Guests: Susan Casey, Ray Daudani, Raymond Brown, Dave Benelli, Beth Holloway Twitty
JOE SCARBOROUGH, HOST: Tonight‘s top headline: a kidnapping, a rape and a taped confession. Natalee Holloway‘s mom is heading back to Aruba. And she‘s armed with new evidence. The question, will the government in Aruba be forced to rearrest the Dutch boy and his two friends? Beth Holloway Twitty is here tonight with the latest developments.
And three New Orleans cops charged with battery after being caught on tape beating an old man, just the latest bad news for the battered police force in New Orleans.
Plus, following the money. We are going to have the very latest FEMA money mess.
Welcome to SCARBOROUGH COUNTRY, no passport required, only common sense allowed.
ANNOUNCER: From the press room, to the courtroom, to the halls of Congress, Joe Scarborough has seen it all. Welcome to SCARBOROUGH COUNTRY.
SCARBOROUGH: Hey, thanks a lot for being here tonight. Greatly appreciate it.
We are going to have those stories in just a minute. And, a little later, a special investigation into the disappearance of Taylor Behl. She is the 17-year-old college freshman who was found dead last week just a week after she left home for college. Tonight, what really happened and who is the main suspect? Could there be others out there? And, of course, the tragic news that she may be buried on what would have been her 18th birthday.
First, what may be a dramatic turn in the case of Natalee Holloway.
It‘s a turn that actually has Natalie‘s family going back to Aruba. Tonight, details on new evidence against the main three suspects in the case of the disappearance of Natalee. Could this evidence lead to their rearrest?
With us now to talk about it is Natalee‘s mother, Beth Holloway Twitty.
Beth, thank you so much for being with us tonight.
BETH HOLLOWAY TWITTY, MOTHER OF NATALEE HOLLOWAY: Hi, Joe.
SCARBOROUGH: I have just got to start by asking you, you were on “Dr. Phil” last week, a lot of Americans getting more enraged by what happened in Aruba and, more importantly, what did not happen in this investigation. Now people talking, including Dr. Phil, about a boycott of Aruba.
Do you think this pressure may actually lead to the Aruban authorities to get responsible and rearrest these guys, who they know had to be responsible for at least the rape and possible killing of your daughter?
HOLLOWAY TWITTY: Well, when you opened it up, you said it exactly right. It‘s kidnapping, rape.
And, you know, we all have seen this taped confession now. And I seen a little more movement in the last few days. And I think the increased pressure only causes some movement. It‘s just incredible how much pressure it does require. And they know the proper channel to—they know the proper channel to request this investigative material, contact the FBI. They have the number of the FBI that was given to them by Dave Holloway. And they have known how to proceed forward with getting this taped confession.
So, it was not—it was not supposed to be due to Dr. Phil. They knew the proper chain of command.
SCARBOROUGH: Well, let‘s talk about this new evidence. You obviously
when you talk about a taped confession, you are talking about Deepak Kalpoe, one of the main suspects in Natalee‘s disappearance, telling polygraph expert Jamie Skeeters shocking details of that fateful night on May the 30th.
And that, of course, is the tape that everybody heard on “Dr. Phil.”
Let me ask you about—again, about that tape. Do you consider his -
his remarks that all three of these men had sex with your daughter on the beach to be telling enough to force the rearrest of these guys?
HOLLOWAY TWITTY: Well, absolutely, Joe, especially when you pair those with Joran‘s statement.
He specifically states in there how Natalee is coming in and out of consciousness repeatedly. And, also, he admits to having sex with my daughter at his home on May 30 at 1:40 a.m. Now, I think, if you look at all the evidence, it is there. And, you know, it just—it‘s just amazing to us that they are not acting upon this.
SCARBOROUGH: So, you have—basically, what you have is these three suspects who are admitting they had—all three of them had sex with your daughter and, at the same time, saying that she was out of consciousness during parts of that night.
Obviously, if that had happened in America, these people would have been arrested. Have you contacted the authorities? Have you talked to them? Do you have reason to hope that they are going to actually be responsible and rearrest Joran and Deepak and his brother?
HOLLOWAY TWITTY: You know, Joe, first, we have to see if they will request this investigative material be sent to them. The FBI has the taped evidence.
They need to request it and they need to utilize it. You know, that‘s the whole key here. Once this evidence is obtained, they have to utilize it and act upon it. It cannot become missing from her file or it cannot be lost or misplaced or—you know, it has to be utilized and acted upon.
SCARBOROUGH: Well, I—you know, none of us have been able to figure out how in the heck the Arubans run their investigations, how they run their court system. It seems—really, it seems like a banana republic.
I would never allow any of my kids now, after this terrible, tragic tale, to ever go down to Aruba. And I don‘t think any—any responsible adult out in America should until they clean this mess up. But I have got to ask you. I‘m just really curious, Beth. We kept hearing throughout the investigation, well, we have to keep things silent. We don‘t want to get any information out there before the trial comes up.
And, yet, they release the three guys and it‘s not until after they are released that we find out that all three of them had sex with your daughter on the beach while she was unconscious. Why didn‘t that come out during the judicial proceedings?
HOLLOWAY TWITTY: You know, Joe, that is what really frightens us, as her family, is, we think this information was coming out.
We think that it was coming out into Joran‘s and Deepak‘s statements, Joran van der Sloot and Deepak and Satish Kalpoe. We think that the information coming from them was very incriminating. And that‘s what frightens us, is, we have not had access to all of these statements.
Just think of the countless audiotapes and videotapes and statements that they have obtained from these suspects, let alone witnesses. We have never been allowed to see that and just can only imagine what these statements have said.
SCARBOROUGH: What else is in there?
So, what you are basically telling me is, if you send a loved one down to Aruba or a loved one goes down into Aruba, they get raped or they get killed or something else very bad happens to them, then the victim has no rights in Aruba and the family members of the victims have no right in Aruba to find out what really happened to them.
HOLLOWAY TWITTY: I have not seen us or Natalee having her rights. What I have seen, though, are the suspects‘ rights protected. And I think that this was shown to everyone, the world, especially Judge Rick Smit, he released all three suspects. He was also the judge that presided over the ruling where Paulus van der Sloot was released.
And, also, he was the one who was instrumental in denying the warrants to—for searching the van der Sloots‘ primary residence. You know, that‘s where we talk about these political connections and protecting a political figure. And how deep do they go?
SCARBOROUGH: It‘s good old boy politics of the worst kind in the Caribbean, obviously.
Let me talk to you about your meeting with a good friend of mine, Bob Riley. I understand you talked to the governor of Alabama. Do you think there may be a possibility down the road that the state of Alabama may take an official position on the boycotting of Aruba, if justice is not served and these three men are not thrown back in jail?
HOLLOWAY TWITTY: Well, Joe, I will just say that I had a very productive meeting with Governor Riley. And he has made some requests.
And we are going to sit back now and see if these requests are honored. And I think that he will proceed forward, depending on the results. So...
SCARBOROUGH: Let‘s hope so.
And final question for you. What‘s your next step? I know you are going back to Aruba. We had this strange statement from the prosecutor‘s office last week that sounded like it may have been encouraging you to file additional charges or maybe make a motion to bring Joran back to Aruba.
What is your next step? What are you going to do first when you get down there? And are you going to possibly file any legal proceedings to try to get this case started back up?
HOLLOWAY TWITTY: Well, there are several different reasons why we are going and there are going to be two different searches going on.
One is going to be on the island itself, a couple of different areas that Dave has had some concerns about. And then there is going to be another search going on in the water. There have been a couple of areas of concern there. So, thirdly, I think that I‘m hoping to have a meeting with the prosecuting attorney and see if we can‘t iron out some details.
There was a concern of mine that my statement was falsified from June
1. So, that needs to be addressed. There are just some housekeeping duties that they need to face.
SCARBOROUGH: I‘ll tell you what. Well, good luck trying to clean things up down there. It looks like a total mess.
And I‘ll tell you what, Beth. I think our government needs to step forward. I think the people of America need to step forward and demand justice in Aruba. If Americans get fed up enough and they boycott this island, we could break the back of their tourism industry. And I‘m afraid that is what is going to have to happen if they don‘t start, again, acting in a responsible way and find out what the truth is about your daughter.
So, Beth, thanks for being with us, as always. And let us know what we can do.
HOLLOWAY TWITTY: Thank you so much, Joe, OK?
SCARBOROUGH: All right. Talk to you soon.
Now let‘s move to New Orleans and the video of three police officers beating a 64-year-old man in the city‘s French Quarter. The fallout from that scene has led to the arrest of three New Orleans‘ cops.
Here with that story is NBC‘s Carl Quintanilla.
Carl, what you got?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CARL QUINTANILLA, NBC CORRESPONDENT: Good evening, Joe.
Tonight, Robert Davis and police are telling two different versions of the same story, as the NOPD tries to salvage its reputation.
(voice-over): Arraigned today in a makeshift courtroom, the officers pleaded not guilty to the alleged assault on Robert Davis, 64 years old and punched in the head, authorities say, for resisting arrest.
The incident today put police on the defensive, criticizing the limits of video.
LT. DAVID BENELLI, NEW ORLEANS POLICE DEPARTMENT: You see one angle of one small instance of a larger situation.
QUINTANILLA: But even the big picture here is controversial, officers under investigation for allegedly looting Wal-Mart or commandeering Cadillacs from this dealership, some before the storm hit.
DOUG STEAD, SEWELL CADILLAC CHEVROLET: I think, if the police actually did it, that‘s—that‘s not pretty.
QUINTANILLA: Authorities have questions about what happened in this shoot-out in the week after Katrina. Police say they killed two residents, but, in a statement, say they still have not established an exact motive.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is a very real concern on the part of many citizens that the police department may be taking a turn for the worse.
QUINTANILLA: A turn that would recall the mid-‘90s, when officers were convicted of high-profile murders and New Orleans become known as the big sleazy.
(on camera): But with the officers making that arrest today suspended and charged, watchdog groups say they have higher hopes for police than in the past.
RAFAEL GOYENECHE, METROPOLITAN CRIME COMMISSION: I don‘t believe that we are looking at a repeat of the early 1990s police department, particularly if these transgressions are dealt with effectively and harshly by the current administration.
QUINTANILLA: A police force fighting a storm of controversy in a city just recovering from a storm just past.
(on camera): Those officers aren‘t scheduled to go on trial until January, but prosecutors may be under pressure to make an example of them and convince the nation their police can still be trusted—Joe.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUINTANILLA: Hey, thanks a lot, Carl. Greatly appreciate that report.
Unfortunately, I think it‘s too late for a lot of the people in the New Orleans police force to be trusted. You look and see what has happened from the beginning of Hurricane Katrina and it‘s a shame, because there are thugs—in any organization you go to, there are going to be bad apples.
But thugs from the beginning of Katrina have given the New Orleans Police Department a black eye. I‘m here to tell you, there are good men and women out there on the force. They‘re risking their lives. They are under tremendous pressure right now. They are trying to protect and serve the good people of New Orleans. Unfortunately, when thugs like this do what they do, when you have Cadillacs that were stolen, when you have people looting Wal-Mart in the middle of the storm, it just gives everybody on the police force a black eye.
So, how widespread is it? We are going to look into that coming that.
And also coming up, college freshman Taylor Behl, she was killed just weeks after starting school. But, tonight, we are going to go in-depth and have new details on that investigation.
And then later, last week, it was python vs. alligator. Tonight, a beloved family pet, and the battle, not even close. How bad is the Florida python problem? Stay with us. We will let you know.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCARBOROUGH: Coming up, sharks. We have got an incredible story. They go halfway across the globe. We will give you that story and much more when we return.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCARBOROUGH: President Bush is back in Louisiana.
Despite the fact that a lot of people in the press have been very cynical, I know there are a lot of New Orleans residents, a lot of Louisiana residents that are glad to see the commander in chief back in their backyard tonight. It‘s his eight visit to the region since Hurricane Katrina hit.
Welcome back to SCARBOROUGH COUNTRY.
New Orleans is under a midnight curfew, as a result of an increase in burglaries and lootings, and that‘s been happening since residents listened to their mayor and were allowed to return.
Let‘s go live to New Orleans right now and get the very latest from NBC‘s Jennifer London.
Jennifer, sounds like it‘s still a chaotic situation down there in parts. Tell us about it.
JENNIFER LONDON, NBC CORRESPONDENT: Well, good evening, Joe.
I can tell you that the New Orleans Police Department is reportedly forming a new looting squad. It will be made up of roughly 100 officers who will begin patrolling the city. This will happen in addition to the normal police patrols.
A public information officer with the department has reportedly said, as the city of New Orleans begins to repopulate, the police are making more and more arrests. And, if you look at the numbers, roughly 400 people have been arrested since the police department set up a makeshift jail after the city flooded. About half of those arrests are said to be for looting or burglaries.
Now, the city has been highly criticized for letting the sort of lawless environment occur after Hurricane Katrina struck, so the police really trying to crack down as folks move begin to back into the city.
Now, on the flip side of the coin, Joe, two police officers who came into New Orleans to help out after the hurricane, they have been arrested and charged with looting. According to the attorney generally, these two officers stole a box of Ray-Ban sunglasses. They stole two leather suede sport coats and they also stole about 23 T-shirts, totalling about $1,200.
Joe, these looting arrests are the first involving law enforcement.
SCARBOROUGH: Well, you know, Jennifer, early in the—obviously, early in Katrina, there were pictures of police officers going through Wal-Mart and other areas.
Now, when you said police officers had put together a new looting squad, I was wondering what side they were on there. Hopefully, they can bring order back to the city. But they have got a curfew now, I understand, a curfew in the city.
And, also, obviously, there has got to be a great response to this police beating. What are you hearing down there?
LONDON: Well, I can tell you, it was certainly a topic of discussion today. Obviously, the video is very compelling.
And the police say that they were trying to make the arrest of the 64-year-old suspect, Robert Davis, who they claim was publicly intoxicated. But, if you look at the police video, it shows, even after Davis was restrained and on the ground, he received repeated punches to his head and to his face. Davis was treated at a nearby hospital for head lacerations. He was later released.
And if you listen to Davis and his attorney, they will say, hey, before you resist arrest, you have to be arrested.
But, Joe, we need to keep in mind that an investigation is under way and everybody is innocent until proven guilty on both sides here. So, I think we are going to have to wait and see what the investigation turns up.
SCARBOROUGH: No doubt about it, Jennifer London. Thank you so much for that report. We greatly appreciate it. And be safe there.
And just—we just got this in tonight. We have got the first comment from the man who was actually beaten. This is what Robert Davis had to say about his unfortunate brush with New Orleans police.
Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT DAVIS, ARRESTED BY NEW ORLEANS POLICE: At no point during this altercation did they say that I was under arrest or anything. They didn‘t read my rights or anything. All I know is, this guy attacked me and said, “I will kick your ass.” And those were his exact words: “I will kick your ass.”
And he proceeded to do it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCARBOROUGH: Well, he did proceed to do it by—if you look at the video. And Davis went on to say—because he was accused of drunkenness, he went on to say he had not had a drink of alcohol in 25 years.
Look at the—now, friends, you know what? I have got to tell you, a lot of times, video—I mean, pictures, they say pictures can‘t lie. A lot of times, though, if you just show the worst of it, you don‘t know what happened before. You don‘t know what happened after.
But I just got to tell you right up front, I‘m not exactly sure why you pummel a 64-year-old man, who obviously is not in the best of shape and have three police officers knocking him around.
But let‘s bring in some guests to talk about the beating and also of course the continued problems facing the New Orleans Police Department. We have with us Dave Benelli. He‘s the president of the Police Association of New Orleans. And also the Reverend Raymond Brown of the National Action network and the chairman of the New Black Panther Party of New Orleans.
Gentlemen, thanks for being with us.
(CROSSTALK)
SCARBOROUGH: Dave, let me start with you.
Obviously, you have got—you have got a video out there that doesn‘t look good. You have got a lot of things that have been happening over the past four or five weeks that have cast the New Orleans Police Department in a bad light.
You and I both know, there are guys, there are men, there are women out there tonight putting their lives on the line to protect the people of New Orleans. But you have got to admit, this just gives—gives the police department another black eye they just don‘t need that right now.
LT. DAVE BENELLI, NEW ORLEANS POLICE DEPARTMENT: Well, good evening, Joe.
I will tell you, looking at the video, it is very troubling. But, Joe, as you know, the video just depicts one small portion of an entire event. I think these officers deserve their due process, just as Mr. Davis does. I think, once you look at the totality of the event and talk to all the witnesses, conduct a thorough investigations, and then you can make a learned decision as to whether or not the officers‘ actions were appropriate or not.
I think it‘s too soon to rush to judgment, even though the video is rather compelling. I think the officers deserve a full investigation. And if, during—after that investigation, their actions are proven to be unjustified, then I‘m sure there‘s going to be discipline. But...
(CROSSTALK)
SCARBOROUGH: Can you tell me—can you tell me what other circumstances would justify punching a 64-year-old man, an old, out-of-shape man in the back of the head five or six times? That‘s—I guess that‘s my biggest problem.
(CROSSTALK)
REV. RAYMOND BROWN, NATIONAL ACTION NETWORK: Yes.
BENELLI: Right. And I can—believe me, I understand that.
And there is one particular scene where the officers are on top of Mr. Davis and you could actually see Mr. Davis lifting up these three police officers. So, Mr. Davis has pretty amazing strength for an individual of 64 years old.
But, see, I think all this will come out during the process of the investigation. And, if it turns out the officers‘ actions were not justified, I‘m sure swift disciplinary action will be taken. But I think they have a right, as anyone else has, as Mr. Davis has a right, to due process, to a thorough investigation, before we just cast aspersions on the actions of the officers, based on a small segment of this situation.
SCARBOROUGH: Reverend Brown, do you agree with that, that we should give these cops the benefit of the doubt?
BROWN: The same talk all over again. This man here, Mr. Benelli, he always takes up for the police department. We caught this on tape and he is still trying to find a way out.
Number one, I want to say this, that the New Black Panther Party, under the leadership of Malik Zulu Shabazz, we are looking at coming down to the city of New Orleans. Now, as you know...
SCARBOROUGH: Where are you right now?
BROWN: Right now, I‘m in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
SCARBOROUGH: OK.
(CROSSTALK)
SCARBOROUGH: So, you are talking about coming down, possibly having a protest march or something like that?
BROWN: Well, we are coming down to the city of New Orleans, because we realize that the police is not our friend, but our enemy. And we justify that by saying that, within the last 26 to 30 years, there have been multiple killings, multiple beatings of black people in the city of New Orleans. And the same people that you got on your show right now, like Mr. Benelli, justified the beatings. And all I‘m saying...
(CROSSTALK)
SCARBOROUGH: All right.
Let me go back to Mr. Benelli about that.
I want to ask you about that, Dave, because a lot of people, when this came out, said, you know what? The police department in New Orleans have been beating people in the ‘60s, the ‘70s, and the ‘80s, a long history of that. This is just the latest in a very ugly, very ugly story.
What would you say to those charges?
BENELLI: Well, I want to remind—I would like to remind the reverend that the men and women of the New Orleans Police Department has already—all—also put their lives at risk going into this murky water, rescuing countless...
(CROSSTALK)
BENELLI: ... from their rooftops.
And these were—and many of these, they were African-America people.
They were white people. They‘re Hispanic people.
BROWN: Sir, we are talking about...
(CROSSTALK)
BENELLI: We rescued—we save lives. We don‘t go around killing people. And I just disagree...
(CROSSTALK)
BROWN: Sir, we are talking about—we are talking about the Algiers (INAUDIBLE) killing. We are talking about Kim Groves. We are talking about Adolph Archie. We are talking about Virgil Breaux (ph). We are talking about...
(CROSSTALK)
SCARBOROUGH: I‘ll tell you what, Reverend. I appreciate that and I appreciate putting an historical context to that. I don‘t think we have time to go into all that tonight.
(CROSSTALK)
SCARBOROUGH: I want to ask you, Dave, wrap it up. If you can tell me, Dave, what is—what‘s the breakdown, the racial breakdown, of police officers in New Orleans white to black? Do you have any idea?
BENELLI: We are slightly—I would say we are about 52 percent African-American in the city as far as the police force, maybe a little bit more, maybe as high as 55 percent.
SCARBOROUGH: All right.
BENELLI: But, you know, Joe, I wanted—something you said before. The vast majority of the New Orleans Police Department has put their lives on the line and are out there protecting the citizens of this city and deserve a lot of credit for what they did.
SCARBOROUGH: No doubt about it.
BENELLI: And the actions of a few should not cast aspersions on those heroic men and women who really saved this city after a horrific hurricane and flood.
SCARBOROUGH: All right.
David, thanks a lot.
Reverend, thank you so much.
Again, you know, I agree with both of you guys in the respect that, you know, Dave, I agree with you that these guys need to be innocent until proven guilty.
And I agree with the reverend that, when you have got a 64-year-old guy in that sort of position—and, again, we don‘t know the complete context of it, so I don‘t want people calling me up and telling me that I need to see the whole tape. But, again, you look at the shots where you have got an old man on the ground, three guys pounding him, he got about four, five, six shots to the back of his head while his face is getting shoved into the cement.
Look at that. There is no—I‘m sorry. I haven‘t been a cop. I don‘t need to judge guys in uniform, but I think I can judge that guy punching him in the head six times, an old 64-year-old man, who obviously is defenseless and can‘t go back and protect himself against this onslaught.
We are going to be following this story and obviously continuing to follow the anarchy that is sweeping through parts of New Orleans.
Coming up next, inside the Taylor Behl case, new information about what happened to the college freshman, a 17-year-old girl, and also the man who was with her the night she disappeared.
And then, from the swampland into the backyards, a beloved family pet the victim of a huge python in Florida.
We‘ll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCARBOROUGH: Remarkable video out of Florida. There is a cat in that python. You don‘t believe me? Let me show you the X-ray. Here is an X-ray. There is the python. Inside, there is the kitty-cat. We will have that story coming up.
But, first, here is the latest news you and your family need to know.
That‘s awful.
(NEWS BREAK)
SCARBOROUGH: Shark. We have got a great white shark story you are not going to believe, how scientists tracked a shark they called Nicole on a 12,000-mile odyssey.
And then, once again, the giant Florida python is in the news. This time, one ate a family‘s cat. And we have got the X-ray to prove it.
Welcome back to SCARBOROUGH COUNTRY. We are going to have that story in just minutes.
But, first, the latest on the case of a 17-year-old VCU student Taylor Behl. Investigators found her buried body last month, one month to the day after she disappeared. She would have turned 18 on Thursday, but, instead, her father says she will probably be buried on that day.
Tonight, investigators are still putting together the pieces of this tragic case. Police know Taylor was having a relationship with a 38-year-old amateur photographer, Ben Fawley. He was one of the last people to see Taylor alive. And, right now, he sits in jail on unrelated charges.
But, until the cause of death is found and charges are filed, the question remains, who killed Taylor Behl?
Here is “Dateline NBC”‘s Edie Magnus.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RODNEY MONROE, RICHMOND POLICE CHIEF: We are talking about a 17-year-old 100 miles away from home, going into their second week at a university, and nobody had seen, heard or could account for where she may have been.
EDIE MAGNUS, NBC CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Richmond‘s police chief, Rodney Monroe, just joined the force this year from Washington, D.C.
MONROE: I just kept having flashbacks of the Chandra Levy case. I was in Washington when she first went missing. And they just don‘t disappear without a trace.
MAGNUS: So now investigators were taking a different kind of look at those same people Taylor knew, including Ben Fawley. They searched his home and seized seven computers.
MONROE: There were several references to her, pictures of her.
MAGNUS (on camera): But nothing that led you to where she was?
MONROE: No, at that time.
MAGNUS (voice-over): Little did they know how crucial what was on those computers would be to the case.
Meanwhile, there was more information coming to light about Fawley‘s criminal past, including numerous convictions and violent behavior toward women.
CLINT VAN ZANDT, MSNBC ANALYST: It‘s diametrically opposed to how he tries to present himself on the Internet.
MAGNUS: Former FBI investigator and NBC analyst Clint Van Zandt believes, whatever the teenager may have thought about Fawley, he clearly had the upper hand in his relationship with Taylor.
VAN ZANDT: At age 38, you have learned how to manipulate people. You have learned how to understand what someone‘s concerns, anxieties, challenges, sense of self-worth, what that might be.
MAGNUS: Jessica Payton dated Fawley a few years ago, when she was a college freshman at VCU, and says she often witnessed his dark side.
JESSICA PAYTON, DATED FAWLEY: He was like a manic-depressant. He‘s get paranoid, mood swings. Sometimes, he has anger. He can‘t control his anger if he like completely flips out kind of thing.
MAGNUS: In fact, Fawley‘s attorney said in court he is on medication for a severe bipolar disorder.
Fawley himself told the court he is indigent and lives off a disability check.
Jonathan Delano, whose house mate knew Fawley, says Fawley once broke into their house and bared his soul.
JONATHAN DELANO, ACQUAINTANCE OF FAWLEY: I woke up in the middle of the night to him standing in my doorway and he just started telling me his entire life story, how he was—lived this life of crime, how he didn‘t understand how to act any other way. He didn‘t understand how to be anything but a criminal.
MAGNUS: Still, while Taylor‘s association with Fawley may have been an unfortunate choice, there was no evidence he had done anything to harm her. The search went on.
Taylor‘s father, Matt Behl, was there, too.
MATT BEHL, FATHER OF TAYLOR BEHL: The difficult part is when you are driving around and see your daughter‘s picture with the word “Missing.”
MAGNUS: In cyberspace, Taylor‘s Web page, filled with expressions of hope for her safe return, from friends and strangers alike.
Then, Saturday morning, September 17, 12 days after Taylor disappeared, they caught a break.
JIM NOLAN, “THE RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH”: It was an off-duty lieutenant. And he was walking his dog and he noticed a Ford Escort that had Ohio license plates on it. But, being a good investigator and a police lieutenant, he took a closer look. He realized that he had found Taylor‘s car.
MAGNUS: It was parked on a street about a mile-and-a-half from Taylor‘s dorm room. Police staked it out for a day to see if anyone would show. And then they seized it. Ironically, Janet Pelasara, who until now had assumed the worst about her daughter, suddenly found reason to hope.
JANET PELASARA, TAYLOR BEHL‘S MOTHER: My hope that she was alive was back.
MAGNUS: Police still didn‘t have Taylor Behl, but they did have an enormous clue.
NOLAN: They now had a vehicle. They knew that a vehicle had stolen license plates on it. They know that Ben Fawley was someone who liked to collect license plates. He had written about it.
VAN ZANDT: If somebody drove her car other than her, you have to readjust your rear-view mirror. You have to move the seat back and forth. You have got, I know, a rich supply of latent fingerprints.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pray for Taylor. Pray for her family.
MAGNUS: On Monday evening, September 19, students from VCU gathered with candles on behalf of the missing freshman that few knew, but who was in everyone‘s prayers. Two days later, a lawyer for her family came and cleared out Taylor‘s dorm room. Whatever happened, the family didn‘t want the teenager to come back to VCU.
(CROSSTALK)
MAGNUS: On September 23, 18 days after Taylor‘s disappearance, police arrested Ben Fawley, not in connection with Taylor, however, but because of what they had found on those seven computers they had seized from this father of two.
MONROE: Child pornography. I mean, it was quite graphic.
MAGNUS (on camera): Movies?
MONROE: And photographs.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SCARBOROUGH: Such a sad, sad story.
Now, let‘s be clear about this. Police haven‘t charged Ben Fawley in the disappearance or the death of Taylor Behl. And he went to the police with an alibi. He filed a report and said he was attacked and abducted for about eight hours the night she was last seen. Fawley remains in jail on the pornography, unrelated to Taylor‘s death.
Now, for the very latest, I‘m joined now by Ray Daudani. He‘s from NBC12 in Richmond.
Ray, thank you so much for being with us.
Talk about—and I think this is what most people find most fascinating—talk about the suspect‘s alibi? Does anybody really believe this guy was also abducted the same day that Taylor disappeared?
RAY DAUDANI, NBC REPORTER: That has been a tough one for the police to pin down, Joe.
The thing that they wanted to do was go in and take a look at this alibi, see if they could confirm any of it. But, as you mentioned, there were scant details in that alibi. He said that he was abducted by an unknown person or unknown number of men, taken into an unknown car, dropped off at an unknown location after being hit by an unknown object. And then he said an unknown man returned him to his home.
So, it was one of those cases where police wanted to see if there was anything in this alibi of 38-year-old Ben Fawley that they could check out. But, unfortunately, because the details were scant, they have had a hard time trying to pin down if any of that can actually be confirmed.
SCARBOROUGH: Now, do you have any idea what was the cause of death?
And, if not, when will they know?
DAUDANI: I think that‘s going to be the next thing that we find out, Joe. At this point, the remains of Taylor Behl are at the medical examiner‘s office.
We were told that they are mostly skeletal remains, that, when they found Taylor‘s body out at that rural crime scene, that it was scattered around much of that area. And because of that, it‘s going to be very difficult for police to actually identify any of it. In fact, in order to even identify it as Taylor‘s, they had to take her skull, send that to the medical examiner‘s office, and compare it with dental records.
So, it‘s taking them a little bit of time right now to do the forensic analysis there, come up with a cause of death. But I‘m hearing that, hopefully, they want to have that tied down in the next week.
SCARBOROUGH: All right. Thank you so much, Ray Daudani from NBC12 in Richmond. Greatly appreciate that update.
I‘m joined now by Tucker Carlson. He‘s the host of “THE SITUATION
WITH TUCKER CARLSON.”
Hey, Tucker, what you got going on tonight in “THE SITUATION”?
TUCKER CARLSON, HOST, “THE SITUATION”: Well, a lot of people, including me, shocked by that video out of New Orleans. They may not know that this is par for the course in that city. I have seen it myself, people getting roughed up on Bourbon Street. We will talk to the local DA about the 50 New Orleans cops convicted of serious felonies over the last 10 years, the two now on death row. Unbelievable.
Plus, a rabbi outraged by Madonna. First, she profaned Christianity, now Judaism. We will get into the specifics.
SCARBOROUGH: I can‘t wait, Tucker.
CARLSON: Oh.
SCARBOROUGH: Also, I can‘t wait to find out if you ever did anything on Bourbon Street that the required police to rough you up.
CARLSON: Never arrested.
SCARBOROUGH: OK. Whatever. Yes, tell it to—tell it to the people at 11:00.
CARLSON: I‘m going to.
SCARBOROUGH: You can get the rest of the story on “THE SITUATION.” It is coming up next at 11:00. It is must-see TV, certainly in my household. And it should be in yours, too.
Coming up next, a quiet Florida neighborhood invaded by a python.
Why did Tucker feel like he had to say never been arrested? Did I ask him?
Anyway, the casualty, a family pet. What is causing this strange invasion?
And the amazing story of a great white shark‘s journey halfway around the world. Wait until you see where she went and why scientists are so excited.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCARBOROUGH: You are looking at the X-ray of a Florida python that was caught after feasting on a neighborhood cat. Take a look. That‘s the cat inside, inside the snake‘s belly.
Now, we showed you last week a 13-foot python that exploded after it battled with an alligator. Well, this time, a Florida python went after one family‘s cat in Miami.
Sharon Lawson with our NBC station WTVJ has that story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SHARON LAWSON, WTVJ REPORTER (voice-over): An unusual find in a Miami Gardens neighborhood, a python‘s eyes apparently bigger than its stomach.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But when I went to get it, I saw it had a big stomach, you know? And it looked like it had just been fed.
LAWSON: While walking the dog, Andre Rodriguez (ph) stumbled upon a discovery, a 10- to 12-foot python in the backyard of a resident‘s home, a resident who hasn‘t seen her cat in days.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, Francis (ph) hasn‘t been here for like two days. And I says, well, I found it. It‘s inside a snake.
LAWSON: Determined and fearless, Al Cruz from the Miami-Dade Fire Antivenin Unit zeroed in on the predator.
AL CRUZ, MIAMI-DADE FIRE DEPARTMENT: I had a good idea where the head was. And the worst-case scenario is, I would have had—needed some stitches.
LAWSON: The exotic reptile found lurking in this quiet community is a Burmese python, native to Asia. And it‘s not the first time we have seen them feasting on our pets and native species. This past week, this picture taken in the Everglades puzzled scientists after a 13-foot python scarfed down a six-foot alligator before its stomach ruptured. Experts say the number of exotic animals found in Florida is growing, because owners buy them, then release them into the wild when they grow too big, which is become a growing concern for public safety.
CRUZ: When they first buy them in pet shops, they are very small. But you can, these animals can grow eight feet in just one year. No, it is not poisonous, but it is a very dangerous animal.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SCARBOROUGH: Unbelievable story there.
And I just can‘t believe the idiots that buy the—and, yes, you are an idiot—keep your snake out of my yard—that buy these snakes, have no idea what they are getting into and then they dump them into the Everglades and the snakes are just growing. It is a growing problem in South Florida. Just keep them out of the Redneck Riviera for me, OK?
Now, coming up next, we are going from pythons to sharks, the amazing 12,000 miles that one great shark traveled has a lot of scientists excited. Sea nerds? I don‘t know. We will tell you about it and also why scientists say that that journey is so important.
That‘s coming up next when SCARBOROUGH COUNTRY returns.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCARBOROUGH: You are looking at a great white that has the shark world in a frenzy. She swam halfway around the world to find a mate.
And while sharks are known to swim long distances, the experts are calling this one of the most significant discoveries in recent history. Scientists tagged this female great white shark in South Africa and tracked it as it swam one 12,000 miles from South Africa, to Australia and back to South Africa. The trip took 99 days. And now scientists say it proves a link between the two shark populations.
With me now to talk about it, Susan Casey. She, of course, is the author of the new book “The Devil‘s Teeth.”
Susan, welcome back.
And tell us, what is so significant about this scientific discovery?
SUSAN CASEY, AUTHOR, “THE DEVIL‘S TEETH”: Well, what is intriguing now is that technology is beginning to reveal some of the mysteries of the great white shark.
As much as we think we know the animal, because it has such a profile in our collective consciousness, there‘s a lot of things that we actually don‘t know about them. And they are very hard to study. So, these tags are revealing a side of them and behaviors that scientists really had no idea about.
SCARBOROUGH: Well, and, Susan, we look at these sharks as obviously being bloodthirsty killers. And, yet, it certainly shows a remarkable level of intelligence, doesn‘t it?
CASEY: Absolutely.
And the thing is, with these new discoveries, is, what else can this animal do? What else don‘t we know about it? And the scientists themselves will say, something as extraordinary as this just—it raises even more questions. And now technology is enabling them to begin to find the answers.
SCARBOROUGH: You know, at Devil‘s Teeth, obviously, you got an up-close up look at these great whites and the way they worked around an island off of the San Francisco coastline.
Did you see any behavior while studying the sharks that would have led you to believe that they had this level of intelligence?
CASEY: Oh, yes.
When you see a great white shark in the wild, you are instantly are struck by the fact that they are master killers. That‘s one part of them, but they are a very complicated animal. And they definitely have a vibe of an apex predator who has been around as long as they have, which is, for white sharks, 11 million years in their current form. So, they are supremely adaptive.
And the sharks at the Farallon Islands regularly travel to Hawaii. Some of them go down to Baja. So, now it looks like these sharks are just roaming the planet in ways that we didn‘t know at depths, at great depths, and close to the surface. And what they‘re doing out there is a wonderful mystery.
SCARBOROUGH: Yes, a wonderful mystery, but the bottom line is, still, Susan, they are natural-born killers, right, almost a perfect killing machine for the water?
CASEY: Right. If you had 11 million years to get it down, you would get it down, too. They‘re great killers. They‘re perfect predators. But, at the same time, they are obviously really complicated animals with all kinds of things to teach us.
SCARBOROUGH: All right.
Thanks so much, Susan. Greatly appreciate you being back with us.
CASEY: Thank you.
SCARBOROUGH: And stick around because SCARBOROUGH COUNTRY will be right back with a final thought.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCARBOROUGH: If you have examples of Katrina waste or other outrageous spending that we need to know about and America needs to know about, send me an e-mail at Joe@MSNBC.com.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCARBOROUGH: That‘s all the time we have for tonight. Thanks so much for being with us.
We are going to of course keep following what‘s happening down in New Orleans, a lot of chaos reigning, the New Orleans Police Department in trouble once again.
You can also follow that story immediately with the “THE SITUATION WITH TUCKER CARLSON.” That starts right now.
Tucker, get us up to date with the situation.
CARLSON: We are going to, Joe. Thanks.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
Copy: Content and programming copyright 2005 MSNBC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Transcription Copyright 2005 Voxant, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No license is granted to the user of this material other than for research. User may not reproduce or redistribute the material except for user‘s personal or internal use and, in such case, only one copy may be printed, nor shall user use any material for commercial purposes or in any fashion that may infringe upon MSNBC and Voxant, Inc.‘s copyright or other proprietary rights or interests in the material. This is not a legal transcript for purposes of litigation.