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JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL

Wife of Justin Harris Tries to Visit Him in Jail

Aired July 8, 2014 - 19:00:00   ET

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


JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL, HOST: Breaking news tonight as the man accused of murdering his toddler son by baking him to death in a hot car gets a

very public jail visit from his wife.

Good evening. I`m Jane Velez-Mitchell, coming to you live. This is NBC News video just in Leanna who went to visit her husband Ross. He is

accuse of murdering their son in a boiling hot car as he texted six other women. His mom spent 45 minutes inside the jail, but it`s not clear if

they ever met. Listen to what a reporter asked her.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good morning, Mrs. Harris. Were you able to speak with your husband? How is Ross doing? What do you want people to know

this morning?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL; So you saw her shake her head there. Is it possible he didn`t want to see her after all the shockers that came out in court?

Or did they talk? Actually talk and she`s just telling the reporter, leave me alone.

You can see Leanna Harris burying her head as she rides off. What would motivate this woman to make such a public gesture of loyalty to a man

cops say has betrayed her sexually and allegedly murdered her own flesh and blood?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Leanna Harris, the baby`s mother, also part of the investigation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: During that she`s like, "Why aren`t you crying? Why aren`t you reacting to this?"

She said, "I must be in shock."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stunning claims of raunchy text messages.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He`s got this whole second life that he`s living with alternate personalities.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Suspicious Internet searches, Harris watched videos online about the dangers of being trapped in a hot car.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She looks at him and she`s like, "Did you say too much?"

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This was his joy. This was his pride. He was very proud be Cooper`s daddy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Mom Leanna insisted to daycare workers that her husband had left Cooper in the car the moment she heard the child wasn`t

there, before she had any news of her son`s death.

People are also wondering about the mom after cops said she asked her husband, after her son`s death, in the police station, if he, quote, "said

too much."

Police say Daddy texted photographs of his private parts to six different women when he was inside his office. Meanwhile, out in the

parking lot, little Cooper, his only son, is suffering an excruciating, torturous death inside a sizzling hot SUV.

Why would this woman, his wife, want to visit him after learning he`s got a double life with a slew of other women? Or was she already aware

he`d cheated, as prosecutors believe?

Call me: 1-877-JVM-SAYS, 1-877-586-7297. I want to hear from you.

Straight out to our fantastic Lion`s Den debate panel. I begin with Lisa Bloom, Avvo.com legal analyst. So many people, Lisa, are outraged

that she would want to visit this man after all the hideous secrets we`ve learned. I can`t understand it. Why?

LISA BLOOM, AVVO.COM: So there`s two possible explanations. One is she`s a co-conspirator in the murder of her little boy, they`re a couple of

sociopaths, and all the behavior that you just listed supports that.

In addition, she never talked about the little boy when she`s with him at the police station. She never said, "Oh, my God, what happened to my

son? It was all about her husband. And that`s very suspicious, too.

The other possibility is that she`s truly innocent; she`s caught up in something she doesn`t understand. She`s young, and she`s got a lot of

growing and evolving to do to come to terms with what`s happened to her life.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, what does everybody think? Anahita Sedaghatfar, we`ve got to mention she`s not charged with anything, not

called a suspect. Do you think that she is a co-conspirator and that she wants to visit her husband to, you know, be a co-conspirator? That`s what

they do. They communicate with...

ANAHITA SEDAGHATFAR: No, Jane.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: No?

SEDAGHATFAR: I don`t think so. I think she`s standing by her man because she doesn`t believe that he intentionally killed their son.

And really, it`s easy for everyone to kind of sit back all of a sudden and be some kind psychologist or body language expert and convict this

woman because she didn`t show enough emotion, Jane; she didn`t cry; she was chewing gum during the hearing. They were literally tearing apart every

word that she said at the eulogy of her son. I mean, you can`t do that, because we all know people grieve differently.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: By the way, I have to say...

SEDAGHATFAR: How does a mother grieve when she loses his son?

VELEZ-MITCHELL: This is NBC News video right here. I want to make an important point to mention that; they got this video.

Dr. Jeff Gardere, there she is. Look, she puts her head down like this -- like this as the car`s going up. I seem to notice -- not to be an

armchair psychologist; you`re the real forensic psychologist, that she seems to have a lack of affect. Look at their in the court hearing for her

husband, chewing gum. There`s a blank -- there`s a blankness there.

DR. JEFF GARDERE, FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGIST: There`s a blankness there. And I`m going to go with what Lisa Bloom has said about the latter, that

let`s presume that she`s innocent at this particular point. She hasn`t been charged, so why would she still stay with this guy? Why would she

visit him? Why are we seeing that lack of affect? Why is she putting her head down?

I think a lot of it has do with embarrassment for something that she`s involved in, perhaps she didn`t want to be involved in. But I think this

is a woman who may have a very dependent personality. That no matter what has happened to her son, even though she should be grieving for him, she`s

more grieving for this man.

She is so dependent on this individual for her breath, for her only life, she feels that this is her reason for living, so she is not grieving

for this child the way that she should be appropriately.

SEDAGHATFAR: How should she be grieving though? That`s the question. How should a mother who loses...

BLOOM: She should be talking about her little boy.

GARDERE: First of all, why is she even -- why is she even visiting this individual?

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Order in the non-court.

GARDERE: This man just killed their child.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Casey Jordan, criminologist. When she`s at the son`s funeral, she says, "Ross, I`m doing this for you." What is she doing for

him? It`s the kid`s funeral?

CASEY JORDAN, CRIMINOLOGIST: I`m with Jeff. I think that they have a psychological wicked attraction. I think they`re silent partners.

Do I think they conspired in term of talking about it in advance? Not so much. But the idea that their lives have changed sin they had a baby,

that they missed the old days when they were child-free, which was a site that he had looked up.

The thing that gave it away for her is she said, "I could never be angry. It hasn`t even occurred to me to be angry." That is unnatural.

Her first reaction as a mother would be complete rage and disbelief. We`ve seen none of that.

And that whole idea that she said, "Ross left the baby in the car, I`m sure of it," is the biggest indices that this is something that had passed

between them, even if they didn`t speak about it overtly. They had thought about how would our lives be without this baby? Maybe it would be better.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Also, he`s the leader of the household. She said words to that effect, referring to him as a leader. What a leader, you

know? And then...

GARDERE: He`s the leader of the pack, I`ll tell you that.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: She wouldn`t bring her son back to this cruel world, or words to that effect. Did he convince her somehow that his son, their

son was better off dead, that this was such a cruel world and all the horrors that this child would have to face, who he would sit with in the

school cafeteria. She actually mentioned that as an example of why it`s better for him not to be in this cruel world. Are you kidding me? Are

you... ?

JORDAN: Probably happened to her.

SEDAGHATFAR: That`s only what she was saying at the eulogy, Jane. You don`t know what she`s saying and feeling and doing in private. And I

really take issue with the fact that everyone is sitting on this panel, saying this is how a grieving mother should act. Says who?

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Wait, guys, one at a time.

GARDERE: It`s a rationalization.

BLOOM: Jane, can I address the eulogy?

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes, yes.

BLOOM: The eulogy is something that she got to sit down and write out and edit and go over, and that`s her statement of what she wanted to say.

I don`t expect it to be grammatically perfect. I don`t expect it to be poetry, but I do expect a mother not to say, basically, that her son is

better off dead.

That`s the way murderers talk about their children. That`s the way Andrea Yates talked about her children. That`s a very disturbing sign and

we can`t ignore that.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: I want to bring in Kim Picazio, attorney. And you`ve been trying -- you`ve been opening your mouth trying to get a word in. So

Kim Picazio.

KIM PICAZIO, ATTORNEY: I would agree. I would agree with that. Without a mother here.

And let`s remember what she told her husband when she thought she was speaking in private, when she got to the cops` station, that she hoped that

they -- that he had not said too much. Now, that is an extremely guilty sounding lady, who is -- it sounded like there was some preconceived plan,

whether it was over the period of two weeks, whether they could be child- free in two weeks. But she was definitely concerned as to what the husband had said.

Also, the husband had said to her in this same interrogation room, he had said something as if he was dreading seeing the child dead, that he was

dreading looking at him, almost as if they had spoken about this before, and he was envisioning what the child may look like after he had already

expired. So all of those things coupled with the statements at the funeral and at the -- with the cops, I just have to say...

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes, and Kim, let me jump in and say that...

PICAZIO: There`s too much going on here.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: ... yes, there`s -- you represented a mother who forgot her baby in a car and ultimately was not charged, because the woman

had a story that made sense and was hysterical and many other things.

PICAZIO: And acted nothing -- and acted nothing like this lady.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: We`re going to talk about that.

PICAZIO: The mother that I represented, absolutely.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: We`re going to get to that in a bit. Let`s go out to phone lines. Nancy, Pennsylvania, what do you think?

CALLER: Hi, Jane. This whole case makes me sick, and I take exception to Anahita and those that say what right do we have to speak out

about this mother? Speaking as a mother and someone that has grandchildren, you grieve and your first response would be shock,

disbelief, crying, hysterics. And the last thing you would do is stand by your man if you thought he had anything to do with killing your

child.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Listen. Facebook is exploding with people who agree with you. Doreen, "Is this possible that was not the first time that he

left Cooper in. the car and that is why his wife said, well, maybe you left him in the car."

Nancy says, "I believe she`s on his side to keep him from telling the police what`s really going on. What is really going on?

On the other side of the break we`re going to play some of the sexual testimony that the detectives testified to about how this sexting had been

going on for a long time. It didn`t start the day his son died, and it involved a 16-year-old girl who had become 17 over the course of this

session. Did he have a relationship with any of these women? Was he not just sexting but cheating on her with a plan to have a child-free and a

child -- a wife-free life? In other words, move on.

And remember: We`ve got more to every story every night on my Facebook page. Go to Jane Velez-Mitchell Facebook, and like me while you`re there.

That`s my little Foxy. She`d like you to like me, too. You`re going to find exclusive content.

But first we are going to dive deeper into this hot car death case. What`s up with the mother?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are people to this day that still believe in him because this just does not mesh with the Ross Harris they know.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Do you still believe in him?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, I`m a person that believes in the evidence and as it stacks up, and, you know, from what I`ve heard so far, I

just -- I can`t really say that I do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Also during testimony, authorities recounted what mom said to her husband when the pair were reunited at police headquarters

after he had been charged with their son`s death. Reportedly, Mrs. Harris asked him...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "Well, did you say too much?"

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lastly, according to police documents, Leanna Harris, like her husband, has told the authorities she, too, used the

Internet to research the issue of children dying in hot cars prior to her son`s death.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: What are the chances of them both doing that independently and then that happening in real life? We know, according to

cops, Ross was sexting six different women from his office the day his son died, sending photos of his privates. Prosecutors said he was sexting not

just that day, but it goes back to at least to last year. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did he have chats regarding sexual activities with other women while his wife was sleeping and while his child was in the room

sometimes? This would have been back around 2013, leading up to 2014 when this happened. About two weeks before the child`s death, did he talk about

exposing himself while he was chatting and messaging this girl?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And was he sending pictures?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And did he admit to her that he was not alone while he was doing it?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He talks about being a guitar player with this girl. She asked him about cheating on his wife. Did she ask him a

question about his conscience?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She did. She said something to the effect that "Do you have a conscience?"

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And what was his response?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nope.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Casey Jordan, criminologist, the prosecutors say that he admitted his wife knew that he had cheated in the past. Why on earth --

remember, she`s not charged. She`s not being called a suspect, but a lot of people are looking at this wife. Why on earth would she help a man

who`s sexting with all these women, whose sexting goes way back, and who she knew had cheated on him [SIC]? What`s her motive?

JORDAN: OK. There could be several. But the least of which is maybe they have a crazy sex life and she is just as engaged in online sexual

activity as he is. But the biggest thing...

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, let me jump in and say they had intimacy problems. She acknowledged that to police. So I don`t know that they had

a crazy sex life. I think it wasn`t happening between these two, and he was going elsewhere to get his you-know-whats?

JORDAN: So this only goes to the idea that she was in on it. Because if she`s not angry enough that this man left their son in the car and he

baked to death, she should be angry that he was sexting six other women while this child was left alone in the car.

Her lack of rage really shows not just that she`s under his control but she`s not upset about her child being dead. And that takes me to the

life insurance. Who has life insurance on a baby? $25,000, $27,000. I know it doesn`t sound like a lot to you and me. But to them, maybe this is

the answer to them getting out of debt, and they plan on going on vacation and getting over it. I think she might be actually in it for the money.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Unbelievable. Page Pate, criminal defense attorney out of Atlanta, you`ve been very patient. I want to go to you for this

idea of the defense. I heard that the defense might even try to use the sexting to say, "Well, of course, he was distracted. He was sexting six

different women." So that actually plays into the motion that he is distracted and he didn`t plan it. How would you defend this guy?

PAGE PATE, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, look, if you`re a defense lawyer you can`t ignore facts. And obviously, that`s a bad piece of

evidence for the defense.

But the way I think you have to deal with it is to say, look, if this is a person who can truly bake his child in a car while he`s sending

sexual images of himself like that to even underaged females, then he is the most evil person we have ever encountered. So he`s either guilty and

intentionally guilty. And I think that`s one of the issues as far as her conduct. I think she`s either in on it or he`s not guilty of intentionally

killing the child.

She knows him much better than we know him. His friends, his family, they know him much better than we know him. And if they believe that this

is something that he could have done, I don`t think you would see the kind of support you`ve seen so far.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: You know what? I don`t think anybody knows anybody truly.

Lisa Bloom, you know, this case just -- it breaks my heart, and I wonder what they can do to make this wife flip, because she knows the

inside story. She can be the star witness for the prosecution.

For example, they bought a front-facing car seat, more appropriate for this 22-month-old child, because he had outgrown the rear-facing car seat.

Obviously, it would have been harder to say, "I didn`t notice the child" if he`s in a front-facing car seat with his face right there, six inches

behind your head. But they didn`t use that one. They were using the one he`d outgrown. Wouldn`t she be able to give the inside story on why that

was happening?

BLOOM: It`s always good to get the wife to flip, but Jane, after this prelim, I don`t think they need her. I think they`ve got enough to convict

him, based on just the -- scraping the surface they`ve done so far.

Talking about that car seat, we know that this little boy, Connor [SIC], his head already extended a couple of inches over the top. We know

the dad made several turns to the right, where he would have turned around; he would have seen him. I mean, I think the evidence is so overwhelming

against the father that they`ve got him. The only question is whether they have enough against her, too.

If I`m the prosecutor I don`t necessarily want to give her immunity. If she was part of this disgusting conspiracy, these two are a couple of

sociopaths, and they should both go down for what they did.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, let me say this: she`s not been charged with anything. And she or her attorney -- and we don`t know that she has one at

this point -- are invited on our show any time at all. We want to get all sides.

Now, on the other side, we`re going to talk to our very special guest about this woman who -- not this one. Another woman whose precious little

son died inside a hot car. And she left him there, but it was a totally different scenario, and we`ll tell you how that woman reacted to finding

out her child was dead.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBI LUDWIG, PSYCHOTHERAPIST: Why isn`t this woman more angry? Why isn`t she more panicked? Why did she assume that the husband left her son

in the car in the first place unless it happened before?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Were there sext and text messages talking about the fact that his wife knew he had cheated on her before?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, there were.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have you confirmed through texts and things like that that this was more than fantasy, and that he`d actually met up for

things?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In one of those occasions in Rocono (ph) Park in Cherokee County?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That is correct.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Now I want to examine another tragic case of a baby who died in a hot car, but in this case, there was a totally different

scenario.

OK. Attorney Kim Picazio, you represented a mom who became hysterical -- hysterical -- when she realized she`d left her precious 9-month-old baby

inside the car. But the difference was it was a hot hectic day. There were two cars involved. There were a whole bunch of kids. They had

something like four children, and they thought -- the wife thought that the child wasn`t in the car. Tell us about how this case went down.

PICAZIO: This case was completely different. We`re dealing with a family with four children. There was never any allegation or evidence that

one of the parties was unhappily married. There were no money issues, and there was no $27,000 life insurance policy.

In this particular case wherein I represented a mother, she and her husband had three other children besides a baby, who was 9 months old at

the time. There was some confusion. This was a weekend. There was confusion as to what children were going to be going with Mom in Mom`s car

compared to Dad. In fact, the dad had switched the baby car carrier from car to car at least once or twice in the parking lot when one of the

children in the back seat was throwing a tantrum. So there was a lot of things, chaos going on. Chaotic scene. This...

VELEZ-MITCHELL: And let me say, you`re contrasting that to the images that we`re seeing. The case that you`re talking about is a totally

different case with another mother.

PICAZIO: Absolutely.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Go ahead.

PICAZIO: Absolutely. Another mother. And in this particular case, Mr. Harris, the father, was on -- all of the evidence points to this was

just a normal day.

He was the one, according to the police, that always took the child to school or at least the vast majority of the time, so this was his protocol.

Why would he not go towards the daycare and instead go toward work if it was his protocol to go to the daycare every single morning?

What they did do when they -- it was time to pick up the child from school in the Harris case, that was the time where it was a 50/50 split as

to who would take the child home.

However, it was their protocol and his normal behavior, every single morning, morning after morning, to take the child to the daycare. Why he

did not do it on this particular morning, you`d think that that would be a knee-jerk reaction. He could probably drive himself there with his eyes

closed.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, it`s even worse than that, Kim.

PICAZIO: But on this morning, he did not.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes. And you`re contrasting the case you represented, where there were no charges filed. It was a hectic day. It

was a weekend. There were two cars, four kids. And one child got lost in the mix.

PICAZIO: Four kids screaming in the back, absolutely.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: This -- with this case, where when he left the fast- food restaurant and strapped his kid into the rear-facing car seat that no longer fit the child, even though he had one that was more appropriate at

home, that was front facing...

PICAZIO: That`s correct.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Cops said he had only 40 seconds to go before his first turn.

PICAZIO: That`s right.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: That he would have to make a choice of go to the day care, go to the office. They`re very close.

Chris Wilkinson...

PICAZIO: Absolutely.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: ... you are a friend of Justin Ross Harris, and you`re talking to us out of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, where he`s from

originally. When you hear all this, do you think that your former friend, Justin Ross Harris, intentionally murdered this child? And you knew

Cooper?

CHRIS WILKINSON, FRIEND OF JUSTIN ROSS HARRIS (via phone): I`m still, you know -- I have a disconnect. You know, the evidence I see, as

presented in court -- and let me be fair to those that are wondering why I spoke out.

I spoke out, one, because I owed you an apology for being ugly on your Facebook. But two, I wanted folks to know that the guy that was being

depicted on TV as a monster is not the guy that, you know, I see staring back at me.

That guy staring back at me from TV, you know, yes, the evidence kind of indicates that he murdered his child. The disconnect I`m having and,

you know, I`ll probably always struggle with the idea that the guy I knew was a decent, kind guy that would never hurt his kid, and he was decent

with his fellow human beings. And so, you know, that`s -- that`s the disconnect. I don`t know any other way to put that to you, Jane.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, Dr. Jeff Gardere, forensic psychologist, how do you explain it?

GARDERE: Well, look, I mean, I`ve working with patients every single day, and a lot of these people -- and I`m not judging them. These are my

patients. But they`re out in the world. They have very constructive lives. They`re well-known by folks. You know, they do all the right

things, family people, but when they`re sitting on my couch, they`re telling me some of the really difficult, conflicted thoughts that they have

and some of the things that they do that are absolutely wrong that you wouldn`t associate with them. In other words, these people have private

lives. What they put out in public is different than what they live.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Secrets. Secrets. And I wrote a book called "Secrets Can Be Murder." And I took a whole bunch of famous cases, and in

every single one, a toxic secret was ultimately what lead to murder. Is it true in this case? Is it just sexting or was this guy actually meeting

some of these women? Did he have an actual affair going on? That`s what I`d like to know.

There are some unaccounted-for phone calls. Who was he calling and why?

Join "NANCY GRACE" for more on this case, right at the top of the hour, just a few minutes, 8 p.m. Eastern, right here on HLN.

And next up, the search for a missing teen who wrote in her journal, "If you`re reading this, I`m missing or dead." I`m going to talk to the

girl`s mother on the other side. It`s a mystery. Maybe together, we can help solve it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Angie Dean`s family can`t believe no one has seen the 17-year-old since she vanished from her campus (ph) home on June 23

while her mom was watching a movie.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It scares the bejesus out of me, because she didn`t -- she didn`t run off on her own.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It scares the bejesus out of me because she didn`t run out on her own.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She vanished from her campus home on June 23rd while her mom was watching a movie.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We`re scared to death of what could be going on, you know. She`s only 17.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Tonight a frantic race against time as Washington State cops launch a massive search for a beautiful missing 17-year-old girl

who cryptically wrote in her journal just before her disappearance, quote, "If you`re reading this, I`m missing or dead."

Cops say the teen, Anji Dean left her home over three weeks ago dressed in exercise clothes and never came back. She left behind her

wallet, her bank cards, her glasses, her clothing. Now investigators say she might be the victim of human trafficking.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: After speaking with law enforcement and the detective on the case that we may be dealing in a human trafficking

situation here.

Somehow or another she was communicating with the people that wanted her out of this house and to utilize her for whatever their agenda is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Cops say in the weeks leading up to her disappearance, Anji told teachers and schools counselors she was into

something she couldn`t get out of. And then in a terrifying twist neighbors saw a mystery man driving an unfamiliar car, an old Volvo full of

people, drop Anji off at her house just five hours before she vanished. Could this man be some kind of pimp who abducted Anji?

We have a fantastic "Lion`s Den" panel, but I want to go straight out to my very special guest, the missing teenager`s mother, Lynda Jorgensen.

Lynda -- first of all my heart goes out to you. We want to be helpful. We want to get your child back ok.

So tell us. You spoke to detectives. Have they told you anything today about what they know about your daughter`s possible whereabouts?

LYNDA JORGENSEN, MOTHER OF ANJI DEAN: Well, we don`t know a lot so far. We know since the media has gotten involved, there`s been a couple of

possible tips that they`re investigating now. But we still don`t have any idea where she is or who she`d be with. And we`re -- it`s getting very

scary.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: If you had something to say to your daughter, let`s say she is with this group of people and we`re going to put up a

description of the man and the car, an old Volvo and a man with a goatee that she was seen with five hours before. If she`s out there in some motel

somewhere watching what would you say to your daughter?

JORGENSEN: We`re here for you. Your whole family is here for you. There`s a huge group of people looking for you who love you, who can help

you out of anything you`re in. It`s not an impossible situation. We`re here for you and no matter what you think is going on, there is help.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, cops say that in the days leading up to her disappearance, Anji sent some very ominous text to her boyfriend, quote,

"I`ve been in something for a long time and I haven`t told you." And then she wrote, "They were going to kill you and my family."

So into the "Lion`s Den", Anahita Sedaghatfar, police say the boyfriend`s cooperating. Anji`s parents found a secret cell phone in their

daughter`s room they knew nothing about. What are you seeing here?

ANAHITA SEDAGHATFAR, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I just think something`s not adding up, Jane. You mentioned that this girl went to her

teachers about a month ago and said, "Look, I`m in trouble." You know. "I can`t get out of this."

Yet wasn`t there any follow-up? Did the school not call the parents? Did they not call the police? And then you have these journal entries

where she says whoever is reading this, I`m probably kidnapped or I`ve been killed. But she mentioned no name. She was really vague about it. So I

think it`s a little bit perplexing. I`m not sure if this wasn`t just her running way perhaps. I`m not sure that this was her being kidnapped and in

some sex trade situation, at least not based on these facts. It just doesn`t add up to me.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, Casey Jordan --

JEFFREY GARDERE, FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGIST: Jane --

VELEZ-MITCHELL: -- you`re a criminologist -- ok, go ahead, Dr. Jeff.

GARDERE: Yes. Jane, I`ve got to tell you, to me this does sound like some sort of sex slavery. Why? Because the threat. These people are

going to kill you, my boyfriend and kill my family. We see that happen. We see sometimes -- I don`t know if it`s the case here, of course -- where

someone gets involved in a situation where they`re snookered in. Psychological manipulation into something they think may be exciting and

then when they want to get out then they`re threatened and they don`t let them out.

So I think this is what we`re actually seeing.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: You know, cops say Anji didn`t take a single thing with her when she left her parents` house three weeks ago and then we`ll

get Lisa Bloom on the other side of this sound bite.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She left her wallet, her ID, her bank card, her school card. They`re still in her case.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Lisa Bloom, legal analyst avo.com, she doesn`t have a history of running away. What`s your thought?

LISA BLOOM, LEGAL ANALYST, AVO.COM: I`ll tell you where the answers are. This is for every client who comes into my law firm. Give me your

phone, give me your iPad, give me your computer and that`s where all the evidence is. I can guarantee you that a 17-year-old girl who leaves behind

this kind of information has left a trail of text messages, of e-mails, of Web sites, of chat rooms, and that is going to answer the question as to

where she is, who she`s consorting with.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, let me say this. I have a message for the man in the goatee if indeed she is with him. Let her go, leave her at a 7-

Eleven, a rest stop, wherever, and go on your way because this mother is suffering and you will eventually be caught, and that`s far better way to

end the situation. Let her go safe.

Lynda Jorgensen, the mother of this missing girl, I want to get your final thoughts. What would you say to this man or men who could be holding

your daughter?

JORGENSEN: Same thing you did. We`re putting her face everywhere we can possibly so just let her go. Bring her home. Bring her to a police

state, 7-Eleven. She needs to come home.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Lynda, our prayers are with you, our thoughts are with you. We want to stay on top of this case. Anybody who knows

anything, anything, it doesn`t have to be significant in your mind, please call authorities immediately.

All right, we`re going to stay on this. What a beautiful girl. I`m sorry you`re going through this.

Next, stunning video of a cop allegedly, apparently viciously beating up a grandmother -- what in the world?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He then grabs her, throws her to floor and then gets on top of her which then you would think, ok, he`s just going to wrap

her up, call it a day -- another day in Los Angeles.

But no, this wasn`t the case. It was like thump, thump, thump. And then you hear her head bouncing bam, bam on the concrete.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She was the victim of one of the most heinous police beatings this century that I`ve seen captured on video.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You seen it. You heard it. It was like thump, thump, thump. I think it was like 15 shots.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She was beaten on the side of a freeway by a CHP officer that was sworn to protect her.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`re going to make a determination as to what transpired in this situation and we will do the right thing.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And yes, it is only a part of the video that the public is seeing but I think it`s enough of the video to know that you

brought her down and you beat her.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Tonight, escalating outrage after a cell phone video goes viral on what`s being called a vicious beating of a 51-year-old

grandma. This has gotten nearly 400,000 views on YouTube. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My gosh. What?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is that a cop?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don`t think so.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He`s holding her down. He can`t. I`m watching this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: It shows a woman by the name of Marlene Pinnock, who was unarmed allegedly being pummeled by a highway patrolman, punched in the

face over and over again by what her attorney calls a rogue California Highway Patrol officer.

Here`s how the man who reported the video described what he saw.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You see. You heard it. It was like thump, thump, thump. And then you see her head bouncing bam, bam on the concrete. This

is not just jabs. These are hooks. Those are lights out punches. Those aren`t like taps. She didn`t put up any restraint. She did what anyone

else would do when they`re getting pounded is to go like this, to go like this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: The highway patrol says there could be more to this story than meets the eye. The officer in the video who`s not being named

has been suspended with pay while they investigate.

Now Marlene`s family says they`re going to file a civil suit. We`re going to talk to one of her attorneys in a minute. But first out to our

"Lion`s Den", Lisa Bloom, is this police brutality in your opinion?

BLOOM: Absolutely, Jane. I have a case just like this of a young African-American man who was beaten. We just see too many cases like this.

This is disgusting. This is appalling. If she was some kind of a threat or a danger, cuff her. She`s not resisting. Put the cuffs around her

wrists. Her wrists are being held up to stop the blows. There`s no excuse for him out and out beating her. I hope she gets a very big judgment

against him.

(CROSSTALK)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Anahita Sedaghatfar, criminal defense attorney.

SEDAGHATFAR: Yes, Jane, this is just outrageous and any way you look at it, this is excessive force because police officers can only use as much

force that`s necessary to restrain the individual. He has her pinned down on the floor and she`s not attacking him. She doesn`t have a weapon. And

he continues to just beat her and punch her.

That`s police brutality. That is a civil rights violation and it`s unacceptable.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, we`re going go to the attorney now for Marlene Pinnock, John Burris, but first let me tell you what the California Highway

Patrol says is the other side of the story. They say this video isn`t the sole evidence in the case. They say what happened before the record button

was hit needs to be considered.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The report indicated that the individual was not injured and the officer didn`t notice any injuries on the individual.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: According to the incident report which I`m holding in my hand, the woman posed a danger to herself and others because drivers

were driving past. You see that, and she was, quote, "at times walking within traffic lanes", end quote. When she was asked to stop, she

allegedly continued ignoring commands and becomes physically combative. That was their quote.

You know, John Burris, attorney for Marlene Pinnock, this woman who`s being pummeled, we hear often the same thing from officers when an arrest

turns physical. They were being combative with me. But do we see your client being combative in this video?

JOHN BURRIS, ATTORNEY FOR MARLENE PINNOCK (via telephone): Absolutely not. There`s nothing on that video that shows that she was, in fact,

combative in any way. All she ever did was try to put her hands up to stop the blows.

The real problem here is no matter what she did before hand, walking around or not following commands an officer can use reasonable force. Here

we have excessive force. There was nothing she was doing that would justify the number of blows that were being hit -- struck against her.

Even if she had been walking around, even if she had said things that he didn`t like, none of that would have suggested the level of blows. And

the worst part about it, as he was hitting her, he was never looking at her to see if she was trying to be compliant. He had decided that he was going

beat her into submission. That`s exactly what he did.

It doesn`t matter what they say about what happened before hand because none of it really matters. At the time that you do the assault,

that`s what`s important. Would a reasonable officer have done that if other options were available? None of those seemed to have been taken into

consideration at the time he was throwing these punches against her.

It`s outrageous, horrible. It has to be done. I`ve never seen a woman get beat that way in all the years I`ve been doing police misconduct

cases.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: We`re going to take a short break. On the other side of the break, we`re going ask the question, should this officer be charged?

Right now he`s suspended with pay.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s our opinion that the CHP officer is the one who is a danger to others. We believe he fits the criteria of 5150 of the

Welfare and Institutions Code and he should be involuntarily detained.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Time for "Pet of the Day". Send your pet pics to hlntv.com/jane.

Grizz -- life`s a biz with Grizz. And Keekee, you are a little squeaky, I love you. And Karma -- good karma. And I think you`re enjoying

your karma. Austin -- man, you look like Texas. And I love that, too. Hey, Austin.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The tape only shows a small part of what transpired. There are events that led up to this. Until all that`s

collected and put into perspective, we aren`t going to be able to make a determination.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. Facebook`s lighting up. Rebekah says "I know there are always two sides but I can`t imagine this would be

justified." Rose says "If she was fighting back then yes. But I never saw her throw the first blow."

John Burris, I have to ask you very quickly, what is her story? I`ve taken this freeway so many times having lived in L.A. Why was she

apparently barefoot or in stockinged feet walking on the freeway?

BURRIS: Well, I really can`t answer why she was on the freeway. You know, I don`t know that. I haven`t spoken to her about that. And my focus

in terms of litigation, possible litigation, is not going to focus on why she was there. The question is what happened to her when she was there.

That`s really the focus that I will have.

I mean obviously she has some issues, I mean you know that. I think it`s no secret that she was having the kind of emotional issues. I think

she`s been reported that she`s been homeless on more than one occasion. There could be any number of reasons.

But I will say this. An officer is supposed to --

(CROSSTALK)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. I have to jump in very quickly. Anahita Sedaghatfar, do you think this guy should be charged, this officer should

be charged with assault?

SEDAGHATFAR: I wouldn`t be surprised if he is, Jane. I think he should be. It doesn`t really matter what happened before the tape started

rolling here because I get this is out of context but once that woman was pinned down she was no longer a threat even if she was beforehand. And

when he continued to beat on her that is assault.

I absolutely think he should be terminated immediately. There is no way the Department can justify this type of behavior. That`s not protocol.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: On the other side the family says they weren`t allowed in to see her after the beating. Were they trying to make sure she

recovered so she didn`t look so bad before her family saw her? We`re going to ask that question on the other side.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Dr. Jeff, analyze this situation.

GARDERE: It`s important that we see what happened with the tape, what we`re not seeing here. She was running around. That officer became

frustrated, he lost all professionalism. This woman is going to have a mental health evaluation.

But guess what, I think this police officer needs a mental health evaluation because of his rage and anger. No way to call this other than

police brutality. He lost it.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: And one of the interesting things that I wonder is, what would have happened with this case had this David Diaz driving by not

videotaped all this? Because I got to tell you, the arrest report of this woman does not bear a lot of resemblance to what I`m seeing down there, ok?

It makes her the aggressor.

And while we don`t have the whole tape, you got to wonder if this cop in writing up this arrest report was aware that that video was out there.

I don`t have the answer to that. But we`re going to stay on top of this one, too.

Nancy next.

END