Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Chaos at golfer Lucas Glover's home ends with wife's arrest & Missing Lucas Hernandez update

Episode Date: May 18, 2018

Pro golfer Lucas Glover had his hands full when his wife and mother argued, resulting in deputies rushing to their Florida home. Nancy Grace listens to the unusual 911 call made before the wife was arrested on a domestic violence charge. She is joined by lawyer & psychologist Dr. Brian Russell, forensic expert Joseph Scott Morgan, and lawyer Ashley Willcott. Nancy looks at new developments in the case of missing 5-year-old Lucas Hernandez with victims' advocate Marc Klaas, Kim Martin of the Missing Pieces Network, and CrimeOnline reporter Leigh Egan. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Professional golfer Lucas Glover's wife arrested after allegedly attacking him and calling him a, let me just say, gosh, a female slur and a loser after he plays a bad round at the PGA Players Championship. Take a listen to the call that kicked it all off, the 911 call listen 911 what is your emergency i've been attacked by my mother-in-law okay what's your address it is i'm in yes thank you what's what's the straight name okay you said you were attacked by your mother yes in my mother-in-law is she still there yes she's locked herself into the room and she's attacked us. Okay, how did she attack you?

How did she attack you? Uh-oh, what happened to that? I think somebody hung up. Take a listen to the next 911 call. Hello? Hi, this is St. John's County Sheriff's Office. Yeah, hi. Hi, it's... I think we've got our lines crawling in here. This is the most insane one of the bunch. Okay, can you tell me what's going on there? Yeah, my wife has called you a mom, and now she's trying to blame it on my mother,

which is not the case at all. My mother is the one who leads, and my wife is going crazy. Okay, does she need fire rescue to come out there and look at her? No. I don't think anybody needs to come out here. Thank you, though. Okay. But we still have deputies that are coming out there just to make sure that everything is okay there.

Can I talk to your wife real quick? No, you cannot. She is in the house with my daughter, and when the deputies get here, they need to talk to the male. That would be me, because these other two are out of their heads at the moment. Okay, but she dialed 911, so I need to speak with her so I can find out what's happening from her side. Well, she's going to lie to you. That's what I'm telling you that's why I answer her phone she's on my trip but okay thank you hi there hi I was talking to originally? Yeah. We're not having a great time tonight. Okay.

We do have deputies on their way out there. Can I get your name? I don't know. Do we need help or not? We've got deputies coming out there already, okay? Okay. Thank you. What is your name?

Yeah, we're going to go. Can I get your name now? Okay. Well, um, let me just quote a famous legal scholar that once said that was the turn in the punch bowl right there. Okay. His words, not mine. Okay.

Cause I would never say that. But once you call 911, you can't report an attack. You can't just hang up and then act like nothing happened when they called back. It doesn't work like that. We are talking about a pro golfer, a great, great golfer, Lucas Glover, and a 911 call goes down. And then when they call the home back, everybody acts like nothing happened. Well, this is what went down.

The wife, Krista, is arrested at their beautiful home in Ponte Vedra Beach after she allegedly attacks physically and verbally her husband and his mother. Boy, she let loose on the whole kit and caboodle. Now, a police report obtained states that an officer responds to the disturbance at 8.30 at night and found the athlete, Glover, and his mother injured. Now, Glover had played at the Players' Championship that day, and he claims his wife regularly berates him and yells at him when he plays poorly mrs glover is said to have been drinking earlier in the day and started the whole thing in front

of the two underage children there were cuts and bruises fresh ones on his right arm and multiple cuts to both his 62-year-old mother, Hershey Glover's arms. The wife is charged with domestic battery, resisting arrest after she refused to get in the back of the squad car. And, just to top it all off, she says, quote, This is why cops get shot in the face. Wait till I talk to the judge, You'll be effing fired over this. Ruh-roh. Joining me, Ashley Wilcott, judge and lawyer. Brian Russell, Dr. Brian Russell, lawyer and psychologist and host of hit show on investigation discovery, Fatal Vows series.

And Joe Scott Morgan, forensics expert. Okay, Dr. Bryan, let's start with you. You know, cops don't like it very much when somebody says, as you're trying to get them into the back of the squad car, this is why cops get shot in the face. You're going to get effing fired over this. What? Yeah, I don't think she ought to be really too anxious to talk to the judge about that one.

My biggest concern, though, and probably yours as well, is that you can hear children in the judge about that one. My biggest concern, though, and probably yours as well, is that you can hear children in the background of that call. And whatever has gone down between the adults, one thing we know for sure is that there's child abuse going on in that household because merely exposing children to chaos like that is abusive, in my opinion. And so, you know, always my biggest concern is for the children, because no kid should have to be immersed in that kind of chaos. Well, I agree with you about the chaos. But I also don't like it when they see mommy beating grandmommy. What about that, Ashley Wilcott? No, that's not good. That's domestic violence and it traumatizes children and is emotional abuse of children.

But I am going to suggest this. The bother that I have is that somewhere in the middle is the truth and we don't really know what it is because listen to the husband, the one you just played on 9-1-1, who says both of these women don't talk to these women. They're going to lie and they're out of their heads. You need to talk to the male. I'm concerned about we don't really know the truth as to what really happened. But whatever happened, it's not good for the kids.

So, Ashley, let me understand this. You're upset because he talked down about the women while the grandma's bleeding i mean listen i spent a decade decades in court where women got talked down to but i was a little more concerned about the bleeding victims oh yeah she's bleeding but we don't know what happened what did she do to the mom if anything yeah i'm concerned about grandma but i'm concerned about both these women with this man wait wait wait wait wait wait wait i surprised you man i did not see that coming joseph scott morgan forensics expert yeah you did uh in defiance of all the physical evidence you have a different interpretation ashley that's what happens in jury rooms jury deliberations rooms joe scott morgan help please help um miss wilcott the judge

and lawyer and founder of childcrimewatch.com understand that everybody else is bruised and bleeding except for the drunk wife okay so i mean it doesn't take a lot of power deduction to figure out what happened nobody else is bleeding i out what happened. Nobody else is bleeding. I mean, excuse me, everybody else is bleeding but her. Yeah, it's an interesting dynamic. From what I understand, Miss Glover had been, as my grandpa would say. Which Glover, the mother or the wife? The wife, actually, had been pulling a cork, as my grandpa would say, all day long.

Pulling a cork. She's got plenty of lubrication on board at this point. Wait a minute. Let me. Pulling a cork. I like that. I usually say they're in the bottle. Okay, go ahead.

Yeah, and so certainly not an excuse. I was, you know, I took a look. I'm a big pro golf fan, and I don't know, folks know this about, about Lucas Glover, but you know, he won the U S open in 2009. He's a big deal in the area of, of golf and pro golf. But since that time, uh, he's kind of been in decline. And so, you know, he's, he's coming home. He's just come off of this, this, uh, big tournament he played in this past weekend and did very poorly. Matter of fact, didn't even make the cut poorly by his standards. Of course, at the end of the day, he still walked away, even though he didn't make the cut with $21,000.

I don't know about y'all, but I'd be satisfied with that for two days work. And so the wife, apparently fueled by alcohol, is getting progressively more angry as time goes by. Now, I don't know if he had to step in between the mother-in-law and the wife, but I do know this. Police come out to the house in a domestic abuse situation, and somebody's going to jail. I don't know who it's going to be, but somebody is going to jail. That's the nature of the world we live in nowadays. She goes on, reportedly, to Dr. Brian Russell. Oh, man, she just could not keep her piehole shut. According to the St. Johns County Sheriff's Report, the wife, Krista Glover, screams to the deputies, when the PGA Tour hears about this, you'll lose your job.

Wait till I talk to the judge. You'll be effing fired. Like the PGA tour can fire a sheriff's deputy. She was out of her gourd, Dr. Bryan. Yeah. And she's throwing around her association with the PGA and then the husband who's the pro, which is a little bit interesting because at the same time, we understand she's berating him for not being good enough of a pro. It's the kind of thing that we saw. Remember years ago, there was a DUI stop, actually, I think, and it was Mel Gibson, the actor and producer and director, and he went off on the cop and a big rant. And so, you know, these people, they think they're big deals and then they're confronted by law enforcement and they they sort of show their true police officers, that they think that, you know, that they're lower paid, lower status people.

You really see sort of what they think of cops in these kinds of situations because the celebrity or the wealthy person, whatever, is embarrassed. And so they sort of try to start throwing their weight around to either get out of the trouble or make themselves deal with their embarrassment, make themselves feel like like a big shot to the cops. Doesn't play out very well in front of judges, though. No, it doesn't play well with me either. Dr. Brian doesn't play well with anybody. I don't think except her. I mean, and also i guess i have a

certain issue with and this is my flaw with classism because you know we grew up without very much we didn't know it at the time of course we're perfectly happy but if there's one thing well there's a lot of things that drive me crazy but one of them is when rich people act out you know they've got everything. Why are they acting out? And listen to this, you know, back to you, Joe Scott Morgan. Correction. You said he's not doing so.

Let's just talk for a moment about Lucas Glover. Now, he didn't want his wife arrested. He was trying to defend her. But he says his wife often threatens to leave him and take the kids when he doesn't play well but in his career he has made over 20 million dollars yeah true he struggled in 2018 but 20 million dollars that doesn't sound like a, quote, loser to me, Joe Scott Morgan. No, I don't think he's a loser. He's in the PGA Tour.

You know, perception is everything. I think that it goes back to what Brian and Ashley were talking about relative to our perception of status and his wife's perception of status. You know, Brian brought up Mel Gibson. I'd like to bring up somebody else in this case that kind of parallels what this woman had done. Please don't let it be Nancy Grace. Go ahead. No, it's going to be everybody's southern little sweetheart, Reese Witherspoon. And, you know, I actually wound up writing a piece about that with AJC. It made me so furious when that occurred.

You know, this idea that you're better. And look, you know, this poor police officer, and if you've never been to Ponte Vedra, it's a palatial area. You know, these million, multimillion-dollar homes, perfectly manicured lawns. And these guys, these poor cops, you know, they probably might be pulling down $42,000 a year if they're lucky in this area. And you've got to go out and, you know, be treated this way. And they're trying to protect and serve at the end of the day. Let's take a listen to Reese Witherspoon when she's pulled over for DUI. Whoopsie.

I'm now being arrested and handcuffed? Yep. Do you know my name, sir? Don't need to know. You don't need to know my name? Not quite yet. Oh, really? Okay.

You're about to find out who I am. That's fine. I'm not real worried about you, ma'am. I haven't told you how things work. Well, I've got a little tidbit to add, speaking of the way they were treated, Joseph Scott Morgan. Everybody, Joseph Scott Morgan with me, forensics expert and professor of forensics at Jacksonville State University. Dr. Brian Russell, who loves to rub it into me that not only does he have a J.D. like me, he's also a psychologist. Go ahead, rub it in, rub it in.

Host of Investigation Discoveries, hit show Fatal Vows. And Ashley Wilcott. Notice I haven't gone back to her since she disagreed with me a few minutes ago. Juvenile judge, lawyer, and founder of ChildCrimeWatch.com. Now, so Ashley's concerned about who's really the bad guy, but just let me point out one other little tidbit. After the wife, Krista Glover, gets in the car and threatens to get the cops fired and curses them out,

she then kicks the rear driver's side door so hard it separates the cell of the doorframe then she complained the handcuffs are too tight go ahead ashley jump in defend that i'm listening she's crazy i get that and i agree but listen it's this is my issue this is not there's one person in the home a crazy wife who's committed domestic violence that may be true but you have a whole nother dynamic because here you have a husband who says talk to me and then later he tries to manipulate law enforcement and then later makes a statement oh we're comfortable with the judicial system that will address what actually happened and krista

will be cleared what the heck is going on in that house? There are a lot of issues. Well, I'll tell you what's going on. Dr. Brian Russell. I mean, you're the psychologist, but I can tell you what's going on. She, the wife has a horrible alcohol problem and he's been trying to make excuses and cover it up and act like they have a normal life for the Lord only knows how many years, because that's what families of alcoholics do. They cover it up. They make excuses. Everything's fine.

Don't talk to her. Talk to me. I'm the only sane one. Translation, I'm the only sober one. Here, that's what he's doing. He's trying to cover for his wife with her alcohol problem. Well, I think that you are probably right is that right brian time i think one thing that we well this is the only time i'm concerned about and

then the only one that's not bloody and bruised is who okay but one thing that we know i think one thing that we can tell from this audio uh is i i think it very, very unlikely that this is the first chaotic incident like this that has come up. This sounds to me like a guy who has been here before, and we don't know what all has gone down in that house before, but it sounds to me like a guy who may be in some denial about how very serious this is for the children to be exposed to this even once, but especially if this is a serial situation. And so, yes, I think that there is a person here and the guy, and I also noticed what we talked about how the wife was throwing around the PGA and oh, when the PGA finds out and all this stuff, I noticed that he's not doing that. He's the pro golfer. He's the $20 million man.

He's not saying that kind of stuff. He seems to me like a guy who's trying to minimize, trying to, uh, sort of make it go away. I don't know if that's because he's concerned about negative publicity. I don't know if that's because he's concerned about, you know, the kids thinking that their mom is nuts. I don't know if he's worried about, if he's just trying to avoid in his mind the thought that, you know, my wife is somebody who is damaging my children by doing this kind of stuff in front of them. But I think he's got to wake up to the fact that he cannot allow his children to continue to be exposed to this kind of stuff. And if he does, then he is a co-participant in child abuse.

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Get started. A five-year-old little boy goes missing. A five-year-old little boy that was seen covered in bruises. A five-year-old boy that I believe was malnourished and underfed now goes missing. And the so-called stepmother that was taking care of him while dad was out of town working an oil rig. Seemingly slipping through the fingers of justice yet again. I'm talking about five-year-old Lucas Hernandez. Even at this moment, authorities don't know where Lucas or his remains are.

In the last hours, that so-called stepmother has been acquitted on another charge. It just never ends with this case. Trying to get justice for Lucas Hernandez with me, world-renowned victims advocate, the founder of Class Kids, Mark Class. Kim Martin, whose Missing Pieces Network is trying to find answers about Lucas. Ashley Wilcott, juvenile judge and lawyer, founder of childcrimewatch.com and leeegancrimeonline.com reporter. Guys, I want to start with the so-called disappearance of Lucas. First of all, listen to this. Happy birthday, dear Lucas. Happy birthday to you Blow out your candle

Good job bud You're five years old Tomorrow Singing for little Lucas at his fifth birthday party Mark Glass I remember the twins Fifth birthday party Like it was yesterday And what a blowout it was

Birthday cake A jumpy house You you know, putting those two together as a recipe for disaster, all that icing and all that jumping. I mean, it's just not a party unless somebody throws up, but it was a good time. And I remember like it was yesterday. You know what? Nobody's remembering that for Lucas. Instead, right now we're all saying, where is Lucas or where is his body? It's just not right to have those words in the same sentence, Mark. Class, what happened to your understanding the day Lucas goes missing? Well, as I understand it, Nancy, the day Lucas went missing,

the stepmother, Emily Glass, a 26-year-old woman, put him down for... Why do we even say stepmother, Mark? She's a living girlfriend. She never showed Lucas any love. That's correct. I mean, she put Lucas down for a nap at around three o'clock. She herself took a nap at about three o'clock. And when she woke up several hours later, Lucas was missing. She looked around for him. She reported it to the authorities. The authorities came out, investigated, and could find absolutely no sign that anybody had broken into the house, gotten into the house, or illegally removed Lucas in any way, shape, or form. There was absolutely no evidence whatsoever of Lucas having left the property. And that's basically where the case stands right now. Of course, Simpson, a lot of allegations have come out and a lot of evidence

has come out. You know, to Kim Martin joining me in addition to Mark Klass, Kim Martin with Missing Pieces Network. Kim, what more do we know about the day Lucas goes missing? I know the dad's out of town working. We've confirmed that. I don't mean two towns over. I mean out of state with an oil company. He's not part of this. Okay. So the living girlfriend is home. She has a baby in the home, her bio baby, and we've got little Lucas. And from reports, we have been told that every time she and the dad would have an argument, she'd take it out on Lucas. That's what Lucas's relatives have told us. You know, it bugs me so much, Kim Martin, is the fact about the Olive Garden the day before. I think it was the day

before he goes missing, Kim. Would you tell Mark Klass that story? Let's see. Emily apparently cleaned a lot, did a lot of laundry that day, went to the garage, smoked three bowls of pot, and got hungry. She said that Lucas had been sleeping because he had a tummy ache, so she took Mia and went to Olive Garden. Interestingly, she does not remember the route she took to Olive Garden, but that's what she said. I mean, Mark, you know, the twins, I can't even imagine leaving one at home with a sick tummy, allegedly,

and taking the other one for a nice lunch and leaving a five-year-old at home alone with nothing to eat and taking my biological child out for lunch at Olive Garden. Oh, it's absurd. It's completely beyond the pale, Nancy, that somebody would do that. And it's hard to believe that a little boy who's suffering from stomach pains is somehow soundly sleeping throughout this entire situation. She's a very irresponsible woman.

And she really, as it turns out, as we'll see, has absolutely no business around children. You know, to Lee Egan, CrimeOnline.com reporter, Lee, you've been doing such an awesome job covering this on CrimeOnline.com. So when she wakes up from her three-hour nap, okay, in the middle of the day, not judging, the baby, baby Lucas, five years old, is gone. How long passed before she calls 911 to tell them he's missing? She woke up a three-hour nap, and it wasn't much longer after that she called 911. What upset me also to Ashley Wilcott, childcrimewatch.com, is that the landlord drove by and saw Lucas staring out the window.

Lucas is there all alone just looking out the window. He didn't try to leave that day, did he, Ashley? No, and not only that, if he was the only one home, that in and of itself could be a charge of child endangerment. But the other thing I want to point out is something Lee just said, and that is this was self-reported. He went missing the next day. Who knows when he really went missing? Right, like the night before or after she got home from Olive Garden. There's no one in the home but her, Lucas, and her little baby. Well, police jump into action using canine units to search the home. They surround the neighborhood with a dragnet. They look in nearby parks for clues.

Nothing. They end up empty-handed at the end of the day. Well, everybody asked, why didn't you issue an Amber Alert? Well, there was no evidence he was kidnapped. When the police said that, that was a shocker mark, class. No evidence he was kidnapped. Well, I've had issues with the Amber Alert from day one, Nancy. And I think that, first of all, it could be put into the hands of the local authorities.

And if they feel that there's reason enough to issue a local Amber Alert, they should be able to do so. Unfortunately, that's not how it works. It's a state authority and it has to go through many levels of green lights before anybody can actually do that. But back to this Lucas's little situation, you know, Emily has been reported as being bipolar. She's a drug user beside the pot. She's been known to take methamphetamine and heroin. And that's a toxic mix, Nancy. That's a terrible, horrible, toxic mix that no child, whether he's a biological child or a child under her care, should ever have to deal with.

Take a listen to what little Lucas's aunt, Sally Rasmussen, has to say to KAKE-TV. All these stories I've been hearing for months about him possibly being abused. They investigated and had a forensic interview and all that kind of stuff. And since I guess the police didn't think there was enough evidence, when I first found out he was missing, I was suspicious and then worried. Well, according to Wichita Police Detective Ryan Showmaker, he reads out loud exactly what Emily Glass said happened that day. as my appetite was not there. Sometime after eating, Lucas said his tummy hurt and wanted to watch a movie in his room. So I gave him some Zofran and put his show on. I can't remember what show. I then cleaned up his mess from eating while Mia was still eating

and then sat down browsing my phone still waiting for Mia to finish so that I could clean her and her mess up. After that, I did some more laundry and cleaned some of back bonus room. I did check in on Luke while watching his movie, and he was fine each time. I checked in on him every 20 to 30 minutes just to say hi and see how he was doing. And then I decided to take a break from cleaning due to my hands from hurting and my endo. My hands hurt due to cleaning flower bed out on Thursday.

I went to Graz to smoke cannabis and got really hungry. And then I remembered Jonathan had given me an Olive Garden gift card and wanted that to eat when I got Mia and myself ready. I decided to eat real quick while I had my appetite. This was around 5, 20 to 5 p.m. My landlord, Chris, called me towards the end at me finishing up Olive Garden so that he can stop by to check the sewer slash plumbing. I believe due to nasty smells I was smelling. I told him I was almost home and would see

him soon. On my way home, he ended up calling me back. I got home around 6? After I got home around 6, question mark. After I got home, I made Lucas dinner. He had french fries and chicken fries and Sprite. We all lounged that night while I did some laundry. Around 7.30 to 8, I gave Lucas and Mia a bath and then put them to bed. I do believe I talked to Jonathan via duo video chat before I fell asleep Friday night, the 17th. Saturday, February the 7th, 18th. I'm sorry. Saturday, February the 18th, it says the kids and I woke up around 9 a.m. To Kim Martin with Missing Pieces Network, who is helping find Lucas Hernandez. So that's the day. That's the day before she says Lucas goes missing. But again,

like Lee Egan has pointed out, she's the only one confirming that timeline. If you listen to what she said, Kim, when she stated, this is according to the detectives that have her written statement that she signed off on, she said she may have FaceTimeded with the dad but didn't say anything about him speaking to lucas so no one can id lucas was alive that night so how does she end up in court in the past hours on child endangerment she ended up there for um allegedly smoking marijuana and driving Mia to Olive Garden. So that was in her written statement, and she told the police that as well. So she says she smokes three bowls. Bowls. Three bowls.

Of marijuana and drives her daughter, her baby, to Olive Garden, leaving Lucas behind. And it's almost as if nobody's looking at the elephant in the room. Lucas, a five-year-old boy, is dead. There, I'll go ahead and put it out there. I mean, Mark Klass, do you think Lucas is still alive? No, Nancy, I don't think so. I don't think that Lucas got up and walked out of that house either. He was supposedly a shy little boy that was not known for wandering off.

He was a good little boy and an obedient little boy. So this is just completely out of character, as I understand it, for this child. A five-year-old little boy is missing, and seemingly the so-called stepmother that was taking care of him at the time he, quote, wanders away as she's taking a three-hour nap has just slipped through the fingers of justice. We know that she was charged with child endangerment because just before Lucas goes missing, she admits she smokes three bowls of marijuana

and drives her other child to Olive Garden. She was never charged with driving under the influence of marijuana, Lee Egan. Why? Well, the police did not ask her to submit a drug test. I don't know if they waited too long to where it was out of her system or what happened. But I mean, it's very obvious to me that nobody knew she was driving under the influence of marijuana. She drove there. They went to Olive Garden. They ate and she came home. So why would police ask? I mean, have you ever had police just come up to you at the table at Olive Garden, Lee,

and say, hey, how about giving me a BAC blood alcohol test? Blow into this. Yeah, no. So police didn't do anything wrong. But, boy, if you heard the defense lawyer in court, you'd think they had. Take a listen to this. So, today we discussed photos and lead statements, cell phone and map, hair and vocal tests, blood tests, saliva tests, actual physical lead,

and paraphernalia. Is that correct? Correct. Is there any other evidence that we discussed that I haven't added up here? Not that I can make out right now. So of this evidence that's up here next to your alleged timeline, the things that are not going to be sent in to the jury, hair follicle, blood, saliva, weed, paraphernalia, all of this right here, is that correct? Yes. Yet you allege or claim that she had marijuana present in her system and was high.

Correct. The jury will not receive any scientific evidence out of this case about marijuana present in her system, is that correct? They will receive her statements, but no test. Are all of these tests available? I would imagine yes. Could you have asked Emily to submit to these tests? It's possible. Did you ask Emily to submit to any of these tests? No, ma'am.

Like I stated, there was a whole other investigation we were doing at the time, and that was a more important investigation. So your entire case that Emily smoked weed later that day, a couple hours later, traveled to Olive Garden with her daughter is based on solely her statements that she made. Approximately an hour later. But, yes, it was her statements that she made several times. No further questions. Man, she really let him have it, Mark Klass.

It's really a trial within a case because the overarching, the bigger case is where is Lucas Hernandez or where is his body? This was a mini trial in the middle of that mystery about her driving under the influence of pot. And it wasn't just her own statement, Mark Klass. Did you know that a former inmate at the county jail testified in front of the jury that Glass told her she, Glass, smoked three bowls of pot and had gotten, quote, really high before driving her daughter to Olive Garden. And so there were multiple sources of that information, but still the jury let her walk. Mark? Well, the DA brought a weak case on her in this particular instance. And if this is a mini trial within the bigger investigation, which you correctly stated is,

then he's really going to have to get his act together as he moves forward and tries to charge her with his disappearance or his murder. Ashley Wilcott, ChildCrimeWatch.com, Atlanta juvenile judge and lawyer. You know what's going to happen. It's going to be like in Stephen Avery, where he was, you know, making a murderer on Netflix, where he was wrongly convicted on one case. Then he was tried for the murder of Teresa Hallback. He said, oh, you're just doing this because I was exonerated on the previous case. You're mad at me. Well, no, it's because he murdered Teresa Hallback.

That's why they did it. But in this case, Ashley, it's a similar scenario in that if Emily Glass, the girlfriend, is ever charged in Lucas's disappearance or even neglect that ended in the death of Lucas, they're going to bring up this trial, this not guilty on driving under the influence of pot and say, whether it's true or not, Oh,

the cops are mad because I got not guilty in that case. Now they're trying to get me back. This has given them a perfect argument in an ultimate trial. If it happens. Absolutely. This was a big win for the defense for the reason you've just pointed out. Don't rush to charges for any district attorney. That's the best advice because here's the other thing I see in this case. I look at all the information that we know. I think there are additional potential charges against this woman that stand at this point in time. For instance,

child endangerment of the five-year-old because based on her statement, he was home alone when she chose to take the one-year-old to Olive Garden with her. Why would you leave a five-year-old home alone? That's child endangerment. That means that you are knowingly and unreasonably causing or permitting that five-year-old to be placed in a situation which could be endangering to the child. You don't leave a five-year-old at home. So there were also other fact scenarios that resulted in other potential charges. So I think that we talk about law enforcement, district attorneys, they need to be very deliberate and thoughtful in analyzing, gathering the evidence, and then prosecuting on the charges at that point in time. I don't think that happens. On the other hand, to Kim Martin with Missing Pieces Network,

I know what the district attorney was trying to do, and I don't fault him. What he was trying to do was get her on anything, anything that was real. And this is real. She admitted to it, and she bragged about it in jail. She was high on pot when she drove to the Olive Garden with a child in the car.

Bam. But I imagine he was thinking if he could get her on that and she was in jail for a while at some point she'd brag about lucas too and then he would have the evidence he needed to prosecute the murder i'm sure that's what he was aiming for you know this in the business drop in the bucket compared to Lucas is dead. The five-year-old boy is dead, guys. The good news is they got that one-year-old out of the house, Nancy. They did. They at least recognized at a minimum there was neglect and inadequate supervision.

And the state did pull the one-year-old out of her care, thank God, right? Because this mother either killed the five-year-old or knows what happened to him. That's a really good point. You're right. So bottom line, I mean, I don't want to bash the DA so much here. Yeah, yeah, it was a weak case, but she did it. It's a weak case. He lost the case. But what, just because you think you're going to lose the case, you don't bring the case. You just go, oh, well, I don't think I'm going to win. I just won't't bring it I think he should have brought brought it I think he did the right thing bringing it and Mark Klass let's get back to the big issue the big issue is not her driving after three bowls of pot which I do not condone the big issue is Lucas Mark Klass you know as well as anybody, better than anybody, how a child goes missing and gets killed.

The stats on the possibility of Lucas being alive, they're astronomical. Explain the reality of what happened to Lucas and why, why we believe he's dead. Well, we believe he's dead because there's been no sign of Lucas over the course of the last several months now. When children disappear and are murdered as a result of a kidnapping or a disappearance, 74% of them are going to be dead within the first three hours. Something like 88% are going to be dead within the first 24 hours. And your statistics just drop and your probabilities drop exponentially from that point on. So the idea that this little boy is somehow out there and being taken care of is nil at this point. And you're absolutely correct. There's no way that

little Lucas is still alive, unfortunately. But then we also now are in a situation where we're literally looking for a needle in a haystack. The world is a very big place, and Lucas is a very little boy. But again, the statistics are going to tell you that he is probably within a quarter mile of that house somewhere. You know, I noticed in this trial about endangerment after the pot that when the inmate, the other lady inmate, was on the stand, she mentioned in front of the jury, she asked Emily Glass,

she asked the stepmom, why did they keep searching a particular field over and over and over? Why did they do that? Well, the judge cut her off and wouldn't let her go on in that vein about Lucas because that was not the issue before the jury. They were only to determine whether she endangered her daughter driving high on pot. The case would have been reversed if there had been a conviction.

But that's really interesting. Even the female inmate was saying, hey, why do they keep searching that same field over and over with dogs, stepmom? And the judge cut her off. Mark Klass, you just said the body is going to be a quarter of a mile from the home. Isn't that interesting that police come back and back and back to that one field, Mark Klass? And they have to do that, Nancy, because you're not going to find the remains of a little boy on the first pass. In many cases that we've worked, we've had to go back to the location time and time and time again before we finally got a hit on what we were looking for.

You know, another thing, Mark Glass, and I always cite back to you, even when we're not talking together, I'm concerned about Emily Glass's, the stepmother's demeanor. The way she spoke to police, just calm calm cool as a cucumber when she was described i mean lucas was missing he's gone no dogs out looking for him i can't you know what this makes me just want to jump up out of this chair and run and check on the children and just leave the thought of you sitting there so calm and collected while there are dogs out sniffing and barking, trying to find the child. She was calm as a cucumber, talking about how she smoked three bowls of pot and got in the car and drove her daughter and left Lucas at home alone. Mark, do you remember, of course you do, when Polly, your daughter, went missing,

you basically said, here, take my fingerprints, take my DNA. You basically laid on the steps of the courthouse saying, do whatever you've got to do. Please search me, search my place, bring in the dogs, so you can start looking for whoever really took my daughter. That's the way I tell it, Mark. Well, that's exactly right. I mean, it's a matter of elimination. You have to eliminate yourself from suspicion before the police will be able to effectively move on to the other possibilities.

And you're exactly right, Nancy. In our situation, it was 65 days of sitting on the steps of the police station, begging them to do something and to solve the case. And every day they didn't solve the case, in my mind, was the day that they weren't doing their jobs. But I'm not seeing any of this kind of thought behavior from Emily at all. Oh, no. You should see the shots of Miss Thing in court,

smirking, walking by. She's just as pleased, she's very pleased with herself getting this not guilty. I mean, uh-uh. So, bottom line, what do we do now, Mark? Why she's slipped through justice. I mean, I don't even know what else to do now. They can't find the body.

They can't find any evidence that he's still alive. There's no clue. There's no forensics in the home. What do we find any evidence that he's still alive. There's no clue. There's no forensics in the home. What do we do, Mark? It's 90 days. He's been gone. Yeah, well, you can't stop the investigation, obviously. It has to be ongoing. And although the authority search and rescue teams are no longer working the case, simply because there are other things they have to do and other priorities, there are volunteer efforts out there that are ongoing. And those kinds of efforts can continue on and on and on. So they have to continue to look for the child.

They have to continue to investigate this woman. And hopefully at some point, something will break. And we see this all the time now, Nancy. We see cold cases get hot. We see these things get solved. We bring these children home one way or another. Well, I say they've got the key right there with the stepmom, Emily Glass. Take a listen to what the Sedgwick County District Attorney Mark Bennett tells us. The determination was made that we would move forward with this case and put our best evidence

in front of the jury, and we've done that and again, respect the verdict. Can you talk some about what's next in terms of the investigation and what happened to Lucas and Marisa? Yeah, the investigators with the Wichita Police Department continue to follow leads. They're working on the case as we speak. The investigation continues. That's about the case as we speak. The investigation continues. That's about the best I can say. It's just they're gonna look at every other angle they can think of,

take tips from the public, continue to search if and when applicable or appropriate. They've got some place to search. It's been obviously an exhausting investigation to date and will continue to be so. You mentioned it was a difficult case, even from the beginning. What was the biggest factor? I know obviously the defense came back and said there was never any physical evidence. Well, there were 48 hours that passed between the time when she drove the child in the state that she described as being high, in her words.

It was 48 hours later that law enforcement was even aware there was an issue. And so, you know, like any case, any delay delays the recovery of evidence. And so, I mean, and the defense did a nice job of, you know, bringing this to the attention of the jury. You know, she said she'd been using marijuana. She said she was high at the time she was driving her child around, but as they pointed out, there was no physical evidence anymore of any narcotics in the home, and that's because 48 hours had passed, and so that put us at a disadvantage. Again, this evidence was certainly not the focus of the investigation,

but when it was uncovered, it's like, well, we have this. We need to move forward with what we have one step at a time, and this was the first case that was able to be brought. Emily Glass, a person of interest in the Lucas Hernandez case. Yeah, I mean, she's been the, I think the police department, I'm not saying anything the police department hasn't already said. I mean, they've identified her, I believe, as a person of interest. She is certainly a witness in that case.

The point is we'll take evidence wherever it takes us and we'll continue to investigate this disappearance of Lucas Hernandez. That is the DA speaking, but this is what I recall. Here is Officer Charlie Davidson announcing little Lucas is gone. It is with a heavy heart I'm here with you today. Still missing is five-year-old Lucas Fernandez. Lucas was last seen wearing black sweats, white socks, and a gray shirt with a bear on it. Our thoughts and prayers remain with Lucas and Lucas' family as we are diligently investigating the situation. On Friday, February 17th at approximately 6.15,

officers were dispatched to a lost juvenile call at a residence in the 600 block of South Edgemore. When they arrived, they made contact with a 26-year-old female who was the stepmother of Lucas. She reported to officers that she last saw Lucas in his bedroom at approximately 3 p.m. prior to her showering and falling asleep. Officers and K-9 units have diligently checked the home and the neighborhood with no luck of locating Lucas at this time. Nancy, here's the good news about if there's any to be had about no conviction. Maybe it will make her confident and cocky enough to think she's gotten away with it, that she's going to blab to somebody about what she really did to Lucas. What more can you tell us, Kim? She is cocky right now.

Nancy, I don't know if you knew this or not, but they're supposedly bringing in a P.I. next week. I talked with Jonathan. Jonathan and Emily's parents have hired a PI. I talked with Jonathan a lot. And Jonathan has told me, or he told me that he hopes that they'll begin to find Lucas next week, that a PI has been lined up and will be in town next week. And I believe Emily's parents also have stated that they have hired a PI. So I'm sure they're talking about the same PI. The timing to me is odd, why you're going to announce and hire

someone on the day that your daughter and girlfriend are released from jail, but that's the latest. I just hope that they are prepared for what this PI will find. No one has been named a suspect in Lucas' disappearance, although Emily Glass' stepmother has been named a person of interest. That tip line, 316-268-4407 or 316-267-2111. Nancy Grace, Crime Story, signing off. Goodbye, friend. This is an iHeart Podcast.