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NANCY GRACE

Police Searches Lake for Missing Mom; Evidence Seized from Lacrosse Star`s Home

Aired May 5, 2010 - 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: Breaking news tonight, live, rural Michigan, 7:30 AM Mommy, in pajamas, goes to the mailbox in the front yard to mail a letter. Mommy never seen again. In the front yard, clear signs of struggle in the grass, the driveway, gravel where Mommy kicked and fought. Kidnapped at the mailbox, 7:30 AM in her pajamas?

Bombshell tonight. As we go to air, investigators working `round the clock. At this hour, police using high-tech sonar, Adams Lake. It`s a body of water about 20 minutes from the home where Mommy vanishes. Specialized crime techs en route from Michigan to Virginia to search every square inch of two vehicles, one a Mercury sedan, the other a Dodge Ram pick-up, both belonging to Mommy`s estranged husband.

Tonight, we learn suspicious tire tracks in a field where a neighbor spots a truck and a mystery man crouched nearby at the time Mommy goes missing. With her two little girls in hiding for their own protection, still no sign of Mommy tonight. Where is gorgeous young mom of two Venus Stewart?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Breaking news. Police dive teams searching Adams Lake right now in the search for Venus Stewart, law enforcement using side-scan sonar equipment to search the lake. Cops also reportedly say they`re flying employees of the Michigan State Police crime lab to Virginia to search two vehicles registered to estranged husband Douglas Stewart.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If anybody sees my baby...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Law enforcement desperately searching for mom of two 32-year-old Venus Stewart. Venus disappears heading down the driveway to drop a letter in the mailbox, wearing just slippers and pajamas. Cops say there are signs of a struggle. But what happened?

GRACE: You observed heel marks where you believe your daughter kicked into the propane tank as she was struggling to be set free?

LARRY MCCOMB, FATHER: Yes, it is. That`s the tank with the footprints on it. It was after it was dusted by the state police. They showed right up. They were dusting it for fingerprints, I believe.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Michigan State Police investigators say her husband, Doug Stewart, is considered a person of interest, but so far maintains he was in Virginia at the time of her disappearance.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... discovery of clear plastic packaging in the driveway that may have been used to cover a tarp.

LARRY MCCOMB: She was scared to death of her husband.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... tire tracks taken from a field nearby, an eyewitness account of a pick-up in a field nearby, with a white male crouching behind it about the time of the disappearance.

LARRY MCCOMB: She told me that he was going to get her.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: And breaking news tonight. Beautiful, talented star athlete, scrubbed in sunshine, just days before 22-year-old co-ed Yeardley Love set to graduate UVA, her body found, likely still warm, battered, beaten, face down in a pool of blood in her own bed, her life, so full of promise, cut short.

Search warrants reveal 22-year-old Love`s head slammed repeatedly against the wall before she`s left face down on her own pillow, now soaked in blood. Suspect number one? Not a parolee, not a felon, not a drifter with a record. It`s another UVA athlete, a college lacrosse star turned killer.

Breaking tonight. In the last hours, investigators swarm the suspect`s apartment to seize a red stained UVA shirt, a mystery letter addressed to Love, two high-end computers, rugs, a shower curtain, blue shorts. And tonight, we learn the alleged UVA lacrosse star-turned- killer was sent to all the best schools, wore all the best clothes, had the best of everything, given every opportunity, even being bailed out when he attacks a female cop! And then later: Was there a cover-up just in the past month when he tried to attack Yeardley Love, the beautiful girl now dead?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The facts are horrific.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He shook her, and her head repeatedly hit the wall.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They`re shocking.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "The Daily Progress" reporting police search Huguely`s apartment and found a University of Virginia lacrosse T-shirt with a red stain on it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Incomprehensible.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A letter addressed to Yeardley Love also allegedly found.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Unthinkable.

GRACE: When her body was discovered, was she clothed?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don`t want to give a graphic description.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was murdered by one of our own.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Twenty-two-year-old George Huguely is charged with first degree murder.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... first degree murder...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... first degree murder...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ms. Love`s death was not intended...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Huguely admitted to officers that he beat down the door to Love`s bedroom.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... but an accident...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Witness reports that Huguely was seen drinking in the hours before...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is our hope that no conclusions be drawn or judgments made about George.

GRACE: She was beaten to death!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They did have a relationship.

GRACE: That is not an accident!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The relationship had ended.

GRACE: That is one blow.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Friends have told media outlets that they had an on-again...

GRACE: ... another blow...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... off-again relationship...

GRACE: ... another blow...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... and the relationship had gotten volatile recently...

GRACE: ... another blow...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And he allegedly had problems with alcohol. He has one alcohol-related arrest in `08.

GRACE: ... until she bled to death through her nose, ears and mouth!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It had gone bad recently.

GRACE: That is not an accident!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us. Bombshell tonight. As we go to air, investigators using high-tech sonar, Adams Lake. It`s a body of water about 20 minutes from the home where mother two girls Venus Stewart vanishes. And specialized crime techs at this moment en route to search two vehicles both belonging to Mommy`s estranged husband.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now cops searching a local lake for evidence in the case of missing mom Venus Stewart, police using side-scan sonar equipment.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At 7:30 in the morning, people are up, getting ready for work, whatever. But nobody saw anything.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Michigan State Police reportedly say they`re sending crime lab techs to Virginia to search estranged husband Douglas Stewart`s cars, a Mercury sedan and a Dodge Ram pick-up truck.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... search warrant for Douglas Stewart`s pick- up. They may have a lot more evidence than they`ve talked about. The truck description matches the eyewitness account. It`s a crew cab, a four-wheel pick-up truck very similar to the Dodge Ram Douglas Stewart drives.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We now that the husband claims that he`s been in Virginia the whole time, but police are testing that truck, looking for any evidence it might have been in Michigan.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They want to match the tire patterns that they found in the field with the ones on Douglas Stewart`s pick-up truck.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I pray, if he -- Doug, if you hear me, please! Those little girls love their mommy so much! If you love your children, please, please don`t do anything to hurt her! Please!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Straight out to Ellie Jostad, on the story. Ellie, what`s the latest?

ELLIE JOSTAD, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Nancy, today the Michigan State Police had divers in that lake again. This is the lake that they were at last Friday. Last Friday, they were only able to search the wooded area around the lake. Today, they got in the lake using very sophisticated side-scan sonar, looking for any piece of evidence that could link them to Venus Stewart and what might have happened to her.

GRACE: We are taking your calls live. Very quickly, to special guest joining us out of Miami, Jordan Harvell, with underwater search and recovery. He is an expert. Jordan, thank you for being with us. Very quickly, to those unfamiliar with side-scan sonar, explain what it is in a nutshell.

JORDAN HARVELL, UNDERWATER SEARCH & RECOVERY EXPERT (via telephone): Well, side-scan sonar sends out sound waves. And when those sound waves ounce off objects, they create a shadow. And these shadows are looked at by an interpreter on a monitor who determines what the object might be, whether it`s a car or a boat or a tire or even a body. And it`s up to that interpreter to determine, you know, the best scenario to follow through with that information.

GRACE: Jordan, it sounds like a sonogram or an ultrasound.

HARVELL: Very similar. And it`s just something that you place in the water that gives out the sound waves to the surrounding area and helps the divers to have a better location to search.

GRACE: OK, Jordan, so side-scan sonar works on sound waves, but it actually does create a picture of sorts, correct?

HARVELL: Correct.

GRACE: So police could see whether they are looking at a tree trunk or a tire off a car or a body. Yes, no.

HARVELL: Yes.

GRACE: OK. Generally speaking. Everybody, we are taking your calls live. We are talking about missing mom, a gorgeous young mom -- everyone absolutely adored her, and most especially her two little girls, who are in hiding tonight. Venus Rose Stewart is just 32 years old. She goes out -- there she is. Take a look. She goes out the front yard to the mailbox to mail a letter, 7:00 o`clock AM, in her pajamas. She`s never seen again, her two girls inside, waiting on her to come back.

You`re seeing home video from Doug Stewart`s MySpace page, everybody. We have obtained some new video and we wanted to show it to you immediately, in case anyone out there has seen her. Tip line, 269- 483-7611.

So Ellie, they are side-scan sonar at Adams Lake. How far away is Adams Lake from the mailbox where Mommy disappeared?

JOSTAD: Well, Nancy, as the crow flies, it`s only about a mile away. But we`re told that this is a remote area. It`s not easy to find. It`s not easy to get to. And that actually, from the house to the lake -- the edge of the lake there, could take you up to 20 minutes to get there by the access roads.

GRACE: Also with us tonight, John McNeill, news director, WKZO Newsradio, joining us from Kalamazoo. John, what`s the latest? And then searching those two vehicles that belong to the estranged husband.

JOHN MCNEILL, WKZO NEWSRADIO (via telephone): Apparently, they`ve dispatched a state police forensics team to Virginia to go over those vehicles. They are currently in the possession of the Newport News police, and they will be spending who knows how long going through the two vehicles, looking for whatever they can find that might lead them to suspect the car had -- or the truck had been driven to Michigan.

GRACE: With us, John McNeill from Michigan. And with us tonight, special guest, taking your calls, Therese McComb. This is Venus`s mother. Ms. McComb, thank you for being with us. First of all, before I even talk about Venus, how are the little girls doing tonight? I know you`re in touch with them almost every hour.

THERESE MCCOMB: They`re doing good. They`re as good as they can be. They want to know where their mother is. They love her. They`re hurt. She`s their whole world. I don`t know what they`re going to do. I don`t know what`s going to happen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LARRY MCCOMB: After police dusted for prints -- she had hard-soled slippers on, and there were prints from her slippers on the side of the propane tank, like somebody had picked her up and she was kicking against the tank to get away.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Venus Stewart was last seen in her pajamas. Police believe she was taking her mail to the mailbox around 7:30 in the morning (INAUDIBLE) scuffle in the yard.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police dive teams searching Adams Lake right now in the search for Venus Stewart.

GRACE: Would he have known that she would come out in the morning to leave mail or get mail?

THERESE MCCOMB: I don`t know how that was possible. I think -- I don`t know how. I can`t answer that because I really don`t understand that.

LARRY MCCOMB: I think it was sheer luck. I wonder if he wasn`t just planning on breaking in the house and taking her.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The mother to 3 and 5-year-old girls vanishes. Venus`s parents say she loved being a mom and would never, ever leave her children. Perhaps even more disturbing, Venus wearing only pajamas and slippers. Venus`s estranged husband, Douglas Stewart, named a person of interest because of an alleged rocky marriage. After allegations of abuse made by both parents, Venus just winning temporary custody of her 3 and 5-year-old daughters.

THERESE MCCOMB: She was the best Mommy in the world. And I know she would never leave on her own. There`s no way she would ever leave on her own.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: As we go to air tonight, side-scan sonar is searching Adams Lake. It`s a body of water about 20 minutes, about 20 miles away from the home where Mommy disappeared. After much estrangement between her and her husband -- they`re in the midst of a divorce -- Mommy had moved home with her two little girls with her mother and father, the girls ages 3 and 5. She had told people she feared for her life.

Then in the morning, 7:00 AM -- all of us have gone out to the mailbox early in the morning before -- Mommy is apparently kidnapped after a struggle, an intense struggle at the family`s mailbox in broad daylight. Is it true nobody saw a thing?

Out to John McNeill, WKZO Newsradio, Kalamazoo. John, I understand that now we`ve got tire tread marks in the field where a neighbor says she sees a pick-up truck, a crew cab pick-up truck with a white male crouched beside it around 7:00 AM that morning. It`s catty-corner to the family home. Do you know about the tread marks?

MCNEILL: I would assume that they have taken molds or plaster casts of those tracks, and they probably flew them to Virginia, too, to see if they could match them up with the tires that are on the truck right now. That would be my assumption. It depends on the quality of the tread marks that were left, of course, and whether or not they can match them up.

GRACE: OK. What do you know, Ellie?

JOSTAD: Nancy, actually, in that search warrant that we obtained yesterday, police said that they had taken pictures of the tread on Doug Stewart`s truck in Virginia, but they wanted the physical tire itself to match that to those tread marks they found at the scene.

GRACE: Everybody, we are taking your calls live. To Therese McComb -- this is Venus Stewart`s mother. Ms. McComb, what are police telling you? I know that specialized crime scene techs are on their way from Michigan to Virginia to comb those two vehicles. What are police telling you tonight?

THERESE MCCOMB: They don`t tell us a whole lot. They sort of keep us in the dark. I mean, I don`t know if it`s to protect their case or what, but all we -- we sit by the phone waiting for answers all the time, hoping, praying that just something will change. We don`t understand a lot of things. We just don`t understand why he -- he won`t talk to police. He never talked to the police. But now he`s talking to the press. I don`t understand that. And why couldn`t they find the vehicles before?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LARRY MCCOMB: I went to the neighbor`s house across the street and asked them if they`d seen my daughter. She said, no, she hadn`t seen her. I came back in the house and I called 911 because I knew what happened.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cops searching a local lake for evidence.

GRACE: Mommy goes to the mailbox in her pajamas. She`s never seen alive again.

LARRY MCCOMB: I was stone dead, sleeping. I heard the kids getting really loud, and I thought, Why is Venus letting those kids be so loud when she knows I`m in here sleeping? And I got up to chew her out, and she was gone.

GRACE: What did the kids tell you?

LARRY MCCOMB: They told me that, Mommy went outside. So I went outside and she wasn`t there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: It`s almost too much to take in. You go to the mailbox to mail a letter in the front yard, and all that`s left behind is signs of a struggle.

We are taking your calls live. To Jane in Virginia. Hi, Jane.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Nancy. How are you this evening?

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

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My question is, having been a felony court reporter in Charlottesville, Virginia, for many years and having seen many restraint orders issued against people, you get a sense of the ones that are more serious than others. And my question is, how come there can`t be more done to protect the ones that appear to be really genuinely more serious than others?

I know they can`t have around-the-clock police protection for all the restraining orders issued. There`s just not that many police available. But there are cases that you can tell, you know, that this is serious. But yet, you know -- that piece of paper is not going to stop a lot of people. And it doesn`t.

GRACE: Jane, Jane in Virginia, you, as a court reporter, have seen it all.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, ma`am. Too much. (INAUDIBLE)

GRACE: Some of my best friends I`ve ever had have been my court reporters during all those trials when I was a prosecutor. Hey, Jane in Virginia, look what I`ve got in my hand. Look at this. This is all the police work on all the TROs, back and forth, that was filed in this case. You know, I don`t understand why it`s the way it is.

Pat Brown, weigh in.

PAT BROWN, CRIMINAL PROFILER: I have a problem with this, too, Nancy. I think that when you have a restraining order that`s about violence, it should be very clear, you cannot contact in any way, shape or form, or you go right to jail.

GRACE: But Pat...

BROWN: We don`t have that.

GRACE: Pat, there are always typically men that a restraining order isn`t worth the paper it`s written on to them. They will break it.

BROWN: That is true. And if you`ve got that kind, what I say to these women, which is so important, you cannot be alone even for one minute. We`ve seen this with Venus. Even to go out to the mailbox, don`t be alone.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Police using side scan sonar equipment, searching a local lake for evidence in the case of missing mom Venus Stewart.

NANCY GRACE, HOST: Where were the girls when this happened?

LARRY MCCOMB, MISSING MOM VENUS STEWART`S FATHER: They were in the front room of my house. And I was sleeping in my bedroom. Like 20 feet away.

GRACE: Is there any -- is there any way they could have seen what happened?

L. MCCOMB: No.

THERESE MCCOMB, MISSING MOM VENUS STEWART`S MOTHER: Not the way our house sits. We have no windows on that side of our house. All of our windows face down toward the river. And they were in the front room on the river side.

She told me earlier she was going to go mail a letter, she need to mail a letter. But she should have told her father when she went out.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: We are taking your calls live. Out to Therese McComb, this is Venus` mother.

Miss McComb, where does the estranged husband say that he was when Venus was kidnapped from the mailbox?

T. MCCOMB: He claims to be in Virginia, but the whole day -- see, he calls every day because he was ordered -- he could call us every day, once a day, to talk to the children. But on that day, he never called. That`s the only day he`s missed is the day that Venus came up missing.

GRACE: Miss McComb, how long has he had that phone visitation? And is it always at the same time of the day?

T. MCCOMB: No. It was -- I think he was just told he could call once a day. You know, it was at a time where she was giving -- where she was given custody of the children.

GRACE: Yes.

T. MCCOMB: And they told him all he had was the privilege of calling them on the phone. He had no --

GRACE: OK. So, Miss McComb, was it -- did he call at the same time of the day or night every day?

T. MCCOMB: Pretty much. Pretty much.

GRACE: What time?

T. MCCOMB: About 8:00.

GRACE: 8:00 p.m.

T. MCCOMB: Yes.

GRACE: 8:00 p.m. And so how many days did he call -- I mean, how long has he been calling like this?

T. MCCOMB: Since the day that we went to court and they gave him the right to call us. And that`s --

GRACE: OK, and so -- the day that your daughter Venus is kidnapped in her pajamas, 7:00 in the morning at the mailbox, that`s the only day he has failed to call his daughters?

T. MCCOMB: Right. And he`s still calling our house. I don`t talk to him. I just pick the phone up and put it down.

GRACE: OK. How far away is his apartment? How many hours is it away from you in Michigan?

T. MCCOMB: I`ve never droven (sic) there myself, but I`ve heard it`s like 10 hours.

GRACE: OK. Now, he says, Miss McComb, that he has two eyewitnesses that will place him in Virginia, right?

T. MCCOMB: Right.

GRACE: OK. Who are they? Who are these eyewitnesses?

T. MCCOMB: I have no idea.

GRACE: OK. Let me go back to the reporters. Ellie Jostad, where does he say he was? It`s nine hours away.

ELLIE JOSTAD, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER, COVERING STORY: Yes. He does indeed say that he was in Newport News, Virginia. He says that he has two witnesses that know he was there. He hasn`t told us who those witnesses are, but he says he had two witnesses that have talked to police that can verify that he was there in Newport News.

GRACE: Did he agree to talk to any producers on our show, Ellie?

JOSTAD: Well, he`s spoken on the phone, yes. With our producers.

GRACE: Yes. But he wouldn`t tell who the alibi witnesses are.

JOSTAD: Right, he didn`t give those names.

GRACE: Would he give us a specific -- I was at a bar having a drink or I was at Denny`s having a grand slam at 7:00 in the morning, or I was at work?

JOSTAD: No. We do not have that specific information.

GRACE: OK. Got it. Back to Miss McComb.

Miss McComb, what does he do for a living?

T. MCCOMB: He`s a truck driver.

GRACE: So he sets his own schedule.

T. MCCOMB: Yes.

GRACE: So he doesn`t have to punch a clock or be anywhere at any particular time, yes, no?

T. MCCOMB: Well, yes -- well, he`s a -- he delivers food service like to restaurants and stuff.

GRACE: OK.

T. MCCOMB: So yes, he has to be pretty much on schedule or they want to know where he`s at.

GRACE: All right. Because he`s got to make those deliveries.

T. MCCOMB: I worked in restaurants all my life, yes.

GRACE: Unless he has somebody else --

T. MCCOMB: I`ve worked (INAUDIBLE) all my life.

GRACE: Unless he has somebody else make those deliveries for him. Right?

T. MCCOMB: Possibly.

GRACE: Do you know was he working the day your daughter went missing?

T. MCCOMB: No, I don`t know that.

GRACE: OK. Let`s go out to Paul Penzone, director, Prevention Programs, Childhelp.org, former sergeant, Phoenix PD.

Paul, what do you make of this? Number one, I would check the E-Z passes -- that`s what they call them in some states -- the tolls between Virginia and Michigan. And I would immediately get every single photograph, put an APB on both of these vehicles to see if he traveled back and forth.

But people these days are not idiots. All right? You know that there is video and camera surveillance all along the interstates now.

PAUL PENZONE, DIRECT OF PREVENTION PROGRAMS, CHILDHELP.ORG, FMR. SERGEANT, PHOENIX PD: Absolutely. You know, we educate them oftentimes too much, to our detriment, but you`re looking at a pretty broad timeframe. At least 20 hours of travel.

I mean if you`re looking if he`s the one, conducting some surveillance before he actually abducted her, people need to be remember that you don`t have to be a witness to a crime at the scene. You can be a witness prior to the crime or after that are critical to finding out who`s possible.

So the community really needs to pay attention to those details. And what you pointed out, those areas of travel are all going to have some type of surveillance or other methods of technology that might help identify where he was if he was involved in this.

GRACE: OK. Dana -- point well taken, Paul Penzone.

Put up the map. We`re talking about from between Michigan -- rural Michigan -- to Virginia. This would have been the route. He says he has two eyewitnesses. Then why have police named him a person of interest?

Unleash the lawyers. Randy Kessler, defense attorney, Atlanta, Alan Ripka, defense attorney in New York.

Randy Kessler, don`t you think if he didn`t have anything to hide he would be cooperating fully and be open about where he was? I mean I know where I was this morning at 7:00 a.m. I know exactly where I am every morning at 7:0 a.m.

RANDY KESSLER, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, the best decision he made was to have a lawyer. He obviously had connections with lawyers. He`s been through three or four restraining orders. A divorce. And I`m sure his lawyer is saying, you keep it under wraps and we`ll talk privately.

But look, if they`re naming him the --

GRACE: Put Kessler up. Put Kessler up. They have two little girls in common, ages 3 and 5.

Kessler, I happen to know for a fact that you and Ripka have children. So even if you are estranged from your wife, it is the mother of your children. Don`t you think that you would want to fully cooperate in finding the mother? Your children`s mother? As opposed to lawyering up?

I mean, why wouldn`t he tell our show where he was? Why wouldn`t he say, I was at Denny`s having a grand slam. I was at McDonald`s having an egg McMuffin.

I mean why can`t he tell us that?

KESSLER: One doesn`t exclude the other. You don`t have to not hire a lawyer to be able to help find your children. But certainly when you are the person that`s going to be looked at, when you got this family violence issue, and you are the sole suspect you need a lawyers.

GRACE: Well, you know --

KESSLER: That doesn`t --

GRACE: Alan Ripka, to me, that`s all the more reason you want to put it out there and rule yourself out immediately so cops can focus on the correct perpetrator.

ALAN RIPKA, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, Nancy, what`s amazing here is the person who did this would have been -- had to have been outside the house surveying the house. It`s unlikely that her husband would be out there for hours hoping she walked out to the mailbox just in time to kidnap her.

GRACE: Really?

RIPKA: More likely -- it`s more likely someone driving by.

GRACE: You think so?

RIPKA: Yes.

GRACE: Because, Ellie Jostad, what exactly did the neighbor see?

JOSTAD: Well, Nancy, there is a neighbor who said -- and this is a neighbor that lives about a thousand feet away from the home where she was abducted. She said that she saw a white male crouching behind a light-colored, four-door pickup truck, and she says that -- you know she looked again five minutes later, the truck was gone.

GRACE: To Debbie in Wyoming. What`s your question, dear?

DEBBIE, CALLER FROM WYOMING: Hi, Nancy. How are you tonight?

GRACE: I`m good, dear.

DEBBIE: I just want to let you know my mom Harriet Crystal and I never miss your show. We think you`re awesome.

GRACE: Thank you, Debbie. I`ve been to Wyoming a couple of times. It`s one of the prettiest country in the world.

DEBBIE: Yes.

GRACE: You`re blessed.

DEBBIE: It is.

GRACE: What is your country, love?

DEBBIE: You know, I have questions but it just breaks my heart to hear those parents, and I just can`t do it. So I just want to send our prayers out to them. And tell them that we`re praying every day that she comes home to her two children.

GRACE: Therese McComb and her husband, I know, appreciate that.

Everyone, we`re taking your calls live. As we go to break, we remember two fallen heroes killed in the line of duty, Nevada officer, Ian Deutch, and Louisiana officer, J.R. Searcy. Both serving Afghanistan, both canine officers.

Twenty-seven-year-old Ian Deutch gunned down during a domestic dispute in front of the Lakeside Casino. Deputy Searcy, just finishing a 12- hour shift, shot to death after volunteering to back up another deputy on a call. He also saved the life of a mother of three donating his organs.

Deutch leaves behind grieving widow Vicky, children Savannah and John. Searcy leaves behind grieving widow Carrie, children Justin, Megan, Nick.

Deputy Ian Deutch and Deputy J.R. Searcy. Good night, friends.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The murder of women`s lacrosse player Yeardley Love.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Police found injuries on her body.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Lacrosse player George Huguely became the focus of the investigation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At some point during the course of a Mirandized statement he began to describe the activity that took place in that apartment.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: And George Huguely admits to police there was an altercation.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Police officers first on the scene say Love had a large bruise on the right side of her face.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: He admits shaking her.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Love`s right eye was swollen shut.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Her head repeatedly hits the wall.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: There were also bruises and scrape on her chin.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Clearly these are admissions against his own self- interests and they`re facts and circumstances that he`s going to have to answer to.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Police say details from the autopsy of Yeardley Love, a University of Virginia senior, will not be released until there`s an official report from the medical examiner. Twenty-two-year- old George Huguely is charged with first degree murder in her death.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Straight out to Melissa Neeley, news director, Newstalk Radio WCHV, joining us from Charlottesville.

Melissa, I understand quite a lot has happened in the last 24 hours. Explain.

MELISSA NEELEY, NEWS DIRECTOR, NEWSTALK RADIO WCHV: Yes, ma`am. Apparently they had a warrant that turned up quite a few items in George Huguely`s apartment. One of them was a University of Virginia lacrosse t-shirt with a red stain on it and a letter addressed to Yeardley Love.

GRACE: With us tonight, special guest, taking your calls, Chief Timothy Longo with the Charlottesville Police Department. His force working around the clock trying to solve the case, trying to work the case up to hand it over to the district attorney`s office.

Chief, thank you for being with us.

CHIEF TIMOTHY LONGO, CHARLOTTESVILLE, POLICE DEPARTMENT: Nancy, thank you for having me again this evening. It`s a pleasure to be here.

GRACE: Chief, I understand now that we`ve seen portions of the search warrant, I know a lot of it, especially parts of the return what was seized from the home has been put under seal. But I do know that there were items of clothing taken, a shower curtain, a rug, some blue shorts, a t-shirt.

I`m interested in the computers. Were -- was one of the computers Yeardley Love`s computer?

LONGO: Well, Nancy, as you know, because the warrant returns are now sealed, I can`t specifically talk about the items that were recovered incident to that search warrant. I will tell you that the computer that was taken from her has been recovered by the police.

And, of course, that computer will undergo the appropriate forensic analysis to try to see if there`s any information that might be relevant and material to this case on that computer and be helpful to the prosecution.

GRACE: The reason I`m asking, Chief, and I know you`ve already read my mind, is that I see this case as ripe for some type of a mental insanity defense and if someone comes into your home and attacks you and then has the wherewithal about themselves to steal your computer, and then try to dispose of it or hide it.

That certainly shows that they were well aware of what was happening at the time in and around the attack. Of course, a suspect`s behavior immediately after the incident is also probative or proves something at trial.

I know, Chief Timothy Longo, that you know that only too well.

Chief, I`m very disturbed about something. And I don`t even know if the cops were called about this. Number one, I understand that back in 2008, the suspect, a star lacrosse player at UVA -- you can`t get any more upper crust than UVA except, I don`t know, maybe if you go to Harvard or Yale, Chief.

But a star athlete. The suspect in this case, the potential killer, actually attacked a female cop in 2008 using sexual and racial slurs and fought her so hard she had to taser him? Is that true, Chief?

LONGO: Well, I`ve been made aware of that incident. I was not aware of it other than media accounts that came to my attention over the last couple of days. I did speak with the chief of police of Lexington, which is about an hour and a half from here.

He confirmed that the incident took place. I wouldn`t be appropriate for me to talk about his case, but I do know that he had fielded many media inquires about it. And so we`re very concerned that that occurred as well. And certainly now it`s come to our attention and we`ll give it the merit and value that --

GRACE: Well --

LONGO: -- it certainly do as this case moves forward.

GRACE: Chief, of course, at your level, dealing mostly with -- intervening mostly with homicides and felonies, you -- I doubt you would know about what was in pled down.

Matt Zarrell, what did he get in that case? What happens in that? Let me guess. He got bailed out, it was brushed under the rug and he got a light sentence. What? What did he get?

MATT ZARRELL, NANCY GRACE STAFFER, COVERING STORY: He pled guilty to public intoxication, public swearing and resisting arrest. He got a 60- day suspended jail sentence --

GRACE: So nothing. Suspended.

ZARRELL: Suspended six months of probation and 50 hours community service, 20 hours of alcohol counseling. He completed all of that in a timely fashion.

GRACE: I`ll tell you what. When I was a prosecutor, Chief Longo, you so much as spit at a cop and you would do jail time. Oh, yes, much less fighting with a lady officer to where she had to taser you to get you calmed down?

If that`s true, then Yeardley Love never stood a chance. If this is the right perpetrator, and by his own words, it is. Chief Timothy Longo, this is a guy that had it all -- the best clothes, the best education, went to the Logan School. I learned last night it`s some fancy boarding school where rich kids go. Had it all.

Is it true -- this is what`s disturbing me -- that just before this incident he, the suspect, George Huguely, tried to attack the victim in public?

LONGO: That is among -- that`s one of many such allegations that investigators are probing as they interview friends and teammates. You know, we don`t have police records of these incidents.

GRACE: Right.

LONGO: We don`t have --

GRACE: So that means they didn`t call police?

LONGO: -- police reports that were filed.

GRACE: Right, Chief? They didn`t call police, did they?

LONGO: That`s correct. To my knowledge there were no --

GRACE: OK.

LONGO: There were no police reports filed.

GRACE: Got it.

LONGO: Understand, as we get this information about these incidents we`ll go back to look to see if calls for service were made but there are certainly no police reports.

GRACE: What do you make of it, Dr. Jeff Gardere?

JEFF GARDERE, PSYCHOLOGIST, AUTHOR OF "LOVE PRESCRIPTION": (INAUDIBLE) is that fellow George Huguely is a person with rage issue and alcoholism in his background. Dangerous individual.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRACE: A vigil going on as we speak for 22-year-old UVA lacrosse star Yeardley Love.

To Dr. Leigh Vinocur, University of Maryland School of Medicine, joining us out of Baltimore.

Dr. Vinocur, thank you for being with us.

DR. LEIGH VINOCUR, UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: My pleasure.

GRACE: How is it -- where did all of the blood come from if she were beaten to death?

VINOCUR: Well, head wounds bleed a lot. You have a lot of blood vessels all over your head and they definitely bleed a lot. And it`s just a tragic case. It`s with domestic violence. I mean you --

GRACE: How does one actually die from being beaten to death from internal injuries?

VINOCUR: Well, it depends, you know, where you were hit. With brain injuries there`s something called the coup-counter coup so you can slam someone`s head against the wall this side. You can get scalp lacerations that bleed a lot but actually it moves the brain to the other side and you can get a brain injury on the other side. So I`m sure --

GRACE: And her face was beaten horribly.

VINOCUR: Yes.

GRACE: And by his own admission we understand that he -- her head hit against the back of the wall over and over. So coup-counter coup, I believe is what you said, Dr. Vinocur.

VINOCUR: Yes.

GRACE: And to Dr. Jeff Gardere, psychologist, author of "Love Prescriptions." The dynamic between these two. They had been dating on and off. They were set to graduate and go separate ways in a couple of weeks. He apparently tried to attack her earlier.

Didn`t his parents and family see what was happening, this pattern of aggression on his part?

GARDERE: Well, I don`t think so because it doesn`t seem like he was in treatment. After he had the fight with the police officer, coasted the police officer, evidently he had problems with alcohol.

It seems that the parents did nothing. So this is a classic case where parents are in denial and they`re raising a very spoiled child who gets his own way and this time he couldn`t get his way and that`s why I think he killed this young woman.

GRACE: Dr. Jeff Gardere.

Back to Chief Timothy Longo.

Chief, do you believe the police force has completed gathering evidence or is it still ongoing?

LONGO: No, absolutely not. These detectives -- Nancy, let me say this for one minute before I answer that question directly. I have the privileges of talking to people like you about this case and the hard work that men and women of the Charlottesville Police Department have done.

But make no mistake about it, there are literally dozens of people that stand behind this case. Forensic investigators. Commonwealth attorney. Victim/witness coordinators. Hard working police detectives that have been relentless talking to people and gathering evidence.

They are incredible. And I`m so proud to be associated with --

GRACE: Well, Chief --

LONGO: -- the men and women of this police department.

GRACE: I`ve got to tell you.

LONGO: They have worked so hard.

GRACE: Your department has really impressed everyone. And it`s a day in age where so many people are ready to hate police. But I for one and my staff don`t feel that way. And we are very grateful to you, Chief.

Everyone, let`s stop.

LONGO: Nancy, thank you.

GRACE: And remember Army Sergeant Andrew Lancaster, 23, Stockton, Illinois, killed Iraq on a second tour. Also served Afghanistan. Awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart. Remembered as a man of the Midwest.

He loved outdoors, playing ball with family, his dog, Sam. Leaves behind grieving parents, Donna and Harlem, one brother, two sisters, and widow Tabitha.

Andrew Lancaster, American hero.

Thanks to our guest but especially to you. And thank you to South Carolina friend, Jan, who made two best friend quilts for the twins. A kitty for Lucy and Mr. Dog for John David.

Everyone, I`ll see you tomorrow night 8:00 sharp Eastern. Until then, good night, friend.

END