Boyfriend of Missing University of Wisconsin Green Bay Student Goes 'On the Record'
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This is a rush transcript from "On the Record ," July 18, 2007. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, HOST: First, 2:32 a.m. last Friday morning, the very last sign of Mahalia Xiong. The University of Wisconsin Green Bay student later vanished after a night out bowling with friends. Just before she disappeared, she tired to call her boyfriend. That was at 2:32 in the morning.
Mahalia's boyfriend, Addison Lee, is right here with us tonight, but first let's bring in Ed Miller, a correspondent for "America's Most Wanted." Ed, what is the latest in the search for this student?
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ED MILLER, "AMERICA'S MOST WANTED": Well, Mahalia Xiong seems like to police that she literally vanished into thin air, but of course, we know that can never happen. The latest is that they've taken a helicopter up in the air, looking for her car. Her car has still not been found. Eyewitnesses, her friends that she was out with that night, say they saw her get into the car. They saw her drive off. A second eyewitness saw her going northbound toward her home in Green Bay, Wisconsin, but then, nothing. The phone call, and nothing.
VAN SUSTEREN: And there's been no sign of this car, and I understand this was a rental car?
MILLER: It was a rental car. Her regular car was in for service. The key point about the phone call is that it is the last kind of communication that anyone had from her, from the phone records. She had an older cell phone, and because of that, she turned that cell phone off. Because it was older cell phone, police were not able to triangulate that cell phone and use it as a tracking device to find her.
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If there's one thing I want to make it clear tonight, one important point is that not all cell phones, especially the older ones, have the capability of being used as tracking devices. Many of the new ones do, and many crimes have been solved and many people have been located through cell phones being used as tracking devices.
VAN SUSTEREN: Ed, this phone call — are they certain that it's a phone call and not simply an accidental call, whether the phone was in her pocket, her purse, or even that she was involved in a struggle and hit redial by mistake? Is there any way to determine whether this was a legitimate effort to make a phone call under normal circumstances or a distressed one?
MILLER: No, there's no way to really tell. According to police, the Green Bay police that I spoke with, they said they believed it was a phone call to her boyfriend's brother, which I am assuming she was trying to get a hold of her boyfriend, and that no one answered on the other end, and so that was it. Nothing else.
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VAN SUSTEREN: But was there a voice-mail? Was it a redial? Was it a second call in a row, or don't you know that?
MILLER: It could have been a redial.
VAN SUSTEREN: All right. The four who she was with, has anyone spoken to them? And what are they saying about that evening, anything peculiar?
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MILLER: No. They have spoken to them, of course, and they said it was a fun evening and that everybody had been drinking, including Mahalia, and that she did climb behind the wheel of the car, even though she had been drinking. Again, not to categorize her as a drunk or anything, but they are saying that there are no signs of foul play, according to police — that she was a very good student, a very happy person, loved by lots of people. There were no school problems, no boyfriend problems to the best of their knowledge, no stalking problems, no animosity and again, no signs of foul play. So again, they're completely perplexed. It's a mystery.
VAN SUSTEREN: In terms of the drive from the Ashwaubenon bowling alley, which is where she went to pick up her car to her home, is the path a relatively busy one, so it's not where she could just drive off the road in an area and the car just — and no one discover the car?
MILLER: That's a great question, and I did ask police that. It's certainly not a cavernous area, but they described it to me that there are questionable areas that the car could have gone off and could — in other words, it could be very innocent. This could be an automobile accident, and that could be where she ended up. But again, they've taken a helicopter up, and there's no signs of that white car.
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VAN SUSTEREN: And I imagine they're combing all over. Ed, thank you very much.
MILLER: Thank you, Greta.
VAN SUSTEREN: Addison Lee is Mahalia's boyfriend. He joins us from Wisconsin. Addison, thank you for joining us.
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ADDISON LEE, MAHALIA'S BOYFRIEND: Hi.
VAN SUSTEREN: Addison, when was the last time you spoke with your girlfriend?
LEE: The last time I spoke with Mahalia was 10:30 that night, that Thursday night, right before she went to Ashwaubenon bowling alley.
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VAN SUSTEREN: What did she tell you she was going to be doing that evening?
LEE: Well, basically, I mean, I got off of work, and we were supposed to go to the Wisconsin Dells this weekend or this past weekend and just telling her, you know, to get ready, to get packed. And then, you know, she was telling me she was going to go out and go bowling, you know, and just have a night out. And you know, that's pretty normal for her to go out on every Thursday night.
VAN SUSTEREN: I was just going to ask if it was rather routine. How about the people she was with? Do you know them?
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LEE: I've only met them once, so I don't really know them.
VAN SUSTEREN: Did Mahalia ever say anything unusual about them or that now is sort of, you know, catching your attention?
LEE: Nothing unusual. Nothing that I've heard or anything like that from Mahalia.
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VAN SUSTEREN: Now, the police have said that she attempted or even made a phone call to your brother. Explain that phone call.
LEE: Right. My phone was — I dropped my phone in the water on Tuesday, that past Tuesday, so you know, obviously the phone doesn't work. So I told her to give me a call on my brother's phone, you know, if anything came up. I told her, you know, to not drink so much, drive safe, and you know, if anything, you know, give me a call to, you know, let me know you made it home safe, at least. And she usually doesn't leave any messages, so I didn't think anything of it. But you know, she usually calls back at least to check up on me.
VAN SUSTEREN: When your brother picked up the phone, was it a missed call? I mean, was her phone number on it so we're pretty certain that it was Mahalia making that call?
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LEE: Right. Right. Yes.
VAN SUSTEREN: Or at least the phone — it was coming from her phone, at least.
LEE: Right. Right. The number was coming from her cell phone. That's correct.
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VAN SUSTEREN: Is there any reason whatsoever that she would suddenly just decide just to take off for a while?
LEE: I mean, if there was a reason, she would have at least told, you know, her sister or her best friend because they know pretty much every little thing about her. I mean, anything that is wrong with her, or you know, with anything, she's usually tells at least her sister.
VAN SUSTEREN: How about the drinking? Is she likely to have had a good bit of alcohol that night?
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LEE: Well, that night, according to her best friend, she only had, like, two cups of beer by midnight, or by about 11:30 p.m., when her best friend left. And you know, after that, I mean, I'm not sure. I mean, you could, you know, drink as much as you want pretty much from 12:00 to 2:00, you know, within a two-hour timeframe, so — but I'm more certain that she didn't have that much to drink.
VAN SUSTEREN: Did anyone describe, or have you heard a description of her when she left the Ashwaubenon bowling alley that second time after she picked up her car? Was she impaired, obviously impaired?
LEE: I really don't know if she was, you know, driving. I really don't have much information on that.
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VAN SUSTEREN: How about the drive from the bowling alley to her home? Have you ever made that drive with her?
LEE: Yes, I've made that drive with her a couple of times. Usually between, you know, 20 and 30 minutes, depending on traffic. But you know, that time of the night, it's usually, you know, 25 minutes roughly, average, you know? And that's pretty routine.
VAN SUSTEREN: I imagine there are one or two routes that you could take. The two times that you drove with her, did she take the same route?
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LEE: Yes, she did. She usually does take the smaller roads. She doesn't like taking the bigger highways or anything like that. And you know, her taking Oneida Street was a pretty common route to her sister's house.
VAN SUSTEREN: And Oneida Street, describe it for those who don't know it. How busy is it? Are there long stretches where there are no shops or stores or houses?
LEE: Well, Oneida Street runs right in front of where — or right by the side of the Packers stadium there. And then she would most likely take, you know, a right on Mason Street, which goes directly, like, two blocks away from her sister's house, and you know, so a straight drive there for at least a good 10, 15 minutes. It goes past a lot of shops and a lot of residences, as well.
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VAN SUSTEREN: And no family problems.
LEE: No family problems. Everything was going, you know, good. I mean, nothing that I know of.
VAN SUSTEREN: And she was looking forward to going to the Dells?
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LEE: Oh, yes. I mean, all her friends were talking about. Her family was talking about it. I mean, it was just going to be me and her, and then, you know, I told her to invite her family and, you know, her sister and them would like to go, so we decided to go. And I mean, she was more than happy to go.
VAN SUSTEREN: Addison, thank you. And we've put her picture up, and hopefully, we can provoke some tips on it. Thank you, Addison.
LEE: Thank you.
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