NANCY GRACECasey Anthony Murder Case Developments
Aired October 16, 2008 - 20:00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Take a look at this picture of the boy. This is who police are looking for. They say that as many as three men knocked on the family`s door in Las Vegas yesterday morning. They claimed to be cops.
The mom opened the door because of that and that`s when these men burst in and demanded money. When the intruders didn`t find any money, police say they tied up Cole`s mother and her fiance and then they kidnapped Cole at gunpoint.
A neighbor says that Cole`s mother managed to crawl out to the sidewalk. Her mouth was duct tape, her hands were tied with electrical ties, and investigators believe the family was targeted.
Police have been going door to door using helicopters, patrol cars, everything they can to find Cole. They have not found him.
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GRACE: Please take a look at this little boy. He`s just 6 years old. His name is Cole Puffinburger. The tip line number is 702-828-3111, Las Vegas Metro Police Department.
There he is, 3`11", just 48 pounds, blond hair, blue ice.
What an outrageous set of circumstances, to Michelle Sigona with "America`s Most Wanted.
MICHELLE SIGONA, CORRESPONDENT, AMERICA`S MOST WANTED: This is. This is horrible, Nancy. And what police tell me -- just got off the phone with them again -- that this is not a random attack. This appears to be brainstormed. It was set, it was planned and it was actually executed, unfortunately.
And from what investigators tell me is that these men evidently went into the home looking for the grandfather of Cole. The grandfather hasn`t lived there since May of 2007. And when they couldn`t find him they started questioning Cole`s mom, and she didn`t have any information and that`s when they apparently tied up, you know, Cole`s mom and also her fiance, and then they took Cole and they left.
GRACE: To Ky Plaskon, with -- with KXNT News Radio -- Ky, thank you for being with us. What do they mean it`s not random and any idea where the little boy is? Do they really believe he`s headed to Mexico?
KY PLASKON, REPORTER, KXNT NEWS RADIO: Well, they really don`t know where he`s headed, but they have got the FBI involved to try and track down these people -- this trash.
They might have been looking for the grandfather from what we heard. Just an hour ago they`ve released why the -- this family, they believe, was targeted, which they said it was a drug nexus.
So drugs may have been sold out of this house. People may have been going there to look for that actual drug money at the time and now this young boy is caught in the middle of all of this, Nancy.
GRACE: You know what? Frankly, Ky, I don`t care what the motive is, this little boy is missing, taken out of his own home. I don`t know what the grandfather was into at some time in the past. All I know is he wasn`t there. He hadn`t lived there in a long time and this little boy was taken at gunpoint.
Take a look at little Cole.
Out to Captain Vincent Cannito with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police. Captain, thank you for being with us. Can you give us a description of the perps?
CAPT. VINCENT CANNITO, LAS VEGAS METROPOLITAN POLICE DEPT.: Yes, Nancy. Right now we`re dealing with three -- from what we have Hispanic male adults. The only clear description we have on one of them is approximately a Hispanic male in his early 30s, approximately 5`7", 170 pounds, shoulder length black hair, slick back.
GRACE: Wait a minute, were they wearing masks?
CANNITO: No, they weren`t.
GRACE: And that`s the best we`ve got? How about a composite?
CANNITO: You know, unfortunately, Nancy, when you`re dealing with a situation like this and given the magnitude and the violent nature of this incident right here for the daughter and the boyfriend to give us a very clear description, we haven`t been able to get one from them.
GRACE: OK. Captain.
CANNITO: Yes.
GRACE: That doesn`t sound right to me that they can`t give a composite description of the perps? I mean, they pulled a gun on them, they had to tie them up. They were tied up so they had to get close to the perpetrators.
CANNITO: Yes. Well, Nancy, again, as we`re asking these questions of the people that were in the home and we`re trying to get the information from them, we`re asking the same questions.
GRACE: You know, Captain, I read you loud and clear. I don`t care what may be hinky about the case, this boy is missing.
Now, Captain, do we know the boy was there? Do we know he was really there in the home?
CANNITO: Through all of the investigative leads that we`ve been following up on, we do. We do know that this child was actually kidnapped.
GRACE: Oh, Captain, you what? I was hoping so much it was some kind of a fantastic hoax. Look at this little boy taken at gunpoint out of his home.
We are taking your calls live, to Jennifer in North Carolina, hi, Jennifer.
JENNIFER, NORTH CAROLINA RESIDENT: Hi, Nancy. We love you.
GRACE: Thank you, dear, and thank you to my friends in North Carolina for watching and calling in so often.
What`s your question, dear?
JENNIFER: You said that they tied up the mom`s fiance. Do you know anything about the boy`s father?
GRACE: The boy`s father. I do know -- actually let me ask Ky Plaskon that with KXNT. Didn`t he show up a short time after and completely broke down in tears when he learned what had happened?
PLASKON: He showed up running and crying into the house. That`s all we know at this point.
He was divorced from his wife at the time. His -- Cole`s mother was there at the house with her fiance. They went through this whole ordeal, but now the father is, obviously, having to deal with it himself, too.
GRACE: So how soon after the incident did the father show up?
PLASKON: We`re not really sure what -- at what point he showed up, but it was between now and Wednesday at 7:15 in the morning.
Let me tell you they didn`t issue the AMBER Alert until about noon and this happened at 7:15 in the morning. They didn`t issue the AMBER Alert because they didn`t have a good description. They still don`t know what kind of car these guys are driving. They don`t know even which direction they may be headed.
GRACE: You know Captain Cannito is us from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.
Captain, didn`t anybody outside see anything? Did this actually happen at 7:00 a.m.?
CANNITO: Yes. This happened at approximately 7:23 in the morning. I`d like to get back to the AMBER Alert issue. What we did was when we got the call initially we went out there, patrol officers, the primary responders, then they called out the detectives.
We go out, we canvassed the area. We look at neighboring stores, any homes that may have video. We go on view the video to see if there was anything that would indicate the activities that we`re investigating at the time.
Now this call came in at 07:23 in the morning. The first unit responded at 07:30. That was the first detective was called out and actually responded on the scene at 08:09. At that time, the investigative process is taking course. We requested the AMBER Alert once all the information was established and verified, investigation was under way.
At approximately 11:30 is when the AMBER Alert was requested.
You have to understand, again, as was pointed out that the vehicle -- there is no vehicle description and under normal circumstances that`s a very critical piece of information for an AMBER Alert to get authorized to the state.
GRACE: Exactly.
CANNITO: But there is -- but there is latitude and flexibility with that based on the severity of the situation and dealing with the urgency to the child, the danger to the child or the person in question.
In this case, again, this is one of those cases, this is as bad as it gets. So the states have been absolutely phenomenal with the AMBER Alert and, again, to explain a little bit about that AMBER Alert process, the reason it is, as difficult as it is to get one of those on, is because we don`t want to minimize the impact that an AMBER Alert has.
But to address the issue of time to get that Amber Alert on, and you`re looking at several hours and that is the course of the preliminary investigation and in very short order with all the units that were working that case.
GRACE: Hey, Captain.
CANNITO: I got that AMBER Alert on as quickly as possible. Yes.
GRACE: I just heard a statement that somehow somebody in the home at some point in the past may have been involved in drugs. What do you know?
CANNITO: This is definitely a situation that is initiated due to a drug nexus. Now we have been working this case, again, since 7:30 yesterday morning. We are following up on a number of leads that have come in through the media, that have come in through a non-emergency line.
GRACE: Oh Captain.
CANNITO: And.
GRACE: Captain, I`m just sick. I`m sick that the conduct of adults - - let`s go to Bethany Marshall. The conduct of adults, I guess, the grandfather is who they`re referring to at some point being involved in drugs that somehow that has resulted in this little boy`s kidnap at gunpoint?
How irresponsible for parents to somehow expose their children to that.
MARSHALL: It is unconscionable that any parent would engage in any activity at all.
GRACE: Listen, Bethany.
MARSHALL: . that would put their child at risk.
GRACE: Bethany, Bethany, last Christmas.
MARSHALL: Yes.
GRACE: . somebody came to the Christmas dinner and I smelled smoke on them, I`m like, uh-uh, no, sorry, get out.
MARSHALL: Well, Nancy.
GRACE: Nicotine affects SIDS.
MARSHALL: I know.
GRACE: Sudden infant death syndrome. But there`s a parent.
MARSHALL: I know.
GRACE: . that would allow a doper in the house with a child?
MARSHALL: And I`ll do one worse on this, the fact that they`re potentially part of a drug cartel, according to one news report, Mexican Nationals, the culture of terrorism over there, the beheadings, the rapes, the tortures, the fact that these parents, it`s not just that these parents are smoking, they`re exposing their child to that whole culture and that whole way of life.
That is what is so unconscionable and irresponsible.
GRACE: Peter Odom, Peter Odom, if this is true, the whole kit and caboodle needs to be investigated. They have exposed to boy to anybody that`s a doper.
PETER ODOM, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: And Nancy, there are states that have criminal penalties for just exposing children to things like this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At this time, we are comfortable in saying that this kidnapping has a very definite drug nexus involved with the family. Right now, we`re at approximately 33 hours into this investigation. Today we have interviewed dozens, literally dozens of individuals that have some form of information or connection to this incident.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Straight out to the lines, to Elizabeth, hi, Elizabeth.
ELIZABETH, CALLER: Hi, how are you?
GRACE: I`m good, dear, what`s your question?
ELIZABETH: I have -- want to know if they have found the grandfather, where is the grandfather and have they talked to him?
GRACE: To Captain Vincent Cannito with the Vegas Police Department, what do we know?
CANNITO: Right now we`re following up on a number of different leads involving all members of his family with regards to any one in particular or specifics such as a grandfather.
GRACE: OK.
CANNITO: . or what have you. Again.
GRACE: Were there any prints, Captain? Were prints taken?
CANNITO: Well, when we got into the -- to the residence, there was some -- evidence that was taken out of the home. But again, due to the nature of this investigation and the sensitivity of this case, dealing with a 6-year-old child, I know that you respect the fact that.
GRACE: Right, I do.
CANNITO: . there are certain details with this case that clearly we can`t.
GRACE: Got it.
CANNITO: . jeopardize.
GRACE: Mike Brooks, what do you think?
MIKE BROOKS, FMR. DC POLICE DETECTIVE SERVED ON FBI TERRORISM TASK FORCE: I think, you know, the captain`s right, you can`t comment on that, but I agree you Nancy, I`m sure the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police, (INAUDIBLE) Department, along with the FBI, I`m sure the DEA is going to get involved in this because they operate cases all the time before.
GRACE: Have you ever heard of anything to do with a drug deal, a child being taken? I have not.
BROOKS: No, I -- in recent memory, Nancy, I cannot think of anything like this. I mean just a horrible, horrible thing to this innocent boy.
GRACE: Let`s go back to that tip line, 702-828-3111.
Look at Cole, everybody, taken at gunpoint, out of his home.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0810/16/ng.01.html
