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CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports

Authorities Search for Missing Missouri Girl; FedEx Cargo Plane Crew Escapes Alive; Rash of Wife Killings Breaks Out in Fort Bragg

Aired July 26, 2002 - 17:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Now on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS: missing in Missouri. Police search for yet another little girl.

Desperate drilling: the frantic rescue effort at a flooded mine.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The miners are under a pressure equal to about 40 feet of water. That's a very similar scenario to what we anticipate in a sunken submarine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Crash and burn, but how did the cargo crew get away?

Blame it on Afghanistan? Four military wives slain, allegedly by their husbands, all stationed at the same elite forces base.

And the singer who's earned a special place in our viewer's hearts. He's back, and he has news.

It's Friday, July 26, 2002. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington.

We begin with breaking news in what appears to be another child kidnapping, this time in Missouri. Police in suburban St. Louis are using helicopters, bloodhounds and volunteers to search for Cassandra Williamson. The 6-year-old disappeared this morning from a neighbor's house, where she had spent the night with her father.

Within the past few minutes, we've learned that searchers have found what appears to be the nightgown the child was wearing when she vanished. Police are questioning a homeless man who also stayed in the house, but they're not calling him a suspect. A friend of the family spoke earlier.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They found it in the caves over there. There's (UNINTELLIGIBLE) It's just a bunch of caves and trails that the kids play in off in the woods. Used to be an old glass factory that burned up years ago. And they found the nightgown, and they're telling the family it's hers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: For the latest, we're joined on the phone now by Dan Michel. He's the mayor of Valley Park, Missouri. That's where Cassandra lives.

Mayor, give us the latest. Tell us what's going on.

MAYOR DAN MICHEL, VALLEY PARK, MISSOURI: Well, this is the latest I've heard of. The nightgown has been found. We're still hopeful that something positive is going to come out of all this, but each hour that goes by, we're certainly less optimistic on it. This is a tight-knit community here in St. Louis County in Missouri. Everybody knows each other. We have "Valley Days" every year and we usually try to have a really positive outlook working together, and this is obviously a tragedy for the town.

BLITZER: Based on what you know, Mayor, walk us through precisely what happened, to the best of your knowledge.

D. MICHEL: Apparently, the parents are separated, and the daughter and father spent the night across the street. I'm not sure about the mother, as well. And this morning when they woke up, there was another person in the house. Not sure exactly what the relation is there. The father went downstairs to prepare breakfast and he went to look for his daughter. She was gone, and the other person was also gone.

The other person in the house has been questioned, and as far as I know at this time, he's not a suspect, but depending on what, I guess, they get from him. The girl's been missing ever since then. Hopefully, somebody's seen her somewhere and she's going to turn up somewhere, similar to a Philadelphia situation and, hopefully, not like out in California.

BLITZER: We've been told that this other individual, this man who was in the home, spent the night in the home, has been described as a homeless person, a homeless man. Is that what you've heard, as well?

D. MICHEL: Yes, sir. That's what I've heard. I've heard that he is a homeless person, or maybe they just felt sorry for him, or how happened to be, I'm not sure.

BLITZER: And we're also told he was later seen all wet, as if he had been in a river or lake. What do you know about that?

D. MICHEL: I'm not sure. There's Some people have said it, but as far as the police go, I guess that's still not -- has not been confirmed.

BLITZER: Right now, the investigation, the search, I take it, is continuing. But as you say, with each hour that goes by, the chances are reduced that this will end with good news?

D. MICHEL: That's correct. As each hour goes by -- as I said, the girl in Philadelphia did turn up the following day, but I don't know if lightning can strike twice, to be that lucky or fortunate again in the situation. My heart goes out to the family, and all of us here in the entire office are praying for a good positive result to this incident.

BLITZER: A lot of volunteers are involved in this search, as well as local police?

D. MICHEL: Yes, sir. A hundred citizens are going around door to door with flyers, People are donating their time, delivering sandwiches and drinks for the officers and other people working in town, the Red Cross. Everyone's pulling together, trying to do what they can for the community.

BLITZER: And Mr. Mayor, if anybody has any information that possibly could be related to the search for this little girl, what should they do?

D. MICHEL: A toll-free number's been set up at 888-265-8639. We'd certainly appreciate anyone who does know anything calling that number.

BLITZER: Dan Michel. He's the mayor of Valley Park, outside of St. Louis. Good luck to you. Our hearts and our prayers are with the family right now. Let's hope that everything turns out OK. I appreciate very much your joining us.

We'll continue to watch this story, and if there are -- new information, new details that emerge over the course of this next hour, we will, of course, bring those details to our viewers.

But now let's move on and talk about what's happening in western Pennsylvania.

A huge break for workers desperately trying to save nine coal miners trapped some 240 feet underground. A drill bit that broke off in a rescue shaft today has finally been recovered. That shaft got to within 140 feet of the trapped miners before the bit broke.

CNN's Jeff Flock is joining us now. He's live at the site of the mine. Give us the very latest, Jeff, on this very, very heart- wrenching search, as well.

JEFF FLOCK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You said it, Wolf. Indeed, we are learning new details, as we speak right now, about what's going on out there at the site. As you report, the first good news in about 12, say 15 hours or so is that that drill bit has now been pulled up out of the hole.

I'm going to take you out there and give you the latest pictures that we have, that shows you the site itself. They have been working for maybe, as I said, a dozen or 15 hours to try to get that bit out of the hole. They couldn't do anything until they got it out. Had all kinds of difficulty getting it out, but we learned about 15 minutes ago that it did just come up out of it. Governor Schweiker of Pennsylvania just went and just briefed the families about that. I know you're going to be asking him about that, Wolf, and that's wonderful news at this point.

It sets up a situation now where you're going to have two holes because they already began drilling a second escape hole. That's down now, we're told at last report, about 40 feet down. So you got one at 100 feet down, the other at 40 feet down. And we are learning now that they'll essentially almost be racing each other both to the bottom to try and be the first to get down and get these miners out. And in some sense, that's a wonderful race.

Let's listen now to David Hess with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, who broke the news of the retrieval of that drill bit.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID HESS, PENNSYLVANIA DEPT. OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION: We just got positive confirmation a few minutes ago that the drill bit for rescue shaft number one is, in fact, out of the hole, and that we are now making preparations to begin drilling in rescue shaft number one.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FLOCK: I have just learned now that about $5 million worth of sophisticated equipment is out there working on both of those shafts, the other holes that they're sucking the water up out of, and they're making good progress on getting that water out. So we're at a high point, as we speak now.

Wolf, back to you.

BLITZER: Jeff Flock, thanks for that update. And let me update our viewers.

The reason hypothermia is a serious threat to those trapped miners is because signs and symptoms often develop gradually. The men may be wet or partly submerged by water, a condition likely to cause their body temperature to drop. In 50 to 60-degree water, you can survive some one to six hours. But if water temperature is just above freezing, death can occur in only 15 to 45 minutes.

Joining us to talk more about the frantic rescue effort is the Pennsylvania governor, Mark Schweiker. Governor, thanks for joining us. It doesn't look good right now, but give us your overall assessment.

GOV. MARK SCHWEIKER, PENNSYLVANIA: Well, you know, it has gone painfully slow, Wolf, and the families have that outlook, and I certainly share that outlook. And now we're picking up the pace, as has already been mentioned in your earlier report. We've got two rescue shafts that are under way, and they are in the race to save nine of our guys who are down below.

BLITZER: What about this drilling operation? Can it be resumed? What was the cause originally that stopped it from going forward? SCHWEIKER: Well, last night about 2:30 AM, after four hours of a great pace -- I mean, we went down well over 100 feet by -- in four hours worth of effort. But around 2:30, that drill bit was damaged and eventually was rendered ineffective. But it's taken us almost 15 hours to get that out of the bottom of the rescue shaft, and that slowed everything down. We literally could not drill until we fished it out of there. And that's a complicated task, and it's been completed successfully.

So now they are retrofitting, and soon, perhaps an hour or two, begin the process of drilling down even deeper. They have to get down to about 250, and then we've got to make that great considered decision about when we break through the top of the chamber where they may well be. Rescue shaft two is now under way. We're about 40 feet down or so, and they've got some serious equipment there also. And they will begin, you know, arrival efforts, so to speak. It's not arrival in the unhealthy sense. It's wholesome in the sense that they will have the opportunity to get down to that chamber.

BLITZER: How much longer do you think it will take until that drill reaches where it's supposed to go, in order to see if these guys are still alive?

SCHWEIKER: It's tough to say, Wolf, because when you're down that far, 150 feet below the surface and 100 more to go, whether it is rescue shaft one or two, there's a chance (UNINTELLIGIBLE). It's tough to predict. I mean, it's probably going to be two hours before they get moving again on rescue shaft one, and probably a solid seven to ten hours will be needed to get down to the top of that chamber. So there's eleven hours or more on shaft one. And shaft two, they have 210, theoretically, to go, but you know, that could be anywhere from six to twelve hours. It is just tough to predict.

Bottom line, it's going to take long. And as I mentioned a moment ago, it's painfully slow, but you've got to do it this way in order for the safety of the guys that are down below.

BLITZER: Yesterday we were told that we did hear some tapping coming from that area. Has there been any tapping, any noise emerging, any signs of life?

SCHWEIKER: No. No, yesterday around lunchtime, we did hear tapping that was tremendously encouraging for all involved, the drill team, as well as the families and for myself. You know, we sent a six-inch drill down in order to create a life-sustaining environment for where we thought they were. And lo and behold, we hit it right. We began to send down that 190-degree air, literally 190 degrees, and we think that, to some extent, will thwart the onset of hypothermia. Hopefully, we're -- you know, we're going to see that to be the case.

But when that pipe got down there, those miners used miners' code, as they say, and tapped and said that, "Look, we're alive down here." So -- but you know, that was some time ago, and we have to be about the business now of completing the task and completing the rescue and getting those -- getting the rescue shafts themselves completed. BLITZER: Governor Schweiker, thanks for joining us. Our prayers are with you and with all the rescue workers on the scene. Good luck to all of you.

SCHWEIKER: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: And of course, if there are additional developments unfolding during the course of the this program, we'll go back to Pennsylvania, as well. Thank you very much Governor.

The killing of four Army wives has officials at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, trying to determine if combat duty in Afghanistan may be a factor. All four of the victims were allegedly killed by their Army husbands off the base.

CNN's senior Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After two years without a murder, suddenly Fort Bragg, North Carolina, has been rocked by four killings in a six-week period. The victims, like Jennifer Wright, were all soldiers' wives, and in each case, investigators say, the killers were their husbands. And three of the four accused murderers, like Master Sergeant William Wright, were special operations soldiers just back from Afghanistan. Fort Bragg officials want to know what set them off.

COL. TAD DAVIS, FT. BRAGG GARRISON COMMANDER: We've got to do a better job at getting soldiers into the different programs, you know, with their families. Probably the second thing that we've got to do is to heighten the awareness on the part of our leadership.

MCINTYRE: The spate of murders began June 11, when Sergeant First Class Rigoberto Nieves shot his wife in the head and then shot himself. On June 29, Jennifer Wright was strangled, her husband, William, charged a few days later. July 9, Sergeant Cedric Griffin is charged with stabbing his wife to death. He did not serve in Afghanistan. And on July 19, Sergeant First Class Brandon Floyd killed himself after shooting his wife.

Army officials are looking for any common thread, but don't think the unusual cluster of murders is related to the stress of deployment to a war zone, and at least one special operations veteran agrees.

BRIG. GEN. DAVID GRANGE, U.S. ARMY (RET.) MILITARY ANALYST: I don't think it's Afghanistan. Vietnam probably put more stress on people than any other war since then because it was sustained. It took so long. People were over there for such a long period of time, and it wasn't supported as well from back home. So I think there's more stress there. So you know, I don't think it's Afghanistan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCINTYRE: Army officials insist there's no post-Afghanistan spouse-killing syndrome at work here. Each of the cases was different, and several of the marriages were troubled even before the husbands were dispatched overseas. Nevertheless, the Army officials are reviewing the...

BLITZER: All right, Jamie, I want to interrupt you. The chief of police is speaking about that little missing girl and the nightgown that had been found. Let's listen in.

CHIEF RON BATTELLE, ST. LOUIS CO., MISSOURI: ... an individual by the name of Johnny Johnson (ph), a white male, 24, who's a local transient in the area. And he's cooperating with us right now, and we'll be seeking charges against him today.

QUESTION: Did he lead you to the body?

BATTELLE: I can't get into that.

QUESTION: How does it appear she died?

BATTELLE: I really can't speak to that right now. She was in the glass factory. She was covered with debris. So until the medical examiner concludes, we won't be able to tell.

QUESTION: Can you tell us what you believe happened from the time she disappeared and how this individual played a role in her death?

BATTELLE: No, I'm sorry. I can't.

QUESTION: Just tell us again what you found, what kind of condition again?

BATTELLE: Well, we believe we found what appears to be the body of Casey Williamson in an abandoned glass factory just south of here. And we haven't positively identified the body yet, but we feel certain it's hers, so...

QUESTION: You've gone to talk to the family. How are they doing?

BATTELLE: Well, the family knows. They're in our headquarters right now, and they've been advised as to what's occurred. And as I said, our thoughts and prayers are with them.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) Mr. Johnson confessed?

BATTELLE: Well, he's made a statement and is cooperating, but I can't go into any more detail other than that.

QUESTION: Do you expect any more arrests, or do you believe he to be the only one?

BATTELLE: At this point in time, I can't say positively. It appears as though he was the only one involved.

QUESTION: Now, your people out here, more than 100, you all work so hard. This must be devastating for you, as well. BATTELLE: Sure, it's devastating. It's, you know, obviously devastating to the family. You know, they lost a loved one. But police officers take these things so hard, particularly when children are involved. And we work hard and we were hopeful that we were going to find her alive, and we didn't.

QUESTION: Can you tell, was she dead long? Was it possible to tell (OFF-MIKE) she maybe kept in some way?

BATTELLE: We can't tell, at this point in time.

QUESTION: What happens next?

BATTELLE: We'll be putting our case together. We've still got a lot of processing to do on crime scene evidence to obtain that. And now that, you know, the sad conclusion that now we're going to work hard to gather the evidence to, hopefully, put him in jail, and even the death penalty, which, you know, he probably deserves, if he did, in fact, do this.

QUESTION: Any motive at this time? And why he would have done something so horrible? Does he have a record?

BATTELLE: He's got a minor arrest record, but I can't get into motive at this time.

QUESTION: Chief, are there any lessons for parents? Sometimes we fear that the boogey man or someone out of nowhere will take our child, but this appears to be someone in the vicinity.

BATTELLE: Well, I guess, in this particular case, it was a gentleman who stayed overnight with some of the family members. And I guess you've got to know in detail who these people are and what they're about, if you're going to let them stay with you.

QUESTION: Do you know the relationship between he and this family?

BATTELLE: No, I don't.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) hair dye (OFF-MIKE)

BATTELLE: We've got a mug shot, a photograph of him. I believe he does have red hair, though.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

BATTELLE: He's the one person we've been talking to all day.

QUESTION: Did you apply for warrants? When is that process going to take place?;

BATTELLE: The what?

QUESTION: Did you apply for warrants already? BATTELLE: Not yet. We're not process of putting the information together to present it to Bob Licola (ph) probably tonight or tomorrow.

QUESTION: What would the charges be, at this point?

BATTELLE: We'll be seeking at least murder charges. We'll see what develops beyond that.

QUESTION: You obviously feel you've got a strong case against him.

BATTELLE: Well, we hope so. We'll determine that later. But we're going to work hard to make sure it is a strong case.

QUESTION: You have a lot of police departments come. This is one of those things. You made a call, and people came.

BATTELLE: The officers did an outstanding job. It was a couple county officers that found the suspect walking up the street early this morning, and they were alert to what was going on. And the initial response was phenomenal on the part of the police department. We were on top of it right away, and that's what it takes in these cases because the more time goes on, the less likelihood you're going to be able to find them alive. Unfortunately, we weren't quick enough, but we sure did try.

QUESTION: You have this new warning system, SARA (ph), I believe it is?

BATTELLE: Yes.

QUESTION: How did that work? How did the general public respond, with all the media coverage?

BATTELLE: I haven't had a chance to follow up on that as yet. I heard the announcement over the airwaves about it and broadcasting her description. And certainly, we appreciate the support of the news media in helping us try to locate her.

QUESTION: Chief Battelle, our audience is just joining you. If you could recap the latest on finding Casey?

BATTELLE: We have found what appears to be the body of Casey Williams in an abandoned glass factory just south of here. And her body is not positively been identified, but we believe it's her. And we've also made an arrest of a suspect by the name of Johnny Johnson, a white male, 24, in the case, and he is cooperating at this time.

QUESTION: Is this the man who said (OFF-MIKE) was sleeping on the couch and was there at the house last night?

BATTELLE: Yes, he was in the house.

QUESTION: And you say he's been cooperating with you?

BATTELLE: Yes.

QUESTION: We've been showing our viewers a picture of police concentrating in a field area not too far from here, Sixth and Marshall. Can you give us an idea of how that's connected to the discovery? Clothing pieces found there or...

BATTELLE: We had information that she may be over there, and some citizens were in the area, also, and that all led to us finding her body, unfortunately.

QUESTION: Did Johnny Johnson ever spent nights at that glass works?

BATTELLE: I couldn't tell you that. I don't know.

QUESTION: Can you tell us at what point, in your understanding, Johnny Johnson first noticed this victim? Was it last night, or had he been in contact with her (OFF-MIKE)

BATTELLE: Those are part of his statements that I can't get into right now. And we're still in the process of interviewing him in headquarters, so...

QUESTION: Was she sexually assaulted?

BATTELLE: We don't know that at this point in time.

UNIDENTIFIED OFFICIAL: I think these questions are actually getting into an area where we still have a lot of investigation to do, So we appreciate everyone coming down. And I'd like to distribute this picture for anyone who'd be interested in...

BATTELLE: Mayor -- the mayor's here from Valley Park -- Dan Michel.

D. MICHEL: Well, first of all, I'd like to thank the police department's efforts and all the townspeople for all their work to pull this together to try an investigation. And I'm truly saddened over this event here, that turned out -- the final events, there, the way -- or the tragedy of the girl dying. I was certainly hoping against hope that the girl in Philadelphia case would be repeated here, where she'd be able to escape and be found safe.

All of Valley Park's hearts go out to this family here, and anything we can do to help them through this time, and anyone else. If any child is seen on the streets, we certainly hope that anybody would point that out to the police immediately so this will not be repeated. This is a tight-knit community here. Everyone works together. It's more of a family than just a city, and we're just very all -- it's an extended family here. Everybody is saddened over this turn of events here today.

BLITZER: Dan Michel. He's the mayor of the suburban town where little Casey Williamson, Cassandra Williamson -- her body has now been found, the police chief, Ron Battelle, confirming they have found her body. They haven't made a positive identification, but they suspect it is the 6-year-old's body.

They say they have made an arrest, an individual identified as Johnny Johnson, a white male, someone who had spent the night in the home, apparently on a couch. The little girl was spending the night with her father across the street from where she lives. The parents, the mayor had told us earlier, are divorced. The girl had disappeared earlier. The police now accusing Johnny Johnson of murder in this -- in this very, very sad case.

We're going to continue to follow these developments just outside of St. Louis, have additional information, of course, as it becomes available. But once again, little Cassandra Williamson dead.

Let's move on now. Suspected child killer Alejandro Avila walked away once from the justice system.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERIN RUNNION, SAMANTHA'S MOTHER: I blame every juror who let him go.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Hear from the lawyer who helped put Avila back on the streets.

And Princeton officials caught red-handed. How far are universities willing to go to get at the competition?

Also: They got caught with their pants down, now they're on television. It's called "Johns TV," Colorado's answer to fighting prostitution. But is it fair? We'll hear from both sides.

And we also want to hear from you. Does a TV program showing men who visit prostitutes violate their privacy? Go to my Web page, cnn.com/Wolf. That's where you can vote.

First our news quiz. Lance Armstrong is just two days away from winning his fourth Tour de France. Who sponsors his team, private donors, FedEx, UPS, the U.S. Postal Service? The answer coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Today would have been Samantha Runnion's 6th birthday. Last night, her mother gave her only interview since Samantha's killing to -- that interview was given to CNN's Larry King. Erin Runnion said she's consumed by hurt and sadness, and there's very little room for anger. But she did say she blames jurors who acquitted the suspect, Alejandro Avila, of molestation charges last year.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERIN RUNNION, SAMANTHA'S MOTHER: I blame every juror who let him go. Every juror who sat on that trial and believed this man over those little girls, I will never understand. And that is why he was out, and that is why his sickness was allowed to do this.

I want people to realize that, you know, you're talking about children. You know, we have preconceived notions of little girls and how they might put themselves in this situation, and these are kids. These are kids. They don't lie about this sort of thing, you know? And...

LARRY KING, HOST: Kids are good eyewitnesses to events, is what you're saying?

RUNNION: Yeah. They are.

KING: Maybe better than adults.

RUNNION: They are terribly honest. They are brutally honest. We all know that from all of our little kids saying embarrassing things to people. They don't lie.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: John Pozza is the defense attorney who represented Alejandro Avila in that molestation trial. He talked with CNN's Charles Feldman about what's going on -- going on since Samantha's killing. And Charles joins us now live. Tell us about it, Charles.

CHARLES FELDMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, attorney John Pozza tonight is a man under attack. He and his family are being threatened. Some have even accused him of taking blood money when he defended Alejandro Avila against child molestation charges last year, a trial that left Avila a free man.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN POZZA, AVILA'S FORMER ATTORNEY: Well, it just -- it has thrown my entire world off course. You know, I have a very good practice in my community, and certainly, it has stopped me on a personal level to contemplate whether I did anything wrong on a personal level. And then I have to really step back and throw myself back into my professional side, in which that is my job. I took an oath. And there was certainly nothing that would indicate that Mr. Avila was capable of doing this. And really, at the time, there was no way for me to know this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FELDMAN: Pozza is getting a steady stream of nasty e-mails, and he says even some of his legal staff are now fearful about coming to work. A tough time for him. You can hear more from John Pozza on Connie Chung tonight at 8:00 PM Eastern, 5:00 PM Pacific right here on CNN -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Charles Feldman, thanks very much for that update. We'll be watching Connie Chung's program later tonight.

Crew members from a FedEx cargo jet are in fair condition with only minor injuries after an early morning crash in Tallahassee, Florida.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(voice-over): You could see the plume of smoke all the way from the other side of the Tallahassee airport. A FedEx Boeing 727 was completing its flight from Memphis, Tennessee, when it crashed half a mile short of the runway. The result, twisted metal, orange flames and black smoke. But somehow, no serious injuries. The three crew members managed to escape without burns or broken bones.

FedEx, based in Memphis, delivers three million packages a day and operates 647 planes worldwide. The fictional crash of a FedEx jet set up the plot of the Tom Hanks movie "Castaway." In real life, a FedEx jet crashed at Newark International Airport in 1997. There, too, crew members escaped without serious injury. Friday's crash closed the Tallahassee Airport for four and a half hours delaying several passenger flights.

It also caused problems for some Florida political candidates. Friday was the last day to file qualifying papers for upcoming state elections, and several candidates said they had documents coming in aboard the crashed plane.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: The National Transportation Safety Board will conduct an investigation to determine the cause of today's crash.

Is the competition for admission to America's top universities going too far? Two of the nation's elite schools are getting some publicity they don't want over a computer security breach. We'll get the inside story from two student journalists just ahead.

And, how far is too far in the fight against prostitution? One major city is drawing fire for its tactic of putting Johns on television.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back, I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. Thousands have been passed through the nation's ports everyday. Can terrorists use these giant shipping containers like a Trojan horse?

CNN's John Zarrella is at the Watson Island Florida base.

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN MIAMI BUREAU CHIEF: Wolf, Miami is the busiest port in the world when it comes to cruise ships. IN fact, two of them you may be able to see in the distance. One of them is pulling out and leaving right now, and it is also one of the busiest seaports when it comes to containerized cargo.

You can see mountains of that containerized cargo out there in the distance as well and that, of course, is one of the big concerns because when it comes to homeland defense, ports are considered perhaps the most vulnerable link. With that as a backdrop, U.S. Customs Service is testing a new program to shore up this part of the nation's defense.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ZARRELLA (voice-over): At the Port of Miami, thwarting a potential terrorist attack is far more about perspiration and less about inspiration.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There has to be somebody physically to go in there to make sure that there really isn't anything in there. There has to be a human element to this.

ZARRELLA: Drawing on the resources of dozens of local, state, and federal agencies, the U.S. Customs Service in Miami is testing a new antiterrorism program called Operation Border Lords. If successful, it may be the model for a national program to protect the nation's seaports and to keep them from being points of entry for terrorists or their weapons. For example, divers found this rusting metal box attached to the hull of a freighter. It contained 100 pounds of Marijuana.

JOHN CLARK, U.S. CUSTOMS SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE: This is the third parasitic device we found on a container ship this year, so it proves that the threat is there and our worry is what carries Marijuana could easily carry anything else, a weapon of mass destruction, an explosive.

ZARRELLA: A quarter century on the front lines of the drug wars taught the U.S. Customs Service there's no substitute for various agencies getting together and sharing resources, manpower, and intelligence.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The lesson we learned in the drug arena was there's an awful lot of duplication of effort, a lot of cases don't go nearly as far as they could because someone else had the piece to that puzzle that you needed.

ZARRELLA: In Operation Border Lords, an X-ray device attached to what looks like a cherry picker truck scans containerized cargo as it leaves the port. If anything suspicious shows up, the combined agency's team pours through the contents.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's something else in there in cellophane wrapping.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right.

ZARRELLA: On this day, everything checked is harmless cargo from Corn Flakes to coffee.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZARRELLA: On a daily basis, of course, U.S. Customs Service nationwide continues its surveillance of the nation's ports, but it's just not feasible financially or resource wise to operate border lords 24/7. This is where intelligence comes in. When they get intelligence that says perhaps some suspicious cargo may be arriving at a port here in Miami, for example, that's when they'll activate border lords. Wolf.

BLITZER: John Zarrella thanks for that good reporting, as usual. Princeton and Yale are traditional rivals, but a new conflict has nothing to do with the football field. Princeton says it deeply regrets the actions of one of its admissions officers who entered a Yale admissions Web site using information from students who had applied to both schools.

The Princeton official told the Yale Daily News he was trying to assess security, but some doubt that's the whole story. Joining us now are two top college journalists, Chris Michel of the "Yale Daily News" and Bill Beaver of the "Daily Princetonian."

Bill, tell us what happened at Princeton. How could this occur?

BILL BEAVER, "DAILY PRINCETONIAN": Well it's really tough to say. I mean I think you have to look at the whole situation. It seems to me, I mean I do believe on the face the story that this was the accident of one admissions officer, maybe several.

I mean you have to look at Princeton receives 15,000-some applications a year and only 11 students were actually checked. So, I think that this is more of someone's temporary lapse in judgment. I mean until otherwise proven, I don't think we should believe anything else.

BLITZER: Chris, what do you believe?

CHRIS MICHEL, EDITOR IN CHIEF, "YALE DAILY NEWS": Well, I mean I agree, Wolf that we have to look into this further. That's something that I think a lot of people in journalism are trying to do right now, but considering that there were four different computers in the Princeton Admissions Office that accessed these files over a number of different days, a number of different times, I think there certainly is reason to believe there might be something more than this security explanation that was given by the Princeton Admissions Officer.

BLITZER: There are some, Chris, who suspect that some officials at Princeton were trying to get the upper hand in recruiting students who might wind up at Yale.

C. MICHEL: Well, that's certainly a possibility. There are a couple of different pieces of information that Princeton could have gained by hacking in the way that they are accused of. First of all, they could find out whether or not a student was admitted to Yale and, in fact, in four of the cases they found out before the applicant actually did.

I think what's more important is after that, when they logged in multiple times, they were able to intercept information that the students provided back to the university, stuff like what they were interested in, perhaps a singing group or courses, and Princeton could have had the opportunity to then tailor a recruiting pitch based on that information.

BLITZER: Bill, what are they doing at Princeton to make sure that this doesn't happen again?

BEAVER: That's obviously the top priority in my opinion. I mean when you look at this situation, you realize that students who thought their information was secure, you know now are thinking maybe their information is not as safe as they thought. So, that's got to be Princeton's top priority at this point.

I mean from a student's perspective, I have to say that I want to make sure that anything I've given my school is, you know, safe, and I'm sure they'll do everything they can. They already have an independent investigator on site, but from a student journalist point of view, it's an amazing story. I really think it's a great, you know, piece of work by the YDN on this. My hat's off to them.

BLITZER: Well, what's the culture between and the competition, Chris, between Princeton and Yale and the other Ivy League schools in terms of the pressure to recruit the topnotch students out there?

C. MICHEL: Well it's intense, Wolf, and we see a lot of stories about how students in high school are often very intense in their competition for college, but there's not as much about how the colleges themselves, competing against each other.

If this turns out to be what it looks like, this could be evidence, you know, the public hasn't seen a lot of how intense the competition among colleges really is.

BLITZER: All right, Chris and Bill, we're expecting both of you to break more details of this story. Get back to work right now and report back to us when you have some more information. Thank you very much, and if you're the star of this next reality TV program, it would be very difficult to watch.

Coming up, the program that embarrasses the people it profiles, so why would it have the endorsement of a major city mayor? We'll tell you when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: We want to update you on a breaking story we've been following all day, especially this hour. Police in a suburban St. Louis, Missouri town have found a body that they believe is that of Cassandra Williamson. The 6-year-old girl vanished from a neighbor's home earlier this morning.

A 24-year-old transient or homeless person, named Johnny Johnson, has been arrested. He spent the night at the neighbors' house along with Cassandra and her father. We're trying to get some more details of what happened, but that's the picture of Johnny Johnson, the individual arrested in connection with the murder of Casey Williamson. We'll have more details as they become available.

In the meantime, let's move on to some other developments. Reality TV is hot these days, as all of us knows, but a program on Denver's Cable Access Channel may be a little too much reality for the stars of the show. So far, 11 men convicted of soliciting prostitution.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): The City of Denver tried virtually everything to crack down on prostitution for more police patrols to deploy female officers posing as streetwalkers.

ANDREW HUDSON, DENVER MAYOR'S SPOKESMAN: We beefed up the vice stings on this type of activity. Nothing seemed to work.

BLITZER: So how about a little humiliation? With the mayor's endorsement, Denver's official cable channel has unveiled "Johns TV," a reality show featuring the mug shots, names, and birth dates of men convicted of soliciting prostitutes. The show debuted with 11 men featured, men who will also find themselves pictured on the city's Web site.

HUDSON: We took a page out of the playbook of other cities around the country that had begun shaming the Johns.

BLITZER: The program has reportedly driven some prostitutes out of certain neighborhoods, but into other areas, a trend that is fueling local debate over the program's effectiveness.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, it will have that desired effect.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, absolutely not. I mean is something that's been going on since before the crime started. I mean you know come on, I mean it's ridiculous.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: So is Denver going too far in its efforts to discourage prostitution? Sue Armstrong is the Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado, and Wallace Wortham is the Denver City Attorney. Thanks to both of you for joining us. Why do you think, Sue, the city is going too far right now?

SUE ARMSTRONG, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ACLU OF COLORADO: The city's going too far in that they have arbitrarily added on penalties to an existing ordinance. There has not been any procedure for this to happen and subsequently someone who is committing this crime, who is convicted of soliciting a prostitute, is now subjected to something that appears to be the whim of the public mood of the moment.

BLITZER: Mr. Wortham, what do you say about that?

WALLACE WORTHAM, DENVER CITY ATTORNEY: I think that argument is absolutely without merit. Any time a person is convicted of a crime, that information becomes public information and the public has a right to it. I think to project these individuals as victims is absurd when the actual victims are the neighborhood residents and business owners where these individuals come to solicit sex.

BLITZER: What about that, Sue? ARMSTRONG: The victims of this also are the people who are the relatives of those who are convicted who now with government publicizing, proactively publicizing these convicted people, the relatives are the ones that are going to also be victims of this and there is no answer for that. The government is responsible for making available information about people who are convicted of crimes. The government should not be...

BLITZER: All right.

ARMSTRONG: ...in the business of publicizing that.

BLITZER: Mr. Wortham.

WORTHAM: There is an answer for that. If they don't come down to solicit sex, their pictures won't be broadcast. It's plain and simple. It's a deterrent. We had a story this morning, a person interviewed who was on "Johns TV" and that individual said that he would not come to that area again.

We had another interview this morning with a woman who had been plying her trade on those streets for over 21 years and she indicates that business had dried up as a result of the publicity regarding "Johns TV." We think that the neighbors are ecstatic that this is working.

BLITZER: Is there a legal basis for the ACLU to step in right now and file a suit, Sue?

ARMSTRONG: We are looking into this. I think basically the means the government uses does not justify the ends in this case.

BLITZER: All right, we have to leave it unfortunately right there. Sue Armstrong and Wallace Wortham, thanks for joining us, we'll be back to you. We'll be following this story as well.

And here's your chance to weigh in on the story. Our web question of the day is this: Does a TV program showing men who visit prostitutes violate their privacy? Go to our web page cnn.com/wolf. That's where you can vote.

You heard him perform his patriotic song right here on this program, now this tune is taking hold across America. Why congratulations are in store for this country music sensation, that's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Earlier we asked who sponsors the team led by U.S. cyclist Lance Armstrong in the Tour de France. The U.S. Postal Service sponsored the team in a 2,000-mile race around France.

And the Texan Lance Armstrong is one step closer to winning his fourth Tour de France cycling race. Despite finishing 24th in today's hilly 18th stage, Armstrong still maintains a commanding five-minute lead; two stages to go with the finish set for Sunday in Paris. Good luck, good work to Lance.

And you can call it Toby Keith's revenge. You may recall my report on the country singer's run-in with ABC. The singer says he was booted from an ABC special hosted by Peter Jennings. Today Keith's album with the hit song "Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue, the Angry American," is a cause for celebration. I asked him about both issues a little bit earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Toby Keith, thanks once again for joining us. Congratulations, the album making its debut as number one.

I don't think you're really surprised, though, are you?

TOBY KEITH, SINGER: Not at all. The American people jumped on this song early and you know I wrote this song for the military people to you know bring the support up and let our troops know that we're behind them and give them a big boost, and my dad was a GI and I wanted -- that's the only way I can serve as an entertainer is boost the morale and America has taken this song. I had no idea we were going to touch the nation like we did.

BLITZER: What was the impact of that little dust-up you had with Peter Jennings? I assume it was a blessing in disguise as far as generating publicity for the song.

KEITH: Well, obviously, the show was not very successful and we couldn't have created this kind of attention without having that little dust blow up. But you know at the first it was never me and Jennings. It was just me and their spin doctors over there.

They found out that the American people really felt like that this angry American song was what they wanted to say, and so they got angry at anybody who would jump up and pick this song and they just happened to be the ones that were in the way.

But my fight was never about that. My fight, I just want everybody to know that I was booked on the show and they knocked me off, and other than that, if they say that, I don't have another word. I'll never say one more word about it.

But they haven't said that. They've said that I wasn't booked on the show, so you know, it's old hat. I'm having a great week, Wolf.

BLITZER: Right.

KEITH: We're going in stores everywhere and we're breaking records every place we go. We did an in-store at D.C. the other night and the largest Best Buy in-store they had ever had was 2,000 people. We had 5,000 at midnight Monday night out there. It was just totally unbelievable, overwhelming.

BLITZER: What, if anything, are you planning to do in connection with the first anniversary of 9/11? KEITH: Well, I haven't got anything planned. I have a concert that night in Iowa, and so I had a prior commitment that was booked. So we'll be, you know, at a concert in Iowa that night, but you know I'm sure there will be a lot of things come up. This song, I honestly had no idea that it was going to be America's type song.

I thought it was just going to be a big military statement and my dad would be proud I wrote it. But, General Jones the commandant of the Marine Corps, you know, he said "hey buddy, it's your job to lift the morale of the troops and it's our job to defend and exterminate," and you know kind of -- I had no idea that this would be a regular American person's song.

BLITZER: Any plans for a follow-up?

KEITH: No, I think that this will be all I'll ever need to write. I mean I'm sure I might have something else in my heart to say someday, but it's beautiful to be -- you wouldn't believe the people that support this. There's flags waving everywhere.

It gives me such a great sense of pride to know that the people are so patriotic and want this, want to let me know they know every word of this song and they cheer it. It's just -- I've even taken cameras out with me for my own personal documentary that I'll keep for my own, for my kids and my grandkids to see the millions of flags that wave at concerts. It's just unbelievable.

BLITZER: All right, Toby Keith, "Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue," thanks for joining us. Congratulations again.

KEITH: Thanks, Wolf.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Let's go to New York now and get a preview of "LOU DOBBS MONEYLINE." That, of course, begins right at the top of the hour -- Lou.

LOU DOBBS, HOST, "MONEYLINE": Wolf, you made me a Toby Keith fan there. Thanks, Wolf. There are a lot of questions tonight about a series of murders over the past six weeks at Fort Bragg, home of the Army's elite Special Forces. We'll have a report for you.

And time tonight may be running out for nine miners who have been trapped underground in Pennsylvania. We'll be taking you live to a news conference that's scheduled to begin at the site of that rescue shortly.

On Wall Street today, stocks close sharply higher. We'll take a look at a brutal week for investors and where we're likely to go from here. And also tonight Congress voting on a landmark bankruptcy bill; it is a bill that has major implications for millions of Americans who rely upon their credit cards.

And stopping the paychecks of elected officials who aren't doing their jobs, I'll be talking with the woman who made that decision, Kathleen Connell, California's State Controller. We'll be talking about her bold move, all of that and more coming at the top of the hour. Please join us. Now back to Wolf Blitzer in Washington, Wolf.

BLITZER: Thank you very much, Lou, have a great weekend. Denver's mayor thinks this show that he's sponsoring will discourage the Johns, but what do you think? Does a TV program showing the men who visit prostitutes violate their privacy? The results of our web question coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Now here's how you're weighing in on our web question of the day. Earlier we asked: Does a TV program showing men who visit prostitutes violate their privacy? Sixty-three percent of you say yes, 37 percent say no. Remember this is not a scientific poll.

That's all the time we have today, but I'll see you Sunday on "LATE EDITION," the last word in Sunday talk. Among my guests, Jordan's King Abdullah and Israel's Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, that's Sunday at Noon Eastern. Until then, thanks very much for watching. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. Have a great weekend. Lou Dobbs "MONEYLINE" begins right now.

DOBBS: Tonight, trying to find answers to a series of murders at Fort Bragg, home of the Army's elite Special Operations Unit. Jamie McIntyre reports from the Pentagon.

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