The red light came on as the main feed showed a crowd shot of people applauding. "Thank you for having me on," I said.

Nikki picked up the questions. "I've watched the video a half-dozen times, Vicki, and I still can't believe it. Can you walk us through what happened yesterday?"

"I was walking along the beach with a friend, Terry Foster, and my stepmother, Karen Volkov, when we heard the Mom screaming for her boy. We ran over and found out her son was gone. She pointed to where she last saw him, and Terry and I went into the water to find him."

"We have cellphone footage showing...