Lisa Guerrero - Warrior: My Path to Being Brave

A s Dustin Chauncey waited to hear his verdict, he turned around and scanned the crowded courtroom until his eyes landed on me. He knew who I waswed met when he thought hed gotten away with murder and Id stuck my microphone in his car window to let him know he hadnt. A shiver raced through me as I returned his glareit was like staring into the eyes of the devil. But I didnt look away.

I was part of the reason hed been arrested and charged with the murder of two-year-old Juliette Geurts. For more than six years, hed escaped justice. In a few minutes, hed finally receive it.

As Inside Edition s chief investigative correspondent for more than a decade, Ive covered hundreds of storiesconsumer scams, crooked politicians, corrupt televangelists, rapists and predators, child, women, elder, and animal abuse, and, well, the list goes on.

But Id never solved a murder.

It began two years earlier when I received a message on Facebook from Monica Hall, Juliettes aunt. Shed grown frustrated with the incompetent police investigation of her nieces death and had reached out to the media for help. But her pleas to the networks, the cable news stations, and television personalities such as Dr. Phil and Nancy Grace had gone unanswered. It had been four years since Juliette had died, and I was her last resort. She begged me to look into it.

Its been years of hell for our family. I dont know where else to turn, she wrote.

In the early morning of July 11, 2008, Juliette had been brutally beaten in her home just a few feet from her identical twin sister, Jaelyn. Juliette had suffered a lacerated liver from a kick to the stomach as well as cerebral hemorrhaging and a badly bruised lung. Even her crib had been broken during the assault. Yet none of the three adultstwo men and Juliettes motherwho had been in the tiny ranch-style house that evening drinking rum and smoking weed had been arrested. The murder had not only remained unsolved, it had barely been investigated. Worse, the cops had bungled every aspect of it.

It had taken five days after the toddlers murder for the cops to seal the home as a crime scene. It was a year before her clothes were sent to a crime lab. The police never separated the suspects before they interviewed themso they had time to coordinate their stories. The cops never charged anyone, even though they called Juliettes death a homicide. And when the principal witnesses and/or suspects left the state, law enforcement threw up its hands and just moved on. The more I read, the more furious I became. This was a little girl who had never had a chance, even in death. Juliettes aunt had been leading a petition drive that would compel a grand jury to be convened and a special prosecutor to be appointed to investigate the unsolved crime. But Juliettes story needed national attention to help Monica garner the necessary signatures.

I couldnt stop thinking about this tiny victim whose horrible death had been treated so callously by law enforcement.

I have to look into this, I said to Bob Read, the senior producer for our investigative unit.

He told me what I already knew. You have nothing to go on. Theres no one to interview. Theres no one to confront. The suspects have disappeared. There are no leads. This case is cold. What could we do that law enforcement couldnt?

I wasnt sure yet. But I told him Id like to meet and interview Monica and see where the story would lead. When Charles Lachman, our executive producer, gave it the green light, I headed to Gering, the remote town in Nebraska where Juliette had lived and died. I met with Monica, and we toured the home where Juliette had been killed. Then Monica played me the tape recording of her conversation with Doug Warner, the district attorney handling the case.

I hope for Juliettes sake you will find justice for her, Monica pleaded.

I could hear the anger in the DAs voice when he replied, Dont give me that for Juliette. Do you know how many dead babies Ive worked on?

This recording was impossible to listen to without becoming emotional. As Monica and I talked about that awful conversation, about the sloppy investigation, and about the beautiful little girl who had been known as the louder, more rambunctious twin, my eyes welled with tears.

* * *

This is a book about bravery. I decided to write it because every day I receive messages from viewers asking me how Im able to fearlessly investigate and interview bad guys. They want to know where my courage comes from. And my answer contradicts everything journalists have been taught. But Im not a typical journalistI was never trained in a traditional newsroom. I didnt receive a journalism degree. I didnt even finish college.

My route to journalism has been unconventional. Ive been a cheerleader. A corporate executive. A Barbie doll. A sportscaster. A soap-opera vixen. A sideline reporter. A Playboy cover model. A Diamond Diva. A red-carpet correspondent. An investigative journalist. A disrupter. I made Dennis Rodman cry. I interviewed three presidents and hundreds of professional athletes in dozens of locker rooms throughout the country. I costarred in a viral video that has one billion views. I sued the New England Patriotsand won. I tracked down a murderer. I butted heads with Barbara Walters. I even played myself in a movie starring Brad Pitt.