breaking news. tonight, live, florida. a beautiful little second-grader looks like an angel, walks the ten-minute walk home from school with her sister and her twin brother, all their little friends. she gets separated momentarily, broad daylight. 7-year-old summer thompson never seen again. 4:00, only an hour later, mom rushes home, flags down police. no good. now we learn of a kidnap attempt on a little 5-year-old girl also

in broad daylight just one week before. are they connected? it's only been 24 hours. she could still be alive. but where? >> a massive search right now is under way for this little girl. she is from north florida. she is 7-year-old sommer thompson. and officials are asking everyone to be on the lookout. the second-grader vanished walking home from school. >> somer's family is tormented. they have no idea where their little girl is. >> mom is not doing very well. you know, as each hour goes by, she gets less and less hopeful. >> the clay county sheriff is asking for information about a blue sedan seen in that neighborhood about ten days ago. they say that two men and a woman in a car tried to lure a girl near somer's elementary school. >> told me everything that happened and that they were trying to get in the car and

they said that mommy said get in the car, let's go and i'll take you home, and she said no. >> 7-year-olds somer thompson has been missing now for more than 24 hours. last seen walking home from school. >> when you think about this and you think this can't be happening to me, this can't be happening to my family. but it is. and it's very hard. >> and tonight, a beautiful young virginia tech coed keeps tickets to a metallica concert for six months taped up on the fridge. she goes to the concert with all her friends, but just before the band takes the stage she goes missing. from a packed john paul jones arena holding 16,000 people. and nobody knows what happened? found in the arena parking lot, 20-year-old morgan's purse and cell phone, battery removed. >> if morgan is out there and hears us, please come home.

and if someone has morgan, please let her come home safely. >> virginia state police are asking for the public to help locate this missing virginia tech student. she is morgan harrington. she has not been heard from since she and her friends went to a metallica concert saturday night in charlottesville, virginia, john paul jones arena, uva. >> at the time morgan was at the concert she was wearing a black t-shirt that had the words panera written across it. she was also wearing black knee-high boots, black tights, and a black miniskirt. during the concert she became separated from her friends and has not been heard from since. >> morgan's a great kid. and this is very atypical behavior. >> she most likely will not have any identification with her and most likely will not have any cell phone with her. >> cops may have found her purse along with her cell phone. the family's pastor says what's

really odd, the phone's battery has been removed. >> we're pretty distraught with her absence. because we miss our little baby. >> also tonight, to texas. day 5. a 3-year-old little boy in extreme danger. stolen from his own home after the boy's young mother found murdered on her bedroom floor. why? you know what? i don't care why. i just want to know tonight, where is 3-year-old mitchell romero and why did cops take down the amber alert? >> her husband who very well may have murdered her in cold blood still on the run, apparently has their 3-year-old child with them. police very eager to speak with him. >> just after 6:00 denver city police arrived to 212 east 10th street to find 29-year-old

veronica romero dead inside. >> police say romero is considered a person of interest in veronica's murder and is wanted for questioning. authorities in mexico are also on the lookout as reports surface romero may be trying to take mitchell across the border. >> last time he was seen was last week sometime. they don't know if he was with that child. they live together in the same house. how do we know that? because earlier this year he pled guilty to beating her up in that home. this is a scum-bag who's capable of doing anything to people who make him mad. nancy, lord only knows what he's going to do with this child when this child starts crying and asking where his mommy is. that's why we need to find this guy as soon as possible. good evening. i'm nancy grace. i want to thank you for being with us. live, florida. a beautiful little second-grader, looks like an angel, walks the ten-minute walk home from school with her brother, her sister, all their little friends. she gets separated just momentarily, broad daylight.

7-year-old somer thompson never seen again. it's been barely 24 hours. she could still be alive. >> police dogs search the area around littlesomer thompson's home. deputies went door to door, then lined up to scour nearby woods as a helicopter searched from above. it's now been more than 24 hours since this second-grader was last seen after school. >> it's the hardest thing, even telling them there's danger out there. and she's just very sweet and loving. >> we had an attempted abduction here in the city of orange park about ten days ago. >> i'm just thankful that my daughter got home safe. this car stopped her, lured her to the car, wanted her to get in the car, and my daughter said no. >> there was a blue four-door sedan, possibly a nissan, that was involved in this incident. if anyone knows anyone that drives a car like that that matches that description, that

would just be one area that we'd like to look into. >> 7-year-old somer thompson last seen where she went to school at grove park elementary. >> she's a 7-year-old girl. it is dark outside. it's very cold out here. it is a very concerning situation for us. >> it's just been a roller coaster. we keep holding out hope, hoping that we hear something. >> straight out to tiffany griffith with wokv radio. joining us from orange park, florida. there at the command post. tiffany, thank you for being with us. what is the latest? this is so hard to take in. she's with a group of children. it's broad daylight. they get out of school around 2:45 p.m. this couldn't have been much later than 3:00 p.m. what happened? >> and what we're also hearing, nancy, is that it's very normal for a lot of the kids in this neighborhood to make that simple quick walk home. and this is what we're hearing. 2:45 she made the walk from

orange park elementary school, she was with her little brother, she was with a few of her friends, and then at some point there was a little fight and she ran ahead of them. but at some point between when the other kids got to the home at about 3:05, they couldn't find her, she disappeared, nobody knew where she was. by 4:00 the mother calls home to make sure all of the kids arrived home safely. they saidsomer's not here. by the time the mother got home, she flagged down a deputy, and at that point several officers start the to increasingly arrive here in this orange park neighborhood and there's just been a massive police presence in this area ever since. >> okay, tiffany, let me get something straight. they get out of school at about 2:45, correct? >> correct. correct. >> her twin brother and her sister, they're home at about 3:05, right? >> they make it home. correct. >> in 20 minutes this 7-year-old

girl is gone? >> no sight of her, no sign of her anywhere. and officers say that they have questioned everyone in this neighborhood including the 57 sex offenders that live in this area. in fact, they're spreading that search area out to another five miles so they can question an additional 37 sex offenders to see if maybe they had anything to do with her disappearance. but officers are saying that still they're no closer to finding her at this point. >> we are showing you a zoomed-out map with all 87 known registered sex offenders around the area there at orange park, florida. and don't think this is unusual. put your own zip code into the computer. marc klaas, tell them how it's done. and i promise you, all those little red dots will pop up just like there in orange park. marc? >> in fact, nancy, about 630,000 orange dots will pop up throughout the country. go onto klaaskids.org, check

megan's law, pick your state, and it will take you right to your state's sex offender registry. or you can go to usdoj.gov and they've got a national registry right there. it's absolutely mind-boggling how many of these individuals there are. it doesn't matter where you live in america. they are in your neighborhood. >> marc. look at your monitor. look at this girl. she's 7. she's in the second grade. a second-grade little girl, completely defenseless. she's only unaccounted for for less than 20 minutes. she's not alone. they're doing everything right. >> yep. >> and she's gone. to ellie jostad, our chief editorial producer. ellie, what can you tell me about an alleged kidnap attempt just one week before, not far away? that little victim was about 5 years old. >> right, nancy. this was one block away from where somer went missing.

it was ten days ago. apparently, this little girl, a little 5-year-old girl, riding her bike after school is approached by a woman driving some type of blue sedan. it might have been a nissan. the woman says "your mother told me to give you a ride. get in the car." the little girl doesn't want to do it. there are also two men in the car. luckily, a good samaritan happened by while this was happening, saw the little girl trying to take off on her bike, the little girl is crying. the woman pulled over and said do you know these people? the girl said no. at that point the car sped away, once they realized this other woman had intervened. and it was a near miss for this other little girl. >> and that was a hispanic female with two men in the back seat? >> yeah. two men in the car. not sure if they're in the back seat. two men in the car, also described as hispanic. >> norm, do we have lisa rukab with us yet? joining us shortly will be the neighbor of this little girl's family. but right now there is actually a vigil going down for this little girl.

the family, the neighborhood, the community, all together tonight praying for a break in this case. back to tiffany griffith, wokv. i understand that in a couple of hours when it gets good and dark they're going to go out with an infrared helicopter? >> that's correct. and they said that this is going to be a 24-hour search. they're going to take those helicopters from overhead, search from overhead, heat seeking. they're also going to take their officers who are on the ground and keep searching through some very wooded areas within the area of this girl's home. >> we believe foul play is suspected due to the fact that the child's age, the size of the child, the cold weather last night, the fact that this is totally out of character for her, and we still haven't found her. that certainly is foul play.

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. 27 hours since little somer thompson was last seen. hundreds of police officers have joined clay county in the search. jsl, fdle, and the fbi are here. they've gone door to door. they've combed nearby woods on foot, searched on horseback, and scoured the area from above. somer's grandmother, debbie bowling, has been by somer's mother's side all day. >> as each hour goes by, she gets less and less hopeful. you know, you think about this, and you think this can't be happening to me, this can't be

happening to my family. but it is. and it's very hard. >> reporter: at somer's home family and friends stop by, bringing food and leaving with flyers to pass out. everyone hopeful, desperate for some good news. >> we are hoping and praying that she is alive and that she is in our area and that we find her very soon. >> just so worried about her. this is not like her. she's a very, very loving little child and very friendly. if anybody knows anything, please contact us. call the police. call the sheriff. let us know something. >> oh, somer is such a sweet child. i mean, she has never met a stranger. that's the hardest thing, you know, to tell them there's

danger out there. and she's just very sweet and loving. >> this little girl just looks like an angel to me. she's a second-grader. she's only 7 years old. how many of us walked home from school with all of our little friends and our neighbors every single day? we had almost a two-mile walk. a mile and a half. every day to and from. this child was only unaccounted for for about 15 minutes. she was with her twin brother and her 10-year-old other sibling, the sister. they got home at 3:05. somer has not been found yet. we are taking your calls live. to sharon, alabama. hi, dear. >> caller: hi, nancy. with the type of job you have right now, covering these sad stories, how are you going to handle it when your children get of school age? >> school age?

are you kidding? at the play school they're at right now the teachers know it's me out in the parking lot staring in. i don't care if it rains. it's me out there with a towel over my head looking in. they just go -- because these stories. how can you forget a face like this child's? i don't know what i'm going to do when they finally go to school. i'm going to burn that bridge when i get there. what's your question, love? >> caller: i wanted to know if the mile walk from the school to her home -- what was it like, the volume of traffic? >> ooh. good question. to tiffany griffith, covering the story. she's with wokv radio, and she's joining us from the command post. you know, that's a good question. is there a lot of traffic between the school and her home? what kind of terrain is it? and does she pass, for instance, a strip center or a grocery store or a target?

is it rural? what is it? >> well, the area is mainly consisting of residential traffic. there's mainly homes in this area with a wide wooded area, a few retention ponds, a few other ponds. most of the main traffic, the main thoroughfare traffic that you'd see on the major roadways are a few blocks away. so fortunately, the only cars that would come through here are the people who actually live here or have their children go to school through here. >> bonnie in florida. hi, bonnie. >> caller: hi, nancy. how are you doing? i love your twins. i got nicknames for them. lu lu is and juju. >> i like those nicknames. ip v i have nicknames. little baby man man and little baby gr-gr. >> caller: oh, that's beautiful. >> what's the question, love? >> caller: first of all-f the little girl was 7, what would she let her walk home alone

anyway? i have a son that's 10 and i don't let him walk home by himself. does the mom work? >> the mom is at work. and she called home -- i remember my mom calling home every day at 3:30. she was working. my dad was working. sometimes he worked the night trick. and you know, mothers have to work. very quickly, tiffany griffith, isn't it pretty common there that all the kids walk home from this public school, they all walk home together? >> it is very common. and even going back to what you said earlier about this community, i mean, this community is pulling together. so losing this child feels like losing one of their own.

7-year-old somer thompson last seen where she went to school at grove park elementary. she was walking home with a group of other kids, may have had some kind of argument with her brother or some of those other kids, ran ahead of the group, and that was when she was last seen, around 2:45. her mom then notified a passing deputy that she was missing at around 5:00. >> we're just so worried about her. this is not like her. if anybody knows anything, please -- >> to marc klaas, founder of klaaskids foundation. marc, she's only been gone barely 24 hours.

statistically, she could still be alive, right? >> well, sure. i mean, jaycee, elizabeth, and shawn hornbeck all prove that there's always hope even after many years. >> wait a minute. everybody, you are seeing live feed of the vigil that's happening right now. marc, but are you suggesting that those are the exceptions? i thought it was within 72 hours it's likely the child is dead. but it's only been about 24 hours, right? >> of children that are taken by a preferential predator, 74% of them will be dead within the first three hours. that's why it's incumbent upon parents to be able to do a quick cursory search and if their children are still missing they should notify law enforcement. nancy, the way i see it right here, there are two probable and possible scenarios. the first is a preferential predator. the second one would be tied back to the nissan that was seen last week with the roaming gang.

if it's something like that, the possibility is very strong that there might be a human trafficking element in it. >> what is a preferential predator? >> a preferential predator is a pedophile. that's what it is. somebody who wants to have sex with little boys and/or little girls. in this case it would be little girls. >> please help us. the tip line, 877-277-6911. look at her. 

the young lady who's 20 years old, she's a white female. her name is morgan dana harrington. she has long blond hair and blue eyes. >> police say that she met up with friends at jmu on saturday before coming here to the john paul jones arena for a metallica concert. now, police say she became separated from her friends around 8:40 p.m. saturday night. >> cops may have found her purse along with her cell phone. the family's pastor says what's really odd, the phone's battery

has been removed. >> this is just not behavior that she would have. you know, she to our knowledge did not have a boyfriend. and you know, there may be circumstances we're not aware of, but you know, i think morgan was pretty transparent with us. you know, and this is just not something morgan would do. >> she is as beautiful inside as she is outside. she has family and friends that love her and miss her. if there's any information that anyone could offer that would help us find her, we would appreciate you contacting the police. >> i actually did not see her that day. she was at our house. and i was working. and her mom and morgan picked out outfits that she would wear to the concert that evening. so morgan left alone about 12:00 noon, and i did speak with morgan prior to her leaving.

the last time i spoke with morgan was at 2:00 on saturday, when she called me after she arrived safely in harrisonburg and was in harrisonburg, where she hooked up with her friends, and they drove with one of the friends to the concert in charlottesville. >> we are taking your calls live. out to tim martin with newstalk 960 wfir, joining us from roanoke. tim, look, this is what i find hard to believe. this girl had the tickets to the metallica concert taped, posted up on the refrigerator, for six months. why would she get up and leave her seat just before they take the stage? >> i think that's a question the police are asking, nancy. this whole thing started as an innocent trip to see a concert. the question now, did something terrible happen to 20-year-old morgan harrington, a junior at virginia tech? police say she was attending the metallica concert at the john paul jones arena.

friends say she went outside before metallica even took the stage. they say they're not sure why she went outside but she never returned. police found her purse, cell phone, with the battery out of it. then 16 hours later, the next day, around noon on sunday, her father calls the friends, they say we haven't seen her. he then calls police, and this whole thing just goes wide open, nancy. >> okay. stacy newman, our producer on the story, what more can you tell me? >> well, nancy, what i can tell you is state police as well as university of virginia police are converging there. john paul jones arena. as we speak, nancy, just trying to find leads. they also are asking concertgoers who had cameras there, who had cell phones and may have taken video, if they have any pictures of 20-year-old morgan harrington. >> stacy newman, joining us on the story. so the cops are just now converging? why? >> they're not just now converging, nancy. they actually have been there

since about i think sunday -- >> okay. >> -- but what did happen is because of bad weather over the weekend they couldn't put choppers up until monday. >> okay. good point, stacy. tim martin, what about surveillance video in that arena? i mean, 16,000 people? surely somebody saw what happened. >> you know, absolutely right. and that's what police are looking into. and they're really asking the people that were at this concert to check their videos, check their camera phones, because somebody may have a picture of this girl on their phone. they may have key evidence, you know, in their purse or something and not even know it. that's something police want to see. they say they're following up on leads today, or yesterday. they canvassed the area, they had choppers up, dogs out. they're just trying to pore through this information right now, and obviously it's not coming fast enough for a very worried family. >> this girl is beautiful on the inside as well as the outside. she looks like a fairy princess. a 20-year-old virginia tech student majoring in education,

the world in front of her. you're seeing photos of morgan harrington from facebook. and joining me right now, taking your calls live, her mother, gil harrington. miss harrington, thank you for being with us. >> thank you so much for letting us come on and put morgan's information out there. i appreciate your time so much. >> you know, i have a little girl. she's about to turn 2. and i cannot imagine, miss harrington, pouring my heart and soul into her and her brother and then somebody making off with her or her just vanishing like this. you were with her in the hours right before she went to the concert. what was her frame of mind? what was she talking about? >> i mean, she was excited about the concert. she brought home three outfits that she tried on for me, and we chose one, and she said, mama, it is a rock concert, so this probably is not what you would choose, but is this one okay? and you know, it was cute, and

she was covered, and i said yeah, that one will do fine. so you know, we're pretty close. and i was excited for her. you know, you have to give your kids wings. >> i mean, she's 20 years old. she should be able to go to a concert with all of her friends. and i've got to tell you something, miss harrington, you did something right. because there are not a whole lot of 20-year-olds who would ask their mom what they thought of the outfit she was wearing to a concert. if they thought their parents wouldn't approve, they just wouldn't let them see it or they'd sneak out and change behind their back. tell me about your little girl. >> you know, morgan has a really -- a pretty close relationship with us. especially with her dad, if you can imagine. long blond hair. they look the same. the temperament is both the same. both of them are pretty mellow.

she's involved in many different things. her friends have the same core group of girls. she doesn't really date much. in fact, very little. the same group of girls that she's been friends, hanging out with since high school, do things together. >> was that who she was with at the concert? >> with some of her girlfriends, yeah, that she has been -- >> miss harrington, what are they telling you about why she left right before metallica took the stage? >> you know, i don't really know that piece. and i don't know that they know that piece. i mean, it's one of the questions that we need to ask her. >> okay. we're taking your calls live. to jamie in arizona. hi, jamie. >> caller: hi. how are you, nancy? >> i'm good, dear. what's your question? >> caller: my question is the battery missing in the cell phone. i find pretty odd. i was wondering, could it be possible that there was some type of a struggle where the phone might have fell and the battery fell out and when they

threw the phone back in the bag to act like, you know, it wasn't missing they didn't even realize that the battery had strayed from the phone? >> good question. to veto collucci, private investigator, author of "inside the eyes of a private eye," veto, i find that extremely intriguing and possibly probative. in other words, it might prove something, that the battery was removed from the phone. now, it's very important, when they found the cell phone, was it put back together or was it possible that it cracked open when it fell and the battery flew out? now, on a blackberry that's easy to do, but on cell phones it's not as easy for the battery to go flying out. >> that's true, nancy. most cell phones it is very difficult. you know, if you watch "csi" and all these law shows nowadays, they're starting to show that if you take the battery out it stops that whole ping process that's going on. so maybe the individual, rather than an altercation of a fight and a struggle, maybe somebody took that out purposely. i called than official for -- a

higher-ranking official at verizon just to verify that and they told me that's indeed what happens nowadays. >> to the lawyers, pam hayes, randy kessler. pam hayes, you're a veteran defense attorney, former prosecutor. if somebody intentionally took the battery out of that cell phone, they have much more malice aforethought. much more planning went into this. >> yeah, absolutely right. what happens is they were just trying to cut down on the fact that maybe that they could follow the different poles of the cell phone because what happens is they are poles that pick up exact locations of where the persons are, if they make any phone calls, et cetera, et cetera. so i envision it as they were just trying to kill the trail early on and, you know, that's what happened. >> you are seeing photos right now of morgan harrington, age 20. 5'6", 120 pounds, blond hair, blue eyes.

last seen at metallica concert. take a look. tip line, 434-352-435. we're taking your calls live. her mom is with us right now. as we go to break, a very special happy birthday to one of our superstars, jillian. she loves britney spears, and she loves crusading for a charity founded in honor of her late mother, the kfo foundation, giving help to those suffering from m.s. happy birthday to our little crusader, jillian.

we miss our little baby. she is our precious daughter. we hope that this attention can help bring her back to our home. >> morgan harrington, somehow separated from her friends at an arena in charlottesville, virginia, hasn't been seen since saturday night. she's a junior at virginia tech, very close to her family, calls home every day. and mom and dad say it is so out

of character for her to just disappear with no contact. >> a group of friends she went with are friends from middle school. you know, from what i understand she went to the restroom and they then got a call from morgan that she was outside the arena. >> it is suspicious to me that she ended up outside the arena, and it makes me wonder if she saw someone she knew and walked out. >> people do come up missing. however, it's very unusual that we have not heard anything, either from her friends or from her family, regarding her whereabouts. >> if anyone has seen morgan, either in a store or by the road after the concert, anyone that looks like the description of morgan, please notify the police. it would be very helpful to all of us. >> i want to go back out to tim martin, news talk 960 wfir. tim, i'm just having a hard time understanding why she left and why her friends aren't telling police or the mom why she left,

who she left with, anything else like that. certainly they wouldn't let her just walk off and not find out where she was going. >> well, and -- absolutely. and this is a girl who loved metallica, as you said, had concert tickets on the refrigerator for six months before the concert. and you know, it's intriguing. a lot of people don't understand, you know, why the parents weren't notified that night. you know, the friends drove back to jmu. the father had to call morgan's friend just to find out she was missing. and that was 16 hours after it happened. and that could be 16 critical hours that police could have been searching. >> tim martin, you're absolutely correct. to morgan's mom, gil harrington, joining us live tonight, taking your calls. gil, it was 16 hours later. why didn't the friends bother to call and let you know? >> you know, morgan has this group of good friends, and she doesn't have any biologic sisters, but these girls are kind of her chosen sisters, and they do cover her back.

and they all would do anything for each other -- >> well, wait a minute, miss harrington. that just doesn't make sense to me. if they're covering her back, why weren't they concerned she was missing? unless they think she was somewhere else. >> i think the disconnect is that children think that they are invincible. and i think that was the disconnect. they're good kids. they've been in and out of my home since they were young. they're holding a vigil for her on thursday. they're -- there was no wrongdoing on anybody's part. i -- >> well, i would -- >> i don't know how the crowds work. at something as big as metallica, i don't know, never having been to a concert like that, but i think kids do get lost -- >> did they all just go on home without her? >> i think they waited for a long time and were not able to

hear from her or get her by phone. >> okay. out to randy kessler. randy, if someone has made off with her, the fact that her cell phone battery was intentionally removed from her cell phone is very probative. >> it certainly is, nancy. you've handled your share of pr prosecuting domestic violence cases where when you're in an argument the powerful person, the one who wants to be in control, yanks the phone out of the wall and says you can't call the police, what are you going to do? it might be a similar action. if they were going to throw them off the lead they would have taken the phone and put it in someone else's car. so i think it shows there was some sort of struggle. also why did she leave? maybe there was a guy she liked, maybe she was poisoned, maybe there was this date rape drug, she felt sick and excused herself. and maybe her friends thought she was having a good time with someone she liked. there are a lot of questions. >> to lauren howard, psychotherapist skrojoining us of new york. lauren, in some misguided way do you believe the girlfriends thought they were covering for her? >> absolutely. i find it highly suspect that

she's with a group of her girlfriends, she excuses herself right before the constant tort, say, go to the bathroom or whatever reason she used to leave, and she goes alone? that to begin with is unusual. usually, a friend would go with you. and for them to have left that concert that evening and not notified either her parents or the police to me implies that they knew that she was meeting someone. that's the implication. >> or thought she was. that's a good point, lauren howard. and very quickly, stacy newman, the video surveillance in that concert hall that holds 16,000 people, do we know how often they roll over? have they already taped over that night? >> we don't know, nancy. but i would imagine it is because they have so many events there, so many concerts, basketball games, disney on ice, you name it. video evidence is probably gone. >> everyone, we're switching gears, still taking your calls live. a 3-year-old little boy missing. take a listen. >> veronica romero was laid to rest in the tiny texas town of denver city.

this is a city of only about 4,000 people. i talked to one long-time city worker today. they said it's been at least a decade since there's been a murder in this city. her husband, who very well may have murdered her in cold blood, still on the run, apparently has their 3-year-old child with him. police very eager to speak with him. >> straight out to michael vore, wori news radio. what's the latest with this missing boy? >> the latest is they have actually cancelled the amber alert here in texas now. the police department in denver city, texas is focusing on the investigation now into where mario romero is. they believe according to prior reports that he may have slipped across the border, may be in mexico hiding out there with his 3-year-old child. it's a very dangerous situation we have right now. they are very worried about this 3-year-old child and what may happen to him. the father has a history of rage, uncontrolled rage. what is going to happen? is he going to snap again, and what could he do to this 3-year-old child? >> with me right now is a very

special guest, the sister of the murdered mom found dead on her bedroom floor, maria esquivel. miss esquivel, thank you so much for >> first of all, tip line 806-592-3516. what happened when you went to the home and you realized she was dead and the baby is gone? >> the first thing that came to my mind was he killed her. we walked in there. my daughter had crawled in through the window to open the door because we knew something was wrong. tuesday evening real late and wednesday morning that afternoon we just had to go look for her. my daughter walked in and crawled in through the window and unlocked the door. we just stood there and looked around. we went into her bedroom and the first thing i seen was my sister laying there on the floor.

i just went hysterical. it's something that i never thought would happen. not to her. not to my sister. >> when did you realize that the baby was gone? >> as soon -- we realized that he was gone because his sister came about tuesday night -- was it tuesday night? wednesday night -- asking to see if i had seen my sister.

with bhe right now, an expert, dr. duncan, thank you for being with us. how can you tell how long the mother had been dead? what i'm getting at, dr. duncan, is how much of a head start did the perpetrator get with the little boy? >> there are several ways you can tell how long the body has been deceased. first thing is the temperature. the temperature and color of the body. after that is the body getting stiff.

the first thing like i said is temperature of the body. the body decreases in temperature 1 degree per hour. you can get an idea as to how long that person has been dead within several hours if you find that person fairly early. until they get to the point where they reach the temperature of the surroundings. >> quickly, would there be insects even if the body were indoors? >> absolutely. there will be insects inside. >> what insect? >> you have larva and you have the small insects that come from the material itself. >> you mean the maggots? >> yeah. >> you have to break it down for us. back to michael quickly. you heard what dr. duncan said. how long do they believe this beautiful lady had been dead, her son missing, and why do they believe the husband has headed to mexico? >> they believe that she was murdered either tuesday night or

wednesday morning. it is very possible that she was murdered by her husband while their three children were in their home. that's a distinct possibility. they believe that he's in mexico because he has family there. both his parents and a brother in mexico. >> very quickly, lauren, we only have a couple seconds. but say these children are extremely young. would they remember the murder if they were in the home? >> they would not remember it concretely. they would remember it in a dream state but their abstract reasoning is not developed so it would not have the force of a trauma of a real memory blocked or otherwise. >> this child gone. let's stop and remember army staff sergeant. 28. killed in iraq. a soldier's soldier. a smile that lit up a room. lost his life after a surprise visit home for his anniversary and watched his brother graduate from med school. loved playing with iraqi

children. leaves behind his parents, four siblings, widow and high school sweetheart, janet, and a 10-year-old little girl named after him. kyly. american hero. thanks to our guests but especially to you. i'll see you tomorrow night 8:00 sharp eastern. until then, good night, friend. tonight on "the joy behar show" from kate gosselin to christi brinkley. most divorced women have heard a variation of the same thing. we've grown apart. you're not the person i married. seriously, it's not you, it's me. yeah. most of the time i want to say, okay, it's you. but no matter how it is said, it always ends up in the same place.

divorce court. joining me are women who lived through personal hells in a very public way.

tonight, a special show about the ugly and unpleasant side of love. i'm not talking about mark sanford's e-mail. i'm talking about divorce. it's all the rage these days from christi brinkley to mel gibson to the gosselins. celebrity breakups make the news and make divorce attorneys rich. this private hell isn't always played out on the public stage. 2.5 million americans have divorced in the past year and half of marriages in the u.s. end in splitsville. i tell you, divorce must be fabulous because everybody is doing it. join me and my panel of sadder but wiser ex-wives as we share stories of love and betrayal and

everything in between. whether you're a man, a woman, single or divorced or just planning ahead, you don't want to miss this special presentation. my guests tonight have something in common and no, it's not just that they're fabulous which they are. they've all had private divorces play out in the public eye. here we me now is marla maples, actress and radio host, and ex-wife of the donald. dina matos, ex-wife of former new jersey governor, jim mcgreevey, who announced to the world that he was a guy american. she's also the author of "silent partner." and mary jo eustace, author of "divorce sucks" and whose ex-husband left her for tori spelling. you were married to dean for 13

years, right? >> i was. >> after a three-week movie shoot with toru tori spelling h announced he was leaving you for his soul mate. >> he actually broke up with me in a palm springs hotel room when i was in an ugly bikini holding my daughter in my arms. that's bad. it's sad. i know it. he just came in from a golf c e game. i sort of suspected something wasn't right. i said is something up? >> did you have a bad game? >> did you not get a par or whatever happens out there? he said i didn't want to tell you on vacation. i thought that's weird. i said have you met somebody? he said yes. i said is it tori spelling? he said yes. i said did you sleep with her? he said yes. she's my soul mate. i said what conditions?

you've known her three weeks. i thought it was a joke. i thought i was being punked. it was true. it was true. >> dina, your ex-husband told the world he was a gay american while you were standing beside him. >> i engaged in adult consensual affair with another man, which violates my bonds of matrimony. it was wrong. it was foolish. it was inexcusable. and for this i ask the forgiveness and the grace of my wife. >> what were you thinking at that moment? >> i really wasn't. i was in shock because i had only learned three days before that he had been involved in a relationship and so i was really in shock. i was there in the moment. all of the cameras flashing and all of the reporters but i compare it to an out of body experience. i was there physically but

mentally, you know, i was just trying to maintain my composure and not fall apart in front of the cameras. >> they took those moments and put them in a fictional show. >> they've done a tremendous job with that show. i think really a great job with that role. i think it's very empowering for women to see that show because they realize that there is life after divorce. when you're going through it, you don't think there is. you think this is the end of your life as you know it. and in some ways it is. you feel powerless. and i think watching that and seeing how she certainly struggled -- >> she's rising from the ashes. she's solving the cases every week. she'll have to lose a few. marla, you were married to the donald for six years.

you had a very public wedding. i was at your wedding. i tell you quick story about that wedding. i took a picture of you and him or whoever and i got up to dance andmy bag at the table and when i came back from dancing, the film was taken out of my camera. it was like big brother was at your wedding. >> i wonder if someone was making money off wedding pictures and i didn't know about it. >> that could be. what was the worst moment for you? your divorce was public. it was splashed all over the papers. >> i think it was mine was in the beginning of the relationship was maybe the toughest part. >> the beginning? >> yeah. in the beginning. you know, any time that you fall in love, you open your heart to many possibilities. you hope for the best. you hope that it's eternal. we all walk in dreamy eyed. we learn so much in our teens and 20s for what's real and what's not. the difficult times specifically were watching it played out in the media and not being able to

control it and thinking i had to. the point is you really have to let it take its course and i always say that the truth or who you are inside is always going to be revealed to the people that it counts for. not being able to -- being out of control is a hard thing to have happen to you. >> did you come out looking better than him or vice versa? what do you think? >> i definitely think he's made a lot more money. he's done well with that tv show. i have the best part of the whole deal because i have sole custody of our daughter and that's a joy. >> he didn't fight you on custody of tiffany? >> no. i walked away. >> it's great you called her tiffany. >> that was his first big deal to build trump tower. will you let me name our daughter tiffany? you put it that way. it is a good name.

>> so how did you girls -- don't mind if i call you girls do you? >> that's a compliment. >> i like girls. how did you bounce back from the news that your ex gave you those da days, anybody? >> you are in shock that this is happening. you were so blind-sided. you're in shock. you're in complete survival mode. when the public aspect kicks in, what was weird the first week my divorce was announced i saw a picture of my husband's girlfriend with her legs wrapped around his head. >> how long ago was that? >> four years. they rewrote my whole life. they got my age wrong. they said i was 62 and old.

i'm only 47. >> look how good you look. >> that's a deal breaker. that would really piss me off. >> the age? >> yes. >> yeah. i sounded like i was in a wheelchair this crazy wife. >> you're a gorgeous young woman. >> youngish. the way it happened is they rewrite your life. it's like you don't exist. it's very, very odd. >> before we go to you guys, i want you to take a look at one couple living out their dream marriage. >> i was verbally abused. i was beaten down. she separated me from my family. she used to hold the kids over my head and say, you know, don't spend time with your mom. spend time with your kids. >> he took $230,000 of the $231,000 that we have liquid. i have a stack of bills in my purse i can't drop in the mail. >> it's really hideous. that's a reality show, they say. i mean, is it real or are they

doing it for the camera? your opinion on that one? >> i've never seen so much press around someone that i didn't know who they were. >> they got more press that you got. >> the public must be really connected to this in some way. >> i don't know what way. he's on everything. isn't he? is he a star now? if he's a star -- >> he's trying to be a star. he and balloon boy's father. >> what's he going to translate this career into? >> parent counseling. >> it's unfortunate for the children to have their parents out there certainly, you know, they have their own agendas but they have eight children that they have to realize that at some point, you know, with youtube and the internet, this will all be out there for the

children to read about. >> it's always tragic for the children. always bad. people are so crazy at that time. okay. we'll take break. coming up lance armstrong's ex kristen hopes up about her divorce. we have a lot to talk about.

>> i want to thank all of you for your support throughout this ordeal. for me it's a very bittersweet moment because it really is the death of a marriage.

>> that was beautiful christie brinkley talking about her fourth ex-husband, peter cook. one more couple whose private hell was made into public fodder. i'm joined by kristen armstrong, ex-wife of lance armstrong. welcome, kristen. >> thanks for having me. >> i'm with christie on this. i want to take sides. maybe because i know them both. this guy had an affair with a teenager and spent thousands of dollars downloading porn. on top of being unfaithful, he's a lousy shopper. what's your take on that -- do you think she has a right to be mad? >> me? >> yeah. >> just curious what you think of christie. >> i don't really know anything about their story. that did not sound good to me. >> he was going out with a girl who was about 30 years younger

or something and downloading all of that porn. i think that she's -- >> that's not good. >> let's go to you instead of that. your divorce was out there because your husband, your ex-husband, lance, was dating cheryl crowe. how hard was that for you see them together in public like that? >> that really wasn't the reason that our marriage -- they started dating after our divorce process started. it's funny because sheryl is lovely. for as much as that was painful for me at the time, you know, i really wanted to dislike her. i really did. she is lovely. she's beautiful. she's smart. she's funny. she was great with the kids. for as much as i wanted to dislike her and i tried, i couldn't. >> that's interesting. you know, in mary jo eustace's book, "divorce sucks," she says you should make friends with the new wife or the girlfriend because it's better for the kids

but besides the kids, you did that with sheryl then. how did it all work out for you? >> well, i just think that when you have two people that have your children in common, i think when you can see that someone else really loves your kids, too, it does this makeover on your heart and you look at this person with fresh eyes. i think it's important. it's important for your kids. i think it's important for your relationship with your ex and ultimately a source of liberation for yourself. >> i like sheryl crowe, too, but she didn't run off with my husband so what do i know. you and lance have three kids together. you're very close friends with him. how did you get to that point? >> it's been a long time and a lot of work. we were married for five years. we've been divorced for almost six now. and i think that when you are a couple that even if your marriage doesn't make it, if you're a couple that has children as a priority, you are

really able to transcend beyond yourself and beyond your differences and look at ways to work through that and figure out how you can best go on loving the children that you have together and that is -- that's a beautiful thing. i think my primary concern when things started falling apart was i was so upset about not being able to show our kids what unconditional love looks like. and through working through all of our stuff together and coming out on the other side as friends and parents, i can look back now and honestly say that our kids definitely know what unconditional love looks like. >> that's very good. you sound like you really came out a winner in this. thank you very much for joining us. >> thanks. >> okay. i want to turn back to our panel now. it's interesting what she said. you say it in your book. >> i think the way i phrase it in my book is that the new mother, the stepmother, has to defer to the mother. i think trying to one up the mother and engage the children is just toxic.

you have to respect it. you have to respect that relationship. i think that if you do that, then the children are healthy. regardless if you get along with this new woman and if you're great friends or not, there's a certain respect and boundary. i think that's super, super important. i think that's the key to making it work. >> have you girls ever been the other woman also? >> i was. it was the worst situation to be in ever. i grew up in a strong baptist environment and it was never a situation i ever thought i would be in. you come into new york city from georgia and you believe everything you're told and next thing you know you turn around and you're caught up in this horrible scandal that you never intended. >> did you feel guilty? >> i felt broken. i felt completely broken. i'm a big believer that the judge comes back. we have to be careful about our judgments in life. that was one of the things as a child growing up i felt was so gross is these men married hitting on younger girls and i ended up in a situation like that. >> did you ever feel like you were detrbetraying the sisterhon

any way? >> what was explained to me is different than it was played out in the press. they were working on the divorce arrangements. he was talking to my parents on the phone telling them how much he loved me. it was very different for me than it was or how it played out in the press. when you're in love you want to believe the best. you don't want to see the ugly stuff. so often your heart is broken because the media suddenly you may walk in with good intentions but it's a horrible situation. >> it's also the sisterhood that's interesting what you said. i write about that in my book. what are you doing to an intact family? >> it's like that hall and oats song, leave him alone, he's a family man. >> there's some sacredness involved in a family. walking into that situation of full knowledge, my situation we

just adopted a little girl who was 7 weeks old. i write about that in the book. supporting other women. respecting the primary family. all of those things are really essential. >> you said something, dina, i was reading that you never felt that your husband loved you. you never felt loved by him in the marriage. >> i did feel loved. as marla said, when you fall in love with someone, you want to believe this is forever and this person is being honest with you. but my husband after his announcement i found some papers which i think were an outline for a book he was writing that said he married me for political gain. he married me because he wanted to become governor and perhaps president. >> do you believe that? >> i do. >> that's hurtful. >> that's very painful. >> we all do have each other and the sisterhood is so important and what was the most painful

for me was not being able to bridge that with the ex-wife. i really wanted to have that communication and be a woman to woman and talk about. >> interesting stuff. a bit later we'll talk to dina about the other man.

my next guest left a promising career as an actress on "law and order" to follow her husband to ohio. joining me now is an actress and author of "happens every day: an all too true story," isable gillies. tell us what happened to you. >> i was married. my ex-husband is a professor. he was at harvard when i met him. we got married. we had one baby. we decided that -- i'm an

actress. i was on "law and order" and i had a successful career thus far but i wasn't meryl streep so the life of a professor and the world you can create on campus and you can go to an interesting town and have a happy life with children in a very much less expensive house than living in new york so we thought that would be a smart idea. i thought it would be a great idea. >> what happened when you got there? >> we got there -- >> it's interesting you would think that would be more interesting life than showbiz. most people don't see it that way. >> i wanted a family. he's a very, very good professor. i thought it was a better thing to bank on his career than mine as an actress which is shaky and doesn't have any stability in some cases, and i wanted to be a mother. >> what happened when you got there? >> i got there. i started living there and i started teaching acting at the

college. we had a wonderful house and a very ideal life. and then he left me for a colleague of his who is a friend of mine. but i actually -- he left me quite suddenly. i ended up going back to new york and living with my parents and our children. our little boys. >> i could never come back to live with my parents. they're dead. i know that would be really creepy to live with them now. but it's very 1960s what you did. the i did that also. i went to rhode island with my professor husband when i was in the middle of -- i had a job. i didn't have a career. it's very 1960s, 1950s thing to do. >> did you have children? >> i didn't have them at the time. i followed him any way. what was i thinking? if you have children, you have

an excuse. >> except you know truthfully though, i don't think there's anything to regret ever in life. i mean, i had a wonderful time teaching. i never would have done that. i never would have lived in that part of the country. i'm from new york. i knew nothing about the midwest. i had beautiful children that grew up in a -- >> sure. >> and then i came back and pulled my socks up and said, okay, let's start again. and actually i was getting divorced on "law and order" when i was in ohio and i came back and saved that marriage. >> and the end of the story is you got your job back on "law and order" right? >> i got that job back. when i got to new york and living with my very wise mother and father, one day i was filling out applications for a school that was enormously too expensive to send my children to -- >> we're running out of time in this segment. what does your husband teach, your ex? >> poetry.

>> watch those poets. isable, stay there more on our presentation presentation in just a moment. sorry i had to cut you off, dear.

we're talking about divorce with some women that have firsthand experience. back with my lovely panel, marla maples, dina matos, and mary jo eustace. you all wanted to do that. tell me about the most violent -- tell me what you did. >> it didn't involve arson.

he had a prize boflex. he wanted to buy boflex. >> what is that? >> you work out. he has to be in superb shape for his career. >> that's a tip-off. >> i said go for a run. he wanted a boflex. it was $3,000. i said you can get it if you work out every day. it sat in the garage and he hung workout gear on it. when i left, i put the boflex out on the sidewalk and someone drove by and just took it. i did also burn a suit of his. a polyester suit that he used to wear. >> it was sweet to him. you didn't say go take a hike. go for a hike. less hostile. i love it. let me talk to you a bit, dina. your case is different. your husband left you for a man. >> right. >> now, is that worse than

leaving him for a woman, do you think? >> i think so. >> for me it would be easier. my ego wouldn't be involved. >> i think it's very different when your husband leaves you for another woman, at some point you know there was love in the marriage and you had something. when your husband is not the person that you think he is, you know, he's an impostor -- >> it's weird. >> you start questioning every aspect of your life together. what was real? was that kiss real? was that vacation and time we had on vacation real? did he ever love me? why did he marry me? later i found out why. >> for political gain you said. you didn't know he was gay until he announced it on television? >> right. he's never told me i'm gay. i read the words i am a gay american about an hour before we left for his press conference. >> there were no signs in the marriage that he was gay? nothing? >> no.

no. >> some gay guys -- >> there were some issues. the only time we had the conflict was about him not spending enough time with me and my daughter. >> where was he? off with a guy? >> part of the time he was. his excuse was i'm either running for governor or i'm governor now. i'm busy. the president of the united states takes a vacation, you can't? >> i have to know more about this. a lot of girls i know, women i know, sort of going with gay guys and don't know it. everyone else knows it but they don't know it. i'm curious -- i'll be blunt. what about the sex? was there any sign in the bedroom? >> no. >> he was always into you? >> i talk to women who call me and contact me all the time and it's the same -- they're shocked. some of them have had, you know, some signs. there were some signs and i write about it in my book like the way he proposed and some

other things that looking back -- >> like what did he do? >> he never asked me to marry him. he just put a ring in front of me and said so what do you think? >> he's not romantic. that wouldn't mean he's gay. >> there's a lot of things that have happened. the fact he didn't want me to ever have a relationship or even talk to his ex-wife and acted really weird around here, stopped having mail come to the house once we were married, so i thought perhaps there's a problem. i thought that he was having an affair, if anything, with his ex-wife. >> with his ex-wife? >> that's rare, isn't it? >> yeah. hello. don't look at me. yeah. wouldn't it -- your situation is two-fold. you have the betrayal where you think he didn't love you and if you found out he had a love for you and found out he was gay, would that be easier? if a man left me for another man

but he loved me -- >> betrayal is betrayal. >> it feels bad. >> there's another level. there's another level because you question everything. >> makes you feel like you're crazy. >> yeah. >> isable, come back to me, isable. she's still there. aren't you glad your husband was just a poet? >> it does bring up the issue that everybody is so complex. if you have children, eventually you have to sort of take every complexity and everything that was done wrong and done right and sort of move forward especially for your children because they love their father, you know, just as much as they did when you were married. >> that's a big mistake. my own experience. get the kids involved in the divorce and use them as a punching bag. it's the worst thing you can do. that's a terrible thing. i'm sure that none of you did that. did your husbands try to do that? yours did. >> uh-huh.

>> dina, you have been carrying the cross. and then after the divorce you had to support your child and you have a foundation, i understand, that -- >> i'm the executive director of a foundation that raises money for support and research for a rare genetic disorder. >> what's it called? >> it's called k.a.r.e.s. foundation. >> that's good work you're doing. >> very rewarding. >> at the end of the foundation what do you say to women out there in the middle of a divorce? there's a book called crazy time -- i read everything when i got divorced. i never felt so bad about anything. it was just a horrible, horrible feeling. yet, i have risen from the ashes as we all have. >> clearly, yeah. >> can you see divorce as a growth experience in some way? >> absolutely. >> especially in "divorce sucks." it kicks your ass. you feel dehumanized. with lawyers and fighting and feeling unloved and unloveable.

and the media thrown into it. at that point if you don't become an advocate for yourself, there's nobody. you have to take care of yourself to take care of your kids. it can be life affirming. it can be a wonderful second opportunity in your life. i think it can be a very positive. the thing on the other side if you work at it -- you have to work at it. >> when you're in the center of it, it's hard. when you talk to women in the middle of it you just have to know that they have to let this pass through them and accept the pain and grieving period and it will be a period of time but on the other side you say, okay, now that this has come i'm ready to see what's coming next in my life. >> do i have time for e-mails? just hand them to me. we had e-mails that people sent in. one girl just said something like my husband was so annoying i wish he had gone out with tori spelling. >> can i have her number? can i give her a call? >> people are writing a lot of e-mails to us about this. just slide them over here. look at bob. he's so cute.

this one says -- this is a very profound thing someone wrote. go figure. a marriage based on sex will never last but most men cheat because they're unsatisfied sexually. ir irony of that. my husband left me as i gave birth to my fourth child. >> i husband was sleeping with someone while waiting to give birth to my daughter. >> i was 20 years old married for two years. i needed back surgery. in the hospital recovering from my surgery my husband brought me divorce papers to sign. he didn't want to be married to a cripple for the rest of his life. who is this newt gingrich? this is good. my favorite barbie is the divorce barbie. does that exist? >> yes. >> the most accessories.

comes with ken's house, his boat, his car and a wardrobe. and then this other person says my divorce was a god creation. i discovered life after that. it was like dying and going to heaven. you girls out there who are in the middle of this, take heart because it gets better. >> you lose part of yourself in a marriage particularly if you support one who is a ceo or in politics because -- i certainly did that. you give all of yourself to him and to his career and you lose a lot of yourself and i think once you emerge from this, you get it back and you become the person that you were before. >> don't concentrate on stupid things. this is my advice. concentrate on what you have to do next rather than all of the distractions. going after his money unless he has donald trump money, i wouldn't bother it. >> i chose the child instead. >> you didn't get a lot of money. i know that whole story. thank you, ladies.

next, the lawyers weigh in. you know what that will be. expensive. don't go away. >> i was here fighting for custody. i think a mother's greatest fear is someone trying to take their children, trying to take custody of their children and that's what i was up against.

>> okay. that was david hasselhoff giving us insight into his messy divorce. once the big d becomes reality, how do you move forward? joining me to discuss and answer that question, debbie nigro, m. gary neuman and divorce lawyer fabulous raoul felder. okay. so he had a very public divorce, hasselhoff did. plus, we have seen that hideous drunken cheeseburger video. does it get any worse than a public divorce? i'm not sure that a public divorce is worse than a private divorce. >> it's a hell to whoever has it. he was a mess before he ever got divorced. probably an improvement after he got divorced. >> he was a mess before, he'll

be a mess after. >> the real mess is for kids. public divorces for children are terrible. just square the problem of divorce for kids. >> i was thinking about it. i was thinking i was nobody when i got divorced. it was a lonely thing. i would have liked to have an audience. >> divorce is a lonely sport for everybody. when we have kids, it goes on forever. >> it happens at school and the playground and then when they go to school and distribute a parents' list for play dates and father lives here and mother lives there and kids have to explain it. >> that doesn't always work when there's two different places the kids have live. gary, what's worse? being the person who gets dumped or the dumper? >> being the person that -- the dumped. the dumped is always such a sense of failure and personal failure but when you get dumped,

it really goes to the core. and then of course the problem is that like we say, people are at their worst when they go through a divorce and their children need them the most during that period. so it's a trickle down effect to the kids. they are all over the place. they're just dealing with their own feelings and now they have to be so attentive to what their children are feeling. it's a recipe for disaster. >> that's very true what he said. it happened to me. you're in the zone when you're in that crazy time of the divorce. you have to give to the children. it's like you have nothing to give. that's really a tough, tough time. >> i remember friday nights being a divorced mother. i was the dumper. >> you were the dumper? >> it didn't feel any better. ten years before i could come to terms with the decision i made that ruined so many people's lives. beautiful ex-in-laws. ex-husband was a lovely guy. >> why did you dump him?

>> i was crazy back then. women make decisions based on emotions and at the time they think life is not going where you're supposed to. >> did you have someone on the side? >> not at the time. >> you just said i need my space? that's unusual to hear that. >> i think sometimes people get married and while they're going through it they realize that maybe this is not where i should be going and people are coming to the wedding and too many presents so you just go forward. whatever the reason is, it doesn't feel a lot better and sitting there being a mother alone with your own emotions on a friday night when you rather be some place else knowing you have to be a great mother for a kid was a tough switch of personalities. i need mothers and fathers trying to keep a straight face when lives are in disarray. >> gary, do you think it's better when the guy just dies? >> sure. nobody is at fault. >> let me hear from the shrink and then the lawyer.

go ahead, gary. >> sometimes we say it would be better if a certain parent died if a parent cheated or has done something that has taken them out of sainthood to the child. sometimes we really think if that person would have just passed away they would have died a saint and that would be better for the self-esteem of the entire family. you don't wish it on anybody. >> what is worst? being a widow or divorcee? >> there's a great deal of rejection and failure. you can't compare tragedy. being a widow is terrible and painful. it does not involve the personal rejection that comes through the divorce. even if you're the dumper. you feel like such a failure under those circumstances. that's painful. >> we prepared a stress table. having a fight with your boss, getting a traffic ticket. number one was death of a loved one. >> of a spouse. >> right. number two was divorce. and when i say that to people

they said to me on occasion, you know, if the person died, that's it. i had no role in it. there's no failure in death. there's a failure in divorce. >> you have done some high profile cases. you were involved with the rudy giuliani case. he went on television and announced he was leaving her. >> that was distorted somewhat. >> we saw it on tv. >> i don't want to replay that. >> do i believe what i saw on tv or his lawyer? >> believe his lawyer in this case. this was a reaction to an announcement she made. that's unimportant. the point is when you have these public divorces, it's terrible because there's no aspect of your life -- everybody has an opinion in a divorce. at least two people are living in the bronx somewhere and nobody bothers them. you get divorced. >> how about the case did you with mike tyson? did he bite you? >> he didn't bite me. i represented a lady who had a

baby by him after that. he only bites in the ring. >> he made up the other day with holyfield on the "oprah" show. that wasword. the -- the thing in that case is that i knew i was on the side of the angels and according to the public, he was a world champion at the time, could not do any wrong. robert gibbs was the victim, took years and years before that really came out fully. you had such a sense it was wrong what was going on, yet you lost -- all the press said, all the polls said she was the worst woman in the world. she wasn't a mother -- all that business. >> it's like some people have the image in the public. we have to take a break. we'll be back with my guests in a sec. don't go away.

okay. we're back with my panel. let me ask you something about the kids. you know? should kids go -- who are in the middle of a divorce, gary, this is for you, too, gary newman our shrink at large here. the kids should go to some kind of counseling i think during the period when everybody's crazy. we talked about how you're distract the and can't pay attention. so don't you think it should be mandatory that the family should go through some kind of family therapy? >> the kids didn't choose it. they're forced to deal with the ramifications of it. they're splitting two households, going back and forth. >> they're experiencing the depression and loss and

abandonment. >> it goes on forever. >> the same as the parents are. >> very much so. yeah. >> it's true. on another level, in a bad divorce case where you're fighting about custody, too many people monkey with the kids. fathers monkey, mothers monkey, people from the court monkey with them. the judges monkey with them. there's no way to win if there are kids in a divorce. >> yes. i think it should be mandatory. gary, i really think the balloon boy should start right now because that kid is going to have issues. that's not even a divorce. if you watch those people on "wife swaps" they're rage aholics. those kids are going to be in a lot of trouble if somebody doesn't interteen. >> a lot of states mandate parents to go to courses. my program is mandated in many states, children ages 6 to 17 go to groups with children their same age and talk about their

issues as an automatic referral. they have some role play for how they can speak up to their parents. >> okay. >> what i've seen happen recently, horrible, the mean gene escalates. as people don't get what they want from somebody on the other side. keeping one parent from seeing their kids. >> what makes people really nuts -- >> nuts is an operative word. they do crazy things when they get divorced. people do crazy things. >> i was watching -- >> they're polarized. >> yes. i saw this play and the play is about -- i have the power and it's making you nuts. you have the power and it's making me crazy. i think that's what happens in a divorce. one person has the power and they use the children to control the power in the relationship. >> especially if the person has been left and their ego is really hurt and have no self-esteem. >> sometimes it's not mean spirited. you know, when people are married they really do try to work together or put up with somebody else's issues with the

children. whether it's religion, school, whatever. when you get divorced, it begins to polarize and each person says, hey, the kids are at my house, now i think the kids should stay up, eat candy, do whatever they want to do. you can't tell me. before maybe i was feeding them your food. >> spite work. >> i'm sorry? >> a lot of it is spite work. >> and the feeling now i have control of my kids and i didn't all those years. it comes across to the children mean spirited. >> it's also weapons. it's a war so you fight with whatever weapons you have. >> one more quick thing. which costs more, a divorce case or murder? or what if it's one in the same? >> i had several cases -- divorce is much more expensive. >> divorce is more expensive. thanks very much. thanks to all of my fantastic guests for joining me tonight and thank you all for watching. good night, everybody.

breaking news. tonight, live, florida. a beautiful little second grader looks like an angel, walks the ten-minute walk home from school with her sister, her twin brother, all their little friends. she gets separated momentarily, broad daylight. 7-year-old summer thompson never seen again. 4:00, only an hour later, mom rushes home, flags down police. no good. now we learn of a kidnap attempt on a little 5-year-old girl also in broad daylight just one week before.

are they connected? it's only been 24 hours. she could still be alive. but where? >> a massive search right now is under way for this little girl. she is from north florida. she is 7-year-old somer thompson. and officials are asking everyone to be on the lookout. the second grader vanished walking home from school. >> somer's family is tormented. they have no idea where their little girl is. >> mom is not doing very well. you know, as each hour goes by, she gets less and less hopeful. >> the clay county sheriff is asking for information about a blue sedan seen in that neighborhood about ten days ago. they say that two men and a woman in a car tried to lure a girl near somer's elementary school. >> told me everything that happened and that they were trying to get her to get in the car and they said that mommy said get in the car, let's go and i'll take you home and she

said no. >> 7-year-old somer thompson has been missing now for more than 24 hours. last seen walking home from school. >> when you think about this and you think this can't be happening to me, this can't be happening to my family. but it is. and it's very hard. and tonight, a beautiful young virginia tech ceo d keeps tickets to a metallica concert for six months taped up on the fridge. she goes to the concert with all her friends, but just before the band takes the stage she goes missing. from a packed john paul jones arena holding 16,000 people. and nobody knows what happened? found in the arena parking lot, 20-year-old morgan's purse and cell phone, battery removed. >> if morgan is out there and hears us, please come home.

and if someone has morgan, please let her come home safely. >> virginia state police are asking for the public to help locate this missing virginia tech student. she is morgan harrington. she has not been heard from since she and her friends went to a metallica concert saturday night in charlottesville, virginia, john paul jones arena, uva. >> at the time morgan was at the concert she was wearing a black t-shirt that had the words "panera" written across it. she was also wearing black knee-high boots, black tights, and a black miniskirt. during the concert she became separated from her friends and has not been heard from since. >> morgan's a great kid. and this is very atypical behavior. >> she most likely will not have any identification with her and most likely will not have any cell phone with her. >> cops may have found her purse along with her cell phone. the family's pastor says what's really odd, the phone's battery has been removed.

>> we're pretty distraught with her absence. because we miss our little baby. also tonight, to texas. day five. a 3-year-old little boy in extreme danger. stolen from his own home after the boy's young mother found murdered on her bedroom floor. why? you know what? i don't care why. i just want to know tonight, where is 3-year-old mitchell romero and why did cops take down the amber alert? >> her husband who very well may have murdered her in cold blood still on the run, apparently has their 3-year-old child with them. police very eager to speak with him. >> just after 6:00 denver city police arrived to 212 east 10th street to find 29-year-old veronica romero dead inside. >> police say romero is

considered a person of interest in veronica's murder and is wanted for questioning. authorities in mexico are also on the lookout as reports surface romero may be trying to take mitchell across the border. >> last time he was seen was last week sometime. they don't know if he was with that child. they live together in the same house. how do we know that? because earlier this year he pled guilty to beating her up in that home. this is a scum bag who's capable of doing anything to people who makes him mad. nancy, lord only knows what he's going to do with this child when this child starts crying and asking where his mommy is. that's why we need to find this guy as soon as possible. good evening. i'm nancy grace. i want to thank you for being with us. live, florida. a beautiful little second grader, looks like an angel, walks the ten-minute walk home from school with her brother, her sister, all her little friends. she gets separated just momentarily, broad daylight. 7-year-old somer thompson never seen again.

it's been barely 24 hours. she could still be alive. >> police dogs search the area around little somer thompson's home. deputies went door to door, then lined up to scour nearby woods as a helicopter searched from above. it's now been more than 24 hours since this second grader was last seen after school. >> it's the hardest thing, even telling them there's danger out there. and she's just very sweet and loving. >> we had an attempted abduction here in the city of orange park about ten days ago. >> i'm just thankful that my daughter got home safe. this car stopped her, lured her to the car, wanted her to get in the car, and my daughter said no. >> there was a blue four-door sedan, possibly a nissan, that was involved in this incident. if anyone knows anyone that drives a car like that that matches that description, that would just be one area that we'd like to look into. >> 7-year-old somer thompson

last seen where she went to school at grove park elementary. >> she's a 7-year-old girl. it is dark outside. it's very cold out here. it is a very concerning situation for us. >> it's just been a roller coaster. we keep holding out hope, hoping that we hear something. >> straight out to tiffany griffith with wokv radio. joining us from orange park, florida. there at the command post. tiffany, thank you for being with us. what is the latest? this is so hard to take in. she's with a group of children. it's broad daylight. they get out of school around 2:45 p.m. this couldn't have been much later than 3:00 p.m. what happened? >> and what we're also hearing, nancy, is that it's very normal for a lot of the kids in this neighborhood to make that simple quick walk home. and this is what we're hearing. 2:45 she made the walk from orange park elementary school, she was with her little brother,

she was with a few of her friends, and then at some point there was a little fight and she ran ahead of them. but at some point between when the other kids got to the home at about 3:05, they couldn't find her, she disappeared, nobody knew where she was. by 4:00 the mother calls home to make sure all of the kids arrived home safely. they said somer's not here. by the time the mother got home, she flagged down a deputy, and at that point several officers started to increasingly arrive here in this orange park neighborhood and there's just been a massive police presence in this area ever since. >> okay, tiffany, let me get something straight. they get out of school at about 2:45, correct? >> correct. correct. >> her twin brother and her sister, they're home at about 3:05, right? >> they make it home. correct. >> in 20 minutes this 7-year-old girl is gone?

>> no sight of her, no sign of her anywhere. and officers say that they have questioned everyone in this neighborhood including the 57 sex offenders that live in this area. in fact, they're spreading that search area out to another five miles so they can question an additional 37 sex offenders to see if maybe they had anything to do with her disappearance. but officers are saying that still they're no closer to finding her at this point. >> we are showing you a zoomed-out map with all 87 known registered sex offenders around the area there at orange park, florida. and don't think this is unusual. put your own zip code into the computer. marc klaas, tell them how it's done. and i promise you, all those little red dots will pop up just like there in orange park. marc? >> in fact, nancy, about 630,000 orange dots will pop up throughout the country. go onto klaaskids.org, check megan's law, pick your state,

and it will take you right to your state's sex offender registry. or you can go to usdoj.gov and they've got a national registry right there. it's absolutely mind boggling how many of these individuals there are. it doesn't matter where you live in america. they are in your neighborhood. marc, marc. look at your monitor. look at this girl. she's 7. she's in the second grade. a second-grade little girl, completely defenseless. she's only unaccounted for for less than 20 minutes. she's not alone. they're doing everything right. >> yep. >> and she's gone. to ellie jostad, our chief editorial producer. ellie, what can you tell me about an alleged kidnap attempt just one week before, not far away? that little victim was about 5 years old. >> right, nancy. this was one block away from where somer went missing. it was ten days ago. apparently, this little girl, a little 5-year-old girl, riding her bike after school is

approached by a woman driving some type of blue sedan. it might have been a nissan. the woman says "your mother told me to give you a ride. get in the car." the little girl doesn't want to do it. there are also two men in the car. luckily, a good samaritan happened by while this was happening, saw the little girl trying to take off on her bike, the little girl is crying. the woman pulled over and said "do you know these people?" the girl said, "no." at that point the car sped away, once they realized this other woman had intervened. and it was a near miss for this other little girl. >> and that was a hispanic female with two men in the back seat? >> also -- yeah. two men in the car. not sure if they're in the back seat. two men in the car, also described as hispanic. >> norm, do we have lisa rukab with us yet? joining us shortly will be the neighbor of this little girl's family. but right now there is actually a vigil going down for this little girl. the family, the neighborhood, the community, all together

tonight praying for a break in this case. back to tiffany griffith, wokv. i understand that in a couple of hours when it gets good and dark they're going to go out with an infrared helicopter? >> that's correct. and they said that this is going to be a 24-hour search. they're going to take those helicopters from overhead, search from overhead, heat seeking. they're also going to take their officers who are on the ground and keep searching through some very wooded areas within the area of this girl's home. >> we believe foul play is suspected due to the fact that the child's age, the size of the child, the cold weather last night, the fact that this is totally out of character for her, and we still haven't found her. that certainly is foul play.

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. 27 hours since little somer thompson was last seen. hundreds of police officers have joined clay county in the search. jso, fdle, and the fbi are here. they've gone door to door. they've combed nearby woods on foot, searched on horseback, and scoured the area from above. somer's grandmother, debbie bowling, has been by somer's mother's side all day. >> as each hour goes by, she gets less and less hopeful. you know, you think about this, and you think this can't be happening to me, this can't be happening to my family. but it is. and it's very hard.

>> at somer's home, family and friends stop by, bringing food and leaving with flyers to pass out. everyone hopeful, desperate for some good news. >> we are hoping and praying that she is alive and that she is in our area and that we find her very soon. >> just so worried about her. this is not like her. she's a very, very loving little child and very friendly. if anybody knows anything, please contact us. call the police. call the sheriff. let us know something. >> oh, somer is such a sweet child. i mean, she has never met a stranger. that's the hardest thing, you know, to tell them there's danger out there.

and she's just very sweet and loving. >> this little girl just looks like an angel to me. she's a second-grader. she's only 7 years old. how many of us walked home from school with all of our little friends and our neighbors every single day? we had almost a two-mile walk. a mile and a half. every day to and from. this child was only unaccounted for for about 15 minutes. she was with her twin brother and her 10-year-old other sibling, the sister. they got home at 3:05. somer has not been found yet. we are taking your calls live. to sharon, alabama. hi, dear. >> caller: hi, nancy. with the type of job you have right now, covering these sad stories, how are you going to handle it when your children get of school age? >> school age? are you kidding? at the play school they're at right now the teachers know it's

me out in the parking lot staring in. i don't care if it rains. it's me out there with a towel over my head looking in. they just go -- because these stories. how can you forget a face like this child's? i don't know what i'm going to do when they finally go to school. i'm going to burn that bridge when i get there. what's your question, love? >> caller: i wanted to know if the mile walk from the school to her home -- what was it like, the volume of traffic? >> ooh. good question. to tiffany griffith, covering the story. she's with wokv radio, and she's joining us from the command post. you know, that's a good question. is there a lot of traffic between the school and her home? what kind of terrain is it? and does she pass, for instance, a strip center or a grocery store or a target? is it rural? what is it? >> well, the area is mainly

consisting of residential traffic. there's mainly homes in this area with a wide wooded area, a few retention ponds, a few other ponds. most of the main traffic, the main thoroughfare traffic that you'd see on the major roadways are a few blocks away. so fortunately, the only cars that would come through here are the people who actually live here or have their children go to school through here. >> bonnie in florida. hi, bonnie. >> caller: hi, nancy. how are you doing? i love your twins. i got nicknames for them. lulu and juju. >> i like those nicknames. i have nicknames. little baby man-man and little baby gr-gr. >> caller: oh, that's beautiful. >> what's the question, love? >> caller: first of all, if the little girl was 7, why would she let her walk home alone anyway? i have a son that's 10 and i don't let him walk home by himself. does the mom work? >> the mom is at work.

and she called home -- i remember my mom calling home every day around 3:30. she was working. my dad was working. sometimes he worked the night trick. and you know, mothers have to work. very quickly, tiffany griffith, isn't it pretty common there that all the kids walk home from this public school, they all walk home together? >> it is very common. and even going back to what you said earlier about this community, i mean, this community is pulling together. so losing this child feels like losing one of their own.

7-year-old somer thompson last seen where she went to school at grove park elementary. she was walking home with a group of other kids, may have had some kind of argument with her brother or some of those other kids, ran ahead of the group, and that was when she was last seen, around 2:45. her mom then notified a passing deputy that she was missing at around 5:00. >> we're just so worried about her. this is not like her. if anybody knows anything, please -- >> to marc klaas, founder of klaaskids foundation. marc, she's only been gone barely 24 hours. statistically, she could still be alive, right? >> well, sure. i mean, jaycee, elizabeth, and

shawn hornbeck all proved there's always hope even after many years. >> wait a minute. everybody, you are seeing live feed of the vigil that's happening right now. marc, but are you suggesting that those are the exceptions? i thought it was within 72 hours it's likely the child is dead. but it's only been about 24 hours, right? >> of children that are taken by a preferential predator, 74% of them will be dead within the first three hours. that's why it's incumbent upon parents to be able to do a quick cursory search and if their children are still missing they should notify law enforcement. nancy, the way i see it right here, there are two probable and possible scenarios. the first is a preferential predator. the second one would be tied back to the nissan that was seen last week with the roaming gang. if it's something like that, the possibility is very strong that there might be a human

trafficking element in it. >> what is a preferential predator? >> a preferential predator is a pedophile. that's what it is. somebody who wants to have sex with little boys and/or little girls. in this case it would be little girls. >> please help us. the tip line, 877-277-6911. look at her. ddddddddd

we have a young lady who is 20 years old, she's a white female. her name is morgan dana harrington. she has long blond hair and blue eyes. >> police say that she met up with friends at jmu on saturday before coming here to the john paul jones arena for a metallica concert. now, police say she became separated from her friends around 8:40 p.m. saturday night. >> cops may have found her purse along with her cell phone. the family's pastor says what's really odd, the phone's battery has been removed. >> this is just not behavior that she would have.

you know, she to our knowledge did not have a boyfriend. and you know, there may be circumstances we're not aware of, but you know, i think morgan was pretty transparent with us. you know, and this is just not something morgan would do. >> she is as beautiful inside as she is outside. she has family and friends that love her and miss her. if there's any information that anyone could offer that would help us find her, we would appreciate you contacting the police. >> i actually did not see her that day. she was at our house. and i was working. and her mom and morgan picked out outfits that she would wear to the concert that evening. so morgan left roanoke about 12:00 noon and i did speak to morgan prior to her leaving.

the last time i spoke with morgan was at 2:00 on saturday, when she called me after she arrived safely in harrisonburg and was in harrisonburg, where she hooked up with her friends, and they drove with one of the friends to the concert in charlottesville. >> we are taking your calls live. out to tim martin with newstalk 960 wfir, joining us from roanoke. tim, look, this is what i find hard to believe. this girl had the tickets to the metallica concert taped, posted up on the refrigerator, for six months. why would she get up and leave her seat just before they take the stage? >> i think that's a question the police are asking, nancy. this whole thing started as an innocent trip to see a concert. the question now, did something terrible happen to 20-year-old morgan harrington, a junior at virginia tech? police say she was attending the metallica concert at the john paul jones arena. friends say she went outside before metallica even took the

stage. they say they're not sure why she went outside but she never returned. police found her purse, cell phone, with the battery out of it. then 16 hours later, the next day, around noon on sunday, her father calls the friends, they say we haven't seen her. he then calls police, and this whole thing just goes wide open, nancy. >> okay. stacy newman, our producer on the story, what more can you tell me? >> well, nancy, what i can tell you is state police as well as university of virginia police are converging there. john paul jones arena. as we speak, nancy, just trying to find leads. they also are asking concertgoers who had cameras there, who had cell phones and may have taken video, if they have any pictures of 20-year-old morgan harrington. >> stacey newman joining us on the story. so the cops are just now converging? why? >> they're not just now converging, nancy. they actually have been there since about i think sunday -- >> okay. >> -- but what did happen is

because of bad weather over the weekend they couldn't put choppers up until monday. >> okay. good point, stacey. tim martin, what about surveillance video in that arena? i mean, 16,000 people? surely somebody saw what happened. >> you know, absolutely right. and that's what police are looking into. and they're really asking the people that were at this concert to check their videos, check their camera phones, because somebody may have a picture of this girl on their phone. they may have key evidence, you know, in their purse or something and not even know it. that's something police want to see. they say they're following up on leads today, or yesterday. they canvassed the area, they had choppers up, dogs out. they're just trying to pore through this information right now, and obviously it's not coming fast enough for a very worried family. >> this girl is beautiful on the inside as well as the outside. she looks like a fairy princess. a 20-year-old virginia tech student majoring in education, the world in front of her. you're seeing photos of morgan harrington from facebook.

and joining me right now, taking your calls live, her mother, gil harrington. miss harrington, thank you for being with us. >> thank you so much for letting us come on and put morgan's information out there. i appreciate your time so much. >> you know, i have a little girl. she's about to turn 2. and i cannot imagine, miss harrington, pouring my heart and soul into her and her brother and then somebody making off with her or her just vanishing like this. you were with her in the hours right before she went to the concert. what was her frame of mind? what was she talking about? >> i mean, she was excited about the concert. she brought home three outfits that she tried on for me, and we chose one, and she said, mama, it is a rock concert, so this probably is not what you would choose, but is this one okay? and you know, it was cute, and she was covered, and i said yeah, that one will do fine.

so you know, we're pretty close. and i was excited for her. you know, you have to give your kids wings. >> i mean, she's 20 years old. she should be able to go to a concert with all of her friends. and i've got to tell you something, miss harrington, you did something right. because there are not a whole lot of 20-year-olds who would ask their mom what they thought of the outfit she was wearing to a concert. if they thought their parents wouldn't approve, they just wouldn't let them see it or they'd sneak out and change behind your back. tell me about your little girl. >> you know, morgan has a really -- a pretty close relationship with us. especially with her dad, if you can imagine. dan with long blond hair. they look the same. the temperament is both the same. both of them are pretty mellow.

she's involved in many different things. her friends have the same core group of girls. she doesn't really date much. in fact, very little. the same group of girls that she's been friends, hanging out with since high school, do things together. >> was that who she was with at the concert? >> with some of her girlfriends, yeah, that she has been -- >> miss harrington, what are they telling you about why she left right before metallica took the stage? >> you know, i don't really know that piece. and i don't know that they know that piece. i mean, it's one of the questions that we need to ask her. >> okay. we're taking your calls live. to jamie in arizona. hi, jamie. >> caller: hi. how are you, nancy? >> i'm good, dear. what's your question? >> caller: my question is the battery missing in the cell phone. i find pretty odd. i was wondering, could it be possible that there was some type of a struggle where the phone might have fell and the battery fell out and when they threw the phone back in the bag to act like, you know, it wasn't missing they didn't even realize

that the battery had strayed from the phone? >> good question. to vito colucci, private investigator, author of "inside the private eyes of a p. eye." veto, i find that extremely intriguing and possibly probative. in other words, it might prove something, that the battery was removed from the phone. now, it's very important, when they found the cell phone, was it put back together or was it possible that it cracked open when it fell and the battery flew out? now, on a blackberry that's easy to do, but on cell phones it's not as easy for the battery to go flying out. >> that's true, nancy. most cell phones it is very difficult. you know, if you watch "csi" and all these law shows nowadays, they're starting to show that if you take the battery out it stops that whole ping process that's going on. so maybe the individual, rather than an altercation of a fight and a struggle, maybe somebody took that out purposely. i called an official for -- a

high-ranking official at verizon just to verify that and they told me that's indeed what happens nowadays. >> to the lawyers, pam hayes, randy kessler. pam hayes, you're a veteran defense attorney, former prosecutor. if somebody intentionally took the battery out of that cell phone, they have much more malice aforethought. much more planning went into this. >> yeah, absolutely right. what happens is they were just trying to cut down on the fact that maybe that they could follow the different poles of the cell phone because what happens is there are poles that pick up exact locations of where the persons are, if they make any phone calls, et cetera, et cetera. so i envision it as they were just trying to kill the trail early on and, you know, that's what happened. >> you are seeing photos right now of morgan harrington, age 20. 5'6", 120 pounds, blond hair, blue eyes. last seen at metallica concert. take a look.

tip line, 434-352-3435. we're taking your calls live. her mom is with us right now. as we go to break, a very special happy birthday to one of our superstars, jillian. she loves britney spears, and she loves crusading for a charity founded in honor of her late mother, the kfo foundation, giving help to those suffering from m.s. happy birthday to our little crusader, jillian. dddddd

we miss our little baby. she is our precious daughter. we hope that this attention can help bring her back to our home. >> morgan harrington, somehow separated from her friends at an arena in charlottesville, virginia, hasn't been seen since saturday night. she's a junior at virginia tech, very close to her family, calls home every day. and mom and dad say it is so out of character for her to just disappear with no contact. >> a group of friends she went with are friends from middle school.

you know, from what i understand she went to the restroom and they then got a call from morgan that she was outside the arena. >> it is suspicious to me that she ended up outside the arena, and it makes me wonder if she saw someone she knew and walked out. >> people do come up missing. however, it's very unusual that we have not heard anything, either from her friends or from her family, regarding her whereabouts. >> if anyone has seen morgan, either in a store or by the road after the concert, anyone that looks like the description of morgan, please notify the police. it would be very helpful to all of us. >> i want to go back out to tim martin, news talk 960 wfir. tim, i'm just having a hard time understanding why she left and why her friends aren't telling police or the mom why she left, who she left with, anything else like that. certainly they wouldn't let her just walk off and not find out where she was going.

>> well, and -- absolutely. i mean, this is a girl who loved metallica, as you said, had concert tickets on the refrigerator for six months before the concert. and you know, it's intriguing. a lot of people don't understand, you know, why the parents weren't notified that night. you know, the friends drove back to jmu. the father had to call morgan's friend just to find out she was missing. and that was 16 hours after it happened. and that could be 16 critical hours that police could have been searching. >> tim martin, you're absolutely correct. to morgan's mom, gil harrington, joining us live tonight, taking your calls. gil, it was 16 hours later. why didn't the friends bother to call and let you know? >> you know, morgan has this group of good friends, and she doesn't have any bilogic sisters, but these girls are kind of her chosen sisters and

they do cover her back. and they all would do anything for each other -- >> well, wait a minute, miss harrington. that just doesn't make sense to me. if they're covering her back, why weren't they concerned she was missing? unless they think she was somewhere else. >> i think the disconnect is that children think that they are invincible. and i think that was the disconnect. they're good kids. they've been in and out of my home since they were young. they're holding a vigil for her on thursday. there was no wrongdoing on anybody's part. it -- i don't really know how the crowds work at something as big as metallica, never having been to a concert like that, but i think people do get lost and i think kids think -- >> did they all just go on home without her? >> i think they waited for a long time and were not able to hear from her or get her by phone. >> okay.

out to randy kessler. randy, if someone has made off with her, the fact that her cell phone battery was intentionally removed from her cell phone is very probative. >> you've handled your share of prosecuting domestic violence cases where you're in an argument, the powerful person who wants to be in control yanks the phone out of the wall and says you can't call the police, now what are you going to do? it might be a similar action. if they were going to throw them off the lead they would have taken the phone and put it in someone else's car. so i think it shows there was some sort of struggle. also why did she leave? maybe there was a guy she liked, maybe she was poisoned, maybe there was this date rape drug, she felt sick and excused herself. and maybe her friends thought she was having a good time with someone she liked. there are a lot of questions. >> to lauren howard, psychotherapist joining us out of new york. lauren, in some misguided way, do you believe the girlfriends thought they were covering for her? >> absolutely. i find it highly suspect that she's with a group of her girlfriends, she excuses herself right before the concert say, to go to the bathroom or whatever

reason she used to leave, and she goes alone? that to begin with is unusual. usually, a friend would go with you. and for them to have left that concert that evening and not notified either her parents or the police to me implies that they knew that she was meeting someone. that's the implication. >> or thought she was. that's a good point, lauren howard. and very quickly, stacy newman, the video surveillance in that concert hall that holds 16,000 people, do we know how often they roll over? have they already taped over that night? >> we don't know, nancy. but i would imagine it is because they have so many events there, so many concerts, basketball games, disney on ice, you name it. video evidence is probably gone. everyone, we're switching gears, still taking your calls live. a 3-year-old little boy missing. take a listen. >> veronica romero was laid to rest in the tiny texas town of denver city. this is a city of only about 4,000 people. i talked to one longtime city worker today. they said it's been at least a decade since there's been a

murder in this city. her husband, who very well may have murdered her in cold blood, still on the run, apparently has their 3-year-old child with him. police very eager to speak with him. >> straight out to michael board, woai news radio. what's the latest with this missing boy? >> the latest is they have actually canceled the amber alert here in texas now. the police department in denver city, texas, is focusing on the investigation now into where mario romero is. they believe according to prior reports that he may have slipped across the border, may be in mexico hiding out there with his 3-year-old child. it's a very dangerous situation we have right now. they are very worried about this 3-year-old child and what may happen to him. the father has a history of rage, uncontrolled rage. what is going to happen? is he going to snap again, and what could he do to this 3-year-old child? >> with me right now is a very special guest, the sister of the murdered mom found dead on her bedroom floor, maria esquivel. miss esquivel, thank you so much for being with us.

>> thank you so much for having us with you. >> first of all, tip line, 806-592-3516. what happened when you went to the went to the home and you realized she was dead and the baby is gone? >> the first thing that i thought was he killed her. we walked in there, my daughter, crawled in through the window to open the door was because we knew something was wrong. tuesday evening, real late. and wednesday morning, that afternoon, we just had to, had to go look for her. my daughter walked in and crawled in through the window and unlocked the door and we just kind of stood there and looked around and we went into her bedroom and the first thing i seen was my sister laying there on the floor. i just went hysterical. it's something that i never thought would happen.

not to her. not to my sister. >> when did you realize that the baby was gone? >> caller: we realized that he was gone because his sister came about tuesday night -- tuesday night or wednesday night, asking to see -- if i had seen my sister.

with me right now, dr. titus, does kahn. atlanta medical center. dr. duncan, thanks for being with us. how can you tell how long the mother had been dead. what i'm getting at is, how much of a head start did the perpetrator get with the little boy? >> several ways you can tell how long the body's been deceased. first thing you look for is the temperature. the temperature and the color of the body. after that the rig more to us that sets in. and the first thing like i said is the temperature of the body.

the body decreases in temperature by one degree per hour. and so, you can kind of get an idea as to how long that person has been dead within several hours if you find the person fair lir early, until they get to the point where they reach the temperature of the surroundings. >> doctor, would there be insects if the body were indoors? >> absolutely. there would be insects inside. >> what insect? >> you get the lar va. basically, the little small insect that comes from the material itself? you mean a maggot. >> right. you have to break it down from our lawyers, doctor. we're just j.d.s not m.d.s like you. >> you heard what dr. duncan said. how long do they believe this beautiful lady had been dead, her son missing? and why do they believe the husband has headed to mexico? >> they believe she was murdered either tuesday night or wednesday morning. and it is very possible that she

was murdered by her husband while their three children were in their home. that's a distinct possibility. they believe that his in mexico because he has family there. both his parents and a brother in mexico. >> lauren howard, we only have a couple of second. say these children are extremely young. would they remember the murder if they were in the home in. >> they would not remember it concretely. they would remember it in a sort of dream state but their abstract reasoning is not developed. it would not have the force of a trauma -- of a real memory blocked or otherwise. >> 806-592-3516. this child, gone! let's stop and remember army staff sergeant kyle rorly. a soldier soldier. had a smile that lit up a room and lost his life after a surprise visit home for his anniversary and watched his brother graduate from med school. loved sports, riding a motorcycle and playing with iraqi children.

leaves behind his parents, four siblings and widow and high school sweetheart, and a 10 year old girl named after him. kyle weihrly, american hero. see you tomorrow night, 8:00 sharp eastern. until then, good night, friend. i'm brooke anderson and this is the show. portrait of a mad scientist? brand new revelations about the dad behind the "balloon boy" saga. exclusive new details about his reality show passed. and a brand new interview. kate gosselin reveals how hard the split has been on her eight

kids. that's your showb"showbiz tonig news break. we start at 11:00. we'll be right back.