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PRIMETIME JUSTICE WITH ASHLEIGH BANFIELD

Manhunt Intensifies; Hunt for Killer

Aired July 12, 2017 - 20:30:00   ET

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


(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEAN CASAREZ, GUEST HOST (voice-over): Breaking details tonight in the urgent search for four missing young men.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have recovered several important piece of evidence at this site.

CASAREZ: But are we any closer to finding out where they are or what happened to them?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We here are utilizing every resource at our disposal to try to find these four missing men.

CASAREZ: Their disappearance continues to stump family, friends and the country.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s frightening. I have a 20-year-old, and I`m concerned. What happened to these boys?

CASAREZ: The chilling moments before a hooded suspect shoots and kills a motel clerk. Tonight, the manhunt for the cold-blooded killer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why did you have to go too far?

CASAREZ: A fire destroys a man`s home.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you (INAUDIBLE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, your honor.

CASAREZ: Now that man who dialed 911, the home owner, is charged with starting it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`m on full disability, heart.

CASAREZ: But police say it wasn`t just that he was caught in a lie. The answer is found in his beating heart.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CASAREZ: Good evening. I`m Jean Casarez, in for Ashleigh Banfield. Thank you so much for joining us. This is PRIMETIME JUSTICE.

We do continue following the breaking news tonight in the search for four young men missing in the Philadelphia suburbs. For the fourth day

investigators and heavy equipment have been digging on a 90-acre farm about an hour north of the city, looking for any sign of the young men. And

today, the Bucks County district attorney says they received several pieces of important evidence in their search, but emphasized they did not find the

remains of Jimi Patrick, Dean Finocchiaro, Tom Meo or Mark Sturgis.

And how or if they are connected at all remains a mystery. Until now, no one has been charged in their disappearance. Cosmo DiNardo was picked up

on a weapons charge on Monday and made bail last night. That has nothing to do with this case, authorities say, but his parents` land is the land

that`s being searched.

But just hours ago, the district attorney announced that DiNardo has been arrested again, this time for something a little more closely tied to the

investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATTHEW WEINTRAUB, BUCKS COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: We have taken Cosmo DiNardo into custody for a stolen car. And I`ll read you some of the

particulars. This is for receiving stolen property and theft of a 1996 Nissan Maxima that is owned by Thomas Meo.

July 7th, Meo goes missing, according to his girlfriend. July 8th, Meo is reported missing by his family. July 9th, Cosmo DiNardo allegedly attempts

to sell that vehicle. And Meo`s title is still in there, car still registered to Meo with the title to Meo. And it is unsigned as though

never having been transferred. And Meo`s life-saving, life-necessitating diabetic kit is still in that vehicle.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: And I think we do have -- we have just gotten it. This is the brand-new mug shot of Cosmo DiNardo, now charged with theft and receiving

stolen property of a vehicle that belonged to one of the missing young men, Tom Meo.

I want to go straight out to Bucks County, Pennsylvania, right now. We want to check in with Emma Wright. She is a reporter for CNN affiliate

WFMZ. Emma, this is the first time, late this afternoon, that we can actually link Cosmo DiNardo with some aspect of at least one of the missing

young men in some capacity.

EMMA WRIGHT, WFMZ: That`s right. So for the first time, we`re kind of learning that these men may have known each other, in a criminal complaint

released by the district attorney`s office that says that Cosmo DiNardo and Tom Meo -- a license plate reader actually captured them both on an area in

Solebury township. That`s where they both disappeared from -- captured them. You can see Cosmo DiNardo`s truck driving, and then they say Tom

Meo`s car was after it.

They say that kind of clued them in to realizing that Cosmo DiNardo was with Tom Meo in the moments probably leading up to his disappearance. And

they say they also found Tom Meo`s car about a mile away from where they found Mark Sturgis`s car. He is one of those other men that`s also

reported missing.

[20:05:04]CASAREZ: Now, Emma, this is new information, this video that you`re telling me that shows Cosmo DiNardo`s vehicle along with the vehicle

for Thomas Meo. What type of surveillance video caught that image?

WRIGHT: Well, it`s not surveillance video. It`s a license plate reader. And the police say when they got in there and they looked at those license

plate readers, they were able to see that those two cars had been in close proximity to each other in the moments or maybe hours leading up to Tom

Meo`s disappearance.

CASAREZ: License plate reader. That is amazing information. It really is. Now, I understand you were in the courtroom for this arraignment late

this afternoon. You saw the I think video streaming Cosmo DiNardo. He had to be apprised of his brand-new charges against him. What was the demeanor

that you saw on that video?

WRIGHT: Well, this was a video conference, so that means we and the judge were in one area, and then Cosmo DiNardo was in a jail about 40 minutes

from here. But you could see through the video that he didn`t say much. He was there with two attorneys.

The judge asked him a few questions, you know, the basic things that they ask -- Do you understand why you`re here, Do you understand what you`re

being charged with. He said yes. And then the judge also asked if he had a job. And his attorney answered for him. He said that Cosmo worked part-

time for his father.

But then one of the assistant district attorneys -- he kind of interjected. He said that he had recently spoken to Cosmo`s father. He said that`s not

true. He doesn`t work for his business. The ADA didn`t say what business that was, but right now, it`s kind of up in the air where DiNardo might be

getting his money because it sounds like he doesn`t have a job, at least according to his father.

CASAREZ: Right. Now, we do understand from the first charges that came about on Monday afternoon that he has mental illness, that he was confined

to a mental hospital. When you saw him via videotape today and the judge was apprising him, in the constitutional duty of the charges that he`s now

been charged with and is facing, did he appear to understand what the judge was saying?

WRIGHT: He did. Again, it was mostly just nodding yes. He didn`t speak, really. But he did seem to be understanding of what was going on.

CASAREZ: All right. And what about -- did he seem nervous? Did he seem cocky? Did he seem confident? Did he seem quiet? What did he seem like?

WRIGHT: He seemed like he was deferring to his attorneys. And they seemed like they were very eager to get his bail down. The judge did set his bail

at $5 million cash bond. So the attorneys -- they were kind of fighting that tooth and nail, saying that that is way too high. But the ADA, he

said that his family has a lot of money. They paid $100,000 in a cashier`s check last night to get him out. So they say it might be possible that

they could come up with that kind of cash, but they want to make sure that he is in jail.

CASAREZ: Right. And for our audience just joining us that may have not seen the beginning, this is a young man that now for the first time has

been charged with something that is correlated in some form or fashion, stealing allegedly a vehicle from one of the young men that was missing.

While this was going on in the courthouse locally, Stacey Newman, you were actually going to neighbors` homes in the area, of people that know Cosmo.

And you actually saw the house that he was in before he was arrested again this afternoon and taken in custody.

STACEY NEWMAN, HLN PRODUCER: Yes, Jean, as we heard a little moments ago, this is a family that has means. This is a nice neighborhood, nice homes.

The people there are extremely nice. Neighbors I spoke to all said this is an extremely nice family and they cannot believe what`s happening. They`re

learning about this from the news.

People are in and out of there. And actually, they did have an officer stationed in the area. The home is on a cul-de-sac.

Now, Jean, what is amazing is when I got out there earlier today before he was rearrested, I was talking to a maintenance guy who works at a

neighbor`s home right next door to the DiNardos. And he told me he knows DiNardo in passing. And while we were having this conversation about him,

guess who was looking at us through the window? DiNardo himself, repeatedly looking out at us to see what was going on.

We went to the door. Of course, they wouldn`t answer the door. And then, Jean, as you know, within hours, he`s rearrested. So this happened very

quickly, within about maybe two hours. He went from being at home, comfortable in his home on this bail, to being rearrested now on this very

high cash bail.

CASAREZ: And once again, authorities are saying that at this point, he has no correlation with the disappearance of these four young men.

[20:10:04]But Stacey, I can`t get past this home that this family lives in. I mean, this is a nice house, and you say in a very nice area, and this is

the home that is the DiNardos` home that he was in because of being bailed out last night on the million dollars, he was in home confinement basically

in this house.

Stacey, that is amazing. And now, once again, $5 million cash bail tonight because authorities just don`t want him out.

You know, Stacey, while you were at the neighbors`, you also were talking to a lady who is a neighbor to the farm that has been searched for so many

days now. And Julie Jones is her name. And I believe we have Julie Jones -- Stacey, I`m sorry -- Susan Coleman -- I believe we have Susan Coleman

with us.

NEWMAN: Susan Coleman.

CASAREZ: Yes. Thank you. Do we have her with us? All right. Susan, thank you for joining us. What I want to ask you -- you actually heard

what you say are some shots Saturday?

SUSAN COLEMAN, LIVES NEAR SEARCH SITE (via telephone): Yes.

CASAREZ: At what time? And you live close to the farm, right?

COLEMAN: Right.

CASAREZ: The 90-acre farm that authorities are searching in depth currently as we speak. What did you hear on Saturday, and what time did

you hear it?

COLEMAN: So Saturday afternoon, my husband and I were in our swimming pool. We were on chairs in the pool and having a conversation. It was

very, very quiet. You know, all we really could hear were birds.

And the next thing we hear is a series of shots being fired. Initially, I said to my husband, My God, that wasn`t more fireworks. And he said, No,

no, no. That was definitely a shotgun. And it was a number of shots that were fired.

And I am also a diabetic, like Tom Meo, and I whipped out my insulin pump to get the time exactly because I was so disturbed by these sounds, I

wanted to mark exactly the time that I heard them. It was 3:36 PM.

CASAREZ: So in broad daylight 3:36 PM. And it was your husband that said, No, that`s a shotgun I`m hearing, is that right?

COLEMAN: Yes. He was very, very sure. And then literally a minute later, we heard another series of six, seven, eight shots fired in a fashion that,

you know, one would be shooting at an arcade, trying to shoot at a moving target or something. And it was very, very disturbing. We`ve lived here

in the country a long time, and you know, we never do hear shots like that. We`ve heard hunters, we`ve heart other things, but never like this. And we

heard two more sets of shots go off...

CASAREZ: Wow.

COLEMAN: ... over the course of about 10, 12 minutes.

CASAREZ: That is amazing, so amazing. The community must really be perplexed, saddened, but also just violated because this doesn`t happen

where you live.

COLEMAN: No. You`re very right. It does not happen in Solebury township. And you know, people gravitate to the area because it is so bucolic and

quiet and people respect other people`s privacy. We have, you know, celebrities who move into the area, and you know, nobody bothers them. And

that`s why they like it.

CASAREZ: You know, Susan, people are -- local reports have been saying that there was possibly a type of bonfire at all, and we do not have that

confirmed, but reporters are saying that locally. Did you smell anything at all Saturday night?

COLEMAN: Yes, no. We did not smell anything on Saturday night. I had heard a rumor there was a bonfire on Friday night. And what was

interesting is it was raining here. We had quite a little downpour on Friday night. So I don`t know how somebody has a bonfire when it`s

raining.

But Saturday evening, my husband and I entertained guests out, in fact, on our pool terrace at 6:00 o`clock, and we were -- you know, we were out here

until about 6:45, then we went to dinner. But no, we didn`t really notice anything.

CASAREZ: What about the DiNardo family? They -- we were able to confirm today they own a concrete company and they own a trucking company. What do

you know about them?

[20:15:06]COLEMAN: You know what? We actually don`t know anything about them. We -- we -- this is the first we`ve ever heard of them.

Acquaintance/friends of ours who`ve been in the community for a long time apparently sold the property to them adjacent to their gentlemen`s farm.

And you know, we never met them. From all I can tell is they don`t even live there. I guess they live in Bensalem, which, you know, is quite a

different area than Solebury.

CASAREZ: That`s right. And they do own several properties.

And we do want to remind everyone that police have not at all confirmed that there were shotgun fire on Saturday around that time. They have not

confirmed at all that there was any correlation, even if there was. But ironically, I will tell you that on Monday about 2:30 in the afternoon,

that is when Cosmo DiNardo was arrested for possessing a firearm when he should not possess one. And what it was, according to the probable cause

affidavit, it was a shotgun.

I want to go out right now to Julie Jones, who is the director for VK9 Scent Specific Search and Recovery. I have been studying, Julie, this

video from the scene because there are aerial shots -- as you can imagine, there are helicopters that are watching the digging that`s taking place on

this 90-acre farm. It`s a lot of corn. There`s trees, but there is one area -- and Julie, I really want you to hone in on this.

That`s a white tent right there, and I studied it so long today because I see a whole bunch of cement that`s over to the sides, right side. And then

inside, Julie, I would say it`s two feet deep at least that I saw them digging inside. Give us your assessment of what`s happening out there.

JULIE JONES, VK9 SCENT SPECIFIC SEARCH AND RECOVERY (via telephone): Well, the first thought was that it was freshly poured cement. They were looking

underneath there for body parts, for human remains. Obviously, they would be able to identify them fairly quickly because not much time has passed

since these young men went missing.

However, if they`re having to sift through dirt or something of that matter, it brings me to think that possibly the bodies, if they are indeed

there, could have been burned, and therefore, that`s why the authorities are sifting, trying to find small pieces of what would be left, as opposed

to visually seeing a full body that would have been under the cement.

CASAREZ: Right. And obviously, and you may have just said this, but if cement is freshly laid -- and remember -- and we are not correlating it at

all, but the DiNardo family, we have confirmed, owns a cement company. We see cement to the right of that tent. If, in fact, it`s freshly laid

cement, Julie, that`s obvious, right, because it can`t dry that fast.

JONES: Exactly. The color would be different. Everything about the way the cement would be formed would be different.

CASAREZ: Then what about all the cement blocks that I see that the heavy equipment has obviously taken up and put to the side? They`re in great big

-- they`re not crumbly at all. They`re just very big boulders out to the right. Does it dry enough in a short period of time that it would stay in

form?

JONES: You know, I`m not sure on that. I`m also wondering if there was any heavy equipment that could be there.

CASAREZ: Yes, it is there. The heavy equipment is there. Here`s my next question. Why are they digging two feet down? Why do they have to dig so

far down? And It looks like they`re struggling. I see instruments like getting down there and they just can`t get it up. I mean, wouldn`t it be

loosened soil?

JONES: No, not with having all of the heavy cement on top of it. It would pack it right down very hard.

CASAREZ: Interesting. Now, what about the white -- I call them hazmat suits. It may just to be cover clothing, but we see a lot of the people

that are actually doing the digging there have white overalls on, along with the blue booties. Is that for their protection and protection of any

evidence they find?

JONES: Yes, that would be -- if they had any apparatus on their faces, on their heads for breathing, I would really wonder if they were searching in

an area maybe where there could have been dead animals. If that was a working farm, maybe something of that nature could have been buried there.

[20:20:05]But if it`s just on their feet and on their legs, you know, there`s cement dust. There`s dirt. You know, there`s a lot of

contaminants, a lot of germs on that. And if they find anything at all or bodies, parts, bones, fragments, they don`t want that to leave on their

clothing when they go.

CASAREZ: And what do you think took them to this specific plot of land within the 90-plus acres? Do you think a cadaver dog or search dog hit on

that area?

JONES: They certainly could have. I think the thought of having the cement or the concrete there to begin with, that needed to be checked

underneath it or around it. So both of those in itself could certainly point to why they needed to search that particular area.

CASAREZ: All right. And there is the family home on that farm, and the search site that they are working on right now at this hour is close to

that home right next to the cornfields.

We`ve got a lot more on this. We`re going to stay on the top of this breaking news in the search for four missing men in Pennsylvania as new

clues and developments are revealed. We`ll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:25:40]CASAREZ: We continue to follow breaking news tonight in the search for the four missing young men near Philadelphia. My panel is back

with me.

I want to go to Stacey Newman, first of all. You know, Stacey, you`re there where the DiNardos have a home, but it`s all relatively close

together. The searchers continue to search in this weather. How hot is it there during the peak times of the day? Because they`re enduring very

difficult conditions to try to solve this missing persons case.

NEWMAN: I mean, it is so easy to get dehydrated. We`re on scene. It`s almost -- you know, it`s nighttime, and it`s very humid. It`s mid-80s.

This is a grueling search, and it really is a needle in a haystack.

And to be in these kinds of conditions, I think it`s going to add to the search in terms of time because I don`t see how you could be out there

searching more than maybe an hour or two at a time until you would need to regroup, rehydrate yourself, send more people back out. So I think they

need to have more people on the ground out there.

CASAREZ: You know, I think you`re exactly right. We do know that 40 to 50 people have been out there, including 40 cadets from the Montgomery County

police academy.

But we cannot forget these four young men that are missing, these young men that are just starting out their lives. Jimi Tar Patrick is the first

young man that went missing last Wednesday -- just gone. And it was only him. And it was his girlfriend that stopped getting texts from him, and

then he was reported missing.

But then it was on Friday that Dean Finocchiaro, 19 years old, was last seen, the very last time that he was ever seen. And then Tom Meo, and that

is whose car we learned today officially was in the possession of Cosmo DiNardo, but Tom Meo last seen on Friday, just graduated from high school

in 2014, gone, last seen on Friday, never seen again. His girlfriend said that all of a sudden, he just stopped texting her. And then Mark Sturgis

of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, 22 years old, also last seen on Friday.

The focus is these four young men, but the focus has become Cosmo DiNardo, who, not related to this disappearance, authorities are saying, but yet,

well, sort of kind of because he`s in possession of one of the cars of these young men.

Listen to the district attorney, Matthew Weintraub, at the press conference today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WEINTRAUB: We hope to get a very, very high bail on Cosmo DiNardo. We`re going to be present at his arraignment. I understand that that arraignment

will occur by video. He is currently in custody in Bensalem, but the arraignment, even though by video, will take place up the road at Cold

Spring Creamery Road and route 413, which is a few miles from here.

QUESTION: You got a million before. His old man -- his dad got him out. What are you going for here?

WEINTRAUB: I would consider him to be even more of a flight risk at this point. I don`t want to profess to know what the judge is going to set, but

I`d like it to be not a 10 percent bail, but rather a full cash bail.

QUESTION: What about the family? Are his parents cooperating with you guys?

WEINTRAUB: Which parents?

QUESTION: The parents of Cosmo.

WEINTRAUB: I don`t want to condemn them. This is their son. But we could use cooperation from whatever source. I`ll leave it at that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: Defense attorney Margie Mow, we now know that that bail set this afternoon for Cosmo DiNardo was actually $5 million cash bail for theft of

an auto and receiving stolen property. What does that tell you?

MARGIE MOW, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: That this is -- first of all, it`s excessive bail in violation of his 8th Amendment rights. And the problem is they

don`t have enough evidence to actually link Cosmo to any of the disappearances, and so they`re going on a fishing expedition.

They`re harassing him. They`re arresting him for acts that occurred in February. They release him on bail. Now they decide to arrest him for

receiving stolen property. If anything -- and if he were guilty of anything, it would be receiving stolen property, but we don`t have enough

evidence. I really think that the district attorney`s office is just taking this opportunity to harass this young man.

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN AND HLN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: And Margie, we`re looking at video right now. That is the only video that we have, but this is when

Cosmo DiNardo was being escorted into custody after being rearrested this afternoon on these charges of theft and receiving stolen property. Kirby

Clements, you`re a former prosecutor, do you think that the $5 million bail is unjustified or is there something that has just not been made public

yet?

KIRBY CLEMENTS, FORMER PROSECUTOR: First of all, this is a justified amount of bail. This man was found in possession of a shotgun with ammunition. He

has admitted to someone that he hunts deer. He shouldn`t have a gun at all. He`s a threat to the community. That`s the first point.

As to this fact that he is in possession of the vehicle of one of the people who is missing, not like he`s in possession and the man has been

missing for six months, the man just went missing and this man is trying to sell his vehicle, so that is an appropriate bail because he is a threat and

a danger to the community.

And also the likelihood that he would flee has now increased significantly because of that connection to the vehicle. I would suggest it might be more

that the D.A. is not letting us know about, but to find that he is trying to sell this car at this time does not bode well for the defendant in this

case.

CASAREZ: Kirby, I want to ask you, one of the charges that he was charged with this afternoon, Cosmo, is receiving stolen property. And the statute

reads -- the charging document reads that Cosmo intentionally received and retained movable property of another knowing that it has been stolen or

believing that it probably has been stolen. What does that tell you about the facts here?

CLEMENTS: Well, it tells you that, number one, everybody knows that the owner of that vehicle is missing. And this man has that car. And he`s

trying to sell it. So he can`t claim that he`s ignorant of all of the facts. He knows what`s going on.

So to have that car and then try to sell that car suggests that he knew it was stolen. He wanted to get rid of it and maybe get a little cash for the

vehicle. But it does show knowledge on his part about more than just that vehicle being stolen.

CASAREZ: And let me give you this fact according to the complaint. It says that the keys to the car and the title to the car were in a building on the

property of the 90-plus acre farm, on a hook, I think it says in the complaint, out of the car and the title had not been signed over to Cosmo

DiNardo.

We`re going to keep on this story because they are continuing at this hour to find the truth, find out what happened to these young men, in the search

for four missing men in Pennsylvania as new clues and developments are revealed. Stay with us. We`ll be right back.

[20:35:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATTHEW WEINTRAUB, BUCKS COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: We have not yet recovered any human remains that I can report, but we have recovered

several important pieces of evidence at this site that we`re currently working very hard on with the majority of our manpower and at other

locations. This is just really, really rough on everybody involved because of the heat, the magnitude, the scope, and the stakes are incredibly high,

life and death.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: And we were able to confirm with one of the family members, the father of one of the young men that has been missing, and the families, as

you can imagine, are taking a very low profile in this because they don`t know what happened, but he told us that there is a place on the property

where they are digging that they are allowing the families to stay, to be close to where they are even referred to as a vigil because the families

want to know what happened.

And you don`t find that every time they are in an alleged crime scene, to allow the families to be so close, but we do understand that that

consideration is there for these families. We do continue to follow this breaking news. I want to go out to -- tonight, the Julie Susan Coleman,

actually, who is the search expert, Julie Jones, who has been part of the search and recovery effort for so many, many on-site searches.

This is -- I want to ask you, first of all, this area that they are searching had a lot of cement that was taken up by heavy equipment

machines. Can a dog hit under cement?

JULIE JONES, DIRECTOR, VK9 SCENT SPECIFIC SEARCH & RECOVERY: Yes. There are some dogs that certainly can do that if they are trained for very

minute scent from human remains. A very minute scent versus if it was just a few feet under the ground.

CASAREZ: What about a ladder? I see a ladder. You see that right on the right-hand side of the screen. What is that for? Is that because they`re

digging so deep they need a ladder to get down to that level?

JONES: That`s what that looks like to me, Jean.

CASAREZ: Why would you have to -- why would you have to dig so deep? I mean, if the earth is so compacted, how did they believe that someone dug

so deep as to put evidence down there? Usually it`s shallow graves is what I`m trying to say, Julie.

JONES: Sure. Well, I`m just looking at the concrete that`s there. And possibly there were

[20:40:00] trucks or some sort of excavation that was done first maybe to put the bodies in with concrete poured afterwards. I don`t know. But there

does seem to be a lot of concrete that`s off to the side, which tells me that it was either piled up in pieces quite high or poured into a hole and

it`s very deep.

CASAREZ: Stacey Newman, you are right now in the neighborhood where the DiNardos have a home, and you were actually there this afternoon talking to

neighbors as Cosmo, you believe, was looking out the window and a maintenance person there actually knows what he looked like so recognized

him. What was it like when authorities came to take him into custody from inside that home?

STACEY NEWMAN, HLN PRODUCER: Well, you know, someone tips me off that within about an 1-1/2 hours to 2 hours after we left that area to go to the

search site, that detectives were back at the home. And there was an odd thing, the detectives were actually letting out the DiNardo family dogs.

And I was like, that is so strange. Well, it turns out they actually were arresting him.

And the source said they did not see him come out of the house with police, so the thought is, they took him out the back of the home and snuck him

into a car and took him out that way. Also, it was business as usual when I was there, which is also kind of strange. Their pool maintenance man was

there servicing the pool while Cosmo`s upstairs waving at us out of the window.

CASAREZ: Amazing, amazing. Susan Coleman, you are the neighbor to the 90- plus-acre farm that is being searched. What do you know? Have they solely focused on that one area that`s near the main home right next to the corn,

which is right next to a road but before all the forested trees. Has that been from the beginning where they have been searching?

SUSAN COLEMAN, LIVES NEAR SEARCH SITE: Yes. From the very beginning. We`ve had police helicopters overhead as well as news copters overhead for, you

know, going on three full days now.

CASAREZ: Amazing. How long do they search at night? Do they search until daylight has ended?

COLEMAN: Yes. That`s what it appears. They pretty much end the search at the end of the night. They may have actually been there until about 10:00

the other evening. But then they pick it up in the morning by 8:00 a.m.

CASAREZ: And what are people saying? I mean, what do people think happened?

COLEMAN: Well, you know, I`ve heard from a number of people today, different things that they`ve heard. But, you know, it would be

irresponsible for me to comment because I -- you know, I don`t know that any of that is gospel--

CASAREZ: Right. And I know that you heard shotgun -- a shotgun being fired on Saturday, late afternoon, early evening, mid-afternoon, actually.

COLEMAN: Yes.

CASAREZ: But they could be alive. Do people hold out hope that they will be found alive?

COLEMAN: You know, this is a tough one because I can tell you that the one person who is weighing heavy on my heart is Tom Meo because he`s a type 1

diabetic as am I, and I know that if they found his -- what they call the diabetic kit, which contains glucometer to check our blood and his insulin,

then, look, I mean, you know, just many days without it, it`s very, very grim.

CASAREZ: And that is what his family has been saying, that without that, he cannot survive, that diabetic kit. It was found in his car which was in the

possession, according to law enforcement and prosecutors of Cosmo DiNardo. All right. A mother of two working at the night shift at a motel is

ruthlessly gunned down in a robbery. Help police catch the killer before he strikes again.

[20:45:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CASAREZ: Police really need your help tonight. They are urgently trying to identify and catch the man responsible for gunning down a mother of two who

was working the night shift at a motel just outside of Los Angeles.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE MENDOZA, LIEUTENANT, LOS ANGELES COUNTY SHERIFF`S DEPARTMENT: The suspects entered the lobby and pointed a handgun at Michelle. He demanded

money, reached over the counter, and shot her as she stood behind the counter. After the shooting, the suspect ran west of the sidewalk in front

of the motel and out of view.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: Investigators say the shooter walked into the place, pulled out a gun, and demanded money from Michelle Chen. They released this video of the

moments leading up to the shooting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Money now! Money now!

MICHELLE CHEN, VICTIM: I don`t have. Sorry. Sorry.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Take off your chain! Take off your chain! You think I`m playing?

CHEN: No, I`m not.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Give me the chain. You want to die?

[20:50:00] Come here! On three, I`m going to let it go.

CHEN: Excuse me. I don`t have any money for you. I can do nothing for you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: This is so sad. And this video, it goes on, but that`s when she`s shot dead. Obviously, it has not been released. I want to bring in Ruby

Gonzales, a reporter for the San Gabriel Valley Tribune. This is just horrible. She`s all alone at that motel. What time did this happen?

RUBY GONZALES, SAN GABRIEL VALLEY TRIBUNE REPORTER: Around 11:00 p.m. on June 2nd.

CASAREZ: Around 11:00 p.m., so not even the middle of the night. Just explain to us exactly -- she`s the front desk agent. And this person just

walks in?

GONZALES: Yes. Actually, she`s been working for that motel for about the past six years and the last two have been as like a manager. So she`s

working the counter that night when this guy just walks in. You can see from the video, he just comes like barreling in and saying, you know, give

me the money and then pulls the gun and waves this plastic bag in her face.

CASAREZ: Oh, my goodness. We want to go to Joe Mendoza with the Los Angeles County Sheriff`s Department who is asking for anyone`s help because this

man is out there, and he could do the same thing to somebody else. Let`s go to Joe Mendoza to hear what he said at that press conference in Los

Angeles.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Any money taken?

MENDOZA: No, nothing was taken.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Any reason to believe he could be connected with anything else? Was there a spree in that part of the San Gabriel Valley?

MENDOZA: At this time we have found no connections.

GARY SLOAN, LOS ANGELES COUNTY SHERIFF`S DEPARTMENT DETECTIVE: As of right now we have absolutely no indication whatsoever that there is any gang

relation at all. However, it`s obvious that gang members tend to commit these types of crimes.

There has been absolutely no indication that this would be what we consider an inside job or any aspect of extortion. There was nothing leading up to

this with any of the owners of the property, the owner of the hotel. This was, in our belief, a random act.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: So Defense Attorney Margie Mow, nothing was taken. She didn`t have any money to be able to give this person. Why did he shoot her?

MOW: Well, I mean, to answer that question, you are really calling for speculation. I don`t know enough of the details. I don`t have enough

information. But I can tell you as a defense attorney, if they do arrest somebody, it is going to be difficult to prove identity because the only

person who could have really identified the shooter is now, unfortunately, deceased.

CASAREZ: Well, there is some video of a female that has nothing to do, authorities say, with this case at all, but she was leaving the front desk

area when this person was coming in. They can`t find her. They want to find her, to see if there`s any type of identifying mark she could give from

this person.

Because you`re right, he`s fully clothed in black to hide his identity right there. But Kirby Clements, if this goes to trial, prosecutors don`t

have to show motive, that is true, but jurors want to hear that. They want to know why, when nothing was taken, that this person had to shoot and kill

her.

CLEMENTS: It was just an execution, that`s why he shot her. He did sound a little bit like he may have been on drugs because of the way that he was

speaking. I don`t know that for a fact, but that`s how he sounded. But, she wasn`t giving in to his commands because she couldn`t give in to his

commands because she had no money, so he just punished her. He said, do you want to die? She didn`t give him what he wanted, and he shot her cold-

bloodedly execution style.

CASAREZ: You`re right. You`re exactly right, Kirby. And this woman has a family and she has a husband that spoke out pleading for justice. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARMANDO ESCANDOR, HUSBAND OF VICTIM: All I want is justice for my loving wife.

ARMANDO ESCANDOR JR., SON OF VICTIM: Please help us catch this man. All I want to tell this man, though, is why did you have to go too far? So far as

to take away an amazing woman from this world and from the lives of my family?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: And that was her husband and that was one of her sons. Ruby Gonzales, you are a reporter right there in the San Gabriel Valley area.

What are police saying? What are they doing to try to find justice for this family? And so there are not more victims.

GONZALES: Well, part of the reason why they released the video with the audio is because they wanted

[20:55:00] the public to recognize the voice of the suspect and the mannerisms, the way he moves. Because you can`t really see the face. So

they`re hoping that maybe by releasing the audio, people will know who this guy is. There was no get-away car seen. We don`t know if the guy lives

nearby or frequents that area. Valley Boulevard is a pretty busy street. There`s a lot of businesses there. This is one of the many motels along

that street.

CASAREZ: That`s a really good point. You can access that video yourself, so you can listen to that voice. And authorities are saying that any help that

you can give them to find justice and to arrest the person that, as Kirby Clements said, in cold blood murdered this woman would be appreciated for

all. We`ll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CASAREZ: Thank you for watching. I`m Jean Casarez. We`ll see you back here tomorrow night, 8:00 p.m. for "Primetime Justice." "Forensic Files" is up

next. Good night, everybody.

[21:00:00]

END