Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / Cold Case: Who killed young Debbie Randall?
Transcript
- 0:06Speaker 1: Who killed Deborah Lynn Randall? How do you do something?
- 0:09Speaker 1: Ably Randall from January thirteen, nineteen seventy two. Daddy was
- 0:14Speaker 1: nine years old when she vanished. It's been more than
- 0:17Speaker 1: forty three years. This is current stories with Nancy Grace,
- 0:22Speaker 1: group of retired detectives volunteering their time, determined to bring
- 0:26Speaker 1: her family answer to the beautiful kids. You look at
- 0:29Speaker 1: the picture, you can say the Amason detective Nicks as
- 0:32Speaker 1: part of a rare group of retired police officers who
- 0:35Speaker 1: specialize in solving Cod Counties cold cases. If you're investigated
- 0:40Speaker 1: for a detective, could you a cop? That's what you
- 0:43Speaker 1: live for? That phone call that family saying, sit down
- 0:46Speaker 1: with the best mood news for you. I'd give in
- 0:49Speaker 1: your buying. Your factor found out who work for Flora
- 0:52Speaker 1: pe work haven't gotten and we're not going to give up.
- 0:57Speaker 1: Imagine on a cold winter's night, your nine year old
- 1:01Speaker 1: little girl, is that the laundry Matt boy, I remember
- 1:04Speaker 1: going to the laundry mat just a half a block away,
- 1:08Speaker 1: but she never makes at home. And when you go
- 1:11Speaker 1: looking for your nine year old little girl, all you
- 1:14Speaker 1: find is a spilled box of laundry detergent across the
- 1:19Speaker 1: street from your home. It's the only evidence she was
- 1:25Speaker 1: ever there. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank
- 1:30Speaker 1: you for being with us. I'm talking about cold case
- 1:34Speaker 1: nine year old Debbie Lynn Randall and we are still
- 1:40Speaker 1: searching for answers. Along with me today is of course
- 1:44Speaker 1: Alan Duke, investigative reporter and special guests Detective Morris Nis Mars.
- 1:53Speaker 1: Thank you so much for being with us. Thank you
- 1:55Speaker 1: for having me. Marris, what is your recollection of what happened? Well, Nancy,
- 2:02Speaker 1: this is the case that I actually remember the day
- 2:04Speaker 1: this happened, So I always had an interest in this case,
- 2:08Speaker 1: and once I came to the cold case unit, that's
- 2:11Speaker 1: one of the first cases that I asked about. This case.
- 2:13Speaker 1: The region belonged to the maria A Police Department, and
- 2:16Speaker 1: they did a great job back in the day with
- 2:18Speaker 1: the limited resources that they had. So we decided to
- 2:23Speaker 1: just hey, Marris, Marris Morris, if I may call you that,
- 2:27Speaker 1: hold on just a minute. We say that all the time.
- 2:30Speaker 1: People ask me all the time, Morris, what do you think, Nancy?
- 2:33Speaker 1: Do you think the cops screwed the case up? And
- 2:36Speaker 1: very often I say, I don't know that they screwed
- 2:39Speaker 1: the case up. I think what happened is they're overwhelmed.
- 2:43Speaker 1: They don't have all the resources you see on TV okay,
- 2:48Speaker 1: especially in smaller jurisdictions, and they're doing the best they can.
- 2:53Speaker 1: So I don't know that that's screwing the case up.
- 2:55Speaker 1: Could more have been done, sure, if there were you know,
- 2:58Speaker 1: maybe ten or fifteen more detective of us, and there
- 3:01Speaker 1: was all sorts of scientific advances yet maybe, but that's
- 3:05Speaker 1: not the case. So working with what they've got, No,
- 3:08Speaker 1: I don't think they screwed the case up. I think
- 3:10Speaker 1: they're doing everything they can. So could you explain when
- 3:14Speaker 1: you say with the limited resources they did everything they could,
- 3:17Speaker 1: what does that mean? Basically, this will work three detectives
- 3:21Speaker 1: and of course they have other case loads and they
- 3:24Speaker 1: worked very hard. No, I don't think they screwed the
- 3:27Speaker 1: case up at all. I think they did the best
- 3:29Speaker 1: that they could do. Of course, time moves on. These
- 3:33Speaker 1: were not wealthy people. Debbie's family were not wealthy people.
- 3:36Speaker 1: They were not members of any certain society. So it
- 3:40Speaker 1: goes cold and people start to pass. But once we
- 3:44Speaker 1: got the case and started looking at it, we thought
- 3:48Speaker 1: maybe those a chance, you know, people said, well, you'll
- 3:51Speaker 1: never get any DNA from this has been too old, etcetera, etcetera.
- 3:55Speaker 1: But we submitted an article of clothing and we got
- 3:59Speaker 1: a a DNA match. Mars. When you say clothing, what
- 4:04Speaker 1: clothing her body was found fully closed? Yeah, Mary had
- 4:10Speaker 1: a police department did a great job of preserving the evidence,
- 4:13Speaker 1: and we took on our clop clothing her underwear, along
- 4:18Speaker 1: with other parts of clothing we submitted for DNA, really
- 4:22Speaker 1: thinking this was a really really long shot, and we
- 4:26Speaker 1: got a profile. And I was actually on my way
- 4:31Speaker 1: out of town when the administrator of the cold case unit,
- 4:34Speaker 1: John Dawes, called me and let me know, Hey, guess
- 4:37Speaker 1: what we gotta profile. So that was the door wide
- 4:41Speaker 1: open on this case. This is what happened, and correct
- 4:44Speaker 1: me if I'm wrong. Morris with Me is a very
- 4:47Speaker 1: well known crack detective in his jurisdiction. Detective Morris Nicks.
- 4:54Speaker 1: On a coal winner's night, nine year old Debbie Lynn
- 4:57Speaker 1: Randall steps out of the neighborhood laundry at and I've
- 5:01Speaker 1: been there. I remember, Morris, when our washing machine broke.
- 5:07Speaker 1: I guess my parents didn't have enough money to fix
- 5:10Speaker 1: the washing machine. I'm not really sure, but we started
- 5:13Speaker 1: using a laundry map. We would have to drive to
- 5:16Speaker 1: it because we lived down in the middle of nowhere,
- 5:18Speaker 1: and we drive to the laundry map. And it was
- 5:20Speaker 1: always always on a Sunday night. We would go to
- 5:24Speaker 1: church on Sunday night as well as the morning. So
- 5:26Speaker 1: we were wedging it in and I would go and
- 5:30Speaker 1: sit with the laundry during the afternoon at the laundry
- 5:33Speaker 1: mat and then switch it out and just the whole process.
- 5:38Speaker 1: So this little girl nine years old goes to do
- 5:41Speaker 1: the laundry, it's only a half a block away. As
- 5:45Speaker 1: she never makes it, she disappears. There's that spill box
- 5:48Speaker 1: of laundry to charge it just across the street from
- 5:51Speaker 1: her home. Now, over the next week, Cobb County launches
- 5:55Speaker 1: an extensive search to find her her body. Debbie's body
- 6:00Speaker 1: was found sixteen days later, but even now, over forty
- 6:05Speaker 1: years later, the mystery of who killed Debbie Randall, a
- 6:11Speaker 1: nine year old little girl trying to do family laundry
- 6:15Speaker 1: for her mom, is still unsolved. And with me veteran
- 6:20Speaker 1: detective Morris Nicks, I want to thank our podcast sponsor today.
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- 7:53Speaker 1: A better way to cook. Now, I want to get
- 7:56Speaker 1: back to Detective mors Nis joining us. Where was Debbie's
- 8:02Speaker 1: body found? Detective Debbie's body was found off of Polish
- 8:06Speaker 1: Ferry Road, which is now a empty restaurant. I believe
- 8:12Speaker 1: it was a Houston's restaurant, about twenty off the road.
- 8:17Speaker 1: I managed to find the individual who actually found her body. Uh.
- 8:23Speaker 1: He was a student at Southern Tech and he volunteered
- 8:26Speaker 1: as a group to look for her body. Um. He's
- 8:30Speaker 1: now retired engineer, and so being an engineer, he's very
- 8:34Speaker 1: good with measurements distances. I met him, we went over
- 8:39Speaker 1: there and he said women about Okay, wait a minute,
- 8:42Speaker 1: I want to understand something. When you say her body
- 8:46Speaker 1: was found off powers Ferry Road. A couple of quick questions.
- 8:49Speaker 1: One how far away from the laundry mat Once from
- 8:52Speaker 1: the laundry map it is, I'm gonna say about eight
- 8:55Speaker 1: miles nine miles. Wow. But so that was somebody that
- 8:59Speaker 1: got her in a car, correct, But we don't think
- 9:01Speaker 1: that's the place of death. Okay, so that was just
- 9:04Speaker 1: a dumping ground. And I assumed that she was assaulted
- 9:07Speaker 1: because you got DNA for underwear. It was brutal. Yes,
- 9:11Speaker 1: she was. She was sexually assaulted. Awful. So somebody got
- 9:15Speaker 1: her in a car. She was probably raped, sex assaulted
- 9:19Speaker 1: in the car and killed in the car, is my guests,
- 9:23Speaker 1: and then dumped there an eight mile distance. So it's
- 9:26Speaker 1: somebody that I guess knew the area. And at the
- 9:29Speaker 1: time before it was a Houston's restaurant. What was it wooded?
- 9:33Speaker 1: It was wooded at the time. Yeah, it was rather remote.
- 9:36Speaker 1: And who found the body? Detective who found I don't
- 9:40Speaker 1: need a name, but was it like a construction worker
- 9:42Speaker 1: or a hiker? What? He was a student at Southern
- 9:45Speaker 1: Tech and he in his fraternity brothers volunteered to do
- 9:50Speaker 1: a group search. He discovered the body. I managed to
- 9:55Speaker 1: locate him and he now retired engineer, and he took
- 9:59Speaker 1: me over there and he walked to the parking lot,
- 10:02Speaker 1: went straight to the spot and he said, well, then
- 10:05Speaker 1: about ten ft eight ft this is where she was at.
- 10:08Speaker 1: He said, I've gone buy that location over the years,
- 10:10Speaker 1: and of course it's just in my mind. We believe
- 10:13Speaker 1: Nancy that she was abducted from laundromatt she was taken
- 10:18Speaker 1: to another location for the crime code, then she was
- 10:23Speaker 1: redressed and her body was dumped in the woods. Okay,
- 10:28Speaker 1: you know what. The whole thing is sick, but the
- 10:30Speaker 1: redressing part is super sick. So let me understand something.
- 10:35Speaker 1: She is raped in one location you think not, the car, redressed,
- 10:40Speaker 1: and then dumped found by a college student who, along
- 10:45Speaker 1: with other people, had volunteered to search. And you find
- 10:50Speaker 1: him years later, and he's now a retired engineer. Correct, man,
- 10:56Speaker 1: that's a heck of a story. Now he obviously sleep.
- 11:00Speaker 1: I'm always suspicious of whoever finds the body, so I
- 11:03Speaker 1: assume that you've ruled him out. Yes, yes, uh, he
- 11:08Speaker 1: was in the group. Actually, um, they had spread out
- 11:11Speaker 1: along the road and he just by happenstance, had wandered
- 11:16Speaker 1: up upon her and he did not go actually down
- 11:22Speaker 1: to the body because it's unnerved him. And he has
- 11:29Speaker 1: been very beneficial in some of his descriptions. But we
- 11:34Speaker 1: think that possibly she was assaulted at a very close
- 11:41Speaker 1: place to where her body was found. Why do you
- 11:44Speaker 1: say that or can you tell me? I can tell
- 11:47Speaker 1: you that we had some evidence that was gathered in
- 11:52Speaker 1: processed by the FBI UM back in the day that
- 11:57Speaker 1: leads us to a specific location that I don't want
- 12:01Speaker 1: to disclose at the moment. Okay, So without you telling me,
- 12:06Speaker 1: I'll just clue in our listeners, who you know, they
- 12:09Speaker 1: know as much as I do, now, Detective Nix, because
- 12:12Speaker 1: everybody's legal eagles, and they are very familiar with technology.
- 12:16Speaker 1: So I'm guessing, as an educated guest, that they found
- 12:21Speaker 1: fibers such as carpet fibers on her back or her body.
- 12:25Speaker 1: They found um, some type of a synthetic floor covering. Um,
- 12:33Speaker 1: you know, that's how. I don't know if you remember this,
- 12:35Speaker 1: Detective Nixt. It was before my time, but I found
- 12:39Speaker 1: out pretty quickly. You know. I prosecuted in Fulton d
- 12:41Speaker 1: A's office with your with Vick Reynolds, you know the now.
- 12:46Speaker 1: In fact, you can go ahead and tell him this
- 12:48Speaker 1: that I claim I trained him and for him to
- 12:51Speaker 1: never forget the goatman. Okay, the goatman. As I digress.
- 12:57Speaker 1: So I had a huge calendar, you know, and front
- 13:00Speaker 1: of an awesome judge, Luther Albertson. He was the oldest
- 13:03Speaker 1: judge in the courthouse, and he wanted to keep the
- 13:05Speaker 1: lowest jail count. Uh. In other words, his courtroom had
- 13:09Speaker 1: the fewest people in jail on their calendar because we
- 13:12Speaker 1: would try so many cases, and he wanted to prove
- 13:15Speaker 1: he was still fit as a fiddle, and he was.
- 13:17Speaker 1: So Vic came to the office after me and he
- 13:19Speaker 1: rotated into my courtroom. I took a couple of murders
- 13:22Speaker 1: and gave him, you know, here, take everything else, and
- 13:24Speaker 1: he did. And one of them was the goatman. And
- 13:29Speaker 1: what I mean by that was this old guy. God
- 13:32Speaker 1: bless him. He smelled like a goat. He smelled awful,
- 13:36Speaker 1: and he was the victim. Okay, I don't know where
- 13:38Speaker 1: the last time this guy took about old Vic. Vic
- 13:42Speaker 1: had to try the case, okay, because I was getting
- 13:44Speaker 1: ready on. I guess a murder and a rape and
- 13:46Speaker 1: a dope dealer, and so I didn't even know what
- 13:49Speaker 1: was in the file to the here he's the one.
- 13:51Speaker 1: Here's the ones that have to go. Just pick one
- 13:52Speaker 1: and go. Well, that's the one he ended up with.
- 13:55Speaker 1: I guess the others played out. I don't know what
- 13:57Speaker 1: happened to them to try. So he gets the goatman,
- 14:02Speaker 1: who I believe could walk, but like being wheeled around
- 14:05Speaker 1: in a in a wheelchair. So he gets the goatman
- 14:08Speaker 1: up on the stand. Okay, and the goat man he
- 14:13Speaker 1: stopped too high Haven and Vic was questioning him and
- 14:18Speaker 1: he said, okay, sir, do you see the man that
- 14:21Speaker 1: stabbed you the day of the incident. Well, the goatman
- 14:24Speaker 1: started looking around and he started looking over at the
- 14:29Speaker 1: jury like maybe it was one of the gerards. And
- 14:33Speaker 1: I'm like, oh, dear Lord, no, please don't let him.
- 14:38Speaker 1: And I mean we had the guy, you know, did
- 14:41Speaker 1: red handed. I mean he had the stabbing, he had
- 14:44Speaker 1: the knife with him, there was still blood on the knife.
- 14:46Speaker 1: He had the knife for Pete's sake, the perp did.
- 14:50Speaker 1: So VIC had to get the guy back of the
- 14:52Speaker 1: wheelchair and take him straight up to the defendant, across
- 14:59Speaker 1: the able from the defendant, and for a moment we
- 15:04Speaker 1: thought he was going to identify the defense attorney. But
- 15:08Speaker 1: he looked and he looked and he looked, and finally
- 15:11Speaker 1: he identified the defendant. I'm like, oh, dear Lord, I
- 15:15Speaker 1: haven't but every time I see Vic, which I don't
- 15:18Speaker 1: see him a lot now, but I say, you remember
- 15:21Speaker 1: the goat man, and I just die laughing. Now he
- 15:24Speaker 1: doesn't think it's as funny as I do. But anyway,
- 15:30Speaker 1: whenever I think of Vick Reynolds, you know, he has
- 15:32Speaker 1: all these very important conferences and press releases, and he's
- 15:36Speaker 1: an awesome trial lawyer, but I always think of the
- 15:39Speaker 1: goat man. I digressed for a moment with fond memories
- 15:44Speaker 1: of Vick Reynolds in my courtroom. Okay, I want to
- 15:47Speaker 1: get back to Debbie, because you know, I'm just thinking
- 15:50Speaker 1: about you know, Debbie was just in the third grade,
- 15:53Speaker 1: Detective Nicks. You know what grade my children are in, right,
- 15:57Speaker 1: third grade? And when I think of how defenseless both
- 16:02Speaker 1: of them are and so trusting. Now Debbie third grader
- 16:06Speaker 1: at Pine Forest Elementary, Well, I'm trying to figure out
- 16:11Speaker 1: she was going to uh marry at a place duds
- 16:15Speaker 1: and SuDS co want laundry. Now did she make it
- 16:19Speaker 1: to the laundry? Yeah? She she asked me. This was
- 16:23Speaker 1: a gathering place for the little girls in the area. Unfortunately,
- 16:28Speaker 1: that was about the only place they had, and Debbie
- 16:31Speaker 1: lived pretty much just across the street. A lot of
- 16:34Speaker 1: people said, well, how could you let a little girl
- 16:37Speaker 1: goes there by herself, But they have to understand that
- 16:40Speaker 1: they usually were with someone. It was about seventy five
- 16:43Speaker 1: ft from where she lived, and it was a gathering
- 16:46Speaker 1: place where where little girls would they would trade doll clothes.
- 16:50Speaker 1: The manager um of the laundromat would she made doll
- 16:56Speaker 1: close for him and it was just a place where
- 16:58Speaker 1: they would get together. And she was just a vood
- 17:02Speaker 1: It sounds like in my world when I was little.
- 17:05Speaker 1: The corner store it was also called the Pep Station,
- 17:09Speaker 1: and we had to actually ride our bikes like two
- 17:11Speaker 1: miles to get there. Now, my mother would have done
- 17:13Speaker 1: a back flip if she had known. During the summer,
- 17:16Speaker 1: we would get on our bikes and ride to the
- 17:18Speaker 1: Pep Station, which was a gas station, but they also
- 17:21Speaker 1: sold candy bars and you know, crackers, this same thing,
- 17:26Speaker 1: you know. We would all get on a bike and
- 17:28Speaker 1: go there. We wouldn't get on the main roads, would
- 17:30Speaker 1: take back roads and trails and end up behind the
- 17:33Speaker 1: Pep station and we would buy a candy bar and
- 17:38Speaker 1: then bike all the way back home when we thought
- 17:41Speaker 1: we had really done something. So this little girl goes
- 17:43Speaker 1: it's about seven pm. She goes with a local laundry.
- 17:47Speaker 1: She's given two bucks and while she was putting the
- 17:50Speaker 1: clothes into the washing machine, her stepfather left and I mean,
- 17:57Speaker 1: I've read that her stepfather, Robert Hooker, took her are
- 18:00Speaker 1: there and the laundry amount of tendant states Debbie left
- 18:03Speaker 1: about thirty minutes later with a box of detergent and
- 18:07Speaker 1: that was found near a car across the street from
- 18:11Speaker 1: her home. You're telling me it's some one like seventy right.
- 18:17Speaker 1: I also have reports that residents saw a dark pickup
- 18:20Speaker 1: truck around that time. I have one witness who said
- 18:25Speaker 1: that she went into the laundromat and she mentioned to
- 18:27Speaker 1: her older sister, there's a truck out there that I'm
- 18:32Speaker 1: not familiar with. In her older sister basins that will
- 18:34Speaker 1: mind her own business and help me pull close, and
- 18:37Speaker 1: so she did. And I talked to another witness that
- 18:41Speaker 1: said I spoke to Debbie right when she got ready
- 18:46Speaker 1: to leave. And Debbie had a habit of she would
- 18:49Speaker 1: collect the unused soap powders and she would take him
- 18:54Speaker 1: home to her mom. And she um was getting had
- 19:00Speaker 1: to leave, and she said, I saw Debbie go out
- 19:02Speaker 1: the door, and she said, and I was going to
- 19:04Speaker 1: go home with her, And again my older sister said,
- 19:07Speaker 1: and you're not going anywhere. You gotta help me fe close.
- 19:11Speaker 1: And she believes and I have come to believe that
- 19:15Speaker 1: very possibly Debbie knew her abductor. I think Debbie started
- 19:20Speaker 1: across the street. I think that he probably called out
- 19:25Speaker 1: to her. She turned around, walked back, and that's when
- 19:29Speaker 1: she was abducted. Com Corney pulled out all the stops.
- 19:32Speaker 1: They did everything. People were assigned to the to the case.
- 19:37Speaker 1: The wooded areas and vacant residences near Marietta Place were
- 19:41Speaker 1: searched by civil defense workers and police. Dixie Alert, which
- 19:46Speaker 1: is a group of hand radio operators, offered to handle
- 19:50Speaker 1: any contact with a kidnapper. Concerned Citizens Committee met They
- 19:58Speaker 1: created an effort called Opera Asian Debbie. Offers of assistance
- 20:03Speaker 1: flooded in the Helicopters from Dobbin's Air Force Base were
- 20:08Speaker 1: used in the search. I mean it goes on and
- 20:11Speaker 1: on and on trying to find Debbie. And then around
- 20:15Speaker 1: five o'clock in the afternoon on a Saturday, January, her
- 20:21Speaker 1: body was found by a group of Southern Czech students.
- 20:24Speaker 1: As Detective Knicks has just told us, her body was
- 20:27Speaker 1: found about a hundred and fifty ft north of Paris
- 20:30Speaker 1: Ferry Road, near Wendy Hill, which is in Marietta there
- 20:34Speaker 1: were evident there was evidence, and there were clues near
- 20:37Speaker 1: her body, but as of today, still no resolution. So
- 20:45Speaker 1: tell me about this DNA profile, Detective Knicks. Yeah, when
- 20:49Speaker 1: we got this, we thought our chanson were slimming none
- 20:53Speaker 1: And when we looked at it, we knew that that
- 20:57Speaker 1: Mary still had the evidence. We got married out to
- 21:01Speaker 1: pull of the evident force and we sent it to
- 21:05Speaker 1: the lab and we got a profile. And we know
- 21:09Speaker 1: from this profile that she was only assaulted by one individual.
- 21:16Speaker 1: Uh now, she may have been abducted by more than one,
- 21:18Speaker 1: but she was assaulted by one um and it just
- 21:23Speaker 1: shot a whole new breadth fresh air into this case. Now,
- 21:28Speaker 1: I thought when we initially got the profile, I really
- 21:31Speaker 1: thought we would get a hit on CODIS and which
- 21:36Speaker 1: is the national database. We did not, But we also
- 21:41Speaker 1: know that prior to the nineties that no, there was
- 21:44Speaker 1: no codas, nobody who was entered into CODIS. So I
- 21:49Speaker 1: think this is a very doable case. It's obviously a
- 21:54Speaker 1: long shot, but I do think that we have a chance.
- 22:00Speaker 1: And as long as we have a chance, we're gonna
- 22:02Speaker 1: keep working on it. And actually I want to talk
- 22:04Speaker 1: about just a second about our cold case unit we
- 22:07Speaker 1: were started by Bick Reynolds talked to me two years ago,
- 22:12Speaker 1: and all the cases we worked, we worked as a unit.
- 22:14Speaker 1: We worked as a team. So for every little bit
- 22:17Speaker 1: I've done, they've done more than I have. And I'm
- 22:21Speaker 1: very proud to be associated with this group. They're just very,
- 22:25Speaker 1: very dedicated, hard working individuals. But we do have a
- 22:29Speaker 1: chance in this case, and we're not gonna let go
- 22:32Speaker 1: of it. And any time we get a case, we
- 22:36Speaker 1: we work it hard. Now and answer, you know, there
- 22:39Speaker 1: are three things that drive a cold case. Time, money,
- 22:44Speaker 1: and publicity. Those are the three things that drive a
- 22:48Speaker 1: cold case, and you have to have all three. And
- 22:52Speaker 1: talking about that shirt for Debbie, I have told people,
- 22:56Speaker 1: and I really feel this way that that was probably
- 22:58Speaker 1: Mariatta's finest moment in the list of all the tragedy
- 23:02Speaker 1: and absolute heartbreak, fear. People were people scared, and people
- 23:09Speaker 1: were angry, But at that moment, Cobb, counting, the city
- 23:14Speaker 1: of Marriotta really came together, and uh, I think we
- 23:19Speaker 1: should all be proud of what what they tried to do. Detective,
- 23:23Speaker 1: are you using familial DNA to find the relatives of
- 23:28Speaker 1: the killer? Is that something that you're able to do
- 23:30Speaker 1: in Cobb County. We had a federal grant which gave
- 23:34Speaker 1: us the money and we use a lab in Utah.
- 23:37Speaker 1: But our grant has since expired and we're hoping to
- 23:40Speaker 1: get it renewed and and if we do, then we
- 23:44Speaker 1: can continue our testing. We've got two or three cases
- 23:49Speaker 1: actually that I think we're very close up, and a
- 23:54Speaker 1: couple of them, I think we're real close and you're
- 23:56Speaker 1: able to use the kind of DNA that would identify
- 23:59Speaker 1: if of their relatives perhaps had been arrested at some
- 24:03Speaker 1: point and submitted DNA. Yes, we have eliminated the family
- 24:08Speaker 1: through DNA tested. Everybody was cooperative. We've eliminated the obvious people.
- 24:14Speaker 1: You know, it was rumored for years that possibly her
- 24:19Speaker 1: stepfather one of those who'd been above, but they were
- 24:21Speaker 1: not and they've all been cooperative and we've eliminated them
- 24:24Speaker 1: through DNA. Did have I got a question for you,
- 24:27Speaker 1: Why has this case? Why does this case stick with you?
- 24:34Speaker 1: I mean, it's your personal mission to solve this case
- 24:38Speaker 1: of Debbie Randall, why she deserved justice, And that's really
- 24:42Speaker 1: after every all the rhetoric, that's what it comes down
- 24:45Speaker 1: to you. This was a very innocent, normal, little girl,
- 24:51Speaker 1: and it just got home once once I saw her
- 24:53Speaker 1: photographs and I talked to her family. Her mom is
- 24:58Speaker 1: in very bad health. She still living um and this
- 25:02Speaker 1: is her one player is that she will know, whether
- 25:05Speaker 1: they're dead or alive, that she will know who did this.
- 25:09Speaker 1: And you can't help but be touched and whoever did this?
- 25:17Speaker 1: You know, how do you describe these people? You know,
- 25:19Speaker 1: we've all heard the adjectives, but really, how do you
- 25:23Speaker 1: describe an individual that does this to seventy pound little girl.
- 25:29Speaker 1: Another issue, Detective Nixt is he did this and got
- 25:34Speaker 1: away with it so far, you know he's done it again.
- 25:37Speaker 1: There's no way that he didn't do it again, either
- 25:41Speaker 1: raped or killed. And I absolutely agree. And perhaps he
- 25:47Speaker 1: left the state. Perhaps he was in the military and
- 25:50Speaker 1: at Dobbin's Air Base. We don't know. We could all speculate,
- 25:54Speaker 1: but we now have a DNA profile and and we're
- 25:59Speaker 1: gonna push every suspect that we can push every person
- 26:02Speaker 1: of interest until we're satisfied one way or the other.
- 26:06Speaker 1: And I think that's just what that's what we have
- 26:10Speaker 1: to do, and that's what we're going to do. Well
- 26:13Speaker 1: with me today is really a renowned detective in his jurisdiction,
- 26:21Speaker 1: Detective Morris Nicks, and we were talking about a nine
- 26:24Speaker 1: year old little girl that was brutally assaulted and murdered,
- 26:29Speaker 1: her body left out in a wooded area, her parents,
- 26:33Speaker 1: her mom still looking for answers. This is a cold case,
- 26:37Speaker 1: but I pray to God it heats up after today. Again,
- 26:42Speaker 1: thank you to Blue Apron who makes delicious, easy and
- 26:48Speaker 1: affordable meals possible, the ingredients delivered to your door. And
- 26:54Speaker 1: when I say affordable, I mean it. And you can
- 26:58Speaker 1: have that moment guy, do or I try to anyway
- 27:03Speaker 1: where we sit down at the end of the day
- 27:05Speaker 1: around the table and we thank God for our blessings
- 27:10Speaker 1: and we have a great meal and we talk about
- 27:12Speaker 1: the day and you know what, I look forward to
- 27:16Speaker 1: that moment all day long. It's my favorite moment of
- 27:18Speaker 1: the day. We're all together, and of course you don't
- 27:21Speaker 1: have to have an elaborate meal, but it's just one
- 27:24Speaker 1: of those memories. Everybody's sitting down together as a family
- 27:28Speaker 1: and it's hard to do. The children have soccer, they
- 27:31Speaker 1: have piano, they have this. I gotta work the book, Deadline,
- 27:36Speaker 1: Hallmark movie boy, working all the time, but that moment
- 27:42Speaker 1: is the moment that makes it all worth it is
- 27:45Speaker 1: when we're all together as a family, and I want
- 27:47Speaker 1: to thank Blue Apron for making that possible for me
- 27:51Speaker 1: and so many others and making it affordable. Go to
- 27:55Speaker 1: blue Apron dot com slash Nancy Grace for another discount.
- 28:00Speaker 1: I really want to thank Detective Morris Knicks for being
- 28:03Speaker 1: with us from Cobb County Coal Case. It's a real
- 28:07Speaker 1: pleasure and really an honor to talk to a seasoned veteran.
- 28:13Speaker 1: He was never given up the fight to solve cases,
- 28:17Speaker 1: to seek justice, and in this case, solve the case
- 28:21Speaker 1: of little Debbie Debbie Randall. If you have information, please
- 28:26Speaker 1: call seven seven zero five two eight three zero three
- 28:30Speaker 1: two repeat seven seven zero five two eight three zero
- 28:35Speaker 1: three two, or go to crime online dot com where
- 28:41Speaker 1: we have a tip number and an email in tip address.
- 28:47Speaker 1: Please help us Allan, thank you for being with us
- 28:51Speaker 1: as always with me as you are every day. Detective
- 28:55Speaker 1: Nick's honored and numbered friend, NaN's Grace signing off from
- 29:00Speaker 1: Crime Stories. Thank you, friend,