Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / CRUISE SHIP GIRL, ANNA KEPNER, DAD: I FOUND HER COLD, NAKED BODY

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CRUISE SHIP GIRL, ANNA KEPNER, DAD: I FOUND HER COLD, NAKED BODY · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

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Speaker 1: The so called cruise ship girl teen Anna Keptner's dad says,
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Speaker 1: I found her cold naked body stuffed under a bunk.
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Speaker 1: Her own dad pulls his daughter's dead body from under
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Speaker 1: a bunk on the cruise line. Now he vows he
0:26
Speaker 1: will not sit through testimony. His mind, his heart, and
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Speaker 1: his soul cannot go back to that room where his
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Speaker 1: daughter was murdered. Good evening, I Meancy Grace, this is
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Speaker 1: crime stories. I want to thank you for being with us.
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Speaker 1: The last thing she saw about that far away from
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Speaker 1: her face is her own step brother. He strangled her dead.
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Speaker 2: The little brother heard fighting, heard screaming. Whatever happened, it
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Speaker 2: was very violent.
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Speaker 3: And then the next morning, it's nine o'clock, everyone's eating buffet,
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Speaker 3: and all of a sudden, where's Anna?
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Speaker 1: Seriously, and yet the alleged killer is still walking free?
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Speaker 1: Straight out to Michelle Spitzer joining us out of Melbourne, Florida,
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Speaker 1: Florida News investigator reporter for USA Today, Michelle, thank you
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Speaker 1: for being with us, Michelle, where is the alleged killer?
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Speaker 1: This after her father says, I can't possibly take my
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Speaker 1: mind back to that room again.
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Speaker 4: Right now, he is with a relative, an uncle in
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Speaker 4: another part of Florida, another county, and there are attempts
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Speaker 4: being made to get him in custody until the trial.
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Speaker 1: Robert Crispin joining us now private investigator at Crispin Special
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Speaker 1: Investigations for former Federal Task Force Officer US Department Justice
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Speaker 1: deea Miami field office. It goes on and on and
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Speaker 1: on at Crispinsinvestigations dot com. But this is Florida, his jurisdiction,
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Speaker 1: and he is joining us right there where that cruise
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Speaker 1: ship took off but came back with Anna Kepner dead.
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Speaker 1: Robert Crispin, You hear what the dad is saying. He
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Speaker 1: refuses to go back into that courtroom, to go into
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Speaker 1: the courtroom and revisit that room again in his mind,
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Speaker 1: his heart, his soul, where he found his daughter stuffed
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Speaker 1: under a bed, cold to the touch and naked. Do
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Speaker 1: you blame.
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Speaker 3: Him, listen, I being a father, I don't want to
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Speaker 3: ever have to deal with something like that. I don't
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Speaker 3: blame him. But unfortunately, the this is the federal government,
3:01
Speaker 3: and this is a homicide investigation, and by hook or crook,
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Speaker 3: he's going to have to testify and the government's going
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Speaker 3: to have to put him on the stand. He's the
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Speaker 3: one who found Anna dead. He's the first person back
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Speaker 3: to her body to find her naked, wrapped in the
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Speaker 3: blanket and covered in life jackets and finding her lifeless cold,
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Speaker 3: no pulse body. You don't get to not testify. I
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Speaker 3: completely understand that I'm compassionate with him, but he is
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Speaker 3: a major indicator of moving this case forward.
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Speaker 1: Hey, Crispin, I believe that first a maid went in
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Speaker 1: and saw her, and then I'm sure screamed her head off,
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Speaker 1: and then the dad went in and pulled her out.
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Speaker 1: He touched the body, and that kind of thing you
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Speaker 1: never get over ever, for the rest of your life.
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Speaker 1: And we just heard Michelle Spitzer stay from USA today,
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Speaker 1: Robert that the alleged perp is walking free even now. Now, Robert,
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Speaker 1: you've been there on location over and over and over.
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Speaker 1: But this is what's happening right now. And I'm gonna
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Speaker 1: get Michelle Spitzer to back me up on this. The
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Speaker 1: perp is living in a residential home. Can I see, Crispin.
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Speaker 1: I want to get his reaction to this. He's not
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Speaker 1: in jail, he's walking free now. This little girl, Anna Keptner,
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Speaker 1: had been afraid of him for a really long time
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Speaker 1: and I'm gonna play back to you what her then
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Speaker 1: boyfriend said about how this perp had crawled on top
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Speaker 1: of her before and she was afraid and she voiced
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Speaker 1: that concern, and the boyfriend and his dad told appearance.
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Speaker 1: But there's more. This is a pattern because tonight, Crispin,
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Speaker 1: we are learning that the little brother, the one that
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Speaker 1: was banned from the room so Anna could be raped
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Speaker 1: and k old that little brother. We are now learning, Crispin,
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Speaker 1: that there are reports the little brother went to the mom,
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Speaker 1: the stepmom and the dad and told them something's happening,
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Speaker 1: something's wrong, and nobody did anything, Crispin, nothing. They could
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Speaker 1: have saved her life if this account is true, Crispin.
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Speaker 3: So, if it's true, Nancy, and there is some banter
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Speaker 3: that that happened, and there is a superseding indictment that
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Speaker 3: is potentially coming down the road, there were multiple indicators
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Speaker 3: that we've learned through this story, Nancy, that this perpetrator,
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Speaker 3: the killer, had a problem, and a lot of people
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Speaker 3: knew that. You ever hear the term see something, say
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Speaker 3: something that goes right down the line of what happened here.
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Speaker 5: And his brother had heard a heated argument between them
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Speaker 5: in their cabin the night before Anna was found dead.
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Speaker 5: He heard the stepbrother yelling at Anna, the sounds of
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Speaker 5: furniture overturning and screams from inside their room.
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Speaker 6: He heard him yelling at her like in an harmful
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Speaker 6: way of like shut the hell up and stuff like that,
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Speaker 6: Like something was like banging around and stuff, and like
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Speaker 6: the chairs were getting thrown around in the room from.
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Speaker 1: Our friends at inside. Addition, straight back got to Michelle
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Speaker 1: Spitzer joining US Florida investigative reporter with USA Today. Michelle,
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Speaker 1: I find it very difficult to believe that the little
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Speaker 1: boy age thirteen or fourteen did not go tell the
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Speaker 1: mom or dad something's going on in there.
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Speaker 4: Yeah, there has been nothing for documents regarding the other
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Speaker 4: sibling that was in the room and what he may
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Speaker 4: have seen, what he may have heard. But do you
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Speaker 4: know he was not in the room when the alleged
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Speaker 4: incident took place, but we don't know where he was
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Speaker 4: again what he heard or saw.
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Speaker 1: We also are learning from the uncle who went online
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Speaker 1: to Dave Matt Crime Stories investigative reporter, and I want
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Speaker 1: to read it correctly. This is from Martin Donahue. He
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Speaker 1: states that the little brother told his stepmom when no
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Speaker 1: one could find Anna on the ship. So, yes, they
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Speaker 1: knew who did this. It sickens me. The father, Chris
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Speaker 1: remain silent. So I guess this means I'm extrapolating from
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Speaker 1: these words that it was the little brother again that
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Speaker 1: raised the alarm Dave Matt the following morning that nobody
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Speaker 1: could find Anna. So you have the boyfriend and his
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Speaker 1: father telling the family the perp keeps trying to attack Anna,
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Speaker 1: she's afraid. Nothing was done. Then you have the little
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Speaker 1: boy reportedly reportedly telling the mom and the dad there
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Speaker 1: on the cruise something's going on in there. Nothing was done.
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Speaker 1: You have the little brother again the next morning saying
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Speaker 1: I can't find Anna. No one did anything. Dave mac
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Speaker 1: do I have that correct, Nancy.
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Speaker 7: That is what Martin Donahue wrote for all the world
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Speaker 7: to see. You're dead on accurate. What he is saying
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Speaker 7: is that Anna Kaptner, that this younger brother, this fourteen
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Speaker 7: year old, was locked out of the room, and that
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Speaker 7: he told the parents something's going on. I hear an argument,
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Speaker 7: I hear stuff being thrown around. Nothing was done about it,
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Speaker 7: and that's a shocking thing.
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Speaker 8: If true.
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Speaker 7: It's beyond what most of us can imagine, but getting
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Speaker 7: right to the heart of this. Martin Donahue posted this
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Speaker 7: early on Nancy, and he's asking people to please follow
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Speaker 7: along and be involved in this case.
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Speaker 1: How many warnings did it take for the parents to
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Speaker 1: finally hear or did they ever hear? What was happening
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Speaker 1: to Anna Kettner? Now well, this little girl has been
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Speaker 1: sex assaulted and murdered, her cold naked body stuffed under
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Speaker 1: a bed on a cruise ship and her dad, her
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Speaker 1: bio dad, having to pull the body out. The nightmare
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Speaker 1: sticks with him every day. Every night, he vows he
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Speaker 1: will not go back in the courtroom and relive what happened.
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Speaker 1: He says, I don't want to return to that room
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Speaker 1: even in his mind. Here's one of the warnings this
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Speaker 1: family had.
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Speaker 6: She just didn't feel safe around him. She's scared to
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Speaker 6: tell anybody because she was scared that he would do
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Speaker 6: something to her.
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Speaker 2: Joshua too, says Anna's close relationship with her stepbrother was
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Speaker 2: one sided. The sixteen year old is obsessed with Anna
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Speaker 2: and made her uncomfortable with romantic advances. He once even
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Speaker 2: caught him trying to climb into Anna's bed while the
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Speaker 2: two were on FaceTime, Anna already asleep.
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Speaker 9: He says that I tried to tell the parents that
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Speaker 9: this was happening, and they didn't want to believe me.
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Speaker 9: He's like infatuated, attracted her like crazy. He's always wanted
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Speaker 9: the date.
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Speaker 10: He just doesn't realize it's his fault. This whole thing
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Speaker 10: is his fault. If he would have taken the warnings
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Speaker 10: that Anna's ex boyfriend gave him, then she would still
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Speaker 10: be here. So keep that in mind, Christopher, I blame you.
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Speaker 1: That from our friends, the Inside Edition and Just Mom
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Speaker 1: nineteen eighty four on TikTok, Let's hear what the boyfriend
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Speaker 1: has to say in full.
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Speaker 6: And I was on face of her and she was
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Speaker 6: laying down, and a brother tried to go on top
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Speaker 6: of her.
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Speaker 8: And you saw that, yeah, and you react to it.
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Speaker 6: I was like, what the hell are you doing in
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Speaker 6: the room?
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Speaker 11: You know.
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Speaker 6: Then he got scared and like ran away, and I
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Speaker 6: heard his footsteps like running through the house, you know,
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Speaker 6: because he got caught.
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Speaker 7: And that was my first love.
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Speaker 6: She was the best that ever happened to me. And
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Speaker 6: I'd even walk through her work to see her, you know,
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Speaker 6: for like five ten minutes. She complained about them being
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Speaker 6: uncomfortable her her being uncomfortable around him because of the
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Speaker 6: fact that he tried to go on top of her
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Speaker 6: in the bed, and because of that, she tried to
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Speaker 6: go instead and I at her friend's house and to
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Speaker 6: dodge the standing night.
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Speaker 8: At her house.
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Speaker 1: So upset she would try to go and stay at
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Speaker 1: her friend's house overnight to get away from the step
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Speaker 1: brother that ultimately, according to federal prosecutors, killed her. That
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Speaker 1: is from the Space Coast Rocket Instagram to doctor Bethany
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Speaker 1: Marshall joining us renowned psychoanalyst out of the LA jurisdiction.
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Speaker 1: You can see her now starring on Bravo and Peacock.
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Speaker 1: She's the author of deal Breakers and you can find
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Speaker 1: her at doctor Bethany Marshall dot com. Did you hear that?
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Speaker 11: And Nancy, this is so disgusting. This is the classic
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Speaker 11: pattern of sexual abuse of a child. If the boyfriend
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Speaker 11: was on FaceTime and THH climbed on top of Anna
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Speaker 11: while she was asleep, how many times had this happened
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Speaker 11: in the past and her dad refused to believe her.
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Speaker 11: Let's be clear, THH is not her brother. The parents
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Speaker 11: had not been married that long. He's some add on
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Speaker 11: an intrusion into her life that she did not want.
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Speaker 11: And Nancy, I do not believe for one second that
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Speaker 11: Bio dad is avoiding the court case because he's afraid
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Speaker 11: of being re traumatized. If he goes to court, he's
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Speaker 11: going to have to hear all the details of the case,
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Speaker 11: and he's going to have information presented to him that
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Speaker 11: he was not listening to her, please, and he does
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Speaker 11: not want to hear that, Nancy. In all the cases
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Speaker 11: we've covered, the and the father always want to go
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Speaker 11: to court, always because they want to vindicate the slain child.
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Speaker 11: So in this case, I think the father is one
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Speaker 11: one last act of lack of protection towards his daughter
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Speaker 11: that he's not going to court. It's tragic.
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Speaker 1: So now there are claims of a quote cover up,
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Speaker 1: a cover up. You know, Robert Crispin, you were saying
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Speaker 1: earlier that while the dad doesn't want to testify, doesn't
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Speaker 1: want to relive what happened, he's going to have to.
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Speaker 1: And you're right, he will be called as a witness
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Speaker 1: and he will have to get up there and testify
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Speaker 1: and he will be cross examined. But think about the
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Speaker 1: strategy here, Crispin. I don't believe the defense is going
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Speaker 1: to cross examine him on why nothing was ever done
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Speaker 1: to Anna because their client was the day. How can
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Speaker 1: they ask that question, Hey, how come you never protected
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Speaker 1: your daughter from my client sitting over there. I don't
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Speaker 1: think they touched that with a ten foot pole.
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Speaker 3: No, but the government will and him testifying. I feel
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Speaker 3: if he doesn't want to testify, and how many times
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Speaker 3: have we seen this Nancy in homicide cases we've worked,
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Speaker 3: he doesn't want to testify because if he is culpable
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Speaker 3: of any part of this where he should have intervened
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Speaker 3: at any part of when it's all started, from the
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Speaker 3: time he jumped in on top of her when they
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Speaker 3: are on FaceTime, to the cruise, to the information that
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Speaker 3: they knew he might walk himself right into an indictment.
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Speaker 1: Doctor Bethany, it breaks my heart to think that this
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Speaker 1: little girl, a teen girl described in Sunshine, never did
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Speaker 1: anything wrong in her whole life. We try to go
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Speaker 1: spend the night at other people's, her friends' houses, just
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Speaker 1: get away from this step brother.
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Speaker 11: Reminds me of another abuse case of my Nancy. A
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Speaker 11: twelve year old comes to treatment and her older brother
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Speaker 11: is stalking her as a biological older brother, and because
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Speaker 11: of that, this little girl's falling into a depression. She
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Speaker 11: has to lock the bathroom door because he will break
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Speaker 11: into the bathroom when she's trying to toilet or take
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Speaker 11: a shower. He peers into her room at night. He
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Speaker 11: has flashlights. Siblings can stalk another sibling. It is not
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Speaker 11: that uncommon if we think of the psychodynamics of this family.
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Speaker 11: But the fact is, you never ever put a teenage
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Speaker 11: boy in a room with a teenage girl. You just don't,
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Speaker 11: even if they are biological siblings, which they are not.
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Speaker 11: So I think the thing about Anna, we have to
15:48
Speaker 11: keep in mind she was This is just what we
15:52
Speaker 11: see in this case, but there was most likely a
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Speaker 11: history of him stalking her within that home and climbing
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Speaker 11: on top of her while she's sleeping. You can't tell
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Speaker 11: me that she was safe in that bedroom or that
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Speaker 11: this was the first time she had been violated by him.
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Speaker 1: Joining us now out of this jurisdiction. Veteran trial lawyer
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Speaker 1: Greg Morse. He is a renowned criminal defense attorney. He
16:19
Speaker 1: founded Moose Legal, and he is the author of Untested
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Speaker 1: on Amazon. Greg Morse, I know you've got plenty to say,
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Speaker 1: but here are just a few of the legal issues
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Speaker 1: and Michelle Spitzer joining us USA today, jump in if
16:33
Speaker 1: I get any of this wrong, or if you want
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Speaker 1: to add in, don't wait for me to call on
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Speaker 1: you like a schoolteacher. Please, Michelle, I need help with
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Speaker 1: Greg Morse because there's no telling what defense he's gonna
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Speaker 1: throw out. Spin it out, Greg Number one? Why is
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Speaker 1: this defendant walking free? Because if anything we've said tonight,
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Speaker 1: if anything we have learned is correct, And let me
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Speaker 1: remind and everybody the parents have not been charged with anything,
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Speaker 1: not neglect, not child abuse, nothing. This is based on
17:08
Speaker 1: statements made by others. Okay, they haven't been charged with anything.
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Speaker 1: If these statements are true, that means there was a pattern,
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Speaker 1: Greg Morris, a pattern of the stepbrother attacking Anna and
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Speaker 1: nobody doing anything about it. So, as Robert Crispin just
17:30
Speaker 1: told us, you see a pattern emerging. If it's true,
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Speaker 1: can the parents be charged? What would the charges be?
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Speaker 1: And if this pattern is true, why is he out free?
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Speaker 1: If he has a history of sex attacks and stalking
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Speaker 1: young girls. You don't think they're young girls in his neighborhood.
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Speaker 1: There has to be right now.
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Speaker 9: Well, well, first of all, why he's out is because
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Speaker 9: under the Juvenile Detention Act, it's to offer the least
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Speaker 9: restrictive means. The government sought only dangerousness, not a risk
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Speaker 9: of flight. Those are the two reasons that the court considers.
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Speaker 9: So you know, he's on the monitor. He's with an uncle,
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Speaker 9: so that's restrictive enough. He can be monitor if he
18:15
Speaker 9: leaves the house, so that's enough. Switching it over because
18:18
Speaker 9: he's charged as an adult and now having this pre
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Speaker 9: trial release decided under the Bail Reform Act because he's
18:25
Speaker 9: charged as an adult really is it's more procedural than substantive.
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Speaker 9: There's no reason to revisit this other than the procedure changed.
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Speaker 9: He should stay in the same position that he's at.
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Speaker 9: The court's not going to learn anything new, probably at
18:40
Speaker 9: the new bond hearing that I believe is coming up
18:43
Speaker 9: and the end of May May twenty seventh. So as
18:46
Speaker 9: far as the release, you can't just work backwards from
18:49
Speaker 9: a horrible crime and say he has to be locked up.
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Speaker 8: This was a horrible thing.
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Speaker 9: Every single person is presumed innocent until the state proves
18:57
Speaker 9: every single element beyond into the exclude of all reasonable
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Speaker 9: doubt or the person please. So that's why he was released.
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Speaker 9: These are restrictive means. He's monitor twenty four to seven.
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Speaker 9: If he goes outside that house, that monitor goes off
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Speaker 9: GPS signal.
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Speaker 8: Police are notified right away.
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Speaker 9: So with regard to that, and the court should probably
19:15
Speaker 9: keep him in the same situation now because nothing's changed
19:19
Speaker 9: as far as the family. You're right, I mean, you
19:23
Speaker 9: know you hear maybe they were arguing or there were
19:26
Speaker 9: problems and maybe the family wanted, hey, make this work,
19:29
Speaker 9: this new blended family, work it out.
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Speaker 8: Guys, you know that type of stuff.
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Speaker 9: It's a long way to impute knowledge of a murder
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Speaker 9: and rape to a family.
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Speaker 8: And it was eighteen years old, so she was an adult.
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Speaker 9: So you don't have some type of child neglect or
19:44
Speaker 9: something to that effect here because she's an adult when
19:48
Speaker 9: this happened.
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Speaker 6: You know.
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Speaker 9: The only thing maybe they could go with some type
19:52
Speaker 9: of obstruction if they said something to law enforcement and
19:59
Speaker 9: made statement.
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Speaker 8: But you could say, but it's the reality of it, Nancy.
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Speaker 9: You want to convict everybody because they're arrested.
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Speaker 1: Said she's an adult. Show Anna Kaptner again, she's wearing braces.
20:13
Speaker 1: She's still in high school.
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Speaker 8: Sure, sure, okay, but she's eighteen.
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Speaker 1: Eighteen is not an adult, Crispin. Can you drink at
20:22
Speaker 1: eighteen in Florida?
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Speaker 8: Florida's twenty one years old.
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Speaker 1: Okay, so she's not even able to have what do
20:30
Speaker 1: they have now? The white claw kind of a kind
20:34
Speaker 1: of alcohol, but not really. She can't even have Hardsider,
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Speaker 1: and Greg Morris is telling me that she is an adult.
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Speaker 1: Hold on, keep it on, Crispin. Crispin number one. I
20:48
Speaker 1: got Morse on tape because he says the same thing
20:52
Speaker 1: every time, and when he runs out of defenses, he
20:55
Speaker 1: says presumed innocent. He always throws that in at the
20:58
Speaker 1: end in case we forgot. But everything that he said
21:03
Speaker 1: is not answering the question. The question is if what
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Speaker 1: we're being told is true, there is a pattern of
21:10
Speaker 1: stalking and sex attack attempts. If that's true, he has
21:16
Speaker 1: a history, why is he free in a neighborhood where
21:21
Speaker 1: there are young girls living around him.
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Speaker 3: Well, I have a huge problem with him being out
21:26
Speaker 3: on bond, even with his GPS monitor, because Nancy, as
21:30
Speaker 3: you get closer to trial and you meet with your
21:32
Speaker 3: defense team, you start to realize that your demise is
21:36
Speaker 3: very very close, and how strong the evidence is against
21:40
Speaker 3: you and you start to become a caged animal and
21:43
Speaker 3: you realize I'm out. I only have a short amount
21:46
Speaker 3: of time to either kill myself that won't break our heart, however,
21:52
Speaker 3: or kill someone else and escape. I have a huge
21:56
Speaker 3: problem with him being out. I get that he's a
22:00
Speaker 3: youthful offender. I get it, but there are a lot
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Speaker 3: of violent youthful offenders, which is why he's being charged
22:07
Speaker 3: as an adult. If he trust me, the government knows
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Speaker 3: about all this past with him, and you're gonna see
22:14
Speaker 3: that that's gonna come up at this next hearing. I'm
22:17
Speaker 3: gonna be shocked if this judge doesn't pull that GPS
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Speaker 3: and put him into custody.
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Speaker 1: I mean, for Pete's sake, Crispin, it's a murderer. This
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Speaker 1: is not some little girl down at Walgreen's stealing some
22:29
Speaker 1: I makeup. This is a murder, and, according to a
22:33
Speaker 1: superseding indictment, a rape. According to the state, he raped
22:40
Speaker 1: her and murdered her. Hold on doctor Pria Banerjee joining me.
22:45
Speaker 1: You know her well. She's a board certified forensic pathologist.
22:48
Speaker 1: She's an anatomic pathologist. She's with Anchor Forensic Pathology consulting
22:53
Speaker 1: Doctor Pria how does the state know this girl, this
22:59
Speaker 1: team girl with sex assaulted? How do we know that?
23:03
Speaker 1: And describe the injuries to Anna Kettner.
23:08
Speaker 12: For both girl moms, this is hard, but autopsy we
23:13
Speaker 12: do sexual assault kits just like analogous to if the
23:17
Speaker 12: if she was living, We collect, we examine the pubic area,
23:21
Speaker 12: the genital area, look for any injuries, and take lots
23:26
Speaker 12: of swabs for DNA testing and microscopic exam, so looking
23:30
Speaker 12: under the microscope. So if this is a forcible rape,
23:34
Speaker 12: oftentimes we see bruising and tearing in that in the
23:38
Speaker 12: genital area, and that's really what is It's awful to see.
23:42
Speaker 12: There can be a lot of damage outside and inside,
23:46
Speaker 12: and there are special autopsy techniques that are very invasive
23:51
Speaker 12: but allow us to really get a look at what
23:56
Speaker 12: the damage is. So it's it's a very complicated exam.
24:00
Speaker 1: Greg Morres very quickly explain what is a superseding indictment.
24:07
Speaker 9: So a superseding indictment is another indictment after the initial
24:13
Speaker 9: or preceding ones that simply sometimes adds charges, adds elements
24:18
Speaker 9: to it, but it's to add information to the preceding
24:21
Speaker 9: indictments that have already been issued, So it doesn't really
24:25
Speaker 9: unless it's something incredibly significant, it doesn't change the timeline
24:29
Speaker 9: very much depending on what it is. But it's a
24:31
Speaker 9: new indictment in the same case with new information.
24:34
Speaker 1: You know, we saw that over and over in the
24:36
Speaker 1: Sean Combs case. They just kept getting more and more
24:39
Speaker 1: victims and more and more evidence, and there'd be a
24:41
Speaker 1: superseding and a superseding to the superseding, and so on
24:45
Speaker 1: and so on. That's an example. Oh there he is
24:49
Speaker 1: that you have to show them to me again. I
24:51
Speaker 1: guess you did. Hey, Dave Mack joining US Crime Stories
24:54
Speaker 1: investigative reporter. One thing of the many things that Moore said,
24:58
Speaker 1: and he's right, is this is a newly blended family.
25:04
Speaker 1: It's a very newly blended family. In fact, this stepmom
25:09
Speaker 1: and the bio dad are basically still honeymooners.
25:13
Speaker 7: They were only married eleven months Nancy when this cruise
25:18
Speaker 7: took place, and during that time period of that eleven
25:22
Speaker 7: month marriage, there were all of these warning signs that
25:25
Speaker 7: you've been talking about between Anna Kepner and her stepbrother.
25:30
Speaker 7: So the shocking fact that they knowing all of this
25:33
Speaker 7: put them in the same room on a cruise and
25:37
Speaker 7: that the fourteen year old was locked out of that room.
25:40
Speaker 7: It just goes to a total dread of what Anna
25:43
Speaker 7: Keptner was going through on a day by day basis
25:46
Speaker 7: with the step month's brother.
25:48
Speaker 1: You know, it's amazing to me the way this is
25:52
Speaker 1: playing out. He is still out free. She's dead. Isn't
25:57
Speaker 1: it true, Michelle Spitzer that her high school graduation. I
26:01
Speaker 1: hope you're listening, Greg Morris, claiming she's an adult. Her
26:05
Speaker 1: high school graduation just happened and the dad, the bio
26:09
Speaker 1: dad had to accept her diploma. What happened?
26:13
Speaker 4: That's right, Nancy. Her high school graduation was just held
26:17
Speaker 4: this past weekend and her dad did go up and
26:21
Speaker 4: accept her diploma on for behalf. It was a very
26:25
Speaker 4: emotional moment. He wore butterflies on a shirt in honor
26:29
Speaker 4: of his daughter. It's a very small private school. There's
26:33
Speaker 4: only about twenty kids in the graduating class. The valedictorians
26:38
Speaker 4: spoke about Anna, spoke about what she meant the class,
26:41
Speaker 4: how much she has missed. There was no mention about
26:45
Speaker 4: the suspect there, and it was all focused on Anna
26:48
Speaker 4: and how much she has missed.
26:51
Speaker 1: Michelle Spitzer, isn't it true that the siblings. Oh, this
26:54
Speaker 1: is from our friends at Good Morning America. Isn't it
26:57
Speaker 1: true that these siblings set up par little senior table
27:01
Speaker 1: with all of her pictures and memorabilia.
27:05
Speaker 4: That is what I was told that family members did
27:08
Speaker 4: set up this table to revenusce about Anna and remember
27:14
Speaker 4: her in the good times. Her family said they want
27:16
Speaker 4: her to be remembered by the way she lived, not
27:19
Speaker 4: the way she died. She was a cheerleader known for
27:23
Speaker 4: being very bubbly, very happy all the time, and so
27:27
Speaker 4: there were a lot of good memories and she was
27:30
Speaker 4: thought about alive this weekend.
27:35
Speaker 1: Back to you, Crispin. I know you can't see a
27:38
Speaker 1: monitor where you're joining us there on the scene, but
27:42
Speaker 1: we were just showing her senior table. My twins are
27:46
Speaker 1: about to graduate, and I've been doing seeing your table,
27:48
Speaker 1: after seeing your table, after seeing your table. Can you
27:53
Speaker 1: imagine putting together a senior table and your daughter has
27:58
Speaker 1: been sex assaulted and murdered and the dad has to
28:03
Speaker 1: pull her cold body out from stuffed up under a bed,
28:07
Speaker 1: and you're making a senior table. I mean, all you've
28:11
Speaker 1: got left of her is an urn a senior table.
28:15
Speaker 3: I mean, listen, I could see that in the monitor,
28:19
Speaker 3: and that's heartbreaking. That is beyond heartbreaking. This entire situation
28:25
Speaker 3: is heartbreaking. But accountability starts for everybody involved when the
28:33
Speaker 3: first arrest was made, and the United States government is
28:36
Speaker 3: going to take this all the way to the end.
28:38
Speaker 3: If there's nobody else responsible, and they deem nobody else
28:41
Speaker 3: is responsible, then it's over with the arrest of him.
28:44
Speaker 3: But yes, that table is heartbreaking, and it's just I
28:50
Speaker 3: don't even know how to put words to it. I
28:52
Speaker 3: don't even know what I would do either.
28:54
Speaker 1: Looking at that. And you know what, I got to
28:57
Speaker 1: make another senior table tomorrow night. I mean, and when
29:01
Speaker 1: I'm making those pictures of my little girl to put
29:04
Speaker 1: up on that poster, I'm to be thinking about Anna
29:08
Speaker 1: Kapner and her family making all those posters we just saw,
29:11
Speaker 1: and how they must have just been sick doing it.
29:14
Speaker 1: But you know, think about it looking at that poster
29:18
Speaker 1: board and that senior table and the dad getting a
29:21
Speaker 1: standing ovation when he goes to accept her diploma. Crispin.
29:27
Speaker 1: Remember when her body was found. They came back to
29:30
Speaker 1: port and suddenly the step son was too upset to
29:35
Speaker 1: speak anymore. Once the law enforcement got Ahold of him.
29:38
Speaker 1: But guess who else didn't speak the bio dad and
29:42
Speaker 1: the stepmom. And according to these posts, the little brother
29:47
Speaker 1: had told them what had happened and they said nothing.
29:51
Speaker 3: Listen, Nancy, that is not a coincidence. You as a
29:55
Speaker 3: prosecutor or me as a former homicide detective, that is
29:58
Speaker 3: not a coincidence. This time frame, from the time that
30:02
Speaker 3: they found the body until that ship got back to
30:05
Speaker 3: port here behind me and the Feds were able to
30:07
Speaker 3: get on there and start their investigation. They had a
30:11
Speaker 3: lot of time to get together and talk. And family
30:14
Speaker 3: protects family regardless.
30:18
Speaker 1: Well, when you say family protects family, to doctor Bethany Marshall,
30:21
Speaker 1: nobody was protecting Anna. Nobody was protecting Anna.
30:26
Speaker 11: Nobody was protecting Anna. And I do hope Biodad does
30:30
Speaker 11: go to court In terms of this, you know, I
30:33
Speaker 11: forget what you call them. All the information being added
30:35
Speaker 11: on like we had with p Diddy, a lot more
30:38
Speaker 11: is going to come out. She had girlfriends Anna whose
30:41
Speaker 11: houses she spent the night at, so she would avoid
30:44
Speaker 11: thh Let's not call him her brother because he was
30:46
Speaker 11: not her brother. She hadn't known him that long. And
30:49
Speaker 11: all those girls are going to want to talk. They're
30:51
Speaker 11: going to talk to their mothers and fathers. The mothers
30:53
Speaker 11: and fathers are going to talk to police. There's a
30:55
Speaker 11: lot more information coming out. Nancy. It's it's going to
30:58
Speaker 11: get ugly. I'm I'm really sorry to say, but that's
31:01
Speaker 11: what's going to happen.
31:02
Speaker 1: And speaking of upcoming back to Michelle Spitzer joining US
31:06
Speaker 1: Investigative Reporter, they're in this jurisdiction of Florida for USA today, Michelle,
31:11
Speaker 1: We've got upcoming court dates. The first thing I believe
31:15
Speaker 1: is going to be a court date where they're going
31:17
Speaker 1: to talk about bond in case there's any threat that
31:21
Speaker 1: he might go into jubjail. They want a bond. I
31:24
Speaker 1: think that's going to happen. The trial date has been moved.
31:27
Speaker 1: Tell me what's happening.
31:28
Speaker 4: I do want to point out that a lot of
31:31
Speaker 4: the information that has come out, aside from your safe
31:35
Speaker 4: from random people, is court documents related to a custody
31:40
Speaker 4: case involving Anna's stepmother and her former husband. They're still
31:45
Speaker 4: in a custody dispute and that is where we are
31:48
Speaker 4: getting a lot of our information, including a text message
31:53
Speaker 4: exchange between Anna's stepmother and her former husband. The suspects
31:58
Speaker 4: biological father, where they discussed very vaguely what was going on.
32:06
Speaker 4: They were careful not to see too much. And if
32:10
Speaker 4: it was not for this custody dispute going on in court,
32:14
Speaker 4: we would know even less.
32:16
Speaker 1: So we've got the upcoming court day Michelle Spitzer, and
32:19
Speaker 1: I think they're going to ask for bond there. When
32:23
Speaker 1: is that and when is the trial set?
32:27
Speaker 4: The upcoming partie regarding bond is at the end of
32:30
Speaker 4: the month end of May. The trial was delayed. Wasn't
32:34
Speaker 4: originally scheduled for June, and it passed be delayed until September.
32:39
Speaker 1: Dave mac joining those crime stories investigative reporter, Delayed, delayed, delayed,
32:43
Speaker 1: defense attorney's best friend hold on, Dave, Greg Morris. We
32:47
Speaker 1: know that's true, But why is that true that defense
32:50
Speaker 1: attorneys always want a delay?
32:53
Speaker 8: Well, well, for two reason. One, it's not here.
32:56
Speaker 9: The Southern District of Florida, which I've practiced in for
32:58
Speaker 9: twenty six years, is very fast.
33:01
Speaker 8: This case will not linger for years and years and years.
33:03
Speaker 9: Some of my homicide cases in the state system there
33:06
Speaker 9: go on for three years, four years before they ever
33:08
Speaker 9: get to trial. That will not happen here. In the
33:10
Speaker 9: Southern District of Florida, it is very fast. And also
33:13
Speaker 9: you have to remember, for the defense lawyer, we're reactionary.
33:17
Speaker 9: You know, the prosecution, especially at the federal level, they
33:20
Speaker 9: can try the case the day they bring the indictment.
33:23
Speaker 8: For the most part, they don't need to.
33:25
Speaker 9: We have to get information, test the evidence, and do
33:29
Speaker 9: all those things in a reactionary sense. So that's the
33:32
Speaker 9: reason why. But you don't get a lot of delays
33:35
Speaker 9: in the Southern District of Florida, which is the federal
33:37
Speaker 9: district that Miami is in.
33:40
Speaker 8: So it's not going to last long.
33:41
Speaker 9: But it's because we're reactionary with regard to the information
33:46
Speaker 9: and evidence, and that's why a lot of delay happens.
33:49
Speaker 9: And the system has too many cases, so there's that
33:51
Speaker 9: aspect as well. But again, I'm in a very fast
33:54
Speaker 9: jurisdiction and that's where this case is. So I'd be
33:57
Speaker 9: surprised if it went into next year barring something unusual.
34:01
Speaker 9: And I believe the delay happened because they filed the
34:04
Speaker 9: superseding indictment and added a significant charge, which was the
34:08
Speaker 9: sex assault charge to this.
34:12
Speaker 1: I think that that delay is legitimate. I think the
34:15
Speaker 1: request for a delay by the defense in this case
34:18
Speaker 1: is legitimate because when you have other felony charges at
34:22
Speaker 1: I mean, they should have known it was coming. The
34:24
Speaker 1: client should have told them everything that happened. But that said,
34:28
Speaker 1: when a new charge is added, the defense has to
34:30
Speaker 1: get ready. You heard more say the defense is reactionary.
34:33
Speaker 1: They react to what the state's evidence is. Why because
34:38
Speaker 1: they can't just take the stand until the truth because
34:41
Speaker 1: that could very well be a confession. Can't do that,
34:44
Speaker 1: So they have to react to what the state says,
34:46
Speaker 1: here's our evidence, and the defense has to figure out
34:49
Speaker 1: how they're going to counter that evidence. We learned a lot,
34:52
Speaker 1: Dave Mack in the state's filings about what the state
34:57
Speaker 1: says went down. Everyone in this case, including the defendant,
35:02
Speaker 1: including the parents, are innocent in the eyes of the law,
35:07
Speaker 1: unless and until the state pierces the presumption of innocence
35:13
Speaker 1: with facts and evidence to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
35:17
Speaker 1: Dave matt what jumps out at you from the state's filings,
35:24
Speaker 1: I learned a lot.
35:26
Speaker 3: Well.
35:27
Speaker 7: The one thing that really comes to mind, okay, Nancy,
35:31
Speaker 7: is that some of the evidence that's been collected in
35:34
Speaker 7: this case so far, a written statement by the defendant
35:38
Speaker 7: that the DNA found at the crime scene and data
35:44
Speaker 7: that was extracted from say, the telephone of a person
35:47
Speaker 7: identified sc K. There's reports from both federal and local
35:51
Speaker 7: LA enforcement agencies included in all of this, But I'm
35:54
Speaker 7: curious as to what that data is going to show.
35:58
Speaker 7: What is that as well as as the written statement
36:02
Speaker 7: by the defendant. We know what The indictment, you know,
36:06
Speaker 7: states that the murder occurred at the same time as
36:09
Speaker 7: sexual abuse occurred on November sixth. The timing has been
36:15
Speaker 7: placed the of the sexual assault and murder has been
36:19
Speaker 7: placed between seven thirty pm and nine thirty am the
36:22
Speaker 7: following morning, which is an awfully long period of time,
36:27
Speaker 7: you know, fourteen hours. I guess the biggest thing of
36:32
Speaker 7: all of this, Nancy, is that the grand jury said
36:36
Speaker 7: that knowingly and unlawfully perpetrated the wilful, deliberate, malicious, and
36:43
Speaker 7: premeditated killing of Kepner. The pre meditated killing meaning did
36:50
Speaker 7: he plan this? Did he lure her in there specifically
36:53
Speaker 7: to kill her? That's what jumps in me.
36:57
Speaker 1: Well again, you know, Dave, Premeditation under the law can
37:01
Speaker 1: be formed in an instant, the twinkling of a moment,
37:05
Speaker 1: the blink of an eye, the time it takes to
37:08
Speaker 1: raise the gun and pull the trigger. Under the law
37:10
Speaker 1: is time to form premeditation. It's also felony murder if
37:15
Speaker 1: a felony occurred at the time of the death, which
37:19
Speaker 1: is a felony sex act. So with that you don't
37:24
Speaker 1: even have to prove intent. We wait as justice unfolds,
37:28
Speaker 1: but please know the state is building its case, as
37:31
Speaker 1: is the defense. If you know anything about this case,
37:34
Speaker 1: please dial seven five four seven zero three two thousand,
37:40
Speaker 1: seven five four seven zero three, two thousand. We remember
37:45
Speaker 1: an American hero, Trooper Donald Brackett, Pennsylvania State Police, passed
37:50
Speaker 1: away in the line of duty after seventeen years on
37:52
Speaker 1: the force, leaving behind his wife now widow, Marta, and
37:57
Speaker 1: daughters Gabriella and brionn American hero treeper Donald Brackett. Thank
38:05
Speaker 1: you to our guest, but especially to you for being
38:07
Speaker 1: with us tonight. Nancy Grace signing off for tonight, but
38:10
Speaker 1: I'll see you tomorrow night, and until then, good night, friend.