[Music] and what may become one of the biggest child molesting cases ever on record seven Nursery School teachers were arraigned today on more than 100 counts of child molestation the accused include the preschool owner 76-year-old Virginia McMartin her daughter and two grandchildren finding out just what happened to the McMartin preschoolers in Manhattan Beach California would spark a national media Obsession a case which has shocked much of Southern in California and caused a lot of parents to worry about the safety of their children setting off a panic around the country in alarmy numbers preschoolers have been exploited could it be your child the media blitz demonstrated unstanning belief that this had happened it was Sensational and lurid and seemed to always be expanding 1,400 children in this community have been ritualistically abused but were they decades later while the McMartin case has been largely forgotten its impact lives [Music] on the McMartin preschool in Manhattan Beach as it looked when we photographed it discreetly just 3 weeks ago local reporter Wayne SATs of KABC in Los Angeles broke the story started out here in Manhattan Beach looking like an isolated incident one mother noticed that her young son was having nightmares and difficulty sitting down teachers at this prominent Southern California preschool were accused of sexually molesting their young students authorities now believ that at least 60 young children were victimized and that the ultimate number could well be much greater fueled by UNS skeptical press reports the charges mounted on the Evening News those children some of them as young as 2 years years old were photographed by the suspects Kitty porn was the primary purpose for the alleged sexual abuse of children becoming more and more bizarre some children alleg that a living creature was sacrificed on the church's altar the truth about Satanism is they truly do use blood and they mix it with yourn and then they also use the real meat the real flesh this is what makes Satanism true and this is what 1,200 molested kids in the city of Manhattan Beach have told the Sheriff's Department most of the allegations had been made here at Children's Institute International CII a Child Abuse Prevention Center at the request of prosecutors CII social worker key McFarland and her team had been videotaping interviews with the preschoolers using puppets to encourage the children to reveal what happened the therapists were able to unlock the horrible secrets of the McMartin School Virginia McMartin her daughter two grandchildren and and three other teachers were ultimately indicted on more than 300 counts of molestation two South Bay preschools it wasn't long before accusations of abuse were being reported at seven other daycare centers in LA county alone investigators were at the Hickory preschool in Torrance earlier today and then fear spread across the country eventually targeting scores of daycare centers but the story that initially fed the Panic was not all it seemed in the summer of 1983 a 39-year-old mother called The Manhattan Beach police department and accused McMartin teacher Raymond Bucky of molesting her 2 and 1/2-year-old son in the DA's office all kinds of doubts developed particularly about the fact that the mother of the first complaining child was psychotic but they just kept on going it was like the Titanic it was like a roller coaster or a ship that just was out of control and couldn't stop the police released Bucky for lack of evidence but then they sent out this letter to some 200 families instructing them to question their children about sodomy oral sex and fondling what happens then is the parents start to talk to their kids and then they start to talk to each other and then they start to compare notes and pretty soon emotionally involved parents are engaging and leading and suggestive questioning of their child Kenneth Lanning worked with the FBI's beh Behavioral Science unit and consulted on the MCM Martin investigation once these cases are contaminated it's almost impossible to know with any degree of certainty what actually happened but the therapists at CI believed they knew what had happened based on their videotaped interviews they said that more than 90% of the 400 preschoolers they talked to reported signs of sexual abuse Mr parrot can you help Susie show us what happened to her the courts immediately sealed cii's interviews with the MCM Martin children but the CI therapists shared demonstration videos like this one with the press and discussed their findings on television we have heard it 100 times or more from children the same things the same games the same descriptions I can't say that I ever saw a videotape where kid said this happened to me never of their own account spy mously the interviews are upsetting to read Because essentially what happened is the therapist unintentionally coers the children into fabricating stories of abuse Richard Beck wasn't even born when the MCM Martin story first broke in 1984 fascinated by the Panic that's spread across the country he has been researching and writing a book on the case for the last 2 years you have interviews that will start off with a therapist asking a child whether they had ever played any naked games at mcmm Martin this was a huge topic was naked games and the children initially say no the therapist though didn't accept those answers so then they repeat the question and then they repeat it again eventually the children realized that their interview was never going to be allowed to end until they start giving the interviewer the kind of answer that she wants to hear [Music] it was obvious in the interviews that all kinds of techniques were highly suggestible highly pressuring and is capable of creating false memories of abuse in children often permanent memories Keem McFarland is no longer with CII she declined our request for an interview Dr St Ambrose has been working with children for more than 25 years and was at CI during the McMartin interviews I think our therapists in many respects started out being very uh careful about that back then but uh you know as they became more persuaded that something had happened there probably were some leading questions Dr Ambrose says the MCM Martin case came about just as a new understanding of child sexual abuse was emerging it happened right at a time in in the sort of the history of the field when we were just beginning to uh come to terms with the fact that child sexual abuse was a real phenomenon wake up America this is your wake up call people don't want to believe that young children have been molested they much prefer to believe that it's not true we believe the children because once upon a time we were the children and nobody believed us but that belief was sorely tested as investigators search for physical evidence to back up what the children were saying no pornography that could be linked to the abuse that the children would describing has ever been found there should have been little animal carcasses there should have been bodily fluids all over the PRI school they didn't have any of that and what about those early claims of satanic abuse there certainly have been mentally ill people who have gone out and killed people quote in In The Name Of Satan but there's never been any proof that there was any kind of Satanic ritual abuse or satanic cult activity in a daycare center when I first got involved in these cases I'll be very honest with you I tended to believe that this was going on but eventually the number of cases just kept growing and growing and growing and at some point I came to the realization this many people can't be doing this to this many victims for this long and not leaving any corroborative evidence behind just doesn't work that way 18 months after the MCM Martin investigation began the case took a dramatic turn what we're left with at this point is that for five of the seven defendants in the McMartin case the evidence is so slim that it does not go beyond uh the mere accusation so in April of 1987 nearly 4 years after the first accusation was made the case against the two remaining McMartin defendants Raymond Bucky and his mother Peggy McMartin Bucky finally went to trial in court medical evidence supporting the prosecution's case couldn't be established with any certainty and although hundreds of children had been interviewed in the end only nine testified after extremely lengthy cross-examination of children at the preliminary hearing some parents decided that they would refuse to let their children participate any further through it all the bues remain steadfast about their innocence true when I'm very nervous I probably said some things that are not quite correct and I'll Grant it and I'll admit that including including Mr Bucky whether or not you molested children in this case no Mr I know that that I did not molest children ever in my life the trial lasted nearly 3 years and in January of 1990 we the jury in the above entitled action fine very defendants not guilty the children were never allowed to say in their own words what happened to them and to me that was crucial the jury could not agree on 13 counts against Raymond Bucky so 6 months later prosecutors brought him back to court once again the jury was deadlocked therefore there's legal necessity to declare a mistrial and with that declaration one of the longest most expensive criminal trials in US history finally came to an end I'm glad it's over McMartin lead prosecutor L Ruben says that while she wishes the outcome had been different the case brought about important changes very young children who may or may not have been sexually abused have certainly been traumatized by endless hours of Relentless examination examination a new understanding on the best way to interview children who should do it who should be present how all of that should occur and be videotaped um so it it really created a dialogue of examining the best way to talk to children who might be victims of crimes nowadays uh as opposed to back when the MCM Martin case took place there's a very clear protocol about how to interview kids and you know there's a very strong focus on being um avoiding leading questions of any kind mind there's much more care taken to make sure that whatever the results are they will stand up in court when the trial ended the McMartin preschool was demolished a laundry and dry cleaning store now sits in its place after his acquit Raymond Bucky made a few television appearances like this one on the Larry King show what does what do you want to do in your life I want to be left alone I've seen what the news media can do to people in a crowded situation and I don't want to be in LA and I want to be left alone simple life for Raymond Bucky's defense attorney Danny Davis the impact of the McMartin case should never be forgotten it brings into Focus that our American culture can do harm to our children and the Next Generation to win it all cost to have a great publicity run to jump the ratings and make it for a day those are all adult aspirations at the sacrifice of [Music] children