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JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL

Children Killed by Nanny?

Aired October 26, 2012 - 19:00   ET

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


KYRA PHILLIPS, HLN ANCHOR: ... have an even better weekend.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A great weekend. I`m going to be on "The View" on Monday.

PHILLIPS: That`s right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But also be here Monday night. Folks, have a great weekend. JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL starts right now.

JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL, HOST: Tonight it`s absolutely the most horrifying thing a parent could ever experience. A mother comes home to find her two children stabbed to death, allegedly by their nanny. How do you ever recover from something like that? Tonight we`ve got brand-new information about this nanny, who is now in critical condition after trying to kill herself, next.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VELEZ-MITCHELL (voice-over): Tonight a mother`s worst possible nightmare comes true. Neighbors say they heard a blood-curdling scream when a New York mother returned home to find two of her children near death, stabbed multiple times. Their nanny lay nearby, having apparently tried to kill herself. Cops now accuse the 50-year-old nanny of this unimaginable act, killing these innocent children. And mothers and families around the country are asking, how could this happen? We are investigating this tragic story.

Then, a beautiful 20-year-old woman dies in an outrageous accident. Cops say Shelby Harmon was run down while walking on the side of the road, forcing her into traffic, where two other cars hit her. Her family says she was hit shortly after arguing with her boyfriend, and they`re demanding justice. Was this domestic violence taken to extremes?

Plus, wild accusations as superstar Britney Spears` former manager spills what he says are the secrets going on behind doors of the Spears mansion. Was the "Baby One More Time" singer on meth and amphetamines during her very public meltdown five years ago, as this man claims? Tonight, we`ll tell you why a former nanny for Britney Spears says this guy is a liar. Who`s telling the truth in this war or words? We`ll have the latest.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Neighbors could hear blood-curdling screams when a New York mom arrived home to find two of her young children killed.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There`s no other way to describe it. Just a horrible tragedy in New York`s Upper West Side. A mother, she comes home, she finds her young son and daughter in the bathtub, stabbed to death.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The nanny was on the floor. She apparently stabbed herself. She`s in critical condition.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Clutching her youngest child with probably blood-curdling screams.

RAY KELLY, NYPD COMMISSIONER: The apartment is dark. And she goes into the bathroom and that`s when she discovered the bodies.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Tonight breaking news. Brand-new information just coming in.

A scene of unbelievable horror in a Manhattan apartment. Cops say a mother came home to find the unimaginable: her two children stabbed repeatedly inside a bathtub and the nanny lying only a few feet away, allegedly trying to slit her own throat.

Good evening. I`m Jane Velez-Mitchell.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The mother returned home to her apartment here to discover two of her children stabbed in the apartment bathtub and the nanny of those children on the bathroom floor with stab wounds to her neck.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Cops arrested 50-year-old nanny Yoselyn Ortega, saying she murdered 2-year-old Leo Krim and 6-year-old Lucia Krim with a kitchen knife. Neighbors called 911 after hearing the devastated mother`s blood-curdling screams when she came home late yesterday afternoon and discovered this horror. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I saw the mom sitting on the chair against the wall. She didn`t want her face shown, clutching her youngest child, with probably blood-curdling screams.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: This nanny is now in critical condition in the hospital. What would drive a seemingly caring nanny to allegedly commit such an unimaginable, sick, evil crime?

Straight out to CNN correspondent Deb Feyerick. Deb, you`ve got new information just coming in. What is the very latest on this? Such a horrible case.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We do, Jane. It`s devastating, because every parent all over the country knows what it is to entrust a child to the care of a nanny, to a babysitter, to anyone. It`s a gigantic leap of faith.

We are learning tonight that the nanny was suspected of killing those two children, that in fact, she was seeking psychological help. This is according to reports from Ortega`s family. And police right now are working to corroborate those reports. They cannot talk to Ortega, because she is heavily sedated. She`s intubated, so they cannot even begin to question her.

They have been able to question the mom, Marina Krim. And what the mom says is that she came home to the apartment because the nanny failed to show at a dance lesson with the two children. They were supposed to meet the third child there and then they were all going to walk home together.

Well, when the nanny failed to show, the mom came to the apartment. It was dark. Curiously dark. And so she went to the doorman, the doorman said, no, everybody was still upstairs. That`s what the mom walked into the bathroom and saw her two children in the bathtub, Jane, and the nanny on the floor, apparently stabbing herself in the neck, according to a police spokesman. The nanny had had also slit her wrists. This is the horrific scene that this mom walked into.

The father, he was away on business. He is an executive at CNBC. He was met at the airport by police, who told him what had happened.

Now, Ortega is a naturalized citizen. We did get a statement from the mother, from the father`s mother, and she says, "My daughter-in-law is really hands on. She always had kids with her. We don`t have a clue as to what set the nanny off." And she calls her daughter-in-law the world`s best mom. So this is really tragic, Jane.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: It`s shaken everyone to the core. Our hearts go out to the Krim family. Our deepest condolences. There are no words. It`s -- it`s just a story that, I think, breaks everybody`s hearts.

The mother, this wonderful mother who writes a blog about her children, who was so involved in her little ones` lives, had taken her middle child, a 3-year-old, to get lessons. When she got back to the apartment, it was dark. She went to check downstairs. Did they leave? No. She comes back up. She turns on the lights, and the nightmare unfolds. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KELLY: The mother may have left the apartment. Went to the apartment. She sees that the lights are out. She goes downstairs to the lobby. She`s assuming that the nanny had gone out with the children. She goes down to the lobby and asks the doorman if, in fact, they had gone out, and he says no.

She goes back up. The apartment is dark. And she goes into the bathroom and that`s when she discovered the bodies.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Now, even the police commissioner seems shaken up, and he`s seen everything. We`re now learning that this nanny had tried to get, quote, "professional help" for psychological issues before this hideous event took place.

According to "The New York Post," police sources are telling at least "The New York Post" that she may have taken pills.

So Robi Ludwig, psychotherapist, she may have taken pills, possibly, according to "The New York Post," quoting police sources. She was seeking psychological help. Other neighbors mentioned she was acting nervously and seemed to have a vacant stare. Now, this is according to just some reports from neighbors. What do you make of it?

ROBI LUDWIG, PSYCHOTHERAPIST: It`s so hard to know. You know, we don`t have enough details. When I first heard the story, I wondered if this woman had an untreated, agitated type of depression. So that`s when somebody is suffering from depression and, in addition to feeling depressed, they`re agitated. They`re easily annoyed. They`re easily angered.

One wonders if she was just taking pills on her own and that somehow exacerbated an underlying illness, or she had run out of pills that she needed. Was this a woman who had a long psychiatric history, and for a while was doing well, and then issues started to flare up again?

We also have to consider maybe this woman was having some kind of psychotic break. Remember Andrea Yates, who killed several of her children in the bathtub, and we found out later that she had a severe mental illness that was untreated. You know, it`s very possible this was a nanny who was loved by the family and did very well for a period of time until she didn`t.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Speaking of loved by the family, this family, the Krims, did everything -- everything they could possibly do, everything under the sun to welcome this woman into their lives, to check her out.

Just back this past February, earlier this year, this family, the Krim family, took a nine-day vacation to the Dominican Republic and they visited with the nanny`s family.

And according to the blog, the mother`s blog, everybody had a wonderful time. Quote, "We spent half the time at our nanny, Josie`s sister`s home in Santiago. We met Josie`s amazing familia. And the Dominican Republic is a wonderful country!"

So it seems on the surface that Josie and the Krims had a great relationship. She had been working for them for almost two years.

And I want to bring in Melanie Smear (ph). You`re a parenting expert. And the one thing we don`t want to do is look at the parents. They did everything. These -- these are some of the most involved parents you could ever see. Writing blogs, this mother talking about all the time that she spent with her child, describing their -- their daily routine in a blog.

MELANIE SMEAR (PH), PARENTING EXPERT: They can`t blame themselves, though, for this. This is something, like you said, they did everything they could. And my heart breaks for them. This is just such a sad, sad situation.

And unfortunately, there`s just people out there that are messed up people, and it`s just heartbreaking for all of us that these two children had to be victims of whatever it is that`s going on with this lady.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Every parent -- everyone is shaken by this. Deb Feyerick, how did they meet this particular nanny?

FEYERICK: By all accounts, the mom was so involved in the children`s lives, but when the third child was born about two years ago, they decided that they were going to hire a nanny. This woman, Josie Ortega, was actually introduced to the Krim family by another family who knew the Krims. So there`s that added layer.

But think about this, Jane. The mom was out taking one daughter to swimming. Had come back to take another daughter to dance. And I was going through the blog and I was looking at all the pictures of these children. I mean, this was such a happy, loving family. You can see all these wonderful things that they did. The holidays that they celebrated. The activities that the parents took them on. They took them to the White House. They took them pumpkin picking. They celebrated Easter. They were just this magnificent, unified sort of family.

And then when you think about it, this 3-year-old child is left with these memories of these two siblings, and her parents have to try to make it right. It`s heartbreak. There`s no other words.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: It`s beyond comprehension. There are almost no words. Deb Feyerick, thank you for that excellent report.

More on the other side.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There`s no words to describe what they`re going through. And we need to come together to support them. Our hearts go out to the mom and dad and their remaining little girl.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: An unimaginable crime scene. A beautiful, precious 6-year-old girl and the 2-year-old boy stabbed multiple times. The mother comes home with her other child and discovers this horror. And the nanny is reportedly lying there on the ground, trying to kill herself. She`s got a kitchen knife. It`s beyond comprehension.

And this nanny, Josie Ortega, was 50 years old, originally from the Dominican Republic. She`s been the nanny for the Krims for about two years before these alleged murders took place. She lives in Harlem, which is about 50 blocks north from the Krims, with her three sisters and her adolescent son. The Krims lived in an area -- well, it`s considered to be one of the nicest areas in Manhattan, less than a block from Central Park. Rents for a three-bedroom apartment easily $10,000 a month. Twenty-four- hour doorman service. A white glove building.

Yoselyn lived blocks away. They called her Josie, but it could have been a world away.

And I`ve got to wonder, Howard Samuels, founder and CEO of the Hills Treatment Center, what might have been going on in that apartment half a world away uptown. When I hear -- and being in recovery -- when I hear police sources telling "The New York Post" that she may have taken pills. We know that pills are a huge problem in America. We don`t want to speculate right now, but pills can make people feel suicidal and homicidal. Howard Samuels, your thoughts?

HOWARD SAMUELS, FOUNDER/CEO, HILLS TREATMENT CENTER (via phone): Yes, Jane, I mean, I have to totally agree. I mean, you know, drugs of any kind or pills, you know, affect the body differently and affect everyone differently because of the different chemical makeup.

Now, if somebody is already having psychological issues, whether it`s depression, anxiety, bipolar or whatever, you know, and you start to take pills, it can definitely create some kind of psychic break. But understand something. There`s a little difference between depression and anxiety disorders, which are fairly common and this kind of bizarre acting sick act of violence. I mean, this is just beyond the beyond, Jane.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: It is beyond the beyond. Stacey Honowitz, Florida prosecutor, thank you for your patience.

We don`t know what happened. We can`t speculate. Our hearts go out to this beautiful family. They did everything right and a horror befalls them. And that`s what`s so difficult to get our minds around.

I mean, this mother, Marina Krim, kept a detailed blog that chronicled every little happening in her children`s lives. And in fact, just a few hours before this horror took place, she actually had written in her blog something. I think we have it right here, if you just roll up. "Leo speaks in the most adorable way possible."

This is a doting, caring mother. How do you as a prosecutor who sees so many horrors come to terms with something this bad happening to people who are this good?

STACEY HONOWITZ, FLORIDA PROSECUTOR: Jane, I think we`re all sitting here today, everybody is in shock, everybody is devastated. You`re right. Nobody can really wrap their minds around it.

I do see these cases. I had a case very similar to this. Educated parents. The mother was an oncologist. The father a pharmacist. They researched. They were doting parents. They went through the agencies. They checked on her; they got references. Same thing. Mom came home one day and child -- I mean, child lived but was severely battered by this nanny who had a degree in child psychology.

So you just never know. I mean, that`s the unfortunate situation. You don`t know what people -- what lurks behind the scenes. As Robi pointed out in the very beginning, you don`t know if it was a psychotic break. You don`t know if they were suffering from psychological issues. And like everything else, like you said, it could all look great on the surface. Everyone could say we love her. She`s great with the kids, and then something like this happens.

So I wish I had an answer for you. It`s unfortunate that we don`t know in these type of cases, but there are no answers.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: On the other side of the break, we`re going to talk to famed private investigator Vinnie Parco about what authorities should be doing or are doing to try to solve the mystery of why, why. That`s next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What goes through your mind, a thing like this happening?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, it`s about the worst.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: A 6-year-old girl, a 2-year-old boy, gorgeous, happy children, inexplicably murdered, allegedly by their nanny who then reportedly tried to kill herself, and all of this discovered by the mother of the two children as she was coming home with her other child. Incomprehensible horror and disbelief on the Upper West Side of Manhattan where all of this went down.

I want to go to Vinnie Parco, private investigator. What do police have to do now to find out why, to come up with a motive?

VINNIE PARCO, PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR: Well, you know, my feeling is that something happened very traumatically in her life in the last couple days, and she couldn`t handle it and she just freaked out. And we have to find out what happened to her relationships with her husband, her boyfriend, if she had a problem with her own family and she took it out on the children and herself.

She did try to commit suicide. And it could be that she had something very traumatic happen in her life.

The family checked her out. They spent time with her in the Dominican Republic. They felt very comfortable, very safe with her. So something must have happened that caused her to flip out like that.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, first of all, interesting question to raise. I don`t know if there was a boyfriend or a husband. What we have read is that, Stacey Honowitz, she lives with three sisters and an adolescent son in Harlem, north of the tony neighborhood where the victims lived. She would come down to work in the Upper West Side of Manhattan. But there could be an inciting incident, as they say, something that pulls that trigger.

HONOWITZ: Something certainly had to take her over the edge to commit a crime as heinous as this. And especially if she had what the parents believed to be a fabulous relationship with the kids. And certainly, parents are well aware that, if kids aren`t getting along with people that are taking care of them, then they would do something about it. So you know, obviously, there was nothing to alert these parents that she had some issues. So there had to be some trauma or some psychotic incident that broke her.

And so like I said, Jane, we are all sitting here desperate for answers. Desperate to know why. I don`t know at this point if you can ever answer a question as devastating as this as to why she would do it.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: And answering the question does not bring these precious, innocent, beautiful children back.

Tonight on Nancy Grace mysteries, Shawn Hornbeck was 11 years old when he vanished on the way to a friend`s house. After more than four years, the case was cracked wide open when Shawn`s kidnapper, Michael Devlin, decided to strike again, kidnapping 13-year-old Ben Ownby from his school bus stop. In a miraculous twist, police found Ben and Shawn alive. You don`t want to miss this one. Held in captivity, the Shawn Hornbeck and Ben Ownby story, 8 p.m. Eastern.

We`ve got much more coming up next, including an interview with Britney Spears` former nanny, who is defending Britney.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Marks on Highway 61 show where 20-year-old Shelby Harmon was hit and killed.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He just came out and said, "She`s gone. We can`t do anything for her. You don`t need to come here, it`s too bad. She`s dead."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How did Shelby Harmon get on the road to begin with?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Top six secrets tonight that may have led to the horrific death of a beautiful young man in Mississippi, 20-year-old Shelby Harmon. Take a look at her. Beautiful young woman with her life ahead of her died after being run over by three -- three different vehicles. And cops tell CNN affiliates one of those vehicles was being driven by Shelby`s own boyfriend.

WMC reporting that boyfriend was questioned but later released and never arrested or charged. But cops are going over his 2002 GMC pickup truck. Shelby`s mother is devastated because she believes the boyfriend should be held responsible for her daughter`s death.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANGELA HARMON, MOTHER OF SHELBY HARMON: I don`t think it started in the middle of the highway. There`s key evidence at that house. She doesn`t have a voice. Well, somebody has to be her voice right now. I`m not going to let it be swept under the rug. I`m not.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: We are not naming the boyfriend since he has not been charged, but he`s welcome on our show any time to tell his side of the story. We called him, but no one answered.

Shelby`s friends and relatives are outraged. They`re even protesting over the fact that there has been no arrest. So I have to ask: is this a horrific accident or is it something much more sinister?

We heard about this story because we were flooded by viewer e-mails and Facebook posts and tweets begging us to cover this case, so we are. We listen to you.

Joining me now is Shelby`s mother Angela. Angela we`re so sorry for your loss. Our hearts go out to you. What have police told you about your daughter`s death and the investigation into that death?

HARMON (via telephone): We are receiving more updates now. The four days from the day she died, we went four days with no information at all. We are now getting -- since the protest and the public outcry we`re getting more and more information from them. They assure us that they are investigating night and day. They are trying to collect all the evidence they need. Of course, we can`t disclose any of that because we don`t want to jeopardize the --

(CROSSTALK)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Let`s go back to the fateful morning, last Saturday morning when all this happened. Now, reports say Shelby had an argument reportedly allegedly with her boyfriend with whom she lives. And then she left the house and began walking on the side of Highway 61 when she was hit.

WMC is reporting that Shelby and her boyfriend had gotten into a fight about 5:00 a.m. Police tell local stations she was first hit by her boyfriend`s truck and forced into the traffic and then the oncoming traffic hit her again. The driver of the second vehicle, a woman called 911 and we don`t know if that driver of the third vehicle stopped.

But this is the dilemma, and I have to go out to Stacey Honowitz for a second. Is the delay possibly -- could you account for the delay possibly by wondering whether authorities are trying to figure out what charge? Do they have to determine which vehicle actually delivered the fatal blow? Is it possible that if indeed the boyfriend hit her first and did not kill her, then the second vehicle delivered the deadly impact, even though that was completely unintentional and we also don`t know about the intention of the boyfriend.

STACEY HONOWITZ, FLORIDA PROSECUTOR: Yes you`re 100 percent right, Jane. I think that`s probably what the delay is because you have to weigh, you know, homicide versus an accident. And certainly they have to try to figure out which car hit her and was it an accident like you said. So they have to ferret out all of the evidence. If it`s nobody`s fault --

VELEZ-MITCHELL: And let me go back to the mother right now. Angela, what do you think happened? Do you think this was intentional -- to intentionally run your daughter over, and if so, why?

HARMON: I know for a fact, I know my daughter. And she`s not going to be running down the highway early that morning, early any morning in the night clothes barefoot unless she feared for her life. That`s the way I feel. I can`t speculate on what happened. I wasn`t there to witness it. And as far as her --

(CROSSTALK)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: What do you want?

HARMON: -- arguing with her boyfriend -- ma`am?

VELEZ-MITCHELL: What do you want done? What would you like to see?

HARMON: I want justice for her. I want him to serve the maximum -- if he`s guilty for murder I want him to serve the maximum time. I don`t want him out walking the streets to go and hurt anybody else. That`s what I want.

VELEZ-MITCHELLL: Angela Harmon, we want to stay on top of the story. We`re going to pursue it. We have reached out to authorities. And we will continue to reach out to authorities. The D.A. says they haven`t even gotten the paperwork yet. So we will revisit it.

Thank you and our hearts, again go out to you.

Switching gears here, you`re sitting outside at a cafe when someone you see gets out of his car and before your eyes transforms himself from dressed up to dressed down and down on his luck. He pulls out a cup and a sign, sets up and starts begging for spare change. "WHAT DO YOU DO", it`s the hit show on HLN.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN QUINONES, HLN HOST: What would you do if you saw a beggar who wasn`t really needy, but just greedy?

We`re in Hoboken, New Jersey where we set up our actors and hidden cameras at a cafe.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Could you spare change, dime --

QUINONES: It only takes a few minutes for this man to warn the very first person who walks by.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He`s not blind. He just drove that car over here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What? Mind your business. Could you spare a dime? Nickel? Anything, anything else.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Let me go in and get some change.

QUINONES: Remember these donors are actors too. But without knowing that, this man follows her and warns her about the fake panhandler.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Miss, don`t give him any more money. He`s not blind.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you very much.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He`s writing right now. Can you see him writing?

QUINONES: He tells the manager to notify the police.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you call the police on this?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

QUINONES: When he sits back down at his table and he sees our actor up to his next scheme.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He has a wheelchair out now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dude, would you just cut it out?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why don`t you move somewhere else because you`re on my nerves right now.

He is faking it. Don`t give him money.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He walked to that car before.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A total faker.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He walks and he was pretending he was blind earlier.

QUINONES: No one will get by without a warning until --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh my God, get out of here.

QUINONES: What`s wrong with this?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s completely dishonest.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: So what would you do? Don`t miss it Sunday and Thursday nights at 9:00 p.m. Eastern. This hidden camera show hosted by ABC`s John Quinones -- a series of ethical dilemmas that will entertain you and make you think, "WHAT WOULD YOU DO", Sunday and Thursday nights, 9:00 Eastern here on HLN.

Up next, an amazing, amazing interview with Britney Spears` ex-nanny - - she`s defending Britney. You won`t believe it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Your favorite "Viral Vid of the Week" -- this one no contest. Hands down or maybe paws down, you might say, it`s the baby versus the light saber battle. He`s a little toddler. But boy, they are having a good time. This just shows you how a pet, a companion animal, brings joy to a family home. So, so fun.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Spears parents accuse Lutfi of drugging Britney as well as controlling her life and finances.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I believe he`s the manager.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Her past still haunts her.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She`s lost right now and she has to be found. She really needs help. She needs to be away from the public eye, too.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you feel relieved?

BRITNEY SPEARS, SINGER: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Few people have hit the high spots that Britney had. And few people have hit the low spots that she`s had.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If Sam Lutfi was doing a good job of managing her then she wouldn`t be in this situation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Low-life, loser, wannabe -- those are just some of the names Britney Spears former nanny is throwing at Sam Lutfi. He`s the guy with the hat on there.

She`s going to join me exclusively in a moment to talk about this guy who is suing Britney, the "I`m a Slave for You" singer for a chunk of change over music he says he managed and never got paid for. Check it out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(MUSIC)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: The court battle is raging on in Los Angeles as we speak. And Lutfi, well he took the stand. He couldn`t back up his claims reportedly squirming and unable to answer when attorneys grilled him on the stand about contracts and common music industry lingo. Didn`t have an idea apparently of what that meant -- certain terms.

Straight out to my exclusive guest; we`re so delighted to have with us tonight Britney`s former nanny, Leah Frand -- I hope I pronounced that right. Is it Leah? You were in the house with this Sam character during that tumultuous time in Britney`s life several years ago. What kind of person is this Sam Lutfi?

LEA, BRITNEY SPEARS` FORMER NANNY: Well, I was going to try to censor a few things since it`s CNN and not TMZ, but as I said, low life, loser, wannabe, desperate -- just looking for something to go on in his life. Really nothing -- he didn`t do anything.

I`m not sure if he got paid. If he has proof, it would be nice to see it because from what I know he wasn`t getting paid. He was just around for absolutely no reason. Britney has mentioned to me when I was living in the house that she is a little bit scared of him and she wasn`t sure what he was doing there. I wasn`t sure what he was doing there.

Really nothing -- there`s really no purpose for why he was in the house. And as far as a manager and all this stuff, I`m not really familiar as to what he`s suing her for, but he definitely was not involved in any music making, any music videos.

I was her live-in nanny, full-time, personal assistant and household manager and friend. So when I was there, any time that I was on the phone that had anything to do with her music career or music videos, I was on the phone with Sony Records or Columbia Records or lawyers or people that had been involved in her life in the industry.

Sam Lutfi has nothing and had nothing to do with any of her music career or anything in her life at all while I was there.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Now, thank you for that explanation. This guy Sam Lutfi is claiming, this is the most outrageous claim that he found meth in Britney`s house around the time of her very public meltdown. Remember, we`ve been showing you pictures. She shaved her head and he claimed it was so officials wouldn`t be able to take a hair sample to test it for drugs. Leah what`s your response to these drug charges that Sam Lutfi has made against Britney?

FRAND: I wouldn`t be surprised if he set it up. As I said and I told TMZ there were no carpets that could have been ripped out. My bedroom was not carpeted. There was no -- I guess he claimed it was where there was a party or there was bags of meth -- whatever it was. There were no carpets. Everything were -- the home was always put together and beautiful. There were never drugs around. There was never anything around.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Did you ever see her using drugs?

FRAND: Never. And I know what drugs look like, obviously, and I know to an extent how people act when they are on drugs. That had never happened when I was there. I was there for a good amount of time. Six months is not a long time but when you`re a full-time around the clock nanny, assistant household manager for a high profile person like that, six months is a very long time. And there was never anything around.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. Listen, on the other side, we`re going to continue talking to you. I have some more important questions for you, but it`s really fascinating to get the other side of the story and we thank you for that.

Stay right there.

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VELEZ-MITCHELL: Time for our "Pet o` the Day. And here`s our director Jack`s beautiful Maggie. And what a pose -- just stretched out. And Dolce -- Dolce is, that`s (inaudible) dog. One of our great producers. Amazing Daisy. Daisy, you`ve got a lot going on there. I can`t exactly figure it out but it`s all working for you, honey.

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VELEZ-MITCHELL: I love her videos. Britney Spears "Piece of Me" video from Vivo, and we`re getting a rare look at what was happening behind closed doors from Britney`s former nanny, Leah Frand, who`s joining us exclusively.

Now listen, I have to ask you. The fact is -- and let`s show the hair shaving -- there was bizarre behavior by Britney about five years ago, and that`s why she has a conservatorship over her to this day. Let`s show some of those pictures of Britney when she was shaving her head -- there it is. And there were also reports she was speaking in British accent, dealing with the paparazzi with an umbrella and she was ultimately taken via ambulance to a hospital and then her dad came in and got a conservatorship over her.

What was going on? If it wasn`t drugs, what was wrong?

FRAND: Ok. Well, I`ve been a professional nanny for about 11 years, so all the crazy stuff like almost dropping the baby or whatever it was, all these minor things, I think that sadly is normal and can happen to anyone. As far as shaving the head, I personally don`t think that has anything to do with drugs or passing any tests. I think it`s just an excuse on Sam`s part.

I think she did it just because she was going through like a mental stage and it was that and a combination of other thing that she did that was just crazy to other people and out of the ordinary. I think any normal human being would have done something extreme like that. Britney Spears happens to be in the limelight, so --

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Look it. Let me ask you this. She`s 30 years old. Some say she`s worth almost $200 million. She`s got tons of hit songs, and now she`s a judge on Fox`s hit show "X Factor".

Let`s check that out for a sec.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ok, Britney. What do you say?

SPEARS: Think you need to practice a little bit more.

I thought it was just kind of bad.

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VELEZ-MITCHELL: So, why is she still under a conservatorship? I mean she`s doing more than 90 percent of the people in America.

FRAND: Right. I think it`s the people that are trying to destroy her. And I don`t know details of what`s going on as far as legal stuff because I don`t really follow all this, but I think people are just haters and they`re jealous. They`ll say they`re not.

A lot of people are in denial, and they`ll do whatever they can to make people who are successful or who have it all, I guess, just -- I guess drill them down into the ground as far as they can. And Sam Lutfi is definitely one of those people who would do something like that.

So that`s my opinion. I don`t know exactly what`s going on.

(CROSSTALK)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Ok. Well, on the other side, we`re going to talk a little bit more about how this character got into Britney`s life. Stay right there.

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MICHAEL SANDS, SPOKESMAN FOR SAM LUTFI: Sam has been mixing Britney`s prescription medication cocktails that bipolar patients take or bipolar people take. That`s what this is about. It`s about a disease called bipolar. It`s not about Sam Lutfi. If he drugged her, she wouldn`t be out on the streets running around. This is the nature of bipolar people.

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VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes. Boy, they called her a lot of things. That was the spokesperson for this Sam Lutfi character. Leah, why did she let Sam into her life? I heard the story that, well, she wanted his hat and he said no because he didn`t want to reveal his receding hairline and that she loved that somebody said no to him, what do you know? No to her.

FRAND: I didn`t know that. That`s really funny though. That makes sense too. Have no idea why she let him into her life. I don`t think it - - I mean it could be the hat situation. But I think Britney also, along with Sam, maybe on a different level, was a little bit lonely at the time.

When I was working for her, I believe Sam had gotten rid of everybody. And actually the reason why I wasn`t working there after the six months is also because of Sam for absolutely no reason. He said, we`ll call you back in a couple of weeks and there was no reason for it. And he was basically just trying to get rid of everybody and take control of her life.

As far as Britney`s side of it from what she told me at the time, she had no -- obviously didn`t really -- I don`t want to say no idea, but she didn`t know exactly what she was doing or what was going on or who to trust.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, Leah, we`re almost out of time. We want to thank you so much.

FRAND: Ok.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: By the way, Sam, do you want to come on? Come on any time. I`d love to ask you some questions. Leah, great, great talking to you.

Nancy is next.

END