Mom-to-Be Killed, Baby Stolen; Boy, 8, Patted Down at Airport; Little Boy Visits River Memorial to Family
JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL, HOST (voice-over): Tonight, it`s like something out of a horror movie. Cops say a 33-year-old woman murdered a pregnant woman a month from delivery and then stole her baby from inside her womb. What was this woman`s demented thinking, and what happened to the innocent infant? Also, it happened again: another little kid given a full-body security pat-down in an airport. This time, an 8-year-old boy on his way to his dream trip to Disneyland. I`ll talk one on one with this child`s furious mother, and the little boy himself is going to tell us about this traumatic experience. And restaurant serving booze to toddlers twice in two week, margaritas and sangria? Margaritas and sangria are not made for kids. I`ll talk with both mothers about how these shocking mistakes keep happening and who is responsible. Plus...</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He got out and, you know, in his own mind that he would have be able to have time to save them. But unfortunately, it was too late.</s>VELEZ-MITCHELL: A mom drove herself and her four kids into the Hudson River, killing all but her heroic 10-year-old son, who managed to climb out. Now the little boy goes back to visit his family`s watery grave. I`ll show you the emotional video. ISSUES starts now.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just want people to know that Jamie was a very bright, optimistic, young lady. She had a bright future ahead of her. She was robbed of motherhood.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now because of this heinous crime, our son is going to have to grow up without a mother.</s>VELEZ-MITCHELL: Breaking news tonight that is right out of a horror movie. Cops say a baby is stolen, ripped right from his mother`s womb. That beautiful, young mom to be, almost 8 months pregnant, is murdered and left in the woods just off a Kentucky highway. The grim discovery came after this woman, 33-year-old Kathy Coy, walked into a hospital, carrying a newborn baby boy, and she claimed the baby was hers. But it didn`t add up. Officials just didn`t buy it. They immediately called the cops. The cops charged Kathy Coy with kidnapping and murdering a pregnant woman. Her alleged victim, 21-year-old Jamie Stice, was due to give birth May 24. Her son, who she planned to name Isaiah, miraculously survived. Cops won`t say how they think this suspect removed the baby from the mother`s womb. Here is the mother. Look at that beautiful girl, dead tonight. In fact, they won`t even confirm that the baby belonged to Jamie until the DNA comes back. That`s why the suspect is going to be arraigned, i.e. formally charged, next week. Jamie`s family says the last time they saw her, she was going to buy baby clothes with her alleged murderer. Jamie`s mother says the two met through a mutual friend and they were also friends on Facebook. And the suspect had been hanging around her daughter a whole lot in the past three weeks, pretending to be not only pregnant herself, like oh, two pregnant ladies together, but also pretending to be a caregiver from an organization that distributes diapers and bibs. So oh, I`m somebody coming bearing gifts. Meantime, a neighbor of the suspect says she chatted with Kathy Coy last week and had absolutely no reason to be suspicious of her. Listen to this.</s>DARLA MUELLER, NEIGHBOR WHO CHATTED WITH SUSPECT: This is very shocking. She has been telling everyone that she was pregnant, and we had no reason not to believe otherwise. And I baby sit. I have children around here constantly. And this is just real scary.</s>VELEZ-MITCHELL: That same neighbor also says Kathy Coy had blond hair when she last saw her. But take a look at this mug shot. Do you see any blonde hair? No. This woman has now suddenly dyed her hair black. Hmm. Very bizarre, twisted stuff here. HLN law enforcement analyst Mike Brooks, this is one of the sickest cases. When I read this story this morning, I really almost got ill.</s>MIKE BROOKS, HLN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, I want to go back and read it again, because I said, you must be kidding me. But apparently, Wednesday afternoon, Jane, this woman, Kathy Coy, walked into a Bowling Green medical center with this baby. The hospital staff said, "Something`s not right here." They called Kentucky state police and said that they had a suspicious birth. The police came out, interviewed Coy, and as part of their investigation, led them to a wooded area not that far away, where they found the body of 21- year-old Miss Stice. Now, today, Jane, the coroner says Stice had -- had, excuse me, multiple homicidal sharp force injuries. Now, they won`t say much more about any of the injuries or how the child survived. But she now is charged with murder and kidnapping.</s>VELEZ-MITCHELL: Now, wait a second, Mike. Are you telling me that when you talk about sharp force injuries...</s>BROOKS: Yes.</s>VELEZ-MITCHELL: I almost don`t want to say this. But are you saying that this child may have very well been cut out of this woman`s body?</s>BROOKS: The coroner -- the coroner will not elaborate any more on the injuries. But you can kind of read into this. When he says -- he calls it multiple homicidal sharp force injuries. That`s what it seems like.</s>VELEZ-MITCHELL: Unbelievable. Imagine. Imagine the scene. It boggles my mind. Every time I have seen the worst crime that I can possibly handle and I go home just in a daze, wondering what is going on with the human race, something proceeds to shock me even more. A neighbor of the suspect said that she was running around pretending to be pregnant, and nobody had any reason to doubt her story about being pregnant. Because this suspect, apparently, acted like a real mommy-to-be. Listen to this.</s>MUELLER: We had a yard sale, and she actually came over and purchased baby items. She actually told me that someone gave her a baby bed and purchased a baby bumper for that baby bed.</s>VELEZ-MITCHELL: Now, here`s what is really scary, Dr. Judy Kuriansky. On the suspect`s Facebook page, she claims to already have two children. Since she`s obviously a major league lunatic, I don`t know if she does have two children, but wouldn`t the normal motive for doing these kind of unbelievably mind-bogglingly vicious things be that "Oh, I could never have children, and I wanted a child of my own"?</s>DR. JUDY KURIANSKY, CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST: That definitely sounds like something that would be practical, but actually, sometimes these women who do this, because there have been other cases, do have other children. They feel unfulfilled. They feel empty. Some of it, at times is a cultural thing that you must, for a woman, you must be pregnant. But clearly, this -- these women are con artists, because they take a long time in planning this. They cozy up to the women. They pretend that they`re a nurse. They pretend that they`re a friend, as we see in this case, and it is very heinous. They are psychopathic murderers, too, as you can tell now. The coroner hasn`t said how they do this, but I`ll tell you from other cases they use box cutters. This is horrific. I`m sorry to say this. They use knifes. They use scissors, sometimes, to perform caesareans to take that baby out. And so they are vicious murderers.</s>VELEZ-MITCHELL: Unbelievable. Now, this is not, as you just heard from Dr. Judy, the first horrific case we`ve heard about where a woman murders or allegedly murders a mother to be and steals the baby from the womb. But of course, we are all asking how could anybody even comprehend the idea of this, much less carrying it out? Here`s my big issue. Are these women insane or are they just evil? There is such a thing as evil in this world. Let`s check out these old cases. Veronica Deramous pleaded guilty to first-degree assault after she kidnapped a pregnant homeless woman and used box cutters to cut out the homeless woman`s baby, right out of her stomach. Likewise, Peggy Jo Conner hit a woman with a baseball bat, kidnapped her, and tried to cut the unborn baby from the victim`s womb as she pleaded guilty, as well. In both of these cases, we are happy to say the mothers and the child survived. But in this case, Mark Eiglarsh, criminal defense attorney, the mother was found murdered in the woods off a road in Kentucky. What, when this woman is formally arraigned on Tuesday, is she likely to face in terms of formal charges?</s>MARK EIGLARSH, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: No question it would be first-degree murder. But here`s the question, Jane. There`s no question that, based on the facts, it looks like she was involved, but what we`re missing right now is any forensics that ties her to the body. We`re missing eyewitnesses. We`re missing any statements. In fact, her statement was, as bizarre as it might be, that someone gave her the child. The question is, what ties her to the actual homicide? Right now, legally -- we`re not talking about common sense or what people might infer. But legally, there would not be enough to prove this case beyond a reasonable doubt. There`s certainly going to be more that we`re going to hear about and it`s probably enough to prosecute or charge her -- charge her with murder.</s>VELEZ-MITCHELL: Look at that face. Look at that face right there.</s>EIGLARSH: That face doesn`t do it.</s>VELEZ-MITCHELL: The baby`s father is devastated, obviously, about the murder of the mother of his child. He spoke about his son. Listen to what he had to say.</s>JAMES REYNOLDS, CHILD`S FATHER: When he first got there, he was not too good of a shape, but the great people there were able to nurse him back, and he`s doing pretty good right now.</s>VELEZ-MITCHELL: I can`t imagine how this father`s ever going to, one day when the child is older, discuss how he came into this world in the process of the act, it would seem, of murder. Thank you, fantastic panel. Again, absolutely boggles my mind what people are capable of. Mother drives a minivan -- speaking of unbelievable acts, a mother drives a minivan into the river, killing herself and her three kids. And now the one son who survived through heroic action visits the watery grave. You`ll see the video next. But, first, another kid gets a full-body pat-down at the airport. I`m going to talk to this little boy and his livid, furious outraged mother in an ISSUES primetime exclusive coming up.</s>DANIEL AMOS, TRAVELER: During these times, they have to do that because some people do use their children in a way that is horrible.</s>SPENCER SHEAHAN, PATTED DOWN BY TSA: I was confused. I did not know anything what they were going to do to me.</s>VELEZ-MITCHELL: Little did that handsome young man know that his trip to Disneyland also included a full TSA body pat-down at the airport. Surprise: tonight the boy`s mother is outraged that her child was subjected to such an invasive search going through airport security. And tonight, in an ISSUES primetime exclusive, Heather Sheahan and her very handsome 8-year-old son, Spencer, join us to tell us about their ordeal live in just a moment. Spencer is the young man who had the captain`s shirt on there. Spencer was singled out for a pat-down at the Portland airport. His mom was so appalled by this, she took out the camera and started taking some photos. Smart, fast thinking, mom. She says her mom was scared to death, that the little boy thought he was in big trouble. Look at the size of this guy, who`s patting him down. OK? That`s kind of scary right there. I mean, that`s a big guy coming at you with gloves and saying, "I`m going to pat you down." He thought maybe, "Oh, my gosh, I might not be going to Disneyland. I`m in trouble." That wasn`t the worst of it. Listen to this.</s>HEATHER SHEAHAN, SPENCER`S MOM: They went up his leg into that area, down the next leg, up here, felt all over.</s>VELEZ-MITCHELL: Spencer joins the likes of this little girl who got the same treatment at the New Orleans airport very recently. Her parents were so outraged they took some video and posted it on YouTube. Look at this, patting down her little bottom. It`s safe to say, both children were traumatized by these body searches. And their parents say it`s too much. There should be a different set of rules for kids. What do you think? Straight out to Heather Sheahan and like I said, her very handsome, dashing son Spencer. Heather, I want to start with you. Describe what happened. You`re going through airport security. You`re on the way to Disneyland. You`re excited; you`re happy. What happened?</s>H. SHEAHAN: Well, we were going through, and everything was going just fine. It was normal. And I had already gone through. And next thing you know, it was Spencer`s turn to go, and he came through, and it was a beep that sounded. It wasn`t like a beep that he had metal on him. It was more like a beep that I had never heard before. And the next thing you know, the TSA official took him by his shoulders and pushed him into this glass room and said that he was randomly chosen for additional screening. This glass room had three walls in it. I was separated from him, and I was trying to reassure him because he was near tears. He was almost crying and looking at me, like, "Are they going to let me on the plane? What`s going on?" And I said, "Honey, it`s OK. Just try and stay calm." And then he was brought out to be searched, and the gentleman, the TSA official, put on his rubber gloves and started the pat-down, almost like a criminal -- like a police officer would frisk a criminal. He was very nice, but -- and doing his job, but there`s got to be a better way.</s>VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes, I mean, there -- it would seem that that could be very, very frightening to a youngster, especially this whole idea of "Am I in trouble?" So I want to ask you Spencer, when this big man came up to you and started putting on -- had his gloves and started patting you down, what were you thinking? What did you think was going on, Spencer?</s>S. SHEAHAN: I was thinking that he was going to check, like, something like my pockets and shoes, so right then I had a feeling that I don`t think I`m quite going to be on a plane. I felt like I`m in trouble or am I -- this is funny. I think, because I know this, because they`re go to check my pockets but it turns out, that was all wrong. He actually did a pat-down.</s>VELEZ-MITCHELL: Now do you know what a pat-down is and why they do it?</s>S. SHEAHAN: Yes. Because you might have metal.</s>VELEZ-MITCHELL: What, honey?</s>S. SHEAHAN: Because they might -- you might have metal. You might be carrying metal.</s>VELEZ-MITCHELL: Metal. Yes. Very good. Very good. Well, I`ve got to say, you have a wonderful and articulate son, and I think that he`s come through this with flying colors. But I could still see how he might be scared. Did you want your mommy? When that man was patting you down, did you feel scared? Did you say, "I want my mommy?"</s>S. SHEAHAN: No, I felt a little frustrated, and I wanted my mom. But it tickled, too.</s>VELEZ-MITCHELL: It tickled a little bit. How cute. Now, let me ask you, Heather, were you kind of traumatized and saying, "I want to be with his son. I don`t want him to get -- this wall and separated from him. I want to be able to hold his hand or something"?</s>H. SHEAHAN: Yes. I was very concerned for him, especially when he was in the glass house, as you would call it, and then when they walked him out and I asked if I could take pictures, and the said I could. But the most traumatizing part about it was when we walked away, he asked, "Mommy, do they think I`m a bad guy?" And I`m said, "Oh, no, honey." I said, "You`re not a bad guy." And I told him, "You were just special, and they picked you to do that."</s>VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. Great parenting. Great talking to you.</s>H. SHEAHAN: Thank you.</s>VELEZ-MITCHELL: Thank you.