Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / Boy heads out to milk cows on dairy farm, found buried dead in shallow grave

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Boy heads out to milk cows on dairy farm, found buried dead in shallow grave · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

0:05
Speaker 1: Crime stories with Nancy Grace. I need to require by
0:14
Speaker 1: admitting it's just something that you never think that would
0:17
Speaker 1: happen in this community. It's it's something that you never
0:21
Speaker 1: want to do. Joe Hepner made the call to the
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Speaker 1: Sheriff's office that he walked into the house and went
0:26
Speaker 1: back out and he was gone, and Jonathan to walk away.
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Speaker 1: The last time Jonathan Menard was seen was at a
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Speaker 1: home in New Harrisburg and the last thing the family
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Speaker 1: heard was that Jonathan took a break complaining of a
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Speaker 1: toothache after working on a farm nearby. He didn't call
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Speaker 1: home and he didn't return. I haven't shot my my
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Speaker 1: porch flight off. It's been nearly a week since Jonathan
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Speaker 1: went missing. Hundreds showed up to search for the team.
0:54
Speaker 1: Earlier this week, the Sheriff's office launched a criminal investigation,
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Speaker 1: calling the missing case suspicious. They're also talking to a
1:03
Speaker 1: person of interest, but stop short of releasing details. Family
1:06
Speaker 1: members don't believe that Jonathan would have run away. You know,
1:09
Speaker 1: he's not one to take off. He's a good kid.
1:15
Speaker 1: He was going around the neighborhood in del Whare. I
1:17
Speaker 1: ask him people if they he can mow their yards
1:19
Speaker 1: and he wouldn't even charge them. The family is still
1:21
Speaker 1: holding on to hope that Jonathan will make it home.
1:25
Speaker 1: I just want to hear his voice say I'm home,
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Speaker 1: I'm safe. Detective say they are still actively working on
1:32
Speaker 1: this case, and family and friends say they are searching
1:35
Speaker 1: on the ground level, putting up some flyers like this
1:38
Speaker 1: as well as doing their own searches. You're hearing our
1:40
Speaker 1: friend Amani Abraham at wk YC Channel three. How did
1:45
Speaker 1: a boy go missing in a rural area with a
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Speaker 1: practically zero crime rate. I am talking about this little boy,
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Speaker 1: Jonathan Menard, missing from his home in Carroll County. Seen
2:00
Speaker 1: in Carrollton, told a friend he would return home afterwards,
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Speaker 1: complaining of a toothache. Over one hundred volunteers family friends
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Speaker 1: out combing the area within a six mile radius. I mean, see, Grace,
2:15
Speaker 1: this is crime stories. Thank you for being with us.
2:17
Speaker 1: I don't understand how he goes missing with me an
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Speaker 1: all star panel, Mark Class, founder of Class Kids Foundation.
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Speaker 1: Joe Scott Morgan, Professor Forensics, Jacksonville State University, author of
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Speaker 1: Blood Beneath My Feet on Amazon. Renowned defense attorney Randy Kessler,
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Speaker 1: Professor at Emory law school doctor, Daniel Bober forensics psychiatrist,
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Speaker 1: and John Linley Crime online dot Com investigative reporter John Linley.
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Speaker 1: Where was he supposed to be? I mean, when I
2:45
Speaker 1: look at this kid, he reminds me so much of
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Speaker 1: my son John David. But Jonathan volunteered to help out
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Speaker 1: a friend, a twenty nine year old dairy farmer, at
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Speaker 1: a neighboring farm there in New Harrisburg, Ohio. At this
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Speaker 1: dairy Okay, wait a minute, wait a minute, So this
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Speaker 1: little boy lives in the middle of dairy farms. Correct, yes, yes,
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Speaker 1: I mean Mark Klass. I grew up in the middle
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Speaker 1: of dairy farms and farms in general. It's not like
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Speaker 1: there are predators sneaking around the cow pasture, all right.
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Speaker 1: That's telling me a lot right there, Mark Klass. He
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Speaker 1: lives on a farm. You know how big a dairy
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Speaker 1: farm is, of nothing but pasture for the cows and
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Speaker 1: their barns, their milking facilities. That's not a high traffic area.
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Speaker 1: It's not a quote bad area. It's not a high
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Speaker 1: crime area, you know, Nancy. I'm I'm an urban, suburban guy.
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Speaker 1: I don't really know much about rural America. I've never
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Speaker 1: lived there, but everything I hear about Jonathan is is
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Speaker 1: very positive that he would help absolutely anybody at any time,
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Speaker 1: for absolutely any reason. He was loved in his community,
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Speaker 1: and he seemed to love his community. So it just
4:05
Speaker 1: deepens the mystery even more. The thing is, you don't
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Speaker 1: know where the predators are. The vast majority of people
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Speaker 1: are great people, but there's a bad apple, probably in
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Speaker 1: every community in America, and sometimes we never find out
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Speaker 1: who they are. Sometimes we find out who they are
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Speaker 1: through tragic circumstances. Well, you know what. I don't know
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Speaker 1: if you remember this s Mark class, but you were
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Speaker 1: the one that told me about looking up six predators
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Speaker 1: by zip code, and that was years ago. I didn't
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Speaker 1: even believe it or not did not know you can
4:38
Speaker 1: look up predators by zip code. That had to be
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Speaker 1: over ten years ago. You told me that you can
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Speaker 1: find known registered sex offenders in your zip code in
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Speaker 1: zip codes around you. But just because there this only
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Speaker 1: shows known registered and I mean, Joe Scott Morgan, you're
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Speaker 1: the forensics expert. We know that Moless commit molestations about
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Speaker 1: seventy I can't remember how many times before they're caught
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Speaker 1: well up toward or over a hundred times they've molested
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Speaker 1: before they're caught even once to be a registered sex offender. Yeah,
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Speaker 1: this is something that they're thinking and planning over period
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Speaker 1: of time, and then they begin to act on it
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Speaker 1: very subtly, and then at some point they'll get sloppy
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Speaker 1: about what they're doing and that's how they wound up
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Speaker 1: getting caught. What happened to this little boy, Jonathan Minard.
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Speaker 1: I want to go to doctor Daniel Bober, forensic psychiatrist
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Speaker 1: and child psychiatrist. This is really striking a chord with me,
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Speaker 1: this little boy Jonathan Minard, because he reminds me so
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Speaker 1: much of John David. If I want anything done, I
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Speaker 1: asked John David, no offense to my little Lucy, who's
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Speaker 1: a precious flower. But she'll just sit right there and
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Speaker 1: read her story on her iPad. If I asked John Davis,
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Speaker 1: he'll jump up and do anything. He helps everybody. He's
6:01
Speaker 1: all stressed out this week because of his Steam project.
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Speaker 1: He's in a group and I read some messages some
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Speaker 1: of the other group members since saying I'm not doing it.
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Speaker 1: I know it's a group Gray, but if you want
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Speaker 1: it done, John Davy, you're gonna have to do mine too,
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Speaker 1: And you know what, he doesn't want to tell the teachers.
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Speaker 1: He doesn't want to make a big fuss. He's just
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Speaker 1: stressing out, trying to do it all for the whole group.
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Speaker 1: That's just him. He will do anything for anybody. That's
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Speaker 1: just his personality, Doctor Bober. It just hurts me that
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Speaker 1: those are the children that get taken advantage of. Back
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Speaker 1: to John Limley, what more can you tell me about
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Speaker 1: the day he disappeared? Well, on this Saturday, the day
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Speaker 1: that Jonathan returned to this new Harrisburg dairy farm. During
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Speaker 1: the day, the dairy farmer says that Jonathan began to
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Speaker 1: complain of a toothache, and apparently it just only got
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Speaker 1: worse throughout the day, to the point that Jonathan wanted
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Speaker 1: to call his mom to come pick him up. He
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Speaker 1: was fourteen years old, of course, not driving yet, and
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Speaker 1: so the two of them, according to the dairy farmer,
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Speaker 1: went into the man's home to place the call. The
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Speaker 1: key here, though, is that the mother states that she
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Speaker 1: never received a phone call from the team, and she
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Speaker 1: has not seen or heard from him since he left
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Speaker 1: the house that Saturday morning. This morning, as proximately ten fifteen,
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Speaker 1: the body of judn Hole was found buried in a
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Speaker 1: farm and worship been ushi. Jonathan's discovery is just the
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Speaker 1: first step in gathering evidence answered me, I answered questions
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Speaker 1: that we have led us to this moment. Investigations like
7:54
Speaker 1: this same time in this case is no exception and
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Speaker 1: the many dedicated La unfortunate professionals and art Even as
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Speaker 1: we speak this juncture, we're in the early stages of
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Speaker 1: the investigation. The opposite prosecuted are not comments or speculating
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Speaker 1: any evidence or all Jenny specifics while the investigation is
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Speaker 1: cont continuing La Corner I lived at the scene and
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Speaker 1: Joss body and mind transform into the Kago the County
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Speaker 1: Horror's office for complete autopsy, a witting toxicology. I do
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Speaker 1: anticipate and meaning more information or results. For seven weeks
8:45
Speaker 1: Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, we begin to night with
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Speaker 1: breaking news out of Carroll County where missing teenager Jonathan
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Speaker 1: Lenard has been found dead, his body buried in his
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Speaker 1: shallow grave. Amanny Abraham has been following this story all week,
9:05
Speaker 1: joins us in Carroll County Live tonight and Amanny, this
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Speaker 1: is just such a sad report, really heartbreaking news from
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Speaker 1: the sheriff today learning that Minard was found at a
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Speaker 1: farm in Washington Township. He was reported missing over the weekend.
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Speaker 1: His family expected him to come home. He never showed up.
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Speaker 1: Today it was words the family and friends did not
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Speaker 1: want to hear. This juvenile was found buried on a
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Speaker 1: farm in Washington Township. Carroll County Sheriff Dale Williams broke
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Speaker 1: the news that the fourteen year old, who had hundreds
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Speaker 1: searching and hoping for his return, was found buried in
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Speaker 1: a shallow grave at a farm, but details as to
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Speaker 1: what or where it happened were not released. I'm not
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Speaker 1: going to comment. I'm not going to comment on anything
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Speaker 1: to jeopardize this investigation. Earlier this week, william said Minard
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Speaker 1: was last seen in New Harrisburg, but was working at
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Speaker 1: a farm nearby on Mobile Road in Washington Township. A
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Speaker 1: Sheriff's vehicle was spotted leaving the property around eleven this morning,
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Speaker 1: an hour after Minard's body was found, but Williams would
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Speaker 1: not confirm if Minard was found at that farm where
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Speaker 1: he'd been working. Detective said there was a person of
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Speaker 1: interest in the case, but would not comment on the
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Speaker 1: man's identity or whether they have any suspects. The sheriff
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Speaker 1: was very careful in releasing any details, including whether or
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Speaker 1: not this case has been listed as a homicide. You're
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Speaker 1: hearing from our friend Amani Abraham at wk YC Channel three.
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Speaker 1: We are learning that the body of this little boy
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Speaker 1: who helped everybody who wouldn't hurt a fly, has been found.
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Speaker 1: With me doctor Daniel Bober, forensic psychiatrist, Randy Kessler, defense lawyer,
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Speaker 1: Mark Class, founder of Class Kids Foundation, Joseph Scott Morgan,
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Speaker 1: author of Blood Beneath My Feet on Amazon, John Linley,
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Speaker 1: Crime ane Com investigative reporter, after an extensive, exhaustive starge
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Speaker 1: with hundreds of volunteers, tell me how and where and
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Speaker 1: what condition was this child's body found. As has been
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Speaker 1: pointed out in some of those reports, police are being
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Speaker 1: very careful not to divulge details in this case for
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Speaker 1: fear of jeopardizing the investigation. However, we do know that
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Speaker 1: it was a neighboring farm where investigators finally found Jonathan
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Speaker 1: Menard's body in a shallow grave. Well. Of course, the
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Speaker 1: first place you start to Mark Class founder Class Kids Foundation,
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Speaker 1: that's where he last was. It's my understanding, this little
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Speaker 1: boy who worked on a dairy farm, was at a
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Speaker 1: neighboring farm helping out milking cows. So that's where I
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Speaker 1: get if you can establish that's where he really was,
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Speaker 1: not just where they thought he was, but where he
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Speaker 1: really was, that's where you'd start, right well, absolutely, that's
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Speaker 1: where you start. And as has already been mentioned, the
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Speaker 1: massive disconnect in this story is this, in this timeline
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Speaker 1: is that he went with his twenty nine year old
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Speaker 1: friend to the farmhouse to call his mother and and
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Speaker 1: and report his toothache and ask her to come and
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Speaker 1: pick him up. But that never occurred. You never received
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Speaker 1: that phone call. So from that point on, this is
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Speaker 1: a complete and total mystery, and it seems like the
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Speaker 1: person that has the answer to that mystery might very
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Speaker 1: well be the last person he was seen with, the
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Speaker 1: individual of a friend on the farm. To Justice Scott
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Speaker 1: Morgan and forensics expert author of Blood Beneath My Feet.
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Speaker 1: You know, I thought long and hard before I gave
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Speaker 1: the twins a phone, and they do not have social profiles,
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Speaker 1: were not there. But cases like this made me realize
12:52
Speaker 1: I had to bite the bullet and get them a phone.
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Speaker 1: I want you to listen to this. This is Jonathan
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Speaker 1: Perez this morning, the desperate search continues for fourteen year
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Speaker 1: old Jonathan Minard, missing since Saturday, subject himself. Over a
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Speaker 1: hundred volunteers joining the Carroll County Sheriff's Office Tuesday to
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Speaker 1: search for the boy, combing through wooded areas and farm
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Speaker 1: fields spanning about six miles. His aunt and uncle a
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Speaker 1: part of the search efforts, describing what the boy's parents
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Speaker 1: are going through. They're devastated. They're they're lost, they're his
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Speaker 1: mom's ready to have a breakdown. His dad is too.
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Speaker 1: They're and they can't do and they feel helpless because
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Speaker 1: they can't do anything. According to police, he was staying
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Speaker 1: with friends over the weekend and working at a nearby farm.
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Speaker 1: On Saturday, Minor, complaining of a toothache, said he was
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Speaker 1: going to walk home and call his mother. His mother
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Speaker 1: never received that phone call. I am actually hopeful that
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Speaker 1: he is alive, yes, because he's like I said, he's
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Speaker 1: a good kid, Police saying they've interviewed a person of interest,
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Speaker 1: but no charges have been filed at this time. You
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Speaker 1: are hearing the very latest the search. The search for
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Speaker 1: him resulted in the discovery of his body, but you
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Speaker 1: hear where the mom said she expected him to call,
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Speaker 1: but he never called. That should have been the beginning
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Speaker 1: of the time line to John Linleycrime online dot Com
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Speaker 1: investigative reporter, what do we know now? In that report,
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Speaker 1: we heard about the hundreds of residents that were assisting
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Speaker 1: law enforcement with the search for Jonathan and very interesting.
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Speaker 1: On the night of April fifteenth, he had been missing
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Speaker 1: about forty eight hours. At this point, the Carroll County
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Speaker 1: Sheriff's Office issued a very specific alert asking residents to
14:43
Speaker 1: pay special attention to the area around Baxter's Ridge Church
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Speaker 1: in Harrison Township. Residents were also advised to check their
14:52
Speaker 1: own garages and any other structures they might have on
14:56
Speaker 1: their property. This being a rural area, there were also
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Speaker 1: lots of a band in cabins and sheds and other
15:02
Speaker 1: places to search. Locals were asked to meet at Delroy
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Speaker 1: Firehouse for instructions before combing through about six miles of
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Speaker 1: woods and farms as they hunted for the boy. Now,
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Speaker 1: in an unusual move, authorities abruptly called off the search
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Speaker 1: for Jonathan on April seventeenth. On Wednesday, saying that a
15:25
Speaker 1: criminal investigation had started and the sheriff Sheriff Williams said
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Speaker 1: that we're not doing any more physical searches. We're working
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Speaker 1: on the case from a completely different angle. Okay, that's
15:40
Speaker 1: never good when they say they're calling off the search.
15:44
Speaker 1: And I want to go to Randy Cussler, renowned defense attorney,
15:48
Speaker 1: professor of trial tactics at Emory Law School. First, I
15:52
Speaker 1: want you to hear this, Randy Kessler. This was the
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Speaker 1: news that many people here in Carroll County feared. Six
16:00
Speaker 1: days after Jonathan Manard disappeared, his body was found in
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Speaker 1: a shallow grave, devastating news for his parents, several other
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Speaker 1: family members, and the community itself. At a news conference
16:10
Speaker 1: they wrapped up a short time ago, Sheriff Jie Williams
16:13
Speaker 1: revealed the fourteen year old boy's body was discovered around
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Speaker 1: ten fifteen this morning in that grave on a farm
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Speaker 1: in Washington Township here in Carroll County. Investigators say last Friday,
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Speaker 1: Jonathan was picked up by a family friend and taken
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Speaker 1: to a different farm in New Harrisburg where he did
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Speaker 1: work milking cows, But on Saturday he vanished, setting off
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Speaker 1: several large searches this week over a six mile area.
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Speaker 1: His family desperately asked for any leads. Today, the sheriff
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Speaker 1: would not say the exact location where the body was
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Speaker 1: found or how they were led to Jonathan. Investigators are
16:42
Speaker 1: also not commenting any further on something they said earlier
16:45
Speaker 1: this week that there is a person of interest in
16:47
Speaker 1: the case who has been interviewed twice, agreed to a polygraph,
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Speaker 1: but then changed his mind. Jonathan's discovery is just the
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Speaker 1: first step in gathering evidence to answer many unanswered questions
16:59
Speaker 1: that we had that have led us to this moment.
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Speaker 1: Investigations like this take time. In this case, there's no exception.
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Speaker 1: I know there are many dedicated law enforcement professionals working hard.
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Speaker 1: Even as we speak to you, Randy cass Or you're
17:13
Speaker 1: the defense attorney. When somebody says, yes, I'll take a polygraph,
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Speaker 1: and then they go, you know what, never mind not
17:18
Speaker 1: so much. That's not good. That's not good. But I
17:21
Speaker 1: wouldn't read that much into it, because lawyers tell people
17:23
Speaker 1: all the time not to take a polygraph because it's
17:25
Speaker 1: a subjective test that the person administering the test has
17:28
Speaker 1: a decision to make. Do I think that they're long
17:30
Speaker 1: or not, and that's up to that human being's decision.
17:32
Speaker 1: So I've told people not to take a load of
17:34
Speaker 1: take a test that's not the guilt or innocence criteria.
17:37
Speaker 1: Well wait, wait, wait, wait, why would you tell your client,
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Speaker 1: if they're innocent, not to take a poly because I
17:43
Speaker 1: don't trust polygraph a test and I've seen them come
17:45
Speaker 1: back positive when they should have been negative and vice versa.
17:47
Speaker 1: It is a subjective test. It is not pure science.
17:49
Speaker 1: There's a reason they're not admissible in a court of law,
17:52
Speaker 1: and that's the reason. Okay, so you've never had a
17:54
Speaker 1: client take a poly Is that what you're trying to
17:56
Speaker 1: tell me, because I know that's not true. No, I
17:57
Speaker 1: have had them, but I've told people that I oppose
17:59
Speaker 1: it because I'm not sure how it's going to come
18:01
Speaker 1: out based on the person administering the test. And that
18:04
Speaker 1: then you have people like Nancy Grace. You say you
18:06
Speaker 1: failed the polygraph, you must be guilty. It's not a
18:09
Speaker 1: yes or no, right or wrong. I would not say
18:12
Speaker 1: you must be guilty, but it is. Let me just
18:16
Speaker 1: say a signpost. It's a directional in an investigation. And
18:21
Speaker 1: when somebody goes out on a limit says yes, I'll
18:24
Speaker 1: take a polygraph off full of bravado, and then they go,
18:28
Speaker 1: you know what, I don't think so I mean, come on,
18:30
Speaker 1: just Scott Morgan, Randy Kessler's not fooling anybody. He backed
18:35
Speaker 1: out of it because he was worried about the results. Oh,
18:37
Speaker 1: come on, Nancy, you're talking to a defense attorney. Of
18:39
Speaker 1: course he's gonna say that you got you gotta stand
18:42
Speaker 1: and delivery if you if you feel certain in your innocence,
18:46
Speaker 1: then there's no problem. Why don't you come forward and
18:48
Speaker 1: do the polygraph? It raises suspicion for me. There is
18:53
Speaker 1: a person of interest in the case who has been
18:55
Speaker 1: interviewed twice, agreed to a polygraph, but then changed his mind.
18:59
Speaker 1: Jonathan's discovery is just the first step in gathering evidence
19:03
Speaker 1: to answer many unanswered questions that we have that have
19:06
Speaker 1: led us to this moment. Investigations like this take time.
19:10
Speaker 1: In this case is no exception. We're talking about a
19:13
Speaker 1: little boy, Jonathan Menard, who goes missing. We now know
19:18
Speaker 1: his body has been found in a shallow grave. You
19:21
Speaker 1: were hearing our friend Bob Jones at w e WS
19:24
Speaker 1: News five talking about that poy person of interest who
19:29
Speaker 1: said to take a polygraph and then change his mind.
19:31
Speaker 1: To John Limley, John, I guess the poy person of
19:34
Speaker 1: interest is the twenty nine year old neighbor friend. That
19:37
Speaker 1: is what a lot of people are assuming. But as
19:40
Speaker 1: far as officials go, they're remaining tight lipped. We don't
19:43
Speaker 1: know that for a fact. In fact, to quote Sheriff
19:47
Speaker 1: Williams when asked by a reporter that very same question,
19:51
Speaker 1: he says, I'm not going to go there. Take a
19:53
Speaker 1: listen to our friend at wk y C, Andrew Harnsky.
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Speaker 1: So we do not know whether he was found on
20:00
Speaker 1: the farm where he once worked, or who even found him,
20:02
Speaker 1: how he even died. While the investigators are refusing to
20:05
Speaker 1: answer perhaps the biggest question of all in all of this,
20:08
Speaker 1: was it a murder? The picture that once graced a
20:11
Speaker 1: missing person poster is now part of an obituary. Jonathan Minard,
20:15
Speaker 1: just fourteen, described today as energetic and outgoing, often making
20:20
Speaker 1: his family the target of good natured pranks gone too soon.
20:25
Speaker 1: I think the whole community is still in shock of
20:29
Speaker 1: hearing the news. This is something that you don't think
20:32
Speaker 1: would happen in Kill County. Superintendent David Kotroki new Menard
20:36
Speaker 1: is a seventh grader in his district, while Brendan Maylee
20:39
Speaker 1: knew him as a friend, would make everyone's day better.
20:42
Speaker 1: If he saw someone having a bad day, then he
20:44
Speaker 1: would go talk to him, see how they're feeling. Their
20:47
Speaker 1: heartbreak now only worsened by the mystery. On Wednesday, investigators
20:51
Speaker 1: had a person of interest, but never named them. Then Friday,
20:55
Speaker 1: after days of searching, Minard turned up in a shallow
20:58
Speaker 1: grave on a farm in Washington Town, own Ship. There
21:00
Speaker 1: were no other details. I'm about going to call man
21:04
Speaker 1: on anything to jeopardize this investigation, an investigation that continues
21:09
Speaker 1: tonight as a concerned community remains in the dark, and
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Speaker 1: that is at the time of little Jonathan's funeral, and
21:16
Speaker 1: still nobody knows anything. To John Limley, Crime online dot
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Speaker 1: Com investigative reporter helped me out, has it advanced any
21:23
Speaker 1: further than saying we don't know anything? I mean, well, wait, wait, wait,
21:26
Speaker 1: John Limley, hold on Kestler Kessler. Is it a murder?
21:31
Speaker 1: What what do you want any think he had an
21:33
Speaker 1: accident and fell into a shallow grave and put dirt
21:36
Speaker 1: on top of himself. A murder? What else could it be? Yeah?
21:41
Speaker 1: I mean I think the grave is sort of a
21:42
Speaker 1: hard fact to overcome. And it makes it harder to
21:44
Speaker 1: defend it. If you say, oh, someone was politely just
21:46
Speaker 1: bearing the body because they wanted to do a favor
21:48
Speaker 1: for the soul. That doesn't fly. That's your I gotta
21:51
Speaker 1: agree with you once today. I mean, John Limley, I
21:54
Speaker 1: gotta have more than just telling me we don't know
21:57
Speaker 1: anything else. Of course, they have to know something else.
21:59
Speaker 1: What are they telling the family? Well, as far as
22:02
Speaker 1: the sheriff goes in his department, we're not getting more information.
22:06
Speaker 1: We don't know what information the family is receiving because
22:09
Speaker 1: they are not speaking with reporters. However, we do have
22:13
Speaker 1: a statement from Carroll County Coroner Mandel Hass. He has
22:17
Speaker 1: told us that he was on the scene when Minard's
22:20
Speaker 1: body was discovered. Has stated that the boy's remains have
22:24
Speaker 1: been sent to Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner for autopsy, this
22:30
Speaker 1: is just north of the area and toxicology testing. He
22:33
Speaker 1: says all of this information from the autopsy may not
22:37
Speaker 1: be available for several weeks. Did you say toxicology, Let
22:41
Speaker 1: me go to Joe Scott Morgan, what does that mean,
22:43
Speaker 1: Joe Scott, Well, what that means, Nancy, is that at
22:45
Speaker 1: autopsy they have taken They have taken blood samples and
22:49
Speaker 1: urine samples and other fluids for testing. They're going to
22:52
Speaker 1: see if this kid has anything in his system that
22:55
Speaker 1: could have led to his death. And listen, that doesn't
22:57
Speaker 1: mean that something nefarious still might not have happened, because
23:01
Speaker 1: if that comes back positive for something like fentnel. Keep
23:04
Speaker 1: in mind this area of the country in particular, even
23:06
Speaker 1: though it's rural, they have a horrible opioid problem up there.
23:11
Speaker 1: If he was exposed to anything, given anything, that'll turn
23:15
Speaker 1: up in the toxicology. That's why they're being very very careful.
23:18
Speaker 1: Maybe somebody got scared and buried him after this kid
23:21
Speaker 1: suddenly died. Nancy, let me frame this very quickly. This
23:24
Speaker 1: is a very rural area. John mentioned that the body
23:27
Speaker 1: went to Cuyahoga County. Coakoga County is actually the Cleveland
23:32
Speaker 1: Medical Examiner's office. This area is so isolated they can't
23:35
Speaker 1: even do their own autopsies there. If that frames it
23:38
Speaker 1: for you. They're not used to this kind of thing,
23:41
Speaker 1: so they're trying to be very very careful. It's not
23:43
Speaker 1: like Cleveland. They don't get a lot of these deaths,
23:45
Speaker 1: so they're taking their time with this case. Okay to
23:48
Speaker 1: Mark Class joining me Special Gas, founder of Class Kids Foundation.
23:52
Speaker 1: Here is where the witnesses diverge. And as you know, Mark,
23:57
Speaker 1: I had one of the greatest judges her that I
24:00
Speaker 1: worked for, Judge Alverson, and one of the charges he
24:04
Speaker 1: would give every jury is about credibility. And he charged
24:10
Speaker 1: every jury that it is your duty, jurars, to make
24:13
Speaker 1: every witness speak the truth and impune perjury on no one.
24:17
Speaker 1: In other words, witnesses can see things from different angles
24:21
Speaker 1: or different lighting conditions, they can hear things differently, but
24:26
Speaker 1: they can all be telling the truth. For instance, you
24:30
Speaker 1: see a car crash, one witnesses says, I didn't see
24:33
Speaker 1: the break lights, and the other witness says, oh yeah,
24:35
Speaker 1: I saw the break lights. Why because the first witness
24:38
Speaker 1: was in the front of the crash and the second
24:40
Speaker 1: witness was behind the crash. That's how that works. They're
24:43
Speaker 1: both saying something different, but they're both telling the truth.
24:47
Speaker 1: But I have a problem where the witnesses diverge in
24:49
Speaker 1: this case because this family friend tells investigators he went
24:55
Speaker 1: with Jonathan to make the call to the mom that
24:59
Speaker 1: he had a toothache, could she come pick him up?
25:01
Speaker 1: But Jonathan's mother never got the call. That can't both
25:06
Speaker 1: be true or can it? Well, certainly, Natthew, his mother
25:10
Speaker 1: is not going to be stating mistruth at all is
25:14
Speaker 1: regarding the whereabouts the first son or the mystery surrounding
25:18
Speaker 1: her son. And this kind of stops with this other person,
25:21
Speaker 1: this twenty nine year old friend, because one thing we
25:23
Speaker 1: do know with certainty, Jonathan didn't bury himself. The search
25:28
Speaker 1: for Jonathan was exhaustive, all efforts for May to make
25:32
Speaker 1: sure he had not been hit by a car while
25:34
Speaker 1: walking home. They included hundreds of law enforcement officers, volunteers, drones, aircraft,
25:42
Speaker 1: all sorts of equipment. The body found in a shallow grave. Now,
25:49
Speaker 1: the man who last saw Jonathan has not been named
25:52
Speaker 1: by authorities, but there are reports that he has been
25:57
Speaker 1: considered a person of interest simply because he was the
26:01
Speaker 1: last one to see Jonathan that we know of. Okay,
26:05
Speaker 1: he has nothing in his past such as a violent act,
26:10
Speaker 1: but he allegedly has a criminal record drug related offenses.
26:15
Speaker 1: Jo Got Morgan way in Listen, you have to consider
26:19
Speaker 1: all of the facts in this case, Nancy. I find
26:21
Speaker 1: it very interesting that there is a grave to begin with,
26:26
Speaker 1: that means that somebody put forth effort in order to
26:29
Speaker 1: not bury the body. But I think conceal the body.
26:32
Speaker 1: This is a concealed event. Now, whether or not drugs
26:35
Speaker 1: are involved or some type of specific violence will have
26:38
Speaker 1: to wait and see. But they're playing it very close
26:40
Speaker 1: to the vest, and hey, I applaud them for that,
26:42
Speaker 1: because they need to make sure that no stone is
26:45
Speaker 1: left unturned. Now, when I think about this little boy,
26:48
Speaker 1: Mark Lass, he would make silly selfies and put him
26:53
Speaker 1: on his grandfather's work phone. He was spotted all around
26:57
Speaker 1: riding his bicycle through the village of Delroy, where he
27:00
Speaker 1: would stop and visit with friends and neighbors, help out
27:04
Speaker 1: whoever needed him, and everybody called on him. He loved
27:09
Speaker 1: animals and in almost every picture you know, Mark, how
27:14
Speaker 1: Princess Diana would always be looking down and kind of
27:17
Speaker 1: look up. She's very very shy. That's how he looks.
27:20
Speaker 1: It's just it's just breaking my heart. It just seems
27:23
Speaker 1: like the very very best, most loving people turn out
27:29
Speaker 1: to be the victims because they let their guard down.
27:33
Speaker 1: He seems like a natural eagle scout. He just seems
27:35
Speaker 1: like the best boy possible, a wonderful son and it
27:39
Speaker 1: just breaks your heart to think that this kind of
27:42
Speaker 1: violence would overcome him and enter his short life. And
27:45
Speaker 1: you know, John Linley, we're not hearing a lot from
27:47
Speaker 1: the family. They've apparently are just devastated about this turn
27:52
Speaker 1: of events. The only person that has spoken with reporters
27:56
Speaker 1: is Jonathan's aunt, and we've we've learned a lot about Jonathan.
28:00
Speaker 1: Threw her about he was the epitome of an old
28:05
Speaker 1: soul that when people were around him, they felt comfortable,
28:10
Speaker 1: They felt like they were with a grandparent, more than
28:14
Speaker 1: a fourteen year old child. We wait as Justice and
28:17
Speaker 1: False Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. We heard today from
28:36
Speaker 1: mister mccraney's attorney, David Harrison. We also heard from mister
28:40
Speaker 1: mccraney's wife, Jeanette. She described her husband as being a
28:43
Speaker 1: family man and multiple times proclaimed his innocence. I would
28:47
Speaker 1: like to say that what he has been accused of
28:49
Speaker 1: is a horrible time. However, everyone that knows my men
28:52
Speaker 1: of God knows that this is only a test and
28:55
Speaker 1: it's just a challenge of our faith. Agree for the
28:57
Speaker 1: families of the young ladies. However, I'm here to let
29:00
Speaker 1: you know that the man is talking behind those bars.
29:03
Speaker 1: He's innocent and our family, Colly has always been our stronghold.
29:06
Speaker 1: We may be broken at this point where you just
29:08
Speaker 1: know that we're gracefully broken. I proclaim my husband's innocence
29:11
Speaker 1: and I am here to be his voice. And I
29:13
Speaker 1: can already tell you that's the expiration date on all
29:15
Speaker 1: of this. For those times when my family feels like
29:18
Speaker 1: the road is rough, I'm going to be their friends alone,
29:20
Speaker 1: and I asked you to do the same. I'm not
29:21
Speaker 1: afraid of an enemy. However, the enemy might better be
29:24
Speaker 1: afraid of me. You're hearing from our friend at w
29:26
Speaker 1: dh N ABC eighteen Dophin Alabama, reporter Tanya Prue. It's
29:31
Speaker 1: speaking with the suspect, fifty four year old Coley mccraney's wife, Jeanette.
29:38
Speaker 1: And you know what. People may be laughing at her
29:41
Speaker 1: for standing up for him, referring to the enemy as
29:43
Speaker 1: if the state the prosecutor is Satan, but I feel
29:47
Speaker 1: bad for her. I feel bad for her because, just
29:51
Speaker 1: like doctor Bethany Marshall has told us in the past,
29:55
Speaker 1: these people masquerade as normal. They can lead an entire
30:02
Speaker 1: double life, including pulling the wool over the eyes of
30:06
Speaker 1: their family, their children, their neighbors, people sitting on the
30:09
Speaker 1: pew next to them at their synagogue or their church
30:11
Speaker 1: or their mosque. Nobody knows but them. But I'll tell
30:16
Speaker 1: you something else. DNA doesn't lie straight out to Robin Lensky,
30:22
Speaker 1: Crime online dot Com investigative reporter, Can we not talk
30:26
Speaker 1: for a moment about the well respected father who has
30:29
Speaker 1: his wife out there speaking for him and taking the
30:33
Speaker 1: hits with the press. Can we talk for one moment
30:36
Speaker 1: about Tracy Hollett and jay B Beasley, just seventeen years old.
30:46
Speaker 1: What happened? Well, Nancy, these are two beautiful seventeen year
30:51
Speaker 1: old girls. They were friends and they were out at
30:54
Speaker 1: a party, as seventeen year old girls go to parties,
30:57
Speaker 1: and they were in Ozark, Alabama. And this is many
31:01
Speaker 1: many moons ago before you had the little GPS on
31:04
Speaker 1: your phone. And they were on their way home and
31:07
Speaker 1: they got lost. So back in the day, you got
31:10
Speaker 1: to rewind your mind to the days where you didn't
31:14
Speaker 1: have your phone and it tells you where to go,
31:17
Speaker 1: and they stopped as you would at a gas station.
31:20
Speaker 1: The next thing you know, they are shot once in
31:25
Speaker 1: the head and police say one of the girls was raped.
31:30
Speaker 1: I mean you know you're at a loss for work.
31:33
Speaker 1: Did you just say shot in the head. I thought
31:35
Speaker 1: I heard you say that. Yep. Each of each seventeen
31:39
Speaker 1: year old suffered one bullet fatal shot to the head
31:44
Speaker 1: each bang bang. Take a listen to our friend at
31:47
Speaker 1: wh N ABC thirteen Death and Reporter. What was your
31:52
Speaker 1: reaction when you first found out the knees? Oh? First,
31:55
Speaker 1: I was didn't believe in it. Still don't believe that
31:58
Speaker 1: he's guilty. Head. We believe that God has gone to
32:01
Speaker 1: change all this round. I know everybody looking at it, however,
32:05
Speaker 1: but God has the last seek A preliminary hearing has
32:08
Speaker 1: been set for this case for April third at two pm,
32:11
Speaker 1: and of course, over the coming days and weeks, we
32:14
Speaker 1: will bring you more details as this case is obviously
32:16
Speaker 1: still developing. A suspect fifty four years old arrested in
32:19
Speaker 1: the cold case murders of two teen girls found shot
32:23
Speaker 1: dead in the trunk of their car twenty years ago
32:28
Speaker 1: after they get lost on back roads of Alabama. Now,
32:33
Speaker 1: as it turns out, one of this guy, Colley mccranney's relatives,
32:38
Speaker 1: submitted DNA to you know a genealogy website, and that
32:44
Speaker 1: case wide open. Now, according to police, we learn that
32:49
Speaker 1: traces of DNA were found at the same one of
32:54
Speaker 1: the girls rate they've been at a party on their
32:57
Speaker 1: way home, got lost, one of them raped, both of
33:01
Speaker 1: them shot in the head. Now, remember they're seventeen twenty
33:06
Speaker 1: years ago. This guy, Colly McCraney now fifty four. Twenty
33:11
Speaker 1: years ago, he was thirty four years old. What is
33:14
Speaker 1: he doing out trolling around for two teen girls? Precious girls?
33:22
Speaker 1: It's Colly McCraney arrested from the murders of Tracy Hollett
33:26
Speaker 1: and JB. Beasley, found dead in the trunk of JB's car.
33:31
Speaker 1: To you, doctor Bethany Marshall will renown California's psychoanalyst to
33:35
Speaker 1: leave the bodies in the back in the trunk of
33:40
Speaker 1: a car. I'm just a trial lawyer. You're the shrink.
33:46
Speaker 1: What does that treatment of these dead girls bodies say
33:50
Speaker 1: to you, Nancy? That he was so callous, whole blooded, heartless.
33:57
Speaker 1: I mean, you know how beautiful seventeen year old girls are, vulnerable,
34:02
Speaker 1: excited about life, their whole lives ahead of them. He's
34:06
Speaker 1: just fifteen years older, puts a bullet in each of
34:10
Speaker 1: their heads, throws them in the trunks of the car
34:13
Speaker 1: and leaves them there. Now, something even scarier to me
34:17
Speaker 1: as I was learning more about this story. Guess what
34:20
Speaker 1: this perpetrator has done for a number of years. He's
34:24
Speaker 1: been a truck driver, Nancy. A truck driver. That tells
34:27
Speaker 1: me that he chose a profession that may have allowed
34:32
Speaker 1: him to accommodate to his perversions and to his offending style.
34:38
Speaker 1: I wouldn't be surprised if we find that there are
34:40
Speaker 1: more victims out there. He also has an online ministry,
34:43
Speaker 1: so he's a quote unquote man of God. As many
34:47
Speaker 1: sociopaths are. They killed and find religion all at the
34:50
Speaker 1: same time. Bathonyathany, bathany You know how I feel about that.
34:55
Speaker 1: Please do not drag God into this. Okay. I don't
34:58
Speaker 1: think he signed up for the all right, all right,
35:01
Speaker 1: but you are right. This guy was a truck driver
35:03
Speaker 1: and a preacher. He even founded his own church. Okay,
35:08
Speaker 1: So I think you have really hit the nail on
35:11
Speaker 1: the head. Cheryl McCullum regarding the possibility of other victims.
35:16
Speaker 1: A truck driver. No, oh wait, wait, let me clear
35:20
Speaker 1: something out real quick. My grandfather drove a bus, a bus,
35:23
Speaker 1: school bus. Okay, he was a farmer, he dug wells,
35:27
Speaker 1: he drove a school bus, he drove an ice truck.
35:31
Speaker 1: So this is not about him being a driver of
35:35
Speaker 1: any kind of vehicle, all right. What this is about
35:38
Speaker 1: is the fact that as a truck driver, particularly a
35:41
Speaker 1: long haul truck driver, he's all over the country. There
35:44
Speaker 1: could be victims all over the country. He had one
35:46
Speaker 1: of the perfect jobs for driving around and looking for victims,
35:51
Speaker 1: for driving around and knowing where to potentially go when
35:55
Speaker 1: he found victims. And I'll tell you something, Nancy, when
35:58
Speaker 1: my sister Shelley now brand our late teens, we were
36:01
Speaker 1: coming back from a similar event and we got lost,
36:05
Speaker 1: and not only did we stop and ask for directions,
36:07
Speaker 1: and with a knife man who said, hey, I will
36:10
Speaker 1: lead y'all and follow y'all back, or y'all could follow
36:14
Speaker 1: me to the highway. And we went twists and turns
36:17
Speaker 1: and left and right, and at one point we joked
36:20
Speaker 1: and said, we're in this dude taken us like we
36:23
Speaker 1: could be going to the middle of nowhere. I can
36:25
Speaker 1: understand how these girls could be in a situation where
36:29
Speaker 1: they would follow someone. And unfortunately this is what we
36:33
Speaker 1: see that he murdered them and raised one of them.
36:35
Speaker 1: But again the truck driver, we've seen it before. You know,
36:40
Speaker 1: he's got the perfect gig. Speaking of DNA, I want
36:45
Speaker 1: you to take a listen. It's WSFA twelve news and
36:49
Speaker 1: this is the Ozark Police Chief Marlos Walker and the
36:52
Speaker 1: DA Kirk Adams. Last fall, I sought the services of
36:56
Speaker 1: Parabonnno Labs, a DNA technology company in Virginia, to assist
37:01
Speaker 1: us in the investigation. Law enforcement agencies across the country
37:04
Speaker 1: used the company as the Snapshot DNA analysis service to
37:08
Speaker 1: advanced investigations. When traditional DNA methods failed to produce any results,
37:13
Speaker 1: we employed nearly all of their DNA tests. Phonotyping gave
37:17
Speaker 1: us a description of an unknown suspect. Genetic genealogy helped
37:21
Speaker 1: us to identify the family from which he descended, and
37:25
Speaker 1: kinship testing ultimately narrowed the suspect lists down to a
37:29
Speaker 1: single individual. We collected the DNA sample from the suspect
37:33
Speaker 1: and our state crime lab confirmed that it matches. It
37:36
Speaker 1: matched the DNA from the crime scene. The genetic generotyping
37:40
Speaker 1: yielded a match to the DNA sample again taken from
37:43
Speaker 1: the crime scene in nineteen ninety nine. Well they're hearing
37:45
Speaker 1: the law enforcement speak. But one thing that's really burning
37:48
Speaker 1: me up and this or two of course, the murders
37:50
Speaker 1: of the two girls, as that he's putting his wife
37:54
Speaker 1: out there and his family to speak for him, to
37:57
Speaker 1: argue the DNA is not accurate. We also know that
38:01
Speaker 1: this guy, Colin and Cranny lived in the area where
38:04
Speaker 1: the girl's bodies were found. He's now moved to a
38:05
Speaker 1: different city. He's got them out there doing his dirty work.
38:11
Speaker 1: Nancy Grace Crime Story is signing off goodbye friend,