Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Louisiana girl taken from school bus by 47-year-old male 'family friend' for 'love' odyssey: Report

Episode Date: April 17, 2019

A 15-year-old Louisiana girl said to be “madly in love” with a family friend three times her age got off of her school bus and into his car. He drove her some 1,200 miles away to Colorado. The suspect reportedly lied about having a grandchild in an attempt to spend more time with the teen.Nancy's expert panel weighs in:Ashley Willcott: Juvenile Court Judge & Trial AttorneyKathleen Murphy: Family attorneyJohn Cardillo: Former NYPDCaryn Stark: PsychologistRobyn Walensky: Crimeonline.com Investigative Reporter Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. What's happening now, several law enforcement agencies are searching for a teen missing out of St. Landry Parish. News 10's Laura Levine joins us live in the studio with more details. MISSING OUT OF ST. LANGERY PARISH. NEWS 10'S LAURA LEVINE JOINS US LIVE IN THE STUDIO WITH MORE DETAILS. IT'S A MAJOR MANHUNT UNDERWAY FOR A PORTBURY TEEN WHO WAS LAST SEEN ON THURSDAY AND IS BELIEVED TO HAVE RUN AWAY WITH A 47-YEAR-OLD MAN. THE AUTHORITIES SAY 15-YEAR-OLD DOMINA SPELL OF PORTBURY WAS LAST SEEN THURSDAY MORNING AROUND 7, GETTING OFF A SCHOOL BUS AT THE PORTBURY HIGH SCHOOL.

SPELL IS DESCRIBED AS A WHITE FEMALE STANDING 5-FOOT TALL INCHES WITH LONG, LIGHT BROWN around 7 getting off a school bus at the Port Berry High School. Spell is described as a white female standing five foot tall inches with long light brown hair and blue hazel eyes. Chief Dion Boudreau says she may have changed her appearance to conceal her identity. Now police believe she is with this man 47 year old Corey Shane Dizzotel also of Port Berry. Multiple agencies including Port Berry Police, the Federal Bureau of Investigations, the SEVEN-YEAR-OLD CORY SHANE DIZOTEL, ALSO OF PORT BARRY. MULTIPLE AGENCIES INCLUDING PORT BARRY POLICE, THE FEDERAL BOROUGH OF INVESTIGATIONS, UNITED STATES MARSHAL SERVICE, LOUISIANA STATE POLICE, AND ST LANGERY PARISH SHERIFF'S OFFICE

HAVE COME TOGETHER TO FIND SPELL. AGAIN, AUTHORITIES BELIEVE THEY MAY BE TRAVELING IN A SILVER 2003 HONDA CIVIC. POLICE ARE ASKING THE PUBLIC, FRIENDS AND CLASSMATES OF DOMINA TO COME FORWARD WITH ANY

INFORMATION OR TIPS NO MATTER HOW SIGNIFICANT A MAN'S DETAILS ARE. THE POLICE ARE ALSO ASKING THE PUBLIC TO COME FORWARD WITH ANY INFORMATION OR TIPS NO MATTER HOW SIGNIFICANT A MAN'S DETAILS ARE. THE POLICE ARE ASKING THE PUBLIC TO COME FORWARD WITH ANY INFORMATION OR TIPS NO MATTER HOW SIGNIFICANT A MAN'S in a silver 2003 Honda Civic. Police are asking the public, friends, and classmates of Domina to

come forward with any information or tips, no matter how significant it may or may not seem. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us. Those are our friends at KLFY-TV. A little Louisiana girl goes missing, and then to the shock of friends and family, they put the pieces together and wonder, has she disappeared with a 47-year-old father who happened to be a friend of the family? With me, an all-star panel to break it down and put it back together again. First, to Rob Mielinski, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter. Tell me about the disappearance of Domiana Spill. How did it happen? Well, Nancy, she gets on the bus and goes to school. And the next thing you know, she is seen crossing the street and getting into a strange man's car. And this area of Louisiana, I just want to point this out for people that

don't know where this is. This is about an hour west of Baton Rouge, about two hours northwest of New Orleans, and very close to the I-10. So when you get into a car in this area of the country, you could be anywhere. You could go all the way to Florida and all the way to California the other way. I'm taking a close look at this little girl, and she looks a lot to me like a very young Lisa Loeb. She's got the cute little glasses that she's wearing, long chestnut brown hair swept back off of her face. Beautiful, beautiful beautiful perfect smile i'm talking about a little girl domiana spell who disappears now you know what is interesting and i want to go to john cardillo former nypd special guest joining us today along with ashley

wilcott kathleen murphy and karen stark John did a ton of work with National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, very close to my heart. John, I was speaking the other day to Mark Klass, our friend, and he hit me. It was like a ton of bricks. of child abductions take place at a bus route, going to the school bus, leaving the school bus, a lot to do with school buses and school routes getting to school. And here is another example. That is a huge number. In fact, it's almost 35% of child abductions take place in and around school bus stops, John. Yeah, they do. Well, it's an opportunistic environment, right? That's an opportunistic scene.

Let me also say, few people have done as much as Mark Kloss to raise awareness and to really make a dent in these offenders. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, thankfully, when they began and they were putting kids on milk cartons, Nancy, the recovery rate of children was only about 4%. You know, when you say, actually, I'm gonna throw this to Kathleen Murphy, family law and divorce lawyer. Kathleen, John is right. It's an opportunistic crime. And even though this little girl walked across the street on her own two legs, that does not mean this is not a crime taking a little teen school girl out of her louisiana parish on her way the school bus whether she got into the car willingly it doesn't matter that's still a crime you're right absolutely she's a child and I love that you are putting that out there because it's so easy to blame this 15-year-old for making choices to do this.

She was manipulated by an adult, and we have to draw that line very clearly. This little girl goes missing right after school. Ashley Wilcott, judge, lawyer, anchor. You can find her at Ashleywilcott.com. When Cardillo says an opportunistic crime, nearly 40% of child abductions take place in and around a school bus stop. What does that mean, an opportunistic crime? It means that that's where they have the opportunity to find their victim. When you have a 15-year-old and a 47-year-old disappear, guess what? She's the victim. He's the perpetrator. Anyone who wants to find a young child is going to go somewhere

where they're getting off the school bus. It's just like if you look at maps that show where sexual perpetrators are for young kids, guess what? They often live as close as they can to a school. Opportunistic. Opportunistic. They know the child is getting on and off the school bus. They know that typically the parent is not there. They know that they will be lost in a sea of cars and yellow school buses. I will never forget, and I'll tell you,

it's what I just put in my book that I just turned in, Don't Be a Victim, when my makeup artist, Shazon, we were almost ready to go live on the show, which, as you know, started at 8 o'clock every weeknight at HLM. She gets a call. Her son, Arlie, is missing. And it happened in and around a school bus at the end of the day where there's a sea of thousands of children. There's tons of school buses in line and trying to pull out in traffic. You're trying not to let any children get run over. And in the midst of all of that, Arlie goes missing.

And I can't tell you what was running through my mind, trying to make her feel better, trying to get her out of the building, trying to get her home to Arlie. I had to go on the air. It was, I will never forget it. As it turns out, Arlie was okay. But it's a big, long story about how he goes missing at school bus time. In this case, a little teen girl in her parish there in Louisiana, not too far from Baton Rouge, disappears in the mad rush of after school getting on the bus. Did she go willingly?

Did she go with a man we believe to be Corey Shane Disotel, a family friend. Take a listen to this. The school called my mom when she didn't show up to homeroom. So that's when we found out and I think the police were contacted right after the school contacted my mom. Damiana Spell was last seen getting off a school bus at Port Barry High School on Thursday at 7 a.m. She is believed to be traveling with 47-year-old Corey Disatelle in a silver 2003 Honda Civic. I spoke to Damiana's sisters who said when they found out their sister was missing, they immediately thought about Disatelle. I had a feeling she had ran away with him. Why is that? From what my family has told me, they have had notes that they had been planning on running away somewhere in Mississippi.

The sisters tell me Damiana had history with the man. She was having a secret conversation through like letters and a cell phone that nobody knew she had until she was found with it. They say they believe their 15-year-old sister was manipulated by 47-year-old Disatel prior to them running away together. He did, you know, have her believing that he was in love with her and wanted to be with her. But despite everything that's happened, they just want their sister back in their arms. If she is watching, just know that we love you and we want you home no matter where. We really care. And we're on your side 100%.

Like, we just want her safe and home. Spell's family spent the last week handing out flyers, searching for the teen after she left Port Berry High School in a car with 47-year-old Shane Distel. Left without a trace. Spell's sister, Jerry Crater, helped with that search as soon as she learned her sister was missing. A nightmare come true you know it only happens in movies. According

to Spell's family Corey Distel was a trusted family friend and they believe Distel manipulated her into leaving. So he should have known different you know a family friend my rear end a family friend doesn't run off with your little girl a family friend doesn't buy your little girl a secret cell phone a family friend doesn't hatch up an abduction plan secret away from his so-called friends and steal their daughter and travel, we think, thousands of miles away so as not to be found. And bottom line, a family friend doesn't target your little girl as a sex predator would. That is no family friend. Joining me right now, Karen Stark, psychologist, karenstark.com. Karen, I mean, it's hard for me to even say those words. What about impulse control? It's much more than impulse control,

Nancy, because this guy, he's after her sexually, there's no doubt about it. And it has nothing to do with impulse control. He's just ruled by the wrong part of his body. And he wants this girl. He doesn't care that he's a family friend. All he cares about is finding a way to get her to be with him. And kids are so impressionable. Here's a little girl. She's at the perfect age where she has a crush. And there's a guy who's trying to persuade her that he's the one for her. I have no doubt about it. I wish you could see this little girl's picture like I'm looking at. You can see it.

Go to CrimeOnline.com. She's got, I mean, I don't know how a little girl, a teen girl has this, but she's got, her skin looks like porcelain. It looks like a white china cup. There's not a single blemish on her skin. She's got beautiful big brown eyes. She's got little ears pierced, long chestnut brown hair, a perfect smile. Somebody must have put braces on her. And she just looks like the cutest little thing. She looks like she should be going to 4-H class or out to sell Girl Scout cookies for Pete's sake. Ashley Wilcott, judge, lawyer,

founder, AshleyWilcott.com. Ashley, you know, I don't even think about the children. Well, I guess I do because of my line of business. But most people don't think about their children at school. Once your child gets to school, you assume everything is okay. That is not true, Ashley. No, it's not true at all. And let's talk about, again, crime of opportunity, kids getting on and off of school buses. Do you know kids getting off of school buses is one of the primary times that sex trafficking perpetrators target young children? And so it's always a crime of opportunity that is geared around them getting off school buses. So unfortunately, you assume your children are safe at school, but anymore, there's no assuming. It's frightening. When there are perpetrators, they groom these children,

they target these children. To Robin Walensky, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter, author of Beautiful Life, CSI Behind the Casey Anthony Trial. Find it on Amazon. Robin Walensky, tell me what we know about this guy, Corey Shane Disatel. Relationship. Why is he the best friend of the family? What did they go to high school together, college, next door neighbors? What do we know about him? Yeah, he knows the parents and he befriends the parents and they have some sort of a deer hunting license together.

And this guy, Nancy, has a ton of debt. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. I want to talk about that for just one moment. The deer hunting thing. Look, you know, I'm a victim of gun violence. But on the other hand, I had to train to learn to use a gun to be a prosecutor and was the best female shot at the time in the district attorney's office.

But when I didn't have to be around a gun, I didn't want to be around a gun. That aside, deer hunting buddy, let me tell you something. I don't know if anybody, I would bet Kathleen Murphy might be the closest person on this panel that knows anything about deer hunting or hunting. But I do know that when you're up in a deer stand with somebody for eight or nine hours, you get to be friends. All right? Because you're there. You can't really, you can't leave. You don't even leave to tt okay now i don't want to go down that lane anymore but you're in there so if he is a

deer hunting buddy with this little girl's dad or family they've spent a lot of time together all right kathleen murphy i don't I don't know anything about your hunting history, but I mean, when you're up in a deer stand with somebody, you're in there, you get to be friends. It's like being on a long trip in a car that you can't get out of. Listen, Nancy, I have a case right now, and I'll be brief, but the father wants to have his deer hunting buddy be the supervisor of some Easter visits this weekend. And my client's freaking out and like, no, I don't trust this guy. And so you're on point. There are some concerns there.

Because you're sitting up in a deer stand drinking beer with a loaded gun. I mean, I don't want to paint it all with a broad brush, but I mean, this is how they got to be friends, Robin Walensky. This whole thing smells just like Tad Cummings. Remember him, the high school teacher that told all his students he was a secret agent and did black ops and blah, blah, blah, and he runs off with a little 13- or 14-year-old girl. He keeps her in

some hippie commune on the other side of the country. Everybody's half naked. And even the people in the commune kick him out. Okay. For his behavior. He was a high school teacher, takes this little girl, Robin Walensky, his deer hunting buddy. Are you kidding me? That's the friendship. It really disturbs me. And here's why nancy this guy has an ex-wife here's what really bothers me about i bet he does and i'm sure there's a a reason she's an ex i'm sure there's a reason she left that's correct and when i look at her picture his ex-wife who's age appropriate by the way she's in her 40s uh his ex-wife, to my eye, this 15-year-old. Oh, no. Don't tell me it looks like Damiana in 30 years.

Exactly. If you put glasses on this woman, this could be her daughter. And this is a young version. When you look at the pictures, and you know, I examine all these photographs for you, this little girl with glasses looks just like his ex-wife. And I think he had eyes for this girl and was buddy-buddy with the parents. And he's your tree service man. He's the guy that cuts down the tree that's hovering over your house that's causing a problem in a storm. And he's the tree service guy. You know, we'd have to look it up if he ever serviced their trees. But he had a lot of debt, and he's got an ex-wife who, in my mind,

looks just like this girl in 30 years. Okay, can I just throw something out there? John Cardillo, former NYPD. That's the last person I want on my bad side is a former NYPD. Done a lot of work with NICMA, National Center of Missing and Exploited Children. Okay, I hate to keep talking about my book, which is not even on the market yet for anybody to buy. So this is not a plug. But in the future, if you do want to buy it, it's called Don't Be a Victim.

I just finished researching and writing an exhaustive list on all sorts of topics. One of them is people coming to your home. Okay, call me crazy. You won't be the first, John Cordillo. You'll hear all the other ladies in the rest of the panel laughing in the background. But when someone comes to the house to, let's just say, fix the cable, fix the this, do that, blah, blah. I take the children to the back. I put them in their room and go, you can be on your devices for the next hour. They're in heaven because they have a time limit

on all their electronic devices because you don't know these people why would you befriend the tree guy you don't know him you don't know anything about him he could be a sex predator for all i know i mean why i give him a bottle of water i say goodbye thank you lock the door yeah look not only aren't you not or how should i I say this, are you not crazy, you're spot on because we remember a very famous case, the Elizabeth Smart case. They brought a guy who was the local homestay into the smart home to do some handyman work. He saw the two pretty little blonde girls and then came through the window one night and abducted Elizabeth Smart. So, no, that's great, great advice. I'll also add, when the FBI did an undercover investigation on NAMBLA, that pedophile group, the North American Man-Boy Love Association, they found that they would frequent bus stops,

right, so everything we've been talking about. But for the listeners who are parents, playgrounds, sporting events, and shopping malls. They loved shopping malls right after school from about 2.30 to 5 p.m. These groups of pedophiles would frequent shopping malls and scope children. So this is very, very real. People are not being reactionary or overly cautious when they tell their kids to be careful, or like you do, get your kids out of the line of sight of someone you don't know. And I like what you said, tell your children to be careful.

That's like driving down 3rd Avenue in Manhattan and yelling out the window of the line of sight of someone you don't know. And I like what you said, tell your children to be careful. That's like driving down 3rd Avenue in Manhattan and yelling out the window because no matter how many times they run these experiments with children, you say, don't get in the car with a stranger, don't get in the car with a stranger, blah, blah, blah. Then they do a little test. They always get in the car because they're children. They don't know any better. Just like this little girl,

Domina Spell, getting in the car with the so-called family friend and disappears. The FBI joins the search for a missing 15-year-old girl who may have run away with an older man. Authorities believe Louisiana teen Domina Spell ran away with Corey Disseltel, a 47-year-old father of three. Her family says she babysat for their family. They contacted police, her family that is, when they discovered a number of text messages from him to their daughter. D'Amino was last seen on Thursday getting off of her school bus. You're hearing from our friends at KRTK. Wow, when I heard her laying that out just like that to Ashley Wilcott, judge, lawyer,

anchor at ashleywilcott.com. Ashley, this took a lot of planning. Just stick with me. You may know more about the planning than I do, but I do know this much. She had a secret cell phone. She didn't come up with that idea and she didn't buy that, number one. They had a plan for him to pick her up at a certain time and be off with her and for them to drive thousands of miles without contacting mom and dad. This whole babysitting ruse, she was allegedly babysitting for one of his grandchildren. There was no grandchild. He was picking her up under the guise of babysitting and taking her away for long stretches of time in the evening.

There was no babysitting. This had been going on for some time, Ashley. Yeah. So Nancy, this is grooming. This is what perpetrators do. And I have to back up. Everybody describes, oh, he was a best friend of the family of the father. If it's a best friend, you're going to know whether or not they have grandchildren. So, A, it wasn't a true best friend. B, I would suggest that this perpetrator back it up. I think he started grooming when he became best friends with the father. I think that's part of the process. And I have seen cases before me as a judge in which the perpetrator starts at the very beginning to groom and find a way to have access to a child that they want to victimize. That's exactly what he did in this case. You're right in the sense that he was spiriting her away and then he would give her money every weekend, leading her parents to think she was babysitting. You know, I'm looking at a picture right now, Ashley, I know you have a daughter about the age of Lucy's and this looks like an Instagram and wait, no, no. Is it Snapchat where you can put flowers on your head and give yourself?

Thank you, Jackie, for spending your leisure time when you could be working on a program, putting like a deer nose on yourself. But OK, this one has little hearts all over the picture and she looks like she's 10 years old. She precious. Look at this, Jackie. And she's got little hearts all over. This is a little kid sucked into this. Back to the pre-planning of the kidnapped Kathleen Murphy. I mean, this took a lot of planning on his part, on the part of Corey Shane Disatel. He may not have done this for the first time.

He may have tried to groom other children. If he's so good at grooming this child, when the parents know him, and yet their daughter's going over there to babysit for a non-existent child, that's concerning. Now listen to this, guys. you're never going to believe how bold he was to karen stark psychologist joining us today out of manhattan you can find her at karen stark.com listen to this neighbors saw a man sneaking into domiana's bedroom through the window her parents call police and that is when an actual investigation first began, but they couldn't find anything out. They could never prove anything.

How bold is that, Karen Stark, to be sneaking into the window? Well, it's as bold as making up that he has a granddaughter, and none of it surprises me, Nancy, because once a perpetrator is like the way that this man was, it was in his mind. He had a plan. He was definitely going to get this girl to be interested in him and find any way he could to get her out of that house and go with him. So none of it surprises me. I got another question for you, Karen. But the boldness of going actually into the home, in and out through the window.

He was desperate to have her. You know, I'm looking at something Robin Winskey told me about his creditors. I don't know what this actually says about him, but lots and lots of credit cards, Discover Card, Chase, the Capital Federal Credit Union. But listen to this. The Louisiana Department of Revenue and Tax, the IRS. I mean, when you mess with them, you are playing with fire. Playing. I always look at Al Capone.

He murdered, I don't know how many people, dozens of people, personally and by hit. He finally got put in jail by the IRS. I mean, I'm looking at this guy's list of creditors. It goes all the way back to Fannie Mae. Remember that, where you would get student loans? Sally Mae. This is a long-standing pattern of shirking responsibility, Karen Starr. Well, because that's the kind of person that he is. He's not somebody that's going to be your best friend or neighbor, Nancy, or mine. He's somebody who's going to shirk responsibilities. He's going to care about young children.

He doesn't care that they're underage and that they're not going to know well enough to say no to him i mean that's the whole point right but he has no prior criminal history does he robin walensky he does not have a criminal history but he's a shady character can't pay his bills can't manage now wait a minute wait a minute robin before we come down on people too hard about not managing their money um i can remember being so broke i had two night jobs i would actually this is before you could log on from your phone and find out i have to drive by the bank through the drive-thru find out what my balance is before i could write a check okay

sometimes i'm sorry to say i may have written the check anyway. I remember writing a check for like a dollar and eighty nine cents to S&S cafeteria. I was so hungry to check because I did not have a dollar and eighty nine cents. OK, so I hate to come down on him too hard about. But I will tell you this so far. Knock on wood. I haven't tangled with the irs that is a problem but with no criminal record i wonder you know what else i've learned from looking on online kathleen murphy divorce lawyer he was still with his wife it looks like up until

sometime in 2018 or at the beginning of 2018. And you wonder, did he leave her? It's not as if they had been broken up for a long time. I wonder if he broke up with her. Exactly. Or had problems with her because of a fixation on this little girl, I wonder what the dynamics are or were with the family. Did she know? Did she talk to the family?

Another issue we have here, even though this guy does not have a criminal record, is how he was tracked. Explain, John Cardillo, former NYPD, why he would get her a burner phone. What is a burner phone, and how is it used? Well, a burner phone is the phone you can buy, typically a big box retailer, a cell phone store. It's untraceable. You pay cash for it. You typically prepay it. And her parents wouldn't know she had it.

Law enforcement wouldn't even know she had it if he bought the phone in his name or another adult's name. And so it's a common tactic, as I believe it was the judge said, of when it's sexual predator. And I'm glad we're calling this guy a predator because that's the only thing he is. Let me also add that I don't think this is the first time he's done this for the simple reason that when police were initially called, because a child was involved, and you know, they're going to conduct an investigation, they're certainly going to speak to the kid, the Domiana. He had this kid so under his thumb, she didn't give him up. It's pretty, you know, non-typical for a 15-year-old to resist telling the police the truth.

And so this guy had the kid under his thumb. So he gets to the burner phone. He's able to call her on that burner phone. She hides it from her parents. The grooming continues to such a degree that she eventually gets in a vehicle with this guy. And she had no ability to consent. The age of consent, right, in Louisiana, 17. This is a felony. She was between 13 and 16. He's four years older than her. He's over 17 and four years older. So nothing she did mitigates anything he did. This guy is the worst kind of felon, but I do believe he's done this before. And I would imagine that investigators are going to be looking very deeply into that. And the burner phone is indicative of that.

He knew how to groom, and he knew exactly what tools he needed to maintain that and to really put this kid under his control. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Overnight, the FBI and Louisiana police on a manhunt, trying to track down 15-year-old Damiana Spell and the 47-year-old authorities believe took off with the girl more than six days ago. She's been missing since 7, Thursday morning. She left from school, and we already knew who she left with. Authorities believe Corey Dizzletell, a family friend, gained the trust of her parents by

allegedly asking the girl to babysit for his granddaughter. That ruse used as a cover-up for their alleged relationship. Come to find out there was no granddaughter there for her to really be babysitting. They, you know, had that little secret relationship going. According to police, her parents reached out to authorities a couple of weeks ago with concern over a suspicious relationship between their daughter and the suspect, claiming Dizzletail sent numerous texts to their daughter. He told her that he loved her and stuff like that. Her desperate family going door to door, spreading flyers all around her neighborhood in an attempt to find her.

I feel that she's safer home, you know, than being with him. I mean, she does have family that love and care about her, that misses her. And we want, like, her to know that. And authorities say it is possible that Damiana has changed her appearance and that these two could be anywhere. You're hearing our friend Marcus Moore at ABC News reporting the FBI joining in the search for Domiana Spell, believed to have been with Corey Shane Disotel, a 47-year-old dad and family friend. The FBI on it, and then this.

15-year-old Domiana Spell was missing for more than a week, believed to have run off with 47-year-old Shane Desatel. It was a tip from the FBI that located the two thousands of miles away in Colorado. Sheriff's deputies in Archuleta County found the two after the FBI told them Desatel's phone pinged nearby. Deputies spotted his car following him into the parking lot of a grocery store, taking him into custody and bringing Spell to human services. Desatel remains in Colorado on a warrant for contributing to the delinquency of a grocery store, taking him into custody and bringing Spell to human services. Desatel remains in Colorado on a warrant for contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile and could face more charges.

As Arcadia Easter reports, Spell's family is relieved he's behind bars. You see all the bodies are found and it just scares you. It terrified me to know maybe that's my sister. The family of 15-year-old Dominius Spell no longer have to fear those stories. I mean it's like a big relief to know you know that this missing person that was found in like a vehicle or something is not my sister. You can hear the heartbreak in the family's voices. They're talking about their girl missing. That was KATCTV anchor Kandria LaFleur talking about the pinging of that cell phone. To Robin Olinsky, CrimeOnline.com, they were all the way

in Colorado. Yeah, they went for some sort of a joyride. I'm not even sure he has connections to that area. You know, what I find really interesting is that along this process, she was told and manipulated, Nancy, by him to change her hair color and change the color of her eyes by popping in those colored contact lenses. So I have brown eyes. I can go to the store, get some blue ones, pop them in there, dye my hair brown, go back to my original color. And then I look like a different person, which is what he wanted her to do. And it gets worse and worse. Ashley Wilcott with every mile he travels, that's about 1200 miles from home because every minute that passes is another minute of premeditation. Ashley Wilcott.

Absolutely. That was. You just took the words out of my mouth, Nancy. I'm not surprised because you've done prosecution for so long. Premeditation. All of this points to the fact. What does that mean? It means he planned it. He took deliberate steps to choose this young victim, groom this young victim, kidnap. I'm going to use the word kidnap. He's not been charged with kidnapping, but I'm just saying to you in my mind, it's kidnapping. Even if she walked on her own two feet, she did it because of his actions convincing her it was okay to do it. Well, that is why Karen Stark, psychologist with me right now.

And I was just going to say developmentally, I'm going to go along with what Robin said. She can't make that choice. She's not in the position. Think about when you're a teenager, the crushes that you have and your susceptibility to being wooed and groomed. Wait, hold that. Hold that, Karen Stark. Hold on. Everybody just pause for five seconds and think about the things, the worst thing you did in your own mind as a teenager.

The one thing, Jackie is laughing to herself here in the studio, and I'm hiding my head in shame, okay? I don't, I don't, yeah, no. Go ahead, Karen, and then I'm going to follow up with Kathleen and Ashley about juvenile culpability. Go ahead, Karen, start. Well, she's impressionableable and she wants to be in love. Your hormones are coming out. You don't know what to do about the feelings that you're having. And here is a guy who's wooing her, who's making her feel wonderful. And she doesn't have the developmental capability, Nancy, the psychological astuteness to know that this is wrong.

It just feels like she's loved. And that's exactly what happened. I have no doubt. To Kathleen Murphy, family lawyer expert, Kathleen, that is why the law does not allow minors to buy a car, to enter a contract, to buy cigarettes or alcohol, to host a myriad of things minors are disallowed from doing because they have not formed mentally enough to make those kind of decisions. That's why they are protected. For instance, I remember the first time I learned it in law school. If a kid shows up, he looks 25 years old or has a stack of money, you still can't sell him a car. If he goes out and crashes the car in five minutes, that's on the dealership. The person, the family doesn't have to pay a thing because that contract never existed because he's a minor.

And I would take it one step further. I think, she had no idea what she was doing. I'm just glad she's alive. It has come to be realized that these are perpetrators committing crimes on these young victims and that the juveniles, even if they look older, even if they're beautiful young women, if they are a juvenile, they're the victim because of the actions of a man like this who's 47. To Robin Walensky, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter and author of Beautiful Life. Robin Walensky, how is he found and what is he facing? Well, yes, he has been arrested because of the cell phone pings. They tracked this guy down at a grocery store. The 15-year-old was with him. So far, it's contributing to the

delinquency of a juvenile. But again, because of the potential for kidnapping charges, that they could slap that on there and a host of other things. Depending upon the sexual contact, obviously, there needs to be interviews that need to be done and then we'll see where it goes from there it could be a long road ahead for him and certainly a long road ahead for her she's definitely going to need some therapy going forward she got sucked into this madness and ended up in you know as you say over a thousand miles away We really don't know what went on during this period. And also equally disturbing is what went on when she was babysitting for the non-baby. Well, the thing is, you know, Robin, she'll go the rest of her life with this hanging over her head. And right now she's alive.

She's been found all the way up Colorado. But this story, what happened to her is going to stick with her the rest of her life. We wait as justice unfolds. Nancy Grace, Crime Stories, signing off. Goodbye, friend. You're listening to an iHeart Podcast.