August 12, 2024 • 40 mins
Twelve-year-old Maria lives with her father, Andres Gomez, and cousin, Ricky, in Gainesville, Georgia. Maria's mother is not involved in her life.
On the morning of her disappearance, Andres leaves the house at 10 AM, assuming Maria is still asleep. He says goodbye to his nephew, Ricky, and heads out. When Gomez returns home that evening, Maria doesn’t greet him at the door. Concerned, he knocks on her bedroom door, only to find that his 12-year-old daughter is missing. The family frantically contacts neighbors and friends in search of her. Maria is reported missing.
Nearly two months later, the case takes a turn. Maria contacts her father via Facebook Messenger. Investigators trace the IP address and manage to locate the device. Maria is found with 31-year-old Antonio Augustin, a Guatemalan native living in northeastern Ohio. Police believe Maria had been communicating with Augustin online for some time.
Joining Nancy Grace Today:
- Derek Smith – Criminal Defense Attorney
- Dr. Jeff Gardere – Board Certified Clinical Jeffrey Gardere – Psychologist, Prof of Behavioral Medicine at Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine; Author: ‘The Causes of Autism” @drjeffgardere
- John Pizzuro - Raven’s CEO, Former New Jersey State Police Commander of the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force, Former New Jersey State Police
- Titania Jordan – Chief Parent Officer, Bark Parental Controls; Author: “Parenting In A Tech World;” Instagram/X: @TitaniaJordan
- Nora Almazan - Author, Writer, Editor, Ghostwriter, and Reporter for Now Habersham
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
The frantic search for missing Maria, a twelve year old
little girl ends six hundred miles away with a thirty
four year old Guatemalan national. I means he Grace, this
is Crime Stories, thank you for being with us.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Twelve year old Georgia girl Maria Gomez Perez vanishes from
her home driveway. Now a desperate search ensues to bring
Maria home.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
A little twelve.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Year old girl, Maria goes missing from her own home.
Her parents' fear she has been lured by a much
older man. What does that have to do with a
thirty four year old Guatemalan national?
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Think about it.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Your twelve year old little girl goes from your own home.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Listen at this point, do you believe she's in danger?
Speaker 4 (01:05):
Well, she's twelve years old and she's been going week
and a half, So that kind of answers your question.
You know, I mean, she's a child, and to be
gone that long's that's a serious issue. And you know,
so there's so many possibilities where she could be in
what could have happened to her, And so we're exploring
every single avenue that we possibly can. But yes, I
(01:26):
do consider her in danger very much.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
So I don't understand the question post to l E
law enforcement is she in danger? Hgl yees, she's in danger.
I mean John Pezorro joining me, our CEO of raven
Forming New Jersey State Police Commander on Crimes against Children Internet, John.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
Thank you for being with us. Somebody actually asked, do
you think she's in danger? Yes?
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Yes, a little twelve year old girl is taken from
her home and signs take us to a thirty four
year old grown man. Yes, she's in danger.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
Why would they even ask that?
Speaker 5 (02:09):
I must as rhetorical. I have no idea. Of course
she's in danger, and that's what's happening today. You know,
just from an Internet based aspect, it doesn't matter the apps.
You know, we have offenders reaching out to children all
the time, and a twelve year old with an adult
who's unknown. Of course she's in danger.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
A thirty four year old Guatemalan national. You're hearing from
John PaSoRi, but listen to this.
Speaker 4 (02:33):
On Thursday, May thirtieth, twelve year old Maria Gomez Perez
was reported missing to our agency. That report set into
motion a large law enforcement and community effort to find Maria.
We are all doing everything within our power to bring
Maria home safe and sound. And make no mistake, the
men and women of the Sheriff's Office and numerous other
(02:55):
agencies have Maria's image burned in our hearts and into
our minds.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
Almost immediately, her family fears she has been lured online.
We are talking about a twelve year old little girl.
Speaker 4 (03:10):
Listen, she may have come in contact with someone that
she did make contact with to leave that day from
her house. Identifying that person and trying to find out
who that is and where they went. There's the key
to it.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Joining me right now, an all star panel to make
sense of what we know right now. But before I
go to investigative reporter Nora Amazon to Titania Jordan, chief
parent office with BART Parental Controls and author of Parenting
and a Tech World.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
All right, just hearing that is scary parenting in a
tech world? Explain to me immediately.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
Family was concerned that this twelve year old little girl
had been lured by somebody online. And you know, parents
think my child's not on filling the blank, TikTok, snat,
you name it. They get their hands on the internet,
whether it's on their phone, whether it's a friend's iPad,
whether they're playing a game online.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
Like Minecraft, you can actually talk to the.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
People that you're playing with online or at the school
or at the library.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
To Tanya, they get online, they do, Nancy.
Speaker 6 (04:21):
And the unfortunate part is that there are at least
five hundred thousand predators online at any time trying to
talk with, form relationships with, and lure our children.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Hold on just a moment, how do you know that?
Speaker 2 (04:35):
To Tanya Jordan, to Tanya joining us from bark, how
do you know that as we speak right now, there
are at least half a million predators? And I don't
mean casually, like they've gotten their iPad up beside them
while they're watching murder, She wrote, I don't mean that
they are actively trolling, actively like a job trying to
(04:58):
find children.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
How do you know that figure? At least a half
a million online right now?
Speaker 6 (05:03):
At least it's based on data from the FBI. Our
fellow guest John Pizzerro can corroborate that with me. And
that's the known amount. There are so many more that
we don't know about.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
The known amount? What about it, Bizzorro? Is she right?
At least five.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Hundred thousand right now as we're talking that are online
actively trolling.
Speaker 5 (05:26):
There's one hundred thousand IP addresses right right now in
the United States that are actually trading known active images
with eight to thirteen victims each. So those are just
file sharing systems. So Titanya is right. I mean it's
at least five hundred thousand.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
Okay, I'm trying to figure this out. I think I
need a shrink.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Doctor Jeff Gardier joining us BORDS, certified clinical Psychologist, Professor
at Turo College, America's psychologist and contributing author with Practical
Parenting The Cause.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
Of Autism, Doctor Jeff Cardier.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
Is great to have you with us tonight, Doctor Jeff,
How do we get my head around this? Because I
watch my children, the twins.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
All the time?
Speaker 2 (06:12):
What are you doing online online? Who are you talking to?
Who's on the phone, who are you playing? What's the
game where you build things on Minecraft?
Speaker 1 (06:22):
Minecraft? Who are you playing Minecraft? With? All that? Because
I know that when.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
They're playing these games online, they're playing with someone, and
I always insist it be somebody that they know in
real life, but I don't know they see it as
so innocent. Doctor Jeff that they may not always follow
that rule.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
That's right.
Speaker 7 (06:44):
And the other thing that we know from that FBI
statistic the kids who tend to play these games are
very young. And so that statistic you just heard from
our guests, we can add to that that fifty percent
of the victims from that half million of those predators
are between the ages of twelve to fifteen. So we
(07:05):
have to be really careful with what our kids are playing.
So and part of that is blaming our youngsters for
being online and not understanding it doesn't matter who they're
talking to.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
What they're doing.
Speaker 7 (07:19):
They are victims. They are children, and these are adult
predators coming after them.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
A thirty four year old Guatemalan national is in the
cross heres right now with missing Maria just twelve joining me.
A high profile criminal defense attorney. You've seen him in
the knees, Derek Smith, practicing out of the Ohio jurisdiction,
(07:46):
and you can find him at d Wsmithlegal dot com
now offense. But I hope I never need you, Derek Smith.
The progression that we have seen it has been very rapid.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
In the past.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
When there would be a let's just say a rape case,
the defense attorney not you, of course, because you're different.
Would say, oh, she's never met he's never met her.
This is completely bogus. Then, as it would turn out,
there'd be a witness spotting the two of them at
a restaurant or a bar, and then the defendant would go, oh, wait, yes,
(08:22):
now that I think about it, I did run into her.
Then the witness says, actually he followed her out, and
he says, oh, you know what, You're right, I'll offer
to walk her to her car, but that was it.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
Then it turns out that, let's just.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
Say, there's a DNA on her body. Then he goes, well,
now that you mention it, we did have consensual sex,
but she initiated it was totally consensual. I mean you
see the progression of the defense going. And somehow there's
blame on the victim. Okay, that scenario exists. But now,
(09:00):
believe it or not, Derek Smith, and I'm sure you've
seen it in court.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
The victims, child victims, twelve year old girl?
Speaker 2 (09:10):
What is that fifth grade is being shamed because they're
online that somehow it's their fault.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
Are you seeing that in the modern day defenses? Oh?
Speaker 8 (09:23):
I mean absolutely, Nancy, and you forgot one part too,
that they always claim they didn't know she was under age.
She said she was eighteen, showed her pictures of different people,
you know, whatever they can think of to conjure up
some kind of defense. And you know, maybe I'm a
little guilty that myself when I have to defend them.
But the truth is this internet crime has been skyrocketing
(09:46):
over the past decade and I don't see it getting
any better. I mean, I have, you know, eleven year
old myself, and I have to monitor everything online that
he does because of all the predators out there and
the things that I see in the core room. It's
a very frightening time in paracy to be diligent. They
need to be aware of what their children are doing
(10:07):
online because these predators will just come after them unbeknownst
to the children.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Well, and also it's a whole nother, a whole nother
phase of criminal defense because now you have to be
an internet expert and a computer tech expert. To John
Pizzorro joining us, the CEO of Raven former Task Force
relating to Internet crimes against children, John Bisorro, do people
(10:35):
the purpse not realize that when you text, write exchange photos.
We can get your IP Internet provider address. That's like
a computer fingerprint. Do they not get that?
Speaker 5 (10:51):
Most of them don't, and thank god because that's how
we catch them.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
Right.
Speaker 5 (10:54):
So, I think from a technology standpoint, it's from their
screen name, from how they sign up. Look offenders, what
they'll do is they'll take steps, they'll use fake names. However,
at the end of the day, they need an IP
address really to get on, so I think that's where
they don't understand. Sometimes. You know, some offenders a little
bit more complex than others. I don't want to give
(11:17):
away what some people can do, but you know there
are things to hide and mask your IP address. But
for the most part, offenders don't understand that technology. The
sophisticated ones do, and we'll take measures to do that,
but a lot of times it's complacency. All you need
to do is not do it once and that's where
(11:37):
law enforcement can use their own technology to find you.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Joining Me Now investigative reporter Naura almazan author, writer, editor
and reporter for it Now. Haversham Naura, thank you so
much for being with us in the last hours of
breaking news in the search for this little twelve year
old girl, Nora, how did she go?
Speaker 1 (11:59):
Miss? What happened?
Speaker 9 (12:01):
You have this little girl who has tons of time
on her hands because her dad is working in the
factory during the day, uncle is at night, and so
she has a lot of time to be on the
internet and apparently was communicating with a lot of different
men on the internet. Probably didn't know that their age
(12:25):
or anything like that, and they come and pick her up.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
With me, is investigative reporter Nora Almazan. The image you
just conjured up is sickening. You've got a twelve year
old little girl at home. It's summer break, Dad's at work,
Uncle comes home in the evening.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
Mom is not in.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
The home, and there she is at home all day
playing online.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
How often do we see that all the time?
Speaker 2 (12:52):
She has no idea that these grown men are circling
her like wolves.
Speaker 9 (12:58):
Absolutely, and that's exactly how it happened, because she's just
got time on her hands. And unfortunately, many of the
people in the Hispanic community don't understand that there's boys
and girls clubs and there are avenues that she could
have gone to. But she's at home by herself, on
the internet, and she's just open.
Speaker 10 (13:17):
Pray at this point, do you believe she's in danger?
Speaker 4 (13:28):
Well, she's twelve years old and she's been going week
and a halfs. I mean, she's a child, and to
be gone that long, that's a serious issue.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
Twelve year old Georgia girl Maria Gomez Perez vanishes from
her home driveway. Now a desperate search ensues to bring
Maria home.
Speaker 4 (13:50):
I do consider her in danger very much so.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
That rewards skyrocketing to fifty thousand dollars in the search
for twelve year old Maria.
Speaker 4 (13:58):
Listen to this investigation as a termined that mister Augustin
drove from his home in Ohio to Gainesville and picked
up Maria on Wednesday, May the twenty ninth. They traveled
back to Ohio that same day and to our knowledge,
have been there ever since.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
To Jeff a Guard Deer, renowned psychologist and professor at Truro, Jeff,
a thirty four year old man drives all the way
from Ohio to Georgia just to get a hold of
(14:35):
a kidnap a twelve year old little girl.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
What is the thinking?
Speaker 7 (14:40):
I think we're looking at a pure predator here, someone
who would do something so horrific and this isn't just
about possibly his carnal desire. This is about someone taking
some a girl, of a twelve year old girl, from
her home, from her family, from her father.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
Doctor Jeff, did you just say this is not just
about carnal desire.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
I'm sorry. I feel like I'm reading from the Old
Testament carnal desire in my world. You know what that means?
Child rape? That's what that means.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
Is that what you're trying to say in your psychological terminology? Okay,
So he travels all the way from Ohio to Georgia,
and I'm gonna let Derek Smith, he practices in Ohio,
figure out how.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
Long we drive that six hundred miles?
Speaker 2 (15:33):
So he drives six hundred miles, doctor Jeff Gardier, And
you say it's not for child sex.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
What are they going to have a tea party when
he gets there?
Speaker 2 (15:42):
No?
Speaker 7 (15:42):
I certainly believe that, of course, that it is about
sexual exploitation in many, many different ways. But what I'm
also saying is what is so horrific about this, In
addition to this person being a predator, is not even
caring about the damage to this young girl emotionally and physically,
(16:05):
but also the damage to the family and to the community.
It's a very tight knit community.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
You are essentially taking that pers Jeff, Yes, I just
want the girl to be alive. You're talking about the community.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
Okay, Well, can we please put the horse in front
of the cart. Okay, the girl is taken from her
home by a thirty four year old man. First, you
tell me it's not about cardinal desire. I a child sex.
Now you're talking about the community. Can we talk about
(16:43):
what's going through this perv's mind for six hundred miles
on his way to get.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
A twelve year old little girl. He knews she was twelve.
Speaker 7 (16:54):
Yeah, and certainly I don't want to be misunderstood here, Nancy.
That is perhaps the primary, absolutely the primary reason in
my mind that he's going after her. But I'm talking
about not just the damage this will cause her for
the rest of her life, but the dread and the
fear and the anxiety and the loss to the family
(17:18):
not knowing where their daughter is.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
Well, it's got to.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
Be excruciating to Naura Almazon joining us, if 's to
get a reporter with now Habersham, Nura, I know that
the mom is not.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
In a picture.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
Dad works every single day, I believe six days a week.
The uncle comes in when the dad's not there to
watch after the little girl, and then they find out
she's gone.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
Did she go missing from the driveway? Is that where
she was last seen? Exactly?
Speaker 9 (17:48):
Yeah, the car pulled up, she got in it, and
I don't know if her expectations. We don't really know
yet what her expectations were of the person who was
picking her up. I can't believe that a twelve year
old would want to get in a car with a
thirty four year old man. So something had to be
different for her, and she had to have been afraid.
(18:10):
But she did get in the car and took off.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
You know.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
To Tania Jordan, let's follow up on what Noura is saying.
Very often in cases I've handled, and there have been
so many of them, and I'd like to get Derek Smith,
a veteran trial lawyer, to jump in on this as well.
To Tanya, very often, and we just saw this as
a matter of fact. In the Delphi double murder of
(18:34):
Abby and Libby, the two little girls that were walking
on the trestle bridge for about a minute, police were
looking at a guy that was posting online he looked
like a Justin Bieber looked alike.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
He didn't look anything like that at all.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
He was up in his thirties, just looked nothing like
this hot young guy that he was portraying himself to be.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
And we see very often to Tanya the.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
Purp acts like they're the age of the victim of
the target.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
And they go online.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
To Tanya and go, hey, I see that you've got
a picture of you in a soccer uniform.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
I play soccer. Where do you play soccer?
Speaker 2 (19:18):
In other words, where do you go to school? And
then they go, oh, is that far from your home?
Speaker 1 (19:23):
Where do you live? And then they find out the
home address. It goes on and on and on. But
they hook the child by.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
Pretending to be a child themselves, and they get a
hold of pictures and if the control room could pull
up the photo that was used in the del Fi
cases turned out not to be the killer, and the
photo that was used I believe was actually a cop,
a picture of a young cop from some other jurisdiction
(19:51):
had nothing to do.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
With the case. So they use these photos they.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
Get online of a young boy and that's who the
thanks they're talking to.
Speaker 6 (20:02):
Yeah, you have just described the grooming process that is
happening every single day with children across the nation. And
predators not only groom children via text. Now they can
use the filters that come into Instagram and TikTok and
other entities to turn them into young children in real time,
(20:23):
both photo based and video based. And I have tested them.
I have used them, and I have been able to
interact with predators in real time and it's stomach turning.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
Okay, tell me what happened to Dagna.
Speaker 6 (20:33):
Oh my goodness, So you know, pick your poison. In
some cases, I use TikTok because they have not only
a live video filter where I take my forty three
year old self and I can tweak the settings to
make me look, you know, thirteen to sixteen years old,
and so they think I'm a child. We start talking,
(20:53):
they ask me to meet up, and that's when I
call law enforcement.
Speaker 3 (20:58):
Weeks pass and own no sign of little Maria Gomez Perez,
a twelve year old Georgia girl who disappeared from her
own home. Authorities began to look elsewhere, going as far
as Texas and Tennessee.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
H profile lawyer Derek Smith from the Ohio jurisdiction joining
us right now that six hundred miles.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
Think about it.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
If you're in Core representing this guy, you're up the
creek without a paddle, Derek, Because think six hundred miles.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
What is that ten hours if you're going sixty mph?
Speaker 2 (21:35):
Ten hours to think about what you're doing, to think.
Speaker 1 (21:41):
About the twelve year old little.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
Girl at the end of your journey, all those hours
planning what he's going to do when he gets to
this little girl's home.
Speaker 8 (21:53):
I hope that she's healthy and that she's okay, and
we'll wait to see what the evidence brings out as
far as any kind of possible defenses for this animal.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
But guys, what was the break in the case? Listen?
Speaker 4 (22:05):
The break in the case came last week when Maria
contacted her father via Facebook messenger. She had created a
new Facebook page so she could reach out to him
to tell him that she was okay and that she
was not coming home, and she also asked him to
stop looking for mister goatmez Alonzo told our investigators about
the message, and members of our Special Investigations Unit obtained
(22:28):
the IP address of the Facebook page and we're able
to find the phone number associated with that account.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
It's amazing to me, with all of the information out
there regarding Maria going.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
Missing, that no one noticed this guy.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
Traveling ten hours plus with a twelve year old little girl.
Joining us in all Star panel to make sense of
what we're understanding right now.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
To Nora Almazan, listen.
Speaker 4 (22:57):
Marie was found yesterday in the company of a third
one year old man, Antonio Augustine. He's a Guatemalan native
and he had been living in northeastern Ohio. We believe
Maria had been communicating for a time with mister Augustin
via Facebook, Messenger and some other online apps.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
To Naura Amazon, joining us from now Habersham, Naura again,
thank you for being with us. We now understand that
he's actually thirty four.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
Where were they.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
In a home, in an apartment, in a car in
at RV.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
Where were they when she was found?
Speaker 9 (23:33):
Well, you know, they had actually just been to a
swimming pool. So exactly to your question as to how
did people not notice, Well, you think about it, he
could easily be she could easily be his daughter. But
they located them in a shopping mall as they left
the swimming pool, so it wasn't like he just happened
(23:53):
to take her swimming that day. They had been out
in the community. And I love when it said safely located. Yes,
she was alive.
Speaker 1 (24:02):
She was alive.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
I'm glad you made that distinction, Nora, because when a child,
a twelve year old little girl, has been with a
thirty four year old man for that long, you don't
think he had sex with a child, which equals statutory rape.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
I'm having a hard time taking that in.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
I don't know that this child will ever be the
same again after that.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
Listen to what we've learned.
Speaker 4 (24:29):
They were able to track the phone to a residence
back in Dover, Ohio, and believing that this information was
a credible lead to Maria's location, we sent four investigators
from our Criminal Investigations Bureau to Dover this week. They
were able to track the phone to the Dover City
swimming pool, where they made visual contact with Maria and
mister Augustin.
Speaker 1 (24:50):
You know what that tells me?
Speaker 2 (24:51):
To John Pizzuro, CEO of Raven and formerly with a
New Jersey Task Force on Internet Crimes against Children, John,
so often we hear, well, you just can't get those
records that takes a subpoena.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
Blah blah blah blah.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
They were able to track the phone immediately to a
swimming pool and there they made.
Speaker 1 (25:13):
Quote visual contact.
Speaker 2 (25:15):
In other words, spotted the twelve year old little girl
with the thirty four year old Guatemalan national. I don't
know his status. I don't know if he's rightfully in
our country yet. I don't know if he's an illegal alien.
I don't know any of that yet, but I do
know he's a Guatemalan national.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
So they got that.
Speaker 2 (25:33):
Information and this is all stemming from an IP Internet
provider address.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
They find out that he has been.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
Targeting Maria online. They get the IP address, they get
his cell phone. He was probably using his phone to
communicate with Maria, So they get that cell number and
they immediately ping it to a swimming pool.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
Just like that.
Speaker 5 (25:56):
Law enforcement has that ability even with app companies. When
there's something ex you know, you kind of bypass the
actual process. Normally, it takes us a while from a
law enforcement perspective, to get information back, but when it's
exegent and someone's in danger, especially in this case, usually
they can get that information back very quickly.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
And there's more They spot the little girl with the
thirty four year old man at a swimming pool, and then.
Speaker 4 (26:24):
When the two got into a vehicle and traveled to
a nearby shopping center parking lot, our agents along with
members of the Tuscarrawis County Sheriff's Office, followed them. They
recovered Marie at the scene and mister Augustine was arrested.
Maria was taken to a local hospital for a wellness
check and as I said a moment ago, she will
be coming back home here to Gaineswelle.
Speaker 3 (26:45):
Today, twelve year old Maria's father is desperate for answers
weeks after his daughter seemingly vanishes from their home. Then
a mysterious message pops up on his face Facebook page.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
Take listen to what the Hall County Sheriff Gerald couch
I had to say.
Speaker 4 (27:06):
I can't let this moment go but without imploring our parents,
grandparents and guardians to watch over their children very closely.
Technology is a wonderful thing. It helped us locate Maria,
but also technology can also be used for evil. It's
from Maria was able to lead game with a stranger
and traveled nine hours away from home. So please know
(27:27):
what your children are doing and who they're communicating with.
There are most vulnerable and our most valuable citizens, and
it's our duty to take care of them.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
Just think about it.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
To Tanya Jordan Titania joining us from Bark, which is
a highly highly sensitive app that you put on your
children's phones and devices and it alerts you on your
phone when it picks up any troubling words. And here's
a great example, which I've told before to Tanya. My son,
(27:59):
John Day David plays basketball and soccer. He made a
great save playing soccer, but he went through the net
diving and had a huge.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
Bruise on his arm.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
Of course, he was proud of the bruise and saving
you know, the goal, and he showed the bruise off
in a picture to some of his friends. I immediately
got an alert that said John David self harm.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
My what he's six six any ways.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
I don't know one hundred and eighty pounds self harm really,
and I went and saw what it was bragging about.
Speaker 1 (28:37):
He saved the goal.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
He was so happy, you know, he's proud. So that's
how sensitive Bark is. My point is, think about it.
After these communications with a grown man thirty.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
Four years old.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
She is then in the car with him nearly ten
hours and the whole time all this guy wants to do,
we believe, is at her home to have sex with
a twelve year old little girl.
Speaker 6 (29:03):
It's so heartbreaking, it's stomach turning. Like I've said before,
you know, not only does Bark have an app, but
we also have a smartphone now and for families who
choose the Bark smartphone, you can see your child's live
location in real time. And so if this family had
had that, they might have been able to find her sooner.
(29:24):
Not only that, not only does Bark alert you to
self harm and violence, but it alerts you to predation.
Our algorithm detects the nuances of adults trying to groom children,
and we can alert you to those conversations before they
become kidnappings and murders.
Speaker 2 (29:40):
Who is this thirty four year old guy, Listen Antonio Augustin,
Guatemala national in his early thirties, has been living in Dover,
Ohio for at least three years.
Speaker 3 (29:50):
Ice has placed a hold on Augustine, but his immigration
status has not been confirmed.
Speaker 2 (29:55):
Okay, daughter, Jeff Gardier, you see this guy, he's just
been busted with a twelve year old little girl.
Speaker 1 (30:02):
He drove six hundred miles to get her, took her.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
You heard Nora Almazan state, the car pulled up in
the driveway, she jumped in and left just like that.
Then he drives another ten hours back home and he
is busted. A thirty four year old Guatemala national with
a twelve year old little girl from Georgia. Why is
(30:26):
he smiling in his mugshot?
Speaker 7 (30:29):
We see this, I've seen this before, and this is
someone who would fit the profile of being a very
depraved individual who doesn't care about what has happened with
this little girl. Maybe trying to put up a false
front that he is innocent and they were in some
(30:50):
sort of a consensual relationship, but it really does show
perhaps what is going on inside of this person's mind
that he does not care about the welfare of this youngster.
Speaker 2 (31:03):
To Derek Smith, joining US veteran trial lawyer in that
jurisdiction of Ohio where the alleged child molester is found,
let me just go with alleged kidnapper for now, because
we know there's going to have to be a rape
kid and all sorts of forensic questioning investigation before any
(31:23):
further charges are brought.
Speaker 1 (31:25):
To Derek Smith.
Speaker 2 (31:28):
I don't know how you do it, because very often
I have one particular judge where we would do pre
trial negotiations with me, the prosecutor, the defense attorney, and
the perp in the room with the two of us,
and very often not always, of course, but I would
look at the perp and he would look perfectly normal,
(31:49):
Like I could see him walking beside me in the
grocery store, pulling up at a red light. You look
at this guy with that smile on his face, and
you might think, Okay, he's fine.
Speaker 1 (31:59):
He's not.
Speaker 8 (32:00):
Absolutely how can you be fine when you're thirty four
year old man taking a twelve year old from her father.
That's one thing. But when to the doctor's point talking
about how he's looking, he maybe thinks in his mind
that he was doing her a favor. She was unhappy
at home, she would didn't want to be there, and
he took her to a better life here in Ohio
(32:22):
and took her to the pool, took her shopping.
Speaker 1 (32:25):
I'm to a better life.
Speaker 8 (32:28):
I'm throwing some ideas out there, Nancy. I'm trying to
think why in God's creation.
Speaker 1 (32:33):
Would a man do just spitballing? Yeah, just kind of.
I mean, did you just say he did her a
favor in his mind?
Speaker 8 (32:39):
I'm not saying they did that. He did that favor
to the father, or the family, or the community of Gainesville,
or the state of Ohio. He didn't do any of that.
But I'm hoping maybe that there was no nefarious activity
between the two. Maybe he just.
Speaker 1 (32:52):
Wanted you mean, other than the kidnapped.
Speaker 8 (32:54):
Other than that, of course, other than that. I'm just
hoping that the little girl was not violated sexually.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
You mean raped?
Speaker 8 (33:01):
Oh, yes, yes, that's what.
Speaker 1 (33:08):
Crime stories with Nancy Grace.
Speaker 2 (33:15):
To Noura Almazon joining us from now Habersham. Look, you
can't blame Derek Smith, Okay, he's just the messenger.
Speaker 1 (33:22):
He's stuck with the facts that this.
Speaker 2 (33:25):
Client, this guy has given him nour Have there been
any additional charges, such as a statutory rate charge yet?
Speaker 1 (33:33):
Yes, there has.
Speaker 9 (33:34):
Actually he is not He was supposed to be brought
to Georgia and but he's going to be staying in Dover,
Ohio to face charges there. I know that he has
been charged with rape and other sexual crimes against Maria
and I just have to question, and I throw this
out there, but there I do not believe that this
(33:58):
is his first time.
Speaker 1 (33:59):
It couldn't be because.
Speaker 9 (34:00):
He seemed to have been very smooth in getting Maria
to Dover, Ohio. And you just have to ask the question,
has he done this before? How many times? And what
happened to those children? In my opinion, well, you know.
Speaker 2 (34:14):
John Pizorro joining us CEO of Raven John Forever. There
are all these statistics that show for every time a
child has been molested, the perp has molested oh gosh,
dozens and dozens of times before, but has never been
reported or caught.
Speaker 1 (34:34):
So I think what Nora.
Speaker 2 (34:35):
Amazon is saying has more than a grain of truth
to it. He didn't just come up with this idea overnight.
It seems very well rehearsed.
Speaker 1 (34:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (34:46):
Absolutely, And what they do is it's not never one
victim like the Butler study for example, of people that
traded child sexually abuse material, fifty to eighty five percent
of them are hands on offenders with eight to thirteen
victims each. So it's never just one. And basically they
(35:07):
learn they get better at it. And I can't tell
you the amount offenders that we have arrested. It's never
just one victim. He just today just said, you know what,
I'm lucky young, and then start this today. There's always
a pattern, and it always happens to multiple victims.
Speaker 11 (35:24):
She was kidnapped and held against your will for three
hundred and ninety nine days. He starved her, he tortured her,
He assaulted her in every way that you can imagine.
He kept her in a dog cage for days and
days at a time. He treated her. The way that
(35:47):
he treated her was inhuman. It is so hard for
me to even imagine the treatment that she received.
Speaker 2 (35:54):
You're hearing Mom Shauna Burns talk about the kidnapped and the.
Speaker 1 (35:58):
Torture of her team girl. Haley lived.
Speaker 2 (36:03):
She lived through that ordeal, playing something like eighty five
eighty eight pounds by the time she was found barely
alive living in a dog age. She too had been
lured online. And she's not the only one. Now we
know that today's little girl, Maria just twelve.
Speaker 1 (36:27):
Has lived.
Speaker 2 (36:28):
Haley lived, but that's not true about another little girl,
Nicole Lovel.
Speaker 5 (36:34):
You're David.
Speaker 12 (36:35):
You are my crush, and I know you don't think
of me like that. But I don't care. I'll always
need here. If you're looking for a good time, I'm here.
When you had a bad day, I'm here. And I
don't want that to change. I want to be in
your life for as long as you can see me.
And I know I'm annoying and I ask for too much,
but I'm a girl and I have a hard and
feelings and my feelings get hurt a lot, but it's
(36:57):
never been hurt by you.
Speaker 1 (36:58):
And I like that.
Speaker 2 (36:59):
Oh my god, stars, this little girl little on Nicole level.
As I recall, she was twelve, just like Maria, and
hear you hear a letter that came out in court
that she wrote to her killer that she was having
a relationship with online David Eisenhower. He murdered her because
he did not want their sex relationship with this little
(37:21):
girl to become public.
Speaker 13 (37:23):
Listen, investigators figured out that Nicole had regularly use the
app Kick that app allows teens to communicate anonymously so
their parents don't know. David Eisenhower lured this little girl
out of her home with promises of a quote secret
date and murdered her in cold blood because he was
apparently afraid that the relationship was going to be exposed
(37:45):
by this precious little girl. When the cool body was found,
she had fourteen stab wounds. One was to the neck
as confirmed by a medical expander.
Speaker 2 (37:56):
That little girl on theic cole level lost her life.
She was murdered by her online predator. David Asenheiwer, You
were hearing investigative reporter Jennifer Sakowski reporting on that case.
Typically these cases do not have happy endings. In this case,
(38:18):
Maria is alive after nearly two months with a sex predator.
I don't know if this child will ever be the same.
To Nora Almazon joining us from now Habersham, you are
advising the charges have just been upgraded to charges that are.
Speaker 1 (38:39):
Felonies, including rape.
Speaker 2 (38:41):
In this case it would be statutory rape in Mani
jurisdictions that carries a life sentence twenty to life. He
is charged with rape, now felony rape.
Speaker 1 (38:52):
Correct, That is correct.
Speaker 2 (38:54):
Yes, you know this guy may be charged and Maria,
God in Heaven, is alive. But I can tell you
this from all the years I've worked with victims of
child rape and molestation. They go on, they go on
in life, but they are never the same. We wait
(39:18):
as justice unfolds, and we remember an American hero. Police
officer Jessica Ebausen, just nineteen, struck and killed by a
suspect vehicle in the line of duty. This young officer
survived by parents Chad and Lisa, boyfriend Nash gone so soon.
(39:44):
American hero dead in the line of duty, Officer Jessica Abakhausen.
Thank you to our guests for being with us. The
warning goes out to parents about internet predators.
Speaker 1 (39:58):
Maria is alive, but the next little girl or a
boy may not be.
Speaker 2 (40:04):
Nancy Grace signing off goodbye friend.
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
The frantic search for missing Maria, a twelve year old
little girl ends six hundred miles away with a thirty
four year old Guatemalan national. I means he Grace, this
is Crime Stories, thank you for being with us.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Twelve year old Georgia girl Maria Gomez Perez vanishes from
her home driveway. Now a desperate search ensues to bring
Maria home.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
A little twelve.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Year old girl, Maria goes missing from her own home.
Her parents' fear she has been lured by a much
older man. What does that have to do with a
thirty four year old Guatemalan national?
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Think about it.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Your twelve year old little girl goes from your own home.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Listen at this point, do you believe she's in danger?
Speaker 4 (01:05):
Well, she's twelve years old and she's been going week
and a half, So that kind of answers your question.
You know, I mean, she's a child, and to be
gone that long's that's a serious issue. And you know,
so there's so many possibilities where she could be in
what could have happened to her, And so we're exploring
every single avenue that we possibly can. But yes, I
(01:26):
do consider her in danger very much.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
So I don't understand the question post to l E
law enforcement is she in danger? Hgl yees, she's in danger.
I mean John Pezorro joining me, our CEO of raven
Forming New Jersey State Police Commander on Crimes against Children Internet, John.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
Thank you for being with us. Somebody actually asked, do
you think she's in danger? Yes?
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Yes, a little twelve year old girl is taken from
her home and signs take us to a thirty four
year old grown man. Yes, she's in danger.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
Why would they even ask that?
Speaker 5 (02:09):
I must as rhetorical. I have no idea. Of course
she's in danger, and that's what's happening today. You know,
just from an Internet based aspect, it doesn't matter the apps.
You know, we have offenders reaching out to children all
the time, and a twelve year old with an adult
who's unknown. Of course she's in danger.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
A thirty four year old Guatemalan national. You're hearing from
John PaSoRi, but listen to this.
Speaker 4 (02:33):
On Thursday, May thirtieth, twelve year old Maria Gomez Perez
was reported missing to our agency. That report set into
motion a large law enforcement and community effort to find Maria.
We are all doing everything within our power to bring
Maria home safe and sound. And make no mistake, the
men and women of the Sheriff's Office and numerous other
(02:55):
agencies have Maria's image burned in our hearts and into
our minds.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
Almost immediately, her family fears she has been lured online.
We are talking about a twelve year old little girl.
Speaker 4 (03:10):
Listen, she may have come in contact with someone that
she did make contact with to leave that day from
her house. Identifying that person and trying to find out
who that is and where they went. There's the key
to it.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Joining me right now, an all star panel to make
sense of what we know right now. But before I
go to investigative reporter Nora Amazon to Titania Jordan, chief
parent office with BART Parental Controls and author of Parenting
and a Tech World.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
All right, just hearing that is scary parenting in a
tech world? Explain to me immediately.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
Family was concerned that this twelve year old little girl
had been lured by somebody online. And you know, parents
think my child's not on filling the blank, TikTok, snat,
you name it. They get their hands on the internet,
whether it's on their phone, whether it's a friend's iPad,
whether they're playing a game online.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
Like Minecraft, you can actually talk to the.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
People that you're playing with online or at the school
or at the library.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
To Tanya, they get online, they do, Nancy.
Speaker 6 (04:21):
And the unfortunate part is that there are at least
five hundred thousand predators online at any time trying to
talk with, form relationships with, and lure our children.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Hold on just a moment, how do you know that?
Speaker 2 (04:35):
To Tanya Jordan, to Tanya joining us from bark, how
do you know that as we speak right now, there
are at least half a million predators? And I don't
mean casually, like they've gotten their iPad up beside them
while they're watching murder, She wrote, I don't mean that
they are actively trolling, actively like a job trying to
(04:58):
find children.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
How do you know that figure? At least a half
a million online right now?
Speaker 6 (05:03):
At least it's based on data from the FBI. Our
fellow guest John Pizzerro can corroborate that with me. And
that's the known amount. There are so many more that
we don't know about.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
The known amount? What about it, Bizzorro? Is she right?
At least five.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Hundred thousand right now as we're talking that are online
actively trolling.
Speaker 5 (05:26):
There's one hundred thousand IP addresses right right now in
the United States that are actually trading known active images
with eight to thirteen victims each. So those are just
file sharing systems. So Titanya is right. I mean it's
at least five hundred thousand.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
Okay, I'm trying to figure this out. I think I
need a shrink.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Doctor Jeff Gardier joining us BORDS, certified clinical Psychologist, Professor
at Turo College, America's psychologist and contributing author with Practical
Parenting The Cause.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
Of Autism, Doctor Jeff Cardier.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
Is great to have you with us tonight, Doctor Jeff,
How do we get my head around this? Because I
watch my children, the twins.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
All the time?
Speaker 2 (06:12):
What are you doing online online? Who are you talking to?
Who's on the phone, who are you playing? What's the
game where you build things on Minecraft?
Speaker 1 (06:22):
Minecraft? Who are you playing Minecraft? With? All that? Because
I know that when.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
They're playing these games online, they're playing with someone, and
I always insist it be somebody that they know in
real life, but I don't know they see it as
so innocent. Doctor Jeff that they may not always follow
that rule.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
That's right.
Speaker 7 (06:44):
And the other thing that we know from that FBI
statistic the kids who tend to play these games are
very young. And so that statistic you just heard from
our guests, we can add to that that fifty percent
of the victims from that half million of those predators
are between the ages of twelve to fifteen. So we
(07:05):
have to be really careful with what our kids are playing.
So and part of that is blaming our youngsters for
being online and not understanding it doesn't matter who they're
talking to.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
What they're doing.
Speaker 7 (07:19):
They are victims. They are children, and these are adult
predators coming after them.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
A thirty four year old Guatemalan national is in the
cross heres right now with missing Maria just twelve joining me.
A high profile criminal defense attorney. You've seen him in
the knees, Derek Smith, practicing out of the Ohio jurisdiction,
(07:46):
and you can find him at d Wsmithlegal dot com
now offense. But I hope I never need you, Derek Smith.
The progression that we have seen it has been very rapid.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
In the past.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
When there would be a let's just say a rape case,
the defense attorney not you, of course, because you're different.
Would say, oh, she's never met he's never met her.
This is completely bogus. Then, as it would turn out,
there'd be a witness spotting the two of them at
a restaurant or a bar, and then the defendant would go, oh, wait, yes,
(08:22):
now that I think about it, I did run into her.
Then the witness says, actually he followed her out, and
he says, oh, you know what, You're right, I'll offer
to walk her to her car, but that was it.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
Then it turns out that, let's just.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
Say, there's a DNA on her body. Then he goes, well,
now that you mention it, we did have consensual sex,
but she initiated it was totally consensual. I mean you
see the progression of the defense going. And somehow there's
blame on the victim. Okay, that scenario exists. But now,
(09:00):
believe it or not, Derek Smith, and I'm sure you've
seen it in court.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
The victims, child victims, twelve year old girl?
Speaker 2 (09:10):
What is that fifth grade is being shamed because they're
online that somehow it's their fault.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
Are you seeing that in the modern day defenses? Oh?
Speaker 8 (09:23):
I mean absolutely, Nancy, and you forgot one part too,
that they always claim they didn't know she was under age.
She said she was eighteen, showed her pictures of different people,
you know, whatever they can think of to conjure up
some kind of defense. And you know, maybe I'm a
little guilty that myself when I have to defend them.
But the truth is this internet crime has been skyrocketing
(09:46):
over the past decade and I don't see it getting
any better. I mean, I have, you know, eleven year
old myself, and I have to monitor everything online that
he does because of all the predators out there and
the things that I see in the core room. It's
a very frightening time in paracy to be diligent. They
need to be aware of what their children are doing
(10:07):
online because these predators will just come after them unbeknownst
to the children.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Well, and also it's a whole nother, a whole nother
phase of criminal defense because now you have to be
an internet expert and a computer tech expert. To John
Pizzorro joining us, the CEO of Raven former Task Force
relating to Internet crimes against children, John Bisorro, do people
(10:35):
the purpse not realize that when you text, write exchange photos.
We can get your IP Internet provider address. That's like
a computer fingerprint. Do they not get that?
Speaker 5 (10:51):
Most of them don't, and thank god because that's how
we catch them.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
Right.
Speaker 5 (10:54):
So, I think from a technology standpoint, it's from their
screen name, from how they sign up. Look offenders, what
they'll do is they'll take steps, they'll use fake names. However,
at the end of the day, they need an IP
address really to get on, so I think that's where
they don't understand. Sometimes. You know, some offenders a little
bit more complex than others. I don't want to give
(11:17):
away what some people can do, but you know there
are things to hide and mask your IP address. But
for the most part, offenders don't understand that technology. The
sophisticated ones do, and we'll take measures to do that,
but a lot of times it's complacency. All you need
to do is not do it once and that's where
(11:37):
law enforcement can use their own technology to find you.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Joining Me Now investigative reporter Naura almazan author, writer, editor
and reporter for it Now. Haversham Naura, thank you so
much for being with us in the last hours of
breaking news in the search for this little twelve year
old girl, Nora, how did she go?
Speaker 1 (11:59):
Miss? What happened?
Speaker 9 (12:01):
You have this little girl who has tons of time
on her hands because her dad is working in the
factory during the day, uncle is at night, and so
she has a lot of time to be on the
internet and apparently was communicating with a lot of different
men on the internet. Probably didn't know that their age
(12:25):
or anything like that, and they come and pick her up.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
With me, is investigative reporter Nora Almazan. The image you
just conjured up is sickening. You've got a twelve year
old little girl at home. It's summer break, Dad's at work,
Uncle comes home in the evening.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
Mom is not in.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
The home, and there she is at home all day
playing online.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
How often do we see that all the time?
Speaker 2 (12:52):
She has no idea that these grown men are circling
her like wolves.
Speaker 9 (12:58):
Absolutely, and that's exactly how it happened, because she's just
got time on her hands. And unfortunately, many of the
people in the Hispanic community don't understand that there's boys
and girls clubs and there are avenues that she could
have gone to. But she's at home by herself, on
the internet, and she's just open.
Speaker 10 (13:17):
Pray at this point, do you believe she's in danger?
Speaker 4 (13:28):
Well, she's twelve years old and she's been going week
and a halfs. I mean, she's a child, and to
be gone that long, that's a serious issue.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
Twelve year old Georgia girl Maria Gomez Perez vanishes from
her home driveway. Now a desperate search ensues to bring
Maria home.
Speaker 4 (13:50):
I do consider her in danger very much so.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
That rewards skyrocketing to fifty thousand dollars in the search
for twelve year old Maria.
Speaker 4 (13:58):
Listen to this investigation as a termined that mister Augustin
drove from his home in Ohio to Gainesville and picked
up Maria on Wednesday, May the twenty ninth. They traveled
back to Ohio that same day and to our knowledge,
have been there ever since.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
To Jeff a Guard Deer, renowned psychologist and professor at Truro, Jeff,
a thirty four year old man drives all the way
from Ohio to Georgia just to get a hold of
(14:35):
a kidnap a twelve year old little girl.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
What is the thinking?
Speaker 7 (14:40):
I think we're looking at a pure predator here, someone
who would do something so horrific and this isn't just
about possibly his carnal desire. This is about someone taking
some a girl, of a twelve year old girl, from
her home, from her family, from her father.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
Doctor Jeff, did you just say this is not just
about carnal desire.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
I'm sorry. I feel like I'm reading from the Old
Testament carnal desire in my world. You know what that means?
Child rape? That's what that means.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
Is that what you're trying to say in your psychological terminology? Okay,
So he travels all the way from Ohio to Georgia,
and I'm gonna let Derek Smith, he practices in Ohio,
figure out how.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
Long we drive that six hundred miles?
Speaker 2 (15:33):
So he drives six hundred miles, doctor Jeff Gardier, And
you say it's not for child sex.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
What are they going to have a tea party when
he gets there?
Speaker 2 (15:42):
No?
Speaker 7 (15:42):
I certainly believe that, of course, that it is about
sexual exploitation in many, many different ways. But what I'm
also saying is what is so horrific about this, In
addition to this person being a predator, is not even
caring about the damage to this young girl emotionally and physically,
(16:05):
but also the damage to the family and to the community.
It's a very tight knit community.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
You are essentially taking that pers Jeff, Yes, I just
want the girl to be alive. You're talking about the community.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
Okay, Well, can we please put the horse in front
of the cart. Okay, the girl is taken from her
home by a thirty four year old man. First, you
tell me it's not about cardinal desire. I a child sex.
Now you're talking about the community. Can we talk about
(16:43):
what's going through this perv's mind for six hundred miles
on his way to get.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
A twelve year old little girl. He knews she was twelve.
Speaker 7 (16:54):
Yeah, and certainly I don't want to be misunderstood here, Nancy.
That is perhaps the primary, absolutely the primary reason in
my mind that he's going after her. But I'm talking
about not just the damage this will cause her for
the rest of her life, but the dread and the
fear and the anxiety and the loss to the family
(17:18):
not knowing where their daughter is.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
Well, it's got to.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
Be excruciating to Naura Almazon joining us, if 's to
get a reporter with now Habersham, Nura, I know that
the mom is not.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
In a picture.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
Dad works every single day, I believe six days a week.
The uncle comes in when the dad's not there to
watch after the little girl, and then they find out
she's gone.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
Did she go missing from the driveway? Is that where
she was last seen? Exactly?
Speaker 9 (17:48):
Yeah, the car pulled up, she got in it, and
I don't know if her expectations. We don't really know
yet what her expectations were of the person who was
picking her up. I can't believe that a twelve year
old would want to get in a car with a
thirty four year old man. So something had to be
different for her, and she had to have been afraid.
(18:10):
But she did get in the car and took off.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
You know.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
To Tania Jordan, let's follow up on what Noura is saying.
Very often in cases I've handled, and there have been
so many of them, and I'd like to get Derek Smith,
a veteran trial lawyer, to jump in on this as well.
To Tanya, very often, and we just saw this as
a matter of fact. In the Delphi double murder of
(18:34):
Abby and Libby, the two little girls that were walking
on the trestle bridge for about a minute, police were
looking at a guy that was posting online he looked
like a Justin Bieber looked alike.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
He didn't look anything like that at all.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
He was up in his thirties, just looked nothing like
this hot young guy that he was portraying himself to be.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
And we see very often to Tanya the.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
Purp acts like they're the age of the victim of
the target.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
And they go online.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
To Tanya and go, hey, I see that you've got
a picture of you in a soccer uniform.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
I play soccer. Where do you play soccer?
Speaker 2 (19:18):
In other words, where do you go to school? And
then they go, oh, is that far from your home?
Speaker 1 (19:23):
Where do you live? And then they find out the
home address. It goes on and on and on. But
they hook the child by.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
Pretending to be a child themselves, and they get a
hold of pictures and if the control room could pull
up the photo that was used in the del Fi
cases turned out not to be the killer, and the
photo that was used I believe was actually a cop,
a picture of a young cop from some other jurisdiction
(19:51):
had nothing to do.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
With the case. So they use these photos they.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
Get online of a young boy and that's who the
thanks they're talking to.
Speaker 6 (20:02):
Yeah, you have just described the grooming process that is
happening every single day with children across the nation. And
predators not only groom children via text. Now they can
use the filters that come into Instagram and TikTok and
other entities to turn them into young children in real time,
(20:23):
both photo based and video based. And I have tested them.
I have used them, and I have been able to
interact with predators in real time and it's stomach turning.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
Okay, tell me what happened to Dagna.
Speaker 6 (20:33):
Oh my goodness, So you know, pick your poison. In
some cases, I use TikTok because they have not only
a live video filter where I take my forty three
year old self and I can tweak the settings to
make me look, you know, thirteen to sixteen years old,
and so they think I'm a child. We start talking,
(20:53):
they ask me to meet up, and that's when I
call law enforcement.
Speaker 3 (20:58):
Weeks pass and own no sign of little Maria Gomez Perez,
a twelve year old Georgia girl who disappeared from her
own home. Authorities began to look elsewhere, going as far
as Texas and Tennessee.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
H profile lawyer Derek Smith from the Ohio jurisdiction joining
us right now that six hundred miles.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
Think about it.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
If you're in Core representing this guy, you're up the
creek without a paddle, Derek, Because think six hundred miles.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
What is that ten hours if you're going sixty mph?
Speaker 2 (21:35):
Ten hours to think about what you're doing, to think.
Speaker 1 (21:41):
About the twelve year old little.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
Girl at the end of your journey, all those hours
planning what he's going to do when he gets to
this little girl's home.
Speaker 8 (21:53):
I hope that she's healthy and that she's okay, and
we'll wait to see what the evidence brings out as
far as any kind of possible defenses for this animal.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
But guys, what was the break in the case? Listen?
Speaker 4 (22:05):
The break in the case came last week when Maria
contacted her father via Facebook messenger. She had created a
new Facebook page so she could reach out to him
to tell him that she was okay and that she
was not coming home, and she also asked him to
stop looking for mister goatmez Alonzo told our investigators about
the message, and members of our Special Investigations Unit obtained
(22:28):
the IP address of the Facebook page and we're able
to find the phone number associated with that account.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
It's amazing to me, with all of the information out
there regarding Maria going.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
Missing, that no one noticed this guy.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
Traveling ten hours plus with a twelve year old little girl.
Joining us in all Star panel to make sense of
what we're understanding right now.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
To Nora Almazan, listen.
Speaker 4 (22:57):
Marie was found yesterday in the company of a third
one year old man, Antonio Augustine. He's a Guatemalan native
and he had been living in northeastern Ohio. We believe
Maria had been communicating for a time with mister Augustin
via Facebook, Messenger and some other online apps.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
To Naura Amazon, joining us from now Habersham, Naura again,
thank you for being with us. We now understand that
he's actually thirty four.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
Where were they.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
In a home, in an apartment, in a car in
at RV.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
Where were they when she was found?
Speaker 9 (23:33):
Well, you know, they had actually just been to a
swimming pool. So exactly to your question as to how
did people not notice, Well, you think about it, he
could easily be she could easily be his daughter. But
they located them in a shopping mall as they left
the swimming pool, so it wasn't like he just happened
(23:53):
to take her swimming that day. They had been out
in the community. And I love when it said safely located. Yes,
she was alive.
Speaker 1 (24:02):
She was alive.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
I'm glad you made that distinction, Nora, because when a child,
a twelve year old little girl, has been with a
thirty four year old man for that long, you don't
think he had sex with a child, which equals statutory rape.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
I'm having a hard time taking that in.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
I don't know that this child will ever be the
same again after that.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
Listen to what we've learned.
Speaker 4 (24:29):
They were able to track the phone to a residence
back in Dover, Ohio, and believing that this information was
a credible lead to Maria's location, we sent four investigators
from our Criminal Investigations Bureau to Dover this week. They
were able to track the phone to the Dover City
swimming pool, where they made visual contact with Maria and
mister Augustin.
Speaker 1 (24:50):
You know what that tells me?
Speaker 2 (24:51):
To John Pizzuro, CEO of Raven and formerly with a
New Jersey Task Force on Internet Crimes against Children, John,
so often we hear, well, you just can't get those
records that takes a subpoena.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
Blah blah blah blah.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
They were able to track the phone immediately to a
swimming pool and there they made.
Speaker 1 (25:13):
Quote visual contact.
Speaker 2 (25:15):
In other words, spotted the twelve year old little girl
with the thirty four year old Guatemalan national. I don't
know his status. I don't know if he's rightfully in
our country yet. I don't know if he's an illegal alien.
I don't know any of that yet, but I do
know he's a Guatemalan national.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
So they got that.
Speaker 2 (25:33):
Information and this is all stemming from an IP Internet
provider address.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
They find out that he has been.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
Targeting Maria online. They get the IP address, they get
his cell phone. He was probably using his phone to
communicate with Maria, So they get that cell number and
they immediately ping it to a swimming pool.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
Just like that.
Speaker 5 (25:56):
Law enforcement has that ability even with app companies. When
there's something ex you know, you kind of bypass the
actual process. Normally, it takes us a while from a
law enforcement perspective, to get information back, but when it's
exegent and someone's in danger, especially in this case, usually
they can get that information back very quickly.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
And there's more They spot the little girl with the
thirty four year old man at a swimming pool, and then.
Speaker 4 (26:24):
When the two got into a vehicle and traveled to
a nearby shopping center parking lot, our agents along with
members of the Tuscarrawis County Sheriff's Office, followed them. They
recovered Marie at the scene and mister Augustine was arrested.
Maria was taken to a local hospital for a wellness
check and as I said a moment ago, she will
be coming back home here to Gaineswelle.
Speaker 3 (26:45):
Today, twelve year old Maria's father is desperate for answers
weeks after his daughter seemingly vanishes from their home. Then
a mysterious message pops up on his face Facebook page.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
Take listen to what the Hall County Sheriff Gerald couch
I had to say.
Speaker 4 (27:06):
I can't let this moment go but without imploring our parents,
grandparents and guardians to watch over their children very closely.
Technology is a wonderful thing. It helped us locate Maria,
but also technology can also be used for evil. It's
from Maria was able to lead game with a stranger
and traveled nine hours away from home. So please know
(27:27):
what your children are doing and who they're communicating with.
There are most vulnerable and our most valuable citizens, and
it's our duty to take care of them.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
Just think about it.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
To Tanya Jordan Titania joining us from Bark, which is
a highly highly sensitive app that you put on your
children's phones and devices and it alerts you on your
phone when it picks up any troubling words. And here's
a great example, which I've told before to Tanya. My son,
(27:59):
John Day David plays basketball and soccer. He made a
great save playing soccer, but he went through the net
diving and had a huge.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
Bruise on his arm.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
Of course, he was proud of the bruise and saving
you know, the goal, and he showed the bruise off
in a picture to some of his friends. I immediately
got an alert that said John David self harm.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
My what he's six six any ways.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
I don't know one hundred and eighty pounds self harm really,
and I went and saw what it was bragging about.
Speaker 1 (28:37):
He saved the goal.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
He was so happy, you know, he's proud. So that's
how sensitive Bark is. My point is, think about it.
After these communications with a grown man thirty.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
Four years old.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
She is then in the car with him nearly ten
hours and the whole time all this guy wants to do,
we believe, is at her home to have sex with
a twelve year old little girl.
Speaker 6 (29:03):
It's so heartbreaking, it's stomach turning. Like I've said before,
you know, not only does Bark have an app, but
we also have a smartphone now and for families who
choose the Bark smartphone, you can see your child's live
location in real time. And so if this family had
had that, they might have been able to find her sooner.
(29:24):
Not only that, not only does Bark alert you to
self harm and violence, but it alerts you to predation.
Our algorithm detects the nuances of adults trying to groom children,
and we can alert you to those conversations before they
become kidnappings and murders.
Speaker 2 (29:40):
Who is this thirty four year old guy, Listen Antonio Augustin,
Guatemala national in his early thirties, has been living in Dover,
Ohio for at least three years.
Speaker 3 (29:50):
Ice has placed a hold on Augustine, but his immigration
status has not been confirmed.
Speaker 2 (29:55):
Okay, daughter, Jeff Gardier, you see this guy, he's just
been busted with a twelve year old little girl.
Speaker 1 (30:02):
He drove six hundred miles to get her, took her.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
You heard Nora Almazan state, the car pulled up in
the driveway, she jumped in and left just like that.
Then he drives another ten hours back home and he
is busted. A thirty four year old Guatemala national with
a twelve year old little girl from Georgia. Why is
(30:26):
he smiling in his mugshot?
Speaker 7 (30:29):
We see this, I've seen this before, and this is
someone who would fit the profile of being a very
depraved individual who doesn't care about what has happened with
this little girl. Maybe trying to put up a false
front that he is innocent and they were in some
(30:50):
sort of a consensual relationship, but it really does show
perhaps what is going on inside of this person's mind
that he does not care about the welfare of this youngster.
Speaker 2 (31:03):
To Derek Smith, joining US veteran trial lawyer in that
jurisdiction of Ohio where the alleged child molester is found,
let me just go with alleged kidnapper for now, because
we know there's going to have to be a rape
kid and all sorts of forensic questioning investigation before any
(31:23):
further charges are brought.
Speaker 1 (31:25):
To Derek Smith.
Speaker 2 (31:28):
I don't know how you do it, because very often
I have one particular judge where we would do pre
trial negotiations with me, the prosecutor, the defense attorney, and
the perp in the room with the two of us,
and very often not always, of course, but I would
look at the perp and he would look perfectly normal,
(31:49):
Like I could see him walking beside me in the
grocery store, pulling up at a red light. You look
at this guy with that smile on his face, and
you might think, Okay, he's fine.
Speaker 1 (31:59):
He's not.
Speaker 8 (32:00):
Absolutely how can you be fine when you're thirty four
year old man taking a twelve year old from her father.
That's one thing. But when to the doctor's point talking
about how he's looking, he maybe thinks in his mind
that he was doing her a favor. She was unhappy
at home, she would didn't want to be there, and
he took her to a better life here in Ohio
(32:22):
and took her to the pool, took her shopping.
Speaker 1 (32:25):
I'm to a better life.
Speaker 8 (32:28):
I'm throwing some ideas out there, Nancy. I'm trying to
think why in God's creation.
Speaker 1 (32:33):
Would a man do just spitballing? Yeah, just kind of.
I mean, did you just say he did her a
favor in his mind?
Speaker 8 (32:39):
I'm not saying they did that. He did that favor
to the father, or the family, or the community of Gainesville,
or the state of Ohio. He didn't do any of that.
But I'm hoping maybe that there was no nefarious activity
between the two. Maybe he just.
Speaker 1 (32:52):
Wanted you mean, other than the kidnapped.
Speaker 8 (32:54):
Other than that, of course, other than that. I'm just
hoping that the little girl was not violated sexually.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
You mean raped?
Speaker 8 (33:01):
Oh, yes, yes, that's what.
Speaker 1 (33:08):
Crime stories with Nancy Grace.
Speaker 2 (33:15):
To Noura Almazon joining us from now Habersham. Look, you
can't blame Derek Smith, Okay, he's just the messenger.
Speaker 1 (33:22):
He's stuck with the facts that this.
Speaker 2 (33:25):
Client, this guy has given him nour Have there been
any additional charges, such as a statutory rate charge yet?
Speaker 1 (33:33):
Yes, there has.
Speaker 9 (33:34):
Actually he is not He was supposed to be brought
to Georgia and but he's going to be staying in Dover,
Ohio to face charges there. I know that he has
been charged with rape and other sexual crimes against Maria
and I just have to question, and I throw this
out there, but there I do not believe that this
(33:58):
is his first time.
Speaker 1 (33:59):
It couldn't be because.
Speaker 9 (34:00):
He seemed to have been very smooth in getting Maria
to Dover, Ohio. And you just have to ask the question,
has he done this before? How many times? And what
happened to those children? In my opinion, well, you know.
Speaker 2 (34:14):
John Pizorro joining us CEO of Raven John Forever. There
are all these statistics that show for every time a
child has been molested, the perp has molested oh gosh,
dozens and dozens of times before, but has never been
reported or caught.
Speaker 1 (34:34):
So I think what Nora.
Speaker 2 (34:35):
Amazon is saying has more than a grain of truth
to it. He didn't just come up with this idea overnight.
It seems very well rehearsed.
Speaker 1 (34:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (34:46):
Absolutely, And what they do is it's not never one
victim like the Butler study for example, of people that
traded child sexually abuse material, fifty to eighty five percent
of them are hands on offenders with eight to thirteen
victims each. So it's never just one. And basically they
(35:07):
learn they get better at it. And I can't tell
you the amount offenders that we have arrested. It's never
just one victim. He just today just said, you know what,
I'm lucky young, and then start this today. There's always
a pattern, and it always happens to multiple victims.
Speaker 11 (35:24):
She was kidnapped and held against your will for three
hundred and ninety nine days. He starved her, he tortured her,
He assaulted her in every way that you can imagine.
He kept her in a dog cage for days and
days at a time. He treated her. The way that
(35:47):
he treated her was inhuman. It is so hard for
me to even imagine the treatment that she received.
Speaker 2 (35:54):
You're hearing Mom Shauna Burns talk about the kidnapped and the.
Speaker 1 (35:58):
Torture of her team girl. Haley lived.
Speaker 2 (36:03):
She lived through that ordeal, playing something like eighty five
eighty eight pounds by the time she was found barely
alive living in a dog age. She too had been
lured online. And she's not the only one. Now we
know that today's little girl, Maria just twelve.
Speaker 1 (36:27):
Has lived.
Speaker 2 (36:28):
Haley lived, but that's not true about another little girl,
Nicole Lovel.
Speaker 5 (36:34):
You're David.
Speaker 12 (36:35):
You are my crush, and I know you don't think
of me like that. But I don't care. I'll always
need here. If you're looking for a good time, I'm here.
When you had a bad day, I'm here. And I
don't want that to change. I want to be in
your life for as long as you can see me.
And I know I'm annoying and I ask for too much,
but I'm a girl and I have a hard and
feelings and my feelings get hurt a lot, but it's
(36:57):
never been hurt by you.
Speaker 1 (36:58):
And I like that.
Speaker 2 (36:59):
Oh my god, stars, this little girl little on Nicole level.
As I recall, she was twelve, just like Maria, and
hear you hear a letter that came out in court
that she wrote to her killer that she was having
a relationship with online David Eisenhower. He murdered her because
he did not want their sex relationship with this little
(37:21):
girl to become public.
Speaker 13 (37:23):
Listen, investigators figured out that Nicole had regularly use the
app Kick that app allows teens to communicate anonymously so
their parents don't know. David Eisenhower lured this little girl
out of her home with promises of a quote secret
date and murdered her in cold blood because he was
apparently afraid that the relationship was going to be exposed
(37:45):
by this precious little girl. When the cool body was found,
she had fourteen stab wounds. One was to the neck
as confirmed by a medical expander.
Speaker 2 (37:56):
That little girl on theic cole level lost her life.
She was murdered by her online predator. David Asenheiwer, You
were hearing investigative reporter Jennifer Sakowski reporting on that case.
Typically these cases do not have happy endings. In this case,
(38:18):
Maria is alive after nearly two months with a sex predator.
I don't know if this child will ever be the same.
To Nora Almazon joining us from now Habersham, you are
advising the charges have just been upgraded to charges that are.
Speaker 1 (38:39):
Felonies, including rape.
Speaker 2 (38:41):
In this case it would be statutory rape in Mani
jurisdictions that carries a life sentence twenty to life. He
is charged with rape, now felony rape.
Speaker 1 (38:52):
Correct, That is correct.
Speaker 2 (38:54):
Yes, you know this guy may be charged and Maria,
God in Heaven, is alive. But I can tell you
this from all the years I've worked with victims of
child rape and molestation. They go on, they go on
in life, but they are never the same. We wait
(39:18):
as justice unfolds, and we remember an American hero. Police
officer Jessica Ebausen, just nineteen, struck and killed by a
suspect vehicle in the line of duty. This young officer
survived by parents Chad and Lisa, boyfriend Nash gone so soon.
(39:44):
American hero dead in the line of duty, Officer Jessica Abakhausen.
Thank you to our guests for being with us. The
warning goes out to parents about internet predators.
Speaker 1 (39:58):
Maria is alive, but the next little girl or a
boy may not be.
Speaker 2 (40:04):
Nancy Grace signing off goodbye friend.
Host
Nancy Grace
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