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MOM'S GUT: SOMETHING HAPPENED TO MY ANASTASIA BEFORE BODY FOUND LACERATED IN ABANDONED HOUSE · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. When a beautiful twenty five
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: year old girl doesn't answer her cell phone, her mother
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: knows immediately something is very wrong. What happened to Anastasia?
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: I mean, Nancy Grace, This is Crime Stories. Thank you
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: for being with us here at Fox Nation in series
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: XM one eleven. First of all, take a listen to
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: our friends at News five. Melissa Romanello says her daughter,
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: twenty five year old Anastasia Hamilton, has a lot of
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: plans for her future. She's got a lot of big dreams.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: She wants to be a real estate life. But Romanello
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: is now living a nightmare. Anastasia is missing her come
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: home and just men her to her come home. Anastasia
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: lives in Cleveland at K and D Properties in Terminal Tower. Sunday,
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: I had text her at my foot in the morning
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: as her if she wanted to come over. She didn't answer.
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: You know, we talked have a dozen time today with
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: FaceTime several times today. After several hours of unanswered calls, texts, facetimes,
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: and messages on social media, Romanello went to Cleveland Police,
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: joining me and all start panel to make sense of
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: what we know right now. Big question what happened to Anastasia? Again,
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: thank you for being with us here at Fox Nation.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: In series X one eleven, a special guest joining us,
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: Anastasia's mother, Melissa Romanello. Miss Romanello, thank you for being
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: with us. You're welcome, Miss Romanello. I don't know how
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: you're holding it together. I have a daughter and a son,
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: and when they don't answer their phone, I go crazy
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: because I think something horrible has happened. Tell me about
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: when you first became concerned about your gorgeous daughter, Anastasia. UM,
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: I apologize. I'm not doing very well. I'm just so
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: sorry what you're going through. I'm just so sorry what
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: you and your family are endearing right now. I mean,
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: everything seemed normal. I text her goodnight like I always
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: do around midnight. UM. And then Sunday I text her
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: at nine thirty in the morning and they asked her
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: if she wanted to come over and help me organize
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  Speaker 1: my closets. UM. She's getting apart her own apartment in
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: two weeks. And UM, I told her, I would you know,
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: pay her to help me organize UM some closets, UM,
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: so she could use the money towards you know, furnishings
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: for her apartment. And that was around nine thirty and
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: I didn't hear back, and I just thought maybe she
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: was sleeping in or something. UM. I went grocery shopping
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: and then I don't know, UM, A few hours had
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: gone by and I just something didn't feel right. So
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: I called her. I facetimed her, I tacked her. At
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: this point in time, I'm blowing her phone up. I'm
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: freaking out, you know, are you okay? What's going on?
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: Where are you? And there was no response, and I
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: just I told my husband something's wrong. I can feel it.
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: I know it's I know something's wrong. UM. I actually
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: went to Medinah police, not Cleveland, because I had called
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: Cleveland and they had told me to go to the
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: nearest police station and I live in Medinah, and UM
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: I went there and they they were very helpful. UM.
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: And they and they pinned her phone because I told
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: them something was wrong. And when they pinned her phone,
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: it pinged in a near a steelyard in Cleveland, which
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: made no sense. Let me ask you a question with me,
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: Melissa Romanello, this is Anastasia's mom. Did they ping it instantly?
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: How long did it take them to paying her phone. Gosh,
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: I would say it took a couple of hours. I
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: was there for a couple hours. Guys with me is
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: Melissa Romanello. This is Anastasia's mom. You know what you're
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: saying is really striking accord, Melissa. Mister Romanello, I remember
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: distinctly when I learned my fiance had been murdered. I
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: had to make a long story short. Just finished a
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: statistics exam and walked out of the building, and it's
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: all bright and sunny outside, and I looked down and
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: realized I was going to be about fifteen minutes late
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: to my job at the university library. So I didn't
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: have a cell phone, walked halfway across campus and went
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: to a pay phone to call the library and route
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  Speaker 1: and say, hey, I'm late. I just got out of
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: an exam and I got a message from them to
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: call Keith's sister Judy, and I knew immediately just something
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: was horribly wrong. I just knew right then. Nobody had
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: to tell me, so Miss Romanello with me as Anastasia's mother,
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  Speaker 1: Melissa Romanello, when you told your husband I think something's
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: really wrong, did he believe you? Did? He did? He
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: was making dinner and he said, you know, honey, if
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: you think something's wrong, go go now, go go to
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: the police. And I said, okay, I will, and I
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: and I you know, and then I did. And what
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: time of the day was that It was a Sunday? Correct,
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: it was it was on Sunday. I feel like it
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: was close to thirty six pm. I apologize, I haven't
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: been sleeping well, so my memory is pretty jogged. But
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: it was around five or six pm. And I went
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: to the local one near me and I explained to
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: them everything that and I just kept saying, I really
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: think something bad has happened to her, and I think,
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: you know, Thank goodness, they took me serious because they
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  Speaker 1: peemed that phone and it was literally the only clue
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: we had somewhere where she would never ever be near steelworks.
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: As you're saying, is we're her phone, pained. Two special
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: guests joining us in addition to Anastasia's mother, Sia New
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: Yorker anchor reporter WOIOTV joining us and you can find
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: her on insta at TV Newslady Sea. Thank you for
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: being with us. Describe the area where Anastasia's phone peemed.
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: You know, I when she told us when she said,
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: and she told me that her phone peemed x Yard Commons.
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: It just seems strange because you know, the area, it's
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: not it's not the greatest area. It's not the area
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: that you would, you know, typically be in unless you
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: have some business there. And so you know, once she
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: told me that she had parked at Terminal Tower Parking Garage.
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: That's where she left her car, and I said, well,
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: why would her phone be over there, why would it
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: be pinking over there? She didn't have any friends over there.
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: You know, none of the stores were open, so it
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: just seemed kind of strange. You know. I want to
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: go to Daryl Coen joining us former prosecutor in the
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: same office where I prosecuted, Fulton County District Attorney's Office
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: now civil attorney in the Atlanta jurisdiction. Daryl, I remember
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: one particular case, the Julie Love case, a kindergarten teacher
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: that had gone missing. And in that case, everything went quiet,
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: or so many people thought it went quiet after Julie
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: Love went missing, but then turned out that part of
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: her belongings were found near a trash dump. And when
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: I heard where the trash dump was, I felt a
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: chill go down me because it was far away, Like
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: cea New Yorker is telling us from where Julie Love lived,
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: where she jogged off Collier Road. Why would her belongings
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: be near a trash dump way down in a high
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  Speaker 1: crime area. I mean, you just just right the end.
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  Speaker 1: I knew something. It was just not going to have
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  Speaker 1: a good ending. Do you remember that, Nancy? I remember
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: it well because I think at the time her boyfriend
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: was initially a suspect or a person of interest. Mark
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: kayliss Al recall, go ahead, Yes, And when they found
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: the clothing where they shouldn't have found it, there's no
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  Speaker 1: way that she would have gone there on her own voluntarily,
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: no way. So you knew that good was not going
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: to follow. I'd like to apologize. It's not Steelyard. It's
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: the steel mill, which is very close to my understanding
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: to the Stillyard. Yes, is it Steell Mill Commons or
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: steel Mill? It's steal It's a factory. Yeah, why would
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: her belongings be near a factory? Time Stories with Nancy Grace, Guys,
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: we were talking about a gorgeous young girl, Anastasia Hamilton,
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: age twenty five. She gets text by her mom midnight
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  Speaker 1: on a Saturday night, nine thirty, as she always does
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: to say good good night. And mister Vanella, you're really
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: bringing back a memory because when I left home to
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: go even to college, my mom would call me every
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: night and every morning, and she had to get up
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: really early in the morning to go to work, so
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: she would be calling me six o'clock seven am, which
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: he got to work, to make sure I was up
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: and about and going to where I was supposed to go.
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: And if she didn't call or I didn't answer, the
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: other one would know something was wrong. It was like
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: clock work, Miss Romanello. Miss Romanello, tell me, is that
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: the way it was with you and Anastasia. You were
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: in constant touch yea every day, a dozen times a day,
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: even you know FaceTime, text messaging, phone calls. We talked
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: several times a day. What it is called is behavioral
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: evidence routine evidence, not that it is stereotypical call or
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: run of the mill routine. It's evidence of your routine.
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: Jess Goot Morgan, joining US Professor Forensics, Jacksonville State University,
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: author of Blood Beneath My Feet on Amazon, and star
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: of a hit series Body Bags, with Joe Scott Morgan
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: on iHeart Joe Scott. I know that you typically focus
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: on hard evidence forensics such as fingerprints, fibers, DNA, but
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: evidence of routine is very powerful. For instance, if I
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: didn't show up to this anchorshare right here, Jackie would
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: know that somebody was dead or in the hospital. That's
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: routine evidence, evidence of routine. When Anastasia did not respond
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: Sunday morning at nine thirty am, her mom knew something
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: was wrong. Yeah, it's a pattern of what we look for.
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  Speaker 1: And patterns are all you know, That's that's our bread
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  Speaker 1: and butter and investigations. Yeah, we you know, we highlight
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  Speaker 1: the physical evidence that we found, those things that we
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: can obviously observe and examine and those sorts of things,
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: but those circumstantial events that kind of you know, paint
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: this fringe around the hard evidence. It gives us an
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  Speaker 1: idea about the life that has been lived and are
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: there any commonalities there? Are there things that go into
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: routine and why would an individual such as Anastasia deviate
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: from that routine exactly? Because that is a problem. Guys.
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: Imagine what her mom, Melissa Romanella, is going through the
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: torture she's enduring. Takeing us an hour cut three our
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: friends at in these five, she feels like she's in
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: the dark, not knowing if she's been called against her will,
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: not knowing if something really bad happening to her, and
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: which is dumped her somewhere. I mean, I have a
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: thousand things, all horrible going through my high Anastasia is
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: five four and has brown hair and brown eyes. Crimestoppers
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: is offering a twenty five a reward for any information
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: that may lead to Anastasia, but Romanello tells me she
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: will match that reward money and double the amount, pleading
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: for anyone with any leads to call Cleveland Police or
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: crime Stoppers. We know that she was headed to Terminal
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: Towers parking garage on that Saturday, and then a sudden
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: twist in the case. Take a listen to our cut
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: for our friends at needs five and we have breaking
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: knews now on the woman found dead in a home
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: in cleveland Slavic Village neighborhood this afternoon. The Cuyahola County
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: Medical Examiner's Office confirmed just moments ago that that woman
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: has been identified as twenty five year old Anastasia Hamilton.
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: To see a new Yorker joining us from woiotv in
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: Cleveland Sea. Where was Anastasia found in the Slavic Village neighborhood,
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: which you know, some people would say is not one
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: of the greatest neighborhoods in Cleveland. There's a lot of
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: crime there. There are a lot of abandoned homes. It
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: was an area where there were beautiful homes at one time,
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: and just a lot of people left the neighborhood and
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: so it has really gone down. They're trying to rebuild,
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: but there's no reason to be over there unless you
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: live there. It's called the Broadway. Slavic Village. It's a
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: neighborhood on the southeast side of Cleveland. It's one of
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: Cleveland's oldest neighborhoods and it first originated as a township
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: of Nieburgh and is known as Slavic Village because it
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: was home to original immigrants from Czechoslovakia and Poland, hence
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: the name Slavic Village Czecho Slovakian that's where the name
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: comes from. But over the years it's really no longer
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: the home of Czech, Slovakian or Polish immigrants. It has
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: become almost a ghost town. A lot of abandoned homes,
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: as Sia New Yorker has just told us. Who found
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: Anastasia Sia? Yes, two women, two ladies were you know,
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: looking to find her, her mother and private investigator. You know,
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: the whole community was looking for her, and sadly they
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: meet that grizzly discovery right there in the Slavic Village neighborhood,
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: in a home that it doesn't appear anyone lived in.
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: Melissa Ramanello joining me. This is Anastasia's mother, Melissa, I am.
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: I hate going through the facts and upsetting you more
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: than you already are so upset. Our goal is to
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: solve your daughter's homicide, to find the man that did
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: this to her. Melissa Romanello, When did you get the
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: news that Anastasia's body had been found? I heard it
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: on the news. How did that happen? Apparently the news
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: was there and I found out on the news before
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: the detective even had a chance to call me because
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: I was watching the news. Where were you in my
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: living room? Were you alone? I can't even remember. I
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: believe my husband was home. I'm pretty sure I was screaming,
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: so my son and my daughter were outside, Yes, they
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: were outside playing football together. I remember the moment like
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: Crystal clearly, when I found out I was alone, when
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: I found out that my fiance had been martyr. That
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: it seems to me that those seconds took so long,
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: and it was everything slowed down, and h millisecond sticks
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: in my mind. Melissa, what do you remember about that moment?
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: I just felt like I was dreaming that someone was
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: going to smack me and wake me up. And then
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: every memory of herd just went through my mind and
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: I just couldn't believe what I was seeing or hearing,
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: and I was just devastated. Sia New Yorker with WOIOTV. Sia,
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: you said two women found her body. Yes, two women
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: who had been out in the neighborhood looking for her.
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: You know, when we put the story out there, you know,
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: shared all over and so a lot of people were,
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: you know, wanting to get help, and once they went
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: searching for her, Melissa Romanello, do you know who these
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: two women are? I do not know who they are.
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: I don't know who any of these people are, to
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: be honest with you, and I really think that if
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: crime stoppers wouldn't Chief John Mennick and Mike Eiler of Medinah.
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: Mike Orler is a police officer and a family friend.
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: I really believe had they not got crime stoppers involved,
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: we may have never found her. Um. You know, once
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: we realized she was in Cleveland, UM, you know, I
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: had to talk to new detectives in Cleveland, and UM,
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: I would you know, I know Anastasia would want to
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: bring awareness to policies that we need to change for
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: missing persons. I mean I am working with Equa Search
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: right now. And Tim Miller, you know his daughter say
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: they wrote her off as a sixteen year old runaway.
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: And for my daughter, you know, who's twenty five. You know,
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: how do we know she's not there? Willingly? How do
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: we know she's not ignoring you? Please listen to the families.
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: We know our children, and time is of the essence,
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: and it's it's it's you know, just it's frustrating because
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: we know our children, we know when something is wrong.
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: And my opinion, policies needs to change. And it was
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: only four days for me. I can't imagine families that
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: go thirty days, sixty days, months without knowing where their
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: loved ones are or you know people you know, it's
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: quick to say though they just they're ignoring you, or
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: they ran away or done so off of Melissa Romanello.
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: When someone goes missing, police just discount and say, oh,
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: they're a runaway, or she's at with her new boyfriend,
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: or she's an adult she doesn't want to be found.
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: That has to change. You're preaching to the choir, meliss
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: you are. I agree with you. Three guys, I want
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: you to take a listen now to our cut seven.
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: This is Jesse Schultz at these five. Anastasia Hamilton's mom
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: is doing the unthinkable, trying to plan her oldest child's funeral.
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: But that pain is intensified by not knowing what happened
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: in Anastasia's final hours. Call it a mother's intuition, a
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: gut feeling. But Melissa Romanello knew Sunday morning that something
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: wasn't right. I knew something bad happened to her. She
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: would never amount respond to me. Later that day, Romanello
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: filed a missing person's report for her daughter, twenty five
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: year old Anastasia Hamilton, and police found that this surveillance
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: photo from Saturday night of Anastasia and a man walking
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: out of Terminal Towers parking garage. It would be the
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: last known photo of Anastasia alive. This is an extremely
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: heartwaking for our family and the most difficult thing I've
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: got on for in my entire life. Wednesday, Anastasia's body
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: was found at this Speacon house in Slavic Village. Cleveland.
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: Police noted cuts and bruising on her body. Two things
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: the surveillance video and the condition of Anastasia's body. Joe
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: Scott Morgan is with me as well as doctor Charles Heller.
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: Doctor Heller, the quandary knowing your child is missing, that
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: hell you go through imagining what is happening, and then
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: the shock of learning your child has been killed. I
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: remember learning not only that Keith was killed, but that
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: he was in fact murdered. It's another blow. It's almost surreal.
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: It doesn't feel real. Doctor. Yeah, we need to find
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: out what happened to this lovely young woman who I
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: heard from Miss Romanello that she was very loving and
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: caring and generous with herself or time, and so what
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: We've got to figure out what happened. We've got to
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: find out what happened. We have to doctor Heller, and
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: I am so grateful you're with us to make sense
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: of that to do just that, Doctor Helen, what is
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: it in the human mind that takes over when you
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: get a shock, you get shocking news that you feel
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: it's not real, Like we heard earlier, Melissa described me,
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: it felt like a nightmare, didn't seem real, but you
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: do know it Israel, it is happening. What is that
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: state of mind, it said, what we called dissociation. It's
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: like a splitting. We go into a very deep place
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: to protect ourselves from the pain, but also too because
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: we're confused. It. It's a terrible situation. Two special guest
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: joining us, just Scott Morgan, Professor forensics, explained to me
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: the damage done, the injuries on Anastasia's body. Yeah, and
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: from what we're hearing right now, of course the Cuyahoga
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: Emmy has not released everything yet, but from what we're
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: understanding right now, we've got multiple lacerations that have been
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: mentioned also abrasions at this point in time, and so
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: you're dealing with multiple trauma, Nancy. And there's a lot
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: to be learned here. And if I can just kind
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: of talk about this a little bit, where she was
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: last seen in the tower on that camera, you know,
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: checking this thing out and where she was down. You're
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: talking about a ten minute car ride versus an hour
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: and a half walk to get to that same location,
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: So she had to be transported there by someone with
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: a vehicle. I don't know if she went willingly or
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: unwillingly at this point, I can only imagine unwillingly. We
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: don't know who this person is, but we do know
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: that this individual is still on the street. We also
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: know she was covered in lacerations, covered and lacerations. Yeah,
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: and that goes to forgive me for saying this, but
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: this goes to strikes, This goes to blunt force trauma.
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: And I hate to say that, but that's the reality
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: we're looking at. As jo Scott Morgan said too, is
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: she's won. The mode of death called manner of death
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: and the cause of death. The neither have been released.
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: We're now trying to figure out what happened to Anastasia,
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: specifically why she was left in this abandoned building up
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: all places, because I believe where a body is left
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: is a major clue as to the perpetrator. Now, let's
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: talk about the surveillance video. Take a listen to our
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: cut five. Our friends at WKYC Rachel McDonald has been
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: friends with Anastasia Hamilton since middle school, a bond no
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: one could break the sweetest, nicest, kindest person if you
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: were lucky enough to be her friends like you knew
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: she had your back through whatever. But late Saturday, twenty
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: five year old Anastasia went missing, last scene leaving a
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: Tower City parking garage where she worked at the apartments
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: managed by K and D. This grainy surveillance photo shows
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: her with a man police called unknown male, without describing
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: the connection between the two, a photo that troubled those
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: who knew her well. She didn't look like she was
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: that comfortable around him in the video footage, so immediately
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: I was freaking out, and I feared the worst. The
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: worst would eventually come true. Missing for four days, Annastasia's
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: body was found Wednesday afternoon in a home on East
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: fifty fourth Street in the Slavic Village neighborhood. The circumstances
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: surrounding her death not known at this time. Joining me
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: a special guest who is incredibly braving through the worst
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: moment of her life and her valiant fight to find
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: her daughter's killer, and we are joining her with me.
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: Melissa Romanello miss Romanello. I'm looking down right now, ex
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: directly at the video. I think you're right. They're not
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: walking together. There's some maybe this much space between them.
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: I wouldn't say that they're together. I would say he
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: was walking beside her. They don't look together. She's looking
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: me straight ahead. He's looking a little bit at an
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: angle toward her direction. They're not holding hands, their arms
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: are not linked nothing. He's got a bag in his
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: right hand, indicating to me that he is right handed.
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: He's got something like a mailbag type messenger bag over
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: his shoulder, and I'm just looking at it very carefully.
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: She is not looking at him at all. When did
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: she first see the video? Her? Her coworker sent it
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: to me because she wasn't sure if she was allowed to,
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: but she was. Her heart was breaking for me, So
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: I don't remember when the video was said to me.
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: So you got it sent by a coworker of hers. Yeah,
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: she sent me the photos and then I gave that
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: to I believe. I'm so sorry that. Do you know
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: the guy? That's what I'm getting at. Do you know
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: this guy? I do not know. Did Anastasia have a
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: boyfriend at the time? No, you would have known, correct. Yeah,
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: I would have hoped that she would have shared that
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: with me. Huh, you seem very close that, and you
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: would have known. What is it that she has in
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: her hand. I'm honestly not sure it could be her
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: keys had a like a like a what do you
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: call those lanyard? Yeah, like a lanyard, thank you, But
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: that was really long, So it is really long. She's
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: holding the keys like this in front of her, which,
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: of course I'm not a nun verbal expert, but I
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: do know that's a defensive move. When you put something
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: in front of you, or touch and hold your neck
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: or cross your arms, that is a defensive gesture. She's
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: holding her hands like this and in her hands or
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: her keys as she's walking. She's not talking, she's not smiling.
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: She's looking forward and down a little bit. And I
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: can see the like a ribbon or a string, a
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: lanyard of some sort hang down from here in front
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: of her chest and it goes all the way down
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: to below her knee. Okay, do any of her friends
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: know this guy? No, not that I'm aware of. No.
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: The only way I found out his name is because
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: of the million people on social media messaging me, tell
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: me about that. See a New Yorker. This picture has
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: been disseminated and people it's a really good picture of
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: the guy, although he's wearing a hat. To me, he
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: looks like a white male, maybe five ten to six
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: feet tall. What more do we know about about who
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: this guy is? You know, I can tell you police
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: haven't released They say that he's known to them, but
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: they've not released his name. You know, through some of
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: our own investigations and through tips people have given us
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: through social media, we do know his name. But several
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: people well in the Slavic Village neighborhood told our news
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: crews that he was a familiar face. They'd seen him
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: hanging around there, so they do know who he is.
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: But he's to my knowledge, he's since kind of disappeared
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: and they're looking for him. Police are looking for him. Okay,
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: right there, Darryl Cowen, he's disappeared. Why would he disappear? Oh,
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: we obviously he had a vacation. He disappeared because he's hiding.
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: He's disappeared because out of sight is out of mind.
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: He disappeared because he doesn't want to be questioned. And
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: if he committed this horrible crime. He clearly doesn't want
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: to be arrested and prosecuted. He disappeared because that's the
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: only thing he could do was hide see New York
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: shre Are you releasing the name? No, we have not
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: released the name because he's not been named as a
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: suspect just yet, so we have not. Okay, but Melissa Romanella,
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: I was nice. I do well if that's who again,
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: I don't know this person, it's it's you know, I've
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: gotten a lot of you know, there were people messaging
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: me pretending to be my daughter before we found her.
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: So okay, wait a minute. What Yeah, I had a
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: person called me m three o'clock in the morning the
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: day before we found her. Um, I didn't answer it,
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: and then I would you know, I was so angry
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: that I didn't answer the phone because I thought maybe
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: it was really her. And then they sent text messages saying, um, mom,
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: it's me. I'm not okay, I need to talk to you.
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: And then I kept calling the number and I actually
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: had a detective coming over that morning and I was
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: in panic mode. We need to trace this phone down
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: and he just said, that's a scam, and I just said,
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: what kind of person would do that to me? And
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: on top of that, because there's a reward, just a
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: lot of not nice people. You mean they were trying
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: to get money from you, That is the opinion. Yeah, oh,
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: my Star Time Stories with Nancy Grace, doctor Charles Heller.
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: Who are these harpies, these vampires, these leeches trying to
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: take advantage of Anastasia's mother by texting her and pretending
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: their Anastasia. What pervert would do that? Well, very evil people.
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: But this brings up one of my questions about a
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: clue that I heard about regarding a text message that
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: appeared to come from Anastasia's telephone. What about it? The
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: report was that she said she was feeling and she
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: had to leave. Okay, hold on, let me ask Melissa
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: about that. Melissa Romanella, did you get a text message
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: from your daughter climbing? She was ill? No, her friend,
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: her one of her best friends, got a message that
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: her friend was at a wedding, so she wasn't responding.
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: So and it was around like one am or so. So,
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: so at that time, Anasadia was still alive and well.
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: And unless someone was texting from her phone, but she
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: was texting, I'm not feeling well. Let me ask you this,
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: miss Romanello, where I know she parked her car where
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: she worked at Kay and D Properties and terminal tower.
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: Was her car moved or was it still there? It
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: was still there? What about her cell phone in her pocketbook?
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: Those are missing? Okay? So what we don't know is
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: what happened in her final hours. Take a listen to
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: our cut eight, our friend Jesse Schultz. There are comp
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: side attacols that are still working, okays, and we're still
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: looking for or a person of interest. Romanello says her
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: daughter sent text Sunday morning around one am to friends
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: that said she didn't feel well, her head was pounding,
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: and she wanted to go home. Texts that just bring
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: more questions for Romanello. Where's her first where's her phone?
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: Where's the shirt that she locked in? And I mean,
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: there are just so many questions. Why would someone dout
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: my beautiful daughter in this horrible home? And I don't know.
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: Nothing makes sense, Nothing is making sense right now. See
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: a New Yorker joining us WOIOTV. Have police name this
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: unidentified mail as a person of interest? No, Police said
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: that they have someone that they are looking at, but
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: they have not named an official suspect, and so until
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: then we're kind of just waiting to find out what's happening.
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: But if they're looking at someone Daryl Cohen, doesn't that
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: make them a person of interest? Well, it certainly makes
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: them a person of interest, but then they don't want
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: that person to know that they're a person of interest, which,
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: of course I always believe as a suspect, I'm not
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: in the days of a person of interest. If they're
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: looking at a person that carefully, that closely, he or
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: she is a suspect. In this case, he's a suspect,
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: and probably more than that. There is a clear photo
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: of Anastasia Hamilton walking along with this guy. Melissa Romanello,
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: how would you describe him to me? He looks like
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: about five eleven to six feet tall, white male. Yeah.
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: I felt like the photo was a bit greasy and
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: very difficult to see, but yeah, Anasthesias are about five
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: four and a half and he looked at me about
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: five ton fish in my opinion, a white male. Also
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: had some things around his neck. I don't know if
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: those were keyes or what those were. To you, Jess
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: got Morgan, you're the forensics expert. What do you make
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: of this grainy surveillance video, and I think this was
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: taken near where she worked. Yeah, one of the things
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: that really jumped out to me, believe it or not,
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: where his shoes. They don't look like it doesn't look
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: like somebody that's living on the street, you know what
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: I mean, Nancy. They look new, They look clean. He
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: doesn't necessarily look disheveled. I don't understand what all of
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: this stuff is around his neck at that point in time,
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: but he does. There's you know, maybe this is just me,
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: you know, kind of projecting on this. He seems he
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: seems purposed, that he's kind of guiding along the way here.
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: And this goes to this idea of familiarity. He's comfortable
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: in this environment in the parking garage with this young
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: lady that he does not know. And then when when
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: she is found, that is a very specific area, Nancy.
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: That would give me an idea that whoever brought her
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: there was very familiar about that area, that they're very
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: confident in it because they knew that this is a
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: vacated location where you know, it's just by the grace
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: of God that she was actually found in that location.
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: But yeah, all of that is kind of adding up
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: into a picture that appears to be kind of well
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: formed and purposed. If he's involved in the there is
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: no doubt in my mind that somebody has identified this guy,
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: if not just on those tennis shoes and that outfit alone.
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: Take a look at this surveillance of video. I also
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: want to tell you about to go fund me. You
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: can find it at Anastasia Hamilton Funeral Expenses. Can you
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: even consider the heartbreak this mom is suffering. Instead of
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: planning a trip with her or her daughter's wedding or
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: July the fourth party with her daughter, she's gathering funds
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: to pay for Anastasia's funeral. Miss Romanello, I am so sorry.
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: The only thing I know to do right now is
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: to try to help you solve this homicide. What are
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: your words, Miss Romanello? To those that are listening or
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: watching right now, if anyone obviously knows more than they're saying,
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: then you know, please go to the police and bring
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: justice and let's find out what took place that evening.
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: And again I just want to touch on bringing awareness
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: to missing persons, and I know Anesthesia would want me to.
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: If any parent ever goes through this, get your community involved.
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: You've got to get an army because that's that's how
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: you get people to listen and take it serious. And
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: you know, we know what we know our kids and
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: I knew something was wrong, and they're too quick to say, well,
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: she's ignoring you, or you know, how do we know
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: she's not somewhere willingly Okay, well why don't you go
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: ask her then? And just doesn't want to talk to
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: her mother. That was far from the case. I'm sure
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: the thing she wanted the most in the world was
• 39:29
  Speaker 1: her mother. I also want to touch on the community
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: that I live in and old friends, new friends. They've
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: been amazing support to me. The donations for the ghostroend
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: me has certainly helped us with her funeral expenses and
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: anything that is left over will be donated to her
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: brother's college expenses. And Equiserch. I want to I want
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: to talk about Equiserch because they've sent dogs out there
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: looking for her phone, her purse, They've been helping me,
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: and they do all of this free of service for
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: families because you know, I read some of the stories
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: and I didn't know about them. I wish I would
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: have known about them on day one, but They're an
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: additional res source to the police and I hope that
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: moving forward the police will will work let them work
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: with them, because that they're just an amazing group. If
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: you have information or think you have information, call the
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: Sheriff's tip line two one six, two five, two seven,
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: four six three repeat two one six, two five, two
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: seven to four six three. Our prayers with Anastasia's family.
• 40:39
  Speaker 1: Goodbye friend.