Return to Transcripts main page
PRIMETIME JUSTICE WITH ASHLEIGH BANFIELD
Unsolved Iowa Case Linked to Indiana`s; Video Catches Man Beating, Abducting Woman; Caught on Camera; Disturbing Video; Nighttime Killing; Free to Go; "War Machine" Trial; Decapitation Horror. Aired 8-9p ET
Aired March 7, 2017 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
[20:00:00] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Down the hill.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Down the hill.
ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, HLN HOST (voice-over): The final image and sound captured by a murdered teenager on her cellphone.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We want to get this case solved.
BANFIELD: As police in Indiana up the ante in the search for Abby and Libby`s killer.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hold someone accountable for their murders.
BANFIELD: Cops in Iowa see an intriguing connection.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I wanted to make sure that they were looking at it.
BANFIELD: Is there an eerie link between their deaths and a murder of teen cousins five years ago?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So many cases that are -- go unsolved because people won`t come forward.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We the jury find the defendant not guilty.
BANFIELD: Nearly six years after being cleared of killing her daughter...
CASEY ANTHONY, MURDER DEFENDANT: The media`s going to have a frickin` field day with this!
BANFIELD: The world finally hears from Casey Anthony.
ANTHONY: Nobody`s letting me speak!
BANFIELD: What she revealed about the murder of her little girl.
The search is on for the man in this video beating and abducting a woman in broad daylight.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And then when I seen him put her in the car in the back seat, it`s, like, OK, this is not right.
BANFIELD: Passing cars even slow to a halt. But will anyone who sees this tape help find him, and more importantly, find her?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She was trying to push away from him. He had her around the waist.
BANFIELD: War Machine finally on trial.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Her face was completely swollen.
BANFIELD: And round one does not go well.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Some of her teeth were missing.
BANFIELD: The MMA star accused of beating his porn star girlfriend to a pulp.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s traumatizing to see.
BANFIELD: Both she and the man she was in bed with ended up like this.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was just receiving kicks right to the face, probably 10 or 15.
BANFIELD: But will War Machine lose the fight of his life?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It looked to be a large butcher knife.
BANFIELD: A teenager in prison stripes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was reported also holding his mother`s head in the other arm.
BANFIELD: Charged with the most gruesome crime there is. Police say a virtual horror movie played out for real inside his childhood home.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was just crazy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What I consider a horrific act.
BANFIELD: That officer is not exaggerating. A day care worker caught pushing a small child down a big flight of stairs. But getting that video
was a total stroke of luck.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They had just installed a camera system about a half hour before the incident.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is going to be awesome.
BANFIELD: And a college student defuses the tension during a traffic stop.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have to get a video of me juggling while I`m being pulled over.
BANFIELD: You heard him right. He offered to juggle to confirm he was sober. And that wasn`t all.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) a new sobriety test (INAUDIBLE)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BANFIELD: Hello, everyone. I`m Ashleigh Banfield. This is PRIMETIME JUSTICE.
A new and fascinating development in Indiana tonight, where investigators have been trying to solve that whodunit that is as baffling as it is
heartbreaking, the murders of teenage hikers Liberty German and Abigail Williams. 11,000 tips have now come in and the reward money has spiked to
nearly $220,000. And yet there is still no one in custody.
But again, there is something new to report. Ever since this eerie picture was released, snapped just moments before those girls were killed, as well
as this audio recovered from Libby`s cell phone, police have been hoping that someone would recognize this man`s voice.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Down the hill.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Down the hill.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Down the hill.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Down the hill.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Down the hill.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
BANFIELD: But now a new twist to this 22-day-old crime in Indiana, and it is something that happened in Iowa 1,698 days ago. It was July 2012. Two
girls, cousins Lyric Cook and Elizabeth Collins, who were also out on a wooded trail, also disappeared while riding their bikes.
Their bodies were found in a wooded area not far from where they disappeared, and it sounds awfully familiar, or at least coincidental. In
fact, the cases are eerily similar. Both sets of young girls by themselves, kidnapped, killed and dumped in the woods. No one has been
arrested in that Iowa case.
And as we get farther away from these horrific crimes, it seems the chances of finding a killer get smaller. We do know this from the father of one of
those two young Iowa girls. It does not seem to get any easier.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[20:05:06]DREW COLLINS, FATHER OF ELIZABETH COLLINS: I just -- my heart just breaks for the families, and I know -- I don`t know what they`re going
through. I know what I went through and our family went through. And it`s just very hard. It doesn`t get easier.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: Nikki Newbrough is the news director at CNN affiliate KWWL and she joins me from Waterloo, Iowa. Nikki, this is sort of a remarkable
discovery, to hear such a similar-sounding crime happened five years ago just a few hundred miles away.
How much of a deal is being made about this by the investigators in both of these states?
NIKKI NEWBROUGH, KWWL (via telephone): Well, I can tell you as soon as we posted the story, the Indiana story on our Facebook page and on social
media, we had people calling us. We had people contacting us wondering if there were similarities.
So right away, as the reporter who`s been on the story since the beginning, I called the DCI (ph) agent and he suggested to me, like, Yes, we are
looking into it. But he wants to give them time. He wants to give Indiana time because he remembers when our situation happened, a lot of people
contacted us. A lot of investigators contacted Evansdale and was wondering if, Hey, can ours be the same thing? Can our situation be the same thing?
So the key right now is just to give Indiana time. But it does give us a lot of hope that maybe justice will be served if the killer in Indiana is
found. Maybe there is a connection.
BANFIELD: And we just talked about the 11,000 tips, $220,000 reward in Indiana. What can you tell me about the tips in Iowa in the last five
years and the reward money in Iowa?
NEWBROUGH: There were a lot of tips right away, thousands upon thousands. And then five months later, when the girls` bodies were found at Seven
Bridges Park, the tips ramped up again because the investigators came out and said, If you know anything about Seven Bridges Park in Bremer (ph)
County where the girls were found, please call us, let us know anything. Little information could tie this all together.
And for about a week, couple weeks, we got a few tips. But I would assume now that the tips have ramped up since Indiana. I know the people who have
been calling us said somebody has to know that voice in the community. And that`s what we`re hoping for.
BANFIELD: $150,000 reward in the Iowa case, the thousands of tips there. And hopefully, at least perhaps this renewed coverage in the media will
bring up that interest again and maybe get people with a fresh eye looking at that case.
Id like to bring in Drew Collins. He is the father of Elizabeth Collins. She was one of the girls who was found dead in Iowa back in 2012, along
with Lyric Cook, her cousin.
Drew, thank you so much for being with us tonight. And first of all, my heart absolutely goes out to you with what you have had to cope with for
the last five years. I wanted to...
COLLINS (via telephone): Thank you.
BANFIELD: ... get your thoughts on first hearing about the circumstances that developed three weeks ago in Indiana, especially since they sound so
similar to what you went through.
COLLINS: Yes, just -- I heard the news I think Wednesday, and it just -- you know, it just brought everything back for me. And they sounded so
similar that it -- obviously, it kind of jolted me up out of my seat when I heard it. And I went right away and called our investigators, and they
were already looking at it. So it`s just -- it`s just too close to kind of what happened here, so...
BANFIELD: And your investigators said to you, if I read correctly, We`re way ahead of you, meaning they knew right away the similarities and they
had already reached out to Indiana, meaning there`s communication going on between these two investigations.
COLLINS: I don`t know that for sure, but he said that they had already reached out. I don`t know what kind of communication. They don`t tell me
that kind of stuff. But he said that they had already contacted somebody and basically told them our case. And I don`t know if they exchanged
information, or however they did it, but he did say that they had made contact with Indiana State Police.
BANFIELD: What does your gut tell you, Drew? Do you think that the case of your daughter and her cousin, their murders -- do you think they are
linked to what happened thee weeks ago to the two teenagers hiking in Indiana?
COLLINS: I try not to get excited, like, because it`s been a roller coaster. You know, we had a double abduction in another county in Iowa
here a couple years back, I think a year after our case. Double abductions are very rare. And we thought those were connected, you know, and I got my
hopes up that that was it, but that wasn`t the case.
[20:10:14]So he just told me -- my detective just told me to, you know, stay calm and it was going to be a while and just not to expect anything
really fast. He said it`s going to take time. So trying to, you know, just wait and see.
And you know, my biggest fear from the beginning that was that whoever did this to our girls was going to do it again. And you know, when I saw that
on the news, it`s exactly what I thought, so -- but I don`t know.
So I`m just going to wait and see, and I think that -- I think that whoever did this in Indiana is going to be caught. And I always have hope in our
case that it`s going to be solved, too. And you know, we`re just trying to keep the information going and keep the tips coming in and...
BANFIELD: Well, in that respect...
COLLINS: ... do our best to keep that going.
BANFIELD: And I completely understand wanting to keep the case alive, keep it in front of the public view.
Let me bring in Sergeant John Perrine. He`s the public information officer for the Indiana State Police, and he joins me live from Delphi, Indiana.
Sergeant, thanks so much for being on with me.
You`ve got to imagine that for all the stakes that both of these cases hold, for the people involved, for the communities involved, for the fear
and the mystery and just the sheer perplexing issues that come with these kinds of crimes, there are going to be a lot of people that see a lot of
similarities between these cases.
My question to you is, are they linked? Do you think they`re linked?
SGT. JOHN PERRINE, INDIANA STATE POLICE: You know, right now for us, it`s too early to make that determination. We`re focused on the tips that are
coming in. And you know, I know a lot of people would hope that when and if our case is solved that we are able to link that. But right now, it`s
too early in our investigation to determine that. We are not seeing a connection right now, but that doesn`t mean that that`s not possible.
BANFIELD: And all I know at this point -- and help me with this, help me understand if I`ve only got the tip of the iceberg. Both of these sets of
girls were on rural trails by themselves. They were both kidnapped. They were both sets murdered. They were both found in the wilderness. And this
happened to both sets of girls on the 13th day of the month.
I mean, obviously, it sounds remarkably coincidental. Is it just that, though, or is there something more that I don`t know?
PERRINE: You know, you`re asking the right questions. And we don`t know the answers to those questions, either, but that`s what an investigation,
hopefully, is going to prove. And you know, we`re aware of the incident that occurred in Iowa, and you know -- but at this point, it`s too early
for us to say 100 percent that they`re linked.
BANFIELD: Sergeant, are you in communication with the folks in Iowa? I mean, I just -- I just asked Elizabeth`s dad because he contacted the
detectives in his case and they said, We`re way ahead of you, we`ve reached out. But yet the dad, Drew Collins, couldn`t tell me if there`s ongoing
communication between your cases. Is there?
PERRINE: You know, I can`t confirm, nor do I want to speculate. We have more than 25 police agencies working on this case, including the FBI. And
so if there has been communication, it hasn`t involved me or myself. And I don`t have any confirmation on that at this point.
BANFIELD: Can I ask you, just quickly -- I know that in the case in Iowa, those girls were found months after they disappeared. And I don`t want to
get gruesome, but in the forensics, it was extraordinarily difficult to identify them. It was too difficult to determine if there had been sexual
assault.
Do you know for a fact, though, that those girls were murdered? Understanding this is not your case, but knowing full well the similarities
in the case certainly would have sparked interest between your two divisions. Do we know if those other two girls, with certainty, were
murdered?
PERRINE: I`m not sure (INAUDIBLE) your question. Are you asking about the girls in Indiana or the girls in Iowa?
BANFIELD: The girls in Iowa.
PERRINE: I`m not familiar with the case in Iowa, other than what I`ve read and heard today, and so I can`t speculate on what happened there.
BANFIELD: OK. I thank you very much for your time. And I certainly wish you and all of your fellow officers and all of those other departments and
units around the country that you`re working with -- I hope that they get some successes and that they get continued tips coming in and that you can
move forward on this case and perhaps even in the case in Iowa. Thank you so much, Sergeant. Appreciate it.
PERRINE: Thank you.
BANFIELD: And my thanks to Drew Collins, as well, and Nikki Newbrough.
Six years after she was found not guilty in the death of her daughter, Casey Anthony says that she still doesn`t know how 2-year-old Caylee died.
Casey Anthony talked about this publicly for the first time since that verdict in an exclusive interview with the Associated Press, and she says
this, quote, "People found me guilty long before I had my day in court," end quote.
[20:15:10]Caylee would be 11 years old right now. Her remains were found in the woods not far from her home outside Orlando in 2008.
A manhunt for a person that police say tried to beat up and kidnap a woman in broad daylight, and they certainly hope that the videotape that captured
it all will help to reel him in and find her.
Plus, we have all seen traffic stops go terribly, terribly wrong, but this one -- well, this was a performance worth reviews. Good reviews, too, and
actually a couple of laughs.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What`s that in your pocket (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) really weird. I`m a magician, and it`s a magic (INAUDIBLE) I`m also a juggler.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let`s see it! Come on!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: A horrifying scene caught on videotape, and police say they need your help tonight to identify a man who is pictured trying to chase and
beat up that woman in the center of your screen. This happened in North Carolina.
And here`s what is very strange. They do not know who any of these players are, but they want to make sure that that woman who is being chased and
beaten and abducted and thrown into a car is actually alive and safe.
We`re going to give you a much closer look at the video and a few other things you will not believe when it comes to people passing by who did not
even stop.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:21:00]BANFIELD: For most of us, we feel pretty safe just about anywhere we go in broad daylight, but for one woman in Transylvania, North
Carolina, she was nowhere near safe as she was chased, beaten and forced into a car in the middle of the day. The strange part of the story --
police don`t know who she is or who it was who tried to attack her. But surveillance video was rolling, and it just might mean the difference
between a complete mystery and a rescue and an arrest.
So on your screen, you`re going to see this woman running frantically down the street. She ultimately trips and falls. He can`t see at this point
who`s chasing her until a man comes into frame running towards her. She tries to evade him. He runs past her, circles around, and then comes right
back charging for her, ultimately throwing a violent punch at her. She falls to ground.
The attacker then attempts to drag that women to her feet. She continues to struggle. He kicks her violently into the ditch.
Notice, though, a white SUV passing by. That white SUV ultimately actually hit the brakes and then backed up and tried to get a closer look at what
was going on, but remarkably, no one got out of that SUV and certainly no one stepped in to help at all.
Well, back to the attack. The man forces that woman up the embankment, pushing her toward that gray Nissan Ultima. You can see it across the way.
It had actually pulled up. So there`s a driver getting out, making way. The two continue to struggle, but that man overpowers the woman and he`s
able to somehow force her into the back seat of the vehicle. Ultimately, he`s then going to get in the driver`s seat.
But the original driver who jumped out, he actually crossed the road, and he goes to pick up the woman`s shoes that she had lost while she was
running. He then hops into the passenger seat barely before that car speeds off.
Not only are police looking for the woman who was assaulted, they are also searching for the men who did it and that third man, as well, because that
seems to be quite a mystery, as well.
Boz Profit is a talk show host on Mytalkradio.net. He joins me live from Fayetteville, North Carolina. Boz, this story is absolutely bizarre, and
maybe the worst part of it, although all of it`s pretty awful, that white vehicle was not the only vehicle that drove by. No one did anything.
There were several vehicles that drove by and actually slowed down, and then kept going.
BOZ PROFIT, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST (via telephone): Yes, thank you, Ashleigh, for having me on. It is disturbing to see that people just won`t
stop to do something to help someone, but at the same time, not knowing what could be in store for them if they did.
BANFIELD: What do they know so far? I mean, look, we`ve enhanced this video as best we can. It is really hard to make out any kind of
description. But are police a little more savvy about who they`re looking for, some kind of a description on any of these people?
PROFIT: What I do know is they have found a suspect. I`m not sure if it`s on a related charge or not, but they are investigating and they are talking
with -- you know, with as many people as they can to try to find out who these people are because this could be a kidnapping or it could be a
domestic violence situation. They don`t know enough about it yet.
BANFIELD: So they have said, apparently, along with what you just reported, that they think they have a suspect in mind at this point, that
they`re looking for light-skinned black woman in her early 20s, dark pants, white shirt. The suspect, who was apparently the assailant, they describe
as a large black man wearing bluejeans, a white shirt with a large earring in his left ear. I have no idea how they could determine a large earring
in the left ear, but their gear must be much better than ours.
[20:25:00]Boz, just quickly, at this point, what do we know about witnesses? Do we know if anybody who passed by -- maybe they didn`t jump
out to help, but did they call 911? Were they able to give more detailed descriptions of what happened and who these people are?
PROFIT: Well, by watching the video, what I can ascertain is that possibly that white vehicle that actually made the call to 911 -- they seemed to
stop and really watch a lot of what was going on. And then it looked like they proceeded to maybe try and follow the vehicle up the highway.
So I`m -- my guess is that they have these witnesses that they`re talking to to try and help maybe get more identification. Maybe that`s where
they`re able to get the identification for the -- you know, the identifications for the earrings and whatnot.
BANFIELD: It`s all very mysterious. I can tell you this. There is one woman who is a witness to this who gave a slight description of what she
saw. I want you to listen to what she had to say. This is a phone conversation that she had, and she was able to at least give some kind of a
description of what she witnessed. Have a listen.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She was trying to push away from him. He had her around the waist. And then when I seen him put her in the car in the back
seat, it`s like, OK, this is not right. I tried to then follow them once I got 911 on the phone, and they weaved (ph) traffic trying to get back
towards 64, towards Hendersonville, and I could not keep up with them.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
BANFIELD: There is something to be said about surveillance video and then putting surveillance video on television. Let me take you back to January
12th, just this year, OK? We watched this unbelievable video of a Cleveland mother on a phone at a convenience store as she was violently
abducted by a man who comes in from the right-hand side of your screen.
She is terrified when she spots him. She actually doesn`t know what to do, but puts down that phone so quickly as he comes in and wrenches her out of
there, wrenches her, throws her in a car. Ultimately, she was found safe five days later. That suspect was indicted on kidnapping and domestic
violence.
And I want to take you back to November of 2014. That`s when in Philadelphia, Carlesha (INAUDIBLE) Gaither (ph) was walking at about 9:40
at night. She grabbed by a man at a street corner who pushed her down the block so physically and shoved her into a four-door dark sedan. The video
caught it. And people saw it. And ultimately, three days later, Carlesha was rescued. She was alive. The suspect in that video, Delvin Barnes
(ph), was sentenced to 35 years in prison after pleading guilty to abduction.
Misty Marris and Joey Jackson join me now. They`re both defense attorneys. Guys, You have got to admit that with the number of surveillance cameras
out there today, not only are we finding more people, being able to rescue more people, but we are convicting more people, which makes your job very
difficult.
JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Oh, yes, it does. And the point of the matter is this, Ashleigh. You know, shows like yours I think are important
not only for the discussion of justice, but also to bring about justice. People see these things. People say something about these things. But
surveillance is important.
It was interesting when you said their gadgets must be a lot more advanced than ours. And that`s true. They have the ability to hone in, to
determine what`s in the left ear, what`s in the right ear, what`s going on? And that`s important.
And finally, look, you want people to get involved, but you don`t want people to endanger themselves. So I can see why, you know, people didn`t
stop to intervene. But to the extent that they would call, that they would give information, that`s what`s important.
BANFIELD: So real quickly, Misty, you see what`s happening here. If they get this guy, what can they charge him with just with what we can see on
the video?
MISTY MARRIS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Oh, we`re seeing assault. We`re seeing battery. We`re seeing kidnapping. I mean, this woman was clearly not a
willing participant to get in that car. We see him kick her and punch her. It`s going to be really hard to overcome that, provided that they can
positively ID this person to the video and confirm that it`s the same individual.
BANFIELD: Well, that`s video for you, folks. And lest you think, Oh, not another -- these things help solve crimes and...
(CROSSTALK)
BANFIELD: Case if point, a Pennsylvania day care worker. This is hard to watch. She`s under arrest tonight because police say she pushed a 4-year-
old, a 4-year-old who was in her care, violently down a staircase.
I`m going to show you what happened. The suspect`s name is Sarah Gable (ph). On the stairs, the child in front of her. There you have it. I
mean, no apparent reason, she appears to just shove the kid. He tumbles down about six steps to the landing.
And that suspect, oddly enough, when she gets to the bottom of the stairs, look what she does. She looks straight up. You`re not going to see it on
this pass. But in the next pass, she looks straight up at the camera that is surveilling her.
And what is even more bizarre and unbelievable is that we would not have seen this if not for one half hour earlier, they had installed that camera.
A half hour before that child was pushed, that camera was installed.
I`m happy to report the child is not seriously injured, and the child is actually back at the day care the next day. Ms. Gable for her part has
been fired.
[20:30:00] She also has a mugshot because she`s been charged with simple assault, harassment and child endangerment.
And my apologies. There was a moment there where she stared straight up at the camera, almost as if to say, What`s that? Maybe she didn`t know it was
there.
Police in Pittsford, New York, they`re investigating this pedestrian hit- and-run and they`re asking for your help because it involves a 13-year-old girl. She miraculously escaped serious injury after being absolutely mowed
down right there, unbelievable. Crossing the street. Surprisingly, the driver did not leave the scene immediately.
Instead, that driver actually pulled over to the right. And then after the teenager got up, she walks over to the sidewalk and that`s where witnesses
rush to see if she`s okay. The driver also went over to check on her. It`s very hard to see up in the top right-hand corner of your screen, but she is
actually in that location when he walks toward her from where he parked that car and where she is being tended to.
We have no idea if they spoke at all, but you can clearly see that he then leaves the scene. Walks off, gets back in the car, and drives away. So at
this point, police are looking for that driver. It`s apparently a gray 2016 Toyota Camry with an after-market sunroof and a tint.
That young girl, I mean, again, when you see that video, it is pretty miraculous that she`s okay. Obviously. Watch one more time again, you can
see her in the pink. That car turns and then there`s the hit. It`s astounding. She`s okay. But that guy, when they find him, not okay.
This next story is something that you expect would happen in the wild. A rhinoceros killed for its horns. Actually they`re victims to this type of
thing because believe it or not, for some people, they think those horns can actually act as a kind of medicine so they can be sold on the black
market for a lot of money.
What is very strange is that this latest incident did not happen out in the wild. It happened at a zoo. A zoo complex near Paris. Poaching at a zoo.
This is no joke. Apparently the zoo says these poachers broke in at night. They shot the four-year-old rhino named Vince. They killed that rhino and
then chainsawed off one of his horns.
And by the way, you should probably know that rhinos are an endangered species. Miraculously, two other white rhinos, Gracie and Bruno, were
living there as well. They were not harmed. It is thought that the chainsawing stopped because those poachers got spooked. But sadly, not
before they killed that rhino. And it is thought that this is perhaps the very first incident of poaching at a zoo ever.
Police see pretty much anything and everything when they make late-night traffic stops but this one in Conway, Arkansas, definitely a first for
them, and maybe even a first for you and me. Begins pretty routine. Blake Puckett (ph) pulled over. He knew he had a busted tail light. It`s late at
night. It`s in a college town. So the officers wanted to make sure that Blake (ph) hadn`t been out drinking. He was driving kind of slow too.
Turns out he was actually on his way home from the library. Honest, it wasn`t a joke, really the library. Once the police work is done and the
officers realize that Blake (ph) is actually sober, they find out he`s a magician and he`s actually a juggler and his license plate actually says
juggler. That`s when the traffic stop went from routine to just simply awesome.
(START VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s going to be awesome.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just made your night.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just made my night, I got to tell you. I actually got some juggling props if you`d rather see that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let`s see it, man.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whatever you feel comfortable.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The only requirement is you have to get a video of me juggling while I`ve been pulled over.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: Well, guess what, his requirement was met. There he is performing for the officer. I mean, this is adorable, right? He was not ticketed,
either. He may have set the brand new standard for the field sobriety test. And there`s Blake (ph) and everybody had a good laugh and actually those
two met a little later on and Blake performed magic for them because when he was stopped, he actually asked him what was in his pocket, looked a
little suspicious, and Blake said, well, this is weird, but I`m a magician. So there`s that. Always love the happy cop stories.
This one is not so happy. A former MMA fighter is now in the fight for the future of his freedom. It is taking place in Vegas. It is not inside the
octagon. It`s inside a courtroom. It is dead serious. War machine is his legal name. He`s on trial for attempted murder in an astoundingly brutal
beating of his porn star ex-girlfriend and
[20:35:00] the man she was in bed with. Listen to what one of the victims says happened.
(START VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He bit my right cheek with full teeth. I felt it, pushed him away. I tried to get to the side of the bed and foot on the ground and
he attacked me from behind with a stranglehold around my neck.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: Mixed martial arts fighter, War Machine
[20:40:00] that`s his legal name, is no stranger to big Las Vegas fights but now his battle is in a Las Vegas courtroom. Prosecutors say that
fighter walked in on his ex-girlfriend, porn star Christy Mack, while she just happened to be in bed with another man, and what happened next left
both Christy and that other man in the hospital. Christy, alone, her injuries were astounding. A broken jaw, several missing teeth, a fractured
rib, a broken eye socket, and a ruptured liver.
At some point during this vicious assault, that young woman ran into the bathroom and made a frantic 911 call and that call was played for the jury.
And if you listen to it closely, you can hear her screaming. You can also hear a series of loud bangs in the background and prosecutors say that`s
War Machine beating that man, Corey Thomas, to a pulp.
(START VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 911 emergency.
(SREAMING)
CHRISTY MACK, GIRLFRIEND OF WAR MACHINE: Stop! Stop! Stop! John! John! Hello? Can you hear me? John, stop! Stop! Can you hear me? Stop! John,
stop! Let go of him! Let go of him! Stop it!
BANFIELD: That beating had Corey Thomas fearing that he was going to die. And that is exactly what he told the jury on day one of this trial.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Was this a fair fight?
COREY THOMAS, BEATEN BY WAR MACHINE: No.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why not?
THOMAS: I was asleep. I got woke up to being ground and pounded.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Throughout this entire fight, were you concerned about your safety?
THOMAS: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What was going through your mind?
THOMAS: Try not to die.
BANFIELD: Trying not to die. Once Thomas escaped, Christy Mack then said War Machine turned his attention to her. All 105 pounds of her.
Incidentally, War Machine is 170. Former pro fighter is now facing 34 counts including attempted murder. The defense claims, bear with me here,
War Machine and Christy are two damaged people. They say Christy had rape fantasies. Actually invited War Machine over the night of the beating.
So, obviously, the question is that going to be enough? Is that going to be anything in terms of trying to save him from a life behind bars? When I say
that, I mean life no parole. Rachel Stockman is the editor-in-chief for lawnewz.com.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: She`s here with me live. It is unbelievable to listen to that video -- that audiotape. Unbelievable to see those pictures. And maybe it`s
even most unbelievable to hear that defense. What is that defense? What does that mean?
RACHEL STOCKMAN, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF FOR LAWNEWZ.COM: I have no idea, and at this point, we`ve been watching every minute of this trial. And I can tell
you the defense is really struggling. He brought up the rape fantasy. He brought up this kind of weird sexual gagging, sexual relationship the two
of them had together. But, again, no one`s denying that War Machine, as you mentioned, his legal name, was the one that was there that night and did
this beating.
BANFIELD: He`s 5`11", 170. She`s 5`3", 105. Again, damaged, they use aliases, they live online, they were bound to erupt into something. This is
what the defense is saying. I don`t care -- listen, let me give you the sexual fantasies. Lots of people have sexual fantasies.
STOCKMAN: Of course.
BANFIELD: The fantasies don`t land you with a crushed face and a ruptured liver and they don`t land the guy who has nothing to do with the fantasies
fearing that he`s about to die on the bathroom floor.
STOCKMAN: And Ashleigh, the minute you heard that 911 tape that you just played, there`s no way a woman that was having a sexual fantasy is going to
make a 911 call like that in utter disbelief, in utter agony, watching her lover.
BANFIELD: Let me ask you something. What I thought was sort of -- somewhat awful but really appalling, and I hate to disdain victims, but that guy,
Corey Thomas, got away by saying either you`re going to have to kill me or let me go.
And used some of his wrestling that he learned in school, et cetera, defense classes. He was able to go. The beating -- there he is. That`s how
he got out of there. That`s what he looked like. But the beating on Christy Mack went on for two hours. That 911 call sadly
[20:45:00] triangulated to another house. That`s why the officers who responded couldn`t stop the beating. But the beating went on for two hours.
What was Corey Thomas thinking? Why did he not get help? He knew what was about to happen to her.
STOCKMAN: Right. He knew and sadly nothing happened, but I will tell you, during the opening statements, one of the things the prosecutor said was
that he took, War Machine took Christy Mack`s cell phone and texted to both Corey Thomas and her mother saying everything`s okay with us.
BANFIELD: Wow.
STOCKMAN: I`m fine.
BANFIELD: Wow.
STOCKMAN: So they`re saying -- so in Corey Thomas` defense, potentially, he might not have known the beating was going on. However, based on the rage
that he faced, there`s no way if you`re a person that really cares about your girlfriend that you`re just going to allow them to stay in a house
like that.
BANFIELD: I cannot wait for her to take the stand. She`s going to take the stand, right?
STOCKMAN: Absolutely, we think so.
BANFIELD: I can imagine. We`re going to continue to cover this. I hope you will come back as well. (inaudible) on lawnewz.com. Rachel Stockman, thank
you so much. Nice to meet you.
STOCKMAN: Thank you.
BANFIELD: Thank you. This is not the kind of crime you hear every day specially from a teenager. But in North Carolina, investigators are not
only trying to figure out why this young man, 18 years old in the stripes, killed his own mom, but they are trying to figure out why he did it by
cutting off her head.
[20:50:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: When officers respond to a 911 call, they often don`t know exactly what they`re going to come across. On Monday, deputies near Raleigh
said they knew what the call was about. An 18-year-old dialed 911 saying he killed his mom. But they could not imagine that they would come upon this.
(START VIDEO CLIP)
TERRY WRIGHT, FRANKLIN COUNTY SHERIFF CHIEF OF STAFF: Officers encountered the suspect holding a knife and as reported, also holding his mother`s head
in the other arm. Ordered the suspect to drop the knife which he did and he was arrested.
BANFIELD: You heard that right. The investigators say that the teenager, Oliver Funes-Machado, had decapitated his own mother. And when they went
inside, they found that mother`s body in what they call a gruesome scene but they also found something else, the alleged killer`s two younger
sisters were inside. Both were unharmed. Right now, investigators are not saying anything about a motive.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: Terry Wright is the chief of staff for the Franklin County Sheriff`s Office. You just saw Mr. Wright on that clip. So could I ask you,
Mr. Wright, when the officers arrived on the scene, did it seem as though Oliver understood the gravity of the situation he was in? I mean, this is
an odd question to ask, but how -- how was he holding his mother`s head?
WRIGHT: He was holding the head in one arm and the knife -- understood once he was commanded to drop the knife, he complied, dropping the knife and the
head on the ground.
BANFIELD: Did he seem to know what was going on?
WRIGHT: I am unable to respond to that. Once again, he did comply with the deputy once they gave him commands to drop the knife. State of mind in that
time, understanding, I can`t speak to that.
BANFIELD: I respect that. Did those two younger siblings, those girls witnessed this attack on their mother?
WRIGHT: Based on initial interview, that could be a possibility. We just have not been able to confirm it 100 percent at this time.
BANFIELD: And did that young man, 18 years old, Oliver Machado, did he say anything to officers when they took him in?
WRIGHT: I`m not prepared to comment on what was gained through the interview with the suspect at this time.
BANFIELD: But there has been an interview between authorities and the suspect?
WRIGHT: He was interviewed by investigators. That is correct.
BANFIELD: I want to bring in Boyd Sturges. He is the attorney for that teenager who`s accused of doing that to his mother. Mr. Sturgess, thank you
for being with us. I understand the circumstance you`re in. But you had a chance to speak to your client. Had he told you anything about motive?
BOYD STURGES, ATTORNEY FOR OLIVER FUNES-MACHADO: We did not -- I`m not going to be able to talk about what we discussed in the interview. I did
have a chance to talk with him, however.
BANFIELD: What did he say to the police?
STURGES: That I don`t know. It is very early in the discovery process and the police I`m sure will turn over those statements in the statutorily
defined times.
BANFIELD: Sure. Mr. Sturges, there are court documents that say Oliver spoke with the court and said that he had taken medications for
schizophrenia and psychosis. Does he suffer from these ailments and is there a history of this?
STURGES: It is my understanding based on the preliminary statements of the district attorney and some other statements, I think it`s very possible
that he is and was suffering from a rather serious schizophrenia or other kinds of mental disorders.
BANFIELD: Where are those children, those other children tonight?
[20:55:00] STURGES: That I do not know because I`m obviously tasked with representing my client and I`m sure that the sheriff`s office, very fine
office of Sheriff Winstead and chief of staff Wright, I`m sure have put the children in with the Department of Social Services or other people but I
really don`t know.
BANFIELD: Mr. Sturges, thank you for being with us. Understandably a very difficult case for you as well in these early offings. Thanks to you and
our thanks to Terry Wright as well. Thank you, everyone, for watching. My thanks to Misty Marris and Joey Jackson for being part of our program
tonight. It has been great as always to have you both and all of your insight. Thanks, everyone. See you back here tomorrow night at 8:00 for
PRIMETIME JUSTICE. "FORENSIC FILES" is up next.
[21:00:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END
