Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - EXCLUSIVE: Lucas Hernandez Dad: "I don't understand" as stepmom walks free after she reveals tots body

Episode Date: June 4, 2018

The father of little Lucas Hernandez tells Nancy Grace he drove 11 hours from his job in New Mexico to Kansas, when he got the call that his 5-year-old son had disappeared from his bed in February. Jonathan Hernandez gives his first in depth interview about the discovery of his son's remains under a rural bridge after more than three months. Nancy's expert panel joining the interview include lawyer and psychologist Dr. Brian Russell, private investigator Vincent Hill, forensics expert Joseph Scott Morgan, Atlanta juvenile judge and lawyer Ashley Willcott, and CrimeOnline reporter Leigh Egan. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. today at PIMagazine.com. Use this show's promotional code for your special discount at PIMagazine.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. A desperate search. Neighbors, police, volunteers, helicopters, ATVs, tracker dogs, missing posters, tip lines, command centers, the works. What happened to five-year-old Lucas Hernandez? I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us. The search came to an end, and not the end any of us were hoping for. When a private eye, David Marshburn, manages to somehow lure Lucas's stepmother, Emily Glass, into a car.

For over four hours, they drive rugged terrain until she points out an obscure bridge. Underneath is the body of five-year-old Lucas Hernandez. What happened? Joining me right now is Lucas's father, Jonathan Hernandez. What happened? Joining me right now is Lucas's father, Jonathan Hernandez. Jonathan, thank you for being with us. Thank you for having me, Nancy. Jonathan, so much has happened. I just don't know how you still managed to put one foot in front of the other. Tell me what was going through your mind when you first learned Lucas was missing? I thought that maybe he had wandered off. You know, I got the phone call when I was working in New Mexico, and I immediately went into shock especially when I spoke with police officers

and they said that they were at my residence and performing at least a neighborhood search in the immediate times after and that they still hadn't found him, I was really, really, really concerned because he doesn't, you know, he's not the type of boy that wanders off or does anything without asking permission. So I knew something really was wrong. Now, why were you out of town? I was working. Yep. And what do you do for a living, Jonathan?

I'm a mudlogger in the oil field. Yeah, my dad was gone a lot. He worked for the railroad, and he would work all kind of crazy shifts and be gone this night, back that day. And believe it or not, for many, many years, no week was the same. He had no reliable schedule. That's hard to be away from home. When police first called you, what did they

say? Just that Lucas was missing? Yes, that he was missing. And, you know, there was no, no sign that, you know, he should have wandered off, no sign of a forced entry. And they were just trying their best to figure out what was going on. When you spoke to the stepmother, Emily Glass, who was home with him while you were gone, you certainly didn't leave a five-year-old by himself. What did she tell you had happened? When I first got the phone call from her, she just said that Lucas was missing and she was distraught, emotional, and I could barely make out the words that she was saying Lucas is missing. And that's all she could really say at the time was Lucas is missing. Lucas is missing. Lucas is missing. Okay. So is she the first one that called you or police the first one that called you?

I believe she, she attempted to call me, but I wasn't near my phone. And then she called police and called me maybe five or 10 minutes later while she was speaking with police. Gotcha. With me, everyone, is Jonathan Hernandez. This is Lucas's father. We have all been hoping and praying, searching, wishing for the best. We have so many questions, Jonathan. When you could finally get her calm enough to verbalize what had happened, what did she say? Just that she was sleeping. You know, she took a nap and she was asleep and then woke up and he was missing and the back door was open. Does the back door have any type of a latch on it or a lock that he maybe could not reach? No, it did not. Yep. What did you

do when you found out your five-year-old boy was gone? What did you do? I contacted my boss and I gathered up my things and I jumped in the car and I drove straight home, 11 hours. When you got there, what did you find? I wasn't allowed to go to the residence at that time. I actually went straight down to the police department and met with detectives. Where was Emily by the time you got there? I believe she was at a relative's house. I don't think she was at the police station at that time when I went to the police station.

Jonathan, at that time, when you got back and you went to the police station, it was around 6 a.m. in the morning, and I stayed there in interrogation for about 10 hours. Good gravy. They asked you questions for 10 hours. Not the whole time. I was sitting in there a lot just by myself, but yes, I was down there. I was only let out of the interrogation room to use the restroom one time, but I was in there for 10 hours. Well, I mean, to Dr. Brian Russell, lawyer and psychologist, host of Investigation Discovery's Fatal Vows, honestly, I know it may sound grueling to a lot of people. I don't find that unusual at all with a five-year-old boy missing and you finally get to speak to one of the biological parents.

Yeah, you're going to question them every which way but loose. That's absolutely right. And for someone that had nothing to do with the disappearance of their child, they don't mind that at all, Nancy. They'll do anything to try to help authorities track down their child. You know, that's a really good point because a lot of people clam up and won't talk. Jonathan Hernandez sat down without a lawyer, without any complaint, and spoke for 10 straight hours to police. Jonathan, at the time

that they were questioning you, and this is immediately after Lucas goes missing, did they think that there was foul play? Did they think he had been abducted? No, they did not. There was not any specific evidence, I guess, pointing to that. And maybe that's why they were interrogating me a little longer. And, you know, I gave them access to my cell phone. I said, anything that I can do to help you, I will. Jonathan, when you first started speaking to them, was their theory that Lucas had just wandered away or do they think at the time he had been kidnapped? At that time, everything was a possibility and they were asking me, you know, could he have wandered off? Do you know anybody

that might want to take him? Or do you think that Emily maybe had done something? And I told them, you know, he doesn't wander off. He's a very good kid. He doesn't get into stuff or do things that he's not supposed to do without asking first. And as far as being abducted, I mean, at the time, I thought it was a possibility. I mean, we were new to the area. We hadn't lived there very long. And I just, I was hoping that maybe he did wander off and they would find him fairly quickly. At any point, did you suspect Emily had anything to do with his disappearance?

I did not. None, none whatsoever. The whole drive, all those hours you drove, did you speak to her on the cell phone? Oh, yes, I did. Once. And did she stick to that story? Once she was out of interrogation. But, yeah, I mean, she maintained that he was asleep when they went to sleep.

And then when she woke up, he was missing and the back door was open. Did you believe her at the time? At the time, I did because we had just moved into that residence and we were having an issue with that back door closing and latching, especially if you didn't lock the deadbolt, you would think that the door was closed and then you would turn around and it would be open. Do you believe her now? No, I do not. After you came out of police interrogation, when did you see her? I drove over to her relative's house and picked her up and spoke with her. She had my daughter with her. When you saw her, when you pulled up to the house, did she come out the door? Did she run to you? Did she hug you?

Was she crying? What was her demeanor? Yeah, she was emotional. She was distraught. And we hugged and cried. And I was in a bit of shock and just disbelieved. Did she wait for you to knock on the door or did she come out the door to your car? No, she waited for me to knock on the door.

I went to the door and I came inside. Did she answer the door or a relative? I believe she did. And what were her first words as you recall? That she can't believe that he's missing and we need to find him and that she's just just emotional you know we were both emotional I was exhausted um she was exhausted and it was just it was a very very traumatic thing going. As we are talking about it now, Jonathan, what is going through your mind? I am quite a bit in disbelief that this is even possible.

I never, not one time, thought that she would have had any knowledge of his disappearance or where he would be. And that just even makes me more shocked. And it's not an easy thing to be able to process. When was the last time you saw her? I saw her when I was talking with David. David Marshburn. What are your thoughts about her being out of jail now? I'm a bit confused by it.

I figured that she wouldn't be getting out, especially since she knew about the location of Lucas. What are police telling you about why she's walked free? They actually haven't told me anything. I've heard from a friend that it may have something to do with double jeopardy in the sense that if they charged her with a lesser crime and used the same evidence, that they wouldn't be able to charge her with a more serious crime using that same evidence. So they let her go. With me, Ashley Wilcott, juvenile judge and founder of ChildCrimeWatch.com.

Ashley, she was just tried for endangerment to a child after she stated she had smoked three bowls of pot and drove around with her daughter in the car and was acquitted. The prosecutors do not want to make the same mistake. If they hold her over 72 hours, they have to bring her in court, which they did, or let her go. If they bring her to court, she they did, or let her go. Okay. If they bring her to court, she could demand some sort of a preliminary hearing.

If they have a preliminary hearing that shows what evidence they do or don't have now, if they try to take her to trial now without enough evidence, they'll lose again. That is not something they want, Ashley. No, that's right, Nancy. And I think, and I think I said this on one of your prior shows about this particular horrible tragedy, and that is the prosecution now is going to be extremely cautious for the very reason you just said. They, she was acquitted. And so now they are darn sure going to make sure that they have their ducks in a row and all of the evidence and proceed in a way that they can make the charges stick because bottom line she did know where that baby was so she's involved jonathan with me jonathan hernandez lucas lucas's dad can i ask you something jonathan on a different note what is it about emily that attracted you in the first place? Well, she's a very attractive girl. We had a lot of the same

interests. And it was pretty effortless as far as getting to know her and communicating with her. And it was almost like we had known each other long before we had met. Did she strike you as being a good mom? She did. I mean, she did. And she helped me raise Lucas, you know, after we had gotten together. So, I mean, I got to witness. Jonathan, where were her other children? They were with their father. Why? According to her, she was in emotionally and I'm not sure if it was physically abusive relationship with him. And she got away from that, but she didn't have the means to take the children at the time. So she went to go try to get on her two feet.

And whenever she was doing that, she had gone down and filed for custody. What do you make of claims of relatives that they had observed your son, Lucas, covered in bruises in the past? I know of one instance that can be explained. The other ones, I'm not too sure, but I definitely understand their concern. And I also would have that concern. 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 threat every other day and criminals can

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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. I did Lucas so wrong. I did him wrong. God honest truth. You are hearing the girlfriend, the so-called stepmother of Lucas Hernandez. She's been driving around in the car with private eye Marshburn for hours on end until she finally leads him to the tiny body of five-year-old Lucas Hernandez.

He is beneath an obscure bridge and a washed-out culvert, caught by a debris pan. At first, Marshburn says he could not even tell what he was seeing. The little child had been in the elements for so long. His dark brown hair had been bleached white. Right now, we are waiting for autopsy results, and with me is Lucas' father, Jonathan Hernandez. Jonathan, did you know that Marshburn was taking Emily Glass out into his car and secretly recording their conversations while he looked desperately for Lucas? No, I did not, Nancy.

What did you know? I knew that he was going to pick her up that day and try to speak with her again. We had spoken with her, him and I, the day before, and we didn't get very far, really, as far as talking with her for a few hours. Why? Why couldn't you get anything out of her for a few hours. Why? Why couldn't you get anything out of her for a few hours? Well, she just seemed like she had shut down, you know, and she wasn't going to speak anymore, really say too much. Did you not find that odd? So he decided to. Well, it was odd, but, you know, I started to see that she probably knew something. And I spoke with David about that once we left.

What do you mean by that? You started to see that she may know something. Yeah, just her demeanor and her body language. It seemed very odd to me and it seemed like she was you know looking in a particular direction in in the sense that she was just thinking and like running things through her mind and thinking really hard is what it appeared to me jonathan did she stick with her story how did she describe how she found lucas now her story is she found him dead and for some reason discarded his body, disposed of it hours and hours away from home. And we just heard her saying to the private eye, Marshburn, I did Lucas so wrong. I did him wrong.

Earlier, she refers to herself as a piece of shit. That's not normal for someone looking innocently for their lost child. How did she describe to you what happened that night? She that that's that's about as far as I know. I only know that much because of what David had told me that she had found him, I guess, in his bed one morning or one evening, not specific on that, but then she had panicked and she never really said why she panicked, but that she had panicked and went and hit him. After she led Private I. Marshburn to Lucas's remains, Have you talked to her at all since? Yes, I had talked to her that morning before David had picked her up to talk to her again

and interrogate her again or, you know, question her again. And at that point, it seemed that she was, I think, ready to get it off of her chest. She was crying on the phone to me saying, I'm sorry. I don't know how you could ever love me. You know, things of that nature, but not really saying anything. And I was, you know, trying not to freak out. And I was trying to reassure her that everything would be okay you just need to talk to David and we just have to get through this because I didn't want

her to shut down again I was trying to be as supportive as possible that way we could you know David and I could work together to try to get her to come forward, I just can't get my head around it that you drive all the way back through the night. You get there around 6 a.m. Everyone with me is Lucas's dad who gets in his car the moment he hears Lucas is missing and drives through the night home to try to find his five-year-old son. And the days passed.

Did she ever elaborate? What was her story that she had taken a shower, taken a nap, woke up, and he was gone? What were her words? Because that seems so superficial to me. I mean, did she say, I went in his bedroom, and he was gone, and I went in the yard? I mean, how does say, I went in his bedroom and he was gone and I went in the yard? And I mean, how does she describe what happened? Yeah, she said that, you know, she woke up from a nap and I guess called for Lucas, called his name out and didn't hear anything back, went and looked

in his room and he was not there. So she turned around and his room is off the kitchen. And so is the back door. So she said that when she looked in his room, didn't see him turn around and saw that the back door was ajar. Then she had, like, I guess, ran out in a panic looking for him, but also went over to the neighbor's house, asked if they had seen him. And then called 911 or asked the neighbors to call 911, something like that. Jonathan, we learned that, well, this is her story, that she had left Lucas alone at the home after smoking three bowls of marijuana and drove her daughter to eat at Olive Garden, leaving Lucas with nothing, all alone, a five-year-old in the home. Did she normally do that? Absolutely not. And I was flabbergasted when they told me that she had done that.

Did you ever know her to hit or mistreat Lucas? No, I did not. Not in the three years that I've known her and seen them interact. And, you know's she was always good with him did you guys have a stormy relationship did you argue about you being out of town it would come up I mean it was it was hard you know it's hard like that especially you know for the kids but also for her and mean, it was hard for me being gone. I didn't want to be away from my family for three weeks at a time.

I hear you. I hear you on that. Jonathan, I'm just trying to understand what is happening now. I mean, after I heard these tapes that David Marshburn had secretly recorded, I was overwhelmed. She, Lee, Emily Glass, your girlfriend, leads him to Lucas's remains. Have you been to that spot where Lucas was discovered? Yes, ma'am. I've been out there probably three or four times since. I've got to tell you, you're stronger than me, Jonathan. To this day, I have never returned to where my fiancé was murdered. I just don't want to.

I don't really even know why. I haven't even tried to figure out why. What led you to go to that spot, Jonathan? I've been, you know, tirelessly trying to search for him in my own way for three months. And I always, you know, just imagined and dreamed where he could be and where we would find him if somebody had him or if, you know, as in this case, it turned out to be we weren't able to find him alive. And so for me, I just wanted to go to the last known spot. And, you know, I just, I'm not even really sure

what goes through my mind when I go out there, but I just try to talk to him, to myself, when I go out there, and I just try to wrap my head around how he could have been left out there for three months. When you go out there and you are thinking it all through, what goes through your mind, Jonathan? I'm devastated that he was out there for that amount of time or that he was even out there at all. Why do you say that? Well, it's, you know, it's your child, you know, and to think that he's out there in that element. I mean, when you said whether he was out there at all, what do you mean by that? Oh, like as far as maybe he had been abducted or maybe it was a kidnapping or something like that.

But it turned out not to be that case. I'm just trying to take in everything that you're saying. Since Lucas' body was found, have you spoken to Emily Glass at all? Yes. She's called me from jail, and I spoke with her, I believe, one or two times. What did she say, Jonathan? That she's sorry. She can't believe she could ever do this to me. She can't

believe she could ever do that to Lucas and leave him out there and that she's a horrible person and just stuff like that, really. Has she divulged at all what actually happened? Only the same story of, you know, she woke up, she found him, and he was dead of something in the morning or in the evening, and that she panicked and went and hit him. All those nights, the three months of searching, of waiting, of wondering, where is Lucas? You were together. And in that time, never after seeing you suffer, after seeing the helicopters, the ATVs, the search parties, the tracker dogs, what was her demeanor during all that? Because she knew. She knew the whole time where the baby was.

Her demeanor was fairly normal. It was very believable. It appeared to me that she didn't know anything, which kind of made me believe what her story was at the beginning that, you know, it was probably a possibility, you know, a good possibility that's what happened. When you say she was during all this time, everyone was searching for Lucas, and you were crying at night into your pillow and looking for your son. When you say she was acting normal, what do you mean by that?

Normal like, you know, she's kind of going through the same thing I am. She's worried about where he is, where he could be. She just wants to find him just like I've been wanting to find him and that we just want him to come home. And, you know, just kind of everything along the lines that a devastated parent that's going through a traumatic experience would be like. Was she able to eat during those three months? Yes, she was.

Was she able to sleep at night? She said that she would have trouble sleeping, but I didn't know if that was from jail or what. She would always complain that it was always loud in there they would have the lights on sometimes and maybe that was the reason why she couldn't so she complained that it was loud in the jail and the lights were on yes did she try to help in the search when you first arrived home? We did not. I honestly didn't even try to search.

Only after speaking with the detectives and explained to them, I don't think he would have wandered off. So I don't believe that he is wandering around. And also they had told me they haven't, they didn't at the time have any leads as far as the tracking dogs, following any sense that had left the residents on foot. When you say that she could eat, when you first got back, did you see her able to go out to dinner or sit down to the dinner table and eat? Because I know when Keith was murdered, there was a long period of time I couldn't eat or drink a thing.

Everything made me sick to my stomach. Why do you say that she had a normal appetite? Yeah, I mean, she was eating, and I was only eating maybe once a day. I mean, like you said, it was so hard. I was literally sick to my stomach. I wanted to throw up all day, every day. But I had to try to force myself to eat so that I could have energy and try to keep going. And what about her?

It appeared that she, you know, maybe not eat just like normal three meals as well, like she was going through a traumatic experience just like I was, and it was hard for her to eat as well sometimes. But, you know, we would try to eat as much as we could as often as we could. Listen to this. Now, I don't know what Lucas looked like when he passed away. Was he on his back?

Did he throw up? Did he choke on his own vomit? Was he just dead in his bed, dead on the couch? Huh? He was on the bed? He was just dead. On the couch? On the bed.

On his side or on his back? On his bed. On his side or on his back? On his back. So did you think he vomited and choked on his vomit? No, I didn't see no vomit. You didn't? Now they're probably going to charge you with obstruction. That means you lied to them. Well, that's not going to stick. Obstruction never sticks anyway. So that's neither here nor there. They don't even carry a bond. Like, they don't have a bond they put you on.

It'll be together with the concealment of a death. It's a $50,000 max bond. You cannot get a million-dollar bond. That's against constitutional right. The Eighth Amendment of the United States says everybody has the right to affordable bond, affordable bail. I didn't. Yes, you did. $50,000 was right for that charge you had. No, it wasn't. Yes, it was. I was told that. I read it up on it. It was the max. And you know I could have bonded you on it? And I told Jonathan I would. When I got up here and you weren't released yet, I would bond you, but you were already released.

So that was fine. He said, we don't have the $5,000. I said, you don't need a dime. Well, first you have to release me because you want to find Lucas. Do what? I mean, it makes sense why you would release me is to find Lucas. I get it. No, I wouldn't. I had to talk to you.

I won't go to the jail and talk to you and let them hear it and then they hit you with murder. What the f***? Do I look stupid? I am a smart motherf***er. You know that? So I'm making sure my s*** is right. Now, Kathy looked up your sister and your sister's fine to have

my. Is it me or my? Mia. So that's in the works and I just don't know what else to tell you, but Lucas is the trade-off. So I don't know what you want to do on that because we have to have Lucas. I have an idea about where Lucas is and if everything's correct by about 4, 4 30 we should be bringing you back to, we should be bringing you back. But like I said, you won't be handcuffed, they're not going to handcuff you, they're not going to arrest you and then when we go down there you're going to do an interview. But just make sure the story you tell this time is exactly what we talked about. You are hearing the sound of the stepmother's voice as she questions Private Marshburn what will happen to her now that Lucas's body is found?

To Joe Scott Morgan, professor of forensics at Jacksonville State University. Joe Scott, right now we still don't have the autopsy report back. What's happening? Lucas, unfortunately, was down for three months, Nancy, and a lot of changes occur with the body. Right now, they're saying that they're pending toxicology. I think that one important thing here I'm very curious about as a forensic scientist is this. In your opening, you mentioned that Lucas's hair was visible, and you had alluded to the fact that his hair was bleached out. In one of Mashburn's comments relative to Emily,

she had related to him that she had actually smoked meth. And I'm very curious if they take a hair sample with Lucas's hair, if they're going to be able to find residual amounts of methamphetamine, what happens with the hair is that the hair holds on to things that otherwise might dissipate over a period of time. I want to know what was going on with this child because right now we're grasping for straws. If there is nothing in the physical sense that we can see with him, which they haven't related that yet, then we have to cover every possible base. Was he exposed to crystal meth? Because this can hang on in the hair.

To Vincent Hill, joining me, private investigator. Vincent, I have never heard of a private eye managing to pull off what Marshburn did and secretly recording her as they're driving around and she actually leads him to Lucas's little body. Vincent, those tapes are going to come in to evidence if there is ever a trial. Explain what one- party consent means, Vincent. Well, essentially, Nancy, it means as long as one party is aware that there's a recording going on during these conversations, it can be admitted in court. And David had his partner with

him, and she was aware that these conversations were being recorded. So I think when this goes to trial, these tapes will be evident. And I think David was on to quite a bit. You heard Jonathan. He said there was no problems, but there was this problem with this back door that I don't believe Lucas at five years old would have known about. So I think that was her way of setting the stage to say, oh, someone could have come in this back door that we've had problems with. I'm just having a hard time understanding the series of events. With me is our special guest, Lucas's father, Jonathan Hernandez, who was out of town, and his alibi has been checked every which way.

At the time Lucas goes missing, he drives through the night in his car to get back to Kansas, and still no real answers from the stepmother, Emily Glass. Emily Glass is charged with driving under the influence with her daughter. She is acquitted on that, but now she's walking free. The only person that really knows knows what happened to Lucas. But Jonathan Hernandez, the fact that she led Marshburn to Lucas's body. What about that location, Jonathan? What does that location mean? Does it have any significance? Why would she have disposed of Lucas way out there? Honestly, I don't know. I've never been out there and I didn't think it was that far out of town whenever I first went out there. But yes, it's very remote and that's the only thing that I can gather as far as maybe that's why she picked that location. How do you,

as you're trying to make sense of this in your mind, reconcile those months that you were looking, over 90 days looking for Lucas, while she acted like nothing had happened? She was still sticking to the story that she woke up from a nap and he had just wandered off. It's very difficult to know that she knew the whole time. And it baffles me every single day when I try to replay everything in my mind. And I'm literally in disbelief. I just, I have no idea. Do police actually believe that, that she wakes up from a nap and just finds Lucas dead in his bed, a five-year-old boy? Do you believe that? I don't know. I mean, I could speculate, but I really don't know. And I would prefer to wait till the facts come out, wait till the autopsy report comes back. And I would really like to know what they think happened before I say, you thought the child was dead, why didn't you call 911?

Why didn't you try to save the child's life? Why would you dispose of the boy's body out under a bridge? Jonathan, has she ever addressed that? She said that she had panicked. I'm not sure if it was because she was smoking meth, which I had no knowledge of, but I asked her the same thing. You know, why didn't you call 911? Why, you know, if that's what happened and it was an accident or he was asleep and he died for something, why not call 911? Because they would have been able to figure out why. You know, like you said, maybe even able to save him.

So that still bothers me. When you asked her why she didn't call 911, she just kept saying she panicked? Yeah, she just panicked. Did Lucas have any type of health issue, a medical problem, a congenital heart issue, a breathing issue that you know of? No immediate health problems other than he had been vomiting for a few weeks and we had taken him to the doctor and they had given him a prescription for liquid Zofran and even the prescription didn't seem to help his vomiting. So to me, I mean, I don't know if it could be complications from that or that maybe he hadn't got enough nutrients from vomiting so long,

and maybe there was a problem. But if he would have been able to call 911, we would have been able to figure out what had happened. To Joseph Scott Morgan, forensics expert, if he had, let's just say, vomited, I don't see how that would have killed him. And also, she said her nap was just three hours. I don't see how anyone could vomit to the extent they die in that amount of time. No, I don't in that amount of time.

No, I don't see that either, Nancy. I don't see how that's even remotely possible. Plus, I would imagine that they did a pretty thorough sweep at the house. Initially, there would have been some type of evidence of that, I would think, unless she thought enough to clean up the room. But why would she if he was vomiting? Wouldn't she want to volunteer that? To Ashley Wilcott, founder of ChildCrimeWatch.com, juvenile judge and lawyer.

Ashley, I mean, in my mind, it doesn't fit together. Now, police have let her walk free. She is not named a suspect in this case. But to me, it just doesn't hang together. No vomit, no prior medical condition. It just doesn't work for me. It reminds me a great deal of when Kelly Anthony went missing and there was no health issue, nothing like that. No one could explain what had happened. As we know, in all cases, somebody knows what happened in this particular case.

I think it's really important to note no vomiting. Don't know what happened, but we do know some other things. She admits that she used methamphetamines. That is a drug that causes people and people do things when they're out of their mind and commit crimes and kill children. We've seen it in other cases. I'm not saying they all do. I'm saying they're extenuating circumstances that mean I think we cannot believe that she didn't do something to this child. All the other circumstances and things leading up to this, it's very likely she did it. At a minimum, she knows what happened to him. But I don't believe it was because of something wrong with him or health issues.

I think plain and simple, she killed this child. And again, she is not named a suspect at this juncture. Dr. Brian Russell, host of Investigation Discovery's hit show Fatal Vows. Weigh in, Brian. I'll put it the same way that I put it when we were talking in the early days of the Kaylee Anthony disappearance, it is tough for me to imagine any way in which Lucas Hernandez died that does not involve Emily Glass doing something nefarious. And so, yes, Ashley's correct, of course, that intoxication with methamphetamine can make a person completely behave in violent, erratic, crazy ways. But it's very important for us to also point out that if that is involved and that is something that was in play and she did

something in the throes of a methamphetamine high and then realized when she started to sober up that she had done it and that's what the panic is about. Keep in mind, most of us, when we panic, we want law enforcement. We want law enforcement to come and help us with whatever it is we're panicked about. So somebody who panics when something horrible has happened to a child lets you know that they probably feel that they had some blame in it. And so if that is the case, that is absolutely not the basis of an insanity defense. Voluntary intoxication is not grounds for an insanity defense. My question is back to you, Jonathan Hernandez. It seems to me that it just must be so hard to reconcile what is happening now. Are police giving you any indication of when the autopsy

will be complete? I heard that it may be completed today or tomorrow. They were still unsure of an actual time, but that it would be soon. And have they given you any explanation of why Emily Glass is not being held? No, they have not. Jonathan, do you feel that Lucas has tried to reach out to you? Have you felt his presence? Yes, I always have. I feel it very strongly.

We had a close connection. We had a very, very close bond through, you know, ever since he was born. You know, he was born with his lungs were underdeveloped. He had to spend six weeks in the NICU. And during that time, we found out he had a cleft palate. And so they put a feeding tube in his stomach, what's called a Mickey button. And we actually had to feed him with a special bottle that has a longer nipple so that he's able to try to create some suction on that.

But also, you know, what he was unable to eat orally, we would also have to feed him the difference through a feeding pump and things of that nature. I went through very similar things. Both of my children were in the NICU for about six weeks. I know exactly what you're talking about. Tell me, Jonathan, about Lucas as a boy. I want to imagine him and think about him in life. He's always been a fighter. I mean, he came out of the NICU.

His oxygen levels got down into the 30s, I believe, 40s. And we were always concerned if he was going to have developmental problems or any kind of problems from having such a struggle since birth. And, you know, it turns out that he started progressing normally. He was a little underweight and things like that nature because it was a little harder for him to feed. But he fought his way through that, and we had to feed him morning, day, and night.

I mean, it was around the clock. It took both of us, me and Jamie, just tirelessly taking shifts to try to care for him. And he made it through it. You know, at one and a half years of age, he finally had surgery and got his cleft palate fixed. And it was like the greatest day of his life and our life because he was finally able to eat without any problems and drink.

And so he started just being a normal kid again. Jonathan, at any time did he ever tell you that Emily was being mean to him? No, ma'am, he did not. Do you remember the moment when Marshburn contacted you and told you that Lucas's remains had been found? Yes, I do. I'll probably never forget it. What happened? I had just arrived to work after driving 11 hours and sat down for about 10 minutes, and I was going to start my shift in about 30 minutes.

And he had called me, and I wasn't sure why he was calling me but I answered and he was like are you around anyone I said no and he's like I just found Lucas and I almost fainted you know my heart started racing. I went into an anxiety state. And now I started asking him questions like, where is he? How does he look? Does he have clothes on? Are you sure it's Lucas? Crying and freaking out. And he said that it is Lucas. And he's like, I've already called the police and now I'm calling you. They're on their way out here, and I got off the phone with him. I guess that way he could speak with detectives and everybody that was showing up. Did he tell you that Emily had led him to Lucas's remains?

Yes, he did. With me is Jonathan Hernandez, Lucas's father, Brian Russell, Vincent Hill, Joe Scott Morgan, Ashley Wilcott, and Lee Egan. This is what we are learning at this hour. Reportedly, police back at Lucas Hernandez's home just last night investigating again. There are claims two autopsies have been completed on the child. All we know right now is it is now believed, based on autopsy 2, that 5-year-old Lucas died the 10th or the 11th in a bathroom. How do we know this? As of yet, unconfirmed. But something about the autopsy or the late-night search last night seems to indicate Lucas was killed in the home's bathroom. To Jonathan Hernandez, you have no idea how much we have prayed for you

and tried our best in any way we can to help find Lucas. And even now, those prayers go on, and the prayers for justice and for your peace and for little Lucas. 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.

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