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LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE STAR BREAKS COVER AFTER SEX CHARGES: WHAT DID SHE KNOW? · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

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Speaker 1: Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, Little House on the Prairie
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Speaker 1: Star breaks cover after very disturbing sex charges.
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Speaker 2: What exactly did she know and when?
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Speaker 1: This as Hollywood Royalty brands the suspect a creep. I'm
0:26
Speaker 1: Nancy Grace, this is Crime Stories. I want to thank
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Speaker 1: you for being with us. The argument in court that
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Speaker 1: this whole child sex abuse claim is fabricated over revenged.
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Speaker 3: One of the boys reported to his counselor at the
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Speaker 3: time allegedly that Timothy had touched him in the front
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Speaker 3: on his privates and in the back on his privates.
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Speaker 3: Two little boys victimized being used as ponds by probably
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Speaker 3: all parties involved.
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Speaker 1: What exactly did the Little House on the Prairie start
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Speaker 1: know about claims of child sex abuse?
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Speaker 2: What did she know and when?
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Speaker 1: This? As that Little House on the Prairie Star Melissa
1:09
Speaker 1: Gilbert in the last hours, breaks cover and takes to
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Speaker 1: social media.
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Speaker 2: Look what are they doing?
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Speaker 1: Little House on the Prairie Star Melissa Gilbert apparently is
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Speaker 1: eating dessert and dancing in her kitchen. Now, I'm all
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Speaker 1: about eating dessert and dancing in your kitchen, but right
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Speaker 1: now there are serious claims of child sex abuse and
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Speaker 1: Other alleged victims are speaking out, including Hollywood Royalty, the
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Speaker 1: Golden Couple in Hollywood. Nobody's arguing with that. I'm talking
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Speaker 1: about the family. A pretty woman, Julia Roberts, claiming.
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Speaker 2: Bus Filled stalked her.
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Speaker 1: You know what that's called putting your head in the
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Speaker 1: sand and your tail in the air.
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Speaker 2: Putting your head in the sand and your tail in
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Speaker 2: the air. Nothing's happening. Something is happening.
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Speaker 1: Straight out to Dave Matt Crime Stories investigative reporter Tonight,
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Speaker 1: questions swirling about what Melissa Gilbert knew and when? So,
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Speaker 1: what is that and stuff? When did that come out?
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Speaker 1: That's the response.
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Speaker 4: Well, Nancy, actually, the idea of Melissa Gilbert knowing about
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Speaker 4: Timothy Busfield and what he was doing, it goes much
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Speaker 4: deeper and much further back. You realize that the two
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Speaker 4: boys accusing him of doing this on the set the
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Speaker 4: bus Field Gilbert couple, they actually took the family in.
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Speaker 4: They socialized with them, away from the set, away from
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Speaker 4: business functions, and it got to the point where Melissa
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Speaker 4: Gilbert bought Christmas gifts.
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Speaker 5: For these boys. It was a way of ingratiating themselves.
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Speaker 4: Maybe, I mean, this was one of those things Nancy
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Speaker 4: that looking back on it is the red flag.
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Speaker 2: Well, here's my concern.
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Speaker 1: I know that Melissa Gilbert knew about the claims at
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Speaker 1: the time because she was on a conference call where
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Speaker 1: it was all discussed, and the explanation was, it's the parents.
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Speaker 1: They're making it up. They're out for revenge. I mean
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Speaker 1: to Rob Shooter joining me. He is the pr guru
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Speaker 1: to the stars. He's seen them all and worked with
3:29
Speaker 1: them all. I'm talking about Britney Spears, I'm talking about
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Speaker 1: Sean Puffy comes excuse me, Diddy, and there's the list
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Speaker 1: is endless. Rob Shooter is the star of Naughty but
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Speaker 1: Nice podcast. He's author of a brand new book which
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Speaker 1: is climbing the charts on Amazon called It Started with
3:48
Speaker 1: a Whisper, and you can find them at robshooter dot
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Speaker 1: substack dot com. Okay, enough about you, Shooter, can we
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Speaker 1: get down to it. What else can she do? I mean,
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Speaker 1: her entire image is based on wholesomeness. Look, I had
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Speaker 1: a total little house on the prairie addiction.
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Speaker 2: Shooter.
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Speaker 1: As my cases got more and more evil, more and
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Speaker 1: more dark, more and more disturbing, that I prosecuted in
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Speaker 1: the morning I would watch Little House on the Prairie
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Speaker 1: for an hour to calm down before I could go
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Speaker 1: to work.
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Speaker 2: I feel like I know this woman, I like this woman,
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Speaker 2: but I can't turn away from what I'm seeing.
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Speaker 1: What else can they do besides say it's revenge right right?
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Speaker 6: That feeling that you're having, Nancy, I think that they
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Speaker 6: are exploiting that too. There are many, many people around
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Speaker 6: the world who loved Little House on the Prairie. It's
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Speaker 6: still beautiful. It holds up today. I saw a few
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Speaker 6: episodes a few nights ago. It's interesting that it has
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Speaker 6: not been pulled from TV.
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Speaker 1: Just stop right there, shooter, shooter, please please, And my
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Speaker 1: line of business, I have to say, sees upon every
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Speaker 1: inaccuracy and then shred the person that ser Okay, did
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Speaker 1: you rob Sheeter?
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Speaker 2: In the heart of Manhattan.
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Speaker 1: Tell me that you're watching Little House on the Prairie
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Speaker 1: at night.
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Speaker 6: I love it. I'm an old fashioned type of guy,
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Speaker 6: but hatt it is not this crazy wild town, Nancy.
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Speaker 6: There are people here in Manhattan that are really quite sentimental.
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Speaker 6: I wear my heart on my sleeve. I love that show.
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Speaker 6: I love classic Turner movies, and so yeah, I was
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Speaker 6: watching it and I think that they are. They're preying
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Speaker 6: on people like us who will remember her for who
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Speaker 6: she was, not who she is today. And these videos
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Speaker 6: sitting in the kitchen, there she is with her friends.
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Speaker 6: That could be a scene out of Little House on
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Speaker 6: the Prairie. I think they're really leaning into this nostalgia
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Speaker 6: to make us feel like nothing's going on, that everything
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Speaker 6: is just fine, and to remind us that she's a
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Speaker 6: really good person. It won't work, huge mistake. They should
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Speaker 6: not be doing this, but I understand why they think
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Speaker 6: this is a good idea.
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Speaker 1: Josh Coles Rude, I have sat in court so many
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Speaker 1: times at council table and watched women wailing, crying, clearly
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Speaker 1: distraught on the other side of the courtroom, hearing the
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Speaker 1: evidence pour from the witness stand about their husband, their boyfriend,
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Speaker 1: their love object.
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Speaker 2: They don't believe it, they don't want to believe it.
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Speaker 2: But we have to.
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Speaker 1: Look at whether Melissa Gilbert, and this is like dirt
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Speaker 1: in my mouth, whether Melissa Gilbert knew and unintentionally aided
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Speaker 1: and abetted the grooming process. Now, Josh Coles Rude is
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Speaker 1: joining us guys. He is a veteran criminal defense attorney.
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Speaker 1: He's won a lot of cases. He's a former prosecutor,
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Speaker 1: US attorney. He's the founder of the Coles Rude Law Offices. Josh,
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Speaker 1: I want you to listen to this. This is what
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Speaker 1: investigators state was happening at the time, and Melissa Gilbert,
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Speaker 1: God help her, is right in the middle of it.
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Speaker 2: Listen.
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Speaker 7: Investigators interview Busfield on speaker wife actress Melissa Gilbert, President
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Speaker 7: for the interview. Busfield denies any wrongdoing, but admits tickling
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Speaker 7: the boys would not have been out of the ordinary
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Speaker 7: for him, as he likes to have a fun set.
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Speaker 7: Busfield claims. The lead actress in the series, Elodie Young,
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Speaker 7: tells him, the mother of SLNVL, wants revenge on Busfield
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Speaker 7: because the boys were not brought back for filming the
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Speaker 7: fourth and final season of the show, suggesting the reason
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Speaker 7: for the complaint is work related, not that he did
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Speaker 7: anything wrong with the boys.
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Speaker 1: Tickling makes a fun set for who Okay, Josh Coles Rude.
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Speaker 2: I know that you have seen and vice.
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Speaker 1: Versa, but typically it's the women being dragged along as
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Speaker 1: the man is being prosecuted for something. She doesn't believe it,
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Speaker 1: she doesn't want to believe it, and she's right there
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Speaker 1: in the conference call.
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Speaker 2: There is a conference call.
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Speaker 1: Where everything is laid out and full and she's there.
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Speaker 1: Investigators interview bus Phil by phone and his wife at
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Speaker 1: just Melissa Gilbert is present for the interview.
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Speaker 8: Well, there's two ways to look at this. Number One,
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Speaker 8: you know, if her husband is innocent, you know, this
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Speaker 8: is exactly how you would expect a wife to react.
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Speaker 8: You know, she's been with her husband for a very
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Speaker 8: long time. She has stated publicly that he's the most
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Speaker 8: moral person that she knows and that she personally has
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Speaker 8: not observed anything that she feels like was suspicious. Now,
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Speaker 8: this type of behavior, as you said, isn't abnormal in
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Speaker 8: cases like this. And I look towards the Jerry Sandusky case.
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Speaker 8: If you remember, he was the assistant head coach at
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Speaker 8: Penn State, and in that case, Jerry Sandusky's wife had
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Speaker 8: a very similar demeanor where you know, Sandusky was in
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Speaker 8: the basement doing his thing for over thirty years and
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Speaker 8: she claims.
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Speaker 2: We wait, wait, wait, objection, doing his thing.
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Speaker 1: Look around you. Nothing is airbrushed, nothing is edited. We
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Speaker 1: want the unfarnished truth. What was Jerry Sandusky doing in
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Speaker 1: the basement?
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Speaker 8: Josh colesrude he was convicted of child molestation, many many
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Speaker 8: counts of that, and the location where many of those
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Speaker 8: instances took place was in the basement. And my point
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Speaker 8: is that many people couldn't fathom why missus Sandusky would
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Speaker 8: have no knowledge and still to this day stands behind
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Speaker 8: her husband says he didn't do anything wrong. The answer
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Speaker 8: is simple. So this is well documented in cases like this,
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Speaker 8: where a spouse, usually a woman, would it is a
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Speaker 8: blow against her ego to realize and know that her
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Speaker 8: husband is a monster, because it makes makes her complicit.
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Speaker 8: It means that she was Okay, hold.
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Speaker 2: On, hold on, Josh calls rude.
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Speaker 1: I'm not saying that you're wrong, but I think the
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Speaker 1: two of us, with all of our law degrees and
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Speaker 1: our graduate degrees and our trial experience, I really think
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Speaker 1: we need a shrink. Luckily joining us tonight is Karen Stark.
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Speaker 1: Karen is a renowned TV and radio trauma expert. She's
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Speaker 1: a consultant, she is a forensic psychologist, and you can
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Speaker 1: find her at Karenstark dot com. Karen with the seat, Karen,
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Speaker 1: boil it down for me, because according to Rob Sheeter,
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Speaker 1: it's a lot more. There's a lot more at stake here.
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Speaker 1: There is a reason she's got her head in the
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Speaker 1: sand and her rear in air. She doesn't want to know,
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Speaker 1: she doesn't want to hear it, she doesn't believe it,
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Speaker 1: she can't soak it in.
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Speaker 2: And there's a reason for that. What's the reason, Karen.
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Speaker 9: Well, the reason is her public image, everything that we
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Speaker 9: were seeing about her. She's supposed to be a child advocate,
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Speaker 9: safety advocate. She preaches that there shouldn't be sexual abuse
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Speaker 9: and to find abusers, and yet she's living, it's cognitive
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Speaker 9: distance with somebody who is being accused of the very
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Speaker 9: thing that her image is advocating for. That she needs
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Speaker 9: to present herself as don't forget Nancy and everybody who's
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Speaker 9: listening that she's somebody, she's the little house on the prairie.
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Speaker 9: She's this perfect woman. She does all the right things
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Speaker 9: and she's laughing and behind it all, she's living with
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Speaker 9: somebody who has the worst accusations because we're talking about
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Speaker 9: damage to children, and so she's got to balance this,
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Speaker 9: the fact that there are these allegations, it's more than
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Speaker 9: one incident, and her public image, which is really important.
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Speaker 1: Crime stories with Nancy Grace, Dave mac crime stories, investigative reporter.
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Speaker 2: What did she know?
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Speaker 1: And when these allegations came up years and years ago,
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Speaker 1: nothing was done although there was a full fledged studio investigation.
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Speaker 2: Isn't that true?
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Speaker 1: She had to know, And now they've reared their ugly
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Speaker 1: head again and she is posting videos off her refrigerator.
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Speaker 1: Tell me about the studio investigation that apparently exonerated by
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Speaker 1: Field many years ago.
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Speaker 4: Nancy, the studio investigation was actually paid for by Warner Brothers,
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Speaker 4: the producers of this show that Busfield was working on
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Speaker 4: at the time of these accusations. So yeah, there was
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Speaker 4: a third party investigation. But Nancy saying he was exonerated
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Speaker 4: by this investigation would require us to actually analyze what
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Speaker 4: type of investigation was done. And when you get down
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Speaker 4: to the nitty gritty of this, you're investigating yourself for
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Speaker 4: alleged abuse kind of thing. There's no way they're going
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Speaker 4: to come up with anything other than exoneration or they're
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Speaker 4: talking lawsuits. So when you get into that investigation, it
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Speaker 4: was not done by the police, It wasn't done by
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Speaker 4: anybody other than who Warner Brothers hired to investigate the allegend.
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Speaker 4: And they said they being the investigator said they could
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Speaker 4: not corroborate the allegations.
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Speaker 2: Well, you're right, Dave Matt. Listen.
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Speaker 7: The initial investigation into Buzzfield on the set of TV
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Speaker 7: showed The Cleaning Lady begins with a complaint made through
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Speaker 7: sag Aftra. An internal investigation commission by Warner Brothers, a
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Speaker 7: third party hired to investigate, concluded there was no corroborating
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Speaker 7: evidence Busfield engaged in an appropriate conduct or is ever
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Speaker 7: alone with child actors. Busfield claims the studio investigation cleared him.
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Speaker 1: That is very different the studio investigation when their rear
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Speaker 1: rand is on the line, their ass in a slang
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Speaker 1: legal term, very different outcome than what the LAPD investigators say.
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Speaker 2: Listen to what they say.
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Speaker 7: Investigator conclusion pedophiles infiltrate families under a trusted role like Timothy,
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Speaker 7: who as a producer, exploited the hectic film sets to
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Speaker 7: tickle and touch sl on his penis and buttocks, masking
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Speaker 7: it as play. He would invite the family to offset
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Speaker 7: gatherings with his wife, buying Christmas gifts to foster closeness,
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Speaker 7: making sl feel special and dependent. Classic grooming to eroad
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Speaker 7: boundaries isolate the victim and silent suspicions by blending abuse
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Speaker 7: into normalcy. The dual tactic charming parents while secretly violating
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Speaker 7: the child builds a web of complicity that is hard
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Speaker 7: to unravel, delaying detection as families trust the abusers facade which.
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Speaker 2: Is true selity charges.
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Speaker 1: Have now been brought against the Little House on the
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Speaker 1: Prairie star husband Timothy Busfield.
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Speaker 2: They say it's.
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Speaker 1: All revenge, that the alleged victims' parents are angry, the
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Speaker 1: children are not brought back for another season.
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Speaker 2: So what is the truth?
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Speaker 1: What, if anything, can we make of Melissa Gilbert, the
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Speaker 1: Little House star recent postings.
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Speaker 2: What is her response?
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Speaker 10: Look, Hey there, friends, it's me your friendly neighborhood halfpoint
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Speaker 10: aka Melissa Gilbert aka the artist formerly known as Laura
15:55
Speaker 10: Ingles Wilder from Little House on the Prairie, co founder
15:58
Speaker 10: of Modern Prairie, All Things Prairie, Prairie, Prairie, Prairie. Hey,
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Speaker 10: I am so excited This coming Friday, we are hosting
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Speaker 10: an event called Ask Melissa Anything, literally ask me well,
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Speaker 10: I mean, within reason, almost anything. We can talk about
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Speaker 10: prairie stuff, modern prairie stuff, Little House on the Prairie stuff.
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Speaker 10: I've got tea to spill, and I am ready to
16:22
Speaker 10: do it. So go on over to our events page
16:26
Speaker 10: and either on the app or our website and sign up.
16:29
Speaker 10: And I'm so looking forward to seeing all of you
16:32
Speaker 10: on Friday evening. It is this coming Friday, and you
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Speaker 10: can ask me anything, Grab yourself a drink, cozy up and.
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Speaker 2: Come hang out.
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Speaker 10: It's gonna be a lot of fun.
16:42
Speaker 2: It always is. So what is she doing there, Rob Shooter.
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Speaker 1: She's saying, formally, this prairie, that prairie, modern prairie, little
16:50
Speaker 1: house on the prairie, prairie, prairie, prairie.
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Speaker 2: That's exactly what you just said.
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Speaker 6: I'm very smart, Nansa. She is leaning in. She is
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Speaker 6: leaning in to what has made her rich, what has
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Speaker 6: made her famous, and something from the past which still
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Speaker 6: makes her relevant today. The show is still a big deal.
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Speaker 6: It was from many many years ago, decades ago, but
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Speaker 6: it has held up and not only has it kept
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Speaker 6: her in the spotlight, it's made her a lot of money.
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Speaker 6: This is her identity and it feels to me as
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Speaker 6: if she now is more concerned with her public image,
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Speaker 6: with the way that she's perceived, than getting to the
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Speaker 6: bottom of this and figuring out the truth. If the
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Speaker 6: truth is on her side and she's okay here, all
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Speaker 6: this will go away and she will bounce back and
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Speaker 6: her career will bounce back. However, if it's not, it
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Speaker 6: doesn't a matter how much spin she does over the
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Speaker 6: next couple of months, she's in a lot of trouble.
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Speaker 2: Judsh Coles rude.
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Speaker 1: She is mentioning ask Melissa anything session. If I were
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Speaker 1: the defense attorney in that case, it would be over
17:54
Speaker 1: my cold dead body that she would answer questions that
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Speaker 1: even the monastation case.
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Speaker 8: Well, let me tell you, she is aware of the
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Speaker 8: facts of the case coming from the defense, specifically that
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Speaker 8: the parents in the case are fraudsters, that the mother
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Speaker 8: in the case threatened her husband saying that she was
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Speaker 8: going to get them after he decided not to renew
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Speaker 8: the children's contracts. You know, and don't forget that the husband,
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Speaker 8: he is a former lawyer, he was convicted, disbarred. He's
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Speaker 8: a man that used his law license to steal. And
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Speaker 8: it wouldn't be surprising if these two fraudsters coached their
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Speaker 8: children to make false accusations against this woman's husband in
18:53
Speaker 8: order to gain fame and money. Now she is aware
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Speaker 8: of these facts when she gives these statements, and of
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Speaker 8: course she has her husband's back. You know, there's no
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Speaker 8: corroborating evidence, there's no DNA, there's no fingerprints. All you
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Speaker 8: have are the statements from these two children who and
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Speaker 8: there are inconsistent statements. Not only that, but the two
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Speaker 8: children also denied that anything happened when they were first
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Speaker 8: interviewed by police officers. And she knows that too.
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Speaker 1: Josh, Josh, my question to you was a good A
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Speaker 1: defense attorney would not allow her an open forum to
19:33
Speaker 1: ask Melissa anything at this juncture. Now, you mentioned that
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Speaker 1: the boys denied everything when they were questioned formally, and
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Speaker 1: you're absolutely correct, And I'm about to play that right
19:46
Speaker 1: now in Busfeld's defense and in Melissa Gilbert's defense.
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Speaker 2: Let's hear it. You know what's right and roll, right.
19:56
Speaker 11: You know, no one could touch your private.
19:58
Speaker 9: Areas, but buddy doesn't touch you.
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Speaker 11: He doesn't touch your private hearts. Okay, Yeah, And you
20:07
Speaker 11: know what's right and wrong. Right, you know where people
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Speaker 11: can't touch, where people can't be Yeah, you know that, right?
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Speaker 11: Does Tim ever do that? No, he's never touched me,
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Speaker 11: never touched you. Yeah, in though in like you know
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Speaker 11: your private areas, right? Never did that?
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Speaker 5: Never?
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Speaker 11: Okay?
20:28
Speaker 1: That is very powerful for the defense.
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Speaker 2: Crime stories with Nancy Grace.
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Speaker 1: We are not saying anyone is guilty or not guilty.
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Speaker 1: We are looking at the claims. And by the way,
20:52
Speaker 1: at this hour, more claims against Busfield are coming out,
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Speaker 1: claims from people that at the time so they were
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Speaker 1: afraid to come forward, that their careers would be ruined.
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Speaker 2: And more so, who's to be believed?
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Speaker 1: Are they all lying and Buzzfield and Gilbert are the
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Speaker 1: only ones telling the truth? Is that possible? At this hour?
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Speaker 1: Melissa Gilbert fights back by posting foody instance and more.
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Speaker 10: It's time for breakfast with a homemade English muffin a
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Speaker 10: cup of tea of.
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Speaker 2: Course, our buttercrock.
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Speaker 1: I'm going to put some butter on my English muffriend.
21:33
Speaker 6: Very excited about this.
21:36
Speaker 2: And some jelly.
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Speaker 6: Just tat.
21:43
Speaker 10: Hummingbirds are fighting.
21:45
Speaker 2: This is so great.
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Speaker 9: I love this. Yum yum.
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Speaker 2: Rob Shooter, what is she doing?
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Speaker 6: She's delusional. It's a really dumb idea. I can't quite
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Speaker 6: explain this. I would imagine when something this horrific happens
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Speaker 6: to a family member, you do want to retreat to
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Speaker 6: your kitchen, and you do want to cook. The difference
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Speaker 6: is we don't put it on video. Why are you
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Speaker 6: doing this? Why are you sending out these staged moments
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Speaker 6: to try and convince us that everything is absolutely normal.
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Speaker 6: It's not normal. It's really really bad. And the fact
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Speaker 6: that she's doing this alarms me because it tells me
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Speaker 6: just how bad judgment she has. She should say nothing,
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Speaker 6: She should certainly be with her friends, she should be
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Speaker 6: in her kitchen. Just turn off the cameras. This is
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Speaker 6: not the moment for a pr stunt. This is not
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Speaker 6: the moment to increase your following on social media. This
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Speaker 6: is a moment to get real. And I fear she's
22:49
Speaker 6: not doing that.
22:50
Speaker 3: I don't think this is going to be one's an
22:52
Speaker 3: angel and one's a devil. You can be a sex
22:54
Speaker 3: predator but also not be guilty of predating on two victims.
22:59
Speaker 1: This case is riddled with problems. That doesn't mean it
23:02
Speaker 1: didn't happen. Karen start joining us trauma expert, forensic psychologist.
23:07
Speaker 2: What is denial?
23:10
Speaker 9: It's actually the kind of thing that she is doing
23:14
Speaker 9: right now. She is doubling down and letting people know
23:18
Speaker 9: that nothing happened. She's great She's the Little House on
23:22
Speaker 9: the ravery wonderful America's sweetheart, and yet all of this
23:27
Speaker 9: is going on around her. We know about it, it's
23:31
Speaker 9: in the social media, the news, and she is not
23:35
Speaker 9: even acknowledging it. She's acting as though nothing has happened.
23:39
Speaker 9: And that's a great example of denial, where you are
23:44
Speaker 9: not paying attention to something that's happening, and it's so
23:49
Speaker 9: evident to people who are watching.
23:52
Speaker 2: You know, Josh Cole's rude.
23:53
Speaker 1: I know you're going to disagree with me on this,
23:55
Speaker 1: but charges can be made given the right thing, acts
24:00
Speaker 1: for aiding and a betting. And I never dreamed of
24:04
Speaker 1: a day when I was watching Laura Ingalls Wilder on
24:11
Speaker 1: Little House getting ready to go try a murder case,
24:14
Speaker 1: psyching myself up, that one day I would put the
24:18
Speaker 1: name Melissa Gilbert in the same sentence as aiding and
24:21
Speaker 1: a betting Chamla Station. And I can tell you this,
24:25
Speaker 1: if this ever does go to a jury, the state's
24:29
Speaker 1: gonna have hul pinning that on her, because it's like
24:33
Speaker 1: trying to convict Doris Day for Pete's sake.
24:36
Speaker 6: It just.
24:38
Speaker 3: No.
24:39
Speaker 2: Everything screams no.
24:42
Speaker 1: But aiding and a betting takes under the law, takes
24:46
Speaker 1: into account the jury can look at behavior.
24:49
Speaker 2: Before, during, and after the incident.
24:54
Speaker 1: If she ate it and abetted him in grooming these boys,
24:59
Speaker 1: she said, a whole heap of trouble, providing it's all true,
25:04
Speaker 1: providing the state can overcome the boys denial, and the
25:08
Speaker 1: reason there should be concern amongst the defense camp tonight
25:12
Speaker 1: is more alleged victims are coming out, including victims connected
25:17
Speaker 1: to Julia Robberts.
25:18
Speaker 2: You know, pretty woman, She's.
25:20
Speaker 1: Never had a scandal in her life. She's gold right,
25:25
Speaker 1: she's pristine. So what I'm saying is it's not just
25:29
Speaker 1: the two boys that when they're little they recan't. I've
25:32
Speaker 1: had child molestation victims recan't because mommy asks them to,
25:36
Speaker 1: because mommy is getting paid by the molester. It's happened.
25:41
Speaker 1: So it's not just those two little boys anymore. It's
25:44
Speaker 1: lots of girls, lots of young women, other people coming forward.
25:49
Speaker 2: So am I not supposed to believe.
25:51
Speaker 1: All of them and only believe Melissa? So what would
25:57
Speaker 1: an aiding and abetting charge entel because she needs a
26:01
Speaker 1: lawyer tonight, Coles rude?
26:05
Speaker 8: Well, you know, charges honestly could be barely brought against
26:10
Speaker 8: her husband, let alone in betting charge against her. So
26:14
Speaker 8: aiding in a betting requires that a suspect be aware
26:20
Speaker 8: that a crime has been committed, or is going to
26:24
Speaker 8: be committed, or is currently being and that they give
26:29
Speaker 8: the person aid or comfort, they assist them in committing
26:35
Speaker 8: the crime, or after the fact as well, they help
26:38
Speaker 8: hide the crime, or they give comfort to the person
26:42
Speaker 8: who committed the crime. But here there is absolutely no
26:47
Speaker 8: evidence that this lady knew of anything. Not only that, but.
26:55
Speaker 1: It's not that you were aware of the crime, should
27:00
Speaker 1: have been aware of the crime. That's like you and
27:03
Speaker 1: I get in the car and we drive over the
27:06
Speaker 1: mix K border and I go, what I thought that
27:09
Speaker 1: was confectionate sugar in all those bags in the trunk.
27:12
Speaker 1: It's cocaine. Are you serious?
27:15
Speaker 2: No? No, and no.
27:20
Speaker 1: That's not the way the law works. Ignorance of the facts,
27:23
Speaker 1: for the law is not going to be a defense.
27:26
Speaker 1: If she should have known molestation was happening, that's the standard.
27:31
Speaker 1: Not if she chose again to stick her head in
27:34
Speaker 1: the sand and her rear in the air.
27:36
Speaker 8: But it's not just that, Nancy, it's that she knew,
27:40
Speaker 8: should have known and provided aid and comfort that helped
27:45
Speaker 8: facilitate the crime. It's one thing to should have known,
27:51
Speaker 8: but that doesn't require her to do anything unless she
27:55
Speaker 8: is bringing children to her husband for the purpose of,
28:01
Speaker 8: you know, sexually assaulting them. There's aiding and betting just
28:04
Speaker 8: isn't going to happen. Not only that, but in this case,
28:07
Speaker 8: the touching allegedly occurred on set. You know where was
28:11
Speaker 8: she during this time? Was she bringing the children there? No,
28:14
Speaker 8: it was her parents. It was a kid's parents were
28:16
Speaker 8: telling the children to hug everybody on the set, you know,
28:20
Speaker 8: the parents who are fraudsters telling their their little kids
28:24
Speaker 8: to go hug all of the adults, especially Tim, the
28:28
Speaker 8: suspect in this case. And I'll tell you what is suspect.
28:31
Speaker 8: The entire case is suspect, which is the entire reason
28:34
Speaker 8: why the judge released Tim Bansfield or bus Field. He
28:39
Speaker 8: said that the Tim Busfield was not a danger to
28:41
Speaker 8: the community and he was not a substantial flight risk
28:44
Speaker 8: as well. That is sick put him up.
28:47
Speaker 1: Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, did I'm not say at
28:49
Speaker 1: the beginning, I don't have a dog in the fight here.
28:53
Speaker 2: I don't know what the truth is.
28:55
Speaker 1: I'm trying to find out the truth and right now
28:57
Speaker 1: trying to find out what, if anything den Melissa Gilbert
29:00
Speaker 1: and when did she know it? Again, I heard the recantation,
29:04
Speaker 1: I heard what the boy said.
29:06
Speaker 2: It's damning for the state.
29:08
Speaker 1: Yet I also know Colsrud that other alleged victims are
29:12
Speaker 1: coming forward.
29:13
Speaker 2: And there's a whole.
29:14
Speaker 1: Nother issue is if all of these allegations are faults,
29:18
Speaker 1: why isn't bus Fill counter suing for defamation. Somebody jumped
29:25
Speaker 1: up and said I ate it in a bed, or
29:28
Speaker 1: I molested someone. Oh yeah, they're going to land in
29:31
Speaker 1: court by my own hand and I will sue their
29:34
Speaker 1: bridges off.
29:35
Speaker 8: What there's no correlation from what the other alleged victims
29:40
Speaker 8: are saying in this case. The other alleged victims are adults,
29:45
Speaker 8: they're female. There's no modus operandi that is similar those two.
29:52
Speaker 1: Because they're female. It didn't happen. They're not saying it
29:56
Speaker 1: happened today or yesterday. They're saying it how And in
30:00
Speaker 1: years past we have heard a lot about what is
30:03
Speaker 1: wrong with the two little boys now grown and they're
30:07
Speaker 1: testimony their claims of being these victims. But what about
30:11
Speaker 1: other alleged victims.
30:13
Speaker 3: There was one interview with a makeup artist who said
30:16
Speaker 3: that everybody kind of watched out for Timothy Busfield because
30:19
Speaker 3: he had poor boundaries, and she used the word creep.
30:22
Speaker 1: In the last hours, more claims against Melissa Gilbert's husband,
30:26
Speaker 1: Timothy Busfield, who is a star in his own right,
30:31
Speaker 1: have emerged, and this time they're the gold standard because
30:37
Speaker 1: they're connected to Hollywood royalty, and that.
30:40
Speaker 2: Is Julia Roberts, All right, listen.
30:45
Speaker 7: Julia roberts sister in law, says Busfield is a creep
30:48
Speaker 7: who sex caressed and humiliated her, saying Busfield is like
30:51
Speaker 7: a rapist who compulsively and indiscriminately targets women. Eliza Roberts
30:56
Speaker 7: accusing Busfield nineteen ninety four, Eliza Roberts season article about
31:00
Speaker 7: a teen girl who worked with Busfield on a movie,
31:02
Speaker 7: accusing Busfield of eluding harassing behavior. Roberts says she was
31:06
Speaker 7: stunned to hear it quote because the same thing happened
31:09
Speaker 7: to me with him. The seventeen year old girl on
31:11
Speaker 7: the set of Little Big League says Busfield invited her
31:14
Speaker 7: to his trailer, gave her alcohol, and propositioned her. Roberts
31:18
Speaker 7: expressive regrets she did not take action at the time.
31:20
Speaker 7: Fearing negative publicity, Roberts says, these things mushrooming get very big.
31:25
Speaker 7: She did not want to be taken away from her children, husband,
31:28
Speaker 7: or her own career. Assuming her encounter with Busfield was isolated,
31:32
Speaker 7: Eliza chooses not to say anything, but after reading about
31:36
Speaker 7: a seventeen year old being done the same way, she
31:38
Speaker 7: comes forward indignant other women making claims against Busfield were
31:42
Speaker 7: being called liars.
31:44
Speaker 2: Crime Stories investigator reporter Dave Matt What happened?
31:47
Speaker 1: We're talking about Eliza Roberts now coming out with her
31:53
Speaker 1: own story regarding tim with the Busfield.
31:55
Speaker 4: What happened, Nancy?
31:58
Speaker 5: This actually is so e plosive when we go back.
32:01
Speaker 4: To the seventeen year old girl on the set of
32:04
Speaker 4: Little Big League who made the accusations back then, Busfield
32:08
Speaker 4: and all of his mouthpieces came out calling her a
32:11
Speaker 4: liar and anybody who was on her side a liar.
32:14
Speaker 4: That's when this is the part that really breaks my heart.
32:18
Speaker 4: Eliza Roberts actually reads in the paper these girls being
32:23
Speaker 4: called liars after she had experienced Busfield five years earlier,
32:27
Speaker 4: and in that she said that she ran didn't even
32:31
Speaker 4: know him. She's an actress, and a casting person, but
32:34
Speaker 4: she didn't really know him and runs into him at
32:37
Speaker 4: a bookstore and Busfield chats her up, but he starts
32:41
Speaker 4: off kind of being a fatherly guy, talking about marriage
32:44
Speaker 4: and things like that, but.
32:45
Speaker 5: He moves this conversation into film. This isn't public.
32:51
Speaker 4: At a bookstore, Roberts says that she just wanted to
32:53
Speaker 4: get the heck away from him. He says bolder things
32:57
Speaker 4: that he wants to do with her, that he'd be
32:59
Speaker 4: great with her, and she gets out in the car.
33:02
Speaker 4: She's just trying to leave right Busfield, and she's backing up.
33:06
Speaker 5: She looks out the window and there's Busfield.
33:08
Speaker 1: He starts again, Okay, hold on, Dave, Matt, I'm gonna
33:12
Speaker 1: spare you listen.
33:14
Speaker 4: In the parking lot.
33:15
Speaker 7: Eliza Roberts prepares to back out of the parking space,
33:18
Speaker 7: turns around and it's shocked to see Busfield is standing
33:20
Speaker 7: at her car window. Busfield begins speaking to Roberts, being
33:24
Speaker 7: very graphic vulgar. Busfield tells Roberts, I would really love
33:28
Speaker 7: to know how you taste. I would like to lick
33:30
Speaker 7: your blank. Roberts is very upset. Busfield continues talking about
33:36
Speaker 7: specific sexual acts and how they would be great together.
33:39
Speaker 7: Roberts finds it difficult to get away.
33:42
Speaker 1: Okay, you know what, when I put a witness on
33:45
Speaker 1: the stand, I know they're going to get cross examined.
33:48
Speaker 1: I have to measure their credibility, their veracity, their truthfulness
33:52
Speaker 1: before I put them up there. And I don't care
33:54
Speaker 1: what they are. I don't care if they're walking the street.
33:57
Speaker 1: I don't care if they have a criminal record. I
33:59
Speaker 1: don't care if they're a not a priest or virgin.
34:01
Speaker 1: I have to weigh their credibility. And one thing I
34:04
Speaker 1: look for is richness in detail. Dave mac does Eliza Roberts.
34:11
Speaker 1: Julia roberts sister in law, state that she encounters Buzzfield
34:17
Speaker 1: in a bookstore, a children's bookstore, as I recall, he
34:20
Speaker 1: approaches her and begins a normal conversation that it quickly.
34:24
Speaker 2: Veers off into highly inappropriate.
34:26
Speaker 1: She leaves, she's backing out of her parking spot, turns
34:29
Speaker 1: around and there he is at her car window and
34:32
Speaker 1: says graphic, vulgar comments like I would really love to
34:38
Speaker 1: know how you taste. I would like to lick your blank.
34:47
Speaker 1: She gets upset and she takes off, and she never
34:52
Speaker 1: forgot it is that her statement.
34:55
Speaker 4: Dave mac yes, and it even goes a tad furthered inan.
35:00
Speaker 4: When she pulls out of the parking lot, Busfield follows her. Nancy,
35:05
Speaker 4: she drives several blocks away to a car wash, and
35:09
Speaker 4: he's still right there with her and continuing to say filthy,
35:13
Speaker 4: vulgar things to her.
35:15
Speaker 5: She could not shake this guy.
35:17
Speaker 2: Okay, it's not just that.
35:19
Speaker 1: And again she would have to take the stand and
35:22
Speaker 1: be subjected to cross examination. I don't know what's going
35:24
Speaker 1: to happen when a story fall apart.
35:25
Speaker 2: Don't know.
35:27
Speaker 1: And there's the issue why she's coming forward now, she says,
35:31
Speaker 1: and others say as well that it want to blow
35:33
Speaker 1: up their career.
35:35
Speaker 2: At the time. But it's not just her. There is
35:39
Speaker 2: a Minnesota case. Listen.
35:41
Speaker 7: The Minnesota case and the sworn statements filed as part
35:44
Speaker 7: of it are not the only allegations to have resurfaced
35:46
Speaker 7: in recent weeks. In addition, it has emerged that a
35:50
Speaker 7: sixteen year old girl in Sacramento accused Busfield of groping
35:53
Speaker 7: her in two thousand and one at a theater in
35:55
Speaker 7: the city he co founded. In that instance, the accuser
35:58
Speaker 7: says Busfield kissed her put his hands down her pants
36:02
Speaker 7: and touched her privates. The incident was not reported to police.
36:05
Speaker 7: After Busfield begged and pleaded with the family, the girl's father,
36:09
Speaker 7: a therapist agrees to not file charges if Busfield receives therapy.
36:15
Speaker 1: Josh Coles, rude, take off your defense hat. Just for
36:18
Speaker 1: a moment, I know that the case in chief regarding
36:22
Speaker 1: the two boys can be attacked.
36:25
Speaker 2: I played their recantation.
36:28
Speaker 1: Recantations are not unusual in cases of child molestation, but
36:32
Speaker 1: yet there it is, and it was powerful enough for
36:35
Speaker 1: the trial judge to allow Busfield to walk r released
36:39
Speaker 1: on its own recognissance, no bond necessary.
36:42
Speaker 2: A jury may feel the same way.
36:44
Speaker 1: But now there are more and more people alleged victims
36:50
Speaker 1: coming out.
36:52
Speaker 2: What do you make of it? So just be honest,
36:54
Speaker 2: don't argue with me. I'm trying to get to the truth.
36:58
Speaker 8: So that judges are going to look at similarities. They
37:00
Speaker 8: need to look at what the new allegations are against
37:04
Speaker 8: the women and how similar they are to the allegations
37:08
Speaker 8: at hand. If they are not, if they're not against
37:12
Speaker 8: the same age group, if they weren't similar in how
37:16
Speaker 8: they were conducted, and if they weren't similar in remoteness
37:20
Speaker 8: some time, they're not coming in as evidence in the
37:23
Speaker 8: jury will never hear them.
37:24
Speaker 1: Dave Mac joining me, Dave Mac, isn't it true that
37:28
Speaker 1: the hospital employees that interviewed the two little boys at
37:31
Speaker 1: the time they did a child abase response team interview.
37:36
Speaker 1: What were their findings at the time, Regardless of their recantation.
37:40
Speaker 4: They believed that both boys had been groomed and assaulted.
37:45
Speaker 1: You're telling me hospital employees stated that they interviewed the
37:50
Speaker 1: boys and thought the boys had been assaulted.
37:53
Speaker 4: Yes, they felt like they had been groomed and sexually assaulted.
37:57
Speaker 5: Yes.
37:58
Speaker 1: Well, at this hour, we know that following Busfield's release
38:03
Speaker 1: on ror release on own recognaissance, he lived it up
38:10
Speaker 1: in a very very expensive Airbnb.
38:13
Speaker 7: Busfield trades the orange jumpsuit and all in one metal
38:16
Speaker 7: toilet sink of County for pampered, swanky Italian style mansion Airbnb,
38:22
Speaker 7: costing two four hundred and eighty three dollars. The private
38:25
Speaker 7: hot tub a bit nicer than watching your back in
38:28
Speaker 7: the jailhouse shower. The house has a spectacular stained glass
38:32
Speaker 7: dome and comfy beds with high quality linens. No cold
38:35
Speaker 7: coffee and still toasted. This incredible hideaway in the ABQ.
38:39
Speaker 1: Guys, what is the truth, Who's telling the truth? More
38:45
Speaker 1: victims coming for more allegend victims. We've got a recantation
38:49
Speaker 1: of the boy victims. What if anything, do Melissa Gilbert know?
38:54
Speaker 2: And when we wait as justice unfolds.
38:59
Speaker 1: And now we were member an American hero, CEO Helen Smith,
39:03
Speaker 1: North Carolina Department Public Safety, killed in the line of
39:07
Speaker 1: duty after three year service, leaving behind a husband turned
39:11
Speaker 1: widow and two children without a mother. American hero CEO
39:17
Speaker 1: Helen Smith. Nancy Grace signing off goodbye friend.