breaking news tonight. a million-dollar mansion, a tv deal, personal stylists, a fleet of luxury cars, beautiful people, eight beautiful children. they had it all. but tonight, allegations of daddy siphoning the last drop of the family's money to support all his girlfriends and his lavish lifestyle, siphoning to the tune of a quarter million dollars. allegations of illegal wiretapping, phone taps, bank account and computer surveillance by daddy, a known

computer specialist. charges of drug use, x-rated sleepovers with a bartender, dadly allegedly hired to babysit in the home with the children asleep upstairs. and that's the tip of the iceberg. didn't we all know it would end in court? "jon & kate plus eight." is daddy headed to the big house? >> for years, jon, you had your children on tv on a reality show. but suddenly when it's no longer "jon & kate plus eight," it's "kate plus eight," you suddenly have a problem with it and you want it all to come to an end? and i don't believe that. >> regardless of the timing, i'm their father and i will do what's best for my children. >> the timing is -- >> oh, you got your lawyer here. you're afraid to answer questions? whatever. what's important is the children and not these two self-absorbed husband and wife who argue constantly in front of their children. >> exactly. that's why they're coming off --

>> that's why the show -- >> why don't you just quit arguing and work on your marriage? >> exactly. >> wouldn't that be a better idea -- >> if i could get kate to mediate and talk, we could do that. >> you've been to therapy together once and have not been back but you want to go back with kate, right? >> yes. i would love to go to mediation. i would love to be mom and dad. we're not going to be husband and wife. >> hey, you talk the talk, but you don't walk the walk. >> that's right. actions speak louder than words. >> one 22-year-old after the next while she's at home with the children. and you say you want to work it out. that's not working it out, jon gosselin. >> in light of all the allegations and everything that's gone on in the past week alone, should the kids be in therapy? >> i don't know so much that they need to go to therapy as jon and kate need to go into therapy and learn to quit arguing and set a good example for the children. >> how do you feel? do you feel like your kids need therapy? are you seeing any problems? >> well, i'm not a professional, but the hardest thing i ever did was tell them we're getting a divorce. >> i'm saying get the babies therapy because you never know. the effects of this could be far-reaching. and -- >> you don't know until you're

an adult and sometimes that's too late. >> exactly. >> and that's what happened to me. i'm learning -- i mean, my father, his father. i'm learning to break the pattern. >> and tonight live to chicago. a beautiful 16-year-old chicago girl literally vanishes off the street. tonight, where is 16-year-old jennifer jones? >> a frantic search is right you why under way for a beautiful 16-year-old chicago teen. jennifer jones was last seen leaving her home at 6:00 a.m. she was supposed to go to school but she never showed up. the family says the girl suffers from bipolar disorder, and they are begging for the public's help. >> good evening. i'm nancy grace. i want to thank you for being with us. a quarter million dollars gone? allegations of illegal wiretapping? hacking into bank accounts?

hacking into cell phones? claims of x-rated sleepovers with eight children asleep upstairs? "jon & kate plus eight." it had to end. in court. >> we're in the middle of a divorce. why should we televise it? it's not helping. >> you're in the middle of a divorce because of you. and frankly -- >> wrong. wrong. wrong. kate approached me -- >> more self-absorbed -- >> sorry to talk over you. >> you've got eight children hanging in the balance while you and kate -- it's just -- >> sorry to talk over you. but in october she said -- >> no, you're not. you put your children on television for years, but now suddenly you stick a sign on the house that says you can't film here anymore? is it because it used to be "jon & kate plus eight" but now it's "kate plus eight" and you're not make anything more money? >> absolutely not. i will always make money, and i'm not doing it for the money. >> he took $230,000 of the $231,000 that we have liquid. and i have a stack of bills in my purse i can't drop in the mail. >> she's making claims that she can't back up.

if she said i took $230,000, where's the bank statement to prove it? >> you can't have it both ways. you can't make all this money, put your kids on tv, and then now when she's making the money say uh-uh, uh-uh. >> it's not about the money. it's about getting my kids off tv. >> the kids have over the weekend -- i told them we're not filming at this point. and actually times eight there was wailing and sobbing. they love our crew. they love the interaction. they love the events. and there is nothing harmful about it. >> i'm not the bad guy here. i'm the one trying to protect my children. that's called being a parent. i'm protecting my children. >> not according to the legal documents i have here in my hands. we are taking your calls. it all seemed too good to be true. the reality show "jon & kate plus eight." and in reality, it's not. it's not as good as it seems. not even close to it. now allegations of drug use, allegations of x-rated sleepovers in the home with the children upstairs.

claims that jon gosselin has hacked into his wife's checking account, her cell phone, her computer. remember, he was, before he quit work, an information technologist for the state of pennsylvania, a computer wiz. straight out to chris jacobs, correspondent with "the insider." but now there are claims that he has siphoned nearly $250,000 off the family account? >> you know, nancy, that is the story right now. the truth has yet to come out, however. there's three sides to this story, as in most situations. there's kate's side. she says that jon took $230,000 out of a joint account. jon claims he only took $22,000 out. he's only been able to produce one withdrawal slip showing that transaction because of his inability to access the internet, we have not yet seen the bank statements. so we don't yet know what the truth is. >> wait a minute. wait a minute. chris jacobs, "insider." did you just say his inability to access his account?

did you say that? >> well, what he told us here -- yes, he did, nancy. he told us here at "the insider" that he does not have the access to the online account that kate was supposed to give him, he was going to wait until he got home to new york. he arrived today. we still have not had any statements sent to us here at "the insider." >> so he arrived today, but still no clarification? i thought at an earlier stage, jane velez-mitchell, joining us is hln's host of "issues" and author of "i want." jane, didn't he admit earlier to taking about $100,000? >> well, this is a he said/she said and it's extraordinarily complicated. essentially -- >> no. it is not a he said/she said because those -- even i, who am computer illiterate can go on and check my account. okay? even i can do that. so don't tell me that an i.t. specialist, an information tech who worked on computers for the state of pennsylvania, who has allegedly made claims that he

has hacked into his wife's checking account, her cell phone, her text messages, her e-mails, and he can't tell us his last withdrawal? >> well, look, she's saying he took $230,000 from the account. his point of view is that she has more than a dozen checking accounts. this is what he's claimed. and at one point he was heard screaming, "where's the $2 million?" so first of all, i'm wondering why the heck do they have a joint checking account, nancy, when they're in the process of getting divorced? how crazy is that? >> i want to go to clark goldband, our producer on the story. clark, what can you tell me about the latest claims that are hitting the newsstands tomorrow in the "entirer" that he allegedly has hacked into his wife's -- all of the accounts and actually bragged to b. it to the bartender turned babysitter. >> explosive claims from stephanie santoro, the cocktail waitress jon was friendly with,

some reports say he had relations with her p. according to these claims by santoro he hacked into kate's cell phones, kate's transactions including credit card and computer and even knew that kate was allegedly having an affair. of course these are unfounded claims but this is what jon told stephanie santoro. santoro says jon just casually one night mentioned according to this report that this stuff's not good, my stuff's in new york. she said what do you mean? she realized he was referring to marijuana, nancy. >> let's unleash the lawyers. we are taking your calls with us. jennifer smetters, family attorney from chicago. renee rockwell, defense attorney from the atlanta jurisdiction. and bradford cohen, defense attorney, miami. renee, what's he looking at if it can be proved by police? and they can do it if it happened. that he has been hacking into his wife's checking account, her cell phone, her text messages, her e-mails. what's he looking at? >> i can tell you about georgia, nancy. that is a criminal offense.

you cannot check your husband's voicemail. you cannot check his text messaging. nothing like that. but what he's also looking at, nancy, is a contempt charge because of the arbitration he had to get consent before he took anything out of that joint checking account. >> now, hold on. would it make any difference, bradford cohen, if you are hacking into your wife's account? they're not divorced yet. >> well, here's the thing. there's two things that may make a difference. the first is you don't know who pays the phone bills. you don't know if this is a family plan -- i don't know if the phone is actually in his name, so he was actually just hacking her phone -- >> it's in her name. it's in her name. it's in her name. >> if it's in her name, i don't think it makes a difference whatsoever that it's his wife in terms of that he's hacking into her phone system or hacking into the computer. now, if it's a shared computer, again, that's another issue. if it's a shared -- >> they are not living in the same home. hey, hey, hey. have you been living in a -- put cohen up. have you been living in a cave? he's living in his bachelor pad

in new york -- >> currently. currently. you're correct. but i'm talking about when it originally happened, when he originally hacked into it. he said -- >> as i was saying, he's telling -- allegedly telling his girlfriend. last time i looked two plus two's still four. he got the girlfriend after they split. so he's not in the home anymore. all right? does that help? >> no, it doesn't help. because we still don't know when he actually did it. he may have been talking about something he did in the past. >> okay. got it. jennifer smetters, weigh in. >> i think what he's doing is wrong, and i think it will come to bite him in the end. what he is trying to do is manipulate the situation. people going through a divorce normally show the ugliest part of them. and what he is doing is showing a pattern and practice of using and manipulating information to his best interest. >> on the other hand, we've got to consider the source. right now this is only one person's word. was it pillow talk by bartender turned babysitter stephanie s

santori? >> kate and i are -- kate and i come together for our kids. we've always been there for them. we know what's best for them. please, people, stop interfering in our lives. we know what's best.

every night hln's nancy grace brings you the real drama straight from the courtroom. >> every lawyer has a different version of what they would think justice is. >> tnt mondays. raising the bar is all new. >> to me justice is a jury rendering a verdict that speaks the truth. >> you trust him. because that's what this case comes down to. >> stephen bochco's "raising the bar." mondays at 10:00 on tnt. and pick up nancy's new book, "the eleventh victim," available now wherever books are sold. where's the million dollars from the book? where's the $1.25 million from the show?

i know how much we paid for the house. i know how much the mortgage is. i know all that stuff. where's the rest of the money, kate? what'd you do with it? i mean, i only took -- i took less than 10%. less than 10%. since march till now. less than 10%. where is the $2 million? $2 million. >> i sat all day while my kids were in school paying bills, as i normally do, and when i made the phone call to my lady at the bank that handles my accounts to transfer the money, she called me back about 45 minutes later and told me she could not do the transfers because our bank account that had had $231,000 in it now had $1,346 in it. >> you just heard kate gosselin calling in to abc's "the view." we are taking your calls live. to stephanie in indiana. hi, stephanie. >> caller: hi, nancy. thanks for taking my call. >> thank you for calling in, dear. what's your question?

>> caller: as a mother one of my views of jon gosselin, he says he has his children's best interests at heart, but the damage he's doing to his sons by showing them all these women that he's with, he's teaching them that women are trash, and he's teaching them -- his daughters it's okay for the men to treat them like trash. >> to dr. jeff gardere, psychologist, author of "love prescription" and many, many other books, dr. jeff, what about it? >> your caller's absolutely right. and what we see in these sorts of divorces, people become so angry, we see the worst behaviors come out. and they don't think about the kids. they act out to the point of if the kids are around they become collateral damage. >> you're seeing shots of jon gosselin partying all over the country with one of his girlfriends, hailey glassman. what do we know about her, chris jacobs? chris joining us from "the insider." >> well, we don't know very much more than she's 22 years old and she is the girlfriend of jon gosselin, who he jumped into a

relationship with soon after becoming separated from kate. >> what's her age? oh, hold on. hold on. chris, i don't know if you missed this one. but here's her mug shot. that's a little detail you might have missed -- >> we unfortunately have only seen the worst of hailey. but jon claimed to me in an interview i did exclusively for "the insider" yesterday, that he is in love with hailey and he does plan on staying with her for the rest of his life. >> chris. >> make of that what you want. >> he said that of kate, too. i don't care about that. what i care about is what's happening in court. the custody battle that is brewing and allegations of siphoning a quarter million dollars plus hacking into bank accounts, text messages, cell phones. those are crimes. and if they're true -- >> yes. >> -- he's headed to jail. all right? if they're true. >> this situation has more twists and turns than the hedge maze at the end of the movie "the shining."

we just don't know where the out is. what we do know is that jon made one withdrawal for $22,000. whether there were others we do not know. and it kind of surprises me that there hasn't been a financial forensic investigation yet, that we don't have these bank statements which purportedly would show what the truth is. those have not been produced by either side. >> well, do we know that? it may not be time to produce them. very quickly, to marc klaas, president and founder of klaaskids foundation. i want to talk about custody, marc klaas. and we have seen, you and i both, in situations like this, it escalate. escalate rapidly. we know that the girlfriend, hailey glassman, has this arrest record. we know that there are allegations of him having x-rated sleepovers in the home with the bartender turned babysitter while the children are there. now these allegations of siphoning a quarter million dollars. how could that or would that

affect custody? >> well, i'm certainly no family law lawyer or lawyer of any kind, but what i can tell you, nancy, is that the abysmal behavior on the part of both of these parents and particularly jon is revictimizing these children on a regular basis. they're subject to peer pressure. they're subject to finding out about this stuff as it's been documented immemorandumor yam. and at some point they're going to realize their father is out there blithering about millions of dollars, their mother is staying he's stealing the money, and the whole world's watching this thing absolutely aghast. i feel terribly for these little kids because -- >> i do too. >> -- certainly they are caught in the cross-hairs some of very bad behavior. >> you're coming down on jon gosselin. but prior to this i've never seen two more self-absorbed people in my life. in every shot the children are just looking up to them clamoring for attention and

they're not getting it. to candy in illinois. hi, candy. >> caller: hi, nancy. thanks for caking my call. >> thank you for calling. what's your question, dear? >> caller: i have a question about if jon's putting a halt to this show and that means no income, does he now have to come up with money of his own for like alimony, child support -- >> you mean like -- candy, are you suggesting that he work? what about it, jane vel velez-mitche velez-mitchell? >> according to this report, one of the women says he's planning to ask for alimony. so it would appear that he might want to be supported by kate if she has the money-f she's able to continue the show. then again he's trying to stop the show. if he stops the show entirely, he could run out of his source of income. >> it's not about the money. it's about getting my kids off tv. >> why was it okay when you did it? >> because i wasn't -- i feel now empowered. >> you're broke? >> no, i'm not broke. i'm not broke at all.

>> i can see that. you've got on two diamond earrings. you're not broke. >> actually, they're czs. but i'm not going to go there. >> don't care.

do you want to stop or do you want it to continue? do you want everything to be drudged up and embarrassing for your kids and embarrassing for you? please, kate, let's just get off television and go mediate. what's the big deal? what's there to hide? >> my true nature is to freak out about everything. everything's a big drama. everything's, you know, the end of the world. >> kate, come on, stop, it's ridiculous. >> i persevere. i will not lay down and die. >> what's important is the children and not these two self-absorbed husband and wife who argue constantly in front of their children. >> do the right thing. >> we are taking your calls. is daddy headed to the poky? that will be a whole new reality series. straight out to the line, chantel, pennsylvania. hi, dear. >> caller: hi, how are you? >> i'm good, dear.

what's your question? >> caller: i just wanted to say that i live by jon and kate's house in warnersville and i drove past it on sunday. the kids were outside playing. there was one paparazzi out. he said that kate was not outside, she was at an interview for the "today show" for monday morning and jon is in california. who's taking care of these kids? that's my -- >> excellent question. to chris jacobs with "the insider," what about it? who is taking care of them? >> while jon was here in los angeles and kate was in new york, the duties of taking care of the children fell to one of kate's friends, who ironically looked a lot like kate and you might have seen those paparazzi snapshots of her grabbing one of the children, scolding them. and that caused a big stir not only here on our set at "the insider" but also out there in the pop culture world. >> i did see that. to dr. laura jana, pediatrician, author of "heading home with your newborn." doctor, thank you for being with us. doctor, what is this going to do

to the children? >> you know, nancy, unfortunately i can't think of anything good to say to that. divorce is never easy in the first place, but these children are being exposed to the worst case of divorce. and when you're talking about even the physical symptoms that come with the stress of it, we're talking about stomach aches, headaches, sleep problems, eating problems. not to mention the long-term experience of living with what's really becoming a traumatic experience for them. dddddd

they love the camera crew. they love all those guys. they make nicknames for them. you know, the p.a.s, the production assistants there. they play with the kids. we all get along and play together. and it's like a family environment. that's how we worked together. it's comfortable for the kids. that way there's no animosity. i mean, that's the way it is. >> you put your children on television for years, but now suddenly you stick a sign on the house that says you can't film here anymore? is it because it used to be "jon

& kate plus eight" but now it's "kate plus eight" and you're not making any more money? >> absolutely not. i will always make money, and i'm not doing it for the money. i'm doing it to restore family values. i'm -- >> say what? >> i'm doing it to restore family values. i want to -- >> do you think by dating hailey can glassman when your divorce is not settled that you're restoring family values? and look, hey, i'm not all about family values. i'm just saying that you can't have it both ways. you can't make all this money putting your kids on tv and then now when she's making the money say uh-uh, uh-uh. >> i know that personally, for myself and the kids, this has been a good experience. it continues to be a good experience. >> will you demand that that money be redeposited in the account? >> i have to in order to keep my kids where they live and to put food on their table. i need that money to provide for them. you have to understand my position here. we were in a position after our sextuplets were born that we could not pay our bills. we did the show to provide a

better life for them. never did i think i would be back in the same position, worried about providing for them. >> that was kate gosselin on nbc's "today show." restore family values? what's he going to do with all that money, chris jacobs? go buy another ed hardy t-shirt? how much do those things run? couple hundred bucks for a t-shirt? i ho . >> whatever it is, they're charging too much, nancy. and we have to put the word alleged in front of everything that has to do with this situation. the truth is that third side of this story. and the longer it goes on -- >> why do you keep saying there's a third side of the story? >> well, because i say there's -- >> his side, her side. what's the third side? >> the truth is the third side, nancy. >> well put. >> the truth is the third side. >> well put, chris jacobs. back to you, clark goldband. we were supposed to be in court today. what was to be heard? unfortunately, the judge's wife, extremely ill with cancer.

what about it? what was set on the menu for today? >> that's right, nancy. all eyes on a montgomery county, pennsylvania courtroom, where these charges kate gosselin has brought forward, saying jon took $230,000. she wants that money repaid within 24 hours. also, what she wants is 60 days is receipts for every dime jon gosselin has spent. she also wants jon gosselin to turn in his mercedes and bmw in -- >> wait, wait, wait. he's got a mercedes and a bmw? >> yes. >> okay. go ahead. >> she wants him to turn in the bmw and mercedes in lieu of this money. if some of the money has already been spent, and it very well may now that this hearing has been tabled till next week, kate gosselin -- >> you're right. $200,000 will go pretty fast with that kind of spending if he's got a whole week without any court controls. to john lucich, former criminal investigator and president of high-tech crime network. he says he actually told "the insider" that he could not get

access to his bank account. okay? my mother, who is in her 70s, knows how to access her bank account on the computer. i know how to do it. and he, the i.t. expert, the computer wiz, cannot get access to his bank account? b.s. now, telling me that makes me suspicious. >> oh, there's no doubt about it. in fact, what may have occurred -- and again, there's a lot we don't know about. maybe she changed the password and he couldn't get in, which led him to hack into that. now, if he's an account holder on that and he has authorization to get into that account and use that account, then it's not actually hacking. and as far as all the other allegations against this guy, where they're saying that he may have violated wiretap laws, all the things they talked about are stored communication ps. those communications are not in transit. e-mail, voicemail messages, all stored communications and none of those actually violate the wiretap. there may be some issues if he violated the security on those accounts where he didn't have access to, and that is hacking at the federal level and state

levels and punishable -- >> you know, john lucich, i'm not exactly sure what you just said, but after practicing law since 1984, and yes, i will date myself, i know that it is a crime -- i don't need to go look it up in the code annotated. it is a violation of the law to hack into somebody else's e-mail account, to hack into their cell phone account, who they've been calling, who they've been texting -- >> if that's what he did. you can get access to that e-mail without going into that account. it's all on that hard drive, and if someone imaged that hard drive and if he's a technologist and knew how to get access to those files, he could easily recover -- >> can you break it down, lucich? can you break it down? you don't need to throw around all the fancy computer talk with me. are you trying to say that if he's sitting at the home computer and he's got access to it there and he doesn't have to hack in, it's not a violation, but if he is remote and he's using somebody's pass codes or otherwise getting in surreptitiously that that is a violation of the law? >> absolutely. it's a violation of the law.

>> okay. got it. out to the lines, chantel, pennsylvania. hi, dear. uh-oh. marilyn, missouri. go ahead, marilyn. >> caller: yeah. everybody's talking about it's jon and kate's money. it seems to me like it's the kids's money. why ain't they putting it in an account and have a guardian take care of it? >> marilyn, truer words were never spoken. if she's telling the truth, to you, jennifer smetters, renee rockwell, bradford cohen. she said that they started this whole venture of the reality tv show to better their children, to let them all go to college, for pete's sake, they've got eight of them, renee rockwell, why isn't there a guardian taking care of the children's finances? >> there will be now, nancy. and what a recipe for -- >> well, that's a day late and a dollar short. >> i know that. but what a recipe for disaster when you have $230,000 and people that are in a joint account and people that are at each other's throat. i think that they were bound, somebody was bound to grab that

money. >> you know what? we don't know all the facts yet, cohen, but you tell me, ed hardy t-shirts, mercedes, bmw, sprees to las vegas, a bachelor pad in new york. uh-uh. that is not fitting together with a guy who wants to restore family values. and all you people that think, oh, kate was a witch, she was evil, she was mean, that's not what this is about. this is not miss congeniality or mr. personality contest. this is an alleged crime. >> oh, yeah. listen, everyone agrees that i don't think anyone is an angel in this. certainly he looks worse than she does at this point. but who knows what's going to come out? the behavior that he's, you know, doing at this point obviously is not the behavior he wants his kids to see -- >> i'm asking about a guardian. and everybody, you're seeing pictures of jon and kate's children from tlc discovery.com. repeat, bradford.

>> i believe there's probably trusts that were set up for these kids. i don't think that $230,000, from what i've read, was attributable to the kids' income. i believe that the kids have separate accounts, is what kate said originally, that they had separate accounts. now, i don't know for sure because we don't know -- we haven't verified that fact. >> got it. >> but usually-n situations like this there are separate trusts set up for minors. >> to smetters, jennifer smetters, why has the court not set up a guardian for the children's finances so exactly this type of thing couldn't happen? >> well, you know what? sometimes the courts actually expect that the litigants are going to have some integrity and follow the court orders. that didn't happen here. they're going to see a guardian appointed now. and also probably a guardian for the children to see what their best interests -- to make sure their best interests are being met. >> to stephanie in louisiana. hi, stephanie. >> caller: hi, nancy. i love your show, by the way. >> thank you. >> caller: but i was just wondering why everyone's coming down so hard on jon and nobody's saying anything about kate.

>> okay. stephanie. what do you have to see? >> caller: well, talking about how he has these cars. but if you look at her, she's got two vans. she lives in a $1.2 million house. and everything she gets is free. nobody's saying -- >> but remember. remember, stephanie, that's the home where the children live. >> caller: correct. >> when it's her visitation, she's there. when it's his visitation -- >> caller: but she goes on vacation. >> as i was saying, when it's his visitation, he lives in the home. it's kind of a little bit of a wacky situation. >> caller: it is. but she's always taking vacations, and she's got all these nannies for these kids. she's not even with them. >> everybody, we are taking your calls live. but quickly to tonight's safety tips. atms on every corner. and so are crooks. common sense goes a long way. never use atms in the backs or sides of buildings. find one in a very busy common area. prepare your deposit slips and envelopes ahead of time. with those driveup atms keep the car running and the door locked.

never, never, never write down your pin number on your card. i know it sounds obvious, but thieves steal thousands, hundreds of thousands of dollars every year that way. and don't flash the cash when you remove it from the atm. don't count it there in public where it can be snatched. it's an invitation to be robbed. wait until you're in a secure place. for more information on how to stay safe go to homesafecouncil.org.

a frantic search is right now under way for a beautiful missing chicago teen. 16-year-old jennifer jones was last seen leaving her home at 6:00 a.m. she was supposed to go to school, but she never showed up. the family says the girl suffers from bipolar disorder, and they are begging for the public's help. jennifer is african-american. she stands 5'6" and weighs about 145 pounds. cops say she was last seen wearing a blue multicolor vest, a blue jacket, blue jeans, and white gym shoes. >> out to chicago and kathy chaney with the "chicago defender." kathy, you alerted us to jennifer jones, age 16.

what can you tell us about the little girl missing? >> i can tell you that police have no leads in her disappearance and they desperately are looking for the public's help. she was last seen wearing the blue multicolor vest. she also was seen carrying a pink book bag as well. >> a pink book bag. kathy, what can you tell me about the girl? i know that she's just 16 years old. that puts her to be what, either a sophomore, junior, or senior in high school? which one? >> most likely a sophomore or a junior. in high school, yes. >> and what else do we know about her? i know that she has bipolar syndrome. and that could be a problem for her. she could be extremely disoriented somewhere right now if she's in the middle of an episode. >> exactly. and it hasn't been determined if she is on medication or if she has the medication with her. the family is just desperately looking for some help to find jennifer. >> 16 years old. can you imagine your 16-year-old

little girl gone? straight off one of the streets of chicago? to ellie jostad, our chief editorial producer on the story. tell me what you know about the circumstances surrounding jennifer's disappearance, ellie. >> right, nancy. well, jennifer left her home early in the morning. she was supposed to be headed to school. she apparently never showed up there. she was last seen at the corner of 76th street and racine avenue there on the south side of chicago. no one has seen her since. her mother reported her missing. and there have been no leads or sightings since then. >> so she was on her way to school? >> we believe so, yes. >> and where exactly is that in the city, kathy chaney? racine and what? 72? >> 76th and racine is near the auburn grusham area. it's also near the inglewood area, which is -- >> what does that mean? >> it's kind of bad. it's a low-income neighborhood. it has its crime woes. >> now, just because it's low-income doesn't mean it's

bad. all right? but you say the crime rate -- >> well, i'm very familiar with the area. >> so you say the crime rate is bad? >> around that area, yes. i'm very familiar with that area. so around there, yes. but that actually pretty much has nothing to do with her disappearance. not to say that she's run into some type of foul play. but the neighborhood, from my experience, is not that desirable. >> well, you know, kathy, i think it does have a lot to do with it because a kid in a high-crime area is a lot more likely to meet up with crime than a kid in a low-crime area. you make a very valid point. everybody, this is the first i've heard about this little girl missing. her name, jennifer jones. we think she's a sophomore in high school. she's 16 years old. and she was on her way to school that morning. chicago, illinois. right on a public street. a beautiful young girl, 5'6", about 145 pounds. last known to be wearing blue

multicolored vest, jeans, and white sneakers with a pink book bag. on her way to school. how many of you send your kids out the door every day on the way to school? i'm starting to think i'm going to have to take john david and lucy in an armored tank to get them to school in the morning. to marc klaas, president and founder klaaskids foundation. this is your expertise, marc. what can you tell us? >> well, i can tell you that kids being victimized on the way to school or from school or at schoolbuses is much more common than society allows for. and i think you don't have to take your kids in an armored vehicle but you have to be aware of this and you have to take the obvious precautions. what the authorities are going to want to do is check with her friends, check with the registered sex offenders in the neighborhood, check her cell phone, see if it might be pinging, see if she had taken her medication, if she has any

medications with her, and certainly check her computer files. and then i think they'll take it from there. >> you know, you were talking about disappearing on the way to and from school, marc klaas. how common is that? >> well, i don't think anybody's ever done statistics on it, but let me give you a couple names. itan pats, amber harris, liana fairchild, mitzi sanchez. all little children who were minding their own business going to school or on the schoolbus. the predators know this. children are very vulnerable in these situations. and obviously, nancy, there are common solutions to that. we can do either high-tech or low-tech solutions as far as the school bus stops go. we can put up surveillance cameras, or it can be a neighborhood project to make sure that there is an adult there every time a child gets onto or gets off of the schoolb schoolbus. the same thing can be done for routing. children shouldn't be walking to school by themselves. parents should show their children the safest routes to and from school and ensure that they are with at least one other

person every time they do that. >> i want to go to dr. laura jana, pediatrician, author of "heading home with your newborn: from birth to reality." dr. jana, bipolar. what does that mean? how could that affect her situation right now? >> well, you know, nancy, this is where reality really sets in. in listening to this conversation, bipolar conversation certainly can play a major role. you know, whether she went off her meds before she went missing and that was a factor in her disappearance or she was taken without her meds. we know that people that have bipolar disorder, which is a mood disorder, you can have swings of mania, poor judgment, risky behavior. and on the other end of that spectrum very depressive episodes. people who have bipolar disorder need their medications. in her situation i'm concerned either way. if she went off of them there would be reason why she might have poor judgment when she went off in the first place. and if she were abducted or something happened against her will where she doesn't have

them, i have equal concerns. >> what about it, dr. jeff gardere, psychologist and author? >> yeah. absolutely. i'm concerned that she may have been in an episode, as you talk about, where she's in a manic phase and phase and may be psychotic. we see that in the manic phase. and if she's depressed, she might be so depressed she's suicidal. >> take a look. jennifer jones, age 16. we believe she's a sophomore in high school. i've just learned about the case today. she's been missingi infor about week. she has vanished off the public streets of chicago, around 76th and racine. she's a beautiful young girl. she's about 5'6", 145 pounds, medium complexion wearing blue multi-colored vest, jeans, white sneakers. she suffers from bipolar disorder. she had a pink bookbag on her way to school. tonight, we ask for your thoughts and your prayers for our friend, veteran felony prosecutor, eleanor odom.

after her regular workout, she thought she had heartburn, which was unusual. she went to the doctor, they did not let her go home. she has just come through emergency open heart surgery in the last hours. please, pray for her. and eleanor, stay strong.

jennifer is african-american, she stands 5'6" and weighs about 145 pounds. cops say she was last seen wearing a blue multi-color vest, a blue jacket, blue jeans, and white gym shoes. >> straight out to the calls. elizabeth, connecticut. hi, elizabeth. >> caller: hi, nancy. >> hi, dear, what's your question? >> caller: well, first of all, i love you very much and i watch you every night. >> elizabeth, thank you. thank you so much. i can't believe this case is a week old. i'm just finding out about it. what's your question, dear? >> caller: i want to know, does she have any computer contacts on the internet that she's friends with?

>> about it, kathy shayny, what do we know? have police looked at her computer, either at home or at school? >> they have not said that they've looked at it. they just say it's an ongoing investigation, they're keeping the details close to the vest, but they don't have any leads. >> robin in illinois, hi, robin. >> caller: nancy, i love you, love the twins, and i hope your mom's doing better and i keep her in my prayers. >> well, she's still in the hospital, but i believe she's better. thank you. what's your question, dear? >> caller: two things. i live in chicago. this is the first time i've heard about this young lady missing. and number two, the inglewood area has a very, very high registered offenders in that area, hundreds of them, within blocks. >> oh, oh! registered sex offenders. ellie jostad, what can you tell me? >> nancy, they have issued a community alert for jennifer jones, but police have released very little information, as

kathy chaney mentioned. we don't know if she had a cell phone with her, if she did have one, if it's been used, if any bank cards were used. we're looking for information on this girl. >> tip line, 312-747-8274. we will stay on the story. let's stop and remember army staff sergeant carletta davis, 34, anchorage, alaska, killed, iraq. on a third tour, awarded several medals, the purple heart, a bronze star, a combat medic. she hoped to open a nursing home. leaves behind mother, father, and three sons. carletta davis, american hero. thanks to our guests and especially to you. and happy birthday to my cajun friend of the show, mary! everyone, i'll see you tomorrow, 8:00 sharp, eastern. and until then, good night, friend. vk -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

i'm richelle carey. this is your hln "prime news" break. the nation's education secretary and attorney general made with chicago mayor richard daley wednesday to combat violence against school-aged kids. this visit was prompted by the killing of 16-year-old derrion albert. the honor student was beaten to death when walking to a bus stop. the eighth anniversary of the war against al qaeda and the taliban in afghanistan was noted wednesday. a new associated press poll suggests public support for the war is decreasing now at 40%, down from 44% in july. and the outgoing mayor of east cleveland says that leaked pictures of him in drag cost him his chance to get re-elected. mayor eric brewer says the picture on the right of your screen is him. he says that picture and others were stolen from his home computer.

he's now pushing for a criminal investigation. that's a look at the headlines. i'm richelle carey.