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NANCY GRACE

Texas Plastic Surgeon Accused of Hiring a Hitman to Murder Rival

Aired August 17, 2012 - 20:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


NANCY GRACE, HOST: Tonight, live, Lubbock. He claims he makes people even more beautiful, but tonight, did a high-profile plastic surgeon do just the opposite? A landscape gardener`s hysterical 911 call after she spots a dead body through a broken window, that call set to crack Texas high society and medical community wide open.

Bombshell tonight. Claims the plastic surgeon, the famous plastic surgeon, Dr. Thomas Michael Dixon, hires a hitman to murder his ex-girlfriend`s lover. Also, that lover a doctor, a chief pathologist, father of three. But tonight, how do the pieces of the puzzle all fit together -- thousands of dollars of silver bullion, a love triangle and a suicidal hitman?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

911 OPERATOR: 911, what`s the emergency??

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Somebody is -- there`s a bullet -- a door`s been broken into. It`s a house that I work at, and the doctor did not show up for work today.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Dr. Sonnier`s landscaper calls police from outside his home.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I need somebody to hurry! I do landscaping here, and we just walked in the back to see if we could find the doctor and saw that somebody had broken in, in the back. They`ve broken a whole window out.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No one had heard from the respected chief pathologist.

911 OPERATOR: Ma`am, what did you see?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One of his co-workers went in the house and she says it`s not good!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Dr. Sonnier was found shot and stabbed to death in his living room.

911 OPERATOR: All right, the person`s that`s with you --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, no! God!

911 OPERATOR: Ma`am? Ma`am? What`s going on?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) I don`t know!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was a scuffle in the dining (ph), and we noticed the back window -- dining room window`s bashed in.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us. Bombshell tonight. Live to Lubbock. Claims a famous plastic surgeon, Dr. Thomas Michael Dixon, hires a hitman to murder his ex-girlfriend`s lover, also a doctor, a chief pathologist, father of three.

But tonight, how do all the pieces of the puzzle fit together -- thousands of dollars in silver bullion, a love triangle and a suicidal hitman?

We are taking your calls. Straight out to Kevin Welch, reporter with "The Amarillo Globe-News." Kevin, how did a landscape gardener end up calling 911? How did that happen to start with?

KEVIN WELCH, "AMARILLO GLOBE-NEWS" (via telephone): Well, she showed up for work, and he had not been to his work, and discovered the broken window. And then things progressed from there.

GRACE: To you, Michael Board, WOAI. Michael, what do we know?

MICHAEL BOARD, WOAI: Well, the first rule for police is you got to try to figure out a motive. When you look at a break-in like this, was this a robbery, was this a burglary, or was this something different than that? You know, police started looking. They started to try to figure out, you know, what was the mode of entry? Someone broke out a window in the back of this half-million-dollar home and then went into the home. They then tried to figure out was anything missing? Was this a robbery, a burglary? Did someone see a half-million-dollar home and figure there`s got to be something worth something in there and try to break in and take it?

GRACE: You know what? Michael Board, you`re right. Or was the whole scene staged? Let`s take a listen and determine what we can learn from the 911 call.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

911 OPERATOR: 911, what`s the emergency?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I need somebody at (DELETED) Somebody is -- there`s a bullet -- a door`s been broken into. It`s the house that I work at.

Somebody has broken a window in the back. And the doctor did not show up to work today. There`s a bullet in -- that was laying on the ground!

I do landscaping here, and we just walked in the back to see if we could find the doctor and saw that somebody had broken in, in the back. They`ve broken the whole window out.

I haven`t seen anything! I`ve just seen the bullet. And a guy that is here with me went and helped to see if he could find the doctor. Oh, no! God?

911 OPERATOR: Ma`am? Ma`am? What`s going on?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) I don`t know!

911 OPERATOR: Ma`am, what`s going on?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) I can`t go in! I can`t go in!

911 OPERATOR: You see what?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can`t go in!

911 OPERATOR: That`s OK. You don`t need to go into the house, OK?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, no! It`s not OK!

911 OPERATOR: Ma`am, what do you see?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) They just need to hurry!

911 OPERATOR: What do you see? What is going on, ma`am?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One of his co-workers was in the house and she said it`s not good.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was a scuffle in the dining, and we noticed the back window -- dining room window is bashed in and you can tell there was a scuffle back here.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

GRACE: OK, let`s take it from the top. Clark Goldband, start at the beginning.

CLARK GOLDBAND, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: OK, Nancy. Well, Dr. Sonnier was very well respected. He was the chief pathologist where he practiced. And he was apparently having some sort of a meeting, but he didn`t show up. And the colleagues at that meeting became nervous and worried and called a landscaper. That landscaper than was there at the home, looked around the home, Nancy, and discovered the back window broken out.

By that time, a colleague of the doctor was also reportedly at the home. He enters the home, and the landscaper calls 911. Nancy, that`s what we just heard. And what`s important is when this colleague went in the home, he says things looked like there were some sort of a struggle that took place, a scuffle, if you will, in the dining room. And this is new information that we`re learning. Why did he believe it was a scuffle? We don`t know.

GRACE: Out to the lines. Guy in West Virginia. Hi, dear. What`s your question?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi, Nancy. Thanks so much for having me on today. I`d just like to ask, you know, what kind of background does the plastic surgeon have that`s suspected of hiring the hit? I mean, do they have any leads into who might have actually killed the pathologist? And I just --

GRACE: Well, as a matter of fact, Guy, we do. Go ahead, Michael Board. Where does Shepard fit in, and thousands of dollars of gold (bullion?

BOARD: Well, he`s --

GRACE: Silver bullion.

BOARD: Yes, he`s a plastic surgeon at a nearby town. And what they found out was that he had previously dated the woman that Dr. Sonnier, the doctor who was murdered -- he was -- had previously dated the girl that was now dating Sonnier. So there`s this love triangle of these two doctors, separated by just a couple of miles, and one woman who had previously dated Dr. Dixon and was currently dating Dr. Sonnier.

GRACE: Kevin Welch, "Amarillo Globe-News" -- David Neil (ph) Shepard -- all right, where does Shepard fit in?

WELCH: Shepard, according to his roommate in the arrest affidavit, was in some sort of business with Dixon, although that`s -- that`s still a little bit unclear. But according to this roommate, Shepard basically spilled the beans about his involvement, and also fingered Dixon.

GRACE: Well, you know what? When you have more than one person in on a murder, you really don`t know who, if anybody, is telling the truth. It`s my recollection, Clark Goldband, that Shepard worked with Dixon in some manner, something to do with medical ancillary --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Services.

GRACE: -- something like medical supply services or possibly bookkeeping services to the doctor, that they knew each other before?

GOLDBAND: Yes, you`re correct Nancy. It appears that is the type of relationship that took place. It`s important to point out, however, we tried to investigate more about this corporation, and we couldn`t find anything anywhere. And we had some of our top researchers searching for it. Also, Nancy, one of the local newspapers actually went down to the address where this company`s headquarters is --

GRACE: Wait a minute! Clark, Clark! Wait, wait! Look at your screen. Who is that -- that`s Dixon right there, the alleged scorned lover. What`s he doing on TV? Oh, he`s on the Plasticsurgerychannel.com. What?

GOLDBAND: Yes, that`s right, Nancy. He is a well-renowned plastic surgeon and made frequent appearances on the Plastic Surgery Channel Web site, as well as local television news. He`s been respected. He`s done tons of plastic surgery procedures. He`s been a certified plastic surgeon for almost a decade and had great education.

And according to people who knew him, there were no warning signs. However, one colleague did speak to one of the local papers down in Texas and said he did have quite the temper. He would get upset. He would leave, but then come back in a few days and everything would seemingly be OK.

GRACE: Now, what were you saying about the location of a medical doctors ancillary that the alleged shooter owned?

GOLDBAND: One of the local newspapers went down there to check it out, and there was a sign, but all the lights were off, and they could not get in contact with anyone who worked for that company. It`s important to point out, Nancy, the alleged shooter also apparently had incorporated a hot tub business in the `90s, as well.

GRACE: I guess (INAUDIBLE) seek out to be a hitman, a former hot tub dealer.

All right, joining me right now is a very special guest, the chief of the Lubbock Police Department, Captain John Caspell. Captain, thank you for being with us.

CAPT. JOHN CASPELL, LUBBOCK POLICE DEPARTMENT (via telephone): You`re welcome. Thank you for having me.

GRACE: Captain, this is quite a puzzle to put together tonight. But your agency -- everybody, with me is Captain John Caspell with the Lubbock Police Department. He`s got quite the hot potato on his hands because a well respected chief pathologist -- you`re seeing right now -- found dead, shot and stabbed in his own home, a broken window. When he didn`t report to a meeting that day, colleagues were concerned. Now thousands of dollars of silver bullion and an allegedly suicidal hitman have surfaced.

Back to you, Captain. Again, thank you for being with us. Question. How did your agency first become alerted to the murder?

CASPELL: We first were -- became alerted to the murder on July the 11th. We received a 911 call from the landscapers, and obviously, we responded immediately to the scene, and upon initial investigation believed it was a suspicious death and that it was an obvious homicide scene.

GRACE: Now, when you first got there, you`re saying it`s an obvious homicide scene. Why do you say that, Captain?

CASPELL: We found signs of forced entry through the back window. There were signs of what appeared to be some sort of struggle that had occurred inside. And obviously, then we also found the victim, Dr. Joseph Sonnier, inside the residence.

GRACE: And Captain, were the gunshot wounds point-blank, or were they close range? I know if there`s gunshot residue, you can assume the shot was fired from 36 inches or less away.

CASPELL: Right. We`re still determining all that. This is still an ongoing and active investigation. And the distance of the gunshots, we are still working on determining, but we will be able to, I believe, establish that as this goes forward.

GRACE: Captain Caspell, how many times was the doctor shot?

CASPELL: We`re working on that, as well. We`re waiting on the final autopsy results, and hopefully, we will have all that soon as this case progresses.

GRACE: You know, the girlfriend is saying that this was no love triangle, and that`s going to cast doubt on the whole theory that this was a love triangle shooting. Isn`t it true that the plastic surgeon, the TV plastic surgeon doctor, had not been dating this girl for almost a year?

CASPELL: I believe that`s accurate, and certainly, we`re not calling it a love triangle. That seems to be something of a theme that has picked up in some media outlets. We`re not calling it that.

The best information we have is that the girlfriend had ended the affair with Dr. Dixon and was currently dating Dr. Sonnier. The information we have is that Dr. Dixon had been harassing or bothering this girl into continuing to see him to the level that Dr. Sonnier had made mention of that to other colleagues that this Dr. Dixon was bothering his girlfriend concerning this past relationship.

GRACE: A famous TV doctor, plastic surgeon, in hot water. Another doctor found dead in his home, multiple gunshot wounds, stabbing. How do we fit the pieces of the puzzle together tonight?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The story is full of bizarre twists and turns, and at the center of it all, two prominent Texas doctors.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Meet Dr. Thomas Dixon, specializing in plastic surgery.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you very much for joining us.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thanks for having me today, Leslie (ph). It`s quite a pleasure to be here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A plastic surgeon accused of paying a hitman with silver bars.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We should do these once and do them well.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The doctor did not show up for work today. There`s a bullet that was laying on the ground.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Dr. Sonnier was found shot and stabbed to death in his living room.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We believe the origin of the dispute between the two doctors appear to be Dr. Sonnier`s current girlfriend, who was Dr. Dixon`s previous girlfriend.

911 OPERATOR: Ma`am? Ma`am? What`s going on?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) I don`t know!

911 OPERATOR: Ma`am, what`s going on?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) I can`t go in! I can`t go in! (INAUDIBLE)

911 OPERATOR: You see what?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can`t go in!

911 OPERATOR: That`s OK. You don`t need to go into the house, OK?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, no! (INAUDIBLE)

911 OPERATOR: Ma`am, what do you see?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- like the 14-year-old boy who wants a sports car. He wants it, but he`s not quite ready for it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: There you see Dr. Dixon, a renowned plastic surgeon, Dr. Thomas Michael Dixon, a TV doctor who appeared on Plastic Surgeon Network. But now he`s in whole different arena, the world of law. Right now, allegedly, a love triangle has resulted in the murder of Dr. Joseph Sonnier. Now, was Sonnier dating Dixon`s ex-girlfriend? And where does silver bullion fit into the mystery?

Out to the lines. Melissa in Texas. Hi, Melissa. What`s your question?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Nancy. This is Melissa. Do you think that Dr. Dixon shows remorse? Because I was looking at his jail car (ph) picture, and he has a smile on his face.

GRACE: He`s shown no remorse whatsoever. To Dr. Bethany Marshall, psychoanalyst and author of "Dealbreakers." Weigh in, Dr. Bethany.

BETHANY MARSHALL, PSYCHOANALYST: Well, it shows how seriously disturbed he is. And he`s probably still obsessed with the girl he was stalking. And we know that men who stalk go after the victim to punish them for perceived rejection and that they imagine that there is a special and unique relationship when there is no relationship at all.

So now that he killed his love rival, he`s sitting smug in jail, thinking that he got back at the girlfriend for having rejected him. He may even have fantasies of reuniting with her at this point.

GRACE: Now she insists, Dr. Bethany, there was no love triangle, that she had dumped Dixon long, long before.

MARSHALL: In her mind. But in Dixon`s mind, there is an active relationship. Again, stalkers imagine that the victim is in love with them. That is a part of the essential nature of the disorder. They -- like, someone who stalks Madonna may never have even talked to Madonna, but believes that Madonna is his wife, OK? So that`s how the disorder is.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

911 OPERATOR: Ma`am? Ma`am? What`s going on?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) I don`t know!

911 OPERATOR: Ma`am, what`s going on?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) I can`t go in! I can`t go in!

911 OPERATOR: You see what?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can`t go in!

911 OPERATOR: That`s OK. You don`t need to go into the house, OK?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, no! It`s not OK!

911 OPERATOR: Ma`am, what do you see?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) They just need to hurry!

911 OPERATOR: What do you see? What is going on, ma`am?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One of his co-workers was in the house and she said it`s not good.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was a scuffle in the dining, and we noticed the back window -- dining room window is bashed in.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

GRACE: A suicidal hit man, thousands of dollars of silver bullion? Back to you -- you first, Steve Moore, former fed with the FBI. Silver bullion has ID marks on it, like a VIN, a VIN on a car. Where does silver bullion fit into this? And isn`t it very easily traceable? And who has silver bullion sitting around the house?

STEVE MOORE, FORMER FBI AGENT: Well, apparently, a pawnshop has silver bullion hanging around. I have no idea why you would pay this -- I mean, you could pay with cash and it would be smarter. It has almost a dramatic feel to it, like he was trying to convince Shepard. I think Shepard -- Shepard was getting into something he didn`t understand completely. I think that`s why he was suicidal afterwards.

GRACE: Didn`t understand? Put Moore up! Steve Moore, you know, you`re a former fed with the FBI and I`m starting to worry about you. Didn`t understand what he was getting into? Well, if the police are correct, I believe he may not understand about silver bullion, but he knows what a gun means, that when you pull the trigger, what happens. Am I wrong about that?

MOORE: No, you`re not wrong. You`re -- you`re exactly right. But somebody who thinks that they can go in and do a murder and it`s not going to bother them sometimes are tragically wrong. And I think what happened is -- this guy -- this guy was obviously an amateur. He broke in. He made loud noises. He shot, then he used a knife. He`s never done this before, I`ll bet you -- bet you anything. And then he comes home and he can`t deal with it. So he knew what he was going to do. He just had no idea the effect it was going to have on him.

GRACE: Silver bullion. We`re going to unleash the lawyers on that. Remember, lawyers, Seema Iyer and Randy Kessler, silver bullion is traceable with VIN numbers, essentially, on the back. They can very easily document the path of silver bullion. And whoa! Silver bullion, big blocks of it, turn up at a Texas pawnshop.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

911 OPERATOR: 911, what`s the emergency??

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Somebody is -- there`s a bullet -- a door`s been broken into. It`s a house that I work at, and the doctor did not show up for work today.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Dr. Sonnier`s landscaper calls police from outside his home.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I need somebody to hurry! I do landscaping here, and we just walked in the back to see if we could find the doctor and saw that somebody had broken in, in the back. They`ve broken a whole window out.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No one had heard from the respected chief pathologist.

911 OPERATOR: Ma`am, what did you see?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One of his co-workers went in the house and she says it`s not good.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Dr. Sonnier was found shot and stabbed to death in his living room.

911 OPERATOR: All right. The person that`s with you --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, no. God.

911 OPERATOR: Ma`am, ma`am, what`s going on?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don`t know.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was a scuffle in the dining and we noticed the back window, the dining room window is bashed in.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: We are taking your calls. An alleged love triangle, a silver bullion and a well respected TV doctor, a plastic surgeon. Not only that, Doctor, but a dead doctor. Chief pathologist found in his home. How do they all fit together?

We are taking your calls. I want to go back out to Michael Board, WOAI. For those of you just joining us, Michael Board, give me the facts.

BOARD: Well, the doctor in Lubbock, Dr. Joseph Sonnier, was not found at work for a couple of days. His landscaper went to go check on him. They found the back window of his half-million dollar mansion busted out. They went inside. They found the doctor dead in his dining room, both stabbed and blood (INAUDIBLE). They called the cops. That`s when the police took over the investigation.

GRACE: To Kevin Welch, "Amarillo Globe News," according to all of our reports, the mystery woman had not been dating the plastic surgeon doctor for over a year. How can there be a love triangle?

WELCH: Well, apparently, from what we`re seeing right now, there was in somebody`s mind, but maybe not physically.

GRACE: To you, Clark Goldband, what are the clues that are left behind? What do we know?

GOLDBAND: Nancy, there`s a few clues left behind that we know about at this hour, and most importantly, it`s that broken window and the way the victim was killed. The victim was shot multiple times according to information in the arrest affidavit, and also was stabbed at least once. So shot and stabled.

Also, we spoke about it a little bit earlier. Those silver bars, one bar is valued at about $3,000 However, the hit-man in this case then allegedly went into the pawnshop just a few days after the death and sold one of those bars for about $2,750 to the pawnshop. That information was then entered into a centralized computer database, law enforcement found a hit on it, and that`s how this whole thing started.

GRACE: Unleash the lawyers. Joining me tonight out of New York, Seema Iyer, defense attorney. Out of Atlanta, Randy Kessler, defense attorney and civil attorney. Chair of the law section of the American Bar Association.

All right, first to you, Seema Iyer.

SEEMA IYER, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Good evening, Miss Grace.

GRACE: Silver bullion. Seema, got any of that in your pocket book?

IYER: No, I don`t, and neither do I have gold. But as you said, Nancy, the silver bullion is traceable which is my first point to thinking that the doctor didn`t do it. I don`t think the doctor did this.

Think about this, Nancy. This doctor knows that the DNA that will be created by this path starting from the broken window, and ultimately leads to Shepard, which could be then connected to the doctor, being that they had this alleged business together.

GRACE: Yes, you sound like you`re making the state`s opening statement. But you just said you don`t think his responsible.

IYER: I don`t think the doctor has anything to do with this.

GRACE: You just said there`s a path from the home to -- to David Neil Shepard.

And obviously, Randy Kessler, the silver bullion is going to be traced to the plastic surgeon. The TV doctor.

RANDY KESSLER, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: It might, but this a made-for-TV situation. I mean there are so many --

GRACE: I didn`t ask you that.

KESSLER: Well, I`m telling you that they`re not going to be --

GRACE: Don`t go off.

KESSLER: It`s not a clear-cut case.

GRACE: So hone in.

KESSLER: You`re right about that, but it`s not a clear-cut case, you`ve got a temperamental plastic surgeon, silver bullion. There are a lot of strings to connect. A lot of -- a lot of dots to attach. There`s no way this case is open and shut right away. The easy cases never are.

GRACE: Kessler --

KESSLER: They`re never easy. You thought O.J. Simpson was easy.

GRACE: I don`t even know who -- that`s crazy talk, it`s not even what I asked you. You`re just like one of those -- forget it.

KESSLER: OK.

GRACE: I`m going to come back to you. You just sit there and try to dream up another answer.

Clark Goldband -- wait, forget it. I`ve got Captain Caspell with me.

Captain Jon Caspell is with us. The Lubbock Police Department captain.

Captain, isn`t it true silver bullion had I.D. engraved in it?

CAPT. JON CASPELL, LUBBOCK POLICE DEPARTMENT: Yes.

GRACE: And that -- can you trace that back to the plastic surgeon?

CASPELL: Well, we`re working on that, this is certainly an open investigation, any identifying marks that are on the silver, we believe we will be able to trace it. That is part of the ongoing investigation but if it`s traceable, you can be rest assured our investigators will be able to do so.

GRACE: Steve Moore, you`re a former fed. You know the feds are responsible for making big hunks of silver bullion. Isn`t it true? How do you get silver bullion? I mean you don`t go to your ATM and push alternative silver bullion. Where do you get the stuff?

STEVE MOORE, FORMER FBI AGENT, VIOLENT CRIME INVESTIGATION: You go through brokers. And you`re going to have to sign for it. Especially in large amounts like that. There`s really no way you`re going to buy that without some kind of record, and the fact that the hit-man was paid in silver bullion kind of indicates to me that he didn`t want to make -- Dixon didn`t want to make a cash transfer that would look suspicious. So he gave it -- gave him the bullion. This is -- and I don`t like the argument that we just heard that the guy`s too smart to do something stupid. You know, there -- he killed somebody, how stupid is that?

GRACE: This is going to claim that this alleged hit-man, Shepard, stole the bullion from the doctor. That`s what`s going to be claimed if this thing ever goes to trial.

Dr. Bethany Marshall, I need a shrink. That would be you. Who is sitting around thinking about buying silver bullion? What person -- let`s just analyze this.

Let me see Bethany, please. Is she with me? She joining out in L.A. I can`t see her. I see silver bullion. There she is. OK.

Dr. Bethany, let`s think this through. I guarantee you if someone has the money to buy it, i.e., a doctor, number two, with nothing else to do, i.e. divorced, and lonely. He`s sitting around, and obviously he`s watching a cable channel where you see that woman saying, I love gold, I want gold.

Have you seen that? And he gets in his head that` he`s going to buy bullion. Why? Because he doesn`t have a wife and a bunch of children running around the house, he`s got time to order silver bullion, all right? Who else is going to do such a zany thing, as have bullion sitting in their house?

BETHANY MARSHALL, PSYCHOANALYST, AUTHOR OF "DEALBREAKERS": Nancy, you`ve just analyzed it correctly. It`s somebody who is so obsessed --

GRACE: A lonely, rich, white guy. That`s who orders silver bullion.

MARSHALL: That`s right. Well, you`re right. One who has no life, no responsibilities, is watching TV shows about already adjudicated crimes because he`s trying to figure out how to cook up the crime himself. And he -- the plotting and the planning in all seriousness has a timeless quality.

I`ve treated stalkers in my practice and sometimes they`ll say, you know, she really hurt my feelings when she said that the other night on the date. And I`ll say, well, when was that, they`ll say, well, you know, in 1992. So revenge has a timeless, endless, oceanic quality.

GRACE: I still say lonely rich, white man, without a family and kids running to divert his attention. Without a girlfriend there going get off the Internet and stop watching cable TV. No. He`s watching cable TV, he probably sees that commercial about gold, buying gold, for Pete`s sake. He`s got the money to do it. And now we find a hit-man who`s obviously been paid with silver bullion.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We believe Dr. Dixon hired Mr. Shepard to murder Dr. Sonnier.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What`s going on? What`s inside the house, sir?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was a scuffle in the dining and we noticed the back window. The dining room window is bashed in and so --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So there was a scuffle back here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We believe the origin of the disputes between the two doctors appear to be Dr. Sonnier`s current girlfriend, who was Dr. Dixon`s previous girlfriend.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And we just walked in the back to see if we could find the doctor, and saw that somebody had broken in, in the back. They have broken the whole window out. I

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. Now you said that the --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I need somebody to hurry.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ma`am, what do you see?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They just need to hurry.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do you see? What is going on, ma`am?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One of his co-workers was in the house and he said it`s not good.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is there somebody in the house?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, they went in. One of his co-workers went in the house.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What can you -- can you put him on the phone?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don`t know.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ma`am, are you OK?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Will you talk to them? It`s 911, they want to talk to you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: We`re taking your calls. Unleash the lawyers, joining me tonight, Seema Iyer, defense attorney, New York. Randy Kessler, defense attorney, Atlanta. And special guest joining us, Joe Viacava, who has represented a defendant in a murder-for-hire case before.

First to you, Joe, thank you for being with us. How will Shepard, the alleged hit-man, defend himself at trial? What will the defense be?

JOE VIACAVA, REPRESENTED KIMBERLY AKERS IN MURDER FOR HIRE CASE: Well, the best situation they have is obviously anything they have on the, quote- unquote, "hit-man" to affect his credibility is obviously going to go a long way with any jury, assuming what they have on him.

GRACE: But would Shepard get more of a cake walk with the original idea, the mastermind being the plastic surgeon, the TV doctor?

VIACAVA: Well, under the law, in theory, they`re both supposed to get the same sentence, as they`re both co-conspirators, but in practicality, usually the person who was the one responsible for actually committing the murder usually gets the longer period of time. But that`s going to depend on the prosecutor on who he wants to flip on who.

GRACE: You know, we know that the alleged shooter, Shepard, was in financial trouble, he had declared bankruptcy prior to the shooting. How does that fit in?

VIACAVA: Well, with these cases we usually see two motivations, and it`s the old-fashioned love and money, and both of those are usually giant factors and obviously people have a reason to do what they do and nothing is more motivating than jealousy, love and money from our experience.

GRACE: To you, Dr. Vincent Dimaio, former chief medical examiner, joining me from San Antonio, this is your neck of the woods, this is Texas, let me ask you a question. The victim, the chief pathologist, father of three, found dead on the floor. He`s a doctor. Do you think he knew he was dying, Dr. Dimaio?

DR. VINCENT DIMAIO, M.D., FORMER CHIEF MEDICAL EXAMINER, BEXAR COUNTY, FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST: Oh, yes, he knew, you know, he was being shot. And then you know if they went on to the stab wound, that implies that the gunshots did not completely immobilize him. Otherwise why bother to stab him?

GRACE: So you think, Dr. Dimaio, that Sonnier put up a fight?

DIMAIO: Yes, you know, when someone comes through to you, apparently there was a struggle according to police, and he knew the other guy had a gun and was going to shoot him. You know, this is West Texas, they know what happens when someone pulls a gun on you.

GRACE: Well, and also the stabbing, Doctor. Sonnier was also stabbed multiple times. It wasn`t just a gunshot wound.

DIMAIO: Right. And so what -- I mean, you know, the individual with the gun kept shooting, maybe he ran out of ammunition.

GRACE: We`ll be right back taking your calls, now CNN Heroes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CATALINA ESCOBAR, CNN HERO: Teen pregnancy in Cartagena is a very big issue. When you go to the slums, it is unbelievable what you see. Many of my girls live here. It`s just so wrong. You see these girls, they`re babies holding babies.

About 10 years ago I was volunteering at this maternity hospital and I was holding this baby, and he passed away with me. The teen mother failed to raise the money for our treatment. Four days later, my own son passed away in an accident. I realized I didn`t want any mother to feel the same grief that I went through.

My name`s Catalina Escobar, and I`m helping teen moms get a healthy and productive life for them and for their babies.

When we first started at the maternity hospital, we reduced dramatically the infant mortality rate. But the real problem, it was much bigger than that. My girls end up being pregnant because they don`t have sexual education and many of my girls are sexually abused.

When my girls come, they drop their babies in the daycare center. We have different workshops so they can develop their skills.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My dream has always been to have my own restaurant. Now I know to never give up in life.

ESCOBAR: We are changing the lives of these girls, if you give them the right tools, they`re capable of moving forward.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right. The person that`s with you --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh no. God.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ma`am, ma`am, what`s going on?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don`t know.

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GRACE: We are back and taking your calls.

Back to the lawyers, Joe Viacava, Seema Iyer and Randy Kessler.

You know, to you, Randy, you know what the doctor is going to claim, the TV plastic surgeon when these silver bars turn up, they`re going to claim, oh, yes, he was a collector, the doctor, and obviously his colleague, the shooter, Shepard, stole them from his house.

But here`s the other wrinkle. According to Shepard the shooter`s roommate, he had been stalking the dead victim for weeks and was texting it all back to the plastic surgeon doctor, the scorned boyfriend.

KESSLER: That`s true. I mean, and you know this is coming, Nancy, the mental health defense. There`s no question about the silver bullion. Why would it be so extreme?

GRACE: Put him back up. Kessler --

KESSLER: I knew you wouldn`t like it.

GRACE: Mental health defense.

KESSLER: Right.

GRACE: OK. Number one, there is no such thing as a mental health defense. And I don`t like to have to throw this question out, but just who are you going to claim is crazy, all of them?

KESSLER: Well, but the doctor, I mean to go out and buy -- it`s like she was living a fairy tale --

GRACE: The dead doctor?

KESSLER: No, no, the guy who hired somebody to kill him.

GRACE: So everybody is crazy.

KESSLER: Well, I don`t know about the dead doctor. The dead doctor wasn`t crazy.

GRACE: OK. All right. Seema, Seema, spare me the term insanity in your answer if possible and give me your best shot.

IYER: Extreme emotional disturbance perhaps? Maybe you like that better. I think that`s what my colleague was going for with -- in terms of Shepard, Shepard`s suicide attempt clearly corroborate that there could be an extreme emotional disturbance component coupled with perhaps depression.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can`t go in, I can`t go in.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You see what?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can`t go in.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That`s OK. You don`t need to go into the house, OK?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, no. It`s not OK.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: To you, Clark Goldband, tell me what is the evidence against, number one, the plastic surgeon, the TV doctor, the scorned lover, and the evidence against Shepard, the shooter? And where is the mystery woman? Why is she staying shrouded from our view? What`s with her?

GOLDBAND: Well, I`ll answer your last question first. This mystery woman, we don`t know who she is. Law enforcement has not released her name and someone speaking out on her behalf down there in Texas has also spoken out anonymously, so we don`t know about her.

The evidence against the shooter is quite interesting, Nancy. A lot of it is coming from his roommate. According to this arrest affidavit we`ve gotten our hands on, this roommate claims a lot of facts that only the shooter would know, according to law enforcement. Information law enforcement did not make public.

GRACE: I`m still hung up on the bullion. Is there claim, Kevin Welch of the "Amarillo Globe News," that the doctor, the plastic surgeon, Dr. Dixon, is there any claim that he collected silver bullion? Or in fact the victim, Dr. Sonnier? Did either of them collect bullion? Is there going to be a claim that Shepard stole the bullion?

WELCH: There`s been no claim by either of the doctors collecting bullion.

GRACE: And back to you, Steve Moore, I want to get a handle on how long it would take to trace the bullion. Because that`s going to be the answer to me.

MOORE: Well, it`s going to take a while. It just depends on where he bought it, how he bought it, whether he bought it through a broker, Secret Service can help you with this. But frankly, you know, even a plastic surgeon can`t put a happy face on this case.

GRACE: Everyone, let`s stop and remember, Army Specialist Anthony Lightfoot, 20, Riverdale, Georgia, killed, Afghanistan. Bronze Star, Purple Heart, buried, Arlington. Loved reading, animation, gaming, Xbox. Leaves behind a loving family.

Anthony Lightfoot, American hero.

Thanks to our guests but especially to you.

And tonight, a special good night from the New York control room.

Everyone, Jane Velez coming up next. I`ll see you tomorrow night, 8:00 sharp Eastern. And until then, good night, friend.

END