0:05

Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. A

0:14

double murder including

0:16

the death of an eleven year old

0:19

little girl. Crime

0:27

Stories with Nancy Grace. How

0:36

did it all start? Take a listen to our friends

0:38

at ABC seventeen. Late Sunday night,

0:40

Boone County Sheriff's Office responded

0:43

to the victim's home on Lavender Drive

0:45

south of Columbia after getting

0:47

a call from a concerned family member. Their

0:49

deputies found forty three year old Allison

0:51

A. Bits and her daughter Josie dead in their

0:53

home. The school year would have been Allison's

0:56

sixth year with Fulton Public Schools.

0:58

A co worker from Allison's previous job

1:00

at Tipton Elementary said students

1:02

in both districts will need support from

1:04

the losses. I think her first action

1:07

is building that community,

1:09

letting from now that there's counseling services available,

1:12

whether it's a staff member, member

1:15

of the students that are involved in that

1:17

were impacted by the loss of the Allison

1:19

and her daughter. I have reached out

1:21

to the Boone County Sheriff's Office this morning

1:23

for more information on the double

1:25

homicide investigation. So

1:27

far, the office doesn't know if

1:29

there's a current danger to the public but

1:32

says that anyone who's willing to murder a child

1:34

should be considered unpredictable to

1:36

murder a child. Of

1:39

course, family and friends

1:41

devastated, including all of her

1:43

little classmates. Just think about your

1:45

child at age eleven,

1:48

so tender, so pure,

1:51

so sweet, and all the classmates

1:54

finding out this little girl,

1:56

little Josie, was murdered.

1:59

Take a listen to our cut number

2:01

one KARCG TV

2:04

thirteen. Boone County Sheriff's investigators

2:06

have released few details surrounding the double

2:09

homicide of Allison and Josie Abbots.

2:11

They say a worried relative called Boon County

2:13

deputies about eleven pm Sunday

2:16

before officers found their bodies in their

2:18

home along Lavender Drive.

2:21

Fulton Public School crisis counselors

2:23

are helping students and faculty cope

2:25

with the loss of their former teacher and

2:28

the loss of their former eleven

2:30

year old classmate. We reached out

2:32

to particular families, especially

2:34

that we knew had close ties

2:37

with the student, and we've

2:39

invited them in and anybody else who wanted

2:42

to come in and meet with those individuals.

2:45

These Facebook photos from the Columbia acro

2:47

and Tumbling team show, Josie Abbots

2:49

was heavily involved with Acrobatic Gymnastics

2:53

head coach heathers up krcgas

2:55

statements saying, Josie was so

2:57

sweet, and our teammates and coaches

3:00

loved her. Her cute, somewhat mischievous

3:02

smile would always light up the gym

3:05

or the competition floor. And they're right,

3:07

chand a beautiful smile,

3:09

and you could just see

3:12

the energy coming

3:15

out of this eleven year old

3:17

little girl who should be worried about

3:19

her next tumbling event or what

3:21

the school cafeteria has for lunch.

3:25

She's dead, murdered

3:28

again. I'm Nancy Grace. Thanks for being with us

3:30

here at Fox Nations Series eleven.

3:32

I want to introduce you an all star panel to

3:35

make sense if we can of it. First of all,

3:37

California Prosecutor Wendy Patrick,

3:40

author of Red Flags and host of Today

3:42

with Doctor Wendy k c b Q. Renowned

3:45

psychiatrist doctor Angela Arnold joining

3:47

us out of Atlanta. You can find her at

3:49

Angela Arnold, MD dot com. Professor

3:52

of Forensics, Jacksonville State University,

3:55

death investigator, author of Blood Beneath

3:57

My Feet on Amazon, joining us

4:00

and Emmy nominated

4:02

Reporter or Anchor an Jeannette

4:05

Levy and Jeannette, thank you so much for being

4:07

with us. Tell me about this

4:10

area. I know it's Boone County. That's

4:12

Columbia, Missouri. Correct. Yeah,

4:15

and it's just you know, it's a smaller

4:17

city. It's not a big big city like

4:20

Kansas City or something like that. And

4:23

you know this little girl, Josie obviously

4:25

living with her mother in their

4:28

home. They were found both

4:30

murdered there in August. I know that the

4:32

population is only

4:34

about one hundred thousand, maybe one

4:37

hundred and twenty thousand in

4:39

the entire metro area

4:41

of Columbia, Missouri. And

4:43

for an area that's spread out, that's a

4:46

very very low population,

4:49

which in my mind is a statistic

4:52

that helps me figure out who did

4:54

this double murder. I'm going to circle

4:56

back to you on that, Joe

4:59

Scott. But you know what, actually, let's

5:01

talk about that first. When you

5:03

come into a double

5:06

murder scene, what

5:08

is the first thing you do well after

5:10

securing the scene? Nancy, I'm gonna we'll see

5:12

when you say something like that, not everybody

5:14

knows what you're talking about. When you're talking about

5:17

securing the scene, let's just start with that. First

5:19

of all, the area surrounding.

5:21

You got one hundred and twenty thousand people dispersed

5:24

over a large geographic area, which

5:26

tells me low population,

5:29

low crime rate. You don't expect this to happen

5:31

there. It's not like you're in

5:34

New York City, downtown Manhattan, where

5:36

you've got doper shooting up literally

5:38

on the street, shooting up,

5:41

people breaking into these

5:44

really really exclusive stores, breaking

5:46

through the glass to do a grab and run,

5:49

just walking out with high end merchandise,

5:51

nobody stopping them after police

5:53

defunding. So it's not like

5:56

we're in Manhattan looking

5:59

over our shows for a shooting in Times Square.

6:01

We're in Columbia, Missouri. What does that tell

6:03

you, Joe skut Well, specifically because

6:06

it's Columbia, Missouri, I know that we've got a transient

6:08

population there because that's the home of the University

6:10

of Missouri, and so you've got a major

6:12

interstate that's running through there as well. Nancy,

6:15

And you know, I got to tell you, but the scene

6:17

itself is something that you a

6:19

minute, okay, just you

6:22

just just trip

6:24

that off your tongue. Wait a minute. You

6:26

know how I like to talk about Shasta and

6:29

Dylan Gronee and Cordelaine.

6:31

I know, remember them where

6:33

they're out an extremely remote

6:36

forested area where they live with their family

6:39

in Cordelaine. And when

6:41

you go over it on a plane, which

6:43

I have, you see nothing but Emerald

6:46

Green. You don't see a skyline,

6:48

you don't see any smoke come up. It's all

6:50

rural. But some perv was

6:53

going by on the interstate

6:55

that you just mentioned happened

6:57

to look over and in the distance saw

7:01

Shasta Grownee, a little girl, and

7:04

brother Dylan, and they

7:06

were getting into an above ground pool.

7:09

And that's all it took. He pulled

7:11

it right off the interstate, lay in

7:13

wait, killed the whole family, took the

7:15

children, raped and sodomized

7:18

them until raped and sodomized

7:20

the little boy till he died, playing

7:22

some six sex game with

7:24

this child. And Shasta

7:27

was ultimately saved because

7:30

the idiot took her into like

7:32

a seven to eleven, and we had covered

7:34

it so much, Cashier recognized

7:36

Shasta Grownee. That's how they got

7:38

caught. Happenstance. So when you say

7:40

a major thoroughfare goes through,

7:43

we cannot discount that. Joe Scott no,

7:45

we can't. And you know, lots

7:47

of times with cases like this, one of the

7:49

things that you're thinking about when you have a major

7:52

artery that runs through a location like

7:55

that, one of the things you're thinking about is is this

7:57

a crime of opportunity? You know,

7:59

was there something thing that flashed before potential

8:01

perpetrator's eyes that caught

8:03

them, that kind of hooked into whatever

8:05

their twisted psychology is that

8:08

they wanted to go in eradicate two

8:11

people and again not just

8:14

an adult, and that that's tragic, you

8:16

know, Mama, is tragic when you're talking

8:18

about this eleven year old little girl and

8:20

you know her whole life is school and tumbling.

8:23

Again, that kind of goes to the horrific

8:26

nature of that. So you have to be very

8:28

very careful at the scene, Nancy, because you

8:30

don't know if it's going to be somebody

8:32

that's in the intimate circle

8:35

of these individuals or is it a

8:37

complete stranger where this is a stranger

8:39

on stranger crime. Wait a minute, wait a minute,

8:42

you know it's coming to mind right now, all the speculation

8:44

that surrounded the

8:46

death of John and a Ramsey because

8:48

her mother had her

8:51

in all of these beauty pages, yes,

8:53

which I'm not commenting either

8:55

pro or con child beauty

8:57

pages because that would be a

9:00

whole nother hour. What

9:02

I'm talking about is that widen is your pool

9:04

of suspects. Who was

9:07

at those tumbling events,

9:09

those gymnastic meets. I've taken the

9:11

twins to them, and they've competed in them before,

9:13

well not really competed. They showed

9:16

what they had learned that semester okay

9:19

in their tumbling class and might turn a

9:21

somers alt or anyway,

9:24

how do I know who's up in the stands watching it? No

9:26

idea, You have no idea whatsoever. And

9:29

like you didn't know who was going to those beauty padgets

9:31

for John Baname, No you don't. And this

9:34

is the thing about it, And as tragic as it is, you

9:36

know, when you have a case like this and you have to consider

9:39

what circles the individuals move in,

9:41

means to keep in mind mom's a public

9:44

educator, you know, and so you don't

9:46

know who she may have come in contact

9:48

with. Maybe it's students that she had years

9:50

and years ago, or parents or anything like

9:53

that. And as an investigator, I'm

9:56

not dismissing anything, particularly when I

9:58

first walk onto a scene, I am going

10:00

to suspect everybody.

10:02

And I'm jaded that way. Okay, I

10:05

think I am being deceived at any point

10:07

in time, and I have to account for that, because you

10:09

know what, you get one bite at the apple. You

10:12

can't unring the bell, any kind of metaphor you

10:14

want to put to it. You only get one shot to

10:16

do this right. The first time Crime

10:30

Stories with Nancy Grace, Guys,

10:34

we are talking about a double murder,

10:37

the double murder of an eleven year

10:39

old little girl, jos Abbots

10:42

and Alison

10:44

Abbots. I want to circle

10:46

back to our special guest joining

10:49

us and Jeanette Levy, Emmy

10:51

nominated reporter and anchor.

10:55

Let's talk about what we've just heard.

10:58

The fascination and that

11:00

some moms have with putting their

11:02

children on display. And

11:05

I'm not saying don't be proud. I'm

11:08

super proud. And

11:10

I will send out pictures

11:12

of the twins doing something I'm especially proud

11:14

of, or little things

11:17

like they suddenly decide they're going to cook dinner

11:19

one night and I'm just so knocked out by that,

11:21

I take a picture and post it. I

11:25

don't want to come down our parents who are

11:27

so proud and they post pictures of their

11:29

children. But you know, when you take

11:31

them to public events like gymnastic

11:33

events, you never know who's up

11:36

in the stands. Wendy Patrick, Oh, you don't. But in

11:38

a small town you're more likely to recognize

11:40

people in the stands. Which is one

11:42

significant distinction between this

11:44

case and many others that we've discussed, is

11:47

in a small town, you may not recognize

11:49

all the faces, but when you look at kind

11:51

of who hangs around with, who, who is maybe seen

11:53

afterwards, you do sometimes see

11:55

this community protection, almost community

11:58

neighborhood watch being a little bit

12:01

more, especially if there are unfamiliar

12:03

faces. So that might be a

12:05

benefit in terms of words an investigation

12:07

go in a case like this. You know, I'm also

12:09

thinking about what we just heard doctor Angela

12:12

Arnold about the counseling

12:14

for her other little friends at age eleven.

12:17

I want to ask you about that, but first I want to

12:19

talk to you about purvs. I

12:22

do believe purvs show

12:24

up all the time at these

12:26

events, especially like little

12:28

girl tumbling matches. I mean, we just saw

12:30

what that freak Nasser

12:33

did to our Olympian girls.

12:36

He's a freak, and I hope

12:38

he stays in jail the rest of his life.

12:41

Maybe he'll get a little dose in

12:43

jail of what he did to those young girls.

12:46

But what I'm saying is who is up

12:49

in the stands at these little

12:51

girl pageants

12:53

and tumbling shows all

12:55

that, Well, they're not going to go to old folks, mingo,

12:57

are they? Because

13:00

the purv is going to go there

13:03

where the pickings are good, aren't they?

13:05

I mean, isn't it true that some people,

13:07

actually some pedophiles

13:10

actually get a kick. They get sexual

13:12

pleasure just watching children

13:14

without even ever touching them. They

13:17

do, and unfortunately, they also get sexual

13:19

pleasure out of like

13:22

trying to become close to them. So

13:24

you know how we always tell our children to be polite

13:27

and if somebody speaks to you to speak

13:29

back, and things like us. Well,

13:31

guess what, Nancy, we shouldn't be telling our

13:33

children. That we should

13:36

be telling our children not to speak to strangers,

13:38

because unfortunately, those very strangers

13:41

are going in and trying.

13:43

I have, unfortunately, I have treated pedophiles

13:47

in my past, and they

13:49

have told me how they

13:52

stick around places close to schools

13:55

and they slowly befriend

13:58

children and then the mother comes

14:00

a little bit more comfortable or than nanny whoever

14:02

is taking care of the child becomes a little bit more

14:04

comfortable, and it takes

14:06

them a very long time to

14:09

work on their prey. Okay, they

14:11

do it very slowly so that it's not really

14:13

noticed. And we need to be teaching our

14:15

children about this, Nancy. Yes, what

14:18

more do we know about the victims?

14:20

Because when you don't know where to start, you

14:22

start with what you've got. You

14:25

try to based on the bodies

14:27

themselves and extrinsic

14:29

evidence. When were they last seen, When

14:31

did they last post on social media? When was there

14:33

a last a known phone call

14:35

from one of them, or a text or an

14:38

insta You look at the

14:40

bodies to determine the time of death

14:42

if you can. You're looking

14:44

at extrinsic evidence when they were a last

14:46

scene to help you established

14:49

time of death, and you look at who are

14:51

your victims? Now, we know we've been talking about the

14:53

little eleven year old girl, Josie,

14:55

but what about Alison Abbots.

14:57

Take a listen to our cut number three. This

15:00

is Jessica Hart TV

15:02

thirteen. Alton and Josie lived in

15:04

the house behind me here on Lavender Drive

15:06

in Columbia. Alison was a second

15:09

grade school teacher at Fulton Public Schools

15:11

and her daughter, Josie, was about to enter

15:13

the sixth grade, and when school starts on

15:15

Wednesday for Fulton, they'll be without

15:17

a beloved teacher and classmate.

15:19

Fulton Public School Superintendent Ty Crane

15:22

says they're devastated by the news. He

15:24

adds are bringing in crisis counselors for their

15:26

faculty tomorrow and school counselors will be available

15:29

for students this week. I also spoke

15:31

with neighbors who say Alison and Josie moved

15:33

to the neighborhood recently and are deeply

15:35

saddened by the news. They say just last week,

15:37

Josie was selling lemonade and bracelets right

15:40

outside her house. The neighbors say they had

15:42

no idea what happened until police knocked on

15:44

their doors late last night. One moment

15:46

I spoke with their qualit seeing Alison either on Thursday

15:49

or Friday, but didn't see her or

15:51

Josie this weekend. Several of the

15:53

neighbors have been in contact with one another,

15:55

and there are a lot of families who live

15:57

in this neighborhood. Neighbors right now are

16:00

saying they're just trying to process everything

16:02

and get through it, and let's take a list of more

16:04

from Channel Porter ABC

16:07

seventeen not Cut four. At this

16:10

time, Captain Brian Lear could only

16:12

confirm that Boom County deputies were

16:14

in Callaway County last night for

16:16

part of the investigation. No arrest

16:18

have been made at this time, and it's also

16:21

still unclear when whether the act

16:23

was random or not, or if there's

16:25

a threat to the community. Questions

16:29

still remain on what happened to Alison

16:31

Abbots and her eleven year old daughter,

16:33

Josie on Sunday night. Both were found

16:36

dead inside their home on Lavender Lane.

16:38

While the investigation and the search for

16:40

answers continues, the community

16:42

is remembering both Josie and her mom. Heather

16:44

Zepp is the head coach of the Columbia acro

16:47

and Tumbling team, a team that Josie

16:49

was on for the past six years. She

16:51

told me Josie was able to compete in the

16:54

USA Gymnastics National Championship

16:56

in June and had big goals for

16:58

the upcoming season. Zep said Josie

17:01

was a hard worker, strong competitor,

17:03

and loved by her coaches and teamming. Wow,

17:05

Okay, Joe Scott. Let's talk about that as it relates

17:08

to who could have done this crime of double murder. A

17:10

mom and her eleven year old little

17:12

girl, Josie had been on

17:15

this gymnastics same six years and

17:17

had already competed in the USA Gymnastic

17:20

and National Championship in June.

17:23

That sounds like her dream was to be an

17:25

Olympian. My point is that

17:27

at big competitions

17:30

like that, there's a big audience,

17:32

which increases my suspect

17:35

pool all the purpose that could be sitting up

17:37

in those stands. But let's narrow it down.

17:39

This happened in their home on Lavender

17:42

Drive. What does it tell you as

17:45

a criminologist that

17:47

they were killed inside their home.

17:50

It's significant because now you're

17:52

not talking about, you know, where this is done

17:54

out on a public street or something like. This is in an

17:57

intimate space, Nancy, And that's the

18:00

key here. You're talking about familial

18:02

space. You know, where you have parties,

18:04

you have Christmas, you celebrate, and you live

18:06

your life all right, and it's a protected

18:09

area. You know, maybe at night your doors are

18:11

locked, your windows are shut. But

18:14

this perpetrator actually felt

18:16

comfortable enough to

18:18

go in to this protected space

18:21

where families normally do feel safe,

18:23

right and essentially essentially

18:27

execute these

18:29

two people in their

18:31

sleep. And when I say people, I'm talking about a mother

18:34

and her child. You know, who

18:36

would have that kind of anger,

18:40

that kind of anger that would promote

18:42

this kind of thing. You're not talking about two grown

18:44

men that get into a knife fight in

18:46

a back alley. You're talking about

18:48

a defenseless mama and her

18:50

little girl that are brutally

18:53

killed within their own home. So automatically,

18:56

for me, I'm beginning to narrow

18:58

this down. You talked about broad relative

19:00

to going too matches, but you're you know,

19:02

when you get into the space like this, you're

19:05

thinking who has the motivation

19:07

to go into and who has the familiarity

19:10

to move around inside of this environment,

19:12

who knows the lay of the land, if you will, that

19:14

they feel comfortable enough to go in

19:17

to their spaces, into bedrooms for instance,

19:19

and perpetrate such a crime. Crime

19:34

stories with Nancy Grace, what

19:38

we're learning, Jeanette Levy is

19:40

that there was not a forced entry,

19:43

There was not a burglary, there was not

19:45

a robbery, and there was not a sex attack

19:48

on either that we know of the

19:50

mother or Alison, or the eleven year old little

19:52

girl, jose Abbots. They're in

19:55

their home. This is not like a drive by

19:57

road rage. Okay, you can solve that by trying

19:59

to call the street

20:01

cam. This is not a hit

20:04

and run. This is not a

20:07

snatch and run where they grab

20:10

your pocketbook and take off running. This

20:12

is not where they try to get the car

20:14

and shoot the mom and daughter. I mean, those are

20:16

all very different scenarios of how these

20:19

two could die. But this was in their home

20:21

where they were unprotected, and there's no

20:24

other signs of a motive,

20:26

no rape, no theft, no forced

20:28

entry. Car still there. So what

20:31

more do we know about the crime scene itself?

20:33

A Jeanette, Well, we know that we

20:36

know that Alison, the mother, was found in her

20:38

bed and she only had a T shirt

20:41

on and it had been pulled up around her neck.

20:45

But wasn't it used to strangle her? That I

20:47

don't know, but she had been strangled, so

20:50

you would probably draw that conclusion

20:52

based on the fact she's only wearing that and

20:55

that was pulled up around her neck, that possibly that

20:57

was used to strangler. Actually, that's a really

21:00

good point. An Jeanette, was

21:02

there any sperm on

21:04

or in her body? I

21:06

am not aware of their being firm on

21:09

or in her body? Okay, so that goes back

21:11

to no sex attack, but sexual

21:15

in nature because all she had

21:17

on was a T shirt and it was pulled up over

21:19

her chest. So, Joe Scott Morgan

21:22

someone, she's in bed and

21:26

she only has on a T shirt. But

21:29

the purp didn't rape

21:31

her and she is

21:34

strangled dead. Okay,

21:36

it's my understanding. What do you understand is the cod

21:39

cause of death? Jo Scott? Well, you know, if

21:41

she has been strangled, then that would be an asphyxial

21:43

death. But you know, Nancy, I

21:45

gotta say, if you

21:47

get into this environment, this is not like shooting

21:50

someone. Okay, this is this is

21:52

very up closed personal, just

21:54

like Anjeanette had mentioned and intimate,

21:57

and that's the key here. And it's

21:59

also it's also and this goes to more

22:01

to doctor Angie, but I will say this,

22:05

The reality is this is that this is

22:07

power. This is power over somebody

22:10

that's probably weaker than you, where

22:13

you're dominating them in bed. And hey,

22:15

one of the most vulnerable spots

22:17

that you can be in is in

22:19

your nightclothes, you know, wearing a T

22:21

shirt and that's maybe you've got on underwear,

22:24

but that's how you're sleeping. An individual

22:26

comes in and they can dominate you. This is called

22:28

an asymmetrical relationship. We see it in

22:30

sex attacks a lot where they're

22:33

literally on top of you and they are choking

22:35

the life out of you. And that's

22:37

very intimate, it's very very personal, and

22:40

it indicates as death investigator,

22:42

to me, it indicates a lot of rage. I

22:45

got something else for you, Wendy Patrick, Doctor

22:47

Angie jump in while

22:50

the mother is strang and we think with

22:52

their own T shirt in bed, not

22:55

sex attacked the daughter,

22:57

The eleven year old girl is

23:00

drowned in the bathtub.

23:04

Okay, for anybody not

23:06

in the criminal field, that

23:09

is that

23:12

is a mind twister because

23:14

you've got these two ms in the

23:16

same home, probably within the same very

23:19

brief time period. He

23:22

drowns the girl and strangles

23:24

them. We think with their own T shirt. Wendy

23:27

Patrick, that's unusual.

23:30

Yeah, you know, it's not only unusual,

23:32

it is just so depraved. It indicates

23:34

a level of rage anger that

23:36

it goes above and beyond. You know,

23:38

in domestic violence cases, we often see strangulation

23:42

demonstrated as a means to kill.

23:44

In otherwise, sometimes the intent

23:46

is not to kill, but to show that the perpetrator

23:48

is able to do it. When you actually

23:51

have death occurring as a result of this, it

23:53

not only indicates that very personal

23:56

nature of the relationship, by the way, which is also

23:58

indicated by the circumstances forced entry,

24:00

intomate space, etc. But

24:02

to kill the daughter also Nancy,

24:05

in that very up close and personal

24:07

fashion that just goes above and beyond

24:10

in terms of the emotional dynamics

24:12

and the motive behind this horrible chim.

24:14

Guys, we're talking about the death of an eleven year old

24:16

little girl, Josie Abbots and her

24:19

mother Alison. So

24:22

given no connection

24:25

to the underworld, she's

24:28

not a dope dealer, she's not a

24:30

prostitute, she hasn't got a

24:32

criminal history. In other words, she's

24:34

not fraternizing with other known

24:37

criminals. It really reduces

24:40

your suspect pool in a certain

24:42

way. Now to throw another

24:45

ranch and the works, another

24:48

couple ends. Dad. Take a listen

24:50

to reporter Layla Mitchell ABC seventeen.

24:52

I am right across the street from

24:54

the house with the two victims. Seventy

24:57

four year old Daniel Stefan and sixty

24:59

four year old Pamela Steffon were

25:01

found last night. Now today, I was able

25:03

to speak to a neighbor who asked us stay anonymous,

25:06

but she told us the Stefans were great

25:08

people. Take a listen. Just think

25:11

about Dan and pay him what

25:14

an asset they were her to this community

25:17

when you needed help, they were there.

25:20

Now that neighbor told me. Around eight thirty

25:22

last night, officers were swarming the Stevens

25:24

house here in Miller County on the three hundred

25:27

block of Routi and Kaiser. Officers

25:30

were originally called to the house for a

25:32

well being check, and upon arrival

25:34

they found both of the Stefans deceased.

25:37

But how does the

25:39

death of the Stephens relate

25:42

back to the murtyrs of Alison

25:44

and Josie Abbotts or are

25:47

they related? Well,

25:49

I want you to take a listen to our cut number seven.

25:51

This is your porter, Mark Slabbett with k RCG.

25:55

These documents set a light on the cause

25:57

of death of Alison and Josie

26:00

Abbot's. Court records

26:02

say Allison had bruises along

26:04

with her shirt wrapped around her neck, leading

26:06

investigators to believe she was strangled.

26:09

Those documents go on to say Josie

26:11

was found in a nearby bathroom, submerged

26:14

in a bathtub filled with water. Investigators

26:17

say a witness told them McLean and

26:19

the two victims were at the Abbot's

26:21

home on August twenty. First Court

26:23

documents state mcclean's vehicle is

26:25

seen on a neighbor's video system going

26:28

into Alice's home on Lavender

26:30

Drive that night and then leaving the

26:32

next morning straight out to Anjeanette

26:34

Levy joining us Emmy nominated

26:37

reporter and anchor. You can find

26:39

her on Twitter at Anjeanette

26:41

five A Jeanette. Isn't

26:43

it true? So we've got this guy, McLean

26:46

JT. Mcclean's vehicle

26:49

being spotted on neighborhood

26:51

surveillance video. Could be a rain cam,

26:53

it could be a red light cam. But

26:56

they've got his vehicle. That

26:59

doesn't mean he did the murder. But back

27:02

to the couple that was found

27:04

murdered, Pamela Stefan and Daniel

27:07

Stefan. Isn't it true

27:09

that a motorcycle was

27:12

found in a heavily wooded

27:14

area near the Stefan's

27:16

home. Yes, that's true,

27:19

and it belonged to at McLean,

27:22

forty five year old J. T.

27:25

McLean, I mean Joe

27:27

Scott Vehicles.

27:29

A man and his motorcycle

27:32

will not soon be parted.

27:35

Okay, you've got his motorcycle

27:38

found near one double

27:40

murder scene, and you've got him

27:43

driving his vehicle to another

27:46

double murder scene the night of

27:48

the murder. Find him immediately.

27:51

This is somebody that you find him,

27:54

you dart right, somebody.

27:56

You're gonna want to really put

27:58

the screws to, Nancy and find out

28:00

what his connection is to all of these

28:02

individuals, not individuals, Nancy,

28:05

let's say murder victims.

28:07

You're going to want to determine what

28:09

his relationship is between all

28:11

of these individuals because listen, as

28:13

you pointed out at the top of the show, Nancy,

28:16

this is an isolated area. This

28:18

is underpopulated. If you will,

28:21

all right, how can you

28:23

find how can you find this

28:25

individual as quickly as you possibly can

28:27

because other people might be in danger

28:30

for all you know. You've got a wild, raving

28:32

maniac running across the countryside that's

28:35

picking up people, are picking out people in their

28:37

own private residences, Nancy, and killing

28:39

them. So bottom line, note

28:41

to self, don't leave my Harley

28:44

park behind the double homicide scene.

28:47

Okay, so he

28:49

is saying, Joe Scott Morgan is saying, correctly,

28:52

what's the connection to this

28:55

guy and these murder

28:57

victims? Take a listen to our friend Hannah

29:00

Alkin Cut twelve, ABC seventeen.

29:02

Since McClean had ties to cities all

29:04

over the country, a nationwide

29:06

hunt began. September eight.

29:09

A motorcycle McClean was believed to

29:11

have stolen was found outside

29:13

a Miller County house. Inside, investigators

29:15

found relatives of McLean's ex

29:18

wife, Daniel and Pamelast

29:20

Stephen dead, and McLean

29:22

was once again the suspect of

29:24

a double homicide. Detectives

29:26

say he stole the Stefan's truck and

29:29

fled the seat crime

29:42

stories with Nancy Grace, Ajeanette

29:47

Leavy, the Stefens or

29:49

relatives of his ex

29:52

wife. So who are the

29:54

Abbots to him? Abbot

29:57

Alison Abbots was his longtime

29:59

girlfriend, and obviously Josie

30:02

is Allison's daughter, so he was in a relationship

30:05

with Alison and at Nancy.

30:07

He had some issues with his fect

30:10

wife as well and their child, so

30:13

there's a lot of issues that seems like with this guy

30:16

and women that he's involved

30:18

with in their children. Guys, take lest our

30:20

cut thirteen. This is Alex Fulton KOMU

30:23

eight. I spent the day talking to neighbors

30:25

and then Miller County Sheriff's office, which

30:27

you can see right behind me. Authorities say

30:29

they found McLean's a motorcycle and the woods

30:31

behind the Steffen's home. Officers

30:34

then trace that back that motorcycle to McLean.

30:36

Neighbors confirmed to me that the Steffens lived

30:38

on three one five at Route dan Kaiser.

30:41

Investigators say McLean stole their pickup truck

30:43

and drove it to South Dakota. Neighbors

30:45

remember seeing police cards at the home until one

30:47

am this morning. Authorities

30:49

that the Miller County Schriff's Office could not

30:51

provide further details as the investigation

30:54

is still ongoing, and all the neighbors

30:56

I spoke to today say they're still grieving the loss.

30:59

They all noted the Stuffen's work

31:01

in the community and how they were always there to

31:03

help. One even told me every time she

31:05

looks across the street, she remembers the loss.

31:07

So what is that psychopathy? To

31:10

doctor Angel Arnold, you hear an Anginette

31:12

Levy say he McLean. JT.

31:14

McClean, age forty five, had problems

31:17

with his ex wife and her children,

31:20

and now he has reportedly

31:23

murdered a girlfriend, Alison

31:25

Abbotts, and her little girl,

31:28

eleven year old Josie. So

31:30

Nancy. He cannot seem

31:32

to get along with anyone, can he? So

31:35

we So this is an access to disorder,

31:38

which is called antisocial personality

31:40

disorder. And these people

31:43

put on a face and

31:45

their emotions are all a sham

31:48

and they pretend like they get along with

31:50

people, and that's why he can go from one

31:52

relationship to another. But

31:55

really and truly, their emotions are not real.

31:58

They are unable to love, and

32:01

they have no conscience, which

32:04

is why they can do things like this. But

32:06

this is an X. It is not an access

32:08

one disorder as we describe things in psychiatry.

32:11

It is an access to disorder, which is

32:13

a personality disorder. So this

32:15

does not deem him insane.

32:18

Okay, this doesn't make him insane.

32:20

He's a very bad person. Well,

32:22

you're talking about how he can go from one woman

32:25

to the next and totally condemn like

32:27

starting a new relationship, shedding the O and

32:30

like a snake and starting the new one. While he

32:32

was quite speaking of reptiles, he

32:34

was quite the chameleon because he

32:36

changed his look too. Take a listen

32:38

to Taylor Freeman and Our Cut nine KOMU

32:41

JT. McClean is still not in custody.

32:44

Investigators say the suspect strangled his longtime

32:46

girlfriend and drowned her daughter. The

32:49

court unsealed the probable cause documents

32:51

today. This case started eight days

32:53

ago when police found Alison Abbots and her

32:55

eleven year old daughter, Josie dead in their

32:57

Boon County home. Abbots was a second

32:59

grade teacher at Bush Elementary and Fulton, and

33:01

Josie was going to start middle school. The

33:04

court documents show investigators found a HIVY

33:06

receipt at the house. They then found

33:08

McClean and the victims on store surveillance

33:11

video. Investigators say there's also

33:13

neighborhood surveillance that shows mcclean's

33:15

car there. Late this afternoon,

33:17

the Boone County Sheriff's Office posted photos

33:20

of McClean from the past several years. The

33:22

office says these photos show McLean with

33:24

different haircuts over the years. The Sheriff's

33:27

office included photos with and without

33:29

facial hair. Okay, what does that tell you,

33:31

Jess got Morgan, That the cops have several

33:34

pictures of McClean over

33:37

the years with different haircuts

33:39

and styles, tells me that he's at

33:41

contact with the cops over this period

33:43

of time. Doesn't it that he's interacted

33:46

potentially with them, that he's

33:48

on the radar. He's somebody

33:50

that is significant, Nancy in all of this.

33:52

And this is the thread that runs through we're talking about the

33:54

motorcycle, we're talking about you

33:56

know, these two poor victims in the house. You

33:59

know, I was the name that came to mind

34:01

just second, go Nancy Andrew Yates.

34:04

I was thinking about that little girl,

34:06

the eleven year old girl in the bathtub,

34:08

and it just absolutely chills me

34:10

to the absolute bone. Eleven

34:13

month old Mary. I thank God. And I'm

34:16

just thinking, you know, how in the world

34:18

can somebody do this, Nancy? You know. And

34:20

another thing, they've got

34:22

him at a high v which I think

34:24

is like a food market with the

34:27

victims, and it's just before the

34:30

murders. Then they've got him going

34:32

in and out in

34:34

his vehicle to their home the day of

34:36

the murders. And you can time

34:39

the t od time and death pretty

34:43

much when you've got a strangulation and a drowning,

34:45

well more on the strangulation, I would

34:47

guess, but some on the drowning, depending

34:49

if the water is warm or if the child

34:51

was clothed or not clothed, you

34:54

might be able to get a TD and then

34:57

sink it with the extreme

35:00

forensic evidence for like

35:02

the receipt at

35:04

the high the video at the high

35:07

ve the neighborhood video surveillance

35:09

showing him going in and out of the neighborhood,

35:12

If you can get the time of death, and then based on

35:14

extrinsic evidence, show he was there with

35:16

them at the time of death, Bam, there's

35:19

your case, Joe Scott. Yeah, you're absolutely

35:21

right. And then if the coroner hopefully

35:23

did their job at the scene and they measured

35:26

all of those changes that take place

35:29

after death, riger body temperature,

35:31

live or mortis, all of those things, and

35:33

you marry all that stuff up together, Nancy,

35:36

you're producing a timeline there

35:38

at that point time where you can actually peg

35:40

him back. Who else are you going to look

35:42

for? Who else at this point time are you going

35:44

to tie back to this? He's going to

35:46

be the number one suspect of my hip

35:48

parade. Let's shed a little more light

35:51

on what happened. Take a listen to our friend Peyton

35:53

Headley KOMU eight. Well, right

35:55

now, we know the suspect is Alison Abbott's

35:57

long term boyfriend. He's currently the

36:00

last known person to be in contact but

36:02

the Boone County mother and her daughter Josie.

36:04

This is forty five year old JT. McLean.

36:07

He's charged with two counts of first degree

36:09

murder that McLean currently has a warrant

36:12

out for his arrest and a one million dollar

36:14

bond. The mugshot was taken back

36:16

in January of this year. We also

36:18

know McLean is a truck driver an Investigators

36:21

say he goes by a few different names. Those

36:23

are John McLean, Stephen Nagy, and

36:26

Stephen McLean. He has hair and these

36:28

photos, but investigators say he is known

36:30

to completely shave his head. Investigators

36:33

also say they are still looking for him.

36:35

He was last known to live on County Road

36:37

three fifty five in Kallaway County. Investigators

36:40

say he has ties to Las Vegas, Chicago,

36:42

Columbia, Fulton, and Saint Peter. The

36:45

Boone County Sheriff's Department says the probable

36:47

cause was developed to believe McLean killed

36:49

Allison and Josie. However,

36:51

the motive behind the murder is still unknown.

36:54

You know, Wendy Patrick, we're talking about all his

36:56

different looks that the Blaze happen to

36:59

have pictures up, in other words, mugshots,

37:02

and now we're hearing about how will shave his hair redo

37:04

his hair? You know what I love

37:07

to do when I start initiate

37:10

a jury trial, once you

37:12

begin picking your jurars, you have

37:15

to do it then and then later on. Typically

37:17

is verbally and verbatim

37:21

read the indictment

37:24

handed down by the grand jury. And

37:26

I loved nothing more than

37:29

saying, for instance, Wendy

37:32

Patrick aka

37:35

DJ Slimsy aka

37:38

street Girl Wendy aka

37:41

WP and all

37:43

the aliases the

37:46

defendant had, because

37:48

a jury is like, what if I found

37:50

out my husband David

37:53

had an alias? I

37:56

would do a backflip. I

37:58

would do a backflip on national

38:00

TV because when you have

38:03

to go by different names, there's

38:06

something way wrong with the

38:08

biggest question you would ask is why

38:11

the why? Oh I don't think

38:13

I was slowed down to ask why if I suddenly

38:15

found out David had an alias,

38:18

and here you're finding about all his looks

38:20

and all of his different names he's

38:22

got, I mean, but we're

38:24

also finding out we found out

38:27

earlier I think Jeanette Levy

38:29

had accurately reported that

38:32

he had had trouble with

38:34

his X, well Jackie

38:36

here in the studio. Researched that

38:38

before today and found out the trouble

38:41

was he threatened to stab his X in

38:43

the face. I call that trouble.

38:45

Yeah, you know what's really frightening

38:48

about that. So we've called this man a snake

38:50

and a chameleon. I'm also going to call him a wolf

38:53

in sheep's clothing. That he was able to get

38:55

close enough to these families

38:57

to be able to be inside their homes making

39:00

these threats, and nomadic

39:02

in the sense that this is a large

39:04

geographical area. He's got ties

39:06

to different cities, probably because he drives

39:09

a truck. But you're looking at a

39:11

pattern that's being developed over

39:14

a large area. But that's

39:16

very personal in nature. He

39:18

is threatening people close to him that

39:20

has been close to him for some time. Remember

39:22

this was a long time relationship

39:24

with Alison. So to be able to

39:26

allow somebody into your house,

39:29

into your home, into your circle, your intimate

39:31

circle. When you've got an eleven year old

39:33

daughter, that means that he was pretty

39:35

good, not only it changing his opinion, but pretty

39:38

darn hiding down. You

39:41

are right. We always say, why

39:43

do these mothers let these freaks around

39:45

their children, doctor Angie? Do

39:47

they need a man that badly? Well?

39:51

I mean, Nancy, it's I mean, unfortunately,

39:53

it's not like they're letting someone that's not

39:55

well groomed and and you

39:58

know, doesn't have manners. These people are

40:00

charming, And are are

40:02

you going to just every charming

40:05

person that comes in your house? One

40:07

and twenty five people living

40:09

amongst us our sociopaths.

40:13

So I don't think it's a matter of I don't think it's

40:15

always a matter of, oh, are we're just throwing our kids

40:17

to the dogs? Nancy?

40:20

I mean you have to be a pretty

40:22

strong professional to kind

40:25

of watch this behavior and see

40:27

what's going on. You know what. You're absolutely

40:29

right, doctor Angie, You're right. Well,

40:32

you know what, even though he managed to escape

40:34

detection of these women, he managed

40:36

to war them into their lives. Joe

40:39

Scott, thank

40:41

goodness for on Star?

40:44

Could you just in a nutshell tell

40:47

us what OnStar is? On

40:49

Star is a feature that's found in

40:52

certain vehicles, Nancy, that is actually

40:54

a satellite tracking so you

40:56

can come in with a GPS

40:59

and track the position of the vehicle. And

41:01

if you're in an emergency, you can actually

41:04

push the button and it alerts

41:06

on Star. That signal goes up to a satellite

41:08

attracts the position, and you

41:10

know, many times, many times people

41:12

have been in accidents and they can just hit this button

41:15

and the on Star operator will

41:17

come on and it alert to the specific

41:19

location. The on Star operator will

41:21

actually call the local nine eleven.

41:24

That's how specific this is to get

41:26

them out to your location because

41:28

they know where you are. It's wonderful.

41:30

And people say, aren't you worried that

41:33

you're beat up? Minivan has navigation?

41:35

And I'm like, no, aren't

41:38

you worried Alex is listening in on you.

41:40

I'd just be mad if she wasn't.

41:43

If the fans want to hear Dave and I arguing

41:45

about who's going to clean out the guinea pigs or

41:47

are John David Lucy on their phones too much?

41:50

Answer yes, you know what,

41:52

get after it, just go right

41:55

ahead. But all I can say is

41:57

thank God for on Star. Take

41:59

a list our Tan Lucas Geisler

42:02

ABC seventeen. The Sheriff's

42:04

Office has served two search warrants

42:07

in relation to this case. One

42:09

was done on the body of J.

42:11

T. McLean himself at a funeral

42:13

home over in Sioux City, Iowa. The other,

42:16

the truck that belongs

42:18

to the Saffan family in Miller County,

42:20

was found here this parking lot

42:22

at the Country In In Suites in

42:24

Dakota Dunes is unincorporated

42:27

area of Union County, South Dakota

42:29

near the Iowa and Nebraska border.

42:31

That truck was found through the help

42:34

of on Star. That Chevy

42:36

Silverado was equipped with on Star technology,

42:39

and using on Star they were

42:41

able to find him here in this

42:44

parking lot. On Star's role is pretty privotable,

42:46

to say the least. They're able to track the

42:48

location of the vehicle that mister McLean

42:50

was in up in two right

42:53

into the parking lot of the Country in Sweets.

42:55

They found McLean in that truck and when they

42:57

found him he was dead with a gunshot wound.

42:59

The Sheriff's office says it's confident at this point

43:01

they believe that he shot

43:04

himself. So all

43:06

in that we know of J.

43:09

T. McLaine to

43:11

the lives of five people,

43:16

including himself, and I can

43:18

say with confidence four of

43:20

those people we're

43:22

gonna miss. I

43:26

guess he's riding in hell right now. We

43:28

can only hope. The

43:32

point of our program today

43:35

is as we discuss who's come

43:37

in contact with your child, who at

43:39

school, who at the gymnastics

43:42

meet, who at the kitty

43:44

beauty pageant? We

43:47

always look first close

43:50

to home. Nancy

43:52

Grace Crime Story signing off goodbye

43:55

friend,