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NANCY GRACE

Eight-Year-Old Calls 911 on Drunk-Driving Mom

Aired October 24, 2007 - 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: Numerous 911 calls pour into local police on an erratic DUI driver, not from fellow drivers or police. Oh, no! The 911 calls are from the inside of the car, placed by a frantic 8-year-old trying to save his 5-year-old little sister from Mommy`s drunk driving.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

911 OPERATOR: 911. How may I help you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hello. My mom -- we were driving home from a friend`s house, and my mom`s kind of going delusional and I don`t know what to do. She`s not taking me home.

911 OPERATOR: Your mom did what? What`s going on with your mom?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My mom, I think she`s delusional. She doesn`t know where she`s going anymore because I think that she`s -- we were at a restaurant and she had some drinks, and I don`t know if the drinks are affecting her or something.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The 911 operator soon comprehends the boy is in the car with an apparent drunken driver. The problem is finding them on the streets of Vancouver.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

911 OPERATOR: OK. Well, do you have any idea where you are?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

GRACE: And tonight, the mystery surrounding an Illinois teen who vanishes into thin air, upscale Chicago suburb. He spends a night at a friend`s house and heads to work early the next morning, never heard from again. Only clue, the abandoned gray 2007 Toyota, discarded, backpack and blanket from the bank of the Baraboo River, Wisconsin. The search by land by air, by water. Where is Lee Cutler?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: By most accounts, 18-year-old Lee Cutler has a lot of things to live for, the missing 18-year-old last seen Saturday morning dropping off a friend. He was supposed to go to work at the mall but never made it, a move friends say is out of character. Now a possible break in the case, police finding Lee`s Toyota abandoned three hours away in Wisconsin, authorities also finding blankets and Lee`s backpack in a nearby river, this as authorities plan land, sea and air searches in the area where Lee`s car was found.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) need some information, including (INAUDIBLE) location.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: And tonight: Day one of testimony in the case of a Nevada millionaire who hits the FBI`s Most Wanted list, this after the sniper- style shooting of a Reno court judge who presided over the alleged perp`s divorce, millionaire Darren Mack`s wife found dead, all on the same day.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He started with his wife, Charla. Darren Mack ambushed his soon to be ex-wife with a knife. Her death was neither sudden nor painless. It was personal. She was stabbed between six and seven times.

There was a loud pop. Judge Weller thought his cell phone that was in his pocket, his shirt pocket, had exploded. In fact, it was something much more sinister. A .243-caliber bullet had entered the doubled-paned glass of his office window, fragmented and struck Judge Weller in the chest.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us. First, to Washington state and an 8-year-old`s frantic attempt to save his 5-year-old sister`s life from a drunk driver, his own mother.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

911 OPERATOR: 911. How can I help you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just called, and my mom hung up on you guys.

911 OPERATOR: You called about your mom, is that what you said?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

911 OPERATOR: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think she`s delusional. We were driving home from a friend`s house and she got us lost, and now I don`t know if she knows where she`s going.

911 OPERATOR: OK. Well, is she -- does she know that you`re calling?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

GRACE: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But I don`t want to give her the phone because she will totally hang up on you. I know she will. I know she will.

911 OPERATOR: Why?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because -- I don`t know what`s going on with her. She had some drinks at a restaurant, and I think those are affecting her and I don`t think she knows what`s going on.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Boy tells the operator his mom`s driving the car too fast for him to read the street signs and that his 5-year-old sister is in the car, too.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... statements of 8-year-old boy to deputies that his mom bit his hand to try to get him to stop calling 911.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

911 OPERATOR: How old are you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`m 8 years old and my sister is 5 years old, and she`s in the car with me.

911 OPERATOR: OK. And your mom can`t hear you calling?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She knows I`m on the phone. She`s jabbing me, telling me to give her the -- give -- I don`t know what to do right now!

911 OPERATOR: OK. Well, is there any way that you can find out where you are?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don`t know! No, there`s not. She`s jabbing me now!

911 OPERATOR: Jabbing you with what?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: With her hand.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

GRACE: Biting the hand of her 8-year-old little boy to make him give back the cell phone when he`s trying to report her drunk driving?

Out to Dave Wilkins with KXRO radio. Dave, did I just hear that correctly? The mom allegedly bit the little boy? Eight years old, what is that, 2nd grade?

DAVE WILKINS, KXRO RADIO: That`s correct, Nancy. She`s also been charged with fourth degree assault in connection with that. The charges include driving under the influence of alcohol, of course, fourth degree assault for biting her son, and two counts of reckless endangerment. And at her first court appearance on Monday, she pleaded not guilty to all of those things.

GRACE: Dave Wilkins is with us from KXRO radio. Dave, take it from the top. What happened?

WILKINS: According to the Clark County sheriff`s office, Saturday evening about 5:30, 911 dispatchers there got a tip that a Nissan four-door sedan was driving erratically. And less than five minutes later, the 8- year-old made the call that you just heard. He was telling dispatchers that his mom was acting strange and he was scared by the way she was driving. He added that his 5-year-old sister was in the car.

The mother, apparently, at some point in the call took the phone away from the boy, told the dispatchers not to worry and hung up. But the little guy was persistent and called back. And during the course of the two calls, the boy was able to describe passing landmarks to the dispatchers. He was also interrupted by the mother several times.

Then around 15 minutes after his first call, the mother, who later is identified as 33-year-old Paulette Spears, pulled into a county fire station, complaining of an undisclosed medical problem. The deputies arrived less than a minute later. They had tracked the car with the combination of GPS tracking on the cell phone and also by using the descriptions of the landmarks the 8-year-old gave.

At the fire station, Ms. Spears refused a breath test, but the deputies on the scene described her as smelling of alcohol, having bloodshot eyes, blank stare, and also say that at the fire station, she apparently admitted to having had some beer.

She was arrested, as I said, charged with DUI, fourth degree assault and the reckless endangerment. Those are gross misdemeanors that carry a maximum penalty of one year in jail. The kids were placed with their father, who apparently was out of town on business at the time of the incident. And apparently, Ms. Spears has a prior conviction for DUI in Cowlitz County, a neighboring county, in 2003.

Bail was set at $10,000, and as of yesterday, Ms. Spears was still in jail in Clark County. The district court judge there, Vernon Shreiber, has signed a "no contact order" between her and her children, so she can`t see them or talk to them or even write them. And the judge added that if Ms. Spears does post bail, he`s going to order that she undergo random drug and alcohol screening. Apparently, she was also advised to hire an attorney because she doesn`t qualify as an indigent and she`s not eligible for...

GRACE: Incredible.

WILKINS: ... a court-appointed lawyer.

GRACE: Let`s unleash the lawyers. Joining us, Susan Moss, Renee Rockwell and Alan Ripka. Susan Moss, she finally, after all this, realizing that 911 had been contacted by her 8-year-old little boy, pulls into a fire station with a medical condition. I wonder if the medical condition made her decide to refuse a breathalyzer?

SUSAN MOSS, FAMILY LAW ATTORNEY: It`s a tough year to represent women named Spears in custody matters. But I`ll tell you something. If you bite your son on the hand, in jail you`ll land. And she`s going to lose custody, not for the short term but for the long term. The kids are now in the safe haven of a family neighbor because dad`s out of town. And she`s going to have a very hard time even getting the ability to see these kids, let alone get these kids back.

GRACE: Renee, we have just learned as we go to air tonight that the father is back in town. Before that, as Susan Moss correctly said, the child -- the two children were released to neighbor relatives. And they`re back with their dad. But Renee, what happens when you refuse a breathalyzer? I mean, you don`t have a right to a driver`s license in this country. It is a privilege. And there are rules that attach to that privilege.

RENEE ROCKWELL, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, in most states, just by her refusal, she will lose her license. But then again, that test won`t come in against her. But here you have this child that`s giving a blow-by-blow -- and you can be one thing, Nancy. You will hear that tape again and again and again if she goes to trial.

GRACE: Hey, Alan Ripka, how would you like to take this to trial, and the star witness is this 8-year-old boy? I don`t know, Alan. I don`t think you could cross him.

ALAN RIPKA, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, Nancy, you know something? Let`s not rush to judgment. Obviously...

GRACE: That`s the best you`ve got? That is a very old, tired line that my former co-anchor, Johnnie Cochran, came up with. Let`s see. How old is the O.J. Simpson case? You`re going to have to do better than that, Ripka!

RIPKA: Well, Nancy, you know something? Somebody taught this youngster how to call 911 in case there was an emergency, and I may credit the mother for doing that. So let`s not rush to judgment about her. Maybe she was on medications and maybe the alcohol that she did ingest did have this sort of effect on her that she didn`t expect.

GRACE: Alan? Alan?

RIPKA: Yes?

GRACE: She bit her 8-year-old boy in the hand to keep him from calling 911. What are you talking about?

RIPKA: What I`m talking about is if you`re on medication, as she said she had a medical condition, and if, in fact, she had a drink with that medication, then she may have become delusional and she may have done things that she would not normally do. And I think we need to know the history of her medication before you rush to judgment.

GRACE: Well, I`m not rushing to anything because I already know that she`s already had one DUI conviction, and that was several years ago. So I don`t think we`re rushing, Alan Ripka. Hey, you know what? You decide. Take a listen to this 911 call.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

911 OPERATOR: 911. How may I help you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hello. My mom -- we were driving home from a friend`s house, and my mom`s kind of going delusional and I don`t know what to do. She`s not taking me home.

911 OPERATOR: Your mom did what? What`s going on with your mom?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My mom, I think she`s delusional. She doesn`t know where she`s going anymore.

911 OPERATOR: She doesn`t know where she`s going?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. I don`t know where we are. I think we`re in a (INAUDIBLE) like a business. I don`t know where we are.

911 OPERATOR: OK. Is your mom able to talk to me?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. I think she`ll hang up on you.

911 OPERATOR: OK. Why do you think that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because I think that she`s -- we were at a restaurant and she had some drinks, and I don`t know if the drinks are affecting her or something.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

GRACE: Well, according to him, there goes the medication and one beer defense that Alan Ripka had just come up with. Hey, Alan, I give you credit, a lot of credit. You`ve got to go somewhere.

Out to the lines. Teresa in Florida. Hi, Teresa.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Nancy. This is Teresa Latini (ph). I live in Largo, Florida, and I just want everyone to know I absolutely love your show.

GRACE: Teresa, thank you. You tell that to the defense bar tonight.

(LAUGHTER)

GRACE: Uh-oh! Where`d Teresa go? OK, let`s try -- oh, there she is. What`s your question, dear?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My question is -- I have to get away from my TV, I think. My question is, in her state, how much did y`all say was going to be the penalty if she is convicted?

GRACE: OK. To Teresa in Florida, you`re cutting out on me, dear. But I can tell you, according to what Dave Wilkins, reporter with KXRO radio says, and according to our research, it is a one-year violation, and there are a couple of them stacked.

How many charges does she have, Dave Wilkins? Dave, how many charges?

WILKINS: You want me to enumerate the charges or...

GRACE: No. I want to know how many charges are lodged against her tonight?

WILKINS: Altogether four.

GRACE: Four. OK. So if they run consecutively, that would be four years. Very rare, Teresa in Florida, that they would run consecutively.

Out to Brad Lamm, intervention specialist with www.Interventionspecialists.org. Brad, what do you think?

BRAD LAMM, INTERVENTIONSPECIALISTS.ORG: Well, I think the little boy -- what a brave little trooper. I`m glad the headline ended this way instead of the alternative, which could have been much worse. But it`s indicative of a family member, albeit a very young one, picking up the phone, asking for help, and really, in effect, intervening on his mom. You know, it`s just what we see every day in the intervention trenches, which is family members who are full of fear. In this case, he was in the car with his mom, but -- definitely unusual.

But I say what a great example of at least making the first step and trying to get her help. And it also -- it`s so indicative that this is a family disease, alcoholism, drug addiction, and this little kid is caught in the tornado, it looks like, of a mother who`s struggling with alcohol.

GRACE: Out to the lines. Heather in North Carolina. Hi, Heather.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Nancy. How are you?

GRACE: I`m good, dear. What`s your question?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was wondering, like, does she have any prior? And what was her so-called medical condition that she had?

GRACE: OK, I couldn`t hear the last part of your question. What did you say, Heather?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What was her so-called medical condition that she supposedly had?

GRACE: Good question. Dave Wilkins, what was the medical condition that made her turn into the fire station?

WILKINS: That`s not been released, and given the federal HIPAA laws, I would be sincerely surprised if it is.

GRACE: OK. Good point.

Back out to the lines -- no, wait a minute. Wait a minute. Elizabeth, what was the first part of Heather`s question? She wanted to know what the medical illness was and...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Was there prior drunk driving?

GRACE: Oh, yes, the prior conviction. Tell me about it, Dave Wilkins. It`s a prior DUI a couple of years ago, right?

WILKINS: In 2003 in a neighboring county.

GRACE: And what was the sentence on that, do we know?

WILKINS: We don`t have that.

GRACE: Likely it was alcohol counseling, AA, urine test and straight probation.

Back out to the lines. Pam in Arkansas. Hi, Pam.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Nancy. How are you?

GRACE: I`m good, dear. What`s your question?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I worry about this little boy. Will he end up blaming himself for getting his mother arrested?

GRACE: Good question. Jeff Gardere, Dr. Jeff Gardere, psychologist and author, how is this going to affect him as he grows up, and his relationship with his mom and dad?

JEFF GARDERE, PSYCHOLOGIST: I think, certainly, he`s going to blame himself because everything that we see in the news is about his heroic efforts, getting his mom to jail. So he`s going to have that issue. Then he`s also going to have post-traumatic stress disorder because the person he trusted the most, who he loved the most, the maternal figure, is the one who turned on him like a monster that evening, and of course, the fact that he was in mortal danger fear of his life. So that`s going to hurt him.

GRACE: Joining us is Dr. Joshua Perper, you know him well, medical examiner out of the Florida jurisdiction. Dr. Perper, with a woman say 120 to 140, how many drinks does it take to get yourself to DUI, say .08?

DR. JOSHUA PERPER, BROWARD COUNTY, FLORIDA, MEDICAL EXAMINER: They`re usually about two or three drinks of 50 milligram percent. So it`s 120. That would be about five -- four, five drinks.

GRACE: Whew! Dr. Perper, it`s great to see you again. Thank you for being with us.

Everyone, we`ll all be right back. We`re taking your calls live.

But quickly, to tonight`s "Case Alert." Is arson behind the wildfires sweeping across southern California? Police arrest a suspect accused of starting a brush fire, San Bernardino County, 48-year-old John Rund booked for arson. Day four, the Golden State wildfires have spread over seven counties, nearly one million forced to evacuate, over 400,000 acres burned, damages to homes expected to top $1 billion, 8,000 firefighters on the scene from LA to San Diego, the wind topping 30 miles an hour, the flames now shifting, threatening even the power lines.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hello?

911 OPERATOR: Hi, this is 911. Who`s this? Hello?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hello?

911 OPERATOR: What`s your name?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Don`t worry about it.

911 OPERATOR: Ma`am? Can I talk to your son? Hello?

(END AUDIO CLIP)

GRACE: An 8-year-old tries his best to save the life of his 5-year- old little sister from a drunk driver, those 911 calls coming from inside a drunk driver`s car, the alleged drunk driver`s car, his own mother now booked.

Out to the lines. Eric in Ohio. Hi, Eric. Hi, Eric. Are you with me?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Could his mother be charged with murder for driving with them two kids in the car?

GRACE: I think you mean attempted murder. Nobody`s dead yet. Good question. Let`s ask the lawyers. What about it, Renee Rockwell and Alan Ripka. Renee, you first.

ROCKWELL: No, I don`t think that she`d be charged with anything like that, Nancy. That`s a little bit be too much. But she could suddenly have all those four charges stacked up against her, and that`s what I see at the end of the day, a little bit of jail time, a lot of supervision, Nancy.

GRACE: Alan?

RIPKA: The only way you could be charged with murder or attempted murder...

GRACE: Attempted murder.

RIPKA: ... attempted murder, is if you intend on killing someone, and I doubt very highly this mother had any thought of that.

GRACE: Sue?

MOSS: Certainly, reckless endangerment, and that times two because there were two potential victims, which are her two children.

GRACE: You know, I want to go back to our reporter, Dave Wilkins with KXRO radio. She refused a breathalyzer. When she was booked, did she give blood? Any idea what her blood alcohol was?

WILKINS: We do not in this case. I`ve just had a look at the Cowlitz County case from 2003.

GRACE: Yes?

WILKINS: Apparently, in that case, she was also charged with reckless endangerment. At that time, she pleaded guilty to drunk driving. Her blood alcohol level then was .199.

GRACE: Whew! Holy moly!

WILKINS: She was sentenced to three days in jail with 362 days suspended and two years probation. The reckless endangerment charge was dropped at that time.

GRACE: So 362 days. OK, so that means that she was in jail probably just like this time, the time it takes for her to bond out, three days. Joining us Dave Wilkins, KXRO radio. An 8-year-old calls 911 on his own mother, drunk driving.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... statements of the 8-year-old boy to deputies that his mom bit his hand to try to get him to stop calling 911.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Paulette Spears appeared in domestic violence court Monday to be charged with endangering her children and assaulting her son.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The charges could cost Paulette Spears more than $10,000 and a year in jail. The 8-year-old boy and his 5-year-old sister are in the care of a family friend.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: An 8-year-old calls 911 on his own mother, allegedly DUI, and he`s calling as they`re going down the highway.

To Mike Brooks. How does that work?

MIKE BROOKS, FORMER D.C. POLICE, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Two ways. Number one, they said that they were looking at different landmarks around. but also, we heard that also GPS, Global Positioning System, was used, and you can use that or a triangulation system. Some phones are equipped with it. Some are not.

GRACE: And I want to go to special guest Laura Dean-Mooney joining us, the board of -- she`s on the board of directors with MADD, Mothers Against Drunk Driving. I know this seems extreme, but apparently, the last DUI did not serve as a wake-up call, Laura.

LAURA DEAN-MOONEY, MADD, HUSBAND KILLED BY DRUNK DRIVER: Well, absolutely, Nancy. When I heard about this case, I was so alarmed. MADD believes that every child deserves a designated driver. And for her to be a repeat offender who`s obviously chosen to drink and drive with her children before, the question that we should be asking is, Why didn`t she have an ignition interlock device on her car?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He went to a birthday party Friday night and hung out with a friend Saturday morning, but student Lee Cutler hasn`t been heard from since. Lee was supposed to report to work at a nearby mall Saturday but never made it. Lee`s cell phone flat-out stopped.

Now a possible break in the case: Police finding Lee`s Toyota abandoned three hours away in Wisconsin. Authorities planning to conduct dive searches in a desperate attempt to find the missing high school senior.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Breaking developments in the search for an 18-year-old boy. Where is Lee Cutler? Out to Nadia Malik, reporter with "The Daily Herald," tell us what happened, Nadia.

NADIA MALIK, REPORTER: Well, the latest news today was just that the police have found an empty bottle of Advil and the yarmulke that he was wearing, that Lee was wearing, right before he disappeared. They found it right near where his car was found, just in Baraboo, and they also found letters to and from his loved ones.

GRACE: Those are the breaking developments we have right now. His yarmulke there beside the Baraboo River. To Dan O`Donnell, reporter with 620 WTMJ. Take it from the top, Dan. What happened?

DAN O`DONNELL, REPORTER: Well, at about Friday night, at roughly 12:50, the loved ones of Lee got the last phone call from his cell phone. That cell phone hasn`t been working since. Now on Saturday morning, after Lee slept at a friend`s house, he took another friend home. And then, at about 9:50, took off to go to work at a nearby mall. He hasn`t been seen since. Then, Monday morning at about 3:30, his car was found near a cornfield just off Highway 33, near the town of Baraboo.

GRACE: Take a listen to what his mom has to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BETH FRAZIN, MOTHER OF MISSING BOY: This is breaking my heart. I love you so much. I have a void in my heart. It`s just killing me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: An emotional plea this afternoon from an Illinois mother who just wants to see her son return home safely. Eighteen-year-old Lee Cutler was last seen dropping friends home from a party Saturday in Buffalo Grove, Illinois. The search has now made its way to Wisconsin, after a Sauk County sheriff`s deputy found his car in Baraboo.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We searched immediately on foot. And it was during that search that we discovered a backpack and some blankets that had been in the car.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lee, however, is still nowhere to be found.

Authorities say, so far, they have no reason to suspect foul play. Ground, air and dive rescue crews were called in today to assist in the search.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They`re searching that portion of the river that he was last seen in the area of.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Friends and family have joined together to help with the search efforts. But after three days without her son, the only thing this mother can do is hope that he`ll return home alive.

FRAZIN: You`re loved. If you don`t think you`re loved, you`re loved!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: What a cute kid, 18 years old, on his way to work at a local mall. Lee Cutler, just 18 years old, missing. Tip line 608-356-4895.

I want to go out to Dr. Joshua Perper again. Dr. Perper, a bottle, an empty bottle of Advil, was also found there. What effect will too many Advil have on you, any at all?

DR. JOSHUA PERPER, MEDICAL EXAMINER: Advil is basically medication which is taken for headaches. And we don`t see, really, overdoses or even suicide or accidental from Advil. It`s not a drug which makes a person high. So I don`t think that that`s really a significant finding. Obviously, the situation suggests that perhaps, because there`s no foul play, it might be suicide. But that`s not certain at this time.

GRACE: So taking a bottle of Advil would be like taking a bottle of Tylenol or aspirin. It is not going to put you to sleep. It`s Advil PM, though, Dr. Perper. Would that make a difference, Advil PM?

PERPER: Advil PM? Yes. If it has sleeping medication, those have a sleeping medication, they might put a person to sleep. But in this particular case, he`s not found and, most likely, he will be found in the water. That`s the most likely alternative, unless he was assaulted by someone, and there`s no physical evidence to attest to that.

GRACE: Back out to Dan O`Donnell with 620 WTMJ. What can you tell us about the search?

O`DONNELL: Well, the search is going, as you said before, by land, by air, and in the water. Divers equipped with sonar equipment are searching the muddy waters of the Baraboo River. Also searchers in a helicopter are using a heat-detecting infrared camera to look for any sign of Lee on land. And also searchers from the Sauk County sheriff`s department, from the Baraboo police department, and neighboring departments are all canvassing the area looking for him.

GRACE: Out to the lines, Lynn in Missouri. Hi, Lynn.

CALLER: Hi. How are you?

GRACE: I`m good, dear. What`s your question?

CALLER: First, I was wondering if there was any fingerprints on the Advil bottle. And, also, did his family verify that that was his handwriting on those letters?

GRACE: To Nadia Malik with "The Daily Herald." What can you tell us, Nadia?

MALIK: There`s not a lot that police have revealed so far. They`ve just said that they found the empty bottle, they found the letters. There`s no indication what`s in the letters. There`s no indication that he wrote anything to his family or friends. So there`s nothing to say that the family and friends are aware yet of what`s in those letters.

GRACE: Well, for all we know at this juncture, Nadia, we know his backpack was there by the river, there in this public park. Those can be letters he simply was carrying with him; they don`t necessarily have to be suicide letters.

MALIK: No, definitely not. There`s no indication yet from the police on what`s in those letters.

GRACE: And to Dan O`Donnell, what about processing the scene? Have fingerprints been taken from the Advil bottle? Do we know? Could someone have taken this car from him and then strewn his belongings?

O`DONNELL: Well, it`s possible. But when the car was found, Nancy, the doors were locked. There were no signs of forcible entry. And perhaps more interestingly, there were no footprints leading away from the car. I`m not sure about the Advil bottle because police and investigators are being quite tight-lipped about it, whether there were any fingerprints found on that. But in terms of the car and everything found since, no, there haven`t been any fingerprints that I know of, other than Lee`s.

GRACE: The only clue, his abandoned car, a backpack and his yarmulke, thrown there by the Baraboo River.

Let`s go to a special guest, a very dear friend of his family`s joining us tonight, Dan De Grazia. Mr. De Grazia, thank you for being with us. What can you tell us about this family and about this young man and anything you know about the investigation so far?

DAN DE GRAZIA, FRIEND OF MISSING TEEN`S FAMILY: Well, first off, obviously, thank you for giving us the opportunity.

GRACE: Yes, sir.

DE GRAZIA: With the family, clearly, we`ve all seen the tape of his mother, and she is devastated. The family is pretty much run ragged in the same sort of situation, you know. I mean, this is something you guys on this show have to deal with all the time. And we hope to go our whole lives and never do it.

And there is no -- you know, there`s no earthquake. There`s no scary movie. There`s nothing like having your kid go missing. There is nothing scarier for this family. So they`re hanging on better than I thought possible. And they`re certainly devastated.

GRACE: Dan, had this young man -- he`s just so cute with his little hair grown out, and he`s working at the mall, just, you know, a good kid, a good kid. What can you tell us? What were his goals? What did he want to do? I know that he didn`t want to work at the mall forever.

DE GRAZIA: You know, it`s -- I`ve been, you know, thinking about that. And being an adult in Lee`s life and a teen`s life, you know, they never tell us everything. But, I mean, we`re -- you know, Lee`s an A, B student. You know, he is the young man we`re seeing in those pictures. He`s funny. He`s full of life. He`s talking about colleges. He`s talking about all kinds of plans that, you know, I had, that we all have when we`re 18. Maybe we`re going to, you know, join the Army. You know, it -- there was nothing there but a kid planning his future.

GRACE: Had he been having any emotional difficulties? I know he had been very upset about his grandmother having cancer, but I just don`t see that as a reason for this kid with a whole life in front of him to commit suicide.

DE GRAZIA: You know, you`re echoing everything that we`re talking about here in town and all his friends are talking about. There`s no -- you know, certainly his grandmother`s illness was very tough on him, and, you know, certainly, just the issues of being a senior at Stevenson High School, I mean, this is a lot of pressure.

But there`s -- it`s just a whipsaw for the family, Nancy. It`s a whipsaw. Nobody has anything, even 20/20, a ha, I can remember, that we can hang our hat on and say, "Yes, that makes sense." We still can`t find it.

GRACE: Tip line, everyone, 608-356-4895. Take a look at this young man, Lee Cutler.

When we come back, day one testimony. Did a Nevada millionaire gun down a judge presiding over his divorce? The same day, the millionaire`s wife found slain.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The fatal wound was to her neck area. You can see it was delivered with such force, with such power, it left a gaping hole in her neck. In fact, it severed her carotid artery. Charla Mack died on the garage floor of her soon-to-be ex-husband`s townhouse while her daughter waited upstairs, watching television.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The ultimate point of what I`m trying to get across is it`s time to take a stand. It`s time to not let this tyranny go under the wraps, keep it quiet. Somebody has to stand up. If we did -- if our forefathers in 1776 stood by, "Just keep quiet, maybe England will go away," we would be sipping tea right now. At what point do we become and stand up to this absolute unconstitutionality and stand up to it and state, "We`re not going to take this anymore"? Where do we draw the line?

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GRACE: There you see a Nevada businessman comparing himself to our founding fathers, who revolted against Great Britain over unfair taxation, except he`s saying he`s leading the revolt for fathers in this country who don`t get treated correctly in court.

Straight out to Court TV`s correspondent Jean Casarez, she`s been on the case since the very beginning, Jean, tell me what happened in court today.

JEAN CASAREZ, COURT TV: Well, today was the very first day of trial. And there were opening statements. The prosecution, that video was part of the prosecution`s opening. They are saying this was a very premeditated murder on the part of Darren Mack. He was going through a divorce with his wife, Charla, that he didn`t want to pay the spousal support, didn`t want to pay the $1 million he had decided to do at the end. So the end result was he stabbed her to death.

But he didn`t stop there, the prosecution said. He went on to the judge`s chamber -- that`s the family court judge that was handling all the matters -- and from the garage next door to the courthouse, fired one sniper shot, two football fields long, one shot punctured through the glass, hit the judge. But the judge survived and will be a witness.

GRACE: You know, Jean, it`s quite the defense. Please tell me I`m wrong, that he`s claiming that this little lady -- I think she was 5`4" -- that he killed her, stabbed her to death in self-defense, and then he went crazy and shot the judge? So he`s kind of got a dual defense, a self- defense and insanity?

CASAREZ: This is a dual defense. But, Nancy, there`s a lot of background to all of this because, yes, she was only 5`4". She was trained, though, in martial arts. And we heard today in the defense opening that on their wedding anniversary that she actually kicked him in the groin, that when they were on a cruise, that she punched him onto a table, hit his head. She`d broken his fingers numerous times. And on the day in question, that she was the one that started everything and bashed him in the head and he fell on the ground.

GRACE: Wait, wait, wait. The breaking the fingers, I thought that happened in tae kwon do class?

CASAREZ: No. That happened to Darren Mack from her, Charla Mack, according to the defense.

GRACE: Ah, OK. I thought a finger was broken while they were in tae kwon do class together.

Hey, Mike Brooks, former fed with the FBI, how many times did he call the police about spousal abuse, about getting beaten up?

MIKE BROOKS, FORMER D.C. POLICE: Yeah, exactly, Nancy. You didn`t hear anything about that, did you, from him? This whole case -- I mean, this guy, he took a shot, 200-yard shot with a high-powered rifle. Thank God it was through glass, because it was probably the glass that deflected that round and saved that judge`s life, Nancy.

GRACE: You know, and another thing, Jean Casarez, I`m not being combative with you, I`m just a little concerned about the facts. His great idea wasn`t for this defendant to go on video comparing himself to our country`s founding fathers and his fight for fathers in this country.

CASAREZ: Well, he had joined father rights organizations, because he believed he was being treated unfairly by the courts, and they did that interview. The prosecution is using it to show the intent to kill and the premeditation. The defense is going to use it to show he had delusional qualities, that he was not right, and he became mentally insane when he went to go shoot the judge.

GRACE: "Not right." OK, now, let me get this straight. Let`s unleash the lawyers, Susan Moss, Renee Rockwell, Alan Ripka. To you, Susan Moss, he wasn`t right, but the minute he shoots the judge, he takes off for Mexico, throws her cell phone out the phone. Hello? Cut it off first. They found it shortly thereafter. Hides out in Mexico, eludes the police, stays on the lam for 11 days. That doesn`t sound like somebody insane to me, Sue.

SUSAN MOSS, FAMILY LAW ATTORNEY: Absolutely not. As Bob Dylan said, when you`ve got nothing, you`ve got nothing to lose. And this defense lawyer has nothing. He is grasping at straws. But this man, I believe the evidence will show, is a murderer. And thank God he wasn`t given custody of this little girl.

GRACE: Weigh in, Renee Rockwell.

RENEE ROCKWELL, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, Nancy, can you think of a better place to roll the dice? You know they`re doing this trial in Vegas now, because they couldn`t find a jury in Reno. And I think, hey, why not? He`s rolling the dice. He`s trying to see if anything sticks to not guilty to the self defense, the mental insanity defense.

GRACE: Excellent. Excellent legal opinion, Renee, rolling the dice in Las Vegas. OK, I`ll quote that the next time I`m writing a brief. I`m going to put your name on it.

And, Alan Ripka, I see where they`re going with the whole self-defense thing, but to suddenly snap and you go shoot the judge, how is that going to play to a jury?

ALAN RIPKA, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, Nancy, certainly I think it`s a good defense, because if you`re in a situation where you kill someone in self-defense and you see this woman lying in a pool of blood, and your dog has blood, and there`s a child upstairs, anybody would snap. And, obviously, this has been trying on him for a long time. And he went and shot this judge because of it.

GRACE: And to Dr. Jeff Gardere, psychologist and author, weigh in, Dr. Gardere. What`s the likelihood of a self-defense then, in the very same day, insanity?

JEFF GARDERE, CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST: It`s very, very unlikely. And they`re not going for a temporary or self-defense here. They`re saying that this is a person who had mental issues from the beginning that came about from the rage that he had with the problems with his wife and alimony payments that were called for and so on. This is not going to fly; this is not going to happen.

GRACE: Oh, yes.

GARDERE: This is a guy who really had his act together and had premeditated this.

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GRACE: To Headline Prime`s Glenn Beck, hi, friend.

BECK: There`s no denying that our nation`s liberty is in peril. And, tonight, that`s exactly what we`ll look at, what`s happening and how we can stop it. I believe the secret lies in uniting us, not dividing us. For starters, I`ll look at the border, how our government`s failure to control illegal immigration is leading many Americans to wonder if Washington even wants to control it. We`ll have more on that and the future of the DREAM act in just a bit. And California wildfires raising concerns about our emergency preparedness. Your right to bear arms, more on "Liberty in Peril," a special tonight.

GRACE: Out to the lines, Stacey in Kentucky, hi, Stacey.

CALLER: Hi, Nancy. Congratulations on your twins. And I love your show.

GRACE: Thank you, dear. Thank you very much. What`s your question, dear?

CALLER: I`m wondering, why do people, when they do stuff like this, why do they always plead insanity? That`s what makes me so mad.

GRACE: Jean Casarez, why insanity?

CASAREZ: Well, I think what they`re saying is that that rubber band kept being pulled and pulled and pulled and pulled because of Charla, the wife, because of the marriage, because of his feeling that unfair divorce, and it snapped finally.

GRACE: Jean Casarez joining us there in Vegas. Thank you, friend. And a special thank you to Dr. Joshua Perper.

Let`s stop and remember Army Sergeant Michael Hardegree, just 21, Villa Rica, Georgia, killed, Iraq. One a second tour, awarded the Bronze Star, National Defense Service Medal, and Army Service Ribbon. Loved helping Iraqi children, dreamed of attending University of Alabama, leaves behind parents Stan and Cynthia, sister, Beth. Michael Hardegree, American hero.

Thanks to our guests, but especially to you for inviting us into your homes. A special happy birthday to Fayetteville, Georgia, friend of the show Sammy Johnson. Happy birthday.

Also, happy birthday to show regular, veteran trial lawyer Renee Rockwell. Isn`t she a beauty? Hey, wait a minute. There she is right there.

Everybody, I also want to thank Colin McEwen for these beautiful, handmade, little hats for the twins. See you tomorrow night, 8:00 sharp Eastern. Until then, good night, friend.

END