Return to Transcripts main page

NANCY GRACE

Missing Nebraska Teen`s Body Found

Aired January 24, 2011 - 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. Nebraska, a parent`s worst nightmare, Mommy goes to get the 14-year-old girl up and ready for school. She`s gone. Bombshell tonight. Within hours of Mommy reporting her girl missing, the body of a young girl discovered just 15 miles away at a local cemetery. What happened to 14- year-old Kailee? We want answers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) 14-year-old girl.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She was a beautiful child. She loved life.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nebraska mother, Nora Clapp, says she last sees her daughter, Kailee, around 9:30 PM getting ready for bed.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) for school. She`s gone.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Officers began investigating the report as just that, a missing person.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Then a disturbing clue, a pool of blood.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In an alley less than 100 yards from the back door of Kailee`s home.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Within hours, an all-out search turns tragic.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Kailee`s body was found in a field about 15 miles from her home, near a cemetery.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We want to see justice for Kailee, (INAUDIBLE) whatever the law hands out to him.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As we learn of a threatening FaceBook posting, an arrest goes down.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A person of interest, 18-year-old Stathis Kirkpatrick, has been taken into custody, but no charges have yet been filed.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What was his connection to Kailee`s brutal death?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Someday, in eternity, he`ll get his justice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: And tonight, live, Lubbock, Texas. A 15-year-old girl leaves home for a baby-sitting job and vanishes. Cops first say runaway, but in a stunning twist, obtain grainy surveillance video showing the teen forced against her will into a local motel room and then into a parking lot, never seen again, the video clearly showing the girl cowering in fear of her kidnapper. Prime suspect? The daddy, the daddy of the little children she baby-sat. Tonight, where is Elizabeth?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Missing 15-year-old Elizabeth Ennen.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just want to understand!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Motel video shows Elizabeth in extreme danger and clearly afraid as suspect Umberto Salinas, Jr. (ph), allegedly forces her into a motel room and later into a parking lot.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I never dreamed this. I mean, I wouldn`t have ever!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This child was almost a hostage like (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The little girl was really, really, really stiff. I mean, she`s walking stiff, almost robot-like.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She spotted Elizabeth and her alleged kidnapper together at a Dollar General.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He put her in the car like a bag of garbage. You know, he just, like, threw her in there.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Elizabeth disappeared during the early morning hours after baby-sitting for close family friends at the Carriage House motel.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The friends say they dropped the 15-year-old off, but her mom, Virginia, says...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She just never came (INAUDIBLE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now she`s a missing person. Police say getting her home is their priority.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us. Bombshell tonight. Live, to the heartland McCook, Nebraska, a parent`s worst nightmare. Mommy goes to get her 14-year-old girl up and ready for school. She`s gone. Within hours, the body of a young girl found 15 miles away at a local cemetery. What happened to 14-year-old Kailee?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Missing 14-year-old Kailee Clapp.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She loved jet skiing with her father and dreamed of being a photographer one day.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A body has been found in a field.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That dream has been cut short.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nebraska police say Kailee was reported missing early Friday morning by her mother, who last saw her the night before.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was not an indication at that time that the young lady was in danger.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A pool of blood was reportedly found in an alley within 100 yards of the home, believed to be Kailee`s blood.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) consideration the agony.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Agony over the loss of her 14-year-old daughter, Kailee. She says she just wants justice.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You want to see justice.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There are reports her body was mutilated. Cause of death has yet to be released.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police have taken an 18-year-old male into custody, saying he`s a person of interest in the case. Stathis Kirkpatrick is being held on $1 million bond. No charges have been filed against him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Straight out to George Keltz, news director KODY, North Platte. What can you tell us, George? What do you know?

GEORGE KELTZ, KODY NEWSTALK (via telephone): Well, so far this evening, the information is a little sketchy still as we continue in this process this evening. However, authorities are zeroing in on the case. There`s still a lot of leads yet to be answered. However, the disappearance of Kailee Clapp, which was informed (ph) by police early Friday morning of her disappearance by her mother -- and as the day wore on, more information became available and police decided to develop leads in this case.

GRACE: OK...

KELTZ: And here we are at this point in this investigation.

GRACE: So what I`ve just learned from George is that we`ve got leads in the case, that her mother reported her missing.

Let`s take it from the beginning. Jean Casarez, what happened, that we know?

JEAN CASAREZ, "IN SESSION": Thursday night, her mother and her sister saw her getting ready for bed in their home. The next morning, a little after 7:00, she was gone. The mother immediately reports her missing. It is indicated in the initial report that there is no endangerment at all of this little girl. But yet, 100 yards from the back door, Nancy, there was a pool of blood.

GRACE: You know, Jean, that`s what I don`t understand. Once again, cops say runaway. How can they say runaway when there`s a pool of blood feet from her back door? Help, Jean!

CASAREZ: I don`t know. And that day really doesn`t seem like too much was done in the afternoon, a little bit of investigation. That night, her body was found, reportedly at least partially dismembered, in a cemetery nearby the home.

GRACE: OK. At the beginning -- let`s go back to square one. Mommy wakes up, goes in there to wake her up to get her ready for school. She`s gone. What time was she seen last the night before, Jean?

CASAREZ: At 10:30 by the sister.

GRACE: OK, what was she doing, getting ready for bed, right?

CASAREZ: Getting ready for bed.

GRACE: At 10:30 PM. So I assume she and sister had separate rooms. You`re seeing shots there in the home -- the little girl getting ready for bed the night before, all her little things laying beside her bed to get up for the next morning for school.

To Alexis Weed, our producer on the story. What more can you tell me, Alexis?

ALEXIS WEED, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: I can tell you that right now, there is a teenager, an 18-year-old male, who`s in custody right now with police in McCook. His name is Stathis Kirkpatrick. And he`s being held there right now, Nancy, on no charges at all. He does have an arraignment scheduled for the 27th of January.

GRACE: Now, this was not her boyfriend, was it?

WEED: The mother says no. And police are not telling us today why it is that they say he`s connected to this case.

GRACE: OK, Marc Klaas, president and founder, Klaas Kids Foundation - - everybody, we are taking your calls live -- the body of this young girl found just a few miles from home at a local cemetery, mutilated, possibly dismembered. Her mom sees her, the sister sees her the night before, 10:30, getting ready to go to bed. Mommy goes in to wake her up the next morning for school. She`s gone. She is gone!

Marc Klaas, this is a worst nightmare because you see your child, you put your child to bed, you lock the doors. Everything`s fine. You wake up the next morning, they`re gone.

MARC KLAAS, KLAAS KIDS FOUNDATION: Yes. The problem -- the real problem here, as you have outlined, is the whole idea that law enforcement loves to jump on the runaway scenario. If they have no fallback position, they say the child was run away. It tends to absolve them of responsibility and puts the burden of recovery on the shoulders of the parents.

What this does, though, is it underlies a misunderstanding of the dangers faced by America`s youth. Even in a runaway situation, you know, perhaps 100,000 to 200,000, 100,000 to 300,000 American kids are subject to human trafficking, underage sex trafficking in the course of a year. The predominant number of these children are runaways and runaway girls. So the fact that they`ve run away doesn`t mean that this is something we can turn our backs on. We have to be able to have protocols to deal with this issue much better than it`s being dealt with right now.

I think we`re really uncovering something, in fact, over the course of this series, Nancy. And that`s the fact that law enforcement loves to call a kid a runaway when there`s absolutely nothing pointing in that direction, except for the fact that the child has suddenly disappeared.

GRACE: And I want to clarify. And I don`t know why this should even make a difference, Marc Klaas. This 18-year-old young man was not her boyfriend. This was of no doing of her own. And what is so scary is that somebody can get into your house and take a child out without you even knowing it.

KLAAS: Well, in fact, they can get into your house in a number of ways. Even if you have your windows and doors locked, they can always get into your house via the computer. They can lure children out, children who are unsuspecting as to exactly who it is they`re going to meet. They think they`re going to meet a peer, when in fact, oftentimes -- and I know that this may not be the case here -- oftentimes, they`re meeting a very dangerous predator who is much their senior and has absolutely nothing in common with the faux profile they have put together to lure the child.

GRACE: To C.W. Jensen, retired police captain, Portland, Oregon. C.W., weigh in.

C.W. JENSEN, RET. PORTLAND POLICE CAPTAIN: Well, I want to kind of disagree a little with Marc. I mean, in law enforcement, we get so many teenage children that run away, it becomes our default. And it`s really not that we`re doing anything wrong. But we look at the circumstances and say, This girl left. I assume that she left with clothing. I assume she left with her cell phone. So in that kind of circumstance, you say to yourself...

GRACE: We don`t know that. We don`t know she left with her cell phone or her clothing.

JENSEN: I`m just giving you a scenario. That would cause me to say a runaway. Now, if there`s damage to the room, if there`s blood, if her wallet...

GRACE: There was blood!

JENSEN: ... her purse, her cell phone...

GRACE: Wait, wait, wait, wa-wait, wa-wait...

JENSEN: ... are there, then I would assume...

GRACE: Jensen! Jensen!

JENSEN: ... that something bad happened.

GRACE: Jensen...

JENSEN: Yes, ma`am?

GRACE: ... remember, I`m on your side, OK?

JENSEN: No, I am...

GRACE: But there was blood. There`s a pool of blood a few feet from the back door, a pool of blood!

JENSEN: And that was about 100 meters from the home, and they ultimately found that and ultimately arrested this kid. And believe me, he`s been charged with something, whether it`s a warrant or something. No one goes to jail without charges.

GRACE: We are taking your calls live. This 14-year-old girl -- the mommy and the sister see her getting ready for bed in her bedroom the night before, 10:30 PM. Mommy calls police 7:11 AM. It`s too late. The girl is gone. The killer dumps her body at a local cemetery. We are talking about in America`s heartland, McCook, Nebraska, this happens!

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I want to see justice for Kailee. I want -- whatever the law hands out to him is what the law hands out to him. I think that someday in eternity, he`ll get his justice then.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nebraska mother Nora Clapp says she last sees her daughter, Kailee, around 9:30 PM, getting ready for bed. Her older sister, Karen (ph), sees Kailee about an hour later. But the next morning, when they both get up to wake Kailee for school, the 14-year-old is missing. Then a disturbing clue, a pool of blood found just 100 yards away from the back door. Within hours, an all-out search turns tragic, ending with the discovery of a young female body just 15 miles away, the remains confirmed to be 14-year-old Kailee.

As we learn of a threatening FaceBook posting and an alleged sighting of Kailee that same morning at 3:30 AM, an arrest goes down. At this hour, an 18-year-old teen suspect is now in custody. What is his connection to Kailee`s brutal death?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Liz, I want to see that picture of that guy. What`s his name? Stathis Sebastian (ph) Kirkpatrick. No, I can see it closer up. How many -- oh! This is the piece of work that`s behind bars right now -- he`s not charged with murder yet -- an 18-year-old man? He was not a boyfriend, nothing. What was he doing around a 14-year-old girl?

We are taking your calls. To Elaine in Illinois. Hi, Elaine.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi, Nancy. I hope you`re feeling well.

GRACE: I feel great, and I am counting my blessings every day. Thank you for asking, dear. What`s your question, love?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. Yes. Can I just say real quick I mailed you a letter with a poem for Zahra Baker. And I hope you can read it.

GRACE: I will find it. I have not seen it yet, but we`ll get it on it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. Now, my question is, did it look like her bed was -- like she slept in it at all? And is there any forced entry?

GRACE: Good question. Let`s see the shot of the bed again. To Alexis Weed -- leave that shot up, Liz. Is this the way the bed was found the next morning, Alexis?

WEED: Nancy, we don`t know. Police will not talk to us about specifics of the case. We just know that she went to bed at around 10:30, after 10:30, when her...

GRACE: Wait a minute! Wait a minute!

WEED: ... sister last saw her.

GRACE: Wait, wait, wait, wait! Think, think, think! Use the old noggin, Alexis! Why would we have a video of her bedroom if it wasn`t taken the next day?

WEED: You asked...

GRACE: Why would you take video of an unmade bed for no reason?

WEED: ... if this was the way the bed was found when police came into the home. I don`t know who took the video and I don`t know, you know, at what point in the investigation the video was taken.

GRACE: What do you think, Marc Klaas? Marc, why would we even have the video if this was not the way it looked? We wouldn`t see it after the police had gone through and taken prints. This is most likely the way it looked when the mom found it the next morning.

Marc, weigh in on the likelihood of intruders coming into your home and taking your child.

KLAAS: Well, it`s most likely if you leave windows or doors unlocked. Unfortunately, that was the case in Polly`s situation. You want to lock your windows. You want to lock your doors. And I think it`s a great idea to have a nice, big dog in your house that can push any intruders out. They`re looking for the easy mark.

But as I said earlier, the other way for them to do it is to go in through the Internet, through the social networking sites, through various chat rooms. And those are almost the most unprotected ways to do it now because there`s been very little legislation on either the state or the national level...

GRACE: And you know what else, Marc...

KLAAS: ... protecting kids against -- protecting kids against the intrusion of predators.

GRACE: Marc, there`s also those home protection alarm systems. They`re $99, Marc, $99! They cover all your windows and the doors. An alarm will go off. You set it before you go to bed at night.

KLAAS: Sure.

GRACE: If anybody opens up the door, it goes off. It is $99. Out to the lines.

KLAAS: There...

GRACE: Go ahead. Go ahead, Marc.

KLAAS: Well, I was going to say, there are many ways to protect yourself in the home, from carrying a weapon to a baseball bat to a dog to an alarm system, to simply locking your windows and doors.

GRACE: To Donna in Massachusetts. Hi, Donna.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Nancy. Thank you for being the voice for so many people that when you come into our homes every night at 8:00 o`clock, you bring awareness that you have no idea what you do for people. I mean, a thousand times thank you. But anyways, my question is, is that a 14- year-old, knowing -- I have a teenager -- will never, ever give up their belongings. Were there any belongings found in this boy`s home or...

GRACE: Good question. To Jean Casarez, legal correspondent, "In Session." Jean, what do we know?

CASAREZ: Here`s what we know. Arresting charges have happened (ph) probable cause that he committed a crime. What evidence was found in his possession or in his car, we don`t know. But a pool of blood in an alleyway means there must be a lot of blood other places, if the body was found subsequently at a cemetery.

GRACE: You`re right, Jean Casarez. When we come back, we`ll go to Caryn Stark. Why dump the girl`s body at a cemetery?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Officers began investigating the report as just that, a missing person. There was not an indication at that time that the young lady was in danger.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A body found in a Nebraska field is believed to be that of a missing 14-year-old girl last seen Thursday night. Police say Kailee Clapp was reported missing from her home early Friday by her mother. She was last seen inside her home the night before. Reports soon emerged cops found a pool of blood in an alley less than 100 yards from the back door of Kailee`s home. Several hours later, Kailee`s body was found in a field about 15 miles from her home, near a cemetery. A person of interest, 18-year-old Stathis Kirkpatrick, has been taken into custody. Cops won`t say how Kirkpatrick is connected to Kailee.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: We are taking your calls live. Out to Allison in Nebraska. Hi, Allison.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Nancy. Our family loves to watch you every night.

GRACE: Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am less than an hour-and-a-half away from there, and I am very bothered by the fact that I didn`t see anything on the TV about this. I didn`t hear anything on the radio until after they found the body. I also wondered -- I know the girl had an older sister. Did she have any relationship with this 18-year-old guy?

GRACE: Good question. What do we know about that? To George Keltz, KODY. Was there any connection to this 18-year-old?

KELTZ: Nancy, as far as we know, there wasn`t any connection to the 14-year-old. That`s something that police have yet to be identified.

GRACE: OK.

KELTZ: But as our knowledge is concerned right now, we don`t have any information on that.

GRACE: OK, so right now, no connection. That`s what I was told, too.

Unleash the lawyers, Peter Elikann, Carmen St. George. But first to Caryn Stark. Caryn, dumping the body at a cemetery?

CARYN STARK, PSYCHOLOGIST: It sounds ritualistic, Nancy. It sounds like maybe this was part of some kind of ritual that these kids were doing. I mean, if you think about a cemetery at night, it`s scary. And her body was possibly dismembered or mutilated, they said. And so either maybe they wanted to frighten her, or they were doing something that made them want to use a cemetery as a backdrop.

GRACE: Well, I think the worst was already over since a pool of blood was just outside her door. Regina in Nebraska. Hi, Regina. what`s your question?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Nancy. Thank you so much for coming to our small town. I live here in McCook, and we`re a town in shock tonight.

GRACE: I`m sure you are. Do you know this 18-year-old boy?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don`t know him personally, but I have two daughters about the same age. And yes, he`s known. Yes.

GRACE: He`s known as what?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, he`s known as, you know, a local troublemaker around. He has been known as that.

GRACE: But Peter Elikann and Carmen St. George, that evidence would never come in at trial. His reputation, Peter Elikann, would never come in.

PETER ELIKANN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: That`s true. They don`t want to just know generally does a teenager have a reputation as being kind of a wild guy. They really want to zero in on the specifics. How do you tie him into this murder? That`s what the case will be about, not his general reputation.

GRACE: What about it, Carmen?

CARMEN ST. GEORGE, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Nancy, they`re going to look at forensics and maybe investigate some computer images or text messages or any communications that she may have had.

GRACE: Tip line, 308-345-5440.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: It took more than two weeks to classify Elizabeth as a missing person.

CAPT. GREG STEVENS, LUBBOCK POLICE: There wasn`t anything really it go on to say, well, OK, if -- what is it that shows that the child has been abducted?

DENA BOSWELL, WITNESS: A runaway can do -- you know, can come and go as they pleased. This child was almost like hostage-like.

STEVENS: Nobody -- nobody could tell us right then that they saw the child forced into a car.

BOSWELL: Like I said, I had no clue this child was missing at all until the next day.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: So the police had put that picture of her out there sooner.

BOSWELL: I would have grabbed the little girl and I would have kicked him, tried to do everything I could to keep him back from her.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Not a runaway like the police had originally thought.

VIRGINIA ENNEN, MOM OF MISSING 15-YEAR-OLD GIRL, ELIZABETH: They are investigating it and still looking for her. They told me they are optimistic. Just to stay strong.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

NANCY GRACE, HOST: I am hearing in my ear that the body of Elizabeth Ennen, just 15 years old, went to babysit, never was seen again. Then grainy surveillance video emerges of her being forced into a local motel and then back out into the parking lot a couple of hours later.

The perpetrator in that video, the father, the daddy of the little children she was babysitting. In the last 15 minutes, we learned her body has been found.

Out to Stephanie Berzinski, reporter, KAMC, joining us from Lubbock.

Stephanie, what happened?

STEPHANIE BERZINSKI, REPORTER, CNN AFFILIATE KAMC: Nancy, we were just informed about 30 minutes ago by police that they discovered a body in northwest Lubbock County. It`s actually about 20 miles from where Elizabeth was first abducted.

GRACE: To Michael Board, WOAI Newsradio joining us out of San Antonio. So the fact that the cops first labeled her a runaway, people saw her in a parking lot. If they had known she was kidnapped. If they had ever seen her face before, that lady would have stopped this guy.

MICHAEL BOARD, REPORTER, WOAI NEWSRADIO: And what`s tragic in this case, Nancy, is we know she went missing on the 5th. The next day, they went to her house to talk to her mom. She wasn`t there. They finally interviewed her mom on January 7th. It wasn`t until the 20th that they interviewed this guy, Humberto Salinas.

What happened for two weeks? What were the police doing for two weeks that they were not looking at, you know, footage from this motel. Shouldn`t that have been one of the first things they did in this case? Because they knew that she was there. Why not check the security camera footage in that motel. What were they doing for two weeks?

GRACE: Ellie Jostad, what do you know?

ELLIE JOSTAD, NANCY GRACE CHIEF EDITORIAL PRODUCER: Police are telling us that they cannot yet confirm that this is her. Obviously, they are going to need to do an autopsy, I.D. the body. But they say there are local reports saying that this is the body of a young female found just outside of Lubbock. It`s about 13 miles or so northwest of her home near the town of Shallow Water, Nancy.

GRACE: Well, Ellie, how many dead girls are there in Lubbock? Are you telling me that there`s more than her that we don`t know who the girl`s body is? It could be another missing girl`s body?

JOSTAD: Right. That`s not what I am telling you at all, Nancy. But it`s the usual scenario where police tell us they do have a body but they won`t tell us who that body is right now.

GRACE: Take it from the top, Ellie, what happened?

JOSTAD: OK. Well, this is January 4th, going into the morning of January 5th. Elizabeth is babysitting for some family friends, it is a friend of her mother`s, his wife, their children. She was -- some say she was dating. Her family says it wasn`t really a dating scenario. She called it kind of liked their eldest son.

She`s babysitting for them. She never comes home that night. Now according to the suspect, he says that she wanted to go home at about 1:00. He bundled up the little kids, took them in the car, dropped her off, he says he saw her open the screen door and, you know, start to go inside her house.

But her family says she never got inside. Now police uncovered a surveillance video that tells a different story about what happened that night.

GRACE: Michael Board, go through the surveillance video. What do you see on the surveillance video?

BOARD: It`s totally creepy when you first know the way that Salinas talked to police. When Salinas was interviewed by police he says, I love this girl. She`s like a daughter to me. And then, on the surveillance video, what we are told you see on this, is he -- you know forcing her back into the hotel room.

She tried to run at one point.. He grabbed her by the arm and forced her back into his motel room. At another point, you can see on the video, he is chasing her down the hallway and corners her.

Is that the way you treat a girl that you tell police, no, she`s like a daughter to me. It just doesn`t make sense, Nancy.

GRACE: Pick it up at the beginning, Liz. Let`s go through what we know about that video, grain surveillance video emerges and we learn what happened before this girl went missing.

A 15-year-old girl, Elizabeth Ennen, goes to babysit, at 6:18 p.m. She enters the hotel -- the motel with Humberto Salinas to babysit his children. He leaves with his wife and her sister, like 30 minutes later. 10:48 that night, he returns alone. It`s nearly 11:00. 11:47, the girl exits, walks down the hallway in a hurry carrying her shoes, trying to put her coat on.

He chases her. He returns her back, forcing her into the motel room. His arm under her jacket. This is midnight. Salinas and Ennen exit the room. He forces her into a hallway corner, grabbing her arm. The vehicle leaves the parking lot 12:01 a.m. Just 30 minutes later, he is back. Four minutes later, he leaves.

BOARD: Quick.

GRACE: Thirty minutes later, back to the hotel room. 1:23 a.m., he leaves the hotel room with his two young children. 2:00 a.m., he returns with wife, sister-in-law and children. 2:04, walks to the south entrance and meets Ennen`s mother. They walk into the motel room.

OK, what was the mother doing there, Michael Board?

BOARD: The mother, she -- we know that at one point that Salinas came back to Elizabeth`s home to drop off her purse. He said, you know, Elizabeth left her purse in my car. Here, I was bringing this back. And her mom says, well, she wasn`t here.

And at that point, Salinas, from what we`re told, told the mother, well, she might have -- she might be with my son. I know they were dating. So, you know, I`m sure there was a point where the mom was trying to --

GRACE: But they weren`t dating.

BOARD: Well, that`s what --

GRACE: And they were not dating. Let`s just clear this. So you`re saying that`s what he said.

BOARD: Salinas said that she might have -- Elizabeth might have run away with her son. That`s where we`re getting all this runaway talk. That`s why police originally thought this was a runaway. Because Salinas told Elizabeth`s mother that Elizabeth might have run away with her son.

GRACE: OK. Back to Stephanie Berzinski, joining us out of Lubbock, Texas. Explain to me what the woman in the parking lot, the footage we got of the lady in the parking lot, what she observed?

BERZINSKI: Nancy, she actually spotted Elizabeth and Salinas just last week, last Monday actually, outside that West Lubbock, Dollar General store. And she said she immediately noticed that there`s older man holding tightly to this young little girl and described her as walking robot-like.

She said the look in her eyes was just complete fear. And she -- for whatever reason, she said she was uncomfortable with stepping in between. But she hadn`t -- she didn`t know that that girl was even listed as a runaway until the following day when our story aired.

GRACE: We are talking your calls out to Pam in Florida. Hi, Pam.

PAM, CALLER FROM FLORIDA: Hi. How are you?

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

PAM: Well, let me tell you, I just wanted to thank you for all the things you do for the mothers and the parents of these children. The one thing I wanted to ask is -- and the thing that you`ve been showing tonight, do these kids have --

GRACE: I`m sorry. I couldn`t hear you. Could you start over, dear?

PAM: Yes. I just wanted to thank you for all that you do for all these children and their parents. And I wanted to ask you, do these kids have computers in their bedrooms and do their parents know their passwords?

GRACE: Good question. What do we know, Stephanie Berzinski?

BERZINSKI: I do know that Elizabeth did have a cell phone, did have Internet use. I do not know whether or not the mother had a password. But she`s a very protective mother. She kept a good eye on Elizabeth. And she even told us Elizabeth had baby-sat numerous times before for Humberto Salinas and the family.

GRACE: To Peter Elikan and Carmen St. George. Peter, defense attorney out of Boston, Carmen, in New York.

Peter Elikan, it`s lethal injection in Lubbock. This is a grown man. He is the father, the daddy of the children she was babysitting.

PETER ELIKAN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Yes. If this could all be proved against him, and certainly the evidence is starting to stack up a bit in early observations. He`s certainly facing the death penalty.

I don`t know why people commit crimes knowing there is video cameras everywhere anymore in this day and age. But if they do have them on there and the evidence is strong against them, maybe he should think about a deal to save his life, if they`ll even offer him one.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ENNEN: The last thing she told me when I talked to her was that she loved me.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Now, police are charging 45-year-old Humberto Salinas, Jr. with aggravated kidnapping in her disappearance.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Surveillance video at a local motel allegedly shows --

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Missing 15-year-old Elizabeth Ennen.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: -- being kidnapped and forced into room 113 at the Carriage House Motel, chased into a corner and finally forced into a parking lot.

BOSWELL: My first impression was, oh, my gosh, that beautiful little girl, why is she with that man? He is so old. The next day, I seen the little girl`s picture flashed up and I just -- that`s her, that`s the little girl that I seen.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: 45-year-old Humberto Salinas Jr. is now behind bars charged with aggravated kidnapping.

ENNEN: Yes, I`ve met him before and he didn`t mean -- he seemed to be nice.

BOSWELL: What I seen coming from over here, when I parked, coming from over here was an older man and a young girl. And my first impression was, oh, my gosh, that beautiful little girl. Why is she with that man? He is so old.

I noticed the little girl was really, really, really stiff. I mean she was walking stiff, almost robot-like. Later on that next day, I seen the little girl`s picture flashed up. And I just -- that`s her. That`s the little girl that I seen. That`s her. That`s the little girl.

It didn`t look to me like she was a runaway. Because a runaway can do -- you know come and go as they please. This child was almost hostage like. And he put her in the car like a bag of garbage. You know he just like threw her in there.

I want to choke him. I want him to tell her mother where she is at, her mother has lived so many weeks without her daughter. She needs her daughter.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: We are taking your calls out to Laura in North Carolina. Hi, Laura.

LAURA, CALLER FROM NORTH CAROLINA: Hi, Nancy. I have two questions. First of all, the lady that was just speaking who said that she seen the look of fear and him putting her in the car at the Dollar General, why did she not contact the police immediately? I mean --

GRACE: You know what, Laura, that was my question, too, when I was calling for that sound earlier to point out if I saw that, I would call police. I guess there is the general feeling out there that if it`s your child, you can abuse them.

What about it, Caryn Stark?

CARYN STARK, PSYCHOLOGIST: You hit the nail on the head, Nancy. I feel like people get afraid because they seem to believe that the person is connected. And yet really, nobody should be out there abusing a child. So why not take the risk?

Why not go forward and say, this doesn`t look good to me. If somebody says, you made a mistake. So you made a mistake. At least you erred on the side of caution.

GRACE: OK, Liz, can I go out on a limb and ask for that sound again? All right, here we go.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOSWELL: What I seen coming from over here when I parked, coming from over here was an older man and a young girl. And my first impression was, oh, my gosh, that beautiful little girl, why is she with that man? He is so old.

I noticed the little girl was really, really, really stiff. I mean, she is walking stiff, almost robot-like. Later on the next day, I seen the little girl`s picture flashed up. And I just -- that`s her. That`s the little girl that I seen. That`s her. That`s the little girl.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: To CW Jensen, Portland Police captain, retired.

CW, a lot of people always ask, why didn`t she run?

CW JENSEN, RETIRED PORTLAND POLICE CAPTAIN: Oh, many times children, and we see it a lot of times, when someone exerts a lot of control over them and fear. This poor little girl was assaulted, held against her will. They just give up. They give up and hope if I do what they say, I won`t get hurt.

And as we see in this case, and many other cases, that isn`t what happens. It just -- the violence just gets worse and worse and worse and escalates.

And to your point, if you see someone and it makes you visceral, it makes you scared or it makes you sick, that`s when you need to call the police. We all see things every day that seem goofy but when you see something that seems as just bizarre as this woman is describing, she really should have dropped the dime to 911.

GRACE: To Dr. Howard Oliver, former deputy medical examiner, forensic pathologist joining us out of L.A. Motels can be a very complicated scene to process. Why?

HOWARD OLIVER, FMR. DEPUTY MEDICAL EXAMINER, FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST: The thing that would complicate the scene there is that it`s cleaned daily or it`s supposed to be cleaned daily. There are multiple inhabitants at different times. So there would be a lot of DNA evidence. A lot of the evidence would be contaminated or even destroyed.

GRACE: Unleash the lawyers, Peter Elikan, Carmen St. George. Carmen St. George, defense attorney in New York, Peter Elikan, defense attorney, author of "Super Predators," joining us out of Boston.

Carmen, there is going to be no way around this. You know I remembered so many times saying to a jury, what else do you want? You want to see it on video? Well, this time, it is on video.

CARMEN ST. GEORGE, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, Nancy, I think one of the strongest things also that they have are observations of people who saw him in her custody. And also, he went in to the police voluntarily and made statements without representation of counsel. So whatever admissions he made are going to be a part of this investigation and probably a basis for establishing charges against him.

GRACE: What about it, Peter?

ELIKAN: Yes, I think the statements that he made, and I understand he made some statements that he may have already been caught in a lie. I think he mentioned that he was -- actually dropped her off with his children in the car, too, went along for the ride because he didn`t want to leave them alone in the hotel room.

But now witnesses are saying that he was, you know, escorting her out and driving her away by himself. So he`s already locked himself into a story. And he really started jabbing away to the police way too soon for his own good.

GRACE: But, you know -- back to you, Ellie Jostad, it may have been more complicated than we know. There may have been much more of a chance to save her than we know because they`ve got him on that surveillance video the night she was babysitting his children. But now we see her popping up at the Dollar General.

JOSTAD: Right, Nancy. And the other thing to keep in mind here, too, is that this suspect has a lengthy criminal history. He`s got a 1986 conviction for injury to a child. He`s got a conviction from just a couple of years ago for allegedly abusing his wife. He`s got a couple of DUIs, some theft charges. It`s not a good history for this man.

GRACE: To Micki in Texas. Hi, Micki.

MICKI, CALLER FROM TEXAS: Hi, Nancy, how are you?

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

MICKI: Nancy, this is in my stomach.

GRACE: Me, too.

MICKI: I feel like this little girl could have been saved if that lady would have just spoken up, just went over there to that little girl and asked her if she was OK.

My question is, where was this man`s wife supposedly?

GRACE: The wife. Where was the wife? OK.

To Stephanie Berzinski, where was the wife during all this? I know she played bingo or something with her sister or was with her sister for a period of time, but then she came back home.

BERZINSKI: Nancy, can you repeat that? I can`t hear you. I`m sorry.

GRACE: Ellie, where was the wife?

JOSTAD: He actually went that night to go play bingo. The wife, you`re right, did go out with her sister. That`s why they hired a baby- sitter.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Family friend, 45-year-old Humberto Salinas Jr. is now behind bars. When Virginia Ennen told him Elizabeth had never stepped inside, Salinas even offered his help to find her.

ENNEN: I was like, you`re kidding me. He took off looking around the neighborhood and looking anywhere and everywhere we could think of.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Joining us right now is her aunt, Elizabeth`s aunt, Lily Huckabee.

Miss Huckabee, I am so sorry.

LILY HUCKABEE, AUNT OF ELIZABETH ENNEN, GIRL BELIEVED TO BE DEAD: Thank you.

GRACE: So sorry.

HUCKABEE: I just want to thank the people who sent us prayers, thoughts, was willing to help. And just thank you so much for you all`s time and effort.

GRACE: Miss Huckabee, how is her family? They must be just devastated.

HUCKABEE: Yes, ma`am. We`re trying to get her mother under some sedation. She`s just -- she`s lost it. She`s a basket case right now.

GRACE: Miss Huckabee, who were these people? Who was Humberto Salinas? What connection did he have to the family?

HUCKABEE: His wife, common-law wife, had been with the family since she was 15. She is 28 now. For several -- I mean, several years.

GRACE: So her mother probably thought nothing about her going to baby-sit.

With me on the phone, Lily Huckabee, this is Elizabeth`s aunt. If you have information about what happened, 806-741-1000. Our prayers with Elizabeth`s family.

Let`s stop and remember Marine Lance Corporal Ryan Sorensen, 26, Boca Raton, Florida, killed Iraq. Awarded the Purple Heart. His funeral delayed so his newborn nephew, Jackson, could attend. Loved building, restoring cars including his `92 red Camaro.

Dreamed of being a race car mechanic. Leaves behind parents James and Rebecca, sister, Marie.

Ryan Sorensen, American hero.

Thanks to our guests but especially to you for being with us. And happy birthday to friend, Ashley. She came with her parents to one of my book signings and also visited our show.

Ashley, happy birthday.

And we need your help. New York friend Susan Barron, after battling breast cancer, finally gets home, takes her dog for a walk and is brutally attacked on the streets of New York. Fractured skull, ribs, bones, multiple stab wounds. This crime victim in need.

To find out more, go to friendsofsusanb.com and to help send donations to Friends of Susan Barron, PO Box 286, 527 3rd Avenue, New York, 10016.

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

END