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CNN Connie Chung Tonight
Missing 4-Year-Old Found; Progress Report on Separated Twins
Aired August 13, 2002 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CONNIE CHUNG, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening. I'm Connie Chung. Tonight, this time she's only four years old.
ANNOUNCER: Missing in America. A four-year-old California girl vanishes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Please, please! If you have my daughter, let her go!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: Last seen with this man...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was the last person that was seen with the little girl.
At this point, we are considering him a suspect that we're looking for him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: Plus, the story of two Oregon girls missing for months.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I feel absolutely hopeless. We can't do anything at all. I just wish there was something we could do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: Their mothers hold out hope.
The little Marias. Conjoined at birth, separated a week ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We remain guardedly optimistic, but it's really too early to know.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: Tonight, a progress report. Would you clone yourself to have a child? This couple wants to.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) clone. We're going to have a child. We're going to have a child which will be 99 percent similar to (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: Tonight, a CONNIE CHUNG follow-up. We'll answer your questions about cloning.
She's the rebellious daughter of a TV mob boss.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CARMELA SOPRANO, TV CHARACTER: Want some of last nights (UNINTELLIGIBLE)?
MEADOW SOPRANO: Get out of here with that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
But in real life, Jamie-Lynn Sigler feared she'd lose her role on "The Sopranos" because of an eating disorder.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMIE-LYNN SIGLER, ACTRESS: I was very overwhelmed and didn't know where to turn.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: Smart talk from a wise-gal.
This is CONNIE CHUNG TONIGHT. Live from the CNN broadcast center in New York, Connie Chung.
CHUNG: Good evening. Tonight, on just the second day of our week-long series "Missing in America," a new case has come to light, an indication of how frequently such disappearances occur. The case of Jessica Cortez is new but the details are familiar.
She was playing in L.A.'s Echo Park Sunday night when her family realized she was gone. Now the hunt is on. Her brother told police she was last seen in the water, but yesterday a witness told police the girl was talking with a man -- this man. That led police to reinstate the Amber Alert notice, which was called off earlier, when they believed Jessica had drowned.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LT. JOSE PEREZ, LAPD: We have some information from some of the residents when we were knocking on the community's doors that said they had seen the suspect here during the last week walking with a Chihuahua, approaching some of the children and parents, and that was the first lead that we had gotten on that gentlemen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHUNG: Joining me now from Los Angeles, the man leading the search for Jessica Cortez, Los Angeles Chief Of Police Martin Pomeroy, and the man leading the dive team, Lieutenant Bob Green. Thank you, gentlemen, for being with us.
Chief Pomeroy, walk us through this case. It was Sunday night and her parents realized that she was missing. They called police, and what did they tell the police?
CHIEF MARTIN POMEROY, L.A.P.D.: We responded immediately, around 9:00 p.m. Sunday night. The first information we have from the parents was that she was missing and they didn't know where, but the little brother said he had feared the sister, little Jessica, had drowned, because he saw her playing in the lake.
CHUNG: Did anyone else -- sorry -- did anyone else indicate that they thought she might have drowned in the lake?
POMEROY: No, no one that night no since has said that she was in the lake. You don't rule out any options, so we immediately focused on the lake, of course, and had our dive team there, but we also began an investigation to see if perhaps something else had happened, perhaps even a stranger abduction.
As and time has gone by, it looks more likely that's what may have happened, unfortunately.
CHUNG: All right. We're going to deal with the lake for a minute. Lieutenant Green, when you began searching the lake, it was Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, and I know it's very murky in that lake. Were you able to find anything?
LT. BOB GREEN, LAPD UNDERWATER DIVE UNIT: Well, we found a number of things, Connie, but obviously nothing resembling the victim. There's a zero visibility search, so the officers are feeling by feel for the most part. We found tires and chairs, a number of large items and smaller items. But, to date, not Jessica.
CHUNG: Lieutenant Green, are you saying that the divers actually cannot see? The visibility is that bad under the lake there?
GREEN: Yes, Connie, in -- it's a very silty bottom. So as the divers get in and the fins start to move, it kicks the silt up, whereas they start to feel in front of them or touch the bottom, it goes from one to two feet of visibility to zero visibility rather quickly.
CHUNG: I see. Will you continue the search tomorrow or is the search over?
GREEN: We are currently searching, and the progress of the search tonight will determine whether or not we're back tomorrow. CHUNG: All right. Chief Pomeroy, I know you are concentrating on one particular suspect, a person who may very well have led Jessica out of the park. And you have a detailed composite drawing. You know, there's one part of that, Chief, that is so eerie to me, and that is that he reportedly had a Chihuahua, and the case of Samantha Runnion involved a ruse of using a Chihuahua, although that suspect is now in custody. It's odd, isn't it, don't you think?
POMEROY: Well, I think unfortunately it might be a common trick for people like this particular suspect. We have heard over the years, in my experience of suspects luring small children with puppies or with candy, and law enforcement has repeatedly warned parents about this eventuality.
CHUNG: So is there any new information regarding this suspect or Jessica?
POMEROY: No. Again, we're not ruling out any of the possibilities, although we are now focusing on this suspect. We don't have any sightings of he and Jessica outside the perimeter of the park, nor have we had any sightings since Sunday. However, we have had some -- what we believe are credible sightings by people in the park Sunday, who saw this suspect and Samantha together.
As a matter of fact, this suspect has been seen previously in the park. We're hoping someone in the neighborhood will know who this person is and provide a clue, a name, a car, a residence or something to help us give the break in this case. We want to recover this child safely. Her parents have asked us to tell everybody who might have any information, please, tell us about their daughter.
CHUNG: Chief Pomeroy, just a quick question. There are some groups of minorities who believe that the police, the media are all not as vigilant when it comes to a minority kidnapping. For instance, the FBI has not joined this case until now. What's your response to that?
POMEROY: I would say that I'm a parent. And most of the people searching here are parents, and we are searching not only as police officers but as parents, and you can imagine how any parent feels in this condition. We ramped up, we began our investigation quickly. It rose in stature -- by that I mean the amount of resources -- quickly. I think it would not have been joined any quicker no matter who this young girl would have been.
We want to find Jessica. We want to find her because we're parents, we want to find her because we're police officers.
CHUNG: Good. Thank you so much, Chief Pomeroy and Lieutenant Green. We so appreciate your being with us.
POMEROY: Thank you for having us.
GREEN: Thank you.
CHUNG: We began our "Missing in America" series because there seemed to have been so many high-profile child abductions this year. This latest case in California certainly fits the pattern. But we also wanted to look at one of the year's first high-profile cases.
Now this one involves two girls who on separate mornings, weeks apart, left home for school. Neither girl made it to the bus stop. As CNN's David Mattingly reports, there are no witnesses, no clues.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Two girls from Oregon City, Oregon, the same age, the same school, the same dance class, living in the same apartment complex. Two 13-year-old friends, Ashley Pond and Miranda Gaddis, vanished two months apart on their way to school.
JOHN WALSH, HOST, "AMERICA'S MOST WANTED": That's really the scary thing is Ashley was kidnapped first in January, and then Miranda, who was very worried about her friend and was actually volunteering to do some fund-raisers, was kidnapped March 8. So this is really a heartbreaking case.
MATTINGLY: Heartbreaking and doubly disturbing. A mystery deepened by a frustrating lack of evidence.
CHARLES MATTHEWS, FBI SPECIAL AGENT: There is no crime scene. There's no forensics. We have no witnesses.
MATTINGLY: Investigators are acting on the belief that Ashley and Miranda were taken by the same person. Previous cases are under scrutiny for similarities, but again the absence of evidence makes comparisons difficult. If this is the work of a sexual predator, it raises the possibility of future abductions.
MATTHEWS: Eventually this type of predator will strike again. And that, of course, is obviously what conditionally propels the need to resolve what happened to our girls.
MATTINGLY: And now, four months since the last disappearance, frustrations and fears linger.
MICHELLE DUFFY, MIRANDA GADDIS' MOM: I feel absolutely hopeless. We can't do anything at all. I just wish there was something we could do. We can't help search. We can't help nothing. And all we can do is sit in the house.
MATTINGLY: At the apartments where Ashley and Miranda once lived and played, neighbors have been moving out. In July a flurry of activity included the search of some apartments.
More than a half dozen people reportedly given polygraph tests. Some considered persons of interest by the FBI, but so far no official suspects.
MATTHEWS: The actual solution, the short-term solution to this disappearance is still in the community. It's still out there. Someone still has information that we need to resolve what's taking place.
MATTINGLY: Recent attention has turned to searches at popular recreation areas using dogs, places reportedly frequented by one man questioned by the FBI. But dogs, search warrants, polygraphs and thousands of tips have yet to provide the break investigators, families and the community have hoped for, leaving the fates of Miranda Gaddis and Ashley Pond as much a mystery as they were on the days they disappeared.
David Mattingly, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHUNG: Earlier, I spoke with the mothers of the two missing teens, Michelle Duffy, mother of Miranda Gaddis, and Lori Pond, who is Ashley Pond's mother.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
Do you remember the last conversation that you had with Ashley?
LORI POND, MOTHER OF MISSING TEEN, ASHLEY POND: Well, the last time I talked to Ashley was -- it wasn't -- I wasn't even really talking to her. I was laying on the couch. And as she left to go to school, she said, "bye, mom, I love you." And that was the last thing that was said between me and her.
CHUNG: And then she ran off to the bus stop, right?
POND: Yes. Yes.
CHUNG: Michelle, what was the last time -- do you remember the last time you spoke with your daughter, Miranda?
DUFFY: It was just in the morning, and she was just getting out of the shower and WAS getting her breakfast and was talking to me about her dance competition the next day. And she was really excited about it, and the stuff that she wanted to buy for her and her friends. And then I was leaving for work and said for her to lock the door when I left and told her I love her and bye.
CHUNG: Michelle, after you went to work, was there any sign that anyone had gotten into your apartment?
DUFFY: No, there wasn't. They said that they kind of think they know where both girls disappeared, a certain spot on the driveway that you can't really see either way unless you are actually on the driveway. And the thing that we get confused about is we're right next door a really main road and it's rush hour traffic and there's a lot of traffic. And we don't understand how no one saw anything at all.
CHUNG: I see. Now, is it possible that your daughter might have gotten into a car with either a stranger or someone she knew?
DUFFY: She wouldn't have with a stranger because for one, she's really scared of what happened with Ashley, and because we had a lot of talks about that after Ashley disappeared. But with someone she knew, yes, she probably would because they are both young girls and they trust people a lot more than adults do.
CHUNG: Now, Lori, your daughter, of course, as we just said, had disappeared before Miranda did. Do you think she would have gotten into a car with a stranger or with someone she knew?
POND: Same with Ashley. I believe that she would get into a car with somebody she knew, but not a stranger.
CHUNG: And no one has reported anything? There are no witnesses, no clues?
POND: No, there isn't.
CHUNG: You just had a new baby just a couple of months ago. And I know that your daughter Ashley was going to be part of the birth. She was going to be in the delivery room and she was helping you a lot. This must be such a bittersweet moment for you.
POND: Yes. I just want her to be able to come home and see her brother. She was supposed to be in the delivery room. And so, you know, he's getting older now, and I want her to be able to be a part of, you know, his growing.
CHUNG: I know this is -- I know this is a very difficult question, but do you think that your daughter is alive?
POND: I don't know. I don't know. I hope she is. I pray she is. Every day, I pray she is. But nobody knows anything, you know? Nobody knows where these girls are, and we have no clues. We have nothing. But like we're praying that somebody out there knows just one little thing that will bring us that information that we need to get closer to solving this.
CHUNG: Have you spoken to any other mothers, any other parents who have missing children?
POND: Yes, I have. I have had a couple of them come up to me and talk to me about it and tell me not to give up hope, which it's nice to have somebody that's going through the same thing or has went through the same thing talk to you and tell you there is still hope.
CHUNG: And how about you? Do you want to pass on anything to others?
POND: Just keep your children close and watch them as close as you can. I know that, you know, we can't be here 24/7, but just, you know, let them -- awareness is very important. Let your children be aware of what -- what the problems are out there and that we have to watch them really close.
CHUNG: Michelle, the astounding thing with Miranda is that, in fact, she was worried about Ashley. That abduction had occurred two months earlier and she was aware, wasn't she? DUFFY: Yes, she was. That's a lot of the problem we deal with now is people keep talking about all these abductions, and lately it has been a lot of stranger ones. But I don't believe that was our girls. And most common abductions are from people they know. And I don't know how to teach your child not to trust people.
CHUNG: Have either of you considered moving away?
POND: For the safety of my other children, yes, I've considered it.
CHUNG: Michelle, have you considered moving?
DUFFY: When I know where Miranda is, I will move then. Until I find out where she is, I just can't do it. I can't leave until I know.
CHUNG: Because? Obviously...
DUFFY: I'm afraid if she did come home and I wasn't there, I could lose -- miss seeing her or something, and I just can't do that to her.
I just want to say that whoever has our girls to let them know that we're going to be here forever and someone is going to get tired of seeing us to where they're going to let us know where our girls are. Because we want them home and we're not going away.
POND: Exactly.
CHUNG: Michelle Duffy, Lori Pond, thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
If anyone watching has information about Miranda Gaddis, Ashley Pond, Jessica Cortez, who we just told you about, or any missing children, they can call the National Center For Missing and Exploited Children at this number, 1-800-THE-LOST. Tomorrow, in our missing in America series, a hard look at why some cases get the spotlight and why you never hear about most missing kids.
We'll be right back.
ANNOUNCER: Still ahead, you have not seen it all.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lot of the people are so rigid in their thinking, but there's nothing wrong with it. And maybe people in 10 or 20 or 30 years will get a little less rigid.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: More from the interview with the couple who wants to clone to have a baby. The controversial science of human cloning. CONNIE CHUNG TONIGHT returns in a moment. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHUNG: Now an update on the medical marvel we told you about last week, the conjoined twins separated after a remarkable 22-hour operation. One of the twins, Maria Teresa, needed a second operation to clear a buildup of blood on the surface of her brain. Since then, the girls have improved every day.
For the latest, we're joined from Los Angeles by Dr. Irwin Weiss, pediatric intensive care specialist at UCLA's Mattel Children's Hospital; and Clarice Marsh, director of pediatric intensive care nursing at the hospital. Thank you for being with us.
Dr. Weiss, let's start with you. Any new information tonight?
DR. IRVIN WEISS, PEDIATRIC INTENSIVE CARE SPECIALIST, UCLA: Well, both girls are continuing to do better, improving every day. In fact, Maria de Jesus was able to come off mechanical ventilatory support today, and so she's breathing all by herself when she's awake and really much more interactive with her environment and looking around. And I kind of wonder, is she wondering what happened to me here?
CHUNG: Is she able to blink her eyes and move her arms and legs?
WEISS: She's awake and moving her arms, her legs and looking like a really normal baby, a normal 1-year-old. So, it's really kind of encouraging. And her sister is coming soon behind her.
CHUNG: And will she be taken off the ventilator soon?
WEISS: I hope so, soon in the next couple of days or so. She's really making nice progress as well.
CHUNG: But she is -- she is blinking her eyes and is she moving her arms and legs as well?
WEISS: She moves a little bit, but she's still a little bit more sedated, still recovering from both her operations. So, she's just a little bit slower than her sister, but also making progress, very cautiously optimistic.
CHUNG: Clarice, help me with their personalities. Wasn't it Maria Teresa who was actually the dominant twin and Maria de Jesus a little bit more shy?
CLARICE MARSH, PEDIATRIC INTENSIVE CARE NURSING DIRECTOR: Right. Maria de Jesus is really in the lead right now and simply because her sister is more sleepy. But Maria de Jesus is definitely interactive. She smiled today and clearly cries when she doesn't like what we're doing to her.
CHUNG: So, those are both good signs, aren't they?
MARSH: Yes. Yes. And then Maria Teresa, we're looking forward to her every day waking up more and more. CHUNG: Will both of them, Clarice, be weaned off the sedatives?
MARSH: What was that?
CHUNG: Will both of them be weaned off the sedatives?
WEISS: Yes. Yes. Both of them are gradually coming off the sedatives very nicely.
CHUNG: Dr. Weiss, are you able to pick them up and is Clarice able to pick them up, their parents or do they have to remain in bed?
WEISS: We're still not because don't forget, not only did they have the extensive brain surgery, they also had the extensive plastic reconstructive surgery and those flaps and grafts and what have you are still maturing. So, we're kind of very gentle and very cautious with their -- moving them around and interfering with the healing of those grafts. But we expect they'll be able to be held and picked up very soon.
CHUNG: What do you think, in a few days?
WEISS: I would think over the next several days, sure.
CHUNG: Clarice, how are the parents? Are they -- you know, do the girls recognize their parents' voices?
MARSH: You know, this morning, I was there when they came in to see the children. And Maria de Jesus was sleeping, actually. But Maria Teresa was awake, and it was then that we realized she definitely was following from parent to parent. We all felt recognition. So they were elated with that. They are very happy.
CHUNG: Isn't that wonderful? That's so great. Just one final, quick question. Are they in a sterile area? Does everyone have to go in wearing special gowns?
MARSH: Well, we have the special gowns just as isolation precautions. It's not a sterile area, but just precaution.
WEISS: We treat them like all the patients in the ICU. We try to be as clean as possible and encourage very vigorous handwashing. But it's not an operating room.
CHUNG: I see. Well, we thank you so much. We'll be checking in with you again, I'm sure. And give them a little kiss for us.
WEISS: Thank you very much.
CHUNG: OK. Thank you Dr. Weiss. Thank you, Clarice. We appreciate it.
WEISS: Thank you. Bye-bye.
MARSH: Thank you. CHUNG: Still to come, we are still receiving an overwhelmingly e-mail response to last night's story of a couple trying to have a baby through cloning. We'll answer some of your questions. Just e- mail us right now at conniechungtonight@cnn.com.
ANNOUNCER: Coming up, from self-starvation to celebrity status.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMIE-LYNN SIGLER, ACTRESS: It's a time in a girl's life where she can either shut people away or go to people for help. And, unfortunately, which wasn't like me, I shut everybody away.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: Jamie-Lynn Sigler on the ups and downs of stardom and her role as a Soprano when CONNIE CHUNG TONIGHT returns.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHUNG: The story we told you about last night got such a response, I mean, I'm telling you, an overwhelming response, that we wanted to bring you some new details tonight. We also want to answer some of the hundreds of questions you e-mailed to us and they are great questions.
It's the story of an American couple, Kathy and Bill, who have asked us to hide their faces out of fear of public reaction to what they are trying to do. They're trying to have a baby through cloning. Contributing correspondent Michael Guillen brings us some new details on how and why they plan to do this.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAEL GUILLEN, PH.D., CONTRIBUTING CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Bill is in his 50s. Kathy is in her 40s. And both are deeply in love.
KATHY, PLANNING ON HAVING A CLONED CHILD: He's just the most fabulous man that God gifted me with.
BILL, PLANNING ON HAVING A CLONED CHILD: And I feel the same way about her.
GUILLEN: But there's one problem. They can't have children. For nine years, Bill and Kathy have tried artificial insemination, in- vitro fertilization, everything. And all that's happened is Kathy's gained 80 pounds, a side effect of the fertility drugs.
KATHY: I know some couples who went through this process and in the midst of it, they got divorced. But you know what? It pulled us closer together, rather than pushing us apart.
GUILLEN: Now, in a last-ditch effort, Bill and Kathy have turned to this man for help, Dr. Panos Zavos. PANOS ZAVOS, PH.D., PLANS ON CLONING A HUMAN: Bill and Kathy have exhausted all possibilities. The doctors that they went to, and they went to the best, told them to go home and forget about it.
GUILLEN: Dr. Zavos runs a fertility clinic in Lexington, Kentucky. In the next month or so, at an overseas lab where cloning is legal, he plans to try cloning a baby for Bill and Kathy, using her DNA. It's risky. Scientists are finding that many animal clones are coming out with awful defects. But Dr. Zavos believes it's worth it.
ZAVOS: There's nothing in this world that can please anybody anymore than creating a new life and seeing it grow.
BILL: I don't like to think we're going to have a clone. We're going to have a child. We're going to have a child which will be 99 percent similar to Kathy.
GUILLEN (on camera): But do you understand how some people are going to react to that? It's as if, Bill, you're going to be raising, if you're successful, a daughter who is a replica of your own wife. She's a daughter and a wife in some sense. And to a lot of people, that's going to seem very bizarre.
BILL: Some people may think it's a little weird because it's not the normal. And a lot of people are so rigid in their thinking. But there's nothing wrong with it. And maybe people in 10 or 20 or 30 years will get a little less rigid.
GUILLEN (voice-over): The plan is for a young surrogate mother, not Kathy, to carry the clone.
(on camera): You'll bring the surrogate mother before she delivers into the country?
ZAVOS: Yes.
GUILLEN: You'll want to be there at the time of the delivery?
KATHY: Oh, absolutely. I'm also hoping maybe there's more than one born. Maybe there will be two. And that would be like an instant family.
GUILLEN: Like twins?
KATHY: I would love it, yes. That would be fabulous.
BILL: There could be multiple births. There could be three or four.
KATHY: It would be fabulous. Just fabulous to have a nice little family.
GUILLEN (voice-over): Bill and Kathy fully realize that what they are doing is incredibly controversial, that 85 percent of the public, most politicians and most scientists think it's medically reckless and ethically outrageous. But they're desperate. BILL: I don't believe that this is the sort of thing that should be done frivolously. This is not something that's going to be done for millions of people all over. This is something for a select few groups of people who have gone through everything and really want a child badly.
GUILLEN: Bill and Kathy say compared to what they've already been through trying to have a baby, cloning is simply the next logical step. Together, they plan to see this through. And in the end, they are betting the world will see it their way.
KATHY: I know it's going to change things, Michael, when a new, delicious baby is born with five fingers on each hand and two beautiful little eyes and a cute little tush. And when that little baby goes, aah, like all little babies do, who is going to fight that?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHUNG: We've asked Michael to join us again tonight to help us answer at least a few of the literally hundreds of questions that you've e-mailed to us. Michael...
GUILLEN: Good evening, Connie.
CHUNG: Good evening to you. And before we get started, have you talked to Bill and Kathy since you put the story on the air for us yesterday?
GUILLEN: Yes. Just minutes ago, I spoke to Kathy and asked her how they are doing. And she said, obviously, they are nervous about being discovered. She said only one person figured out who they were, her maid of honor, identified her from her hands. She said but otherwise, no one has. Also, they decided -- Kathy decided to tell her mother before going on the air last night. And the mother was shocked, but thrilled and very excited is the way Kathy put it.
CHUNG: All right. So, let's go on to these e-mails. Our first e-mail is from John. And the question -- it's really a good question -- "would this procedure make men obsolete in human reproduction?" Now, I'm not going to snicker.
GUILLEN: Don't, Connie.
(CROSSTALK)
We guys are a little bit sensitive about that.
CHUNG: Yes, sure.
GUILLEN: Well, the answer -- it's a great question. And the answer is, yes. If the entire population of the earth used this procedure, simply because it's no longer -- your no longer creating babies through the union of an egg and a sperm. You're taking the DNA of anybody, putting it into an egg, putting into a mother and allowing it to grow into a baby. But the entire population is never going to use cloning as a way of reproducing. We are guessing that perhaps three percent of the IVF population is people who are very desperate, like Bill and Kathy, are going to use it. You're talking maybe 10,000 people a year in North America who would probably qualify to clone. So, not to worry. The guys are still going to be in business.
(LAUGHTER)
CHUNG: I'm not worried. Our next e-mail is from Cord (ph) in the Dominican Republic. "Is it possible to clone body parts?" Oh, my gosh. I never thought of that.
GUILLEN: Yes, it's a great question. Yes, the answer is, yes, but not the way a lot of people imagine, that you would clone an entire human being and then just harvest the parts. It's ghoulish and it's not going to happen.
But what will happen and what scientists are already doing is they are using the basic cloning technique to create a cloned embryo. But instead of implanting it into a woman and allowing it to grow to full-term, you allow it to grow only maybe three or four days in a petri dish or maybe up to two weeks, and then you harvest those embryonic stem cells, which have the potential of being anything...
CHUNG: Aah, stem cells.
GUILLEN: That's right. And you can coax them through chemicals to become, let's say, pancreatic cells for people who have diabetes or brain cells for people who have Alzheimer's and so forth, or, in fact, entire fingers. The sky is the limit. So, yes.
CHUNG: But people could always take it to the cosmetic level which...
GUILLEN: Yes, I'm sure they will too, as a matter of fact.
CHUNG: The next e-mail is from Scott. "Will the cells of the child be as old as the donor cells?" That's fascinating.
GUILLEN: Yes. When Dolly was first cloned, everybody thought, hey, they're cloning Dolly from an old sheep, so wouldn't Dolly start out being old in a sense, the cells which are...
CHUNG: Sure, which is very -- I don't know...
GUILLEN: It would be weird and you would expect then a clone to have a very curtailed lifespan. But, in fact, we've found that is not true. What happens when you clone, evidently, is that the clock gets set back to zero. And so...
CHUNG: Really?
GUILLEN: Yes. So, for example, Dolly was basically like an infant when she was cloned. She had infantile cells.
CHUNG: Yes, but wasn't she -- I see, but wasn't she suffering, they thought, from some kind of arthritis?
GUILLEN: Yes. There is evidence that maybe the clones age prematurely. So, even though the clock gets set back to zero, maybe the ticking is faster in clones so that their life does end up being shorter because the aging happens more quickly. But, that's still controversial. We're not sure about that.
CHUNG: Very frightening. You know, I mean, that just gives me the shivers. Honestly, it's very weird. All right. Our next e-mail is from Ken in Toronto. "Will the clone inherit memories of the DNA donor?" That's fascinating.
GUILLEN: Yes, that is really a good question. The answer is, no. We have no reason to believe that the memories would be passed on to the clones simply because the clone will have a fresh brain, clean slate. Although I did say last night the University of Texas scientist who cloned the brahma bull...
CHUNG: Yes.
GUILLEN: They're finding that the clone of the brahma bull has a lot of the same mannerisms as the original. So, maybe there is a sense of genetic memory in terms of behavioral traits and mannerisms that are communicated to clones. But in terms of memories like, you know, your first birthday, first day at school, your first love...
CHUNG: Right, or I've been here before.
GUILLEN: Yes...
CHUNG: (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
GUILLEN: We don't expect that's going to be communicated to a clone.
CHUNG: OK. The next e-mail is from Karen. "Why can't Kathy carry the clone?" I actually know the answer to that. Go ahead.
GUILLEN: Very interesting question. It turns out that Kathy has entered menopause recently. And so, she's really not a good candidate and Zavos, Dr. Zavos, is interested in trying minimize all risks. And that's why he's opting to have a young surrogate mother carry the clone.
CHUNG: OK. Next e-mail is from Esther (ph) in Virginia. "If sperm is not used, will the man be legally responsible for the child?"
I checked with Jeffrey Toobin, if you'll allow me to answer...
GUILLEN: Yes, yes.
CHUNG: ...because he's our legal analyst, and he said this would be so historic, he cannot predict it, and that's why so many people are saying that the legal issues and lots of other issues have to be settled before this becomes a reality.
GUILLEN: Absolutely.
CHUNG: So...
GUILLEN: This is part of what makes it historic. Maybe it will be like an adoption and maybe not. But the lawyers have to figure it out.
CHUNG: Exactly. If it is like an adoption, then he would be legally responsible. But as of now, Bill has no biological connection and would have no biological connection to the clone.
GUILLEN: Correct.
CHUNG: OK. Our next e-mail is from Judy is Utah. "What about the possibility of multiple births?" Which Kathy mentioned.
GUILLEN: Yes. As a matter of fact, you heard them say they were hoping, and Dr. Zavos and any IVF doctor will say to you that they will implant up to three to four embryos into a mother at any given time, and that's exactly what Dr. Zavos plans to do with the surrogate mother, plant three to four embryos and hope that at least one takes, but there's a chance that three or four will take.
And as Kathy said, that would be like a nice little family for them.
CHUNG: Oh, this is so fascinating.
GUILLEN: Isn't it?
CHUNG: Thank you, Michael.
GUILLEN: Yes, you're welcome.
CHUNG: I think we'll be able to hopefully pursue this as we go long.
GUILLEN: Right. Dr. Zavos says we're going to be able to follow the story all the way through.
CHUNG: Terrific. Really, that's great. Michael, thank you.
GUILLEN: You're welcome.
CHUNG: We'll be right back.
ANNOUNCER: Coming up -- Jamie-Lynn Sigler shares her struggles and triumph over an eating disorder.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHUNG: What was rock bottom for you?
SIGLER: The thought of suicide when it said, I don't even want to live anymore.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: Now the "Sopranos" star reaches out to teens facing the same battle.
CONNIE CHUNG TONIGHT will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHUNG: We all agree life is not the same since September 11. We want to know how yours has changed. Did you move, change jobs, volunteer? Whatever it is, we want you to tell us about it on videotape. Send your tapes to CONNIE CHUNG TONIGHT, P.O. Box 5138, New York, New York, 10185. For more information, logon to cnn.com/CONNIE.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHUNG: If you are a "Sopranos" fan you know what September 15 is. It's the day your TV set makes you an offer you can't refuse, with the launch of the fourth season of HBO's mob hit -- show, that is. It's not just a big time for fans but also for one of the show's stars. Meadow Soprano, Tony Soprano's daughter, is played by Jamie- Lynn Sigler, who has just co-authored a new book, "Wise Girl," and is about to debut as well on Broadway in "Beauty and the Beast."
Earlier Jamie joined me to talk about her struggles and her triumphs in the first person.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
Thank you for being with us.
SIGLER: Thank you for having me.
CHUNG: Now wait a minute. Didn't you have dark hair? I remember watching "The Sopranos." It was -- and in your book, right? Dark hair.
SIGLER: Yes, that is my natural color, but...
CHUNG: What have you done?
SIGLER: I died my hair blonde just a few days ago for a film role.
CHUNG: Oh.
SIGLER: Yes. So it's just for work and for fun.
CHUNG: I thought it might be for "Beauty and the Beast."
SIGLER: No, I'm wigged for that, anyway, but Belle (ph) has dark hair.
CHUNG: Oh, that's right. So you are actually making your Broadway debut? SIGLER: Yes.
CHUNG: It's this fall?
SIGLER: October 1, yes. And I can't wait. This is my first dream as a young child. I grew up in musical theater. So this is a huge thrill for me, and to be doing it during the holiday season, and it's one of the few shows that's, you know, out there for kids right now on Broadway. And children are my passion, so I can't wait.
CHUNG: Well, a lot of people may not know that you do have that background. I mean, ever since you were seven, you've been on the stage, right? Singing?
SIGLER: Yes, singing, dancing my heart out. It's just -- it's all I knew from before "Sopranos." I mean, dance recitals. I played Annie like five times, and just did musical after musical, and then actually when I went to audition for the "Sopranos" I thought it was going to be somewhat musical.
I brought my sheet music to sing with me at the audition.
(LAUGHTER)
CHUNG: Oh, that's very funny.
SIGLER: I had no idea what it was about. But obviously I'm pleasantly surprised, and it turned out pretty good.
CHUNG: Of course "The Sopranos" and your success has been tremendous, but it was right during that time, between the time you shot the pilot of "Sopranos" and the first season that you went through a really difficult time that many young women, in particular, go through, and that is suffering from an eating disorder.
SIGLER: I was 16, going on 17 during that period. And there was an entire year in between the first episode, the pilot, and the second episode, where we started the first season. And during that time, I guess what I'm trying to stress is it wasn't about being in this industry. I didn't feel pressured to be thin because I was a thin 16- year-old girl.
But it was just because being a teenager is hard and there's a lot of pressures. And I was a junior in high school. And I had my first heartbreak, and things were different. I had a lot more work and I was feeling insecure and my body was changing. And it was the same time that everyone started talking about calories and food. Well, everything seemed out of control. Here was that one thing that I could control. And I held on to it.
CHUNG: Would you say, though, that Madison Avenue is hitting you as a teenager from all directions?
SIGLER: Absolutely. It just felt like I was very overwhelmed and didn't know where to turn. And it's a time in a girl's life where she can either shut people away or go to people for help. And, unfortunately, which wasn't like me, I shut everybody away.
CHUNG: Really? So you went from 120 pounds to 90 pounds.
SIGLER: Yes.
CHUNG: And I saw those pictures of you. What were you doing?
SIGLER: I have something called exercise bulimia, which is where you rid of your calories by overexercising. I ended up starting at a routine which was, you know, 20 minutes in the morning and cutting back a little on my calories. And it snowballed into six or seven hours a day of exercise...
CHUNG: Oh, my gosh.
SIGLER: ... and basically eating nothing. And it seems like, how would you have the energy to do that. But it's just something inside. I mean, you've got to push yourself. I didn't have energy for anything else, but for my routine.
CHUNG: Horrible.
SIGLER: Yes. It's a lonely time in your life.
CHUNG: So when did you realize or did someone else realize that something had to be done?
SIGLER: Well, like any addiction, you know, obsession, disease, you have to want to get better to get better. And I really had to hit rock bottom. And it was a time where I was just questioning, why can't I just be normal? Why can't I go to the movies with my friends and not be afraid to eat in front of them? Why can't I just be a normal teenager?
CHUNG: So, what was rock bottom for you?
SIGLER: The thought of suicide, when it said I don't even want to live anymore. And then I had to take a step back and say, "wait a minute, I have everything in the world and my dreams are about to come true. I'm about to do a TV show. How could I have just said that?" I said I have got to stop this. I'm not going to let it control me anymore.
And I went to my parents. And, of course, they were thrilled because they were trying to help me. And, you know, I was watching myself hurt them and just shut them away. And all I did was need them.
CHUNG: Did they, all during this period of time, talk to you about it and say, "come on, you've got to do something, let's go to the doctor?"
SIGLER: Yes. I mean, at first, everybody was in denial. I mean, nobody knew what was going on because I seemed to be like the last person that this would ever happen to. And then it just -- it took my mother hugging me and crying, feeling all my bones, and my father just not knowing how to react. You can scream, you can yell, but it's just -- it's so hard to know how to treat it.
CHUNG: Right.
SIGLER: But, yes, we ended up going to therapists and nutritionists, and I -- with any eating disorder, it starts maybe about food and weight. But there's always something underlying. And, you know, you have to find out what it is. And I found that through therapy and, you know, I just needed to gain my confidence back.
CHUNG: So, now, you are beautiful.
SIGLER: Thank you.
CHUNG: I mean, and you always were, but this is great. I'm so glad.
SIGLER: Thank you.
CHUNG: Are you cured, though?
SIGLER: I don't think you are ever cured. It's a scar. And it's always going to be with me. But I definitely feel like it doesn't control my life anymore and I do have a handle on it. I don't wake up every morning feeling like I look wonderful, and I'm human and I'm a girl and I wish this was different and that. But, you know, I'm happy the way God made me and I'm going, you know, to live my life to its fullest.
CHUNG: Great. "The Sopranos," everybody wants to know, is Meadow going to have another season and everybody else, James Gandolfini and Edie Falco?
SIGLER: Well, yes. Well, we just finished the fourth season, which is about to come to air in September 15. And we'll start in January with the fifth season.
CHUNG: Right. But is that going to be the final season? Everybody wants to know?
SIGLER: That's what we hear. But, I mean, it's not written in stone. We'll just have to see. Yes.
CHUNG: And what happens to Meadow this year in this new season? Any hints?
SIGLER: I mean, she's still in college and she's still growing. She still thinks she's smarter than everybody else and knows what's going on. But, you know, she's just a normal teenager going through everything that they all go through.
CHUNG: Right. It's a great show, isn't it, don't you think?
SIGLER: Thank you. It's been a wonderful experience. And I'm just so blessed. And I'm so blessed to have that time in my life because they were in full support of me, you know, because, basically, "Sopranos" chronicled my eating disorder every stage from beginning to here to there to when I finally balanced out.
And it's hard for me to even look back. And, you know, I cringe at some things and don't want to look at some scenes. But having them at that time in my life because I almost lost my role of how thin I was.
CHUNG: I didn't realize that.
SIGLER: Yes.
(INTERRUPTED FOR BREAKING NEWS)
CHUNG: We do have breaking news to report about missing 4-year- old Jessica Cortez. CNN has confirmed that she has been found alive and is safe tonight. We'll bring you more details as we get them. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHUNG: And repeating again tonight's breaking news. CNN has confirmed that Jessica Cortez, the missing 4-year-old girl, last seen on Sunday in Los Angeles, has been found alive and well. Again, she has been found and she is said to be safe. She was brought into a clinic tonight and a woman is said to be in custody. It's not clear yet whether she's a suspect or what role she may have played. Again, this is breaking news. Little Jessica Cortez has been found alive and well. And we apologize for interrupting our interview with Jamie-Lynn Sigler in the previous segment.
Tomorrow, our series missing in America continues as we hear from the mother who lost her child and turned that loss into Megan's Law.
And coming up next on LARRY KING LIVE, model Louise Ashby. You have to hear her story.
Thank you for joining us, everyone. And for all of us at CNN, good night. We'll see you tomorrow.
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