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NANCY GRACE

Tennessee Mother of Four Missing Since Halloween

Aired November 15, 2011 - 20:00   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, Tennessee. An upscale Memphis-area neighborhood reeling after a beautiful young mom of four vanishes without a trace. Mommy picks up her 9-year-old little girl from a sleepover in the middle of the night, when the girl wants to come home. At 1:45 AM, Mommy and little girl go to sleep together. Four hours later, 9-year-old wakes up, Mommy is gone! Mommy`s white Nissan found abandoned, flat tire, less than a mile from home. Were Mommy`s clothes found in heavy brush nearby?

Bombshell tonight. After frantic text messages to Mommy`s best friend that night, was Mommy`s cellphone used again at 5:00 AM? CSI scours the family home and the 6-year-old daughter refusing to eat without Mommy, tonight, where is mother of four Karen Swift?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are more questions than answers into the disappearance of Tennessee mom of four Karen Swift.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are very worried, very concerned. If anyone has any information about her, please, please let us know.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Karen Swift was reportedly last seen by her husband, David Swift, with whom she was in the process of divorcing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Investigators took to the sky, looking for anything that could help them find Karen Swift.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Investigators searched this wooded area a few miles from her home. Swift was known to jog here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everybody was posting it on FaceBook, everybody that knew her, asking for prayers and to look for her.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are very concerned and very worried. And we want her to come home safe!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Investigators later found Swift`s vehicle, a white 2004 Nissan Murano with a flat tire in the northern Dyer County.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Friends report some of Karen`s clothing was found in the car and some was found in brush near the car.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At this time, we`re not ruling out foul play, but we need the evidence to point us there. We`ve had helicopters in this area. We`ve had bloodhounds. We`ve had numerous law enforcement on the ground. We`ve had assistance from the highway patrol.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We just want to know. We want to know she`s OK. And I love you, Mom!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us. Bombshell tonight. Upscale Memphis-area neighborhood reeling after a beautiful young mom of four vanishes without a trace. After frantic text messages to her best friend that night, was Mommy`s cellphone used again 5:00 AM? CSI scouring the family home, and her 6-year-old little girl refusing to eat without her mommy. Tonight, where is mother of four Karen Swift?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police are searching for a missing mom of four who was last seen inside her home.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Told me that they had reported her missing.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Deputies found her car with a flat tire.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Looking for any unknown tire tracks, any unknown items that might be in the area.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Friends report some of Karen`s clothing was found in the car and some was found in brush near the car.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) this is just unbelievable that she`s gone right now.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Investigators searched this wooded area a few miles from her home. Swift was known to jog here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The search for Karen Swift remains in full swing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police have searched the area with dogs and helicopters, but there`s been no sign of the missing mom.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Asking for prayers and to look for her.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`m in total shock, but I keep hoping for the best.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are very concerned and very worried. And we want her to come home safe!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What happened to Karen Swift?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: We are live and taking your calls. Where is Karen Swift? Mommy right in the middle of filing a divorce. She had just filed a divorce, husband living in the home with her. Was it like "The War of the Roses"? Let me announce right up front Daddy not a suspect. Four children left in the wake, including a 6-year-old and a 9-year-old.

What`s so disturbing, in addition to Mommy being gone, of course, is that Mommy is asleep in the bed with the 9-year-old little girl. She was at a sleepover that night. She wanted to come home to Mommy. Mommy gets up in the middle of the night, drives to the sleepover, brings the girl home, 1:45 AM, they both get in bed together, like I do with Lucy and John David every single night.

But when the 9-year-old wakes up, Mommy`s gone. The 9-year-old goes to the kitchen, goes to the den looking for Mommy. No Mommy! Where is Karen Swift?

We are taking your calls. Out to Bonnie Druker, our producer on the story. Bonnie, what can you tell me?

BONNIE DRUKER, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Well, as you mentioned, Nancy, this mother disappeared in the middle of the night. Here`s how the story goes down. The 6-year-old is at a party, a sleepover party for Halloween. She calls. She text messages her mother.

Her mother goes to pick her up, and then they get into bed when they get home and the mom is soothing the 9-year-old daughter, just as you would do with your daughter. The daughter wakes up and the mother is gone. The car is found several hours later on the side of the road, Nancy.

GRACE: I`m just thinking, Bonnie, when Lucy and John David wake up and they`ve been sleeping with me at night, and if I`m in the kitchen making their breakfast or their lunches for school or something, they get very, very upset that I`m not still there. They get very, very upset.

To David Lohr, senior crime reporter HuffingtonPost. All right, I`ve got the timeline. Mommy takes daughter sleepover, 1:45 AM, daughter wants to come home. She goes and gets the 9-year-old. The husband`s living in some other room in the house. He`s there with the children while she goes and picks up the daughter. Then what happens, David?

DAVID LOHR, HUFFINGTONPOST: Well, as you said, it`s 6:00 AM. The daughter wakes up. Mommy`s nowhere to be found. The husband notifies police. About a half a mile down the road, they locate her car, tires flat on the vehicle. She`s nowhere to be found.

They do find a neighbor who said he had spotted the car there about 5:30 that morning. He was concerned, pulled up behind it, shined his lights in there, but there was nobody inside.

And we also have reports that her cellphone had been used around 5:00 AM. Authorities have subpoenaed those records. But at this time, they`re not telling us whether that was an outgoing or incoming call. So we don`t know a lot there.

But you know, this mother just basically vanished in the middle of the night. And where she went, we don`t know.

GRACE: Hey, Liz, let`s see that house again. That is some shack! I`m particularly interested in the garage, a carport. Let me get that up as quickly as you can, Liz.

To Matt Zarrell, also -- hold on. Hold on. There you go. Let`s see, what can I see here? I think that the garage is over on the left as we`re looking at it. I bet those two windows are in the garage.

Do we know, Matt Zarrell, did Mommy park in the garage or not?

MATT ZARRELL, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: No, we don`t know yet. Her car has been taken to the TBI forensic lab for testing. They`re also still trying to figure out, Nancy, the flat tire, whether the flat tire was slashed or whether the air was let out of the tire and how the tire became flat. And then what happened when the tire became flat, who was driving the car. Was it Karen?

GRACE: We are taking your calls. With me right now exclusively is Karen`s mother, Carol Johnson. We are taking your calls. Carol Johnson, thank you for being with us.

CAROL JOHNSON, MISSING WOMAN`S MOTHER (via telephone): Yes. You`re welcome.

GRACE: Carol, we are putting your daughter`s picture up. Everyone, tip line 731-285-2802. You know, Carol, I don`t care if your daughter is grown up or not, you still want to talk to her all the time. I talked to my parents right before I came and sat in this anchor chair.

Let me ask you, when was the last time you spoke to Karen?

JOHNSON: I spoke with Karen on Friday afternoon between 6:00 and 6:30 on the 28th of October.

GRACE: And what did she say? What was on her mind at that time?

JOHNSON: Well, at the moment, she was putting the final touches on a Halloween party for the girls. They were going to do -- they had a bonfire. They were going to do a hay ride, mummy wrapping and maybe bobbing for apples. I`m not sure what. And we talked a little bit about her plans.

She had taken some training to be able to be trainer for -- they call it "Silver Sneakers," I think. And she was telling me some other things she had lined up. And she was really excited about what was going on in her life. And she had actually planned -- she had a job lined up in Pokinis (ph), Arkansas. And I was going to go down, and you know, help her a little bit and be with her.

GRACE: What job did she have lined up? What did she want to do?

JOHNSON: Some kind of landscaping. I`m not even sure where. But she told me she had one lined up in Pokinis and that she was going to come Wednesday and -- because I had helped her on some jobs before. And I asked her, I said, When are you coming back to Pokinis? And she said, well, she had one and that she would try to get to it Wednesday. But that never (INAUDIBLE)

GRACE: Hey, you know what? Carol -- everybody, with me is Karen`s mom. I`m seeing a shot of her. Let me see that again, Liz, if you don`t mind. She`s got on a black Nike shirt and a hat. But it looks like she was at a race.

It`s my understanding that she had just lost a lot of weight and that she was routinely working out and exercising. And the husband, who is not a suspect, didn`t like all this and the way that she was dressing now. She was wearing, well, what we all wear, bluejeans and T-shirts. There she is. She is at a race. Did she just finish a race, Ms. Johnson?

JOHNSON: She raced quite often, little marathons there in local areas, you know? And her little girls were even running some. Her little 6-year-old finished fourth in the 6 to 9-year-old in a mile about a week or so ago. Yes, she ran.

GRACE: She is absolutely gorgeous. Your daughter is gorgeous.

JOHNSON: Thank you.

GRACE: Had she just lost a lot of weight? What can you tell me about that?

JOHNSON: I don`t think she had lost a lot of weight. I mean, as the papers are stating, she weighed -- well, I won`t say what she weighed. No, I don`t think she -- she was just working herself up, is what she was doing.

GRACE: Oh, I see.

JOHNSON: She hasn`t lost a lot of weight.

GRACE: She had recently started -- yes, she looks beautiful. I don`t really see a difference, but I do know -- there she is with one of her trophies -- that she was working out, really getting into good shape. Is it true that she had just filed for divorce recently?

JOHNSON: Yes, she did file for divorce on October 10th.

GRACE: Why was the husband still living in the house?

JOHNSON: I really can`t answer that question, you know, because I wasn`t there.

GRACE: OK.

JOHNSON: I`m not there, so I couldn`t say. I do know that when she filed for divorce, she and the girls took a short vacation before he was notified of the divorce.

GRACE: OK. I`m reading you loud and clear. They left town. What do you think happened, Ms. Johnson?

JOHNSON: I don`t know. I wish I knew. I wish I knew where my daughter is. I wish I know if my daughter`s safe.

GRACE: You are seeing shots right now of Karen Johnson, (SIC) a mother of four. She goes to sleep with her 9-year-old little girl around 1:45 AM. They get into bed together. That morning, 6:00 AM, she`s gone. Her 6-year-old daughter now refusing to eat until Mommy comes home.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Preston Swift has been making a desperate plea for help ever since his mother vanished on October 30th. Preston remembers the last time he saw her.

PRESTON SWIFT, SON OF MISSING WOMAN: We met up at a college football game, me and my family, and I saw her then. I want to say about it was about three or four weeks ago.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Preston says nothing appeared to be out of the ordinary.

SWIFT: Everything seemed OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The single mother of four children disappeared after she picked up her daughter from a Halloween sleepover around 1:30 AM because her daughter was not feeling well. Hours later, Swift had vanished.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: While the search for Karen Swift remains in full swing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Karen Swift.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Seems to have vanished without a trace.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everything seemed OK. I`m very worried!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Reportedly last seen by her husband inside their home.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Searched this wooded area a few miles from her home.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Deputies found her SUV at this intersection.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And we want her to come home safe!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What happened to Karen Swift?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Karen Swift went missing from her home that`s right down this road.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Deputies found her car with a flat tire.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everybody that knew her asking for prayers and to look for her.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please let us know!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Tonight, the family begging for prayers, in the search for mom Karen Swift, mother of four, including a 6-year-old and 9-year-old little girl. The other two are boys.

We`re taking your calls. I want to go now to not only Karen (SIC) Johnson, the first interview that Karen`s mother has granted, but also Jenny Gurien. This is Karen`s very good friend. She`s the one that received those urgent text messages the night Karen goes missing.

Now, let me get a timeframe on that. Jenny joining us from Lexington, Tennessee. Jenny, thank you for being with us.

JENNY GURIEN, MISSING WOMAN`S FRIEND (via telephone): You`re welcome.

GRACE: Jenny, you and Karen were extremely close. She was texting you around 11:30 PM that evening?

GURIEN: Yes, ma`am. Well, she called me at 11:38, at 11:39. And then at 11:40, she sent me a text that said, Jenny, call me please. And I had went to bed at 11:00 o`clock.

GRACE: Did she leave a voicemail message when she called?

GURIEN: She did not. I didn`t even have -- I have a new phone, so my voicemail has not -- I hadn`t even had it set up yet.

GRACE: In her text message, she said, Call me please. Were there exclamation points?

GURIEN: Yes, she did.

GRACE: Was that normal for her?

GURIEN: It was normal for her to text me. She did that a lot. But for her to call me two times in a row, and then when I didn`t respond for her to then text me, that was -- that was -- I felt like that she was upset about something.

GRACE: So that was around 11:30 PM that evening. Her daughter was at a sleepover, the 9-year-old, anyway. Around 1:30, she finds out the daughter wants to come home. That`s not uncommon. And she is the one who gets up in the middle of the night and goes and brings the daughter home.

GURIEN: Right.

GRACE: 5:00 AM, her phone is used reportedly, our sources say, for a Google search. Did she normally go on her phone for Internet purposes?

GURIEN: Karen was always on her phone. She played games on her phone. She was -- she was on the Internet a lot on her phone. She did everything on her phone.

GRACE: Let me ask you, Jenny, have you been told what the Google search was for?

GURIEN: I have not. No, ma`am, I have not.

GRACE: Have police spoken to you?

GURIEN: I spoke to them a couple of times about our recent conversations and just things that were going on with her.

GRACE: What were your recent conversations about, the divorce?

GURIEN: Yes, she spoke with me about the divorce. And then she talked about her girls and just she was excited about, you know, getting her life together and doing the Silver Sneakers program. And she had been running 5Ks. And she was just very vibrant, very energetic, very happy and just very excited.

GRACE: Is it true, Jenny, that the husband, who is not a suspect, disapproved of the way she dressed and of her going to friends` homes and basically really having friends outside the home?

GURIEN: You know, Karen and David had problems just like any married couple. I know they were going through a divorce. I think their main interest -- the both of them -- was, you know, to make things as smooth as possible for their children. I think that was their common ground, was their kids.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Investigators took to the sky, looking for anything that could help them find Karen Swift.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Every day that we look, we are adding something to the investigation. We are either ruling things in or out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In the meantime, whether it`s by air or by ground, investigators are searching for clues to find a Dyer County mother who seems to have vanished without a trace.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: We are taking your calls. We are live in a Memphis suburb where a young mom of four goes missing. Take a look at Karen Johnson Swift. Her 6-year-old daughter won`t eat now until Mommy comes home, upset, depressed, withdrawn. Mommy`s car found on the side of the road.

Back to David Lohr, senior crime reporter, HuffingtonPost. For those of you just joining us, give me the timeline one more time, David. And I want to hear about the condition of the car. We`ve also had reported that clothes, reportedly belonging to Karen, were found near the abandoned car. Were those tires slashed? Was the air let out of the tires?

David Lohr, what do we know? We know she was not in the car at 5:30 when the neighbor drove by.

LOHR: Yes. Correct. We know she wasn`t in the car at 5:30. We know somebody used her phone at 5:00 AM. We know the vehicle has a flat tire. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, they currently have the vehicle. They`re not saying whether or not the tire was sliced or how it had gone flat yet.

Now, friends I spoke with, they said that some clothing, a gray zip- up, like someone would use for jogging, along with some jeans were found nearby. They said they`ve compared the mother`s DNA to those. Law enforcement, though -- they`re not confirming whether or not those items of clothing belong to her.

And I`d also like to point out, too, that when I spoke with her friends -- and as you mentioned how she liked to jog and everything -- where the car was found, about a half mile from the home, they said it would have been nothing for her to just hop out and jog home. She could have done it in a minute or two. They said she wouldn`t have called for help. She wouldn`t have sat there and waited for someone. She would have made her way back to the house.

GRACE: You know, you`re right, David Lohr. It was only about a quarter mile from the home.

Back to Jenny Gurien, Karen Swift`s friend that she tried desperately to contact that night around 11:30 PM. But take that in context of the timeline. She pick ups her daughter at 1:45 AM.

Jenny, it`s been reported to us that there was a lot of animosity from the husband about the divorce. He didn`t like the way she dressed in T- shirts and jeans. He didn`t like her going to friends` houses or going out with any of her friend girls. Can you confirm any of that?

GURIEN: I can tell you that he did not want the divorce. You know, he loved his family, wanted them to stay together. As far as any personal problems they had, I cannot comment on that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We want to know she`s OK, and I love you, mom.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Preston Swift has been making a desperate plea for help ever since his mother vanished.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Investigators took to the sky looking for anything that could help them find Karen Swift.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At this time, we`re not ruling out foul play.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Swift was last seen at her home early Sunday morning. The mother of four children had just returned home from a party.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If anyone has any information about her, please, please let us know.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Investigators found possible evidence between Swift`s home and the intersection where her vehicle was found.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are fairly confident that some of the items we`ve got would definitely be tied to this case.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Investigators are searching for clues that find a dyer county mother who seems to have vanished without a trace.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We met up at a college football game, me and my family, and I saw her then. I want to say it was about three or four weeks ago. Everything seemed OK. If my mother is out there --

(END VIDEO TAPE)

GRACE: We are live in a Memphis area suburb where a beautiful young mom of four goes missing as she lies sleeping with her 9-year-old little girl, in bed with her. Where is Karen? Unleash the lawyers.

Joining us, Jason Oshins, defense attorney New York and New Jersey. A. Scott Bolden, defense attorney, Washington, D.C.

OK, Jason Oshins, why do I keep seeing the sons begging to find mommy? The relatives? Where`s daddy?

JASON OSHINS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, listen, and that`s a solid question, Nancy. And concerning the fact that --

GRACE: I always am suspicious when you start off with, that`s a good question, Nancy. Go ahead. What`s your answer?

OSHINS: You are an expert at asking the questions.

GRACE: Stall, stall.

OSHINS: And here`s the thing. There`s a divorce going on. Obviously, we know that any time there`s a divorce that precedes a missing person. Clearly, all of our interest is piqued to think that he is the prime suspect.

GRACE: He`s not a suspect.

OSHINS: I understand that. But that`s the nature of an investigation. I understand he hasn`t been named specifically.

GRACE: Let me help you.

OSHINS: Go ahead.

GRACE: Let me just steer you back into the middle of the road.

OSHINS: Thank you.

GRACE: Question -- where`s daddy? He wants to get the family back together again, according to the best friend. Why isn`t he out there front and center looking for his wife, begging for help?

OSHINS: I think he might be concerned that he is, though not named as a suspect publicly --

GRACE: So.

OSHINS: -- when, in fact, he is one and he`s concerned about being positioned --

GRACE: About himself? OK, A. Scott Bolden. Let me give you a swing at the ball. You want to tell me even if I`m in a big, humongous, blow-out fight with my husband, the father of my twins, if he goes missing, I`m not on the street looking for him? I`m not in front of every TV camera begging, screaming, crying for help? Why? Where is he?

A. SCOTT BOLDEN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, I think he`s been interviewed by the police. And I believe he`s got a lawyer. And he is free to be out on the street leading the charge. He`s got four children by this beautiful woman, and despite the difficulties, despite the fact that he may not like her new life, she was moving on and he wasn`t.

He`s probably torn but more importantly, he ought to be leading that charge. Doesn`t mean he`s guilty or not because we really don`t know what happened to Karen Swift. But I don`t think you can read anything negative into the fact that her son is leading the charge and not her soon-to-be ex- husband.

GRACE: I don`t really mean any negative in that. I`m concerned that if the husband is so in love and wants to get back together, where is he? I don`t see him. He`s AWOL in this whole thing.

I want to go back to the friend, Jenny Gurien. Mommy texted her several times before she went missing. Jenny, about Karen`s running habits. Would she drive her car somewhere, get out and then run? I`ve done that before if I want to go to a particular park or wherever. Or would she just put on her running shoes and walk out the door and start running there?

JENNY GURIEN, KAREN SWIFT`S FRIEND: When I used to live across the street from her, she and I would get up in the morning and we would exercise on the road. But after I moved away, she had started going to the "y" to run and then she did a lot of 5Ks. And she really enjoyed doing that.

GRACE: OK. Let me ask you another question. So she would work out at the club. She did 5Ks. But if she were just running for exercise she`d just step out the door and start running, it`s fine. I`m interpreting. Jenny, another question, when she ran, did she typically take a cell phone with her?

GURIEN: Karen always had her cell phone on her.

GRACE: OK. All right. Next question, Jenny, would she run super early in the morning, before the family was up? Was that her M.O. or would she wait until the children got to school and then run and do all of her business?

GURIEN: Sometimes if David was home, she would leave the girls with him and get up early and try to get to the "y" and back home before they woke up and then -- but with them in school, she`d drop them off at school and then she would go.

GRACE: OK.

GURIEN: And do her workout.

GRACE: Last question for this moment. Jenny, where the car was found, was it on the way to the "y"?

GURIEN: It was facing the opposite direction.

GRACE: It was facing the opposite direction. And do you have any idea what time the "y" -- are you saying YMCA or YWCA because you can work out on both? Which one?

GURIEN: YMCA.

GRACE: YMCA. Do you know what time it opens in the morning?

GURIEN: I do not know.

GRACE: OK. Liz, get on the phone right now, please. Call the "y." Find out what time they open up. Can you do that, Liz? Yes, no, maybe. Good.

Alright, to Pat Brown, criminal profiler, author of the profiler. Let me repeat again, hubby not a suspect. OK, Pat brown, weigh in.

PAT BROWN, CRIMINAL PROFILER: Well, Nancy. One thing that bothers me is the car is facing home which means she should have gone in some place. Where did she go? Was there any evidence of her, maybe stopping at a store or doing something before she returned if that`s what happened?

Secondly, the clothes really bother me. The clothes are supposedly in some bushes. If you are a serial killer and you see this woman by the side of the road with her flat tire you`re going to do one of two things. Grab her and drag her into your vehicle and drive away with her or you`re going to attack her right there and when you find clothes you also find the body because he`s not going to bother to leave the clothes and take her body along.

So that concerns me that this is a staged crime scene as opposed to something occurring right at that place.

GRACE: And we`re trying to find out, Pat, if those clothes are related. Also very interesting, Pat, the car had been turned back the other way.

OK. Out to the lines. Pete in California. Hi, Pete. What`s your question?

PETE, CALLER, CALIFORNIA: Why do you people automatically assume the hubby did it? I mean how do we know Karen didn`t have a boyfriend and ran away with him?

GRACE: OK. Hold on just a moment, Pete in California. Don`t let him go. Have I said ten times already the husband is not a suspect? Pete, have I told you that? Yes, I have. So why your saying I assume he`s the husband -- he`s the suspect? He`s not a suspect. He is the husband recently filed for divorce in the three weeks before she goes missing. Still living in the same home in a different bedroom. According to our reports, does not like the way she dresses now, which is t-shirt and jeans. Doesn`t like her going to her friends` home. That`s all I know right now. And I know he was there when she goes missing. That`s what I know. So, Pete in California, nobody is saying he`s a suspect. So do you have another question or do you just want to second verse, same as the first.

PETE: How do we know she didn`t run away with a boyfriend? She didn`t just fly the goop?

GRACE: A boyfriend, a boyfriend. Why do men always believe it`s a boyfriend?

To T.J. Ward, private investigator. You know, T.J., high profile investigator, worked on the Natalee Holloway case. T.J., why does everybody always assume the mom is some tramp that she`s run away with a boyfriend? What boyfriend? I don`t know anything about a boyfriend, T.J.

T.J. WARD, PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR: Well, in a criminal investigation, the husband is always looked at first and then they work their -- they weed their way out. I think in this case we need to go back in time a little bit. There was a phone call and a text message apparently of urgency around 11:00, 11:30 as Jenny said. So we need to back up there. There was something going on back then that we need to find out what the piece of the puzzle is.

I believe her cell phone is going to be a major player in this from the triangulation log from days before or what`s going on now or who she made calls to or text messages and googling to see who she was with.

GRACE: We are taking your calls. The mother of four, a beautiful young mom of four vanishes literally out of her own bed. Her 9-year-old girl lay sleeping beside her. Where is Karen Johnson Swift?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police are searching for a missing mom of four.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Karen Swift went missing from her home that`s right down this road.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Seems to have vanished without a trace.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Preston Swift has been making a desperate plea for help ever since his mother vanished. Preston remembers the last time he saw her.

PRESTON SWIFT, KAREN SWIFT`S SON: We met up at a college football game, me and my family.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dozens of volunteers have been scouring the woods near swift`s Dyersburg home. So far, investigators have found her abandoned SUV.

SWIFT: If my mother is out there we are very worried. Very concerned.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police have searched the area with dogs and helicopters. But there`s been no sign of the missing mom.

SWIFT: If anyone has any information about her, please, please let us know. And I love you, mom.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nothing appeared to be out of the ordinary.

SWIFT: Everything seemed OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The single mother of four children disappeared after she picked up her daughter from a Halloween sleepover around 1:30 a.m. because her daughter was not feeling well.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GRACE: We are live and taking your calls. Where is mom of four Karen Johnson Swift?

To Sherry Blake, Doctor Sherry Blake, clinical psychologist, author of "the single married woman." Sherry Blake, I find it very unusual that they are in the middle of a heated divorce but daddy is still living in the house.

SHERRY BLAKE, PH.D., CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST, AUTHOR, THE SINGLE MARRIED WOMAN: You know, that is unusual. Unfortunately, that`s happening more and more with couples, but either way, there`s a lot of history. A lot of unknowns. My concern goes out with the children and what is the -- what is the tone in that house with dad there and everyone knowing they`re getting the divorce. What`s really going on?

GRACE: We are taking your calls. Janet in Florida. Hi, Janet. What`s your question?

JANET, CALLER, FLORIDA: Hi, Nancy. I`m just --

GRACE: Hi, dear.

JANET: Were their children in the home and -- I mean, younger children, and were they interviewed by police yet?

GRACE: So David Lore, with the knowledge the 6-year-old and 9-year- old were home, were all the children in the home that night questioned by police? Do we know?

DAVID LORE, CRIME REPORTER, HUFFINGTON POST: No, we don`t know if they`ve all been questioned. The sheriff did say today that the husband is cooperating with the investigation. So I would assume that they probably spoke with some of the children. You know, one of the biggest problems from our side has been getting the police to even discuss the case. I know for two weeks now we`ve been calling him and calling him and we can`t even get a return phone call to find out what the status of everything is.

GRACE: Back to Bonnie Druker, our producer on the story. David Lore says daddy is cooperating. What do you know about that?

BONNIE DRUKER, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Well, we understand that he has spoken to police. Police have also looked for the -- looked through the house and recently, just this weekend, he stopped having the police looking through his house. We do know that he`s talked to police. We know that the family has given DNA. And so far no one has taken a polygraph test.

GRACE: Nobody has taken a poly.

Joining me right now, Doctor Leigh Vinoccur, emergency room physician. Doctor Leigh, thank you for being with us. You know, we`ve -- her car, a white Nissan, was found with a flat tire. What evidence, forensic evidence, would you be, looking for Doctor Vinoccur, in the car?

DOCTOR LEIGH VINOCCUR, M.D., EMERGENCY ROOM PHYSICIAN: Well, you would look for DNA evidence, blood evidence. I mean she`s going to have DNA in the car. It`s her DNA, but is there blood in the car? You know, why would there be blood in the car, that`s something? Evidence like that. If she was sexually assaulted, you would look for things like semen and things.

GRACE: Out to the lines. Matt in Canada. Hi, Matt. What`s your question?

MATT, CALLER, CANADA: So, I just heard that reporter say that they stopped searching the husband`s house. He doesn`t want them to search the house. I mean that sounds like he`s guilty or something. Is there any way police can just keep him in jail until he talks? He obviously knows something.

GRACE: You know, Matt in Canada, it`s not that easy in our country. In America, we have the constitution and the bill of rights. And under our system of jurisprudence, you are only arrested with probable cause. That`s not what police think probable cause. It`s what a judge thinks are probable cause to make a search, sometimes an arrest. So long story short, he cannot be held over 72 hours without a formal charge.

Unleash the lawyers. Jason Oshins, Scott Bolden. All right. Scott Bolden, nobody is taking a poly. Why?

BOLDEN: Because they`re not forced to take a polygraph. It`s a choice by the family members.

GRACE: What?

BOLDEN: They aren`t required to take a polygraph.

GRACE: So.

BOLDEN: If I`m his lawyer, if I`m David Swift`s lawyer, I`m telling him that he doesn`t have to take that polygraph. They`re not reliable. And, quite frankly, they aren`t admissible in court.

GRACE: Well, Jason Oshins, as I recall, if both parties stipulate up front to the poly, it is in fact, admissible, isn`t it?

OSHINS: Nancy, I`m not going to subject if this were my client, I`m not going to subject him to --

GRACE: That`s a yes or no question. If both parties stipulate up front a polygraph is in fact, admissible in court is it not?

OSHINS: It could be. In this jurisdiction I`m not familiar with that. Other jurisdictions, it might very well be.

GRACE: OK. I`ll Q&A with myself, Jason, it is. If both parties stipulate up front. Just like in your jurisdiction. OK. What were you saying, Jason?

OSHINS: Nancy, we`re not going to go ahead and focus, as his defense accounts, I`m not going to go ahead and let him be the subject of --

GRACE: We`re not? Who is "we"?

OSHINS: We`re not going to do that.

GRACE: Who is "we"? You and Scott?

OSHINS: Sorry, Nancy.

GRACE: All right, fine. Here`s the reality. T.J. Ward, he cannot be held behind bars until he tells what he knows if he knows anything. Why, T.J.?

WARD: You have to have probable cause to take before a judge to hold him. And (inaudible) that`s a contradiction and so on and so forth. They have to have probable cause to take him into custody.

GRACE: Back to Matt Zarrell. Matt, I want to run through very quickly what we know about the timeline from that morning. What time did the daughter wake up and find out mommy is not there?

MATTHEW ZARRELL, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Daughter woke up at 6:00 a.m. The 9-year-old woke up at 6:00 a.m.

GRACE: And do we know what happened then? And where was daddy when the 9-year-old woke up?

ZARRELL: Dad was in the house. Dad was actually the one who reported her missing to the cops. He has cooperated. And, Nancy, I want to make one thing clear. The searches of the home have been via consent. Cops have searched the home multiple times. The first time was consent. The second they got a warrant just because for procedural reasons. They are saying the family has cooperated completely.

GRACE: I want to go back to Carol Johnson, joining us exclusively from Walnut Ridge. This is Karen`s mom, Carol Johnson. She`s also taking your calls. Carol, were they having marriage problems, and what was the nature of the problems?

CAROL JOHNSON, KAREN SWIFT`S MOTHER: That`s a question that I cannot answer. I mean, I wasn`t there. Obviously, there was something going on. I mean, she filed for divorce. You don`t just go file for divorce.

GRACE: Did she talk to you about that? She didn`t talk to you about that?

JOHNSON: No.

GRACE: Everybody, we are taking your calls.

To Nancy in Texas. Hi, Nancy. What`s your question?

NANCY, CALLER, TEXAS: Hello, Nancy Grace. You`re wonderful. My question was about the car. I was going to ask was there blood found in it? But I also like to - since that was answered, I would like to add, have they set a certain perimeter or has anybody made plans, might the public plea or any kind of public --

GRACE: Good questions. To David Lore, crime reporter, Huffington Post, what`s the perimeter and I know that the son has made a public plea. Go ahead David.

LORE: You know they`ve conducted a multiple search as they focus in around where the vehicle was found. They focused out by where their home is. And there were also search conducted at a neighbors, a neighbor who was been accused of poisoned her dog. So, they went to search his home and his vehicle looking for evidence on the case.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Swift was last seen about a mile from her home.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Karen`s cell phone was not found in the car.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We had helicopters in this area. We had blood hounds. We had numerous law enforcements on the ground, investigators.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Officers combed a wooded area near Swift`s home in search of clues.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Looking for unknown tire tracks, unknown items might be in the area that possibly, you know, could be left behind or either by her or someone else.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: We are taking your calls. Where is Karen Johnson Swift? She goes missing in the middle of the night as she`s sleeping with her 9-year- old girl.

To Doctor Sherry Blake. Now, my children sleep with me almost every night. Doesn`t start that way, but ends up that way somehow. And when I`m not there, when they wake up in the morning, they get very, very upset. Even if both of them are there, if I`m not there in the middle, they really get upset. What effect is this having on the 9-year-old? I know the 6- year-old doesn`t want to eat without her mommy.

BLAKE: I am sure it has been emotionally traumatic. There`s no way, you know, just think about it. You go to sleep with mom, and all of a sudden mom is missing in action, you know, and it is very hard on children and they have a hard time expressing feelings. I`m hoping they`re getting help for the children. I`m hoping that they`re working with a licensed psychologist or qualified therapist. Because sometimes it is not always what`s said, it is sometimes what`s not said that you`ll find out the information. So we don`t know. Was mom upset when she went to bed? We have no idea, given she talked to a friend earlier that night. My heart goes out to the children. And you can tell the son is upset.

GRACE: To Jenny Gurien, Karen`s best friend, what`s your message tonight, jenny, to those listening?

GURIEN: My message tonight would be that wherever Karen`s at right now, it is not by choice. She did not leave her children. She would not leave. So whatever has happened, it was a foul play. She would not leave.

GRACE: And I have got the answer about the "y", Jenny, on Sundays, doesn`t open until 1:00 p.m., so she is not on her way to work out.

Let`s stop and remember Army Private Bobby Mejia, 23, Saginaw, Michigan, killed in Iran. Two purple hearts. Loved music, children, friends, drawing. Wanted to be a cartoonist. Always wanted to make a difference in the lives of others. Leaves behind a grieving mother Mileva, a stepfather Robin who raised him, Sisters Crystal and Sparkle. Brother Christopher. Bobby Mejia, American hero.

Thanks to our guests, but especially to you for being with us. See you tomorrow night, 8:00 sharp, Eastern. When we in our own way will be seeking justice.

And until then, good night, friend.

END