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NANCY GRACE

Texas Boy Vanishes on Christmas Eve

Aired December 27, 2010 - 20:00:00   ET

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


JEAN CASAREZ, GUEST HOST: We begin tonight with breaking news. We go live to Houston, Texas. Police are desperately searching for a 12-year-old little boy last seen on Christmas Eve. Police say 12-year-old Jonathan Foster was at his baby-sitter`s house when he left to go get video games from his home. This is just a few doors down. But then he vanished. He vanished into thin air. He`s gone! He was gone on Christmas Eve.

Major developments tonight. At this hour, investigators and search teams are scouring the immediate area, concentrating their search in nearby woods for any signs of the missing boy. As concerns continue to grow desperate each hour that passes, tonight, where is 12-year-old Jonathan Foster?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jonathan, baby, if you can hear Granny...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Along the train tracks.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I`m asking for (INAUDIBLE) help.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Through the thick brush near Garden Oaks.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Granny loves you, little fella! Hang in there!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A search for a missing boy.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We need to find this little boy, please.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Grows more desperate by the hour.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We`re looking. We`re trying our best, baby.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Twelve-year-old Jonathan Foster.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My daughter was at work, and he called at her job and said it was an emergency.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who vanished from his northwest Houston neighborhood on Christmas Eve.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And then when she got to the phone, no one was there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The mysterious call came in just before 2:00 in the afternoon, a few minutes after the boy`s stepdad reportedly saw Foster at his home.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We all want him home safe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: Good evening. I`m Jean Casarez of "In Session" on the truTv network, in for Nancy Grace. Thank you so much for joining us tonight. We are live with breaking news this evening. A 12-year-old little boy just vanishes, vanishes into thin air on Christmas Eve. At this hour, investigators are searching the immediate area and the woods for any signs at all of this little boy.

Let us go straight out to Joe Gomez, reporter, KTRH Newsradio. Joe, what is the latest tonight?

JOE GOMEZ, KTRH NEWSRADIO: Well, Jean, right now, police say little Jonathan Foster was potentially kidnapped from his quiet neighborhood on Christmas Eve. Right now, his disappearance (INAUDIBLE) details around his disappearance are very mysterious, but we have reports that perhaps he was with his baby-sitter, last seen or last seen by his stepfather.

What we do know was that minutes after he disappeared, his mother received a desperate phone call at work from somebody. But when she answered the phone, the person on the other line hung up. It`s very bizarre, the situation surrounding his disappearance. Why would a little boy run away from home on the day before Christmas? Or even more, why would somebody take a little boy on the day before Christmas, Jean?

CASAREZ: Joe, we are getting information right now coming in, they have just issued an Amber Alert in this case. In this case of a little boy gone on Christmas Eve, an Amber Alert has just been issued. Joe Gomez, reporter, KTRH Newsradio, start from the beginning, all right, because on Christmas Eve, about what time in the afternoon was he at the baby- sitter`s? And take us from there.

GOMEZ: Reportedly, he was at the baby-sitter`s sometime around 1:45 in the afternoon, said he was going to go see -- or go to his apartment to go get video games. They all lived in the same neighborhood. It was at that point that he vanished. Nobody knows where he took off to.

I have to tell you, the weather -- it`s been very cold out here. If this little boy was on his own, all he was wearing was a T-shirt, jeans and candy-striped shoes. If he was -- if he`s been on his own -- the weather`s been dropping down to the 30s. We`ve had tumultuous storms out in the Houston area.

Right now, police have been searching, canvassing the entire wooded area near the neighborhood on horseback, trying to find any sign of little Jonathan Foster. But Jean, they`ve found absolutely nothing.

CASAREZ: All right, I want to ask you, Joe Gomez, do we know how far he walked from the baby-sitter`s house to his own home? Do we know how far of a walk that would be?

GOMEZ: Well, presumably, it wouldn`t have been that far. I mean, they both live in the same neighborhood. He`s done this before. He grew up in this part of town. So he`s 12 years old. You know, he knows -- you know, he knows more or less, you know, what he`s doing. It would be very odd. Though the child does suffer from ADD, AD and D. So he can easily get confused. But still, at the age of 12 on Christmas Eve, to just vanish on his own accord? It doesn`t make any sense.

He was looking forward to receiving Christmas gifts and being with his family. But now all that is gone. He`s missing. We don`t know where he is. But police say he`s been potentially kidnapped.

CASAREZ: And everybody, we are taking your calls live tonight. We need to find this little 12-year-old, Jonathan Foster, who does suffer from attention deficit disorder.

To Rupa Mikkilineni, producer for NANCY GRACE. What more can you tell us tonight?

RUPA MIKKILINENI, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Right, Jean. We do know the police are desperately searching this evening for this 12-year-old child that went missing on Christmas Eve in the afternoon. What we also know is they have said that both parents, his mother and his stepfather, whom he lived with, are being very cooperative and helping. So they have said this.

We`ve also asked police if there have been any reports -- and of course, when a child goes missing, one always looks at the family, friends. This is a very typical method that the police use. So they have indicated there have been no reports of domestic violence in the home, nor has child services, child protective services, been at the home due to complaints of abuse of this child.

CASAREZ: So Rupa, let me ask you, how many sexual offenders are in the Houston area, which is where this little boy lives?

MIKKILINENI: Jean, many. And so of course, this is always a concern in this area. This is inner city Houston, 43rd Street. This is a city environment, not a suburban environment. This is near train tracks. As you may have heard, earlier today, they were looking at a train track area which is just a very short area away from where the home is, where he was walking supposedly.

Also, there`s conflicting reports as to exactly where he was, in fact, last seen, Jean. We`ve heard one story where he was at the baby-sitter`s, and then he vanished from the baby-sitter`s house. But then we`ve heard another story where he actually returned and was spotted in the home of his parents, and then that his stepfather may have, in fact, been the last person that saw him. And there`s also a neighbor that places that child at that apartment complex, at his home, at that time, 1:45 PM, according to police.

CASAREZ: And this case is breaking right now. Houston police have told NANCY GRACE producers that they are very confused, that they are actually getting conflicting stories from various family members and those that saw that little boy last.

Let`s go to the callers. Marilyn in Florida. Hi, Marilyn.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Jean. How are you? Happy new year.

CASAREZ: Thank you. Thank you so much for calling tonight.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I guess I was listening and I got some answers for some of my questions. This little boy needed a baby-sitter. He suffers (INAUDIBLE) ADD. I mean, a baby-sitter is someone to take care of, you know, someone. And if he left the home alone, he should not have, you know? He should have been watched because he`s easily confused, easily, you know, go with someone else, you know? So he should not have been left to go somewhere, even if it`s next door.

CASAREZ: Let`s go to the lawyers with that question. Excellent question, Marilyn. John Burris, defense lawyer out of New York. John Manuelian, defense attorney out of Los Angeles. John Burris, let`s first just talk about a duty. A baby-sitter has a duty because she`s watching a child. And if a child has attention deficit disorder, that is an increased duty on this baby-sitter.

JOHN BURRIS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I would agree with that, that there is an increased duty, you know, on a baby-sitter of this kind. But you know - - you know, I don`t know that you could say and put all this blame on a baby-sitter at this stage of the proceedings because there`s conflicting stories out here about who actually saw this child last.

And more importantly, this child apparently has gone from place to place in that particular apartment complex in the past. It may not have been that unreasonable for the baby-sitter to allow the kid to do that particular thing. We don`t know how bad a condition that he ultimately was in. So I don`t think I`d be too quick to rush to judgment on the baby- sitter per se.

CASAREZ: John Manuelian, defense attorney out of Los Angeles, even if the little boy had done it before, does that negate a duty of the baby- sitter, in December weather that`s in the 30s in Houston, to have him go out without a jacket? We don`t even know how far it was at this point. He could have been walking on the city streets to get from one door to the next. We know it was close, but we don`t know how close.

JOHN MANUELIAN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Jean, Jonathan Foster was 12 years old. There`s always a duty to protect minors. And in this case, what I want to know is who the baby-sitter is. How old is that baby-sitter? How many times has that baby-sitter watched Jonathan? How long did that baby- sitter wait before the baby-sitter notified the authorities or the parents that Jonathan was missing? These are all relevant questions, and the key to the prosecution in this case, or at least investigation in this case, is to start with the baby-sitter and work backwards.

CASAREZ: That is right. And in the meantime, we`ve got to find Jonathan Foster. He`s just 12 years old. Let`s show everybody. He`s white male, fair complexion, 4 foot, 7 inches tall, 85 pounds. He also has a visible overbite. That is one of his characteristics. He was wearing a tan shirt with a guitar on it. He had his jeans on. He had black-and- white tennis shoes with red stripes, but no coat. He didn`t have a coat on, and he hasn`t been seen since Christmas Eve.

To Sheryl McCollum joining us tonight. She is a crime scene investigator, Pine Lake PD. The fact that it was the holidays, the fact that everyone has been involved with the extreme weather and thoughts were taken away from maybe this little boy -- have we lost three days here now?

SHERYL MCCOLLUM, CRIME ANALYST: We`ve lost an incredible amount of time. The fact that it`s Christmas Eve makes it sound intra-familial. They`re going to look at the person that last saw him. They claim the family`s cooperative, Jean, but we still don`t have a timeline. Why after 72 hours are there conflicting reports from family? That makes no sense to me.

So the stepfather -- they`re going to look at custody issues. They`re going to look at who last saw him. They`re going to look at whatever problems might have been going on in that home that hadn`t been reported to police. Come on, Jean. We know that happens. Children are abused all the time, and the police don`t know it until sometimes it`s too late.

CASAREZ: It`s very confusing that police are so confused at this point, Houston Police Department. Joe Gomez, reporter from KTRH Newsradio -- so his mother is at work on Christmas Eve. About 1:45, she gets a phone call, Joe Gomez?

GOMEZ: That`s right, from a mysterious person who called her at work. You know, she got the message. She goes to pick up the phone. But then when she picks up the phone, the person on the other end clicks off, hangs up the receiver. Who was it? The person on the other line said they had an emergency to tell her. Well, this was moments after little Jonathan Foster disappeared. Now, this adds more fuel to the theory, did he really run away or was he taken, Jean?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So bleakly (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Twelve-year-old Jonathan Foster vanished from his northwest Houston neighborhood on Christmas Eve.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Granny loves you, little fella. Hang in there!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A search for a missing boy grows more desperate by the hour.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Along the train tracks and through the thick brush near Garden Oaks.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Rescue teams searching by foot, all-terrain vehicle and more.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A search for a missing boy grows more desperate by the hour.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But at this hour, his disappearance remains a mystery, as the area is searched for clues.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The mysterious call came in just before 2:00 in the afternoon, a few minutes after the boy`s stepdad reportedly saw Foster at his home.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And the clock ticks down.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`re going to be going into some areas today that are pretty treacherous.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Treacherous for volunteers on ATVs and nearly impassable for volunteers on foot. Foster suffers from attention deficit disorder. According to his grandmother, he can easily become confused.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: I`m Jean Casarez of "In Session," in for Nancy Grace tonight. We have got some breaking news coming in right now. Texas authorities have just issued an Amber Alert for 12-year-old Jonathan Foster. Under Texas law, a child must be under 17 and authorities must believe that an abduction has taken place. This is extremely critically important news because this is showing they do not believe it is a domestic issue. They believe an abduction has taken place of this little boy in the Houston, Texas, area, very close to major interstate highways in this country. He was last seen on Christmas Eve.

I want to go back out to Rupa Mikkilineni, producer for NANCY GRACE. So he`s at the baby-sitter at 1:45 in the afternoon Christmas Eve. Do we even know if he got to his house to get those video games?

MIKKILINENI: Jean, it`s confusing again because we`ve heard so many conflicting stories. But we believe -- police do believe that he did make it back to his apartment that he shares with his mother and stepfather. In fact, a neighbor puts him -- they believe a neighbor witness saw him there approximately at 1:45 at his home.

And let`s think about this. He was not wearing a coat, so he was actually wearing a T-shirt when he vanished. Somebody saw him wearing this T-shirt and jeans, no jacket. We believe it`s possibly the stepfather. So yes, we believe that he most likely vanished from his home.

CASAREZ: The stepfather being possibly the last one to see him, but now police issuing an Amber Alert, believing there has been an abduction. To Pat Brown, criminal profiler and author of "The Profiler," your thoughts on everything we`ve learned tonight, including this breaking news of an Amber Alert being issued in Texas.

PAT BROWN, CRIMINAL PROFILER: Well, like you say, there`s a lot of confusion here because I think a lot of questions aren`t really being answered. Like, I don`t understand -- he was seen -- the stepfather (INAUDIBLE) seeing him, but what about the baby-sitter? When did she actually report that he did not get back there, in comparison to when that phone call was made? Because to me, the phone call should have been made by only one of three people, the stepfather, who maybe something went wrong in the home and he started to make the phone call, the baby-sitter, when realized the child wasn`t there, or the boy on a cell phone saying, Help, help, somebody`s attacking me. But certainly, an abductor isn`t going to make that phone call.

So I think that`s the whole thing. Putting that timeline together and finding out -- you really get those people in there and get those statements from those people to find out where this child really was at what time.

CASAREZ: And obviously they have to a point, because of issuing that Amber Alert, that law enforcement investigation`s confirming at this point that they believe an abduction of this little boy, hours before he was to get presents from Santa Claus, occurred in that area.

To Jessica in Maryland. Hi, Jessica.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Jean. I hope you had a merry Christmas. I have two questions. Do they know where the biological father is of this boy?

CASAREZ: I was thinking the same thing. To Joe Gomez, reporter, KTRH Newsradio, coming to us live tonight from Houston, Texas. Any word on who the biological father would be? But yet, Joe, I have to say, I don`t think authorities would issue an Amber Alert if they believe in any respect that there was a domestic abduction of the child.

GOMEZ: Oh, no, you`re right, Jean. I mean, right now, as far as we understand, all parents are cooperating with police. Police aren`t revealing any details, if they think the father, the biological father, you know, may be under suspicion for having abducted little Jonathan Foster. But as of this point, everybody`s working with police.

They`re just trying to find out -- they`re just trying to find him! This 12-year-old little boy who gets easily confused, vanishes on Christmas Eve, Christmastime, when people are supposed to help each other. Certainly, he wasn`t expecting his abductor to take him on Christmas Eve, for goodness sakes!

CASAREZ: And such a time for it to happen. To Dr. Doug Bremner, M.D., professor of psychiatry and radiology and also author of "Before You Take That Pill" -- to have a little boy abducted on Christmas Eve -- is that just a prime time for someone to lure a little boy away from his home and from his family?

DR. DOUG BREMNER, PROFESSOR OF PSYCHIATRY: Well, this really is a tragic case, Jean. Whether it`s a prime time to be able to lure a little boy away or not, I don`t know. I mean, I guess you can say that there`s some special thing that had to do with Christmas Eve that he was being invited for. I mean, this case has so many questions to it.

I was wondering about what happened to the biological father. The police now say that all the parents are cooperating, so that makes it look like maybe this is a stranger who abducted the child and we`re worried about a pedophile.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When she got to the phone, no one was there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She says the mysterious call came in just before 2:00 in the afternoon.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I`m asking for (INAUDIBLE) help.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A search for a missing boy.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We need to find this little boy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My daughter was at work.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Twelve-year-old Jonathan Foster.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And he called at her job.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Vanished from his northwest Houston neighborhood on Christmas Eve.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Said it was an emergency.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The mysterious call came in just before 2:00 in the afternoon.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And then when she got to the phone, no one was there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A few minutes after the boy`s stepdad reportedly saw Foster at his home.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jonathan, baby, if you can hear Granny, Granny loves you, little fella. Hang in there! We`re looking. We`re trying our best, baby.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: I`m Jean Casarez of "In Session," in for Nancy Grace tonight. We are learning more information right now. Local CNN affiliate KTRK in Houston has just reported that police are not only suspecting foul play in this case, possibly kidnapping, even murder, but they are also interviewing currently the mother and stepfather separately. This is what CNN affiliate KTRK has just posted.

I want to go out -- we are taking your calls live -- to Katrina in Texas. Katrina, what part of Texas are you in?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I`m in McKinney.

CASAREZ: You`re in McKinney, Texas, which is north of Dallas, Texas. Well, your -- thank you for calling. Your thought or your question?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. Is that a high crime rate? Have any other children went missing in that area?

CASAREZ: All right, good. Let`s go out to Joe Gomez, reporter, KTRH Newsradio. Joe, Christmas season -- have you heard any other reports of missing children in the area?

GOMEZ: No, this is the first report. Little Jonathan -- I mean, this -- this -- Jonathan is the first child to have disappeared during the Christmas season. And certainly, the fact that he vanished on Christmas Eve makes it even more mysterious that police are investigating his stepfather and his mother separately. Well, this close to the holidays, I guess you`d wonder who would have access to a child. I suppose it would be the family, wouldn`t it? It just makes this all very interesting.

CASAREZ: To Sheryl McCollum, crime analyst of cold case squad, Pine Lake PD, when I say that this is prime time to abduct a little boy, here`s what I`m saying. They lure them in, Sheryl McCollum, and to say, Oh, I`ve got a present for you or Santa Claus has a present for you, or even somebody dressed up like Santa Claus. I mean, it can be a prime time to abduct a little boy.

MCCOLLUM: Anything is possible. I think the fact they`re interviewing them separately is the right move. That`s good policing. I would concentrate on the stepfather, the last person that we know saw him. Children don`t vanish. And the whole business about bringing up that he`s ADD -- he did well in school. He could find his way home from A to B. That child did not have a problem. They need to stick to that family. Christmas Eve is intra-familial.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jonathan, baby, if you can hear Granny, Granny loves you, little fella! Hang in there. We`re looking. We`re trying our best, baby.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We all want him home safe.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Which is why for now the search goes on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: I`m Jean Casarez of "In Session" in for Nancy Grace.

This little boy, Jonathan Foster, 12 years old, also has a very visible overbite. And we want to show everybody what he was wearing the last time he was seen on Christmas Eve afternoon. He was wearing tan t- shirt with a guitar on it, he had his jeans on and black and white tennis shoes with a red stripe.

Look at this little boy. There`s the tip line. He wasn`t wearing any coat at all. He was just going from the babysitter`s go get his video games and take them back to the babysitter. He never arrived back.

I want to go out to Bernadette in Ohio. Good evening, Bernadette.

BERNADETTE, CALLER FROM OHIO: Good evening, Jean. And thank you for taking my call.

CASAREZ: You`re very welcome. Thanks for calling.

BERNADETTE: My question is, again, about the emergency phone call the mother received at work. If they can`t trace that call as to where it came from, can they at least check the phone records of the babysitter and the stepfather to see if maybe, at least confirm yea or nay as to whether or not the call came from either one of those places?

CASAREZ: Sheryl McCollum, very quickly, can`t they trace a call like that? The hard line.

MCCOLLUM: Absolutely, no question. No question. From a cell phone or a hard line. And Jean, the grandmother said he called her. So we know it was male, from the grandmother.

CASAREZ: All right. Very, very mysterious. An emergency call saying there is something wrong. And then somebody just hangs up. It just doesn`t make sense.

Tonight, let us stop to remember Marine Lance Corporal Daniel McVicker, 20 years old, from Alliance, Ohio. He had a passion for life. He lived every moment to the fullest. He loved playing flag football, soccer, baseball and basketball. He had a love for music. And you know what he dreamed of becoming, he wanted to become a chef.

He was awarded the National Defense Service Medal, Good Conduct Medal, Iraq Campaign Medal, Global War on Terrorism Medal, and the Purple Heart. He leaves behind his parents Mark and Irma McVicker, William and Carrie Messner, and siblings Eddie and Molly.

Daniel McVicker, an American hero.

Thank you so much to all of our guests. We will see you tomorrow night, 8:00 sharp Eastern. Until then, good night, everybody.

END