Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / PR EXEC-MOM ANTOINETTE VANISHES, LEAVES KEYS, CELL, DOG

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PR EXEC-MOM ANTOINETTE VANISHES, LEAVES KEYS, CELL, DOG · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Tonight, an urgent plea for your help after a PR exec,
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: mother of one, Antoinette Forbes, vanishes seemingly into thin air,
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: leaving behind her car keys, her cell phone, even her dog.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. I want to
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: thank you for being with us.
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: Antoinette Forbes, a respected professional and single mother, vanishes from
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: her DC home. When friends went to check on her
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: after she missed a weekly family call, they found her dog, car, phone, keys,
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: and wallet all still inside. Investigators spent days collecting evidence
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: from the home, and the search for Antoinette Forbes remains active.
• 0:48
  Speaker 3: Hi, my name is Aileen Forbes. I am Antoinette Forbes' sister.
• 0:52
  Speaker 3: Russell is a former partner of my sister's. and the
• 1:00
  Speaker 3: father of her son. It's been incredibly challenging for us.
• 1:07
  Speaker 3: These events have been horrific and devastating. Perhaps you know
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: that Antoinette did not tell us at all about the
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: assault in 2021, so just wrapping our minds around that,
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: it's unfathomable. We can't really conceive it. I didn't hear
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: about them until I saw some excerpts of the report
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: after my sister went missing. The report is horrifying. And
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: to tell the truth, I haven't had the time to
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: fully process that.
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: That is Antoinette Forbes's sister begging for help. We got
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: that from our friends at Fox and joining us in
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: All-Star Panel, joining us in the search for Antoinette Forbes.
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: her son without her tonight. Straight out to Ruben Castaneda
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: joining us, Assistant Editor, Investigations and Enterprise Team with The
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: Baltimore Sun. He is also an author of a bestseller,
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: S Street Rising, Crack, Murder and Redemption in D.C. Ruben,
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: thank you for being with us. What can you tell
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: us about her actual disappearance? She's got a 10-year-old son,
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: And according to family members, they tell us she would
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: never have left him. Never.
• 2:28
  Speaker 4: That's right.
• 2:30
  Speaker 5: She disappeared from an upscale D.C. neighborhood near American University
• 2:37
  Speaker 5: on Labor Day weekend. Her sister was in contact with
• 2:40
  Speaker 5: her daily up until her disappearance via phone calls or texts.
• 2:45
  Speaker 5: All of her friends and her sister say that she
• 2:48
  Speaker 5: would never, ever leave her dog unattended, and that she
• 2:55
  Speaker 5: is very devoted to her.
• 2:56
  Speaker 4: Son, who's 10 years old.
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: You know, Ruben Castaneda, that was certainly an understatement. I
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: remember when we were touring American University with the twins,
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: and it is stunning. The whole area is beautiful. These
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: huge trees, giant shrubs, perfectly manicured. It looks like you've
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: gone into some type of a wonderland. And what is
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: deceiving is that she's in this beautiful area, and this
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: is from our friends at WSA 9, in this lovely home,
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: seems like the perfect and idyllic life with her son,
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: just 10 years old, and now suddenly he doesn't have
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: his mother. I think it's very critical what you said
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: at the beginning, Ruben Castaneda, that she leaves behind a cell,
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: the dog that she took care of religiously, her wallet,
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: her key. So what? Did she just go out for
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: a walkabout? That's ridiculous, Ruben.
• 3:58
  Speaker 4: That's right.
• 3:58
  Speaker 5: It doesn't make a lot of sense.
• 4:01
  Speaker 4: The D.C.
• 4:02
  Speaker 5: Police who are investigating the disappearance have been understandably very
• 4:08
  Speaker 5: tight-lipped about the investigation. They did put out a flyer
• 4:12
  Speaker 5: of Antoinette as a missing person. They have not publicly
• 4:17
  Speaker 5: shared information many details about their investigation or what direction
• 4:24
  Speaker 5: it's headed.
• 4:25
  Speaker 3: Antoinette did, she wanted to protect us from it. She
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: did not want us to have any involvement with Russell.
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: My sister, she is a, she's a beautiful person. She's
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: very intelligent. She's loving. She's loyal. She was a wonderful,
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: we had a wonderful relationship as sisters. She loves her family.
• 4:49
  Speaker 3: her immediate family and her extended family. In fact, she
• 4:52
  Speaker 3: had plans to take, if I can just mention, take
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: her son to visit our extended family in California the
• 4:59
  Speaker 3: weekend after Labor Day so that they could spend time
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: with our family there. So she's definitely close to our family.
• 5:08
  Speaker 3: And as we can see from just the effort of
• 5:11
  Speaker 3: her longtime friends here in Washington, how she just developed
• 5:16
  Speaker 3: and cultivated and maintained such strong, deep ties with her
• 5:21
  Speaker 3: friends here in Washington.
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: Straight out to Brian Fitzgibbons joining us tonight. That was
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: from our friends at Fox. In addition to Ruben Castaneda
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: from the Baltimore Sun, Fitzgibbons is Director Operations of USPA
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: Nationwide Security. He leads a team of investigators around the
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: world finding and extracting missing people. Brian, thank you for
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: joining us tonight. I can tell you this right now,
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: According to family members, L.E. law enforcement is treating her
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: home as an active crime scene. That tells me that they,
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: like me, do not believe she went on a walkabout.
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: There you can see from our friends at WUSA 9,
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: them taking bags and bags of evidence out of the home.
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: That doesn't happen when mommy goes for me time with
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: her girlfriends to a spa. That is not what happened, Brian. Agree, disagree,
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: and if so, why?
• 6:18
  Speaker 6: No, that's correct, Nancy.
• 6:20
  Speaker 7: And law enforcement has done the right thing to treat
• 6:24
  Speaker 7: this as a crime scene and begin collecting evidence all
• 6:27
  Speaker 7: of the physical evidence that's available at that residence. And
• 6:32
  Speaker 7: as we've noted, for Antoinette to leave behind not only
• 6:36
  Speaker 7: her 10-year-old son, but her dog, her cell phone, her wallet,
• 6:42
  Speaker 7: her vehicle, all of her personal belongings. And this is
• 6:45
  Speaker 7: a person who has a pattern of life that we
• 6:48
  Speaker 7: can know and understand. She's deeply connected to her family
• 6:53
  Speaker 7: and a strong group of friends in the Washington, D.C. area.
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: No way would this mom who was raising her son
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: on her own, she is his sole source of encouragement,
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: bringing him up, finances the works. No way would she
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: leave him behind. She worked as a high-powered PR executive
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: to support Nathan. And you know, Brian Fitzgibbons, it reminds
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: me somewhat of missing Stacey Peterson. Remember Drew Peterson, her husband,
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: the former cop? He's convicted in the murder of one wife,
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: Kathleen Savio, and then Stacey goes missing. She's dead. Take
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: my word for it. But in that case, her car
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: is parked right there in front of the house. Just
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: like this case, when Antoinette Forbes goes missing, what? She
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: went on a walk. She left on foot. That didn't happen.
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: The car is parked outside in the driveway. The dog
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: is in the home. Her keys, wallet and cell phone
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: all in the home. She did not set out on foot.
• 8:03
  Speaker 6: Absolutely not.
• 8:04
  Speaker 7: And the alarm bells are ringing here that something occurred
• 8:09
  Speaker 7: inside of that residence. And, you know, law enforcement is
• 8:13
  Speaker 7: not going to reveal what they have or have not
• 8:15
  Speaker 7: found inside the home at this point. But you have
• 8:18
  Speaker 7: to assume with all those bags, all of those evidence
• 8:21
  Speaker 7: bags being removed from the home, that there was indeed
• 8:24
  Speaker 7: some sort of physical evidence there.
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: Ruben Castaneda joining us. This is an editor, investigations and
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: enterprise team at the Baltimore Sun. He is also an author.
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: This video from our friends at WSA 9. Ruben, I
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: want to talk about the home, which is still apparently
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: an active crime scene, according to law enforcement reports. What
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: is going on in the home? And first, we've seen
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: photos of the home in the neighborhood. Does the street
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: in front of her home spill out into a larger
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: roadway that could possibly have traffic cams, LPRs, license plate readers,
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: anything of that nature?
• 9:10
  Speaker 5: We do know that law enforcement has been looking for
• 9:15
  Speaker 5: any kind of camera that might have shown what happened
• 9:19
  Speaker 5: to Antoinette. I think that's a basic part of this
• 9:23
  Speaker 5: type of investigation. They have been asking neighbors, businesses that
• 9:31
  Speaker 5: are nearby, for any kind of footage that might be
• 9:34
  Speaker 5: helpful to their investigation. Again, the DC police have been
• 9:39
  Speaker 5: very tight-lipped about what they have been finding. And we
• 9:44
  Speaker 5: don't know at this point what, if anything, they have
• 9:48
  Speaker 5: found regarding video evidence.
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: Ruben Castaneda joining us from the Baltimore Sun. There's her home.
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: You see the street and it leads out into a bigger.
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: do you see the dog foot right there to the right?
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: That leads out to a bigger roadway. Wherever she went,
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: she had to pass multiple ring door cams. Once they
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: got on, out onto a thoroughfare. There had to be
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: a red light, businesses that have security cams. So hopefully
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: the police are going through all of that camera footage
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: as we go to air tonight.
• 10:32
  Speaker 3: Antoinette is a single mother and her son, her 10-year-old son, Nathan,
• 10:39
  Speaker 3: is her world. Nathan is the center of Antoinette's world.
• 10:43
  Speaker 3: She would never, ever leave him. She also has a
• 10:49
  Speaker 3: beloved dog. And our dog Max was found in the
• 10:53
  Speaker 3: house alone. And, you know, it's just so heartbreaking.
• 11:00
  Speaker 8: And so, I just can't, it's so bewildering because it's
• 11:05
  Speaker 8: totally unlike her.
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: She's such a devoted mother.
• 11:08
  Speaker 8: She loves her son and she has a whole good life.
• 11:11
  Speaker 3: You know, it just makes no sense.
• 11:14
  Speaker 9: It's just evidence more that she wouldn't have walked out
• 11:18
  Speaker 9: on the life she had. She would not have walked
• 11:20
  Speaker 9: out voluntarily from her son or all of the friends. Unfortunately,
• 11:25
  Speaker 9: it's a long time, so she could be anywhere. So
• 11:29
  Speaker 9: we call on everyone in the region.
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: Now missing two weeks. That's from ABC7, AA News Media
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: on YouTube and WUSA 9. Straight out to Derek Smith
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: joining us. He is a veteran trial lawyer, a criminal
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: defense attorney at DHS. wsmithlegal.com. Derek, thank you for being
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: with us tonight. Tonight, no one has been named a
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: person of interest or a suspect in Antoinette Forbes' disappearance,
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: but it doesn't look good. At the very get-go of
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: tonight's program, we saw her sister describing that she, the sister,
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: and Antoinette's family had no idea about a prior domestic
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: assault case That doesn't look good.
• 12:18
  Speaker 4: Well, no, of course not.
• 12:19
  Speaker 10: But also, you have to think, Nancy, what else might
• 12:22
  Speaker 10: she be withholding? If she's withholding something that devastating to
• 12:26
  Speaker 10: her and her family that something happened to her, what
• 12:29
  Speaker 10: other things may she be hiding from her family? And
• 12:31
  Speaker 10: I understand when these tragedies or missing persons or even
• 12:35
  Speaker 10: cases of suicide, some people come out and say, I
• 12:38
  Speaker 10: had no idea. I never had any signs. I had
• 12:41
  Speaker 10: no idea that this would happen. I never in my
• 12:43
  Speaker 10: wildest dreams think she would do something like this or
• 12:45
  Speaker 10: he would take his own life or what have you.
• 12:48
  Speaker 10: And unfortunately, it may be a situation like that. We
• 12:51
  Speaker 10: just don't know. But the truth is, yeah, she needs
• 12:55
  Speaker 10: to be found. And if she can't be found, what
• 12:57
  Speaker 10: happened to her and why?
• 12:58
  Speaker 9: A jury convicted the man who assaulted Antoinette. And I
• 13:04
  Speaker 9: think everyone has now seen kind of what that... what
• 13:10
  Speaker 9: that assault entailed. And I will say that her family,
• 13:15
  Speaker 9: her friends, we did not know about that.
• 13:20
  Speaker 11: The most interesting to me as a detective on this
• 13:22
  Speaker 11: case is not merely the fact that in 2021, this
• 13:27
  Speaker 11: horrible thing happened. It's that in the years since 2021,
• 13:33
  Speaker 11: there's been the ongoing custody dispute that was going on
• 13:36
  Speaker 11: into 24 and 25, that there was communication preventing him
• 13:40
  Speaker 11: from entering a home.
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: From WSA 9 and ABC 7, Derek Smith, I tell
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: my friends that are criminal defense attorneys, hey, you know what?
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: You're safer representing a dope lord than you are getting
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: involved in a domestic case, a divorce, a custody case,
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: they will take a shot at you because the emotions
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: are boiling over. They're fighting about their children. It goes
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: on and on and escalates. So here we're saying, we're
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: seeing that in addition to the 2021 conviction for assault,
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: There's been an ongoing custody battle.
• 14:25
  Speaker 10: Oh, yeah, but you're talking about a 2021 assault, and
• 14:27
  Speaker 10: now we're in 2026. If this man was really going
• 14:30
  Speaker 10: to do something to remove the mother from this custody dispute,
• 14:34
  Speaker 10: what took him so long? Why is he waiting five
• 14:36
  Speaker 10: years to do it? There's got to be something more
• 14:39
  Speaker 10: to this that we're not seeing.
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: That would be a really good argument, but... I know
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: defense attorneys have selective hearing. Listen to this.
• 14:53
  Speaker 11: This detective on this case is not merely the fact
• 14:57
  Speaker 11: that in 2021 this horrible thing happened. It's that in
• 15:02
  Speaker 11: the years since 2021, there's been the ongoing custody dispute
• 15:06
  Speaker 11: that was going on into 24 and 25, that there
• 15:10
  Speaker 11: was communication preventing him from.
• 15:11
  Speaker 4: Entering a home.
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: From ABC7, good try, Derek. That's how you win so
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: many cases, but we all just heard that. the custody
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: dispute intensified up to 2025. It wasn't just in 2021
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: when he was convicted of assaulting her. It was ongoing
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: into 2025. That we know of. So, really? When you
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: don't know a horse, look at his track record. 2021 assault,
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: for which he did time. That ain't a misdemeanor. He'd
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: be out like a revolving door. Then, 2024, 2025, the
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: custody argument, the dispute, as we call it euphemistically, goes on.
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: As a matter of fact, Derek, listen to this.
• 16:00
  Speaker 12: There was a prior domestic violence incident between these two
• 16:05
  Speaker 12: people that was not reported to the police that also
• 16:08
  Speaker 12: happened in front of Nathan and the nanny. And that
• 16:13
  Speaker 12: was also something that we discussed with you at the
• 16:16
  Speaker 12: time of sentencing. And the defendant told Ms.
• 16:21
  Speaker 6: Forbes, I will kill you.
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: That is a Montgomery County prosecutor. Back to Ruben Castaneda
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: joining us, assistant editor, investigations and enterprise team at the
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: Baltimore Sun. He is also a published author. The injuries
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: that Antoinette Forbes suffered back in the 2021 event, the attack,
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: the brutal attack were extensive.
• 16:49
  Speaker 5: That's correct. During this hearing in July, where her ex-boyfriend, Mr. Ashford,
• 16:57
  Speaker 5: sought something called probation before judgment, which would, if the
• 17:02
  Speaker 5: judge granted it, and he did, essentially wipes away his
• 17:05
  Speaker 5: conviction for the record. She spoke about some of the
• 17:10
  Speaker 5: permanent injuries she had suffered. She said she'd had three
• 17:14
  Speaker 5: surgeries on one of her eyes, out of which she
• 17:17
  Speaker 5: could not see properly. a titanium plate in her cheek,
• 17:22
  Speaker 5: screws in her jaw and in her teeth. And she
• 17:26
  Speaker 5: said one of her fingers had not healed properly. So
• 17:30
  Speaker 5: she said the eye especially was debilitating. So she did
• 17:34
  Speaker 5: have severe and permanent injuries from the 2021 assault.
• 17:43
  Speaker 8: Specifically, that the injuries I suffered from his assault so
• 17:47
  Speaker 8: many years ago are permanent. I mean, I've had three
• 17:52
  Speaker 8: surgeries on and I still can't see properly. I have
• 17:57
  Speaker 8: a titanium plate in my cheek that I'm not supposed
• 18:00
  Speaker 8: to be able to feel, but I can feel it.
• 18:04
  Speaker 8: I have screws in my jaw and my teeth that are...
• 18:10
  Speaker 8: that are, you know, there, and I can also kind of.
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: Feel them a little bit.
• 18:15
  Speaker 8: And my finger is not healed properly. I mean, these were,
• 18:21
  Speaker 8: you know, I mean, the eye especially is debilitating to
• 18:25
  Speaker 8: some degree, and I get headaches because of it. And
• 18:27
  Speaker 8: this was just, these were very serious. I mean, this was,
• 18:31
  Speaker 8: you know, when I spoke to some neighbors recently, he said, Antoine,
• 18:34
  Speaker 8: he tried to kill you. And so that's where.
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: That's where I just want to.
• 18:38
  Speaker 8: Emphasize how damaging my injuries have been to my.
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: Personal well-being. From our friends at ABC7, Ruben Castaneda joining us,
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: Baltimore Sun. Where is he?
• 18:57
  Speaker 4: Well, Mr.
• 18:57
  Speaker 5: Ashford is currently incarcerated in Pennsylvania after Antoinette went missing,
• 19:08
  Speaker 5: authorities in Montgomery County, Maryland filed papers for a probation
• 19:15
  Speaker 5: violation against Mr. Ashford, specifically for leaving Pennsylvania where he'd
• 19:22
  Speaker 5: been residing without permission.
• 19:26
  Speaker 6: Within a few days, a girlfriend of Mr.
• 19:30
  Speaker 5: Ashford's contacted law enforcement in Pennsylvania and told them about
• 19:36
  Speaker 5: some firearms he had stored at her home. As part
• 19:41
  Speaker 5: of his probation, he was not allowed to have firearms.
• 19:45
  Speaker 5: So Pennsylvania authorities have now charged him with multiple firearms violations,
• 19:52
  Speaker 5: seven in all, and those charges are pending in Pennsylvania.
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: Well, Ruben Castaneda, that's certainly putting perfume on the pig,
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: but you're absolutely correct. Why does he, Derek Smith, have
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: dominion and control over a firearm that He's a convicted felon.
• 20:14
  Speaker 10: Well, I mean, do we know that at this point?
• 20:15
  Speaker 10: I mean, from what the report said, it was found
• 20:17
  Speaker 10: at a girlfriend's house. You know, what are you going
• 20:19
  Speaker 10: to do when you're convicted of a felony? You lose
• 20:21
  Speaker 10: your right to carry, you know, weapons. You're a disability,
• 20:24
  Speaker 10: so you can't have weapons. What, are you just going
• 20:26
  Speaker 10: to throw them away?
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: Who?
• 20:27
  Speaker 13: Who?
• 20:27
  Speaker 4: Or do you give them to somebody else to hang
• 20:29
  Speaker 4: on to?
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: I'm a convicted felon. I want a gun. Are you serious?
• 20:34
  Speaker 10: Well, it's a constitutional right to have a gun, but
• 20:35
  Speaker 10: when you become a felon, you lose that constitutional right.
• 20:38
  Speaker 10: And it doesn't mean you have to throw them away
• 20:40
  Speaker 10: or surrender them. It wasn't part of the deal to
• 20:42
  Speaker 10: surrender the weapons to the court or the police. He
• 20:45
  Speaker 10: gave them to a friend, and that's what the report said.
• 20:46
  Speaker 10: They were found at a friend's house. So he did
• 20:48
  Speaker 10: surrender those weapons. He didn't have them on his person.
• 20:51
  Speaker 10: He didn't have them at his home or his apartment.
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: Except not to authorities, to a girlfriend. Derek Smith, you're
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: a great lawyer. You've won a lot of cases. I
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: used the catchphrase, dominion and control, because it has a
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: legal meaning. In other words, do you know where your
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: car is right now? Where's your car?
• 21:15
  Speaker 4: As far as I know, it's in the office parking lot.
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: Okay. Even though it's there and you're not sitting on
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: top of it, you still have dominion and control, constructive
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: possession of your car. Just because he hid his guns
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: at his girlfriend's house doesn't mean they're not under his
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: dominion and control. So you know what? not working. But
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: I will give you this, Derek Smith, as you have
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: pointed out on many occasions, very often law enforcement will
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: snag somebody on a technicality because they want information and
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: they will let that target sit and stew in jail
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: until they blurt something out. So those guns had probably
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: been at the girlfriend's place for a long time, but
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: now suddenly he's gotten snagged and he is cooling it
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: behind bars for a reason. Would you like to expound
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: on this very common practice?
• 22:16
  Speaker 10: Well, yeah, I mean, of course, Nancy, you want to,
• 22:18
  Speaker 10: as a law enforcement agent, you want to, you know,
• 22:20
  Speaker 10: at least put some pressure on the suspect and whether
• 22:23
  Speaker 10: that be able to tattle on himself or somebody else involved,
• 22:26
  Speaker 10: or at least give some information that you would not
• 22:28
  Speaker 10: obtain without that pressure. And it's a good tactic. It's
• 22:32
  Speaker 10: used time and time again. And in this situation, they're
• 22:35
  Speaker 10: trying to put pressure on him because he does seem
• 22:37
  Speaker 10: to be a very likely suspect in this disappearance if
• 22:40
  Speaker 10: there was a past, well, obviously there was a past
• 22:42
  Speaker 10: 2021 assault charge, but there's an ongoing custody case too.
• 22:45
  Speaker 4: And who brought that custody case? Who brought that?
• 22:47
  Speaker 9: He did.
• 22:48
  Speaker 4: He wants to see his son.
• 22:49
  Speaker 10: He was not allowed to see his son because he
• 22:50
  Speaker 10: was convicted of doing a horrible, just reprehensible thing to
• 22:54
  Speaker 10: the mother.
• 22:54
  Speaker 4: And I mean, again, for me growing up, you never
• 22:57
  Speaker 4: lay hands on a girl. That's just a rule.
• 22:59
  Speaker 10: And unfortunately he did that in this case and he
• 23:02
  Speaker 10: belongs in jail for a lot longer than what he was.
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: Excuse me, put him up. Again, dare I reference perfume
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: on a pig? Lay hands? Isn't that a little euphemistic?
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: Isn't that airbrushing the fact that she has a steel
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: plate in her mouth and screws in her teeth and
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: she can't see out of one eye? Lay hands.
• 23:25
  Speaker 9: Hmm.
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: I just laid hands on my cell phone.
• 23:28
  Speaker 6: Stop.
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: Look around. Where do you think you are? We're not
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: in pre-K. This is Crime Stories. A steel plate. A
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: steel plate. And it wasn't isolated, Derek. It wasn't isolated.
• 23:43
  Speaker 8: I mean, I don't think that's right or fair given, again,
• 23:49
  Speaker 8: the severity of the injuries and the situation that happened
• 23:55
  Speaker 8: to me. And I know that they will say that
• 24:00
  Speaker 8: this was an isolated incident, but, you know, there was...
• 24:04
  Speaker 8: episodes of domestic violence and assault leading up to this
• 24:07
  Speaker 8: very injurious crime. I have allowed Russell into my home
• 24:13
  Speaker 8: because I think it shows our son some level of amicability.
• 24:21
  Speaker 8: But unfortunately, there have been times when I have invited
• 24:25
  Speaker 8: him to my home where he has gotten hostile towards me,
• 24:31
  Speaker 8: where he's, you know, in his way, pushed matters with me,
• 24:42
  Speaker 8: raised his voice with me, and I'd have to ask
• 24:44
  Speaker 8: him to leave repeatedly, and he wouldn't leave. And I
• 24:51
  Speaker 8: would even say to him, I feel unsafe now, and
• 24:53
  Speaker 8: he still wouldn't leave. And then I would threaten to
• 24:55
  Speaker 8: call the police, and then.
• 24:56
  Speaker 5: He would leave.
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: Brian Fitzgibbon's I'm torn between feeling sick and wanting to cry.
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: That's from our friends at ABC7. And you are hearing
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: the voice of now missing Antoinette Forbes about how she,
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: and you showed me pictures, Brian, of your children. And
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: they're beautiful. And it is amazing what we will do
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: for our children, what we will endure, what we will
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: put up with, the hours we'll work, the lengths to
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: which we will go to just do something for them,
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: any little thing, any big thing. And she would let
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: this guy into the home to try to make it
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: all okay for Nathan, make it normal, let Daddy come over,
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: until he showed his ass and starts yelling at her.
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: And she's just trying. She's just trying so hard, Brian.
• 25:58
  Speaker 6: It's so unfortunate, Nancy.
• 25:59
  Speaker 7: We see this time and time again with women who
• 26:02
  Speaker 7: are victims of domestic violence. They're trying to repair everything
• 26:07
  Speaker 7: for those around them at their own peril and risk.
• 26:12
  Speaker 7: There's one thing I'll agree with Attorney Derek Smith on.
• 26:16
  Speaker 7: The sentencing of this individual for that vicious attack was
• 26:21
  Speaker 7: absolutely wrong. He served only nine months on a 15-year sentence.
• 26:25
  Speaker 7: This was not a scuffle. that happened at their house.
• 26:29
  Speaker 7: He beat her senseless to the point that she is
• 26:33
  Speaker 7: permanently disfigured. Okay, so we have to keep that in mind.
• 26:37
  Speaker 7: There was a nine-month sentence served on a 15-year. This
• 26:41
  Speaker 7: is a real tragedy.
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: Let's hear it from the horse's mouth.
• 26:45
  Speaker 13: For years, she invited me along to help Nathan and
• 26:48
  Speaker 13: also to share food, have coffee, share a piece of
• 26:51
  Speaker 13: last week, for example, and play with Nathan. At her invitation,
• 26:55
  Speaker 13: we attended church.
• 26:56
  Speaker 6: Several times in the last.
• 26:57
  Speaker 13: Few months, including Easter. At her request, I've shoveled snow
• 27:01
  Speaker 13: from her driveway. I've done heavy snow last December and
• 27:04
  Speaker 13: January and removed yard waste, etc. I wanted to help
• 27:08
  Speaker 13: her in any way I can to facilitate her motherhood
• 27:11
  Speaker 13: and our cooperation.
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: Oh, my stars. I'm going to do a backflip. He
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: shoveled some snow. Okay. What does he want for that?
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: The Nobel Peace Prize? That's from our friends at ABC7.
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: He shoveled the snow. Am I supposed to forget, Dave Mack,
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: about the steel plate?
• 27:32
  Speaker 14: Oh, my gosh.
• 27:32
  Speaker 4: Nancy, you know, this is so huge.
• 27:35
  Speaker 14: I wanted to ask you about this whole probation thing
• 27:38
  Speaker 14: that happened July the 9th in court where we're hearing
• 27:40
  Speaker 14: all this testimony. You realize July 9th, Antoinette is in
• 27:44
  Speaker 14: court explaining to the judge don't allow this to take place.
• 27:48
  Speaker 14: This PBJ thing just is not good. And the judge
• 27:52
  Speaker 14: went along with it.
• 27:53
  Speaker 4: Okay.
• 27:54
  Speaker 14: That means that even though Ashford pled guilty, took it
• 27:58
  Speaker 14: off his record, right? The nine months probation, he did
• 28:01
  Speaker 14: have other probation issues on there, but you know what, Nancy,
• 28:04
  Speaker 14: that was on July 9th. She went missing September 4th.
• 28:07
  Speaker 14: So in court, she's testifying how she's afraid of this
• 28:11
  Speaker 14: man in fear for her life from this man. Eight
• 28:14
  Speaker 14: weeks later, She's gone. But you know what happened between
• 28:17
  Speaker 14: that time, Nancy? On July 16th, Ashford's not allowed to
• 28:22
  Speaker 14: be around without invitation, to be around his son or Antoinette.
• 28:26
  Speaker 14: But he showed up at a summer camp, unannounced and uninvited,
• 28:30
  Speaker 14: to see his 10-year-old son. And he got angry with
• 28:33
  Speaker 14: the staff because they would not let him take his son.
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: Not allowed to. He got mad.
• 28:39
  Speaker 14: He ended up leaving after they threatened to call police.
• 28:41
  Speaker 14: That was the probation violation that got him arrested. just
• 28:45
  Speaker 14: two weeks ago in Pennsylvania. So there's a lot more
• 28:48
  Speaker 14: going on to this when you realize Antoinette testifies against
• 28:52
  Speaker 14: saying she's frustrated, that she's upset, and in fear for
• 28:55
  Speaker 14: her life from this man. He still gets the probation
• 28:58
  Speaker 14: before judgment. And then she goes missing. Something really bad
• 29:03
  Speaker 14: is happening.
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: According to records, a neighbor told investigators she saw Ashford,
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: the ex, throwing closed fist punches at Antoinette while Antoinette
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: was lying motionless on the kitchen floor. Asher tells the
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: cop he, quote, just beat up his ex. The cop
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: asked him why, and he said, I don't know. I
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: blacked out. Derek Smith. It's amazing. how many criminal defendants
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: have blackout problems.
• 29:45
  Speaker 4: Oh, yeah, it's an epidemic.
• 29:47
  Speaker 10: But going back to echo your previous guest here, this sentence, man,
• 29:51
  Speaker 10: that wouldn't fly up here in Cleveland. So that's good
• 29:54
  Speaker 10: that we have some judges on the bench that would
• 29:57
  Speaker 10: actually hold a man accountable for doing something heinous like this.
• 30:00
  Speaker 4: However, you think about that as well.
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: Nine months? What?
• 30:02
  Speaker 5: What?
• 30:03
  Speaker 4: Nine months.
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: Hold him accountable. He did nine months. I paid for
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: his three hots in the cot for nine months, man.
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: Hold him accountable. Objection, my rear end. That's BS.
• 30:17
  Speaker 10: I mean, I'd be the best fricking criminal defense attorney
• 30:19
  Speaker 10: in that jurisdiction with kind of results like that. But,
• 30:21
  Speaker 10: you know, this guy has to know he would be
• 30:24
  Speaker 10: a spotlight on him if anything were to happen to
• 30:27
  Speaker 10: this woman.
• 30:27
  Speaker 4: Obviously, she's missing. We know that. Hopefully she comes back
• 30:30
  Speaker 4: unharmed sooner than later. He has a son, too. You
• 30:34
  Speaker 4: just said, why would he.
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: Do something like this while a spotlight is on him?
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: You think he's that smart? I blacked out. I just
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: beat up my ex. You're saying he actually thought, he calculated, wow,
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: you know, I may be suspect number one, but that's
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: why I'm not going to do it. Please stop.
• 30:57
  Speaker 4: And he's got a little boy.
• 30:58
  Speaker 10: He's obviously in court fighting for what's in the best
• 31:00
  Speaker 10: interest of the child to be able to see his
• 31:03
  Speaker 10: child and enjoy his time with him, be a father,
• 31:05
  Speaker 10: protect him, whatever it may be.
• 31:07
  Speaker 4: And now he's going to do something like this. He's
• 31:09
  Speaker 4: going to take away his mother.
• 31:10
  Speaker 10: That just doesn't make sense to me.
• 31:12
  Speaker 4: Why would he do something like that?
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: Well, he already beat her to smithereens, punched her close
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: fist while she's laying motionless on the floor.
• 31:18
  Speaker 4: I agree.
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: Now he's changed. Now he's seen the light and he's
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: a good guy. Okay. You know what? Listen to Antoinette
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: in her own words.
• 31:27
  Speaker 8: I mean, Russell is, he is charming and manipulative. I
• 31:33
  Speaker 8: sometimes fall back into feeling like we can be okay.
• 31:38
  Speaker 8: And then I'm reminded that I'm wrong when he does
• 31:43
  Speaker 8: behave in an angry way, increases the tension in the household,
• 31:49
  Speaker 8: makes demands of me. And You know, I consider myself
• 31:54
  Speaker 8: a strong woman, but when you feel someone's physical presence
• 31:59
  Speaker 8: who is, you know, as big as Russell is, it
• 32:04
  Speaker 8: creates an intimidating situation where sometimes I do.
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: Feel I am scared.
• 32:13
  Speaker 8: I mean, that's, it's not even in these letters. He
• 32:17
  Speaker 8: has followed me in my car. If I was leaving
• 32:20
  Speaker 8: with Nathan somewhere and he was at the school, he's
• 32:23
  Speaker 8: followed me, making me feel like I'm going to, you know,
• 32:32
  Speaker 8: like you can't get away from me.
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: And it is true.
• 32:36
  Speaker 8: And his red truck, that is what he's done a
• 32:38
  Speaker 8: few times. And I even told him that and texted
• 32:41
  Speaker 8: him that.
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: You can't get away from me. Now, what does he
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: have to say in response to that? Here he is
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: yakking away. Brian Fitzgibbons. I'm trying to find a missing mom,
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: a PR exec with a 10 year old boy going,
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: where's mommy? You have children. A 10 year old doesn't understand.
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: They just want their mother. And he says, Key lesson
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: from my experiences, in other words, my arrest and conviction,
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: is that I need to control my responses to bad situations.
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: What bad situation? You're in your wife, your ex's home,
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: showing your rear end, beating her, intimidating her, following her,
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: threatening her. And he says he just has a problem
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: with losing self-control. He nearly killed her last time, Brian.
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: Talk about minimizing.
• 33:47
  Speaker 7: Yeah, she was lucky to be alive after that 2021 beating.
• 33:53
  Speaker 6: And let's say he didn't learn his lesson.
• 33:56
  Speaker 7: He lost control again in July of 2026. That's what
• 34:00
  Speaker 7: led to this arrest. When he shows up at the camp,
• 34:03
  Speaker 7: assaults an individual there, and is charged again with another
• 34:07
  Speaker 7: violent explosive outburst.
• 34:11
  Speaker 6: The ingredients on the table here are not good.
• 34:14
  Speaker 7: This is a dire situation and all signs point to
• 34:18
  Speaker 7: this individual.
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: Well, Derek Smith, he could certainly have used you as
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: a defense attorney because he just can't stop talking. Listen.
• 34:27
  Speaker 13: The impact of my conviction and sentencing on my professional
• 34:29
  Speaker 13: goals has been devastating. I spent a lifetime building a
• 34:33
  Speaker 13: meeting with his full expertise and have been unable to
• 34:36
  Speaker 13: capitalize on those investments and hard work ever since 2021.
• 34:41
  Speaker 13: If I can be released from probation and have my
• 34:43
  Speaker 13: record expunged, I will be able to get my security clearance,
• 34:46
  Speaker 13: re-establish and go back to consulting and teaching. I have been,
• 34:49
  Speaker 13: of course, in high demand by the college community. I
• 34:51
  Speaker 13: co-chaired and taught at intelligence centers throughout the country.
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: Oh, my stars. He's actually whining about his conviction affecting
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: his professional goals. He says, I spent a lifetime building
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: unique and useful expertise. Brian, USPA Nationwide Security. Would you
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: be surprised if I told you he was with the CIA?
• 35:23
  Speaker 6: That does come as a bit of a surprise to me.
• 35:26
  Speaker 7: In hearing him speak about his security clearances, he's in
• 35:31
  Speaker 7: an absolute hurt locker from that perspective.
• 35:33
  Speaker 4: I have to imagine that.
• 35:37
  Speaker 7: He was unable to continue his work either with the
• 35:41
  Speaker 7: federal government or contracting with the intelligence community after that
• 35:46
  Speaker 7: conviction in 2021. So, you know, this is an individual
• 35:51
  Speaker 7: who is trained, who has exhibited that he's willing to
• 35:57
  Speaker 7: do violence on this woman, this mother of his child,
• 36:02
  Speaker 7: and is highly dangerous.
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: Dave Mack. Help me out here, because isn't it true?
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: This guy, Russell Ashford, the ex, who worked for the CIA,
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: had the 10-year-old boy, Nathan, with him in Pennsylvania? How
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: did Nathan get there? You think Annette Forbes just handed
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: him over on a silver platter, unsupervised?
• 36:29
  Speaker 14: No, and Nancy, here's the catch to all that, is
• 36:32
  Speaker 14: that He's not allowed to have Nathan overnight. So he
• 36:37
  Speaker 14: is caught with Nathan in the vehicle. They were obviously
• 36:41
  Speaker 14: looking for him. I mean, they knew that they had
• 36:43
  Speaker 14: the probation violation at the camp. They've got card readers everywhere.
• 36:48
  Speaker 14: They were following him and got him. But he has Nathan.
• 36:51
  Speaker 14: He's not supposed to have Nathan overnight. So Nathan was
• 36:55
  Speaker 14: thankfully taken away, given to family.
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: Antoinette's family.
• 37:00
  Speaker 14: But yeah, he had, what's the explanation for that? Where
• 37:04
  Speaker 14: did he get Nathan? When did he get him?
• 37:06
  Speaker 6: How long?
• 37:07
  Speaker 14: I mean, there's a lot of unanswered questions that are
• 37:09
  Speaker 14: not public yet, Nancy, but I think we all know.
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: If you know or think you know anything regarding missing mom,
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: PR exec Antoinette Forbes, please dial 202-727-9099. Is she still alive?
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: Can't she be brought home to her 10-year-old boy, Nathan?
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: Can't she start over again? 202-727-9099. Tonight, we remember American
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: hero police officer John Bartholomew, Chicago PD, shot and killed
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: in the line of duty after serving and protecting for
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: 10 years, leaving behind his wife, Renee, and children. Oliver, Miles,
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: and Sophia. American hero police officer John Bartholomew. Thank you
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: to our guest, but especially to you for being with
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: us tonight. Nancy Grace signing off, but I'll see you
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: tomorrow night. And until then, good night, friend.