Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / Sherri Papini Copycats? New California Kidnappings Examined
Transcript
- 0:09Speaker 1: They duct taped her legs and her arms and took
- 0:12Speaker 1: her from the residents. The victim was held captive for
- 0:17Speaker 1: more than four hours, then dumped on the block of
- 0:21Speaker 1: White Oak Avenue in Rosita. This Discrime Stories with Nancy Grace.
- 0:28Speaker 1: The woman was taken to a nearby hospital, where detectives
- 0:32Speaker 1: say she is too traumatized and too drugged to answer
- 0:35Speaker 1: their questions. Police still searching for those suspects. Two women
- 0:41Speaker 1: described as Hispanic women, one about five one the other
- 0:44Speaker 1: about six foot. There's more to the story, and I
- 0:48Speaker 1: think the investigation is gonna allow us to unfold that
- 0:52Speaker 1: part of the story. So called super Mom Sherry papp
- 1:00Speaker 1: Nie goes missing while her husband's at work and her
- 1:03Speaker 1: children are in daycare as normal that day so she
- 1:06Speaker 1: could go for a job. She never came home. Then
- 1:11Speaker 1: the internet trolls and others attacked her when she shows
- 1:15Speaker 1: up nearly three weeks later, just before Thanksgiving lunch, beaten
- 1:21Speaker 1: badly with the chain wrapped around her waist, chain to
- 1:24Speaker 1: an object, her hair cut off her head, many people
- 1:28Speaker 1: claiming it was all a big hoax. Then if it
- 1:32Speaker 1: is a hoax, why may I ask? Have other women
- 1:36Speaker 1: gone missing in the same. It's called the Emerald Triangle.
- 1:40Speaker 1: It's a region in northern California where Sherry Peppini vanished.
- 1:44Speaker 1: Now three other now four other women are missing. Hello, everybody,
- 1:50Speaker 1: Nancy Grace here with crime stories. I'm talking about Stacy
- 1:53Speaker 1: Smart goes missing, Jessica rugen Camp goes missing, Amy Snow
- 1:58Speaker 1: goes missing, and now a victim that will remain unnamed
- 2:02Speaker 1: goes missing and Van Nye. So they're all missing? Are
- 2:08Speaker 1: they all hoaxes? No? Amy Amy's body, Amy Snow's body
- 2:14Speaker 1: was found in the water, dead to a blow to
- 2:18Speaker 1: the head. Was it an accident? Maybe? Was there a fall? Maybe?
- 2:23Speaker 1: Amy Snow is dead, still missing, Stacy Smart, Jessica rogan Camp,
- 2:28Speaker 1: and another woman that claims she was dragged out of
- 2:32Speaker 1: her bed by two Hispanic women. Just what Peppini said. Now,
- 2:41Speaker 1: when I spoke to you about at first, Ellen Duke,
- 2:44Speaker 1: you seem to think that that was fantastical because she
- 2:48Speaker 1: said one woman was around five ft and the other
- 2:51Speaker 1: woman was around six ft. And let me just remind you, Alan,
- 2:56Speaker 1: I was had a judge that would tell every single
- 2:59Speaker 1: jury it is your duty to make all witnesses speak
- 3:03Speaker 1: the truth and imping perjury on no one. There are
- 3:07Speaker 1: a lot of reasons translation that this victim may have
- 3:12Speaker 1: thought the woman was six ft. Maybe she was lying
- 3:15Speaker 1: down and the woman was standing up. Maybe she wasn't
- 3:18Speaker 1: at eye level with her. Maybe she was in the
- 3:21Speaker 1: back of a van and the woman was driving and
- 3:24Speaker 1: she could only see her height based on her sitting
- 3:27Speaker 1: the purps sitting in a driver's seat. It could be anything.
- 3:29Speaker 1: It could be a man dressed as a woman. I
- 3:32Speaker 1: don't know the answer. But before I'm ready to throw
- 3:35Speaker 1: the baby out with the bathwater and say this newest
- 3:39Speaker 1: Sherry Peppini copycat victim is lying, I'd like to give
- 3:43Speaker 1: her the benefit of the doubt. Um, Alan, are you
- 3:48Speaker 1: familiar with Jessica Rojan Camp and the circumstances surrounding her disappearance?
- 3:56Speaker 1: Not like you are, then, let me remind you we're
- 4:00Speaker 1: talking about Sherry Peppini copycat kidnaps. Are they real? Jessica
- 4:07Speaker 1: Rojan Camp is in her car. She has a flat tire,
- 4:14Speaker 1: and you can very easily see that she stopped to
- 4:17Speaker 1: fix the tire. Her car is there on the side
- 4:22Speaker 1: of the road. She's gone out in the middle of nowhere. Um,
- 4:30Speaker 1: she is not that far away from where Chapini goes missing.
- 4:34Speaker 1: Now she's Jessica Rojan Campus from Anderson. Hasn't been seen
- 4:39Speaker 1: since around three a m. Saturday when she was driving
- 4:43Speaker 1: over to her friend's house. A wildlife worker finds her
- 4:47Speaker 1: car on the side of a highway on Sunday, unlocked
- 4:51Speaker 1: keys in the vehicle, flat tire. She was reported missing
- 4:56Speaker 1: by her mother on Monday through the Anderson pol Department.
- 5:01Speaker 1: She has not used her phone to receive or make
- 5:05Speaker 1: phone calls in days. It's a remote area, she knows
- 5:09Speaker 1: her way around. She took her daughter up there, I
- 5:11Speaker 1: guess hiking just after Thanksgiving. Now where is She's only
- 5:17Speaker 1: about twelve miles from where Peppini was abducted by two
- 5:22Speaker 1: Hispanic women. Now, are you telling me that you don't
- 5:26Speaker 1: see the possibility of a connection, Alan No, I absolutely
- 5:30Speaker 1: do in this case, In this case that you're now relating,
- 5:34Speaker 1: it is very disturbing and the possibility of a connection
- 5:39Speaker 1: is a real I mean, when you look at Rougen
- 5:41Speaker 1: Camp as well, there are startling similarities to Peppini. White female,
- 5:46Speaker 1: long blonde hair, um very similar in their facial features.
- 5:52Speaker 1: And that's not all I mentioned Amy as well. Now
- 5:58Speaker 1: I don't know the circumstances, what they determined in the autopsy,
- 6:02Speaker 1: but I know that she had a blow to the head.
- 6:05Speaker 1: She went missing the same Emerald Triangle area. Explain to
- 6:10Speaker 1: me what that is, Well, that that's that's a very
- 6:13Speaker 1: green area. Maybe that's what they mean by Emerald. Yeah,
- 6:16Speaker 1: I think that is it rolling hills with big, beautiful
- 6:19Speaker 1: trees and green, green grass, unlikely we get in the
- 6:22Speaker 1: desert of southern California. Then there's also the woman Stacy
- 6:26Speaker 1: Smart and the woman I'm just referring to it as
- 6:30Speaker 1: Van Nice, the Van Nice. What what did the Van
- 6:33Speaker 1: Nice victims say? The Van Nuys victim initially, and this
- 6:37Speaker 1: was just a few days ago, this was last Friday.
- 6:40Speaker 1: Initially was found at a very busy intersection, partially nude
- 6:45Speaker 1: and bound by duct tape. Had been dropped off by
- 6:48Speaker 1: a white suv. She said to police on Friday that
- 6:53Speaker 1: she had been kidnapped from a home about four five
- 6:57Speaker 1: miles away about four hours earlier. That she had been taken.
- 7:01Speaker 1: It was her understanding at the time. She said that
- 7:03Speaker 1: she was going to be enforced into prostitution, but for
- 7:07Speaker 1: some reason they let her go and she was rescued.
- 7:11Speaker 1: She said she did not know the two women who
- 7:14Speaker 1: kidnapped her. She said it was two Hispanic women, one
- 7:18Speaker 1: five ft one inches one nearly six ft tall, and
- 7:23Speaker 1: she was taken to a hospital to be treated for trauma.
- 7:26Speaker 1: And also she seemed to be under the influence of
- 7:30Speaker 1: some sort of drugs. The police had a hard time
- 7:32Speaker 1: understanding her, and that's where they first told us the
- 7:36Speaker 1: media about it last weekend. You know, I'm curious because
- 7:40Speaker 1: she says it was a white van and Sherry Peppini
- 7:44Speaker 1: said it was a black suv. Now Peppini goes missing
- 7:48Speaker 1: a couple of weeks before Thanksgiving, Rogan Camp goes missing
- 7:51Speaker 1: a few weeks after that. I have a few issues
- 7:55Speaker 1: with the Van Nice disappearance. It sounds so similar to
- 8:01Speaker 1: Sherry Papini's. You did your own investigation regarding the Van
- 8:05Speaker 1: Nuye copycat. What did you learn. I have been to
- 8:08Speaker 1: the scene of where she was allegedly kidnapped, where she
- 8:11Speaker 1: was dropped off. I was there just a short time ago,
- 8:14Speaker 1: and I also spent some time with the lead detective
- 8:18Speaker 1: of the l A p d, A, Detective Richard yep
- 8:21Speaker 1: who is at the Van Nuys headquarters. And your questions
- 8:26Speaker 1: about it are very well founded. I have this. He
- 8:28Speaker 1: allowed me to record an interview with him. Would you
- 8:31Speaker 1: like to hear what he says? Yes, yes I did.
- 8:33Speaker 1: Here we go. What can you tell me about this
- 8:35Speaker 1: alleged kidnapping of this woman in the Sherman Oaks van
- 8:38Speaker 1: Ys area. The information we have is it was not
- 8:40Speaker 1: a stranger typee nap, that there was a relationship between
- 8:45Speaker 1: the victim of the suspect. So this time we're trying
- 8:49Speaker 1: to follow up with the victim and re interview her
- 8:53Speaker 1: information and details as to what happened. As far as circumstances,
- 8:58Speaker 1: she was at an apartment and she went willingly, as
- 9:02Speaker 1: far as we know, she went willingly with these women,
- 9:05Speaker 1: and whatever whatever else happened happened we don't figure off.
- 9:09Speaker 1: And so she was just then discovered, found released whatever.
- 9:13Speaker 1: I guess. That's four or five miles away, Yes, several
- 9:15Speaker 1: miles away from where she was picked up. She was
- 9:18Speaker 1: dropped off, and we don't know the details in between.
- 9:21Speaker 1: I understand that you've not been able to reach her
- 9:24Speaker 1: since then. Well, you know, they have a phone number,
- 9:27Speaker 1: so we can't really call her seven address or did
- 9:29Speaker 1: do some follow ups and pouring the process to try
- 9:32Speaker 1: and locate her. So residents of this area don't need
- 9:35Speaker 1: to worry about a gang of kidnappers running around trying
- 9:37Speaker 1: to abduct them and put him into prostitution. Definitely not.
- 9:40Speaker 1: That's not going on out here in vanus You're familiar
- 9:43Speaker 1: with Sherry Peppini case up in northern California. This does
- 9:47Speaker 1: this have any residence to that. No, we have no
- 9:50Speaker 1: evidence to indicate that these suspects were involved in the
- 9:53Speaker 1: Peppini case up north. So this is what we found out.
- 9:58Speaker 1: That is that this woman who claims to have been
- 10:00Speaker 1: kidnapped here in Van Nuys where I am right now,
- 10:04Speaker 1: can't be found now Now, Detective Yep wasn't passing any
- 10:08Speaker 1: judgment on whether she was willingly, but it sounds like
- 10:11Speaker 1: you are whether she let me tell you something, Let
- 10:15Speaker 1: me tell you something before you jump on the bandwagon
- 10:18Speaker 1: and attack this victim. I recall distinctly trying a child
- 10:23Speaker 1: prostitution busting a child prostitution ring. I was on the
- 10:27Speaker 1: street work in that case with vice detectives for I
- 10:30Speaker 1: don't know how many months until I finally find this
- 10:33Speaker 1: thirteen year old girl. When I first saw her Alan Duke,
- 10:38Speaker 1: I thought she was thirty five year old woman. She
- 10:40Speaker 1: had on a mini skirt up to her rear end.
- 10:45Speaker 1: She had on those plastic looking shiny boots up to
- 10:50Speaker 1: her mid thighs, like pretty woman. Work said, these were white.
- 10:53Speaker 1: I mean the we've the eyelashes, the makeup. I said. Okay,
- 10:57Speaker 1: so where's the girl, because she's in there, I went,
- 10:59Speaker 1: but I said, is a girl. I could not see
- 11:02Speaker 1: that this was a thirteen year old girl. Okay, we
- 11:05Speaker 1: finally get to trial. I got a mistrial in my
- 11:08Speaker 1: opening statement because I called the perpetrator a pimp, which
- 11:12Speaker 1: he was, but he wasn't charged with that. He was
- 11:15Speaker 1: charged with statutory rape. Okay. Had to mistry the case,
- 11:20Speaker 1: take the case back to a grand jury, got them
- 11:23Speaker 1: to add a pimping charge, and then retried it so
- 11:27Speaker 1: I could say he's a pimp in my opening statement. Okay,
- 11:30Speaker 1: That's how the whole thing started. But in the middle
- 11:33Speaker 1: of the case, it got time for me to finish
- 11:36Speaker 1: the state's presentation. It was time for me to put
- 11:38Speaker 1: the victim up, the child victim. She disappeared. She disappeared.
- 11:45Speaker 1: Can I tell you my me, my investigator, my mother
- 11:50Speaker 1: was up with me during the trial everybody I know,
- 11:54Speaker 1: cops on the case. We scoured the streets all night long,
- 12:00Speaker 1: two nights. We found the girl. Why did she disappear?
- 12:04Speaker 1: Because she was afraid? Put her on the stand. It
- 12:09Speaker 1: was excruciating, but I did it, got a conviction and
- 12:15Speaker 1: all three perpetrators went to jail. Now, that is an
- 12:19Speaker 1: example of a victim disappearing, A legitimate victim disappearing. So
- 12:25Speaker 1: you know, don't tune up with me about she's not
- 12:29Speaker 1: a victim because she didn't give a phone number and
- 12:31Speaker 1: police can't find her. I didn't say she wasn't a victim.
- 12:34Speaker 1: I'm saying she wasn't a victim of kidnapping apparently. But
- 12:38Speaker 1: I will tell you that what you just said makes
- 12:40Speaker 1: perfect sense. If you say she's not a victim of kidnapping,
- 12:43Speaker 1: how are you saying she's not a victim. I didn't
- 12:44Speaker 1: say she's she she I didn't say she's not a victim.
- 12:47Speaker 1: She doesn't appear to be a victim of kidnapping based
- 12:49Speaker 1: on what I'm hearing now. But what she what you
- 12:52Speaker 1: just said is perfect context for what very likely could
- 12:55Speaker 1: have happened, because what they're saying now is when she
- 12:58Speaker 1: was initially found, she was saying she didn't know the kidnappers,
- 13:02Speaker 1: but that she was kidnapped. But what we're finding out
- 13:04Speaker 1: now by the follow up investigation, that we're able to confirm,
- 13:07Speaker 1: is that she went willingly with these women, and they
- 13:11Speaker 1: know who these women are and they are persons of interest,
- 13:15Speaker 1: but they can't find this victim. Well, I can tell
- 13:19Speaker 1: you this, Alan, I hear that tone in your voice,
- 13:23Speaker 1: and you did say she she's not a victim of kidnapping.
- 13:26Speaker 1: I don't know how you think that's different than saying
- 13:29Speaker 1: she's not a victim but a woman thrown out on
- 13:32Speaker 1: the strings of naked. I don't think she did that
- 13:36Speaker 1: on her own. I would agree with that, But it's
- 13:39Speaker 1: not kidnapping. How do you know that in that sense?
- 13:41Speaker 1: She is a victim, But it's not this stranger kidnapping
- 13:48Speaker 1: that she described a police apparently based on what they're finding.
- 13:52Speaker 1: So you think kidnapping has to be a stranger. What
- 13:55Speaker 1: about parental kidnap of a child? Is that not a
- 13:57Speaker 1: kidnapping to you? Not this kind that she she She
- 14:01Speaker 1: apparently said some things, but the fact that she did
- 14:04Speaker 1: not tell the police that she knew these people, I
- 14:07Speaker 1: think is I don't like you as much as I did.
- 14:10Speaker 1: I think this isn't okay. Let me talk. I think
- 14:13Speaker 1: this isn't Nancy. The fact that she felt compelled to
- 14:20Speaker 1: tell a story other than what they're finding out now,
- 14:23Speaker 1: I think does indicate what exactly what you said. She
- 14:27Speaker 1: could be a person who was under the duress and
- 14:30Speaker 1: was afraid of these people. But apparently according to the
- 14:35Speaker 1: kidnapping though, that's what I keep asking you when you
- 14:38Speaker 1: just talk about something not the kind of kidnapping that
- 14:40Speaker 1: they that she said that she was, and she went
- 14:42Speaker 1: willingly with these people. And four hours after she went
- 14:46Speaker 1: willingly with these people, she left their vehicle. They let
- 14:50Speaker 1: her go. The detective tells me that she left willingly
- 14:55Speaker 1: with them. That is the evidence and the belief of
- 15:00Speaker 1: lead detective. That's just like a date rape case. You
- 15:03Speaker 1: go on a date willingly. That does not mean you
- 15:05Speaker 1: consent to being raped. Just because she may have walked
- 15:08Speaker 1: out her door with these people, How do I know
- 15:11Speaker 1: what they wanted her to do? You have two things
- 15:13Speaker 1: going on here. A police believe that she did not
- 15:17Speaker 1: tell them the truth that first interview, and b she's
- 15:22Speaker 1: not around for a second interview, and so therefore your
- 15:27Speaker 1: conclusion conclusion is that she is afraid of these people,
- 15:31Speaker 1: that something did happen. They did do something to her,
- 15:34Speaker 1: and she's afraid of it. Is not what you told
- 15:37Speaker 1: me at the beginning before we started this podcast. You
- 15:40Speaker 1: were all about, well, maybe you convinced me, maybe you
- 15:43Speaker 1: changed my mind. Nancy, let me remind you of something else.
- 15:47Speaker 1: Under the law, it doesn't matter if you move someone
- 15:52Speaker 1: one inch or one thousand miles during a kidnap. The
- 15:57Speaker 1: degree of movement or asport patient as it is called
- 16:00Speaker 1: under the law, is irrelevant. If I take you and
- 16:04Speaker 1: lock you in a closet and I moved you ten
- 16:08Speaker 1: ft to do it, that is a kidnap and false imprisonment.
- 16:12Speaker 1: By the way, So what I'm saying is if she
- 16:15Speaker 1: went with these people and then she finds out, hey,
- 16:19Speaker 1: what do you think about turning tricks, and she's like no,
- 16:24Speaker 1: and all of a sudden, h E double l breaks loose,
- 16:28Speaker 1: that's a kidnapping. If they drive her one inch in
- 16:31Speaker 1: that white van, that is a kidnapping under the law.
- 16:35Speaker 1: I'm not too big of a person to admit that
- 16:37Speaker 1: you have actually convinced me of something. Here, listening to
- 16:41Speaker 1: your recount of the trial, that you went through with
- 16:44Speaker 1: a thirteen year old. Yes, that actually puts it into
- 16:47Speaker 1: my mind that it may be something like that. This
- 16:49Speaker 1: wasn't a thirteen year old girl, but this was a
- 16:51Speaker 1: twenty something woman. You're week alan, You're week You're weak,
- 16:55Speaker 1: You've changed your mind just like that week. That's just
- 16:59Speaker 1: that's just strang makes to your spring, your experience. Look,
- 17:03Speaker 1: I'm telling you there is this whole thing of this
- 17:08Speaker 1: whole thing of underage women girls rather being forced into
- 17:13Speaker 1: sex slavery is a huge problem, and and and one
- 17:17Speaker 1: that I am. You know what's crazy, And you've got
- 17:19Speaker 1: a daughter. I've got a daughter. People think it doesn't
- 17:22Speaker 1: happen to them. It's a huge problem in this country,
- 17:25Speaker 1: in our cities. You know, the biggest hub of of
- 17:29Speaker 1: sex trafficking is the Atlanta Jackson Hartsfield Airport. Did you
- 17:33Speaker 1: know that? I do not know that. It's insane. Nancy,
- 17:37Speaker 1: Delta Airlines trains every one of their employees to spot
- 17:40Speaker 1: signs of this sex trafficking on their planes and in
- 17:45Speaker 1: their airports, and they're a leader in that. And I
- 17:48Speaker 1: learned so much by attending their training. It is a
- 17:52Speaker 1: huge problem. It's everywhere and anything that anybody can do
- 17:57Speaker 1: to raise awareness to that is important. Okay, we're raising
- 17:59Speaker 1: awareness to it right now. A lot of times Alan
- 18:03Speaker 1: people think their children and this irks me no end.
- 18:08Speaker 1: When police, God bless them, because that's all that stands
- 18:12Speaker 1: between us and evildoers. Um say that a girl is
- 18:17Speaker 1: a runaway. How many people do you know? Oh, they
- 18:20Speaker 1: ran away? We hear this. She ran away. She's fourteen,
- 18:22Speaker 1: she's thirteen, she's twelve, she's fifteen. She ran away. She
- 18:25Speaker 1: didn't always run away. She may have gone to the
- 18:28Speaker 1: mall on her own. She may have gone to an
- 18:31Speaker 1: arcade or shopping. They have been taken as sex slave,
- 18:36Speaker 1: sex trafficking. I used to think that was so far fetched.
- 18:40Speaker 1: It's not. Now that I look at the statistics, I'm shocked, shocked.
- 18:45Speaker 1: And what's happening in Atlanta Airport because it's such a
- 18:49Speaker 1: huge airport. People are coming in through that international terminal
- 18:52Speaker 1: with children from overseas as well, and then putting them
- 18:56Speaker 1: out on the market here in the US. Sick, sick,
- 19:01Speaker 1: and one of the important things that has been happening.
- 19:03Speaker 1: And I've been following this in state legislature, including your
- 19:06Speaker 1: state of Georgia, where they have been changing the laws
- 19:10Speaker 1: so that when police pick up one of these thirteen
- 19:13Speaker 1: year olds, those thirteen year olds don't get charged with prostitution.
- 19:16Speaker 1: They're treated as victims. They shouldn't. They shouldn't be. Um, Okay,
- 19:21Speaker 1: what we're talking about is a so called Sherry Peppini
- 19:24Speaker 1: copycat kidnapped that went down not too far from where
- 19:28Speaker 1: Peppini was taken. We also have Rojan Camp and Stacy Smart.
- 19:34Speaker 1: These women have been kidnapped. Rojan Camp and Smart have
- 19:38Speaker 1: not been found. Snow was found dead. Now we've got another.
- 19:44Speaker 1: There's Peppini, Rojan Camp, Snow Smart, and the then nice
- 19:49Speaker 1: woman that we've been arguing about. Five women within this area.
- 19:54Speaker 1: This is what I know before I discredit a victim,
- 19:58Speaker 1: going to investigate it inside and out, upside and down.
- 20:02Speaker 1: It ain't over yet with this van nice victim, which
- 20:05Speaker 1: is not over yet, with Sherry Peppini, Stacy Smart still
- 20:09Speaker 1: not found, Rogen Camp still not found. I want to
- 20:12Speaker 1: thank you for being with us today on Crime Stories.
- 20:15Speaker 1: Nancy Grace signing off, Goodbye friend