Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / Popular high school teacher allegedly guns down hubby’s new girlfriend decorating Christmas tree in front of tot twins

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Popular high school teacher allegedly guns down hubby’s new girlfriend decorating Christmas tree in front of tot twins · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

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1:13
Speaker 1: crime stories with Nancy Grace. Sky Ridge High schoolers head
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Speaker 1: home for the day. They have a lot weighing on
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Speaker 1: their young minds. Never could have seen this happening, Senior
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Speaker 1: Caleb Latimer had a good relationship with health teacher Chelsea Cook.
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Speaker 1: After taking her class, he signed up to be her TA.
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Speaker 1: She was my favorite teacher. She was one of the
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Speaker 1: classes that I would look forward to going to. He's
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Speaker 1: taking the news of her arrest hard, maybe harder than
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Speaker 1: most because I don't know, I was close to her.
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Speaker 1: Caleb says Cook confided in students about her failed marriage.
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Speaker 1: Before her divorce. She could tell like she was super
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Speaker 1: happy all the time, and then when she got divorced,
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Speaker 1: she just she missed a couple days of class, which
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Speaker 1: she never really did, and then I don't know, after that,
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Speaker 1: it was just kind of friend. I guess the second
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Speaker 1: side this morning today, the Alpine School District is trying
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Speaker 1: to help students like Caleb process all of this, or
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Speaker 1: telling them the information that's been shared that yes, one
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Speaker 1: of your teachers has been arrested and charged with aggravated murder.
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Speaker 1: Kimberly Bird is the assistant superintendent. Have I ever had
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Speaker 1: to say that to a student. No. Never. They notified
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Speaker 1: parents through email. Of course, my reaction was shocked. Mike
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Speaker 1: Jensen's daughter had Cook as her teacher this year. I
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Speaker 1: think there's probably a little bit of real world hitting
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Speaker 1: them just as students who probably hear about tragic events
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Speaker 1: and never really hits that close to home, and then
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Speaker 1: this one does hit close to home. Despite the confusion,
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Speaker 1: I want to know what drove her to do it. Caleb,
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Speaker 1: still concerned for his teacher, Just hope that she does
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Speaker 1: okay wherever she ends up. Did a Utah high school
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Speaker 1: help teacher a gun down and kill her ex's new
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Speaker 1: girl friend in front of her own three year old
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Speaker 1: twin daughters. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank
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Speaker 1: you for being with us. You just heard our friends
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Speaker 1: at KUTV. That was Gina Rowe speaking one of the
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Speaker 1: sky Ridge High School students Caleb about Chelsea Cook's alleged
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Speaker 1: murder charges. Joining me right now, Crime online dot Com
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Speaker 1: investigative reporter John Lemley, Let's start at the beginning. You
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Speaker 1: know what, John, I'm having a hard time taking this
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Speaker 1: in because I'm looking at a gorgeous photo of her.
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Speaker 1: We're talking about its Chelsea Wattress Cook, just thirty two.
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Speaker 1: She was just arrested in Salt Lake City for allegedly
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Speaker 1: shooting dad, her ex husband's new girlfriend. But what is
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Speaker 1: so disturbing me? So much in addition to the murder
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Speaker 1: charge and the death she's holding these beautiful little twin girls.
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Speaker 1: I mean, listen the other night when I sent my
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Speaker 1: husband to the pantry to get out the chocolate milk
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Speaker 1: the Nestley quick and I was in the middle of
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Speaker 1: working on my book. I was just covered in papers
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Speaker 1: and two computers plus my cell phone, trying to research
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Speaker 1: like a ten year old murder case. He couldn't find it.
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Speaker 1: I had to get up, put everything down, go find
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Speaker 1: if I had had a gun, but let me just
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Speaker 1: say I had a broom handy. I tried to sweep
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Speaker 1: him out of the pantry. It was right in front
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Speaker 1: of his face. Look, we all have moments that we
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Speaker 1: would like to just let's just say, reprimand our spouse.
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Speaker 1: But I would never ever because I would lose the twins.
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Speaker 1: Just start at the beginning, John, what happened? Well, Chelsea Cook,
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Speaker 1: the woman at the center of this case, as gorgeous,
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Speaker 1: absolutely gorgeous. It seems to have a perfect life if
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Speaker 1: you were looking at pictures and social media. Beloved teacher,
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Speaker 1: as we've heard, she taught hell that Skyridge High School
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Speaker 1: in Lehigh, Utah. That's about a half hour south of
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Speaker 1: Salt Lake City. Cook is divorced her husband, Travis Cook.
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Speaker 1: On Sunday had their three year old twins. They were
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Speaker 1: with their father and his new girlfriend, Lisa Williams. In
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Speaker 1: the early evening hours, Chelsea Cook stops by the ex
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Speaker 1: husband's and girlfriend's apartment purportedly to deliver cough medicine for
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Speaker 1: one of the twins. Now, this is where things get
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Speaker 1: a little sketchy. There are holes in the story that
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Speaker 1: we're receiving. But somehow the ex husband is in the
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Speaker 1: apartment parking lot as she enters the apartment, and the
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Speaker 1: report says that the next thing she did was go
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Speaker 1: straight to the bathroom, lock herself in and call nine
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Speaker 1: one one. So she gets there in or to drop
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Speaker 1: off the coal medicine for the twins, the little girls,
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Speaker 1: and goes straight to the bathroom. Did I get that right,
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Speaker 1: John Lemley? That is absolutely correct. Okay, let's analyze that
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Speaker 1: to you, Kathleen Murphy right now, North Carolina family lawyer.
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Speaker 1: You deal with family friction all the time. What does
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Speaker 1: that tell you that she went straight to the bathroom
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Speaker 1: and locked herself in there. First of all, the fact
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Speaker 1: that she got in the bathroom is concerning, and the
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Speaker 1: husband was down in the parking lot. I think she
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Speaker 1: was there to deliver medicine. And then she took it
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Speaker 1: upon herself to enter the parking or enter the apartment
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Speaker 1: because somebody called the police. Because they told her to leave,
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Speaker 1: I believe, and she wouldn't leave. Okay. Wait, so when
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Speaker 1: I say straight to the bathroom, that's after they asked
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Speaker 1: her to leave. Yeah, okay, so they had asked her
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Speaker 1: to leave. Oh, I bet that was the scene. It
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Speaker 1: wasn't you know? It makes your blood boil to think
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Speaker 1: your husband is exposing your children. Yep, to iew basically
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Speaker 1: substitute mom. Yeah, so I'm sure it made her blood boil.
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Speaker 1: But you just can't unload bullets. So what does that
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Speaker 1: tell you they ask her to leave it she goes
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Speaker 1: and watch herself in the bathroom. That's not good. No,
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Speaker 1: clearly she's out of her mind. And I think that
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Speaker 1: I see this all the time. People who have children
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Speaker 1: that are young and that are precious to them and
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Speaker 1: have no control over what's really happening with their children.
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Speaker 1: They can just lose their mind. They can snap. I
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Speaker 1: want to go to you. Karen Stark, New York Psychologists
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Speaker 1: Karen start joining us this morning from Manhattan. You know,
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Speaker 1: Kathleen Murphy sees it from a different angle. She's North
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Speaker 1: Carolina family lawyer. She represents all sides and divorces, family
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Speaker 1: friction cases, runaways, custody, the works. That's how she sees it.
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Speaker 1: I see it as a prosecutor, as a crime victim.
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Speaker 1: I'm looking at shoots down the girlfriend, the new girlfriend
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Speaker 1: with the children right there, the three year old little girls.
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Speaker 1: Karen Starr helped me out because this woman is not insane.
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Speaker 1: She's not insane, Nancy, because she knew to be able
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Speaker 1: to say she was bringing the medicine. It sounds pretty
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Speaker 1: planned out, locked herself in the bathroom, got into the apartment,
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Speaker 1: so she absolutely seems to have known what she was doing.
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Speaker 1: What is baffling to me is if she was that
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Speaker 1: upset about her daughters, as it was just discussed, then
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Speaker 1: why in the world would she ever commit that kind
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Speaker 1: of a crime in front of children and lead that
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Speaker 1: kind of impression on them, which is going to take
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Speaker 1: years to be able to get out of their mind
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Speaker 1: where there would be lucky if they can get over
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Speaker 1: that incident, if it doesn't stay stuck and there she
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Speaker 1: is with her two young children, and she guns down
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Speaker 1: this woman out of jealousy and ring to Stephen Lampley
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Speaker 1: joining us, a former high profile detective. You can find
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Speaker 1: him at Stephen David Lampley dot com. Stephen. By the
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Speaker 1: time this gets contorted, he goes to trial, she'll probably
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Speaker 1: be claiming self defense and she'll have a ton of
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Speaker 1: reputation witnesses to say what a great teacher she was. So,
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Speaker 1: when you look at a ceiling this, how do you
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Speaker 1: defeat a claim like that of self defense? Well, I answer,
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Speaker 1: there were, of course the two three year olds, you know,
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Speaker 1: and then you got the husband, and of course the
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Speaker 1: girlfriends now did well? I doubt pretty seriously three year
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Speaker 1: olds are going to testify to the logistics of murder.
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Speaker 1: I won't. That leaves the husband and the ex wife,
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Speaker 1: he said, she said, So it's going to be an
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Speaker 1: interesting case. Nonetheless, it will also be a matter of
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Speaker 1: forensics because we know that Chelsea Cook comes in there
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Speaker 1: with a gun. Cook's ex husband, Travis Cook, says, she unlocks. Okay,
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Speaker 1: first of all, she comes in with the coal medicine.
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Speaker 1: Then they ask her to leave. She won't leave. She
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Speaker 1: goes and locks herself in the bathroom, they call nine
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Speaker 1: one one. The ex husband, Travis Cook, says she unlocked
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Speaker 1: the bathroom door voluntarily right after nine one one was called,
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Speaker 1: goes to grab her coat before pulling out a fire
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Speaker 1: arm and firing multiple times at Lisa Vilatte Williams, just
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Speaker 1: twenty six years old. Williams falls on the couch and dies.
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Speaker 1: The husband wrestles the gun away, and then the ex
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Speaker 1: sits on a chair with their two children while he
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Speaker 1: tried to help and revive Williams. Then Chelsea Cook, according
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Speaker 1: to him, tries to walk to her coat, but he
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Speaker 1: grabs her and pins her gets the wall until he's
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Speaker 1: get there. Now, what can you tell me, John Limley
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Speaker 1: about previous marital discord? Well, Nancy, for quite some time,
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Speaker 1: there had been even before the girlfriend, there had been
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Speaker 1: a lot of trouble, especially when it came to care
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Speaker 1: of the twins. It was just really one episode after another,
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Speaker 1: and it seems like this new girlfriend just took her
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Speaker 1: over the top when it came to this anger that
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Speaker 1: was building up inside of Chelsea Well, specifically Kathleen Murphy.
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Speaker 1: What does it mean to you that Chelsea Cook, the wife,
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Speaker 1: was arrested for domestic violence. In October, there was a
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Speaker 1: This is according to KSTUTV, Chelsea Cook had been involved
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Speaker 1: in a previous domestic violence incident and a case related
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Speaker 1: to that had been filed to hear him in city
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Speaker 1: early November, charging Cook with two counts of domestic violence
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Speaker 1: in the presence of a child and one count of assault.
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Speaker 1: So this is not for first time. At the rodeo,
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Speaker 1: Kathleen Murphy, I see it all the time, Nancy, and
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Speaker 1: I think that what we're dealing with is probably some
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Speaker 1: who take no for an answer, has a lot of
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Speaker 1: rage and may have a mood disorder, feel a lot
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Speaker 1: of borderline personality disorders behaviors of this woman. And it's
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Speaker 1: too bad because the court system don't really have people
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Speaker 1: going through the court systems get evaluated for their children's sake.
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Speaker 1: I mean, look, Karen Stark, I'm sure you're gonna want
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Speaker 1: to respond to this, but why all this over one man?
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Speaker 1: As my grandmother used to say, they're like a bus
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Speaker 1: no offense, John Limley and Stephen Lampley and Aldy, you know,
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Speaker 1: like buses. Another one will come by in about fifteen
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Speaker 1: minutes at Skyridge High School, just like anywhere else. Teachers
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Speaker 1: are held to a standard and entrusted with our children.
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Speaker 1: Just redering the news is and you know, and heartbroke
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Speaker 1: at the Alpine School District to learn from police that
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Speaker 1: Chelsea Cook was the suspect in a murder investigation. We
13:10
Speaker 1: wanted our parents to know from us. You know, how
13:13
Speaker 1: are kids safe at school? Even though it didn't occurrent school?
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Speaker 1: You know what safeguards do we have going on? The
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Speaker 1: shooting happened Sunday night. Cook came to her ex husband's
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Speaker 1: apartment in Midville to deliver some cough medicine for one
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Speaker 1: of their three year old twins. At some point during
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Speaker 1: the time she was in the apartment, it's believed she
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Speaker 1: pulled out a gun and shot the victim. In this case,
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Speaker 1: that victim was her ex's girlfriend, twenty four year old
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Speaker 1: Lisa Williams. The twins saw it all happen, according to
13:42
Speaker 1: arresting documents. You were hearing right there from our friend
13:47
Speaker 1: at k s LTV, Mike Anderson, who was talking with
13:52
Speaker 1: the Scotland Assistant Principle. This shooting unfolds in front of
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Speaker 1: the couple's three year old twins and to you, John Limley,
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Speaker 1: Jackie Howard's brought up an interesting theory that hey, it
14:03
Speaker 1: wasn't so much about jealousy of the husband seeing a
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Speaker 1: new girlfriend. It was about the twins, the little girls.
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Speaker 1: But why not then just take the little girls? Why
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Speaker 1: shoot down the ex girlfriend if it wasn't about jealousy,
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Speaker 1: John Limley precisely, And what is really baffling for a
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Speaker 1: mother who you know, purportedly loves her children so much,
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Speaker 1: why has she caused them to witness such awful things
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Speaker 1: over the past just a few weeks. You know, we
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Speaker 1: were talking about the two counts of domestic violence earlier
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Speaker 1: that Chelsea Cook was charged with, and this was in
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Speaker 1: the presence of those children as well. Now she pleaded
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Speaker 1: not guilty to all three misdemeanor charges. And this was
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Speaker 1: just November thirteenth, for offenses that happened on October six,
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Speaker 1: just a matter of a few short weeks before than
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Speaker 1: this awful event that yet again the twins witness. Listen
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Speaker 1: to our friend Matt O'Donnell at wpv iv dow This morning,
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Speaker 1: a Utah teacher is accused of shooting and killing her
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Speaker 1: ex husband's girlfriend in front of the former couple's children.
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Speaker 1: Thirty two year old Chelsea Cook has charged with first
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Speaker 1: degree aggravated murder. Police say the high school health teacher
15:28
Speaker 1: went to her former husband's suburban Salt Lake City apartment
15:31
Speaker 1: to deliver cold medicine to one of their three year
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Speaker 1: old twins on Sunday night. At some point, the tactives say,
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Speaker 1: Cook pulled out a gun and shot twenty six year
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Speaker 1: old Lisa Williams. Williams died at the hospital. M the
15:46
Speaker 1: children right there, Karen Start, renowned New York psychologists joining
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Speaker 1: us from Manhattan. What effect is this going to have
15:52
Speaker 1: on the children? This is their mother we're talking about,
15:55
Speaker 1: who's likely going to jail for life or worse. It's trauma, Nancy,
15:59
Speaker 1: and it's something that they're three years old. They really
16:03
Speaker 1: can take that in and remember it. So they're going
16:05
Speaker 1: to need a lot of help to be able to
16:08
Speaker 1: get over this scene and not and not have it
16:12
Speaker 1: indelibly stamped into their minds. It's just awful. And you know,
16:17
Speaker 1: I have another question. I'm wondering why she's even allowed
16:22
Speaker 1: to get nearer them, near that woman and deliver the
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Speaker 1: cold medicine, given that there was already so much habit
16:30
Speaker 1: going on in their relationship. Another issue and I'm going
16:33
Speaker 1: to throw that question to John Lumley. Another issue for
16:36
Speaker 1: you to mull over Kathleen Murphy is if she's angry
16:40
Speaker 1: that her baby girls are now going to be exposed
16:43
Speaker 1: to a quote substitute mommy. Now, what's going to happen
16:46
Speaker 1: with her behind bars? You know, of course there's going
16:49
Speaker 1: to be no telling how many women and this husband's life.
16:52
Speaker 1: I mean, he's just twenty eight. What do you think
16:54
Speaker 1: he's going to do and go into a monastery and
16:57
Speaker 1: be a monk. There are going to be many, many
17:00
Speaker 1: women in his life after this. So this was completely counterproductive.
17:04
Speaker 1: What about that, Kathleen, She wasn't thinking she snapped. She
17:09
Speaker 1: she premeditated going over there the gun. I agree with that,
17:12
Speaker 1: but all of that was under in my opinion, the
17:15
Speaker 1: umbrella of snap's going crazy, going crazy because it cannot
17:19
Speaker 1: control what they want to do. Well, Snap is not
17:22
Speaker 1: actually a defense under snap that's a name of a
17:26
Speaker 1: show on Oxygen Snapped. That's not a legitimate defense under
17:30
Speaker 1: the law. If you're angry and you shoot somebody, that's
17:34
Speaker 1: still murder. One yep. You can form premeditation in the
17:37
Speaker 1: twinkling of an eye and by the time it takes
17:39
Speaker 1: to pull a trigger less than a second, so anger, revenge,
17:44
Speaker 1: none of that is a jealousy, None of those are defenses.
17:48
Speaker 1: Answer everybody in the Fulton County jail will go, oh,
17:51
Speaker 1: I was mad, Yeah, Okay, don't care. You're right. But
17:55
Speaker 1: I think that people are just thinking they can have
17:58
Speaker 1: what they want when they want it, and their family
18:00
Speaker 1: appearance is critical to everything that they do. See it
18:05
Speaker 1: all the time. So let me ask you this, John Linley,
18:07
Speaker 1: what exactly did she teach at the high school. She
18:10
Speaker 1: was a health teacher, and she also, in addition to
18:13
Speaker 1: teaching yoga off campus for adults, she also taught some
18:17
Speaker 1: yoga classes for the students as well on the sky
18:22
Speaker 1: Ridge campus. Right now, she Chelsea Cook, is being held
18:26
Speaker 1: at the Salt Lake County Jail on a million dollar
18:31
Speaker 1: bill WHOA. She faces one charge of aggravated murder. The
18:37
Speaker 1: shooting is being investigated by Salt Lake City Police Department.
18:41
Speaker 1: One of the people involved is related to the Unified
18:44
Speaker 1: Police Department, an employee there. They were the ones that
18:47
Speaker 1: first responded. Cook, as Linley just told you, was a
18:51
Speaker 1: health teacher and a yoga teacher. Right now, the school
18:55
Speaker 1: trying to explain to all the students. Why they're a
18:57
Speaker 1: teacher is behind bars now. Williams, the victim in this case,
19:04
Speaker 1: mother says she wants her daughter to be remembered for
19:08
Speaker 1: the beauty of her life. That's Lisa Volatte, Williams. You
19:16
Speaker 1: know I'm looking at the tribute the mom posted on Facebook.
19:19
Speaker 1: She says, my beautiful Lisa murdered while decorating a Christmas
19:24
Speaker 1: tree with homemade ornaments she was making with the twins, kind, sweet, generous, loving,
19:33
Speaker 1: brought joy to every aspect of her life. Shared the
19:37
Speaker 1: beauty of her life rather than the monster that ripped
19:41
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Speaker 1: I'm a fitty nine one one Hi, I'm a teacher
22:05
Speaker 1: at Fillmore and this pimple wild people got loose and
22:09
Speaker 1: it's like attacking the kids. What is it? It's a
22:13
Speaker 1: pimplore dog got up? Okay, I mean, let's the address there?
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Speaker 1: What's the address there? I don't know what a man?
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Speaker 1: I don't know. Hold on, I gotta look it up
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Speaker 1: on my phone. It's all black. Well, what's the name
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Speaker 1: of the school? Pillmore? Okay? Are they on the Is
22:31
Speaker 1: it on the playground or where is it? Yeah? It's
22:35
Speaker 1: on the back playground. Oh my, I gotta call inside.
22:42
Speaker 1: Can I get inside? No, it's I let me call
22:47
Speaker 1: you back. Listen. I mean, what color is it? It's attacking?
22:57
Speaker 1: Oh my god? Yeah, okay, color is it? Ma'am? It's
23:02
Speaker 1: gray and white? Is it any of the kids, ma'am?
23:10
Speaker 1: Hasn't been any of the kids, ma'am? What it's black?
23:26
Speaker 1: It's gray and white? It's gray and white or black
23:29
Speaker 1: and white? I mean gray and a white. I don't know.
23:33
Speaker 1: We're trying to get in the building. Hey, I'm here.
23:37
Speaker 1: I don't want to have any of the kids been bitten. Yeah, yeah,
23:42
Speaker 1: I gotta go. I'm trying to help that. Can you
23:45
Speaker 1: just fight? All right, we'll get him over there. Who
23:49
Speaker 1: cares what color the dog is? All I want to
23:52
Speaker 1: know is doesn't have teeth. I mean it's he Grace.
23:55
Speaker 1: This is crime Stories, Thank you for being with us.
23:57
Speaker 1: An escaped pit bull attacked by a hero teacher. After
24:03
Speaker 1: the pit bull breaks into an Oklahoma elementary school playground
24:09
Speaker 1: during recess and attacks a dozen children. Listen as I
24:17
Speaker 1: need to go get buy and oh buy them, and
24:20
Speaker 1: then the pit would pit me, and then it pit
24:23
Speaker 1: me where Oh right, I wish graduated from. As there's
24:27
Speaker 1: a gate and it was open. A bunch of kids
24:30
Speaker 1: were just running because they were scared. A lot of
24:32
Speaker 1: kids were bidden, and there were trampling coming over here.
24:36
Speaker 1: And we were all running and there was kids behind me,
24:38
Speaker 1: and I fell and I got trumpled by kids. Oh's
24:40
Speaker 1: so scared. I didn't expect this to happen today. Why
24:44
Speaker 1: why why am I always reporting about a pit bull
24:49
Speaker 1: or as Penny Douglas, fur is gonna correct me a
24:53
Speaker 1: pit bull mix like there's like the difference, or a
24:58
Speaker 1: rotwiler attacking and trying to eat people. Why why I
25:04
Speaker 1: never hear about a Bassett hound. I don't. I don't
25:09
Speaker 1: hear about a French poodle. No, it's always the pitbulls
25:14
Speaker 1: and the Rothweilers. And now the thing escapes quote escapes,
25:20
Speaker 1: that's their word, not mine. Escapes. It's like it's getting
25:23
Speaker 1: out of a prison, like a max security escaps and
25:28
Speaker 1: goes straight to an elementary school playground during recess and
25:34
Speaker 1: unhinges its jaws. Joining me Joseph Scott Morgan, death investigator,
25:40
Speaker 1: Kathleen Murphy, family lawyer Penny Douglas, fur animal rights activists
25:47
Speaker 1: and trial lawyer, and joining me right now. Crime online
25:51
Speaker 1: dot Com investigative reporter John Lemley. You know what could
25:56
Speaker 1: that nine one one dispatched person ask any more questions?
26:00
Speaker 1: You hear the children screaming bloody murder in the background,
26:05
Speaker 1: and she's like, how do you spell that? Is? What color?
26:09
Speaker 1: Is it? Is it gray or is it white and gray?
26:12
Speaker 1: You know what? Just send the ambulance and the police. Lady,
26:16
Speaker 1: that that's it, John. You can hear the frustration in
26:18
Speaker 1: the teacher's voice that called nine one one. I'm less
26:23
Speaker 1: concerned about her frustration than I am about the children
26:26
Speaker 1: shrieking in the background. Did you hear those blood curdling screams? Chilling?
26:31
Speaker 1: This is a Monday afternoon, a little after twelve thirty.
26:35
Speaker 1: There are about twenty eight third and fourth graders enjoying
26:39
Speaker 1: recess on an open playground at Fillmore Elementary School in
26:44
Speaker 1: Kansas City. No one is really certain at what moment
26:49
Speaker 1: this dog comes onto the playground, And as we've heard,
26:53
Speaker 1: there is a lot of discussion of the coloring. It
26:57
Speaker 1: is a white pitbull, grayish brown markings. The first inkling
27:02
Speaker 1: that the teachers had that there was even a dog
27:05
Speaker 1: on the playground was the screams of the kids. The
27:08
Speaker 1: screams of the children. And we heard those screams. Take
27:13
Speaker 1: a listen to more of that one. Yes, this is
27:19
Speaker 1: Demetria Feelmore Elementary, fifty two hundred south, Black Welder. We
27:25
Speaker 1: need animal control immediately. We've got a pit bull on
27:29
Speaker 1: our playground, attacking and children. We have over thirteen children
27:34
Speaker 1: that have been injured. All okay, please send someone immediately. Okay,
27:48
Speaker 1: just keep me on the phone. Okay, Okay. What color
27:53
Speaker 1: is a pit bull? It's sight and kind of blackish brown.
27:59
Speaker 1: It's too Tom, We're still trying to get children off
28:02
Speaker 1: the playground. It is just running after him like crazy.
28:07
Speaker 1: You were hearing another teacher calling nine one one. She
28:11
Speaker 1: seems to be inside calling nine one one. The first
28:14
Speaker 1: one was outside on the playground with the pit bull
28:18
Speaker 1: running wild. Listen, the dog came on and uh started
28:23
Speaker 1: to attack some of the kids, and then of course
28:25
Speaker 1: the kids began to stream and panic, which excited the
28:30
Speaker 1: dog and scared the dog even more. And so you know,
28:33
Speaker 1: his natural instinct was to to keep biting and going
28:37
Speaker 1: after the kids. According to reports third and fourth grade
28:40
Speaker 1: students on the playground at feel More Elementary in Oklahoma City,
28:45
Speaker 1: when the dog quote chased down students, biting them severely
28:53
Speaker 1: before trying to enter the school building itself until a
28:59
Speaker 1: special ed tea sure Lee Hughes, tackled the animal. WHOA okay,
29:06
Speaker 1: joining me right now is Joseph Scott Morgan, death investigator,
29:10
Speaker 1: author of Blood Beneath My Feet on Amazon. When I
29:14
Speaker 1: hear that anything escaped, that gives me a very bad feeling.
29:19
Speaker 1: Escape from what and why was it being held there?
29:22
Speaker 1: What can a dog do to a child? A third
29:25
Speaker 1: grader for Pete's sake? Yeah, and many of these cases
29:28
Speaker 1: the dog is going to see the small child as
29:30
Speaker 1: a threat. And who knows what's motivating the dog. It's
29:34
Speaker 1: this whole thing's very ominous, and you know, with small
29:39
Speaker 1: children on a playground, it's it's fishing a barrel. If
29:42
Speaker 1: this dog is irritated, maybe the dog has rabies. You
29:45
Speaker 1: have no idea what's going on. My first thought is
29:49
Speaker 1: that they're you know, the child's going to try to
29:51
Speaker 1: defend itself. They're gonna raise their arm up. The dogs
29:55
Speaker 1: can go for the arm, bite the arm, or maybe,
29:57
Speaker 1: worst case scenario, go after the wrote that's very terrifying, Nancy.
30:02
Speaker 1: The dog, whose owner is unknown, actually gets onto the
30:08
Speaker 1: playground and begins chasing and attacking children, even trying to
30:13
Speaker 1: get into the building. Listen Oklahoma City nine on one. Hey,
30:21
Speaker 1: I called earlier we we probably will need an ambulance
30:26
Speaker 1: for some of these dog bites and film or elementary. Yeah,
30:31
Speaker 1: we got every ambulance on the way. The twelve that
30:35
Speaker 1: were transported, those students sustained some kind of some kind
30:39
Speaker 1: of bite, whether it was just a nick or puncture wound.
30:44
Speaker 1: The pit bull mix even managed to get inside the school,
30:48
Speaker 1: but a brave teacher tackled him before we reached any classrooms.
30:52
Speaker 1: The district applauding the teachers and first responders who spring
30:55
Speaker 1: into action. Had we hesitated, had our folks done something
31:00
Speaker 1: different than what they did, we might be talking about
31:03
Speaker 1: a different result here. But the school is also reviewing
31:06
Speaker 1: what happened. Should follow more protocol, I mean, take a
31:11
Speaker 1: walk around before they let their kids out and make
31:13
Speaker 1: sure that the gates are secured. Fillmore Elementary is one
31:16
Speaker 1: of dozens of Oklahoma City schools with open playground gates.
31:20
Speaker 1: That's a problem that we're looking at across the district,
31:24
Speaker 1: not just at Fillmore, making sure that we need any
31:27
Speaker 1: resources to make sure that those kids are secured. Two.
31:30
Speaker 1: Penny Douglas, fur animal activists and trial lawyer in the
31:36
Speaker 1: Atlanta jurisdiction. Penny, okay, I'm ready. I'm sitting down. Maybe
31:40
Speaker 1: I better lay down for your defense. Hit me well, Nancy,
31:44
Speaker 1: this dog, first of all, as the kids running around screaming,
31:48
Speaker 1: that's what's exciting the dog and that's why it's chasing.
31:52
Speaker 1: I have friends that go to schools and try to
31:55
Speaker 1: train kids how to deal with dogs as they don't
31:58
Speaker 1: get bit this dog and go in to attack anybody.
32:01
Speaker 1: If this dog wanted to hurt somebody he could. He
32:06
Speaker 1: didn't go in to hurt anybody. He was excited. They
32:10
Speaker 1: were squirling, he started chasing. Then now my friends who
32:13
Speaker 1: go in and he was biden that children, John Ley,
32:20
Speaker 1: is it true the darn thing got into the school building? Yes,
32:23
Speaker 1: And as we mentioned, if not for Lee Hughes, this
32:27
Speaker 1: special education teacher, he was able to tackle the dog
32:32
Speaker 1: before he reached any of the classrooms. He was able
32:34
Speaker 1: to grab him right there in the hallway, right after
32:37
Speaker 1: he entered the school. Take a listen to this start
32:41
Speaker 1: fighting back at all? What I mean was it able?
32:45
Speaker 1: I had had a penned and my arms locked around
32:50
Speaker 1: and said so I couldn't move, and then the police
32:53
Speaker 1: I showed up, correct, and he got on top of
32:56
Speaker 1: me and the two of us kept the dog pinned
32:59
Speaker 1: until more said Royson, do you feel like a hero? No? No,
33:04
Speaker 1: everybody just give what they're supposed to do. Lead you
33:08
Speaker 1: have experience with no augs, is that kind of yeah?
33:11
Speaker 1: I mean special ed teacher. I'm used to being able
33:16
Speaker 1: to just do what needs to be done and it
33:20
Speaker 1: just worked out real well. So I'm hearing that Penny
33:25
Speaker 1: Douglas fur is saying it's really the children's fault because
33:31
Speaker 1: it's like a burglar coming into your home with a
33:36
Speaker 1: knife and a gun, but then saying, oh, he didn't
33:40
Speaker 1: mean to hurt anybody. It's the children's fault because they squealed,
33:45
Speaker 1: and they should learn how to behave around a pit bull.
33:49
Speaker 1: And let me point out that Penny Douglas Fur, at
33:52
Speaker 1: last count that I know of anyway, has five giant
33:56
Speaker 1: Rottweilers running through her home. Okay, she has to lock
34:01
Speaker 1: the doors to keep the dogs in, not to keep
34:04
Speaker 1: burglars out, but to keep the rothweilers in. I'll never
34:07
Speaker 1: forget those fangs I saw at the front door, Penny
34:10
Speaker 1: Douglas Fur. So what you're you're blaming and they've never
34:14
Speaker 1: been anybody right, that's because everybody runs when they hear
34:18
Speaker 1: that snarling inside. Kathleen Murphy, I'd like to hear your response,
34:23
Speaker 1: North Carolina family lawyer to Penny's defense. That is the
34:27
Speaker 1: children's fault. It's their fault because they squealed. I'd scream
34:31
Speaker 1: my head off and run. First of all, I am
34:36
Speaker 1: absolutely opposed to any pit bulls being around a child.
34:40
Speaker 1: I'm opposed to pit bulls being around adults. But that's
34:43
Speaker 1: just my personal opinion. I know they are very sweet
34:47
Speaker 1: dogs out there. But way back in nineteen seventy five,
34:53
Speaker 1: my dad did a story about to pit bulls, and
34:57
Speaker 1: I'll never forget that. I was younger at that time.
35:00
Speaker 1: They used to scare me back then. And if there
35:03
Speaker 1: is a pit bull in a playground at an elementary school,
35:08
Speaker 1: I'm running, I'm streaming, and it's the dog's fault, and
35:12
Speaker 1: it's the owner of that dog, and something needs to
35:16
Speaker 1: happen with the owner of that dog. Baking, I'm the owner.
35:20
Speaker 1: They're still looking for the owner. Take a listen to this.
35:25
Speaker 1: I believe he's probably owned. He's you know, he's healthy,
35:28
Speaker 1: in good shape, good conditioning, good hair coat. In this case,
35:33
Speaker 1: due to the severity and in the number of people
35:36
Speaker 1: that were bid, he will not be available for an
35:38
Speaker 1: option or transferre. We have a responsibility for our public
35:42
Speaker 1: to put safe animals back out the community. Why isn't
35:46
Speaker 1: the owner coming forward? John Limley, That's a that's a
35:49
Speaker 1: big question. Animal Welfare has just been scouring the community
35:54
Speaker 1: trying to figure out where this dog came from. The dog,
35:57
Speaker 1: estimated to be about a year old, has no tag,
36:01
Speaker 1: has not been microchipped, but they don't believe it's a stray.
36:06
Speaker 1: The dog is being held toward the back of the
36:10
Speaker 1: facility there at animal control until they figure out who
36:13
Speaker 1: it belongs to, along with other dogs who have been
36:17
Speaker 1: considered dangerous, you know, Penny Douglas fur I'm looking at
36:21
Speaker 1: Fillmore Elementary School there in Oklahoma City where the quote
36:25
Speaker 1: escaped dog broke into the playground. The fence at the
36:30
Speaker 1: playground looks to be about five feet high and it's
36:33
Speaker 1: a chain link fence. The dog broke in. It reminds
36:39
Speaker 1: me of those dinosaurs in Jurassic Park. They can actually think. Okay,
36:44
Speaker 1: they're sneaking around, remember them in the kitchen, and they
36:47
Speaker 1: know how to open doors and ovens and things like that.
36:52
Speaker 1: The dog figured out how to break into a chain
36:55
Speaker 1: link fence, Penny Well. The article says the gates are
36:59
Speaker 1: always left open at the school that it has the
37:02
Speaker 1: chain link fence, but they left the gates open so
37:05
Speaker 1: the dog got in. Oh, blame the gate, Blame the gate, okay.
37:10
Speaker 1: But the interesting thing is when the teacher attacked this
37:13
Speaker 1: dog or went got on top of the dog in him,
37:16
Speaker 1: What did you say the teacher attacked the dog, that
37:20
Speaker 1: the dog didn't bite him. That's what's very interesting. The
37:24
Speaker 1: teacher jumped on top of this dog and the dog
37:27
Speaker 1: didn't bite him. That says a lot. Okay, So I'm
37:32
Speaker 1: glad that you clarifying that, probably because the teacher jumped
37:36
Speaker 1: on and from behind. And you know what, do I
37:39
Speaker 1: give the dog a docu bound for not, you know,
37:43
Speaker 1: tearing into the juggler of the teacher after you'd already
37:47
Speaker 1: bitten all these students on the playground. Penny, it's the
37:50
Speaker 1: dog was aggressive and somebody jumps on it from behind.
37:54
Speaker 1: He'll turn around an attack, and obviously he did not.
37:59
Speaker 1: But the owner is a fault. I won't agree with that.
38:03
Speaker 1: The owner is at fault. Okay, Penny, Now I know
38:06
Speaker 1: why you make all the big bucks defending the dog
38:10
Speaker 1: with a straight face. Right now, the dog is in holding,
38:16
Speaker 1: probably getting a big fat steak right now as we
38:19
Speaker 1: wait to find its owner. Listen, there were some gates
38:22
Speaker 1: that were open. We're looking into that. That's a problem
38:27
Speaker 1: that we're looking at across the district now, just at Fillmore,
38:31
Speaker 1: making sure that we need any resources to make sure
38:33
Speaker 1: that those kids are secured. How we're going to handle
38:36
Speaker 1: that we do have a lot of gates across the
38:38
Speaker 1: district and we're gonna be working well. We've identified that
38:43
Speaker 1: um and we're we're putting We have plans in place
38:46
Speaker 1: to put welded chains and gates that can't be cut
38:49
Speaker 1: off on the fences. Nancy Grace Crime Story signing off
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