Interview With Medium James Van Praagh
HILL: Casey Anthony`s failure to protect Caylee resulted in her untimely death, and that is according to a three-year investigation done by the Department of Children and Families. It was released today. Meanwhile a new poll out shows that Casey Anthony is the most hated person in America. Here now, with the latest on the Casey case is Michael Christian, field producer for "In Session" on Trutv. Michael, thanks for being with us. What`s in this report?</s>MICHAEL CHRISTIAN, IN SESSION ON TRUTV FIELD PRODUCER: It`s a 12-page report, E.D. It was released as you say this morning. And it basically finds three, what they call, maltreatments that they say Casey Anthony was responsible for and that contributed to the death of little Caylee. The first one is that, indeed, Caylee died, that that`s verified. Also, they say there was a failure to protect. That basically, Casey Anthony lied when she talked about how she had left this child with a nanny and they said that that was a failure to protect because had the child actually been with a nanny -- Casey didn`t know enough about that nanny, couldn`t get ahold of her, that the child was missing because she was with this fictitious nanny. They also said that there was a verified, threatened harm, and that says that Casey basically was responsible because during this 31 days that she claimed Caylee was missing and she feared that Caylee was kidnapping or at least she said so at the time, she didn`t report that to law enforcement. So those three maltreatments as they say contributed to the death of Caylee Marie Anthony, according to this report.</s>HILL: You know, maybe I`m just not that smart, but why does it matter now? They spent three years investigating this. It comes out after the trial? What was the purpose?</s>CHRISTIAN: That`s right. It really doesn`t matter. It`s more or less a professional courtesy. Apparently the law in Florida requires this department to issue reports like this whenever there`s been a death of a child. It`s simply for the record.</s>HILL: Even if it had come out before the trial, could it have been used? Would it have made any difference?</s>CHRISTIAN: You know, it really wouldn`t have, E.D., because she wasn`t charged with any of these particular charges. She was charged with murder, but she was not charged with neglecting her child.</s>HILL: Perhaps if someone had noticed that there was something going on beforehand, the little girl wouldn`t be dead right now. Let`s talk about this poll. It found that Casey is the most hated person in America. So what do you think? When you look at her right there, you see her, she`s crying on TV. She got out free, though. She got out free. So does she win? Does she lose?</s>CHRISTIAN: Well, I guess you could look at it either way. I think you have to say she lost if she`s the most hated person in America. Apparently she got 94 percent, which was way more than anybody else got. She beat people like Spencer Pratt, who is on MTV. He is the second most hated person. She beat the Octomom. She beat O.J. Simpson. She beat John Gosselin. She beat Levi Johnston, Bristol Palin`s ex-fiance. She beat Jesse James, Sandra Bullock`s ex-husband. She beat Paris Hilton. She beat Heidi Fleiss. She beat Howard Stern. She also won -- or lost, if you want to put it that way -- she`s the second creepiest person in America, according to this poll. The winner of that, the creepiest person is Marilyn Manson.</s>HILL: Well, you can look at her and you never know when she`s telling the truth or when she`s not or what she thinks is the truth. That is kind of creepy. What about this probation fight? Why is it taking so long to decide whether Casey should have to come back to Orlando?</s>CHRISTIAN: You know, the problem here is there is really no precedent for this. There`s no case law that either side or Judge Belvin Perry who is going to have to make the decision, could find that was really on point with this. When they had their hearing last Friday, they talked about this, and Judge Perry said this was a mess. He called it a maze. He called it a morass. He said everything that could have gone wrong with this issue did go wrong. So basically, he was going to have to look at case law outside the state of Florida, and that takes some time. I can guarantee you his law clerk has been busy since that Friday morning hearing. No decision yet. They had told us it would not come down before Wednesday, which was yesterday. It could be today. It could be later today. It could be tomorrow morning. It could be tomorrow afternoon. We just don`t know. We`re just sitting here waiting.</s>HILL: One of the sad things in a case like this is that we spend so much time looking at her and trying to figure her out, her motives, her reasoning, her rationale. You know, whatever. And sometimes you forget that there`s this little girl -- or was this little girl -- and she`s dead. And it would have been her sixth birthday Tuesday. How is that remembered?</s>CHRISTIAN: There was a memorial walk last night. People went to the site where Caylee`s remains were found, and it was a surprise in a way, E.D., because her grandparents went, George and Cindy Anthony. Now, that was maybe a bit of a risk for them. There are some people who are not happy with Casey`s parents, who think they were involved in this somehow. And if you remember back three years ago, when this all first happened, there were people who were showing up at the Anthony house who were protesting, who were screaming at George and Cindy. George and Cindy turned the hose on some of them. So I think for them to go out in public was a bit of a gamble. I think it paid off. I think they were very well received by the people at this memorial. And you got to remember, they are victims, too. They lost a granddaughter that they loved very much, and the focus last night, as you say, her sixth birthday, was to once again, remember Caylee Anthony.</s>HILL: Michael, thank you very much.</s>CHRISTIAN: Sure.</s>HILL: Most of us have suffered the loss of a loved one and a lot of us would just love the chance to talk with them just one more time. My next guest says that he can actually help folks do it. He says he can talk to the dead. His name is James Van Praagh and he`s the author of "Growing Up in Heaven: The Eternal Connection Between Parent and Child." And it`s probably fortuitous to talk to you right now because we were just mentioning Casey Anthony and Caylee. Do you think there is a connection between a parent and a child? If there is, I worry about what theirs is?</s>JAMES VAN PRAAGH, AUTHOR, "GROWING UP IN HEAVEN": Yes, I do believe there`s definitely a connection between them. And on a soul level, it`s very, very different. I mean, on a physical level we can see it, but on a soul level, and I do believe in past lives, I do believe in reincarnation. I do believe that in another lifetime, maybe something happened, maybe this soul chose this situation because -- to teach the mother something. So we really don`t know really until we get to the spiritual dimension.</s>HILL: I`m sure that there are a lot of folks watching thinking you`re nuts.</s>VAN PRAAGH: My whole life they thought that.</s>HILL: Well, that`s my question. How did you know? At what point in your life did you know, I`m not crazy because I think I can talk to dead people, I actually can?</s>VAN PRAAGH: Yes. I think -- first of all, what anyone thinks of you is none of your business. That`s why -- I live by that, and everybody should, they will be a lot happier people. As a little boy, I used to see spirits around people, I used to see auras. The movie "The Sixth Sense," that was my childhood.</s>HILL: Did you question yourself, though?</s>VAN PRAAGH: No, because as a child, you look around the world around you, you really measure things by what you`re observing, what you`re seeing, what you`re experiencing as a child, you don`t know any better.</s>HILL: Were you scared?</s>VAN PRAAGH: Not at all. My visions were very, very loving, actually I would say loving, compassionate ones. Nothing scary, nothing like horror shows. Nothing like that at all.</s>HILL: So what happens? When you`re talking to somebody or they are coming in and saying, I want to connect with somebody, can you make that just happen?</s>VAN PRAAGH: It if it`s there, it`s there. If it`s not, it`s not. I can try to -- it`s like a radio. You turn on the radio and you tune to the signal, the station, if you will. And if they are a good communicator, I will be able to hear them, feel them and see them, and a combination of that. And I never know who`s going to communicate, what they`re going to say. I`m a survival evidence medium, which means my job is to bring through evidential details only onto the family member and the spirit.</s>HILL: Do people feel better after they do that or worse?</s>VAN PRAAGH: Yes, I do shows all over the country, the world, and people have said to me, you know, a half an hour with you is like years of therapy. And it really gets right to the core of matter, that they realize there`s no such thing as death, death is an illusion. It`s an illusion. It`s energy. We can`t kill energy. It just changes form.</s>HILL: Well, we wanted to let some of our viewers connect with you and so we`ve got some callers. Heather joins us from Kansas. Heather, what do you want to ask?</s>CALLER: I would like to know if you have anything from my sister?</s>VAN PRAAGH: Your sister. OK. OK. What`s her name, please?</s>CALLER: Nicole.</s>VAN PRAAGH: Nicole? OK. I do feel -- let me just -- there`s a man here with her also, by the way. So the man that came to get her when she passed over. I have to tell you that. So I don`t know if there is a grandfather of hers? But he definitely comes to get her. I want to say something about hearts with you. Did you do something with regarding Nicole with hearts? Like is there a frame with a heart, a picture of hers, something with a heart?</s>CALLER: You know, we`ve had a lot of them at her funeral so there might be.</s>VAN PRAAGH: OK, because I`m getting something with hearts, and I feel like -- she said she`s with you a lot, and I got to just tell you, you must smell flowers or roses around the house every once in a while?</s>CALLER: Yes.</s>VAN PRAAGH: Because she`s giving me a thought here that she`s with you with the flowers and you smell them, and they can do that. They can do that. They can come through and project a scent to us, an image to us. I also want to say a bracelet you might have of hers? Is there a bracelet or a necklace you have?</s>CALLER: Oh my gosh, this might be somebody different.</s>VAN PRAAGH: Who is that, with a bracelet? You were just looking at it recently.</s>CALLER: Great grandma Rose?</s>HILL: Great grandma Rose?</s>CALLER: Yes.</s>VAN PRAAGH: Oh, that`s the -- Rose. Were you just looking at that bracelet, going to fix it or something?</s>CALLER: I just -- actually I got a lot of her stuff, there`s a rosary that is hanging by my bed that`s hers.</s>VAN PRAAGH: OK. So you must have just done that or put that up there or something.</s>CALLER: Yes.</s>VAN PRAAGH: OK. So she`s with you, and if I look at that rosary and the bed, there`s something to do with flowers. I know you said Rose, but there`s also something to do with flowers. I`m not sure, the bed spread with flowers, but there`s something with flowers there. Would that be right?</s>CALLER: Uh-huh.</s>VAN PRAAGH: OK, because that`s what I`m being told. So there`s a man there with her, it must be her husband, and he has a problem with his walking before he passes over, and it looks like one leg is shorter than the other.</s>CALLER: Oh, my gosh. Yes, I know who you`re talking about.</s>VAN PRAAGH: You understand? So she`s with them and they`re communicating stronger. Maybe because she just passed recently or a couple of years probably she`s only been there. That`s what I feel. And that`s one, there you go.</s>HILL: Heather, I hope that helped you.</s>VAN PRAAGH: Hope it validates you.</s>CALLER: Thank you.</s>HILL: James, do you ever get goosebumps because you just gave them to me.</s>VAN PRAAGH: I do. All the time. All the time I do. Because it`s new (ph) for me.</s>HILL: We`re going to take a break. And we`re going to let more people talk to you, more viewers. We`ll be back right after this.