. You know, it`s bad enough for her to be in that metal container and the temperatures then were

in the high 90s. So who knows what the heat was like inside that.

But she was also in this -- and you described it perfectly, like a shark cage, like you see on these T.V. programs where you have these divers

protecting themselves from sharks.

BANFIELD: Joey, that added detail, the chain around her neck came from the ceiling, didn`t it?

HUDSON: Yes, it did.

BANFIELD: I just can`t imagine how much more secure he would need her to be inside a container, inside a shark cage with a chain around her neck that

goes to the ceiling and out that container goes for more forensic processing.

Let`s hope they do a really good job on processing that, because they`re going to need every piece of information they get at trial. Kayla Brown

described her nightmare in that container to her friend. But, this is what Todd Kohlhepp`s mom told CBS` "48 Hours" about Kayla`s activity.

(START VIDEO CLIP)

TAGUE: He didn`t know what to do with her. He couldn`t turn her loose. She would go get the police.

RAY: So he chained her up?

TAGUE: Uh-huh, and tried to make her as comfortable as possible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[20:35:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: As authorities sort through the work of an alleged serial killer tonight, they are also digesting the story of one of his survivors. There

are some shocking new details on the container that held Kayla Brown chained and captive, inside the cage inside that container, and that went

on for two months in near complete blackness, on Todd Kohlhepp`s South Carolina world property. The suspected serial killer`s mother is speaking

out to CBS` "48 Hours."

(START VIDEO CLIP)

RAY: Why did he chain that girl up?

TAGUE: Because he didn`t know what to do at that point. She evidently saw him kill the other, her boyfriend, and he didn`t know what to do with her.

He couldn`t turn her loose. She would go get the police.

[20:40:00] RAY: So he chained her up?

TAGUE: Uh-huh, and tried to make her as comfortable as possible. And he had a dilemma.

RAY: Did he abuse her?

TAGUE: No, he said he did not. He promised me. And believe me, he would have told me.

RAY: What did he do to take care of her?

TAGUE: He brought her food and water and drink. He brought her something to lay on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: CNN`s Robert Ray joins me live again. Robert, you were at Todd Kohlhepp`s home. Pretty unsuspecting place. If you look at the pictures, it

looks like a two-story home. Could be anybody`s home. But you were there when they were processing it. The authorities were there. It seemed like

they were going through things with a fine tooth comb. What did you see?

RAY: Yeah, you know, very normal neighborhood in Moore, South Carolina, just a suburb outside of Greenville in between Spartanburg as well. This is

a neighborhood where, you know, little kids are on their bikes, buses roll in and out of there. People are out literally mowing their lawns, and the

neighbors are all very nice people, but very shocked at the scenario when Todd Kohlhepp and the police were there.

And we should remind everybody, when Todd Kohlhepp was arrested, at the same time is when the authorities were at that 100-acre farm and they found

the young lady who was shackled up in that storage unit. So really just weird coincidence of timing.

But the neighbors, Ashleigh, his direct next door neighbor did tell me that they knew that Todd was a registered sex offender, because they were

looking, like so many people do on the computer, at people in their neighborhood and in the area, and they actually did confront Todd about the

fact that he was on this list.

And Todd sort of just brushed it aside, and said I was young, it was no big deal. I was 15, I was on a joyride with a girl. Just sort of a big mistake.

Of course, his neighbors took him at his word. But they still thought it was a very troubling thing.

BANFIELD: It just blows my mind that his mother say, he tried to make her as comfortable as possible by chaining her from the ceiling, from a shark

cage inside a metal container in complete blackness for two months and I would guess in over 100-degree heat inside that container in South Carolina

in early September.

He tried to make her as comfortable in possible in that what you`re seeing on your screen. It is astounding to me that she could utter anything like

those words. I know she`s his mother, I get it. But it is astounding to me that she could say anything like that. This woman`s life is destroyed, and

I suppose she`s lucky to even have her life.

Julie Rendelman, Kirby Clements, comment on this if you will because one of the things he told his mother, at least his mother says, he told her, is

that he wants any lawyer that he has to keep him off death row. I get it.

There`s no death penalty for keeping somebody in a container for two months, but there sure is for murdering and burying people on your

property. Julie? Is he going to avoid the death penalty even if he took them to those bodies?

RENDELMAN: You know, I don`t know. This is just unfathomable. I do have to say one thing, you talk about the mother and how she`s handling her son`s

situation. But one wonders if his mother`s behavior is kind of indicative of how he became the way he was.

BANFIELD: You think? You think? I mean, to suggest he tried to make her as comfortable as possible, he fed her, he gave her something to drink in

those two months. He put a mattress down in the shark cage inside the container in complete blackness. Don`t show me your anguish on "48 Hours,"

I don`t want to see it.

I don`t want you to say your son`s not a monster. That he`s not Ted Bundy. He`s every bit Ted Bundy if he did the things that he`s accused of doing.

Kirby Clements, is it possible that if he leads them to bodies, they would have to make a deal with them and take death off the table in order to find

those victims?

CLEMENTS: I don`t think that`s something they would take death off the table for because they could have found the bodies anyway. They could.

BANFIELD: How do you defend this guy? Honestly, there is forensic evidence everywhere. They walked out with his hard drive. They got a woman on his

property, they`ve got his mother saying he did it, but he was mad. He was mad. He was embarrassed, and that`s why he did it. How do you defend this

guy, Kirby?

CLEMENTS: Well, the defense is going to be mental health, that`s all they have at this point. Let`s not forget the murder at the motorcycle shop,

plus -- and this murder here, and you have a live eyewitness who was chained up, who can tell you he killed them, he buried them. He even told

me that he would put me in one of these graves as well.

RENDELMAN: He`s going to have a tough time showing mental illness. This is just more of an angry guy than someone who is mentally ill.

BANFIELD: That whole thing about knowing right from wrong means I`m keeping you lock away here because you will tell the police as his mother just

articulated. Do these investigators know the full extent of the trail of horrors that Todd Kohlhepp allegedly blazed in South Carolina? Could there

be more victims?

[20:45:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: Three bodies on his property, and four killed in a motorcycle shop. Could there be additional victims of alleged serial killer Todd

Kohlhepp? I want to bring back that CNN`s Robert Ray. There was a judge back in the rape case from 1987, where he was convicted of raping a 14-

year-old girl when he was 15. The judge made some pretty profound statements. What were they?

RAY: Ashleigh, listen to this. The judge wrote and said, at less than the age of 9, this juvenile was impulsive, explosive, and preoccupied with

sexual content. He`s being aggressive to others and destructive since nursery school. This will all likely continue into his adult life.

Now, here`s the thing. We have to remember that Todd Kohlhepp at before nine years old, spent 3-1/2 months in a juvenile mental institution because

his mother and stepfather couldn`t get control of Todd`s behavior to other kids, to animals, and to family members. So it`s just indicative of what

this child was going through at the time and clearly what he became through adolescence and into adulthood, Ashleigh.

[20:50:00] BANFIELD: Sadly. Being a registered sex offender just wasn`t enough. All right. Thank you for that. I want to switch gears if I can for

a moment because there`s some very important voting under way right now for the CNN Hero of the Year. I want you to meet this year`s top ten, one of

them. Georgie Smith.

(START VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGIE SMITH, ONE OF CNN HEROES OF THE YEAR: My name is Georgie Smith and I started an organization in Los Angeles called "Sense of Home." So kids

that got adopted, who never got family, we come in with donated items and with volunteers, completely furnish their home.

Just as a family would for any youth. They say it takes a village to raise a child. I feel that we the village weren`t doing what we should be doing

for these children, and I needed to do something.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is great.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s so pretty.

SMITH: Everyone needs a home. The ache for a home lives inside all of us. And by coming to create someone else home is fulfilling a void in all of

us.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thanks, everyone.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[20:55:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: Family of a missing Northern California woman who vanished on a job thinks that she was abducted. Sherri Papini`s husband, Keith, reported

her missing when he learned that she did not pick their children up from daycare.

(START VIDEO CLIP)

KEITH PAPINI, HUSBAND OF SHERRI PAPINI: I`m coming, honey. I`m trying -- I`m doing everything I can. And I love you. If she`s listening, I want you

to say that we`re trying and, um, we`re trying the best we can, and I`m so sorry that I`m not there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: And now we are learning another woman, Stacey Smart, from a nearby county was reported missing on the very same day. There is no word

at this point that these cases are linked. But investigators are searching for both women at the same time, and they`re searching for answers too.

Alayna Shulman is a reporter with the Record Searclight in Redding, California. Elena, one of the first things they look at is the spouses when

there is a person who goes missing. In Sherri`s case, we just saw Keith, her husband speaking tearfully. We know he passed a polygraph. He`s not a

suspect that we know of at this time. But do we know anything more about where she could possibly be?

ALAYNA SHULMAN, REPORTER, RECORD SEARCHLIGHT: Not that is being publicly revealed at least at this point. I actually did just get word in from the

sheriff`s office just about an hour ago, you know, they said there`s nothing new to report right now.

They say they`re dedicating just about all the resources they have to this case, including some outside resources. And, you know, other than that

revelation about the husband not being a person of interest, we don`t have much more.

BANFIELD: I just also want to touch on the personal on this one. The husband, Keith, has not yet told their two young children that mom is

missing, has he?

SHULMAN: No. Yeah, they`re -- they`re hoping that they will never have to, you know, that`s the best case scenario, that she comes back and obviously

they`re going to have to deal with what happened. But, you know, the kids can just, I don`t know, that she`s on vacation or something.

BANFIELD: All right. You know, it`s hard. It`s been nearly two weeks when she went missing. I don`t know how much longer they can do that. There are

about 900 sex offenders in this area in particular. And now, there are two missing women. Listen, other than the fact that they kind of look similar,

if you see their side by side photos, they look somewhat similar.

They went missing right around the same time very mysteriously. So what else have they found out? Have they canvassed all of those sex offenders?

Are they leaning toward that as particular area of interest? Are they coming up empty?

SHULMAN: They won`t say whether they`re leaning toward that. But they have definitely been in touch with a lot. It`s not all of them. As far as the

similarities, I did hear from the Trinity County Sheriff`s Office today, the one where Stacey Smart is, that they don`t think the cases are related.

BANFIELD: They don`t?

SHULMAN: The Shasta County wouldn`t say.

BANFIELD: Just that it was a remarkable coincidence, that`s it? They think it`s just coincidence, reported on the same day?

SHULMAN: With the Stacey Smart case is that she was only reported missing the same day Sherri was. They actually haven`t heard from her in several

weeks, since sometime in October.

BANFIELD: We`re going to continue to watch these two cases and see what further evidence turns up. Thank you. I appreciate your reporting on this.

Thank you, everyone, for watching as well. I`m Ashleigh Banfield. It`s been good to have you with us. See you right back here tomorrow night 8:00 for

PRIMETIME JUSTICE. Stay tuned now. "FORENSIC FILES" starts right away.

[21:00:00]

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