Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Lucas Hernandez mystery: Shocking details emerge, 'stepmom' Emily Glass found dead in PJs in sunroom with AR-15 gunshot wound to head

Episode Date: June 22, 2018

The father of Lucas Hernandez reveals what happened the night stepmom Emily Glass died of a gunshot to her head in the same Kansas, home where the 5-year-old is believed to have died 4 months earlier. Jonathan Hernandez talks exclusively to Nancy Grace about the apparent suicide of Glass who led a private investigator to the creek where she had hidden the child's body. The father tells about a suicide notef ound near Glass's body. Psychologist Dr. Chloe Carmichael, juvenile judge and lawyer Ashley Willcott, criminal profiler Pat Brown, private Investigator Vincent Hill, and CrimeOnline reporter Leigh Egan join Grace. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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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 little boy just celebrating his fifth birthday goes missing. An all-out search ensues to no avail. And then the stepmother unwittingly gets into the car of a private eye hired by the bio dad, Jonathan Hernandez. And in the next hours as they drive through back country roads, she, Emily Glass, leads the PI, David Marshburn, to the five-year-old tot's body. She walks free today.

I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us. Joining me now, a very special guest, along with Dr. Chloe Carmichael, Ashley Wolcott, Pat Brown, Vincent Hill, and Lee Egan, Lucas's father, Jonathan Hernandez. Jonathan, it astounds me that you can even move forward. After those hours and hours, Emily Glass, your your then love interest was in the car with the pi and leads him to your son lucas's body so much has happened take a listen as emily rides along emily glass with pi david marshburn i'm so sorry for you i put everyone to class with PI David Marshburn. I did Lucas so wrong. I did him wrong. It's God honest truth. Jonathan Hernandez, when Emily was in the car with the PI,

driving for hours and hours, telling her story. Where were you? I was on my way back to New Mexico for work. Right now, authorities are investigating the death, the shooting death, of a Kansas woman who leads Marshburn to the remains of five-year-old Lucas three months after he's reported missing. She ends up dead in the home. Jonathan Hernandez, many people are speculating, Emily Glass was overcome with guilt, but others suggest it wasn't a suicide at all.

What do you think happened, Jonathan? And tell us about the evening you find her dead. You know, I didn't notice any unusual behavior from her that day. She was, you know, just pretty normal, I I guess over text messaging and then you know later on that evening I had stayed out a little bit late to be able to go to my friend's house so I figured I'll just go stay at my house that night and I tried to text her and she didn't respond so I thought maybe she was asleep. Wait, let me understand something.

You were going back to your home where we believe Lucas was killed. Where was Emily? I thought she was at her father's or she was at the house. I wasn't really sure, but it turns out that she was at the house. I wasn't really sure, but it turns out that she was at the house. Is the house in your name or her name or rented by you or her? I believe it's just rented by me and my name. Why was she still there? She had nowhere else to go.

After she led Marshburn to Lucas, her family was pretty upset with her and felt betrayed a little bit by her. So even though you believed she had a hand in Lucas's death, you allowed her to still stay in the home? Yes, ma'am. Why? why you know it's until the autopsy was going to come back and whatever it said i mean it's still up in the air as far as if she did or if she didn't do anything other than hide his body and so i wasn't i wasn't going to just kick her out on the street. I mean, I wasn't staying there, so she was, you know, welcome to stay there as long as she needed.

Okay. You're a better person than me, Jonathan, because let me understand. If Lucas died accidentally, she kept his death from you for three months as you anguished about what happened to Lucas. Was he alive? Has he been kidnapped? Is he dead? Does he need you? Is he suffering? Is he being molested over and over and over by a pedophile? So your mind is going to all these places for three months and she kept that from you. All the while knowing he was dead under a bridge. At any time did she let on to you that he had passed away not not until she had i guess told marshburn that he had passed away in his sleep and she had woke up and found him and panicked jonathan do you believe that i i i don't i mean little little kids just don't die unless, you know, there was something seriously wrong with them.

Okay, so let me get back into your thinking about having her stay at the home. You didn't want to throw her out on the street because she didn't have anywhere to go? Well, I mean, she still had her stuff there. She hadn't moved out. And like I said, I wasn't staying there. So it's kind of both of our places when we both lived there. You know, I wasn't too concerned about whether she was there or not. What were you guys texting about that night? It was just normal. She asked how I was doing that day, and I just told her it was just normal, everyday drama

that has been going on nonstop. She said, hopefully it'll stop or die down or whatever. I said, hopefully, and that's all we spoke about. The last time I did say anything was about 7.30 that evening, over texting. See, I'm having a hard time, and maybe it's just me, imagining having a, quote, normal conversation with somebody that dumped my kid's body under a bridge. I mean, how did you do that? It was more of a, you know, I had been trying to talk to her since she got out of jail

the last time. Yeah. Trying to get information from her about Lucas. So sometimes I was, you know, questioning her pretty hard. And then sometimes I would back off a little bit and just kind of make her feel comfortable enough to where maybe she would finally tell me something. Take a listen to Emily Glass as we hear Lucas's dad, Jonathan Hernandez, explain his thinking about keeping up a farce of normality with Emily Glass to try and get information out of her. This is Emily Glass speaking with KWCH Devin Fassbender, and she describes why little Lucas was always covered with bruises. There's obviously a lot of rumors going on, a lot of things that people are saying about your stepson Lucas. Just curious if there's anything that you want to say about that situation.

Yes. In the past, you know, there's been times he's, you know, being a boy and playing with older brothers and his cousins. You know, he gets bruises. He has had some falls. Falls either cooking dinner or at the park. I'm sorry. This is a really hard one. No, you're fine. Take your time. He's like a son too, you know? I may not have given birth to him, but he's my baby boy today.

I take care of him every day. Ashley Wilcott, what do you think? I just have to, on behalf of the child that's the child advocate for the state of Georgia for a period of time under Governor Deal, let's play devil's advocate. One of the questions that the public wants to know and wants to look at is, should Jonathan have known that perhaps Emily was not taking good care of Lucas? Not that that is a reason for Lucas to have been killed. Don't misunderstand me. But we have talked previously with Jonathan on this show about the fact that there have been bruises on the child before and that relatives have expressed concerns. So one of the things from a preventative standpoint that people want to know is, should he, as the father, have known, not that she would kill the child, nobody

expects that from someone they love, but that there was something amiss or nefarious afoot in terms of her treatment of the child. Jonathan Hernandez, what about it? I myself have never witnessed her abuse him, hit him, be ugly towards him. And it kind of goes back to, you know, you're trusting this other person to take care of your most prized possession and you're romantically involved with them and you don't think that they would ever do that, especially if you've never witnessed it. the bruises and stuff whenever I was not home could have been her abusing him. Did you ever learn anything from her about what really happened to Lucas? Unfortunately, I didn't. She stuck with the same story that she found him, and he was dead asleep, you know, in his bed, and nothing really changed. Did she say he had thrown up, or he was blue,

or he was smothered with a cord from the blinds? Nothing, except that he was just lying there as if he were sleeping and he's dead? Yes, ma'am. That's all she said. She didn't say anything else. Okay. So that evening, you end up deciding to go over to your home where you're letting her stay. When you went in, what, if anything, did you discover?

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

What was the condition of her body? She was dressed. It looked like she had pajamas on. At first, did you believe she was just asleep? No, I did not. I thought it was a dream. I wasn't sure what was happening at first. You know, Jonathan, as you know, and this is not something that I believe, and I have made that very clear, her friends say Emily was killed. This was not a suicide, that she would never have committed suicide.

Which makes you a real target of suspicion if anybody buys into that. Which, let me make clear, I do not. What do you have to say to her friends and acquaintances that seemingly are pointing the finger at you? Well, everybody wants somebody

to blame. But, you know, from what I saw, and same thing from, I'm sure, what the detectives saw when they came over to the house, that it's, you know, a most likely suicide until they officially rule it a suicide. But that's what it looked like to me. And why do you say that? Why are you convinced, Jonathan, Emily killed herself? Just the way everything looked. It looked like she had thought about it. She got my gun case out of my closet and took it into that back room with her and then opened the gun case there.

And the gun was laying next to her. And she had, it looked like she had smoked three or four cigarettes that were on the floor by her feet. So, you know, maybe she had thought about it for a little while anyways before she did it. That's a really good observation, seeing those cigarettes there on the floor. Let me ask you, when she shot herself, did she shoot herself in the chest or the head? No, she shot herself in the head. I was thinking this through because based on the location of the shot and the trajectory of the bullet, whether or not there are powder burns or gunshot residue on her body, they'll be able to tell for sure whether this was suicide or homicide, most likely. When you saw Emily, what flashed through your mind, Jonathan?

I honestly didn't know who it was. And I actually walked out of the room briefly just to breathe a minute and try to ask myself if I was really seeing what I saw and I you know glance back in the room and she was still there so as soon as that happened I ran outside and called 9-1-1 with me is Jonathan Hernandez Lucas's father recounting the horrible night he comes back to his own home to find the stepmother dead. Take a listen to Emily Glass as she responds to Davin Fassbender. Talking about, does she, Emily, have any idea where Lucas may be? Do you have any idea where Lucas might be at this point? But if anyone does know, please say something.

Because me and dad are very sick. You know, and I keep thinking, I keep thinking what could have happened, you know. And I keep thinking back to these two people that were outside of my house a few days prior, the black man and white woman. Do you know them? No. They were standing outside talking, talking. It was actually pretty early morning. So I went out there to be like, hey, is everything okay?

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

Did you end up sending that picture to Jonathan? Yes, I did. I did. It's my baby boy. He has sisters and he has brothers. He's so loved. 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 cybersecurity threat every other day. And criminals can sell the identity of you and your family on the dark web.

It's time you take the power back by using a new website called Truthfinder. Thank you. profile. Truthfinder searches through millions of public records, puts all that data together in one easy to read report. Members get unlimited searches so you can also look up those close to you and make sure they're not hiding something from their past. You also get free dark web monitoring to make Truthfinder the ultimate tool in identity protection. If your personal info appears for sale on the dark web, you'll be the first to know. Visit truthfinder.com slash Nancy. Enter your own name. Get started. My biggest question is where'd she get the gun? We pretty much nailed that down that there was no gun in the house. I told Jonathan and I told Jamie, stay away.

Let's say someone did this to Emily or Emily does it to herself, you're going to be the first suspect. So stay away. At approximately 1.40 a.m. on Friday, Glass's boyfriend, 34-year-old Jonathan Hernandez, called 911 to report arriving home and finding Glass dead. Officers discovered a rifle near her feet and three suicide notes in the residence. With me is Jonathan Hernandez. This is Lucas's father, five-year-old Lucas, goes missing for three long months while Emily Glass the stepmother keeps up the

facade that he was kidnapped stolen or wandered away from the home as she took a nap all the while knowing full well five-year-old Lucas was dead and that she herself had disposed of his body under a rural and obscure bridge. You just heard private investigator David Marshburn wondering where the rifle came from that Emily used when she shot herself in Jonathan Hernandez's, the dad's, home. And Wichita police officer Charlie Davidson describing the rifle beside Emily's feet. Three suicide notes found in the home. Back to Jonathan Hernandez, Lucas's dad. Many people, as you know, have speculated how could anyone commit suicide with a long gun, a rifle. What are police telling you,

Jonathan, about how she could pull off such a feat? It's not a deer rifle like everybody thinks. It's not actually that long. It's a short assault rifle. It's an AR-15, and the stocks are collapsible, so you can adjust it for the length of your arm versus a regular gun where you cannot. And it only has a 16-inch barrel. Vincent Hill, private investigator, joining us. For our listeners, why is it even considered a long gun? A lot of people call it a long rifle simply because it's longer than your typical handgun, which you typically see in a suicide. That's what most people assume you do in a suicide when you shoot yourself and you use a handgun, but that's not always the case.

Back to Jonathan Hernandez, Lucas's dad. That makes a lot of difference, Jonathan, because a barrel just 16 inches is a lot different from a long gun, which would make it very difficult to shoot yourself. What do you make of the three suicide notes that police say they found in the home? Where were they? I honestly don't know. they didn't tell me where they were and as far as two of them they haven't told me what's in them except for the third one they did tell me was rolled up and stuck inside of her engagement ring. And it said to give our daughter the ring when she gets older. You know, I find that extremely, extremely telling.

With me is Pat Brown, high-profile criminal profiler. Pat, what do you make of Emily Glass rolling up one of her three suicide notes and putting it in the engagement ring that Jonathan Hernandez gave her? Yeah, you know, as Jonathan said, it seemed like she did think about this for a while. She knew probably what was going to happen down the road. And I do think from what I've heard, at the end, she seemed like she did have guilt. So that's why suicide is very probable. I know it was planned, but I think it is really good.

And I think, Jonathan, you should know this, the very, very insistence with the police is that they do a thorough, thorough investigation as to the manner of death. Because what happens with suicides, a lot of times it seems so, quote, obvious, even to law enforcement, that they rule it that way without doing a really, really deep investigation. And what happens is questions pop up later. And, like, people start saying, well, she couldn't have done that, or she wouldn't have done that,

or whatever they decide is the reason it's not a suicide. And the people will dog law enforcement for decades and dog people they believe might have committed a homicide instead of being a suicide. And they will dog them forever. I've had families call me and tell me that their child has committed, who has been labeled a suicide. And they say, oh, no, it wasn't a suicide. Somebody killed my son. Somebody killed my daughter. And it's usually because the police didn't do a thorough investigation.

And later on, I tried to explain to the family exactly what happened, and it really wasn't a suicide. And they will not buy it. And they will go from person to person, from investigator to profiler, to prove that the person was actually murdered. And this can go on forever. So Jonathan, make sure that the police do indeed, for your own sake, do a very thorough investigation to prove what the manner of death was. To Dr. Chloe Carmichael, renowned New York psychologist and creator of transformationproducts.com. Dr. Chloe, what is the significance of her rolling up a

suicide note and putting it, sticking it in her engagement ring for Jonathan to find? Well, Nancy, I agree. That's a very poignant, highly personalized thing for her to do. And, you know, the comments earlier about how this suggests that she was just literally overwhelmed with guilt, you know, to the point of suicide, and that she wrote three notes, you know, trying so hard to find the right words, how to express, you know, it's to say the impossible. And to roll the note up eventually and to put it inside of her engagement ring, I think is almost like suggesting, you know, if I can speculate, obviously, I don't know, but it's almost like suggesting that she wasn't worthy, like she was giving this back,

saying that she felt that she had failed, and that wrapped within literally what was supposed to have been the deepest bond with family, that she had also committed the deepest sin. And it was a way of enveloping, you know, this suicide note within the symbol of what she was supposed to have been. I don't know. I feel like it's a stab to the heart of Jonathan Hernandez to, first of all, many people believe, including myself, kill Lucas and then hide his body and let Jonathan suffer for over three months while people looked for his little boy and then to take the note and put it in the engagement ring he gave her uh i feel like that's pointed directly at him with me is nancy yes i i kind of think that it almost feels to me i i i kind of go the opposite direction that she's returning

his ring i don't necessarily think it's a mean thing. It's almost like a confession there. It's a confession that, you know, I wasn't worth, I can't be your wife. I wasn't worthy of it. Here's your ring back. Here's my apology note in the ring. It's a very female thing to do, in my opinion, which is also supportive of suicide. I agree. To do that as a, almost like a little return. It's a deep acknowledgement is what it is. It's a physical and reality-based acknowledgement through the ring of how her role as stepmother was actually making this entire thing all the worse, all the worse. And, you know, and it may even be why she committed suicide.

You know, just grasping all of these facts together was overwhelming. To Ashley Wilcott, juvenile judge, lawyer, founder of ChildCrimeWatch.com. Ashley, weigh in. Here's the thing, Nancy. Unfortunately for Jonathan, the public wants to know what happened to Lucas. They want to know how he died. And so what's going to happen is they are going to harass, bother, and not believe Jonathan until they get answers. And I think that the general public is going to have the exact same response you had, Nancy. Wow, Jonathan, you are a better person than I, because knowing that she was involved, even if at a minimum and this was a minimum, she hid the body. That's still involvement. This was your son. How could you possibly even let her stay in the house? Jonathan, I'm not saying that's right or wrong. I'm just saying I think that's the public response which causes the harassment and bothering.

Is that true, Jonathan? Are people harassing you and bothering you? I mean, two of her friends have practically pointed the finger at you for Emily's death. Is it true people are actually driving by the house and spying on you and posting your movements? Absolutely. Absolutely. They'll post it online saying I'm home or I was in the backyard or something fishy might be going on because I was like cleaning sticks up in the backyard. And yeah, so they always trying to get pictures and drive by so that they can, they can be the most important person on social media that day because they saw me at the house or something. And I pretty much stay off social media as much as I can because I don't want to see nasty and hateful comments. I would totally stay off social media.

I wouldn't even look at it, Jonathan. It has nothing to do with you. You know what that reminds me of, Ashley Wilcott? It reminds me of buzzards circling around a dead body, trying to just take whatever they can. Who would want to presume themselves the most important person in Jonathan Hernandez's words out of this tragedy? I think it's human nature. I think that regrettably, again, when there's a child, especially a child who is dead and the circumstances like this, you know, it's almost like it's a made for TV movie because you have a woman saying, I don't know what happened. He disappeared. And then you fast forward months later.

You know, we don't know where the body is. The story doesn't really add up. And then you have a private investigator come in that I understand Jonathan assisted at getting him involved in this case. And he gets the mother to reveal where the child's buried in a bridge these are all facts that are emotional that get people curious and interested and it's human nature are you kidding it is human nature to kick when a person's down and overstep every boundary in a lot of our society to see what happened and they think they have a right thanks to reality tv people think they have a right. Thanks to reality TV, people think they have a right to do whatever the heck they want without regards to privacy or individuals.

We actually did an experiment ourselves with a 16-inch measured device. And for a woman, a petite woman, taking into account the length of her arms, still very difficult to commit suicide even with just a 16-inch barrel. So that's going to be an issue. Jonathan, have they questioned you as if they suspect you were involved? Not to the extent of, you know, the way the scene looked and the, you know, manner in which the gun was there.

And, I mean, obviously they questioned me and asked if I had anything to do with it or if I was over there earlier that night or if we were arguing or anything like that. Take a listen as private investigator David Marshburn. Remember now he's got Emily Glass in the car and they're driving around. She leads him to baby Lucas's body under a bridge. Here, Marshburn is questioning her about how she found Lucas dead, according to her. 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 there. On the couch? On the 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 the vomit. You didn't? So he just died of the concussion. And it's okay. It's okay you freaked out. I'm telling you. You're going to be fine. I mean, I see the way you're scared of Jonathan, son. You and I both, when we talked about what we did yesterday, I noticed that you were a little bit afraid of what he would do to you. And you know what?

I don't think nothing. I don't think he'd do anything. Have you talked to him about this? Not really. Okay. And how do you want to break it to him? Do you want me to, or do you want us to do it together when we leave? From the police department.

Once all the booking's done and all, we leave, do you want us to do it together, or do you want to do it on your own? How would you like to do that? Together. Okay. Joining me right now, having been on the scene and on the case from the very beginning, is CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter, Lee Egan. Lee, what I want to know is the same thing everybody else wants to know. What is the cause and manner of death?

What's happening with the autopsy on baby Lucas? According to Kate Slavin with the Forensic Science Center unit in Wichita, nothing yet. I spoke to her yesterday. She said it could be a couple more weeks. You know, Lee, I find that very unusual. What is the holdup regarding the autopsy on five-year-old Lucas? They did the autopsy first, but what they're doing is they're putting the toxicology results in with the autopsy to make a complete package. And then once the toxicology results come back in, then at least according to the DA, they do plan to tell the public what the results are.

To Lucas's dad joining us, our special guest, who has been fighting off vultures and harpies, seemingly feasting on this story at his expense. Jonathan, first of all, I'm so sorry about everything you've been through. And I feel like the weight of the world is on your shoulders. And now not only have you lost your son, the love of your life, you have Emily Glass, who many believe killed him and discarded his body in the middle of your life. You have Emily Glass, who many believe killed him and discarded his body in the middle of nowhere,

ends up dead, and now you, according to many people, not me, are under suspicion. Now, one thing leading to that suspicion is that you were in and out of the home and allowing her, who many believe killed your son, to stay of the home and allowing her, who many believe killed your son, to stay in the home. And having a text relationship with her, conversations with her, and acting like nothing happened. Life is normal when your son is at the medical examiner's office.

That's a problem for a lot of people. Now, all the suspicion is on you. And that's got to be a huge burden to bear. When you wake up in the morning, what goes through your mind? It's very difficult. I mean, I have nightmares some nights, and it's hard to sleep. I'm afraid to go anywhere just because I don't want to be seen or photographed or, you know, talked about or looked at funny. And it's a really heavy, heavy weight to carry. You said that you are having nightmares. What do you dream about? A lot of times it's that I'm trying to find Lucas and I either sometimes I find him and then sometimes I don't.

And sometimes it's like I saw him around a corner and so I run to the corner and look around and there's nobody there. You know, it's really tormenting. You know what, Jonathan, I want to tell you something. I don't even know if I've ever mentioned this before. For years, literally years, I would have a similar dream about my fiancé Keith that was murdered just before our wedding. And it would be that somehow I would find out he was alive, that he had not been murdered.

And I would actually have an address like 6434. Okay, that's the address. And I would be out, and it would be kind of foggy, and it would always be, you know, at the end of the day, when it's just getting nighttime or nighttime. And I would be going from house to house to house on foot. And it would say 6431, 6432, 6433, 6435. And I would miss the address. And I'd go back and go over it and over it. Then I'd see a little alley and I think, oh, maybe it's down this alley and I'd go down an alley and that would be wrong. And then I turned

down and I would just look and look and look and I would never find him. I mean, there were so many variations on that. I mean, Dr. Chloe, is that normal? Well, yes, actually, it is normal to have the unconscious want to try to work out while you're dreaming through dreams, what's not possible to process in the conscious mind. So there are certain things that are too difficult to face in the conscious mind. And the mind actually chooses as a mechanism of self-preservation to face these truths slowly. And, you know, Jonathan, of course, I mean, we're all terribly, terribly sorry for this tragedy. It's unfathomable. And that's why I actually think it's understandable that it would be almost impossible to face Emily as the potential murderer at first. And so having just lost your son, to suddenly also grasp that the woman that you entrusted him to might have been the culprit, I can see where that would be something that the mind would need to begin to face slowly and in phases. Well, I think part of it is um and of course i'm just an armchair quarterback here

ashley that it's so overwhelming that he's lost lucas number one but number two he loved emily he was engaged to her they were living together she was by all intents and purposes the stepmother to his children he goes away to make a living on a job where he has to travel, trusting her. And she, many people believe, killed him and hid his body. And then dragged Jonathan through months of torture, trying to find his son with no idea what happened to him. It's like a double whammy because the person that he trusted is the one responsible for Lucas's death. And I don't, I can't speak for Jonathan, but I would be overwhelmed by guilt because I'd feel like it was my fault when it is not in any way, it's not his fault. It's Emily's fault. And there's no doubt in my mind about that. But it's just got to be horrible to, to wake up with that burden every day.

I agree with you, Nancy. And the reality is people want someone to blame. And so now that Emily is no longer alive, I think that people in the public unfairly, unjustly are going to want to crucify Jonathan for his feelings for Emily, his love for Emily, the guilt he feels, the loss, the grief that he feels for losing his son beyond his control, people are going to attack that because they want someone to be responsible. So on top of the guilt and the grief that I can't even imagine, Nancy, having my own children, I can't even imagine going through the grief of losing a child, especially in this manner, and you can't prevent it and you didn't know what happened and here you are dealing with that grief. On top of that, now he's going to be crucified, so to speak, not literally, but figuratively by the public who want and are demanding answers from someone who doesn't have them. We may not understand Jonathan still

caring about Emily, letting her stay in the home. Hasn't anybody ever believed what they want to believe? Hasn't anybody ever loved someone and looked over their faults? I mean, I think the circumstances were such that he didn't know what happened and he did not want to believe Emily had a hand in Lucas's death. I don't think he could take it. Jonathan, tell me about your daughter. You are fighting. You're trying to find a new job in the area to try to get your daughter back.

What's happening? Yes, Nancy. I need to be around for her more than just in town once a month for so many days. I need to be able to be around for visits and any medical problems that she may come up with at some point, but I need to make her my priority, and especially now that I'm her only surviving parent. You know Jonathan whether I agree with you letting Emily stay there or not everybody's got to walk a mile in his shoes before we throw a stone at him. We don't know what he's going through. I can't even imagine being away from home. And I have to travel too, and I hate it. I hate every second of being away from home.

I actually, as you know, Ashley and Lee and Jackie and Alan, I actually back time it and count the hours I'm going to be away from the twins. I can't even imagine being away, and they go missing while I'm gone and I find out they're dead. That is what he has lived through. So whether you agree with him or not about the way he feels or felt toward Emily, that's really none of our business. That's for him to work out as he deals with Lucas's debt. I want to help you, Jonathan. Lee, tell me about the GoFundMe that someone has created for Jonathan to help him as he searches for a new job. GoFundMe was started by his mother because, as he said earlier, he went back to the house. That's where he is right now. He needs money to move. He's out. He's out of work for, I think

he said around a month. He's there waiting to bury his son. The investigation's still ongoing. So he's out of work. He is in a home where he wants to get out of, but he cannot. You know, you're going to need first and last bunch of rent, a moving truck, utility expenses, all kinds of stuff that goes into moving. And so his mother, on his behalf, she started a GoFundMe to help him raise the funds so he could get a first start for himself and for his daughter. You know, I'm projecting right here, but Jonathan, after Keith was murdered, I dropped out of school. I lost down to 89 pounds. I couldn't think. I couldn't, wouldn't eat. I, I, I,

it was horrible. And if that had been my child, God forbid, it would be 10,000 times worse. I mean, I thought I knew what love was. I didn't know anything until I had a child. It changed everything. Jonathan, your days have got to be like a nightmare. When you wake up in the morning what is your day like yes it's a i mean it's an absolute nightmare um you know i still hope i'm going to get a call every day to find out what happened to lucas and you know i worry about my daughter, you know, if she's okay. And at some point it, it seems like I'm living in a dream every single day where when I wake up,

I hope it's different, but it's never different. It's, it's always the same and it's always really, really difficult to just even think some days, even take a shower some days, you know? You know, that's a funny thing you said that about a shower, Jonathan, because after Keith was murdered, I wouldn't wash my hair. I wouldn't take a shower. I would just sit on the front porch. I remember wearing Keith's Hawaiian shirt that he had gotten for some Hawaiian get-together. And then when I would take a shower, for some reason, I'd just start crying, and then I couldn't get out of the shower. I remember it like it was yesterday.

I guess it's like you said, your conversations were normal, but nothing is normal. Everything is upside down. Lee, what is his GoFundMe titled? What is the account for anyone wishing to help Jonathan Hernandez? It's called Jonathan and Mia. You would go to GoFundMe.com backslash Jonathan-Ann-Mia, and that's M-I-A. And Jonathan, it does not have the H in it. It's J-O-N-A-T-H-A-N-Ann-M-I-A. As we await for justice to unfold, to find out not only the autopsy results on Emily Glass, the stepmother, but Lucas Hernandez, the five-year-old little boy as well. Let me remind you to wait until all the facts are in

before there is any rush to judgment as the dad, Jonathan, manages somehow to struggle to put one foot before the other every day. Nancy Grace, Crime Stories, signing off. Goodbye, friend. Did you know a recent law can 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. It's time you take back the power by using a new website called Truthfinder.

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