Return to Transcripts main page

NANCY GRACE

Man Arrested in Connection With Teen Cheerleader`s Death

Aired August 27, 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 to the heartland. A 14-year-old Kansas cheerleader leaves home for a party -- never seen again. Less than 48 hours before her first day of high school as a freshman cheerleader, she vanishes. We learn the location cops tried to keep secret hidden five miles west of city limits, a body disposed behind an asphalt plant and huge mountains of gravel. That body, confirmed, the remains of missing cheerleader 14-year-old Alicia DeBolt, still wearing one tennis shoe, her body burned beyond recognition. Positive ID only possible through dental records.

Bombshell tonight. In the last hours, after a late night search warrant, plus a stolen car leading cops on a high-speed chase across the Kansas countryside, a suspect now in custody. And no, it`s not a pack of juveniles. It`s not a young boyfriend, as many suspected. As we go to air, a 36-year-old father of two who works for the asphalt plant where the girl`s body is found tonight behind bars in connection with the brutal kidnap and murder of a 14-year-old high school cheerleader, Alicia DeBolt. We want justice!

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The body located Tuesday west of town in the asphalt plant has been positively identified as the body of 14-year-old Alicia DeBolt.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A person of interest, 36-year-old Adam Rocco Longoria, has been arrested in connection with a stolen vehicle.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Alicia was reported last to have been seen Saturday night around 11:00 PM.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I do not know where she was on Saturday.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Authorities executed a search warrant at this home.

GRACE: A 14-year-old Kansas cheerleader leaves home for a party...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She didn`t call.

GRACE: She never made it to the party.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We do not believe that this was a random act of violence.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know that Monday, the DeBolt family came to my house and spoke to my wife.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They blocked off nearby roads. This started around 9:30 Thursday night.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Investigators work around the clock to catch her killer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us. Bombshell tonight. A 14-year-old Kansas cheerleader leaves home for a party, she`s never seen again. In the last hours, after a late night search warrant and a stolen car leading cops on a high-speed chase across the Kansas countryside, a suspect, a 36-year-old father of two, tonight in custody.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A body was found at the asphalt plant.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... person of interest Adam Rocco Longoria...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Investigators went inside and started bringing out several items.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... serve a search warrant in the case of murdered cheerleader Alicia DeBolt...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... saw them taking pictures inside and outside the home. Now, they focused a lot of their attention on the garage area.

GRACE: We now learn that location police tried so hard to keep secret.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is an asphalt production plant. Looks like it consists of several piles of rock and other material.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tragically, Alicia was identified.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Her body was burned beyond recognition.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... Longoria arrested on a stolen vehicle charge...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He says he didn`t see her the weekend she went missing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was a so-called rumor going around that the party was going to be at my house, which it wasn`t because I`ve showed texts (INAUDIBLE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: A 36-year-old father of two, a party at his house for high schoolers not his own? I don`t get it. It`s not adding up. Straight out to you, Jean Casarez. For those of you just joining us, a 36-year-old father of two in custody tonight in connection with the brutal kidnap and murder of a 14-year-old freshman high school cheerleader. Jean, what do you know?

JEAN CASAREZ, "IN SESSION": Nancy, there has been an arrest. That arrest was made close to noon today 96 miles northeast of Great Bend, Kansas. His name is Adam Longoria. He is 36 years old. He lives in Great Bend, Kansas. He was arrested on vehicular burglary, stealing a car, they say, from where he works, Venture Corporation, which, Nancy, is the very same company where the remains of Alicia DeBolt were found.

GRACE: OK, Jean Casarez, legal correspondent, "In Session." Everybody, we are taking your calls. Jean, he`s behind bars for stealing a company car, the company that owns the asphalt plant. But his home was searched in the dark of night, his live-in girlfriend and her kids at home. It`s my understanding he has two other children of his own, at least. Then where does the stolen vehicle come into play?

CASAREZ: Well, that happened after the search. After the search, he voluntarily went with law enforcement, came back home. But they also believe that after 2:00 AM yesterday -- or that would be today -- a vehicle was stolen. But Nancy, that search warrant was executed at his home and in his garage, Nancy. And that is a critical fact.

GRACE: To Rita Crosby, investigative journalist and author of "Quiet Hero." Rita, let me get this straight. According to Jean Casarez, the home -- his home is searched that he shares with girlfriend and children. His car is searched. His vehicle is searched. The garage is searched. Then after the late night search, he goes and steals a company car and takes off and leads the cops on a high-speed chase?

RITA COSBY, INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALIST: You hit it on the head. And in fact, what`s interesting, too -- a neighbor also, Nancy, has come forward saying that she drove him to the Venture Corporation, not knowing that she was assisting him in any way, just thought she was helping a neighbor in need. And she said he was acting strange, that he was angry at the police, that he was calling his girlfriend feverishly, calling an attorney feverishly. And then it looks like hours later, he stole this car.

Also, if you look at his history, Nancy, he`s had some criminal track record of evading authorities. So authorities found out this car was missing, found out that he was connected to it, and I bet they were worried he was fleeing.

GRACE: We`re taking your calls. Out to Sharon in Alabama. Hi, Sharon.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Nancy.

GRACE: Hi, dear. What`s your question?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am wondering, why is the man running around with a can of gasoline in his vehicle if he didn`t have bad intentions on using it? I`m assuming you just don`t put a match to somebody`s clothes and they burn that bad.

GRACE: To Ted Woodward, news reporter, KNSS radio, joining us out of Wichita. Ted, what do you know about this gas -- the can of gas he had in his car? And tell me about the high-speed chase. They caught him nearly 100 miles away?

TED WOODWARD, KNSS RADIO (via telephone): Yes, Nancy. The gas can -- I`m not certain about the details of that. I mean, we know her body was burned beyond recognition. I mean, that body could not be identified without the help of coming to Wichita after they found the body. The Sedgwick County Forensic Science Center coroner had to identify her through dental records. Obviously, some very intense and brutal burning was done on her body.

As for the high-speed chase today, the car was stolen very early this morning. About 9:00 o`clock, the state attorney general in Kansas puts out a bulletin statewide, Look for this guy, look for this vehicle. He was found pretty quickly. He was heading on the highway away from Great Bend towards interstate 70, which is the interstate that crosses Kansas east to west between Kansas City and Denver. He was trying to get away from Great Bend, obviously, when authorities got him shortly before noon.

GRACE: OK, Jean Casarez, legal correspondent, "In Session." What can you tell me about any possible connections between the suspect, Adam Longoria, AKA Rocco, age 36, father of two -- what does he have to do with a 14-year-old cheerleader? What`s the connection?

CASAREZ: Number one, he admits that he met her. He admits he knew her and met her once at his girlfriend`s birthday party. He says that she would text him for rides, but her mother told her not to. And he said he never gave her a ride.

GRACE: What about text messages, Jean? What do we know about alleged text messages between the little girl and him?

CASAREZ: Well, he is saying that she texted him, Longoria, for him to give her a ride. That`s what he`s saying. But he said he never did it. But that shows that connection right there, but yet he only admits he met her once.

GRACE: We are taking your calls. Let`s unleash the lawyers. Joining us out of LA, high-profile lawyer Gloria Allred, Mickey Sherman, criminal defense attorney and author, Joey Jackson, out of New York, defense attorney, along with Mickey.

Weigh in, Gloria.

GLORIA ALLRED, VICTIMS` RIGHTS ATTORNEY: Well, Nancy, after all, why this 36-year-old man giving a teenage girl a ride? And is that all there is in the text? I`d like to see what else there is. And also, why is he having parties with teenagers at his home, if, in fact, that`s true?

GRACE: Well, I got to go to you, Brian Russell, forensic psychologist joining us out of Kansas City tonight. Brian, as a teenager, it would never dawn on me to ask a grown man, say up in his 30s and 40s, to give me a ride. It just never crossed my mind.

BRIAN RUSSELL, FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGIST: Absolutely, Nancy. And at least from the girl`s perspective, you could understand the practicality of needing to get somewhere and not having a driver`s license, and here`s somebody who`s willing to give me a ride. So you can understand that part more easily -- at least I can -- than coming from his perspective. What in the world is a 36-year-old man interested in chauffeuring, assuming that he actually did it -- and I believe he did -- a 14-year-old girl around town? It seems to me...

GRACE: Well, Brian Russell...

RUSSELL: ... there`s a -- there`s a sex...

GRACE: ... I can tell you this. Nothing good.

RUSSELL: Absolutely.

GRACE: You said for what reason is a grown man chauffeuring around a 14-year-old girl? No good reason. Nothing good is going to come out of that scenario.

RUSSELL: Absolutely.

GRACE: Back to the lawyers, Gloria Allred, Mickey Sherman, Joey Jackson. Mickey! Put Sherman up! Mickey, why doesn`t he just take out an ad on Park Avenue that says, I did it?

MICKEY SHERMAN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: You know what, though, Nancy?

GRACE: When you go and steal a car and take off on a wild chase dragging cops along behind you?

SHERMAN: And that`s after your home and your garage has been searched. It`s almost so stupid that maybe he`s not guilty. I mean -- I mean...

(CROSSTALK)

GRACE: Only you could twist that around. Joey Jackson...

(CROSSTALK)

SHERMAN: ... steal a car and then after the search.

GRACE: Sherman, this is not "Alice in Wonderland" where everything is upside-down. Nobody believes that if a cop -- OK, say a cop pulls you over, Joey Jackson. You see the blue lights. What do you do, Jackson? Do you pull over and take out your license and registration or do you just go, I`m out of here, and floor it and take off for 96 miles? No, you don`t. That is called flight, under the law. This guy gets his home searched. What does he do? He goes and steals a car and takes cops on a wild goose chase, a high-speed chase. That says guilt to me.

JOEY JACKSON, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, it says other things, too. First of all...

GRACE: Really? What?

JACKSON: Well, justice certainly demands due process. Let`s keep in mind there was a search warrant executed.

GRACE: Yes, you know...

JACKSON: We don`t know...

GRACE: ... answer the question, Jackson.

JACKSON: I`m answering!

GRACE: What does it say to you?

JACKSON: Well, listen, it says to me that they...

GRACE: He floors it and heads out of town!

JACKSON: It says that they were at his house. They were probably asking him accusatory questions. He felt that he was pressured. He was under a lot of stress, and he did something that he ordinarily would not do.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Authorities executed a search warrant...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... Adam Rocco Longoria...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You see her right there, Alicia DeBolt.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The cheerleader and high school freshman goes missing from her small Kansas town.

GRACE: A body has been found.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... positive identification was made, and that, tragically, Alicia was identified.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Breaking news.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The body found is indeed 14-year-old Alicia DeBolt.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A person of interest, Adam Rocco Longoria, has been arrested in connection with the stolen vehicle.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Longoria told us he works at Venture Asphalt, the same company where 14-year-old Alicia DeBolt`s body was found.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tammy Conrad says her 14-year-old daughter left their house in Great Bend about 11:00 o`clock Saturday night with a 19- year-old man.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Eyewitness News spoke with a 19-year-old. He says he was not with her that night and hadn`t seen her since Wednesday.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The two were supposed to meet another friend and go to a party.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I do not know where she was on Saturday.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are rumors. There are a lot of things going around.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was a so-called rumor going around that the party was going to be at my house, which it wasn`t.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Longoria tells us DeBolt would text him, asking for rides. DeBolt`s mother told the teen not to text him anymore.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We do not believe that this was a random act of violence.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Someone was familiar with that area. They knew where this asphalt plant was. They knew where they can go take this body and try to burn and dispose of a body.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: A 36-year-old father of two behind bars tonight in connection with the brutal kidnapping and murder of a 14-year-old freshman high school cheerleader, her body burned beyond recognition.

A little flash, a newsflash. Out to you, Pat Brown, criminal profiler, author of "The Profiler." Back in 2003 -- if this is an insight into his personality -- Corpus Christi, Texas, bank robbery, he drove home in the getaway car, parked in front of his place. Cops follow him straight home, find him hiding under a sink in the bathroom, take him straight back to the bank. Teller identifies him. End of story. Of course, he managed to escape after that. I don`t know how he managed to do that.

But now a getaway car is in the scene again. Now, does this surprise you? Because many of us were thinking possibly this is a juvenile because we`re not hearing names. We`re not hearing anything. She was going to a party that evening probably with juveniles. It didn`t turn out to be anything like that. This is a grown man, a father of two.

PAT BROWN, CRIMINAL PROFILER: Well, I`m not entirely surprised that he could be older. I just strongly believed that whoever took her from that house, from her house, and gave her that ride was the one who was guilty because I do believe she never left that vehicle. She was raped and strangled and killed in it.

But Look at this guy. He`s got a criminal background. On top of that, people said he used to hang out at parks with teens and he used to have parties. Let`s look at probably drugs and alcohol that he`s offering the teens to come on over. He`s the fun guy. And that is a sex predator MO, if I`ve ever seen one.

GRACE: Out to the lines. Marilyn in Florida. Hi, Marilyn.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Nancy. How are you?

GRACE: Hi, dear. What`s your question?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK, I have two questions, but first of all I just want to say your twins are beautiful, and they were born on my anniversary.

GRACE: Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And I want to know if this man had such a record and he was texting this child, wasn`t he on the list, I mean, like, the first people that they would, you know, question?

GRACE: You know, my first question was -- you are seeing a shot of the guy right now. This guy had his home searched late at night, the garage, his girlfriend -- his live-in girlfriend`s car, who he repeatedly refers to as his wife. She`s made it very clear she is not his wife. That is the 36-year-old asphalt worker now behind bars in connection with the death and disappearance of 14-year-old cheerleader Alicia DeBolt. He was not on a sex offender registry, Marilyn in Florida, but -- and so there`s no reason authorities would have been alerted to him.

But I`m wondering if they were not led to him, Marc Klaas, because of those texts, possibly phone calls. And if Pat Brown is right, she left her home with this guy, not a 19-year-old boy.

MARC KLAAS, KLAAS KIDS FOUNDATION: Oh, I completely believe that. First of all, I`m going to assume he`s guilty. Secondly, I`m going to suggest that nothing that this guy says can be believed by anybody. All you have to do is listen to this conversation that he had with the local reporter. He`s spewing lie after lie after lie, and he`s doing it without blinking. And he`s actually...

GRACE: What specifically are you talking about?

KLAAS: What specifically?

GRACE: I was a little confused.

KLAAS: Well, that he only -- sure. That he only met her once, that he didn`t know where she was that Saturday night, and that there was not going to be some kind of a party at his home. The first two we know for sure. This is a dangerous guy. In California, this guy would have been put away for life a long time ago because we have three strikes. We know how to deal with these hideous -- these hideous repeat offenders, these habitual offenders.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They blocked off nearby roads...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Alicia DeBolt`s family was adamant she is not a runaway.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is not like Alicia. This is not a runaway.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police served a search warrant on Longoria`s home just last night. Hours later, he allegedly takes off.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thirty-six-year-old Adam Rocco Longoria was arrested just moments ago by Kansas Highway Patrol.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A body of a young woman has been found outside Great Bend, Kansas.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... positively identified as the body of 14-year- old Alicia DeBolt.

GRACE: ... the cheerleader`s disappearance...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She went missing Saturday, was supposed to be going to a party with her friend.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The body was not able to be identified because it had been burned.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... find that burned body...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Alicia was identified, and that investigation now continues.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: A 36-year-old father of two behind bars tonight after a high- speed chase across Kansas countryside. His home searched in the early morning hours, and what does he do in response to that search? Why, of course, he steals a car and takes off, found about 100 miles away from home.

We are taking your calls. Out to Chevelle, North Carolina. Hi, Chevelle.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Nancy. How are you?

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

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK, first of all, I would like to extend my condolences out to Alicia`s family. Now, I have two questions. What led them to this man? And then my other question is, if she left with the 19- year-old, why would she text him to come take her somewhere?

GRACE: First of all, Chevelle, it`s my understanding, according to him -- and you`re taking the word of a guy behind bars in connection with murder -- that she used to text him for rides in the past. Now, we`ve been told she left with a 19-year-old boy. I don`t know that that`s true.

But to Jean Casarez, legal correspondent, "In Session." What did lead cops to him? And isn`t it true that Alicia DeBolt`s own mother went over to his house and tried to question him and his live-in already, like on Monday?

CASAREZ: Yes. Exactly. Exactly. So what Chevelle is saying about Alicia`s family -- they were integrally involved in this from the very beginning. They went over to Longoria`s house on Monday and said, We believe Alicia was with you, there at the house. He denied it. But they may have led law enforcement to him.

GRACE: Jean Casarez, what is the scenario? Why did they, the family, Alicia`s family, believe that she was with him? Did she leave with a 19- year-old -- that`s Chevelle`s question -- that evening or not?

CASAREZ: I think it`s still speculative. I don`t think we have facts on the record. But here`s what I do think. I think that people were talking from the minute she disappeared, and I think Longoria was talking and I think other people were talking, and those words led police to Longoria.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was around 11:00 o`clock, but her mother says she always called at curfew time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... the body so badly burned...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The body was unidentifiable.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s a terrible thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE SIX, KANSAS ATTORNEY GENERAL: Positively identified as the body of 14-year-old Alicia Debolt.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: A person of interest, 36-year-old Adam "Rocco" Longoria has been arrested in connection with a stolen vehicle.

NANCY GRACE, HOST: Burned. The 14-year-old girl had been burned beyond recognition.

ADAM "ROCCO" LONGORIA, ALLEGED PERSON OF INTEREST IN ALICIA DEBOLT MURDER CASE: I do not know she -- where she was on Saturday.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Authorities executed a search warrant at this home.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The body of Alicia --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hard on everyone. We`ll get through it.

JEAN CASAREZ, LEGAL CORRESPONDENT, "IN SESSION": They were able to get dental records to make the I.D.

SIX: Anybody who has information. Anybody that called or texted her, please report that to local law enforcement.

MARC KLAAS, PRESIDENT AND FOUNDER, KLAASKIDS FOUNDATION: There`s no doubt in my mind that this was a sexually motivated crime.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Someone familiar with the area brought her there in an attempt to dispose of her.

KLAAS: Dispose of her body and make it unrecognizable.

PAT BROWN, CRIMINAL PROFILER, AUTHOR OF "THE PROFILER": It`s going to be very easy to identify who was involved in that crime.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My baby girl. It`s heartbreaking.

LONGORIA: I do not know she -- where she was on Saturday. I know that Monday the Debolt family came to my house and spoke to my wife and told her that they said -- there was a so-called rumor going around that the party was going to be at my house which it wasn`t because I showed texts of what other people said.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The body was --

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Just hours after making this statement you just heard, the suspect Adam Longoria, aka Rocco, a 36-year-old father of two, stole a car and went on the run.

Out to Rita Crosby, investigative journalist and author of "Quiet Hero."

Rita, what can you tell us about the search?

RITA COSBY, INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALIST, AUTHOR, "QUIET HERO"; COVERING STORY: Well, you know, the search was quite extensive. First off, they went to his house. They checked his garage. They checked his vehicle and they checked -- I think this is the key to it also -- is his girlfriend. Remember he says it`s his wife but it`s his girlfriend.

And what`s going to be interesting, Nancy, he has told some members of the media that that night he didn`t have a party but he said he had some friends over and then he took his wife out for dinner.

So I think the wife could be the clue, this girlfriend. Was she with him that night? If she wasn`t where was he? What kind of activity -- how was he acting that night? I think she could provide some valuable information.

And also I was reading that also she has moved out of the house. That her brother said she`s trying to get away from the stress. Maybe the stress of now knowing the man she`s been with may be a killer.

GRACE: Hey, rack up that video again. Rewind it, Liz. I want to see the shot of 36-year-old father of two, Adam Longoria. There he is walking along. This is the guy now behind bars in the last hours in connection with the death and disappearance of 14-year-old cheerleader Alicia Debolt.

Rita Cosby, you were saying that he did what and then he went out to dinner with his live-in?

COSBY: Yes. He is claiming -- he told some members of the press that at that night he did have a, quote, "party" but he said he had some drinks with friends and then took his wife out for dinner.

So the question is, what is the wife telling authorities and maybe the wife wasn`t corroborating his story and then right away they zoomed in on this guy.

GRACE: There you go. There you go, Longoria. Just keep on talking, buddy. Because everything you blurt out to the press is not protected by the Constitution. You`re not in custody. You`re not being questioned. You`re just gabbing away at will.

Don`t you just love it, Mickey Sherman? Because he`s saying, no, no, no, I didn`t have a party. I just have some people over.

MICKEY SHERMAN, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY, AUTHOR OF "HOW CAN YOU DEFEND THOSE PEOPLE?": He`s also got that Drew Peterson smirk and shrug -- you know, drinking his Mochaccino there.

You know, what about computers? Have we heard anything about that? Has anybody looked at text message, Facebook entries, things like that? A 14-year-old girl who lives on the Internet.

GRACE: Yes, especially as you said earlier text messages. You don`t have to be sitting at home in front of your desktop. The cell phone, the BlackBerry, that`s where it`s at, Sherman. You said it.

What about it, Jackson?

JOEY JACKSON, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, what about it is before we give him the death penalty maybe we should examine the facts. If you look at his criminal record, nothing says murderer. Nothing says pedophile. Nothing says he was a sex offender.

GRACE: Yes, it only says bank robbery and escape.

JACKSON: OK? However -- and moving on. Where is the physical evidence? It`s yet to be examined and then you have to connect it?

GRACE: I don`t believe I would have mentioned that if I were you.

(LAUGHTER)

JACKSON: In addition to that, what`s the motivation? Those things have to be looked at. We need to look at evidence.

GRACE: What`s the motivation?

JACKSON: There needs to be something other than circumstances.

GRACE: Gloria, Gloria -- I hear it, Jackson. And he`s making an argument for a jury. But, Jackson, I`m not a jury. Don`t even try that B.S. on me.

Gloria --

JACKSON: I got to try, Nancy.

GRACE: Yes, I`ve got to give you an A for effort on that.

Gloria, please remind Mr. Jackson, does the state have to prove a motive? Do we have to crawl into the mind of a killer and figure out why?

GLORIA ALLRED, VICTIM`S RIGHTS ATTORNEY, CHILD ADVOCATE: No, Mr. Jackson. And of course Nancy knows that we do not have to prove a motive. The state need not prove it.

It is helpful sometimes to present it, if it can be presented, because it helps sometimes to I.D. the perpetrator of the crime. But it is not necessary to prove motive.

GRACE: To Sheryl McCollum, director of the Cold Case Squad, Pine Lake PD, author of "Cold Case: Pathways to Justice."

Sheryl, you have certainly been around the block a couple of times at putting crime scenes back together again.

SHERYL MCCOLLUM, CRIME ANALYST, DIR. OF COLD CASE SQUAD AT PINE LAKE P.D.: Sure.

GRACE: What were they looking for and what do you think they found?

MCCOLLUM: They`re going to look for the accelerant, whatever he used. Was it in a can? Was it in a bottle? Is that what`s in the garage? Is there reminiscent of that?

They`re also -- Nancy, they`re going to go back on those text messages. And I want to be real clear on something. He said he met her once but she got his telephone number. She said -- he said he gave her some rides. That puts her in his vehicle.

Those are things he`s already admitted to. So you`re telling me a 14- year-old girl meets you one time and feels comfortable enough to call you after getting your phone number for a ride?

He`s a pedophile and there`s a reason we call these people predators, Nancy.

GRACE: To Jean Casarez, legal correspondent, "In Session." Jean, what they`re saying is very integral in that you first mentioned the search of the garage.

CASAREZ: I think it`s so important, Nancy. And let`s remember he has not been charged with the murder of Alicia Debolt. But you don`t have to execute a search warrant on a stand -- free-standing garage because sometimes that takes an extra warrant but they did that.

And an accelerant is used to burn her body. And where is something like that stored? In a garage. And that is something they could have a match on.

GRACE: Or do you think they it would use the theory, Mickey Sherman, of curtilege, C-U-R-T-I-L-E-G-E. When you have a warrant for a home -- in a lot of jurisdictions that includes the curtilege, the out-houses, the --

SHERMAN: Garage.

GRACE: Garages, the sheds, the playhouses, the tree houses, the -- the little house where you keep your rakes and your lawnmower.

So do you think they needed an extra warrant?

SHERMAN: Probably not.

GRACE: Let`s pray they got all the warrants they need.

SHERMAN: Yes, but yet, after executing the warrant, they still felt they did not have probable cause to make an arrest, allowing that guy to make that runaway trip.

GRACE: You know what, Mickey, thanks. All they did was throw him a little rope. He hung himself.

We`re taking your calls. To Jeannie in Michigan, hi, Jeannie.

JEANNIE, CALLER FROM MICHIGAN: Hi, Nancy, how are you?

GRACE: I`m good, dear. What`s your question? Oh wait, hold on, Jeannie.

Liz, put that shot of him up in full. I`ve got to take a good look at that. No, not that one. The other one.

Go ahead, Jeannie.

No, not that one.

JEANNIE: First -- first, I wanted to thank you for doing everything you do. It`s really wonderful to have somebody like you that looks out for stories that people are not aware of.

And I have a comment and a question. Last night I couldn`t believe that it could be a 19-year-old who did this. But tonight when I tuned in and saw that it was a 37-year-old, I was appalled.

I wondered, how old are his children? And does he live that close where the parents would know to walk over to his house to question him?

GRACE: Good question.

To Ted Woodward, news reporter, KNSS Radio, joining us out of Wichita. Where did he live in connection with Alicia Debolt?

TED WOODWARD, NEWS REPORTER, KNSS RADIO: Not very far at all, Nancy. In fact, I believe the Debolts` home where Alicia lived and Longoria`s house less than a half mile.

So it`s just -- it`s just a matter of a few blocks. So, and, you know, Great Bend is a small town. Not very far away at all.

GRACE: To Dr. Marty Makary, physician and professor of public health, Johns Hopkins, joining us out of D.C. tonight.

Dr. Makary, thank you for being with us. I`m trying to determine whether they will be able to establish a time of death from the body. Now there`s extrinsic evidence such as she left the house at 11:00. We know it was after 11:00.

She`s supposed to call home at midnight. If they started calling her at midnight and she wasn`t picking up, that would suggest to me foul play had already gone down. But looking at a body that has been burned beyond recognition, how can you get a time of death or even a cause of death?

DR. MARTY MAKARY, PHYSICIAN, PROF. OF PUBLIC HEALTH, JOHNS HOPKINS: Well, actually, there`s a remarkable way in which forensic medicine doctors will be able to determine whether or not she died and was then burned or died from the burn.

And that`s because when you die from a burn it`s a unique type of suffocation, death from the swelling around the neck or as from another mode you can see skeletal fractures. You can still identify tendons that have been ripped and identify other mechanisms of death within the burned body.

So there may be a lot of information even though the body has been significantly disfigured.

GRACE: What about time of death?

MAKARY: They can nail it down within four to eight hours when they`re this close to the burn injury. So they will be able to tell.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KLAAS: That young man she got in a car with, he was obviously the last person to see her alive.

BROWN: After all, she didn`t get to the party.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The body found outside Great Bend.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They`re going to be looking for a cause of death. And then thirdly, any sign of sexual assault.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: A person of interest in the disappearance of murdered cheerleader Alicia Debolt has been arrested.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Longoria tells us he only met Debolt once.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Law enforcement came to his home around 10:00 p.m. to serve a search warrant in the case of murdered cheerleader Alicia Debolt.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: He says he didn`t see her the weekend she went missing.

LONGORIA: I do not know she -- where she was on Saturday. I know that on Monday the Debolt family came to my house.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Thirty-six-year-old Adam "Rocco" Longoria was arrested just moments ago by Kansas Highway Patrol for allegedly stealing a car from Venture Corporation.

LONGORIA: There was a so-called rumor going around that the party was going to be at my house which it wasn`t.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Longoria told us he works at Venture Asphalt, the same company where 14-year-old Alicia Debolt`s body was found.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: OK. He is saying he only met her once, Jean Casarez? What were the conditions of that meeting? How did he happen to meet that 14- year-old cheerleader?

CASAREZ: What he has publicly said it was in July. It was at his wife/girlfriend`s birthday. But, Nancy, we`re getting some more criminal record history in from Texas. And here`s what we can confirm.

He was just released from prison, Nancy, in May of 2010, just months ago. And that is from that robbery conviction. It`s Corpus Christi, Texas, area. And from that point he moved to Kansas.

GRACE: Just out, May, June. So he`s been out June, July, August -- he`s only been out three months, Jean?

CASAREZ: That is right. It was a seven-year sentence. He served six years.

GRACE: OK. Wait a minute. Ted Woodward, I thought he had been shacked up with this girl for six months. How can that be?

WOODWARD: That`s not correct. He was out -- he came out of prison in May. So he`s only been -- he`s only been free for three months. Just recently moved to Kansas.

And another thing that came out today, Nancy, was that -- you know, he said -- he said he had dinner that night, Saturday, with his friends and took his wife out. But a TV station in Wichita tonight spoke with a neighbor that says he saw Alicia Debolt at his house that night at that party, or whatever you want to call it -- or gathering.

So there is a neighbor that`s saying, yes, she was there that night.

GRACE: A neighbor observed this grown man with -- at his house with the 14-year-old coming to a party?

WOODWARD: That is correct. The TV station in Wichita spoke with a neighbor who says she was there Saturday night at his house at a gathering in which there was several people there. But he said she was there.

GRACE: Bryan Russell, forensic psychologist. Bryan, he`s only been out of jail a couple of months and he`s telling everybody that this is his wife and she`s saying, oh, no, I`m not your wife.

Why is he lying in this manner? All of this stuff can come into trial. Everything he`s saying to journalists and reporters.

BRYAN RUSSELL, FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST: Absolutely. It looks to me like this is an historic, chronic exploiter.

And what I would like every parent of a teenage daughter who is watching us tonight to do is to talk about this case with their daughters because the daughters will develop the ability to exploit the attraction of guys for them before they`ll develop the ability to recognize somebody who`s trying to exploit them. And that`s a dangerous, dangerous time.

GRACE: Out to the lines, Dolly, Ohio. Hi, Dolly.

DOLLY, CALLER FROM OHIO: Hi. Hi, Nancy. How are you?

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

DOLLY: I love your show.

GRACE: Thank you.

DOLLY: I just want to send my prayers out to Alicia`s family. And my question is, did Alicia`s mother see who was in the car when she went out? Did her mother go out to see who was in the car at all?

GRACE: Marc Klaas, president and founder of KlaasKids Foundation joining us out of San Francisco. All along we`ve been told the girl left with a 19-year-old man. Now I`m suspicious that she did not. She left with this guy.

But it could have been a scenario where the 19-year-old picked her up. They went to this party and then she left from there. What do you think?

KLAAS: Well, nobody saw her at the party. She was never seen again after she got into the car. So, no, I don`t believe for a second that her mother saw this guy.

I believed he groomed this young girl. He told her to lie to her family. He had every -- this was after an alcohol-fueled evening of drinks with friends supposedly and going out with this girlfriend-wife of his.

It was an alcohol-fueled obsession. He had every intention of having sex with her. She didn`t agree with that. He raped her. He murdered her. He torched her.

This guy is Richard Allen Davis all over again. Three months out of prison and what does he do? He goes after a young girl.

There`s a special place in hell for people like this. And the sooner he gets there, the better off this world will be.

GRACE: To Sheryl McCollum, crime analyst, director of Cold Case Squad, Pine Lake PD.

Sheryl, the neighbor fortuitously spots the girl at the house, at this guy`s house, the night she goes missing.

MCCOLLUM: Right.

GRACE: So we know -- and what`s he saying that he didn`t have a party? He says, oh, I just have friends over and then he went to dinner at 11:00 p.m. at night? That`s not -- you`re not going out to dinner at 11:00 p.m.?

MCCOLLUM: You`re trying to establish an alibi. Absolutely. I was with people on the scene. I can prove where I was.

Nancy, that`s another reason they`re searching his house. If they can find one hair from her head, if they can find her purse, her cell phone, the clothes he was wearing that night that smell like smoke, et cetera.

GRACE: Yes. And you know accelerant will show up still on his clothes.

MCCOLLUM: Absolutely.

GRACE: Everybody, we are taking your calls live. In custody tonight a person of interest, 36-year-old father of two, Adam Longoria, in connection with the death and disappearance of a 14-year-old freshman cheerleader Alicia Debolt.

And now "CNN Heroes."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OSCAR ARANDA, CNN HERO, DEFENDING THE PLANET: In a sad way, the turtles are endangered of us. Last year, we can have 200,000 turtles coming to lay their eggs. But this year, we are 50 percent less.

In Mexico, this is a federal offense and the people is not supposed to poach them. But the people believe the eggs are aphrodisiacs. So this is happening always and everywhere.

My name is Oscar Aranda and I`m patrolling the Puerto Vallarta beaches to protect the marine turtles.

Many animals depend on marine turtles to survive. When I saw how the poachers take them for selling on the black market that was really the spark that showed me how important it is to help them.

You have to be there all night. A turtle comes, and if you are not there and the poachers say, well, let`s take it. After they lay their eggs, that`s it. The babies are alone. She returns into the ocean.

It`s right here. We find the nest, we get the eggs and we bring them into a safe place like a turtle hatchery. As soon as the babies hatch, we want the people to see them and learn, to give them an opportunity to be part of releasing a baby turtle or something that they will never forget.

My motivation is how brave the turtles are to survive. Against all odds, they continue coming. It`s amazing.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: I am getting in late-breaking news out of our affiliate KSN where we have now confirmed or they have confirmed that the suspect, the person of interest, Adam Longoria, 36-year-old father of two, did in fact have a party in his home that evening, the night the 14-year-old girl went missing over his garage that witnesses saw them, quote, "all partying together," and that he and the girl left together.

Longoria has stated to journalists today that he wants to clear his name, that he did, in fact, send a text message to the 14-year-old cheerleader that night. Still claims he did not see her.

I`m now getting information that Monday morning he will have his first appearance in a Barton County courthouse. Those facts are the latest in the disappearance of 14-year-old cheerleader Alicia Debolt.

For those of you just joining us, in custody now in connection with her death and disappearance, Adam Longoria Parker -- Adam Longoria, age 36, father of two.

Everyone, let`s stop and remember Army Staff Sergeant David Gutierrez, 35, San Francisco. Also served Afghanistan. Awarded the Bronze Star, Purple Heart, Air Assault Badge, Combat Infantryman Badge.

Lost his life just three days before his 13th wedding anniversary. Loved playing adult amateur football, hosting parties, cooking. Remembered as a grill master. Dreamed of culinary school and opening a restaurant.

Leaves behind grieving parents, Olga and Hector, sisters Debra and Megan, brother Hector Jr., widow Patty, sons Andrew, Jeremiah and Gabriel.

David Gutierrez, American hero.

Thanks to our guests, but especially to you for being with us tonight, inviting all of us into your homes.

And tonight a special good night from the New York control room.

Good night, Brett, Liz. There I see Stacy, Squeaky hiding.

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

END