Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Autopsies & 911 calls bring new clues in Lucas Hernandez mystery

Episode Date: June 29, 2018

The autopsy report on the remains of Lucas Hernandez suggests we may never know what happened to the 5-year-old Kansas boy, but pathology expert Dr. William Morrone sees a major clue in a chemical detected in his liver. Morrone shares his observations about the autopsies on Lucas and his step mother Emily Glass with Nancy Grace. We also hear the 911 call Glass made to report the child was missing from his Wichita home last February and the recent 911 call his dad made after finding Glass shot dead in the same home. Also offering insight about the new clues in this tragic mystery are forensics expert Joseph Scott Morgan, Atlanta prosecutor Kenya Johnson, New York psychologist Caryn Stark, and Atlanta juvenile judge and lawyer Ashley Willcott. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Subscribe today at P.I. Magazine dot com. Use this show's promotional code for your special discount at P.I. Magazine dot com. Subscribe today. Use promo code Nancy for your special discount. That's promo code Nancy. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace on Sirius XM Triumph, Channel 132. Daddy goes out of town to work and then gets the distressing news. His son is missing. Driving straight home through the night, overnight,

he arrives to find more questions than answers. In the last hours, we learn the autopsy result of that little boy, five-year-old Lucas Hernandez. His little body found under a bridge in an obscure rural area. And who but his own stepmother led a private investigator to that obscure spot, Emily Glass. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us. In addition to obtaining the autopsy report on little Lucas, we have also learned the cause of death on the stepmother, Emily Glass. Joining me right now, renowned medical examiner, Dr. William Maroney.

Let's first start with little Lucas, five-year-old Lucas, who goes missing in the care of his so-called stepmother. Dr. Maroney, what do you make of it? The autopsy is an autopsy of the body of a child in advanced state of decomposition. So there's not a lot of traditional landmarks. There's the skeletal remains and there is a sample from the liver and the body or the remains were tested for drugs. The most important thing is the liver and the kidneys were tested because in the case of drugs, drugs are metabolized and they're metabolized through the liver and through the kidneys. There does not appear to be skeletal trauma or damage, but the cause of death and the manner of death is officially listed as

undetermined. But when you go to the evidence, the liver and the kidney, there is a positive drug result for something called beta-phenylethylamine. And phenylethylamine is a stimulant. So we do know there is a stimulant, a central nervous system stimulant in the remains of this five-year-old child. Well, that's something I don't really understand, Dr. William Roney. Of course, I know what a stimulant is like methamphetamine. If this little boy was given methamphetamine, could it have killed him? If it was an unregulated dose and it was an unofficial drug, the answer is yes. Now, methamphetamine would have come back from the laboratory toxicology as methamphetamine, but phenylethylamine being in the same family, also being a stimulant, is currently sold in gas stations, drug emporiums, and marijuana dispensaries, and you can buy it

on the internet, as something they call bath salts. And it has nothing to do with taking a bath. It is a pseudonym. It's a fake name for under-the- the counter stimulants that are unregulated. That seems very suspicious to me because bath salts can cause seizures, heart attacks, and we don't put unregulated stimulants of unknown potency into five-year-old children. Very suspicious. I hear what you're saying.

It's not making sense to me as it relates to the discovery of a body. Joining me right now, Ashley Wolcott, founder of ChildCrimeWatch.com, juvenile judge and lawyer. Karen Stark, renowned New York psychologist, forensics expert. Joseph Scott Morgan, professor of forensics at Jacksonville State University. And a newcomer joining us today, a veteran felony prosecutor out of the Atlanta jurisdiction, Kenya Johnson. Ashley Wilcott, I hear Dr. Maroney. I know Dr. Maroney is correct, but it's not adding up to me because the way he says it, it's not so bad. But a child should not have anything like that in their system

on top of being found dead under a bridge. They've got to be connected in some way and not in a good way. Absolutely. So that's the first thing, abuse and neglect. No child should have a drug like that in their system and their liver. Second, basalt is especially disturbing to me because you hear, and I'm not a doctor, but I certainly hear in cases before me as a judge that they cause psychosis, all of the side effects, heart attacks that were just described by the doctor that are horrific in and of themselves, but much less in a child. To me, it's very, very clear that this child was abused prior to being murdered and that that abuse involved illegal drug use such as bath salts. It should never happen.

I want you to take a listen to what Emily Glass says. This is when the private investigator, David Marshburn, has somehow convinced the stepmother to get into a vehicle with him and drive around. They drive around for hours and hours, and somehow, miraculously, out of the entire state and surrounding states, she leads him to the baby's body. We're on the way to the location of Emily Glass. She is going to possibly lead us, you're definitely coming back because I told you I was going to help you.

I'm going to run in there and get your band-aids. It ain't gonna be half as bad as what you're thinking. I'm a piece of shit. Do what now? I'm a piece of shit. Why do you say that? You ain't no daggone piece of shit. What the fuck? Hey.

No, no, no, no, no. Look, we're right here, girl. We ain't going nowhere. Everything is okay. And what ain't okay, we're fixing to make okay. Don't be like that. Don't be so hard on yourself.

I can't do jail. I can't. You ain't going to do jail. Don't preach all services going to let me out. Child services has nothing to do with your bond. No pretrial, pretrial, pretrial services, if you can choose to deny me. Okay, so if they do, we post a bond. Regardless, you're still coming out. If they don't agree to pre-trial, we'll post a bond. Better just be then you'll have to contact David, you know, however he says you have to contact him. Don't be like that.

Don't be so hard on yourself. I know you're scared to death. And, I mean, we're going to be right here. We're going to get you through this whole thing and take you right back to where we got you from. We're going to be with you every step of the way. Why? Like, I don't understand any of this. Do what now?

I don't understand why. What do you mean? Why what? Why would you be with me? Because that's what we do. It's our job. I feel so sorry for you. I put everyone through f***ing hell.

It's okay. The only thing you can do from here is move forward and do everything right. Where's Lizzo? I did Lucas so wrong. I did him wrong. I did him wrong. God honest truth. Back to Dr. William Maroney, medical examiner, speaker, author of a brand new book on Amazon, American Narcan.

Dr. Maroney, you hear her, you hear the dogs barking in the background. Marshburn is driving his truck around in these, you know, extremely rural areas. And they're sitting there in his SUV right at the site where baby Lucas is found, what's left of him anyway. And she's crying, crying for herself. She keeps talking about what's going to happen to me. And she tells Marshburn, I did Lucas so wrong. I did him so wrong. Now, and you're telling me, oh, this is just something in a system you get at a 7-Eleven. Why should a kid have any type of stimulant in his body? And how could that have had anything to do with his death, Dr. William Roney? I don't mean to sound harsh but i guess i'm looking for answers and i thought i would get answers from these autopsy reports and they don't really seem to be helping me part of the reason why an autopsy that

shows up with bath salts that is is not helpful is the name bath salts makes it sound very soft and innocuous, and that's the fake cover. That's the false narrative they use to sell it. But these phenylethylamines are just as bad as methamphetamine, and they're sold in rural areas, oftentimes competing with methamphetamine, just like cocaine would be used in an urban center. So think of it as a level of stimulant that you would find buying meth from a drug dealer or buying cocaine from a drug dealer and forget the idea that they call it bath salts. It's a terribly unregulated stimulant that could have profound toxic complications in a full adult, and it's in the body of a five-year-old. What do you mean by profound toxic implications? Can you please, Dr. Maroney, listen, you've got to dumb me down for me.

You're the MD. I'm just a JD. Yes, I've got Joe Scott Morgan on here, but the rest of us are just mere mortals. First of all, I don't even know what you're saying. I know what methamphetamine is, but I don't know when you sling out the name of this drug. What is it again? Can you slow it down? Speak in long syllables for me.

If you look at the chemical, it's a very tiny little molecule called phenylethylamine. But it's profound because it's- Phenylethylamine. Did you get that, Jackie? I'm going to write it out in syllables and phonics, okay, like we had to do in the first grade. Phenylethylamine. Did you get that, Jackie? I'm going to write it out in syllables and phonics, okay, like we had to do in the first grade. Phenylethylamine. Okay, go ahead. It causes psychosis, delusions, and almost like acid tripping. Because of the tremendous activity inside the brain, it works as a secondary drug and neurotransmitter. Many, like amphetamine, Adderall, is used, but it's regulated.

And you know how many milligrams of Adderall you get. You get 10, you get 15, you get 30. It's FDA approved. Okay, you know what? Let me break it down phenylethylamine can it cause death absolutely in a child that's five years old about 40 pounds there's absolutely no reason to have phenylethylamine in a five-year-old none okay i'm trying to piece together what we know about the death of little Lucas, five-year-old Lucas. The mystery deepens.

To Kenya Johnson, felony prosecutor out of inner-city Atlanta, Kenya, what do you make of this scenario? I'm trying to cobble together what really happened to little Lucas. You know, I've seen this situation before where sometimes a child could accidentally ingest something that was a substance purchased for their parent. So mom likes to smoke marijuana and this substance can be found in dispensaries. Maybe it was in a form that looked like candy and Lucas accidentally ingested it. There's a bunch of different scenarios, criminal and non-criminal, that this substance could have gotten into his body. And this is just the tip of the iceberg when we're talking about the autopsy. Now we know what the issue is. Now we need to comb through all the specific circumstances. Why would she fall asleep with a five-year-old just running around the house? I

have children. I put them in a room. I set them up. I just don't go to sleep when they could endanger themselves. Guys, in the last hours, we have obtained the autopsy reports on not only five-year-old Lucas, but Emily Glass as well. To Dr. William Maroney, joining us, and Joe Scott Morgan, professor of forensics at Jacksonville State University. Joseph Scott Morgan, okay, now Maroney has explained to me what is in his system. But the surrounding circumstances, that's when a death investigator comes in. His body is thrown over a bridge and washes down to one of those, it's kind of like an erosion pan. And that's where it stops. And if it hadn't been for that pan, he probably would never have been found. He had been out in the elements so long his hair was bleached white. His normally dark brown hair was now white, and there's hardly

any body tissue left on him, but there was enough. I can't ignore those circumstances, Joseph Scott Morgan, plus what we're finding in his system. You've studied this. What is your best put together scenario as to what happened to Lucas? I was considering this for a moment and I and i'm i'm thinking you know had someone exposed him passively uh to this drug the problem with that is that in order to have been passively exposed and what i mean by that if she is using some kind of synthetic marijuana um it would have to be in tremendous concentration where he would constantly be exposed to it, where it's building up in his liver and it's holding on. Remember, the soft tissue is completely gone. That's evidenced in the autopsy report except for this large organ body in the liver.

And that section was taken, spun down, and this is what they extracted. We've got all these other drug groups that were scanned for, and the only thing that was found was this one drug. The other part to this is that this drug can be used also in context of what's referred to as a backbone drug. And that means our component to a bigger molecule. Let me break that down for you. So you've got this other element that's found in his system that's used many times as a binder for other complex molecules. I don't know what else this kid had on board, but as Dr. Maroney so put, the absence of methamphetamine, it would have also been captured in the liver.

You know, I'm at a loss at this point, Tom. I do know this. No offense, Joe Scott, but it sure took you a long time to say that. Are you trying to tell me you can't piece together anything? I mean, just be honest. I don't mind. to tell me you can't piece together anything? I mean, just be honest. I don't mind. Just tell me. Okay, I'm going to take that silence as a no.

No, what I was going to say is that I think that this child potentially died accidentally. She didn't know what to do with the child. She drove to this location and potentially discarded the child over the side of the bridge. Okay, let me just pick that apart for one moment. Accidentally died. So, you're telling me that's like a drunk driver crashing and killing a couple people going, it was an accident. No, no, it's not. So, the drugs were in the home by accident. Nobody paid for them and brought them in the home knowing there were several children in the home. Then that adult, because a kid can't go in and buy drugs, then the adult at best leaves the drugs unattended at a level and a location where a child can get it. Then it's not supervising the

child, which is a conscious decision, and the child gets into the drugs. Then the child ingests the drugs. Then the child dies without being taken to the hospital because that adult either is negligent or doesn't want to get in trouble by taking the child to the hospital. And then that adult throws the child off a bridge into a culvert and lies about it for months. While we're racking our brains, people are out searching, and the father, the bio dad, is left twisting in the wind, wondering if his child is alive somewhere, calling out for daddy. And Nancy, just in the late hours last night, Wichita police released the recording of the 911 call Emily Glass made back in February to report that Lucas Hernandez was missing. Listen to this acting job. When did he leave?

How old is he? Ma'am? Ma'am, how old is your son? Five years old. Did someone take him? I don't know. I don't know. Or did he walk off? Ma'am, I don't know. I just woke up. Okay. I just woke up. Oh my God. Oh my God. I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do. What address are you at? Did you know about a recent law that could leave your personal data exposed online for anybody to find? If you've turned on the news lately, you know the internet has created a dangerous new world. Data breaches expose private information. There's a new cyber security

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So you can also look up those close to you and make sure they're not hiding something from their past. You also get free dark web monitoring to make Truthfinder the ultimate tool in identity protection. If your personal info appears for sale on the dark web, you'll be the first to know. Visit truthfinder.com slash Nancy. Enter your own name. Get started. A five-year-old boy is dead. His body found in a washed-out culvert in a rural area, obscure.

Out in the elements so long, his brown hair bleached white. What happened to Lucas Hernandez? Some answers, some suggesting the little boy died of a, quote, accidental use of drugs. That's their words, not mine. Having illegal drugs laying around your home is no accident. I'm not sure that was the cause of death. But sadly, we will never know really what happened to little Lucas. I mean, is that what I've got to accept, Dr. William Maroney,

that I'll never know what happened to him? That's right. You'll never know because there wasn't enough body left in the remains to do more of an investigation. You know that Lucas's liver contained a drug, a chemical, a stimulant, a possible hallucinogen that we don't have in five-year-olds, but you won't actually know what happened to the body. So because of the lack of soft tissue, I will never know if Emily Glass strangled him, hit him on the head, asphyxiated him, smothered him with a pillow if he was acting out after his unintentional use of her drugs. We'll never know really what happened

to him. I guess she gets a gold star for hiding the body so long. Determination of a true cause of death is impossible. Hey, Nancy, I disagree. We're not going to know the cause of death. Somebody knows what happened to this child. We know that there may have been someone else present. In court, I do not see individuals come in that have done bath salts by themselves with nobody else there. I believe someone else does know what happened and they need to come forward. I just think of that little body lying out there in the elements day after day after day. Also, we have obtained the autopsy report of Emily Glass. But listen to what Lucas's father said.

He is the one that calls 911. Okay, tell me exactly what happened. It's the first time I've been home in like three weeks. My fiance has been staying here and I had nowhere else to go tonight. So I asked her, hey, are you awake? Et cetera. And she didn't answer, so I came home. And it's so bad. It's so bad.

What happened? I saw my rifle. Okay, so did she shoot herself? At her feet. Yes, I think so. I think so. Her brain is laying on the carpet and her head is split wide open. Okay. Where is the gun at now? It's at her feet.

Okay. And you said it's a rifle? Yes, ma'am. Okay. Have you seen any other weapons? No, ma'am. I have a shotgun in the closet. If it's still there, I haven't even checked, but there was only my rifle that it looks like she got out of the case. Okay. And is anyone else injured that you know of? No, ma'am. He is the one that had been texting her and allowing her to live in his home. He was not living there himself. He is the one that calls 911. Take a listen to what Lucas's dad tells us. The lights were on and

the TV was on and it looked like, you know, somebody was. And I go to the bedroom and she's not there. So I go out to the garage and check to see if her car was there. I thought maybe she wasn't staying there, maybe had left for something. And her car was there in the garage. So I went back inside and did a more thorough room-by-room search. And that's when I found her in the back room. When you found her, was she dressed? Was she lying in bed? What was the condition of her body? She was dressed. It looked like she had pajamas on.

At first, did you believe she was just asleep? No, I did not. I thought it was a dream. I wasn't sure what was happening at first. Joining me, Dr. William Maroney, medical examiner, Kenya Johnson, Joseph Scott Morgan, Karen Stark, and Ashley Wilcott. Dr. Maroney, why are they so sure that this is a suicide? Well, there's three reasons. Number one, it came with a suicide note number two she was probably extremely distressed with whatever was going on that's more of a psychosocial intervention category thing it's not scientific to the forensics but it's very clear that this is a gunshot wound to the center of the forehead.

And the AR-15 hunting rifle is found between the legs. It is a contact wound. A contact wound means the tip of the barrel is right on the skull. It's right on the skull. It's right on the skin. And we know that because of the abrasions and the blood marks and the burns and the soot, the gunpowder is in the skin. So it's very likely that this was right there. And the other thing is the tremendous amount of trauma. The bullet fired from an AR-15 releases a tremendous amount of energy, and there's an entrance wound, but there's so much energy in this, the damage to the skull does not allow you to reconstruct an exit wound.

If you're really going to shoot yourself, this will take you out. And if somebody else is trying to shoot you, there would be defensive wounds, and I don't see any kind of defensive wounds available. Note the psychosocial interventions around it and the actual method. The cause of death is gunshot wound to the head. The manner of death is suicide. Without more physical evidence and an investigation, I would have to go with the preliminary report from the Regional Forensic Science Center. It sounds very legitimate. To Judge of Scott Morgan, I hear Dr. Maroney. I agree with Dr. Maroney, but I still, as you know, like to test the evidence. Isn't it true that another person could kill her with a contact wound and leave the same burn or searing marks on the skin?

I think that it's true that it could happen within the realm of possibility. Is it likely? No, not in this particular case. It would require for her to be so incapacitated. As Dr. Maroney pointed out, this is a... Or asleep. Yeah, potentially asleep. And again, we don't have enough information at this point in time relative to the attitude of her body at the time in which she was shot. What we do know is that she was

found with a weapon between her legs on the floor. And the fact that it is in fact a contact wound, if she didn't have an awareness, perhaps if she was subdued by drugs in some way, maybe she wouldn't have had an awareness. But the only drugs that she has on board that we can tell so far are ethanol and the active component in marijuana, which is THC. So I don't know that that would have incapacitated her to that point. In my estimation, this sounds consistent with a suicide. Dr. William Roney, renowned medical examiner, since another person could have shot her and left those burn marks surrounding the barrel mark on her skin, what convinces you the most that this is in fact a suicide, that Emily Glass killed herself, because her friends

have come on and absolutely denied she did that. As a matter of fact, take a listen to her friends. They insist she did not kill herself. Someone else did the deed. Do you believe she shot herself? No, ma'am. I've got, and I showed the police, I took my phone tonight, Jonathan Hernandez actually said last Wednesday, Thursday night, if he's seen Emily, he didn't know that he could keep himself from killing her. Because she asked Jonathan, will you meet up with me? No tape recorders, no cameras, no videos, nothing no nothing, no phones. I want to talk to you about everything that happened that night. And Jonathan told to a friend, I cannot meet up with her because if I do, I'm not sure I won't kill her. Are you suggesting that the father of Lucas Hernandez shot Emily Glass, the stepmother? Yes, I am. So, Dr. William Maroney, let's deal with the here and now, the present world.

Could this have taken place at the hand of another? Well, could it? Yes, but is the probability high? And I say no. And the reason why I say no, I lean towards suicide. I've been to, you know, a decade of these kinds of suicide scenarios. There's a note, and there's no investigation and challenge of the suicide note. Now, what percentage of suicides actually take time to do a note? Well, it's always right around 50%

or 60%. Not 100% of suicides do notes. But if people take time to write notes, they're usually investigated that that is that person's handwriting and there's no challenge or question. the evidence present with a suicide note is clearly one of the contributing factors that we use to say this is a suicide. The note is appropriate. There were actually three suicide notes. Listen to what Lucas's dad, Jonathan, tells us about the discovery of those suicide notes. Where were they? I honestly don't know. They didn't tell me where they were.

And as far as two of them, they haven't told me what's in them except for the third one. They did tell me was rolled up and stuck inside of her engagement ring. And it said to give our daughter the ring when she gets older. Dr. William Maroney, so your observation regarding the suicide notes is correct. I don't think anybody staged those,

specifically the one rolled up and stuck in the engagement ring? And the fact that there's more than one suicide note means there was great deliberation. She may have not gotten it right in one note, so she wanted to start over and do another note. So this whole thing is predicated on somebody plans and stages a suicide. You take the time to write all those notes. You take the time to prepare a rifle if it's the only thing available and other guns removed from the house. to say the forensic evidence, the note, the psychosocial interventions being negative, all those things contribute to me continuing to support suicide, especially because there's multiple versions. She took the time to construct a pathway leading through suicide notes to finally committing suicide. To Karen Stark, New York psychologist joining us from Manhattan. Karen Stark, the suicide note, one of the three,

the one rolled up and stuck in the engagement ring that Jonathan Hernandez had given her. Man, that was powerful. To roll it up and put it in the engagement ring, Jonathan Hernandez had given her, man, that was powerful. To roll it up and put it in the engagement ring, what's that about? Well, and that's what makes it such a convincing fact here, Nancy, is that it's very symbolic. You know, it's like her own code saying, you know, this is directed to you exclusively. And although it happens to be true that women often would not use such a violent means to kill themselves, in this case, it is very much a sentimental, expressive way of communicating. She wanted someone, ostensibly the person who gave you that ring,

to know that this is a message for them. And so it does seem as though this is a suicide. I guess what's hanging me up on this is the use of an AR-15, a semi-automatic long gun. Well, you want to know why? Here's why that's not a big deal. This is Kansas, okay?

An AR-15 in Boston is a foreign item. This is Kansas. Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa. Girls learn how to shoot rifles, and AR-15s are found in the back of trucks girls go deer hunting that's not my problem dr william maroney i don't know if kansas you know i'm not from kansas but i don't know if they would appreciate you singling them out as being the source of girls love guns but you know a lot of women know how to shoot a gun what What I'm saying is I'm not stunned by a woman shooting a gun.

Hello? I'm stunned because using a long gun to shoot yourself might be a little bit more difficult than a handgun. I think just because of the rule factor and the high percent of NRA kind of people that an AR-15 is not a foreign object in Kansas. I don't think that's not even my point. My point is not she's not familiar with a gun. My point is the physicality of holding a rifle on yourself and pulling the trigger. Nancy, I think it's just that this is Ashley. Can I just add?

I think it's just accessibility, right? Like allegedly they've gotten all the guns out of the house. Clearly they hadn't. So if she decided she really wanted to kill herself with a gun. And this was the only gun she had access to. I think she'd choose it. Okay, I think this is my problem. Because I obviously am not making myself clear. This is like me going, Oh, I want to kill myself. Let me go light the cannon in the garage and see if I can shoot myself in the head. It's physically impossible. Okay, now John David, my son, has told me

it doesn't help him understand any better if I speak slowly or loudly. So let me stop that right now. Dr. Maroney, what I'm saying is how do you hold a rifle on yourself and shoot yourself dead in the middle of the head? How does that happen? What happens is you reverse how you hold the rifle,

and you're not firing it with your trigger finger, your index finger, finger number two. You're more than likely firing it with your thumb, and you reverse how you pull it. You're not shooting it like you shoot it any other way, and one of the reasons why you know she's found on the floor and the rifles there you secure the weapon on the floor now if we're talking about phil specter or hollywood or anything else women and guns really don't mix a

lot but in kansas oh are you back on women and guns? This is just normal Kansas. And stop it with Kansas. It's not Kansas. Women, although statistically it's low, commit suicide with guns across the country often. Not as much as men, but they do it. And it's not just in Kansas. But you know what? Go ahead with your Kansas issue, Dr. Maroney. That's something for karen stark our psychologist to deal with um okay i understand

what you're saying is she secured it on the floor and shot herself and you think that's entirely possible joe scott morgan what about ar-15 is there a collapsible barrel that could have made it shorter well the overall length of ar-15 is only about 39 inches, Nancy. It's not like we're talking about a Kentucky long rifle from the Revolutionary War. Right. That's over three feet, 39 inches. Yeah, it's easily accomplished when you think about the average length of a person. Oh, okay.

You know what? Am I the only one that sees a problem with this, okay. You know what? Am I the only one not seeing the, that sees a problem with this Kenya Johnson? I mean, I guess you're going to jump in with those two and say you don't see a problem, but I'm not arguing that this is not a suicide. I'm just saying, I find it hard to understand the physicality of her killing herself with a long gun. If you find a problem, then other people find a problem. And so we've got to comb through all the surrounding forensic evidence to see if there's any indication that someone else may have been involved. In the last hours, we received the autopsy reports on not only 5-year-old Lucas,

but his so-called stepmother, Emily Glass, as well. According to the reports, little Lucas's body was full of a drug called phenylethylamine, a stimulant that can be purchased. And in such an amount, I cannot discern if that was the cause of death or not. Because the body had lied in a washed out culvert for so long, little soft tissue was left to determine if he had been smothered, asphyxiated, shot, stabbed, beaten. But I know this much. When you don't know a horse, look at the track record. Ashley Wilcott, take a listen to what has been said regarding bruises all over this child's body. You know, I just feel helpless.

She was sent photos of Lucas last year and saw multiple bruises on his face and neck. So she says she called protective services. All these stories I've be about him possibly being got more concerned after to New Mexico for work. S relatives saw more signs hurt. And so another repo state. They investigated

interview and all that ki um, I guess the police di enough evidence. when I first found out he was missing, I was suspicious and then worried. Not only that, listen to what Emily Glass herself tells KWCH Devin Fassbender why little Lucas is always covered in bruises. There's obviously a lot of rumors going on, a lot of things that people are saying about your stepson Lucas. Just curious if there's anything that you want to say about that situation. He's, you know, being a boy and playing with older brothers and his cousins.

You know, he gets bruises. He has had some falls. Falls either cooking dinner or at the park. I'm sorry. No, you're fine. Take your time. He's my son, too, you know. I may not have given birth to him, but he's my baby boy today. I take care of them every day.

So how can I believe anything she says? Listen to what she tells Devin when asked if she has any idea where Lucas may be. Do you have any idea where Lucas might be at this point? I don't know. I don't know. I don I could. But if anyone does know, please say something. Because me and dad are very sick.

You know, I keep, and I keep thinking, I keep thinking what could have happened, you know. And I keep thinking back to these two people that were outside of my house a few days prior, the black man and white woman. Do you know them? No. They were standing outside talking to folks. It was actually pretty early morning.

So I went out there to be like, hey, is everything okay? Do you need to come inside? You know, are you stranded? And they were just like, no, and looked at me like I offended them or something um and I said okay I'm sorry you know I mean it's cold outside so I didn't know if you know needed to come in you know I was just being nice um and they stuck around for maybe 10-15 more minutes I actually did have a picture of them walking away because I wanted to send it to their dad just to be like, hey, you know what's going on

because I'm at home alone. Did you end up sending that picture to Jonathan? Yes, I did. I did. It's my baby boy. He has sisters and he has brothers. He's so loved. So, Ashley Wilcott, the child has been beaten in the past, and now I'm supposed to accept that he all on his own OD'd on her drugs?

I don't accept that because that's the fact of the matter. This little boy, this innocent little boy, was a victim of abuse, physical abuse, drugs in his system, which at a minimum is neglect because she didn't pay attention to what he was doing. But I don't believe it was neglect. I believe that this boy has been consistently abused by Emily Glass. And that in and of itself is a crime. But then add to that the other things you've already diligently pointed out, which is she knew where he was. She didn't tell anyone.

She lied about it. It is a whole host of issues that point to guilty in my mind. We're talking about prior abuse on the little boy, five-year-old Lucas. And Child Protective Services knew about it. The aunt had told them about it. Nothing was done. The dad, Jonathan Hernandez, apparently in love with Emily Glass, did not register his child was covered in bruises.

And also, he was away so much of the time working, trying to support the family. Listen. I myself have never witnessed her abuse him, hit him, be ugly towards him. And it kind of goes back to, you know, you're trusting this other person to take care of your most prized possession and you're romantically involved with them and you don't think that they would ever do that, especially if you've never witnessed it. the bruises and stuff whenever I was not home could have been her abusing him. At the end of the day, Dr. William Maroney, there's evidence that this child has been mistreated, not fed, beaten in the past.

Then he ends up dead in a washed-out culvert. His remains deteriorated significantly. Based on what I know, there is no doubt in my mind there was foul play. And that CPS knew about it, Dr. Maroney. How often does this happen? It happens more than we'd like in America. The CPS case burden is tremendous. The parents, either individual or as couplets, are not dealing with stress. They just don't make parents that can work with the troubles of raising a normal child.

People are using drugs. People are abusing kids. What you always have to remember here is this little boy did not wander away. He was drugged, and the advanced decomposed body was found under a pile of debris. No child should end this way. And CPS is the first line of defense to ferret out these kind of parents to get them to help and to separate the children from these kind of parents so no child will ever be found under a pile of debris again.

We believe the case of Lucas Hernandez and stepmother Emily Glass is now closed. Nancy Grace, Crime Story, signing off. Goodbye, friend. There's a brand new website causing a lot of trouble for people with something to hide. Have you ever had a bad feeling about somebody? Maybe suspected your partner's cheating? Maybe worried about your online reputation? If you answer yes to any of those questions, you may need Truthfinder. Public records are only recently easily available online. Before websites like Truthfinder, you'd most likely have to visit a courthouse to get that information. Now, it's as simple as entering a name.

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