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CNN Live At Daybreak
Prosecutors Meet Today To Discuss Sniper Charges
Aired October 25, 2002 - 06:30 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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: The detective work is far from over in the sniper investigation.
We want to go live back to the task force command center in Maryland, where our Patty Davis has been for weeks now.
Good morning -- Patty.
PATTY DAVIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
Well, a fingerprint from the September 21 murder in Montgomery, Alabama was what made the connection for Montgomery County police here in Maryland. Now, that killing, 52-year-old Claudine Parker, a liquor store clerk outside of her liquor store on September 21, a fingerprint there belonging to 17-year-old John Lee Malvo, then traced back to Tacoma, Washington, where investigators were able to establish a connection to 41-year-old John Muhammad, a Gulf War veteran and an M- 16 expert marksman.
Now, how did investigators establish a link to the Alabama killing in the first place? Well, the sniper apparently called into the hotline saying that there was a connection.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHIEF JOHN WILSON, MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA POLICE: We were elated. I mean, we had been very -- just thrilled about our involvement and our ability to help the people in Virginia and Washington. We want to play as big a role as we can in helping those families and citizens there.
And not to mention, this is a very high-profile case for our area. This is not something that happens here every day, and it was a top-priority case for us, and we were struggling with this case. We had not a lot to work with, and the breakthrough came for us with that phone call on Sunday.
So, we've got something we can offer Washington, and they've got something they can offer us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DAVIS: Obviously, both jurisdictions immensely happy that they've been able to connect these men to these crimes.
Malvo is the only one connected to that Alabama crime at this point. Now, prosecutors do plan to meet today to hammer out who is going to file what, what jurisdictions are going to be able to file charges first. Of course, the suspects not yet charged with these 10 murders in the area and three shootings.
Now, Muhammad is scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday. Not clear at this point when Malvo's next court appearance is -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Yes, a lot of people have been e-mailing us this morning wondering about this 17-year-old who was charged in this case.
Do we know any more about him? We know he's from Jamaica. We know he was in this country illegally. We know he was coming up for a hearing in November. Is that correct?
DAVIS: That's right. And that's about what we do know -- a Jamaica citizen. In fact, Jamaica putting out a statement saying they have not yet confirmed his Jamaican citizenship, and they are saying that the people of Jamaica certainly don't have anti-American feelings; feelings like this young man must have had either towards America -- that's not been established at this point -- or just the feelings of wanting to do violence here in the United States.
So, not much known about this young man, but he's certainly facing...
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: And the connection between him and Muhammad.
DAVIS: Right.
COSTELLO: They weren't related in any way, and they weren't stepfather and stepson either.
DAVIS: That's right. Well, it was originally thought -- we were reporting that yesterday, that there was a stepson-stepfather relationship. But it appears now that there may have been a connection with Malvo's mother and Muhammad, and that's something that investigators are looking at, at this point -- Carol.
COSTELLO: And just talking about the command center there, should we expect more briefings, or are they over?
DAVIS: The police chief last night said that the prosecutors in this case are taking the next step in terms of briefing the media on what they will be doing, how they will be filing charges and who will be filing charges and when, and how the jurisdictional issues will work.
We don't know if we will hear from police today. Of course, they've had a pretty rough schedule here the past three weeks, starting out holding briefings every two hours, then it came down to several briefings a day. Chief Moose looking very tired at the end of this -- at that press conference last night, saying that a lot of people who were involved in this task force were going to be going home now, and getting some much needed rest, and I'm sure he's among them -- Carol.
COSTELLO: I'm sure. Thank you very much, Patty Davis. We appreciate it.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Aired October 25, 2002 - 06:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: The detective work is far from over in the sniper investigation.
We want to go live back to the task force command center in Maryland, where our Patty Davis has been for weeks now.
Good morning -- Patty.
PATTY DAVIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
Well, a fingerprint from the September 21 murder in Montgomery, Alabama was what made the connection for Montgomery County police here in Maryland. Now, that killing, 52-year-old Claudine Parker, a liquor store clerk outside of her liquor store on September 21, a fingerprint there belonging to 17-year-old John Lee Malvo, then traced back to Tacoma, Washington, where investigators were able to establish a connection to 41-year-old John Muhammad, a Gulf War veteran and an M- 16 expert marksman.
Now, how did investigators establish a link to the Alabama killing in the first place? Well, the sniper apparently called into the hotline saying that there was a connection.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHIEF JOHN WILSON, MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA POLICE: We were elated. I mean, we had been very -- just thrilled about our involvement and our ability to help the people in Virginia and Washington. We want to play as big a role as we can in helping those families and citizens there.
And not to mention, this is a very high-profile case for our area. This is not something that happens here every day, and it was a top-priority case for us, and we were struggling with this case. We had not a lot to work with, and the breakthrough came for us with that phone call on Sunday.
So, we've got something we can offer Washington, and they've got something they can offer us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DAVIS: Obviously, both jurisdictions immensely happy that they've been able to connect these men to these crimes.
Malvo is the only one connected to that Alabama crime at this point. Now, prosecutors do plan to meet today to hammer out who is going to file what, what jurisdictions are going to be able to file charges first. Of course, the suspects not yet charged with these 10 murders in the area and three shootings.
Now, Muhammad is scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday. Not clear at this point when Malvo's next court appearance is -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Yes, a lot of people have been e-mailing us this morning wondering about this 17-year-old who was charged in this case.
Do we know any more about him? We know he's from Jamaica. We know he was in this country illegally. We know he was coming up for a hearing in November. Is that correct?
DAVIS: That's right. And that's about what we do know -- a Jamaica citizen. In fact, Jamaica putting out a statement saying they have not yet confirmed his Jamaican citizenship, and they are saying that the people of Jamaica certainly don't have anti-American feelings; feelings like this young man must have had either towards America -- that's not been established at this point -- or just the feelings of wanting to do violence here in the United States.
So, not much known about this young man, but he's certainly facing...
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: And the connection between him and Muhammad.
DAVIS: Right.
COSTELLO: They weren't related in any way, and they weren't stepfather and stepson either.
DAVIS: That's right. Well, it was originally thought -- we were reporting that yesterday, that there was a stepson-stepfather relationship. But it appears now that there may have been a connection with Malvo's mother and Muhammad, and that's something that investigators are looking at, at this point -- Carol.
COSTELLO: And just talking about the command center there, should we expect more briefings, or are they over?
DAVIS: The police chief last night said that the prosecutors in this case are taking the next step in terms of briefing the media on what they will be doing, how they will be filing charges and who will be filing charges and when, and how the jurisdictional issues will work.
We don't know if we will hear from police today. Of course, they've had a pretty rough schedule here the past three weeks, starting out holding briefings every two hours, then it came down to several briefings a day. Chief Moose looking very tired at the end of this -- at that press conference last night, saying that a lot of people who were involved in this task force were going to be going home now, and getting some much needed rest, and I'm sure he's among them -- Carol.
COSTELLO: I'm sure. Thank you very much, Patty Davis. We appreciate it.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
