Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / Desperate search for Wichita 5-year-old boy Lucas

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Desperate search for Wichita 5-year-old boy Lucas · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

0:05
Speaker 1: Climb Stories with Nancy Grace on Sirius XM Triumph Channel
0:09
Speaker 1: one thirty two. Wichita police and now the FBI are
0:12
Speaker 1: continuing to search for missing five year old Lucas from Nandez.
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Speaker 1: A new lead has investigators going through CH's in Creek
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Speaker 1: Park in northeast Wichita, several miles north of his home
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Speaker 1: where he was last seen. Was supposed to be sitting
0:24
Speaker 1: in his room condres at the shower and when she
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Speaker 1: checked on any was no longer there visit. His coat
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Speaker 1: and shoes are still on the scene and for ever
0:30
Speaker 1: wandered off before Hernandez was last seen around three pm
0:34
Speaker 1: on Saturday. He was reported missing three hours later. Wichita
0:38
Speaker 1: police searched the area around his home, even going door
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Speaker 1: to door searching homes currently which Top Police Department detectives
0:44
Speaker 1: continue to speak with family and follow up with any leads.
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Speaker 1: We're in shot. He's a sweet little boy and we're
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Speaker 1: just concerned for his safety. We don't know where he is.
0:56
Speaker 1: We went home safely. Plays help us. A little boy
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Speaker 1: just five years old. Can you remember your children when
1:04
Speaker 1: they were just five years old? I can't. A little
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Speaker 1: boy just five is missing. He disappeared from his home
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Speaker 1: while his stepmother was taking a nap. Lucas, age five,
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Speaker 1: reported missing. I Nancy Grace, this is crime Stories. Thank
1:27
Speaker 1: you for being with us. I want you to take
1:30
Speaker 1: a listen to Lucas's birthday celebration. Happy birthday, dear Lucy,
1:38
Speaker 1: Happy birthday to you. Blot your candle. Good job, but
1:45
Speaker 1: you're five years old tomorrow. But from that happy moment
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Speaker 1: we land here now today. What can we do to
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Speaker 1: solve the mystery of missing five year old Lucas. Lucas
2:01
Speaker 1: goes to play, says the stepmother, as she took a nap.
2:06
Speaker 1: The hunt for the missing five year old has turned desperate.
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Speaker 1: Lucas reported missing from his home in Wichita, Kansas by
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Speaker 1: his twenty six year old stepmother. The stepmother says she
2:17
Speaker 1: last saw the sweet little boy around three pm. She
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Speaker 1: took a shower and fell asleep. She wakes up three
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Speaker 1: hours later, Lucas gone, the back door open. Lucas lived
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Speaker 1: with his dad and the stepmother and the dad's home.
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Speaker 1: He's enrolled at Beach Elementary School. I'm looking at the
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Speaker 1: home right now. It looks to be a two or
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Speaker 1: three bedroom home, neatly kept. There on a corner police
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Speaker 1: quickly jump into action, using canines to search the home,
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Speaker 1: the surrounding neighborhood, and nearby park, but every clue has
3:01
Speaker 1: left the police empty handed. Please don't let this case
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Speaker 1: go cold. Imagine if they weren't safely tucked into bed
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Speaker 1: right now, if they were not at soccer or or
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Speaker 1: or gymnastics, or cheerleading or or piano. What if your
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Speaker 1: child was missing right now? How insane would you be?
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Speaker 1: What would you just run up and down the streets
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Speaker 1: screaming like an animal? Help me? Where is my child?
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Speaker 1: What would you do? Help me? Help them? First of you,
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Speaker 1: Chuck Roberts, Crime Stories, investigative reporter. First, let's start at
3:45
Speaker 1: the beginning. That's where every investigation starts. We've got to
3:49
Speaker 1: establish a timeline and the circumstances surrounding Lucas's disappearance start. Well,
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Speaker 1: the year old step on and she refers to herself,
3:59
Speaker 1: by the way, is a living girlfriend, not the step mom.
4:03
Speaker 1: But she's home alone. Her father is away on business.
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Speaker 1: He's a thirty three year old contractor. Uh. And she
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Speaker 1: last sees Lucas a five year old child, a real
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Speaker 1: sweet little kid with a speech impediment in his room
4:16
Speaker 1: around three o'clock Saturday afternoon, she goes to take a
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Speaker 1: shower and lays down, and when she wakes up, no Lucas.
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Speaker 1: She waits maybe two or three hours and calls police. Uh,
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Speaker 1: and they have had a search in three area parks
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Speaker 1: ever since, with canines and mounted horses and even drones,
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Speaker 1: but there's no sign of him. And she tells police
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Speaker 1: that he's never wandered off before. She waited three hours.
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Speaker 1: During the three hours, I assume the step mom was
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Speaker 1: looking for the little boy. And of course that's the
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Speaker 1: first thing you do. You look, you look, You look
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Speaker 1: through the house, and then you go, hey, is he playing?
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Speaker 1: You look under the bed, You look behind all the doors.
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Speaker 1: Then you go outside. Did he go outside? You look
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Speaker 1: in the cars, You look in the trunk. Did he
5:06
Speaker 1: somehow get in the trunk? You look around the swing set.
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Speaker 1: Then he's not there. Maybe you look back in the
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Speaker 1: house again, as he played a trick. Then you start
5:14
Speaker 1: looking further and further out out through the neighborhood. You
5:18
Speaker 1: go to the playground. Where else could he be? Three
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Speaker 1: hours later, she calls police. Now, what was the last
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Speaker 1: thing you were saying, Chuck roberts Well, she tells police,
5:27
Speaker 1: that the little boys never wandered off before, and that
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Speaker 1: his coat and shoes are still in the house, so
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Speaker 1: apparently he's barefoot. His shoes are still in the house,
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Speaker 1: and shoes in the house. It's apparently cold outside. Do
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Speaker 1: we know the tempt there? I mean, how cold was
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Speaker 1: it that it struck her that his coat was in
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Speaker 1: the home. But you can't count on a five year
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Speaker 1: old child to put on their coat, because you know
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Speaker 1: how much I had to struggle and argue with Lucy,
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Speaker 1: my little girl, to put on a coat or a sweater.
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Speaker 1: It was. It was a knock down, drag out. Once
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Speaker 1: or twice I would say, okay, fine, go out without
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Speaker 1: a coat, and then the whole time I felt horrible.
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Speaker 1: This only happened twice. And then I told Lucy that
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Speaker 1: somebody's going to report me to de Facts Department Family
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Speaker 1: Children's Services if she went out without a coat again.
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Speaker 1: And um, as a matter of fact, just so you know, chuck,
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Speaker 1: that night I called the house phone from my cell
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Speaker 1: phone and I answered and pretended it was de Facts
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Speaker 1: calling about her being spotted out at Target without a coat.
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Speaker 1: Can I tell you she's never done it again? In fact,
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Speaker 1: she's now gotten obsessively attached to a fleece, and she's
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Speaker 1: stuffed the pockets full of like ten things of chapstick.
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Speaker 1: She wears the fleece everywhere. I'm getting off topic, Jack,
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Speaker 1: What was the temperature? Quickly? Oh? My stars, right now
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Speaker 1: it's twenty nine degrees, So now I get it. And snowing,
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Speaker 1: no wonder, she thought, she realized, of course, I mean
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Speaker 1: to Joseph Scott Morgan, it's twenty nine degrees right now.
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Speaker 1: It's snowing there. So of course you noticed that the
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Speaker 1: coat wasn't there. What would happen if he's out wandering
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Speaker 1: around without a coat in that temperature, you know, Nancy,
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Speaker 1: at those temperatures twenty nine degrees fahrenheit with snow as
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Speaker 1: we're looking at right now. Uh, we're talking about hypothermia
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Speaker 1: where uh it's it's unsustainable. That's why this is so critical.
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Speaker 1: And what I mean by unsustainable is it would not
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Speaker 1: take very long for a tiny little child like this
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Speaker 1: to succumb to the elements. Uh. If there's snow on
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Speaker 1: the ground in particular, and I don't know what status
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Speaker 1: in which Tall has been for the past several days,
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Speaker 1: that adds another layer to this he's barefooted. Uh. We're
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Speaker 1: talking about things not just hypothermia, but also frost bite. Uh.
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Speaker 1: So it is critical that that they find this child
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Speaker 1: as soon as possible. I'm just hoping that someone has
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Speaker 1: wrapped him up. He's in a safe, secure place at
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Speaker 1: this point. Well, I've got so many questions and I
8:15
Speaker 1: don't want to um put the cart for the horse.
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Speaker 1: Let me and my assumptions. Let me get the rest
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Speaker 1: of the facts as we know them now with me.
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Speaker 1: Chuck Roberts, Crime Stories, investigative reporter, Joseph Scott Morgan, forensics expert,
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Speaker 1: Professor of Forensics at Jacksonville State University. Dr Carol Lieberman,
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Speaker 1: forensic psychiatrists and veteran trial lawyer Wendy Patrick joining us
8:39
Speaker 1: out of California. I want to get back to the
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Speaker 1: facts and then we can try to make some kind
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Speaker 1: of analysis. Take a listen to what police say when
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Speaker 1: they realize five year old Lucas is gone. There's with
8:51
Speaker 1: a heavy heart, I'm here with you today, still missing.
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Speaker 1: It's five year old Lucas Fernandez, Lucas with last thing.
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Speaker 1: We're in black sweats, white sox and a gray shirt
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Speaker 1: with a bear on it. Our thoughts and prayers remain
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Speaker 1: with Lucas and Lucas's family as we are diligently investigating
9:13
Speaker 1: the situation. On Friday, February seventeenth, that approximately six fifteen
9:18
Speaker 1: officers were dispatched to a lost juvenile call at a
9:21
Speaker 1: residence in the six hundred block of South Edgemore. When
9:25
Speaker 1: they arrived, they made contact with the twenty six year
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Speaker 1: old female who is the stepmother of Lucas. She reported
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Speaker 1: to officers that she last saw Lucas in his bedroom
9:35
Speaker 1: at approximately three pm, prior to her showering and falling asleep.
9:42
Speaker 1: Officers and canine units have Dylan dylantly checked the home
9:46
Speaker 1: and the neighborhood with no luck of locating Lucas at
9:50
Speaker 1: this time. Currently, which top Police Department detectives continue to
9:55
Speaker 1: speak with family and follow up with any leads regarding
9:58
Speaker 1: this unfortunate situation. Additionally, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has
10:04
Speaker 1: sent in resources as well as their Child Abduction Rapid
10:08
Speaker 1: Deployment Team the CARD Team known as the CARD Team,
10:11
Speaker 1: to assist us with this investigation. Also, the Emergency Operation
10:16
Speaker 1: Command Center has been activated. So we are asking the
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Speaker 1: community which has any information regarding this case, so please
10:24
Speaker 1: call tips into three one six, three, three four, six
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Speaker 1: six one, and there will be individuals at our employment
10:34
Speaker 1: or excuse me, emergency operation command center to answer those tips.
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Speaker 1: Photographs of Lucas are poke posted on the WPD, Facebook
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Speaker 1: and Twitter pages. I know many of the community have
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Speaker 1: shown willingness to come and take part in a search party,
10:50
Speaker 1: and we do appreciate the willingness of the citizens to
10:52
Speaker 1: come and help us in this investigation. However, at this point,
10:57
Speaker 1: we're asking citizens to share the information on the social
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Speaker 1: media pages and called the tip line with any information.
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Speaker 1: We do currently have investigators and officers that are continuing
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Speaker 1: to search the area for Lucas. Police reaching out to
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Speaker 1: the community and across the airwaves to us and now
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Speaker 1: to you that tip line three one six, three eight,
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Speaker 1: three four six six one three one six three eight
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Speaker 1: three four six six one. As the minutes tick, the
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Speaker 1: outcome gets worse. We know when a child is taken
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Speaker 1: after the first seventy two hours, there most likely have
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Speaker 1: been killed. We don't know that. We do not know
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Speaker 1: that about Lucas, and hope goes on. I'm curious as
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Speaker 1: to why an amber alert was not issued immediately, but
11:57
Speaker 1: police respond by saying they don't have any evidence that
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Speaker 1: he was kidnapped. Okay U, Joe Scott, Carol Lieberman, Wendy Patrick,
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Speaker 1: Chuck Roberts. Back to you, Chuck, So police start a search.
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Speaker 1: Tell me about the search. Where have they searched, Chuck Roberts.
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Speaker 1: They've searched three city parks. One was a huge park
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Speaker 1: not far from an apartment complex where the couple lived
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Speaker 1: as recently as last spring. Uh. And then they found
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Speaker 1: out through other parts and they used horse patrols and
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Speaker 1: tennes and and foot patrols. They have asked that there
12:30
Speaker 1: be not any organized civilian searches. They only want tips
12:33
Speaker 1: on the phone. They don't want people out wandering around
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Speaker 1: and perhaps you know, destroying I guess important evidence. But
12:40
Speaker 1: no signs so far. It's been several days. And as
12:43
Speaker 1: you say, as you say the weather is clearly deteriorated,
12:47
Speaker 1: then uh, As of course it does. In every investigation.
12:51
Speaker 1: The finger appointing starts as it should when you're looking
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Speaker 1: for answers. Nothing and nobody is beyond suspicions and or reproach.
13:01
Speaker 1: In a case when a child is missing in their
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Speaker 1: life is on the line. Lucas goes missing from his
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Speaker 1: family home in the eight hundred blocked South Edgemore, Wichita, Kansas.
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Speaker 1: As you know, in that area there are great swaths
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Speaker 1: a rural terrain. Lucas last seen three PM in his
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Speaker 1: own bedroom. He's only five. He's only five, and I
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Speaker 1: can remember at five my children being snaggle toothed and beautiful,
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Speaker 1: and just watching them fall asleep at night and swearing
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Speaker 1: to my Holy Father that they look like angels. He's
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Speaker 1: four ft tall, sixty pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes.
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Speaker 1: Way in, Joe Scott Nancy. I gotta tell you for me,
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Speaker 1: as an investigator, one of the things that i would
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Speaker 1: want to do is the first thing I'm gonna start
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Speaker 1: with is his home. I'm gonna rip that thing to pieces.
14:07
Speaker 1: And as horrible as the sounds, uh, I would have
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Speaker 1: to begin to explore this area that they lived in
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Speaker 1: relative to any kind of predators that might live in
14:19
Speaker 1: this area. And the police are gonna have their finger
14:21
Speaker 1: on the pulse of this, and I'm gonna get some
14:24
Speaker 1: answers from these individuals, no matter what it takes, because
14:27
Speaker 1: right now this is not this is not necessarily an
14:31
Speaker 1: evidentiary search. This this is a this is a life
14:36
Speaker 1: saving search. At this point, I'm going to use every
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Speaker 1: resource like Chuck was talking about just a moment ago
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Speaker 1: at my disposal, and I have no doubt that the
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Speaker 1: Witchtop police are and we're going to expand this search
14:46
Speaker 1: out and just drag Dragonette as you will, through this
14:50
Speaker 1: area to try to to try to try to overturn
14:54
Speaker 1: anything or or flip over any rocks that we can
14:58
Speaker 1: to find any piece of evidence that's going a lead
15:01
Speaker 1: to Lucas's discovery. Back to you, Chuck Roberts, I just
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Speaker 1: don't know how anyone could harm a little boy like this.
15:13
Speaker 1: I'm looking at his flyer now. He's last sing wearing
15:15
Speaker 1: a gray shirt with a bear on it, black sweats,
15:19
Speaker 1: and white socks. To Chuck Roberts, jos Cap Morgan just
15:24
Speaker 1: brought up the theory as he should, uh potential registered
15:29
Speaker 1: sex offenders in that area. Um, you know there are
15:36
Speaker 1: max that tell you the number of registered sex offenders
15:41
Speaker 1: in an area. It's very easy to do. You simply
15:44
Speaker 1: put in your zip code. Do we know the number
15:47
Speaker 1: of registered sex offenders in that area? I'm looking at
15:51
Speaker 1: it right now, the info that you sent me. It's
15:54
Speaker 1: eleven hundred and seventy one Chuck, is that the number
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Speaker 1: that you got eleven high hudred and seventy one registered
16:02
Speaker 1: sex offenders in Wichita? Is that the number you got, Chuck?
16:06
Speaker 1: It is? And the ratio of residents to sex offenders
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Speaker 1: in the city is three to one hundred and seventy
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Speaker 1: one sex offenders in which I'm just trying to take
16:21
Speaker 1: that number in very quickly. Attention, as it always does
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Speaker 1: to Wendy Patrick, veteran California prosecutor, attention always turns to
16:32
Speaker 1: the family, the last person with the child. All right,
16:36
Speaker 1: The father's out of town, he travels for business, so
16:40
Speaker 1: the attention turns to the stepmother who's in the home.
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Speaker 1: That's not unusual, Wendy, No, it's not. I'll tell you
16:48
Speaker 1: what is a bit unusual here, though, Nancy, as I've
16:49
Speaker 1: been listening to the reporting, is the fact that there
16:51
Speaker 1: was a two to three hour delay between the time
16:54
Speaker 1: she noticed a little boy missing and the time she
16:57
Speaker 1: alerted authorities. And you've mentioned the play says that you
17:00
Speaker 1: would look, you look under the bed, in the car
17:02
Speaker 1: and all of the rooms. But if this is a
17:04
Speaker 1: little boy who doesn't make a practice of wandering off,
17:07
Speaker 1: particularly not in that type of temperature outside, it does
17:12
Speaker 1: make it more suspicious. Nancy, you would have waited two
17:14
Speaker 1: to three minutes, as I think would have some of
17:17
Speaker 1: the other some of your listeners. Two to three hours
17:19
Speaker 1: is something that's going to be scrutinized with a fine
17:22
Speaker 1: tooth calm, because we live in a day and age
17:23
Speaker 1: where no one disappears without a trace. There's forensic evidence,
17:27
Speaker 1: there's eyewitness evidence, there's something to indicate foul play. So
17:32
Speaker 1: and and it's unfair sometimes that that this scrutiny focuses
17:35
Speaker 1: on the immediate family first. But if there's no signs
17:38
Speaker 1: of forced entry, we're gonna have to let that play
17:41
Speaker 1: out before we turn our attention to who else may
17:44
Speaker 1: have lived in the area, who could have done it well. Statistically,
17:47
Speaker 1: and you know this as well, Joseph Scott Morgan, that
17:51
Speaker 1: when people are killed, when people go missing, when people
17:53
Speaker 1: are harmed, it's typically by someone they know. That's simple statistics.
17:58
Speaker 1: Statistics are not allowed in court, but that's a rule
18:02
Speaker 1: of thumb cops go by, so naturally they start within
18:05
Speaker 1: the family. Now here's something I agree with every single
18:09
Speaker 1: thing Wendy Patrick just said. And I wanna tell a story,
18:14
Speaker 1: Joe Scott that you've heard a million times. Okay, So
18:19
Speaker 1: what Wendy said was you would have called nine one one.
18:22
Speaker 1: I would have called nine one one immediately as I'm
18:26
Speaker 1: searching outdoors, as I'm searching under the beds, after my
18:31
Speaker 1: first look around the house in the yard. Yes, i
18:34
Speaker 1: would call nine one one as I'm doing all that.
18:37
Speaker 1: Because now think about it, guys, there's a six hour lead.
18:42
Speaker 1: If somebody has that child. She slept for three hours
18:47
Speaker 1: and she waited two to three hours to call nine
18:51
Speaker 1: one one, that's six hours at the least. What about
18:55
Speaker 1: the shower at that end, you might be looking at
18:59
Speaker 1: seven hours. This woman entrusted with that child, the father
19:06
Speaker 1: leaves the child with the step mom. All right, seven hours?
19:14
Speaker 1: Yeah I'm mad. Yeah, my voice is raised. Seven hours
19:20
Speaker 1: go by and you don't know where the child is.
19:24
Speaker 1: Here's the story, Remember it like it was yesterday. I
19:30
Speaker 1: got shamed at the community swimming pool by some mom
19:33
Speaker 1: who made her own organic sun tannel lotion for her children.
19:38
Speaker 1: So I go to Babies or Us with the children.
19:42
Speaker 1: I'm alone with them, and the shelves there go really
19:46
Speaker 1: from the floor all the way practically to the ceiling.
19:48
Speaker 1: It feels like, so, I'm looking through the suntannel lotion.
19:51
Speaker 1: I can't find anything like that. I'm certainly not gonna
19:54
Speaker 1: make my own. Uh, and I'm bent down and I'm
19:58
Speaker 1: actually I think I was down on my knees looking
20:00
Speaker 1: on the very bottom shelf. The twins are playing right
20:03
Speaker 1: behind me. I dig through everything, intent to do the
20:07
Speaker 1: right thing. Finally don't find it. I stand up. I
20:10
Speaker 1: look again. I turned around and there's Lucy now John David.
20:15
Speaker 1: They were just to the point they could really walk,
20:18
Speaker 1: and it started to run. I flipped out. I had pridetice,
20:25
Speaker 1: carrying them both under my arms like football's. I picked
20:28
Speaker 1: Lucy up and started running, screaming at the top of
20:33
Speaker 1: my lungs to put the place in lockdown. Locked the doors.
20:37
Speaker 1: My son, my child, my baby was gone, screaming, crying.
20:42
Speaker 1: It was like a blur. I ran in my haste
20:47
Speaker 1: and my insanity ran past me. Was all the way
20:52
Speaker 1: at the end of like three aisles, down on the floor,
20:56
Speaker 1: were looking at something, and then you know, I started
21:00
Speaker 1: running back and forth, looking both ways down the aisles
21:03
Speaker 1: until I saw him. I remember that moment now. The
21:09
Speaker 1: investigation into the disappearance of Lucas has taken a sudden
21:15
Speaker 1: and abrupt and nefarious turn. I want to very briefly
21:22
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Speaker 1: I want you to hear now the turn the search
23:04
Speaker 1: for Lucas has taken. Let's just start with Lucas is great, aunt.
23:10
Speaker 1: It's not because I was a CPS investigator my help,
23:14
Speaker 1: you know, I would feel helpless. She was sent photos
23:17
Speaker 1: of Lucas last year and saw multiple bruises on his
23:20
Speaker 1: face and neck, so she says she called protective services.
23:23
Speaker 1: All these stories I've been hearing for months about him
23:26
Speaker 1: possibly being abused. She only got more concerned after the
23:29
Speaker 1: father and son came to New Mexico for work. She says,
23:32
Speaker 1: she and another relative saw more signs that the child
23:35
Speaker 1: was hurt, and so another report was filed in that state,
23:38
Speaker 1: and they investigated and had a forensic interview and all
23:41
Speaker 1: that kind of stuff and sent them. I guess the
23:44
Speaker 1: police didn't think there was enough evidence. When I first
23:46
Speaker 1: found out he was missing, I um was suspicious and
23:51
Speaker 1: then worried too. Renowned forensic psychiatrist Dr Carol Lieberman, this
23:59
Speaker 1: is just adding insult to injury. It's just making my
24:04
Speaker 1: heart break. I mean just got Morgan saved me a
24:08
Speaker 1: few moments ago when I broke down in tears about
24:10
Speaker 1: this four ft sixty pound little boy with the big
24:14
Speaker 1: brown eyes and the snaggle tooth smile missing. And now
24:19
Speaker 1: I hear this from the great aunt, Carol Lieberman. Why
24:24
Speaker 1: why didn't anybody act? Yes, that's the good question. Uh.
24:30
Speaker 1: DCFS has a tendency to leave kids in homes where
24:34
Speaker 1: they're going to continue to be abused, and to take
24:36
Speaker 1: kids from homes where they shouldn't have been taken. And
24:39
Speaker 1: that's my experience. But you know the fact that this
24:42
Speaker 1: great aunt saw bruises and reported him and so on.
24:45
Speaker 1: The answer to this, to his being missing, I think
24:48
Speaker 1: is to be found in that home. Um, not necessarily
24:51
Speaker 1: someone who abducted him. And I think the the step
24:55
Speaker 1: mother who wants to be called the living girlfriend is
24:59
Speaker 1: the first um stop for for suspicion, because, um, you know,
25:04
Speaker 1: look at that she wants to be called a living girlfriend. Um.
25:08
Speaker 1: She she wants to you know, um, take herself away
25:12
Speaker 1: from the idea of being a mother stepmother. You know that,
25:15
Speaker 1: And itself makes one think, well, does she not want
25:19
Speaker 1: this child to be in the house. Did she just
25:21
Speaker 1: want to be alone with the with the father? To
25:24
Speaker 1: Wendy Patrick, California Prosecutor, you take a woman in her
25:29
Speaker 1: early twenties and put her in the role of stepmother,
25:32
Speaker 1: she steadfastly, as Dr Carol Lieberman apt play correctly points out,
25:39
Speaker 1: wants to be referred to as the living girlfriend. That
25:43
Speaker 1: that signals to me as well. I hadn't thought about
25:45
Speaker 1: it until Carol said it a lot just that and
25:49
Speaker 1: I'm not a stepmother, I'm a living girlfriend. Well right there.
25:54
Speaker 1: To me, that's a clue. Everything is a clue, Wendy,
25:57
Speaker 1: every tidbit, every word, every circumstance, the shoes, the coat,
26:03
Speaker 1: the bruises, that this that it all gives me a picture.
26:07
Speaker 1: It gives me an answer to some degree. You stick
26:12
Speaker 1: a young girl in her early twenties as a stepmother.
26:15
Speaker 1: It sounds like did she not want to be the stepmother?
26:18
Speaker 1: I don't know, but she's take even the title of stepmother.
26:23
Speaker 1: And who would leave the child unattended for seven hours?
26:27
Speaker 1: You can't do that with a child, Yeah, you know.
26:31
Speaker 1: Dr Lieberman brought up an excellent point the fact that
26:34
Speaker 1: this this young mother to be as if she ever
26:38
Speaker 1: got married, would be the stepmother, but now she just
26:40
Speaker 1: wants to be called the living girlfriend. This is huge.
26:43
Speaker 1: If you don't take on the responsibilities, the enormous, awesome
26:46
Speaker 1: responsibilities of being a stepparent, you really wouldn't be investing
26:51
Speaker 1: the kind of care you should with the first thing,
26:53
Speaker 1: I thought it, did somebody come over? Did somebody come
26:56
Speaker 1: over and take the child so quickly that there wasn't
26:58
Speaker 1: even the time to find the shoe? And did this
27:01
Speaker 1: live in girlfriend know about it? That is an excellent
27:04
Speaker 1: piece of evidence that you know would come up if
27:06
Speaker 1: this case ever went to trial in terms of not
27:09
Speaker 1: only the type of care and supervision that was going
27:12
Speaker 1: on in that home, but whether or not there was
27:14
Speaker 1: any friend that stopped by another man to stop by.
27:18
Speaker 1: You don't even we could speculate. We don't have any
27:20
Speaker 1: evidence right now to back up any of those theories.
27:22
Speaker 1: But you're right to say that those clues start there
27:25
Speaker 1: right in the home as to who came and went.
27:27
Speaker 1: And that's an excellent point. Is you gotta look at
27:30
Speaker 1: the dynamics between how was this mother approaching her task
27:33
Speaker 1: of even watching that child. We know the mother, the
27:37
Speaker 1: biological mother had last visited about two months ago. I
27:44
Speaker 1: don't know if she lives out of state or what
27:45
Speaker 1: her position is, but I know she saw him a
27:48
Speaker 1: couple of months ago. And this is what the mother,
27:51
Speaker 1: which makes it all the more heartbreaking. You know the
27:54
Speaker 1: parents are split. She lives somewhere else, and now she's
28:00
Speaker 1: finds out her her baby's missing, and she hasn't been
28:03
Speaker 1: able to see him for two months. And you think
28:06
Speaker 1: about all that that time you've lost, She says, quote
28:11
Speaker 1: find my son. He's terrified of water, so the fact
28:15
Speaker 1: that search has moved to a park that surrounded by
28:18
Speaker 1: water terrifies me. Lucas is a sweet, sweet boy. Please
28:25
Speaker 1: find my son. The FBI has deployed its Child Action
28:30
Speaker 1: Rapid Deployment Team to help in the search, which torp
28:34
Speaker 1: D activated its Emergency Operation Command Center. Quote by the dad,
28:41
Speaker 1: Lucas is the sweetest, kindest, smartest, most gentle little boy.
28:45
Speaker 1: He loves school, he loves fishing, riding his bicycle, playing
28:49
Speaker 1: with his siblings. It makes me so proud to say
28:53
Speaker 1: I'm his father and we love him so much. He's
28:58
Speaker 1: a wonderful, helpful big brother. He's never been the type
29:02
Speaker 1: to run off without asking permission. He must be terrified
29:07
Speaker 1: being away from his family with no way of finding us.
29:12
Speaker 1: We are pleading, can you imagine what the parents are
29:17
Speaker 1: going through, the mother and the father. Take a listen
29:22
Speaker 1: to the most recent pressor from the police. We'd like
29:27
Speaker 1: to provide you an update on the Mission child case
29:30
Speaker 1: Bowl and cad year old Lucas Fernandez UH. This case
29:34
Speaker 1: is now considered a criminal investigation. Investigators have arrested a
29:38
Speaker 1: twenty six year old female on two counts of child
29:41
Speaker 1: and danger. Charges are related to new information togethered during
29:46
Speaker 1: this investigation. Officers and investigators have been working on his
29:50
Speaker 1: case NonStop since six fifteen Saturday evening. We have collected
29:55
Speaker 1: information through countless interviews, follow ups on leads, and examining evidence.
30:01
Speaker 1: This evidence. I'm sorry this incident has touched many in
30:05
Speaker 1: our community. I know that many. There are many more
30:08
Speaker 1: questions as a result of this are This continues to
30:12
Speaker 1: be a criminal investigation and we cannot go into further details.
30:17
Speaker 1: The search for Lacas Lucas is ongoing and we are
30:21
Speaker 1: still asking public for assistance. We continue to provide every
30:25
Speaker 1: resource that we have available to find Lucas. This is
30:29
Speaker 1: our priority. UH. If you have any information on where
30:33
Speaker 1: his whereabouts Please call this tipline number is three one
30:37
Speaker 1: six three eight three four six six one UM. As
30:43
Speaker 1: a result of this investigation too, we would also like
30:46
Speaker 1: to thank either those other agencies that have been assisting
30:49
Speaker 1: us over the past few days. Those are the FBI, KPI,
30:53
Speaker 1: the District Attorney's office and as such act of County
30:55
Speaker 1: Sheriff's office. So that at this point, yes, is that stepmother,
31:01
Speaker 1: That is the stepmother Emily Glass. It is twenty six
31:06
Speaker 1: year old Fee the endangering the child? Would that be
31:10
Speaker 1: endangering Lucas? That there are two children folds, so two
31:18
Speaker 1: separate counsels, she separate some mus two separate counisefer but
31:22
Speaker 1: one of the Lucas. One of those children is Lucas. Yes,
31:26
Speaker 1: we know what the other child is involved in the
31:29
Speaker 1: one from child? Is that her her daughter hum going
31:38
Speaker 1: to them? Do you consider at this point that his
31:42
Speaker 1: disappearance is likely going to be a homicide this point
31:46
Speaker 1: in time, we hope not. We hope that we are
31:50
Speaker 1: able to find Lucas and that he is alive and
31:53
Speaker 1: non or are you guys searching that? Uh? This investigation
31:59
Speaker 1: will can teamue on on as far as specific locations
32:02
Speaker 1: of various locations that I won't make any specific attentions.
32:07
Speaker 1: Can you elaborate on the nature of endangering the child,
32:10
Speaker 1: like was that leaving a child alone or the nature
32:13
Speaker 1: of it. I won't get into the investigation charges. When
32:20
Speaker 1: was she arrested? Choose wrestling book set? Do one more question?
32:28
Speaker 1: What information? And I guess when you gotta do that
32:30
Speaker 1: afformation that turned to do from investigation. This has been
32:33
Speaker 1: a result of as I mentioned, we started a six
32:36
Speaker 1: fifteen on this three days ago before they still and
32:41
Speaker 1: h so as a result of all the interviews and
32:44
Speaker 1: throughout the investigation stuff and talking with people, evidence that
32:49
Speaker 1: was collected and things as when we turn it into
32:52
Speaker 1: different restations, have you guys been able to verify her
32:58
Speaker 1: account of what happened and terms of her being the
33:00
Speaker 1: last person to see him again. That's all part of
33:03
Speaker 1: the investigation. I don't want to get into details of it, okay,
33:06
Speaker 1: and so I will discuss that part of it is
33:09
Speaker 1: there could be more charneys. There is possibility and more charges. Corpt.
33:14
Speaker 1: Lucas's stepmother, the Kansas boy missing, has been arrested on
33:20
Speaker 1: two accounts of child endangerment. According to Wichita, p D
33:25
Speaker 1: child endangerment, in other words, leaving the child unsupervised. Emily Glass,
33:31
Speaker 1: in her twenties, was arrested as police continue their search
33:35
Speaker 1: for Lucas, who she says was last seen in his
33:39
Speaker 1: own bedroom. Police say the charges faced by Glass are
33:44
Speaker 1: related to information they gathered during their investigation, which simply
33:49
Speaker 1: means not watching your child and they get lost. A
33:53
Speaker 1: hundred police officers searched the home, the neighborhood, and a
33:57
Speaker 1: two hundred and sixteen area Chisholm Creek Park. They have
34:02
Speaker 1: uncovered nothing to suggest Lucas was abducted. As you know,
34:10
Speaker 1: Lucas's great aunt, Sally rest Mussen, tells ABC she reported
34:16
Speaker 1: possible child abuse to Kansas Protective Services in May after
34:22
Speaker 1: seeing Lucas with apparently marks on his arms and cheeks.
34:28
Speaker 1: Why wasn't he protected? You know, that's a question. Joseph
34:35
Speaker 1: Scott Morgan, forensics expert and professor of forensics, you have
34:41
Speaker 1: testified in so many cases where children have been molested
34:45
Speaker 1: or abused. Do you know in all the cases I
34:50
Speaker 1: ever prosecuted where the purp was a family member, relative
34:54
Speaker 1: or relative, I've never once seen the spouse side with
35:01
Speaker 1: the child. Never Why why is that. I mean, I
35:08
Speaker 1: haven't shot target practice since I had to be licensed
35:13
Speaker 1: as a district attorney assistant district attorney. But you know,
35:19
Speaker 1: I would be sorely tempted, sorely tempted if anybody, anybody,
35:27
Speaker 1: including relatives, spouse, whoever, hurt my children. I don't under
35:36
Speaker 1: I don't understand. I mean, how can there be bruises
35:40
Speaker 1: all over? The child defects is called and nobody in
35:44
Speaker 1: the family acts. Yeah, I'm amazed by a Nancy the
35:49
Speaker 1: the idea that uh, no one acts upon this information.
35:53
Speaker 1: They're obviously witnessing these things. I think that it goes to, uh,
35:57
Speaker 1: this idea that you've bring you, You've brought this total
36:01
Speaker 1: stranger into your little family. And it's if you, if
36:06
Speaker 1: you you know, if you, if you admit anything here,
36:09
Speaker 1: you're admitting that that you've brought, uh brought the devil
36:13
Speaker 1: themselves into this environment, uh, for your own purposes, whatever
36:17
Speaker 1: it is. I'm I've never been based upon what I've
36:20
Speaker 1: seen working, you know, with a corner in New Orleans
36:23
Speaker 1: and the medical examiner in Atlanta. Over all these years
36:25
Speaker 1: and all these cases I've looked at, I've never been
36:28
Speaker 1: a big fan of the so called boyfriend and or
36:32
Speaker 1: girlfriend living in the house in the family milieu. I
36:36
Speaker 1: think that it's, uh, it's a dangerous concoction because it
36:40
Speaker 1: goes a lot to what you guys were saying. She
36:42
Speaker 1: did not want to be referred to as in this
36:45
Speaker 1: particular case, as a step mommy. Uh. You know this,
36:49
Speaker 1: this whole living girlfriend h idea is just absolutely absurd.
36:54
Speaker 1: And now my thoughts go to Lucas, Nancy. This poor
36:57
Speaker 1: little child who has a disability already, he's got trouble
37:02
Speaker 1: with his speaking, this sort of thing. He's heavily depended.
37:05
Speaker 1: His biological mommy is not around. She hasn't seen him, Nancy,
37:10
Speaker 1: in two months, man, And and here he is. He's
37:14
Speaker 1: the back doors open, it's freezing cold outside, there's snow
37:17
Speaker 1: on the ground, and this child has no one, no
37:21
Speaker 1: one that is fighting for him. And I hope that
37:25
Speaker 1: you know, anything that we can do to push this
37:27
Speaker 1: out there and just push this this idea that he's
37:31
Speaker 1: out there alone. I hope that I do, in my
37:33
Speaker 1: heart of hearts, hope that he has recovered. But I
37:36
Speaker 1: gotta tell you, Nancy, based upon cases I've seen like this,
37:39
Speaker 1: it's just yeah, it's sickening. It's absolutely sickening and heartbreaking.
37:44
Speaker 1: So many of us want children to love, do we not.
37:48
Speaker 1: We want children that we can take care of. And uh,
37:52
Speaker 1: just to see these broken and battered little children like
37:54
Speaker 1: this just makes me ill. Robert's Crime Stories investigative reporter.
38:00
Speaker 1: The little boy spoke to the aunt and described being dragged,
38:09
Speaker 1: According to the aunt, being dragged across the floor by
38:13
Speaker 1: the stepmother. Is that true? That is true. That's what
38:17
Speaker 1: she said. That he told her, and that that his
38:21
Speaker 1: step mom was awful mean to me was his exact words. Uh.
38:26
Speaker 1: And they've been at least two reports to Child Protective
38:30
Speaker 1: Services in in the Kansas area. Obviously they opened their file,
38:34
Speaker 1: but it's it's privileged information and and nothing can be
38:37
Speaker 1: released from that state agency to shed light on you know,
38:41
Speaker 1: what happened actually happened. But they also provided pictures of
38:45
Speaker 1: the bruises on his buttocks and his arm, and you
38:48
Speaker 1: can see them um plainly that they don't look very
38:53
Speaker 1: old actually, and they look fairly recent. If they knew,
38:57
Speaker 1: Wendy Patrick, California Prosecutor, if days knew, if the aunt
39:03
Speaker 1: knew what the father didn't know, Yeah, that's a question.
39:08
Speaker 1: Nancy that comes up in these cases. You know, I
39:10
Speaker 1: like what Joseph Scott Morgan said about boy. That is
39:13
Speaker 1: the worst case scenario when you just have a living
39:15
Speaker 1: girlfriend caring for someone else's child who's not only just five,
39:19
Speaker 1: but five with developmental challenges. Now, let's add to all
39:22
Speaker 1: of that, Nancy, what you just asked when there's also
39:25
Speaker 1: evidence of bruising and potential abuse. It's one of those
39:29
Speaker 1: cases where the reports were made. Thank god, we're not
39:32
Speaker 1: looking in retrospect and saying why didn't anybody report it?
39:35
Speaker 1: But does that reporting then led credence to the charges
39:39
Speaker 1: that have been filed about Well, now we're gonna think
39:41
Speaker 1: that this is probably something that was the fault of
39:44
Speaker 1: the living girlfriend as opposed to outside forces. I gotta
39:48
Speaker 1: tell that door being open in those conditions that is
39:51
Speaker 1: going to be a huge clue one way or another.
39:54
Speaker 1: Did he wander off looking for his mother because the
39:56
Speaker 1: girlfriend was being quote awful, mean to me in her
40:00
Speaker 1: own word, in his own words again, or is it
40:02
Speaker 1: a more nefarious explanation? And if the latter, why aren't
40:06
Speaker 1: there any forensic signs of anybody else being there? That
40:09
Speaker 1: is what makes the biggest mystery out of this case
40:12
Speaker 1: is so far the total lack of forensic clues. Well,
40:16
Speaker 1: Chuck Roberts, there were two incidents. First, the aunt sees
40:19
Speaker 1: bruising on the child's arm and she in a photo
40:24
Speaker 1: and she reports it. Then the father brings the child
40:28
Speaker 1: to visit into Mexico and she sees it again. That's
40:32
Speaker 1: two times. Do I have this vass Ackwards? There's this correct? No,
40:37
Speaker 1: that's for there. There were two separate charges. The most
40:40
Speaker 1: recent file last spring. And don't forget that. The biological
40:45
Speaker 1: mother and Emily last stepmother got into a fist fight
40:49
Speaker 1: last December and police were called to Beach Elementary Stars.
40:53
Speaker 1: That's the boys school. So they get into a fist
40:57
Speaker 1: fight at the school. Now, I can't say that I
40:59
Speaker 1: would not be above a fist fight if it came
41:01
Speaker 1: to my children. Okay, I'm just like that, Okay, just
41:05
Speaker 1: just enough crazy to punch you right in the mouth
41:09
Speaker 1: if you mess with my child. Okay, Now let's get
41:12
Speaker 1: back to the fist fight. Not judging what happened. Do
41:14
Speaker 1: we know what happened? I know it's at his school.
41:17
Speaker 1: It's between the girlfriend and the mother, the bio mom.
41:21
Speaker 1: Do we know anymore? Well, Apparently the bio mom, whose
41:26
Speaker 1: name is Jamie Or went to school to check on
41:29
Speaker 1: Lucas uh and found out that he had not been
41:32
Speaker 1: picked up as he was supposed to. And finally, belatedly,
41:37
Speaker 1: the stepmom, Emily Last, does show up and they get
41:39
Speaker 1: into an argument. Uh and blows are exchanged and police
41:43
Speaker 1: are called, but no charges were ever fired. Wait a minute,
41:45
Speaker 1: Wait a minute, the Jackie's in here mouthing something to me.
41:49
Speaker 1: Hold on, I missed, what what did? Okay? So the
41:52
Speaker 1: mom goes to the school. Jackie, just turned around in
41:54
Speaker 1: your swimble chair. Let me hear this. Just try to
41:57
Speaker 1: figure out what you're saying. Something about the step mom. Okay.
42:01
Speaker 1: So the mother, the bio mom, comes to Beach Elementary
42:06
Speaker 1: to check on the child. Okay, what happened? Well, she
42:11
Speaker 1: notices that the stepmother, Emily Glass, has not picked up
42:14
Speaker 1: Lucas and was supposed to, and the boy is just there,
42:18
Speaker 1: doesn't know what happened. Uh. And finally the step mom
42:22
Speaker 1: shows up and the two the biological mother and excuse
42:26
Speaker 1: me to step mom getting into blows and police are called,
42:29
Speaker 1: but eventually no charges are filed. Hold on, Chuck Roberts,
42:33
Speaker 1: the brawl, the fist fight, the hair fight that goes
42:36
Speaker 1: down at Beach Elementary between the the bio mom the girlfriend.
42:41
Speaker 1: That's not all we know about the self proclaimed living girlfriend.
42:47
Speaker 1: Hold on a moment. Happy birthday, dear lucyel, Happy birthday
42:53
Speaker 1: to you, glad your candle, good job, but you're five
42:59
Speaker 1: years old. Just so you know, that is the biological
43:04
Speaker 1: mother singing happy birthday to little Lucas on his last birthday. Um,
43:11
Speaker 1: back to Chuck Roberts. You were telling you about the
43:14
Speaker 1: hair fight, as I call it, when two women getting
43:17
Speaker 1: a fight, pulling each other's hair and scratching and all that.
43:20
Speaker 1: This was an outright fist fight. Uh they were not
43:25
Speaker 1: playing over the step mom not picking the child up
43:29
Speaker 1: on time, you know. Uh, just's gotta keep going back
43:33
Speaker 1: to you because you know my children. Um, they expect
43:36
Speaker 1: me to be the first one in line and pick up. Okay,
43:40
Speaker 1: that's what they think is normal. I like to get
43:44
Speaker 1: over there early if I can, and then I let
43:46
Speaker 1: the one is up at our work in the car
43:48
Speaker 1: and then they come out. Well if I'm not first,
43:53
Speaker 1: if i'm you know, ten minutes into the pick up,
43:57
Speaker 1: which you know can last an hour and a half
43:59
Speaker 1: for all those cars come ten minutes into it, they
44:03
Speaker 1: get the cars. Just look at me accusingly. And my
44:06
Speaker 1: sister in law, jam Um, married my brother Mac. They
44:12
Speaker 1: she would go pick up her Sam at a certain
44:16
Speaker 1: time every day from Mama Mullins. Okay, Mama Mullins took
44:22
Speaker 1: care of the children. Well, jam my sister, my sister
44:25
Speaker 1: in law, a school teacher. Well, jam would always be first.
44:28
Speaker 1: Well one day she was last. No, no, I don't
44:31
Speaker 1: even think she was last. There were a couple of
44:32
Speaker 1: little boys left. Anyway, she wasn't first. Sam, Well, he
44:38
Speaker 1: was like four, would not speak to her. The entire
44:42
Speaker 1: way home was you know, a long drive, and when
44:45
Speaker 1: you look at him, he'd look out the window. He
44:47
Speaker 1: wouldn't say anything. He just looked out the window. They
44:50
Speaker 1: take it very seriously. If it doesn't go, you know,
44:55
Speaker 1: let me throw this to you. Dr Carroll, Dr Carol
44:58
Speaker 1: Lieberman with me Forensics Psychi. Just author of a brand
45:01
Speaker 1: new book, Lions and Tigers and Terrorists. Oh my, Yes,
45:07
Speaker 1: that's it, Lions and Tigers and Terrorists, Oh my, on Amazon.
45:11
Speaker 1: Dr Carol. They get it a routine, and if that
45:15
Speaker 1: routine is thrown off, that that messes horribly with a
45:19
Speaker 1: child's head if they get off their routine. Why is that, Well,
45:23
Speaker 1: it's the routine, but also it's because in those seconds
45:27
Speaker 1: or minutes or you know, however long it is that
45:29
Speaker 1: they're waiting, Um, they get really scared that maybe mommy
45:34
Speaker 1: or daddy isn't gonna be picking me up today, maybe
45:36
Speaker 1: something happened to them. They feel abandoned, and so when
45:39
Speaker 1: they get angry, you know, they react by getting angry.
45:42
Speaker 1: It really has to do with their fear. I mean,
45:44
Speaker 1: you know, also, of course they want to think that
45:46
Speaker 1: they're the most important thing in every parent's life, but
45:49
Speaker 1: it really has to do with a reaction to the
45:51
Speaker 1: fear that they felt in the time that they were
45:53
Speaker 1: standing there scared. You know. Another issue is even an
45:57
Speaker 1: abusive parent or step parent or living girlfriend, even abusive,
46:05
Speaker 1: they still they they love the parents because that's that person,
46:09
Speaker 1: because that's all that they know. It's like an animal
46:12
Speaker 1: being mistreated, but they still respond when the master calls.
46:17
Speaker 1: It's just it's a bizarre scenario. But children don't know
46:20
Speaker 1: any better. You know what. Jackie is waving her arms
46:24
Speaker 1: at Chuck Roberts, Um, she apparently didn't like my stories,
46:29
Speaker 1: my personal story she's some for some reason, wants me
46:31
Speaker 1: to get back on track. Chuck Roberts crying stories of
46:34
Speaker 1: uts to get a reporter. You're gonna tell me about
46:36
Speaker 1: another incident? Was it regarding the girlfriend, excuse me, the
46:40
Speaker 1: living girlfriend? It was, yes, the year old arrested in
46:46
Speaker 1: late misdemeanor brawling and fighting. That charge was dismissed. But
46:51
Speaker 1: then the couple, Jonathan Hernandez and Emily Blast of the
46:56
Speaker 1: the custodial caregivers of Lucas, get into a fight uh
47:01
Speaker 1: in April at the witch guitar proper that they shared,
47:06
Speaker 1: and they were both arrested. She allegedly held a wooden
47:09
Speaker 1: axe handle. There was blood on the handle, but the
47:12
Speaker 1: officers couldn't determine who the primary aggressor was, so they
47:17
Speaker 1: dropped the charge against him, but they did hold her
47:20
Speaker 1: to account for it, and she was arrested in charge again.
47:24
Speaker 1: Mr Scott Wendy Patrick to you, Wendy Patrick, California prosecutor,
47:31
Speaker 1: veteran prosecutor. I know defense attorneys will go bersert, but
47:36
Speaker 1: when you don't know a horse, look at his track record.
47:39
Speaker 1: That's already two incidents documented by police. Well, now I
47:46
Speaker 1: guess let's say three, because there's the the incident with
47:50
Speaker 1: the father, there's the incident that she had a previous arrest,
47:55
Speaker 1: then there's the incident with the bio mom to just
47:58
Speaker 1: add to the humiliation of the child at the school.
48:01
Speaker 1: For Pete's sake, that's three, three incidents, and the child
48:07
Speaker 1: has popped up with two incidents of bruising that we
48:12
Speaker 1: know of in defects. Of course, did nothing. I don't
48:16
Speaker 1: know why we pay those people. But with the Patrick,
48:20
Speaker 1: that's a track record right there. Yeah, Nancy. The tricky
48:24
Speaker 1: thing with the track record like that is the prior
48:26
Speaker 1: instances of abuse have a far more likely chance of
48:29
Speaker 1: coming into evidence than the prior arrests of the suspected perpetrator.
48:34
Speaker 1: You and I have both just fought tooth and nail
48:36
Speaker 1: to make admissible prior bad acts, whether it's an arrest,
48:40
Speaker 1: whether it's a conviction. Judges often bend over backwards even
48:43
Speaker 1: to sanitize what a suspect has done in the past,
48:46
Speaker 1: in order to make sure the jurors only judged the
48:49
Speaker 1: case in light of the facts that have to do
48:50
Speaker 1: with the current incident. So the key here will be
48:52
Speaker 1: to make those prior incidents relevant to the charges that
48:56
Speaker 1: are being brought. It's an uphill battle, is one we
48:59
Speaker 1: always hope that we can fight and win, but it's
49:01
Speaker 1: not a given that the jurors will hear anything close
49:04
Speaker 1: to what the court of public opinion is going to
49:07
Speaker 1: learn about this case. I haven't even gotten that far
49:09
Speaker 1: in my head, Wendy Patrick. I'm still hoping, against hope
49:15
Speaker 1: that there's a chance Lucas can be brought home alive.
49:19
Speaker 1: That that's what I'm hoping. I'm worried. I'm afraid because
49:25
Speaker 1: of the weather. The weather is horrible even right now,
49:29
Speaker 1: it's twenty nine degrees and snowing there. So bottom line,
49:34
Speaker 1: unless he's with someone Joe Scott Morgan, he's perishing. In
49:39
Speaker 1: the elements. We were talking about the pattern that had
49:43
Speaker 1: developed over the past and how things are inadmissible right now,
49:47
Speaker 1: what I'm worried about is this child, this baby, because
49:51
Speaker 1: he is a baby's five years old, Nancy, And if
49:55
Speaker 1: you want to talk about patterns, we have a pattern
49:58
Speaker 1: uh involving this child of neglect. Uh. He's he's been struck. Uh,
50:03
Speaker 1: he's been witnessed to violence. Uh. And for me as
50:07
Speaker 1: an investigator and even bigger, you know, as a daddy.
50:11
Speaker 1: It's terrifying to me because I want to know where
50:15
Speaker 1: Lucas is. I want to know. I'm holding out hope
50:18
Speaker 1: and sending up prayers that he is in fact, intact
50:22
Speaker 1: out there somewhere, uh, still among the living. Uh. But
50:27
Speaker 1: if if worst case scenario, I want, I want to
50:31
Speaker 1: know going forward that I have an investigative information that's
50:34
Speaker 1: gonna give me an indication that I have how much
50:37
Speaker 1: violence has been involved and is an individual capable in
50:41
Speaker 1: his immediate circle of doing homicidal violence? Are they capable
50:47
Speaker 1: of disposing of remains that sort of thing, Because that's
50:51
Speaker 1: gonna give me a pattern that I can go to
50:53
Speaker 1: as a medical legal death investigator and try to determine
50:56
Speaker 1: his whereabouts. What are the possibilities that we're talking about
51:00
Speaker 1: all the courtroom uh lawyer uh, fighting back and forth
51:06
Speaker 1: and continuing on in court, and all that that can
51:08
Speaker 1: be solved at a later date. Right now, the focus
51:12
Speaker 1: is on Lucas. We have to find him, and we
51:15
Speaker 1: have to find him now. Please help us, all of
51:21
Speaker 1: you truckers out there, all of you on the road,
51:25
Speaker 1: please look for this boy, Please help us bring him home.
51:31
Speaker 1: I feel sick in my stomach, my head says, statistically
51:40
Speaker 1: an evidentiary wise, Lucas is gone from this world. But
51:46
Speaker 1: my heart says, maybe there is a chance. Tipline is
51:53
Speaker 1: three one six, three eight, three four six six one
52:00
Speaker 1: won six three eight three four six six one. Where
52:08
Speaker 1: is Lucas? Nancy Gray's crime story sighting of Goodbye Friend,