Rita
Cosby Live & Direct
August
12, 2005
RITA
COSBY, HOST: And good evening, everybody. We‘ve got another big show
coming your way tonight. We‘ve got an exclusive from
Art, you believe this may be Joran‘s belt. Tell us why.
ART
WOOD, PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR: Hi, Rita. Well, I don‘t know if
it‘s Joran‘s belt or not, but it certainly is a close match to the belt that
Joran is using in the photograph that he took with his friends when he was
horsing around.
COSBY:
Now, I want to show some pictures, if I could...
COSBY:
Mike, I want to show some pictures of the ones, actually, that you took. You
also took some photos. You handed it over to authorities, right?
WOOD:
That‘s correct.
COSBY:
What was their reaction?
WOOD:
Well, I assume that they‘re going to send it to Holland to make sure there‘s no
blood, DNA or other evidence. This belt has been out in the weather for a long
time, so I can‘t tell you. I didn‘t examine the belt with a microscope. I
didn‘t have any chemical stuff to check to see if there was blood on it. But I
can tell you that it‘s something that they need to send in to the forensics
people.
COSBY:
Absolutely. And if we can show again the picture that you just took of the
belt, and then side by side, that picture there, they look pretty similar,
these two belts. When did you find the belt, and where, Art?
WOOD:
Well, Rita, all my leads—I‘ve been working here for—for seven weeks, and the
leads that I‘ve developed have led me to believe that this girl died on the
beach that night. We have leads that make us believe that these three boys,
along with accomplices, buried this girl at the lighthouse.
I had specific information to a possible site where she might have been buried.
Last night, just prior to dark, I went out there. I dug around. I came up with
that belt. I didn‘t turn it over to authorities last night because I wasn‘t
sure of the significance. But I remembered that photograph, the photograph that
was on Joran‘s Web site, the site where he was shown doing sadistic things to
his friends, the same Web site that showed him drunk, and so forth.
And I thought, Man, that belt looks like the same belt. So this morning, I
checked our research photograph file at the “Diario,” and I believe that that‘s
a pretty good match. I‘m going to leave it to the authorities to do forensic
work, maybe computer enhancement, and see if they can identify that belt.
COSBY:
Now, Art, was there anything unusual on the belt, just looking at it visually?
Was there any blood stains, any hair, anything of significance?
WOOD:
Well, Rita, you know what? It‘s hard to tell. You know, forensic evidence could
get stuck in the belt holes. It could get—it could be on the buckle. The belt
has stains on it, but it‘s been out in the weather. I have no idea whether
they‘re blood or anything. I know the belt has deteriorated somewhat. It‘s
longer than it was when it was put there, obviously. It‘s stretched. I hope
that it leads to something.
I will tell you this, the area where the belt was found is an area that we‘re
concentrating on. We have a search team in that area tonight as we speak.
COSBY:
Oh, you do? How many folks do you have out there? And how big is that area,
Art, where we‘re looking now?
WOOD:
Well, we—they‘ve taped off an area out there that I showed them where I think
would be significant. It‘s not a large area. The dunes area is a large area,
but tonight, they‘re specifically searching a small area that I felt was
significant.
COSBY:
And we‘re told we‘re going to get some video in shortly of the search that‘s
going on as we speak. Real quick, Art, any idea how long it‘s going to take
until you might get some results back from authorities or until they make those
results public?
WOOD:
You know what, Rita? We‘ve experienced this before. It takes a week or two for
this evidence to get to
COSBY:
Well, I would hope so, especially if it turns out to be Joran‘s belt. All of us
will put a lot of pressure, and they better be excited about it if it turns out
to be a clue.