[Nancy Grace:] Tonight: Prison escapees on the rise, and also tonight, one of the most dangerous escapees still on the loose. He allegedly terrorized Little Havana, Miami, seven alleged rape victims, ages 11 to 79. But first tonight, why did a Navy reservist die after a gunshot ambush not in Bahrain but in a park in North Carolina? Did his 26-year-old wife lure him there? Good evening, everybody. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us tonight. Day two, serial rape suspect Reynaldo Rapalo remains at large after escaping a Miami-Dade jail facility, Rapalo considered armed and dangerous. His alleged victims range in ages from 11 to 79 years old. And tonight: A working mom, Summer Shipp, disappeared a year ago on the job doing door-to-door research in Missouri. Tonight: Is there a break in the disappearance of Summer Shipp? But first tonight, American hero, Navy reservist Paul Berkley, spent 2005 on active duty in Bahrain. He made it home safe and sound in time for Christmas with his wife and his family, but amazingly, he died from an ambush in a local park, a gunshot wound to the head. Ambush? Shooting? Tonight, we want to know if his 26-year-old wife did what the enemy could not, bring down an American hero.
[Operator:] I want you to do something for me. We`re going to try to help him. Can you try to help him?
[Monique Berkley:] OK. 911
[Operator:] You all right?
[Berkley:] What? 911
[Operator:] I want you to try to help him, OK?
[Berkley:] OK.
[Grace:] I want to go straight out to Kevin Miller with WTPF-680 reporter. Kevin, what happened?
[Kevin Miller, Wtpf-680 Am:] Well, Nancy, police say that Paul Berkley was lured to this park after a dinner and a movie with his wife, Monique Berkley. They say suspects Antwon
[Grace:] Where exactly did this alleged ambush and shooting go down, Kevin?
[Miller:] What happened was the Berkleys live in a nice community called Clayton. And everything, really, here, Nancy, is a nice community. But it happened in Raleigh. They went to go see the movie "King Kong." After the movie "King Kong," they went to a park in north Raleigh about, you know, 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning. At 3:30, the 911 call that you just played happened. This was a little before Paul Berkley had actually put on his Web log how excited he was to be home because his son had sung the national anthem and said, My Daddy is home, and I`m so happy for him.
[Grace:] What time of the evening was the shooting?
[Miller:] Police say it happened early Sunday morning.
[Grace:] What do you mean by early Sunday morning, 7:00 AM?
[Miller:] No, you`re talking about 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning. The 911...
[Grace:] What was he doing in a local park at 2:00 o`clock in the morning?
[Miller:] Well, Nancy...
[Grace:] Hey, look...
[Miller:] Nancy...
[Grace:] Wait a minute. Kevin, I`ve told a million juries, nothing good happens after midnight. Now, what is this guy doing at 2:00 AM in a park?
[Miller:] Well, having a romantic walk with his wife after the movie. That`s what police say, Nancy.
[Grace:] Yes, well, that walk really had a way of getting capped off a lot differently than he imagined. Take a listen to more of this 911 call.
[Operator:] 911. The location of the emergency? The location of the emergency?
[Berkley:] Hello? 911
[Operator:] Hello?
[Berkley:] Hello. I`ve been shot, and my husband... 911
[Operator:] You`ve been shot?
[Berkley:] Yes. 911
[Operator:] What is your address? OK. We`ve got to find out where you are, ma`am.
[Berkley:] I can`t hear you. 911
[Operator:] OK. We`ve got to figure out where you are. What`s the name of the park you`re in, do you know?
[Berkley:] I`m sorry, what?
[Grace:] So to Leslie Snadowsky, also working on the case as an investigative reporter. Leslie, how did this chain of events happen? Here`s a guy, an American hero, serving our country. He comes home for Christmas. His kid sings the national anthem and says, Thank God my daddy`s home. He`s dead. He lived through active duty, now he`s dead in a park near Raleigh?
[Leslie Snadowsky, Investigative Reporter:] I`ve got three major problems with this whole case. One`s the 911 call. One`s the location, which we talked about, where it happened. And the other are the Web logs. Now, if you read a little into this case and read some of the reports, Paul Berkley was an Internet expert, a computer expert. That`s why he went to Bahrain. He was a computer guy. And so was his whole family, and they all had Web logs. And you can learn a lot about reading all the kids` Web logs and the wife`s Web log. It`s pretty pretty interesting reading.
[Grace:] Now, when you say Web log, what do you mean by that? Did the whole family have a Web log?
[Snadowsky:] They all had separate ones. I mean, and some of them were freaky. Zeke is the son, and it`s Monique`s stepson. Zeke and Becky are both stepchildren to Monique, who`s now, you know, a suspect, and the police say that she admitted to doing committing the murders.
[Grace:] Well, according to her lawyer, she has admitted to nothing. Kevin Miller, let me get this straight. There are two children, Zeke, 18, Becky, 16.
[Miller:] Right.
[Grace:] Are they the natural children of Paul Berkley, 46 years old, now dead?
[Miller:] Right, out of his first marriage. They`re now in California with their mother.
[Grace:] OK. Where were they at the time of the shooting?
[Miller:] Oh, I believe they were home. I couldn`t tell you that one, Nancy. That hasn`t been...
[Grace:] OK. Kevin, do police actually suspect the wife...
[Miller:] Right.
[Grace:] ... suspect the wife, 26-year-old Monique? Why?
[Miller:] Oh, because of just what had happened, what had been going on. She had an affair with Andrew Canty. It had been well-known throughout the neighborhood. I went to the police press conference today, Nancy, at 2:00 o`clock, and the police said, Look, they have a motive. The motive was Paul Berkley`s insurance money. They said that, apparently, Monique Berkley was going to be beaten. They don`t say why, but she was shot instead. They said at the press conference today, the Raleigh PD, that she is cooperating. She provided the motive. She admitted to being part of this plot.
[Grace:] Now, explain to me the plot. I`m understanding this 26-year- old wife...
[Miller:] A 26-year-old wife, and you have two 18-year-old suspects, one having an affair, so much so, Nancy...
[Grace:] Oh, good...
[Miller:] Nancy, let me let me just share...
[Grace:] ... God!
[Miller:] ... share you with this. As soon as Paul Berkley moved out, he left in January, Andrew Canty moved into his home in Clayton. You had Monique Berkley go to Busch Gardens, and these from published reports, again, letters, love letters from a 26-year-old stepmother to an 18-year- old student at Clayton High School. She went to Busch Gardens. She wrote to Mr. Canty, her lover, quote it was a postcard of two tigers quote, "That white tiger looks like she`s about to attack that colored tiger. I bet she`ll devour him. Reminds me of us." This is what you`re dealing with.
[Grace:] OK. You know, I could have done without that, but I guess the courtroom is not a place for the weak-kneed. Thank you for sharing that, Kevin. So let me get this whole thing straight. The husband goes away overseas for our country, 46 years old, leaves his 26-year-old wife at home. She strikes up an affair with her son her stepson`s friend from school.
[Miller:] Right.
[Grace:] He comes home from overseas. They go out on a romantic walk in a park. He gets shot dead in the head. She gets a surface wound to the shoulder. Correct?
[Miller:] You`re leaving a few things out.
[Grace:] OK.
[Miller:] Number one, what we learned from Raleigh PD today, that Paul Berkley had told his daughter, Becky, that he did suspect something was going on, number one, and that he was planning to divorce Monique. Then they go to dinner in Clayton. Then they drive to Raleigh for the movie. And then after the movie, again, according to police, she suggests a walk in the park, a romantic walk in the park.
[Grace:] Take a listen to what police had to say today.
[Unidentified Male:] On the night of the murder, Monique and Paul Berkley went to dinner and into a movie theater on Atlantic Springs Road. After the movie, Monique Berkley suggested the prospect of a romantic evening. This was done to persuade Paul Berkley to go with her to a nearby park. In fact, she had planned for Paul Berkley to be shot and killed in the park by Andrew Canty and Latwon Johnson. It is known that Monique Berkley began an affair with Andrew Canty shortly after Paul Berkley was deployed to the Middle East as a Naval reservist in April of this year. Andrew Canty moved into the Berkley residence in Clayton and continued to live there until just days before Paul Berkley returned home on leave.
[Grace:] Rosie, do we have the lawyer on the phone? Let`s go straight out to a special guest joining us tonight, the attorney, the defense attorney for Monique Berkley, the 26-year-old wife, Johnny Gaskins. He is a North Carolina lawyer, a trial lawyer. Mr. Gaskins, thank you for being with us.
[Johnny Gaskins, Attorney For Monique Berkley:] Thank you.
[Grace:] Now, police are saying that your client has confessed to being part of a murder plot. Is that true?
[Gaskins:] I don`t have any information about that yet. This case is new, and I obviously haven`t received any discovery materials from the state yet, and if...
[Grace:] Have you talked to her?
[Gaskins:] I have, and we have not discussed this case.
[Grace:] You talked to her, but you didn`t talk about the case?
[Gaskins:] We didn`t talk about this case. That`s...
[Grace:] Did you tell her to clam up and be quiet?
[Gaskins:] I told her she doesn`t need to be talking to anybody right now, and...
[Grace:] Guess what? I think she did.
[Gaskins:] Well, if she has, I`ll need to determine that...
[Grace:] Right. Can I...
[Gaskins:] ... later.
[Grace:] ... ask you a question about her wound, Mr. Gaskins?
[Gaskins:] Sure.
[Grace:] Where was the entry, in the front or the back?
[Gaskins:] I believe the entry was in the front.
[Grace:] The entry was in the front. That`s really odd because I`m looking at her 911 phone call, and she said she never saw who shot her. And I was just assuming, if she were telling the truth, she must have gotten shot from the side or the behind from behind. So how could she not see somebody that shoots her in the arm from the front?
[Gaskins:] Well, it happened it happened in a wooded area of the park.
[Grace:] Oh, OK. Was there any motive that you can determine? Were either of them robbed, or was there an attempted molestation?
[Gaskins:] I don`t yet know what the what actually occurred at that park, and that`s just something we`ll need to determine as time goes by.
[Grace:] Are the others being held tonight in custody, as well, the two teens?
[Gaskins:] They are.
[Grace:] Why?
[Gaskins:] Why?
[Grace:] Yes.
[Gaskins:] Well, one of them committed murder, and the other one helped him. Now, I don`t have any information that other than what I`ve heard on through the news media that my client participated in any way.
[Grace:] Do you think it`s possibly a mistake to go ahead and state that these two committed murder, since your client apparently was having an affair with one of them?
[Gaskins:] Well, the information I have is that one of these young men committed murder. It remains to be seen as to whether or not my client participated with that person.
[Grace:] OK. I want to go straight back everyone, with us is the attorney from Monique Berkley. He`s just gotten on the case. And in his defense, that is not uncommon. These three have been behind bars in custody. After a certain period of time, about 72 hours, the court gives them a lawyer. Mr. Gaskins is a private lawyer. But apparently, Kevin Miller, she is singing like a bird. And what can you tell me, if anything, about these Web logs they were all having? While the cat was away, the mouse was definitely playing.
[Miller:] Nancy, you`re right about that. And again, what I`ve learned just from the Raleigh PD today, with their press conference. Getting back to these Web logs, you have Mistress Becky. She`s talking about her affair with Latwon Johnson, talking about pretty explicit stuff.
[Grace:] Whew!
[Miller:] If the published report grosses you out, what I talked about before, you don`t want to go to the Web logs. You have Zeke talking about other things. It`s very in-your-face and it`s very adult for two teenage kids.
[Grace:] Here is more of what the 911 call reveals.
[Operator:] What is that? Who`s that I hear in the background?
[Berkley:] My husband. 911
[Operator:] What does he what has he been shot?
[Berkley:] Yes. 911
[Operator:] Who shot him?
[Berkley:] I don`t know. 911
[Operator:] I want you to do something for me. I`m going to try to help him. Can you try to help him?
[Berkley:] OK. 911
[Operator:] You all right?
[Berkley:] What? 911
[Operator:] I want you to try to help him, OK?
[Berkley:] OK.
[Grace:] Straight out to Clark Goldband. Clark, explain to those of us that don`t have a daily or sometimes hourly blog- it`s short for Web log. What does it mean, and why do people do it? It`s like a diary that anybody can log onto?
[Unidentified Male:] Well, that`s exactly exactly right, Nancy. A Web log is a new version of a journal. You had a diary back when you were a kid, right?
[Grace:] Yes.
[Unidentified Male:] OK. Well, this is the new on-line version. And the cool part about a blog...
[Grace:] I neither confirm nor deny that. Go ahead.
[Unidentified Male:] Tens of millions of people have blogs. On the blog, you post what you`re thinking. You can talk about...
[Grace:] Tens of millions? Don`t they have jobs, for Pete`s sake? How can they lay around the house and have blogs all day?
[Unidentified Male:] Well, you know what? It takes two minutes. There are two large Web sites. You sign up, type in your information, and in a matter of seconds, you, Nancy Grace, can have your own blog.
[Grace:] OK. In this case, Clark, what, if anything, have we learned? You`ve got this stepmother, 26 years old, the 46-year-old husband overseas for his country, and she`s at home, having an affair, allegedly, with a high school student that`s a friend of her stepson?
[Unidentified Male:] Now, here`s something about the blogs that we haven`t touched on so far this evening. The sad part in all of this is Paul had his blog he was overseas in the Middle East to communicate back home...
[Grace:] Oh, I see. OK.
[Unidentified Male:] ... and talk with his family. So he`s putting messages onto his family, while we`re not positive, but as law enforcement are saying, some other members of the family aren`t being so nice.
[Grace:] OK. We`ll all be right back in a very distressing story, an American hero comes home to spend Christmas with his family, and apparently, his wife manages to do what the enemy cannot, ambush and kill her husband on a walk in a park. Very quickly, tonight, as you may have heard, New York transit workers go back to work, both the Transit Workers and the union the Metropolitan Transit Authority claim the strike violated New York`s Taylor law forbidding public employees to walk off the job. This strike cost New York city almost $1 billion.
[Mayor Michael Bloomberg , New York City:] This was really a very big test for our city, and I think it`s fair to say we passed the test with flying colors. It wasn`t easy, and certainly, serious economic harm was inflicted. But we did what we had to do to keep the city running and running safely.