Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / Kayak Killing: Angelika Graswald accused of sabotage’s fiancé boat
Transcript
- 0:05Speaker 1: Murder and manslaughter charges in the death of missing kayaker
- 0:08Speaker 1: Vincent via Fior. Prosecutors say is Beyonce Angelica Grasswald removed
- 0:13Speaker 1: a plug from via Fior's kayak so it would fill
- 0:16Speaker 1: with water. Sometimes people remove them because they're get in
- 0:18Speaker 1: the way. Sometimes they just fall out, and it's never
- 0:21Speaker 1: been a big deal, Prosecutors say. Graswald also tamped with
- 0:24Speaker 1: the paddle moved it away from Via Flora as he
- 0:27Speaker 1: struggled to stay afloat in the forty degree water. A
- 0:30Speaker 1: possible motive two hundred fifty thousand dollars in life insurance benefits.
- 0:35Speaker 1: This is carme stories with Nancy Grace Angelica Graswald pleaded
- 0:40Speaker 1: not guilty to murder and manslaughter. Graswald's defense team says
- 0:44Speaker 1: Viaforea died in a voting accident after the couple had
- 0:47Speaker 1: been drinking. The judge has set bail at three million
- 0:50Speaker 1: dollars cashed. Graswald continues to remain behind bars. She's facing
- 0:55Speaker 1: life in prison. He's dead. She is alive. Hmm, right there.
- 1:04Speaker 1: The hair on the back of my next stands up.
- 1:06Speaker 1: These two go out on a romantic kayaking trip and bam,
- 1:13Speaker 1: he ends up dead. And she miraculously survives. Of course,
- 1:18Speaker 1: I'm talking about Angelica Griswold. Greswold's trial is delayed yet again,
- 1:26Speaker 1: and it is a disgrace, but it is inching toward
- 1:30Speaker 1: a jury trial. I Nancy Grace. This is crime stories,
- 1:34Speaker 1: and this is the case that certainly needs a light
- 1:38Speaker 1: shine upon it. I'm talking about Angelica, or as some
- 1:43Speaker 1: people say, Angelica Grasswald. What happened? I want to thank
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- 3:49Speaker 1: A Better Way to Cook. Angelica Graswol is accused of
- 3:54Speaker 1: murdering her fiance The trial was set for a Valentine's
- 3:58Speaker 1: Day and somehow she squirmed out of that. It was
- 4:00Speaker 1: set for March thirteen. She squirmed out of it again.
- 4:04Speaker 1: Pretty soon She's just gonna die of old age. Her
- 4:07Speaker 1: fiancee remains dead in the grave. She is accused of
- 4:13Speaker 1: murdering him by kayak. This is the so called kayak killer.
- 4:18Speaker 1: And I know exactly where this happened. I've been in
- 4:21Speaker 1: this exact spot before. There is so much evidence in
- 4:26Speaker 1: this case. What happened is she claims they were going
- 4:28Speaker 1: out on a kayaking trip. It was in the afternoon
- 4:33Speaker 1: of April nineteen, two thousand and fifteen. It is now
- 4:37Speaker 1: nearly the two year mark and still nothing. A. Angelica
- 4:43Speaker 1: is at with her fiance via four and there on
- 4:47Speaker 1: the Hudson River and they're going to Bannerman Island and
- 4:52Speaker 1: it's very calm waters now Bannerman Island, it looks like
- 4:58Speaker 1: just enough land popping up out of the Hudson River
- 5:02Speaker 1: to have a castle of sorts on it. True dilapidated unlivable,
- 5:07Speaker 1: but it looks like an old castle there. So this
- 5:10Speaker 1: is around four o'clock in the afternoon on their return trip,
- 5:14Speaker 1: and a lot of people boat to it, They walk
- 5:16Speaker 1: around on it, they look at it. On the return
- 5:19Speaker 1: trips seven pm, she says, the seas become turbulent with
- 5:25Speaker 1: waves and currents and wind. And I've got to tell you,
- 5:31Speaker 1: from Bannamin Island to the mainland, I could almost throw
- 5:36Speaker 1: a softball that far. It's not that far. So how
- 5:39Speaker 1: do you get turbulent waves, currents, wind to capsize? Now
- 5:45Speaker 1: he's in his own kayak, she's in hers kayaking and
- 5:48Speaker 1: her hypothermia experts have stated it was a dangerous day
- 5:53Speaker 1: to be out on forty six degree waters without a
- 5:57Speaker 1: life checket or wet suit. But they didn't off that
- 6:00Speaker 1: far to go. I would think he could swim to shore.
- 6:03Speaker 1: Now they were veteran kayakers. Interesting, the amount of water
- 6:09Speaker 1: entering the small hole on top of the kayak could
- 6:13Speaker 1: be minimal compared to the amount of water that splashed
- 6:16Speaker 1: into his open cockpit. So to Alan the duke, Duke,
- 6:21Speaker 1: what is the theory? Alan? How is the state going
- 6:24Speaker 1: to prove murder? They're going to show that the kayak
- 6:29Speaker 1: sank because it took on water, and their theorizing, well, actually,
- 6:33Speaker 1: get right down to it, they're gonna say she confessed.
- 6:36Speaker 1: I mean, that's the main thing that they've got that
- 6:38Speaker 1: They did this long interrogation with her, and at the
- 6:41Speaker 1: end of it she says, Okay, so I'm free. He's dead.
- 6:44Speaker 1: I'm killed him. That's exactly correct. The investigator testified under
- 6:48Speaker 1: oath at Angelica Grasswoll confessed to sabotaging her fiance's kayak
- 6:54Speaker 1: because of their sour relationship. She says she wanted to
- 6:59Speaker 1: be free. How this is a New York State Police investigator,
- 7:02Speaker 1: and he stated in open court under oath, she confessed
- 7:06Speaker 1: that she caused his death Vincent's death by sabotaging his kayak.
- 7:11Speaker 1: She was upset over their souring relationship. Now she says
- 7:15Speaker 1: she felt trapped, but other sources say he's the one
- 7:18Speaker 1: that wanted to end it and poof before it could.
- 7:21Speaker 1: Before he could end it, he dies. Now, isn't that
- 7:24Speaker 1: a co inky dining Alan. Fortunately, they did have a
- 7:27Speaker 1: two hundred and fifty thousand dollar life insurance policy with
- 7:30Speaker 1: her as the beneficiary, so all is not lost Nancy,
- 7:34Speaker 1: so she'll be able to dress in style for her
- 7:36Speaker 1: murder trial, and a quarter of a million dollars quarter
- 7:39Speaker 1: of a million dollars still won't get her bell because
- 7:41Speaker 1: her bell was set at three million dollars. Now, she
- 7:45Speaker 1: reportedly says, and this is under oath by Donald Dakarto,
- 7:49Speaker 1: I wanted to be free. I wanted him gone. I
- 7:51Speaker 1: wanted to be myself. And this is just ten days
- 7:55Speaker 1: after Via four's kayak capsized and he disappeared under the
- 8:00Speaker 1: rough waters. Now he goes on to say that she
- 8:04Speaker 1: says she didn't just say I did it. She explained
- 8:07Speaker 1: how she did it. That she removed the plug from
- 8:09Speaker 1: his kayak, so we went under. She says she felt fine,
- 8:14Speaker 1: that she was over it, and she felt quote free thoughts.
- 8:19Speaker 1: She's now saying that she didn't really want to confess,
- 8:23Speaker 1: but she was just telling the investigators what she thought
- 8:26Speaker 1: they wanted to hear after a long, grueling session of
- 8:32Speaker 1: being interrogated, and that she it wasn't sincere that that
- 8:36Speaker 1: was a false confession just to get them to leave
- 8:39Speaker 1: her a long, long, grolling session. It was eleven hours.
- 8:42Speaker 1: It was eleven hours. That's not long. That's about a
- 8:45Speaker 1: regular workday for most people eight. I mean I'd get
- 8:50Speaker 1: to the d a S office at eight and I
- 8:52Speaker 1: wouldn't get to leave until seven. So where when? But yeah,
- 8:57Speaker 1: but that's a job. I would not want to have
- 8:59Speaker 1: as sit there and be being interrogated for eleven straight
- 9:03Speaker 1: hours about something, especially if I didn't do it. Well,
- 9:06Speaker 1: that's what you get when you murder somebody, Alan, Alan,
- 9:10Speaker 1: if you didn't do it, why would you say you
- 9:12Speaker 1: did it? She wasn't the false cosion, She wasn't tricked.
- 9:17Speaker 1: I don't believes are you telling me that you think
- 9:22Speaker 1: it every confession is for real? But eleven hours, I
- 9:26Speaker 1: don't know that is proof that you love. That was
- 9:29Speaker 1: just proof that you love to hear yourself talk. Because
- 9:31Speaker 1: I already said, yes, I think there are some false confessions.
- 9:35Speaker 1: Yes I do. I think sometimes people have been beaten,
- 9:38Speaker 1: they have been threatened, they have been tricked. Here her punishment,
- 9:44Speaker 1: her pressure, her intimidation was she sat her booty and
- 9:48Speaker 1: an office chair for eleven hours. You know, spare me
- 9:52Speaker 1: the false confession b S on this one. Please. This
- 9:56Speaker 1: is actually what's been delaying this trial is a psychologic evaluation.
- 10:01Speaker 1: They just did that. Yeah, I mean a psycho. They
- 10:04Speaker 1: just announced that yes, a psychological evaluation that the defense
- 10:08Speaker 1: has just revealed that they're going to introduce and using court.
- 10:12Speaker 1: And now the prosecutors are saying, well, you know, we
- 10:15Speaker 1: didn't know this, and so we're gonna need some time
- 10:17Speaker 1: to examine this aspect of it and prepare for a trial.
- 10:21Speaker 1: That's what's been delaying it lately. You know what, You
- 10:23Speaker 1: know what, I could not be happier because this is
- 10:27Speaker 1: what happens when you use the psychiatric defense. You have
- 10:31Speaker 1: to say I did it, but I was under a
- 10:34Speaker 1: mental dress, or I was emotionally disturbed. I was just
- 10:37Speaker 1: flat out crazy people. So basically, if you go with
- 10:41Speaker 1: a psychological or mental defense, you gotta say you did it,
- 10:46Speaker 1: and then the jury is going to hear how she
- 10:48Speaker 1: was perfectly fine with no signs of any mental distress
- 10:51Speaker 1: up until she got busted for killing him. Then she
- 10:55Speaker 1: suddenly got real distressed. Okay, now here's the other thing.
- 10:59Speaker 1: Faults can fashion. So after eleven hours of sitting her
- 11:03Speaker 1: Tussie in an office chair, she confesses. But she doesn't
- 11:07Speaker 1: just say I did it. She explains how she did it,
- 11:11Speaker 1: removing the plug from his kayak and stashing stashing the
- 11:16Speaker 1: plug in their home. She also allegedly removed a piece
- 11:21Speaker 1: of his paddle, and once he's in the water and
- 11:24Speaker 1: struggling without a life fest she allegedly snatched his only
- 11:28Speaker 1: paddle from him. Well, you know, this kayaking thing is
- 11:35Speaker 1: not as dangerous as it sounds. And I mean that's
- 11:37Speaker 1: that Hudson River is not like a raging river at
- 11:40Speaker 1: that point. It's more like a lake. But that plug,
- 11:43Speaker 1: it's a river. It's not like they're an open sea
- 11:46Speaker 1: for people. Kayaks of the Caribbean. You know, this is
- 11:51Speaker 1: not Johnny Depp out there in a in a storm.
- 11:54Speaker 1: I've looked at these kayaks. This kind of a plastic
- 11:57Speaker 1: kayak that was used has a plug at the aft
- 12:01Speaker 1: end that's the rear for people who don't know these
- 12:03Speaker 1: nautical terms. At the aft end there is a plug.
- 12:06Speaker 1: You can pull it out and it does allow water
- 12:09Speaker 1: to seep into the into the kayak. But alan pulling
- 12:16Speaker 1: the plug complicated that that doesn't inherently mean there's one
- 12:22Speaker 1: of those words that you're going to sink. And as
- 12:25Speaker 1: far as the paddle, what's the deal with the paddle?
- 12:28Speaker 1: If the boat's sinking, why you need a paddle? Here's
- 12:30Speaker 1: the thing to try to get to land before it
- 12:31Speaker 1: fills up with water. Can't this guy swim pulling the plug?
- 12:35Speaker 1: And then is it her fault he can't swim dashing
- 12:38Speaker 1: the plug in their home? Now hold on, wait a minute, whoa, whoa,
- 12:42Speaker 1: Wait a minute, Wait a minute. She went on to
- 12:44Speaker 1: describe why she did it, and here it is, Alan,
- 12:47Speaker 1: I hope you're sitting down. She explained how vance they
- 12:51Speaker 1: fiance made sexual demands on her. Oh no, that he
- 12:55Speaker 1: wanted sex and that made her feel trap and want
- 12:57Speaker 1: to be free. I've got a surprise every man. I
- 13:00Speaker 1: want sex. Okay, that's the headline. Bam. I don't care
- 13:04Speaker 1: what kind of sex they want. They want sex and
- 13:06Speaker 1: that's just the deal. And they weren't even married. You know,
- 13:10Speaker 1: your words, not mine. I couldn't care less who sleeps
- 13:12Speaker 1: with who, cats and dogs sleeping together, don't care. But
- 13:15Speaker 1: what I do care about is a dead body that
- 13:17Speaker 1: floats up on top of the Hudson River. That's what
- 13:20Speaker 1: I care about. Okay. So did he call off the
- 13:24Speaker 1: engagement though? That I don't know. I think he wanted
- 13:27Speaker 1: out that that's what And she was upset about their
- 13:30Speaker 1: quote souring relationship. M Can I tell you something else
- 13:37Speaker 1: all your I want to say jabbering, but that would
- 13:40Speaker 1: be rude, so I'm not gonna say jabbering. I'll just
- 13:43Speaker 1: think it. I won't verbalize it. Let me see all
- 13:46Speaker 1: of your Let me just say analysis that there was
- 13:50Speaker 1: torture and coercion involved, and sod video. They videoed it.
- 13:57Speaker 1: He videoed her confession. I couldn't be happier. I think
- 14:00Speaker 1: it's crazy for them to try a mental defense. But
- 14:04Speaker 1: to each her own if that's the way she wants
- 14:06Speaker 1: to go. But they're claiming mental defense. That's the new
- 14:11Speaker 1: thing or their plan. They may claim it. The latest
- 14:14Speaker 1: thing is they're heading to court and they go, oh yeah, right,
- 14:17Speaker 1: she has an emotional problem. This is after two years
- 14:20Speaker 1: they decide that she has an emotional problem. So another
- 14:24Speaker 1: hearing has now been planned because it's been rescheduled. Alan,
- 14:28Speaker 1: how do you find out two years into it that
- 14:31Speaker 1: you have a mental problem. I don't know that people
- 14:34Speaker 1: necessarily find out they have a mental problem. They're told
- 14:37Speaker 1: they have a mental problem. I mean, I may have one,
- 14:39Speaker 1: and I don't know that I've got it. Well, I
- 14:40Speaker 1: can tell you you don't have a mental problem. You're fine,
- 14:44Speaker 1: Thank you, Thank you. And I have a doctrine. It's
- 14:47Speaker 1: a jurist doctrine, of course, but that's you know, I'm
- 14:50Speaker 1: dispensing all the medical advice I can now. But the lawyers,
- 14:54Speaker 1: how can they decide, like basically on the eve of trial,
- 14:58Speaker 1: that there's a that they need a ment, they have
- 14:59Speaker 1: a mental evaluation they need to bring up. I think
- 15:02Speaker 1: it may be that they have just come up with
- 15:04Speaker 1: the strategy fairly recently, because they certainly didn't inform the
- 15:07Speaker 1: prosecution about it. But you gotta give them. You gotta
- 15:10Speaker 1: give them credit for trying using all the tools in
- 15:12Speaker 1: the toolbox, right, Nancy, Yeah, I do agree with that.
- 15:15Speaker 1: I gotta give it to them. It would be malpractice
- 15:17Speaker 1: that they didn't if if, if it could help if
- 15:20Speaker 1: she here's the deal, If she gets a delay for
- 15:24Speaker 1: another couple of months, she's innocent until she's proven guilty.
- 15:29Speaker 1: So it's another day, but she's still locked up, another
- 15:32Speaker 1: day of being innocent rture, and I'm paying for her
- 15:36Speaker 1: food and boarding. Now here's the thing about that confession.
- 15:39Speaker 1: The judge ruled that the interrogation video will be seen
- 15:45Speaker 1: virtually all of an eleven hour police interrogation in which
- 15:50Speaker 1: she makes a series of incriminating statements will be seen
- 15:54Speaker 1: by the jury. So I mean, once that happens, where
- 15:58Speaker 1: can you go? You gotta go with mental defense. This
- 16:00Speaker 1: was a huge blow to the defense. Her defense lawyers
- 16:04Speaker 1: had vigorously tried to keep that interrogation tape and other
- 16:08Speaker 1: statements side of evidence, but there was no reason to
- 16:10Speaker 1: keep it out. Let me ask this though, This is
- 16:13Speaker 1: what I was wanting to get to. She was charged
- 16:16Speaker 1: with murder and manslaughter. Now, if he knew he couldn't swim,
- 16:20Speaker 1: I'm assuming he couldn't because he true and he didn't
- 16:23Speaker 1: have a life jacket, life best on, and he was
- 16:27Speaker 1: in this flimsy, vulnerable kayak. Doesn't he have some responsibility
- 16:33Speaker 1: for the fact that he drowned? I mean, there's no
- 16:35Speaker 1: evidence that she jumped in and pushed his head underwater
- 16:39Speaker 1: and drowned him. I mean, it's sort of a passive
- 16:42Speaker 1: way of murder or manslaughter, if that's what it is,
- 16:45Speaker 1: other than oh, I pulled the plug. Other than that,
- 16:47Speaker 1: let me quote Batman yet again, that's lego Batman. I
- 16:51Speaker 1: hate everything you just said because it's full of lines.
- 16:54Speaker 1: He could swim and it was not a flimsy kayak
- 16:58Speaker 1: and regard was if it was a two or fifty
- 17:02Speaker 1: dollar kayak or dollar kayak. You pull the plug, you're
- 17:06Speaker 1: going down. And this woman is a native of lat
- 17:10Speaker 1: Via and she comes over here, she meets up with him.
- 17:15Speaker 1: She has a quarter of a million dollar life insurance policy,
- 17:18Speaker 1: two of them listening her as a beneficiary. She says
- 17:21Speaker 1: the relationships gone sour, and that she pulled the plug
- 17:25Speaker 1: and hid it in the house and a ring from
- 17:28Speaker 1: his paddle. I mean, I don't know what more you want,
- 17:31Speaker 1: but what I'm irritated about right now, aside from his death,
- 17:34Speaker 1: is jerking the system around by delay, delay, delay, and
- 17:38Speaker 1: now suddenly jumping up with a so called mental defense. Actually,
- 17:42Speaker 1: the prosecution asked for this current delay. So another thing
- 17:46Speaker 1: that legal experts are whining about is that the medical
- 17:50Speaker 1: examiner stated that this manner of death was a homicide,
- 17:54Speaker 1: signing the kayak drain plug intentionally removed by another. And
- 17:58Speaker 1: of course all the lawyers go crazy, claiming the medical
- 18:01Speaker 1: examiner's office overstepped its bounds by mentioning the drain plug
- 18:06Speaker 1: when their orders are to examine the body. But the
- 18:09Speaker 1: truth is, medical examiners often determined, they determined cause and manner,
- 18:14Speaker 1: and they have to look at surrounding circumstances to decide
- 18:18Speaker 1: sometimes wasn't homicide or accident or suicide? Just like if
- 18:22Speaker 1: there's a needle and a syringe next to the body,
- 18:25Speaker 1: they're able to note that, right it's the same thing.
- 18:27Speaker 1: The plug was pulled. Absolutely, so Alan, that's where it
- 18:31Speaker 1: stands right now. And I think you made mr Calling.
- 18:34Speaker 1: I think that although you're, you know, a dashing young journalist,
- 18:39Speaker 1: you may should have been a defense lawyer because you
- 18:42Speaker 1: certainly have the all those impulses and not judging was
- 18:47Speaker 1: that a compliment or what will stay on it? The
- 18:49Speaker 1: Kayak murder case, I don't know what it was. Again,
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- 19:19Speaker 1: a row. Thank you, Blue Apron. Nancy Grace Crime Stories
- 19:24Speaker 1: signing off, Thank you Fran for being with us and
- 19:27Speaker 1: Angelica or Angelica, whatever I'm onto you, girl,