Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - 'Best friend' says killer fiance asked mistress to KILL Colorado mom Kelsey Berreth

Episode Date: January 10, 2019

An Idaho nurse told a friend that Patrick Frazee asked her to help kill Kelsey Berreth, his fiance' and mother of his child, according to a lawyer. It's the latest revelation in the investigation of Berreth's Thanksgiving Day disappearance from Woodland Park, Colorado. Nancy Grace takes another look at the case with experts including psychologist & lawyer Dr. Brian Russell, former detective Steven Lampley, family & divorce lawyer Kathleen Murphy, RadarOnline's Alexis Tereszcuk, and reporter Ellen Killoran.  Grace also looks at the case of an 8th-grade teacher in Texas charged with plotting to sell a girl as a sex slave. She's joined by psycho analyst Dr Bethany Marshall, forensics expert Karen Smith,  prosecutor Kenya Johnson, and Crime Stories' Alan Duke. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Find out how to protect your child when you're out at the mall or the store, the grocery, in the parking lot, at home. Find out about protection regarding babysitters and daycare, even online. I'd rather have that any day of the week than a plastic toy or, God forbid, a toy gun. Join Justice Nation. Go to crimestopshere.com. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Joe and Patty Roxall tell us last October one of their employees came to them visibly upset. She explained her best friend, now identified as Crystal Lee, told her that a man had asked her

to kill the mother of his child. The two then told their employee to have Crystal come speak to them, but she never did. The Roxhalls say Crystal even told her best friend to forget the whole thing. When we asked Patty what made her come forward and call the FBI, she said it was when she connected the dots of who was involved and watching Kelsey's mother, Cheryl, plead for

help on national television. I think the mother that had the courage to go on TV when her daughter was missing and saying that someone knew where she was at. At that point, I, in my mind, thought that Patrick, and that's the only name I'd heard him call that didn't know his last name, had done something to her daughter and he knew where she was at. Now the Roxhalls decided to come forward to KMVT News after their employee endured harassment and threats on social media. They tell us the FBI was already in Twin Falls at their office quickly after making the call. KBT asked Patty Roxell if she considers herself a hero. She said no, she more considers herself

a whistleblower and hopes anyone else with information to the case or other crimes has the courage like she did to come forward. Where is Kelsey Barrett? Did her so-called killer fiance Patrick Friese's mistress tell her best friend he asked her to kill Kelsey over and over and over? And who is the Idaho couple that say they called the FBI after hearing about the so-called plot from a co-employee? I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us. You were just hearing from our friend Joe Martin there at KMVT-TV. We've got all the latest as the story develops in the missing mom, Kelsey Barrett. Kelsey goes missing last spotted on Safeway Video with her little girl Kelly in the front of the grocery cart. She's seen alive again nobody no clue her phone pings nearly

800 miles away in another state near twin falls idaho with me right now crimeonline.com investigative reporter ellen cologne you can find this and every other breaking news story in crime at crimeonline.com alexis teresch story in crime at CrimeOnline.com. Alexis Tereschuk joining us from RadarOnline.com. Investigative journalist Kathleen Murphy. North Carolina family lawyer Stephen Lampley, former detective. And Dr. Brian Russell, psychologist, lawyer, and host of Investigation Discovery's hit series, Fatal Vows. Straight out to you, Ellen Killoran. What can you tell me about this couple how do they know

the alleged mistress and what do they say about frazee asking her over and over to kill kelsey nancy an idaho couple has come forward joe and patty rock style they said that they contacted the fbi it sounds like it was back in December when they eventually contacted the FBI. But they heard all the way back in October that Patrick may have been asking Crystal Lee to help him kill Kelsey Barrett. Their employee came to them. She was upset. She said, my best friend told me that a man asked her to kill his baby's mother. At the time, they did not think they had enough information to go to the police.

And they asked to speak to Crystal Lee, and she told her friend to just drop it. But it certainly looks like Crystal Lee, more and more it's looking like Crystal Lee is the person who is connected to these three solicitation charges. Other sources have spoken to news outlets and said that Patrick contacted her several times and asked her several times to commit a crime. Man, it just never ends with this guy. Alexis Tereschuk, writer online.com, investigative reporter. So do you believe, Alexis, from what you are learning, that this mistress, can you even have a mistress when you're not married hold on alexis

i know you're happily married with a beautiful baby boy and an awesome husband and he he's not just for looks either i remember when your lung collapsed and you were you were near death door i saw him in the waiting room at the hospital alexis he was white as a sheet, fidgety. His face was just like blank. He loves you, okay, and that's what you need. You don't need some pretty boy, although he's kind of cute, who's running across the street to get a pack of cigarettes when you need help, all right? So this is not going to apply to you. Dr. Brian Russell, not that you're a runaround, but can you even have a mistress if you're not married, technically? I mean, we keep saying his mistress. How could you be a mistress if he's not even

married? Well, I agree. Technically, a mistress is somebody that a married person is seen on the side. On the side of what? On the side of their marriage. It's an extramarital affair partner, a sex partner outside of the marriage. Okay, so now that I've quasi got that established, back to you, Alexis Teresha. What do we know about this woman, and do you really believe, from everything you and Ellen Kaloran are gleaning, that she, the rodeo mom, the divorced mother of two that apparently met him at a rodeo, the target is the person they're referring to in three counts of solicitation of murder absolutely i do and you know what this

couple was so scared that when they heard this someone was trying to hire somebody to kill somebody they they themselves are attorneys they wanted to go to the police they just thought they have enough information this couple had so much information from their employee they had heard all about crystal lee and that this man patrick was trying to have her kill somebody and they did everything they could their attorneys they tried to speak with crystal lee the minute they saw kelsey's mother on television they reached out to the police and yes i believe that this woman crystal lee is the person that the police are referring to. You know, this is another thing I don't understand. Following up on what Alexis Tereszczuk with RadarOnline.com is reporting,

Kathleen Murphy, if a guy, I'm not married to him, I'm not engaged to him, I'm not living with him, I don't have a baby with him, and he starts talking about killing somebody, that is the last time I'm going to be around him. I mean, for Pete's sake, that's what I tell the children. And they're just 11, if you can believe that. I'm like, when you're in a group and there's a bully or someone is saying ugly things about someone else or someone is misbehaving or doing something wrong or naughty, number one, you should protect whoever's being

bullied but if nobody's being hurt you just need to leave get away don't be part of that because if the teacher comes after them they're going to get everybody in the group and i always tell them the story about and of course you're going to love this as a lawyer and you too dr brian you get caught in a stolen car and you're just in the back seat riding along you go to jail too so when this guy starts talking about i want to kill kelsey barrett why did she stay i'll tell you why nancy and this is the god's honest truth people are so concerned about their appearances that she felt so insecure that she needed a tall, dark, and handsome man on her Facebook to validate who she was. I see it all the time. Hey, can I weigh in on this? Yeah, please do.

So, you know, I think this ties into what you asked me a moment ago, which is, you know, can someone have a mistress when they're technically not married, when they're unmarried? And the answer technically, as I said, is no. But that doesn't mean that somebody who is in a mistress like role can't feel in their own mind as though they're married to the person. I remember back when Tiger Woods was caught being a serial adulterer, Gloria Allred was on a show with me, and she was representing this woman who was one of the extramarital affair partners who wanted to sue him. Is that Rachel Yucatel? I don't remember who it was, but she wanted to sue.

I don't know how I remember that name. Go ahead. At the time, I think she was trying to set up, Allred was trying to set up a lawsuit, but the woman, at least at the time, was just demanding through Gloria that Tiger Woods apologize for having misled this woman, allegedly, to believe that she was the only one with whom he was cheating. She was righteously indignant to find out that she wasn't the only mistress, and she really was a mistress in that case because Woods was married.

So it may be something like that, which was ridiculous, by the way. I'm going to sue this guy because he's lying to me about all the things he's doing with other people. It was ridiculous. And I called Gloria Allred out on it. I asked her on the show. I said, has your client apologized to Tiger's wife and kids? And Gloria, of course, was flabbergasted that anybody would expect that. And that's the last I heard of that case, by the way. But it may be something similar to that here, where this woman actually felt that, you know, she had sort of replaced

the wife. Well, that may be true, Dr. O'Brien. But when a guy starts talking about killing someone, that's when you need to get him off your Facebook and move on. Patrick Frazee appeared for his daughter's custody hearing on Thursday and made questions about his relationship with a woman from Idaho. Law enforcement sources say they are now looking at a 32-year-old nurse who possibly disposed of Kelsey Bear's phone. The last sign of life from the missing Colorado mom who was last seen Thanksgiving Day shopping with her one-year-old daughter. The woman in question is reportedly from Twin Falls, Idaho, not far from where Barris phone pinged on November 25th. The Twin Falls Sheriff's Office confirming to NBC News that they've served search warrants in the case. Some evidence was collected and processed.

Earlier this week, prosecutors suggested others could be involved. There potentially could be other people arrested in this case. A body has yet to be found, but authorities no longer believe that the 29 year old is alive, offering two theories about Barris death, each one represented by account of first degree murder against Bears fiance Patrick Frazee. One alleges Barrett was killed deliberately.

The other alleges she died during a robbery he commissioned. Frazee also faces three counts of solicitation to commit murder in the months leading up to Barris' disappearance. Court documents not giving any details about who he approached or insight as to why prosecutors think Frazee is responsible for his fiance's death.

You are hearing our friend at NBC, Steve Patterson, reporting that investigators now looking at this 32-year-old Utah divorcee, a mother of two, that apparently the killer fiancee, a mother of two, that apparently the killer fiance, as he is called, hooked up with at a rodeo. Did she dispose of Colorado mom Kelsey Bear's cell phone? And if so, does she know where Kelsey or her remains are? Breaking news right now.

Apparently, a couple comes forward. The mistress's best friend says he, Frazee, asked the mistress to kill the mother of his child. Now, what does that say about him that he's asking his girlfriend to commit murder? Straight out to Stephen Lampley joining us, a veteran detective, Stephen Lampley. That's what I always say. Loose lips sink ships. If you want a job done, do it yourself. I mean, he told the girlfriend, the mistress, the mistress blabbed to her best friend, and then, hey, that's just like putting it on the speaker.

You know, you might as well just take out an ad on 3rd Avenue in Manhattan. I solicited murder. That's how that works, Stephen Lampley. Well, that's true. I mean, I've always heard the phrase, what three know everybody knows. And he's not the brightest, he's not the sharpest knife in the door, Nancy. You run around and tell anybody. When you start running your mouth, that's what gets most culprits. That's what gets most perpetrators is the police waiting for somebody to run their mouth and run in and take care of business. Not just the emergence of this couple who apparently calls the FBI with information regarding the disappearance of Kelsey Barrett after they allegedly learn about Frazee's plot

to kill the mother of his baby girl. We also learned that remains were discovered near the town of Aguilar. What do we know about that? Out to you, Ellen Kalor in crimeonline.com investigative reporter. What do you know about those remains? Who, what, where, when, why? For a little while, there was some speculation that remains found at an abandoned truck stop may have been connected to the Barrett murder investigation because it was only about 130 miles from Woodland Park where she lived, but that is not the case. The remains have been identified as another missing woman in colorado it has not been connected to kelsey berth in any way so we know now that those

remains that were found near aguilar are not kelsey berth it's interesting how they determined that so very quickly take a listen to our friend at kmvt since we first broke the story about crystal being investigated by the f and Colorado Bureau of Investigations, her friends have reached out to us to say they don't believe she's capable of harm. What I hope comes out of this is the truth. You know, above all else, it's the truth. And I don't want to see Crystal portrayed as a monster. The truth always prevails, and hopefully her name can be cleared.

That's my hope. However, most of those friends are afraid of doing an interview on camera for fear of backlash from the community. KMBT confirmed that the 32-year-old St. Luke's nurse is on a leave of absence from the hospital. Court records also indicate she got divorced in 2016. They have two children, a son and a daughter. As a well-involved member of the community, the impact is felt both far and wide. Knowing Crystal the way that I do and as level-headed

and as grounded as she is, I really have a difficult time believing that in just a short period of time she could go from, you know, an angel to a monster and that is not Crystal. For those close to Crystal, their love and support will never change. Oh, I will always stand behind Crystal. I believe in her with all my heart. You are hearing KMVT reporter Kelsey Soto talking with a close rodeo friend of nurse Crystal Lee, the woman allegedly involved with a killer fiancé. Now, what I find also interesting to Alexis Tereschuk, RadarOnline.com investigative reporter,

is that when the best friend went back and spoke to Crystal Lee about it, about coming forward, she said, just forget it. Forget the whole thing. She wished she hadn't said anything. She wanted to keep the murder plot secret, Alexis. She did. This happened in October when she told her best she that Patrick was trying to hire her to kill his baby mama then Kelsey goes missing just weeks later on Thanksgiving's last time you see her alive the only evidence that has any connection to Kelsey being alive after Thanksgiving is a ping on her cell phone that happened in Idaho we are trying to connect the dots and to to Stephen Lampley, veteran detective, we know that Frazee, the killer fiancé,

did not leave the Colorado jurisdiction after the time Kelsey went missing. We know her phone pinged near the girlfriend, near the mistress in Idaho. Can't find Kelsey's body. What do you think, Stephen Lampley? Did the girlfriend, the alleged girlfriend, not only get rid of the phone, but is there a chance she also disposed of the body? There's a good chance. We've got, what, 600 miles, Nancy, from where Frazee and her girlfriend or whatever lived,

and then 600 miles from where the phone pinged. So there's a lot of territory to cover. This woman could be anywhere really and especially between those two points i mean let's think through let's think through human nature dr brian russell host of id's fatal vows series dr brian if he would and again this woman has not been charged this is just what we were learning about the investigation and according to this couple phrasing it asked her to kill Kelsey, the mother of his little girl. Dr. Bryan, if he would ask her to kill Kelsey, would he ask her to dispose

of the body? Well, it seems clear to me that if somebody's willing to ask another person to help them with something, you know, much more severe, so severe as a murder, they wouldn't have any problem asking them to help them with something less severe, like disposal of a body. And as we've been talking here about, you know, why might somebody not run for the hills as soon as they realize that they're dating somebody who is, you know, if not married, you know, deeply involved with somebody else and has a child and everything. And then on top of that, wants them to participate in eliminating that other person, maybe. One of the things that I thought of is, remember back when Scott Peterson was caught and charged with murdering his pregnant wife and child? And the woman that he had been dating, whom he had misled to think he was a single guy, couldn't come out of the woodwork fast enough and go, oh, my God, I feel so horrible, so guilty.

I was misled. I thought he was single. Let me give you all the information that I can, and felt just awful about being caught up in that in any way whatsoever. Whereas here you've got somebody who apparently was clearly aware of this guy's other relationship and being a dad and all that. And then here he comes and he's wanting her to help him to kill his baby mom. And this woman is not running for the hills, running to the cops, trying to help out. And you think, well, what must be going on in her mind? And one of the things that I think might have been going on is she may have whipped up in her mind, kind of like that woman that was thinking she was Tiger Woods' only mistress did, that she's almost a wife to this guy and maybe whipped up into her mind that it's flattering that he wants to eliminate this other

woman so that he and her can be together and raise his child or something. I mean, as sick as that sounds, people can whip their minds up into things like that. If you have information regarding Kelsey's whereabouts or the whereabouts of her remains, tip line 719-687-9262. Hi, Nancy Grace here. Have you ever Googled yourself, your neighbors, somebody at work, a crush? 57% of Americans admit to keeping an eye on their own online reputation. 46% admit to using the internet to keeping an eye on their own online reputation. 46% admit to using the internet to look up somebody from their past. But Google and Facebook, the tip of the iceberg when it comes to finding personal information. There's an innovative new website called Truthfinder. It's now revealing the full scoop on millions of Americans.

Truthfinder can search through hundreds of millions of public records in a matter of minutes. Truthfinder members can literally begin searching in seconds for sensitive data like criminal, traffic, arrest records. Before you bring someone new into your life and around the people you care for, your children, Consider using Truthfinder. What you find may astound you. Go to truthfinder.com forward slash Nancy right away to start searching. Truthfinder.com forward slash Nancy. Truthfinder.com forward slash Nancy. Find the truth.

Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. This is Amber Parker, and I want to tell you about the most beautiful time of my life thus far. A man named Yusef Durkee says he created this video of Parker's visit and says she came for love, not for trafficking. And I love this man. More than there are stars in all the heavens. However, in another twist, Parker has a husband in Teague. According to documents, Mr. Parker says a year ago, his wife told him she was going to become a member of a cult called Wicca. He says she created a fake Facebook page to secretly communicate with strange men associated with the organization.

We found the profile where Parker disguises herself as Zoe Singer. One photo posted says, Don't try to figure me out. I'm a special kind of twisted. In another, as a witch, I have three sides, the quiet and sweet side, the fun and crazy side, and the side you never want to see. Well, I wish she kept that side to herself. A Texas teacher allegedly trying to sell a little girl dressed in lingerie

online for sex in Morocco. A Texas teacher, Amber Michelle Parker. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us. You know what? Every day I drop the twins off at school because I love their teacher. I love her. I guess that's what all the other moms thought in this class. A Texas teacher goes online, dresses a little girl up in lingerie, and tries to sell her for sex with men in Morocco. This is a junior high school teacher in Central Texas. I want to go straight out to Alan Duke joining us from LA. Alan, it's a little more than i can take in there right right under our noses there in freestone county a junior high school teacher trying to sell a

little girl dressed in lingerie online what well and she teaches reading that i mean that's her and it's a small town i mean everybody knew this woman. She could not hide. There were only 8,000 people in this little town. I'm looking at the schools. It's Mahea, Mahea, Texas. Yeah, Mahea. I'm looking at the school's, her page on the school's website. I don't know if you've seen this picture, but she just looks like a reading teacher,

an eighth grade reading teacher and not a sex trafficker trying to send a little girl to Morocco. This is really shocking. And by the way, I might add that January 11th is Human Trafficking Day in the USA. And I'm so glad we're calling attention to this because as we always say, human trafficking is next door to you and in every small town, including this little one in Texas. You know, it's just more than I can take in. This eighth grade reading teacher, age 37, trying to sell an underage girl into sex slavery in Morocco, even posting lurid photos of the little girl online. I'm talking about Amber Michelle Parker. Amber Michelle Parker, an eighth grade reading teacher, accused of conspiring to lure the child to Morocco so she, Amber Michelle Parker, could sell her to man after man after man. It's apparent that she posted photos online of the little girl exposing her chest.

Now, Amber Michelle Parker, the eighth grade reading teacher, traveled to Morocco alone in December. And what you were hearing earlier, let's take a listen to that again, Jackie. You hear her talking about her trip to Morocco for love and what a wonderful loving experience it was. Uh-uh. She was paving the way to sex traffic a little girl listen to her again this is amber parker and i want to tell you about the most beautiful time of my life this far a man named yusef durkee says he created this video of parker's visit and says she came for love not for trafficking and And I love this man more than there are stars in all the heavens. However, in another twist, Parker has a husband

in Teague. According to documents, Mr. Parker says a year ago his wife told him she was going to become a member of a cult called Wicca. He says she created a fake Facebook page to secretly communicate with strange men associated with the organization. We found the profile where Parker disguises herself as Zoe Singer. One photo posted says, don't try to figure me out. I'm a special kind of twisted. And another, as a witch, I have three sides, the quiet and sweet side, the fun and crazy side, and the side you never want to see. Yeah, I wish I had never seen it, but sadly, we are. Joining me, Dr. Bethany Marshall, renowned LA psychoanalyst, Karen Smith, forensics expert joining us out of the Florida jurisdiction, Atlanta felony prosecutor,

Kenya Johnson, of course, Alan Duke joining me from LA in the studio and here in our studio, Jackie Howard. I want to go to Dr. Bethany Marshall. You know, like Alan, I'm looking at her pictures right now and she looks like, you know, some wholesome mom that just pulled a dozen chocolate chip cookies out of the oven. Wrong! According to the sheriff there in Freestone County, Sheriff Jay Shipley, he says, quote, she was online talking to multiple guys in Morocco, trying to get it set up, where she could take her little girl over there with her to them. Wisely, detectives obtained a search warrant for all of Amber Michelle Parker's

electronic devices. But let me get to the forensics in just a moment, and then I'll follow up with the legal angle with Kenya Johnson. Dr. Bethany Marshall, this is an eighth grade reading teacher. What in the H-E-double-L is going on in her head? Okay, so an aspect of sex trafficking that I think is little known, and we see this unfolding in abusive households across the nation, is women who give up their own children or younger female relatives to men, not necessarily for money, but because they're using the children as bait to get the affection of the man. So we think of sex trafficking as motivated by money, but sometimes it's motivated by a narcissistic need for attention or to exploit the child to get access to other men. And one,

when I read this story, I was wondering if this woman is one of these attention hungry, personality disordered women who will do anything to get the attention of men. She goes to another country, like almost like a sex tourist. We see men do this often go to third world countries so they can have access to people who are in more vulnerable positions. She goes there and she offers up her own niece in order to get access to people who are in more vulnerable positions. She goes there and she offers up her own niece in order to get access to these men. Now, the side benefit is she's going to get paid, right? She gets all these new relationships. She feels like important in that society, but it's at the cost of her own child. But don't think that this just happens in sex trafficking cases. This happens on a more mundane level.

In many households, you see sometimes mothers who will maybe date or marry a pedophile or somebody who has a lurid interest in their own child because they think that the child will be like the bait for the man. And that's an aspect of this story I keep wondering about. An eighth grade reading teacher, 37 years old, is now a suspect trying to sell her underage relative into sex slavery in Morocco. Posting lurid photos of the little girl online dressed in lingerie with her chest exposed. If you have children listening right now, please send them out of the room. I'm giving you a 10 count warning, okay, because I'm about to read what we have obtained in the sheriff's warrant. Again, if you have a child around you right now, please send them out of the room. The sheriff's warrant that we have obtained states that Amber Michelle Parker, this is found pursuant to search warrant on her electronic devices, quote, talking about the little girl. She, the little girl,

wants to peel your uniform off of you, cuff you, and lick your abs. Okay. Then she goes on to discuss with the two men there in Morocco about flying to the U.S. to have relations with both her and the minor girl. This eighth grade reading teacher goes on to tell the men online how old the little girl is and that she is a virgin soon after the men begin trying to have parker and the minor girl travel to casablanca morocco this is according to the warrant and they're reading it straight off everything amber michelle Amber Michelle Parker was typing. They say that while monitoring the conversations, the more photos were sent to the man. All of this is being orchestrated by this teacher. That Parker had coached the little girl to take these photos,

telling her what positions to be in, what parts of her body to expose. It goes on and on and on. And this is all obtained through search warrants for electronic devices. Now, the McLennan County Sheriff, Parnell McNamara, says they had been watching Parker for some time before they obtained all this information. You know, I want to go to Karen Smith, forensics expert. What do you have to do in order to dig up all of this electronic information?

It's like leaving a path a mile wide for the police. It sure is. And, you know, family members were the people who tipped off the police that something was amiss. So once they had that information and they found this secret Facebook page that Parker had created, that started the ball rolling. Once they started finding all of that public information, they could get the search warrant and then do that deep dive into her data, see that big footprint she was leaving, find out all of the information on likely her cell phone. Listen, we live and die with our electronic devices. I don't go anywhere without my cell phone, and likely she didn't either.

It wasn't just her laptop or home computer. She was doing this stuff remotely. She was doing it on her cell phone. So all of that information is coming into play and they're going to bring it all into court and it's going to tell the entire disgusting, despicable story. According to warrants we've obtained from police, Mahia teacher teaching eighth grade reading tells trafficking victim how she should pose for men online. I mean, Dr. Bethany, let me come back to you on how that's going to affect this little girl the rest of her life. But to Kenya Johnson, more urgently, felony prosecutor in the Atlanta jurisdiction, what charges can be leveled against

this reading teacher, Amber Michelle Parker? You know, there's so many unanswered questions to decide all the charges, but right now we're looking at sexual exploitation. We're looking at sexual battery, depending upon how the young lady was positioned for the pictures. I've prosecuted child molestation cases before, and I've seen pictures of child pornography. And the looks, the hollow looks in the little girls' faces as they're eight and nine and made to look sexy in suggestive poses. It's just haunting.

And I'll never forget what those look like. And I can only imagine what those young ladies feel like having to pose in such suggestive poses. And so lots more questions to be asked, but right now we're already looking, and law enforcement should be looking at what's going on with a young lady's life right now. Is she already being abused? This may only be the tip of the iceberg. Has she already encountered sexual exploitation? And so those are some of the questions that we'd be asking to formulate all the charges to charge her with. To Dr. Bethany Marshall, I remember the first time I, well, I prosecuted so many

child molestation cases, but I remember some of my first ones. Wait, hold on. I remember my first one that I took to trial, and it was a father that had been molesting the little girl. And this hollow look in the eyes of the little victims, I saw it then, but just as a trial lawyer, I saw it, I noticed it, but I didn't know what it meant. That hollow look that Kenya Johnson's describing, what is that? Well, the hollow look is that they're very dissociated or disconnected from themselves, that they can't even bear to be in their own bodies. And we know that child sexual abuse is the one type of trauma that even when it's only perpetrated once against a child,

scars the child for the rest of their life. A child can be beaten, a child can be starved, left on the school steps, not picked up, all kinds of other trauma usually takes multiple incidents to affect a child, but child sexual abuse, one incident changes the psychology, the physiology, the psyche of a child permanently, even resilient children. So that hollow look, I think it's shock. And add a layer to this that wasn't this teacher a female relative. So this is somebody with whom she had a trusted relationship who was exploiting her. That's a whole nother layer of trauma right there. And it's something that goes with you for the rest of your life. And as jarring and upsetting as this is, the little girl was saved by the local sheriffs. She was taken away before she got sent to Morocco to be with all of these

men that the school teacher was setting up. To Alan Duke, joining me from LA. Alan, that's the thing about trafficking. We always think of it, you know, as some guys from some other country kidnapping people, taking them away. It's not like that. It's happening right under our noses. Yes, I you know, we've done these shows. We've done these interviews, but we've also seen it up close because it's in every small town. You're reporting my reporting. We've seen the tragic situations to where the the shops in town are being staffed by people who are not there under their own will. It's not just sex trafficking. It's people being forced into labor, passports taken, smuggled into the country. It's a huge problem here in Los Angeles where I am right now. There are thousands of people who are considered to be slaves. And you know what?

Not just L.A., but all over the U.S. It's happening in this time. It was an eighth-grade reading teacher. Listen to our friend at KWTX-TV. This is Risa Shaw. Foursomes, provocative photo exchanges, witchcraft. Details of a Freestone County human trafficking case are revealed. 37-year-old Amber Parker, an eighth grade reading teacher at Mejia ISD, resigned Thursday in connection with an alleged incident back in November involving her underage female relative. According to the affidavit obtained by KWTX,

Parker was sending sexual three-way messages to two Moroccan men on behalf of the victim. Police say Parker talks about the men flying to the U.S. to have sex with both her and the victim, while the men suggest the females come to Casablanca. Parker provides the victim's age, marketing her as a virgin, according to the affidavit. Then Parker takes and sends semi-nude photos of the victim, even directing her on poses to, quote, keep the male interested in her. Nancy Grace, Crime Stories, signing off.

Goodbye, friend. This is an iHeart Podcast.