Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / DEAD ON VACATION. 'Don't Be A Victim'

Transcript

DEAD ON VACATION. 'Don't Be A Victim' · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

0:05
Speaker 1: Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. We all look forward to vacation,
0:12
Speaker 1: whether it be seeing America first like we do in
0:15
Speaker 1: an RV, or camping heading to Mexico, traveling abroad. It
0:22
Speaker 1: sounds like so much fun, but I can't tell you
0:25
Speaker 1: how many cases I have investigated, prosecuted, and researched where
0:29
Speaker 1: vacation turns into a nightmare. You know, when I started
0:40
Speaker 1: working on our new book, Don't Be a Victim, fighting
0:43
Speaker 1: back against America's crime Wave, I could not ignore the
0:48
Speaker 1: people I've met along the way whose loved ones suffered
0:54
Speaker 1: or even died while on vacation. So how do you
0:58
Speaker 1: travel safely? This book proceeds going to National Center for
1:03
Speaker 1: Missigan Exploited Children. It's not to scare you. This book
1:07
Speaker 1: is to empower you, to help you, to give you
1:10
Speaker 1: knowledge as to how you don't have to be a victim.
1:16
Speaker 1: Joining me right now and all Star panel to break
1:19
Speaker 1: it down and put it back together. First of all,
1:22
Speaker 1: Joining me, Beth Twitty, the mother of Natalie Holloway, Bill Connor,
1:29
Speaker 1: the father of Abbey Connor. Jim Elliott, lawyer with Butler
1:34
Speaker 1: Snow Legal Counsel. You can find him at Butler Snow
1:38
Speaker 1: dot com. Karen Stark, renowned psychologists, joining us out of
1:42
Speaker 1: Manhattan at Karen Stark dot com. That's Karen with the See.
1:45
Speaker 1: Steve Lampley, detective, author of twelve and Murdered on Amazon
1:51
Speaker 1: at Stephen Lampley dot com. Joseph Scott Morgan, Professor Forensics,
1:55
Speaker 1: Jacksonville State University, author of Blood Beneath My Feet and
1:59
Speaker 1: start of Poisons Liaisons on True Crime Network. Ray Kipudo
2:03
Speaker 1: joining us lead anchor for a WDBO. It's amazing to
2:08
Speaker 1: me how many vacation dreams turn into a nightmare. First,
2:14
Speaker 1: I want to go to Miss Beth Holloway. We all
2:17
Speaker 1: note the story of Natalie Holloway, the A plus student
2:21
Speaker 1: American beauty who was planning to pursue medicine at University
2:27
Speaker 1: of Alabama, but went on a school trip to Aruba. Suddenly, Natalie,
2:36
Speaker 1: just before they're set to come back, her suitcase is packed,
2:39
Speaker 1: ready to go home. The next morning, goes missing. Straight
2:44
Speaker 1: out to Beth. Beth Holloway, thank you so much for
2:48
Speaker 1: joining us once again and your willingness to rehash something
2:54
Speaker 1: very painful in order to help people arm themselves with knowledge. Beth,
3:02
Speaker 1: when did you learn your girl, Natalie was missing. When
3:07
Speaker 1: I first got the call that Natalie was missing, I
3:09
Speaker 1: was I was returning from oh Gosh, I said was
3:12
Speaker 1: a Memorial Day weekend. I was returning from my family's
3:16
Speaker 1: late home and got the call that it's the dreaded
3:19
Speaker 1: phone call that no parent ever expects to receive, and
3:24
Speaker 1: then was traveling somewhere outside of MESSI Cinefoo between Hot
3:29
Speaker 1: Springs and coming into Birmingham, and the caller said that
3:33
Speaker 1: Natalie was missing and that no one had seen her,
3:36
Speaker 1: and that she'd missed her flight. And and in that
3:40
Speaker 1: instant I knew. I knew instantly this something was terribly wrong,
3:44
Speaker 1: because that was just so out of character for Natalie.
3:47
Speaker 1: She's just not going to oversleep, She's not going to
3:49
Speaker 1: be you know, lost somewhere in another room. So I
3:54
Speaker 1: knew instantly that she was a being held against her will,
3:58
Speaker 1: or something even more tragic had happened to her. You know,
4:03
Speaker 1: to you psychologists, Karen Stark, I've had so many crime
4:08
Speaker 1: victims families say, and it happened to me is I've
4:10
Speaker 1: told you, Karen many times. The moment I got the
4:13
Speaker 1: call to call Keith's sister, I knew Keith was dead.
4:17
Speaker 1: I knew immediately, and even now I stumble on the
4:22
Speaker 1: word dead and I'm hearing Beth say, I knew something
4:27
Speaker 1: terrible had happened. She knew Natalie had passed away. Why
4:33
Speaker 1: is it even years later, you can't say dead because
4:38
Speaker 1: you're traumatized, Nancy. When something like that happens, think about it.
4:42
Speaker 1: You know right away because you're so connected to the
4:44
Speaker 1: other person. Natalie is talking about her love for her daughter,
4:49
Speaker 1: right I mean, Beth is talking about her love for Natalie.
4:53
Speaker 1: How connected she was to her and knew was Keith.
4:56
Speaker 1: You're so connected that you get this call and somehow
4:59
Speaker 1: we actively you notice something dreadful is happening. That kind
5:03
Speaker 1: of trauma never goes away. It can get better and
5:07
Speaker 1: you can work on it, but there will always be
5:10
Speaker 1: a hole in your heart for that person. And that's
5:13
Speaker 1: why you still can't say the word dead. Beth. After
5:18
Speaker 1: you got that call, what did you do? You know,
5:21
Speaker 1: if the call was coming through and we were making
5:24
Speaker 1: our way out of Memphids into Birmingham, I was making calls,
5:27
Speaker 1: just trying to find connections, trying to find numbers us,
5:30
Speaker 1: you know, the Embassy of conflict, the police. I was
5:34
Speaker 1: trying to find anybody that had some type of you know,
5:38
Speaker 1: law enforcement information or resources to help us. And at
5:41
Speaker 1: the same time, simultaneously, there were other passengers in the
5:45
Speaker 1: car with me, some friends of mine that were traveling,
5:47
Speaker 1: and they were making calls just trying to find someone
5:50
Speaker 1: that might have a private plane or jet that would
5:53
Speaker 1: be able to get us to Aruba. And it was
5:57
Speaker 1: a holiday weekend, so of course that was almost possible
6:00
Speaker 1: to find a pilot on a holiday. But unfortunately we
6:06
Speaker 1: had a family friend that stepped up and had a
6:10
Speaker 1: jet waiting for us here in Birmingham ready to roll
6:13
Speaker 1: to Aruba. So we were just very fortunate, very blast
6:17
Speaker 1: that the series of events took place to get us,
6:20
Speaker 1: because we were actually able to get on the island
6:22
Speaker 1: of a Rubo within the same day, about eleven pm
6:25
Speaker 1: on the same day that I received the call that
6:27
Speaker 1: Natalie was missing. And of course when Beth gets there,
6:31
Speaker 1: the police have already botched the investigation. The right hand
6:35
Speaker 1: doesn't know what the left hand is doing. The scene
6:37
Speaker 1: has not been secure, people have not been interrogated, nothing,
6:41
Speaker 1: It all has already gone sideways. So to you lead
6:46
Speaker 1: Anchor Wdbo Ray Caputo, how did Natalie go missing. Where
6:52
Speaker 1: was she last seen alive? Well, Nancy, she was parting
6:56
Speaker 1: with some friends and she decided to go out to
6:59
Speaker 1: a police called Carlos and Charlie, which is a popular
7:02
Speaker 1: restaurant and club there. And she was out with friends
7:06
Speaker 1: and at some point she decided to hang out with
7:09
Speaker 1: a couple of Islanders that she meant actually there's a
7:11
Speaker 1: couple of brothers, deepaking Satis Coupo and another guy named
7:15
Speaker 1: Joran Vanders who the last that she was seen by
7:18
Speaker 1: anybody was in a car with those three. And then,
7:20
Speaker 1: of course you heard the next day she just didn't
7:22
Speaker 1: turn up for her flight, you know, to you, Jessice
7:24
Speaker 1: Scott Morgan, Professor Forensics, jacksonvill State University, I know Computo
7:28
Speaker 1: is right in a sense, but I also think he's wrong.
7:31
Speaker 1: No offense for a computo, But I have long believed
7:36
Speaker 1: that she was refined a little Georgia hunboy Gammahai drog
7:39
Speaker 1: se beauty eh ghb. Because this is a straight A student.
7:46
Speaker 1: Plus she was on the flag Core plus this plus
7:48
Speaker 1: that blash blash BLUs plus I mean, her resume was
7:52
Speaker 1: off the charts. I don't think she decided to just
7:56
Speaker 1: leave with three guys she's never met in her life.
7:59
Speaker 1: She is a young girl, she's so smart. Crime stories
8:12
Speaker 1: with Nancy Grace, guys, we're talking about danger while traveling
8:20
Speaker 1: and with me as Natalie Holloway's mom, Beth. So, I
8:24
Speaker 1: think she was rufied right in her drink and Jorn
8:28
Speaker 1: Vandersloot later says that she was vomiting on the beach
8:32
Speaker 1: and he left her there instead of having sex with her.
8:37
Speaker 1: Right he even could describe her underwear. No, that is
8:41
Speaker 1: all a lot. He gh beat her, then he raped her,
8:46
Speaker 1: then he killed her, then he got rid of her body.
8:48
Speaker 1: What's ghb job is commonly used as a date rape drug.
8:54
Speaker 1: As you mentioned, you know there'll be it'll go as
8:57
Speaker 1: a number of different names. Rufis as one of them.
9:00
Speaker 1: And the thing about this substance, Nancy, is that it
9:02
Speaker 1: is odorless, and it is colorless, and it is tasteless.
9:07
Speaker 1: Remember taste and odor are connected anatomically. For us, she
9:11
Speaker 1: wouldn't have sensed this. So this drug pushes you down
9:15
Speaker 1: into a very very malleable state. That means that you're
9:19
Speaker 1: subject to suggestion that's come with me, that sort of thing,
9:23
Speaker 1: and then you'll i bet she was throwing up. There's
9:26
Speaker 1: no telling how much the stuff he gave to her.
9:28
Speaker 1: Back to Beth Holloway joining us, what if anything, do
9:32
Speaker 1: you advise about traveling? What is your tip when you
9:38
Speaker 1: get that call that no parents can even imagine or
9:43
Speaker 1: to get that your loved one is missing, and then
9:46
Speaker 1: you're they're in a foreign country and I was trying
9:47
Speaker 1: to navigate this judicial and beligue system the police, and
9:52
Speaker 1: and it's just like you're just shooting in the dark.
9:54
Speaker 1: And what I tell our young sons and daughters must
9:59
Speaker 1: speak to them at high schools and colleges. I tell
10:01
Speaker 1: them to research the area. Research you know, their destination,
10:05
Speaker 1: find out where the US embassy is. Find out there's
10:07
Speaker 1: an American consulate there, Research their laws, see what judicial
10:12
Speaker 1: and administrative branches of government there are. Find out who
10:15
Speaker 1: would you call should something tragic happen. And I think
10:18
Speaker 1: that's you know, that's one of the most important things,
10:21
Speaker 1: is know where you're going. But really take those phone
10:24
Speaker 1: numbers with you to make sure you know how to
10:26
Speaker 1: use them. You know, you've got to make sure your
10:29
Speaker 1: phone are activated for international coverage, and just be aware.
10:36
Speaker 1: You know, you have impacted me so much Beth and
10:39
Speaker 1: the story of Natalie in the book that took two
10:43
Speaker 1: years to research right and get to you for you.
10:48
Speaker 1: First rule travel, first rule of travel, Be prepared. It's
10:52
Speaker 1: not just for the boy scout. Safe travel starts before
10:55
Speaker 1: you leave. Research your destination, traveler reviews, just like you
10:59
Speaker 1: do a restaurant. Is it good or bad? Look at
11:02
Speaker 1: the hotel found, find out about the surrounding area, high
11:05
Speaker 1: crime rate. Don't go there, don't stay there. Before you
11:09
Speaker 1: leave home, look at US State Department website. Arrive in
11:14
Speaker 1: daylight hours of parked an RV, hooked it up, pitched
11:18
Speaker 1: a tent, and arrived at hotels and motels and camping
11:21
Speaker 1: sites in the dark. Don't do it. This book has
11:24
Speaker 1: pages and pages and pages of travel safety tips, whether
11:28
Speaker 1: you're traveling here in the US or abroad. And it's
11:33
Speaker 1: not just with Natalie. Does this name ring a bell
11:36
Speaker 1: to you? Desiree Gibbons. They beat her? Why did they
11:41
Speaker 1: split her throat? Why? Why? The family of model and
11:45
Speaker 1: inspiring filmmaker Desire Gibbon is in their queen's home without closure.
11:49
Speaker 1: The twenty six year old's body is fifteen hundred miles
11:51
Speaker 1: away in Jamaica, where she was found murdered Saturday in
11:54
Speaker 1: a small town outside the resort her grandmother owns in
11:57
Speaker 1: Montego Bay. We spoke to her mother Injuriae last night,
12:01
Speaker 1: in a bush in the country where she would never
12:04
Speaker 1: have traveled and not to ever. It was an isolated,
12:08
Speaker 1: desolate area, nothing there. Gibbon Is convinced her daughter, who
12:13
Speaker 1: was looking for work on the island, was killed by
12:15
Speaker 1: someone known to her. It wasn't a random act of violence.
12:19
Speaker 1: It is somebody she knew. It is somebody she trusted.
12:23
Speaker 1: Desire givens aunt hoping that in the struggle the murderer's
12:26
Speaker 1: DNA was left behind. Desie's a strong girl. She's very
12:29
Speaker 1: street smart, and she fought. She fought to her last breath,
12:34
Speaker 1: an area she never would have traveled to had she
12:39
Speaker 1: known better than there is. Attorney Marie Kila. Listen. Marie
12:45
Speaker 1: Kunla and her friends had been having a great girls
12:47
Speaker 1: getaway at Club med in Turks and Caicos. She was
12:50
Speaker 1: having the time of her life. She really was. She
12:52
Speaker 1: kept saying to me, this was the best vacation. Kuonla's friends,
12:55
Speaker 1: Kim Nohilly and Helma Hermann's were on the trip with
12:58
Speaker 1: kuon law and spoke Exclude Lee with Eyewitness News today.
13:01
Speaker 1: They say the last time they saw Kunla was Sunday,
13:04
Speaker 1: October fourteenth, a few days after being at the resort.
13:07
Speaker 1: Saw her around six thirty on Sunday and she went
13:12
Speaker 1: to lay down and take a nap. Seven o'clock the
13:15
Speaker 1: next morning, I was banging on her door for a
13:17
Speaker 1: while and she wasn't answering, which is really weird. No.
13:20
Speaker 1: Hilly and Herman's immediately reported the sixty two year old
13:23
Speaker 1: Wantall resident missing, but say they didn't get much help
13:26
Speaker 1: at first from resort's staff, so they went searching for
13:28
Speaker 1: Kunla themselves. But it was my daughter who found the body,
13:32
Speaker 1: not the police. That was early Tuesday morning. Kunla's body
13:35
Speaker 1: was lying in bushes on the edge of the club
13:37
Speaker 1: Med resort. Her friends say authorities told them Kunla had
13:41
Speaker 1: been strangled. She was one of the gentlest souls you
13:43
Speaker 1: would ever ever meet. She was a very special person.
13:46
Speaker 1: I mean, you have to be to work in family
13:47
Speaker 1: court all those years. So we go from a teen
13:51
Speaker 1: girl Natalie Holloway, Alabama beauty to a woman looking for
13:56
Speaker 1: work in Jamaica to a lawyer, a practicing lawyer. You
14:02
Speaker 1: were hearing our friends at CBS two and from ABC seven.
14:07
Speaker 1: So what do we learn and the other things straight
14:10
Speaker 1: out to you, Jim Elliott, when you are abroad in
14:13
Speaker 1: some of these islands, do you think, wow, club mad,
14:15
Speaker 1: that's expensive, that's fancy, I'll be safe. Oh no, you
14:18
Speaker 1: want you touch two outside that resort, you're dead meat.
14:23
Speaker 1: You have to be careful. And then the laws in
14:27
Speaker 1: these countries are very different and the police investigations very
14:31
Speaker 1: different than what we are accustomed to Jim Elliott. Nancy,
14:35
Speaker 1: that's exactly roddy, you know, I think we all mean,
14:37
Speaker 1: for whatever flaws are law enforcement system and justice system
14:40
Speaker 1: in America have, it's better than so many other places.
14:43
Speaker 1: And it's just easy to assume that you're in the
14:45
Speaker 1: same world and you're totally not in the same world.
14:48
Speaker 1: You know, you really hit on something, Jim Elliott. Aside
14:51
Speaker 1: from not being in the same legal world with police
14:54
Speaker 1: protections that we have become very accustomed to, you also
14:58
Speaker 1: let your defense down. I mean, you're a practicing lawyer,
15:01
Speaker 1: you've seen it all, but when you go on vacation,
15:03
Speaker 1: you're like, oh, I'm kicking back, and you're not as aware.
15:06
Speaker 1: A lot of people drunk at the pool. Drunk here,
15:09
Speaker 1: I mean you're party and you're drinking. I'm not the
15:11
Speaker 1: church lady, but what I am saying is you're not
15:14
Speaker 1: being aware. You're not staying safe. Jim No, I recall
15:18
Speaker 1: it true. My wife and I had where the bellman said, oh,
15:21
Speaker 1: you're personally safe to walk anywhere in the city day
15:23
Speaker 1: or night. And I thought, that's way more about why
15:25
Speaker 1: bilty laws, and that's about the safety of this city,
15:28
Speaker 1: and you psychologically let your guard down. A few of
15:32
Speaker 1: the tips I have for you, and I've got pages
15:34
Speaker 1: and pages that are born out of true stories. Playing
15:38
Speaker 1: your day. Before you leave the hotel, understand where you're
15:41
Speaker 1: going and how to get there. And for Pete's sake,
15:44
Speaker 1: don't be out on the street with a map unfolded,
15:46
Speaker 1: like you have no idea where you're going. Most hotels
15:49
Speaker 1: give your keys in a folded card stock. That's great,
15:52
Speaker 1: but don't lose it and don't let it be stated
15:55
Speaker 1: out loud for other people to know your room. Steer
15:59
Speaker 1: clear of groups such as protests or street vendors or
16:04
Speaker 1: bazaars where you can get pickpocketed, targeted, or followed. Those
16:08
Speaker 1: are some of the tips in here about travel, and
16:12
Speaker 1: it's not just overseas, it's not just in countries that
16:16
Speaker 1: are unfamiliar to us. Take a listen to this. I
16:20
Speaker 1: got a phone call from my son. He was in
16:23
Speaker 1: the hospital, and my phone rang, and he obviously was
16:28
Speaker 1: pretty emotional, and I believe it was like on a
16:32
Speaker 1: Saturday or Sunday morning, and Austin told me what happened.
16:36
Speaker 1: Obviously I was a little beside myself a little bit.
16:40
Speaker 1: What did he say? What were his words? I know
16:43
Speaker 1: you can remember. He said, Dad, I got to tell
16:46
Speaker 1: you something that's going to be pretty hard to hear.
16:49
Speaker 1: And he just said that told me about him an
16:54
Speaker 1: Abbey and being at the bar and last thing he remembers,
16:59
Speaker 1: and you will up in the hospital and and then
17:02
Speaker 1: he just told me that Abbey's on life support. So
17:06
Speaker 1: when they pulled her out of the pool, obviously Abbey
17:09
Speaker 1: was dead, she was already gone. But Austin was lucky
17:13
Speaker 1: enough that they pulled him out in time and he
17:16
Speaker 1: fully recovered, obviously, but Abby Abbey was on life support,
17:23
Speaker 1: and obviously we're hoping that putting her in a coma
17:27
Speaker 1: might bring her back. But once I got down to
17:29
Speaker 1: Fort Lauderdale, where they med flighted her into Obviously I
17:33
Speaker 1: knew the situation at that point that she wasn't coming back.
17:37
Speaker 1: Beautiful Abbey Connor died just across the Texas border, and
17:43
Speaker 1: a tragic, senseless, entirely avoidable death. Speaking with us, her
17:50
Speaker 1: dad Bill stories with Nancy Grace. For those of you
18:05
Speaker 1: just joining us, we are talking about don't be a victim,
18:11
Speaker 1: fighting back against America's crime wave. And when you hear
18:15
Speaker 1: Natalie Holloway's mom and Abbey Connor's dad speaking, you have
18:20
Speaker 1: to understand that there are ways to avoid mishaps when
18:25
Speaker 1: you are traveling. Rankipude, what happened to Abby Connor? Well, Nancy,
18:31
Speaker 1: what's scary about this is that she was with her family,
18:34
Speaker 1: her brother Austin, her Magini, and her stepmom John then
18:37
Speaker 1: went to a resort in the Playa del Carmen and
18:41
Speaker 1: they were there only a few hours and the mom
18:44
Speaker 1: and dad decide they're going to go back to the
18:45
Speaker 1: hotel room and get ready for dinner. Well, Abbie and
18:48
Speaker 1: Austin decide to stay around. They meet some new friends
18:50
Speaker 1: and they're they're sitting down at one of those like
18:52
Speaker 1: floating bars where you sit on the stools inside the
18:54
Speaker 1: water and they started lining up some shots in Austin,
18:58
Speaker 1: in his words, like Mexican, he knows she's blacked out.
19:02
Speaker 1: And when folks saw them it was a little bit later.
19:05
Speaker 1: Both were floating face down in the pool, so they
19:09
Speaker 1: were rushed to the hospital. Austin ends of pulling through,
19:12
Speaker 1: but Abby, she broke her collar bones, she slipped into
19:14
Speaker 1: a coleman, she was essentially brained at. She ultimately passed away.
19:18
Speaker 1: The death of Abbey, just twenty years old, a star
19:21
Speaker 1: student University Wisconsin, set off a nearly two year investigation
19:26
Speaker 1: by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that exposed dozens of tragedies
19:32
Speaker 1: experienced by tourists in Mexico in the recent years because
19:37
Speaker 1: of tainted alcohol. These two brothers, sister, both you know
19:42
Speaker 1: in college, go they have one drink. The next thing
19:48
Speaker 1: you know, they're both out of it, unconscious in a
19:52
Speaker 1: pool in a shallow end, and Abbey is dead. Tainted alcohol.
20:00
Speaker 1: That's what happened. Multiple dozens of people losing their lives.
20:06
Speaker 1: Many attribute it to tain it alcohol. And these countries
20:10
Speaker 1: in Mexico, so we're talking about, they don't govern the
20:14
Speaker 1: distribution of alcohol the way we do. When you turn
20:17
Speaker 1: a seal. After you get booze in a liquor store,
20:20
Speaker 1: you know that the alcohol is fit to drink, not
20:24
Speaker 1: in Mexico. And to you, Bill Connor, what kind of
20:29
Speaker 1: help did you get from police and hospitals and doctors
20:33
Speaker 1: when you got there? The police aren't helping. Twenty four
20:37
Speaker 1: hours after the incident, my son Austin and their step
20:42
Speaker 1: then John went to the police department and the police
20:44
Speaker 1: told them there's no reason to file a report. Was
20:47
Speaker 1: an accident. They hadn't talked to anybody at the hotel,
20:51
Speaker 1: they hadn't do it. They hadn't done any investigation or anything.
20:56
Speaker 1: And so, you know, we knew what we were up against.
21:00
Speaker 1: And obviously since then, the amount of people that we've
21:04
Speaker 1: talked to, UM, it's a tough hole. It's not it's
21:08
Speaker 1: a you know, and I want to make sure that
21:10
Speaker 1: I'm not I'm not saying it's everybody in Mexico. I
21:15
Speaker 1: don't think the Americans are the only ones that they target.
21:18
Speaker 1: I think this has been this has been happening for
21:21
Speaker 1: a long time. This is just something. When this incident happens,
21:25
Speaker 1: and the travelers that go back to where they live
21:28
Speaker 1: outside of Mexico, the difficulty with the judicial system, the
21:33
Speaker 1: difficulty with getting any cooperation just leads people to give up.
21:38
Speaker 1: And I'm not gonna I'm not gonna let this go
21:42
Speaker 1: to you. Steve Lampley, detective, author of twelve and Murdered
21:46
Speaker 1: at Stephen Lampley dot com. You have taken part in
21:49
Speaker 1: investigations that cross over to Mexico and abroad. How difficult
21:54
Speaker 1: is it to solve a case like this because you know,
21:57
Speaker 1: the cops in Mexico are hand in hand with the
22:00
Speaker 1: resorts making all the money. You really think you're ever
22:04
Speaker 1: going to get a straight answer out of the police
22:06
Speaker 1: about what happens in Mexico, Nancy. Mexico's not the only
22:10
Speaker 1: country that American citizens or any citizen another country run
22:14
Speaker 1: a foul with. There are many countries, in Mexico's one
22:18
Speaker 1: of them. You're right, a lot of times that these
22:20
Speaker 1: companies and even the underworld will fund police departments, pad
22:25
Speaker 1: their pockets, so to speak. Yeah, this is not unique
22:28
Speaker 1: to Mexico, unfortunately, but yeah, this comes this happens quite often, Nancy,
22:33
Speaker 1: And the reality is it's not. But by the time
22:35
Speaker 1: you're down in Mexico, you're trying to get answers your
22:38
Speaker 1: loved one is dead. Okay, so by that point, no
22:42
Speaker 1: matter what you find out, it's too late to save
22:44
Speaker 1: your loved ones. And Jackie's waving a stat at me
22:47
Speaker 1: over seventy tainted alcohol death in May in Mexico. Okay,
22:53
Speaker 1: I started to say, that's not how you spell May,
22:56
Speaker 1: but yes, nearly one hundred and that's at the last
22:59
Speaker 1: count out. So from traveling abroad, watching or drink at
23:04
Speaker 1: bars when us should go out hotels safety, to even
23:10
Speaker 1: what you are drinking. There are ways to avoid this,
23:14
Speaker 1: such as asking for particular brands when you're at a bar.
23:18
Speaker 1: There are many ways to avoid what happened to Abbey
23:21
Speaker 1: as best as you can. That's really the tip of
23:25
Speaker 1: the iceberg. Take a listen to reporter Lillian Kim ABC seven.
23:28
Speaker 1: Twenty seven year old Tatiana Maritanko married one year ago,
23:32
Speaker 1: and to celebrate, she and her husband James, left Tuesday
23:34
Speaker 1: from Mexico City. The young couple from San Francisco was
23:37
Speaker 1: on a quest to dine at as many Michelin Star
23:39
Speaker 1: restaurants as they could, but as they were leaving a
23:41
Speaker 1: restaurant on Saturday, Maritenko was shot by a stray bullet
23:45
Speaker 1: Mexican authorities say gunmen on a motorcycle were aiming at
23:47
Speaker 1: a bouncer at a nearby bar when one of their
23:50
Speaker 1: bullets struck her in the head. She was telling me,
23:52
Speaker 1: how wonderful time, how safe it was, how safe it was.
23:57
Speaker 1: Maritanko's family spoke to us from Chicago, where she grew up.
24:00
Speaker 1: A year ago, we were selecting flowers for the wedding.
24:06
Speaker 1: Today we were looking at flowers for the funeral. Maritanko's
24:10
Speaker 1: co workers in San Francisco's Mission Bay are grieving too.
24:13
Speaker 1: She worked as a senior investor relations analyst at Nectar Therapeutics,
24:17
Speaker 1: where she was described as a bright and passionate rising
24:19
Speaker 1: star with an incredibly strong work ethic. Maritanko also made
24:23
Speaker 1: her market Clemson University, where she played Division one volleyball.
24:27
Speaker 1: She would give two you know, as a mother, you know,
24:32
Speaker 1: we always say things, but she inspired me to be better.
24:36
Speaker 1: I'll give my life if she could just come back.
24:39
Speaker 1: You know, Karen start when I hear the heartbreak in
24:42
Speaker 1: the voices of family members when they said, one year
24:47
Speaker 1: ago we were we were picking out flowers for her wedding,
24:51
Speaker 1: and now we're picking out flowers for her funeral. This
24:57
Speaker 1: newlywed was living there dream trip and they were foodies
25:02
Speaker 1: and they were going from here to their to their
25:05
Speaker 1: while they're in Mexico trying out everything they had read about.
25:09
Speaker 1: And I've got to admit I do it too. When
25:12
Speaker 1: I go somewhere with the twins, I plan the trip.
25:15
Speaker 1: I look up activities, where we're going to stay, where
25:18
Speaker 1: we're gonna eat, all the fun things we're going to do,
25:20
Speaker 1: and I'm so engrossed and showing the twins a great
25:25
Speaker 1: time and making memories, I'm not necessarily looking around to
25:31
Speaker 1: notice an evil doer. I mean, I remember I was
25:36
Speaker 1: in the middle of researching this book and I took
25:38
Speaker 1: the twins on a trip and took Lucy to the
25:42
Speaker 1: bathroom and John David. So we were out in this
25:45
Speaker 1: open area and kind of like a square, and I
25:49
Speaker 1: had Lucy with me, and I was waiting on John
25:52
Speaker 1: David by the bathrooms, and some guy comes up gives
25:56
Speaker 1: me a rose, and you know, I have Lucy with me,
25:59
Speaker 1: and I mean, no, no, no, and I give it
26:03
Speaker 1: back to him because then he wanted money and I
26:06
Speaker 1: didn't have any money on me, and so I was
26:09
Speaker 1: pulling Lucy away but I couldn't leave the bathroom because
26:12
Speaker 1: John David was going to come out and the guy
26:14
Speaker 1: would not go away and got angry and I have
26:18
Speaker 1: a little Lucy. I mean, we really put on blinders.
26:21
Speaker 1: What does that mean When you go on vacation and
26:25
Speaker 1: you think you're safe and sound and secure, you're not
26:28
Speaker 1: looking around you, Well, that's because you're lost. Just as
26:32
Speaker 1: you said, Nancy, you're lost in the moment, you're enjoying
26:34
Speaker 1: what you're doing. But do you notice how detailed that
26:37
Speaker 1: memory is for you? And that's because it shooks you up.
26:40
Speaker 1: It came out of nowhere and it frightened you. And
26:44
Speaker 1: that's the most important thing I think for people to realize.
26:48
Speaker 1: Even if you're on your honeymoon, the trip of a lifetime,
26:51
Speaker 1: you need to be hyper vigilant. You need to know
26:54
Speaker 1: where you are. You need to look around you. You
26:56
Speaker 1: need to really understand while you're on your trip and
27:00
Speaker 1: having a great time, what's this, Where is it safe
27:02
Speaker 1: to be and where is this dangerous? So you could
27:05
Speaker 1: never let your guard down. Crime stories with Nancy Grace,
27:21
Speaker 1: the dangers while traveling, that's what we're talking about. And
27:26
Speaker 1: I'm not giving you these true examples to instill fear.
27:31
Speaker 1: This book is all about fighting back. You take back
27:35
Speaker 1: the power. Don't let them have the power over you
27:38
Speaker 1: and your children. You don't have to do that. A
27:42
Speaker 1: beautiful young Alaskan barista, Samantha Koenig, was abducted out of
27:48
Speaker 1: her coffee stand in the middle of a parking lot,
27:52
Speaker 1: right at a red light. The case seemingly went cold
27:57
Speaker 1: until a ransom note was sent with a picture of Samantha.
28:03
Speaker 1: She looked alive, but her dad said no. She would
28:07
Speaker 1: never wear her hair in braids, so the dad noticed that.
28:12
Speaker 1: Later we learn that this teen girl, Samantha Konug, was
28:18
Speaker 1: abducted at gunpoint, driven to a remote location, raped, beaten,
28:24
Speaker 1: sodomized for days on end. The Israel Keys would turn
28:30
Speaker 1: up the music so people living nearby, including his girlfriend
28:35
Speaker 1: and their daughter, would not hear Samantha screaming. And in
28:41
Speaker 1: that picture, Samantha was already dead, but the Israel Keys
28:46
Speaker 1: had sewn her eyes open, covered her face with thick makeup,
28:52
Speaker 1: and blurred the picture when he asked for ransom. When
28:57
Speaker 1: he was finally caught, the serial killer Israel Keys, I
29:00
Speaker 1: want you to take a listen to Israel Key. It's
29:05
Speaker 1: a serial killer in his own words during an FBI interrogation,
29:11
Speaker 1: when it was smart, I would let them come to
29:15
Speaker 1: me this remote area kind of kind of love to
29:25
Speaker 1: a remote area that's not anywhere near where you live.
29:29
Speaker 1: Hope other people go into as well. You might not
29:32
Speaker 1: get exactly what you're not a national choose from in
29:35
Speaker 1: a matter of speaking. But there's also no wis there's
29:39
Speaker 1: really interational deals around at first far back, because I
29:46
Speaker 1: can remember, but you know that's where you get a
29:49
Speaker 1: lot of the ideas either fishing or out hunting, see
29:53
Speaker 1: somebody in the woods. What Israel Keys admitted to is
29:59
Speaker 1: to praying his victims like a hunter, going to campgrounds
30:06
Speaker 1: and RV park's, remote areas where people would be in
30:10
Speaker 1: a compromised situation. To Ray Kaputo joining me, lead anchor
30:15
Speaker 1: w DBO there in Orlando, what can you tell me
30:18
Speaker 1: about the killer Israel Keys? How many people do we
30:22
Speaker 1: think he's actually killed? It's up around thirty, I believe,
30:26
Speaker 1: and the stalking at locations. What do we know about him? Well,
30:31
Speaker 1: he came from a Mormon family. He deconverted from the
30:35
Speaker 1: faith of you know, when he was young. He's moved around,
30:38
Speaker 1: you know, he had a religious background, even served in
30:40
Speaker 1: the military. He admitted to killing people in Washington, killing
30:45
Speaker 1: people in New York State. I mean, the guy has
30:47
Speaker 1: just got a dark soul, Nancy. I don't know what
30:49
Speaker 1: happened to him when I think about him. Straight out
30:52
Speaker 1: to you. Joseph Scott Morgan, Professor forensics, death investigator, he's
30:56
Speaker 1: like a hunter hunting for his prey and he hu
31:00
Speaker 1: and campgrounds and RV parks were remote areas. That's from
31:04
Speaker 1: his own admission, his own confession, Joe Scott. Yeah, that's
31:08
Speaker 1: what he feels comfortable with, Nancy. These guys are predators
31:11
Speaker 1: and they hunt in a specific area. They're not going
31:14
Speaker 1: to go to like a densely populated urban area. They want.
31:19
Speaker 1: They queue in on certain things, people that are alone,
31:23
Speaker 1: people that have their guard down, people that have small children,
31:26
Speaker 1: are young women, it doesn't matter, but it's going to
31:29
Speaker 1: focus within their skill set are that that they've developed.
31:32
Speaker 1: And it's very, very gruesome. While we have been out
31:37
Speaker 1: camping and rving across the country, we just went all
31:40
Speaker 1: the way from the East coast, all the way out
31:44
Speaker 1: to Yellowstone the t Tns, Montana and back in an RV.
31:51
Speaker 1: I learned a lot, for example, and in our book,
31:54
Speaker 1: don't be a victim fighting back against America's crime way.
31:58
Speaker 1: There are chips for you, whether you're traveling within the US,
32:02
Speaker 1: camping rving, going to Mexico, going abroad, hotel safety, peephole safety,
32:09
Speaker 1: there are a million things here for you to protect
32:15
Speaker 1: you so you do not become a victim. Speaking of
32:19
Speaker 1: RV and camping, be prepared, of course, don't leave home
32:24
Speaker 1: without knowing your route where you're staying. I lined up
32:28
Speaker 1: our RV campsites in advance to make sure that there
32:32
Speaker 1: was a spot and we wouldn't be stranded out in
32:36
Speaker 1: the Walmart parking lot. Might as well take out a
32:39
Speaker 1: sign of billboard on Third Avenue saying hey, I'm alone,
32:44
Speaker 1: victimize me. Use reliable and up to date maps. And
32:48
Speaker 1: don't count on your GPS when you're camping in rving,
32:52
Speaker 1: because it failed on us more often than not when
32:55
Speaker 1: we were up in the mountains crossing the bad lands.
32:59
Speaker 1: Get familiar with new equipment before you go. Don't be
33:02
Speaker 1: out in the middle of the night trying to pitch
33:04
Speaker 1: a tent like I have done, or trying to hook
33:07
Speaker 1: up your RV in the dark. Don't do it. Don't
33:11
Speaker 1: go that off the grid. Let people know where you are,
33:15
Speaker 1: so when you don't call in in a day or two,
33:18
Speaker 1: they know something is wrong. Always bring an emergency device.
33:23
Speaker 1: Camp near a host or a family. If you can,
33:27
Speaker 1: bring your dog, even if he's like a little docks
33:29
Speaker 1: like our dogs. Keep your cell phone with you and charge.
33:33
Speaker 1: Know how to single signal s O S. My children know,
33:38
Speaker 1: and they're just twelve. Never ever let a stranger onto
33:43
Speaker 1: your campsite or your RV, much less in your tent.
33:47
Speaker 1: Some r vs carry stun guns in the glove compartment.
33:52
Speaker 1: Don't flash money, keep everything charged. Also, get a cell
33:57
Speaker 1: plan that travels with you from state to state, country
34:02
Speaker 1: to country. I mean, I go on and on. There's
34:05
Speaker 1: so many tips and things to know. We have incorporated
34:09
Speaker 1: them and they're part of the way we travel. You know,
34:14
Speaker 1: I don't know about you, but Karen start what I
34:18
Speaker 1: hear these stories. I get so upset and I think
34:24
Speaker 1: about how I can protect my children. We can never
34:27
Speaker 1: totally one percent protect ourselves or our families, but we
34:31
Speaker 1: can try. And just knowing that I'm trying gives me
34:35
Speaker 1: a sense of that I'm not powerless, and I think
34:39
Speaker 1: that's the most important point that you've made, Nancy, is
34:42
Speaker 1: to fight back. Really, don't be a distant and fight back.
34:47
Speaker 1: So you have children, and anyone who has children or
34:51
Speaker 1: family members, you're always worried that something will happen. Be prepared,
34:55
Speaker 1: and you know what else, Guys, Karen, I may not
34:58
Speaker 1: be able to be you in a fistfight, but I
35:02
Speaker 1: bet I can beat you up here, hands down, because
35:06
Speaker 1: I will be prepared. You don't have to be a genius.
35:09
Speaker 1: You just got to prepare, and you got to know
35:12
Speaker 1: how to stay safe. Proceeds going to National Center Missing
35:16
Speaker 1: Exploited Children. Don't be a victim. Fight back. Nancy Grace's
35:23
Speaker 1: crime story, signing off, Goodbye friend,