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Published January 13, 2015
This is a partial transcript from "The O'Reilly Factor," April 27, 2005, that has been edited for clarity.
Watch "The O'Reilly Factor" weeknights at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. ET and listen to the "Radio Factor!"
BILL O'REILLY, HOST: Tonight: A "Factor" exclusive. — We have tracked down the sister of confessed killer John Couey. As you may know, Couey has confessed to brutally killing 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford. And his sister, her boyfriend, and his niece may have protected Couey, even as he was abusing the little girl.
The sister, Dorothy Dixon, also allegedly bought Couey a bus ticket to Georgia so he could escape questioning by police. Incredibly, Florida state prosecutor Brad King (search) has not charged Dixon or the other two. We sent "Factor" producer Jesse Watters down to central Florida to track down Ms. Dixon. She is currently living in a trailer on a back road.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JESSE WATTERS, O'REILLY FACTOR PRODUCER: Hey, Dorothy, could I talk to you for a second? I'm from FOX News. I wanted to ask you about Jessica Lunsford.
DOROTHY DIXON, JOHN COUEY'S SISTER: I have no comment.
WATTERS: Was she in the trailer? You sure she was in the trailer? Dorothy, come talk to me for a second.
DIXON: No.
WATTERS: Why didn't you give up John Couey to the police? Dorothy?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'REILLY: Joining us now from Tampa is Jesse Watters. And from Washington, Florida Congresswoman Ginny Brown-Waite who has been urging Brad King to press charges. That is Ms. Waite's district.
All right, now Jesse, it wasn't easy finding this woman. And we don't know whether the boyfriend was in the trailer or not. How did you find her?
WATTERS: Well, I met Mark Lunsford (search) at the McDonald's in Homosassa, Florida about 4:00 yesterday.
O'REILLY: That's the girl's father. You met the girl's father, Mark Lunsford.
WATTERS: Yes, I met the girl's father at the McDonald's yesterday.
O'REILLY: OK.
WATTERS: And he told me there's probably two places that he could possibly be. One is Algy's Nut House, which is a bar right around the corner. And the other one was at this trailer which was down the street a little bit, down this gravel road behind this nursery.
So I asked him if he wanted to come with me and confront these people himself. And he said no, you know, he didn't want to get himself into any trouble. He probably better lay low.
So I went over by myself and went to Algy's Nut House, the bar first.— And we asked the bartender, you know, have you seen these people, have they been in here? And she said yes, they were in here actually after Jessica Lunsford (search) was abducted and they were laughing about it. They were carrying on, making jokes and everything like that.
O'REILLY: They were laughing about the little girl's abduction?
WATTERS: Yeah. They were carrying on, making jokes, acting hysterical, making a big scene in the bar about it. And I really couldn't believe when she told me that.
And she said that if any of those people ever came back in the bar, there'd be a lynching. So I asked her, you know, where else do they hang out. And she told me they hang out at this other bar called Colonel Frogs down the street.
So I got out of there and I went to the trailer, where you know, Mark Lunsford had thought that they were. And the trailer was really dilapidated. They — you know, they were using, you know, Glad bags as screen doors. And it was completely run down. Dogs started barking. I mean, it starting pouring rain. And we actually got out of there because it didn't look like there was anyone there at the time.
And then I got a call from Mark Lunsford. And he told me that there was someone I should meet that was going to help me out and find these people for us. So we met this guy, who's going to remain nameless at the...
O'REILLY: All right. And he showed you where they were. Now did you find...
WATTERS: Yes.
O'REILLY: ...anything out about these people? The sheriff down there calls them a bunch of druggies. We don't believe they have jobs. We don't believe they work. Did you find anything out about them?
WATTERS: Yes, actually, two people independently verified that they smoke crack on a regular basis. So you know, we were able to verify that. We found out that they basically don't work. No one has a job out of any of the three of them. And they're low lives. And no one in the town wants anything to do with them whatsoever.
O'REILLY: OK.
WATTERS: And a lot of them, you know, pointed us in the right direction.
O'REILLY: All right, Jesse, good work. Thank you very much.
Now Congresswoman, you represent the district. And I understand that people out there are just outraged about this Brad King. The sheriff says they're a bunch of druggies. Our producer hears that's true. They don't work. What's going on, madam?
REP. GINNY BROWN-WAITE (R), FLORIDA: Well, I hear from my constituents — I live about 10 miles from the Lunsfords — and I can just tell you that people in the district, people in all of Florida, I think people in America are absolutely enraged that no charges were brought against these people who clearly obstructed justice.
You know, when I asked Brad King for the information, I — why he made his decision not to prosecute—you know, I looked at the cases, I did a lot of research, I studied, I consulted with a lot of good attorneys. And they said you're absolutely right. That police officer was there in performance of his duty. He wasn't there to collect for the Police Athletic League...
O'REILLY: But what did King tell you? I mean, he's — King's running around telling everybody that Florida law does not allow him to prosecute. Now we brought in experts that say you can prosecute them. What did you find out?
BROWN-WAITE: Well, certainly he can prosecute them. The case that he cited said if a police officer was trying to obtain information, if he was asking for assistance and it was in the performance of legal duty, clearly the officer was on an investigation seeking the whereabouts of a missing child.
O'REILLY: And if Dawsy, the sheriff, knows there's drugs involved, certainly you can get them on drug charges. I mean, if they're doing it on a regular basis.
Again, we want to say these are allegations, all right? Allegations, that's what's been said about these people.
Now I know you and King aren't friendly. You've had some run-ins before. We don't need to get into that now, but what are you going to do? Can you force this guy to do his job? I mean, because I think that you're right. Most Americans don't want these people to walk free. And it looks like they might.
BROWN-WAITE: Bill, part of the problem is that I think he may have already prejudiced the case. For him to now say, OK, I've changed my mind, I'm going to bring charges, I mean maybe the best thing would be to bring it before a grand jury, an independent grand jury to look at, should charges be brought. Because he has so prejudiced the case, if he were to now yield to public pressure, you know, obviously the defense attorney would say, whoa, wait a minute, you said you didn't have anything to charge them with.
O'REILLY: Yes. Well, I think somebody's got to do something, Congresswoman. Do you have a plan B to go to? Is there any hope here?
BROWN-WAITE: Well, we are working on plan B. We are hoping that he would turn it over to a grand jury. And we also are working on some possible other angles.
O'REILLY: All right.
BROWN-WAITE: Bill, believe me, I'm not going to let this rest.
O'REILLY: No, neither are we. We're not letting it go either. These people are going to face some kind of justice.
Congresswoman, thanks very much. We appreciate it.
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