http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1601/19/ng.01.htmlNANCY GRACE
2-year-old Tennessee Boy Goes Missing on Walk With Grandma; Scorned Wife Attacks Husband`s Mistress; "Making a Murderer" Conspiracies; 911 Misses Emergency Calls While Ordering Pizza. Aired 8-9p ET
Aired January 19, 2016 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
NANCY GRACE, HLN HOST: Breaking news tonight, live, Pinson, Tennessee. Temperatures plunging to just 8 degrees in the Tennessee mountains as the search turns desperate for a little 2-year-old boy who disappears hiking with Grandma. Focus now turning to local registered sex offenders, 28 within just a 10-mile radius of where the tot goes missing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Noah`s grandmother says she was hiking in the woods behind her house with Noah and Noah`s 4-year-old sister. She says she was focused on the 4-year-old for one minute. And when she turned back, Noah was gone.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s been cold, wet, muddy, lots of hills, a lot of hard terrain, a lot of swamps, a lot of bottoms. I just pray that the boy`s good.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us.
Bombshell tonight, live, Pinson, Tennessee. Temperatures plunging to just 8 degrees in the Tennessee mountains as the search turning desperate for a 2-year-old little boy who disappears hiking with Grandma. Focus now turning to local registered sex offenders, 28 of them to be exact, within just a 10-mile radius of where this tot goes missing.
Straight out to Michael Quander with CNN affiliate WREG. Michael, thank you for being with us. Tell me about the search.
MICHAEL QUANDER, WREG CORRESPONDENT: Well, Nancy, they actually are out there right now at a field not too far away from where I am right now at
the Pinson Baptist church in Pinson, Tennessee. Now, right now, they`re using law enforcement crews from across the state and even outside of the state, including as far as Florida, Missouri, and some other places like north Mississippi, as well.
GRACE: Everyone, for those of you just joining us, a 2-year-old little boy, Noah Chamberlin, missing, white male, blue eyes, blonde hair, just two feet tall. He only weighs 25 pounds.
Noah (sic) Quander with me, WREG, on the scene. What can you tell me about how Noah went missing?
QUANDER: Well, he went missing last Thursday. He was hiking with his grandmother, with his 4-year-old sister, right behind their house in a very -- very wooded area. The grandmother tells the sheriff she turned her back to check on the 4-year-old for a quick second. She turns around, and then she finds out that the 2-year-old went missing at that point. And so there`s a mad dash to find him ever since then.
[20:05:00]GRACE: OK, I don`t understand what you`re saying, Michael Quander. Michael, you`re saying that the grandmother takes Noah, the 2-year-old, and the 4-year-old sister for a walk, basically a nature walk. They were not on a hiking trail, so to speak. They were just walking through a path in the woods behind their home. It`s an extremely rural area.
And then the grandmother turns her attention to the 4-year-old for how long? Because how did a 2-year-old get away that quickly?
QUANDER: Well, that`s the question that everyone has been asking here, and we have not gotten very clear details from the sheriff. He`s been giving us very short interviews out here. We`ve been trying to push him for some more answers as to what this story is as of right now. But a lot of things in the story not all the way adding up, and people definitely have some questions about that right now.
GRACE: With me, Michael Quander joining us, WREG. Also with me, Keith Sherley joining us. Keith, thank you so much for being with us.
For those of you taking a look at little Noah`s face right now, the temperatures are plunging to just 8 degrees in the Tennessee mountains.
This little boy was out for a walk with his grandmother and his 4-year-old big sister. She turns the attention to the 4-year-old sister. The 2-year-old wanders away. Nobody can find the baby.
Keith Sherley, what can you tell me about the search? I understand it started small, but now it`s gotten big.
KEITH SHERLEY, 101.5 FM (via telephone): The search has gone on last night, 450 volunteers came through between 5:45 and about 3:00 o`clock this morning. And that`s been the pace regularly as they search.
And it is a difficult area to traverse. This is timberland country. And so you have trees that have been shed (ph) for timber. You have stumps.
Some of those stumps have rotted. You have sinkholes, gutties (ph), gullies, Ravines. You have water in the area. This is a very rough, rugged area to traverse through.
And the way that it has been described to me that the events were taking place, is the grandmother and the two children were out for a walk in this area, and as you`re walking along the children run ahead. They run behind you. They`re running around. You know they`re there, but you`re not consciously watching every move because there`s no danger in the area. And so it was under these type of circumstances that Noah disappeared.
GRACE: Michael Quander joining us. What is the temperature tonight? Is it actually going to be 8 degrees?
QUANDER: It`s going to be pretty cold. Last night, it got as cold as 15 degrees out here. And they`re also expecting a possibility of sleet, maybe some flurries out here. And so it`s a very big concern about where this little boy could be and for volunteers that could be going back out to search tonight.
GRACE: Michael, how far away was the grandmother, Noah, age 2, the sister, age 4, from the family home? Because they had gone into the woods to go just hiking around, a little nature walk. These are very young children. He`s just 2. How far had they gotten from their home when he goes missing?
QUANDER: Well, you know, they also -- this is another detail that we`re still waiting to get clear information from the sheriff on. They have not told us exactly how far the distance was away from the home and exactly when the grandmother I guess realized and reported this. We were told that she reported it around 1:19 Thursday afternoon. And so you have to imagine that it was still daylight out there, and they still were not able to find him.
GRACE: You know, this is getting extremely murky to me, Keith Sherley, the news director, 101.5, Keith, because she reports the child missing at 1:19.
I imagine that she tried to do her own search when she realized he was gone. Why were the children with the grandmother that day?
SHERLEY: The children were dropped off that day with the grandmother, we are told, because the mother was going shopping. It was not uncommon for the grandparents to have the children and for the children to visit there. It was not uncommon.
It was an unusually warm day that day. It was 61, 62 degrees. And this is a farm. And again, it`s rural area, so it`s not like you`re leaving and there`s a nature park behind you. This is rural, rugged territory.
GRACE: So this is really like just going outside and they are playing in the woods behind the home.
Back to you, Mike -- Keith Sherley. Do you know why they are not giving the detail as to how far away from home the baby goes missing?
SHERLEY: Well, I think that would be a difficult question to answer because there wasn`t a particular point, from what I understand, where you -- where the baby goes missing.
[20:10:02]It`s not like you`re -- it`s not like there`s a point where you say, OK, now the child is missing. If you`re out in your yard and you`re playing with your children and you look up and you see them and they`re playing and they run in and they run out, there`s no real point that you go, They`re missing, because they`re just in the back yard playing.
GRACE: I know, but if I`m with them, I know where I am when I realize the child is missing. I mean, to this day, I remember in Babies R Us, when I looked around and I didn`t see John David, my son, OK? Of course, he had just gone one row over, but I can remember, rooted to my spot, when I looked both ways and he wasn`t there.
So I can`t understand why we can`t put our finger on where the baby was, where the grandmother was, when the child goes missing.
Let me ask you this. Keith Sherley, have scent dogs, tracking dogs been called in?
SHERLEY: The best in dogs and (INAUDIBLE) every resource that is available not just in Tennessee, but in the southeast and around the country have been brought in, state officials, Tennessee wildlife officials, Department of Corrections officials that track escaped convicts. Federal officials have come in to help and interview people.
There have been every resource in the area that is available, helicopters from the military, military personnel, a plethora of services on the ground.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, there`s trails all over the area, and he was on a trail when he went missing. We have searched all around those trails. So There`s -- I don`t -- I wouldn`t be afraid to say there`s hundreds of miles of trails.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[20:15:56]UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Noah`s grandmother says she was hiking in the woods behind her house with Noah and Noah`s 4-year-old sister. She says she was focused on the 4-year-old for one minute, and when she turned back, Noah was gone.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s been cold, wet, muddy, lots of hills, a lot of hard terrain, a lot of swamps, a lot of bottoms. I just pray that the boy`s good.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Breaking news right now. This 2-year-old little boy is missing in the Tennessee mountains, Noah Chamberlin out with his grandma and 4-year-old sister, playing in the woods a little distance behind their home. It`s timberland. Tonight, we expect temperatures to plunge to 8 degrees in that section of the Tennessee mountain range.
Noah is missing. He was walking through the woods with Grandma and 4-year- old older sister when the grandmother notices he`s not there.
With me on the scene is Keith Sherley, the news director at 101.5. Also with me, Tracy Sargent and Marc Klaas.
Back to you, Keith Sherley. I have not seen the parents. Are they at the command center, the search center?
SHERLEY: They have been, yes. They`ve been there and at the family home.
GRACE: Have they issued a public plea for help?
SHERLEY: They are working with authorities in every way and cooperating with authorities in every way that they can. But right now, this is being treated as a child that is lost, and so they have appealed -- they are allowing law enforcement to handle all of the appeals.
GRACE: Right. Everyone, the tip line is 1-800-TBI-FIND, 1-800-824-3463. There are at least 2,800 registered sex offenders in just a 10-mile radius.
Apparently, little Noah wanders off, walking through the woods with Grandma. Tonight, prayers going up in the search for 2-year-old Noah.
Marc Klaas, president and founder of Klaas Kids Foundation. Marc, even when the dogs were brought in, scent dogs, no sign of Noah on that trail.
MARC KLAAS, KLAAS KIDS FOUNDATION: Yes. Nancy, I think a possible scenario would be that Grandmother inadvertently spent more than a minute with her attention devoted to the little girl, rather than the little boy, and that somehow he has fallen into a sinkhole or a well or perhaps even been taken by a critter, a bear or something along those lines.
The idea, though, that a sex offender would be trolling in the neighborhood and was somehow able to commit this crime, I think is pretty far-fetched.
GRACE: I think it`s far-fetched too, but I always remember, Marc Klaas, the story of Shasta and Dylan Groene, if you will recall, very, very remote home where a sex offender did break in, kill the whole family and take Shasta and Dylan. Remember that? So it`s not unheard of.
I think your scenario is what happened, because I`m telling you, Marc., when I told you about John David, I seriously was reaching back, trying to get to the back of an -- of a row to get something, lotion or powder or something. Turn around, put it in, turned around, John David had run away.
It was just that quick, maybe 45 seconds, a minute. So it can happen.
But it seems to me, Keith Sherley, 101.5, if she looked around the area, in the woods, she would have seen him. Maybe she was with the little girl three minutes, five minutes, and the child managed to get away and get lost.
You said it`s a very rugged terrain, Keith Sherley. Please describe it for me.
SHERLEY: This is timber country. There are ruts. There are gullies. There are ravines. The land has -- some of the land has been cleared for timber. Other timber has grown back in its place. So you have the timber refuse that`s left. You have rotten stumps. You can be walking along, sinkholes can appear where there weren`t any. You can step down on a stump, and it`s rotted. And these sinkholes will drop down 12 feet or more in the ground. And then when they do, they go also out into a lateral direction. So it`s a very rough area.
[20:20:06]And it`s a little bit confusing when if you -- if you imagine that I`m looking at you, and then suddenly, I look around and you`re gone, it`s not really that scenario. The children are out -- when you say in the back yard, it`s a very -- this is what -- the timbers are what the back yard looks like. And there are trails through there.
But then if you`re watching the children and they`re running and they`re playing, and so they`re darting in and out. So there`s not really a moment where you go, OK, I`m looking at you and now I`m looking over here. You`re just watching children play, and at a point realize you haven`t seen Noah come out.
But you know where the last place you saw him was. And the grandmother specifically told them where the last place she saw him. And scent dogs have confirmed that.GRACE: Oh, OK. Keith Sherley, listen, I grew up in timberland and playing out in the forest all day long on weekends, after school. I hear you, especially what you`re saying about sinkholes. I mean, Grandma could look one way, then go take care of the girl, put a coat on her, whatever, and then not really realize the child is gone.
No one is suggesting this grandma had any nefarious intent whatsoever, none at all, nor the parents, not at all. Tonight, it is all about Noah Chamberlin, this 2-year-old boy last seen wearing a gray shirt and bluejeans, out with Grandma and 4-year-old sister playing in the woods behind the home. It`s a very rugged terrain, timberland. Tonight, those temperatures plunging to 8 degrees.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:25:42]GRACE: Breaking news right now. This 2-year-old little boy is missing in the Tennessee mountains, Noah Chamberlin out with his grandma and 4-year-old sister, playing in the woods a little distance behind their home. It`s timberland. Tonight, those temperatures plunging to 8 degrees.
Keith Sherley with me, news director, 101.5. Keith, you just told me something new. You`re telling me that the scent dogs, the tracker dogs, did confirm that he was on that path?
SHERLEY: The scent dogs -- there has been confirmation that the -- that the child was in the area and on the path where grandmother said. They just haven`t picked up scent to say what happened, to have been able to locate him.GRACE: Right. And to follow him from there. Tracy Sargent joining me out of Cedartown (ph), search, rescue and recovery expert. Tracy, how can the dogs lose the scent? And we have been told a whole new team of dogs have been brought in, a second team, to try to pick up the scent of this little boy. How does that work, Tracy?
TRACY SARGENT, SEARCH, RESCUE AND RECOVERY EXPERT (via telephone): Yes, Nancy. In these situations, when you have a small child such as Noah -- he`s only 25 pounds. He`s not going to be giving off a lot of scent.
Apparently, the weather conditions and the terrain conditions also challenge the dogs, too. Currently, the cold weather affects him, and in essence, he`s not going to be as strong a scent to the dogs as he would, let`s say, in normal weather. So there`s a lot of challenges as far as scent conditions for the dog teams in this kind of scenario.
GRACE: Everyone, with me, Tracy Sargent, search, rescue and recovery expert. Tracy, so you`re saying it`s entirely feasible, and it makes sense to you, under these conditions, they could lose the scent of the little boy?
SARGENT: That`s correct, Nancy. Again, him being such a small child, again, only 25 pounds, and also depending upon the time from where he went missing to the time that the dogs got on the scene. Was it minutes, was it hours, was it days?
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: I know it was the same -- I think it was the same day. I think it was the same day, but we don`t know how many hours.
SARGENT: OK.
GRACE: Joseph Scott Morgan joining me, certified death investigator and professor of forensics at Jacksonville State University. So Scott, we need help. Everybody`s got to join together to try to find 2-year-old missing Noah. What do you make of it?
JOSEPH SCOTT MORGAN, CERTIFIED DEATH INVESTIGATOR: First off, I am praying for this little angel right now. I hope that they do find him. One of the problems that they`re faced with is exposure. And he`s been missing for some time now.
One of the things we`re going to be looking for here, and that they need to keep in mind, is that along with exposure comes dehydration, not to mention frostbite and hypothermia. With hypothermia comes disorientation. You even have a syndrome where people begin to take their clothes off. They`re confused. They become lethargic. They lay down, which is one of the worst possible things you can do in a cold environment because your body is fighting or shivering to stay warm. And of course, when you become lethargic, you begin to freeze.
[20:30:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
