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NANCY GRACE

The estranged husband of missing Georgia woman Sueann Ray apparently made a flurry of cell phone calls to his family members around the time she disappeared.

Aired October 13, 2005 - 20:00:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


NANCY GRACE, HOST: Tonight, major developments. Where is 26-year-old Sueann Ray? Ray`s minivan discovered abandoned at a local shopping mall. Police say no suspects yet. But tonight, Ray`s father points the finger at her husband, although police are quick to say he`s not a suspect.
And tonight, 13 long years past, the assault and murder of 11-year-old Girl Scout Shauna Howe (ph). Tonight: Will there finally be justice?

Good evening, everybody. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us tonight.

Self-defense or murder? A 40-year-old therapist falls for his 15- year-old patient, who, California prosecutors say, becomes his lover and then becomes his wife and then becomes his killer. Prosecutors say Susan Polk wanted to be a rich widow, not a poor divorcee, and stabbed her husband, Felix, over his multi-million-dollar estate. She says self defense.

And tonight: Nearly 13 years ago today, an 11-year-old Girl Scout kidnapped, assaulted, killed as she walked home from a local Girl Scout Halloween party, Oil City, Pennsylvania. Tonight: Is there justice for Shauna?

But first, live to Georgia. The search continues for 26-year-old Sueann Ray. Ray disappeared from a local shopping center.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was up getting her car worked on by her husband at his automobile shop in Jasper. That was the last place that she was seen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Tonight, joining us from Atlanta, the reporter from "The Atlanta Journal-Constitution" who`s been on the case from the get-go, Don Plummer. What can you tell me, Don, about this police investigation?

DON PLUMMER, "ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION": Well, Nancy, tomorrow will be seven weeks since Sueann Ray disappeared -- in the words of police, vanished off the face of the earth. Only in the last few days have we begun to learn what they have been doing, and we found out that they`ve been doing some very interesting things.

In the days immediately after Sueann disappeared, they brought in a national dog search team that flew in at least twice into the area and looked for her. They also were looking on the property of the estranged husband, who is Quinton Ray. We don`t know what they found there because the search warrant from that particular search has been sealed by a judge. That`s something that other prosecutors tell us is often done when police are concerned about the possibility of tipping their hand about what they found.

GRACE: So breaking news tonight, everyone, in the search for 26-year- old Sueann Ray. She`s five feet tall, 110 pounds, blond hair, green eyes, last seen August 26. Tonight, the reward has climbed to over $100,000. Tip line, 770-294-7231.

You know, the other night, I was very, very disturbed, Don Plummer. It seemed as if the police didn`t know what was going on in the investigation. They didn`t know about the previous 911 phone calls made regarding alleged domestic violence. They couldn`t tell me if the home had been searched, whether there`s a search warrant, nothing. So tonight, you`re telling me not only have there been several searches, but also that specialized dog teams have been brought in?

PLUMMER: That`s correct. They also have been focusing in on what they`ve called a flurry of telephone calls between Sueann`s estranged husband and members of his family about the same time that she went missing. We don`t know what they`ve found. They`ve declined to talk to us about the specifics of them. However, we find that is new information, as well as the fact that the search teams were here.

This has been a very closely held investigation until recently, and much of the activity that we`ve found out about occurred before the increase in the reward. However, that reward has brought out a lot of people. They say every day, they`re fielding additional tips.

GRACE: Don Plummer, let me get this straight. Around the time of Sueann`s disappearance -- let`s keep showing a picture, Rosie (ph), of Sueann. Everybody, we`re looking for Sueann Ray, missing out of Georgia, her minivan abandoned in a local shopping center parking lot.

Around the time she goes missing, she`s over there to get an oil change at his garage, which is in the back yard of his home, around 6:00 PM. She has a 7:00 PM appointment to sign up her daughter for cheerleading. No show. Somewhere between 6:00 and 7:00 o`clock -- I`m just making a timeline from the best of my knowledge -- she disappears.

You`re telling me, Don Plummer, that cell phone records indicate he, her husband, made a flurry of cell phone calls to his family around that time?

PLUMMER: That`s correct. We don`t know the exact number of calls, but there was a cluster of calls then. Today, I spoke with the lady who she had called to make arrangements to enroll her daughter in a cheerleading class. That lady is a high school friend who said that she spoke with Sueann around 6:00 o`clock. They made arrangements to meet between 6:30 and 7:00. When that time came and Sueann hadn`t shown up, she called back, got her voice mail, left a message but never heard back. And that may have been the last person to have talked with Sueann Ray.

GRACE: Here`s what police have to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DET. SGT. DAN KING, WOODSTOCK POLICE DEPARTMENT: The police have been called out a few times and some reports have been made, but it doesn`t rise to the level of domestic violence. One of them was a vehicle that they had owned together, that her husband had taken off the property. The others were about an incident that occurred, apparently, at the last place they lived, up in the north end of the county.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDY CHASM, SUEANN`S SISTER: Well, they`ve been married for about seven years and separated for about six months. In the past four months is when things got real rocky between them.

GRACE: All these phone calls to the local police -- what were the nature of those phone calls?

CHASM: They were actually called to 911.

GRACE: They were calls to 911? Thank you for clarifying that. What were they about?

CHASM: Well, I know I have actually called once to 911.

GRACE: About?

CHASM: Quinton was pushing my sister.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Don Plummer, you told me he called his family. Has their home been searched?

PLUMMER: No, they haven`t.

GRACE: Why?

PLUMMER: That search -- we don`t know why. We know that the search team went to the property of Quinton`s family and was refused access.

GRACE: You`re telling me the husband`s parents would not consent for police to search the home?

PLUMMER: That`s what the leader of the search team has told me this week, yes.

GRACE: Let`s go straight out to Sueann Ray`s father. And everybody, Don Plummer is reporting on this story from the get-go for "The Atlanta Journal-Constitution," and the discoveries he has made regarding the police investigation will be published tomorrow in the "AJC."

To Danny Jenkins, Sueann Ray`s father. Danny, why won`t the in-laws open up the home for the police?

DANNY JENKINS, SUEANN`S FATHER: Nancy, I have no idea. If you`re innocent and you`ve got nothing to hide, I would welcome them in. I don`t know. I don`t understand.

GRACE: What are police telling you, Danny?

JENKINS: They won`t tell me a whole lot. They don`t tell me much at all.

GRACE: What do you know of their investigation? What are they doing?

JENKINS: I don`t think -- I don`t know. I do know that Sergeant King and Sergeant Merrill (ph) are -- are working hard on the case. I don`t know much that the GBI has done. Woodstock was taken off the case three weeks ago, 21 days ago. And as far as I know, not a whole lot`s been done.

GRACE: I want to go to forensic anthropologist Dr. Kathy Reichs. Doctor, thank you for being with us. There are several potential crime scenes here, Doctor. How does that complicate the information? You`ve got the garage. You`ve got the home. And again, the husband not an official suspect, but that`s where she was last seen. You got her car, her minivan, cleaned up and backed into a distant parking spot at a Wal-Mart.

Rosie, could you show that, please?

You`ve got police wanting to search the parents` home. They`re not letting him in. What does this say to you, Doctor?

DR. KATHY REICHS, FORENSIC ANTHROPOLOGIST: Well, one of the problems with all of those, if they are crime scenes, all of those scenes, is that both of the parties belong there. Any evidence that they would find to tie either the missing woman or her husband to those scenes belongs there. Any hairs, fibers, bodily fluids, anything like that, it`s not out of place. So it wouldn`t be very informative to search those scenes to find that.

What would be useful is if you search -- and same for the car. I mean, he took care of her car. She rode in the car. So you know they`ve both been present in and around that car. So that really complicates a search of that nature.

GRACE: What about the garage where she was to get an oil change?

REICHS: Well, he was there regularly. She was there regularly.

GRACE: Yes.

REICHS: Now, what you`d want to look for would be evidence of violence. You know, you`d want blood or something of that nature, if you could find that. I`ve done cases where the only thing we`ve found in a garage, which was a suspect area for a murder, were bone chips left behind from a chainsaw. But you`ve got to have reason to suspect that something went on there. You`ve got to get an official warrant, and then you can go in and look for whatever you can find.

GRACE: Here`s what police had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KING: She was up getting her car worked on by husband at his automobile shop in Jasper. That was the last place that she was seen.

CHASM: I don`t know exactly what happened to it, but I was the one that actually found the dog, and the chain was wrapped around its neck and she was just laying in her dog house like she was asleep.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Back to Don Plummer with the "AJC," "Atlanta Journal- Constitution." Don, the death -- I know a lot of people may not see a connection, but the death of her little pet dog -- we have seen many, many times -- or at least, I have as a prosecutor -- violence enacted towards someone`s home, their car, key, the tires slashed, mailbox mowed down, dog, cat killed, all in a building rage.

Have you looked into that at all, Don Plummer, the fact that the little dog, her little babydoll dog, had a chain wrapped around its neck three times and was found placed back in its little house?

PLUMMER: Well, I believe Sandy Chasm when she says that. One of the difficulties that you often find in cases like this is that people don`t make official reports. They don`t call the police. They don`t document a lot of things that do happen that lead up to violent encounters of some sort. So I`m unable to document it myself in the retrospect here.

One of the things, though, that I think is very interesting is that they have been looking at video surveillance tapes of that parking lot where the van was found. They will tell us that the video surveillance tapes inside of Wal-Mart do pick up Sueann Ray as she comes by there earlier that afternoon, and they looked at an entire 96-hour stretch of both videos inside and outside the Wal-Mart. I would be very interested to know whether or not they found anything in the outside videotapes that might indicate who came back and parked that van.

GRACE: Right. But Don Plummer, she went to the Wal-Mart earlier that day and then went to her husband`s.

PLUMMER: Right. That`s correct.

GRACE: Why would someone think to bring her car, her minivan, back to the Wal-Mart? And did you see that ridiculous parking spot?

Rosie, can you pull that back up for me? You know, Don Plummer, let`s just get real about it. Who`s going to totally wipe down the inside of their van -- there you go, the parking spot, Rosie -- wipe down the inside of the van, back it into a parking spot, all the way at the end of the parking lot, out in a wooded area -- who? -- and then walk into Wal-Mart? I don`t think so!

PLUMMER: No, it doesn`t appear that that would be the place she would choose to park to go into the store. However, the way it was parked, no one would be driving behind the van. And in Georgia, only in the rear of the car are there license tags.

GRACE: Everybody, we`ll all be right back.

But let`s go quickly to tonight tonight`s "Trial Tracker." Virginia Commonwealth University freshman Taylor Behl would be 18 today, but instead of attending a birthday party, her family is attending her wake. Family, friends, well-wishers gathered in Taylor`s hometown of Vienna, Virginia to say good-bye. Taylor`s remains found one week ago in a wooded area more than 70 miles away from VCU. A 38-year-old amateur photographer, Ben Fawley, named as the only suspect in Taylor`s murder, though he has not yet been formally charged.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JANET PELASARA, TAYLOR BEHL`S MOTHER: I`m positive the authorities will bring these sub-humans to justice, and I pray they receive the death penalty.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JENKINS: I was in a sales meeting Monday morning, the 29th, at 9:00 o`clock. Sandy called me, and she says, Dad, have you heard from Sueann? And I said no. I got up and I went and filed a police report immediately because I knew. I had the -- probably the most emptiest feeling I`ve ever had in my life because I knew my little girl was gone, and I`ll never get to hug her neck. I`ll never get to kiss her. It`s the worst feeling that any dad, any parent can ever have.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Sueann Ray, just 26 years old, is missing. The reward has climbed to over $105,000. She has a little girl waiting for her mother to come home. Tip line, 770-294-7231.

I`m going to go straight out to Danny Jenkins, Sueann Ray`s father. You know what is so ironic, the same day Sueann went missing, Aug. 26, 10 years ago to the day her cousin, Heather Teague (ph), went missing. Do you remember that, Daddy?

JENKINS: Oh, yes, ma`am. Yes, ma`am. That was an unbelievable day, also. That was just a shocking day.

GRACE: Whatever became of the case of Heather Teague?

JENKINS: They`re still investigating it, they say. But you know...

GRACE: After 10 years?

JENKINS: Sometimes it`s like the KSP in Kentucky, maybe like the GBI in Georgia. I don`t know. They don`t get in a hurry about doing nothing.

GRACE: You know, I find it very interesting, now that you mention that -- oh, back to Heather Teague. Didn`t Sueann contact Heather`s mother by e-mail or phone just before she went missing?

JENKINS: Three days prior, she sent her an e-mail saying that, We`re going to find her. She was trying to give her some encouragement that, Don`t give up hope, even though it`s been 10 years. We`re going to find her. And you know, that`s the way Sueann, was always -- always saw the good in everything.

GRACE: So her message was, Don`t give up hope.

JENKINS: Don`t give up.

GRACE: We`re showing you footage of the search for Heather Teague. She went missing 10 years ago to the day that Sueann Ray, her cousin, went missing. You know, Danny, you were mentioning how slowly the investigation is going. I was a little surprised that it has taken so long to get these searches done. Danny, do you know what type of search dog searched the scene?

JENKINS: They had cadavers. They had nine teams of dogs. They had cadavers and live scent dogs.

GRACE: What about it, Dr. Reichs? The difference between the dogs highly significant.

REICHS: Yes, dogs are specialists, just like we are. There are dogs that are trained to sniff out drugs or illegal substances. There are dogs that are trained to sniff out living persons. Those would be your tracker dogs. And then the kind that I interact mostly with out at the FBI academy in Quantico would be the cadaver dogs, and those are dogs specifically trained to sniff out decomposing bodies, the smell of decomposition. Dogs can be cross-trained, but generally, they focus on one or the other. And I`ve seen the whole spectrum. I`ve seen dogs that are incredibly good at doing this, and I`ve seen dogs that are not particularly good at this.

GRACE: Don Plummer, you stated -- what type of dogs came and where did they go, Don?

PLUMMER: Well, they went to several locations, around the Wal-Mart, to other places that Sueann was known to have been just before she disappeared, including the home of her estranged husband. They did try to search some places where they weren`t allowed to.

And I know that this family has` pulled out all of the stops. They`ve put up a Web site, findsueann.org. They`re working on getting a billboard put up so that people on the interstate near where this happened might see something and remember something. When I talked to Monica Cason (ph) with the Center for Missing Persons in Wilmington, who came down twice, she said, I`m ready to come again, as soon as they give me something to search, so...

GRACE: Well, I want to go quickly back to Danny Jenkins, Sueann Ray`s father. Why won`t the in-laws allow the police to search the home?

JENKINS: I wish I knew. I don`t know. I don`t know.

GRACE: Have you talked to them?

JENKINS: No. No. No. And another thing. The lady said a while ago that Sueann frequented over there a lot. She didn`t allow Charity to go over there very much at all. They was -- they -- Sueann didn`t go over there much.

GRACE: You know, what`s interesting, Danny, now that you`ve told me that, I`m thinking back over my research on the case. That day, hadn`t the husband gone to the school and gotten the little girl, and Sueann didn`t know about it and they had an argument about it?

JENKINS: Yes, ma`am. They had an argument over the phone in front of Sueann`s boss. And then Quinton, her husband, told Sandy, my other daughter, that they had a disagreement at his shop when she got there.

GRACE: So that day, the last day she`s seen alive by anybody, they have a fight over him getting the little girl out of school and taking her to his parents` house, right?

JENKINS: That never happened. That never -- that just didn`t happen before. That was a rare occasion.

GRACE: Really?

JENKINS: And Sueann would not...

GRACE: So this day, out of all days, he gets the kid out of school, and he`s not supposed to under the agreement...

JENKINS: Right.

GRACE: And takes the kid to his parents.

JENKINS: Right. Right.

GRACE: Very quickly, everybody, to tonight`s "Case Alert." California police questioning a man in the disappearance of 27-year-old Christie Wilson. Christie last seen October 5 at the Thunder Valley Casino, Roseville (ph), California, with an unidentified man almost twice her age. Police say surveillance cameras caught the two walking toward his car. Detectives located the man, the married man, and say he`s a person of interest after finding evidence in his car. His name not released because, police say, as far as they know, a crime hasn`t been committed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There was only one person seen walking out of that casino with her. She`s a strong-willed gal, and you know, if somebody took her and left her somewhere, I`m just -- you know, I`m really hoping that she`s just hanging on and knowing that everybody is out there looking for her.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRACE: Sueann Ray, missing since August 26, $105,000 reward. Welcome back, everybody. I`m Nancy Grace.

I want to go straight back out to Danny Jenkins, Sueann Ray`s father. You were telling me that this never happened, that they never took the little girl to the in-laws. And now suddenly, the in-laws are refusing to let police search the grounds? How big are the grounds?

JENKINS: It`s -- I think they own, I don`t know, six, seven, eight, ten acres, maybe, you know?

GRACE: Did she go over there to try to get the little girl? Would she have gone over there?

JENKINS: That`s the only way she would have got in the van to -- they were coming to my house, so I know she was going to get Charity to bring her to my house.

GRACE: So you know she was coming to your house. Who -- has anyone spoken to Charity about -- did she see her mom?

JENKINS: She has been interrogated a couple of times by a child psychiatrist. No, she didn`t see her mom. No. No, she didn`t see her.

GRACE: So if the mom did leave, Sueann did leave to go over there, Charity never saw her.

JENKINS: Charity never saw her, correct.

GRACE: Why haven`t you asked them to submit to a search?

JENKINS: I don`t know. I mean, I don`t know. I don`t talk to nobody. I just want them to -- I -- you know, if they -- if they don`t have nothing to hide, please let these people come on there with dogs and clear y`all`s name, where we can find Sueann. And if she`s not there, we can go somewhere else and look.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

THOMAS ROBERTS, CNN HEADLINE NEWS ANCHOR: Hi, everybody. I`m Thomas Roberts with your "Headline Prime Newsbreak."

Some U.S. troops are telling President Bush Iraqi forces are ready to take the lead in securing Saturday`s constitutional referendum. Today, the president held a teleconference with U.S. soldiers in Tikrit, which the White House later admitted was pre-scripted.

A new survey is putting President Bush in perspective. According to the Pew Research Center, 41 percent of those polled by the Bush presidency will be seen as unsuccessful in the long-run; 26 percent say the opposite; 35 percent say it`s too early to tell.

The Department of Homeland Security is investigating an e-mail warning New Yorkers to stay off the subways. The e-mail was circulating before the public was warned of a possible threat to the trains. The probe will investigate whether some officials gave relatives or friends early word of the warning.

And an coalition of environmental groups has released its list of America`s most endangered forests. On that list, Alaska`s Tongass National Forest, Kentucky`s Daniel Boone National Forest and others. The report cites concerns about logging, controlled burns, and development.

That`s the news for now. I`m Thomas Roberts.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s been horrible. It`s been a nightmare. It`s like -- it`s a bad dream and you just don`t wake up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Welcome back, everybody. I`m Nancy Grace.

Let`s throw up, Rosie, that statement from the husband`s attorney. He did see Sue Ann. She came to his garage where he was going to do some minor tune-up on her automobile. She received a phone call while he was getting ready to change the oil. She left after that.

OK, straight out to Steven Clark, defense attorney. I don`t think that was such a great move. His lawyer has now formally locked his client into a story.

STEVEN CLARK, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: It`s never a good move to do that. And for them to say that this Quinton is not a suspect, I mean, he`s clearly the number one suspect in the case.

But the lawyer needs to point out that Sue Ann went to his house voluntarily. Everyone`s talking about this domestic discourse in the family. But to go to your ex-husband or soon-to-be ex-husband`s home to have your oil changed, that seems to be a situation where they`re on a friendly basis.

So I want to know more about that and point that out. And I`d also want to know if that mileage was checked on the vehicle before that bodywork or oil change was done and to know how far that car was driven between the point that it was at his house and where it was later found.

GRACE: Hey, Steven, he never got around to the oil change. He had other things to do.

CLARK: OK.

GRACE: P.S., everybody, husband not a suspect, family, not a suspect. We are simply pointing out some very unusual facts tonight.

In fact, we invited them all on the show tonight, the lawyer, the husband. They would not come on our show to answer some tough questions. And I would like to personally extend a very warm invitation to Quinton Ray, Sue Ann Ray`s husband, to his parents, who refuse to allow police to search their home or their 15 acres.

Wasn`t it 15 acres, Ellie?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... eight to 10.

GRACE: Eight to 10 acres. I`d like to find out about that. And I`d love, love, love to talk to his lawyer to find out more about this series of events.

Anne Bremner, the lawyer says on the record he did see Sue Ann. She came to his garage to do tune-ups. The phone rang -- bring! -- and she left.

Now, isn`t that unusual? Because her high school friend says, "I`m on the phone with her at 6:00." She says, "She`ll meet me at 6:30 to 7:00," and she never shows up. And at that time, she was at the garage waiting on Quinton Ray to get home. And he had taken the little girl, not pursuant to any agreement, out of school and to the in-laws.

ANNE BREMNER, TRIAL ATTORNEY: Hey, Nancy, 50 percent of people get divorced. And in those divorces, 50 percent don`t end up in homicides.

And, you know, this could be the seven year itch. They were married for seven years. Sure, there`s some unusual things. You leave, someone`s on the phone. That`s not that unusual. Could be pretty usual.

GRACE: But the whole reason she went there was for an oil change.

BREMNER: Well, sure she did.

GRACE: So why didn`t she wait for it?

BREMNER: It didn`t happen.

GRACE: Yes, why? Why didn`t it happen?

BREMNER: Well, he`s on the phone. He`s busy. I tell you, I never change my oil.

GRACE: He`s on the phone? He`s busy?

BREMNER: He`s busy. But you know what...

(CROSSTALK)

BREMNER: It`s not an emergency. I mean, it`s not...

GRACE: We`ve got a missing person.

BREMNER: She`s got a flat tire or something. Yes, you`ve got a missing person, but it doesn`t mean he did it. And just because he`s the ex-husband, it doesn`t mean that he`s the suspect. And just because she didn`t get her oil changed or her car`s clean or it`s backed up, when she can`t even back up a bicycle, that`s not enough in this country. It`s not even a scintilla of evidence of guilt in this case.

GRACE: Then why won`t the in-laws allow the police to search their property?

BREMNER: Because they have the right. That`s their right. This is America. It`s what people fought and died for, is for all of us to have rights. That`s their right. It`s private property, period, end of story.

GRACE: I just want to point out that truth, justice and the American way starts off with truth.

BREMNER: Sure.

GRACE: And I don`t understand why the in-laws refuse to allow the police on their property.

BREMNER: It could be just straight legal advice. If I was their lawyer, I would say, "Don`t do it. Don`t let anyone on this property." And there`s no...

(CROSSTALK)

GRACE: Why? Why would you tell them that, if they`ve got nothing to hide, Anne Bremner?

BREMNER: Because, Nancy, the whole family is pointing a finger at him. Fingers are all pointing at him and this family. And what do you do at that point?

It doesn`t matter if the police say, "Oh, you`re a person of interest. Oh, you`re not a suspect." It doesn`t matter. That`s all mood music.

Everyone in that family is saying, "He did it. He did it. He did it." That means those lawyers say, "Don`t give up anything."

GRACE: To Dr. Joseph Deltito, professor of psychiatry. She was physically separated from the husband at the time of her disappearance, not divorced, separated. What`s the impact on the case?

JOSEPH DELTITO, PROFESSOR OF PSYCHIATRY: The impact that she was separated?

GRACE: Yes.

DELTITO: Well, that they were estranged in some way. I would want to know more details about it.

The fact that they were physically separated means that, if she had the child, he didn`t have the child with him usually. And theoretically speaking, if one was going to lure a young woman to someplace where she would ordinarily not go, the best bait is to have one of her children or threat to one of her children.

So something really smells here. We don`t know. We`ll have to go where the evidence leads us. But it looks like that there are some people who are trying to hide what might be evidence. Otherwise, why not try to exonerate themselves and let people come in and check that everything is kosher?

GRACE: You know, you brought up a really interesting theory.

And very quickly, before we go out to California on the Susan Polk trial, back to Sue Ann`s dad.

He just rang a bell. Bait. The whole point, that the little girl was never taken out of school this way and taken to the in-laws. And I guarantee you, your girl would high-tail it, scratch off, and take off to go get the daughter.

JENKINS: You`ve got that right. You`re exactly right.

GRACE: Everybody, we are going to stay on the Sue Ann Ray case. Again, that reward is now up to $105,000.

Ellie, what`s the tip line number again? 770...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 294-7231.

GRACE: 294-7231.

And, also, Mr. Plummer`s article tomorrow in the "Atlanta Journal- Constitution" detailing what`s gone right and what`s gone wrong in the investigation into Sue Ann Ray, missing out of Georgia.

Very quickly, man, oh, Manischewitz, what a case out of California. She says self defense; cops say murder.

But, you know what, Jim Moret, chief correspondent with "Inside Edition"? Susan Polk had a choice. She could be a very, very rich widow or a very, very poor divorcee. Thoughts?

JIM MORET, CORRESPONDENT, "INSIDE EDITION": Well, I mean, she claims that -- she was estranged from her husband, who was her psychologist at one time. She met him when she was 15 years old. He was 40. They soon began an intimate relationship.

He leaves his wife. They get married, raise a family. Twenty years goes by. They have three kids. She files for divorce, goes to their home, she says, to finalize the divorce.

She claims he comes at her with a knife. She kicks him and then somehow gets the knife and then stabs him, she says, in self defense. The prosecution says, "Not so fast. This was premeditated murder, and you did it for the money."

So you have two very different pictures. She`s either a victim or she`s a cold, calculating killer. What makes this really tragic is one of her sons is testifying on her behalf. Two are expected to testify for the prosecution.

GRACE: Well, I know this much, Dr. Kathy Reichs: He ends up with 26 or 27 slash and stab wounds and she doesn`t have any. Wouldn`t you say he got the short end of the stick on that deal?

DR. KATHY REICHS, FORENSIC ANTHROPOLOGIST: Well, he definitely did. He`s the one that ended up dead.

But I think what the medical examiner is going to be looking at, or has looked at very closely, is the patterning of those stab wounds, where they are, and how that corresponds with or refutes the story that she`s presented.

They`re also probably going to be looking at whether or not there are defense wounds on either the victim or the accused in this case. I would guess they`re also going to take a look at blood splatter distribution at that scene to see if that corroborates or refutes the story that she`s given.

GRACE: Well, speaking of Susan Polk, here is something she had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MORET: Did he come at you with a knife?

SUSAN POLK, ACCUSED OF MURDERING HUSBAND: Yes, he did. He was on top of me stabbing at me with a knife. Once I saw the knife, I was sure that he was going to kill me.

It was the only thing I could think of to do to save myself. And at that point, I grabbed the knife. And I said, "Stop." And he didn`t. And I stabbed him.

MORET: Do you believe your mom is innocent?

ELI POLK, SON OF ACCUSED MOTHER: Oh, absolutely. Absolutely.

MORET: How do you feel knowing that one of your children, Eli, is going to be taking the stand in your defense and Gabriel is going to be taking the stand for the prosecution?

S. POLK: It`s a devastating experience to have a child make accusations, you know, against a parent.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Jim Moret, let me get this time line. P.S., that was an interview by Jim Moret of Susan Polk.

Jim Moret, the trial is hot and heavy right now, legal battle going down in a California courtroom. But just think about this time line. She finds out her husband, the shrink, gets sole custody -- well, gets custody of the only teenage son left. She finds out her payments are cut more than 50 percent. She gets in a car, a vehicle, and drives all the way from Montana to California. Next thing you know, he`s dead in the guest house.

MORET: I`ll give you something that makes it worse for the defense and that is the killing took place on October 13th. The next day, she takes her son to school, picks him up. And then the son, the then-15-year- old son, is the person who`s left to discover the father.

She initially claims she didn`t know anything about it. Then later says to one of the officers who shows up, "Oh, well, we were getting divorced anyway." The defense says this is a woman who was in shock.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POLK: What happened is my husband attacked me and grabbed me by the hair, threw me on the floor, and began to stab at me with the knife.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Some crib. I can tell you this much: It sure beats the heck out of a studio apartment with a foldout sofa.

Susan Polk had just learned her alimony payments were slashed by over 50 percent before she hopped in a vehicle and made the long drive from Montana to California. Shortly thereafter, her soon-to-be ex-husband was found stabbed to death in the guest cottage, found by their son.

Steven Clark -- everybody, Steven is a California defense attorney -- why did Polk initially deny any knowledge about her dead husband, the one with the 27 stab wounds out in the guest cottage, go and park...

CLARK: Because she was in shock.

GRACE: In shock, such as in, "Oh, my god, I`m shocked I killed him"? What do you mean she was in shock? She went to a ballgame with her son. She drove her husband`s car to the train station.

She acted normally, very calm when she talked to her son, and kept hedging when he said, "Hey, where`s Dad?"

CLARK: Nancy, the only way to really understand Susan Polk`s conduct is to understand what she went through for 30 years with Felix Polk. Everyone is portraying him as the good doctor, this child psychologist, that, frankly, when they played a tape in court and him talking about satanic rituals, a lot of people were very scared that this man had access to children.

Susan Polk was abused for 30 years, and she acts in a way that will only be explained by a forensic psychologist. So I think you can`t just isolate that conduct.

If Susan Polk wanted to commit first-degree murder, she could have poisoned him or cut his brake lines. She wouldn`t have attacked a man with a small kitchen knife.

GRACE: Say what? Wait a minute. Wow. I`ve had more than my share of murder prosecutions. And very, very few of them were some long, drawn- out plan to poison somebody, although I am familiar with a little antifreeze in some Jell-o case.

But that is total B.S., Steve, to say that she could have poisoned him if she wanted to kill him?

CLARK: There`s a lot better ways to do it than the way that the prosecution is saying she did. There`s no way that that was a premeditated murder. For her...

GRACE: Premeditation only takes the blink of an eye, an instant to form the intent to pick the knife up in the kitchen, carry it to the guest house, and slash away.

CLARK: She is allowed to defend herself until that threat is over with. It has been documented that he was abusive with her. She`s allowed to do that.

In that small pool house, she had no way to get out of that room. And she`s allowed to finish it.

Now, she should have called the police right after. I agree that was a big mistake. But the defense is going to call forensic experts to talk about what it`s like to go through 30 years with this guy. And I think that`s very important, starting when she was 15 and his patient.

GRACE: OK. Correct me if I`m wrong, Jim Moret, but wasn`t it she, wasn`t it Polk, that got in the vehicle and drove all the way from Montana to California after she found out her payments had been slashed?

MORET: Well, she says she came to California because her husband summoned her to finalize the divorce agreement. But it was in that same time period.

GRACE: You have to do that in person? I`m sorry. I thought you could do that by the mail, by lawyers.

MORET: I`ll tell you, I think, frankly, Nancy, the best witness for the defense will be Susan Polk herself. And she says, and her attorneys tell me, she will take the stand.

GRACE: Speaking of fear, Jim Moret, did the husband, the victim in this case, suggest that he had any fear of Susan Polk?

MORET: Well, two of the sons will claim that she threatened his life in the past. But one of her sons will claim just the opposite, that he threatened and manipulated her for her entire life.

GRACE: And so, Anne Bremner, you still want to put her on the stand?

BREMNER: Nancy, I think, you know, her whole life has been one psychotic episode, the episode of her husband`s. I mean, remember he was committed for schizophrenia back in the `50s when he served in the military. And he`s abused her...

(CROSSTALK)

GRACE: Whoa, whoa. You`re digging up a military -- I believe he was in the Navy -- illness back in 1955?

BREMNER: Because it was schizophrenia.

GRACE: That`s the best thing you`ve got?

BREMNER: No, it`s just the beginning. And it goes on, and on...

GRACE: Dig deeper.

BREMNER: ... and on.

GRACE: 1955? Oh, we just hit our 30-year anniversary on that one.

BREMNER: Well, no, but, Nancy, that`s where it starts. And then he rapes her. And then he -- when she`s 15. This is not Lolita. He rapes her.

(CROSSTALK)

GRACE: Wait a minute. Dr. Joseph Deltito...

(CROSSTALK)

BREMNER: ... as a therapist, and then he abuses her, her entire life.

GRACE: Help me out, Dr. Deltito. She marries him, stays with him 20 years, and has three kids by him. That doesn`t sound forcible.

DELTITO: Yes, she also was living in Montana at the time and came back to his house. She`s hardly a woman who was trapped in a battering situation who couldn`t get herself out.

She went about town. She went shopping. She had her own independent life. This is not a woman who was trapped in some apparently battered women-type system where she couldn`t get out in any kind of way.

GRACE: As much as I would like to consider continuing on Susan Polk, I`ve got to go quickly to a very disturbing case, an 11-year-old Girl Scout murdered 13 years ago.

Erin Schattauer, bring me up-to-date. I think I`ve Erin Schattauer with me.

Erin, are you with me?

ERIN SCHATTAUER, REPORTER, "THE DERRICK": Yes. Can you hear me?

GRACE: Yes, go ahead, dear. Bring me up-to-date.

SCHATTAUER: It was 13 years ago, October 27, 1992. Shauna Howe was walking home from a Girl Scout Halloween party at the time. She was almost home. She was two blocks away when she was abducted.

She was found three days later, I believe. Two days later, her body suit that she was wearing -- she was wearing a leotard at the time. It was part of her costume, because it was a Halloween party, was found in a remote area of Rockland Township, which is in Venango County.

The next day, her body was found beneath a railroad trestle 300 yards away. Right now, we`re at the point where we`re getting to the trial.

The trial started this week, two men accused, two brothers. There are three defendants all together. The third one has pleaded guilty to kidnapping and third-degree murder.

GRACE: Hey, Erin, hold tight.

Everybody, with me, reporter from "The Derrick," Erin Schattauer bringing us up-to-date on a 13-year-old murder mystery. We`ll be right back with Erin and the little girl`s uncle.

But very quickly to tonight`s "All-Points Bulletin." FBI and law enforcement across the country on the lookout for Francisco Martinez wanted in connection with the 2001 shooting death of 52-year-old Michael Surello (ph).

Martinez, 43, 5`8", 350 pounds, black hair, brown eyes. Call the FBI with info, 973-792-3000.

Local news next for some of you, but we`ll all be right back. Please stay with us as we remember Nicholas Greer, an American hero.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRACE: Shauna Howe, 11 years old, would now be 24 years old. This Girl Scout kidnapped, assaulted and murdered. She was thrown off the trestle over a shallow creek. She was apparently alive at the time she was thrown over that bridge. Police discovered she had been assaulted after the kidnapping.

Back out to the "Derrick" reporter, Erin Schattauer. Erin, how is the case being cracked 13 years later?

SCHATTAUER: Well, DNA evidence. The prosecution says it`s relying on DNA evidence. There are also witnesses that have testified and more to come. This is going to be a long trial.

GRACE: I`m going to go out now to Shauna`s uncle, Keith Sibble. He had to testify yesterday about identifying her body.

You had to relive this whole thing, Keith. How did you get through that?

KEITH SIBBLE, SHAUNA`S UNCLE: It`s a very tough ordeal. It`s been going on for years. And we`re just hoping finally we`ll have some closure.

GRACE: Keith, what I don`t understand is why these two aren`t facing the death penalty. I mean, the girl was abducted off the street in a Halloween costume, raped and murdered.

SIBBLE: I can`t really answer any parts of that. That`s up to the district attorney`s office.

GRACE: What do you remember about the search for Shauna?

SIBBLE: I just know that, you know, we`d spent days passing out flyers and putting up pictures of her all over with no luck. We decided to -- finally decided to go look around, see if there`s anything we could find on our own. It was just a -- it was a painful time.

GRACE: Do people there in Oil City still remember this?

SIBBLE: I don`t think there`s a day goes by you can`t think about it.

GRACE: And, as a matter of fact, Erin, after Shauna`s disappearance and death, now there`s still a curfew to this day on Halloween trick-or- treating, correct?

SCHATTAUER: There is. We`re still on daytime trick-or-treating hours. Whenever she was abducted, that`s when daytime started.

GRACE: We`re going to update you tomorrow night on this story, as well. A Girl Scout kidnapped, assaulted and murdered. And finally, justice 13 years later.

Thank you to all of my guests. My biggest thank you, to you for being with us and inviting all of us and our stories into your home.

Coming up, headlines from all around the world, Larry on CNN. I`m Nancy Grace signing off again for tonight. See you tomorrow night, 8:00 sharp, I hope. And until then, good night, friend.

END

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