Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Woman murders three separate infants for 'constantly crying,' & Missouri Governor sex scandal a crime?

Episode Date: March 7, 2018

A woman who confessed to killing 3 babies, including her own son, 3 decades ago blames the babies for crying too much. Nancy Moronez told detectives she "can't take kids that constantly cry." Medical examiners concluded in the 1980s that the two boys and a girl died from SIDS, but the cases were reopened after the daughter of Moronez told police that her mother confessed to her. Nancy Grace looks at this case with psychologist Dr. Tiffany Sanders, forensics expert Joseph Scott Morgan, and reporter Scott Kimbler. Missouri's governor faces a possible impeachment trial amid accusations by a woman that he tried to blackmail her with nude photos after they engaged in an extra-marital affair. Grace debates the case with lawyer Troy Slaten, psychologist Caryn Stark, & reporter Pamela Furr, Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace on Sirius XM Triumph, Channel 132. No one wants to hear that news from their own mother. Quote, I can't take kids that constantly cry. Okay, well, all children constantly cry. That's just a given. They're going to cry. Let's see. Why did John David start crying this weekend, which is a very rare, oh, because I made him practice piano. Lucy started crying when I told her she had to put away her homemade slime that she's obsessed with making and go to sleep. She had a big vat of it in a giant Tupperware.

I mean, anything can, they'll just cry. They can be tired. They cry. They're hungry. They cry. That's just, that's just part of it. But three dead infants, because you couldn't stand the way that they cry. I'm Nancy Grace.

This is Crime Stories. And believe you me, I want justice. Nancy Moronez, now suspected in three murders, including the murder of her own son. How did she get her mitts on two others? Joining me, Chicago psychologist Dr. Tiffany Sanders, forensics expert and professor of forensics at Jacksonville State University, Joseph Scott Morgan, and investigative journalist Alan Duke. Alan, Nancy Moronez, now suspected in suffocating three babies,

but all three deaths were attributed to SIDS, sudden infant death syndrome. Hold on, Alan. Joe Scott Morgan, you're the forensics expert. Maybe you can explain it a little better than I. What is SIDS? We don't really still to this day, Nancy, we still don't know what SIDS is. What it stands for is sudden infant death syndrome. For many years, people refer to it as crib death. And it's this mysterious thing that kind of hangs out there in the air. And

new parents in particular, I remember me being terrified of, you know, walking in and finding my baby deceased. And then at autopsy, many times there's just no viable explanation and that's what's troubling about this because lots of times lots of times it's the default position when you're trying to make a diagnosis post-mortem well i was the same way with the twins i finally got him called angel something it was a very thin mattress almost like the the thickness of a heating pad that you put under their sheet and if they if their breathing stopped it was supposed to alarm. Of course, it never did alarm because as you said, Joe Scott, to this day, the real cause of sudden infant death syndrome SIDS has not been identified, which makes me highly suspicious when I keep hearing about children dying of SIDS. And it does happen. But when one woman is connected to three different children, unrelated in time and space, of

SIDS, they all die of SIDS, she's the commonality. She's the common factor. And I can't believe it's taken all these years to put two and two together to get four sudden infant death syndrome. And this is even, I remember when the twins were born, and that was 10 years ago, there was a huge effort, an initiative called Back to Sleep. Back to Sleep.

Always put your child to sleep on their back because part of the theory is that if you put your child to sleep on their tummy, their face will get smooshed down in blankets or sheets, which you're not supposed to have in the bed anyway. And they'll suffocate because they don't have the power to move their heads or to turn over on their back, back to sleep. And to this day, that was 10 years ago, no serious strides have been taken in reducing sudden infant death syndrome.

So I guess everybody just took it at face value that Nancy Morone has just happened to be connected to three dead babies. So Alan Duke, what brought about any type of break in the case? Let's start with the first death. What happened? Little Justin Brunka was just 18 days old when he died suddenly. This was in 1980.

And as you said, the coroner concluded it was SIDS. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Justin Brunka. This is Nancy's son. Her own son. 18 days old. 18 days old. Okay. How was he found? Do we know? Yes, he was found at her home. She called the police and said her baby was not

breathing. And so they responded and concluded it was Sid's. It was at the home. Chilling details in documents that we have obtained from prosecutors where she states, and I quote, I quote, can't take kids that constantly cry. God forbid one of them have a colic. Okay, just God forbid one of them have colic. Okay, just God forbid. Interesting, that's the first dead infant just four years after her own son's death. It's now believed Moronez was babysitting a six-month-old baby boy. Now at the time she tells investigators she noticed the baby was unresponsive in less than an hour after she puts him to sleep face down on a waterbed. Okay she tells police she got concerned when she saw the baby's face turn purple the way her sons did when he died. Now, right there, Alan, police antenna should have shot up when she says,

this is just the way my baby son died. Hello? She's on the scene when two babies died. How did the baby's parents find Nancy Moronez? Nancy Moronez responded to a Milwaukee newspaper ad where the couple was looking for a babysitter and she signed up for the job and they hired her and started babysitting for this child.

It was just one year after the six-month-old little boy is dead, the next child victim, just one year later, she was babysitting an 11-week-old little girl. What happened, Alan Duke? She called firefighters, called 911. Firefighters responded to her home. She pointed to a plastic seat on the floor, just there it is and that's where two-month-old Katie cousin Nikki was on the seat cold blue not breathing and this is what's really crazy Morrone has recognized one of the

firefighters who responded realizing he had come to her home the previous March when Brad died and she has the firefighter, do you remember me? Yeah, that's so odd, Alan Duke, because reportedly the firefighter says, yeah, I remember. And that Morones then said, according to the court documents we've just obtained, I told my husband I didn't want to babysit anymore. That's the third dead baby. The first time her own son, Justin Brunko, just 18 days old, dead.

Four years later, an infant, six-month-old baby boy, dead. She tells the cops, I became suspicious because he died just like my son did. That should have warned them right then, but no, it didn't. Then the third one, and she actually starts conversation with the firefighter to remind him that he responded to one of the other dead baby calls. And still, nothing is done. To Dr. Tiffany Sanders, Chicago psychologist. Dr. Tiffany, do you believe the fact that cops and firefighters, EMTs didn't piece anything together? It's because we have a natural tendency to invoke maternalism on moms. We just assume mothers love children? Yeah, Nancy, I'm listening to the

story and I'm reading the information and it seems so shocking that no one is putting the pieces together. I work routinely with Department of Children and Family Services. And when you see a circumstance happen once, okay, sure. But a second time, and it's very eerily similar to the way her child passed, it will bring up all sorts of red flags and have all sorts of caseworkers or investigators determining what is the relationship between these two deaths. And I do believe, to your point, that they may have afforded her some sort of privilege that, oh, she's a mother, she wouldn't harm another person's child, versus looking at this woman with some form of psychopathology and saying, why is she killing babies? It's a shame that they did not investigate this further with that second child.

I'm looking at a family photo of her. She's smiling and happy, apparently with who must be her husband. Completely normal-looking woman. She's kind of attractive, I guess. And big smile, seemingly normal, but the bodies are stacking up. And one statement, she apparently says that she used a blanket with one of her tiny victims, that the baby, quote, kind of moved around in her hands as she suffocated the baby dead, that she goes on to say she did not use a blanket with her own son because,

quote, she wanted him to go sooner. What? What? What? Dr. Tiffany, what about impulse control? You know, you want the child to quit crying, but to kill it? Absolutely. I mean, you're thinking about impulse control. You're thinking about, you know, does she lack empathy, remorse? Does she have care or concern? I mean, these are all signs and symptoms of possible psychopathology.

Possible this woman is deranged and no one's looking and investigating her mental illness. You just don't do those things, especially with the newborn. So, and I'm not trying to blame the mom of the second child, but what background check did she conduct? I mean, did you not investigate her own care of children? That's usually one of the first things you want to do before you place your own child in someone else's care. Hello? Her own child died. I'm going to put some ownership on that parent.

They didn't do their own good enough job or due diligence researching this woman's background. Alan, what brought it to the forefront? I mean, how, after all this time, was it uncovered that these children did not die of SIDS? Well, it was the daughter, the younger sister of the first child to die. Nancy's daughter was curious about why her older brother had died, and she wasn't accepting SIDS. So she had talks with her mom, and what her mom told her was chilling. And so she couldn't keep it in she went to the police and told them what her mother had revealed to her and what did the mother say

what was chilling she said i killed your brother i suffocated him i understood that she first said she suffocated him with a black garbage bag but then later she tells prosecutors he actually died after she held less than one month old tot, the baby, the infant, under the water in the bathtub. Now, Joe Scott Morgan, if that's true, they should have found water in the baby's lungs, shouldn't they? Not necessarily, Nancy. One of the ways that they explain this is that there's a spasm that takes place in the airway that literally shuts down the airway to occlude it from taking in the water. But also what it occludes is the ability to breathe. It's, um, it's a curious thing, isn't it? Because this, it doesn't take a lot. It doesn't take a

lot. I gotta be real careful in saying this. It doesn't take a lot to kill a baby. This is this, these little angels are the most fragile among us. So it doesn't take a lot of effort to facilitate their death. And in this particular case, when they did the examination on the child, the pathologist didn't find any evidence of drowning in this particular case, what we would normally associate. And this is another thing, if I can just go a little bit further. One of the things that we look for in SIDS, first off, is do they fit within the age parameters? And that's what's so disturbing about this. They're saying this child is 18 months old. Now, granted, this is back in 1980.

18 days. I'm sorry, 18 days old. And that is a major problem in the sense that we don't even start considering SIDS until we're out past the one-month-old marker, okay? So if you're talking about 18 days, Nancy, we're talking about some kind of metabolic condition that exists within that child that maybe was indwelling that child since birth we don't start to look at SIDS until about one month out at that point so it didn't fit the parameters uh that have been established another fact in her statement Joe Scott she says she quote saw bubbles coming out of his nose and mouth but why are we even considering the statements of a three-time killer?

She also says, quote, when her daughter was born, she made a promise to God that she would not do anything to hurt her daughter if she was crying. But later tells cops, I made a promise, but I broke it. Yeah, you darn right you broke it. Here's the kicker. You can kill as many infants as you want to in Wisconsin

and they don't have the death penalty. And I've already seen her. I've already heard of her. I saw her walk into court but I already hear tell that she's using a wheelchair, Alan Duke. Yes, she was sitting in a wheelchair in court, slumped down, not looking up during her preliminary hearing. I know where that's going, Dr. Tiffany Sanders.

Well, Nancy, she's trying to give this image that, oh, I'm feeble, I'm frail. I couldn't possibly have done something such as a horrible as killing three children. No, you have someone else that you have the wrong person. So she's trying to play on the psyche of the jury and the judge. And it's just not working when she when she allegedly committed these acts. She was not in the wheelchair and she was probably moving about with as much energy as you and I are the next person. So it's a lame attempt that will not work. Yep.

In Milwaukee, in Wisconsin, capital punishment was abolished in 1853. They were one of the earliest U.S. states to abolish the DP. It's the only state in the Union that has performed only one execution in its entire history so i guess she's just been free to kill as many infants as she wants with no real repercussion at first she was walking into court now she's taken to a wheelchair okay three dead infants that we know of. Listen to this. Nancy, this is Amy Brunka, the daughter, speaking to Fox News 6 in Milwaukee.

I was just shocked. Just completely shocked. I feel sad. I feel shocked. I feel horrified. Sick. No one wants to hear that news from their own mother. And she's kind of like,

she didn't care. She had no emotion when she told me what she did. I went ballistic. My heart goes out to these families. I hope that maybe that these people have a little closure now, at least know some of the truth. I hope she gets life in prison and that's right and understand that. A cheating Missouri governor slams a, quote, reckless liberal prosecutor after the governor is indicted for taking naked photos of his, quote,

a hairdresser in a blackmail plot. What does it never end? his, quote, a hairdresser and a blackmail plot. What does it never end? I guarantee you his parents worked their fingers to the bone to send him to good schools to help him get through college so he could pursue his political ambition. To what? Sleep with the hairdresser and end up in the middle of the scandal? And to top it all off, how much of this did the taxpayers pay for? First, we've got the Nashville mayor meeting for sex with her bodyguard at a cemetery,

no less. It's seven in the morning. And now this with the Missouri governor. You know what? I want to throw the whole kit and caboodle out. But you know what? Whoever they sleep with, that's their business. But do the taxpayers have to pay for it?

I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us. So you may ask, what's the crime? Hold on a moment. With me, Pamela Furr, Crime Stories investigative reporter. Pam, I have missing children to find. I have unsolved homicides to solve.

Why is this considered a crime? It's the oldest story in the book. A man cheats. So what's the crime? The crime is allegedly that he photographed a woman without her consent, someone he was sleeping with. You mentioned a moment ago his hairdresser. So the indictment states that he photographed her while she was handcuffed, while she was blindfolded and in the basement of his home. And while he was taking the picture, he said to her, if you say anything about this affair, I will release these pictures. And so they are charging him with invasion of privacy because she did not consent.

Okay, wait, you had me on photo and handcuff and naked in the same sentence? That's a crime. That is a crime if she did not consent to it. Now, Troy Slayton, renowned defense attorney. And yes, that was a little bit like eating a dirt sandwich, but I said it. Troy Slayton, renowned defense attorney out of LA. Hey, buddy, Troy, you know what? When you are in a guy's basement, completely buck naked, and you're handcuffed and blindfolded, it's gonna be a little difficult to argue. I didn't consent to have my photo taken. Help me out. It's gonna be very difficult. And the only way that any of this got out, Nancy, is because her husband surreptitiously and without her knowledge recorded her telling her husband about the whole thing.

Wait a minute. None of this would have gotten out. Karen Stark. Karen Stark, psychologist out of New York. Excuse me, Troy. What's with it? Every man in her life is recording her without her knowledge, according to her. The boyfriend, who happens to be the Missouri governor, has her tied up, handcuffed, naked,

with a blindfold over her eyes and takes her picture. Well, that's not flattering. And then you've got her husband allegedly recording her conversations. This woman can't win. Well, there's no crime involved in the fact that she didn't know about it. However, what you wonder about is how is she even getting into all of these situations, Nancy? What's going on that first she's with this guy and allowing herself to be blindfolded, and then she's going to her husband and telling him the story? Well, hold on. Speaking of that, Karen Stark, you brought up a very good point.

My partner in crime, Alan Duke, has managed to locate some of the surreptitiously recorded tapes where the husband is taping his wife as she admits to the relationship with the Missouri governor. Listen to this. Roll it, Alan. So, Saturday morning, before my first client, I did go to his house. The first time. The first time. The first time. Ever. Like I said, nothing, period, had ever happened or taken place until this snowball,

f***ing tornado just happened. I know I brought it on. You know, Troy Slayton, I always find it interesting. And I can't say that I've never done something similar. I guess we all have. You're not mad you did it. You're mad you got caught, okay? And that seems to be her response here.

She's like, I know I brought this on, but now a tornado has, quote, just happened. A tornado, Troy Slayton, and you can tell this to some of your criminal clients, didn't just happen. The tornado started when you're married and you're flirting with a married guy. And again, I'm not the church lady. I don't care who sleeps with who. It's none of my business as long as it's not me or my husband. But you start off with a married man. You're married too. And then you, quote,

find yourself in his basement, but naked with handcuffs and a blindfold on. That didn't, quote, just happen. It didn't just happen. Every one of those was a conscious decision. You know, whether it's cheating or booze or drugs or gambling or anger, it could be a myriad of things that destroy a relationship. When you give in to that, that is your decision. That's a conscious decision to mess up the marriage, Troy. I mean, this, but this is, we're talking about a crime now. And this was a conscious decision. It did not just happen. Troy reminds me of drunk driving. You make the decision to get in the car, crank up the car, reverse out of the bar and get on the open road

and kill somebody with your vehicle. It's not an accident. It's a conscious decision, Troy. You mean, Nancy, that this is a case about choices and responsibility, the thing that every single prosecutor says in every single case that I've tried? Nancy, in California, this would have been a crime for this hairdresser's husband to have recorded her because out here it's a two-party consent state well it probably is a crime on mars too or the planet saturn but guess what that's not where it happened it happened in missouri and that's a one-party consent state t Troy. Save it. Nancy, we have an overzealous prosecutor from the other party who decided to wait two years and 11 months, about a month before the statute of limitation would have run out on this, to bring a case against the governor of the opposite party in order to try to bring him down. Well, I have to agree with you with the political problems, the political involvement on either side.

I think it would be better to have handed it over to the state attorney and keep local politics out of it. But the governor, I understand Pamela Furr, Crime Stories investigative reporter, has now been indicted by a grand jury and taken into custody. It's happening, people. Pam? It is happening. And you mentioned the state attorney. It's my understanding that the state's attorney said they did not have jurisdiction in this, so therefore wouldn't be investigating. that's why it was how can they not have jurisdiction it's within the state of missouri what does that mean good question but that is what their statement was publicly on this particular case i will also say that this all

happened before he became governor but it was right before he decided to run for governor. So he knew he had this in his very, very immediate past. So to take this kind of risk is pretty interesting. And also it should be noted, he was a Democrat right before he decided to run for governor as a Republican. So there may be some, you know, retaliation from a political standpoint, simply because he switched parties. That's what the scuttlebutt really is in the Missouri political circles at this point. He admitted to having this affair in 2015, but he didn't admit to it until January of this year. And that's when the investigation started. Well, another thing, Joseph Scott Morgan with me, forensics expert and professor at Jacksonville State University. Joe Scott, here's the problem

I have with it. I don't care, again, who's sleeping with who. Okay, that that's a moral decision. And I'm certainly don't have a leg to stand on regarding morals. But the law, once it's a felony, I'm in. In this case, you've got two consenting adults. She has consented to a sex relationship with the married governor. She's in the room, obviously living out some kind of a fetish between the two of them, and says that a photo was taken of her without her consent. Now, to me, that does a disservice to all women that have truly been victims of sex assault. And we see it unfolding before our eyes.

I've seen it in all the rapes and the molestations that I prosecuted when nobody believed the victim but me. But you know what? It's not our call, Joe Scott, because a grand jury heard the evidence, a grand jury. They decided that it was without her consent, and there was enough evidence to send the case on to a pettit jury or a jury of 12. So, Joe Scott, I mean, there you have it.

Yeah, Nancy, as you know, in grand jury proceedings, these proceedings are essentially sealed. It's not something where you can go in and, you know, you've got an audience that's in there. They're going to hear everything that's going on. This is the prosecutor presenting evidence to this group of impaneled people to decide if they're going to move forward with charges. And obviously, in this particular case, they've heard evidence that has been presented to them by the prosecutor that would compel them to move forward with charges in this environment. And another layer to this, we began to think about this, is you've heard this term blackmail floated around in the news media. And this is very troubling. And I really wonder if that has an influence on the decision that not just the prosecutor, but this impaneled grand jury, if it influenced them to the point

where they said, yeah, we're going to come back with a true bill on this and we're going to recommend indictment on this particular charge. And we're not really going to know anything until all of this comes out in court or is played out in court before our very eyes. Well, you know what? Actually, Troy, you know, I've been saying, how could she go that far in living out this fetish between herself married and the governor married but actually let's think about this for a moment who would consent to a photo of it that could be used against her that that's when you when you think about it in that light of argument, who would?

Nobody would. Nobody would want that photo taken. They could bring down a marriage. So she may very well have an argument that this grand jury bought into. Can we just say for a moment that the governor is not being charged with blackmail? So this is a one count indictment for invasion of privacy. There is no allegation with blackmail. So this is a one count indictment for invasion of privacy. There is no allegation of blackmail. And Nancy, as far as the grand jury is concerned, you and I both know that any prosecutor worth his salt or her salt can indict a ham sandwich.

Oh, goodness gracious. Did you go to the same class with Irving Younger that I did? I mean, the ham sandwich thing is way overdone, okay, Troy? I expected more from you, friend. The basic idea, Nancy, you know that any prosecutor that wants to get the indictment gets the indictment. The grand jury is a sheep, and they indict just about everything that the prosecutor wants because there's no defense attorney in there. The only person that they hear from in a grand jury that the prosecutor wants because there's no defense attorney in there. The only person that they hear from in a grand jury is the prosecutor. There's no one arguing on behalf of the governor in those proceedings. And even if this prosecutor thought that there

was a basis for blackmail, she would have indicted him. Well, the defendant has a right to show up at grand jury proceedings, although I would advise against it to any defendant because it could be used against them. I've got a question for you. Hold on, Troy. Pam Furr, Crime Stories investigative reporter. Pamela Furr joining us on the Missouri governor's story unfolding. Pamela Furr, they do have the photo, don't they? I mean, the photo exists. This

isn't just a he say, she say, is it? They say they have the photo, but they released 13 pieces of evidence. The prosecutor's office actually released the 13 pieces of evidence that was presented to the grand jury. And part of that evidence was a photo of this woman that they're listing as KS, who's allegedly the hairdresser. Also in that evidence list were emails between this woman and the governor. So that could be why they believe they have such a strong case also of the possibility of the invasion of privacy, and they're still investigating on the blackmail part. That's why that allegation is still so strong out there in these circles

in Missouri. Hang on, Nancy. Let's make this clear. The prosecutor just revealed in a court hearing that they don't actually have the picture that is involved in the indictment. And in fact, in a court hearing, Prosecutor Robert Steele said, I did not tell them that the picture doesn't exist. I told them we don't have it in our possession at this time. We plan to get that picture. Seems to me that there's something in those emails that would suggest the photo was against her consent. Guys, audio uncovered, audio secretly recorded by the husband of his wife describing her

sex encounter with the Missouri governor. Listen. He said, I'll make you feel better. I'll make you feel good. Come downstairs. I want to show you how to do a proper pull-up. And I knew that he was being sexual, and I still let him. I mean, he used some sort of tape. I don't know what it was, and taped my hands to these rings and then put a blindfold on me.

I don't even know my feelings. I don't even know. I just know my needs. I just don't know. And he stepped back and I saw a flash through the blindfold. He said, you're never going to mention my name. Otherwise, there's pictures of me everywhere. So he said, just please, just come to my house. You were just hearing a secretly recorded conversation by the hairdresser

that has basically brought down an administration in the Missouri state governor's office. That was recorded by her husband. But there's more. Take a listen to this. I met Eric a year ago and I instantly had a big crush on him. She goes on to explain her interactions with Greitens are sometimes initiated by herself and that they met because she cut his hair. She said she felt drawn to talk to the governor. But when he told her, I want you to come over to his home, she first said no and wanted to meet for coffee. You know, it's interesting right there, Karen Stark, that he says, no, I can't meet you for coffee because we would be seen.

This is wrong. But Karen Stark, New York psychologist, joining me, even knowing it was wrong, he continued to do it. I mean, we've all done things that are wrong. All of us, including me. Things I wish I had never done. Things I wish I had never done. Things I wish I could take back. I guess my question is, when you have so much to lose in your in-public life, you know you're going to get busted, Karen. And yet you see, Nancy, that it happens all the time. It's mind-blowing when you consider the fact that so many people who are in the public eye, who are responsible to citizens, knowing that they're running for office or that they're in office, go ahead and allow things like that to happen can't stop themselves. So they are psychologically compelled.

I'm not saying there's any kind of mental disorder, but they are compelled to do it despite the fact that it's a risk that can bring them down. And we see it happen all the time, that all of a sudden they're not paying attention to the fact that they have a responsibility and that this could actually ruin their careers and ruin their reputation with the people that they're representing. They're drawn to keep doing it. Back to Pamela for Crime Stories investigative reporter. What more do we know? And you said that blackmail is actually on the table, that they're investigating blackmail.

What's the genesis of a blackmail charge? The only thing that is being reported on the blackmail charge is, again, the email exchanges between the two that the city attorney's office has, and they released that as part of the list of evidence, 13 pieces of evidence that they have, including a picture of this hairdresser, but it's not the picture that everybody is talking about. You had asked earlier if they even have that picture. The truth is we don't know. They act as if they do, but we actually don't know if they have that picture. As far as blackmail, what's leading to that is possibly the conversations between the two that may be in those

emails. And they keep saying the investigation is ongoing and there could be more indictments handed down. The hairdresser says the governor taped her hands to rings, rings that you hold on to, and then put a blindfold on her, took a photo of her partially nude, and warned her to remain silent. Quote, I saw a flash through the blindfold and he said, you're never going to mention my name. Now that's according to her. Take a listen to what her husband says. He took a picture of my wife naked as blackmail. There is no worse person. I think it's as bad as it gets. I think it's as bad as it gets when somebody takes advantage of somebody. You know what's curious, Troy Slayton, L.A. defense lawyer,

the statute of limitations for invasion of privacy in Missouri is three years. That means that statute was due to expire in less than a month. That's pretty uncanny timing, Troy. I think it is. And it smacks of politics that the prosecutor would wait until the very last minute, actually the 11th hour, before she could file this indictment. And the governor has filed a motion to dismiss the indictment on the basis that any interaction between the two of them was consensual so if if the only evidence that they have of blackmail uh or that this was un not consensual is her statement well that just doesn't have the ring of truth to it. Because here we have a woman who's engaging in a bondage scenario, agreeing to be dominated. This could have very well been a part of their entire fantasy interaction together.

This is what sticks out in my mind. The governor is a father of two little boys. Now, he came into office as a political outsider, which I like. A Rhodes Scholar? That's not easy. A Navy SEAL? An officer who was wounded in Iraq? Wow! I mean, Joe Scott Morgan! What better resume, what better background could you have?

A father, a husband, a political outsider, a Rhodes Scholar, and a Navy SEAL who was actually wounded in the line of duty in Iraq? Yeah, you're right, Nancy. What a better resume. What a better resume also to look at it through this light. You should have known better. And I think that that's what's disturbing about this whole thing, the world that we live in now. This guy is set up. He's everything that you want to be. You know, to become a Rhodes Scholar in and of itself is a monumental task, to go abroad and study in locations like Oxford,

and to make it through Navy SEAL training to lead men in battle. And he's also been involved in charitable efforts relative to veterans coming home from the war. And I applaud him for all of that. But, you know, in one instance, in just one blink of an eye, all of that can be destroyed by decisions that you make and things that he should have known better than to have been involved in. But again, we fall back to our fallback position is always, well, they're consenting adults, so it's none of our business. Well, unfortunately, it is our business now because he's a public servant. It's in the light of day. And everybody's exposed to all of this tawdry, tawdry business.

Well, I agree that it's tawdry unless it's blackmail, unless a photo was taken of her unclothed without her consent. And I don't care what she agreed to. If this was against her consent, it is against her consent. And if the prosecutor does believe the photo was against her consent, it must be prosecuted. I know it's a hard sell, but if they really believe the photo was against her consent, it must be prosecuted. I know it's a hard sell, but if they really believe the photo was against her consent, there's no choice, but they must present it to a jury. In a recording obtained initially by News 4, a woman says she had a sex encounter with Missouri Governor Eric Greitens and that he tried to blackmail her to keep the encounter secret. Interesting, Troy Slayton, L.A. defense attorney,

he has been indicted for allegedly taking the photo, but not for blackmail. That's right. And so all this talk about, you know, what an amazing person he is. We can't forget that. And if it sounds to me like this woman would have the motivation to lie to her husband who is figuring all this out and to say to him, you know, honey, you know, he was blackmailing me. And that sounds to me like that was her excuse to her husband. And that she was trying to look for sympathy from her husband at that point. Well, we know a little bit about the emails that may suggest blackmail. In an October email, the hairdresser allegedly sends an email to a Gmail account she told her husband she had used to get in touch with Governor Greitens. And it states, allegedly, Eric, I'm asking you to please consider all who are involved in the circumstances around us. I need you to not book at the salon anymore.

This isn't fair to me nor anyone else close to us. Please respect me and my wishes. Now, I don't know that that proves blackmail, that she's asking him not to book appointments at the salon. That doesn't really impress me one way or the other, Troy Slayton. No, that sounds like she's having remorse and wants to maybe do the right thing now and doesn't want to be forced to be in a situation with him that has nothing to do with whether or not he surreptitiously took the

photo like her husband surreptitiously recorded her now the wife has spoken out gritton's wife sheena has stated we have a loving marriage and an awesome family anything beyond that is between us and god i want the media and those who wish to peddle gossip to stay away from me and my children man she's in a bad spot, Karen Stark. Yeah, and there's not too much that she can do about it. It sounds great that she's saying it's between them. And I do agree that it is between them, except that he is somebody who's in the public eye. And it's very hard to say that the media shouldn't be involved when he took that kind of a risk. Well, you know, I've also got a question. The motives of a husband that records his wife's conversations, Joe Scott Morgan.

I mean, what's his motive other than revenge, hatred, greed, get back? I mean, what do you think? Yeah, I know we've, I remember famously the, there was a case and it, it, the name escapes me right now, down in Florida, where you had a fellow that was taping the sexual encounters of his wife to, that was actually used as, as blackmail toward the individuals that they would target. So, you know, that brings up, that raises a completely different specter in this whole thing as well. You know, what is his motivation or is it financial gain? Is it just him? Is it some kind of paraphilia he has, you know, sexually directed these events that

his wife is engaged in? I don't know. It leaves a big, huge open swath for, you know, kind of fill in the blank here as we go forward. Is this indictment the real thing or is it just more political trickery? Nancy, the first step in a possible impeachment of the governor was taken Tuesday as a Missouri State House committee met for the first time in its investigation of the scandal. The bipartisan committee has 40 days to call witnesses with subpoenas and to prepare a report that, depending on what they find, could lead to impeachment proceedings against Governor Greitens. Michigan Republican Party

officials say that they've created a new non-profit in order to raise money to help the embattled Missouri governor with his legal expenses. Also, supporters of Greitens have started a legal defense fund privately. And on the flip side of that, there's a veterans charity founded by Greitens that says they'll now support an attorney general's inquiry into whether the misuse of our resources by the Greitens campaign took place. Nancy Grace, Crime Stories. Goodbye, friend. This is an iHeart Podcast. Goodbye, friend.