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School Teacher Strangled in bed; Daughter, 11 downed in family tub. · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

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Speaker 1: Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. A double murder including the
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Speaker 1: death of an eleven year old little girl. Crime Stories
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Speaker 1: with Nancy Grace. How did it all start? Take a
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Speaker 1: listen to our friends at ABC seventeen. Late Sunday night,
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Speaker 1: Boone County Sheriff's Office responded to the victim's home on
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Speaker 1: Lavender Drive south of Columbia after getting a call from
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Speaker 1: a concerned family member. Their deputies found forty three year
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Speaker 1: old Allison A. Bits and her daughter Josie dead in
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Speaker 1: their home. The school year would have been Allison's sixth
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Speaker 1: year with Fulton Public Schools. A co worker from Allison's
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Speaker 1: previous job at Tipton Elementary said students in both districts
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Speaker 1: will need support from the losses. I think her first
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Speaker 1: action is building that community, letting from now that there's
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Speaker 1: counseling services available, whether it's a staff member, member of
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Speaker 1: the students that are involved in that were impacted by
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Speaker 1: the loss of the Allison and her daughter. I have
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Speaker 1: reached out to the Boone County Sheriff's Office this morning
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Speaker 1: for more information on the double homicide investigation. So far,
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Speaker 1: the office doesn't know if there's a current danger to
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Speaker 1: the public but says that anyone who's willing to murder
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Speaker 1: a child should be considered unpredictable to murder a child.
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Speaker 1: Of course, family and friends devastated, including all of her
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Speaker 1: little classmates. Just think about your child at age eleven,
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Speaker 1: so tender, so pure, so sweet, and all the classmates
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Speaker 1: finding out this little girl, little Josie, was murdered. Take
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Speaker 1: a listen to our cut number one KARCG TV thirteen.
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Speaker 1: Boone County Sheriff's investigators have released few details surrounding the
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Speaker 1: double homicide of Allison and Josie Abbots. They say a
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Speaker 1: worried relative called Boon County deputies about eleven pm Sunday
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Speaker 1: before officers found their bodies in their home along Lavender Drive.
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Speaker 1: Fulton Public School crisis counselors are helping students and faculty
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Speaker 1: cope with the loss of their former teacher and the
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Speaker 1: loss of their former eleven year old classmate. We reached
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Speaker 1: out to particular families, especially that we knew had close
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Speaker 1: ties with the student, and we've invited them in and
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Speaker 1: anybody else who wanted to come in and meet with
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Speaker 1: those individuals. These Facebook photos from the Columbia acro and
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Speaker 1: Tumbling team show, Josie Abbots was heavily involved with Acrobatic
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Speaker 1: Gymnastics head coach heathers up krcgas statements saying, Josie was
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Speaker 1: so sweet, and our teammates and coaches loved her. Her cute,
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Speaker 1: somewhat mischievous smile would always light up the gym or
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Speaker 1: the competition floor. And they're right, chand a beautiful smile,
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Speaker 1: and you could just see the energy coming out of
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Speaker 1: this eleven year old little girl who should be worried
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Speaker 1: about her next tumbling event or what the school cafeteria
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Speaker 1: has for lunch. She's dead, murdered again. I'm Nancy Grace.
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Speaker 1: Thanks for being with us here at Fox Nations Series eleven.
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Speaker 1: I want to introduce you an all star panel to
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Speaker 1: make sense if we can of it. First of all,
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Speaker 1: California Prosecutor Wendy Patrick, author of Red Flags and host
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Speaker 1: of Today with Doctor Wendy k c b Q. Renowned
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Speaker 1: psychiatrist doctor Angela Arnold joining us out of Atlanta. You
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Speaker 1: can find her at Angela Arnold, MD dot com. Professor
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Speaker 1: of Forensics, Jacksonville State University, death investigator, author of Blood
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Speaker 1: Beneath My Feet on Amazon, joining us and Emmy nominated
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Speaker 1: Reporter or Anchor an Jeannette Levy and Jeannette, thank you
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Speaker 1: so much for being with us. Tell me about this area.
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Speaker 1: I know it's Boone County. That's Columbia, Missouri. Correct. Yeah,
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Speaker 1: and it's just you know, it's a smaller city. It's
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Speaker 1: not a big big city like Kansas City or something
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Speaker 1: like that. And you know this little girl, Josie obviously
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Speaker 1: living with her mother in their home. They were found
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Speaker 1: both murdered there in August. I know that the population
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Speaker 1: is only about one hundred thousand, maybe one hundred and
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Speaker 1: twenty thousand in the entire metro area of Columbia, Missouri.
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Speaker 1: And for an area that's spread out, that's a very
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Speaker 1: very low population, which in my mind is a statistic
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Speaker 1: that helps me figure out who did this double murder.
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Speaker 1: I'm going to circle back to you on that, Joe Scott.
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Speaker 1: But you know what, actually, let's talk about that first.
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Speaker 1: When you come into a double murder scene, what is
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Speaker 1: the first thing you do well after securing the scene? Nancy,
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Speaker 1: I'm gonna we'll see when you say something like that,
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Speaker 1: not everybody knows what you're talking about. When you're talking
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Speaker 1: about securing the scene, let's just start with that. First
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Speaker 1: of all, the area surrounding. You got one hundred and
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Speaker 1: twenty thousand people dispersed over a large geographic area, which
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Speaker 1: tells me low population, low crime rate. You don't expect
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Speaker 1: this to happen there. It's not like you're in New
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Speaker 1: York City, downtown Manhattan, where you've got doper shooting up
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Speaker 1: literally on the street, shooting up, people breaking into these
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Speaker 1: really really exclusive stores, breaking through the glass to do
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Speaker 1: a grab and run, just walking out with high end merchandise,
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Speaker 1: nobody stopping them after police defunding. So it's not like
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Speaker 1: we're in Manhattan looking over our shows for a shooting
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Speaker 1: in Times Square. We're in Columbia, Missouri. What does that
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Speaker 1: tell you, Joe skut Well, specifically because it's Columbia, Missouri,
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Speaker 1: I know that we've got a transient population there because
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Speaker 1: that's the home of the University of Missouri, and so
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Speaker 1: you've got a major interstate that's running through there as well. Nancy,
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Speaker 1: And you know, I got to tell you, but the
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Speaker 1: scene itself is something that you a minute, okay, just
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Speaker 1: you just just trip that off your tongue. Wait a minute.
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Speaker 1: You know how I like to talk about Shasta and
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Speaker 1: Dylan Gronee and Cordelaine. I know, remember them where they're
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Speaker 1: out an extremely remote forested area where they live with
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Speaker 1: their family in Cordelaine. And when you go over it
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Speaker 1: on a plane, which I have, you see nothing but
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Speaker 1: Emerald Green. You don't see a skyline, you don't see
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Speaker 1: any smoke come up. It's all rural. But some perv
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Speaker 1: was going by on the interstate that you just mentioned
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Speaker 1: happened to look over and in the distance saw Shasta Grownee,
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Speaker 1: a little girl, and brother Dylan, and they were getting
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Speaker 1: into an above ground pool. And that's all it took.
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Speaker 1: He pulled it right off the interstate, lay in wait,
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Speaker 1: killed the whole family, took the children, raped and sodomized
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Speaker 1: them until raped and sodomized the little boy till he died,
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Speaker 1: playing some six sex game with this child. And Shasta
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Speaker 1: was ultimately saved because the idiot took her into like
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Speaker 1: a seven to eleven, and we had covered it so much,
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Speaker 1: Cashier recognized Shasta Grownee. That's how they got caught. Happenstance.
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Speaker 1: So when you say a major thoroughfare goes through, we
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Speaker 1: cannot discount that. Joe Scott no, we can't. And you know,
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Speaker 1: lots of times with cases like this, one of the
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Speaker 1: things that you're thinking about when you have a major
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Speaker 1: artery that runs through a location like that, one of
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Speaker 1: the things you're thinking about is is this a crime
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Speaker 1: of opportunity? You know, was there something thing that flashed
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Speaker 1: before potential perpetrator's eyes that caught them, that kind of
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Speaker 1: hooked into whatever their twisted psychology is that they wanted
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Speaker 1: to go in eradicate two people and again not just
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Speaker 1: an adult, and that that's tragic, you know, Mama, is
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Speaker 1: tragic when you're talking about this eleven year old little
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Speaker 1: girl and you know her whole life is school and tumbling. Again,
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Speaker 1: that kind of goes to the horrific nature of that.
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Speaker 1: So you have to be very very careful at the scene, Nancy,
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Speaker 1: because you don't know if it's going to be somebody
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Speaker 1: that's in the intimate circle of these individuals or is
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Speaker 1: it a complete stranger where this is a stranger on
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Speaker 1: stranger crime. Wait a minute, wait a minute, you know
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Speaker 1: it's coming to mind right now, all the speculation that
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Speaker 1: surrounded the death of John and a Ramsey because her
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Speaker 1: mother had her in all of these beauty pages, yes,
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Speaker 1: which I'm not commenting either pro or con child beauty
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Speaker 1: pages because that would be a whole nother hour. What
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Speaker 1: I'm talking about is that widen is your pool of suspects.
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Speaker 1: Who was at those tumbling events, those gymnastic meets. I've
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Speaker 1: taken the twins to them, and they've competed in them before,
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Speaker 1: well not really competed. They showed what they had learned
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Speaker 1: that semester okay in their tumbling class and might turn
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Speaker 1: a somers alt or anyway, how do I know who's
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Speaker 1: up in the stands watching it? No idea, You have
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Speaker 1: no idea whatsoever. And like you didn't know who was
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Speaker 1: going to those beauty padgets for John Baname, No you don't.
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Speaker 1: And this is the thing about it, And as tragic
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Speaker 1: as it is, you know, when you have a case
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Speaker 1: like this and you have to consider what circles the
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Speaker 1: individuals move in, means to keep in mind mom's a
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Speaker 1: public educator, you know, and so you don't know who
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Speaker 1: she may have come in contact with. Maybe it's students
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Speaker 1: that she had years and years ago, or parents or
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Speaker 1: anything like that. And as an investigator, I'm not dismissing anything,
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Speaker 1: particularly when I first walk onto a scene, I am
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Speaker 1: going to suspect everybody. And I'm jaded that way. Okay,
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Speaker 1: I think I am being deceived at any point in time,
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Speaker 1: and I have to account for that, because you know what,
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Speaker 1: you get one bite at the apple. You can't unring
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Speaker 1: the bell, any kind of metaphor you want to put
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Speaker 1: to it. You only get one shot to do this right.
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Speaker 1: The first time Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, Guys, we
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Speaker 1: are talking about a double murder, the double murder of
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Speaker 1: an eleven year old little girl, jos Abbots and Alison Abbots.
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Speaker 1: I want to circle back to our special guest joining
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Speaker 1: us and Jeanette Levy, Emmy nominated reporter and anchor. Let's
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Speaker 1: talk about what we've just heard. The fascination and that
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Speaker 1: some moms have with putting their children on display. And
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Speaker 1: I'm not saying don't be proud. I'm super proud. And
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Speaker 1: I will send out pictures of the twins doing something
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Speaker 1: I'm especially proud of, or little things like they suddenly
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Speaker 1: decide they're going to cook dinner one night and I'm
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Speaker 1: just so knocked out by that, I take a picture
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Speaker 1: and post it. I don't want to come down our
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Speaker 1: parents who are so proud and they post pictures of
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Speaker 1: their children. But you know, when you take them to
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Speaker 1: public events like gymnastic events, you never know who's up
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Speaker 1: in the stands. Wendy Patrick, Oh, you don't. But in
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Speaker 1: a small town you're more likely to recognize people in
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Speaker 1: the stands. Which is one significant distinction between this case
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Speaker 1: and many others that we've discussed, is in a small town,
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Speaker 1: you may not recognize all the faces, but when you
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Speaker 1: look at kind of who hangs around with, who, who
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Speaker 1: is maybe seen afterwards, you do sometimes see this community protection,
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Speaker 1: almost community neighborhood watch being a little bit more, especially
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Speaker 1: if there are unfamiliar faces. So that might be a
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Speaker 1: benefit in terms of words an investigation go in a
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Speaker 1: case like this. You know, I'm also thinking about what
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Speaker 1: we just heard doctor Angela Arnold about the counseling for
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Speaker 1: her other little friends at age eleven. I want to
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Speaker 1: ask you about that, but first I want to talk
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Speaker 1: to you about purvs. I do believe purvs show up
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Speaker 1: all the time at these events, especially like little girl
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Speaker 1: tumbling matches. I mean, we just saw what that freak
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Speaker 1: Nasser did to our Olympian girls. He's a freak, and
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Speaker 1: I hope he stays in jail the rest of his life.
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Speaker 1: Maybe he'll get a little dose in jail of what
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Speaker 1: he did to those young girls. But what I'm saying
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Speaker 1: is who is up in the stands at these little
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Speaker 1: girl pageants and tumbling shows all that, Well, they're not
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Speaker 1: going to go to old folks, mingo, are they? Because
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Speaker 1: the purv is going to go there where the pickings
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Speaker 1: are good, aren't they? I mean, isn't it true that
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Speaker 1: some people, actually some pedophiles actually get a kick. They
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Speaker 1: get sexual pleasure just watching children without even ever touching them.
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Speaker 1: They do, and unfortunately, they also get sexual pleasure out
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Speaker 1: of like trying to become close to them. So you
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Speaker 1: know how we always tell our children to be polite
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Speaker 1: and if somebody speaks to you to speak back, and
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Speaker 1: things like us. Well, guess what, Nancy, we shouldn't be
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Speaker 1: telling our children. That we should be telling our children
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Speaker 1: not to speak to strangers, because unfortunately, those very strangers
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Speaker 1: are going in and trying. I have, unfortunately, I have
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Speaker 1: treated pedophiles in my past, and they have told me
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Speaker 1: how they stick around places close to schools and they
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Speaker 1: slowly befriend children and then the mother comes a little
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Speaker 1: bit more comfortable or than nanny whoever is taking care
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Speaker 1: of the child becomes a little bit more comfortable, and
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Speaker 1: it takes them a very long time to work on
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Speaker 1: their prey. Okay, they do it very slowly so that
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Speaker 1: it's not really noticed. And we need to be teaching
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Speaker 1: our children about this, Nancy. Yes, what more do we
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Speaker 1: know about the victims? Because when you don't know where
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Speaker 1: to start, you start with what you've got. You try
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Speaker 1: to based on the bodies themselves and extrinsic evidence. When
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Speaker 1: were they last seen, When did they last post on
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Speaker 1: social media? When was there a last a known phone
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Speaker 1: call from one of them, or a text or an
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Speaker 1: insta You look at the bodies to determine the time
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Speaker 1: of death if you can. You're looking at extrinsic evidence
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Speaker 1: when they were a last scene to help you established
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Speaker 1: time of death, and you look at who are your victims? Now,
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Speaker 1: we know we've been talking about the little eleven year
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Speaker 1: old girl, Josie, but what about Alison Abbots. Take a
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Speaker 1: listen to our cut number three. This is Jessica Hart
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Speaker 1: TV thirteen. Alton and Josie lived in the house behind
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Speaker 1: me here on Lavender Drive in Columbia. Alison was a
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Speaker 1: second grade school teacher at Fulton Public Schools and her daughter, Josie,
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Speaker 1: was about to enter the sixth grade, and when school
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Speaker 1: starts on Wednesday for Fulton, they'll be without a beloved
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Speaker 1: teacher and classmate. Fulton Public School Superintendent Ty Crane says
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Speaker 1: they're devastated by the news. He adds are bringing in
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Speaker 1: crisis counselors for their faculty tomorrow and school counselors will
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Speaker 1: be available for students this week. I also spoke with
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Speaker 1: neighbors who say Alison and Josie moved to the neighborhood
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Speaker 1: recently and are deeply saddened by the news. They say
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Speaker 1: just last week, Josie was selling lemonade and bracelets right
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Speaker 1: outside her house. The neighbors say they had no idea
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Speaker 1: what happened until police knocked on their doors late last night.
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Speaker 1: One moment I spoke with their qualit seeing Alison either
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Speaker 1: on Thursday or Friday, but didn't see her or Josie
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Speaker 1: this weekend. Several of the neighbors have been in contact
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Speaker 1: with one another, and there are a lot of families
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Speaker 1: who live in this neighborhood. Neighbors right now are saying
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Speaker 1: they're just trying to process everything and get through it,
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Speaker 1: and let's take a list of more from Channel Porter
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Speaker 1: ABC seventeen not Cut four. At this time, Captain Brian
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Speaker 1: Lear could only confirm that Boom County deputies were in
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Speaker 1: Callaway County last night for part of the investigation. No
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Speaker 1: arrest have been made at this time, and it's also
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Speaker 1: still unclear when whether the act was random or not,
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Speaker 1: or if there's a threat to the community. Questions still
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Speaker 1: remain on what happened to Alison Abbots and her eleven
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Speaker 1: year old daughter, Josie on Sunday night. Both were found
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Speaker 1: dead inside their home on Lavender Lane. While the investigation
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Speaker 1: and the search for answers continues, the community is remembering
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Speaker 1: both Josie and her mom. Heather Zepp is the head
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Speaker 1: coach of the Columbia acro and Tumbling team, a team
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Speaker 1: that Josie was on for the past six years. She
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Speaker 1: told me Josie was able to compete in the USA
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Speaker 1: Gymnastics National Championship in June and had big goals for
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Speaker 1: the upcoming season. Zep said Josie was a hard worker,
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Speaker 1: strong competitor, and loved by her coaches and teamming. Wow, Okay,
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Speaker 1: Joe Scott. Let's talk about that as it relates to
17:08
Speaker 1: who could have done this crime of double murder. A
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Speaker 1: mom and her eleven year old little girl, Josie had
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Speaker 1: been on this gymnastics same six years and had already
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Speaker 1: competed in the USA Gymnastic and National Championship in June.
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Speaker 1: That sounds like her dream was to be an Olympian.
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Speaker 1: My point is that at big competitions like that, there's
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Speaker 1: a big audience, which increases my suspect pool all the
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Speaker 1: purpose that could be sitting up in those stands. But
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Speaker 1: let's narrow it down. This happened in their home on
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Speaker 1: Lavender Drive. What does it tell you as a criminologist
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Speaker 1: that they were killed inside their home. It's significant because
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Speaker 1: now you're not talking about, you know, where this is
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Speaker 1: done out on a public street or something like. This
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Speaker 1: is in an intimate space, Nancy, And that's the key here.
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Speaker 1: You're talking about familial space. You know, where you have parties,
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Speaker 1: you have Christmas, you celebrate, and you live your life
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Speaker 1: all right, and it's a protected area. You know, maybe
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Speaker 1: at night your doors are locked, your windows are shut.
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Speaker 1: But this perpetrator actually felt comfortable enough to go in
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Speaker 1: to this protected space where families normally do feel safe,
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Speaker 1: right and essentially essentially execute these two people in their sleep.
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Speaker 1: And when I say people, I'm talking about a mother
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Speaker 1: and her child. You know, who would have that kind
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Speaker 1: of anger, that kind of anger that would promote this
18:42
Speaker 1: kind of thing. You're not talking about two grown men
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Speaker 1: that get into a knife fight in a back alley.
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Speaker 1: You're talking about a defenseless mama and her little girl
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Speaker 1: that are brutally killed within their own home. So automatically,
18:56
Speaker 1: for me, I'm beginning to narrow this down. You talked
18:59
Speaker 1: about broad relative to going too matches, but you're you know,
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Speaker 1: when you get into the space like this, you're thinking
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Speaker 1: who has the motivation to go into and who has
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Speaker 1: the familiarity to move around inside of this environment, who
19:13
Speaker 1: knows the lay of the land, if you will, that
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Speaker 1: they feel comfortable enough to go in to their spaces,
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Speaker 1: into bedrooms for instance, and perpetrate such a crime. Crime
19:34
Speaker 1: stories with Nancy Grace, what we're learning, Jeanette Levy is
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Speaker 1: that there was not a forced entry, There was not
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Speaker 1: a burglary, there was not a robbery, and there was
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Speaker 1: not a sex attack on either that we know of
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Speaker 1: the mother or Alison, or the eleven year old little girl,
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Speaker 1: jose Abbots. They're in their home. This is not like
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Speaker 1: a drive by road rage. Okay, you can solve that
19:59
Speaker 1: by trying to call the street cam. This is not
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Speaker 1: a hit and run. This is not a snatch and
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Speaker 1: run where they grab your pocketbook and take off running.
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Speaker 1: This is not where they try to get the car
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Speaker 1: and shoot the mom and daughter. I mean, those are
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Speaker 1: all very different scenarios of how these two could die.
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Speaker 1: But this was in their home where they were unprotected,
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Speaker 1: and there's no other signs of a motive, no rape,
20:27
Speaker 1: no theft, no forced entry. Car still there. So what
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Speaker 1: more do we know about the crime scene itself? A Jeanette, Well,
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Speaker 1: we know that we know that Alison, the mother, was
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Speaker 1: found in her bed and she only had a T
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Speaker 1: shirt on and it had been pulled up around her neck.
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Speaker 1: But wasn't it used to strangle her? That I don't know,
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Speaker 1: but she had been strangled, so you would probably draw
20:52
Speaker 1: that conclusion based on the fact she's only wearing that
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Speaker 1: and that was pulled up around her neck, that possibly
20:57
Speaker 1: that was used to strangler. Actually, that's a really good point.
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Speaker 1: An Jeanette, was there any sperm on or in her body?
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Speaker 1: I am not aware of their being firm on or
21:09
Speaker 1: in her body? Okay, so that goes back to no
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Speaker 1: sex attack, but sexual in nature because all she had
21:17
Speaker 1: on was a T shirt and it was pulled up
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Speaker 1: over her chest. So, Joe Scott Morgan someone, she's in
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Speaker 1: bed and she only has on a T shirt. But
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Speaker 1: the purp didn't rape her and she is strangled dead. Okay,
21:36
Speaker 1: it's my understanding. What do you understand is the cod
21:39
Speaker 1: cause of death? Jo Scott? Well, you know, if she
21:41
Speaker 1: has been strangled, then that would be an asphyxial death.
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Speaker 1: But you know, Nancy, I gotta say, if you get
21:48
Speaker 1: into this environment, this is not like shooting someone. Okay,
21:51
Speaker 1: this is this is very up closed personal, just like
21:55
Speaker 1: Anjeanette had mentioned and intimate, and that's the key here.
21:59
Speaker 1: And it's also it's also and this goes to more
22:01
Speaker 1: to doctor Angie, but I will say this, The reality
22:05
Speaker 1: is this is that this is power. This is power
22:08
Speaker 1: over somebody that's probably weaker than you, where you're dominating
22:14
Speaker 1: them in bed. And hey, one of the most vulnerable
22:17
Speaker 1: spots that you can be in is in your nightclothes,
22:20
Speaker 1: you know, wearing a T shirt and that's maybe you've
22:23
Speaker 1: got on underwear, but that's how you're sleeping. An individual
22:26
Speaker 1: comes in and they can dominate you. This is called
22:28
Speaker 1: an asymmetrical relationship. We see it in sex attacks a
22:31
Speaker 1: lot where they're literally on top of you and they
22:34
Speaker 1: are choking the life out of you. And that's very intimate,
22:38
Speaker 1: it's very very personal, and it indicates as death investigator,
22:42
Speaker 1: to me, it indicates a lot of rage. I got
22:45
Speaker 1: something else for you, Wendy Patrick, Doctor Angie jump in
22:49
Speaker 1: while the mother is strang and we think with their
22:52
Speaker 1: own T shirt in bed, not sex attacked the daughter,
22:57
Speaker 1: The eleven year old girl is drowned in the bathtub. Okay,
23:05
Speaker 1: for anybody not in the criminal field, that is that
23:12
Speaker 1: is a mind twister because you've got these two ms
23:16
Speaker 1: in the same home, probably within the same very brief
23:19
Speaker 1: time period. He drowns the girl and strangles them. We
23:25
Speaker 1: think with their own T shirt. Wendy Patrick, that's unusual. Yeah,
23:30
Speaker 1: you know, it's not only unusual, it is just so depraved.
23:33
Speaker 1: It indicates a level of rage anger that it goes
23:37
Speaker 1: above and beyond. You know, in domestic violence cases, we
23:40
Speaker 1: often see strangulation demonstrated as a means to kill. In otherwise,
23:45
Speaker 1: sometimes the intent is not to kill, but to show
23:47
Speaker 1: that the perpetrator is able to do it. When you
23:50
Speaker 1: actually have death occurring as a result of this, it
23:53
Speaker 1: not only indicates that very personal nature of the relationship,
23:57
Speaker 1: by the way, which is also indicated by the circumstances
24:00
Speaker 1: forced entry, intomate space, etc. But to kill the daughter
24:04
Speaker 1: also Nancy, in that very up close and personal fashion
24:08
Speaker 1: that just goes above and beyond in terms of the
24:11
Speaker 1: emotional dynamics and the motive behind this horrible chim. Guys,
24:14
Speaker 1: we're talking about the death of an eleven year old
24:16
Speaker 1: little girl, Josie Abbots and her mother Alison. So given
24:22
Speaker 1: no connection to the underworld, she's not a dope dealer,
24:29
Speaker 1: she's not a prostitute, she hasn't got a criminal history.
24:33
Speaker 1: In other words, she's not fraternizing with other known criminals.
24:38
Speaker 1: It really reduces your suspect pool in a certain way.
24:43
Speaker 1: Now to throw another ranch and the works, another couple ends. Dad.
24:49
Speaker 1: Take a listen to reporter Layla Mitchell ABC seventeen. I
24:52
Speaker 1: am right across the street from the house with the
24:55
Speaker 1: two victims. Seventy four year old Daniel Stefan and sixty
24:59
Speaker 1: four year old Pamela Steffon were found last night. Now today,
25:03
Speaker 1: I was able to speak to a neighbor who asked
25:05
Speaker 1: us stay anonymous, but she told us the Stefans were
25:08
Speaker 1: great people. Take a listen. Just think about Dan and
25:13
Speaker 1: pay him what an asset they were her to this
25:16
Speaker 1: community when you needed help, they were there. Now that
25:20
Speaker 1: neighbor told me. Around eight thirty last night, officers were
25:23
Speaker 1: swarming the Stevens house here in Miller County on the
25:26
Speaker 1: three hundred block of Routi and Kaiser. Officers were originally
25:30
Speaker 1: called to the house for a well being check, and
25:33
Speaker 1: upon arrival they found both of the Stefans deceased. But
25:37
Speaker 1: how does the death of the Stephens relate back to
25:43
Speaker 1: the murtyrs of Alison and Josie Abbotts or are they related? Well,
25:49
Speaker 1: I want you to take a listen to our cut
25:50
Speaker 1: number seven. This is your porter, Mark Slabbett with k RCG.
25:55
Speaker 1: These documents set a light on the cause of death
25:58
Speaker 1: of Alison and Josie Abbot's. Court records say Allison had
26:03
Speaker 1: bruises along with her shirt wrapped around her neck, leading
26:06
Speaker 1: investigators to believe she was strangled. Those documents go on
26:10
Speaker 1: to say Josie was found in a nearby bathroom, submerged
26:14
Speaker 1: in a bathtub filled with water. Investigators say a witness
26:18
Speaker 1: told them McLean and the two victims were at the
26:20
Speaker 1: Abbot's home on August twenty. First Court documents state mcclean's
26:25
Speaker 1: vehicle is seen on a neighbor's video system going into
26:28
Speaker 1: Alice's home on Lavender Drive that night and then leaving
26:32
Speaker 1: the next morning straight out to Anjeanette Levy joining us
26:35
Speaker 1: Emmy nominated reporter and anchor. You can find her on
26:39
Speaker 1: Twitter at Anjeanette five A Jeanette. Isn't it true? So
26:44
Speaker 1: we've got this guy, McLean JT. Mcclean's vehicle being spotted
26:50
Speaker 1: on neighborhood surveillance video. Could be a rain cam, it
26:53
Speaker 1: could be a red light cam. But they've got his vehicle.
26:58
Speaker 1: That doesn't mean he did the murder. But back to
27:03
Speaker 1: the couple that was found murdered, Pamela Stefan and Daniel Stefan.
27:08
Speaker 1: Isn't it true that a motorcycle was found in a
27:13
Speaker 1: heavily wooded area near the Stefan's home. Yes, that's true,
27:19
Speaker 1: and it belonged to at McLean, forty five year old J. T. McLean,
27:26
Speaker 1: I mean Joe Scott Vehicles. A man and his motorcycle
27:32
Speaker 1: will not soon be parted. Okay, you've got his motorcycle
27:38
Speaker 1: found near one double murder scene, and you've got him
27:43
Speaker 1: driving his vehicle to another double murder scene the night
27:48
Speaker 1: of the murder. Find him immediately. This is somebody that
27:52
Speaker 1: you find him, you dart right, somebody. You're gonna want
27:57
Speaker 1: to really put the screws to, Nancy and find out
28:00
Speaker 1: what his connection is to all of these individuals, not individuals, Nancy,
28:05
Speaker 1: let's say murder victims. You're going to want to determine
28:09
Speaker 1: what his relationship is between all of these individuals because listen,
28:13
Speaker 1: as you pointed out at the top of the show, Nancy,
28:16
Speaker 1: this is an isolated area. This is underpopulated. If you will,
28:21
Speaker 1: all right, how can you find how can you find
28:25
Speaker 1: this individual as quickly as you possibly can because other
28:28
Speaker 1: people might be in danger for all you know. You've
28:31
Speaker 1: got a wild, raving maniac running across the countryside that's
28:35
Speaker 1: picking up people, are picking out people in their own
28:37
Speaker 1: private residences, Nancy, and killing them. So bottom line, note
28:41
Speaker 1: to self, don't leave my Harley park behind the double
28:45
Speaker 1: homicide scene. Okay, so he is saying, Joe Scott Morgan
28:51
Speaker 1: is saying, correctly, what's the connection to this guy and
28:56
Speaker 1: these murder victims? Take a listen to our friend Hannah
29:00
Speaker 1: Alkin Cut twelve, ABC seventeen. Since McClean had ties to
29:04
Speaker 1: cities all over the country, a nationwide hunt began. September eight.
29:09
Speaker 1: A motorcycle McClean was believed to have stolen was found
29:12
Speaker 1: outside a Miller County house. Inside, investigators found relatives of
29:17
Speaker 1: McLean's ex wife, Daniel and Pamelast Stephen dead, and McLean
29:22
Speaker 1: was once again the suspect of a double homicide. Detectives
29:26
Speaker 1: say he stole the Stefan's truck and fled the seat
29:42
Speaker 1: crime stories with Nancy Grace, Ajeanette Leavy, the Stefens or
29:49
Speaker 1: relatives of his ex wife. So who are the Abbots
29:55
Speaker 1: to him? Abbot Alison Abbots was his longtime girlfriend, and
30:00
Speaker 1: obviously Josie is Allison's daughter, so he was in a
30:04
Speaker 1: relationship with Alison and at Nancy. He had some issues
30:08
Speaker 1: with his fect wife as well and their child, so
30:13
Speaker 1: there's a lot of issues that seems like with this
30:15
Speaker 1: guy and women that he's involved with in their children. Guys,
30:19
Speaker 1: take lest our cut thirteen. This is Alex Fulton KOMU eight.
30:23
Speaker 1: I spent the day talking to neighbors and then Miller
30:25
Speaker 1: County Sheriff's office, which you can see right behind me.
30:28
Speaker 1: Authorities say they found McLean's a motorcycle and the woods
30:31
Speaker 1: behind the Steffen's home. Officers then trace that back that
30:35
Speaker 1: motorcycle to McLean. Neighbors confirmed to me that the Steffens
30:38
Speaker 1: lived on three one five at Route dan Kaiser. Investigators
30:41
Speaker 1: say McLean stole their pickup truck and drove it to
30:44
Speaker 1: South Dakota. Neighbors remember seeing police cards at the home
30:47
Speaker 1: until one am this morning. Authorities that the Miller County
30:50
Speaker 1: Schriff's Office could not provide further details as the investigation
30:54
Speaker 1: is still ongoing, and all the neighbors I spoke to
30:56
Speaker 1: today say they're still grieving the loss. They all noted
31:00
Speaker 1: the Stuffen's work in the community and how they were
31:02
Speaker 1: always there to help. One even told me every time
31:05
Speaker 1: she looks across the street, she remembers the loss. So
31:08
Speaker 1: what is that psychopathy? To doctor Angel Arnold, you hear
31:11
Speaker 1: an Anginette Levy say he McLean. JT. McClean, age forty five,
31:16
Speaker 1: had problems with his ex wife and her children, and
31:20
Speaker 1: now he has reportedly murdered a girlfriend, Alison Abbotts, and
31:27
Speaker 1: her little girl, eleven year old Josie. So Nancy. He
31:31
Speaker 1: cannot seem to get along with anyone, can he? So
31:35
Speaker 1: we So this is an access to disorder, which is
31:38
Speaker 1: called antisocial personality disorder. And these people put on a
31:43
Speaker 1: face and their emotions are all a sham and they
31:48
Speaker 1: pretend like they get along with people, and that's why
31:51
Speaker 1: he can go from one relationship to another. But really
31:55
Speaker 1: and truly, their emotions are not real. They are unable
31:59
Speaker 1: to love, and they have no conscience, which is why
32:04
Speaker 1: they can do things like this. But this is an X.
32:07
Speaker 1: It is not an access one disorder as we describe
32:10
Speaker 1: things in psychiatry. It is an access to disorder, which
32:13
Speaker 1: is a personality disorder. So this does not deem him insane. Okay,
32:18
Speaker 1: this doesn't make him insane. He's a very bad person. Well,
32:22
Speaker 1: you're talking about how he can go from one woman
32:25
Speaker 1: to the next and totally condemn like starting a new relationship,
32:29
Speaker 1: shedding the O and like a snake and starting the
32:31
Speaker 1: new one. While he was quite speaking of reptiles, he
32:34
Speaker 1: was quite the chameleon because he changed his look too.
32:38
Speaker 1: Take a listen to Taylor Freeman and Our Cut nine
32:40
Speaker 1: KOMU JT. McClean is still not in custody. Investigators say
32:45
Speaker 1: the suspect strangled his longtime girlfriend and drowned her daughter.
32:48
Speaker 1: The court unsealed the probable cause documents today. This case
32:52
Speaker 1: started eight days ago when police found Alison Abbots and
32:55
Speaker 1: her eleven year old daughter, Josie dead in their Boon
32:57
Speaker 1: County home. Abbots was a second grade teacher at Bush
33:00
Speaker 1: Elementary and Fulton, and Josie was going to start middle school.
33:03
Speaker 1: The court documents show investigators found a HIVY receipt at
33:07
Speaker 1: the house. They then found McClean and the victims on
33:10
Speaker 1: store surveillance video. Investigators say there's also neighborhood surveillance that
33:14
Speaker 1: shows mcclean's car there. Late this afternoon, the Boone County
33:18
Speaker 1: Sheriff's Office posted photos of McClean from the past several years.
33:22
Speaker 1: The office says these photos show McLean with different haircuts
33:25
Speaker 1: over the years. The Sheriff's office included photos with and
33:28
Speaker 1: without facial hair. Okay, what does that tell you, Jess
33:32
Speaker 1: got Morgan, That the cops have several pictures of McClean
33:36
Speaker 1: over the years with different haircuts and styles, tells me
33:40
Speaker 1: that he's at contact with the cops over this period
33:43
Speaker 1: of time. Doesn't it that he's interacted potentially with them,
33:47
Speaker 1: that he's on the radar. He's somebody that is significant,
33:51
Speaker 1: Nancy in all of this. And this is the thread
33:53
Speaker 1: that runs through we're talking about the motorcycle, we're talking
33:55
Speaker 1: about you know, these two poor victims in the house.
33:59
Speaker 1: You know, I was the name that came to mind
34:01
Speaker 1: just second, go Nancy Andrew Yates. I was thinking about
34:05
Speaker 1: that little girl, the eleven year old girl in the bathtub,
34:08
Speaker 1: and it just absolutely chills me to the absolute bone.
34:13
Speaker 1: Eleven month old Mary. I thank God. And I'm just thinking,
34:16
Speaker 1: you know, how in the world can somebody do this, Nancy?
34:19
Speaker 1: You know. And another thing, they've got him at a
34:23
Speaker 1: high v which I think is like a food market
34:26
Speaker 1: with the victims, and it's just before the murders. Then
34:31
Speaker 1: they've got him going in and out in his vehicle
34:35
Speaker 1: to their home the day of the murders. And you
34:38
Speaker 1: can time the t od time and death pretty much
34:43
Speaker 1: when you've got a strangulation and a drowning, well more
34:45
Speaker 1: on the strangulation, I would guess, but some on the drowning,
34:49
Speaker 1: depending if the water is warm or if the child
34:51
Speaker 1: was clothed or not clothed, you might be able to
34:54
Speaker 1: get a TD and then sink it with the extreme
35:00
Speaker 1: forensic evidence for like the receipt at the high the
35:06
Speaker 1: video at the high ve the neighborhood video surveillance showing
35:09
Speaker 1: him going in and out of the neighborhood, If you
35:12
Speaker 1: can get the time of death, and then based on
35:14
Speaker 1: extrinsic evidence, show he was there with them at the
35:17
Speaker 1: time of death, Bam, there's your case, Joe Scott. Yeah,
35:20
Speaker 1: you're absolutely right. And then if the coroner hopefully did
35:23
Speaker 1: their job at the scene and they measured all of
35:27
Speaker 1: those changes that take place after death, riger body temperature,
35:31
Speaker 1: live or mortis, all of those things, and you marry
35:34
Speaker 1: all that stuff up together, Nancy, you're producing a timeline
35:37
Speaker 1: there at that point time where you can actually peg
35:40
Speaker 1: him back. Who else are you going to look for?
35:43
Speaker 1: Who else at this point time are you going to
35:45
Speaker 1: tie back to this? He's going to be the number
35:47
Speaker 1: one suspect of my hip parade. Let's shed a little
35:50
Speaker 1: more light on what happened. Take a listen to our
35:52
Speaker 1: friend Peyton Headley KOMU eight. Well, right now, we know
35:56
Speaker 1: the suspect is Alison Abbott's long term boyfriend. He's currently
35:59
Speaker 1: the last known person to be in contact but the
36:02
Speaker 1: Boone County mother and her daughter Josie. This is forty
36:05
Speaker 1: five year old JT. McLean. He's charged with two counts
36:09
Speaker 1: of first degree murder that McLean currently has a warrant
36:12
Speaker 1: out for his arrest and a one million dollar bond.
36:15
Speaker 1: The mugshot was taken back in January of this year.
36:18
Speaker 1: We also know McLean is a truck driver an Investigators
36:21
Speaker 1: say he goes by a few different names. Those are
36:24
Speaker 1: John McLean, Stephen Nagy, and Stephen McLean. He has hair
36:28
Speaker 1: and these photos, but investigators say he is known to
36:30
Speaker 1: completely shave his head. Investigators also say they are still
36:34
Speaker 1: looking for him. He was last known to live on
36:37
Speaker 1: County Road three fifty five in Kallaway County. Investigators say
36:40
Speaker 1: he has ties to Las Vegas, Chicago, Columbia, Fulton, and
36:44
Speaker 1: Saint Peter. The Boone County Sheriff's Department says the probable
36:47
Speaker 1: cause was developed to believe McLean killed Allison and Josie. However,
36:51
Speaker 1: the motive behind the murder is still unknown. You know,
36:55
Speaker 1: Wendy Patrick, we're talking about all his different looks that
36:58
Speaker 1: the Blaze happen to have pictures up, in other words, mugshots,
37:02
Speaker 1: and now we're hearing about how will shave his hair
37:04
Speaker 1: redo his hair? You know what I love to do
37:08
Speaker 1: when I start initiate a jury trial, once you begin
37:13
Speaker 1: picking your jurars, you have to do it then and
37:15
Speaker 1: then later on. Typically is verbally and verbatim read the
37:22
Speaker 1: indictment handed down by the grand jury. And I loved
37:27
Speaker 1: nothing more than saying, for instance, Wendy Patrick aka DJ
37:35
Speaker 1: Slimsy aka street Girl Wendy aka WP and all the
37:44
Speaker 1: aliases the defendant had, because a jury is like, what
37:49
Speaker 1: if I found out my husband David had an alias?
37:56
Speaker 1: I would do a backflip. I would do a backflip
38:00
Speaker 1: on national TV because when you have to go by
38:03
Speaker 1: different names, there's something way wrong with the biggest question
38:09
Speaker 1: you would ask is why the why? Oh I don't
38:12
Speaker 1: think I was slowed down to ask why if I
38:15
Speaker 1: suddenly found out David had an alias, and here you're
38:19
Speaker 1: finding about all his looks and all of his different
38:22
Speaker 1: names he's got, I mean, but we're also finding out
38:26
Speaker 1: we found out earlier I think Jeanette Levy had accurately
38:30
Speaker 1: reported that he had had trouble with his X, well
38:35
Speaker 1: Jackie here in the studio. Researched that before today and
38:39
Speaker 1: found out the trouble was he threatened to stab his
38:42
Speaker 1: X in the face. I call that trouble. Yeah, you
38:46
Speaker 1: know what's really frightening about that. So we've called this
38:49
Speaker 1: man a snake and a chameleon. I'm also going to
38:52
Speaker 1: call him a wolf in sheep's clothing. That he was
38:54
Speaker 1: able to get close enough to these families to be
38:58
Speaker 1: able to be inside their homes making these threats, and
39:01
Speaker 1: nomadic in the sense that this is a large geographical area.
39:06
Speaker 1: He's got ties to different cities, probably because he drives
39:09
Speaker 1: a truck. But you're looking at a pattern that's being
39:12
Speaker 1: developed over a large area. But that's very personal in nature.
39:18
Speaker 1: He is threatening people close to him that has been
39:21
Speaker 1: close to him for some time. Remember this was a
39:23
Speaker 1: long time relationship with Alison. So to be able to
39:26
Speaker 1: allow somebody into your house, into your home, into your circle,
39:30
Speaker 1: your intimate circle. When you've got an eleven year old daughter,
39:34
Speaker 1: that means that he was pretty good, not only it
39:36
Speaker 1: changing his opinion, but pretty darn hiding down. You are right.
39:42
Speaker 1: We always say, why do these mothers let these freaks
39:45
Speaker 1: around their children, doctor Angie? Do they need a man
39:48
Speaker 1: that badly? Well? I mean, Nancy, it's I mean, unfortunately,
39:53
Speaker 1: it's not like they're letting someone that's not well groomed
39:56
Speaker 1: and and you know, doesn't have manners. These people are charming,
40:01
Speaker 1: And are are you going to just every charming person
40:05
Speaker 1: that comes in your house? One and twenty five people
40:09
Speaker 1: living amongst us our sociopaths. So I don't think it's
40:14
Speaker 1: a matter of I don't think it's always a matter of, oh,
40:16
Speaker 1: are we're just throwing our kids to the dogs? Nancy?
40:20
Speaker 1: I mean you have to be a pretty strong professional
40:24
Speaker 1: to kind of watch this behavior and see what's going on.
40:28
Speaker 1: You know what. You're absolutely right, doctor Angie, You're right. Well,
40:32
Speaker 1: you know what, even though he managed to escape detection
40:34
Speaker 1: of these women, he managed to war them into their lives.
40:39
Speaker 1: Joe Scott, thank goodness for on Star? Could you just
40:45
Speaker 1: in a nutshell tell us what OnStar is? On Star
40:50
Speaker 1: is a feature that's found in certain vehicles, Nancy, that
40:54
Speaker 1: is actually a satellite tracking so you can come in
40:57
Speaker 1: with a GPS and track the position of the vehicle.
41:01
Speaker 1: And if you're in an emergency, you can actually push
41:04
Speaker 1: the button and it alerts on Star. That signal goes
41:07
Speaker 1: up to a satellite attracts the position, and you know,
41:11
Speaker 1: many times, many times people have been in accidents and
41:13
Speaker 1: they can just hit this button and the on Star
41:16
Speaker 1: operator will come on and it alert to the specific location.
41:20
Speaker 1: The on Star operator will actually call the local nine eleven.
41:24
Speaker 1: That's how specific this is to get them out to
41:27
Speaker 1: your location because they know where you are. It's wonderful.
41:30
Speaker 1: And people say, aren't you worried that you're beat up?
41:34
Speaker 1: Minivan has navigation? And I'm like, no, aren't you worried
41:38
Speaker 1: Alex is listening in on you. I'd just be mad
41:41
Speaker 1: if she wasn't. If the fans want to hear Dave
41:44
Speaker 1: and I arguing about who's going to clean out the
41:46
Speaker 1: guinea pigs or are John David Lucy on their phones
41:49
Speaker 1: too much? Answer yes, you know what, get after it,
41:53
Speaker 1: just go right ahead. But all I can say is
41:57
Speaker 1: thank God for on Star. Take a list our Tan
42:01
Speaker 1: Lucas Geisler ABC seventeen. The Sheriff's Office has served two
42:05
Speaker 1: search warrants in relation to this case. One was done
42:09
Speaker 1: on the body of J. T. McLean himself at a
42:13
Speaker 1: funeral home over in Sioux City, Iowa. The other, the
42:16
Speaker 1: truck that belongs to the Saffan family in Miller County,
42:20
Speaker 1: was found here this parking lot at the Country In
42:23
Speaker 1: In Suites in Dakota Dunes is unincorporated area of Union County,
42:28
Speaker 1: South Dakota near the Iowa and Nebraska border. That truck
42:32
Speaker 1: was found through the help of on Star. That Chevy
42:36
Speaker 1: Silverado was equipped with on Star technology, and using on
42:41
Speaker 1: Star they were able to find him here in this
42:44
Speaker 1: parking lot. On Star's role is pretty privotable, to say
42:47
Speaker 1: the least. They're able to track the location of the
42:49
Speaker 1: vehicle that mister McLean was in up in two right
42:53
Speaker 1: into the parking lot of the Country in Sweets. They
42:55
Speaker 1: found McLean in that truck and when they found him
42:58
Speaker 1: he was dead with a gunshot wound. The Sheriff's office
43:00
Speaker 1: says it's confident at this point they believe that he
43:03
Speaker 1: shot himself. So all in that we know of J. T.
43:09
Speaker 1: McLaine to the lives of five people, including himself, and
43:17
Speaker 1: I can say with confidence four of those people we're
43:22
Speaker 1: gonna miss. I guess he's riding in hell right now.
43:28
Speaker 1: We can only hope. The point of our program today
43:35
Speaker 1: is as we discuss who's come in contact with your child,
43:39
Speaker 1: who at school, who at the gymnastics meet, who at
43:43
Speaker 1: the kitty beauty pageant? We always look first close to home.
43:52
Speaker 1: Nancy Grace Crime Story signing off goodbye friend,