http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0606/27/lkl.01.html

CNN LARRY KING LIVE

Interview With John Walsh, the Bish Family

Aired June 27, 2006 - 21:00   ET

WALSH (voice-over): And now an urgent alert from Warren, Massachusetts. A frantic search is underway here for a missing girl, beautiful 16-year-old lifeguard Molly Bish.

Molly works here at Comins Pond, a small public beach in the small New England town. On June 27th, her mom dropped Molly off at the beach around 10:00 a.m. and a half hour later Molly was gone. Molly's mom told police about a suspicious-looking man she had seen loitering in the beach parking lot the day before.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Welcome back.

Tonight, with the help of John Walsh and the family of a victim, we'll take a look at an unsolved missing person case that started long before many other high profile kidnappings.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KING (voice-over): Before the headline-grabbing cases of Chandra Levy, Elizabeth Smart or Natalee Holloway, there was the disappearance of Molly Bish. Six years ago today the 16-year-old vanished from her lifeguard job at Comins Pond in Warren, Massachusetts. Her disappearance ignited the most extensive manhunt in the state's history.

John Walsh and "America's Most Wanted" brought her case to national attention. Nearly three years after she went missing, Molly Bish's remains were found just a few miles from Comins Pond.

The investigation into this heartbreaking case continues. Who took Molly and exactly what happened to her are still unknown.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KING: John Walsh of course remains with us. And joining us in Watertown, Massachusetts are John Bish, the father of the late Molly Bish, there's the whole family, Magi Bish, the mother of Molly; Heather Bish, Molly Bish's oldest sister; and John Bish, Jr., Molly Bish's older brother.

John, has anything new been uncovered by the police there as to solving who did this?

JOHN BISH, FATHER OF MOLLY BISH: The district attorney's office today released a video of Molly about ten minutes before reporting for work with her mom, picking up some water and soda and treats for her lunch for the day.

It depicts Molly prepared for work, involved with her mom and it gives us a good picture of the timeline. It's about ten minutes of 10:00. About six minutes of 10:00 she picks up a police radio and the keys to obtain the equipment from her post as a lifeguard.

And now the state police would tell you that perhaps two minutes after 10:00 she's gone from the pond. It is an extremely narrow window. We still are concerned with trying to determine who may have gotten to her. Molly was a very public victim and the question before us still is who might have known of her vulnerability there as a lifeguard?

KING: Magi, has there been at all during the course of this any suspects?

MAGI BISH, MOTHER OF MOLLY BISH: Unfortunately we have too many suspects. What had happened is that there was, which we often hear, no one had responded in a timely fashion. The police did not call me until about three hours into the disappearance.

Once they called me I said "This is not anything that Molly had ever done, ever left a job. She was never truant from school. She played three sports. She never missed practices. She took the lifeguard training all winter long. This has never been anything she'd ever done, nothing."

So I said I'd be there immediately and I, myself, went to the pond. I beckoned anyone. I was screaming for her, looking for her, and the unbelievable part was all of her belongings, her shoes, her backpack, the first aid kit, all these things were left on the beach.

And I had to go to the police station and say to them "Please get the chief. Please get the assistant chief and call my husband immediately who is a probation officer who works with them at the local courthouse."

And by me making that notice that's when the action started and that's when -- at first they weren't sure what had happened, you know, and until that evening did the state police come into the -- the CPAC unit come into effect and the state police took over the case.

KING: "America's Most Wanted" was on top of this from the get- go. I'll bring John back in, in a moment. But, Heather, where was Molly's body discovered? HEATHER BISH, SISTER OF MOLLY BISH: It was found on a roadside about five miles from the pond. It was still about the Warren/Palmer line very high up in the woods, very steep, brushy area, rocky, very difficult for someone to climb up there, especially with a 5'7", 130- pound girl.

KING: John Bish, Jr., what was the cause of her death?

JOHN BISH, JR., BROTHER OF MOLLY BISH: We do not know the cause of her death right now. As you know, we know that just her remains were found. It was three years later. So, it's still under investigation of what happened.

KING: You mean they have a body but what did the autopsy show John?

JOHN BISH: Well, we had -- we recovered really 26 bones of Molly. She was returned to us literally bone by bone. During her period of disappearance that was three years we were always realistic about her peril but we were always hopeful. Bringing her home, as I say bone by bone, we were very, very unprepared for this.

They were not able to determine the cause of death. Her bathing suit was found by a hunter and her remains, the bones were scattered by animals. The cause of death is simply not known.

KING: During the missing part, John Walsh, did you get any leads?

WALSH: Well, we got lots of leads but none of them bore any fruit until they arrested this guy John Regan (ph) in Saratoga Springs, New York, for trying to abduct a teenager. And when they got this car they found that he had all kinds of burglary tools. He had duct tape. He had a hangman's noose in the car and that he was convicted of raping a teenage girl way back in 1993 I believe. And that, you know, I wish we had a sex offender registry back then that we would know about this guy.

KING: But was he a suspect? Was he a suspect in the Bish killing?

WALSH: He is a suspect.

JOHN BISH: Well he's a suspect. He's someone that I'm very concerned about because the area that he was arrested in Saratoga Springs is about 90 miles from our home. He is from Waterbury, Connecticut, which is about 90 miles from Saratoga Springs.

But he worked as a roofing material salesperson and we know that he traveled to our area. He has been traced to nearby Sturbridge and, as John Walsh has always pointed out, these individuals move about a lot more than we imagined him to.

It's the police, the state police and the district attorney think that it's a local individual that was involved with Molly but my question is who? Mr. Regan emerges as someone of great concern to me because of the similarity of the victim in this attempted abduction.

KING: Where, John Walsh, is he now, Mr. Regan?

WALSH: He's in Saratoga Springs, New York and I wish that these different agencies would really, really take the gloves off and look into this guy's whereabouts. He traveled all over those areas.

And, for example, the Coeur d'Alene murders in Idaho this last past summer with little Shasta Groene, the police were looking at individuals in an area when it was a sexual predator that was roaming the country, Joseph Duncan.

These guys know no boundaries. They know no county lines. They roam repeatedly across this country. And this guy was making sales trips in that area and he has a long history of this and was trying to kidnap a teenager who looked very much like Molly in Saratoga Springs.

I wish these police agencies would get really busy and find out where this guy was, spend the money and the time and check those resources and either eliminate him or charge him.

KING: We'll take a break and be back with more with the Bish family and with John Walsh.

Don't forget Thursday night Star Jones, her first appearance since announcing today that she's leaving the ABC morning program "The View." Don't go away.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WALSH (voice-over): Late last month a hunter walking in these woods, not far from where Molly was last seen, stumbled upon a partially buried blue bathing suit, similar to the one Molly wore the day she went missing.

As police searched through the woods there were more discoveries, human bones. In all, searchers found almost two dozen bones and several teeth. The remains went to a lab for DNA analysis. The results came back early this week and the Bish family got the worst possible news.

JOHN CONTE, DISTRICT ATTORNEY: We were able to completely identify the remains as those of Molly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: Magi Bish, how do you live with this?

M. BISH: It's very difficult, Larry. I want to thank you so much for having us today. Today particularly is a very tough day. Today would have been the anniversary, six years. As you can see, there's only four of us, and it's very hard for me still to this day. I wake up every morning thinking of her, and my last prayer at night is with her. I have her pajamas on my bedpost, so I can still remember how she smells.

You try your best -- a victim, to be a victim is something I never ever dreamt or imagined. But we've been blessed. We have our faith. We have had immense goodness and love. John Walsh has been extremely wonderful to us. He's helped us fight this battle. We know we have to fight this evil, that this does exist. It is a war here in America that people don't realize is going on, that we have to fight this. These bad guys are not going away.

KING: John, why is it important? Seriously, for the Bishes to find out who did this. I mean, they can have -- you might call it closure, it doesn't bring her back.

WALSH: I don't like it when people throw that word around so much, closure. It's more about justice. It's justice for Molly. I think this wonderful, loving, caring family that works so closely with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, they're out there trying to make people aware all the time.

I think it's justice for them. They want to make sure that whoever killed Molly isn't out there killing again. And these guys don't stop. They don't stop with one abduction and one murder. They stop when you catch them and you execute them like Resendez-Ramirez was executed hours ago. And my hat's off to the courage of the Bishops (sic), of the Bishes. All the Bishes want is justice for Molly and to stop the guy that killed her from killing somebody else again.

KING: Heather, do you fear for yourself?

H. BISH: Absolutely. I have a 6-year-old daughter, and she sleeps in my bed still because I am afraid of having her sleep in her own bed, and I fear the day that she'll want her independence. I look a lot like Molly. I don't know who did this. I don't know why. I don't know how this could have happened. And I'm terrified.

KING: John Bish Jr., tell us a little bit about Molly. What kind of girl was she? What did she aspire to do?

JOHN BISH JR.: She was a fun-loving girl. She loved life.

H. BISH: She wanted to be like her brother.

JOHN BISH JR.: She wanted to work with kids. She wanted to be a teacher. She played sports, as I played sports, soccer, basketball, baseball. I was a lifeguard as well at the pond for three previous years. So we had a lot in common. I mean, she was my best friend and my sister. So.

KING: John Bish, do you think that authorities may have lost some valuable time here and clues in the case by not immediately treating it as an abduction?

JOHN BISH: Yes. Unfortunately, you know, no one thought that Molly would face any peril working as a lifeguard at Comins Pond in Warren, Massachusetts if left alone even for a short period of time. But any child that's missing, the police need to respond. In this case she's actually an employee of the town, and in effect a first responder and she's not at her post. We just wish there had been some sort of alarm sounded, and we may have had some different results.

We're struggling now with issues of evidence, the pond, the area where she worked was not preserved as a crime scene. Visitors were able to walk about and touch the equipment, and if there was any evidence of struggle that was obliterated. So valuable time was lost.

And John Walsh has spoken about this all the time, how it's critically important for the police to respond immediately. And he has been at training sessions about instructing the police on how to be -- what the first responders should do.

KING: John, it's awfully hard for you, isn't it? Because you deal with so many cases like this really nice family.

WALSH: Oh, absolutely. I mean, just look at tonight. We have never gotten justice for Adam. Jacob Wetterling was taken at gunpoint, that little boy you showed earlier. His abductor and probably murderer is still at large. Look at the Bishops (sic) -- Bishes. It crosses all socioeconomic lines, and nobody really is safe.

And I say to police out there that are watching, and I'm the No. 1 supporter of law enforcement, don't arbitrarily sign the death warrant of a child by deciding at that moment that child's a runaway. You need to take every case individually and every case seriously because so many times a child is not a runaway, and certainly Molly Bish didn't run away.

KING: We're going to spend a couple more minutes with the Bishes and John Walsh and then John will be with us for the remainder of the program. And we'll be right back on this edition of LARRY KING LIVE, don't go away.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WALSH: We've still got a lot of work to do. We've got to find the monster who committed this horrible crime.

M. BISH: The depth of our sadness no family should have to endure. No one wants to bring a child home bone by bone.

JOHN BISH: The person who placed her at peril will be bound also by the Massachusetts state police. I'm confident of that.

WALSH: This sketch could be the best lead police have. It's of a man Molly's mother says she saw lurking around the pond the day her daughter disappeared.

M. BISH: I really don't have a name for you, but I know who you are. And if you don't come to us, we're going to look for you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: John Bish, tell us about this -- your family's support of the EZ-ID license plate. A measure called Molly's law is pending in Massachusetts. What is it all about?

JOHN BISH: Well, it's an endeavor to change the general issue license plates to a symbol letter numbered system. We know that it takes three electronic signs for anyone to absorb all the information that is on those signs when there is an Amber Alert, the license plate being amongst the most difficult thing to remember. And the EZ-ID program is designed to change that, so that we would be able to more easily, readily identify a license plate by its symbol, which is a soccer ball, a baseball, a letter, and a number.

KING: Magi, I know you've kept in touch, Natalee Holloway and others, with people who were in similar circumstances to yourself. Why?

M. BISH: Well, I think especially when we're first becoming a victim, you feel so alone, you feel so different. You don't know where you fit in. And once you do, your heart wrenches for those who cross over and become like you, because you know so well how difficult this journey will be.

There's no turning back. You don't stop, you know -- yesterday, we had Molly's vigil, and all I could say was the hole in my heart has grown deeper. You know, I wish -- you know, people talk of closure. You know, I had a psychologist once say that, you know, we often think that people do these things because it's psychological, you can't stop, you've got to keep searching, you've got to keep trying to get the answers, but it's really biological. We are mammals. We are animals. We need to protect our young, just like the mother bear. And we need to reach out to one another, because that's the only way we can really do this. We have to do it together. It's too difficult to do it alone.

KING: Heather, do you follow other stories similar to yours when they're in the papers or they're on John Walsh's show?

H. BISH: I do. Absolutely. I can recognize the pain that the families are going through. I think it's unfortunate that siblings do not receive the same support that parents do. The National Center has Team Hope, which provides wonderful support to parents. But the siblings are left sort of in this state of -- you know, your parents are kind of lost in a way, you know, you've lost your sibling, and your family is fractured.

And there truly isn't a network that you could call upon to, you know, ask questions.

John and I initially, when we would meet parents of other missing children, would ask, well, how are your kids doing? And you know, we're lucky that we were older, but I fear for the children who are teenagers, who are younger and don't have that support. KING: Why do you think that is, John, Jr.? Siblings get a short shrift.

JOHN BISH JR.: We're trying to figure that out right now. I think parents are the ones who are more adult and have more connections to the adult world and what's going on naturally, I think.

H. BISH: I think to that, siblings, John, I've found have different relationships. They're not all like we had when we were younger. We went to each other's soccer games and horseback riding shows, and did a lot together. We played together. You know, I don't think that all siblings get along this way. And I don't know that that relationship is honored as much as the parent.

KING: But your loss is equal.

H. BISH: Oh, it's a hole. I can't tell you the loneliness -- loneliness is the only word that I could explain, not having my sister. I truly feel like I lost part of myself.

KING: Thank you all. Thanks to the John Bish family. John Bish, Magi Bish, Heather Bish and John Bish Jr. All I can hope for you is that you find peace.

M. BISH: And we thank you from the bottom of our hearts for having us, Larry and John. Very, very much. Thank you.

KING: We'll be right back with John Walsh.

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