Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / Young mom doused with gas, set on fire by jealous ex.

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Young mom doused with gas, set on fire by jealous ex. · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

0:04
Speaker 1: You know, I've often tallied up in my mind there
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Speaker 1: are seven ways to die, and when you ask people
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Speaker 1: what would be the worst way to die, many people
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Speaker 1: say drowning, many people say burning. I have personally dealt
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Speaker 1: with victims of crime that were burned, and it is
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Speaker 1: one of the most painful you can ever have. And
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Speaker 1: to think that someone, a perpetrator would do that to
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Speaker 1: a victim, it's the worst pain, the worst death imaginable.
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Speaker 1: I've spoken to, believe it or not, many women whose boyfriend,
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Speaker 1: husband lover X have set them on fire. I've noticed
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Speaker 1: that so many of them were set on fire or
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Speaker 1: doubt with accelerant in their face. I'm just a trial lawyer,
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Speaker 1: but I find that to be extremely privative and extremely
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Speaker 1: psychologically significant. Now I tell you such a story. This
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Speaker 1: is Crime Stories. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. The twenty
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Speaker 1: eight year old is charged with attempted murder, assault, arson,
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Speaker 1: criminal possession of a weapon, among other charges. Both Cameron
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Speaker 1: and White work at the tim Horns off Niagara Street
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Speaker 1: in the city of Tonawanda, where the attack happened Monday afternoon.
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Speaker 1: Police say White through a flammable fluid on Cameron, then
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Speaker 1: set her on fire. And injured himself in the process.
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Speaker 1: The maintenance worker outside did not see the incident occur,
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Speaker 1: but it's all fireball and heard screams. He rushed to extinguished.
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Speaker 1: Cameron White meanwhile extinguished himself and then also tried to
2:01
Speaker 1: help his ex girlfriend. Both were rushed at ECMC with
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Speaker 1: series burns. You're hearing our friends at WKBW Buffalo. That
2:07
Speaker 1: was Nikki Dmitri I meanc Grace. This is Crime Stories.
2:11
Speaker 1: Thank you for being with us. Did a man poor
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Speaker 1: gas on his ex girlfriend then set her on fire?
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Speaker 1: It's almost too horrendous to even imagine. An All Star
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Speaker 1: panel with me. Stephen Lampley, detective and author of Outside
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Speaker 1: Your Door, Psychoanalyst, joining me from LA Doctor Bethany Marshall,
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Speaker 1: medical examiner out of South Carolina, author of Homicide Investigation
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Speaker 1: Field Guide with me, doctor Michelle Duprie, judge, lawyer, court
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Speaker 1: TV anchor Ashley Wilcott. But right now, to Cheryl McCullum,
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Speaker 1: Director of the Cold Case Research Institute, Cheryl McCullum, this
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Speaker 1: is a particularly awful, awful way to kill or or
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Speaker 1: someone Nancy. It is beyond just the imagination what this
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Speaker 1: woman went through in the seventy eight seconds. She was
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Speaker 1: on fire. So again it's been gould thirty percent of
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Speaker 1: her body. Her skin is literally melting, her hair is
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Speaker 1: on fire, her eyelashes on fire. The amount of pain
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Speaker 1: is unimaginable. At the time of the incident, White Jonathan White,
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Speaker 1: aged twenty eight, asked to meet Jessica. Jessica Camerony's twenty five,
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Speaker 1: asked to meet her there at a Tim Horton's Intiwanda
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Speaker 1: to discuss their relationship. They had been together seven and
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Speaker 1: a half years. They have three children together, and they
3:51
Speaker 1: grew apart for many reasons, including his jealousy, domestic abuse,
3:57
Speaker 1: and alcoholism. The two were in the middle of a
4:03
Speaker 1: very contentious custody battle over the children. She asked, are
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Speaker 1: you going to hurt me? Reports are that Cameron said
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Speaker 1: at the time, you know, it's so intentional in my
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Speaker 1: mind to ask you, Wilcot, because to set someone on fire,
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Speaker 1: you typically douse them with an accelerant like gasoline, lighter, fluid,
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Speaker 1: any type of excellent and then you have to take
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Speaker 1: the time to light a match and throw it on them.
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Speaker 1: This is not the spur of a moment thing. He
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Speaker 1: had to show up to that. Tom Morton's. He had
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Speaker 1: to show up with these things with him, That's right.
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Speaker 1: So you do have to have the supplies, which means
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Speaker 1: what in our legal system premeditated. You have to have
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Speaker 1: those items. You do, actually, and it's my understanding he
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Speaker 1: did douse her with the accelerant and then light it.
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Speaker 1: So I completely agree with you, Nancy, and to me,
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Speaker 1: the horrificness of this crime, that means premedit, hated, and
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Speaker 1: it means more severe charges against this me. You are
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Speaker 1: so right, Ashley Walcott. Take a listen to Spectrum News
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Speaker 1: reporter Fodia Patterson. Family members of Jessica Cameron were in
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Speaker 1: court facing her a strange boyfriend and father to their
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Speaker 1: three children, Twenty nine year old Jonathan White. White as
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Speaker 1: accused of setting twenty five year old Cameron on fire
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Speaker 1: outside of the Niagara Street Tim Horton's in the city
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Speaker 1: of Tonawanda, where they both worked. The first witness to
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Speaker 1: the stand was Jessica's co worker Peter Thompson, who recalls
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Speaker 1: hearing her screams at the dumpster pen, where prosecutors say
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Speaker 1: White lord Jessica poured gasoline over her head and lit
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Speaker 1: her on fire. I heard a blood curdling scream and
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Speaker 1: saw a ball of fire, Thompson told prosecutors during opening statements.
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Speaker 1: State prosecutors said the estranged couple were together for seven
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Speaker 1: years before they split. According to prosecutors, Jessica moving on
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Speaker 1: to a new relationship was the possible motive for the attack.
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Speaker 1: On December seventeenth, twenty eighteen, Assistant District Attorney Beca Snarl
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Speaker 1: said for seventy eight seconds, her entire body was engulfed
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Speaker 1: in flames. Jessica suffered third degree burns all over her body.
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Speaker 1: White was also injured in the attack, with burns still
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Speaker 1: visible on his neck. You know. To Stephen Lampley, detective
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Speaker 1: and author of Outside Your Door, I've actually seen this
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Speaker 1: on several occasions and they're all horrific with life changing scarring.
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Speaker 1: Many of the women die because they just can't survive
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Speaker 1: that degree of burning across their body. And Steve Lampley,
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Speaker 1: I've noticed it's always a man on a woman, and
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Speaker 1: it's always over some perceived jealousy or a breakup. Steve Lampley,
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Speaker 1: have you ever seen this before? Nancy? It happens a lot,
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Speaker 1: a lot more than people do realize. All I can
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Speaker 1: say to is is. And I want to address your listeners.
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Speaker 1: If you're in a relationship like this, get the h
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Speaker 1: out of it. Don't become a statistic, don't become of
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Speaker 1: a but yes, Nancy, this happens quite often. Joining me
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Speaker 1: right now. Doctor Michelle d Pre, medical examiner out of
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Speaker 1: South Carolina and author of Homicide Investigation Field Guide. Doctor
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Speaker 1: Dupre describe what this sort of attack with accelerant and
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Speaker 1: fire does to a person's body and why people typically
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Speaker 1: die after this type of attack. This is really a
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Speaker 1: horrendous attack fire. It is. It's scary for one thing,
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Speaker 1: and it does so much damage. It does tissue damage,
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Speaker 1: and of course with clothing on the body. And if
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Speaker 1: there is an accelerant, which usually there is, it just
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Speaker 1: sits there and soaks in and so the fire stays
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Speaker 1: longer and longer and burns different layers of our skin.
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Speaker 1: And the more layers of skin that are burned, of course,
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Speaker 1: the more significant the damage and the harder it is
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Speaker 1: to overcome. That. We lose a lot of moisture, a
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Speaker 1: lot of fluid from burn injuries, and that is one
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Speaker 1: of the reasons that patients often do not recover when
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Speaker 1: so much of their body is attacked by fire. Well,
8:02
Speaker 1: that doesn't make sense to me. Dot d free. You
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Speaker 1: lose moisture, so you die, Yes, you do because you
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Speaker 1: are not able to keep your cells and your body's
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Speaker 1: functions hydrated, and so the body then begins to just
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Speaker 1: simply shut down again. The more surface area that is
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Speaker 1: injured will lead to that dotor d free. Could you
8:22
Speaker 1: explain the difference between first second third degree burns, sure, Nancy.
8:25
Speaker 1: First degree burns are what we might see if we
8:29
Speaker 1: have a little bit of redness on our skin, maybe
8:32
Speaker 1: we touched something that's hot, but only for a moment.
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Speaker 1: Second degree burns are when they actually begin to blister
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Speaker 1: and a little water blister will appear. Third degree burns
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Speaker 1: are much more significant. Third degree burns are certainly red,
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Speaker 1: they go through more layers of the skin, and then
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Speaker 1: there's actually something that we cause fourth degree burns, which
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Speaker 1: is charring down to the bone. At third degree burns,
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Speaker 1: the nerve endings are actually non existent. And her degree
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Speaker 1: burns are not painful because it has destroyed so much.
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Speaker 1: About to shoot to Cheryl McCollum, director of the Coal
9:05
Speaker 1: Case Research Institute, joining us, Cheryl, I'm sitting here racking
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Speaker 1: my brain and every time there has been a fire
9:15
Speaker 1: or accelrat attack on a person, it's always domestic relations Nancy,
9:21
Speaker 1: this is clearly a DOMENICI violet situation. They had pass
9:26
Speaker 1: violets in their relationship. There was self harming in this relationship.
9:32
Speaker 1: I beat the jealousy that day. Wait a minute, what
9:35
Speaker 1: do you mean by self harming in this relationship. Well,
9:38
Speaker 1: one report said that because of his anger and jealousy
9:42
Speaker 1: that he would self harm as well. So again he
9:46
Speaker 1: had displayed to her more than one time that he
9:50
Speaker 1: would be violent toward her and himself. In this scene, though,
9:55
Speaker 1: it was a Monday, so we had all weekend to plan.
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Speaker 1: He lew her over to a dumster so that he
10:02
Speaker 1: because you know, he could conceal what he was fixing
10:04
Speaker 1: and doing. That's the reason nobody witnessed it. They just
10:07
Speaker 1: saw the flash of plans. And I think it's very
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Speaker 1: significant that he's burned on his back because he was
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Speaker 1: running away and what he did first is extinguished himself.
10:19
Speaker 1: You know what, That is very probative burn on his
10:23
Speaker 1: back because he's running away, explained Cheryl McCollums. Well, they
10:27
Speaker 1: said he had burns on his hands, which a lot
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Speaker 1: of times an arpanist will have because when they have
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Speaker 1: the accelrat that they're about the time somebody their hands gets,
10:36
Speaker 1: you know, as well saturated with it. So when he
10:39
Speaker 1: likes the match or the lighter or whatever he's using
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Speaker 1: the throw on her, he gets burned as well. Well,
10:44
Speaker 1: then he's burned on his back. So again that tells
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Speaker 1: me this hero bors was running away to save himself.
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Speaker 1: He wasn't doing anything for her in those first most
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Speaker 1: critical moments, so it's not like he didn't and then
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Speaker 1: realized her crime stories with Nancy Grace to doctor Bethany Marshall,
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Speaker 1: psychoanalysis of the whole another can of worms. It's a
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Speaker 1: type of domestic abuse and violence that is actually rare,
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Speaker 1: but we're hearing more and more and more about it
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Speaker 1: every day. It's happening more and more often, and the
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Speaker 1: women are dying. And I'm sitting here ruminating every time
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Speaker 1: I've heard of an accelerant attack on someone, Almost every
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Speaker 1: time it's over a quote love relationship. It is always
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Speaker 1: over a love relationship, because I remember, as we've been
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Speaker 1: taught talking about, there's always pathological jealousy in these situations,
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Speaker 1: and you know, Nancy shaming and humiliating is a core
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Speaker 1: and central aspect of domestic abuse, shaming one for their parenting,
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Speaker 1: for how they look, for how they dress. Defacing a
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Speaker 1: woman or making her unattractive is a heightened version of that.
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Speaker 1: Where did he pour the accelerant? Where did he light
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Speaker 1: her on fire? Over her face and head? So if
12:30
Speaker 1: you think about the pathological jealousy, he's now made her
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Speaker 1: unattractive to every other man. We don't like to think
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Speaker 1: of it this way because it seems like such an outlier.
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Speaker 1: Why would you burn somebody to make them unattractive? But
12:44
Speaker 1: think about it. When people pour acid or they've set
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Speaker 1: somebody on fire, it is almost always from the neck up.
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Speaker 1: That is where it starts. And I would imagine, and
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Speaker 1: you use the word ruminating, I imagine he has been
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Speaker 1: ruminating on who's looking at her, who she texting? Is
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Speaker 1: there somebody else who thinks she's beautiful? Because this is
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Speaker 1: another thing I see in my practice in domestic violent situations.
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Speaker 1: The man always says, well, what if somebody thinks my
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Speaker 1: wife is attractive? And I feel like saying well, then
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Speaker 1: that means you're a lucky man. But of course that's
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Speaker 1: not the issue, but the idea that the woman is
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Speaker 1: even being admired by another individual is intolerable to them.
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Speaker 1: What do you make of men or women who threaten
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Speaker 1: to kill themselves or self harm in order to get
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Speaker 1: what they want in the relationship. Oh, that's a great question.
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Speaker 1: So what happens is these people to have what they
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Speaker 1: call a paranoid preoccupation that that other person's very presence
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Speaker 1: on this world, in this world, on this planet is
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Speaker 1: doing them harm in some way, is negatively affecting their
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Speaker 1: well being. So they have this oscillation of hate between
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Speaker 1: the other person and between themselves, and they start to
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Speaker 1: say to themselves at an unconscious level, well, will I
14:02
Speaker 1: be less miserable if you're gone? Or will I be
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Speaker 1: less miserable if I'm gone. I'll take your life, now
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Speaker 1: I'll take my life. That the hatred oscillates back and forth,
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Speaker 1: and the homicidal instinct oscillates back and forth between self
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Speaker 1: and other. That that's something that's a very an important
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Speaker 1: concept in my field. But of course, the desire to
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Speaker 1: harm and hurt the other person almost always wins out.
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Speaker 1: Let's start at the beginning with me, Dave Matt Crime
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Speaker 1: online dot Com investigative reporter. Start at the beginning, Dave Matt,
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Speaker 1: because I find it very interesting and I'm trying to
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Speaker 1: figure out on my own what does it mean that
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Speaker 1: he would do this in a public setting. It's kind
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Speaker 1: of like a Starbucks. It's a coffee shop. Tim Horton's explain,
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Speaker 1: Dave Matt, Well, you know, Nancy, these this couple had
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Speaker 1: a long relationship that dated back to her being in
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Speaker 1: high school. Okay, they had four children together, the first
15:00
Speaker 1: one they gave up for adoption, and they had the
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Speaker 1: other three. But over the years, his abuse, his alcohol
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Speaker 1: use and abuse had taken its toll, and when she
15:11
Speaker 1: finally had her fill, she was putting distance between the
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Speaker 1: two of them and had actually moved out and moved
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Speaker 1: in with her mother out of fear for the way
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Speaker 1: this man was. She felt like she was safe that
15:23
Speaker 1: night at work because he said he was hungry and
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Speaker 1: he just wanted to talk. She thought she was safe
15:28
Speaker 1: because it was in a public place, it was in
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Speaker 1: a parking lot, it was where they worked. I mean,
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Speaker 1: she thought everything was on her side, and a lot
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Speaker 1: has been said about She said, are you going to
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Speaker 1: hurt me? And he said yes, But she still she said,
15:43
Speaker 1: she still thought she was safe until everything happened. What
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Speaker 1: does that mean? You know, I first met Cheryl McCollum.
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Speaker 1: I recall it was a regarding a domestic abuse initiative
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Speaker 1: that we were both king on to help battered women.
16:02
Speaker 1: But to you, Cheryl McCollum, how often is it that
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Speaker 1: when domestic violence erupts and someone is killed or there's
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Speaker 1: an attempting murder, all the friends say, well, she was
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Speaker 1: always afraid of him. She told us this was going
16:17
Speaker 1: to happen one day. I always hear that. Nancy Old,
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Speaker 1: some level, her gut told her this was different because
16:26
Speaker 1: she asked him, are you going to hurt me? So
16:31
Speaker 1: she knew something about it was different. Maybe he already
16:35
Speaker 1: had something in his hand. Maybe it's because she wanted
16:38
Speaker 1: to get her over behind the dumpsters, but she knew
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Speaker 1: in her gut. Now here's the thing. She still probably believed,
16:46
Speaker 1: he surely is not going to do this in public.
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Speaker 1: We both worked here, everybody knows him. I just walked
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Speaker 1: out the meeting. We can't be that stupid. So she's
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Speaker 1: probably playing that in her head where she's talking herself
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Speaker 1: out of what she probably instinctively knows this ban's already
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Speaker 1: hurt her She's already done it multiple times, so she's
17:08
Speaker 1: trying to get away from him. She's already in a
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Speaker 1: new relationship, but still on some levels she knew, you
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Speaker 1: know what, I think you're right to Ashley Wilcott, judge
17:18
Speaker 1: and trial lawyer. You can find her at Ashley Wilcott
17:21
Speaker 1: dot com or on Core TV where she is an
17:23
Speaker 1: anchor Ashley Wilcott. She knew something was wrong. She noticed
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Speaker 1: an apple juice container sitting by the dumpster. And if
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Speaker 1: he went to that extent to put the accelerant, which
17:35
Speaker 1: is gasoline or kerosene, it could be lighter fluid, it
17:40
Speaker 1: could be nail polisher move or any type of an
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Speaker 1: accelerant for him to bring it there in an apple
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Speaker 1: juice container. How much planning and premeditation is that? Yeah,
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Speaker 1: I agree with you completely. So she survived, But look
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Speaker 1: at the amount of premeditation. I have to add this, Nancy.
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Speaker 1: Here's the problem with individuals like this and the he
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Speaker 1: made and the violence and the stalking her or my words,
18:04
Speaker 1: because he has completely obsessed himself with this person. The
18:08
Speaker 1: problem I have is that it doesn't matter if it's
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Speaker 1: a public place, right, it doesn't He went behind a dumpster.
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Speaker 1: He was going to do this regardless of where it was,
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Speaker 1: how visible it was, whether it was behind the dumpster,
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Speaker 1: in front of the dumpster, at the workplace or not.
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Speaker 1: He made up his mind this is what he was
18:27
Speaker 1: going to do. He doesn't care how public the place
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Speaker 1: is or not. Which is why victims of violence of
18:34
Speaker 1: this type unfortunately in domestic violence or at such risk
18:39
Speaker 1: of this type of criminal. Two special guests with me,
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Speaker 1: doctor Bethany Marshall's psychoanalyst out of la He had about
18:46
Speaker 1: one to two inches of gasoline and an apple juice
18:49
Speaker 1: container and set her on fire. What does this attack,
18:53
Speaker 1: this type of attack tell us about the mindset of
18:57
Speaker 1: Jonathan why Well heard the phrase burn, baby burn. I
19:02
Speaker 1: mean this speaks to me of rage that is so
19:07
Speaker 1: severe that he is really completely unable to self regulate.
19:12
Speaker 1: I think he is living in a constant state of rejection.
19:16
Speaker 1: He probably was in a state of rejection even when
19:18
Speaker 1: she was sleeping in his bed every night, because some
19:20
Speaker 1: people get stuck in the feelings of rejection and then
19:24
Speaker 1: they can never take in anything good or positive about
19:27
Speaker 1: the other person. But of course his rejection was at
19:30
Speaker 1: a very pathological level. It tells me that he was
19:33
Speaker 1: fixated on her in a paranoid way, that he did
19:37
Speaker 1: not want to think about anybody else as a potential
19:41
Speaker 1: love partner. I'm sure he was probably cheating on her too,
19:44
Speaker 1: because that's a form of domestic abuse. I think you're
19:47
Speaker 1: cheating on me, so I'm going to cheat on you.
19:49
Speaker 1: He did it at work, so he did it in
19:51
Speaker 1: a place where she gained satisfaction and autonomy. Remember, another
19:56
Speaker 1: aspect of domestic abuse is either withholding money or venting
20:00
Speaker 1: the victim from working. So you have a constellation of
20:04
Speaker 1: all of these things that are building up. And I
20:06
Speaker 1: think the final thing is that even in so called
20:09
Speaker 1: crimes of passion, homicide is contemplated at an unconscious level,
20:14
Speaker 1: if not a conscious it never just nobody ever snaps Nancy,
20:18
Speaker 1: but this was contemplated at a conscious level. He really
20:24
Speaker 1: wanted her disfigured and or worse gone crime stories with
20:42
Speaker 1: Nancy Grace. This is what else we know. We're learning
20:50
Speaker 1: that they apparently struggled with the bottle. She tried to
20:54
Speaker 1: take it out of his hand. He pulls out a
20:57
Speaker 1: lighter and then sets her on fire. It's just overwhelming
21:04
Speaker 1: the pain, the pain that he inflicted on her. I
21:10
Speaker 1: don't even know if she had a chance to even
21:13
Speaker 1: fight back, to try to get out of her clothes.
21:17
Speaker 1: I mean to Dave Matt, what more do we know?
21:19
Speaker 1: What we know, Nancy, is that the surveillance video at
21:22
Speaker 1: Tim Horton's actually shows her ripping off her clothing. It
21:27
Speaker 1: also shows something else. It shows that Jonathan White put
21:31
Speaker 1: out his own flames because he caught on fire as well.
21:33
Speaker 1: He used snow and other stuff to tried to put
21:36
Speaker 1: the flames out on himself. And then she was fully engulfed,
21:39
Speaker 1: you know, thirty percent of her body, and she's ripping
21:42
Speaker 1: off clothes and everything else. Her own testimony, she said
21:45
Speaker 1: that she couldn't see anything but flames and the intense pain.
21:49
Speaker 1: She said the only thing she could hear was what
21:52
Speaker 1: sounded like the crackling of wood burning on a fire.
21:55
Speaker 1: Oh my stars, take a listen to this now, da
21:59
Speaker 1: John Flyn want in comment on a motive. While I
22:02
Speaker 1: always make it a point to say that mister White
22:05
Speaker 1: is innocent, unto approven guilty, I obviously believe he's guilty
22:10
Speaker 1: right now or I want to have arrayed him and
22:13
Speaker 1: I will do whatever I can to get this poor
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Speaker 1: girl Justice. Cameron's family tells us she's been put into
22:20
Speaker 1: a medically induced coma to help her heal. She did
22:23
Speaker 1: undergo surgery today. Now there will be a vigil for
22:26
Speaker 1: her tomorrow night at six thirty at Clinton Park. What
22:29
Speaker 1: do we know about why someone will be put into
22:33
Speaker 1: a medically induced coma? To doctor Michelle Dupre, South Carolina
22:37
Speaker 1: medical examiner, author of Homicide Investigation Sealed Guide Why a
22:42
Speaker 1: medically induced coma, Michelle, So that that person's body will
22:45
Speaker 1: take the time to heal and rest. In doing that,
22:49
Speaker 1: your body doesn't have to work as hard and it's
22:51
Speaker 1: able to actually heals. I want to go to Stephen Lampley, detective,
22:57
Speaker 1: author of Outside Your Door on Amazon. Stephen Lampley, you
23:03
Speaker 1: heard the part about surveillance video. What more do you
23:07
Speaker 1: think will be used to prove the case? Y? I
23:10
Speaker 1: don't know that they they really need anymore. You got
23:14
Speaker 1: this video is the ultimo. Usually if if you've got
23:18
Speaker 1: a good video and then you restricted they do. I
23:21
Speaker 1: have not seen it myself. I don't know that you
23:23
Speaker 1: read all about a whole lot more, Nancy on this case,
23:26
Speaker 1: you were just hearing WKBW Buffalo reporter Nikki Dmitri. Now
23:30
Speaker 1: take a listen to w ivbfour Marissa Perlman. Meanwhile, Cameron
23:36
Speaker 1: is alive, but every day is a battle. Family members
23:39
Speaker 1: and the community have been rallying behind her, posting updates
23:43
Speaker 1: on Facebook. The district attorney calls this an unfortunate incident.
23:48
Speaker 1: She fortunately survived, but like I said, she's going to have,
23:52
Speaker 1: you know, a significant disfigurement. I don't want to get
23:54
Speaker 1: in specifics about what her medical condition is. By she's
23:58
Speaker 1: going to be in bad shape and she's going to
23:59
Speaker 1: live with this or rest of her life. But we've
24:01
Speaker 1: learned Cameron's injuries are severe. Her mother says she's in
24:04
Speaker 1: a medically induced coma to help control her pain. She
24:08
Speaker 1: has no skin on much of her upper body, including
24:11
Speaker 1: her face and her hands. Cameron has already undergone four
24:16
Speaker 1: surgeries in just the past two weeks. Doctors put in
24:19
Speaker 1: a trick on Christmas Eve. This gives her a stable
24:23
Speaker 1: airway during recovery and the upcoming surgeries she'll have to face.
24:27
Speaker 1: This poor victim is also still at ACMC. She's in
24:31
Speaker 1: the burn unit still and she has had multiple surgeries
24:34
Speaker 1: so far and will continue to have surgeries. She's going
24:40
Speaker 1: to survive, but she's going to be in bad shape.
24:43
Speaker 1: Her mother tells us Cameron could be in the burn
24:46
Speaker 1: unit for at least nine months. You're hearing the district
24:49
Speaker 1: Attorney John Flynn speaking to Cheryl McCollum, director of the
24:52
Speaker 1: Coal Case Research Institute. Forensics expert Cheryl McCollum described the
24:57
Speaker 1: injuries that she sustained. Nancy. She has burned about her
25:02
Speaker 1: face and her neck, and her chests and her hands.
25:06
Speaker 1: Her hands were so severely burned that her fingers had
25:09
Speaker 1: to be amputated. She had to learn to walk again,
25:13
Speaker 1: to talk again, to open her mouth and her eyes
25:18
Speaker 1: again because her skin was so just destroyed around those areas.
25:24
Speaker 1: I mean, she's had twelve surgeries to date, and what
25:28
Speaker 1: she has had to go through over the course of
25:31
Speaker 1: ten months has been just medieval. Let me ask you
25:36
Speaker 1: this to doctor Michelle Dupree, why would her fingers have
25:39
Speaker 1: to be amputated? Specifically, they're obviously at the periphery or
25:44
Speaker 1: the ends of our body, and they will be the
25:46
Speaker 1: ones last in mind to get the nutrients and the
25:52
Speaker 1: hydration that's needed. And so they're also very small, and
25:55
Speaker 1: so because they are fire consumes them a lot easier
26:00
Speaker 1: then it would contended larger parts of our bob. You know,
26:02
Speaker 1: we heard the district attorney talking about motive. Remember a
26:05
Speaker 1: motive is not necessary in any case. The state isn't
26:10
Speaker 1: required to go into the defensive mind and figure out
26:13
Speaker 1: their thinking. Take a listen to WKBW Jeff Russack. This
26:18
Speaker 1: dumpster behind a ton of one to Tim Hortons is
26:20
Speaker 1: where police believe a custody dispute turned into attempted murderer.
26:24
Speaker 1: At three thirty Monday afternoon, a twenty eight year old
26:27
Speaker 1: man texted his twenty five year old girlfriend, who works
26:30
Speaker 1: at this Tim Horton's off Niagara Street. He asked her
26:33
Speaker 1: to come to the dumpsters to talk. She went into
26:36
Speaker 1: the corral area where the two dumpsters were, and he
26:39
Speaker 1: douster was some type of a flammable liquid. Police say
26:43
Speaker 1: he sparked a lighter. Both caught on fire. Police and
26:46
Speaker 1: someone with Tim Horton's were able to put the fire
26:48
Speaker 1: out with fire extinguishers. The pair have two children, a
26:52
Speaker 1: four and two year old. Police were called to resolve
26:55
Speaker 1: a custody dispute between the two this past week. Evidently
27:00
Speaker 1: the boyfriend was agitated enough to take it to this extreme.
27:03
Speaker 1: Both are at the ECMC Burn Unit the City of Tonawanda.
27:06
Speaker 1: Police say they haven't seen anything quite like this before.
27:09
Speaker 1: We've all gone on domestics multiple times, repeat calls, repeat domestics,
27:17
Speaker 1: you know, where both parties can get really agitated and
27:19
Speaker 1: a lot of times serious and arrest. But whatever stem
27:25
Speaker 1: from this one, this person really took it to the extreme.
27:29
Speaker 1: As for the two children involved in this custom to dispute,
27:32
Speaker 1: according to police, they're spending the night at a relative's
27:35
Speaker 1: house right now. She's in a medically induced coma because
27:40
Speaker 1: they want her to heal and because of the pain,
27:42
Speaker 1: and and I guess we're talking to years. I mean,
27:47
Speaker 1: I don't know how long in the hospital. It's going
27:49
Speaker 1: to be months, maybe a year. Susan Holler Harshlack is
27:52
Speaker 1: a friend of the Cameron family. She says, the twenty
27:55
Speaker 1: five year old burn victim, Jessica is fighting for her
27:57
Speaker 1: life and her recovery is going to be a long road.
28:00
Speaker 1: Who's encouragement coming to Jessica. You know, she's a joyous person.
28:05
Speaker 1: She was always smiling, always there for her three boys.
28:08
Speaker 1: Jessica has been an ECMC since Monday, where she is
28:10
Speaker 1: in critical condition. It was around three thirty Monday afternoon
28:14
Speaker 1: when police say she was doused inflammable liquid by her
28:17
Speaker 1: boyfriend and set on fire. Police say the crime, which
28:20
Speaker 1: they're calling domestic, took place during Jessica's shift at Tim
28:24
Speaker 1: Horton's on Niagara Street. I'm thankful that those children that
28:27
Speaker 1: didn't happen in a home where the children were, you know,
28:31
Speaker 1: they were spared. You're hearing WKBW Hannah Bueller. Yes, it
28:35
Speaker 1: didn't happen where the children were. They were spared, but
28:39
Speaker 1: they know what happened to Mommy. Take a listen again
28:43
Speaker 1: to Hannah Bulla. It's exactly the violent situation. Family friends
28:46
Speaker 1: say Jessica was trying to escape from last week when
28:49
Speaker 1: she packed up her three young children and left the
28:52
Speaker 1: home they shared with the suspect. But because she left
28:55
Speaker 1: in a hurry, family friends say her three children are
28:57
Speaker 1: without much. The family needs clothing, diapers, and gift cards.
29:01
Speaker 1: They had to leave everything behind and Jessica's mom now
29:04
Speaker 1: has custody right now, there's you know, no income. You know,
29:09
Speaker 1: Jessica works full time mom of three boys. Donations from
29:12
Speaker 1: the community have been coming in droves and the family
29:16
Speaker 1: is very grateful for the support they tell me. As
29:18
Speaker 1: for the suspect, police say he accidentally set himself on
29:22
Speaker 1: fire in the process, and he is recovering tonight crime
29:37
Speaker 1: stories with Nancy Grace. You know, Cheryl McCollum, director of
29:44
Speaker 1: Colchis Research Institute, You and I did a lot of
29:47
Speaker 1: work with battered women in inner city Atlanta. Have you
29:51
Speaker 1: noticed that so many violent attacks and murders occur when
29:55
Speaker 1: the woman's trying to finally leave you here here that
29:58
Speaker 1: Jessica to him just one week before this attack. She
30:02
Speaker 1: left in a hurry in order to try to avoid violence,
30:06
Speaker 1: and she packed hardly anything, just trying to get away. Nancy.
30:11
Speaker 1: That's one of the saddest things about when a woman
30:13
Speaker 1: tries to leave a batter relationship, she's in the most
30:17
Speaker 1: danger of once she leaves. Once she leaves that home,
30:21
Speaker 1: she formally leaves him what she gets the protective order.
30:25
Speaker 1: That's when she's in the most danger. There's no question. Well,
30:27
Speaker 1: Yen Ashley Willcott, judge, trial lawyer or anchor at Court TV,
30:31
Speaker 1: what about it? Ashe listen, I don't know if I
30:33
Speaker 1: can say this on Aaron you can leave me, but
30:34
Speaker 1: what a po you know, what as because I can't
30:38
Speaker 1: even imagine someone choosing to do this to disfigure yes,
30:42
Speaker 1: attempted murder, but also to disfigure her think about her children,
30:47
Speaker 1: the mother they knew they will no longer have, the
30:50
Speaker 1: mother they knew. She looks different, she's lost her fingers,
30:53
Speaker 1: she had to relearn how to do all these things.
30:55
Speaker 1: Thank goodness, she's recovered. But Nancy, he has taken away
31:00
Speaker 1: from her so much of herself. To daughter Bethany Marshall,
31:07
Speaker 1: she's trying to leave. The week before, she hastily grabs
31:10
Speaker 1: stuff and left. She didn't even take much, trying to
31:12
Speaker 1: quote avoid violence. Well, and then this, why is it?
31:17
Speaker 1: Why is this the danger time? When you're finally trying
31:20
Speaker 1: to leave and you're doing it, you're getting away Because
31:23
Speaker 1: as the woman is about to leave, she has independence
31:27
Speaker 1: in the world. It sparks all kinds of negative fantasies
31:31
Speaker 1: in the man. As I was saying earlier, what if
31:34
Speaker 1: she meets somebody, What if somebody thinks she's beautiful? What
31:37
Speaker 1: if she has an affair, what if she has sexual
31:40
Speaker 1: interest in somebody? And these feelings are intolerable, And usually
31:44
Speaker 1: the man is tightly controlling the woman because he cannot
31:49
Speaker 1: control his own feelings, right, we control others. Woe, We
31:52
Speaker 1: cannot really control how we feel, so that when the
31:55
Speaker 1: woman exits the home, he becomes disregulated, not control himself
32:01
Speaker 1: on multiple levels. We know he was an alcoholic, perhaps
32:04
Speaker 1: he was drinking. We know he was a cutter of
32:06
Speaker 1: some sort because when they went to their high school prom,
32:09
Speaker 1: he cut himself and rubbed the blood all over her.
32:12
Speaker 1: But I want to say something about who why wait wait, wait,
32:15
Speaker 1: wait wait wa what at the high school the prom?
32:21
Speaker 1: If he cuts himself and rubs blood on her? Yes, ah,
32:27
Speaker 1: so he was doing that even when they were in
32:29
Speaker 1: high school. What a manipula? You know she should have
32:31
Speaker 1: left him, right then, your BF boyfriend cuts himself and
32:35
Speaker 1: rubs the blood on you. I mean, all he'd seeing
32:38
Speaker 1: me is elbows and tailhole. I'd be way gone. So
32:42
Speaker 1: why would she stay? Doctor Bethany? And I'm not putting
32:46
Speaker 1: blame on her. That's the age old question, Cheryl. Isn't
32:50
Speaker 1: it true, Ashley? People say why did she stay? What
32:55
Speaker 1: about a Bethany? Okay, We'll go ahead, Cheryl jump in, Cheryl.
33:00
Speaker 1: If people always say why did she say? Why does
33:02
Speaker 1: she say? Women often confuse when I talked to domestic
33:06
Speaker 1: violence victims, they love him, They really, truly are in
33:11
Speaker 1: love with this man. She's had seven years with him,
33:14
Speaker 1: she's grown up with him, they have four children together.
33:17
Speaker 1: She on some level again believes she can love him
33:21
Speaker 1: through whatever these demons are. She's wrong, of course, but
33:25
Speaker 1: that's what she believes. And in this person, the best
33:28
Speaker 1: predictor of future, you know, crimes, is going to be
33:32
Speaker 1: his past behavior. She should have known, her mama should
33:36
Speaker 1: have known. Family violence abuse Domestic Abuse Hotline toll free
33:40
Speaker 1: eight seven seven eight nine zero seven seven eight eight
33:44
Speaker 1: Ashley Willcott judge, trial lawyer, Court TV anchor, You and
33:47
Speaker 1: I have children. We've been ingrained. It's ingrained in us
33:51
Speaker 1: to believe love conquers all, Love conquers all. You know what,
33:57
Speaker 1: what about the other love, the love of children. If
34:01
Speaker 1: you love your children, you don't want them growing up
34:04
Speaker 1: in this. You've got a breakaway. And she did breakaway.
34:07
Speaker 1: She left, She did everything right, She packed tourtally anything
34:11
Speaker 1: she'd beat, a hasty retreat. She got out of their ash.
34:15
Speaker 1: And that's the worst part, that's the tragedy of it all.
34:18
Speaker 1: She was protecting her children. She picked her children finally
34:22
Speaker 1: over him. Doing all of the right things, taking all
34:26
Speaker 1: of the right steps, and yet this happened. And never
34:30
Speaker 1: blame the victim. And domestic violence, we all know that.
34:33
Speaker 1: But I am going to say this, and that is
34:35
Speaker 1: something one of the other panelists said, trust your gut.
34:38
Speaker 1: So if you have been a victim of domestic violence
34:41
Speaker 1: and that person who committed that violence against you wants
34:45
Speaker 1: to meet with you, wants to see you, wants to
34:48
Speaker 1: make it right, and I'll meet you in a public
34:50
Speaker 1: place and It'll be okay, and we have kids together. Resist,
34:55
Speaker 1: do whatever you have to to resist, because these individuals
34:58
Speaker 1: will continue to commit offenses of violence. You know, that's
35:03
Speaker 1: a whole other can of arms. Back circling back to
35:05
Speaker 1: doctor Bethany Marshall's Psychoanalans joining us out of la It's
35:09
Speaker 1: one thing for an adult to say, Okay, yeah, I
35:11
Speaker 1: can take your crap, but my children, I'm out of here.
35:15
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna let them witness this. And she did it.
35:19
Speaker 1: She left. Jessica Cameron, just twenty five years old, summoned
35:24
Speaker 1: the strength to finally leave, and that is when he
35:30
Speaker 1: doused her with gasoline hidden in an apple juice container
35:34
Speaker 1: and set her on fire. She goes up in front
35:37
Speaker 1: of that jury and testifies with no fingers. Doctor Bethany, well,
35:43
Speaker 1: explain and oh, Bethany, listen to this. This all reportedly
35:47
Speaker 1: happened at Tim Horton's on Niagara Street, where Cameron works.
35:50
Speaker 1: Or co workers who also know the suspect are shocked.
35:53
Speaker 1: He actually does like our truck, so you know, a
35:57
Speaker 1: short shift or whatever. But when you have a conversation
35:59
Speaker 1: with him, you would have you never thought anything of this.
36:01
Speaker 1: We had no idea. We knew that they were having
36:04
Speaker 1: a little problems or whatever, but we had no idea
36:07
Speaker 1: the severity of it. To you, Dodtor Bethanie Marshall. In
36:10
Speaker 1: so many cases, you know that there are red flags, well,
36:13
Speaker 1: sugars the deal. Nancy. Women are as confused often when
36:18
Speaker 1: they first leave as they are when they are in
36:20
Speaker 1: the domestic violent situation, and when they have children, they
36:25
Speaker 1: feel that they have to maintain contact with the abuser
36:28
Speaker 1: for the sake of the children. I see this all
36:30
Speaker 1: the time, and I will say to the woman you left,
36:33
Speaker 1: you had the courage, you have children, you never ever
36:37
Speaker 1: ever have to talk to him again. And they'll say,
36:40
Speaker 1: well what about the kids? And I'm being a bad mother,
36:43
Speaker 1: and I will say no, you never have to talk
36:46
Speaker 1: to or see them again. There is an app and
36:49
Speaker 1: that's called Family Wizard. I don't know if you've heard
36:51
Speaker 1: about it, but it is an app through which you
36:55
Speaker 1: can communicate about your children with an ex partner or abuser.
37:00
Speaker 1: The Family Wizard has a tone meter, so and it's
37:04
Speaker 1: very sensitive, so if the abuser starts to become terse, angry, abusive,
37:10
Speaker 1: it will it will alert you, but it will also
37:14
Speaker 1: document all of that. It also puts the abuser on
37:18
Speaker 1: the alert that everything he's putting or saying into that
37:21
Speaker 1: app could be turned over to the police. So, women,
37:26
Speaker 1: if you have left this, pretend this person is gone
37:30
Speaker 1: and dead and that they are no longer on the
37:32
Speaker 1: face of the planet, or they are dead to you.
37:35
Speaker 1: Never ever talk with them, never meet with them. Your
37:39
Speaker 1: children need you to themselves. To our friend, Cheryl mccollin,
37:43
Speaker 1: director of the Cole Case Research Institute, Cheryl, this woman,
37:48
Speaker 1: just twenty five gets up somehow medical miracle after being
37:54
Speaker 1: in a medically induced coma twelve surgeries, and she testifies
37:58
Speaker 1: in front of the jury with no fingers. Our fingers
38:02
Speaker 1: now amputated, tell me how powerful her testimony is. It
38:08
Speaker 1: was everything. Not only did she take the stand with
38:12
Speaker 1: all the courage in the world, she articulated that day beautifully.
38:18
Speaker 1: She talked about exactly what happened, and she again painted
38:22
Speaker 1: this picture for the jury. There was no way they
38:25
Speaker 1: could miss the gasoline in He chose apple juice. He
38:29
Speaker 1: did that because from a distance it would look like
38:31
Speaker 1: apple juice and not gasoline. Everything he did was to
38:35
Speaker 1: con her, mislead her in order to kill her. That's
38:40
Speaker 1: what his intent was. He failed, by the grace God.
38:44
Speaker 1: But this woman Nancy again as a two year old,
38:49
Speaker 1: that she's not going to be able to teach to
38:51
Speaker 1: tie their shoes. She's not gonna be able to mother
38:53
Speaker 1: them the same way that she could have. Every time
38:57
Speaker 1: she goes gaut in public, every time how she meets
39:00
Speaker 1: someone new, her distigurement is going to be what leads
39:04
Speaker 1: everything in her life now. So what he has taken
39:08
Speaker 1: from her, she has a life sense. To Dave Matt
39:11
Speaker 1: Crime online dot Com investigative reporter, where does the case
39:14
Speaker 1: stand now? Well, actually, we'll get sentencing just after the
39:18
Speaker 1: first of the year. I think January fourth, twenty twenty
39:20
Speaker 1: is the schedule, and he's looking at possibly twenty five
39:23
Speaker 1: years in prison. We wait as justice unfolds. Nancy Grace
39:27
Speaker 1: Crime Story, signing off goodbye friend,