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NANCY GRACE

Florida Couple Strangles 18-Year-Old Friend for Party Money

Aired May 31, 2012 - 20:00   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 with breaking news out of Florida. A young couple moves into a Fort Lauderdale rental, partying on the beach, living the good life, their every move all over Facebook, including pictures with their beautiful 18-year-old friend.

But when the 18-year-old female friend suddenly goes missing, a tip leads police straight to the couple`s bedroom and a foul smell. It was a terrible smell! There under a pile of clothes, the missing 18-year-old found strangled, left dead on the floor for days!

Just hours after the murder, the couple allegedly partying on South Beach, bragging, posting photos on Facebook and arguing via text messages over what to do with the teen`s body. Tonight, we have dozens of stunning Facebook and text messages.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "Both of us real sorry."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "I`m getting rope, btw."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "I`ll get the rope."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police say a Florida woman and her boyfriend strangled and took the life of Juliana Mensch.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "Why the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) would you do that and ruin both our lives when we can just get rid of the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) and move on?"

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "You held her down, remember?"

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The couple`s trail of Facebook and text messages.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "I`m serious. You have two minutes, dead body and all."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "Wow! WTF?"

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "We have a dead body in the house, and you want to play?"

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "I am not playing!"

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "What are we doing about the body? If the smell gets worse, we`re (EXPLETIVE DELETED)."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "Can`t we just go dump it somewhere and then take off?"

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police say the couple went on to party in Miami Beach.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "Ummm where all my lovers at? I`m in Miami, bitch!"

(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.

Dozens of damning Facebook and text messages surface in the death of a beautiful 18-year-old allegedly murdered by her very own friends.

For the latest, let`s go straight out to Joe Gomez, senior investigative reporter with KTRH Newsradio. Joe, what happened?

JOE GOMEZ, KTRH: Oh, Jean, this is really a shocking story. You know, after a night of partying, this deadly duo then proceeds to murder -- allegedly murder their friend in her sleep and then take all of her money and then go back to partying again.

What`s most shocking about this, Jean, is the fact that they also posted Facebook pictures, just moments after this alleged murder, of them enjoying their victim`s money in South Beach. Just shocking stuff, Jean.

CASAREZ: You know, I`ll tell you one of the most shocking things. Let`s start from the beginning here, all right, because this beautiful, beautiful 18-year-old girl Julie Mensch, she is flat down on her back. She`s sleeping in this little room.

And to Victoria Taft, radio talk show host from KPAM radio. All of a sudden, while this young girl is alive, Nicole starts to do Google searches. Remember the Casey Anthony case? Remember the searches on the family computer? You`ve got them here, too.

What are some of the Google searches that were done while this young girl was still alive?

VICTORIA TAFT, KPAM: Jean, this is ridiculous! I mean, people are so incredibly self-absorbed now. Everyone thinks they`re in a movie. Now they take along and do Facebook updates and leave behind an electronic trail just to prove that they are somebody. And in this case what one of the perpetrators apparently did was to Google to look (ph) Ask.com. Let`s see. What are there some of the other places...

(CROSSTALK)

CASAREZ: ... why don`t we start from the beginning, Victoria. At 3:38 AM, Google search for "chemicals to pass out a person." So I don`t see a state of mind of wanting to kill somebody at that point. Also, what are those rags that make people pass out? It`s called chloroform. That was another search.

But then it goes into murder-suicide. Then it goes into ways to kill people in their sleep. The Google searches continue. And finally, she`s gone.

Rich Abdill, reporter, "New Times Broward-Palm Beach County," Florida. What more can you tell us?

RICH ABDILL, "NEW TIMES BROWARD-PALM BEACH": Well, I mean, there`s just a lot of evidence that point to these people. They told a lot of things to a lot of different people, including the police. But between these Google searches and these text messages and Facebook messages between them -- I mean, they are just talking about what to do with this body.

CASAREZ: They weren`t too happy of a couple. You know, Nancy told me, Jean, you`ve got to show the pictures. I want the people to see the pictures.

All right, let`s look at the picture the night before, when Julie was still alive. Where do you think she was? She was at the International House of Pancakes eating pancakes with Nicole, who allegedly suffocated her. There they are, they`re eating pancakes at the International House of Pancakes.

Now, minutes after Julie is gone, this couple takes off, allegedly, to South Beach. Why? To party. Let`s show the pictures at Wet Willie`s. There they are at Wet Willie`s. They are they`re partying the night away shortly after Julie loses her life.

You know, I want to go back to Joe Gomez. What was the motive here? And they take the time, Joe Gomez, to post it on Facebook. Now, this is hours after Julie is gone. And she`s dead -- by the way, Joe Gomez, where was the body? What did they do with the body? They had to go party so fast at Wet Willie`s, what did they do?

GOMEZ: Oh, well, they just left the body there, Jean. (INAUDIBLE) just left it there as though they had no care in the world. The only thing they were concerned about here, Jean, and the motive clearly, was to get the money so they could go party some more and then just continue their fun. I mean, they had just ended a night of partying.

So all this is circling around, just having a lot of fun, doing drugs. I mean, look, both of them ended up in a treatment center days afterwards and confessed this grisly, grisly murder. It`s just a very sad story. Very shocking.

CASAREZ: And you know, Joe Gomez, this is the house where they rented a room. They rented one room, and it was a very small room. A twin bed was in that room. But that is the house and in a room in that home, $135 a month, a week, they got that room for, and that`s where the body was.

You know, we want you to hear, though -- because you`re right, the body was left. And that`s when all the partying came to a halt because what do we do with the body?

We want to let everybody listen to a little bit of these messages that went back and forth between the couple, and they were text messages and then Facebook postings on, What do we do now? Let`s take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "I`m about to make both of us real sorry."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "I`m getting rope, btw."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "I`ll get the rope. I`m calling 911. Remember, you`re driving her car."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "Stop it (EXPLETIVE DELETED)"

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "OK, I`ll just call the cops."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "Why the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) would you do that and ruin both our lives when we can just get rid of the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) and move on?"

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "You held her down, remember? You better hurry. Call me now."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: " I`m blowing up my phone when I told you I`m driving."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "I only did what I did to Julie for you, but you still continue to be unfaithful."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "I`m being honest. I`m scared of you."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "Are you coming home? If not, I`ll just turn us both in."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "I`m scared of you right now. Yes, I told you if you calm down, I will."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "Are you cool with a life sentence?"

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "No, I`m not. Stop it."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "Don`t make me ruin your life. Answer the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) phone."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "Then don`t because it will ruin it, ruin your life, too."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "Not if you don`t answer."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "Stop. It`s not worth it. Don`t ruin your life and mine just because you`re pissed."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "I will testify against you if you don`t call. You ain`t coming home anyway. Keep playing. You have until 7:35."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "Fine."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: Want to know how much money they got? She kept her money in her bra. Julie kept her money in her bra so nobody would find it. Well, they did. A couple of hundred dollars. That`s what the motive, it is believed, to kill this young girl.

Want to go out to the callers. We`re getting a lot of callers tonight. Jason in Canada. Hi, Jason.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi, Jean. How are you?

CASAREZ: I`m fine. Thank you for calling.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you for taking my call. You got a lot of fans here in Canada.

CASAREZ: Well, thank you, Jason, very much. Your thought or question on this case?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I just -- I think you already answered it, the motive. I just wanted to know what the motive was.

CASAREZ: You know, let`s go back to Rich Abdill, who is standing by live in Florida. He`s with "The New Times Broward-Palm Beach" County. I think it`s difficult to realize or think about, that -- that you allegedly strangle somebody for a couple hundred dollars that they keep in their bra?

ABDILL: Yes. I`m honestly not sure. I mean, and the next week, I mean, they really didn`t look like there was anything urgent going on where they were trying to take care of it.

The murder happened early on the 24th, according to police, and on the 28th, James allegedly drove over to his friend`s work and said, I`ve got this body in my room and it smells. I don`t know really what to do about it. But he was driving around in her car. And it just didn`t seem like an urgent concern after it happened. And Who knows what happened before?

CASAREZ: You know why it wasn`t an urgent concern, Rich? Because it appears as though from the facts we have that the motive and the purpose and the need was to party, take the money and you party.

Let`s show those pictures. We`ve got them from Wet Willie`s because while the body is there in this small little room with the clothes over the body, they are partying at Wet Willie`s, and they`re posting the pictures on Facebook.

We`ve got a few more texts. Do you know there were hundreds of texts that they sent? You`ve got to listen to a little bit more to just see when this couple suddenly was met with reality in their face that, We`ve got a body in the room and we got to do something with it. Take a listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "You held her down. You`re guilty of murder, too. You still won`t answer that. I need the car so I can go get something. Hello? Took me off your friends list, too, huh? Your new BF on there got to do what I got to do. Caught you in too many lies. You never did love me."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "No, because you went on mine. I do love you. Stop."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "I`m serious. You have two minutes, dead body and all."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "Wow. WTF?"

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "We have a dead body in the house, and you want to play?"

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "I`m not playing."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "What are we doing about the body? Thanks for talking me into that, by the way. Don`t you dare ignore me."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "I`m not ignoring you."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "Call me right now or I`m calling the police. I`ve given you plenty of time. You know I`m serious. Please don`t call my bluff."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "Why the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) would you ruin our lives over a little (EXPLETIVE DELETED)?"

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "She`s laying on my floor. LMAO! Hey, my roommate wants some hard crack cocaine. Do you know anyone?"

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: Joining us live right now is a very dear friend of the victim in this case, Juliana "Julie" Mensch. Troy Grimes joining us exclusively tonight.

You know, Troy, I wanted to talk to you because Julie is a beautiful girl. And you knew her. Tell us a little bit about your friend.

TROY GRIMES, FRIEND OF Juliana Mensch (via telephone): Yes. Julie was -- she was a good friend of mine. And when I found out about her, it just -- it kind of wrecked my world because she was one of the sweetest girls I knew. Like, we became close -- we got close because we shared personal information with each other when we had first met. And from that night on, I know that she was just a very sweet young girl that was trying to get her life together at a young age.

CASAREZ: How did she get together with James Ayers and Nicole Okrzesik? How did she get together with these two people?

GRIMES: Right. From my knowledge, that she had met Nikki earlier, prior for me meeting her at another treatment center. That`s how I came to believe -- or she told me that she met her from before.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The couple mulled over what to do with Mensch`s body after taking the life of their friend.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "I`m not going down by myself, if you won`t help me. You`re going with me."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "I haven`t been on Facebook. I had to find wi- fi. I am not ignoring you."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Took social media to a whole new level.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "Hello!"

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "We have to figure this out. I`m not going to, but if the smell gets worse, we`re (EXPLETIVE DELETED)."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "Can`t we just go dump it somewhere and then take off?"

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "Please just get here already. I need you. We`re in this together."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: So yes. Yes, that`s what you do. You allegedly suffocate someone. You get their money and just -- you just leave them, you just leave them on the bedroom floor, put a few clothes over. They`ll never be found, right? Yes, until the smell gets really, really bad and until you start sending all these text messages that allegedly say exactly what you did.

You know, everybody, a young life was lost in all of this. Her name was Julie Mensch. And her very dear friend, Troy Grimes, is joining us tonight exclusively.

You know, Troy, you said before the break that Julie was trying to get her life together. What was she doing? Was she working? Had she been working? Where did she want to go in life? What were her dreams?

GRIMES: She just really -- I didn`t exactly know what her dreams were. She wanted to be accomplished. She wanted to actually fit into society because from her prior lifetime, she had got involved with people, did things she didn`t really know what she was really getting into. And so she just really wanted to be an aspiring person.

CASAREZ: Let`s go to the lawyers. First of all, Eleanor Odom, death penalty-qualified prosecutor, former senior attorney for the National District Attorneys Association, joining us out of Atlanta, Peter Odom, defense attorney, joining us out of Atlanta, and Renee Rockwell, joining us out of Atlanta. Welcome to all three of you. I adore all of you.

All right, first, Eleanor Odom, is this a gift to a prosecutor, this modern age we live in of FaceBook and texts? People don`t get it. Anything they say can be retrieved, and you`ve got an alleged confession right there.

ELEANOR ODOM, PROSECUTOR: Exactly. And it`s fairly easy to retrieve it. Our high tech unit does it all the time off computers, phones, et cetera. But Jean, nothing -- and you know this. Nothing`s ever a slam dunk, but I would say when you have evidence like this, so damning, which shows a complete disregard for human life, you are pretty strong as the prosecution.

I don`t think there`s any question, Jean, as to what these two were up to and what they wanted to do.

CASAREZ: And Peter Odom, how do you counter it? Because when you say, Oh, I`m going to go get some rope, and what are we going to do with this body -- I mean, how do you counter that as a defense attorney?

PETER ODOM, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, I`m reading these texts, e-mails, whatever you want to call them as being much more incriminating for him than they are for her. You notice his statements really demonstrate that he`s actively involved in killing someone.

Her statements are more neutral. She just doesn`t respond saying anything too incriminating. I`d much rather be her lawyer than his.

My sense is they`re going to offer her a very sweet deal and go after him as the principal in this case, Jean.

CASAREZ: Renee Rockwell, you just can`t -- now, you can`t cross- examine a text message, and that`s a challenge for a defense lawyer because there it is in black and white. How can you keep this stuff out?

RENEE ROCKWELL, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: You can`t keep it out. And actually, it`s chiseled in stone. What you have to is prove that that -- the person that sent it was the person, was actually the person that sent it, that it was not somebody else.

What I see in this case, Jean, is damage control. This is not a case that`s going to trial. Depending on who your client is, you get in there and say, Hey, I want to save this person`s life. I want to try to cut a deal so this person may be able to get paroled at some point.

Don`t forget, Florida is a death penalty state.

CASAREZ: So Renee Rockwell, if I tell you that these Google searches were done by the victim`s phone, OK? She`s alive. She`s sleeping on the floor. But suicide methods, murder-suicide, way to kill people in their sleep, what you -- could you kill someone in their sleep and no one would think it was you. I mean, the searches are amazing. So you`re going to try to say that the victim did these searches, potentially?

ROCKWELL: No, I`m not saying that. But you can`t just say, Look, we`ve got Google searches. That has to be attributed to one of the two co- defendants. And that`s why I`m saying, Jean, this is a case where it`s sort of first come, first serve as an attorney.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A romantic couple pressed with concern over how to hide a dead body.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "Can`t we just go dump it somewhere, then take off?"

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "Please just get here already. I need you. We`re in this together."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She and her boyfriend strangled and took the life of Juliana Mensch.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "We have to figure this out. I`m not going to, but if the smell gets worse, we`re (EXPLETIVE DELETED)."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: I`m Jean Casarez, in for Nancy Grace. "We are in this together." You know, they both have their story and they both sort of implicate each other.

I want to go out to Joe Gomez, senior reporter for KTRH Newsradio. What does James Ayers say happened in all this?

GOMEZ: Well, according to him, his girlfriend was the one that was apparently trying to break the victim`s neck. And then he proceeded to strangle the victim. And afterwards, they both, of course, got the money and then took off, and apparently -- apparently, Jean, had a good to time. And they just left the body to rot in their rented bedroom. It`s just -- it`s awful!

CASAREZ: To Victoria Taft, radio talk show host, KPAM radio. I distinctly read in the text messages that he says, But you held her, you held her. So they`re both right in there, according to these text messages.

TAFT: Absolutely. And by the way, who was making the inquiries via Google on (INAUDIBLE) phone? She probably was on his behalf. We don`t know that for sure, but he had to have some help. And all of a sudden, she`s looking innocent?

I disagree with the attorney who said that she`s less guilty than he is. He may have said that he held her down and that sort of thing and that she helped him hold her down while he strangled her. But she was right there in there.

In fact, he says in his statements that she started to kill the victim, and he had to help her to finish her off.

CASAREZ: And Victoria, if it`s true that she had to hold her down and that Julie was screaming, what did she go through?

To Dr. Jennifer Shu, physician and editor of "Baby and Child Health." What did the victim in this case go through as she knew, allegedly, she was being strangled?

DR. JENNIFER SHU, PHYSICIAN: Well, the first thing, Jean, is she probably had a lot of panic, not being able to get air. Then after several seconds or even a minute or two of being strangled or suffocated, she`ll no longer get into her lungs and her brain won`t get air, and she`ll suffer permanent brain damage.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She`s laying my floor. LMAO.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Police say the couple went on to party.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: At Wet Willie`s South Beach.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: With Mensch`s body left to rot for days.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What are we doing about the body? Thanks for talking me into that, by the way. Don`t you dare ignore me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Miss Mensch was sleeping on the floor and that you fell asleep and since that you admitted that Mr. Myers -- Mr. Ayers had been getting high on the night of March 23rd, 2012. That you and Ayers and you knew that Miss Mensch had money. Ayers said he wanted money to get high and without provocation jumped on top of Mensch, grabbed her by the neck, choked her until she was dead.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: I`m Jean Casarez in for Nancy Grace.

Here`s an example of the arguments that they had via text and Facebook. Nicole, the female part of the duo, she says, why would you do that, and ruin both of our lives when we can just get rid of the S-H-I-T. And move on. That`s what she`s saying about Julie, her good friend.

Let`s go to the callers. First of all, Regina in Tennessee. Hi, Regina.

REGINA, CALLER FROM TENNESSEE: Hello.

CASAREZ: Thank you for calling.

REGINA: Well, this is unbelievable to me. I`m on Facebook all the time and I cannot believe that someone would be stupid enough to commit a crime and then post it on Facebook.

CASAREZ: Yes. Isn`t it though? Isn`t it though? Modern technology.

John Lucich, who is with us tonight, former criminal investigator and computer forensics experts. He is the president of E Forensic.

You know, modern technology, Facebook, I mean it`s been in the news so much lately, you can write anything on there, right? And yes, it`s a gift for prosecutors, but what does it mean for a modern world that everything and anything including confessions can go on Facebook and also planning a crime?

JOHN LUCICH, CRIMINAL INVESTIGATOR, PRESIDENT, E FORENSICS: You know, it`s great that it`s out there and that people use this to commit crimes then it`s just going to leave a trail. You know these guys are not only leaving Facebook and text messages which is -- going to be a host of information for cops. But they`re also talking to people. He told his ex- drug counselor that he -- the new car outside belonged to a girl he killed.

I mean obviously these guys go out and kill somebody, and then the girl is worried about taking phone calls while she`s driving. You could see that their judgment is clearly skewed, most likely by the drugs. But the -- this evidence will not only act as evidence of itself, but it also showed them the location of these individuals.

It also set up a timeline for the cops. I mean, it`s all crucial, important information, but it is -- it is unbelievable and unconscionable that this type of information, that these type of outlets are being used to commit crimes so vicious and heinous like this.

CASAREZ: You know, Pat Brown, criminal profiler, author of "Only the Truth." Dharun Ravi, who was in the news a lot lately, he was the young college student at Rutgers that spied using a Web cam on his roommate that then ultimately committed suicide. He wrote so many text messages that really got him convicted. He wasn`t on drugs. He just didn`t realize and he was a little stupid that you know what, you write something down and it`s preserved and it can be used against you.

PAT BROWN, CRIMINAL PROFILER, AUTHOR OF "ONLY THE TRUTH": Well, yes, I think that problem is Nicole and James a little bit in their own little world, but I want to say this. Nicole is the mastermind behind this. Absolutely. They better not give her that sweet deal because if you look at all those text messages, all of this about him, saying he did it for her which I believe because she doesn`t object. And she`s telling him what she`s doing and she`s laughing about it all.

I totally believe she told him, hey, let`s kill this girl, ha-ha, and he just, he goes, hold her down, do this, do this, and he did it for her because he was obsessed with her. Like the girl that says come and kill my parents so we can be together. I think she`s that kind of girl. I totally believe she`s behind this. And he kept going -- telling everybody about, I did this terrible thing, this girl is on my floor, because he`s a really stupid idiot. But he -- I think this girl talked me into this whole thing. He should go down but this girl needs to be in prison the rest of her life. She`s really scary.

CASAREZ: So, Peter Odom, why should she get a sweet deal? Because not only, if everything Pat is saying is true, that`s one thing. Secondly, she went out and had pancakes with her at International House of Pancakes hours before she allegedly held her down so she could be suffocated.

PETER ODOM, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: All of those allegations come from him. She`s not making a single admission there. And if -- I mean you have to believe him and, of course, he has a huge motivation to lie and throw guilt on to her. And I just disagree with Pat Brown as much as I respect her as a criminal profiler. The evidence against him is much stronger based on his own statements.

CASAREZ: All right. So, Pat Brown, that means we need a crime scene investigation. We need investigation of that area right there. How can that be used to show that Nicole is as responsible with the actual murder in this case, allegedly, as James Ayers is?

BROWN: Well, that is a good question. I don`t know how they`re going to prove that, I hope they can with some kind of physical evidence. But I also disagree with Peter because some of the omission of what she is saying -- she did not object to anything James was saying. And this was not in a -- that was not in front of the police or in the court of law, this was between the two of them, and she could have said, stop saying that, I did not do that, no, I didn`t.

You can tell by the way she is talking -- her omissions and her manipulations that she was totally involved and totally behind this thing. So I disagree. I think you can get a good statement analyst in there and prove that this girl knew exactly what she was doing and was right there doing it with him.

CASAREZ: Eleanor Odom, if you can show a conspiracy in this case, then she easily can be charged with the same crime that James Ayers is being charged with.

ELEANOR ODOM, FELONY PROSECUTOR, DEATH PENALTY QUALIFIED: Yes, Jean, let`s just bottom line it right now. They`re both parties to a crime, yes, it`s a conspiracy. The heck with what Pat is saying, the heck with what Peter is saying, the bottom line is they`re both in it. In for a penny, in for a pound. They both participated in the killing. They both participated in the cover-up. And they both participated in the party lifestyle that they wanted to lead after stealing this poor woman`s money.

CASAREZ: That`s right. And Nicole is the one that allegedly took all that money.

Let`s go out to the callers. Kelly in Arkansas. Hi, Kelly.

KELLY, CALLER FROM ARKANSAS: Hi, Jean. It`s wonderful to talk to you.

CASAREZ: Thank you. Thanks for calling.

KELLY: I just -- I just don`t buy it. She`s 19 years old. I mean how much money can this young girl have anyway? My father -- I`ve been following these articles in the papers and stuff about this particular case. I mean he`s saying he did it all for her and stuff. My question is, have they actually done an extensive background check on both people to find out exactly what their tie is to the young girl?

Because I just -- I can`t buy that, you know, a 19-year-old girl is going to have enough money to make it worth her life. There`s got to be something more somewhere.

CASAREZ: You know, it`s a really good point. And I think that Julie probably had her life savings in her bra that night. That`s probably how she kept her money and allegedly they knew it and that`s why they wanted it so they could go party.

To Rich Abdill, reporter from the "New Times of Broward-Palm Beach" County, Florida. What do we know about any criminal records in regards to James Ayers or Nicole?

RICH ABDILL, REPORTER, NEW TIMES OF BROWARD-PALM BEACH: Well, Ayers does have a couple of charges in his past and his lawyers said when I talked to him a couple of weeks ago, that he was out on pre-trial release because the court had determined he wasn`t mentally fit to assist in his defense.

So there was a hearing about that. There is still a court date scheduled. So it`s not really clear what happened there, but when it comes to Nicole`s involvement, she did say she was there and she did tell police two days after James was arrested that they were sitting on the bed, and all of a sudden James jumped up and strangled her -- strangled Julie Mensch. So when it comes to those text messages, I mean she said things to police outside of the text messages that at least put her at the scene.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Multiple queries to the search engine Google, quote, "how to suffocate someone, how to poison someone, ways to kill someone with your own hands."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you coming home? If not, I`ll just turn us both in.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am scared of you right now. Yes, I told you if you calm down I will.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You cool with a life sentence?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, I`m not. Stop it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don`t make me ruin your life. Answer the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) phone.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Police say she and her boyfriend strangled Juliana Mensch.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`m serious. You have two minutes, dead body and all.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Wow. WTF.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: I`m Jean Casarez in for Nancy Grace. Here`s one of the text messages. James Ayers says, you held her down, you`re guilty of murder, too. No, I`m not, she says.

Want to go out to Bethany Marshall, psychoanalyst, author of "Dealbreakers."

Bethany, take it away.

BETHANY MARSHALL, PSYCHOANALYST, AUTHOR OF "DEALBREAKERS": Well, I agree with my colleague Pat Brown. Nicole was the ringleader. What we see with couples who commit homicide is that one person is a sociopath who makes a relationship with the weaker partner who wants to please the sociopath. And isn`t this what we see with this couple? That Nicole lured Julie in. She feeds her a meal of pancakes. She photographs the pancakes, puts them on Facebook, and then seven hours later she and her boyfriend are killing this young girl.

It was not for drug money. If it was for drug money they could have taken the $300 out of her bra while she was passed out. I imagined that the commission of homicide played a huge role in the fantasy life of this couple and it was fueled by the fact that Nicole wanted to have power over Julie.

Why? Was it sexually exciting? Did she hate the younger girl because the younger girl was beautiful, younger? Just the idea of the thrill kill? Were the drugs not enough for this couple? They couldn`t create the excitement in their own relationship by using the drugs so they had to layer in a thrill kill on top of it to fuel the excitement even more, but definitely after the commission of the crime Nicole takes off because she has gotten what she wants to and she leaves James desperate to reconnect with her even if he has to threaten to turn her in so he can to hook her back into the relationship.

CASAREZ: Peter Odom, you are outnumbered tonight by everybody. I don`t think you want to represent Nicole.

P. ODOM: Gee, I`m so used to it.

(LAUGHTER)

CASAREZ: You don`t want to represent Nicole. Do you realize that James Ayers in part of these text messages said let`s turn ourselves in? Let`s just --

P. ODOM: Hey, Jean. Jean.

CASAREZ: Yes.

P. ODOM: If you want to convict her, you`ve got to believe James Ayers at this point, right? This guy has got zero credibility and he`s the one making all the statements implicating her. She makes none. And if the forensic evidence does not bear his statements out she`s going to have a pretty good case. And yes, I`m delighted to represent her, and I don`t mind being outnumbered. I`m used to it.

CASAREZ: Victoria Taft, radio talk show host, KPAM Radio, how many days was the body of Julie in that bedroom?

VICTORIA TAFT, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST, KPAM RADIO: Days and days and days. At least -- in fact, it started smelling on day three. And that`s when those text messages said about what to do with the smelling body. So it had been there for quite some time, I don`t remember precisely the number of days.

I just want to go back to what the attorney was just saying about -- being able to represent Nicole in this case. She`s the one who said LMAO, she`s lying on my floor, and then the Google searches commenced on how to kill someone, just to bring that up, and so -- so she`s right there in there. But it lasted for days and in fact it got so bad someone left a candle and a fan in that room to try to get the smell out of that room.

CASAREZ: You`re right. You`re very right.

Dr. Jennifer Chu joining us tonight, physician and editor of "Baby and Child Health." What does it smell like as a body is decomposing just -- in a home for five days is how long that body was in that home.

DR. JENNIFER CHU, PHYSICIAN AND EDITOR, "BABY AND CHILD HEALTH": So you can imagine, Jean, if a body is not preserved what happens is it will get very stiff and then what happens is the blood starts pooling down in different parts of the body, it looks very bruised. The normal bacteria in your body will start letting off gasses, sulfurs, smells like rotten eggs, and that usually does start to happen around four or five days after that body has been dead.

CASAREZ: You know, Rich Abdill, reporter for the "New Times Broward- Palm Beach." In fact, the landlady, the woman that rented the room to this couple, she said that she thought it was a dead mouse in the house, and then she thought that something was caught in the air conditioner, and she couldn`t understand what it was.

How, Rich, did they actually find Julie? What led them to Julie?

ABDILL: Well, they found her body the day that James was arrested because after -- they didn`t know where the room he was renting was. They found the landlord`s phone number in his phone and called. She`d had a heart attack earlier that day within 24 hours, they asked what`s -- if anything weird had been going, she said something smelled dead.

The Broward`s Sheriff`s Office went to the room, found the body, confirmed it was there and then left and the next day, the 29th which was five days after the police say the crime happened, the Fort Lauderdale Police went in and got Mensch out of there.

CASAREZ: So, Pat Brown, criminal profiler, it appears as the scene was not disturbed because this couple was partying, they wanted anything but to deal with this body in this room. What would you look for? What crime scene investigation is critical for a prosecution in this case?

BROWN: Well, I mean, obviously they`ve got a body which is the greatest thing there. They`re going to see what exactly happened with that body? Was it moved? Was it -- was it hidden? They`re going to look at any kind of fibers, any kind of marks on the body that they can relate to any of these two people especially if they`re trying to figure out there`s one more culpable than the other.

At least they do have a crime scene. These weren`t bright characters. They were very, very stupid. They obviously didn`t even think things through what to do with that body when they finished doing what they did with that body. I mean they`re not -- just not bright and that`s why they went on there and texted each other, as well. So I think they`re going to have a tremendous amount of evidence. I just think the bigger problem is going to are they -- you know, in our system, the way I think it should be, both of those people should be imprisoned for life, but one will probably get a better deal.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: How to hide a dead body, took social media to a whole new level.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you don`t show up, I`m telling your dad and the police everything.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Continuing to Facebook and text message each other --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She`s laying on my floor, LMAO.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know I`m serious. Please don`t call my bluff.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: I`m Jean Casarez in for Nancy Grace. So after this couple allegedly suffocates Julie, they just leave her in the bedroom, put some clothes on top, they hightail it out. In what? Julie`s car. Of course. And they go to Wet Willy`s in south Miami somewhere and they start to party.

But, to Victoria Taft, radio talk show host joining us, they took somebody else along with them. They didn`t go by themselves, right? So they`re implicating others now in all of this. Who did they take with them?

TAFT: Well, there was a girlfriend. And then what they did was they decided to go to Wet Willy`s and -- which is a daiquiri bar, a frozen drink bar, and then post about it on Facebook. There is a drink over at Wet Willy`s, Jean, it`s called Call-a-Cab. Maybe they`ll have a new one called that`s just "Call-a-Cop."

CASAREZ: To Joe Gomez, senior investigative reporter, KTRH Radio. Who did they take with them in the car? Because they had her computer, they had the victim`s computer, too, her laptop?

JOE GOMEZ, REPORTER, KTRH RADIO: Laptop, that`s right. They had it all. I mean they really took everything that the victim had and just went out for a good time.

You know, it`s so disgusting to me that, you know, just moments after this brutal murder, and it was a grisly murder, that the first thing on somebody`s mind would be, hey, let`s take -- let`s take all the belongings, let`s try to go pawn them at the pawnshop so we can get even more money to go out and buy drugs and just go on this endless partying binge. It`s just awful, Jean.

CASAREZ: Well, what they actually tried to do, they try to get this friend that they took with them to sell the laptop. The money she had in her bra, that Julie had in her bra, that wasn`t enough. They needed more.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: She and her boyfriend strangled and took the life of Julianne Mensch.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What are we doing about the body?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Stop. It`s not worth it. Don`t ruin your life and mine.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The couple went on to party in Miami Beach after the alleged murder.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have to figure this out. I`m not going to, but if the smell gets worse we`re (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: I want to go out to John Lucich, criminal forensics computer expert.

John, with text messages, these were not deleted so there they are front and center for investigators to look at, for us to look at. If you delete text messages, are they gone forever? And I don`t want to teach somebody how to do this. You shouldn`t even answer the question. But if you delete them, are they gone?

LUCICH: No, but they will -- they do have a certain shelf life. And the reason being is because we use cell phones much more than we use our computers and with blogs building up, call logs building up, e-mails, pictures, everything, very quickly these things can be overwritten in a matter of a week. So the cops have the cell phone hopefully with all the text messages on there, including the ones that were deleted and they should be able to bring them back. Because a lot of this stuff happened rather quickly and investigators were able to get ahold of those phones.

CASAREZ: And to Renee Rockwell, here`s the challenge, if you send a text message, maybe you delete it but maybe the other guy won`t.

RENEE ROCKWELL, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Exactly. And I`m sure they have both phones. But, Jean, recall what they said earlier in the show. He was out, Ayers is out on pretrial release because he can`t even assist in his own defense. I don`t know that this is a case that will even get to a trial if he`s already got something mental going on.

CASAREZ: I still thing Peter Odom should go for Jim Ayers, James Ayers.

Peter, he`s got a competency issue. So he`s the one, he may never even go to trial.

P. ODOM: He has a competency issue but that is separate and distinct from legally insane. He`s not able to participate in his trial but he will be at some point particularly if he`s medicated. That`s very different from being legally insane which would exonerate one from culpability for a murder like this.

CASAREZ: You are right.

Tonight, let us stop to remember Army Specialist David Lutes, 28 years old, from Frostburg, Maryland. He was injured in Afghanistan, he lost his life at a military hospital in Germany. He was dedicated to his country. He was awarded the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart, and the Army Commendation medal.

He loved spending time with his family. He leaves behind his mother, Delia, who works for the Marines, his brothers Jared and Kenny, his sister, Kylie, and widow, Bobbie, and daughters Kaya and Kaitlin.

David Lutes, a true American hero.

Thank you so much to our guests and to you at home. Before we go we want to wish a very happy birthday to Josh in New Jersey. Father of a new baby son Liam. He loves Kelly Clarkson and going to Philly games.

Happy birthday, Josh.

Everybody, stay tuned for Dr. Drew. He`s coming up next. See you tomorrow night 8:00 sharp Eastern. Until then, good night, everybody.

END