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JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL

Daughters Push for Dad to be Arrested for Mom`s Murder; Gang Rape Alleged on Cruise Ship

Aired August 27, 2012 - 19:00   ET

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


UNIDENTIFIED MALE: JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL starts right now with Jim Moret.

JIM MORET, HOST: A doctor and Sunday schoolteacher charged with murdering his beautiful wife. A family torn apart, as his own children want to see him behind bars. I`m Jim Moret, chief correspondent from "Inside Edition" in for my friend Jane Velez-Mitchell all week long. All the secrets behind these mind-blowing stories, next.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MORET (voice-over): Tonight, shock and outrage tear through a Utah community as a doctor and former Sunday schoolteacher is charged in his wife`s murder. Is it possible the 56-year-old drugged and drowned his wife and then covered it up, as cops believe, or was it all a terrible accident? His own daughters worked for years to put their dad behind bars. They`ll join me live, tonight.

Then a 15-year-old girl makes a startling claim, saying she was gang raped on a cruise ship, and one of the alleged attackers was a 31-year-old husband whose wife was there on vacation with him. He denies having sex with a minor, but could his changing story reveal the truth? I`m taking your calls.

Plus, more trouble for country superstar Randy Travis. Cops were called to a Texas church after onlookers said the singer assaulted a man in the parking lot, this just weeks after Randy was arrested for a DWI. With a string of alcohol-fueled arrests, is Randy caught in a downward spiral?

(voice-over) Did the doctor murder his wife?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Your wife is unconscious?

MARTIN MACNEILL, ACCUSED OF KILLING WIFE: She`s unconscious. She`s under water.

ALEXIS SUMMERS, DAUGHTER OF MURDER VICTIM: My mom was concerned things were a little wrong, but I didn`t suspect him of murder until actually the day of my mother`s death.

MORET: Michelle MacNeill, who suddenly died after a routine cosmetic procedure while in the care of her husband.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you get her out of the water?

M. MACNEILL: I can`t. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) I let the water out. (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

MORET: Days before her death, a daughter reportedly claims she heard her parents argue over allegations of an affair.

SUMMERS: My mother confronted my father and said, "Hey, I found this number, you know. Explain yourself."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MORET: Years after a woman is found dead in her bathtub, her husband, a respected physician, is accused of murder, and it was his own daughters who lead the charge to have him arrested.

Martin MacNeill was booked for felony murder for his wife`s death, which they`d been investigating for over five years. This man is not only a doctor, but a former Sunday schoolteacher, as well.

This is his alleged victim, Michelle MacNeill. At first, the coroner ruled she died of natural causes: an accidental drowning in her bathtub. But her distraught daughters did not believe that. They thought all along their mom was murdered by their father, and now police agree with them. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RACHEL MACNEILL, DAUGHTER: They arrested my father five minutes ago. I was so happy. It`s been so long. It`s horrible to be happy about your father being arrested, but finally, he`s being held accountable for murdering my mother.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MORET: Why would someone allegedly kill the mother of their children? The arrest report states that, quote, "the defendant had strong motive to kill his wife." And here`s the reason: Martin was having an extramarital affair with a woman named Gypsy. Was he trying to replace her with another woman, and he decided the best way to do that was murder?

Give me a call at 1-877-JVM-SAYS. That`s 1-877-586-7297.

Straight out now to my very special guest, the daughters of the victim and the accused murderer, Rachel MacNeill and Alexis Summers. Thank you both for joining us. Alexis, you were kind enough to have me in your home just a few weeks ago. We were talking about this horrendous case.

First to you, Alexis, what are your feelings? You`ve been pushing for five years to get this arrest, and it happened today. How are you and your sister feeling?

SUMMERS: You know, Jim, we`re feeling relief. This has been such a horrific experience. We`ve been pushing for 5 1/2 years to get our father arrested for our mother`s murder. This has been -- this has been a nightmare. But we`re finally seeing some justice for our mother.

MORET: Rachel, you were face to face with your father, and what was that like for you? Because this is a man that you believe killed your mom.

MACNEILL: It was -- this entire experience is -- it is a relief, but it`s bittersweet. This was a man that masqueraded as a loving father, and before my mother was murdered, we -- we loved our father and cared about him and our -- and it was horrific to learn who he is and that he`s been -- under the guise of Sunday schoolteacher and masquerading as a caring father -- and all of that are ways that he`s deceived people. And -- but he`s a murderer, and he`s a threat.

MORET: Martin MacNeill actually called 911 when he says he found his wife in the bathtub. Listen to this incredibly dramatic conversation with the 911 operator.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. Your wife is unconscious?

M. MACNEILL: She is unconscious. She`s under water.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Could you get her out of the water?

M. MACNEILL: I can`t. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) I let the water out.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She`s under the water?

M. MACNEILL: She`s under the water, and I need an ambulance.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. Is she breathing at all?

M. MACNEILL: She is not!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MORET: Rachel was just talking about how, obviously, you both loved your parents. Alexis, you in fact, became a doctor yourself, in part because your dad was a doctor, and I know that you idolized and adored him until all of this happened. What made you suspect that your father was trying to kill your mother?

SUMMERS: My mother told me -- I was helping her wash her hair, and she said, "Alexis, if anything happens to me, make sure it wasn`t your father." She had...

MORET: Did that come out -- did that come out of the blue, though? I mean, when -- I can`t even imagine that conversation.

SUMMERS: I mean, it was horrifying. I didn`t -- I didn`t believe it. I didn`t want to believe it. But it happened. It was just a couple days later that she was murdered.

MORET: And Rachel, you said that there were a series of lies. Your father spent time in prison for fraud, unrelated to this. As it turns out, authorities believe that he lied on his college transcripts to get into medical school, and much of his life was built on a web of lies. Do you feel you lost your mom, you lost your father, or the man you thought was your father? It`s like having your entire life erased and the rug pulled out from under you.

R. MACNEILL: That`s exactly what it is. His -- his entire life is a lie, and ours, up until then, reasons why we`ve moved or done different things were based on those lies. And every memory I have, now that I realize who my father is, every memory is tainted. And it`s -- he`s taken everything from us. He`s taken our memories of wonderful times as a family. Things that we cherished and those are destroyed now. We know that was him acting. So...

SUMMERS: The father we knew and loved never really existed. And it`s been horrifying to realize that.

MORET: What was the reaction? Did you feel anything from him when you looked at him? Did he look you in the eye, or do you feel like he was avoiding your gaze today?

R. MACNEILL: He was avoiding our gaze, but he did for a split moment, and yes, I mean, it`s hard because that`s the same face, that`s the face that we`ve known as our father. But we know what he`s done. We know what his plan was. And so many people have come forward and my father`s been very much actively been a criminal since before I was born. So I mean, we know who he is now.

SUMMERS: He did look at us. And we were holding, each of us, a picture of our mother, and we made sure that he saw that, because he took her away from us. He took the woman we loved. That was our life, and he destroyed our family.

MORET: Did you -- did you get any sense of emotion from him? Any sense of regret? Any sense of sorrow?

R. MACNEILL: No. No.

SUMMERS: No. He looked very angry. I know he`s going to be fighting this. He thought he could get away with the perfect crime, and I think he`s upset that he`s been caught.

R. MACNEILL: He`s finally been caught.

MORET: And we want to play for our viewers now another portion of the 911 call. Pay attention to how the suspect, Martin MacNeill, refers to himself.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Pleasant Grove Police Department.

M. MACNEILL: I need -- I need an ambulance.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK, what`s the problem, sir?

M. MACNEILL: We need medical.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sir, what`s wrong?

M. MACNEILL: My wife`s fallen in the bathtub.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Who is in the bathtub? Who`s in the bathtub?

M. MACNEILL: My wife!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. Is she conscious?

M. MACNEILL: She`s not. I`m a physician. I need help.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MORET: Alexis, what are your feelings as you listen to that portion of the 911 call?

SUMMERS: I just know it was all staged. He`s an actor and he orchestrated this murder, and that was part -- that was part of it. This was all a lie. The only thing that...

MORET: We have a lot more to discuss. I`m going to jump in right now. We`re going to take a break. We obviously have much more to talk about with Alexis and Rachel and our guests. Stay with us on JVM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. Your wife is unconscious?

M. MACNEILL: She is unconscious. She`s under water.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. did you get her out of the water?

M. MACNEILL: I can`t. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) I let the water out. (UNINTELLIGIBLE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She`s under the water?

M. MACNEILL: She`s under the water, and I need an ambulance!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK, is she breathing at all?

M. MACNEILL: She is not!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MORET: Welcome back. I`m Jim Moret from "Inside Edition," filling in for Jane Velez-Mitchell. And we`re following the story of a bizarre crime, the allegations that a doctor and Sunday schoolteacher murdered his own wife, and his daughters have been leading the charge to have him arrested, which he was and he was arraigned today.

Let`s bring in Allison Treasel, criminal defense attorney and who also has a Web site, Wild about Trial, which follows various notorious cases around the country. This, of course, will be among them.

Allison, thanks for joining us. When you listen to these two daughters who are heartbroken; they`ve lost their mom. They`ve lost their dad now, as well. They believe their dad killed their mom.

But more importantly, so much of their lives have been turned upside down, because they feel like their father was lying about not only his medical records and his college records, but -- but his affection toward them, toward the mom. How does -- how do you represent somebody like this?

ALLISON TREASEL, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I mean, first of all, you know, for them, this is a nightmare. They wake up, and their life has been a complete sham. So -- and it really has been their cries that have led to this arrest, and their demand for investigators and for police to re- examine the case.

Certainly, as a defense attorney, the argument is that this happened five years ago, that it was ruled an accidental drowning at the time and that no facts have changed.

MORET: But the ruling was changed to undetermined and then suspicious. It`s been amended a couple of times.

TREASEL: Right. But certainly, as a defense attorney, you revert back to the original report, and that that is the correct report.

The problem that his counsel and his defense team is going to have is that so many of the things about him. He has been deceitful for so long. And in fact, he was just released from federal prison on a fraud charge. And he had this girlfriend move into their home -- to the marital home two weeks after the wife died, under the guise that this was the children`s new nanny.

So all of that deceit is absolutely going to come in, and it`s going to be really tough for the defense to overcome, because this is kind of laying out who this man was.

MORET: And Alexis, when I was at your house just a few weeks ago, you had security cameras installed around your home, because you said you were afraid after your father was released that he would come after you and your sisters, and you were terrified to think that he was free.

SUMMERS: I was. You know, we still are. Until he is convicted and locked away, he is always going to be a threat. He`s ruined so many lives, not just ours.

MORET: And Rachel, when you hear Allison Treasel talk from a defense standpoint, you realize that his attorney is going to do everything they can to have him released on bail, to -- to basically say that this is ridiculous, that this was an accident.

So first, are you able emotionally to be in that courtroom every day in your mother`s memory, and see this through? And secondly, are you worried that he`s going to get off what you believe is a murder?

R. MACNEILL: These are things we`ve worried about since my mother`s murder. And I am just glad now that the world knows that my father is charged and that I have full faith in the prosecutors. And I will be there every step of the way, and I -- I`m just so relieved that this is moving forward.

And this is -- we`re feeling so much more safe now that he`s behind bars again. That`s been our concern from the beginning. We need to keep our families safe.

MORET: Alexis, are you able to see this through?

SUMMERS: Well, yes. We`ve been there from the beginning, and we`re going to continue to do everything in our power to make sure he`s convicted and put away.

MORET: And are you concerned at all that he will be granted bail?

SUMMERS: Of course, of course. I know that this whole legal process is very drawn out. We are aware of what can happen. And we`re just hoping for the best and going to do everything in our power to make sure that our mother gets justice.

MORET: We`ll be back with more right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sir, this is 911. Can I help you?

M. MACNEILL: I need help!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sir, they`re on their way. Is your wife breathing?

M. MACNEILL: She is not. I Am a physician. I`ve got CPR in progress.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You`re doing CPR? How -- sir, how old is your wife?

M. MACNEILL: My wife is 50 years old. She just had surgery a couple of days ago, a week ago.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What kind of surgery did she have?

M. MACNEILL: She had a facelift.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She had a facelift?

M. MACNEILL: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. Do you know how to do CPR?

M. MACNEILL: I`m doing it!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Moret: In that 911 call you just heard, the murder suspect, Martin MacNeill, mentions that his wife just had a facelift. Now police say the morning of Michelle`s death, her husband, Martin, gave her a dangerous combination of Valium, Percocet, Phenergan and Ambien. It`s strange that anyone taking that much medication would even be allowed to take a bath.

And I want to go right out to Alexis Summers, who is herself a doctor. Alexis, you said that you were concerned by the amount of medication that your mom was receiving a couple of days before her death. You said she seemed out of it, I believe, and that you were monitoring or trying to monitor the medication that she was getting. And that`s why you suspected your father was doing this on purpose, correct?

SUMMERS: That`s correct. I had been monitoring everything my mother had been taking. She had done well after the surgery. She was recovering. She was taking the minimal amount of medication.

One night I was told to leave the room, that my father wanted to take care of her. The next morning is when I came in, and my mother was very heavily drugged. When she woke up, hours and hours later, she told me, "Your father just kept giving me medication. He kept giving me medicine, and I didn`t need it."

And after that, I told my father, "You`re not allowed to give her any medicine. I`m doing it." And I kept a record of every pill that she was given. She was hardly taking any medication when I left.

MORET: Allison Treasel, criminal defense attorney, you hear this man`s a doctor. He should know about medication.

TREASEL: Right.

MORET: I still don`t understand why she would be taking a bath right after surgery. It seems too pat. That`s what Alexis is saying. That`s what Rachel`s saying. The kids are saying, this is wrong. This was a setup from the beginning.

TREASEL: Right. And let`s talk about the fact that this was her husband. Not only was he a doctor, it was her husband. And so she trusted him that he would take care of her.

And I do believe that the facelift was done at his request, that he wanted her to have a facelift. So you have a caregiver giving her these deadly doses of medication.

Of course, the flip side will be that she was taking the medication, that this was prescribed to her, presumably, by her attending doctors after the facelift. And that he was just following their doctor`s orders. So that`s going to be his argument.

The problem, of course, will go back to you were a physician. You knew how deadly, how potentially deadly this combination of medications could be.

MORET: I want to thank Alexis Summers and Rachel MacNeill for coming on today. I know this has been a very difficult day. But we`re going to see this case through. We`re also going to be covering this tomorrow on "Inside Edition." So stay tuned for that, as well. And Allison, we`ll see you for the next segment.

Stay tuned for more of JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL. I`m Jim Moret. Don`t go anywhere.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s disgusting. Like, I`m shaking it makes me so mad.

MORET (voice-over): It was supposed to be a fun cruise: Port Canaveral to the Bahamas on board the Carnival Sensation. Thirty-one-year- old Casey Dickerson, facing rape charges, accused of attacking a 15-year- old girl inside a state room.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What did you guys do in that room?

CASEY DICKERSON, RAPE SUSPECT: It was nothing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you rape that girl?

DICKERSON: Not at all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MORET: Tonight, a nightmare on international waters. A 15-year-old girl says she was brutally gang raped inside a cabin on a Caribbean cruise.

I`m Jim Moret from "Inside Edition," in for my friend, Jane Velez- Mitchell.

According to the police report, 31-year-old Dickerson and two underage boys took turns sexually assaulting the girl while her friend was trapped in the bathroom of the state room. Dickerson says he did not rape the victim. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What did you guys do in that room?

DICKERSON: I`d rather not say.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you rape that girl?

DICKERSON: Not at all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MORET: Dickerson is married but already admitted to investigators to having sex with multiple women who were not his wife while on the boat. He`s flip-flopped on his story about what happened that night, alternating between telling police he was passed out or awake at the time of the alleged attack.

What do you think? Call us here: 1-877-JVM-SAYS. That`s 1-877-586- 7297.

Joining me now is a special guest, Laurie Dishman. Lori, you reported to being raped on a different cruise ship six years ago. But you can give us some sense of what this young girl must be going through now.

LAURIE DISHMAN, RAPE SURVIVOR: Well, what she`s going through, I know, is re-victimization, the fact that, when I was raped six years ago, it was a crew member who was a janitor filling in as security on a Royal Caribbean ship. And as a rape victim, you -- you want someone to help you. You want to hide, and you just continue to be re-victimized.

MORET: And in your particular case, you felt that the cruise line was not very responsive. Here they seem to be, but that doesn`t do anything to alleviate the trauma that you went through and the fact that you`re supposed to be on a vacation having a great time, and you`re basically a prisoner on the ship.

DISHMAN: Right. You`re -- you`re on a floating city in the middle of the ocean, where now they have drink packages for unlimited drinking. And you know, I feel that -- and we feel, international cruise victims, that this is something with the lack of security they already have, how could you be able to take care of a victim or deter these type of predators that come on board the ship?

MORET: As somebody who has been victimized on a cruise, are you concerned about the safety of future passengers as they go on a ship? Should you warn them about anything in particular?

DISHMAN: You know, Jim, I am. Because with the type of atmosphere that is out there to the public of a fun ship and them stating over and over again that they`re the safest form of transportation -- these type of crimes are happening all the time. And we have heard from off the record people above the FBI that in Los Angeles, for instance, there`s a sexual assault reported weekly.

And what I would tell people is when you board the ship, don`t treat it like anything different than if you were on land, except for the fact that there is no law out there. You`re in international waters.

MORET: Robi Ludwig is a psychotherapist joining us from our New York studios. Robi -- Dr. Ludwig, talk to us about -- you`re looking at this statement from this suspect. He`s admitted to having sex with multiple women not his wife on the ship. He`s changing his story.

First of all, I don`t even understand the behavior on the ship, is it kind of what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas kind of mentality?

ROBI LUDWIG, PSYCHOTHERAPIST: Well, I mean it certainly could be. And also I`m a little bit curious as to why he`s talking to anyone at all. One would think he would have a defense attorney who would say keep your mouth shut. Don`t say anything. We shouldn`t be knowing about his flip- flopping story.

But it certainly sounds like there was intent, right, before this passenger went on the ship. He went on with his wife, but we don`t know whether his wife somehow went along with her husband`s desire to have sex with multiple partners, not even talking about rape. But it sounds like they rented out two rooms. What did the wife think the other room was for? So I wonder if somehow she knows about her husband`s tendencies.

And then, you know, we don`t know what was going on in this guy`s mind. If he, you know, thinks as long as a woman has sex with him, she wants it. We really don`t know what he`s thinking or he`s just so angry he feels he should be able to have sex with any woman; that women want to have sex or are sluts and that`s how he goes into these scenarios. We don`t really know enough about his mindset or his past history.

MORET: And I want to give viewers a little bit of the back story. It`s my understanding that the couple, this man and his wife, had a room, complained about noise, were given a second noise but were able to retain the first room. That`s where the alleged attack occurred.

And I also want to give you Carnival`s response. The cruise line about the alleged attack, quote, "Upon learning of this incident, Carnival officials immediately contacted all appropriate authorities, including the FBI, which arrested the male guest when the ship arrived at its home port."

Alison Triessl, criminal defense attorney and operates a Web site, Wild about Trial, which follows notorious and high-profile cases around the country. Alison, what kind of responsibility does a ship like this have? You have two parties here, really. You`ve got this perpetrator, alleged perpetrator, and then you have the ship. You think that you`re safe and you should be safe.

ALISON TRIESSL, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Right. I don`t think they`re going to bear any criminal liability, and I do believe the reports indicate to me that they immediately had a doctor spend time with her, that a rape kit was done, and they preserved the evidence immediately. The FBI was informed and he was arrested as soon as they landed.

But I do want to talk a little bit about -- he`s going to claim -- his defense team is going to claim, of course, that he was drunk and that`s going to be the crux of their defense. However, problem with this case from a defense point of view is he did.

Robi is right, he kept talking, he kept talking. He admits to having sex with women that were not his wife. He says, I don`t know what happened on this occasion, but I did have sex. Also, you have these underage boys who I am certain are going to testify against him. You can be certain about this.

MORET: They`re claiming that he provided alcohol.

TRIESSL: He provided alcohol. He`s the only adult there.

MORET: He provided the room.

TRIESSL: Absolutely. So that`s going to be a major problem. So not only will you have the victim in this case testifying against him. You may also have some actual DNA, semen perhaps, and you`re going to undoubtedly have these underage boys who will, I`m certain, testify against him.

MORET: Laurie Dishman, joining us from Sacramento, who claims she was sexually -- actually she was sexually assaulted on a different cruise line. Lori, when you hear this story after living through what you lived through, does it get you angry?

DISHMAN: You know, it gets me angry, but it also motivates me to keep speaking out, because as I went public when it happened to me, it was so that this would stop and it wouldn`t happen to anyone else. And that the environment that is surrounded by you when you are a victim of a rape is horrible. They just -- you don`t feel safe.

And you know, I would ask that anyone watching today, if you are going -- thinking of going on a cruise or curious about what can happen, to visit internationalcruisevictims.org and read about the stories and the things that continue to occur and hopefully you can help prevent that by knowing before you go.

MORET: Dr. Robi Ludwig in New York, it`s just so -- I agree with you. I can`t understand why this man is talking but I also can understand the kind of behavior behind what he is alleged to have done. You know what I mean.

The idea that you would providing alcohol to kids in a state room and then admit that you`re there when all of this was taking place and "Yes, I slept with several women. They weren`t my wife," but not this girl. And you know, there is going to be as Alison suggests physical evidence, but what could go on in somebody`s mind to even go through with something like this?

LUDWIG: Well, I mean, you know, one wonders if this man thought he`s kind of studly, mentoring younger men to abuse women. Any man who engages in rape has real anger towards women, doesn`t like women, and basically uses sex as the weapon. It`s not about sexuality. It`s not about love. It`s about dominating. It`s about rage. It`s about objectifying and dismissing the woman. And there`s a feeling of superiority and perhaps it helps them feel in control when they feel so out of control around women.

But it`s really a hate crime using sex as the weapon. And these men are very, very disturbed. I think what`s so fascinating here is that here this man was married. And so I wonder if we have a situation where he married somebody who has such a low self-esteem, she somehow goes along with it and it`s somewhat of his cover.

MORET: I hate to interrupt you. We`re running out of time for this segment. And thank you to our guests for this. We`re going to keep up on top of this story. That was a disturbing story.

Now time for your "Shocking Video of the Day". Watch as this dad catches one of the many earthquakes that rattled southern California over the weekend. It`s unusually -- it`s usually very hard to see an earthquake on video, but not this time. The dad just happened to be recording his kids when one quake hit. The whole place visibly shakes. Everyone was ok, but it looks like the house -- it looks like it might need some tidying up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MORET: I scream, you scream, but this guy barks for ice cream. Our "Viral Video of the Day" features a dog that is determined to get some dessert.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: More trouble for country music star, Randy Travis. He was arrested in Grayson County, Texas last night on suspicion of driving while intoxicated.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: According to police, they found Travis lying naked on a remote road in northern Texas, smelling of alcohol. And that`s not all. His car apparently was wrecked nearby.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: While he was being transported, Travis made threats to shoot and kill the troopers working the case.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MORET: The streak of bad luck continues for Randy Travis. Shortly after being found butt-naked and drunk and crashing his car, now a new mystery. The country singer`s pickup truck was found wrecked and abandoned behind a north Texas Wal-Mart. You know what? This is sounding like a country song.

The big question, of course, is was Randy Travis driving the truck when it crashed? His attorney says no. Randy has not driven that truck in three months. Coincidentally the banged-up truck was discovered just one day after Randy got into a ruckus in the parking lot of a church.

Cops tell us Travis tried to split up a fight between his lady friend and her ex. There were reports Travis was intoxicated. There was nothing in the official police report that says that he was. Travis was cited for simple assault and released. But we have to ask is Randy Travis falling apart?

Call me at 1-877-JVM-SAYS.

Straight out now to TMZ news manager Mike Walters; Mike, you know, it`s really sad to see this happening to somebody that is beloved for so many years. What`s going on with this guy? Why can`t he stay out of trouble?

MIKE WALTERS, TMZ NEWS MANAGER: Well, you have to look at what`s going on with him. The first thing is this is the third arrest in the last year for alcohol-fueled incidents, you know. The first one was that he was passed out drunk in another church parking lot in his truck. Then he`s butt-naked going into a convenience store trying to buy cigarettes, crashes his car; ends up face down in the street naked. The people who found him thought he wasn`t alive.

And then now we`re told extremely intoxicated while fighting with his -- like you said -- lady friend`s ex-husband over some (inaudible) custody dispute. The problem is, every time we hear his name, it`s never how great of a country singer he is, it`s always how drunk was he while these things were going on. And behind bars?

So the reality is, I think Randy Travis needs help and I think if he doesn`t get it quickly, there could be a bad ending to this country music song.

MORET: And Mike your viewers have been responding to some questions on tmz.com about Randy and his situation. Here are a few of the questions and what the public thinks. Does Randy need help, bad? That`s an overwhelming yes. Is Randy in denial? That would be another yes.

In five years, Randy will be clean and sober or dead -- the "Dead" category, unfortunately, out in front on this poll. And is rehab the answer? So far that answer is "Yes".

Mike Do you think all of this bad press, you talk about what people are addressing with Randy Travis now being his behavior, not his songs, is this a career killer for him?

WALTERS: Well, it could be. The only way he turns this around is if he uses all these experiences -- and I hate to laugh -- but make great county music. I mean this is what great country albums are built on. The problem is he has to sober up. He`s got to get the help and then write all these great songs and kind of and get back into what he does best, which is writing music.

But if he doesn`t get help, you know how this ends. We`ve done this a lot -- you know, both of us -- in the celebrity world, where this ends up tragically -- the Amy Winehouses, the Deejay AMs, the Heath Ledgers. Like, if this doesn`t get better, it always ends up tragic and horrible. So I hope that he can get it on track and I think his fans will follow him as long as he gets sober and starts making good music again instead of the rest of this garbage.

MORET: Yes. I know that his fans, we here certainly hope he gets help as well. We`re going to continue on this story, but say goodbye now to Mike Walters. We`ll be back with more right after this.

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MORET: Time now for our "Pets of the Day". Send us your pictures at hlntv.com/Jane.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A customer walked in, he was butt naked and demanded cigarettes. He was asking him for Marlboro Lights and some other kind of cigarettes. And he told the man, what are you doing over here? You don`t have nothing on. And he said go ahead and give me the cigarettes. He was looking at his hand, didn`t have even no money on him.

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MORET: Here`s the question. Exactly how drunk do you have to be to walk into a store, stark naked to buy cigarettes? Here is what the store owner said when Randy Travis did just that. We ran that, ok -- you just heard that.

Addiction specialist Dr. Howard Samuels, CEO and founder of the Hills Treatment Center, who I lovingly call the Steve McQueen of rehab for obvious reasons.

This is very serious with Randy Travis. It seems that he has got a problem that is recurring over and over in such a condensed period of time that something horrible is about to happen if not already.

HOWARD SAMUELS, FOUNDER, THE HILLS TREATMENT CENTER: Well, you know, Jim, you`re absolutely right. I mean, you know, I deal with these situations with active alcoholics and drug addicts on a daily basis. And Randy is no different. He may be a celebrity, but an alcoholic is an alcoholic. And because of his arrests -- he has been arrested three times in, what, six months?

MORET: Yes.

SAMUELS: Now, that`s the times he`s been caught. What that means is he`s drunk all the time.

MORET: That`s your belief.

SAMUELS: Yes.

MORET: Based on all this behavior.

SAMUELS: Absolutely. Absolutely. And this is a guy who is not going to make it for long. He is going to die. He`s either going kill himself in a car accident or he`s going to hit his head when he falls down. For him to walk into a store, naked, shows you how out to lunch his alcoholism has created.

MORET: So if he were here right now, what would you say to him?

SAMUELS: Oh, get help. For the sake of your family and the people that love you, get help, before it`s too late because he`s pathetic.

MORET: If he doesn`t choose to get help, can he be forced to get help?

SAMUELS: Well, this is where the people around him have to do interventions ASAP. It`s the people in his family, his business manager, his publicist, his agent. If they don`t get their act together and do interventions on him, then they are being extremely irresponsible.

MORET: Is it more difficult, very briefly, in 30 seconds, to get a celebrity to agree to this? They feel so entitled and often in life.

SAMUELS: Yes, because the celebrity has a lot of money. And they also have people they employ and if their employees get too out of line, he`ll fire them. But this is where the employees and the people that love him have to take a stand, to save his life.

MORET: We have more on Randy Travis coming up. Stay with us on Jane Velez-Mitchell. I`m Jim Moret.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Grayson County 911.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hello? I just found a guy laying in the road.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have a male on 911. He stated that he has just come upon a male subject laying in the roadway. He does appear to be nonresponsive. Are you ok?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`m spooked out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MORET: That was a 911 call made by the man who found Randy Travis lying in the middle of the street a couple of weeks ago. After driving his car off the road and crashing into construction barriers. Travis also reportedly threatened to shoot and kill state troopers who took him into custody.

Criminal defense attorney Alison Triessl, who runs a Web site Wild about Trial. Alison, you suspect that Dr. Samuels talking about rehab, you suspect that Randy Travis may be going into rehab whether he likes it or not.

TRIESSL: Right. Here`s the thing. With three arrests and this was fairly serious, I mean threatening to shoot somebody or hurt them is a pretty serious offense. So he may be forced to detox.

MORET: Right.

TRIESSL: In the jail. Of course, the people around him need to say to him, "Randy, we need to get you some help." And I do believe that this is the type of case where the criminal justice system would applaud his efforts to go into treatment and would not want him to spend time in custody. They would so prefer that he go into treatment.

MORET: And look, this doesn`t seem to be a criminal or a bad guy. But he`s got a bad problem. And the judge might be inclined to say, "If you are willing to go into treatment, I`ll let you do that."

TRIESSL: He walked into a convenience store naked to buy cigarettes. I mean that`s all his defense attorney needs to say, "Get him some help, he really needs it."

MORET: Dr. Samuels last word to you, 30 seconds. Reach out to Randy Travis if you can. What do you want to say?

SAMUELS: Randy, if you really want to live, if you want to save your career, if you really want to have your family back in your life instead of the drama and the insanity that you`re involved right now, please, pick up the phone, get some help, go into treatment, detox, go to an AA meeting. Do whatever you can to save your life before it`s too late.

MORET: And are you hopeful -- you`re hopeful that will happen obviously?

SAMUELS: I`m hopeful for everybody -- all alcoholics.

MORET: Ok. We`re going to continue to follow this story and all the ones we`ve been following. I`m sorry we did not get to your phone calls today. I`m Jim Moret from "Inside Edition", in tonight for Jane Velez- Mitchell.

Nancy grace is coming up next. And I advise you to stay tuned because if you know Nancy, she`s not going to like it if you change the channel.

Thanks a lot for watching. See you next time.

END