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PRIMETIME JUSTICE WITH ASHLEIGH BANFIELD
Nine-month-old Baby Found in the Street; Young College Student Found Dead in Her Classmate`s House; Hunt For Killer; Officials Investigate Fertility Clinic Failures; Drunk Bikini-Clad Coed Kills Baby And Dad; One More Thing. Aired 6-8p ET
Aired March 12, 2018 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[18:00:00] (JOINED IN PROGRESS)
ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, HOST, HLN: Hi, everybody, I`m Ashleigh Banfield. This is Crime and Justice.
The next time that you are stuck in a car with people you don`t like, maybe you will count your blessings because you are about to watch a grown man
being kidnapped by gang members and being taken for the kind of ride that most people do not survive.
But they grabbed the wrong guy. Because Brian Wallace, the victim, also goes by the name of Officer Brian Wallace. He`s a cop. And apparently, he`s
pretty bad ass. Officer Wallace smelled pot when he pulled these guys over for driving through a red light. And it was just after he patted down the
driver that the driver decided instead he was going to make a run for it.
Wallace called for backup and then chased that driver right back to his car seat. At which point the driver decided to drag Officer Wallace right
inside the suspect`s car. The second cop arrives just in time to help him wrestle with the perps in the driver`s seat, but neither of them would
remain standing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He`s in the car.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: You have got to wonder what happens when you drive off with an officer stuffed into your front seat. But according to Officer Wallace, it
was a continuous fight for his life in there. Pinned at the arm, wrestling with that driver, the whole time the car door is opened wide and swinging
wildly and the speeds went up over 70 miles an hour on a crowded Georgia freeway.
This chase ended up taking a turn down a dirt road. And you`re going to see that that was the escape plan at least for one of the suspects in that
vehicle. It`s tricky to see through that window but watch for it out the right-hand side. He`s going to jump out.
There was one thing that these criminals did not count on in taking this route, and that`s that the dirt road actually ends up turning into a river
of mud.
That mud road was a welcome mistake for Officer Wallace, who had spent that entire time fighting the driver behind the wheel, and the whole time he did
not realize there were guns in that car.
Now the three Michigan allege criminals are in jail and facing a whole slew of charges for the laundry list of crimes committed in the State of
Georgia.
Let me take you to Miami now, where another criminal didn`t get a chance to run away. The alleged hit-and-run driver who did little more than hit-and-
run, because the people who witnessed him crash into multiple cars refused to let him get away. It`s amazing video. They took justice into their own
hands and they also took a hammer into their own hands.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don`t let him out. Don`t let him out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, stay inside.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: Yes, that was hammer and, yes, that driver is still speeding off. But police did catch up with him down the road and found that he was
high on narcotics, they say. And now he is facing some very serious charges, not just the narcotics.
It was another shocking site on the road in upstate New York this weekend, but this victim was completely helpless. This victim stood no chance on his
own because this victim was just nine months old.
And this is how he was found. Crawling down the street on a Friday night. Drivers had to actually hit their brakes to avoid hitting this little baby.
And you are about to hear their reaction when they got out of their cars. And you`re also going to hear the reaction of the one adult who was
responsible for that little baby.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What`s the matter? You are OK. Did you call 911?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can call 911.
[18:05:05] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, Dominic, I got a blanket in the back of the car.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dominic, I got a blanket in the car. You`re OK.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Man. Damn. Baby in the street. This is what we do in Utica now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you call 911?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. I`m calling now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You didn`t call them?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`m calling now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Damn now. Man. This is what we do now. Baby in the street. That`s what people do now, you feel me? Leaving their kids in the
street.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was driving and...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That`s my baby. That`s my baby. That`s my baby. That`s my baby. That`s my baby. My God. My God. My God. Is he OK?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: You may sigh right along with that man, that`s my baby, that`s my baby. Even if you know the trauma of losing track of your child, because
Ledrika Ford told police that she doesn`t even know how that baby got away from her. And he simply just disappeared from the back seat of the car that
she was in, blocks away. And thankfully, somehow, that little baby boy is fine. Mom, Ledrika, not so much. Because mom is now facing charges for
endangering the welfare of a little tiny nine-month-old baby boy. That boy on video.
With me now is Bill Keeler, host of Keeler in the Morning on WIBX 950. Bill, how did the baby ends up in the middle of the street with mom nowhere
to be seen?
BILL KEELER, HOST, KEELER IN THE MORNING, WIBX 950: Well, I got to say, I`m a parent of three. And I never had a situation where a baby that age
gets out of the car seat, was strapped in, gets out of the car and we didn`t know it happened. It just is the craziest story I ever heard. The
story she gives doesn`t make sense.
BANFIELD: And this is the story that Ledrika Ford gave to police. I strapped him in the car seat and then several blocks away looked around and
he just wasn`t there. Somehow he got out of the car seat, opened the door of the car, got out of the car, closed the door of the car. Is that what we
are supposed to believe in this scenario?
KEELER: It smells like there is more to this, obviously, it just couldn`t happen. And then let`s not forget the fact that this is upstate New York in
the winter time. There is snow, if you look at that video, you see snow out in the streets. It is just terrible. Her story makes zero sense.
BANFIELD: So at the time this happened it was what, 7.30 at night that the video was taken. The video that you are seeing right now at 7.30 at night.
We are told that the high, the high temperature for that location in Utica was 34 degrees and the low is 25.
Do we have any idea how long that baby was lying on the pavement except for the clue of all that fit that was on the pavement that might tell you that
it was at least, at the very least maybe several minutes, because it would take a while to make a stain that big.
KEELER: I can`t imagine. I mean, if you`ve ever gotten out in the winter time to change your tire, you get down on the ground, it`s cold. It had to
be about 25, 28 degrees. Imagine what it`s like for an adult, but for a baby to go through this. And what are the chances that someone actually saw
this child before God forbid a car comes by and didn`t the child.
BANFIELD: Well, and let`s just note what that baby is wearing, and it`s almost nothing. It`s just sleepers, no jacket, no other clothing, nothing
in freezing temperatures for God knows how long.
And about those people videotaping this, what do we know about the people who saw the baby. The people who stopped. The people who picked up the baby
and the people who videotaped it and put it on Facebook.
KEELER: I know nothing of them. Although, I`m told we might have someone that`s coming on the radio tomorrow morning, but I can tell you this, it at
the very least shows that these people are compassionate. It is typical upstate New York.
The man if you hear in the video seemed incredibly worried about the child. And then you see the young kid saying is this what we have become in Utica?
Babies out in the street.
BANFIELD: Yes.
KEELER: Ultimately, though, it ends up on Facebook, that`s interesting in its own right I guess.
BANFIELD: So I want to read that Facebook post, in fact, because the person who posted it wrote something as what seemed like the rationale for
posting this. And this is what I guess RNJ wrote. That`s how you say that the poster`s name. "I want everyone to see this all over the media. So
please share this around so whenever that mother comes across this, she can see that the pain of that little lost baby who was freezing and lonely and
scared because she wasn`t there."
[18:09:59] I want to bring in Lieutenant Bryan Coromato, the PIO for the Utica Police Department. Lieutenant, it seems so preposterous, the story
that we`re hearing this mother tell. She strapped the baby in, she drove away and then noticed the baby just was not in the back seat anymore and
these men found this.
Are you -- are you hearing or learning anything else to this story that might make sense?
BRYAN COROMATO, PIO, UTICA POLICE DEPARTMENT: Not really. Obviously, absolutely I do not believe that that`s the case here and there are several
lies being told off. But as always, we continue to investigate and try to hopefully find out the truth here of how this even occurred, obviously
looking for video evidence in the area, seeing if people will come forward if they did seen anything. But you know, as far as -- as far as the story
goes we don`t know.
(CROSSTALK)
BANFIELD: So, Ms. Ledrika Ford, lieutenant.
COROMATO: Yes?
BANFIELD: I`m so sorry for interrupting. But Ledrika Ford was only ticketed on that night. She wasn`t locked up. The kids were not immediately
taken away. That took until the next afternoon.
I`m just curious as to what the, what was the process upon the police finding out even about this. Because even though we heard people on the
video saying, you know, "did you call 911?"
The video is taken at 7.30 at night. It`s posted at 9.45 at night. And the 911 call is from someone who saw it online at 10.30 three hours later. The
whole thing seems like it`s crazy that those people who were there and took the video didn`t call 911 themselves.
COROMATO: Yes. We did not receive a 911 call at the time of the incident. It did take too about 10.30 before our office was notified of it. And I
just crossed to watch the video and then kind of backtrack to, you know, who the baby was, and who the mother was, and who we needed to talk to at
that point. So it did take -- it did take until about 2 to 3 o`clock in the morning before we actually located the baby and the mother.
BANFIELD: But why was the -- why was the baby allowed to say in the mother`s custody that night. And by the way, I should let our audience
know, she had three others, a 5-year-old, a 2-year-old, and a 1-year-old that will be 2 in April. Nothing happened that night. Why is that?
COROMATO: Well, once she was located and the baby was located, you know, at the urgency of our supervisors that was on scene that the baby be kept
out of the hospital, she was brought to the hospital with the baby to be evaluated, which took some time. And also we had to call out to Child
Protective Services for our county for them to begin their investigation.
So, it just was time worked out, and there was three other babies that needed to be watched that were being watched by a relative. We figured that
charging her with a -- by bringing her in wasn`t going to help the situation. So she was issued a ticket. And she ultimately has to report to
our city court.
BANFIELD: So I want to show some of the video of Ledrika outside of her home the next day. This is after Child Protective Services took those other
children and this little baby away. If we can roll that video. That`s sort of it. If there is going to be any justice in this matter at this point,
interim justice, it`s that at least those little children -- you can hear her wailing. She is obviously very upset about it. But understandably, so
is the rest of that community.
Randy Zelin, really quickly, defense attorney, I am reading that this endangering the welfare of a child is like worth nothing, it`s worth one
year max in prison if you even get that, three years probation. That to me looks just like a hugely egregious crime.
RANDY ZELIN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, from where I sit, I say to myself, OK, it`s a crime. And a year in jail is a year in jail, but for me, I`m
going to say that I think that the police may have jumped the gun, because if you put aside her crazy explanation, all you have is a child in the
street endangering is a crime which means there`s got to be knowledge and there has to be intent.
There could be a crazy story but nothing that rises to the level of criminality. That`s why you have family court and neglect proceedings. To
me, it almost feels as if, if you look at the condition of the child, thank God the child look healthy, was dressed in like going to sleep. Did not
look...
(CROSSTALK)
BANFIELD: Suffering. Suffering.
ZELIN: ... there were no signs of any injuries, there were no sign of neglect. I think the mother`s reaction was consistent with someone who may
have screwed up horribly but wasn`t necessarily an abusive mother. The child was released from the hospital.
BANFIELD: We`ll see. Because, you know, what the lieutenant says we think someone is lying in this story. I mean, the story seems preposterous. I
don`t know how you slice it, but a nine-month-old can never get out of a car seat on his or her own, open a door to a car and get out. Maybe you`re
right. Maybe there is some explanation but it seems pretty farfetched.
For now, I have to leave it there. We`ll continue to watch that story. Also, I want to take you to Austin tonight. Police there surrounding -- or
sounding the alarm about a series of random bombings that have killed two people, and left two others seriously injured.
[18:15:03] They say that there were three explosions and that they`re linked and that people need to be on high alert about this.
Today alone, there were two blasts. The first one happened early this morning. Police believe a package was placed on the front porch of a home
overnight, waiting for it to be found in the morning. The second was just a few hours later in a neighborhood close by. But police say none of the
packages were delivered by the postal service or UPS or FedEx or any other kind of delivery system.
At this point grave concern, they`re really worried and they`re strongly urging people to be on the lookout for suspicious packages and to contact
the authorities immediately and they`re also warning thousands of visitors in town for south by southwest which is the festival there to be on high
alert. I mean, really just shocking, three different packages exploding in that Austin area. So if are you in that area, be exceptionally careful.
Tonight the international search is on, international for a 22-year-old nursing student whose stunning former Fling was reportedly just found dead
in his apartment and that`s hours after he hopped on a plane and flew out of the country.
I want to let you know also, you can you listen to our show any time. Download our podcasts on Apple podcasts to iHeartradio stitcher tune in or
wherever you get your podcast for your Crime and Justice fix.
[18:20:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: College students across the countries will tell you that their programs are tight-knit. You study together, you eat together, you live
together, and sometimes you hook with your classmates.
Friends of Haley Anderson say that is all that was supposed to happen between this stunning 22-year-old nursing student and a male classmate
named Orlando Tercero who was also in her program.
But tonight it seems possible that far more went down. Because tonight, Haley is dead. And she was reportedly found dead in his home just hours
after he left the country.
The officers who discovered her body are being very clear that he is not yet a suspect in the case, but they are saying that they`d like to talk to
him and they`re saying that Haley was killed. A girl who was adored by everyone who knew her and who is being warned by many more who didn`t.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am so sorry. It`s just the bottom fell out.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She was literally like the greatest person ever. She never like didn`t have a smile on her face.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: I want to bring in Tyler Brown, a reporter for CNN affiliate WBNG. Tyler, this is a very mysterious story. We have a young woman dead in
a man`s apartment, but that man is nowhere to be found, apparently having decided instead within the time that she went missing and was found dead
all of about a day-and-a-half or two to fly to Nicaragua.
What is the story about Orlando Tercero and his travels?
TYLER BROWN, REPORTER, CNN AFFILIATE WBNG: All I know, Ashleigh, so far all we know is that he and -- excuse me. We know that he and Haley have had
a romantic relationship. I`ve talked to friends of Haley. They have been telling me that they had no suspicion that Haley was in any sort of danger.
They had no idea that this could ever happen to such a girl who was beloved by everyone as you said earlier.
Haley was a nursing student who just loved people and loved to be around people. Nobody saw this coming. Right now, we don`t really know too much
about Orlando Tercero except that he happens to be in a relationship with her. We don`t know if they were still in a relationship before she passed.
And he fled off hours before they found her body. And so that is a big question mark. We want to know what happened in between those hours.
BANFIELD: I so will say this about our reporting today that we did speak at length with Mishela Topalli, a very good friend and a house mate of
Haley Anderson. She was going to join us tonight. But she`s just so distraught over all of this. She was not able to join us. But I will tell
you some of the things she mentioned to us about Orlando Tercero.
And I don`t know if I`m pronouncing that right but I can`t ask him because he isn`t here. He`s in Nicaragua. And I`ll get into that whole deal in a
moment. Because the United States had extradition treaties with Nicaragua, if we`re going that route. But it is not as easy as it sounds.
For starters, the relationships, according to Haley`s friend, Mishela, was platonic and that was it. This poor victim`s friend says that apparently
Orlando wanted it to be much, much more than platonic but Haley put on a whole lot of brakes and made it a friendship instead and insisted that it
was a friendship instead.
Apparently, Haley was last seen on Wednesday night because Mishela and the house mates and Haley were all having fun playing cards together, and board
games, having a little wine. And then when they tried to reach Haley the next day, no answer. And that`s odd for Haley. Because Haley was always on
her phone, and so, those friends called the police right away.
[18:25:15] I mean, it was just a matter of hours from the last time that they`ve seen her Wednesday night, but by Thursday morning, they were
calling the police and saying we need to -- we need to find out what`s wrong, and then they found Haley, unfortunately, they found her body in the
home of Orlando Tercero.
So that`s sort of the where, and the why, and how we got to this brown shingled home in Binghamton, New York, surrounded by officers, and snow,
and a lot of mystery. But at this point timer, Tyler, what`s the deal with not calling Orlando a suspect? Why is he not even a person -- I mean, all
they`re saying is that they`d like to ask him some questions. It seems -- it seems farther along than that. She`s in his home dead.
BROWN: You are absolutely right, Ashleigh. They are -- they are wanting to talk to him. Right now they haven`t really specified as to why exactly they
haven`t called him a main suspect at this point, the fact that they haven`t tied it to him. I think they`re looking for more evidence in the case.
Because so far the questions we don`t -- the questions we don`t have answered right now is how exactly she died. And right now I think they`re
trying to just piece those together to make sure they have exactly who they want.
But you are absolutely right, Ashleigh. He is definitely being the main suspect. It`s very suspicious that he just happened to flee the country
hours before her body was even found and right now I think they`re just trying to make sure they have all the pieces together before they, in fact,
move in on and go even further to try to arrest, if they be as he is the main suspect.
BANFIELD: This young woman on the left-hand side of your screen, Haley Anderson, she obviously made a huge impact on everybody, on those house
mates, on her friends at school, even her former neighbors are just sort of in another state of shock about the news that Haley away at college in a
nursing program is now in the headlines as a murder victim.
Have a listen to what one of the neighbors said about Haley.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I`m still shocked. I couldn`t sleep since last night. You know, it is devastating. It`s sad. There is no word to describe how we
feel.
Amazing, smart, and happy and friendly and sweet. We cannot accept. It`s crazy. I am heartbroken.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: I want to bring if CNN law enforcement contributor Steve Moore, he`s a former FBI agent and investigator. Steve, you would probably know
the tricks of the trade better than I do. I think it`s odd that this young man, Orlando Tercero, whose home this dead woman was found in is not being
called a suspect and a young man who decided to coincidentally fly off to Nicaragua within hours of this young woman being found dead, why is it
they`re not calling him a suspect and what exactly do you think investigators are doing at right this moment?
STEVE MOORE, LAW ENFORCEMENT CONTRIBUTOR, CNN: Well, they can say all they want that he is not a suspect. But he is the suspect right now. They`ve
some people making sure that they`re on the right track, if they`re good investigators. They don`t just take the obvious points at face value and
say well, we`ve solved the case.
But at the same time, the fact that she was in his apartment. He left. I mean, come on. So, what they`re trying to do right now is work with the
Nicaraguans, almost certainly, and one of the things they don`t want to say is immediate say, by the way, if we get your citizen over here, he`s a dead
man. We`re going to convict him, and all this kind of stuff.
You want to give the Nicaraguans the strongest belief that he will have a fair trial, and so you don`t want this tried in the press by the police.
You certainly want them telling the Nicaraguans that it`s in their best interest to abide by the treaty that we have.
BANFIELD: A good point. Which brings me to Randy Zelin. Because Randy, we do have a treaty with Nicaragua. We are supposed to have these treaties for
this exact reason. Send us back our guys who might be running away from the law. But things don`t go as well with the Nicaraguans as it turns out,
what`s the story?
ZELIN: There are quite a few countries where it doesn`t go well. Remember something. A treaty is a contract. It`s an agreement. And an agreement and
a contract is only as good as the people on either side of the agreement. If I want to honor my deal with you, so good. But if I don`t, hey, the
Nicaraguans notwithstanding the fact that the treaty goes back to 1905.
They`re very selective. And we`ll give them, we won`t give them. We`re not going to give you. We`re not going to give you a national. We won`t give
you one of ours.
BANFIELD: Yes.
ZELIN: But they did in 2013 turnover Eric Toth, who was a child pornographer. So it`s not as if they never do, but there are two important
points to be made here.
(CROSSTALK)
BANFIELD: Be quick because I want people to know that Tercero was a U.S. citizen.
[18:30:00] ZELIN: Sure. Just -- just because a woman is found dead in my house, the prosecutor is not going to get up there in an opening statement,
ladies and gentlemen, here`s my proof. She was found in Randy`s house, convict him of murder. Never get convicted. And he`ll never come back. The
Nicaraguans -- he`s right, the investigator is right. They`ll never turn him over. He`s already our guy.
BANFIELD: Well, I`m waiting to find out if that`s who they even want in the first place because they are not saying so right now. He`s not even a
person of interest and he`s not a suspect, but I`m interested. As Steve Moore puts it, don`t be so sure.
Thank you, Steve. Thank you Tyler Brown. Randy, stick around if you will.
It is hard enough to get pregnant. But for some couples, it just got a lot more complicated. Investigators are now trying to figure out how two
different fertility clinics reportedly went through systems failures, unrelated, this weekend.
Officials in Cleveland saying more than 2,000 frozen eggs and embryos were compromised after a malfunction caused temperatures to drop in the freezers
where they were stored. Representative confirmed that some tissues were impacted, but that rep says it`s going to take some time to determine the
viability of all of those eggs and embryos of hopeful parents.
And then the other case, in San Francisco, again, unrelated. Officials at the Pacific Fertility Center say a piece of equipment in the cryo-storage
lost nitrogen for a brief period last week. The tissues were quickly transferred to another storage unit. We are told that it was known at this
time how or if those tissues were affected.
There is outrage in Texas tonight after a college coed hears her sentences, plural, for a drunk driving accident that killed a father and his unborn
son, and provided this bikini video of her field sobriety test. It is possible that the woman you see there could actually be out of prison
before she has her 30th birthday party.
[18:35:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: Some newlyweds have a picture perfect love story. Fabian and Kristian Guerrero Avian and Kristen Guerrero sure did. Look at the picture.
Amazing. High school sweethearts. You can almost tell, right? They were really just madly in love and they were just about to have their first
child, just days away from finding out whether they`d be parents of a boy or a girl.
It turns out it was a boy, a boy that they were planning to name after his dad, but that baby would never make it, because the same day that Fabian
and Kristian decided to go out for a celebratory meal, this young woman, Shana Elliott, was also out on the roadway.
Twenty-one-years-old, college girl, spent all day drinking on the river. And she did not even change out of her bikini when she decided to get
behind the wheel, hopped into the driver`s seat, and ran straight into their car head first. We now know she was over twice the legal limit, but
what she told a police officer was that she, quote, only had a couple of beers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHANA ELLIOTT, PLEADED GUILTY TO INTOXICATION MANSLAUGHTER: One thousand eleven, one thousand twelve, one thousand thirteen, one thousand fourteen,
one thousand fifteen, one thousand sixteen, one thousand seventeen, one thousand eighteen, one thousand nineteen, one thousand twenty, one thousand
twenty-one, one thousand twenty-two, one thousand twenty-three, one thousand twenty-four.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, pause.
ELLIOTT: I can do it over. I can do it over.
BANFIELD (voice over): Well, not long after that counting fiasco, Shana Elliott gets the cuffs and she starts to make a statement. She was still
saying that in court this week, too.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`re going to go to the hospital real quick and make sure you`re OK.
ELLIOTT: No, I don`t want to. Just take me to f-ing jail, please.
BANFIELD (voice over): And off to f-ing jail Shana goes, although not for long, as some had hoped. She is potentially at the trial now looking at
just seven years, when she could have spent the next 50 behind bars for what happened.
Baby and dad both died. She is paying, I guess, you could say some kind of price for what she did behind the wheel. She is facing the sole survivor of
the family that she killed and that would be the mom.
KRISTIAN GUERRERO, VICTIM: You`re a murderer and a thief. You stole my life. I`m sure you and I have both wished that it was you that day instead
of them. The least you can do is sit in jail, not just so you can learn from what you`ve done, but so no other family has to know you like I know
you. I don`t buy your crocodile tears or the sweet little innocent girl they try to portray you to be. You`re a monster.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: Crocodile tears or real tears.
[18:40:00] Seven years for one count of intoxication manslaughter. Seven years for a second count of intoxication manslaughter. And for the charge
of intoxication assault, 10 years probation.
Now, the big question is, seven years concurrently, meaning seven years together or seven years consecutively, which means 14, and that is going to
be up to the judge.
With me now, Houston Forward Times associate editor Jeffrey Boney. Jeffrey, what is the judge going to do? Do we have any clue whether she will get
seven or 14?
JEFFREY BONEY, ASSOCIATE EDITOR, HOUSTON FORWARD TIMES (via telephone): We really don`t know, Ashleigh, what the judge is going to do, but we know
that he plans to decide whether to stack these sentences together as far as concurrently or give her 14 years. Whatever the case may be, she could be
out of prison by the time she`s 30 years of age.
BANFIELD: Yes, I think she`s only 22 right now. So here`s a question, unless you sat in that courtroom and listened to every moment of the trial
and testimony, there was a moment where Shana Elliott said to the police, you better go theft those two over there. They were drinking at the river,
too. In fact, I saw the lady doing shots. Now, I`m paraphrasing what she said.
That is exactly the essence of what she said to the cops, that the people that she plowed into were at the river where she was drinking, where she
was doing shots, where she was hauling on a whiskey bottle all afternoon. She was telling the officer to go check their blood alcohol level because
they were at the river. And the pregnant lady, five months pregnant, she was doing shots.
So, Jeffrey, the question I have is if I`m a juror and I`m looking over there and I think there but the grace of God go I, we all make terrible
decisions, and she just made that terrible decision. She never planned to kill anybody. But after she saw what happened, she decided to blame the
victim. And I`m shocked that it`s only seven years for each charge. Where am I wrong?
BONEY (via telephone): Yes, I think a lot of people are disturbed by this precedent-setting juror`s decision to just give her seven years for each
count.
I think that what they were trying to do and I`m just thinking based off of what the prosecution argument -- excuse me the defense argument was that
she immediately started to feel remorse at the scene, saying, oh my God, I wish it was me.
And she continued with this narrative. And of course, that`s what they were pushing as they were trying to seek to get only probation for the crime.
BANFIELD: Remorse? Are you kidding me? A young woman who looks at a wreck like that and sees these people who are destroyed, right at that moment,
she blames them and makes up a story about them being at the river. They were nowhere near the river. They were -- and, Kristian, the surviving
woman hadn`t had a drop, she was five months pregnant.
Then later from her jail cell, she says on a recorded phone conversation something about, oh, those victims were in a cartel of some kind. So
remorse? I have a tough time believing in any kind of remorse.
By the way, here`s a quick moment from the trial, where if you are wondering how much she actually drank, the prosecutor hauls up the bottle
of whiskey and shows how much of it was gone and shows it right to her. Take a look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice over): Do you remember how much you had to drink at the river?
ELLIOTT: Enough to be intoxicated.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice over): That bottle that`s, I believe, states exhibit number 24. Did you take that to the river with you?
ELLIOTT: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice over): Do you remember about how full it was when you went down there?
ELLIOTT: It was a full bottle.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`m showing you what previously entered as state`s exhibit number 24. Would you agree to me that`s about a fourth full now?
ELLIOTT: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. And would you agree with me that it`s 1.5 liters on the label?
ELLIOTT: Yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: So, do we have any indication of how ugly that courtroom got, Jeffrey, when all that other stuff came out, like her accusing her victims
of being in a cartel, her saying to a police officer, check their blood alcohol levels, they were at the river drinking, do we have any idea how
the injury responded to that?
BONEY (via telephone): Yes. You know, the jury was focused on the details. They weren`t really showing a tremendous amount of emotion. But, however, I
think that when you start to see after the verdict and you start to see Kristian Guerrero, victim impact statement, and how she -- basically she
let out front (ph).
She was like, I`m not trying to hear you. She put all of her emotions out front and center and said, you know, you are not remorseful. I don`t
believe your crocodile tears. You`re playing everybody`s emotions. I had a troubled childhood as well, but I didn`t go out and do the things that you
are doing. And she didn`t believe that her remorse was sincere.
[18:44:57] So it`s kind of challenging to understand, especially when you look at the various phone calls that were made from prison where she was
laughing four days after the accident.
BANFIELD: Yes. lots of remorse there, right, Jeffrey? Lots of remorse there. I was interested when she said from the stand, Kristian, the victim,
said in her victim`s impact statement, I feel sorry for you, that your friends don`t care about you enough. They don`t want you to live enough,
that they wouldn`t have stopped you from drinking and driving in the condition you were in.
And that young woman walking away from the stand right there, she lost the man of her dreams and his baby. So that`s it for her. She`ll never have
that family. She`ll never have that man. She`ll never have their child.
Jeffrey, stick around for a moment because seven years on each count, the jury does not know whether they`re going to be seven and seven, 14, or
whether they`re going to be seven together, meaning seven. Randy Zelin is going to tell us about that in a moment. Stick around.
[18:50:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: When you`re 22 years old, seven years might seem like an eternity. Especially if it`s spent behind bars. But seven years is nothing.
Especially if you`re facing 50 behind bars. And 22-year-old Shana Elliott may have just gotten a whopping break because a jury sentenced her to just
seven years in jail for each of the lives that she took the day that she decided to drive smashed.
She hopped behind the wheel in her bikini after a day on the river drinking and then ran head first into another car, seriously hurting Kristian
Guerrero, killing her high school sweetheart and her husband, and then killing her unborn baby as well. And, boy, did Kristian let loose on that
killer in court.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GUERRERO: Not to hold him. I can`t look at him.
(CRYING)
GUERRERO: I will always want him back. And this will always hurt.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: Defense Attorney Randy Zelin is back with me. Does the jury get to know if they choose seven years for one of the deaths and seven years
for the other death, that it will make maybe 14, but it could also make seven if she serves both of those together? Or do they think seven for
both, and that should do it?
ZELIN: This whole thing is so bizarre, because typically jurors don`t get involved in punishment. They don`t get involved in sentencing. That`s the
judge.
BANFIELD: But this is Texas.
ZELIN: So here -- yes, but in Texas they allow it. But my understanding is, no, the jury just says the seven, and they say the seven, and then as a
matter of law, it will be up to the judge to decide whether or not they should be stacked one on top of another, which is consecutive, which means
14, or they run together on the same -- on parallel tracks which is concurrent time which is seven.
BANFIELD: So if they wanted her to serve 14 years for this abomination, driving in her bikini after a day on the river, drinking three quarters of
a bottle of whiskey and slamming into Kristian and her husband and killing her husband and her unborn baby, if they wanted her to serve 14, they would
have had to give her 14, they couldn`t possibly know that the seven and seven might not add up?
ZELIN: Correct.
BANFIELD: Is this sentence to her a gift? Even if it`s 14, because she could have served 50.
ZELIN: Yes, and we know that because, again, this is lost in all of this, why would you go to trial, let alone take the stand, and then say, I did
it? It was all a matter of strategy. I can assure you, the plea negotiations and what the state`s attorney wanted in exchange for a guilty
plea were too onerous.
You cut the prosecutor out. You go to trial. You get on the stand and you say, "I did it." The judge looks at you and say, that`s an acceptance of
responsibility. I`ll cut you a break on sentencing.
BANFIELD: So yes or no question, this is not worth appealing for her, is it?
ZELIN: No.
BANFIELD: She`s lucky. Out by 30. Enough for a big birthday party. Randy Zelin, thank you for that.
If I have said this once, I have said it a thousand times. Bad guys generally aren`t the smartest, you know, guys around. And as you can see
from this Marx brothers routine, not always easy to steal some gum.
[18:55:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: One more thing for you tonight. Sacramento police are searching for this fella after he broke into an animal shelter in order to steal the
gumball machine. I cannot make this up. Problem is, he couldn`t figure out how to get it out the door. Kick it down? No. Use the gumball machine as a
battering ram? No. Maybe try to drag the gumball machine through the doggy door? No.
Eventually, he did get the gumball machine out. But in order to keep his big score, he had to throw it over a fence, it sort of gives the phrase
fencing the goods an entirely different meaning. And P.S., he didn`t get all the gum. What a jerk!
Honestly, it`s an animal shelter for God`s sake. Some people`s kids. Next hour of "Crime and Justice" starts right now.
Good everybody, everyone. I`m Ashleigh Banfield. Welcome to the second hour of Crime & Justice.
Plenty of clever high schoolers know how to sign themselves out of school. You fake a doctor`s note. You forge you parent`s signature.
It`s not usually other adults, however, signing kids out who are not their own, but in Allentown, Pennsylvania, it`s exactly what police say has
happened, because that`s where a 16-year-old girl named Amy Yu was reportedly signed out of school 10 different times by a man who is not her
family member. In fact, he`s her friend`s father, a married man, father of four posing as her stepdad. And now, both he and Amy have vanished.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN YU, AMY YU`s BROTHER: She left.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What do you mean, she left?
YU: She just walked out. She just went somewhere. My mom was upset and I was upset also. I feel mad.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why mad?
YU: Because what her actions did and what her like what he did.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: What he did according to investigators is sign Amy out, like I said, 10 different times between November 19th and February 9th. When her
mom then actually figured it out and called the police and they were in on the game here, he was then told, stay away from Amy. And the school was
alerted, too.
But now, according to Kevin`s own wife, he has taken $4,000 out of the bank. He`s taken some personal documents along, and he made off with their
red Honda, too.
For Amy`s part, her mom said Amy took jewelry and money and personal documents including her passport. But all Amy`s mom wants tonight is for
her daughter to come home.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MUI LUU: (inaudible).
YU: Please come back. She needs to come back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: With me now is Solomon Jones, morning host on Praise 107.9 FM. Solomon, where was the last point that Amy was seen, because he wasn`t
allowed to take her out of school anymore so she must have disappeared from somewhere else.
SOLOMON JONES, HOST PRAISE 107.9 FM: Right. The two were last seen together, they were near Amy`s home. It was on Monday around 7:09 AM on, I
believe, 13th Street in Allentown. And after that, they disappeared. Nobody saw them after that.
BANFIELD: So, possibly she was taken from the bus stop. Presumably she left her home like any other morning, headed for school, and then that was
it. But what is this very weird story about Kevin Esterly and the connection between Kevin and Amy and particularly Kevin`s family and Amy?
JONES: Yes. Apparently, Kevin`s child was friends with Amy and apparently that`s how the two of them met, he`s a father of four. But he`s had some
trouble over the years, I mean, he`s had some criminal cases against him dismissed. He`s had some small claims against him in court. He`s
apparently some kind of contractor so it might be connected to that.
But the children are friends. He connects with Amy in that way. And apparently, the two of them planned what they were going to do, because as
you mentioned, he did take that $4,000 out of his wife`s bank account. Amy also took some personal documents and some jewelry, so they must have
planned to have some money, some things that they could use in order to survive.
BANFIELD: That`s not going to get you very far, that`s for sure, especially if you`re trying to stay under the radar in this country.
JONES: Not at all.
BANFIELD: So, real quickly, Amy apparently has been on family vacations with Kevin and his family. He`s got four children, one of whom like you
said, Solomon, is her friend. They apparently met at church. And Amy`s mom has said apparently that she has discovered text messages in the
hundreds between Amy and this father of four, and they are romantic. Do you know anything more about the communication, Solomon?
JONES: I don`t know what`s in those text messages, but I do know that the two of them had this secretive relationship according to court documents
and according to what police say. Now, police say that the two of them are in some kind of danger. We don`t know what that is because the police
aren`t saying anything more than that.
But apparently this secretive relationship has led to her telling school officials apparently that he was her stepfather and forging the document in
order for him to be able to take her out 10 times between November and February.
[19:05:00]
BANFIELD: Well, I`ll tell you what, nobody had any suspicions it seemed that this guy was a bad guy. I mean, if you ask Amy`s family, they really
liked him. In fact, her brother, John Yu, had this to say about Kevin Esterly, of course, before Kevin Esterly and Amy somehow vanished together.
Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
YU: She left.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What do you mean she left?
YU: She just walked out. She just went somewhere. My mom was upset and I was upset also. I feel mad.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why mad?
YU: Because what her actions did and what her like what he did.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: They thought he was a nice guy up until all of this. I want to bring in Steve Moore, a CNN law enforcement contributor. He`s also a
former FBI agent and investigator.
So, Steve, you got something to go on if you`re law enforcement trying to track this pair wherever they may have gone from Allentown, Pennsylvania in
the last couple of days. They`ve got the 1999 red Honda Accord, it`s a two-door, the plate is Pennsylvania KLT 0529, where do you go from there,
though?
STEVE MOORE, CNN LAW ENFORCFEMENT CONTRIBUTOR: Well, you`re going to put out all sports of bulletins for this car. There are all through that area,
especially the New York metropolitan area, there`s license plate readers, things like this.
This is not going to take long, that car is going to show up. It could be that they`re getting to swap out a car and get another car, buy a car with
cash, but it`s not going to be a long fugitive hunt here. And the other thing is the FBI may get involved very quickly, because after 24 hours they
can just assume he`s taken her across state lines and that`s a violation of the Mann Act which is about 20 years. So, he`s in a lot more trouble than
he thinks.
BANFIELD: Well, I don`t know if it`s a violation of the Mann Act, because I think if I remember the Mann Act properly, that`s taking a minor or a
woman -- it doesn`t even have to be a minor -- across state lines for the purpose of sexual encounters or a sexual encounter, right?
MOORE: Yes. And you`re absolutely right. But in the past few years...
BANFIELD: And she`s 16, right? So, she`s 16. She`s allowed under Pennsylvania law, she`s allowed.
MOORE: But she`s still a minor under federal law. And if you take her across state lines -- they have used the Mann Act in recent years for child
trafficking and human trafficking more much more then what it was originally designed for.
BANFIELD: So, ironically, if he was still within the Pennsylvania state lines, there might not be any kind of sexual crime here, because at age 16
Pennsylvania law allows you to make that kind of consent. But he`s taken her away from her bed and that`s different. That`s custodial, so that must
be why he`s facing interference with the custody of a child but right now no sexual infractions.
MOORE: (inaudible).
BANFIELD: Yes. OK. So, you mentioned something that was intriguing a moment ago. Listen, she`s been gone since the 5th, so it`s seven days now.
She`s got her passport. And Kevin Esterly`s wife says Kevin took a bunch of documents, too. We would know if they used the passport, right? That`s
one of the first things that they would do, they would find out if that passport was used to leave this country, correct?
MOORE: Yes. They would know if it was used before they put a stop on it and there would certainly be a stop on it by now. So, unless there`s some
kind of snafu in the system, they would know that.
You`re also going to find them when they cross state lines more often because there are those places where they do have border stations for fruit
and things like depending on the state. So, it`s not even clear that they`ve gone across state lines. But certainly, the FBI is allowed to
assume after 24 hours that they have, so that they can assist at least in the apprehension of this person.
BANFIELD: So, can you tell me what it looks like when someone tries to go through a border crossing with a passport that -- what did you call it, you
said they put a stop on it, a flag on it, what do they do and what does it look like when they try to cross?
MOORE: Well, the first thing that`s going to happen is like, say, you`re going to go to Canada and you`re going to go to those machines that you see
where you like at an airport if they flew or driving, and as soon as you enter, as anybody enters in a passport number of either of them into a
computer, it`s going to pop up and it`s going to be a custodial interference.
The person there is mostly likely going to see a 45-year-old man with a 16- year-old girl and they are not going to just jump over the barrier and grab them. They are going to say, "Hey, we`d like to talk to you in a room over
here, if you could just step away for a while." And everything is going to be done very quietly. You won`t know. As you`re trying to put your
passport up, you`re probably being surrounded, so at that point you`re caught.
BANFIELD: Yes. So, that would be quick and that would have happened by now because they knew that those passports were gone. So, presumably,
they`re somewhere within the watching radius of this program.
MOORE: Yes.
[19:10:00]
BANFIELD: Here`s what`s really creepy and difficult, Steve, we are told that it is -- and I don`t know how we know this -- but the police are very
concerned that they watch the news, that they will be keeping abreast of the news on them. I mean, it`s harmful but at the same time it`s harmful,
but at the same time it`s helpful if people know about the story and spot them.
So where is the line to be drawn and where do the police hold something back but at the same time try to keep the story out in the headlines so
everyone can see these photographs?
MOORE: You`re absolutely right. This is a really tough line to walk. And I`ve worked cases where the press has worked in our favor and where the
press has worked against us very badly. So I`m saying things very carefully even as I speak now.
I would tell Amy if she is watching, this man isn`t your friend. And if you`re his friend you`re hurting him the longer you stay with him. The
longer you stay with him, the longer he is going to be in prison. Just go home.
As far as what I would tell this guy, turn yourself in before somebody finds you because they`re not like you pretty much. This is helpful
because somebody is going to find them. People notice 45-year-old men with 16-year-old girl holding hands. They notice.
BANFIELD: And they have a distinctive look. They are two different races. And they will stand out somewhat, maybe more than an average a father-
daughter might stand out as well in the crowd. So the more these pictures are up, perhaps that will jar somebody`s memory of seeing this pair
together at a CVS or at a gas station or all the places where they`re going to need supplies to stay on the road.
I remember this from so many other cases where these guys thought that they could actually stay under the radar with the girls that they are traveling
with, and ultimately, they don`t. You mentioned it before Steve, there are tracking devices for license plates. There are televisions in so many
stores and in bars and the restaurants where this stuff pop up.
MOORE: You can`t get gas.
BANFIELD: It`s hard to do, right? And then, of course, you got to pay cash for everything because you use those credit cards and unless they`re
stolen, people will get a bead on you real quickly. One of the big reasons and you said this, like I would say to Amy, you`re not doing this guy any
favors because the longer you`re out there you`re hurting him.
And how about what we say to Kevin? The longer you`re out there, this is the person, Amy`s mom, this is the person you are hurting the most. Have a
listen to her.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MUI LUU, AMY YU`S MOTHER: I want to tell her, "Amy, can you come back to me? I love you. I just hope you`ll come back."
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: That`s Amy`s mom in the most English that she could muster on CBS this morning. A heartbroken mother and a heartbroken brother. By the
way, her brother John says that Amy looked after him. So this is big beautiful sister Amy who he is missing as well. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN YU, BROTHER OF AMY YU: She was a pretty, beautiful sister. She always helps me. She kind of takes care of me.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: So there are a lot of victims in all of this -- Amy, the brother, the mom, and anybody else involved with that family. I want to
bring in Randy Zelin, defense attorney. So this is the complicated thing. Pennsylvania at 16, you can make your own decisions about who you want to
sleep with. But how many days are you allowed to sleep away from home, because then it becomes a custody issue. And this is why he may be facing
interference with custody.
RANDY ZELIN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: It`s not necessarily a numbers game. It`s at what point is it clear that you`re not coming home? What surrounding
circumstances are out there for law enforcement to say, "You know something, she ain`t coming back." It could be how much stuff she`s taken.
How much money they`ve taken whether or not she`s done with school, done with her friends, just out of here as if she were never there at all.
And the same for him. So it`s going to depend upon and every day that they`re gone makes it more likely you know, that they`re not just on
vacation or trying to sort things out and then they`re going to come back. They`re adios, so that`s where the interference piece kicks in. But you
also have the forgery of the documents of the school.
BANFIELD: Right.
ZELIN: You`ve got a.
BANFIELD: How about this? How about this? The 10 times that he signed her out of school, some of those 10 were when she was 15 and not 16 age of
consent for sex. So he could be facing a whole lot of problems, not just endangering or rather interference with the custody of a minor. He could
actually be facing something far more serious than.
ZELIN: And depending on the state that they go to, that state may have an age of majority to have sex which is different. For example, they can`t
have sex in New York at 17.
BANFIELD: It`s all very hard to prove where and when it all happens. We`re going to continue to watch this. My thanks to Solomon Jones and
Steve Moore and, of course, Randy Zelin as well.
I have to take you to Austin, Texas right now.
[19:15:00]
There is something very strange that`s been happening in that state and in that city. Police were sounding the alarm about a series of random
bombings, very strange bombings that have killed two people and left two other people very badly hurt.
Apparently, the three explosions are linked. And they need people to be on high alert there and maybe elsewhere as well. Today alone, there were two
different blasts. First one happening early this morning. Police say they take the package was placed on the front porch of the home overnight just
waiting to be found by the victim in the morning. The second was just a couple of hours later in a neighborhood that wasn`t too far away.
The police say that none of the packages seems to have been delivered by the Postal Service or by delivery service like UPS or FedEx. Instead,
placed there by someone or some people. So the police are strongly urging people who live in Austin and elsewhere to be on the lookout for suspicious
packages, to contact authorities immediately, goes without saying do not touch them.
They are warning thousands of visitors who are actually in Austin right now because this is the time where South by Southwest, that festival takes
place. So thousands of people are there as well.
Tonight there is an international search for the boyfriend of a beautiful nursing student. A student who was found dead in that former boyfriend`s
apartment. Police say he hopped a plane conveniently just hours before that body was found. And now they want to find out what he might about her
death.
Also, please listen to our show any time. Download our podcast on Apple podcast, iHeartRadio, stick your tune in or wherever you get your podcasts
for your Crime & Justice. Thank you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:20:00]
BANFIELD: College students across the country will tell you that their programs are tight-knit, you study together, you eat together, you live
together, and sometimes you hook up with your classmates.
Friends of Haley Anderson say that is all that was supposed to happen between this stunning 22-year-old nursing student and a male classmate
named Orlando Tercero who was also in her program. But tonight it seems possible that far more went down, because tonight Haley is dead. And she
was reportedly found dead in his home just hours after he left the country. The officers who discovered her body are being very clear that he is not
yet a suspect in the case, but they are saying that they`d like to talk to him and they are saying that Haley was killed, a girl who was adored by
everyone who knew her and who is being mourned by many more who didn`t.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(UNIDENTIFIED MALE): And when we realized it was her, it`s just the bottom fell out.
(UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE): She was completely like the greatest person ever. She never like didn`t have a smile on her face.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: I want to bring in Tyler Brown, a reporter for CNN affiliate WBNG.
Tyler, this is a very mysterious story. We have a young woman dead in a man`s apartment but that man is nowhere to be found, apparently having
decided instead within that time that she went missing and was found dead, all of about a day and a half or two, to fly to Nicaragua. What is the
story about Orlando Tercero and his travels?
TYLER BROWN, REPORTER FOR WBNG, CNN AFFILIATE: What they know, Ashleigh, so far all we know is that he and, excuse me, we know that he and Haley had
had a romantic relationship.
I`ve talked to friends of Haley and they have been telling me that they had no suspicion that Haley was in any sort of danger. They had no idea that
this could ever happen to such a girl who was beloved by everyone, as you said earlier. Haley was a nursing student who just loved people and loved
to be around people. Nobody saw this coming.
And right now, we don`t really know too much about Orlando Tercero except that he happened to be in a relationship with her. We don`t know if they
were still in a relationship before she passed and he fled off hours before they found her body. And so, that is the big question mark, we want to
know what happened in between those hours.
BANFIELD: So I will say this about our reporting today that we did speak at length with Mishela Topalli, a very good friend and a housemate of Haley
Anderson. She was going to join us tonight, but she`s just so distraught over all of this, she was not able to join us, but I will tell you some of
the things that she mentioned to us about Orlando Tercero.
And I don`t know if I`m pronouncing that right, but I can`t ask him because he ain`t here, he`s in Nicaragua and I will get into that a whole deal in a
moment because the United States has extradition treaties with Nicaragua if we`re going that route, but it is not as easy as it sounds.
For starters, the relationship according to Haley`s friend Mishela was platonic and that was it. This poor victim`s friend says that apparently
Orlando wanted it to be much, much more than platonic but Haley put on a whole lot of brakes and made it a friendship instead and insisted that it
was a friendship instead.
[19:25:00]
Apparently Haley was last seen on Wednesday night because Mishela and the housemates and Haley were all having fun playing cards together and board
games, having a little wine. And then when they tried to reach Haley the next day, no answer. And that`s odd for Haley, because Haley was always on
her phone, and so, those friends called the police right away. I mean it was just a matter of hours from the last time that they`d seen her
Wednesday night, but by Thursday morning they were calling the police and saying we need to -- we need to find out what`s wrong. And then they found
Haley, unfortunately they found her body in the home of Orlando Tercero.
So that`s sort of the where and the why and how we got to this brown- shingled home in Binghamton, New York surrounded by officers and snow and a lot of mystery.
But at this point, Tyler, what`s the deal with not calling Orlando a suspect? Why is he not even a person -- I mean, all they`re saying is that
they`d like to ask him some questions. It seems -- it seems farther along than that. She`s in his home dead.
BROWN: Well, you are absolutely right, Ashleigh, they are -- they are wanting to talk to him. Right now they haven`t really specified as to why
exactly they haven`t called him a main suspect at this point or the fact that they haven`t tied it to him. I think they`re looking for more
evidence in the case, because so far we don`t -- the questions we have don`t answered right now is how exactly she died. And right now I think
they`re trying to just piece those together to make sure they have exactly who they want.
But, yes, you`re absolutely right, Ashleigh, he is definitely the main suspect and it`s just very suspicious that he just happened to flee the
country hours before her body was even found. And right now, I think they`re just trying to make sure they have all the pieces together before
they in fact move in on and go even further to try to arrest if they see it as he is the main suspect.
BANFIELD: This young woman on the left hand side of your screen, Haley Anderson, she obviously made a huge impact on everybody, on those
housemates, on her friends at school, even her former neighbors are just sort of in an utter state of shock about the news that Haley away at
college in a nursing program is now in the headlines as a murder victim.
Have a listen to one of the neighbors said about Haley.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I`m still shocked. I couldn`t sleep, sleep last night. You know, it is devastating. It`s sad. There`s no words to
describe how we feel. She was amazing and smart, and happy and friendly, and sweet. We can`t accept it. It`s crazy. I`m heartbroken.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: I want to bring in CNN Law Enforcement contributor Steve Moore. He`s a former FBI agent and investigator.
Steve, you would probably know the tricks of the trade better than I do. I think it`s odd that this young man, Orlando Tercero, whose home a dead
woman was found in is not being called a suspect and a young man who decided to coincidentally fly off to Nicaragua within hours of this young
woman being found dead.
Why is it they`re not calling him a suspect? And what exactly do you think investigators are doing right at this moment?
STEVE MOORE, FORMER FBI AGENT, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CONTRIBUTOR: Well, they can say all they want that he`s not a suspect but he is "the suspect" right
now.
They`ve got some people making sure that they are on right track. If they`re good investigators they don`t just take the obvious points at face
value and say, well, we solved the case. But at the same time the fact that she was in his apartment, he left, I mean, come on. So what they`re trying
to do right now is work with the Nicaraguans, almost certainly.
One of the things they didn`t want to do is immediately say, by the way if we get your citizen over here he`s a dead man, you know, we`re going to
convict him and all this kind of stuff. You want to give the Nicaraguans the strongest belief that he will have a fair trial. And so, you don`t
want this tried in the press by the police. You certainly want them telling the Nicaraguans that it`s in their best interest to abide by the
treaty that we have.
BANFIELD: Good point, which brings me to Randy Zelin because, Randy, we do have a treaty with Nicaragua, we are supposed to have these treaties for
this exact reason. Send us back our guys who might be running away from the law. But things don`t go so well with the Nicaraguans as it turns out.
What`s the story?
RANDY ZELIN, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: There are quite a few countries where it doesn`t go well. Remember something, a treaty is a contract.
It`s an agreement. And an agreement and a contract is only as good as the people on either side of the agreement. If I want to honor my deal with
you, it`s all good. But if I don`t, hey, the Nicaraguans, notwithstanding the fact that the treaty goes back to 1905, they`re very selective and we
won`t give them - we are not going to give you - we are not going to give you a national. We won`t give you one of ours.
But they did in 2013, turn over Eric Toth who was a child pornographer. So it`s not as if they never do it, but there are two important points to be
made here.
BANFIELD: Really quick because I want people to know that Toth is a US citizen.
ZELIN: Sure. Just because a woman is found dead in my house, a prosecutor is not going to get up there and opening statement, ladies and gentlemen,
here`s my proof, she was found in Randy`s house, convict him of murder. I`m never getting convicted. And he`ll never come back and the Nicaraguans
-- he`s right, the investigator was right. They`ll never turn him over if -- he`s already our guy.
BANFIELD: Well, I`m waiting to find out if that`s who they even want in the first place because they`re not saying so right now. He`s not even a
person of interest and his not a suspect but I am interested in how Steve Moore puts it. Don`t be so sure. Thank you, Steve, thank you, Tyler
Brown. Randy, stick around, if you will.
It is hard enough to get pregnant, but for some couples, it just got a lot more complicated. Investigators are now trying to figure out how two
different fertility clinics reportedly went through systems failures, unrelated, this weekend. Officials in Cleveland say more than 2,000 frozen
eggs and embryos were compromised after a malfunction caused temperatures to drop in the freezers where they were stored. A representative confirmed
that some tissues were impacted. But that rep says it`s going to take some time to determine the viability of all of those eggs and embryos of hopeful
parents.
And then, the other case, in San Francisco, again, unrelated, officials at the Pacific Fertility Center say a piece of equipment in the cryo-storage
lab lost nitrogen for a brief period last week. The tissues were quickly transferred to another storage unit, we`re told, but it is not known at
this time how or if those tissues were affected.
There is outrage in Texas tonight after a college coed hears her sentences, plural, for a drunk driving accident that killed a father and his unborn
son and provided this bikini video of her field sobriety test. It`s possible that the woman you see there could actually be out of prison
before she has her 30th birthday party.
[19:35:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: Some newlyweds have a picture-perfect love story. Fabian and Kristian Guerrero sure did. Look at the picture. It`s amazing. High
school sweethearts, you can almost tell, right? They were really just madly in love and they were just about to have their first child, just days
away from finding out whether they`d be parents of a boy or a girl. Turns out it was a boy. A boy that they were planning to name after his dad, but
that baby would never make it. Because the same day that Fabian and Kristian decided to go out for a celebratory meal, this young woman, Shana
Elliott, was also out on the roadway. 21 years old, college girl, spent all day drinking on the river. And she did not even change out of her
bikini when she decided to get behind the wheel, hopped into the driver`s seat, and ran straight into their car, head first. We now know she was
over twice the legal limit but what she told a police officer was that she, quote, only had a couple of beers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHANA ELLIOTT, DEFENDANT: (INAUDIBLE) 1,017, 1,018, 1,019, 1,020, 1,021, 1,022, 1,023 (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, pause, pause.
ELLIOTT: I can do it over. I can do it over. I`ll do it with my left foot.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: Well, not long after that counting fiasco, Shana Elliott gets the cuffs and she starts to make a statement. She was still saying that in
court this week, too.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`re going to go to the hospital real quick and make sure you`re OK.
ELLIOTT: No, I don`t want to. Just take me to (BLEEP) jail, please.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: And off to effing jail Shana goes, though not for long, as some had hoped. She is potentially, after trial, now looking at just seven
years. When she could have spent the next 50 behind bars for what happened. Baby and dad both died. She is paying, I guess you could say,
some kind of price for what she did behind the wheel. She`s facing the sole survivor of the family that she killed and that would be the mom.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KRISTIAN GUERRERO, VICTIM OF THE CAR ACCIDENT: You`re a murderer and a thief. You stole my life. I`m sure you and I have both wished that it was
you that day instead of them. The least you can do is sit in jail, not just so you can learn from what you`ve done, but so no other family has to
know you like I know you. I don`t buy your crocodile tears or the sweet little innocent girl they try to portray you to be. You`re a monster.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[19:39:52] BANFIELD: Crocodile tears or real tears, seven years for one count of intoxication manslaughter, seven years for a second count of
intoxication manslaughter, and for the charge of intoxication assault, 10 years` probation. Now, the big question is, seven years concurrently,
meaning seven years together or seven years consecutively, which means 14. And that is going to be up to the judge.
With me now, Houston Forward Times Associate Editor, Jeffrey Boney. Jeffrey, what`s the judge going to do? Do we have any clue whether she`ll
get 7 or 14?
JEFFREY BONEY, ASSOCIATE EDITOR, HOUSTON FORWARD TIMES: We really don`t know, Ashleigh, what the judge is going to do. But we know that he plans
to decide whether to stack these sentences together or (INAUDIBLE 40:36) concurrently or give her 14 years. She -- whatever the case may be, she
could be out of prison by the time she`s 30 years of age.
BANFIELD: Yes, I think she`s only 22 right now. So, here`s the question. And it`s -- unless you sat in that courtroom and listened to every moment
of the trial and the testimony, there was a moment where Shana Elliott said to the police, you better go test those two over there. They were drinking
at the river, too. In fact, I saw the lady doing shots.
Now, I`m paraphrasing what she said, but that is exactly the essence of what she said to the cops. That the people that she plowed into were at
the river where she was drinking, where she was doing shots, where she was hauling on a whiskey bottle all afternoon. She was telling the officer to
go check their blood alcohol level, because they were at the river. And the pregnant lady, five months pregnant, she was doing shots.
So Jeffrey, the question I have is that if I`m a juror and I`m looking over there and I think, there but for the grace of God go I, we all make
terrible decisions, and she just made that terrible decision, she never planned to kill anybody. But after she saw what happened, she decided to
blame the victims. And I`m shocked that it`s only seven years for each charge. Where am I wrong?
BONEY: Yes, I think a lot of people are disturbed by this precedent- setting jurors` decision to just give her seven years for each count. I think that what they were trying to do, and I`m just thinking based off of
what the prosecution`s argument -- I mean, excuse me, the defense argument was, was that she immediately started to feel remorse at the scene, saying,
oh, my God, I wish it was me, and she continued with this narrative and, of course, that`s what they were pushing, as they were trying to seek to get
only probation for the (INAUDIBLE 42:31).
BANFIELD: Remorse? Are you kidding me? A young woman who looks at a wreck like that and sees these people who are destroyed, right at that
moment, she blames them and makes up a story about them being at the river. They were nowhere near the river.
BONEY: Yes.
BANFIELD: They were -- and Kristian, the surviving woman, hadn`t had a drop. She was five months pregnant. Then later, from her jail cell, she
says on a recorded phone conversation, something about, oh, those victims were in a cartel of some kind. So remorse, I have a tough time believing
in any kind of remorse. And by the way, here`s a quick moment from the trial where if you`re wondering how much she actually drank, the prosecutor
hauls up the bottle of whiskey and shows how much of it was gone and shows it right to her. Take a look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you remember how much you had to drink at the river?
ELLIOTT: Not to be intoxicated.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That bottle that`s, I believe, state`s exhibit number 24, did you take that to the river with you?
ELLIOT: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you remember about how full it was when you went down there?
ELLIOTT: It was a full bottle.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Showing you what (INAUDIBLE 43:35) previously (INAUDIBLE) as state`s exhibit number 24. Would you agree me that`s about
a fourth full now.
ELLIOT: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. And would you agree with me that it reads 1.5 liters on the label?
ELLIOTT: Yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: So, do we have any indication of how ugly that courtroom got, Jeffrey? When all that other stuff came out. Like her accusing her
victims of being in a cartel and her saying to the police officers, check their blood alcohol level, they were at the river drinking. Do we have any
idea how the jury responded to that?
BONEY: Yes, I mean, you know, the jury was focused on the details. They weren`t really showing a tremendous amount of emotion, but however, I think
that, you know, when you start to see after the verdict, and you start to see Kristian Guerrero`s victim impact statement and how she -- basically,
she let it all out. And she was like, I`m not trying to hear you. She put all of her emotions out front and center and say it, you know, you`re not
remorseful, I don`t believe you`re crocodile tears, you`re playing everybody`s emotions. I had a troubled childhood, as well, but I didn`t go
out and do the things that you`re doing. And she didn`t believe that her remorse was sincere. So, it`s kind of challenging to understand,
especially when you look at the various phone calls that were made from prison when she was laughing four days after the accident.
[19:45:00] BANFIELD: Yes, lots of remorse there, right, Jeffrey? Lots of remorse there. I was interested when she said from the stand, Kristian,
the victim, said in her victim`s impact statement, I feel sorry for you that your friends don`t care about you enough, they don`t want you to live
enough, that they wouldn`t have stopped you from drinking and driving in the condition you were in. And that young woman walking away from the
stand right there, she lost the man of her dreams and his baby. So, that`s it for her. She`ll never have that family, she`ll never have that man,
she`ll never have their child. Jeffrey, stick around for a moment because seven years on each count, the jury does not know whether they`re going to
be seven and seven, 14, or whether they`re going to be seven together, meaning seven. Randy Zelin is going to tell us about that in a moment.
stick around.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:50:39] BANFIELD: When you`re 22 years old, seven years might seem like an eternity, especially if it`s spent behind bars. But seven years is
nothing, especially if you`re facing 50 behind bars. And 22-year-old Shana Elliott may have just gotten a whopping break because the jury sentenced
her to just seven years in jail for each of the life that she took, the day that she decided to drive smashed. She hopped behind the wheel in her
bikini after a day on the river, drinking, and then ran head first into another car, seriously hurting Kristian Guerrero, killing her high school
sweetheart and her husband and then killing her unborn baby as well. And boy, did Kristian let loose on that killer in court.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GUERRERO: -- hold him, had to look at him. I will always love him (INAUDIBLE) and this will always hurt.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: Defense Attorney Randy Zelin is back with me. Does the jury get to know, if they choose seven years for one of the deaths and seven years
for the other death that it will make maybe 14, but it could also make seven if she serves both of those together or did they think seven for both
and that should do it?
ZELIN: This whole thing is so bizarre, because typically, jurors don`t get involved in punishment, they don`t get involved in sentencing. That`s for
the judge.
BANFIELD: Well, this is Texas.
ZELIN: So here, yes. But in Texas, they allow it. But my understanding is no. The jury just says the seven and they say the seven and then as a
matter of law, it will be up to the judge to decide whether or not this should be stacked one on top of another, which is consecutive, which means
14, or they run together on the same -- on parallel tracks which was -- which is concurrent time which is seven.
BANFIELD: So, if they wanted her to serve 14 years for this abomination, you know, driving in her bikini after a day on the river, drinking three-
quarters of a -- of a bottle of whiskey and slamming into Kristian and her husband and killing her husband and her unborn baby. If they wanted her to
serve 14, they would have had to give her 14. They couldn`t possibly know that the seven and seven might not add up.
ZELIN: Correct.
BANFIELD: Is this sentence to her a gift even if it`s 14 because she could have served 50?
ZELIN: Yes, and we know that because, again, and this is lost in all of this, why would you go to trial, let alone take the stand and then say, I
did it? It was all a matter of strategy. I can assure you the plea negotiations, and what the -- what the state`s attorney wanted in exchange
for a guilty plea were too onerous. You cut the prosecutor out, you go to trial, you get on the stand, then you say, I did it. The judge looks at
you and, says, hmm, that`s an -- that`s an acceptance of responsibility. I`ll cut you a break on sentencing.
BANFIELD: So, yes or no question, this is not worth appealing for her, is it?
ZELIN: No.
BANFIELD: She`s lucky, out by 30. Enough for a big birthday party. Randy Zelin, thank you for that. If I had said this once, I have said it a
thousand times, bad guys generally aren`t the smartest, you know, guys around, and as you can see from this Marx brothers` routine, not always
easy to steal some gum.
[19:55:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: "ONE MORE THING" for you tonight. Last Friday, this guy broke in to a Sacramento animal shelter to steal its gum ball machine. If that`s
not bad enough, clearly, he is just not the sharpest tool in the shed, because this happened. He just couldn`t figure out a way to get that big
score out the door. Tried everything, but only managed to spill all of the gum balls out of the machine, making his escape even trickier, tripping on
the gum. Finally did get the gum ball machine out. 50 barking dogs were watching all of this as he tossed the machine over the fence. Fencing the
goods effectively, right? Police are still searching for that suspect. And if you like animals, and you know who he is, pick up the phone because
he`s not only dumb, he`s mean. A gum ball machine from an animal shelter for God`s sake.
Thank you for watching, everyone. I`m Ashleigh Banfield. See you back here tomorrow night 6:00 for CRIME & JUSTICE. HLN`s crime documentary
series "DEATH ROW STORIES" begins right now. Have a good night.
END