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NANCY GRACE, HOST: Breaking news tonight, live, Michigan. A 4-year-old goes missing after Mommy heads to work at her job as a waitress. Bombshell tonight. The toddler boy reportedly last seen playing in his own back yard when he vanishes seemingly without a trace.
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Joining me right now is a very special guest joining us exclusively. I`m hearing in my ear we have with us Jaimee Chamberlain. This is Carnel`s mother. Jaimee, thank you for being with us.
JAIMEE CHAMBERLAIN, CARNEL`S MOTHER (via telephone): Hello. Hi.
GRACE: Jaimee, tell me what -- when did you last see Carnel?
CHAMBERLAIN: I left work about 3:45 (INAUDIBLE) right up the street from where I live at.
GRACE: OK, and you work as a waitress, right?
CHAMBERLAIN: Yes, at Isabellas (ph), at the (INAUDIBLE) casino.
GRACE: OK. So you`re working as a waitress. You last see him at 3:45, and at that time, Jaimee, what was he doing?
CHAMBERLAIN: When I left last time, he was laying in my back bedroom watching me get ready for work while he was watching cartoons. That`s the last time I seen him was when he was watching "Adventure Time"! That was the last time I seen him, when I left for work, he was in my bedroom, and everything was fine! And then I left. And then that`s why -- you know, I called him, and then that`s when I found out about everything going on.
GRACE: So he`s at home with your boyfriend. And you`ve known the boyfriend for about a year, getting close to a year now. Had there ever been any disputes or problems between your boyfriend, Anthony Bennett, and your little boy, Carnel?
CHAMBERLAIN: The only thing that we recently started doing was, like, Anthony started, like, spanking him and started disciplining him. And we started putting him in the -- like, we`d been putting him a chair in the corner to discipline him. That`s the only thing that recently has been going on between him and Anthony that I know Carnel is upset about.
GRACE: Well, OK, let me ask you this, Jaimee. What would set Anthony, the boyfriend, off? Why would he feel he had to discipline 4-year-old Carnel? What would Carnel do to make him feel he needed to be spanked?
CHAMBERLAIN: I don`t even know because even at times, I`d tell him -- I asked him, why is he disciplining him. And like, he`d tell him to go sit in the time-out chair just because he`d be crying for a reason that he doesn`t want -- like, if he doesn`t want to do something, he`d just start crying, and Anthony would just put him in the chair to, you know, put him time out because if he`s crying for no reason.
GRACE: OK, what about spanking him? Why would he spank Carnel?
CHAMBERLAIN: That much I don`t know. I know when I noticed the bruises on his butt, like, he tried demonstrating it for me, and like, I seen him, like, put a lot of force into it. And I asked him, I was, like, Why are you spanking him that hard? I told him (INAUDIBLE) you just need to tap (ph) him (INAUDIBLE) I don`t know -- you know, a powerful spank, like it was to a point where I noticed there was bruises on his butt.
GRACE: OK, Jaimee, Jaimee, your boyfriend was spanking the 4-year-old so hard, it left bruises on his behind?
CHAMBERLAIN: Yes, it did.
GRACE: What, if anything, did you do about that?
CHAMBERLAIN: Well, I didn`t think of -- I really -- at first, I didn`t think of anything of it, you know, until, like, you know, after all this happened. But I just thought, you know, maybe he spanked him hard to where, like, you know, Carnel (INAUDIBLE) learn it.
But I know how my son is, and I know you just have to talk to him about it. You know, I tried telling Anthony that, You don`t need to speak him. Like, Carnel is able -- you`re able to talk to him and he understands right from wrong.
GRACE: Well, I have a concern if he would spank the boy hard enough to bruise his little booty, that`s pretty forceful, to get bruises on your rear end.
CHAMBERLAIN: Yes. Yes, I recently just -- I recently noticed this about - - it was about a week ago when I noticed the bruises on his butt.
GRACE: OK. So that`s been in the last week?
CHAMBERLAIN: Yes.
GRACE: When you asked him about it, what did he say Carnel had done to deserve a spanking?
CHAMBERLAIN: He hasn`t -- he hasn`t really explained to me why. He just said that, like -- I know one of the times is because he didn`t clean his room. And he said, I keep going in there and asking him, and he`s not doing what I`m saying. So I know he spanked him because one of the times just because he wouldn`t clean his room.
GRACE: (INAUDIBLE) your 4-year-old would clean his room?
CHAMBERLAIN: Yes. Yes. We were training him to be a grown man. And we were -- you know, he`d clean his room. We trained him to put his toys (INAUDIBLE) like, in the (INAUDIBLE) We, you know, got him to where he was getting his trash in the trash can. We were pretty much making -- trying to make him do chores and stuff at 4.
GRACE: Let me ask you about Carnel.
CHAMBERLAIN: OK.
GRACE: How long has the boyfriend been living in the home? And did that bother your son, your 4-year-old son, when he moved in?
CHAMBERLAIN: Well, he moved in -- we started -- we dated about seven months now, and we moved in with each other around -- about the end of February or March. And this is the only man that my son has called Stepdad. He`s the only man that -- since his father has not been around, this is the only guy that Carnel felt comfortable enough to call him Stepdad.
GRACE: Well, did he ever complain about Anthony spanking him or being mean to him?
CHAMBERLAIN: (INAUDIBLE) he had complained to me about him being mean to him and stuff. And I just told him, I was, like -- you know, I was, like, You should just listen to what Anthony`s trying to say to you. Because I thought it was just him being -- you know, Carnel being, like, you know, a little boy trying to say, No, I don`t want to clean my room, you know? But I didn`t think of nothing like that until now.
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GRACE: ... OK, I want to get back to Jaimee. With me is Carnel`s mom, joining me exclusively tonight. Jaimee, what is Anthony Bennett saying now?
CHAMBERLAIN: He still ain`t working with none of the police officers. He still has no contact with none of my family.
GRACE: With me right now in a primetime exclusive, his mom joining me, Jaimee Chamberlain. She`s out working, supporting the family, comes home, the little boy is gone -- by all accounts, a peaceful, a sweet little boy, never gave anybody a day`s trouble. He`s gone, seemingly vanishing into thin air.
Jaimee Chamberlain, when you walked in the door that evening from work at Isabel`s (ph) restaurant, what was Anthony Bennett, your boyfriend, doing? When you walked in the door, where was he?
CHAMBERLAIN: He was walking to me. As soon as I opened the door, he was, like, walking out to me.
GRACE: And what did he say?
CHAMBERLAIN: He pretty much told me that he`s gone. And like, I just didn`t believe him. And that`s all I could think about is, like, I need to look everywhere first. I need to look -- I mean, I turned my house upside down looking for him.
And then there`s the next-door neighbors, where there`s a bunch of kids next door, and like, usually, when we`re outside, they`re, like, Come on, Carnel, come next door. And that was the second place I went to go look. And once they said they didn`t see my son, that`s when I knew I had to call the cops because I don`t know where he could have been!
GRACE: When you asked the live-in, Where is Carnel, what was his explanation as to the last time he saw him?
CHAMBERLAIN: He said he came up missing. That`s all he told me what happened. His story just doesn`t make sense, and he just came up missing.
GRACE: Well, what do you mean came up missing? Did he leave the boy outside while he was inside?
CHAMBERLAIN: He said that he was cleaning -- he said he was the house while Carnel was playing outside. And then he was telling everybody that he left the front door open, the sliding glass door open and a couple windows open. And it`s, like, Well, how come -- couldn`t you just hear him just take off, if that`s what happened? He said he didn`t hear nothing, said he didn`t see nothing.
GRACE: OK. Was the house clean when you came in? Did it look like he had really cleaned the house?
CHAMBERLAIN: Yes, it was, until I -- later on that night, I noticed that there was something up in my bathroom.
GRACE: What?
CHAMBERLAIN: That my bathroom floor was wet, and that`s all I noticed that was messed up was in my bathroom.
GRACE: The bathroom floor was wet?
CHAMBERLAIN: Yes. And it was wet to the point where my carpet even got wet. And he said that he drew me a bath before I got home, and he said -- he said -- I don`t know what he was doing. And then he said he just wasn`t paying attention and the bath water overflowed. And that`s why (INAUDIBLE) you`re not paying attention to my son! You`re not paying attention to this water that you`re supposed to be drawing me a bath for, then what are you doing? It just doesn`t make sense.
GRACE: Has he taken a lie detector?
CHAMBERLAIN: No, he hasn`t. And then the next day, his dad helped him get a lawyer.
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GRACE: With me tonight is his mother, who was at work that night, comes home, the baby is gone. To Jaimee Chamberlain, Carnel`s mom. Did your boyfriend, Anthony Bennett, have a job?
CHAMBERLAIN: No, he didn`t.
GRACE: Why?
CHAMBERLAIN: Because he has two felonies on his record and nobody around us could help him out.
GRACE: What kind of felonies?
CHAMBERLAIN: I want to say felonious assault and (INAUDIBLE)
GRACE: Ms. Chamberlain, were you concerned about leaving your child with him?
CHAMBERLAIN: He said he loved me. And the only reason why I started trusting Anthony is because my brother introduced us and, you know, I was thinking because, you know, I`m my brother`s little sister that he wouldn`t send me somebody like that. I trusted him with everything, with my son.
GRACE: Jamie, what can you tell us again about the bathroom.
CHAMBERLAIN: Because when I went in there and I first noticed it because I didn`t notice it until all the police were out looking and told me he`s there. And I was hoping that they would give me some information or in case he came home. And I was, you know, as soon as everybody was out looking for him, the first instance in my head was well, maybe I should go look in the house to see what was out of the ordinary.
And then, that`s when I walked in the bathroom and my feet started sinking in like it was wet and I noticed that the floor in my bathroom was wet and I have little candles that sit beside my bathtub and those were in the water. So, as soon as I seen that, you know, I had to let the FBI and everybody know what I noticed so they could see everything.
GRACE: When you asked him what had happened in the bathroom, what did he say?
CHAMBERLAIN: He said he was drawing me a bath for when I got out of work. And he said that he wasn`t pay attention and al of a sudden, it overflowed.
GRACE: When you got home, was there water in the bathtub?
CHAMBERLAIN: There was, but you would think that if it was over flown, it would be over the top, and you would think all the water was drained out. The water was like - half way I there, more halfway in there than anything.
GRACE: Did you notice anything else out of place in the home? Jamie, did you notice anything else out of the place in the home?
CHAMBERLAIN: Yes, I did. And I just -- when everything happened, I like, you know, because I`m looking in the room, and I was looking around to see if anything was, you know, anything out of the ordinary after I seen the carpet. And as I was looking around on the floor to see what all got wet, I noticed his two, they`re brown stains on my carpet and I noticed that only the stains were wet and around the carpet was dry and my first instinct was like, OK, I better go get a paper towel to see what color came out of it. And then when I see it, it came out was brown and then, you know, my first instinct was blood so I stuck my hand in it and my hand was sticky and then when I smelled my hand, it smelled like cleaning products.
GRACE: So, do you believe someone -- is your bathroom carpeted?
CHAMBERLAIN: Yes, it is.
GRACE: So, you think someone cleaned the bathroom carpet?
CHAMBERLAIN: I don`t know. I just know what I seen and I let the FBI take it from there.
GRACE: This is what I don`t understand, Jamie, so he says the boy`s missing, but he thought to draw you a bath while the little boy`s missing?
CHAMBERLAIN: Yes. That`s why it doesn`t make sense.
GRACE: Did he normally clean the house, Jamie Chamberlain?
CHAMBERLAIN: Yes, he did.
GRACE: Kirby Clemons, are you going to ask to straight face, go along with your child, your 4-year-old`s missing, but it`s a good thing that he thought to draw the bath and let it run over and clean the floor with cleaning products where there`s brown stains.
GRACE: Jaimee Chamberlain, when did he say the last time it, that he saw the boy, Jaimee?
CHAMBERLAIN: He said 9:30?
GRACE: At night?
CHAMBERLAIN: Yes. 9:30 at night.
GRACE: And what does he say, he was doing? What is Carnel doing at 9:30 at night? He should have been in bed asleep, but what did he say he was doing?
CHAMBERLAIN: He said, he was out playing in the in the pool that on our porch in our backyard.
GRACE: Well, Cloutier. This is new. This is completely new. OK. I thought he didn`t say anything. Now, I`m understanding, he says the boy was outside in the pool at 9:30 at night.
CHAMBERLAIN: Yes. He said he was outside playing in the pool and he was inside cleaning the house.
GRACE: At 9:30 at night?
CHAMBERLAIN: Yes.
GRACE: Why wasn`t the little boy in bed, he`s 4 years old.
CHAMBERLAIN: Nancy, before I left for work, I told him to put my son to bed at 9:00.
GRACE: Everybody, I want to give you the tip line, 989-775-4700.
Jaimee, does your bathroom tub have one of those drain things right below the hot and cold water controls.
CHAMBERLAIN: It`s just a drain. We have in our back bedroom, we have a Jacuzzi. So I honestly don`t think it had a draining thing. I know where the Jacuzzi is, it has a little sitting point and then it has the switch on the jets and to control the jets and that`s it.
GRACE: Ok. Wait a minute. Wait. Is the bathtub also a Jacuzzi?
CHAMBERLAIN: Yes it is.
GRACE: All right, so there`s not one of those little holes, kind of a drain right there underneath the hot and cold water control?
CHAMBERLAIN: No. No, there is not.
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GRACE: You know, to Jaimee Chamberlain, this is Carnel`s mom, the description of him wearing the dark blue angry bird t-shirt, the blue short with the green trim is that what you observed him wearing when you went to work?
CHAMBERLAIN: No, it wasn`t.
GRACE: What was he wearing then?
CHAMBERLAIN: He was wearing dark -- dark green shorts with a light green trim and then the shirt, wasn`t even wearing a shirt when I left. He was just wearing shorts but as the cops were looking through my house and they told me to go through stuff, I actually found the wet pair of shorts that I see him wearing when I left for work.
GRACE: You found him -- you found the green shorts?
CHAMBERLAIN: That he was wearing before I left for work and they were wet.
GRACE: So the shorts he was wearing when you went to work, were they sopping wet, like they had been underwater?
CHAMBERLAIN: Yes, they were like in between damp -- it was in between damp to wet, it was in between that.
GRACE: Where did you find them? Where were they?
CHAMBERLAIN: They were in our laundry room.
GRACE: Were they wet with water or wet with urine like he had wet his pants?
CHAMBERLAIN: They were wet like water.
GRACE: Why were they wet -- why were they wet?
CHAMBERLAIN: My first instinct was to think that them were the shorts he was wearing when he was playing outside. As soon as Anthony saw -- he made no sense to me, that`s when, even me, I thought he is probably not even wearing the clothes he said he was wearing. So --
GRACE: Did you give police those shorts?
CHAMBERLAIN: Yes, I did. I gave them every piece of article I thought he was wearing. Yes.
GRACE: Jaimee, is the water in your pool chlorinated?
CHAMBERLAIN: No, it`s not.
GRACE: OK. So, it would be the same as the water in your bathtub, correct?
CHAMBERLAIN: Yes.
GRACE: What was your boyfriend`s explanation as to why your little boy`s pants were soaking wet?
CHAMBERLAIN: He didn`t say why. He just said he changed him.
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