Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / NBA star LeBron James distraught, friend Ericka Weems, dead in towel

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NBA star LeBron James distraught, friend Ericka Weems, dead in towel · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

0:05
Speaker 1: Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. How does a gorgeous young
0:16
Speaker 1: daycare owner seemingly vanish then her body discovered? How can
0:24
Speaker 1: there still be no answers even with a powerhouse like
0:31
Speaker 1: Lebron James In on the investigation Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.
0:50
Speaker 1: A neighbor lays a single red rose outside of a
0:52
Speaker 1: hallmind hardesty boulevard. What happened here has baffled Akron police
0:56
Speaker 1: and devastated a family, then has stripped our whole or
1:00
Speaker 1: in a blink of an eye, she was just so special.
1:06
Speaker 1: She was Erica Weems described by loved ones as caring
1:09
Speaker 1: and loving. She enjoyed traveling and had many friends. Daryl
1:13
Speaker 1: Weems last saw his daughter Saturday. She left me Saturday
1:17
Speaker 1: about nine o'clock and I told her call me when
1:21
Speaker 1: you get home. She never got. I called on days Sunday,
1:25
Speaker 1: no answer. It brings up It conjures up so many
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Speaker 1: images when you call and call and call and the
1:32
Speaker 1: person doesn't answer. The person that always answers on the
1:35
Speaker 1: first or second ring, that always checks back, that always
1:37
Speaker 1: calls back, and you can't get them in the hours
1:40
Speaker 1: pass and deep down inside you know something is horribly wrong.
1:45
Speaker 1: You were just hearing our friends at News five Cleveland.
1:48
Speaker 1: But let me introduce you an all star panel here
1:51
Speaker 1: to try to make sense of the mystery surrounding Erica Weims.
1:56
Speaker 1: And when you look at her, so full of life bytality, businessperson,
2:02
Speaker 1: former cheerleader, just this great person, no clues? How can
2:08
Speaker 1: that even be with me? High profile lawyer Randy Kessler,
2:13
Speaker 1: Atlanta trial lawyer, professor at Emory Law School, former chair
2:17
Speaker 1: of the ABA Family Law Section, and author of Divorce
2:21
Speaker 1: Protect Yourself, Your Kids, and Your Future. And you can
2:24
Speaker 1: find him at ksf Ksfamilylaw dot com. Doctor Jory Crausen
2:31
Speaker 1: with US psychologist faculty Saint Leo University, also with the
2:36
Speaker 1: Blue Wall Institute, author of Operation s OS. Joining US.
2:41
Speaker 1: Doctor Tim Gallagher, medical examina for the entire state of Florida.
2:45
Speaker 1: You can find him at pathcaremed dot com. Lecturer University
2:49
Speaker 1: Florida Medical School in Forensic Medicine and founder and host
2:55
Speaker 1: of the International Forensic Medicine Death Investigation Conference. Karen L.
3:01
Speaker 1: Smith joining us you know her well, forensic expert, lecturer
3:05
Speaker 1: University Florida and host of a hit new series, Shattered
3:09
Speaker 1: Souls podcast. But first, let me go to an Jeanette Levy,
3:13
Speaker 1: Emmy nominated reporter and anchor. You can find her on
3:16
Speaker 1: Twitter at a Jeanette five and Jeanette. I'm having a
3:20
Speaker 1: hard time taking in that there are no facts. Hold
3:24
Speaker 1: on the first thing you do when you can't find
3:27
Speaker 1: any evidence, You can't find any facts to help you
3:29
Speaker 1: to even start your investigation. You start with your victim,
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Speaker 1: this gorgeous girl in her thirties dead and they can't
3:39
Speaker 1: figure out what happened. I find that really hard to believe.
3:42
Speaker 1: So who is she? Let's look at her? Take a
3:45
Speaker 1: listen to our friend Bob Jones joining us out of Cleveland.
3:49
Speaker 1: Erica graduated from Ohio State and opened a daycare center
3:52
Speaker 1: in Columbus. She had a passion and a love for children,
3:55
Speaker 1: what family members say. She closed that daycare to be
3:58
Speaker 1: closer to home and had just started a daycare in
4:01
Speaker 1: the Acron home she moved into a few months ago.
4:04
Speaker 1: She could get kids to say and do things that
4:07
Speaker 1: even their parents couldn't do. So who would want to
4:09
Speaker 1: kill Erica? Acron? Homicide investigators don't have any suspects. You know,
4:14
Speaker 1: when I heard that, it made me think of my
4:16
Speaker 1: number one favorite teacher and I've got so many of them.
4:20
Speaker 1: It was second grade Clara Belle Bryant. She got me
4:24
Speaker 1: to write my very first poem, Believe it or Not.
4:27
Speaker 1: Doctor Jerry Cross in Psychologists joining us today Faculty Saint
4:31
Speaker 1: Leo University, Doctor Jory Why is it our teachers? Even
4:38
Speaker 1: my kindergarten teacher, she taught me kindergarten and a barn
4:42
Speaker 1: still remember miss Julia. And apparently the children and the
4:47
Speaker 1: parents absolutely love Erica Williams And that makes a forever
4:53
Speaker 1: impact on children. Yeah, because children, you know, they love
4:56
Speaker 1: to learn, and especially if they have somebody that they
5:00
Speaker 1: can attach to and bond with in that learning process,
5:03
Speaker 1: like a teacher that goes on throughout the entire life.
5:08
Speaker 1: That person is remembered. Just like you said with your
5:11
Speaker 1: second grade teacher. I had one my first great teacher,
5:14
Speaker 1: the same way. It's very normal. That's just the way
5:18
Speaker 1: we attach, bond and learn. You know, it affects you
5:21
Speaker 1: the rest of your life when you get a great teacher.
5:24
Speaker 1: And according to everyone, this woman Ericallims could get children
5:29
Speaker 1: to behave or do things even their parents could not
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Speaker 1: get them to do. They loved her so much. So
5:38
Speaker 1: what does that land on crime story? As well. I'll
5:41
Speaker 1: tell you how. Take a listen to Rachel Polanski three News.
5:45
Speaker 1: A quiet Monday afternoon, Macro nine one were filocation of
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Speaker 1: your emergency. Unanswered calls and text to Ericallims's phone only
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Speaker 1: fuel their concerns that silence was about to cry, fracturing
6:01
Speaker 1: so many lives. Oh my god, I thought this is raw.
6:06
Speaker 1: As family rushed to Erica's West Afron home that November day,
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Speaker 1: they found her upstairs, slumped on her bed, partially covered
6:15
Speaker 1: in a bath towel, her cell phone in one hand,
6:19
Speaker 1: a drink in the other. It was she was swollen
6:25
Speaker 1: and blue and just like cold. So it was basically
6:30
Speaker 1: like I already knew. Paramedics knew as well. Three bullet
6:35
Speaker 1: wounds all to the head. It wasn't that that they
6:39
Speaker 1: can do, But why and who? Just doesn't that make
6:43
Speaker 1: sense either all the way around. It just doesn't make sense.
6:48
Speaker 1: It doesn't make sense. Think about it. On a quiet
6:51
Speaker 1: Monday afternoon and I'm on one call to this woman's home,
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Speaker 1: partially covered in a bath towel, cell phone still in
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Speaker 1: one hand, ring in the other. Sounds like she was
7:03
Speaker 1: either getting in or getting out of the bathtub as
7:07
Speaker 1: she shot three times in the head, and it sounds
7:10
Speaker 1: like execution style. Now to Anginet Levy, Emmy nominated reporter
7:16
Speaker 1: and anchor, Anginet, what can you tell us, Well, you
7:20
Speaker 1: know it's just crazy, Nancy, because it sounds like to me,
7:23
Speaker 1: at least, you know, her sister couldn't get a hold
7:26
Speaker 1: of her, she goes over to the house and finds
7:28
Speaker 1: her in this state. I don't know if you were
7:30
Speaker 1: thinking this, but I'm not, as a woman, going to
7:33
Speaker 1: let somebody into my house. But I don't know if
7:35
Speaker 1: I'm in a towel. And the back door of the
7:38
Speaker 1: house was unlocked, her sister said when she went in
7:42
Speaker 1: there to check on her, and that raised her suspicions
7:45
Speaker 1: a little bit. And it to me seems like she's
7:47
Speaker 1: sitting on the bed. One of the reports said she
7:50
Speaker 1: was sitting on the bed, or at least it appeared
7:52
Speaker 1: she had to have been with that solo cup in
7:54
Speaker 1: one hand and the phone in the other, and she's
7:56
Speaker 1: wrapped in the towel. So it's to me it would
7:59
Speaker 1: think it would only it seems logical that somebody who
8:02
Speaker 1: knew her possibly within that house. You wouldn't, as a woman,
8:05
Speaker 1: let somebody in your home. In that seat unless you
8:09
Speaker 1: knew them. You know. Randy Kessler, renowned child lawyer joining us.
8:13
Speaker 1: How the Atlanta jurisdiction today, I don't know if you
8:16
Speaker 1: recall a case I prosecuted a long time ago. His
8:20
Speaker 1: name well, he was known as the red Rapist and
8:25
Speaker 1: he terrorized the city of Atlanta for gosh, about a year.
8:32
Speaker 1: He would get into women's homes, typically dressed in red.
8:37
Speaker 1: After he attacked them and raped them, he would leave
8:40
Speaker 1: a red rose behind, like he thought he was on
8:43
Speaker 1: a date. This is how he got in, Randy. He
8:47
Speaker 1: would find an unlocked door, or typically, especially in the
8:51
Speaker 1: summer months, a window that was cracked or open. So
8:57
Speaker 1: just because there is no forced treat does not necessarily
9:02
Speaker 1: mean the victim herself did not, as my twin site
9:07
Speaker 1: on accident by accident leave a door open. What doesn't
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Speaker 1: would impress me? If there was no rape or theft?
9:17
Speaker 1: What about it? Randy? Well, not only was there no
9:18
Speaker 1: rape or theft, there were no repeat occurrences. There weren't
9:21
Speaker 1: other incidents that were very similar with the same m O.
9:24
Speaker 1: And there was no telltale sign. I mean you he
9:28
Speaker 1: had a psychological she wanted to get caught a psychologist.
9:31
Speaker 1: I'm sure it's also on the show, would have a field.
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Speaker 1: They're talking about him and analyzing him. This is different
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Speaker 1: this maybe you may be, Randy. Maybe a crime of opportunity,
9:40
Speaker 1: somebody who's in a mood or drunk or out of
9:44
Speaker 1: it on drugs, which of course defense under the law.
9:47
Speaker 1: Thank you for raising that misdirection, Randy kess Or that's
9:51
Speaker 1: why you went on with your cases crime stories with
10:07
Speaker 1: Nancy Grace. Guys who were talking about Erica Wings just
10:14
Speaker 1: stunning woman, real business mind. She ran a very successful daycare,
10:19
Speaker 1: but she closed it and reopened a new one so
10:23
Speaker 1: she could be closer to her family. Take a listen
10:26
Speaker 1: to our friends at News five. And then on Monday afternoon,
10:30
Speaker 1: Erica's sister and brother in law went to Erica's home
10:32
Speaker 1: and made a horrible discovery. Erica was dead in a bedroom.
10:36
Speaker 1: I'm gonna miss her dearly. Police say someone shot her
10:40
Speaker 1: in the head. This is such a tragedy. Press Day,
10:44
Speaker 1: It's just unbelievable. It's unbelievable. You know. I'm just thinking
10:48
Speaker 1: about the way that she was found because typically I
10:51
Speaker 1: want to go to Karenelle Smith, forensics expert, and you
10:55
Speaker 1: can hear her on a new hit podcast, Shattered Souls. Guys,
11:01
Speaker 1: I want to pose this to you, Karen Smith. Routine evidence, okay,
11:07
Speaker 1: or as I like to say, because that makes it
11:09
Speaker 1: sound like it's running the meal eleven ice. Oh, it's
11:11
Speaker 1: just routine, sap. I mean evidence of routine because when
11:16
Speaker 1: the sister could not get in touch with her, she
11:21
Speaker 1: immediately knew something was wrong, to the point she gets
11:24
Speaker 1: her husband in the car and they drive over there together. Right,
11:29
Speaker 1: explain that why that's significant because they know her. When
11:33
Speaker 1: you know someone, if my best friend didn't answer her
11:36
Speaker 1: phone for the third time that I'd called her, I
11:40
Speaker 1: would know something was wrong, even though she lives in Florida.
11:44
Speaker 1: I would be calling nine one one and having somebody
11:46
Speaker 1: go do excuse me to go do a welfare check
11:48
Speaker 1: on her to make sure nothing was wrong. So that
11:52
Speaker 1: speaks to the routine of the victim. And when you
11:55
Speaker 1: have cases like this, whether there's you know, very little
11:58
Speaker 1: forensic evidence, they're very few clues left behind. Going to
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Speaker 1: the victim and understanding their routine and how they went
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Speaker 1: about their day is so very important and there are
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Speaker 1: a lot of forendiclus We'll get to in a little
12:10
Speaker 1: bit with you. But you know, to me, understanding who
12:16
Speaker 1: she was is going to start the investigation on the
12:19
Speaker 1: right trend. Oh definitely. And another thing while we're talking,
12:24
Speaker 1: if you look at this also, I'm not quite sure
12:27
Speaker 1: how to explain it. Let's go to doctor Tim Gallagher.
12:30
Speaker 1: Doctor Tim Gallagher is the medical examiner for the entire
12:34
Speaker 1: state of Florida. For instance, in my old jurisdation where
12:39
Speaker 1: I practice law, we had the Fulton County Medical Examiner.
12:42
Speaker 1: There's in many jurisdictions you've got a medical examiner in
12:45
Speaker 1: every big metropolitan area. This guy's a medical examiner for Florida.
12:52
Speaker 1: And let me tell you there's no lack of business
12:54
Speaker 1: in Florida. So to you, doctor Tim Gallagher, I want
12:58
Speaker 1: you to take what you do in the morgue and
13:03
Speaker 1: extrapolate to what we're talking about. This is a woman
13:07
Speaker 1: that was not going out every night partying. I'm not judging.
13:11
Speaker 1: I'm just saying that raises the likelihood of you being
13:15
Speaker 1: a crime victim if you're out and about at night,
13:19
Speaker 1: if you're in areas with which you are not familiar,
13:22
Speaker 1: if you're clubbing and some guy follows you to your car.
13:25
Speaker 1: I mean her lifestyle in my mind, and this is
13:29
Speaker 1: anecdotal on my part. Doctor Gallagher suggests she's a very
13:34
Speaker 1: low risk for crime. She runs a business, she's hands
13:40
Speaker 1: on with children and their parents. They'll love her, which
13:43
Speaker 1: tells me she's not into drugs or alcohol. She's not
13:46
Speaker 1: clubbing club and she's not out on the street by
13:49
Speaker 1: hit a crack at midnight. That should lower her exposure
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Speaker 1: to violent crime. Doctor Gallagher, Well, everything you say is true.
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Speaker 1: It really should. You know, there's a couple of things
14:00
Speaker 1: that we have to rule in and rule out here. Uh.
14:04
Speaker 1: Number one, we'll get to the body first, is that
14:08
Speaker 1: she would appear in the morgue. Well, it's not suicide. Well,
14:12
Speaker 1: I'm just a JD. You're the m D. But when
14:15
Speaker 1: you shot three times in the head, you know that's
14:18
Speaker 1: not suicide. Well you know that's something that we do
14:20
Speaker 1: have to rule out with certainty. And you're not gonna
14:24
Speaker 1: like it. Side. Yeah, I can already tell you. I
14:29
Speaker 1: gonna like what I'm going to say next. But I've
14:31
Speaker 1: had case of suicide where the person just charged the
14:35
Speaker 1: weapon to their head three times and it was a
14:38
Speaker 1: case you're totally lying, what case, um, But you know
14:43
Speaker 1: that was a case of what case. See, I love
14:45
Speaker 1: doing that to people on cross Randy Kesser is like,
14:48
Speaker 1: I remember that when somebody jumps up and says, oh,
14:51
Speaker 1: I had a case where someone who shot they had
14:53
Speaker 1: three times and it was suicide. What case? This is
14:55
Speaker 1: a case of a man who used the twenty two
14:57
Speaker 1: with the very old ammunition. Cut detail, all right, but
15:02
Speaker 1: he did end up shooting himself in the head three times,
15:05
Speaker 1: but those were all concussion. Was the weapon found at
15:08
Speaker 1: the sie? The weapon was found at the scene of
15:10
Speaker 1: the twenty two revolver. Okay, well there's no weapon found
15:13
Speaker 1: at the same So what do you think she she
15:15
Speaker 1: threw the gun in the lake? Well, and then what
15:18
Speaker 1: I mean is did she do that to get rid
15:19
Speaker 1: of the weapon? Well, because they're they're in front of me,
15:22
Speaker 1: and they do have these wounds, I have to make
15:23
Speaker 1: certain that these are not contact gunshot womans. So if
15:27
Speaker 1: they are not, then I look for other signs such
15:29
Speaker 1: as stipling around the wounds, which would indicate that the
15:34
Speaker 1: gun was held at a distance from a close to
15:37
Speaker 1: the victim, but at at a distance of about two
15:40
Speaker 1: or three feet from the victim when it was discharged,
15:42
Speaker 1: so that would indicate to me that another person was involved.
15:46
Speaker 1: Can you break down stippling? Is it that kind of
15:48
Speaker 1: like it looks like burn marks? Is gunpowder burn marks? Right?
15:52
Speaker 1: So stipling, not only does the bullet come out of
15:54
Speaker 1: the muzzle of the gun, but a large flame comes
15:57
Speaker 1: out of the gun, and sparks come out of the gun.
15:59
Speaker 1: And these sparks are the burnt gunpowder that is discharging
16:04
Speaker 1: the bullet. And when these sparks land on the body,
16:07
Speaker 1: actually burn a little pin point black mark on the body.
16:11
Speaker 1: And this mark would indicate that the gun had to
16:16
Speaker 1: be within a couple of feet of the victim, because
16:20
Speaker 1: if it was greater than a few feet, the little
16:23
Speaker 1: spark would cool off and fall down to the ground
16:25
Speaker 1: and not reach the victim. So as long as the
16:28
Speaker 1: gun is within two or three feet of the victim,
16:31
Speaker 1: this spark would come out of the barrel of the gun,
16:33
Speaker 1: land on the victim, burn their skin and cause a
16:38
Speaker 1: small burn mark or tattooing of the skin. And then
16:42
Speaker 1: this is what we call stipling. And then we can
16:44
Speaker 1: judge by the pattern of the stipling on the on
16:48
Speaker 1: the body how far or how close the gun was
16:52
Speaker 1: to the victim. When it was discharged. You know what,
16:55
Speaker 1: I'm completely entranced in what you're saying, doctor Gallery. Hey, Randy,
16:59
Speaker 1: do you remember Kelly Fight, the head of the ballistics
17:02
Speaker 1: division at the crime lab. Do you remember that name?
17:05
Speaker 1: I remember the name. We never worked to any Uh well,
17:09
Speaker 1: I hope not, since you'd handle Moost a lot of divorces,
17:12
Speaker 1: I hope you don't need a ballistics expert. But when
17:15
Speaker 1: he would take the stand, and I rarely did this
17:18
Speaker 1: in court, I would just go sit down. I'll go
17:21
Speaker 1: to my council table and just sit down because it's
17:25
Speaker 1: so amazing and so intriguing. Here the science behind ballistics.
17:32
Speaker 1: And you know, normally, Randy, you gotta be on your
17:34
Speaker 1: feet the whole trial to you know, save yourself the
17:37
Speaker 1: energy of jumping up out of your seat, or you know,
17:39
Speaker 1: you're taking exhibits back and forth to the witness and
17:42
Speaker 1: in front of the jury. But when Fight, the ballistics expert,
17:46
Speaker 1: much like Gallagher just did, start explaining the science and ballistics.
17:51
Speaker 1: It's it's really incredible. Now Gallagher was talking, when you
17:58
Speaker 1: got across the ramm or what do you do to
18:00
Speaker 1: sort of say, you know what, no questions exactly? The
18:03
Speaker 1: defense just has to put their tail between their legs
18:05
Speaker 1: and just sit down. But Gallagher, you're talking about stip
18:09
Speaker 1: laying and how close the gun has to be for
18:12
Speaker 1: that stipling effect to manifest on a person's skin. But
18:16
Speaker 1: then there's also GSR gunshot residue, and that would only
18:22
Speaker 1: make it. Will you explain the significance of significance of
18:29
Speaker 1: gunshot residue possibly on her hands? Right? So the gunshot explain? Sure? So?
18:34
Speaker 1: Gunshot residue is the smoke that comes out of the
18:39
Speaker 1: gun after the bullets discharged, and that smoke has to
18:42
Speaker 1: land on something, and it lands on the closest thing
18:45
Speaker 1: to it, and that is the person's hands if they're
18:47
Speaker 1: holding the gun. So I can test the person's hands
18:52
Speaker 1: using a gunshot residue detection kit, and if that hand
18:57
Speaker 1: is positive for gunshot residue or the smoke that lands
19:01
Speaker 1: on it from the gun, then I can say with
19:03
Speaker 1: certainty that this person had fired the gun. Always in
19:06
Speaker 1: close proximity to a gun that was fired. Guys, what
19:10
Speaker 1: you're hearing right now is the analysis involved in case preparation.
19:14
Speaker 1: It's really wonderful to have an all star panel like
19:18
Speaker 1: we have today. Kessler Crawls and Gallagher Smith Levy and
19:22
Speaker 1: because they add so much to an investigation. But this
19:28
Speaker 1: investigation is not clinical, it's not rhetorical, her hopathetical, it's
19:34
Speaker 1: real time stories with Nancy Grace. There's a beautiful young
19:51
Speaker 1: woman found dead, wrapped in a towel holding her cell phone,
19:55
Speaker 1: which I also find significant. And it's drink in her
20:01
Speaker 1: towel upstairs in her bedroom. Either just got in or
20:05
Speaker 1: out of the tub, shot three times in the head,
20:09
Speaker 1: Still unsolved. I'm going to tell you how Lebron James,
20:14
Speaker 1: the Lebron James. I just finished watching Space Jam with
20:17
Speaker 1: my son. This guy's incredible. How did he get in
20:21
Speaker 1: the mix? But first I want to go back to
20:24
Speaker 1: what we know. Take a listen now to our friends
20:27
Speaker 1: at News five Cleveland, our cut five. So early on
20:30
Speaker 1: in the investigation, police have many questions. Did Erica know
20:34
Speaker 1: her killer? Did she allow that person to come inside?
20:37
Speaker 1: Is anything missing? Was there a break in? So far
20:40
Speaker 1: detectives don't have the answers. If you know anything, turning
20:45
Speaker 1: yourself in tonight, some of County Crimestoppers is offering a
20:48
Speaker 1: reward up to five thousand dollars for information leading to
20:51
Speaker 1: Erica's killer, while a heartbroken family pleads for justice. Please,
20:56
Speaker 1: like I never would have thought I would have ever
20:59
Speaker 1: been in his position. Just please tell somebody something I'll
21:06
Speaker 1: just hate here in the family that I think. That's
21:07
Speaker 1: his sister begging for help. Guys, the tip line is
21:11
Speaker 1: three three zero three seven four twenty four ninety repeat
21:16
Speaker 1: three three zero three seven four two four nine zero.
21:24
Speaker 1: When she said, I never thought this would happen at
21:28
Speaker 1: my family. That's what I thought before my fiancee was murderred.
21:34
Speaker 1: I mean, you just don't think violent crime is going
21:37
Speaker 1: to happen to you. What happened? How could a woman,
21:41
Speaker 1: this woman, a daycare operator be shot three times in
21:45
Speaker 1: the head? Now? How did Lebron James get into the
21:51
Speaker 1: middle of this? Take a list eric Arana Deckcare in
21:53
Speaker 1: Columbus and another out of her heart sleep Bulevard home.
21:56
Speaker 1: Being said she was always around to give advice, even
22:00
Speaker 1: gave her money to get her through. Police found Erica
22:03
Speaker 1: Tuesday afternoon in her home after a call for a
22:06
Speaker 1: wellness check by family, Her death sending shockwaves throughout the community.
22:10
Speaker 1: Lebron James tweeting this out just a few hours ago,
22:14
Speaker 1: saying the family needs answers to why and who would
22:16
Speaker 1: do this quote disgusting thing to such a caring and
22:20
Speaker 1: loving angel. Banks is wondering the same thing. Not an
22:23
Speaker 1: evil bone in her body at all, and so it's very,
22:28
Speaker 1: very heartbreaking that somebody would be so evil to her,
22:33
Speaker 1: because again, she would give her last to anybody, you know, Matt,
22:36
Speaker 1: to you. Randy Cussler, Atlanta trial lawyer, professor at Emory
22:40
Speaker 1: Law School, goes on and on and on. Randy. A
22:42
Speaker 1: couple of times you and I would bump into each
22:46
Speaker 1: other in the hall at the courthouse, and I don't
22:49
Speaker 1: know if you remember this, but one time I was
22:51
Speaker 1: really down and I was wondering this very question. You
22:56
Speaker 1: probably don't remember it, but I remember you. You were
22:59
Speaker 1: coming off the elevator and coming down a long hallway.
23:03
Speaker 1: It was in the New Annex Courthouse, and you have
23:07
Speaker 1: this big smile on your face and you said something
23:10
Speaker 1: very lighthearted. It kind of snapped me out of it.
23:12
Speaker 1: I was really down on the dumps because of this
23:15
Speaker 1: very thing. You see victims that are just really angels
23:21
Speaker 1: on earth that would do anything for anybody, and then
23:26
Speaker 1: they're the ones that end up being murder victims are raped,
23:30
Speaker 1: or mistreated in some way, and I would always wonder,
23:33
Speaker 1: why is it that such good people are murdered or
23:38
Speaker 1: mistreated or hurt. And you're hearing that right now about
23:43
Speaker 1: Erica Weims. She would give you the shirt, offer back
23:47
Speaker 1: her last penny. Genuinely loved the children in her daycare.
23:52
Speaker 1: She was now running two, one at a facility and
23:55
Speaker 1: one in her home. And Jeanette Levy, how did le
24:00
Speaker 1: Bron James get involved in this case? Well, when Lebron
24:05
Speaker 1: James was a kid growing up an Akron, he was
24:08
Speaker 1: friends with Erica's brother, and he had said that Brenda
24:12
Speaker 1: and Darryl Weems, who were Erica's parents, were really involved
24:17
Speaker 1: in his life. So that's how he referred to Erica
24:21
Speaker 1: as his sister. So they knew each other from childhood,
24:25
Speaker 1: and Lebron was still very close to her brother Brandon.
24:28
Speaker 1: You know, I know a little bit about his past
24:31
Speaker 1: from my son Forcemin and watch Space Jams, which was
24:34
Speaker 1: actually pretty good about growing up and the mom would
24:38
Speaker 1: have to drop him at games and she would have
24:40
Speaker 1: to go to work. She could never watch his games,
24:44
Speaker 1: and just the way he was brought up, really working
24:47
Speaker 1: hard to achieve what he has achieved, and now I'm
24:51
Speaker 1: thinking about what you're telling me. How Erica Weims's family
24:56
Speaker 1: helped him as he was growing up and he's now
24:59
Speaker 1: trying to help find her killer. That's a really weird twist,
25:03
Speaker 1: doctor Georry crossing it. But it happens in life that way. Yeah,
25:08
Speaker 1: just the circumstances of draw in like you know these
25:12
Speaker 1: I want say, strangers, but friends, and then all of
25:14
Speaker 1: a sudden some evil enters in and just destroys the family.
25:20
Speaker 1: This is what I know. People refer to Erica Williams
25:23
Speaker 1: as quote the total package, beauty, brain's talent, fun, outgoing.
25:28
Speaker 1: She loved to sing and dance. She was a cheerleader
25:32
Speaker 1: when she was younger, but she played basketball too. Enter
25:36
Speaker 1: Lebron James. When she was growing up, everybody in the
25:41
Speaker 1: house was always scrambling to get to a basketball game
25:45
Speaker 1: or a tournament or studying. He says, this is the dad.
25:50
Speaker 1: They were all on on her roll. And they all,
25:54
Speaker 1: including Erica, graduated at the top of their class. Metal
25:59
Speaker 1: child old and as you heard the sister say, she
26:04
Speaker 1: would still help support financially her sister, especially during COVID.
26:09
Speaker 1: I mean, it just goes on and on, and this
26:11
Speaker 1: is significant to you, Karen Smith. Sometimes she would speak
26:15
Speaker 1: or text with her sister up to ten times a day.
26:19
Speaker 1: I'm not telling you that to give you a warm,
26:21
Speaker 1: fuzzy feeling. I'm telling you that for probitive reasons. What
26:25
Speaker 1: does it prove that proved she is in contact. You
26:29
Speaker 1: text her, you call her, she's going to respond, and
26:33
Speaker 1: when she didn't, it sent off alarm bells. Unfortunately they
26:36
Speaker 1: were correct. That goes into her personality too, and doctor
26:39
Speaker 1: Joy can talk about this much better than I can.
26:42
Speaker 1: But it tells me that she is a loving person,
26:44
Speaker 1: She's responsive, she wants people to know she's okay, she
26:47
Speaker 1: wants people to know that what's going on in her life.
26:50
Speaker 1: So that is really important. As far as victimology and
26:53
Speaker 1: Nancy there are I have so many questions about this.
26:56
Speaker 1: Then we'll get to it. But I am chomping at
26:58
Speaker 1: the bit to talk about. Well. Another thing they texting
27:01
Speaker 1: and the calling, the constant being in touch with family
27:04
Speaker 1: like my family is it also helps you establish a timeline.
27:09
Speaker 1: I mean, timelines have been established in many different ways,
27:14
Speaker 1: and they're very critical to an investigation because it can
27:18
Speaker 1: limit the people you were exposed to at the time
27:21
Speaker 1: you were killed. A lot. You're close to your family, Well,
27:24
Speaker 1: where were they? Where's your ex husband, where's your boyfriend?
27:27
Speaker 1: Where were all of them at the beginning of the
27:29
Speaker 1: timeline when you were killed. So it's critical that we
27:33
Speaker 1: get all these texts and phone calls that will help
27:36
Speaker 1: us establish a timeline. Now, this woman is smart. I
27:39
Speaker 1: find it really hard to believe that she would have
27:42
Speaker 1: left a door unlot. This woman had two college degrees,
27:46
Speaker 1: including a master's degree. You know she's no deadbeat. So
27:51
Speaker 1: what happened? Take a listen to Suzanne Stratford Fox eight earlier.
27:57
Speaker 1: You heard kindled Forward nineteen Alison of Fox say. Late afternoon,
28:01
Speaker 1: sometime right before three o'clock, I became aware of his tweet,
28:05
Speaker 1: Lebron James taking to Twitter Wednesday asking his hometown to
28:08
Speaker 1: help solve a very personal murder. To help stir the
28:12
Speaker 1: conscience of the community, because it does take most often
28:17
Speaker 1: tips or helps from the community offul crime like this
28:20
Speaker 1: at thirty seven year old Erica Weims found shot inside
28:23
Speaker 1: of her home on Hardesty Boulevard Monday afternoon. She wasn't
28:27
Speaker 1: someone that was in harm's way or running with the
28:29
Speaker 1: wrong people. They said, she was an extraordinary woman. A
28:33
Speaker 1: vibrant woman who just celebrated a birthday, ran a daycare,
28:36
Speaker 1: and volunteered feeding the homeless. Also the sister of Brandon Weems,
28:41
Speaker 1: director of scouting for the Cavaliers, and lifelong friend of
28:45
Speaker 1: Lebron James since they played together in high school. Lebron tweeting,
28:49
Speaker 1: my brother's family need answers to why and whom my city.
28:53
Speaker 1: I need y'all to go to work and find out
28:55
Speaker 1: who did this awful, shameful, disgusting thing to such a caring,
28:58
Speaker 1: loving angel. That is exactly what we are doing right now,
29:02
Speaker 1: trying to give this family some answers. Time stories with
29:18
Speaker 1: Nancy Grace. You know, let's talk about the saying. Karen Smith,
29:23
Speaker 1: forensic expert, I've learned a lot. Tell me what your
29:26
Speaker 1: analysis of the scene is. But I'm gonna go I'm
29:28
Speaker 1: gonna walk through the crime scene in my head. I
29:30
Speaker 1: don't have the photographs, but this is what I'm seeing,
29:32
Speaker 1: and it's hypothetical. The back door was unlocked, Was there
29:36
Speaker 1: a key hidden somewhere? Was there a deadbolt or any
29:39
Speaker 1: other locks that were disengaged from the inside of that door,
29:42
Speaker 1: suggesting that maybe somebody was let in, or did they
29:45
Speaker 1: let themselves in. No signs of fourth entry. This happened upstairs.
29:50
Speaker 1: Whoever did this knew the layout of that house, They
29:53
Speaker 1: knew her habit. She was in a powel. Did this
29:56
Speaker 1: person lie in wait behind a door or in a closet? Also,
30:02
Speaker 1: the scene seemed stage to me, Nancy. She had a
30:05
Speaker 1: cell phone in one hand and a cup in the other.
30:08
Speaker 1: If you're shot three times in the head, I have
30:11
Speaker 1: never seen a scene in all the ones that I've
30:14
Speaker 1: worked where somebody had an item in both hands that
30:17
Speaker 1: wasn't put there on purpose. Not saying that happened, but
30:21
Speaker 1: was there liquid in the cup or had it filled out? Somebody?
30:24
Speaker 1: Seemed to me somebody was lying in wait for her.
30:27
Speaker 1: They were quiet, was music playing? Were they able to
30:29
Speaker 1: get the jump on her? It's an intermediate gunshot wound meeting.
30:33
Speaker 1: They got close enough to her head without her knowing.
30:36
Speaker 1: She's sitting on the side of the bed. According to report,
30:39
Speaker 1: she didn't move. Somebody got the jump on her and
30:42
Speaker 1: snuck up on her. Also, a few items and her
30:45
Speaker 1: purse were missing. Valuables were left behind. To me, is
30:49
Speaker 1: that a trophy that somebody took, something that somebody wanted
30:53
Speaker 1: of hers to take with them. All of these questions
30:57
Speaker 1: should have been asked at that crime scene. Little bit
31:00
Speaker 1: of what I've learned this They give you some answers,
31:03
Speaker 1: no signs of a struggle, no signs of a break in,
31:07
Speaker 1: purse missing, other valules left behind. Autopsy records we obtained
31:13
Speaker 1: reveal she was shot three times with a small caliber
31:17
Speaker 1: gun A twenty two springs to mind. Often that indicates
31:21
Speaker 1: a woman right and a revolver, no casing. No. One
31:27
Speaker 1: bullet fired from intermediate range through right temple caused the
31:31
Speaker 1: fatal wound. Other wounds caused superficial damage. All three were
31:36
Speaker 1: gunshot wounds. Four bullet fragments in all were recovered. No firearm,
31:42
Speaker 1: no shell casings. That's what we know about the scene.
31:46
Speaker 1: To doctor Tim Gallagher, they're saying she had a cell
31:50
Speaker 1: phone and a drink in her hand, but don't I
31:52
Speaker 1: don't know if did she fall off the bed and
31:55
Speaker 1: forward and those things were near her hands? Were they
31:59
Speaker 1: actually in her our hands? So, doctor Gallagher, post mortem,
32:03
Speaker 1: as soon as she shot, she dropped those items. Yes,
32:06
Speaker 1: your your guest makes an excellent point. You know, when
32:08
Speaker 1: ittually be taking under a serious consideration as far as
32:12
Speaker 1: the scene being stage. You're correct. When you are shot,
32:18
Speaker 1: you go and the body goes into a something called
32:21
Speaker 1: a decordict and the cerebrate position, where the hands open up,
32:25
Speaker 1: the arms extend, even if it's just for a couple
32:29
Speaker 1: of seconds, and then whatever's in the hands drop. That's
32:32
Speaker 1: why we do not find people who canit suicide with
32:36
Speaker 1: the guns still in their hand. It's on the floor
32:38
Speaker 1: next to them, right. But she does make an excellent point.
32:43
Speaker 1: It does sound like there could be evidence of staging here.
32:47
Speaker 1: The twenty two caliber gun is something generally that women
32:52
Speaker 1: carry versus men, you know, so I would expect that
32:59
Speaker 1: women should not be ruled out in the suspect pool.
33:02
Speaker 1: I'm want to talk to you about this, Randy Kessler
33:04
Speaker 1: and doctor Jerry Crossen. Very often when people are broke,
33:08
Speaker 1: they will do anything to keep afloat. It's like a
33:13
Speaker 1: rat on a sinking ship. This woman had paid off
33:17
Speaker 1: all her credit card debt, her home was almost paid for.
33:21
Speaker 1: She recently picked out a new building for her daycare.
33:27
Speaker 1: She was not in any financial trouble, no drug or
33:31
Speaker 1: alcohol problem, which puts her in a different category of victim.
33:36
Speaker 1: What about it, Randy Kessler and Randy Also the fact
33:40
Speaker 1: that the scene was staged tells me it may not
33:44
Speaker 1: have been random. For instance, you and I have seen
33:46
Speaker 1: plenty of burglary's gone wrong. First of all, it's wrong
33:50
Speaker 1: to start with if you're burglarising at home but somebody
33:53
Speaker 1: comes in, they find the woman home and then they
33:57
Speaker 1: either kill her out of panic or then rape her
34:03
Speaker 1: or rape and kill her. But here, I mean, we
34:06
Speaker 1: could easily have had a burglary gone wrong. But typically, Randy,
34:11
Speaker 1: don't you agree that burglar will just high tell it?
34:14
Speaker 1: That's always with the dude. You know, that's why you help.
34:16
Speaker 1: You yell, screen, make noise, do whatever you can. You
34:20
Speaker 1: know they don't They don't want to get caught, right,
34:22
Speaker 1: I mean it's not they don't go into that business. Nancy,
34:25
Speaker 1: why you gave me the four per second? You're back
34:27
Speaker 1: on le Bron James, And I want to say, they're
34:29
Speaker 1: people in this world, great people like Lebron James and
34:31
Speaker 1: like Nancy Grace who see or experience tragedy and do
34:35
Speaker 1: something about it. And God bless him for doing something
34:37
Speaker 1: about it, and God bless you for you doing about it.
34:40
Speaker 1: And it all comes from the same place. You want
34:42
Speaker 1: to help. So I know that wasn't the question, but
34:44
Speaker 1: I've been dynasty of it. I really do, because thanks Randy,
34:48
Speaker 1: I really do, because when I heard that sister and
34:52
Speaker 1: the family, they're all just devastated and they still don't
34:57
Speaker 1: have answers to don't don't Joy Cross, I don't want
34:59
Speaker 1: to follow up on that. A loved one really can't
35:03
Speaker 1: finished grieving until you know what happened. So in their mind,
35:09
Speaker 1: the investigation is still going. This is unsolved. Yeah, that's
35:13
Speaker 1: the ambiguity. You know that we're always searching for the why,
35:17
Speaker 1: and you know, the family definitely needs to have those answers.
35:21
Speaker 1: Getting back to what Karen was saying about the staging
35:24
Speaker 1: of that scene, personality, why this individual appeared to have
35:30
Speaker 1: taken some time. This wasn't like a random come in,
35:34
Speaker 1: you know, fire three shots and then leave. There seemed
35:37
Speaker 1: to be like a time element where this individual was
35:40
Speaker 1: controlling this environment for maybe even a couple of minutes.
35:45
Speaker 1: But setting it up like that possibly you know, with
35:48
Speaker 1: the cell phone and the drink in the hand, that's
35:51
Speaker 1: very peculiar, I mean, and that's got to have some meaning. Man.
35:55
Speaker 1: I hope that they process that doctor Jorry crossing to
35:58
Speaker 1: see if there are fingerprints other than hers on the
36:01
Speaker 1: cell phone and the drink. And here's another fact I
36:06
Speaker 1: was talking about, did she fall forward? And how is
36:09
Speaker 1: she holding onto a cell phone and a drink? I
36:12
Speaker 1: now know I'm rereading evots about the scene they found
36:16
Speaker 1: Erica slumped on her bed, both feet dangling off the side.
36:24
Speaker 1: That's really peculiar, isn't it, doctor Tim Gallagher? Is true,
36:28
Speaker 1: but peculiar. She was still sitting on her bed, slumped
36:33
Speaker 1: over with her feet dangling off the side. Dead. She
36:38
Speaker 1: didn't fall over. Yeah, that is. That does speak to
36:42
Speaker 1: a stage scene, no doubt, you know. So. So to
36:47
Speaker 1: have somebody commit suicide or be killed in that position
36:51
Speaker 1: is highly unusual without the assistance of somebody placing them
36:55
Speaker 1: in that position. And the point of that, I'm not
36:58
Speaker 1: just fascinated by the fact that somebody would commit murder
37:00
Speaker 1: and then stage the scene. It indicates it was not
37:04
Speaker 1: random random killers. You come in, you blow up in
37:08
Speaker 1: there to steal stuff, You shoot somebody you want to
37:10
Speaker 1: get the hay out of their prompto. You don't take
37:12
Speaker 1: time to stage the scene. Liken John Man a Ramsey
37:18
Speaker 1: the killer wrote to Ransom notes a practice in a
37:24
Speaker 1: real one and then staged the scene of the body
37:28
Speaker 1: being found. That's extremely odd, very odd when you find
37:34
Speaker 1: a staged scene in my experience, agree or disagree, Karen,
37:39
Speaker 1: it's someone close to the victim, Somebody close to her,
37:43
Speaker 1: somebody knew who she was, somebody obsessed with her, somebody
37:46
Speaker 1: who knew her habit. Absolutely take a listen to more
37:52
Speaker 1: of what we know about this victim. Eric Oims, thirty
37:57
Speaker 1: seven year old Eric Oims always took this safe fraud.
38:01
Speaker 1: A bachelor's degree from Ohio State, a master's from Kent.
38:05
Speaker 1: She owned her own home at a daycare business. Children
38:09
Speaker 1: loved her and she adored them, despite being unable to
38:12
Speaker 1: have kids of her own. Most of all, she loved
38:15
Speaker 1: her family and traveling. And now her older sister Charmaine
38:22
Speaker 1: is left to unravel the mystery and just like seeing
38:26
Speaker 1: like she was, tell us if she was scared as something.
38:28
Speaker 1: Widespread news accounts of her death initially brought attention. Erica's brother, Brandon,
38:34
Speaker 1: was a Saint Vincent Saint Mary teammate of Lebron, James
38:37
Speaker 1: and Jane, was raised alongside the Weems. He considered Erica
38:41
Speaker 1: a sister. Everyone to understand the angel that we lost
38:47
Speaker 1: here on earth, but not as she's in a bigger place,
38:50
Speaker 1: and offered a tearful eulogy at her memorial service. We
38:54
Speaker 1: will find justice and we will get justice. I pray
38:57
Speaker 1: for justice in the murder of this beautiful girl, Erica
39:01
Speaker 1: Wims tip line three three zero three seven four twenty
39:05
Speaker 1: four ninety. We wait as justice unfolds. God willing, Nancy Grace,
39:11
Speaker 1: crime Stories, something Off. Goodbye friend.