Investigations
by Keith Morrison, Dateline NBC correspondent
Eric Volz is a nervous man. Understandably so, too, given the nightmare he has been living through. Has been - is still - living through.
So on the morning we meet for the second time, he is driven the short city block from New York's Today Show studio to Dateline's interview facility. He's accompanied by his mother, step-father, and a young woman who has been acting as a publicist for the family (together, these three generated and kept alive the international pressure that helped Eric win his freedom). All of them greet us warmly, and all, especially Eric, wear the look that says this isn't over.
I'll back up a minute. The first time I met Eric he was the best-known inmate of the Modelo Prison, a huge maximum security institution not far from Managua, Nicaragua.
He'd been sentenced to 30 years, convicted by a Nicaraguan court of murdering his one-time girlfriend, a striking beauty named Doris. The killing was particularly shocking for its extraordinary brutality, and Doris's mother, as well as many people in her town, and one of
Nicaragua's most popular newspapers, appeared determined to ensure Eric was held responsible.
In fact, after one of his court hearings, a local mob chased him through the streets of town, intent on - well, we don't know what. After Eric's parents hired security guards to protect him, rumors circulated in Nicaragua that Eric's people were trying to bribe their way to an acquittal. And, in spite of clear and convincing evidence that Eric was hours away when the crime occurred, he was convicted.
So, to say that Eric was living through a nightmare was, if anything, something of an understatement.
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A Dateline special on adoption in Guatemala airs on NBC Sunday, Jan. 20 at 7pm ET.
By Benita Noel, Dateline Producer
I felt like I was on a roller coaster. The car, which seemed to have no shock absorbency whatsoever, hit the bumps with a resounding thump - over and over again. I had my hand flat up against the roof to brace myself, but it wasn't much help. More than once I went sliding across the seat, as did everyone else in the car.
It was March 22, 2007 and our driver was making his way - much too fast it seemed - along a mostly unpaved, almost comically windy road from Guatemala City to Jalapa, 110 miles away. We'd been warned to avoid drinking too much water or coffee before the trip, and now I knew why.
At least we were all laughing about it. I was with my field producer, Leonor Ayala, and our crew, cameraman Bob Abrahamsen and soundman Randy Foster. We also had our Guatemalan "fixer" in the car (hired to help us with everything from translating, to directions, to letting us know which areas of the city we shouldn't take our cameras into without security) - and a private investigator. We were going to Jalapa to videotape the reunion of two young sisters with their family - nearly 5 months after they'd been kidnapped from their home, abused and almost adopted by unsuspecting families in the U.S.
In many ways, the shoot was a producer's nightmare. We'd all gotten up at the crack of dawn, only to wait an hour for everyone to arrive and get organized, and then we'd driven to a fast-food restaurant where we waited another hour for the police we'd be following. Nobody in Guatemala seems to be in much of a rush to do anything. And there wasn't much of a plan. Nobody seemed sure where the reunion would happen, or even if we'd make it to Jalapa on time. We were winging it.
About 15 minutes outside of Jalapa, there was a series of frenzied phone calls between the private investigator, the police and various people at the Jalapa District Attorney's office. There was chaotic confusion; the reunion had already happened, no, it was happening in two minutes. It was happening on the street, no, it was happening in an office inside the building. Someone had changed their mind - they didn't want us there after all. No, that was a mistake. Go to this corner, no, go that corner.
Bob, our cameraman, got anxious, frantically trying to pull his camera out of the pile of cases we'd jammed into the back of the car. I told him not to worry, the only thing that really mattered that morning was those poor little girls were finally going to see their mother again. Still, we all wanted to witness the moment.
Somehow, our driver managed to pull over in the right place just in time for Bob to point his camera out the window of the car and focus on a darling little 5-year-old girl running full speed down the sidewalk towards a nervous looking woman waiting around the corner. In an instant, all the stressed commotion subsided. We just watched in silence.
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| Galicia family reunited |
Because we'd stayed a good block away, we couldn't hear anything, but I didn't need to, the tears were already spilling down my face. I could see the girls' mother wiping her eyes, her body shaking as she clung to her daughters and stroked their hair. I could see that the 5-year-old, who was clinging to a doll, had buried her head into her mother's leg, the same way my own daughter sometimes does.
Afterwards, we were invited inside the District Attorney's office to meet the family. The two kidnapped girls, 5-year-old Candida, and 9-year-old Claudia, were seated on a bench alongside their mother Clara, and an older brother, Ceasar. I was immediately struck by these children's smiles - they all have the most infectious grins, and they were beaming. They waved at us playfully and giggled uncontrollably when Bob (pictured left) made silly faces at them.
Clara, who is shy and soft spoken, was subdued, but obviously relieved, and immensely grateful. She repeatedly thanked the private investigator, who had been instrumental in getting her daughters returned, as well as us. She was hoping we'd be able to help find her third kidnapped daughter. I wished I could promise her we could.
Pictured: Clara Galicia
When I pulled out my digital camera to take some photos, the children were delighted. I don't speak Spanish but it didn't matter. I showed them how to use it by pointing at the buttons they needed to push, and then let them take turns taking photos. It only took a moment for me to realize how little Candida had survived her traumatic ordeal. She was monopolizing the camera defiantly, bossing her brother and sister around as she took one photo after another. I knew right then that this tough little cookie will be just fine.
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| Photo of Benita Noel and Leonor Ayala taken by Candida |
Late that night, after we'd spent the day with Candida and her family, and we were bouncing our way back along that nightmarish road to Guatemala City, tears fell down my face again. Candida and her siblings are enchanting, joyful children full of curiosity, eagerness and beautiful spirit. Their parents are lovely, gentle people who despite their modest life and financial limitations, provide their children with an abundance of genuine, nurturing love. I cried because I was incensed at the kidnappers who'd so brazenly abused this family. I cried because it made me ache inside to see a mother in such agonizing pain, wondering when, or even if, she'll ever see her third kidnapped daughter again. I cried because I so wished I could help, and yet, had no idea how.
Pictured: Candida, Claudia and Ceasar
UPDATE - Producer Benita Noel responds to comments:
Sadly, I can assure you that these children were indeed kidnapped -- and that they were offered for adoption. When you watch our story on Sunday, you will understand how it happened. By telling the Galicia family's story, we are by no means implying that all adoptions are corrupt. During the course of putting this story together, I was repeatedly touched by the great joy and love that adoptive parents have brought to so many lucky Guatemalan children. I also believe that for the most part, the safeguards that are designed to circumvent crime do work. But, the reality is that unfortunately there are some corrupt operators who have tried to take advantage of the system. I realize that any discussion about corruption in Guatemalan adoptions is extremely difficult for the thousands of parents in this country who have, or are about to, adopt from Guatemala. I am a mother myself, and I completely understand the inclination to protect those adopted children. Nobody wants to be stigmatized - nobody wants other people to point fingers at their children, or worse, say something to their face, suggesting that because there is some corruption, all adoptions must be tainted. While I was researching this story, many people told me that they wanted to speak up about bad experiences with questionable operators in Guatemala, or unscrupulous agencies here in the U.S., but they were too scared. Some were afraid they would never get their children home if they didn't keep quiet, some were afraid of repercussions from their agencies, and many were afraid of being crucified by other adoptive parents for daring to say anything negative about Guatemalan adoptions. Recently, one family who has been through one traumatic ordeal after another in the course of trying to adopt was actually threatened by someone in Guatemala who promised their baby would never come home if our story aired. There is no excuse for that type of manipulative bullying, particularly when you are dealing with innocent children and emotionally vulnerable adoptive parents. That is the reason I believe that whatever the scope may be, corruption needs to be addressed. To this day, the parents of the kidnapped Galicia girls are devastated. The last time I saw Rodolfo Galicia, the father, he was so distraught he had actually been hospitalized because he can barely eat. Clara Galicia actually contemplated suicide before the two girls pictured above were safely returned home.
You can see photos of users' adopted children here, and read their adoption stories here.
Read correspondent Victoria Corderi's blog on the two sides of Guatemalan adoption here.
For more on the positive side of international adoption, see Dateline's story about a Philadelphia family that adopted three sets of twins from Russia.
A special Dateline on adoption in Guatemala airs on NBC Sunday, Jan. 20 at 7pm ET.
By Victoria Corderi, Dateline NBC Correspondent
I witnessed the joy of a successful foreign adoption when my sister came home with a baby boy from Guatemala more than five years ago. Today, my nephew is thriving and my sister is as thrilled as she was when she first held her son in her arms. There are many people who've had similar life-changing experiences. But there is also a dark side to Guatemalan adoption: corruption, lies, forgery, kidnapping, broken hearts. The market is driven by the demand for adoptions from prospective parents in the U.S. And, as so often happens when there is high demand and the potential for a profit, swindlers appear to exploit the system.
Guatemala has been an adoption magnet because the wait for a child is months rather than years. When we traveled to Guatemala City, we saw hotel lobbies brimming with Americans meeting with lawyers and foster mothers and cradling the babies they were in the process of adopting. The sheer numbers of babies and strollers and anxious adoptive parents milling about the hotels and streets made for a surreal sight. At first blush, it seems like a win-win situation: unwanted children escape the dire poverty that plagues much of this country while Americans longing for children are able to fulfill their dreams.
But what if the children up for adoption were taken under false pretenses? Or, if poor, pregnant women are pressured by brokers offering money? And what if the children have been kidnapped outright? These are not rhetorical questions. We learned what happens during our investigation. While we were in Guatemala, we found out about three young girls who'd been kidnapped by a ring that gave them new identities and tried to sell them for adoption. We also tried to go inside the system by posing as a new adoption agency from the United States looking for contacts. We set up meetings with a controversial adoption facilitator whose name kept coming up when we were looking into complaints about unethical operators in Guatemala. What happened in both situations was eye-opening and dramatic.
You can see photos users' adopted children here, and read their adoption stories here.
Read producer Benita Noel's blog on two kidnapped Guatemalan kids who were reunited with their family.
For more on the positive side of international adoption, see Dateline's story about a Philadelphia family that adopted three sets of twins from Russia.
By Chris Hansen, Dateline Correspondent
It’s our twelfth “To Catch A Predator” investigation and this time we’re set up in a 6,000- square foot home in Bowling Green, Kentucky. It’s a town of about 50,000 people an hour north of Nashville, Tennessee.
Each one of these investigations has its own rhythm and Kentucky is no different. Within hours I am struck by the fact that fewer men are showing up at our hidden camera house than in past investigations.
Looking back I think this at least partially because the Kentucky Attorney General’s office and the Kentucky Bureau of Investigation, along with local law enforcement, have been actively pursuing online predators in the past year.
Before Dateline’s investigation in Bowling Green, the Attorney General’s office with the help of the online watchdog group Perverted Justice had conducted two previous sting operations without us, making 20 arrests.
One of them was a 59-year old criminal justice instructor at an Ohio college who used to be an elementary school teacher. He had been chatting online about having sex with a decoy posing as a13-year-old girl before showing up to meet her at the undercover house.
Even after this earlier high-profile case, though, we still saw men in our investigation eager to meet a young teen home alone for sex. As you will see, seven men show up over three and a half days and all seven are arrested after I talk to them and they leave the house.
You’ll see in Kentucky that we employ the same online decoy, Casey, who we used in New Jersey. She is just as effective in this latest investigation as she was before talking to the men in person.
You’ll see the grooming process in real time.
Also in Kentucky we see a range of men show up, from a factory worker to a man who says he’s a police detective and carries a gun.
Watch the heart-pounding moments when, as he leaves our hidden camera house, he refuses to follow orders from the arresting officers.
'To Catch a Predator' Kentucky airs Friday, Dec. 28.
Click here for more about the series.
By Dan Slepian, Dateline Producer
Imagine your loved one -- your brother, your son, your father -- is arrested, convicted and locked up for life for a murder he didn't commit. Now imagine he serves 15 years for this crime, and after all this time in prison, nearly everyone within the system agrees that he is, in fact, innocent. Then, when a Supreme Court Judge overturns his conviction and he finally gets out, the worst possible scenario happens: he is prosecuted on the same charges all over again. It couldn't happen, right? Wrong. It is happening right now, in New York City.
In nearly 15 years as a television producer, I haven't seen a story like this -- until now.
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by Dan Slepian, Dateline producer
Brash, charismatic, impulsive, clever. It’s a sure bet that if you hang out with Bill Stanton, these are among the words you would use to describe him. Spend just a few hours on the road with him and you’ll soon realize how he got his name--"Wild Bill."
(Photo: L-Bill Stanton, R-Dan Slepian)
As the producer of “Wild Bill: Breaking and Entering,” I’ve spent hundreds of hours with Stanton and while I’ve done many stories over the years for Dateline, working with him posed a set of challenges I’ve never encountered before.
An example:
Stanton and I were meeting in Las Vegas to film a segment for his special. A crew was going to videotape him as he attempted to break into homes and hotel rooms there. The day before, Stanton was in Phoenix shooting a story for the “Today” show about the dangers of drinking and driving. He showed up in Vegas with a migraine, clearly hung-over. To say he was in a bad mood would be an understatement. He told me he’d pounded a ridiculous number of Vodka shots to show how reckless a potential drunk would be behind the wheel. Stanton suffered through that shoot in Vegas. And so did I. Welcome to the world of “Wild Bill” Stanton.
As the “Today” show’s on-air security expert, Stanton has created his own form of the American fire drill. He’s snatched volunteer kids to test how unsuspecting passers-by would react, set up valet parking attendants to see if they’d steal from a car, and caught men cheating on their wives.
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By Fred Rothenberg, Dateline Producer
Bill Lee's friendly Kentucky accent was unmistakable -- even if I was hearing it at 3:30 in the morning.
Bill is the longtime coroner for Hardin County Kentucky, and he was calling on the Bat-Phone. That's what we jokingly called the phone that coroners and police, in and around Louisville, Kentucky, were using to alert us to death stories that we might want to cover.
The dedicated cell phone was on the night stand in my hotel room. Fellow producer Maia Samuel and I were alternating overnights when one of us was on call with the phone, and this was my sleepless night.
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By Maia Samuel, Senior Producer
Only one of our team of 10, which included Dateline producers, correspondent and crews, had witnessed an autopsy before. The rest of us were apprehensive, but still coolly confident we could handle what we were about to see. After all, in the course of our careers a few of us had seen dead bodies before. But at the sight of just the blood-splattered autopsy room floor, my knees threatened to buckle. It was going to be a challenging week.
The police I’d talked to suggested I use mentholated vapor rub applied to my top lip to help conceal the smell of the bodies that were being autopsied. It didn’t work. I learned to “stay in the smell” –- if I didn’t leave the autopsy corridor my senses would be overwhelmed and my nose got used to it.
After a couple of days of watching the calm professionalism of the Louisville, Kentucky medical examiners and their staff, we all became more accustomed to the sight, smell and sounds of the autopsies. And we no longer feared the dead. What we couldn’t get used to was the terrible sadness of family members who had lost their loved ones. We felt deeply for them.
'Dead Men Talking' airs on Dateline NBC Monday night, Aug. 20, at 10 p.m. ET.
Several members of the Dateline team reflected on their experience with the Louisville medical examiner's office. Read producer Fred Rothenberg's story about a late night phone call here, and assistant producer Chetna Purohit's story about a tragic fire here.
By Chetna Purohit, Assistant Producer
It was chaos in Bardstown, Kentucky, in the early morning hours of Feb. 6, 2007. Police, fire trucks, the Red Cross. A brick house burnt to its core. Panicked relatives and neighbors stood anxiously in the cold behind yellow police tape waiting for answers -- for any sign of hope.
Visible from the street was a charred bicycle. For hours, fire inspectors combed through the remains of the house. By daybreak the devastation was clear. One by one, they carried out the body bags – ten of them. Just as the last body was being placed in the truck, a man ran towards the home. Police stopped him just in time. I watched in horror as the medical examiner told him his 2-year-old twins were in the house. It was Kentucky’s deadliest fire in 30 years. An entire family wiped out. The youngest was just 17 months.
I thought I had seen the worst of it until I got to the medical examiner’s office. Walking down the halls, trying to comprehend what I had just seen, I walked past the autopsy room. On the table was the body of a child. In the chaos of the day I had managed to hold myself together. Now, I completely lost it.
The following night I attended a memorial service and was moved by the strength of this close-knit community. Amidst this tragedy, they found in each other hope for a better tomorrow.
'Dead Men Talking' airs on Dateline NBC Monday night, Aug. 20, at 10 p.m. ET.
Several members of the Dateline team reflected on their experience with the Louisville medical examiner's office. Read senior producer Maia Samuel's story on dealing with dead bodies here, and producer Fred Rothenberg's story about a late night phone call here.
By Natasha Lebedeva, Booking Producer
It was an unforgettable week in Louisville, Kentucky, in the middle of February. We were covering the work of the Louisville medical examiner's office and the death cases that occurred within that week. One of the scary things for me, frankly, was to see a dead body and to see an autopsy performed on it.
There is this public fascination with autopsies and unraveling the mysteries of death, which may have started with TV crime and hospital dramas. There is also an expectation that medical examiners may be able to perform miracles overnight, that pathologists in the mortuary may be able to give instant answers to police officers and family members about the cause of death.. As it turned out, it doesn't happen like that in real life and in real-life autopsies.
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