Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / Girl nabbed by sex predator from school bus, but no one notices; How to protect kids in public bathrooms

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Girl nabbed by sex predator from school bus, but no one notices; How to protect kids in public bathrooms · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

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Speaker 1: Do you know another parent or expecting parent. Are you
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Speaker 1: for a five part series with action information that you
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Speaker 1: can use to change your life and protect your child.
0:55
Speaker 1: Give that as a gift, not another onesie. Find out
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Speaker 1: how to protect at your child when you're out at
1:01
Speaker 1: the mall or the store, or the grocery and the
1:03
Speaker 1: parking lot at home. Find out about protection regarding babysitters,
1:07
Speaker 1: in daycare, even online. I'd rather have that any day
1:12
Speaker 1: of the week than a plastic toy or god forbid,
1:17
Speaker 1: a toy gun. Join Justice Nation, go to crime Stops
1:22
Speaker 1: here dot com Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Cleveland police
1:36
Speaker 1: officers were searching the East ninety third Street area last
1:39
Speaker 1: night for missing teenager Aleana de Frieze when they discovered
1:43
Speaker 1: the body of a female inside this Fuller Avenue home.
1:47
Speaker 1: It's just a shape. This man, who doesn't want to
1:49
Speaker 1: be identified, has lived in the East Side neighborhood since
1:52
Speaker 1: nineteen seventy two, and he told me that he is
1:55
Speaker 1: heartbroken about how his neighborhood has changed. People loved each other,
2:00
Speaker 1: he slept, You sent around, you're talking up to lock
2:03
Speaker 1: your doors. DeFreeze was lasting Thursday morning. Her family told
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Speaker 1: me Sir Vellan's video captured her getting off of the
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Speaker 1: bus here at East ninety third and Kinsman. She was
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Speaker 1: supposed to catch another bus to school, but never made it,
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Speaker 1: and she hasn't been seen since. Her family spent the
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Speaker 1: weekend passing out flyers, looking for clues and praying for answers.
2:25
Speaker 1: We're not sleeping, we're not eating. It's difficult for us
2:29
Speaker 1: to concentrate because right now our main focuses were not
2:32
Speaker 1: resting until we bring our home. The parents of a
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Speaker 1: little fourteen year old girl in anguish. This little girl,
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Speaker 1: Aliana defrees, was tortured, was raped, was murdered in an
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Speaker 1: abandoned house. Why all of this revolving around the bus
2:51
Speaker 1: stop getting to school? Donantly Crime online dot Com investigative reporter,
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Speaker 1: what happened to this little girl? The little girl fourteen
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Speaker 1: year old Aliana de Frize, or her mom Denisha Cooper,
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Speaker 1: has told us that on this Thursday, January twenty sixth
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Speaker 1: she started out just like a normal day for her
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Speaker 1: and her daughter. She walked her daughter from their house
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Speaker 1: to the bus stop at East one fifty fourth and
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Speaker 1: Kinsman around six thirty am to catch the first of
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Speaker 1: two Cleveland buses that carried the seventh grader to a
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Speaker 1: seven am tutoring session. Now, Aliana was dressed as usual
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Speaker 1: in her school uniform tan pants, white shirt, and her
3:33
Speaker 1: mom says she was excited about going to school. She
3:35
Speaker 1: kept hopping into the street to see if the bus
3:38
Speaker 1: was coming, and when it finally did, she gave her
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Speaker 1: mama a kiss and she boarded the bus. Aliana was
3:45
Speaker 1: doing just what she'd done many times before. It was
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Speaker 1: a long trip to school. It required that, as we've heard,
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Speaker 1: take two separate buses, meaning that on cold winter mornings
3:56
Speaker 1: like this one, she spent a lot of time at
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Speaker 1: the bus stop. It is also an early journey, meaning
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Speaker 1: that she often started to school before the sun was up.
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Speaker 1: Aliana was last seen on that video surveillance around six
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Speaker 1: fifty getting off an RTA bus at East ninety third
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Speaker 1: and Kinsman. That afternoon, mid afternoon comes and goes. Aliana's
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Speaker 1: mom is getting more and more concerned because she hasn't
4:23
Speaker 1: come home from school. At four o'clock, Denisha decides this
4:28
Speaker 1: is enough, so she calls her daughter's school, and that's
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Speaker 1: when she's told that Aliana was not in attendance at all. Okay,
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Speaker 1: wait a minute. The school knew all day the girl
4:40
Speaker 1: hadn't shown up and didn't call the parents or anything
4:44
Speaker 1: about ten hours. You know, this is what I don't
4:47
Speaker 1: get to Kathleen Murphy, North Carolina family divorce lawyer. If
4:51
Speaker 1: the twins are going to miss school or they're going
4:54
Speaker 1: to be late, all right, their teacher, They've never not
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Speaker 1: shown up without me writing in or calling in or something.
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Speaker 1: To me, that seems like a real case of negligence, Kathleen.
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Speaker 1: Ten hours later and the mom has to call the
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Speaker 1: school and find out she never showed up. I agree
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Speaker 1: with you, Nancy. And in the area that I live in,
5:16
Speaker 1: we have mega schools right now. My children all went
5:20
Speaker 1: to tiny schools where we knew everybody, and to send
5:24
Speaker 1: them to a mega school, this kind of thing is
5:27
Speaker 1: going to happen unfortunately, but you're right. I email my parents,
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Speaker 1: my teachers if my child is not going to be there,
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Speaker 1: and I need a response that they know that she's
5:38
Speaker 1: not going to be there. Otherwise she's going to be there.
5:40
Speaker 1: I don't understand how this happens. I agree, how did
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Speaker 1: that happen? And we see it over and over. I
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Speaker 1: want you to hear Alliana's father, Damon to freeze since
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Speaker 1: one nineteen this morning. This is how my life has
5:56
Speaker 1: been going last year and almost a half. Takes a
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Speaker 1: real monster to take a child who's going on her
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Speaker 1: way happily to school. It happens too often. Every time
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Speaker 1: I turn on the news, read the paper, it's a
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Speaker 1: child missing. Not only child, as men and women missing also.
6:41
Speaker 1: It gets frustrated and nothing's being done about it. I
6:46
Speaker 1: know the officers you're doing. You can only do for
6:48
Speaker 1: so much. The administration at city Hall needs to address
6:52
Speaker 1: these issues like you addressed the renovation of the queue
6:57
Speaker 1: and like you addressed the Republican bench. Our children mean
7:04
Speaker 1: a lot to us. They might not be your children,
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Speaker 1: but they mean a lot to us. That is just
7:10
Speaker 1: killing me to hear Alianna's dad, Damon Defrees speaking openly
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Speaker 1: about how the community seems more concerned about buildings and
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Speaker 1: events like the Republican Convention, just to name one, and
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Speaker 1: not about their children. If you could see a picture
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Speaker 1: of this little girl, she looks like she should be
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Speaker 1: in a Disney show. You know how they're always getting
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Speaker 1: those cute little kids to be in Disney movies and sitcoms.
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Speaker 1: She's just beautiful, big brown eyes, long silky black hair,
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Speaker 1: a beautiful, beautiful smile. We know now Aliana was kidnapped
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Speaker 1: walking toward her charter school there in Ohio after getting
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Speaker 1: off a school bus by a forty five year old
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Speaker 1: guess what, sex offender, doctor Daniel Bober. I'm just sick
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Speaker 1: to my stomach. This child was taken to an abandoned house.
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Speaker 1: She was tortured, we are told, with a drill and
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Speaker 1: raped for who knows how many hours, and the mom
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Speaker 1: is just going about her business. That died, going about
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Speaker 1: their business while their daughter, somewhere in their hometown is
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Speaker 1: enduring all of this pain, crying, begging, trying to get
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Speaker 1: away from this registered sex offender, and a school didn't
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Speaker 1: bother to call and say, hey, where's your daughter? She
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Speaker 1: hasn't shown up. Then on we find out ten hours
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Speaker 1: later when they call the school doctor bober why the
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Speaker 1: child predators keep getting out? Because you and I both
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Speaker 1: agree they cannot be rehabilitated. Pends on the offender. But
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Speaker 1: this is a particularly horrific crimes, and a lot of
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Speaker 1: people drop the ball here, and it seems like, you know,
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Speaker 1: authorities could have been alerted much earlier than they were,
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Speaker 1: So it's really one of the most awful crimes I've
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Speaker 1: ever heard of. Now the family is claiming, and I
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Speaker 1: agree with them that they could have saved Aliana if
9:20
Speaker 1: they had been told she was missing earlier. They knew
9:23
Speaker 1: exactly what buses she took every day. The video shows
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Speaker 1: for getting off the bus. And we know Karen Smith,
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Speaker 1: forensics expert, that a huge percentage of kidnaps of children
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Speaker 1: occur relating to bus stops, school bus stops, public bus
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Speaker 1: stops to and from school. A huge amount of stranger
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Speaker 1: abductions occur regarding bus stops, just like jac Douger. That's right,
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Speaker 1: You're absolutely right, And here's you know, my heart breaks
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Speaker 1: for this family. It really does. Ten hours, Nancy, ten
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Speaker 1: hours have elapsed before anybody in an official capacity was notified. Now,
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Speaker 1: you and I both know that these predators don't wait.
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Speaker 1: They don't sit around and wait. This man knew where
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Speaker 1: he wanted to go. He knew where this little girl
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Speaker 1: was going to get off the bus, and he took
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Speaker 1: her there. If authorities had been alerted that she wasn't
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Speaker 1: in school, it would have at least given them a
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Speaker 1: fighting chance to have brought her back alife. Then ninety
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Speaker 1: third is a safe haven for sexual predators like this
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Speaker 1: Minster behind him and you lucky. I'm not the same
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Speaker 1: person I was twenty five years ago because there's not
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Speaker 1: enough police in here to stop me. And you need
10:41
Speaker 1: to know that when you get where you go and
10:44
Speaker 1: you go get what you got, come before you get
10:48
Speaker 1: to that gas that lethal when Jackson changed my baby
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Speaker 1: have a chance, No, grand Trilo, you can't walk her
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Speaker 1: down the eye when she come over on the weekends
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Speaker 1: on Fridays, we'd have this same talk about this guy
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Speaker 1: back here. I warned her of guys like that. I
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Speaker 1: warned her up a band and building. I told her
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Speaker 1: to watch out for these predators. I didn't want her
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Speaker 1: catching two buses to school. I stressed that this is
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Speaker 1: what I get. She would talk to me, Daddy, you
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Speaker 1: showed me how to fight. I'll be okay, Daddy, I say, baby,
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Speaker 1: listen to me and quit running your mouth. Don't walk
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Speaker 1: with your hood on your head, don't have the earbuds
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Speaker 1: in your ear. Be aware of your surroundings. She kept
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Speaker 1: running her mouth and I grabbed her. I said, that's
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Speaker 1: how it's gonna happen, Alliana. I said, that's I was
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Speaker 1: gonna happen. Now what she's gonna do? Ww Dad, are
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Speaker 1: you scared? Yes? Again? Lord, give me strength and continue
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Speaker 1: on this foundation. Keep my mind right, in my spirit right.
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Speaker 1: Hearing that father and just breaking my heart. I'm just
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Speaker 1: trying to imagine my father, who is just so much
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Speaker 1: to me, endearing with this father, Damon Defrieze is endearing
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Speaker 1: right now, and Alyana's mother as well. This beautiful little girl,
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Speaker 1: Alyona Defriese, just beautiful, had to catch two buses every morning.
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Speaker 1: That morning, she was on her way to tutoring seven am,
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Speaker 1: and she was excited and happy, not whining and complaining,
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Speaker 1: jumping off the curb and looking to see if the
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Speaker 1: bus was coming. Her mom walked her to the bus station,
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Speaker 1: waiting for her to get on the first bus. It
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Speaker 1: was when she was getting off the bus around six
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Speaker 1: to fifty in the morning the RTA. She must have
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Speaker 1: been on her second bus almost to tutoring at that time,
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Speaker 1: ten minutes away. She was spotted getting off that bus.
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Speaker 1: She never made it. As her parents go about their
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Speaker 1: daily business, they have no idea their daughter has been
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Speaker 1: kidnapped off the street at the bus stop by a
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Speaker 1: forty five year old sex offender, Christopher Whitaker, who takes
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Speaker 1: her to an abandoned house, rapes her, mutilates her, and
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Speaker 1: stabs her dead. To John Lemley, Crime online dot Com
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Speaker 1: investigative reporter John Linley, what do we learn from this
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Speaker 1: little girl's autopsy? Well, the medical examiner, doctor David Dalinach,
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Speaker 1: performed the autopsy on Aliana, revealing that she had been raped,
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Speaker 1: her body inflicted with multiple blunt force injuries, stabbing puncture wounds.
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Speaker 1: Her many wounds were consistent with tools that we've mentioned
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Speaker 1: found in the abandoned house where her body was found,
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Speaker 1: including a drill, screwdriver, and boxcutter. Doctor Dolinak said that
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Speaker 1: her injuries were so numerous and severe that he could
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Speaker 1: not identify which specifically even caused her death. This little
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Speaker 1: girl so innocent, she still played with dolls. She still
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Speaker 1: played with dolls. Listen, this is a Chief of Police,
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Speaker 1: Calvin Williams. Tonight, we're here to announce an arrest in
14:42
Speaker 1: the case of Avianna the Frieze. Tonight, members of the
14:50
Speaker 1: US Marshal's Violent Fugitive Task Force Claimed Division of Police
14:54
Speaker 1: arrested a suspect in that case, Christopher Whittaker. He's now
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Speaker 1: in our custom city and is being talked to by investigators,
15:04
Speaker 1: and we'll be booked into our city jail pretty soon.
15:08
Speaker 1: This has been a trying time for us. You know,
15:11
Speaker 1: a week ago, from a few hours ago, this young
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Speaker 1: lady went missing, and we put everything we could out
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Speaker 1: there to find her and bring her home safely. Unfortunately
15:24
Speaker 1: that didn't happen, but our investigators didn't stop, and tonight
15:31
Speaker 1: the culmination of their efforts is the arrest of a
15:34
Speaker 1: person that we need to make sure never touches our
15:36
Speaker 1: streets again. Marshall Elliott and his members actually received the
15:43
Speaker 1: information earlier today and they worked it all day long,
15:47
Speaker 1: and approximately seven fifteen this afternoon they arrested the suspect
15:51
Speaker 1: in Mayfield Heights and again he's now in our custody.
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Speaker 1: You're hearing the chief of Police, Calvin Williams Well, I
15:58
Speaker 1: don't understand why already in custody. He's a registered sex offender.
16:02
Speaker 1: To Kathleen Murphy, North Carolina family lawyer. Kathleen Murphy, my
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Speaker 1: first question to you is do you believe we know
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Speaker 1: that there is a lawsuit happening right now where the
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Speaker 1: family is suing the school, which I completely agree with.
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Speaker 1: Ten hours they probably could have saved her life because
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Speaker 1: they knew what bus she was getting on and off.
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Speaker 1: What is the point of suing the killer, Kathleen Murphy,
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Speaker 1: I think that the point the school is clear. Suing
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Speaker 1: the killer would have to relate to whether this guy
16:39
Speaker 1: has any assets, or whether it's to prevent this person
16:43
Speaker 1: from jail, writing a book or making money off of
16:46
Speaker 1: his story. I also think you would be very important
16:51
Speaker 1: to them, doctor Daniel Bober to not just go after
16:54
Speaker 1: the school who failed to call the parents. A ten
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Speaker 1: hour lead time this guy was given. But also, doctor Bober,
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Speaker 1: he is the one that murdered their daughter. How can
17:07
Speaker 1: you have a lawsuit not sue him. Yeah, it's true.
17:09
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, these are two different universes. I mean,
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Speaker 1: the school just dropped the ball and you know, failed
17:14
Speaker 1: to use care. But he was the one that committed
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Speaker 1: this horrific and savage crime. You know. The other issue
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Speaker 1: is he claimed he was high on cocaine, but that
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Speaker 1: very day after she's been murdered, he is spotted at
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Speaker 1: a local church and they said he was calm, cool
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Speaker 1: and collected. What does that say to you? Doctor Bober
17:35
Speaker 1: says that, you know, it's complete nonsense, Nancy. All these
17:39
Speaker 1: actions that he took and his behavior the next day
17:42
Speaker 1: is not consistent with substance intoxication. I think it's not.
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Speaker 1: And there's really nowhere for him to go because video
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Speaker 1: shows him getting Aliana off the school bus. So, John Limley,
17:54
Speaker 1: what can you tell me about this lawsuit? And I
17:56
Speaker 1: think the parents are absolutely correct, Nancy. The parents have
18:00
Speaker 1: filed this lawsuit not only against the killer, but her
18:04
Speaker 1: school and the city of Cleveland itself, claiming wrongful death. Crucially,
18:10
Speaker 1: they allege in their lawsuit that Aliana's charter school E
18:15
Speaker 1: Prep and Village Prep Woodland Hills Breakthrough School could have
18:19
Speaker 1: prevented her death by phoning her mother when she did
18:22
Speaker 1: not arrive at school. In their lawsuit, Cooper and the
18:27
Speaker 1: girl's family say that they could have saved her if
18:29
Speaker 1: they were told she was missing, that it was completely
18:32
Speaker 1: out of character for this teenager to miss school, and
18:35
Speaker 1: that the school should have known just that when she
18:38
Speaker 1: didn't show up without any notice from either parent. What
18:42
Speaker 1: do you know about this guy? Christopher Whittaker chimly Nancy
18:44
Speaker 1: Whittaker was anything but a stranger to police. He had
18:48
Speaker 1: quite a lengthy criminal record long before his rape and
18:52
Speaker 1: murder of Aliana. In nineteen ninety eight, two charges one
18:57
Speaker 1: grand theft and burglary, another aggravated robbery and felonious assault.
19:02
Speaker 1: That case was dismissed. Then in two thousand and five
19:06
Speaker 1: he served almost four years in prison for felonious assault
19:09
Speaker 1: of a forty five year old woman, and that's when
19:12
Speaker 1: he was listed as a sex offender. In twenty twelve,
19:16
Speaker 1: an additional charge that of aggravated theft. Once again, we
19:20
Speaker 1: also know in seeking some kind of closure, which they'll
19:24
Speaker 1: never have Aliana defrees. His family knows now that the
19:30
Speaker 1: home where Aliana was murdered has been torn down and demolished.
19:35
Speaker 1: We wait as justice unfolds in the case of little
19:39
Speaker 1: fourteen year old victim Aliana Defres and her killer, registered
19:45
Speaker 1: sex offender Christopher Whittaker. Our prayers to the victims' families.
20:06
Speaker 1: Crime stories with Nancy Grace, it is unimaginable. That's what
20:14
Speaker 1: many are saying this evening about an alleged assault here
20:17
Speaker 1: at the Walmart in Chippewa Township, Beaver County, Chippewa Township.
20:22
Speaker 1: Police say thirty two year old Adam to Tusco of
20:25
Speaker 1: West Mayfield followed a little boy into the bathroom here
20:30
Speaker 1: at Walmart. He pulled out a device that police identify
20:34
Speaker 1: as a doctor who television one. They say, to Dusco
20:38
Speaker 1: told the little boy that it was a taser and
20:40
Speaker 1: then he better do what he tells him to do. Well.
20:43
Speaker 1: At that point, police say to Tusco had the boy undressed,
20:47
Speaker 1: forced them into the stall. The alleged assault was broken
20:51
Speaker 1: up then when the boy's father came into the bathroom
20:55
Speaker 1: and grabbed the alleged attacker. To Tusco now charged with
20:59
Speaker 1: a idea of counts including unlawful restraint, indecent assault, and
21:05
Speaker 1: corruption of a minor. And that's not all police say.
21:09
Speaker 1: They suspect to Tusco attempted a similar assault at a
21:13
Speaker 1: nearby McDonald's. That attempt failed when that little boy ran away.
21:18
Speaker 1: You're hearing our frenzy KDKA. That was Paul Martine regarding
21:22
Speaker 1: a Walmart bathroom attack. Well with me right now is
21:26
Speaker 1: a very very special woman. Her name is Misty McDavid.
21:31
Speaker 1: And I found out about Misty's story while I was
21:35
Speaker 1: researching a book that I'm working on, a nonfiction book
21:38
Speaker 1: about how to protect your children and yourself in the
21:42
Speaker 1: middle of a crime wave across our country. And I
21:45
Speaker 1: was specifically researching and looking at attacks in stores, at malls,
21:52
Speaker 1: in playgrounds and so forth. And I got into the
21:55
Speaker 1: subsection of attacks in bathrooms. And as I was reading
21:59
Speaker 1: and eating and reading, it is about two o'clock in
22:02
Speaker 1: the morning, the name Misty McDavid popped up. And when
22:06
Speaker 1: I read her story and what she is trying to
22:09
Speaker 1: tell you now, I had to track her down, and
22:13
Speaker 1: Alan and Jackie did just that with me right now,
22:16
Speaker 1: Misty McDavid, Misty when you hear the story we were
22:20
Speaker 1: just playing. I know that had to bring back some
22:24
Speaker 1: really scary memories. Let's just start at the beginning, where
22:28
Speaker 1: you and your little boy, Luke or in one of
22:30
Speaker 1: my favorite stores, Michaels. I go there for all the
22:34
Speaker 1: children's school projects. Whatever I have to do, we go
22:36
Speaker 1: to Michaels. I love Michaels and I was just and
22:39
Speaker 1: Matt last time I was there, we were looking at
22:42
Speaker 1: for little figurines and many trees to make a dire
22:47
Speaker 1: rama for the children's book report. I don't want to
22:51
Speaker 1: remember that. I want to hear your story now. What
22:54
Speaker 1: happened with you and Luke? And you're from a small
22:57
Speaker 1: town in Tennessee with a very low crime rate. What happened?
23:00
Speaker 1: We entered the department store, and like I'm sure most
23:04
Speaker 1: of you all with kids, it doesn't matter if you
23:06
Speaker 1: let them use the bathroom immediately when you leave home.
23:09
Speaker 1: By the time you get to the next destination, they
23:11
Speaker 1: have to go again. And so I walked into Michaels.
23:14
Speaker 1: I had just made it through a couple of alls,
23:16
Speaker 1: and I was in a hurry, and my son was
23:18
Speaker 1: I I was ten years old. He said, Mom, I've
23:21
Speaker 1: got to be and I'm like, dude, really, are you
23:23
Speaker 1: sure you know? Can you not hold it? And he
23:25
Speaker 1: was like, well, I can'ts I can't. So I said, okay,
23:27
Speaker 1: we're in Michaels. Go ahead, go to the bathroom and
23:31
Speaker 1: come right back to me right here. And so he went,
23:34
Speaker 1: which he had work, you know, around to the back
23:36
Speaker 1: of the store the way Michaels has set up with
23:38
Speaker 1: their bathroom is. And he was gone a little longer
23:40
Speaker 1: than I thought he should be, and I probably would
23:44
Speaker 1: have went after him pretty soon. And he turned to
23:46
Speaker 1: the corner and the look on his face was just
23:50
Speaker 1: I knew something had happened. And I said, what's wrong?
23:53
Speaker 1: And he said, Mom, I just got the scaredest I've
23:56
Speaker 1: ever been in my wife. And I said what happened?
23:59
Speaker 1: And he said, A man tried to get in the
24:01
Speaker 1: stall with me. Mom, Well, my heart is sank. And
24:05
Speaker 1: you think you know what you would do in that situation,
24:08
Speaker 1: but I promise you it's probably on the way you
24:10
Speaker 1: think you would. I was in shock and he's I said,
24:14
Speaker 1: you know, can you identify this man? Do you know
24:16
Speaker 1: what he looks like? And he said, Mom, I could
24:18
Speaker 1: see his black muddy word boots under the door, but
24:22
Speaker 1: I couldn't see him because he was in front of
24:24
Speaker 1: the door. And I said, how did he try to
24:26
Speaker 1: get in? And he said, he just kept jamming the door,
24:28
Speaker 1: just kept like you know, taking it back and forth,
24:30
Speaker 1: trying to get it open, trying to get the lot
24:32
Speaker 1: to open. And I've told him his entire life, if
24:36
Speaker 1: anyone ever tries to bother you or tries to harm
24:40
Speaker 1: you, you you scream. Scream as lot as you can, You
24:42
Speaker 1: make all the noise you can, because it will cause
24:44
Speaker 1: a distraction. They will probably go the other way. But
24:47
Speaker 1: he didn't. He froze, He said, Mom. I pulled my
24:50
Speaker 1: arms and my knees into my chest hot as I could,
24:52
Speaker 1: and I said, as stealing as quiet as I could.
24:55
Speaker 1: And I know that the Lord was protecting my child
24:57
Speaker 1: that day, because that man could have went underneath the
24:59
Speaker 1: stall if he'd have been Adama on getting in there
25:02
Speaker 1: with him. But my child had to come to me,
25:05
Speaker 1: not knowing that that man was probably somewhere in the store.
25:07
Speaker 1: And so I said, can you know, can you show
25:10
Speaker 1: me those boots? So I started walking the store and
25:13
Speaker 1: I started scanning, you know, for people, and I saw
25:16
Speaker 1: a guy with a pair of brown who worked boots
25:18
Speaker 1: on the as a register checking out, and I said,
25:20
Speaker 1: Luke's about him and he said, no, no, these are
25:23
Speaker 1: black boots. I will know the boots if I see him.
25:25
Speaker 1: And about that time we turned the corner and I
25:27
Speaker 1: came wasn't about two feet of this person, and my
25:30
Speaker 1: little boy jumped behind me and he said, Mom, that's him,
25:34
Speaker 1: and I just froze. I couldn't say anything, I couldn't
25:38
Speaker 1: do anything. I just stood there and the all what
25:42
Speaker 1: could have again flashed through my mind and the guy
25:46
Speaker 1: just kind of ran his fingers through his hair and
25:47
Speaker 1: kind of chuckled at me. He knew I knew, and
25:50
Speaker 1: he knew it was nothing I could do about it,
25:52
Speaker 1: and he walked out of the store with another lady
25:54
Speaker 1: who was in the store with him. I did go
25:57
Speaker 1: to the Michael's Department store manager, where we did fall
25:59
Speaker 1: a place for They did have that man on camera
26:01
Speaker 1: going into the bathroom, but we could not do anything
26:04
Speaker 1: about it other than Michael's Department store was told to
26:07
Speaker 1: watch for that particular person. And the scariest thing for
26:11
Speaker 1: me is that I know had that man. I've been
26:14
Speaker 1: able to get ahold of my son in that bathroom.
26:16
Speaker 1: He could have got him out of that store quietly.
26:19
Speaker 1: And that's the biggest thing, you know, I don't know
26:21
Speaker 1: that there is enough training that we can do for
26:24
Speaker 1: our children, because I thought that he would scream if
26:28
Speaker 1: somebody ever tried to bother him. I mean, he's a
26:30
Speaker 1: pretty outspoken little guy. He's not shy, he's not reserved.
26:34
Speaker 1: He's a people person. He could talk to the president.
26:37
Speaker 1: But that day he froze. And I know in my
26:39
Speaker 1: heart that man could have got him out of that
26:41
Speaker 1: store quietly had he been able to get to him.
26:44
Speaker 1: And I just was unaware of the sex trafficking that
26:50
Speaker 1: goes on in our little area that I live in.
26:52
Speaker 1: I mean, I was absolutely shocked when I pulled up
26:54
Speaker 1: the Tennessee dot gov website and looked at that. And
26:57
Speaker 1: I would encourage everyone to look at your air and
27:00
Speaker 1: see what kind of sex trafficking and what kind of
27:03
Speaker 1: child indections go on in the area that you're in.
27:06
Speaker 1: I know, in the United States, on an average, a
27:08
Speaker 1: child's brought either bought or sold for sex every two minutes.
27:12
Speaker 1: That's seven hundred and twenty children every day, and thirteen
27:16
Speaker 1: is the prime ate. I'm thinking my son's getting older.
27:19
Speaker 1: I'm probably at you know, I could send him to
27:21
Speaker 1: the bathroom, you know, when he gets just a little
27:22
Speaker 1: bit bigger. But actually he's going to hit the prime
27:24
Speaker 1: age of thirteen. Then what am I gonna do. I
27:27
Speaker 1: can't take him in the women's bathroom at thirteen years old.
27:30
Speaker 1: So I will stand in the men's door, make sure
27:33
Speaker 1: no one is in there. I will send him in,
27:36
Speaker 1: and I will stand and I will not let him
27:37
Speaker 1: in in the I'm sorry, my son's in there, and
27:39
Speaker 1: you're gonna have to wait. But I just I think
27:42
Speaker 1: we can't be prepared enough, we can't be knowledgeable enough.
27:48
Speaker 1: There has to be some way to protect your children
27:51
Speaker 1: and to protect other children. Missy McDavid is with me
27:53
Speaker 1: telling of a real scare she had right there in
27:57
Speaker 1: the local Michaels's like a craft store. Misty. Also, your
28:02
Speaker 1: hometown is very small. I came from an area about
28:06
Speaker 1: the size of your hometown, maybe even smaller, and crime
28:11
Speaker 1: rate very very low, Is that right, Misty? Yes, I
28:15
Speaker 1: live in a very safe I mean I feel totally
28:18
Speaker 1: comfortable going downtown in the town that I live in
28:22
Speaker 1: and running at you know, even at dusk dark by
28:24
Speaker 1: myself like, we just live in a super safe area.
28:28
Speaker 1: But the thing that the police brought a lot to
28:30
Speaker 1: me the day that this happens. He said, ma'am, let's
28:34
Speaker 1: look at the location that this Michael sits on. It
28:38
Speaker 1: runs right like you can be on the interstate, and
28:41
Speaker 1: I mean it's right off the interstates. You literally get
28:43
Speaker 1: off the ramp and you're there. He said, they can
28:46
Speaker 1: get on this interstate right here and be in three
28:48
Speaker 1: states within this a matter of minutes. And he said
28:51
Speaker 1: the location of things makes it a prim target for
28:56
Speaker 1: sex traffickers to take your children because they can be gone.
29:00
Speaker 1: Facts of this case are some of the more heinous
29:03
Speaker 1: that I've seen in a long time. Clark County Prosecutor
29:06
Speaker 1: Jeremy Mule says twenty three year old Michael Weston should
29:09
Speaker 1: spend as much time behind bars as the law will allow.
29:13
Speaker 1: Police say Weston followed a second grader into a bathroom
29:16
Speaker 1: at Bob Hedge Park last week and threatened him with
29:19
Speaker 1: a knife before sexually assaulting him. We would like to
29:22
Speaker 1: think that our children are able to go to the
29:24
Speaker 1: park to play and to be safe, and generally that's true,
29:29
Speaker 1: but this is the kind of case that disappearance worst nightmare,
29:32
Speaker 1: their child playing in a park and being assaulted. Police
29:35
Speaker 1: say park security cameras helped to implicate Weston, who was
29:38
Speaker 1: arrested Friday. The victim's father says Weston forced down his
29:42
Speaker 1: son's pants and touched him until another person entered the bathroom.
29:46
Speaker 1: Mark Wilson says he was babysitting the victim at the
29:49
Speaker 1: park the day of the attack, and says his own
29:52
Speaker 1: young son was there as well. I'm glad we got
29:54
Speaker 1: off to the streets and he'd been a predator over
29:56
Speaker 1: there for a while. And you know other family members
30:00
Speaker 1: that had their children. Are other people had their children,
30:02
Speaker 1: are they need to talk to their children about if
30:04
Speaker 1: anything wants to happen there, because there's plenty of children,
30:07
Speaker 1: it goes over there unattended by herself. Wilson says the
30:10
Speaker 1: victim is doing well, but says the assault has been traumatizing.
30:14
Speaker 1: You know, I could happen to any kid, you know,
30:17
Speaker 1: so you know it could have been my kid, but
30:18
Speaker 1: you know it was his child, and you know what
30:20
Speaker 1: I mean, It's it's awful thing. I can just tell
30:23
Speaker 1: the public that I will do my best to make
30:24
Speaker 1: sure that this individuals not ever on the street of gear.
30:27
Speaker 1: You're and our friends at w l k Y regarding
30:29
Speaker 1: a man who molests a child in an Indiana park bathroom.
30:33
Speaker 1: He was in front of a judge in Louisville, Kentucky
30:36
Speaker 1: with me right now telling her story and the story
30:39
Speaker 1: of her son, Misty McDavid from Tennessee. She and Luke
30:44
Speaker 1: are in a local Michael's craft store. He goes to
30:48
Speaker 1: the bathroom. He comes out, Why does a sheet because
30:54
Speaker 1: a man tries to get to him in the bathroom
30:57
Speaker 1: and can describe in detail a man's black muddy boots
31:02
Speaker 1: and Misty goes all over the Michaels till she finds
31:06
Speaker 1: the work boots in. The guy just smirks at her
31:09
Speaker 1: and leaves too. Doctor Judith Joseph psychiatrists joining us from
31:14
Speaker 1: New York. What kind of an impact does that have
31:16
Speaker 1: on a child for the rest of his life. It's
31:18
Speaker 1: not just a child that's traumatising for everyone, for the parent,
31:22
Speaker 1: for him, I mean for the entire family. And you know,
31:25
Speaker 1: I think that what mom did in this case was
31:28
Speaker 1: really the right thing to do. She believed him. Do
31:31
Speaker 1: you know how many times kids tell me that no
31:33
Speaker 1: one believes them when they're sexually abuse and for various reasons,
31:37
Speaker 1: people can't handle it to paintful the hair they have
31:39
Speaker 1: the nile. But she did the right thing in this case.
31:41
Speaker 1: She believed him immediately. Then she made him feel safe.
31:45
Speaker 1: She held on to him. She did not blame him.
31:48
Speaker 1: She told him that it wasn't his fault, it was
31:50
Speaker 1: this perpetrator's fault. She did everything that a supportive and
31:55
Speaker 1: healthy and loving parent does. So I applaud her in
31:58
Speaker 1: this case because in the spur of moment, a lot
32:00
Speaker 1: of parents would not have reacted the way that she did.
32:02
Speaker 1: And the truth is, Nancy, you can't protect your kids
32:05
Speaker 1: all the time. The most common abuses, cases of child
32:09
Speaker 1: abuse happened with people who are friendly looking. They don't
32:13
Speaker 1: look like predators. And that's why you can protect your
32:15
Speaker 1: child and tell them and warn them, look out for this,
32:17
Speaker 1: lookout for that. But in the end of the day,
32:19
Speaker 1: at the end of the day, it's usually someone close
32:22
Speaker 1: to the families, someone at the child knows, or someone
32:23
Speaker 1: that does not look intimidating or threatening. And that's why
32:27
Speaker 1: they're so good at pulling off cases like this, pulling
32:30
Speaker 1: off abuse, because they don't look like a predator. So,
32:33
Speaker 1: you know, I think it's important to continue to make
32:35
Speaker 1: her child feel safe. Tell your kids it's not their fault,
32:39
Speaker 1: and validate them and believe them. You know what's interesting
32:42
Speaker 1: following up on what doctor Jusy just said to Missy McDavid,
32:44
Speaker 1: the mom joining us now from Tennessee, Missy, I remember
32:48
Speaker 1: and John David, my son, has just told me about this,
32:51
Speaker 1: and he's now eleven. In his old bedroom, there was
32:56
Speaker 1: something that made a shadow on the wall. It looked
33:00
Speaker 1: like a cowboy and a cowboy. It looked to him
33:04
Speaker 1: at night that the cowboy was getting closer and closer
33:08
Speaker 1: and closer. It was like a silhouette I think of
33:10
Speaker 1: a cowboy. Still don't really understand it. To this day,
33:14
Speaker 1: eight years later, he still remembers it and it's still
33:18
Speaker 1: scary to him. Misty, does your son Luke ever bring
33:22
Speaker 1: this up or talk about it what happened in the
33:25
Speaker 1: Michael's bathroom? He doesn't ever want to discuss it, and
33:29
Speaker 1: he that when if we'd leave home and go toward town,
33:33
Speaker 1: it has literally took him six months before he would
33:37
Speaker 1: stop holding around my husband or my arm when we're
33:40
Speaker 1: walking through the grocery store or anything he used to
33:43
Speaker 1: would walk along beside of us, you know, and he
33:46
Speaker 1: didn't ever get away from us and go to a
33:48
Speaker 1: different areas of the store, but he would walk along
33:50
Speaker 1: beside of us. But for a good six months he
33:54
Speaker 1: held one of our arms all the time. And so
33:57
Speaker 1: I just tried to help, you know, I would just
33:58
Speaker 1: I'd rub his little off. You know, we're not going
34:01
Speaker 1: to let anything happen to you. It is okay, and
34:03
Speaker 1: just keep reconfirming him. And he is a little bit
34:06
Speaker 1: less afraid of going into public. But yes, that was
34:11
Speaker 1: you know, it traumatized him and he doesn't want to
34:14
Speaker 1: talk about it. You know. What was interesting also to
34:16
Speaker 1: Joseph Scott Morgan, forensics expert, professor of forensics at Jacksonal
34:20
Speaker 1: State University and author of Blood Beneath My Feet on Amazon.
34:25
Speaker 1: Joe Scott, that statistic Misty McDavid just quoted is accurate
34:30
Speaker 1: regarding sex trafficking. That's the way it happens, just like this,
34:35
Speaker 1: Joe Scott, Just like Missdy McDavid's telling us, Yeah it is.
34:39
Speaker 1: And here's You've got two types in this environment that
34:43
Speaker 1: are going to prey upon children. You've got kind of
34:46
Speaker 1: the serialized behavior that goes on with you know, these
34:49
Speaker 1: pedophile types that just look for children to prey upon.
34:53
Speaker 1: And then you have these groups of people that go
34:55
Speaker 1: out and try to traffic and you know, and people
34:59
Speaker 1: that are just non suspecting. What's really crazy about all this,
35:03
Speaker 1: just like Missy was talking about relative to Michaels, is
35:07
Speaker 1: that in my area, we have we have a large
35:11
Speaker 1: shopping area that is right on the I twenty corridor
35:17
Speaker 1: and it is it is a prim area. You know,
35:20
Speaker 1: there's all these major chain stores that are in there,
35:23
Speaker 1: and you think that you're safe when you go into
35:25
Speaker 1: this environment. And I've had I've got three kids, I've
35:28
Speaker 1: got two older daughters, I've got a son that's still
35:30
Speaker 1: at home, and I'll I you know, I'm I'm distrusted
35:34
Speaker 1: by nature. I suspect everybody, and so I watched really
35:38
Speaker 1: carefully over my children, but sometimes you just cannot watch them.
35:42
Speaker 1: It's a it's a distracting environment. But these predators are
35:46
Speaker 1: counting on your distraction. That's what they're looking for, and
35:50
Speaker 1: that's why people have to get aware. Daryl co In Atlanta,
35:53
Speaker 1: criminal defense attorney, former prosecutor. You know, for every time
35:57
Speaker 1: PERP molests he is already molested dozens of times before.
36:02
Speaker 1: Darryl Oh Absolutely, Nancy, excuse me. These pups are unbelievable.
36:06
Speaker 1: I wish they could wear a sign and it would
36:10
Speaker 1: flash off their forehead, but they don't. They look normal.
36:13
Speaker 1: They look like your boy next door, like the man
36:16
Speaker 1: next door. And that's why as parents, it's so incumbent,
36:21
Speaker 1: so important to watch your kids, not just the two
36:25
Speaker 1: year olds, the five year olds, the seven year olds,
36:28
Speaker 1: but all of them. Be my youngest daughter, she's seventeen,
36:31
Speaker 1: and I make her aware every minute of every day.
36:35
Speaker 1: You want to expect the best for people, that you
36:38
Speaker 1: also need to prepare for the worst. What about it? Dave, Max,
36:41
Speaker 1: and Kenny talk to your host hearing Missy McDavid's story.
36:44
Speaker 1: I was a little kid. I was raised by a
36:46
Speaker 1: single mom in the sixties, and I remember when I
36:48
Speaker 1: was five years old, she let my brother, who was
36:50
Speaker 1: two years older than me, go to the movie. We
36:52
Speaker 1: went to see Dumbo in the theater. Before we got
36:55
Speaker 1: out of the car, my mother said, do not go
36:58
Speaker 1: in the bathroom by yourself. My brother, who's now a
37:00
Speaker 1: detective and has been for forty years. She said, Michael,
37:04
Speaker 1: do not leave your little brother alone in the bathroom.
37:07
Speaker 1: And it was an uncomfortable discussion, but she had it
37:09
Speaker 1: with us and said, this is what could happen. There
37:11
Speaker 1: are bad people who will hurt you. And she gave it.
37:14
Speaker 1: And I remember that now. I'm an old man now,
37:17
Speaker 1: and she told me that when I was five, Nancy,
37:19
Speaker 1: it happened. Then, it's happening now. And you still haven't
37:22
Speaker 1: gone in the bathroom by yourself. Okay, you know what,
37:25
Speaker 1: Missy McDonald. But you know what, I'm listening to, Missy McDavid.
37:31
Speaker 1: And my son is about the same age as yours,
37:33
Speaker 1: and they're like, Mom, I can't go back, you know what,
37:35
Speaker 1: they can't. I do the same thing. I stand at
37:38
Speaker 1: the door and I yell in at him the whole time. Eyeball,
37:42
Speaker 1: every guy going in the bathroom. He's bigger than me,
37:45
Speaker 1: he's taller than me. I cannot really take him into
37:48
Speaker 1: the ladies bathroom anymore. I look for a family bathroom
37:51
Speaker 1: and we all troop in there together if I can
37:52
Speaker 1: find one. Otherwise, I do what you do, Missy. I
37:56
Speaker 1: wait at the door and scream in there the whole
37:58
Speaker 1: time like a big idiot. But I don't here. That's
38:00
Speaker 1: what I do. And you know what, Misty, When I
38:02
Speaker 1: was reading your blog what you had posted, you said,
38:05
Speaker 1: it's been a couple of days and I didn't know
38:07
Speaker 1: whether or not I was going to post this or not.
38:09
Speaker 1: It's taken me a few days to decide whether or
38:11
Speaker 1: not I'm going to post, but I did, and I
38:13
Speaker 1: thank God that you did with me from Tennessee, Misty
38:17
Speaker 1: McDavid Nancy Grace's crime story, signing off goodbye friend.