1 00:00:10,320 --> 00:00:13,840 It started out as a missing teenager. 2 00:00:13,880 --> 00:00:17,320 Her uncle commits suicide a couple of days later. 3 00:00:17,360 --> 00:00:20,640 He's supposed to talk to police. That's pretty weird. 4 00:00:20,680 --> 00:00:24,920 And then I think the reason why we just kept at it 5 00:00:24,960 --> 00:00:28,520 is because it started morphing into something more than that. 6 00:00:28,560 --> 00:00:31,120 Then the child abuse came out the woodwork, 7 00:00:31,160 --> 00:00:33,800 and that had so many twists and turns 8 00:00:33,840 --> 00:00:39,800 that we could no longer imagine where the story would go next. 9 00:00:39,840 --> 00:00:45,400 It's hard to talk about incest on TV. I mean, it is. 10 00:00:45,440 --> 00:00:48,040 Even though we're not shocked by anything anymore, 11 00:00:48,080 --> 00:00:50,000 we've got a new lead every day. 12 00:00:50,040 --> 00:00:52,200 It gets more disgusting as it goes on. 13 00:00:52,240 --> 00:00:54,280 And you could almost lose sight of Brittney 14 00:00:54,320 --> 00:00:56,560 at one point in the story. 15 00:00:56,600 --> 00:00:59,360 She's the one that started it. 16 00:00:59,400 --> 00:01:00,800 Now we've got a beautiful young girl 17 00:01:00,840 --> 00:01:03,680 and, you know what, I hate to say it, 18 00:01:03,720 --> 00:01:08,200 but when you are an attractive young girl, 19 00:01:08,240 --> 00:01:11,480 yes, people will pay more attention to you. 20 00:01:12,840 --> 00:01:15,600 It's unfair, but the viewership, 21 00:01:15,640 --> 00:01:18,920 "She's really pretty. I wonder what happened to her?" 22 00:01:18,960 --> 00:01:21,520 And then their imaginations start running wild, 23 00:01:21,560 --> 00:01:24,240 and then you're hooked into the story. 24 00:01:24,280 --> 00:01:25,720 I wish it would convince somebody 25 00:01:25,760 --> 00:01:28,160 who might know something to say something. 26 00:01:28,200 --> 00:01:32,400 I'd like to think that the players in this 27 00:01:32,440 --> 00:01:36,080 realize that the story has been written, except that ending, 28 00:01:36,120 --> 00:01:38,480 and the... the least they could do 29 00:01:38,520 --> 00:01:42,320 is give us an idea of what happened to Brittney. 30 00:01:48,080 --> 00:01:50,760 I actually contacted Chessie Wood 31 00:01:50,800 --> 00:01:53,800 and told her that the reason I needed to talk to her 32 00:01:53,840 --> 00:01:58,960 was about her daughter's disappearance and... 33 00:01:59,000 --> 00:02:02,040 Because I knew that if I told her 34 00:02:02,080 --> 00:02:03,880 the real reason I wanted to talk to her, 35 00:02:03,920 --> 00:02:06,680 she probably would not have shown. 36 00:02:08,200 --> 00:02:10,240 I appreciate you coming in. 37 00:02:10,280 --> 00:02:11,960 This has been a long time coming. 38 00:02:12,000 --> 00:02:18,200 I apologize that it's taken so long for us to line this up. 39 00:03:04,480 --> 00:03:07,920 They arrested me in front of my two babies, 40 00:03:07,960 --> 00:03:12,720 and put me in a van 41 00:03:12,760 --> 00:03:15,240 with all these people, 42 00:03:15,280 --> 00:03:16,680 a couple I'm starting to suspect 43 00:03:16,720 --> 00:03:19,120 had something to do with my daughter, 44 00:03:19,160 --> 00:03:22,040 not being able to find her. 45 00:03:22,080 --> 00:03:25,400 And you've done heard horror stories 46 00:03:25,440 --> 00:03:27,400 about what they done at this point. 47 00:03:27,440 --> 00:03:30,040 I knew I was in the van with monsters. 48 00:03:30,080 --> 00:03:32,240 I said it then and I still believe it. 49 00:03:32,280 --> 00:03:34,880 And Mendy was next to me. 50 00:03:34,920 --> 00:03:39,800 They had me, um, shackled, which was good for them. 51 00:03:39,840 --> 00:03:42,560 Um, and Mendy was sitting right next to me, 52 00:03:42,600 --> 00:03:45,520 Wendy was behind me, and Dustin was next to her, 53 00:03:45,560 --> 00:03:48,840 and James could have been there and was behind them. 54 00:03:48,880 --> 00:03:51,240 And we're in the van, 55 00:03:51,280 --> 00:03:55,080 and they're laughing. 56 00:03:55,120 --> 00:03:59,640 Okay, they just got arrested for sex crimes towards children, 57 00:03:59,680 --> 00:04:01,520 and they are laughing. 58 00:04:01,560 --> 00:04:05,440 And I remember looking at them, and I looked around the van, 59 00:04:05,480 --> 00:04:09,280 and I said, "What is so damn funny?" 60 00:04:09,320 --> 00:04:12,840 And Mendy looked at me, as serious as she could be, 61 00:04:12,880 --> 00:04:15,840 and she said, "God is gonna take care of this." 62 00:04:15,880 --> 00:04:17,720 And I'll never forget, I looked around the van, 63 00:04:17,760 --> 00:04:21,400 and I said, "It looks like he already is." 64 00:04:21,440 --> 00:04:24,480 Chessie Wood first came onto the radar 65 00:04:24,520 --> 00:04:27,840 during the course of conducting an extended forensic interview 66 00:04:27,880 --> 00:04:29,200 with one of the victims. 67 00:04:29,240 --> 00:04:31,440 During that time, Chessie was implicated 68 00:04:31,480 --> 00:04:36,040 as participating in sex acts with a minor. 69 00:04:36,080 --> 00:04:38,160 And during that time period, 70 00:04:38,200 --> 00:04:40,760 Donnie was actively involved as well, 71 00:04:40,800 --> 00:04:45,360 almost in a threesome-style sex act. 72 00:04:45,400 --> 00:04:51,520 Based on my recollection, she did not confess outright. 73 00:04:51,560 --> 00:04:54,000 However, she did make some admissions 74 00:04:54,040 --> 00:04:57,680 that she was involved sexually with Donald Holland. 75 00:05:14,840 --> 00:05:20,400 And the incident that she described with Donald Holland 76 00:05:20,440 --> 00:05:23,480 was consistent with the description 77 00:05:23,520 --> 00:05:26,800 of the events that occurred with the child victim as well. 78 00:05:26,840 --> 00:05:29,840 Therefore it led us as investigators to believe 79 00:05:29,880 --> 00:05:36,160 that she simply omitted the fact that the child was involved. 80 00:07:01,600 --> 00:07:04,440 She did make some statements and some comments 81 00:07:04,480 --> 00:07:08,480 to being sexually involved with Donald Holland 82 00:07:08,520 --> 00:07:11,880 which coincided with the descriptions 83 00:07:11,920 --> 00:07:16,120 of some the events that the child victim described, 84 00:07:16,160 --> 00:07:20,080 and therefore there was enough corroborating testimony there 85 00:07:20,120 --> 00:07:23,160 that led us to believe as investigators 86 00:07:23,200 --> 00:07:25,880 that these events actually did occur, 87 00:07:25,920 --> 00:07:31,560 and therefore Chessie Wood was subsequently charged criminally. 88 00:07:38,400 --> 00:07:40,040 I knew I was going to jail. 89 00:07:40,080 --> 00:07:42,280 When I get there, these women over here 90 00:07:42,320 --> 00:07:45,640 is beating on their door, and they're telling me, 91 00:07:45,680 --> 00:07:49,320 "I saw you on TV and I'm going to kill you." 92 00:07:49,360 --> 00:07:51,240 Never in my wildest years 93 00:07:51,280 --> 00:07:53,040 did I think it was gonna be my best friend 94 00:07:53,080 --> 00:07:56,800 that was gonna be accused of, you know, such things. 95 00:07:56,840 --> 00:07:58,680 So the night she got arrested, 96 00:07:58,720 --> 00:08:00,840 I was at work, and I got the phone call, 97 00:08:00,880 --> 00:08:05,920 I think it was from Paul, saying, "What can we do?" 98 00:08:05,960 --> 00:08:08,600 Well, when she first went to jail, she didn't have a bond, 99 00:08:08,640 --> 00:08:10,640 because, you know, you're dealing with sex crimes, 100 00:08:10,680 --> 00:08:13,040 you have to go in front of a judge. 101 00:08:13,080 --> 00:08:16,680 And when she got bail, 102 00:08:16,720 --> 00:08:20,240 I posted 'em and got her out as soon as possible. 103 00:08:20,280 --> 00:08:22,880 While we were in the process of bonding her out, 104 00:08:22,920 --> 00:08:27,520 I knew she was gonna have to have an attorney. 105 00:08:27,560 --> 00:08:30,680 I didn't know how she was gonna be able to pay for one, 106 00:08:30,720 --> 00:08:34,680 you know, after having to post money for bond. 107 00:08:34,720 --> 00:08:38,080 But God blessed us with Michael and Eileen, 108 00:08:38,120 --> 00:08:42,320 and we couldn't have asked for a better defense team for her, 109 00:08:42,360 --> 00:08:47,880 because those people worked night and day on her case. 110 00:08:47,920 --> 00:08:51,600 My name's Michael McDuffie, 71 years old today. 111 00:08:51,640 --> 00:08:54,640 I am what is known in the legal profession as a practitioner, 112 00:08:54,680 --> 00:08:57,440 which is an individual lawyer that works basically alone. 113 00:08:57,480 --> 00:09:00,720 I have my legal assistant who's smarter than I am. 114 00:09:00,760 --> 00:09:02,840 And we practice in a wide area of the law, 115 00:09:02,880 --> 00:09:06,760 criminal defense, litigation, immigration, basically. 116 00:09:06,800 --> 00:09:10,040 I'm a trial lawyer. I'm very good at what I do. 117 00:09:10,080 --> 00:09:12,120 In this particular case, 118 00:09:12,160 --> 00:09:14,440 when we very first met Chessie, 119 00:09:14,480 --> 00:09:17,800 Michael, being in the field that he's in, 120 00:09:17,840 --> 00:09:20,840 was highly skeptical of her innocence. 121 00:09:20,880 --> 00:09:23,240 And I kind of was hesitant, 122 00:09:23,280 --> 00:09:26,680 and I wanted to take it one step at a time with her, 123 00:09:26,720 --> 00:09:30,880 but talking to her and getting to know her just a little bit, 124 00:09:30,920 --> 00:09:34,280 I came to the conclusion that what was going on with her 125 00:09:34,320 --> 00:09:39,320 was absolutely horrific and deliberate. 126 00:09:39,360 --> 00:09:42,480 In my opinion, law enforcement, 127 00:09:42,520 --> 00:09:44,480 along with the district attorney's office, 128 00:09:44,520 --> 00:09:48,520 whichever one was controlling whichever one at the time, 129 00:09:48,560 --> 00:09:50,840 they were very angry with Chessie 130 00:09:50,880 --> 00:09:53,840 when Chessie got on TV just before her arrest, 131 00:09:53,880 --> 00:09:57,080 probably maybe four or five weeks before, 132 00:09:57,120 --> 00:10:00,360 and called them out because they weren't doing anything 133 00:10:00,400 --> 00:10:01,920 to look for her daughter. 134 00:10:01,960 --> 00:10:07,040 Where did the truth and the justice of this get lost? 135 00:10:07,080 --> 00:10:08,320 Because it was gone. 136 00:10:08,360 --> 00:10:10,320 And Chessie got arrested for that reason. 137 00:10:10,360 --> 00:10:13,320 She got arrested because she dared to say, 138 00:10:13,360 --> 00:10:15,520 "You're not doing anything to help me." 139 00:10:18,880 --> 00:10:20,160 So all of this bad news 140 00:10:20,200 --> 00:10:25,160 was cascading out of her family tree, 141 00:10:25,200 --> 00:10:29,080 and she still was hoping that some of that news 142 00:10:29,120 --> 00:10:30,760 might actually lead to a revelation 143 00:10:30,800 --> 00:10:32,320 of where her daughter was. 144 00:10:32,360 --> 00:10:36,240 Of course, a lot of people still believe she knows. 145 00:10:36,280 --> 00:10:38,240 She swears she didn't. 146 00:10:38,280 --> 00:10:43,080 I'm not sure where I stand on that right now. 147 00:10:43,120 --> 00:10:47,320 Maybe that hesitation... to believe her 148 00:10:47,360 --> 00:10:50,720 is just the newsperson in me. 149 00:10:50,760 --> 00:10:52,760 But she's been a desperate mom. 150 00:10:52,800 --> 00:10:56,080 I mean, there's definitely some grieving going on there. 151 00:10:56,120 --> 00:10:58,320 So I'm not sure. 152 00:10:58,360 --> 00:11:00,560 Which is I guess why this is still a story. 153 00:11:00,600 --> 00:11:04,320 I actually remember them sharing her mug shot 154 00:11:04,360 --> 00:11:06,440 and on social media everybody actually saying that, 155 00:11:06,480 --> 00:11:08,400 "Oh, I see the evil in her eyes." 156 00:11:08,440 --> 00:11:12,240 No, that was sadness, that was despair, that was sorrow. 157 00:11:12,280 --> 00:11:14,280 That wasn't evil. 158 00:11:14,320 --> 00:11:18,040 That wasn't anything of that sort 159 00:11:18,080 --> 00:11:19,840 that you were talking about. 160 00:11:19,880 --> 00:11:23,160 She is a mother that is being accused of something 161 00:11:23,200 --> 00:11:26,720 while her daughter is missing. 162 00:11:26,760 --> 00:11:29,360 So when the sex crimes come out, 163 00:11:29,400 --> 00:11:31,720 everything changed in a blink of an eye. 164 00:11:31,760 --> 00:11:35,400 I lost all the public, once my family members, one by one, 165 00:11:35,440 --> 00:11:38,720 started getting arrested, including me. 166 00:11:38,760 --> 00:11:42,880 Especially the day I got arrested was horrible, 167 00:11:42,920 --> 00:11:47,360 because it wasn't the arrest, it was the public that we lost. 168 00:11:47,400 --> 00:11:49,040 KlaasKids left us. 169 00:11:49,080 --> 00:11:53,520 And then we knew that the police was sure a no-go at that time. 170 00:11:53,560 --> 00:11:57,560 And then social media jumped on with everybody else, 171 00:11:57,600 --> 00:12:00,720 and started bashing me, my family, 172 00:12:00,760 --> 00:12:02,560 didn't wanna look for Brittney no more. 173 00:12:02,600 --> 00:12:04,880 They wanted me to go to prison was their main concern. 174 00:12:04,920 --> 00:12:07,800 It was gonna come down to who people believed. 175 00:12:07,840 --> 00:12:10,600 We needed her to take a lie detector test. 176 00:12:10,640 --> 00:12:15,240 I think Michael, until that lie detector test was done, 177 00:12:15,280 --> 00:12:19,480 he still had that maybe 10% doubt. 178 00:12:19,520 --> 00:12:23,000 And basically I withheld judgment about her 179 00:12:23,040 --> 00:12:24,800 until she took a polygraph examination, 180 00:12:24,840 --> 00:12:27,600 which she volunteered to do, which impressed me enormously, 181 00:12:27,640 --> 00:12:29,680 because people who tend to be guilty 182 00:12:29,720 --> 00:12:32,400 are reluctant to take polygraph examinations 183 00:12:32,440 --> 00:12:34,440 with a good polygrapher. 184 00:12:34,480 --> 00:12:37,840 And I told her going in that this was a good polygrapher 185 00:12:37,880 --> 00:12:43,080 and he has a reputation of being correct 99% of the time. 186 00:12:43,120 --> 00:12:46,120 Chessie Wood was brought into the office 187 00:12:46,160 --> 00:12:50,400 by her attorney's legal assistant. 188 00:12:50,440 --> 00:12:54,000 I had talked to her attorney, Michael McDuffie, 189 00:12:54,040 --> 00:12:57,320 and he had told me about the case 190 00:12:57,360 --> 00:12:59,680 and what she was accused of. 191 00:12:59,720 --> 00:13:02,760 I just sat down and started going through 192 00:13:02,800 --> 00:13:05,160 what the allegations were, 193 00:13:05,200 --> 00:13:07,920 and asking her, did she do this, 194 00:13:07,960 --> 00:13:11,040 was she there on that particular day, 195 00:13:11,080 --> 00:13:15,720 when her... her niece said 196 00:13:15,760 --> 00:13:19,800 that she went into her room 197 00:13:19,840 --> 00:13:23,680 and had sex with her father, 198 00:13:23,720 --> 00:13:28,720 and then she came into the room and they all had sex together. 199 00:13:28,760 --> 00:13:31,080 She said that never happened, never had... 200 00:13:31,120 --> 00:13:34,400 never any sex with him, and had never... 201 00:13:34,440 --> 00:13:36,800 never did anything with either one of 'em, 202 00:13:36,840 --> 00:13:39,040 had no earthly idea. 203 00:13:39,960 --> 00:13:42,120 In polygraph, 204 00:13:42,160 --> 00:13:44,640 you either fail the polygraph test, 205 00:13:44,680 --> 00:13:46,960 or you pass the polygraph test. 206 00:13:47,000 --> 00:13:49,600 In the case of Chessie Wood, 207 00:13:49,640 --> 00:13:51,880 the results were such 208 00:13:51,920 --> 00:13:56,600 that I would say decisively that she was innocent. 209 00:13:56,640 --> 00:14:00,160 I would be willing to go in a court of law, anywhere, 210 00:14:00,200 --> 00:14:04,440 and say that she was completely innocent of this. 211 00:14:08,840 --> 00:14:10,200 In the state of Alabama, 212 00:14:10,240 --> 00:14:12,720 both sides have to agree for it to be admitted, 213 00:14:12,760 --> 00:14:16,160 and the DA obviously did not want it admitted into evidence. 214 00:14:16,200 --> 00:14:17,760 Unfortunately. 215 00:14:17,800 --> 00:14:20,280 They would have brought it into evidence in a nanosecond 216 00:14:20,320 --> 00:14:22,480 if she'd have failed it. 217 00:14:24,560 --> 00:14:26,040 You know... 218 00:14:30,200 --> 00:14:35,320 Oddly enough, I'm glad, if that's true, that's the case. 219 00:14:35,360 --> 00:14:40,000 Um, she has to live with what she knew was happening. 220 00:14:40,040 --> 00:14:42,400 If she didn't do anything, uh, 221 00:14:42,440 --> 00:14:46,400 personally, physically, to a child, 222 00:14:46,440 --> 00:14:50,280 she still knew that there were some things going on 223 00:14:50,320 --> 00:14:52,440 that shouldn't be happening. 224 00:14:52,480 --> 00:14:55,440 At that point, I would think you would try 225 00:14:55,480 --> 00:14:58,160 to get your child out of that, 226 00:14:58,200 --> 00:14:59,600 or you would report it, 227 00:14:59,640 --> 00:15:02,520 although it's not easy when it's your own family. 228 00:15:02,560 --> 00:15:06,760 But on... on such a whole scale... 229 00:15:06,800 --> 00:15:10,400 I mean, this was an entire family. 230 00:15:10,440 --> 00:15:11,840 That part I don't get. 231 00:15:11,880 --> 00:15:15,400 In fact, with Wendy Holland's trial, 232 00:15:15,440 --> 00:15:18,720 Chessie's sister, in Bay Minette, Baldwin County, 233 00:15:18,760 --> 00:15:23,600 uh, Nicki Patterson, the prosecutor of that case, 234 00:15:23,640 --> 00:15:25,800 back-doored the polygraph examination, 235 00:15:25,840 --> 00:15:28,360 not the results of the polygraph examination, 236 00:15:28,400 --> 00:15:31,160 but the inference was that Wendy had taken the polygraph 237 00:15:31,200 --> 00:15:33,520 and had failed it. 238 00:15:33,560 --> 00:15:36,080 So it's okay for the prosecution to use it 239 00:15:36,120 --> 00:15:38,120 if the person who takes it fails, 240 00:15:38,160 --> 00:15:39,560 but they have a real problem 241 00:15:39,600 --> 00:15:43,000 when the person that they're accusing of a crime 242 00:15:43,040 --> 00:15:45,600 takes a polygraph and passes it. 243 00:15:45,640 --> 00:15:48,360 The same person gave both parties the polygraph. 244 00:15:48,400 --> 00:15:50,400 When I was in court facing these charges, 245 00:15:50,440 --> 00:15:52,080 my attorney actually told me, 246 00:15:52,120 --> 00:15:54,400 no matter if you beat these charges or not, 247 00:15:54,440 --> 00:15:57,080 you will... there's people in the public 248 00:15:57,120 --> 00:15:59,440 that you'll always be deemed guilty. 249 00:15:59,480 --> 00:16:04,400 No matter if your jury appears, 12 of 'em found you innocent, 250 00:16:04,440 --> 00:16:06,040 it's not going to change people's minds. 251 00:16:06,080 --> 00:16:07,800 It will change a very few, 252 00:16:07,840 --> 00:16:10,000 but they had it set that I was guilty 253 00:16:10,040 --> 00:16:11,320 and nothing's gonna change that. 254 00:16:11,360 --> 00:16:14,280 To this day, they still believe I'm guilty. 255 00:16:21,720 --> 00:16:24,360 The only reason that Chessie gave into this 256 00:16:24,400 --> 00:16:27,400 is because it had been three years 257 00:16:27,440 --> 00:16:29,840 of everywhere she went, people whispering, 258 00:16:29,880 --> 00:16:33,920 people talking, people saying, people passing judgment. 259 00:16:33,960 --> 00:16:35,320 It had been enough. 260 00:16:35,360 --> 00:16:37,360 And when they took me up in court 261 00:16:37,400 --> 00:16:39,440 and read each charge of mine, 262 00:16:39,480 --> 00:16:42,400 each charge was 20 to life, 263 00:16:42,440 --> 00:16:45,560 and all I could think of was if I ever go behind bars, 264 00:16:45,600 --> 00:16:47,000 I'll never find her. 265 00:16:47,040 --> 00:16:50,520 Nobody's going to look for her like me. 266 00:16:50,560 --> 00:16:53,920 I mean, there's people that love and care about her, but they... 267 00:16:53,960 --> 00:16:57,920 There's been times I've probably come near to death, 268 00:16:57,960 --> 00:16:59,720 healthwise and everything else, 269 00:16:59,760 --> 00:17:03,760 and I know there ain't nobody's going to get to that extent. 270 00:17:03,800 --> 00:17:05,360 In court, it don't matter 271 00:17:05,400 --> 00:17:08,280 if you're innocent or guilty to begin with. 272 00:17:08,320 --> 00:17:10,320 It's what the jury believes. 273 00:17:10,360 --> 00:17:13,160 And the judge can say, "Well, you can't..." 274 00:17:13,200 --> 00:17:16,120 "That's not submissible. That's not submissible." 275 00:17:16,160 --> 00:17:18,760 And before you know it, you can't even tell your story, 276 00:17:18,800 --> 00:17:21,600 and if you can't tell your story, you're guilty. 277 00:17:21,640 --> 00:17:23,960 She was never guilty of any of this. 278 00:17:24,000 --> 00:17:26,760 Pleading guilty was part of a plea agreement 279 00:17:26,800 --> 00:17:30,600 that I entered into for all the big charges to be dropped, 280 00:17:30,640 --> 00:17:32,760 and the smaller charges she'd plead guilty to 281 00:17:32,800 --> 00:17:35,960 would allow the district attorney to save face. 282 00:17:36,000 --> 00:17:37,480 The fact is, she wasn't guilty of it either, 283 00:17:37,520 --> 00:17:40,280 and I'd have tried the case, and I'd have won. 284 00:17:40,320 --> 00:17:42,160 And they knew I'd have won, 285 00:17:42,200 --> 00:17:44,560 but in doing so, I would have to put my client 286 00:17:44,600 --> 00:17:47,040 through a lot of very unfavorable publicity, 287 00:17:47,080 --> 00:17:48,600 and it was enough. 288 00:17:48,640 --> 00:17:52,240 So it was a misdemeanor, and I agreed to it. 289 00:17:52,280 --> 00:17:55,160 I had to be the voice of reason with both people, 290 00:17:55,200 --> 00:17:59,080 telling Chessie, "It's okay if you don't wanna keep this fight up." 291 00:17:59,120 --> 00:18:01,160 Because I think she felt guilty 292 00:18:01,200 --> 00:18:04,480 that she was caving on any portion of it. 293 00:18:04,520 --> 00:18:09,600 Um, but, "Michael, you need to understand this is her decision, 294 00:18:09,640 --> 00:18:12,160 and you haven't had to live her life for the last three years." 295 00:18:12,200 --> 00:18:14,240 "It's been awful. She can't go anywhere." 296 00:18:14,280 --> 00:18:15,760 I can tell you of an incident 297 00:18:15,800 --> 00:18:18,360 in a drive-through at a fast food restaurant, 298 00:18:18,400 --> 00:18:22,160 where they didn't wanna serve her when they saw who she was. 299 00:18:22,200 --> 00:18:24,560 I mean, it's horrible, 300 00:18:24,600 --> 00:18:27,120 and I don't think people can fathom what it's been like. 301 00:18:27,160 --> 00:18:30,440 Michael was dying to have that trial, 302 00:18:30,480 --> 00:18:35,120 just because sometimes the DA's office needs to be reminded 303 00:18:35,160 --> 00:18:36,880 that they can't step on people 304 00:18:36,920 --> 00:18:40,840 just because they have DA attached. 305 00:18:40,880 --> 00:18:42,360 At that point in time, 306 00:18:42,400 --> 00:18:45,160 the prosecutor's office was inundated with cases, 307 00:18:45,200 --> 00:18:47,000 and this wasn't the only case going on 308 00:18:47,040 --> 00:18:48,600 in Mobile and Baldwin County. 309 00:18:48,640 --> 00:18:53,040 There were hundreds of other crimes being committed monthly. 310 00:18:53,080 --> 00:18:54,760 So... 311 00:18:54,800 --> 00:18:59,360 But this one case took up a lot of time and a lot of manpower, 312 00:18:59,400 --> 00:19:01,520 and so it was a lot easier, 313 00:19:01,560 --> 00:19:05,920 rather than try all of these defendants, 314 00:19:05,960 --> 00:19:10,320 these individuals just needed to be processed through the system 315 00:19:10,360 --> 00:19:13,680 and sent away to pay their debt to society. 316 00:19:13,720 --> 00:19:17,280 And my lawyer that was so steadfast about it all said, 317 00:19:17,320 --> 00:19:21,160 "Chessie, they're offering you a deal." 318 00:19:21,200 --> 00:19:23,880 And I said, "No way." I mean, I was still no way. 319 00:19:23,920 --> 00:19:28,680 What I said was, "I'm never going to take a deal 320 00:19:28,720 --> 00:19:32,160 that has anything to do with harming a child, 321 00:19:32,200 --> 00:19:34,920 'cause I'm just... I'm not gonna do that." 322 00:19:34,960 --> 00:19:36,280 "It's something I would never do 323 00:19:36,320 --> 00:19:38,520 and I'm never gonna plead guilty to it." 324 00:19:38,560 --> 00:19:42,720 He said, "What if the charge has nothing to do with a child?" 325 00:19:42,760 --> 00:19:44,840 And I said, "What do you mean?" 326 00:19:44,880 --> 00:19:48,160 And he said, "They're offering reckless endangerment, 327 00:19:48,200 --> 00:19:51,960 which is the lowest of the totem pole misdemeanor, 328 00:19:52,000 --> 00:19:53,160 class E misdemeanor." 329 00:19:53,200 --> 00:19:55,920 Reckless endangerment is 330 00:19:55,960 --> 00:19:58,840 if I'm driving my car, 331 00:19:58,880 --> 00:20:01,440 and someone is in my car, 332 00:20:01,480 --> 00:20:05,760 and I don't make them, you know, put on their seatbelt, 333 00:20:05,800 --> 00:20:08,320 that's reckless endangerment. 334 00:20:08,360 --> 00:20:11,920 So she was found guilty, 335 00:20:11,960 --> 00:20:16,600 or pled guilty, to a misdemeanor charge. 336 00:20:16,640 --> 00:20:21,480 Nothing to do with a child. Nothing to do... A misdemeanor. 337 00:20:21,520 --> 00:20:23,200 How do you do that? 338 00:20:23,240 --> 00:20:26,600 When she was arrested for sex crimes, 339 00:20:26,640 --> 00:20:29,680 you had no evidence against her, zero evidence, 340 00:20:29,720 --> 00:20:32,840 but you had all the evidence against everybody else, 341 00:20:32,880 --> 00:20:36,200 and the girl didn't wanna testify against her. 342 00:20:37,200 --> 00:20:39,520 So how does she still get charged, 343 00:20:39,560 --> 00:20:44,760 for something that's nowhere near what you arrested her for? 344 00:20:44,800 --> 00:20:47,400 How do you offer a plea deal for that? 345 00:20:49,240 --> 00:20:53,040 Because they knew if they didn't get her with something, 346 00:20:53,080 --> 00:20:54,600 she would sue 'em, 347 00:20:54,640 --> 00:20:57,760 and that would bring down the whole department. 348 00:20:57,800 --> 00:21:02,560 And by the way, for the record, she got no formal probation. 349 00:21:02,600 --> 00:21:05,640 She was given informal probation, 350 00:21:05,680 --> 00:21:08,120 which means she doesn't have to report to anybody. 351 00:21:08,160 --> 00:21:09,960 All she has to do is stay out of trouble. 352 00:21:10,000 --> 00:21:12,560 And she had never been in trouble, 353 00:21:12,600 --> 00:21:15,360 and she's never been in trouble since. 354 00:21:15,400 --> 00:21:17,680 That was the other thing, where is the criminal history 355 00:21:17,720 --> 00:21:22,080 that justifies the way they vilified her in the media? 356 00:21:22,120 --> 00:21:23,200 There is none. 357 00:21:23,240 --> 00:21:24,840 She really was a victim 358 00:21:24,880 --> 00:21:28,000 of both the judicial system, 359 00:21:28,040 --> 00:21:31,160 the media, and the public. 360 00:21:31,200 --> 00:21:32,400 She really was. 361 00:21:32,440 --> 00:21:34,800 And the media, to this minute, 362 00:21:34,840 --> 00:21:36,600 still can't let it go, 363 00:21:36,640 --> 00:21:38,560 which is pathetic. 364 00:21:38,600 --> 00:21:42,280 Yeah, it's hard to shake the banner 365 00:21:42,320 --> 00:21:44,520 of being a child molester, 366 00:21:44,560 --> 00:21:49,440 and if you didn't do it, I imagine it would be maddening. 367 00:21:49,480 --> 00:21:50,960 That is when you have to trust 368 00:21:51,000 --> 00:21:52,760 that prosecutors and law enforcement 369 00:21:52,800 --> 00:21:54,080 have their act together, 370 00:21:54,120 --> 00:21:57,160 and they studied this for a long time. 371 00:21:57,200 --> 00:22:00,680 For me, knowing some of the law enforcement in town, 372 00:22:00,720 --> 00:22:02,600 this is not something you take lightly. 373 00:22:02,640 --> 00:22:08,240 I felt like if they were at this point in the prosecution, 374 00:22:08,280 --> 00:22:10,560 they had their act together, 375 00:22:10,600 --> 00:22:13,080 because this is something you don't wanna accuse anybody of 376 00:22:13,120 --> 00:22:14,640 that didn't do it. 377 00:22:14,680 --> 00:22:17,560 I felt like they probably had their act together. 378 00:22:17,600 --> 00:22:19,040 It turns out they did. 379 00:22:19,080 --> 00:22:22,160 But, yeah, if you are led down that path, 380 00:22:22,200 --> 00:22:26,200 and you are a... a person that wasn't guilty, 381 00:22:26,240 --> 00:22:27,680 but you were caught up in this, 382 00:22:27,720 --> 00:22:29,760 it's sort of like being on death row and being innocent. 383 00:22:29,800 --> 00:22:32,160 "Nobody's listening to me. How am I gonna...?" 384 00:22:32,200 --> 00:22:33,560 "Unless somebody comes along 385 00:22:33,600 --> 00:22:38,640 that befriends me and helps me out." 386 00:22:38,680 --> 00:22:39,720 People think that the media 387 00:22:39,760 --> 00:22:41,440 never tells a lie, 388 00:22:41,480 --> 00:22:44,680 and people think that law enforcement never tells a lie. 389 00:22:44,720 --> 00:22:46,080 And Michael will tell everyone, 390 00:22:46,120 --> 00:22:48,520 "Law enforcement can tell you anything." 391 00:22:48,560 --> 00:22:52,000 "They can lie to you about the color of their shirts." 392 00:22:52,040 --> 00:22:56,800 "You... can't lie to them, but they can lie to you." 393 00:22:56,840 --> 00:22:59,320 And people don't believe that, and people don't wanna think 394 00:22:59,360 --> 00:23:02,720 that law enforcement would use those tactics, but they do. 395 00:23:02,760 --> 00:23:04,560 They're not bad people. 396 00:23:04,600 --> 00:23:08,320 They're doing their job in a sick situation like this, 397 00:23:08,360 --> 00:23:10,880 where there was enough real evidence. 398 00:23:10,920 --> 00:23:13,400 I cannot imagine being the detective in that and going, 399 00:23:13,440 --> 00:23:15,720 "Oh, my God, this is awful." 400 00:23:15,760 --> 00:23:18,120 But does it rise to the level 401 00:23:18,160 --> 00:23:21,120 of making it okay to charge an innocent person? 402 00:23:21,160 --> 00:23:22,920 No. And she's not the only one 403 00:23:22,960 --> 00:23:25,720 that I believe is innocent in that situation either. 404 00:23:25,760 --> 00:23:30,720 I believe that Scott Wood was wrongfully convicted. 405 00:23:30,760 --> 00:23:34,320 Randall Scott Wood was interviewed a couple of times 406 00:23:34,360 --> 00:23:39,120 by me and other detectives with Baldwin County Sheriff's Office, 407 00:23:39,160 --> 00:23:42,000 and during the course of the initial interview 408 00:23:42,040 --> 00:23:43,360 with Randall Scott Wood, 409 00:23:43,400 --> 00:23:46,960 I remember specifically asking him, 410 00:23:47,000 --> 00:23:51,920 "Did you have sex with Holland?" 411 00:23:51,960 --> 00:23:53,640 "Because she said you did." 412 00:23:53,680 --> 00:23:58,040 And he nodded his head yes, while saying no. 413 00:23:58,080 --> 00:24:01,520 Okay, therefore I took that, again, 414 00:24:01,560 --> 00:24:06,920 as a tacit admission that it probably did occur. 415 00:24:06,960 --> 00:24:11,120 His body language throughout the interview was very telling. 416 00:24:11,160 --> 00:24:15,320 The nonverbal cues for deception were all present. 417 00:24:15,360 --> 00:24:17,400 He had very closed posture. 418 00:24:17,440 --> 00:24:23,520 He displayed grooming gestures during key questions. 419 00:24:23,560 --> 00:24:28,920 Again, the verbiage he used was all indicative of deception. 420 00:24:28,960 --> 00:24:32,800 So I knew he certainly had something to hide. 421 00:24:32,840 --> 00:24:35,720 Last night me and Scott sat on my front porch 422 00:24:35,760 --> 00:24:40,200 talking about the moment he nodded to Eric Winberg. 423 00:24:40,240 --> 00:24:44,200 Not even ten hours ago we had this conversation. 424 00:24:44,240 --> 00:24:48,160 It is a repeated habit of Scott's, 425 00:24:48,200 --> 00:24:52,040 no matter what he is thinking in his head, 426 00:24:52,080 --> 00:24:53,800 when he's nodding at you, 427 00:24:53,840 --> 00:24:55,320 it's to let you know he's listening. 428 00:24:55,360 --> 00:24:58,320 He's not agreeing with nothing you say. 429 00:25:31,160 --> 00:25:33,680 Her mother had a brain tumor. 430 00:25:35,800 --> 00:25:40,640 Without my brother, this would still be going on, okay? 431 00:25:40,680 --> 00:25:41,920 They'd still be molesting kids. 432 00:25:41,960 --> 00:25:44,040 Molesters do not stop till they're caught. 433 00:25:44,080 --> 00:25:45,760 That is a known fact. 434 00:25:45,800 --> 00:25:49,440 So Scott was always... he was in the military his whole life. 435 00:25:49,480 --> 00:25:51,760 He raised his daughter by hisself, 436 00:25:51,800 --> 00:25:55,440 because her mother had brain cancer and died. 437 00:25:55,480 --> 00:25:58,920 And so he was always like... He was the only boy. 438 00:25:58,960 --> 00:26:02,000 He had four sisters that he had to protect amongst all of us, 439 00:26:02,040 --> 00:26:04,120 so he was the protector. 440 00:26:04,160 --> 00:26:07,320 He moves in with my sister. Here's these kids. 441 00:26:07,360 --> 00:26:11,120 Of course he's going to make sure they're good. 442 00:26:11,160 --> 00:26:14,000 And when he saw this... 443 00:26:15,440 --> 00:26:19,520 he was blown away and he didn't know who to share this with. 444 00:26:19,560 --> 00:26:26,320 So he said he called the rape hotline, the incest hotline. 445 00:26:26,360 --> 00:26:31,520 He said four... He can prove four that he called. 446 00:26:31,560 --> 00:26:33,560 And nobody even cared. 447 00:26:33,600 --> 00:26:35,760 They would just, like, transfer him to another line. 448 00:26:35,800 --> 00:26:40,120 Okay, so he gets it done. He gets the ball rolling. 449 00:26:40,160 --> 00:26:42,240 Everybody's looking at Donnie. 450 00:26:42,280 --> 00:26:45,360 And all of a sudden, without warning, 451 00:26:45,400 --> 00:26:50,000 my brother, Scott Wood, gets arrested for the same thing. 452 00:26:50,040 --> 00:26:51,720 And when I was in the interrogation room, 453 00:26:51,760 --> 00:26:54,320 I was so stuck on Scott, I didn't even care about myself. 454 00:26:54,360 --> 00:26:56,360 I was stuck on Scott, saying, "Y'all got him wrong." 455 00:26:56,400 --> 00:26:59,720 And they were like, "That's your brother. Of course you're going to say that." 456 00:26:59,760 --> 00:27:02,480 I ain't saying that about Wendy and Mendy, and they're my sisters. 457 00:27:02,520 --> 00:27:06,320 Scott Wood would not hurt a child. 458 00:27:06,360 --> 00:27:09,480 And this is what the cops told me about Scott. 459 00:27:09,520 --> 00:27:12,000 "Well, Miss Wood, we don't think he's, you know, the type of man 460 00:27:12,040 --> 00:27:15,280 that goes to a park to target children." 461 00:27:45,280 --> 00:27:47,200 Detective Winberg said, 462 00:27:47,240 --> 00:27:48,960 "I need to let you know something, Chessie." 463 00:27:49,000 --> 00:27:52,680 Your brother, Scott, probably the most intelligent human being 464 00:27:52,720 --> 00:27:54,280 I've ever had in this room." 465 00:27:54,320 --> 00:27:58,040 And I said, "Yeah, he is. Very smart man." 466 00:27:58,080 --> 00:28:01,400 And I said, "So why did he tell on himself?" 467 00:28:01,440 --> 00:28:03,240 If he's that intelligent, 468 00:28:03,280 --> 00:28:06,040 if he's the smartest person to ever be in this room, 469 00:28:06,080 --> 00:28:08,560 why was he so stupid to tell on himself? 470 00:28:08,600 --> 00:28:10,680 He had to have known if he told on somebody else, 471 00:28:10,720 --> 00:28:12,480 it was going to come back. 472 00:28:12,520 --> 00:28:14,200 And he said that, 473 00:28:14,240 --> 00:28:18,160 "Well, we think that he wanted the victim to hisself." 474 00:28:18,200 --> 00:28:19,960 "He did not want to share." 475 00:28:20,000 --> 00:28:22,360 And I was like, "Back again, 476 00:28:22,400 --> 00:28:24,880 to the most intelligent person in the room." 477 00:28:24,920 --> 00:28:26,680 "He knows when he calls the cops, 478 00:28:26,720 --> 00:28:29,440 she's being taken out of the home." 479 00:28:29,480 --> 00:28:32,240 "That's what we do here to protect children." 480 00:28:32,280 --> 00:28:34,360 "So how is he going to have her by herself?" 481 00:28:34,400 --> 00:28:35,960 "Y'all was never going to leave her 482 00:28:36,000 --> 00:28:39,280 with an uncle to begin with." 483 00:28:39,320 --> 00:28:42,360 So that didn't make sense. None of it made sense. 484 00:28:42,400 --> 00:28:43,880 They could not give me a good answer 485 00:28:43,920 --> 00:28:46,720 why Scott Wood would tell on himself. 486 00:29:06,200 --> 00:29:09,480 Scott Wood, this is what doesn't make sense to me, 487 00:29:09,520 --> 00:29:13,520 the way that he comes to law enforcement 488 00:29:13,560 --> 00:29:17,920 with this allegation of this abuse is happening in the house, 489 00:29:17,960 --> 00:29:22,160 and then all of a sudden the allegation turns round on him, 490 00:29:22,200 --> 00:29:24,680 that he's actually abusing. 491 00:29:24,720 --> 00:29:31,880 It's my belief that he wanted exclusive access to , 492 00:29:31,920 --> 00:29:35,080 because when he learned that Donald Holland 493 00:29:35,120 --> 00:29:41,080 was also having sex with Holland, 494 00:29:41,120 --> 00:29:42,920 he did not like that, 495 00:29:42,960 --> 00:29:48,240 and call it jealously, call it some sort of sick perversion, 496 00:29:48,280 --> 00:29:50,520 but he did not like that 497 00:29:50,560 --> 00:29:52,960 and wanted all to himself. 498 00:29:53,000 --> 00:29:54,520 So I believe that he felt 499 00:29:54,560 --> 00:29:58,200 that if he reported Donnie Holland for doing this, 500 00:29:58,240 --> 00:30:01,240 that Donnie Holland would be taken out of the house, 501 00:30:01,280 --> 00:30:03,520 and he would remain in the home alone, 502 00:30:03,560 --> 00:30:07,120 allowed to pursue his relationship 503 00:30:07,160 --> 00:30:08,480 with this child victim. 504 00:30:08,520 --> 00:30:10,360 When the police showed up, 505 00:30:10,400 --> 00:30:12,840 after Scott called them to Donnie and Wendy's house, 506 00:30:12,880 --> 00:30:17,760 they asked Scott to take the victim to her sister's house. 507 00:30:17,800 --> 00:30:21,040 He had to work that night, he worked night shift back then, 508 00:30:21,080 --> 00:30:24,920 but he agreed to do so to get her to a safety place. 509 00:30:24,960 --> 00:30:27,320 When he took her to her sister's house, 510 00:30:27,360 --> 00:30:30,200 he ran by his hotel room to grab his uniform 511 00:30:30,240 --> 00:30:31,920 for the company he was working at. 512 00:30:31,960 --> 00:30:35,240 His plan was to drop her off and go to work as normal. 513 00:30:35,280 --> 00:30:37,600 Again, in an attempt to build a very strong case, 514 00:30:37,640 --> 00:30:42,280 I knew I had to pursue the leads that the victim had... 515 00:30:42,320 --> 00:30:44,440 and the details that the victim had given, 516 00:30:44,480 --> 00:30:47,720 in order to corroborate her statement. 517 00:30:47,760 --> 00:30:52,240 And therefore efforts were made to travel to Saraland, 518 00:30:52,280 --> 00:30:56,680 which is also in Mobile County, 519 00:30:56,720 --> 00:31:01,280 to an area where she believed that he had taken her to a hotel 520 00:31:01,320 --> 00:31:04,080 for the purposes of having sex with her. 521 00:31:04,120 --> 00:31:07,800 And through a process of elimination, 522 00:31:07,840 --> 00:31:12,160 I eventually located the hotel, found the bedding, 523 00:31:12,200 --> 00:31:14,520 the comforter that was consistent 524 00:31:14,560 --> 00:31:18,160 with her description of the bedding in the room, 525 00:31:18,200 --> 00:31:19,720 description of the room, 526 00:31:19,760 --> 00:31:21,400 and actually found records 527 00:31:21,440 --> 00:31:24,120 where he had rented a room 528 00:31:24,160 --> 00:31:27,040 for approximately $56 for one night 529 00:31:27,080 --> 00:31:28,680 and which he paid cash. 530 00:31:28,720 --> 00:31:30,800 And his name was on the ticket. 531 00:31:30,840 --> 00:31:36,080 Then I hear that this hotel that he rode by with the victim, 532 00:31:36,120 --> 00:31:40,880 um, was supposedly where something may have occurred, 533 00:31:40,920 --> 00:31:42,920 and that the police was trying to figure out 534 00:31:42,960 --> 00:31:44,400 what hotel this was. 535 00:31:44,440 --> 00:31:47,360 And I, to this day, know for a fact 536 00:31:47,400 --> 00:31:49,680 if they would have just called up Scott 537 00:31:49,720 --> 00:31:51,880 and asked him what hotel, he would have told 'em. 538 00:31:51,920 --> 00:31:57,040 He has never denied going by there to pick up a uniform. 539 00:32:06,320 --> 00:32:11,280 No, he never... he never gave a full admission, confession, 540 00:32:11,320 --> 00:32:15,080 if you will, of what he did. 541 00:32:15,120 --> 00:32:19,360 We knew what he did based on what the victim told us, 542 00:32:19,400 --> 00:32:23,880 and then the... those statements were corroborated 543 00:32:23,920 --> 00:32:27,560 with some of the facts and receipts and things like that. 544 00:32:27,600 --> 00:32:32,280 So we knew we could build a decent case against him, 545 00:32:32,320 --> 00:32:35,440 but, no, he never gave a solid admission. 546 00:32:35,480 --> 00:32:39,160 Her daddy's death, Wendy's incarceration, 547 00:32:39,200 --> 00:32:41,200 and her two brothers being snatched out the home, 548 00:32:41,240 --> 00:32:43,720 it's not Donnie and Wendy's fault, 549 00:32:43,760 --> 00:32:46,160 it's Uncle Scott's fault. 550 00:32:47,520 --> 00:32:52,320 And she named him for that reason. 551 00:32:53,000 --> 00:32:54,880 They had no evidence. 552 00:32:54,920 --> 00:32:57,680 He was never on a video either. 553 00:32:57,720 --> 00:33:00,520 They never could place him doing wrong. 554 00:33:00,560 --> 00:33:03,240 But I can tell you that 555 00:33:03,280 --> 00:33:06,600 being the one that blew the lid on the whole thing, 556 00:33:06,640 --> 00:33:09,240 and which is one... he is the one that did that, 557 00:33:09,280 --> 00:33:12,400 he's the one that called, um, 558 00:33:12,440 --> 00:33:16,400 I think that the victim was terrified 559 00:33:16,440 --> 00:33:19,880 that her entire family was gonna disappear. 560 00:33:19,920 --> 00:33:24,840 And she wasn't wrong. It happened anyway. 561 00:33:24,880 --> 00:33:28,280 And I think there was a lot of anger about that, 562 00:33:28,320 --> 00:33:33,160 and she was very angry with him for telling her secret. 563 00:33:33,200 --> 00:33:34,720 But I asked her straight up. 564 00:33:34,760 --> 00:33:37,280 I said, "I wanna know the truth. And don't lie to me." 565 00:33:37,320 --> 00:33:41,480 You know. "Don't sit there and try to sugarcoat anything." 566 00:33:41,520 --> 00:33:45,120 I said, "You know, I'm the oldest of all of you." 567 00:33:45,160 --> 00:33:48,800 "I just wanna know, did Chessie mess with you?" 568 00:33:48,840 --> 00:33:50,280 Which I already knew the answer. 569 00:33:50,320 --> 00:33:53,400 She said, "No, you know Aunt Chessie wouldn't touch me." 570 00:33:53,440 --> 00:33:57,120 And I said, "What about your Uncle Scott?" 571 00:33:57,160 --> 00:33:59,320 "No, Uncle Scott saved me from them people." 572 00:33:59,360 --> 00:34:02,200 You know, she said "them people." 573 00:34:02,240 --> 00:34:05,480 She didn't say "my parents." She said, "them people." 574 00:34:05,520 --> 00:34:09,520 But, yeah, so I know the truth from her mouth, 575 00:34:09,560 --> 00:34:13,280 no... what the judicial system says. 576 00:34:13,320 --> 00:34:16,160 I don't... I have no faith in the judicial system, 577 00:34:16,200 --> 00:34:20,120 haven't for years before all this happened, so, I mean... 578 00:34:22,360 --> 00:34:25,200 I think they got railroaded. 579 00:34:34,680 --> 00:34:37,680 But, yeah, the family lost, the holidays are rough, 580 00:34:37,720 --> 00:34:40,840 'cause I'm used to my house being packed out. 581 00:34:40,880 --> 00:34:42,880 The last holiday we had, Thanksgiving, 582 00:34:42,920 --> 00:34:44,400 we had three turkeys and a ham. 583 00:34:44,440 --> 00:34:46,400 That's how many people was there. 584 00:34:46,440 --> 00:34:48,160 And when I think about all them people, 585 00:34:48,200 --> 00:34:50,040 they're either dead or in prison. 586 00:34:50,080 --> 00:34:53,480 So I attended the sentencing hearing of Wendy Holland, 587 00:34:53,520 --> 00:34:56,840 and while I was sitting in the pew, 588 00:34:56,880 --> 00:34:59,840 there came a point where Holland 589 00:34:59,880 --> 00:35:02,160 had written a letter to her mother 590 00:35:02,200 --> 00:35:06,200 that was to be read prior to her sentencing. 591 00:35:06,240 --> 00:35:09,400 And I remember the letter being read, 592 00:35:09,440 --> 00:35:14,200 and it was almost impossible to hold back tears, 593 00:35:14,240 --> 00:35:20,760 as... not only as a professional but as a husband and father. 594 00:35:20,800 --> 00:35:22,160 You can't help but be affected 595 00:35:22,200 --> 00:35:25,920 by what that young lady went through 596 00:35:25,960 --> 00:35:27,840 and what she read. 597 00:35:27,880 --> 00:35:29,360 It was very disturbing. 598 00:35:29,400 --> 00:35:31,560 The police told me after their arrest, 599 00:35:31,600 --> 00:35:35,840 they were diagnosed with multiple disorders 600 00:35:35,880 --> 00:35:40,240 that was never diagnosed out here, 601 00:35:40,280 --> 00:35:43,280 one of which was being a sociopath. 602 00:35:43,320 --> 00:35:46,840 And, okay, I'm not a doctor, I had to ask, 603 00:35:46,880 --> 00:35:49,520 "Exactly define what a sociopath is." 604 00:35:49,560 --> 00:35:51,240 And this is how he explained it to me. 605 00:35:51,280 --> 00:35:53,240 He said, "Miss Wood, do you have a table by you?" 606 00:35:53,280 --> 00:35:54,720 I was like, "Yeah, I got a table". 607 00:35:54,760 --> 00:35:56,720 He said, "Look at it." I said, "Okay". 608 00:35:56,760 --> 00:36:01,320 He said, "You feel that fuzzy, emotional feeling 609 00:36:01,360 --> 00:36:03,040 you have for that table?" 610 00:36:03,080 --> 00:36:05,120 And I was like, "No." 611 00:36:05,160 --> 00:36:07,640 And he said, "That's how Wendy Holland feels 612 00:36:07,680 --> 00:36:09,280 against human beings." 613 00:36:09,320 --> 00:36:12,160 "The same concern you have 614 00:36:12,200 --> 00:36:14,480 about that old wooden table in your house." 615 00:36:14,520 --> 00:36:17,640 I mean, you just listen to testimony, you know, 616 00:36:17,680 --> 00:36:20,000 and you shake your head, 617 00:36:20,040 --> 00:36:22,960 and then you hear some gasps and some sighs 618 00:36:23,000 --> 00:36:25,440 from people in the audience, 619 00:36:25,480 --> 00:36:27,440 which were either family members or relatives, 620 00:36:27,480 --> 00:36:32,000 people who were surprised too about what they were hearing. 621 00:36:32,040 --> 00:36:35,200 But then, you know, when she was found guilty, 622 00:36:35,240 --> 00:36:38,840 and others were found guilty, you know, 623 00:36:38,880 --> 00:36:43,080 you... you think, well, you know, maybe justice was done. 624 00:36:43,120 --> 00:36:46,440 But, you know, was it? Because it's... 625 00:36:46,480 --> 00:36:49,640 Everybody was abused in some kind of a way. 626 00:36:49,680 --> 00:36:52,720 And if it went on for generations, 627 00:36:52,760 --> 00:36:55,800 who knows who else is out there? 628 00:36:55,840 --> 00:36:59,560 She condemned her mother 629 00:36:59,600 --> 00:37:02,640 for allowing this to go on, 630 00:37:02,680 --> 00:37:07,400 for allowing, um, her to be taken advantage of. 631 00:37:07,440 --> 00:37:09,280 And not just be taken advantage of 632 00:37:09,320 --> 00:37:11,280 by her father and other men, 633 00:37:11,320 --> 00:37:15,920 but for her mother to actively participate as well. 634 00:37:15,960 --> 00:37:20,000 And it was heart-wrenching. 635 00:37:20,040 --> 00:37:24,160 Well, at the trial, the witness said, 636 00:37:24,200 --> 00:37:26,520 "The only time my mother touched me 637 00:37:26,560 --> 00:37:29,760 was to lead me to the monster in the shadows." 638 00:37:29,800 --> 00:37:34,680 And that kind of resonated throughout the courtroom. 639 00:37:34,720 --> 00:37:37,000 All the reporters, you know, 640 00:37:37,040 --> 00:37:39,040 they were jotting that down in their notepads, 641 00:37:39,080 --> 00:37:41,840 and they later on more than likely repeated it 642 00:37:41,880 --> 00:37:46,240 in their live reports or stories that they put together, yeah. 643 00:37:46,280 --> 00:37:49,920 Wendy Holland's charges were the most heinous 644 00:37:49,960 --> 00:37:52,200 of every one of 'em, I believe. 645 00:37:52,240 --> 00:37:55,200 Um, well, she was charged in both counties, 646 00:37:55,240 --> 00:37:57,520 Baldwin County and Mobile County. 647 00:37:57,560 --> 00:38:02,480 Baldwin County was rape of a child under the age of 12, 648 00:38:04,000 --> 00:38:07,800 sodomy in the first degree, 649 00:38:07,840 --> 00:38:14,240 and sexual torture of a child. 650 00:38:14,280 --> 00:38:17,880 And when they told me this, I had to ask the police, 651 00:38:19,360 --> 00:38:22,240 what... number one, what is sodomy? 652 00:38:22,280 --> 00:38:23,920 I mean, if you're not a career criminal, 653 00:38:23,960 --> 00:38:26,520 you don't know all these terms, so... 654 00:38:27,560 --> 00:38:29,440 He explained to me 655 00:38:29,480 --> 00:38:33,960 that sodomy is pretty much, um, intercourse 656 00:38:34,000 --> 00:38:36,640 without the normal vagina. 657 00:38:36,680 --> 00:38:39,240 Anywhere else of the body would be called. 658 00:38:39,280 --> 00:38:44,920 And I said, "Okay. What is sexual torture of a child?" 659 00:38:44,960 --> 00:38:47,320 And he said, "That is when..." 660 00:38:47,360 --> 00:38:52,440 I wanted to know how is that different than rape? 661 00:38:52,480 --> 00:38:57,560 And he said, "It's when you use an object on a child, sexually." 662 00:38:57,600 --> 00:39:01,960 The jury might have been gone 45 minutes to deliberate. 663 00:39:02,000 --> 00:39:04,000 They come back, find her guilty. 664 00:39:04,040 --> 00:39:08,000 They sentenced her to 229 years. 665 00:39:08,040 --> 00:39:11,960 She got the most time of any female 666 00:39:12,000 --> 00:39:15,880 in the history of the state of Alabama. 667 00:39:18,480 --> 00:39:23,160 My thought was, "Oh, now this makes sense." You know. 668 00:39:23,200 --> 00:39:25,400 Makes sense in a weird way, you know. 669 00:39:25,440 --> 00:39:30,160 I can see why all these people were charged, 670 00:39:30,200 --> 00:39:34,600 and I can see why she went missing. 671 00:39:34,640 --> 00:39:36,920 I believe the problem with me finding my daughter 672 00:39:36,960 --> 00:39:39,520 is the police will not be truthful here. 673 00:39:39,560 --> 00:39:44,640 If we can get to maybe some of things I've done inaccurate, 674 00:39:44,680 --> 00:39:46,360 um, trying to find Brittney, 675 00:39:46,400 --> 00:39:49,600 and some of things they done wrong 676 00:39:49,640 --> 00:39:51,240 to find Brittney and the truth, 677 00:39:51,280 --> 00:39:55,040 I believe if we could put it all on the table honestly, 678 00:39:55,080 --> 00:39:57,360 we probably could find Brittney Wood. 679 00:39:58,680 --> 00:40:00,720 Every now and then, 680 00:40:00,760 --> 00:40:03,000 remains are found, 681 00:40:03,040 --> 00:40:06,440 and we all immediately go, I wonder if it's her? 682 00:40:06,480 --> 00:40:09,120 Not that I believe there'd be much left at this point, 683 00:40:09,160 --> 00:40:10,720 'cause if you're out in the wild, 684 00:40:10,760 --> 00:40:12,240 you're scattered to the wild. 685 00:40:12,280 --> 00:40:16,440 But maybe there's a shallow grave somewhere. 686 00:40:16,480 --> 00:40:23,360 Maybe there is a plastic container buried in a landfill. 687 00:40:23,400 --> 00:40:26,000 I mean, you always wonder, where did she go? 688 00:40:26,040 --> 00:40:28,080 What happened to her? 689 00:41:04,120 --> 00:41:08,320 And at one point, I do remember basically 690 00:41:08,360 --> 00:41:12,400 being given the instructions to shut it down. 691 00:41:16,200 --> 00:41:19,000 What does that do to a child? 692 00:41:19,040 --> 00:41:21,320 You'll always have that monster in the shadows. 693 00:41:21,360 --> 00:41:24,080 I mean, you never shake this. 694 00:41:29,360 --> 00:41:31,880 There's a lot of parties involved here 695 00:41:31,920 --> 00:41:35,040 for someone not to, at some point, say, 696 00:41:35,080 --> 00:41:37,280 "I've been living with this guilt 697 00:41:37,320 --> 00:41:40,960 as long as I can handle it, and I'm glad you're here." 698 00:41:45,680 --> 00:41:47,120 Part of the whole issue is, 699 00:41:47,160 --> 00:41:48,840 all the people that were involved 700 00:41:48,880 --> 00:41:50,920 are either in prison or dead. 701 00:41:50,960 --> 00:41:54,360 So there's a lot of opinion 702 00:41:54,400 --> 00:41:59,120 that you'll get her remains, like it's no big deal, 703 00:41:59,160 --> 00:42:02,840 but the one person that's probably involved 704 00:42:02,880 --> 00:42:05,760 that's still alive is in prison for the rest of her life, 705 00:42:05,800 --> 00:42:07,560 plus 200 more years, 706 00:42:07,600 --> 00:42:10,480 and the other one's dead, 707 00:42:10,520 --> 00:42:12,200 that we think were directly involved 708 00:42:12,240 --> 00:42:14,920 in the disappearance of Brittney Wood. 709 00:42:14,960 --> 00:42:17,640 Well, that doesn't mean 710 00:42:17,680 --> 00:42:20,640 that she shouldn't be charged if she's involved. 711 00:42:20,680 --> 00:42:24,040 That doesn't mean that the family doesn't deserve answers. 712 00:42:24,080 --> 00:42:28,120 It doesn't mean that they don't need to bring her home 713 00:42:28,160 --> 00:42:31,640 and give her a proper burial. 714 00:42:31,680 --> 00:42:36,040 No closure, no place to visit. I mean, it's awful. 715 00:42:36,080 --> 00:42:38,040 And that, I think, is probably what's driven 716 00:42:38,080 --> 00:42:42,600 most of our continued involvement. 717 00:42:42,640 --> 00:42:44,480 Chessie is my friend now. 718 00:42:44,520 --> 00:42:47,360 We went... We crossed that bridge a long time ago. 719 00:42:47,400 --> 00:42:49,360 Mainly because I couldn't believe 720 00:42:49,400 --> 00:42:52,280 the way they treated her, and they did treat her horribly. 721 00:43:01,080 --> 00:43:05,960 I have a few hopes making a documentary like this. 722 00:43:07,040 --> 00:43:09,320 I'd like to find my child. 723 00:43:09,360 --> 00:43:13,880 My number one goal has always been to find Brittney Wood. 724 00:43:15,080 --> 00:43:18,000 Number two, get justice for Brittney Wood. 725 00:43:18,040 --> 00:43:22,040 Once I find her, the story's not over. 726 00:43:22,080 --> 00:43:24,200 I know, and I've accepted, 727 00:43:24,240 --> 00:43:27,200 if I find her, that's a whole new story. 728 00:43:27,240 --> 00:43:29,880 Why is she here? Who did this? 729 00:43:29,920 --> 00:43:33,600 How did they do it? When did they do it? 730 00:43:33,640 --> 00:43:36,880 But that's a story I'd like to take on. 731 00:43:41,280 --> 00:43:43,800 We're gonna look everywhere today. I mean everywhere. 732 00:43:43,840 --> 00:43:45,200 Not just where they could have went, 733 00:43:45,240 --> 00:43:46,960 but where she could have ended up at. 734 00:43:47,000 --> 00:43:47,960 You all got it? 735 00:43:48,000 --> 00:43:49,400 Yeah, so I got a message 736 00:43:49,440 --> 00:43:51,000 on Facebook 737 00:43:51,040 --> 00:43:54,040 from one of the people in prison 738 00:43:54,080 --> 00:43:56,600 telling me what happened to her, 739 00:43:56,640 --> 00:43:59,840 that she was killed and she was put at Rice Creek, 740 00:43:59,880 --> 00:44:01,440 so here we are.