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CNN CONNIE CHUNG TONIGHT
Search for Laci Peterson Intensifies; Serial Killer Stalks Louisiana
Aired January 2, 2003 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CONNIE CHUNG, HOST: Good evening. I'm Connie Chung.
Tonight: eight months pregnant and missing without a trace.
ANNOUNCER: An expectant mother vanishes. Questions still surround her husband.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DET. DOUG RIDENOUR, MODESTO POLICE DEPARTMENT: Mr. Peterson and anybody else connected with this investigation will be considered and is considered a suspect.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: A crosscountry search, a half-million-dollar reward, and still nothing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DENNIS ROCHA, FATHER: Take the money and bring my daughter back safe. And take the money and go and get away free.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: Where is Laci Peterson?
A serial killer stalks the Bayou State.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE NEUSTROM, LAFAYETTE PARISH SHERIFF: He is described as having an intense and intimidating stare.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: Now a new description. Why are police looking for this man?
The doctors are out: why surgeons in one state are on strike.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's an issue of quality health care and the continuation of quality care.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: And our "Person of the Day": a lifesaving lawmaker.
This is CONNIE CHUNG TONIGHT. Live from the CNN Broadcast Center in New York: Connie Chung.
CHUNG: Good evening, everyone.
Police briefing reporters tonight about their search for a missing pregnant woman talked at length about her husband. Why? They say they are trying to corroborate his story that he was away from their Modesto home on Christmas Eve morning, when his wife, Laci Peterson, eight months pregnant, disappeared. Police believe it's foul play. And they have not ruled out husband Scott Peterson as a suspect.
Laci's mother sees things differently, though, and issued a plea to the person who took her daughter.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHARON ROCHA, MOTHER OF LACI PETERSON: I would hope that you would have some compassion in your heart that, if this was your daughter or your sister or your mother, would you want them to live in the fear and terror that my daughter has been living in? And if it was your mother or your sister or your daughter, would you want them to have the heartache or the pain that we have been going through?
Please bring our daughter home.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHUNG: We'll talk with Laci's mother in just a moment.
But first, CNN's Rusty Dornin with a look at how all this all unfolded over the past 10 days.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): 9:30 Christmas Eve morning: Scott Peterson says goodbye to his pregnant wife, Laci, to go on a day-long fishing trip; 27-year-old Laci is dressed to take her dog Mackenzie (ph) for a walk in the park. Mackenzie, seen here with police, is found by neighbors an hour later wandering around with his leash still attached.
The neighbors simply returned the dog to the Petersons' backyard. Mr. Peterson returns home that night and calls police. The search for Laci is launched. Two days later, the FBI entered the case. Investigators searched the Peterson home, husband Scott's boat, and his warehouse.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're just out here double-checking.
DORNIN: Then investigators began beating the bush in farmlands and rural areas -- plenty of tips, but no leads.
ROY WASDEN, MODESTO POLICE CHIEF: It is very frustrating. We are continuing to investigate every possible direction. Really, I guess the frustration is that we don't have anything new.
DORNIN: Hundreds of volunteers join the effort. Jack Marks says there's so much territory to cover.
JACK MARKS, SEARCHER: There's a lot of obstacles in the river that a body could be brushed under. There's a lot of debris from the rain, you know? A lot of these homeless people are using the river pretty much as a dumping site. And so you have a lot of floating debris that a body could wash under.
DORNIN: Then an anonymous family friend contributes $375,000, pushing the reward for finding Laci to a half million. And an anguished father makes an appeal.
D. ROCHA: Take the money and bring my daughter back safe. And take the money and go and get away free. Get out of here. Just go with the money. Take the reward and go.
DORNIN: Still nothing.
(on camera): Even the trail that led investigators to this park where she supposedly walked her dog that morning seemed uncertain. A bloodhound did not lead his handler here, but instead indicated she got into a car and perhaps headed toward the San Joaquin River.
(voice-over): Investigators get a receipt from husband Scott showing he was in a fishing marina 85 miles away that day, but police won't eliminate him from the investigation.
RIDENOUR: Mr. Peterson and anybody else connected with this investigation will be considered and is considered a suspect. But we have not focused on him to the point of saying he's a suspect.
DORNIN: One week after Peterson disappeared, police say foul play is a possibility.
Later that same day, in the park where she once walked, friends and family, people who care, gather to pray for her safe return. A woman looking forward to the birth of her son, with the brightest of futures, simply vanishes.
Rusty Dornin, CNN, Modesto, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHUNG: Laci Peterson's mother, Sharon, and her sister Amy join us now from Modesto.
Thank you so much for being with us.
Sharon, tell us, it's been more than a week now since your daughter has disappeared. Can you think of anyone who would want to harm her for any reason?
S. ROCHA: No, none whatsoever.
Laci was a very, well, likable person. She was happy and generous and thoughtful. And everybody liked Laci. They liked to be around here her. She was a fun person to be with. There's no reason anybody would want to hurt Laci.
CHUNG: Amy, when was the last time you spoke to your older sister?
AMY ROCHA, SISTER OF LACI PETERSON: It was Monday night around 5:30. Scott and Laci had both come into the salon I'm working at. And I had cut Scott's hair. And they were just as cheerful as always.
CHUNG: Did she say anything to you that would suggest that she was upset about anything or concerned or fearful about anything?
A. ROCHA: No, not at all.
CHUNG: Sharon, I know you spoke with your daughter, was it the night before she disappeared?
S. ROCHA: Yes, it was.
CHUNG: And how was she on the telephone?
S. ROCHA: She was her normal self. She was looking forward to coming over for Christmas Eve the next day. And then we were going to her house for Christmas morning brunch. And she was looking forward to it. She was happy, as she always is, excited about having the baby.
CHUNG: You were so adamant today at the news conference that your son-in-law Scott was not involved. And yet the police have said that they want to know from anyone who's seen his boat or his trailer.
And the police also said he is cooperating -- quote -- "to some degree." Why do you think that that was qualified? Do you know of any reason why Scott is not cooperating fully?
S. ROCHA: Scott's just as worried as we are. He is sick at heart about what has happened to Laci. We're all looking for Laci. We all want her back.
CHUNG: Sharon, do you know if it's unusual for Scott to have been out fishing on Christmas Eve alone?
S. ROCHA: Not necessarily, no. I don't know anything about -- he does things like that.
CHUNG: I know that, in reading about your daughter, she's described as vivacious, fearless, feisty. She was a former high school cheerleader. Tell us about your daughter.
S. ROCHA: Well, that pretty well sums it up. She was very outgoing. She was a happy person. Her friends called her Martha Stewart. She loves to cook and decorate. And she likes to have dinner parties. And she's just a fun-loving person. She's a generous, honest person, responsible.
CHUNG: And do you have any theories about her disappearance?
S. ROCHA: No. That's why we're here. We're here pleading with the public. Anybody who knows anything about her disappearance or knows where she may be, we would like to hear from them. We want her home.
CHUNG: Absolutely.
Sharon, do you know of any problems that they may have had in their marriage?
S. ROCHA: No, none whatsoever. They were always happy together. I've never heard either of them say anything against the other. I've never heard them argue or even heard about an argument. They were a happy, happy couple.
CHUNG: Amy, what has this done to your family and what has this done to your mother?
A. ROCHA: This is really hard on all of us.
CHUNG: It's very hard...
A. ROCHA: We just want her home.
CHUNG: Sure. Go ahead.
A. ROCHA: We just want her home safe with us.
CHUNG: Absolutely.
Sharon, if you could say something to Laci, what would you say?
S. ROCHA: I'd say, Laci, we love you very, very much and we are still looking for you. We will never stop looking for you. So, just keep the faith. We're going to find you, honey. We love you.
CHUNG: All right.
Sharon and Amy, thank you so much for being with us. We'll keep our fingers crossed.
And a reminder: There's a reward of a half-million dollars for Laci Peterson's return. Police are asking anyone with information on her disappearance to call 209-342-6166. Once again, that's 209-342- 6166. Or go online to LaciPeterson.com.
Police are not only asking for information about Laci. They're also asking for information about her husband, Scott Peterson. He told police he went to a marina 85 miles away from the day -- 85 miles away that very day that she disappeared. He spent the day fishing alone. Police say they want independent confirmation of his story before they rule him out as a suspect.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RIDENOUR: This is the boat and the trailer that was allegedly used to go up to the Berkeley marina. And we need to corroborate that story. So, if there's someone out there that's seen him or seen the boat or seen him in the boat, we need them to contact us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHUNG: Joining us now from the Modesto is the chief of police there, Chief Roy Wasden.
Thank you so much for being with us, Police Chief Wasden.
I was watching the news conference today, sir. And you asked for an appeal, anyone out there who has seen his trailer or his boat, the father's -- the husband's trailer or boat.
WASDEN: Yes.
CHUNG: My question is, what do you hope to find if there is someone who has any information?
WASDEN: Well, Connie, we believe that there has got to be people out there with information, that somebody knows something. They may not know they know it. And so we're asking that people pay attention. And this is a very important story. It's very important to our community, very important to Laci and Scott's family and to the Petersons.
And so we would ask people to look at the truck, the trailer, the information, the timetable. If anybody has seen this truck, this truck pulling the boat trailer, we really would like to talk to them, especially in the timeframe of Sunday through Christmas Eve afternoon, and where they saw that and what they saw.
CHUNG: Have you been unable to corroborate Scott's story?
WASDEN: That's the reason we're asking. We need to be able to have people come forward and provide information about what they have seen. Like I said, they may not know that they know something that would be critical to this investigation.
CHUNG: At the news conference today, the authorities used the words, he's cooperating "to some extent." Why that was qualified in terms of his level of cooperation?
WASDEN: One of the critical things that we have to do -- as a police chief, I need to make sure that my investigators have the resources to go forward, but also that they have the ability to move their investigation forward, which they are doing.
Detective Craig Grogan, Detective John Bueller (ph), Detective Albro Keeney (ph) are the core team working this investigation. And they don't necessarily discuss in-depth with me what is and isn't being said. And they are looking for this kind of resource to help them in that investigation.
I'm sure that they're having some level of ongoing dialogue with Scott. And I can't qualify that or tell you what that is, but they clearly need information to help them move forward.
CHUNG: Chief Wasden, we just heard Laci's mom say that the last time she spoke with her was the night before she disappeared. Is there any reason to believe that she may have disappeared that night? Because the only information that you have that she was seen on the morning she disappeared was from her husband.
WASDEN: Yes.
Connie, that's a good observation and one that we are taking into account as in the realm of possibility. And so that's in our thoughts also. And that's why we're ongoing, looking for any corroborating information or any sightings.
CHUNG: I know that you brought in the FBI. Has there been any significant help from the FBI? Have they been brought in to really do specific work with you?
WASDEN: Yes.
Connie, we've had specific and tremendous help from both the Stanislaus County Sheriff's Office, the local fire jurisdictions, the swift-water rescue teams and the FBI, in both tools and forensic processing abilities, that have been instrumental to this case and to moving forward.
I can't comment about any of what they've done or accomplished. But all of those have been critical to help us move forward, as well as the response from the community, Connie. This is a time when people are wanting to be on vacation and at home with their families. And we've seen hundreds of volunteers respond to help us look for Laci. And that's been just a tremendous outpouring of support in this wonderful community of Modesto.
CHUNG: Yes, we have heard that, Chief Wasden. And we've heard that she's someone that everyone can relate to. She's pregnant. The feeling is that everyone just wants to be able to find her, find her safe and the baby safe.
Thank you so much, Chief Wasden. We appreciate your help.
WASDEN: Thank you, Connie.
CHUNG: Still ahead: Why have dozens of doctors walked off the job in West Virginia? Could your doctor be next?
ANNOUNCER: Next: another victim linked to the Louisiana serial killer and a new sketch of a man police want to question. What will it take to crack the case?
CONNIE CHUNG TONIGHT will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHUNG: A serial killer has been stalking young women in Louisiana for more than a year now. Finally, at last, police have something that might help them crack the case.
CNN's Miles O'Brien has the details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Could this be the face that gives police in Louisiana the break they're looking for? Investigators call this composite sketch and the so-called person of interest shown in it a substantial development in a serial killer case that's had them rattled.
NEUSTROM: The person was observed on Thursday, November 21st during the middle of the day. He is described as having an intense and intimidating stare.
O'BRIEN: November 21st is the day the fourth and latest victim, Trineisha Colomb was reported missing. Police base this sketch on a witness account which described a man possibly between 30 and 40 seen a few hundred feet from where Colomb's body was discovered.
The body was found November 24th in a wooded area in the town of Scott, Louisiana and the man was seen sitting in a white early '90s pickup truck, which fits the description of a vehicle that police had been looking for. Putting it all together, why is this man not being called a suspect?
NEUSTROM: There may be legitimate reasons for this person to be in that area so we're not classifying him as a suspect at this time. If this individual is identified and comes forward there may be some explanation he could offer to us that would justify his presence there.
O'BRIEN: After 16 months, four murders of young women all linked by DNA and little to show for the investigation, police in Lafayette and Baton Rouge have most fast this week. They say they have a psychiatric profile of the killer describing him as a man who knows the area between Baton Rouge and Lafayette very well and "lives a fairly normal life."
Miles O'Brien, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHUNG: Investigators in the case are now saying they suspect a serial killer may have struck over the holidays, abducting a fifth victim; 65-year-old Mari Ann Fowler was kidnapped on Christmas Eve from a parking lot in Mississippi, across the river from Baton Rouge. A white pickup truck was spotted leaving the scene. No word on her.
Joining me now from Mississippi is Ann Pace, mother of the killer's second victim, Murray. Murray sister's Sam joins us from Corpus Christi, Texas. Thank you both for being with us.
Ann, I so appreciate your being with us again.
And, Sam, thank you as well.
Ann, I know this had to have been such a difficult and emotional time for you, especially during the holidays. Tell me how you are.
ANN PACE, VICTIM'S MOTHER: I'm reasonably OK, as OK as you can be under these circumstances.
We were all together for the holidays, with the exception, of course, of Murray. And we just chose to do everything a little bit differently. And, most importantly, we were together and managed to get through, sort of holding each other up, I think.
CHUNG: But, Ann, you did keep one tradition that relates to Murray. Tell me about that.
A. PACE: In decorating the tree, all three of my children, as they were infants, had mobiles on their cribs, which are the little wind-up musical things with little various assorted little toys that go around in a circle, so they can watch it when they're very small.
CHUNG: Yes.
A. PACE: And I kept all of them as they grew too old to use them anymore and made them ornaments for our tree. So, we did decorate the tree. And we hung the ornaments that Murray had made and Sam had made and John (ph) had made and all of their mobile toys that are now ornaments.
CHUNG: All right. And you obviously still have it there.
A. PACE: Yes.
CHUNG: Now, Sam, tell me, I know that the FBI released this sketch. When you first looked at the sketch of the suspect -- or the person of interest, as they call him, not a suspect -- what went through your mind?
SAM PACE, VICTIM'S SISTER: One of the most shocking things for me, when I saw this picture, was how effeminate this person looked to me. And I didn't have an image in my mind of what my sister's killer would look like, but this didn't fit what I expected.
CHUNG: What did you expect?
S. PACE: I expected and certainly it's just a face so you can only make assumptions on the size, but my sister was so strong. And Dene Colomb had been in the Army for two years. I pictured someone larger and, like, with a very prominent brow, and someone that looked more physically intimidating than the impression I got from this particular sketch. But then no one knows how accurate the sketch is.
CHUNG: Yes, or if even this person was indeed involved.
S. PACE: Right.
CHUNG: Ann, I know that you have spoken to so many of the other victims' families. And one in particular, the latest, the fourth victim's family, you spoke with. You are so good to do that. Were you able to help each other get through this period?
A. PACE: My goodness.
I have to say, I don't know what in the world we would do without each other, because it's such an incredibly unique circumstance. And it was terrible to hear of Dene's murder. But several of us had spoken and said we greeted the information with both hope and horror, horror because you know what her family -- what the loss is, what the magnitude of the loss is and what her family will be going through in the time to come, but with hope, because it did not seem that the crime scenes of our own daughters and sisters had yielded information that could catch this killer.
And we hoped so much that Dene's crime scene would yield information that would.
CHUNG: Sam, do you find it frustrating, because the police are not sharing a great deal of information with the families?
S. PACE: It's incredibly frustrating. And it's frustrating to me to know that there are probably hundreds of people out there that know more about Murray's last day on Earth than we know. And, certainly, I hope that that information will be made available to us at some point in time.
CHUNG: All right, Sam and Ann, I thank you both so much. And I'm sure I'll be checking in with you again, Ann. And I hope it's with some good breaking information.
A. PACE: Well...
CHUNG: Yes, Ann?
A. PACE: I hope so.
And I want to thank you for your continuing interest, because this is the only power we have to remind people and to help in the search. And we thank you specifically and individually for your continued interest and attention.
CHUNG: Great, Ann. Any time that you want to talk about it, you just let us know.
All right, thank you, Ann.
Thank you, Sam.
S. PACE: Thank you. CHUNG: Police aren't the only ones tracking the serial killer. Melissa Moore has been on the serial killer's trail as a reporter for "The Baton Rouge Advocate."
Melissa, thank you for being with us.
MELISSA MOORE, "THE BATON ROUGE ADVOCATE": Thank you for having me.
CHUNG: I know that there have been times when you have had information that even the families have not been informed about from the police. Did you actually have to break some information to family members?
MOORE: I did.
A few weeks ago, there was a search warrant filed in court that confirmed that all three, at that time, three of the serial killer's victims had been sexually assaulted to some degree. And the families had suspected that, but apparently this was the most certain confirmation they've gotten. And I did call them all before we ran our story, because I didn't want them to read it first in the newspaper.
CHUNG: This most recent disappearance of this sixth potential victim, do you have any clues in your investigations of that latest abduction?
MOORE: No. There's just no way to know if it's connected to the serial killer or not. Several people have pointed out the likeness of Mrs. Fowler to Pam Kinamore's mother. But there's just no way to tell at this point, until they learn something new.
CHUNG: Pam Kinamore was one of the other victims.
In your investigations, have you been able to piece together any pattern? Because you can obviously tell that each of these women, if indeed victims of the same person, were vastly different.
MOORE: They're different.
They do have some similar physical features. But, in terms of their activities, they are very different. They all come from very strong families. And they're all very strong women, which seems to be the biggest thing they have in common. Ann Pace said that, when the families got together and talked about them, it seemed like the adjectives, vibrant and enthusiastic and courageous, were the things that they had most in common.
CHUNG: Yes, absolutely.
Melissa Moore, I thank you so much for being with us tonight.
Now, we have asked criminal profiler Pat Brown to help us out in the past. She's the CEO of the Sexual Homicide Exchange and author of "Killing For Sport." Pat Brown joins us again from Washington tonight to help us make sense of the new information in this case.
Pat, thank you, again, for always being with us.
PAT BROWN, CEO, SEXUAL HOMICIDE EXCHANGE: Good evening, Connie.
CHUNG: What kind of information have you culled from the FBI, in terms of the sketch, in terms of the psychological profile? What do you think is significant there?
BROWN: Well, these are two different kinds of things.
The sketch, the composite, is an eyewitness who says they saw someone in the vicinity. And we always have to take that with a grain of salt. It could be a very valuable tool. And we certainly encourage the public to think, is there somebody I know who is like this, driving this kind of vehicle, who might have been in that area? It's a very good lead.
However, at the same time, it could simply be somebody who was passing through the area. And when the person said the guy had an intense stare, if you're staring at somebody's vehicle, they're going to look back and say, why are you looking at me? And so, these things kind of can be exaggerated. So, we don't know if this composite has anything to do with the homicides or not, but it is something we should look into.
The profile is a different matter.
CHUNG: Yes, go ahead.
BROWN: OK.
The profile, in one way, it has some advantages. I'm glad the FBI has brought something to the public. But they have brought a very generic profile that they couldn't possibly be wrong on. They're describing so generally a person that has problems and is stalking women. They have brought some interesting point as to part of the psychopathic personality.
For example, they have said he has no remorse. And this is a good point for people to look into their lives say, who do they know, who have they worked who is one of their family members, maybe a husband, a boyfriend, an ex-boyfriend. Who is this guy who shows no remorse, doesn't care about other people, has a lot of anger toward women, might be calling them names and calling them sluts and bitches and whores, and saying, well, she teased me and she did this to me and that to me?
Bringing out the points to the public exactly what they're looking for -- one problem with the profile is, they didn't go far enough into saying that you must look back into history. Don't just look back last week and say, well, he seemed like a nice guy. These are people who have to know this guy for a long enough time to know that his history is that of a psychopath for maybe 10 or 20 years, that he's been a manipulative person for so long. He's always been a pathological liar. He's always said, I'm right; you're wrong.
He's done this for so long that he has these traits that would lead him to a point where, in the last year, if he has problems with his family, loses his job, loses his girlfriend, he is getting angrier and angrier and decides he's going to take it out on society.
CHUNG: Pat, I know you've been critical in the past, every time I've talked to you, that the authorities are not releasing enough information. And we just heard the sister of one of the victims say that it's so frustrating. Can you figure out any reason why the authorities are not more forthcoming?
BROWN: Well, it depends on what they have.
One problem is, there just has not been a technique set up over time for the most important things to be release. What should be done is, as soon as a homicide happens, the information should go out to the public as to what occurred, enough information that the public can help, exactly where the homicide occurred, exactly, as close as they can get to, when it occurred. And tell people to look in the area for that kind of a person.
Tell what kind of weapon they used, so they can look for the person who might be hiding a knife or hiding a gun.
CHUNG: But maybe they don't have all of that information. As you well know, they were really unable to get solid information. This is the first time they've been able to put out a sketch.
BROWN: Well, this is the first time they've had an eyewitness report.
But what can be done is, when I've looked back on reports -- I've gone on to the Net and I've run up all the different articles. Rarely are the addresses mentioned of where the women lived. Rarely is it mentioned exactly where the women were found. And these kinds of pieces of information, note it every time you go to the public.
Tell the public, we're looking for this psychopath. We're looking for this guy. We're looking for a guy who was at these locations at this time. And even if this guy is coming home and you say, yes, but he had a good excuse for why he was gone, look for the guy who lies to you all the time, maybe had a story about where he was at that point in time.
Try to point out enough to the public where they can start analyzing and saying not that, well, he's just this weird guy; I'll turn him in; but this is a guy who's exhibited these behaviors for a long time and has had the pattern of being missing at these times. And he does go between this location and that location and, therefore, I should talk to the police about this particular person.
CHUNG: Pat Brown, thank you, as always. And we'll talk to you again, I'm sure.
President Bush has two new potential rivals tonight. The Associated Press is reporting that outgoing House Leader Dick Gephardt is taking a step towards the presidential race. The Missouri Democrat, who had an aborted run for his party's nomination back in 1988, is forming a presidential exploratory committee at a fund-raiser later this month.
Gephardt is the second Democratic presidential hopeful today. The first one tops off tonight's look at "The World in: 60."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(voice-over): Senator John Edwards makes it official. The freshman senator from North Carolina says he will run for president in 2004. A millionaire who made his fortune as a trial lawyer, Edwards says he wants to be a champion of the -- quote -- "regular folks."
A Pakistani man says the FBI is wrong. He is not now and never has been in the United States. This jeweler in Pakistan says he has no clue why the FBI is circulating his photograph in its alert for five men who slipped into the U.S. illegally.
South Korea turns up the diplomatic heat, telling North Korea to cool its nuclear rhetoric. South Korea says it will also urge its northern neighbor not to restart its nuclear facilities.
A judge says no radio in the cell of jailed shoe bomber Richard Reid. Prosecutors argued successfully that Reid could use information from radio broadcasts to communicate with al Qaeda followers outside of jail.
An incredible survivor story from Canada: A paraplegic man was rescued after two days trapped in his car in the snow. He used his two dogs to keep his paralyzed legs from freezing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: Next: surgeons on strike. Will doctors' insurance problems put their patients at risk?
CONNIE CHUNG TONIGHT will return in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHUNG: What would you do if you were about to go into surgery and your doctor walked out? That's what's going on right now in much of West Virginia, where 39 surgeons at four different hospitals are on strike. Why? Insurance. Not yours, theirs.
CNN's Whitney Casey explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WHITNEY CASEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're walking into an empty E.R. Physicians, physicians' assistants and nurses but no surgeons like yourself. That's kind of an emergency in an emergency room?
DR. ROBERT ZALESKI, SURGEON: We do have a crisis. CASEY (voice-over): Meet Dr. Robert Zaleski, a West Virginia doctor who refuses to work.
(on camera): You took an oath of ethics. How does that play out for you? You're not performing surgery. If somebody comes in and there's an emergency, what do you do?
ZALESKI: I have been pushed to the limits of affordability and availability. At present, my malpractice runs $150,000 a year, and it looks to be worsening. I frankly cannot afford that.
CASEY (voice-over): Affordability and availability, two sentiments echoed by doctors across the country. Doctors say their malpractice insurance is sometimes costing them more than they make.
And more recently, surgeons that deliver babies, do brain, heart or even orthopedic surgery say they're having trouble getting or renewing insurance because the supply of insurers is swiftly dwindling.
So what are the doctors going to do about it? In addition to West Virginia, doctors in Los Vegas back in July walked out of their E.R. for 10 days. In Eastern Pennsylvania Wednesday, doctors threatened to walk out but were bailed out by their governor-elect.
The doctors want lawmakers to put a cap on malpractice lawsuit payouts. They say no caps are the reason insurance premiums are sky high.
THOMAS FOLEY, ATTORNEY: They are looking for caps, because they want immunity from losses.
CASEY: The doctors' main opposition? Trial lawyers with ads like this one.
JOHN MORGAN, ATTORNEY: If your child was born with brain damage, a birth defect or cerebral palsy, you have surely asked yourself, was it something I did or just the will of God?
Your child's injuries may be the result of the hospital's failure to perform a timely C-section, thus depriving your baby of oxygen.
FOLEY: Persons have been sometimes seriously and irreparably harmed, and we think that their rights should be protected.
CASEY: Many still support the doctors. These billboards along the highway, paid by community groups, plead to get doctors back.
In West Virginia, this woman waiting in the hospital says she overwhelmingly supports the protesting doctors, but when I asked her: How old is your daughter.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Victoria is almost 18 months.
CASEY (on camera): OK. Victoria's 18 months. Something horrible happens, you guys have to rush her to the E.R. right now, there are no surgeons working. Now how do you feel?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Then, in that situation, I'd probably be upset.
CASEY (voice-over): So, in this fight that literally affects the health of our nation, the one voice we've yet to hear from is the insurance companies.
Whitney Casey, CNN, Wheeling, West Virginia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHUNG: You've heard from doctors why they're doing this, but what about the other side of the story?
Dr. Donald Hofreuter is CEO of Wheeling Hospital. And Jim Bordas, a lawyer who handles many of West Virginia's medical malpractice suits. He recently won West Virginia's largest medical malpractice judgment. A jury awarded his client $50 million. But because of a statewide gap, his client received $5 million. And he joins us from Fort Myers, Florida.
Thank you, gentlemen, both, for being with us.
Dr. Hofreuter, can you tell us, how is this affecting patient care at your hospital?
DR. DONALD HOFREUTER, CEO, WHEELING HOSPITAL: Well, we have the effect of not having general surgeons and the effect of not having most of our orthopedic surgeons and the effect of not having any of our cardiac surgeons. So our services are limited, but we have many other services that we continue to offer.
CHUNG: But, Dr. Hofreuter, that sounds quite ominous. If you have an emergency situation, what do you do?
HOFREUTER: Well, we have an emergency situation going on as we speak. We have a case that was life-threatening. The surgeon agreed to come in. I granted him emergency privileges and the surgery is now ongoing.
CHUNG: What was that in particular? It was a life-and-death situation?
HOFREUTER: It was a life-and-death situation.
CHUNG: But it just doesn't seem -- I think, if I were a patient of any of those doctors who went on strike, I would lose faith in these doctors immediately.
HOFREUTER: Well, this is a difficult issue. And I certainly understand the concern and the frustration of our physicians. Medical liability insurance must be made more affordable in West Virginia. But, being a physician, I am also very concerned about patient care.
CHUNG: Then, are you treading a fine line here? Do you come down on either side?
HOFREUTER: I can see both sides of this question. And that's why I'm working very diligently with our area legislators, our governor's office, as well as the physicians, to find a solution, so that we can continue to serve with care.
CHUNG: Jim Bordas, I know that there are a lot of people out there who believe that patients should have the ability to sue for as much money or whatever as they can. But a lot of people out there probably think, oh, it's just greedy lawyers. And you would fit that bill, in their mind, greedy lawyers who just want a lot of money and on a contingency fee.
JIM BORDAS, MEDICAL MALPRACTICE ATTORNEY: Well, first, the people that know me know that that doesn't fit the bill in my case, because I'm not a greedy lawyer. I've helped many people who have been seriously injured as a result of careless doctors' conduct.
The issue here is not one between doctors and lawyer. It's between patients and doctors and hospitals. Patients have an expectation that they're going to be treated fairly, competently and safely. And when that doesn't happen, they've got a right to seek redress and be appropriately compensated.
We get involved after the doctors have made a bad decision, failed to diagnose cancer, they have operated on the wrong side of the brain, when they've done any number of things that caused great harm to our clients. The patients are then involved. And they try to seek compensation and restitution themselves. Then the insurance companies get involved. And some time down the road, we lawyers may ultimately get involved to try to help resolve the matter entirely.
CHUNG: Do you see your role as actually policing the medical community, in the sense that you would keep them honest, if they weren't in the position of having this threat of a malpractice lawsuit, that they wouldn't be performing good medicine?
BORDAS: Well, I think most doctors try to perform good medicine anyway. However, there are some that just don't. There are some that perform fraudulent acts. There are some that harm patients time and time again. And, for some reason, the medical community simply refuses to take action against these irresponsible and incompetent physicians.
We as lawyers have been given the privilege of helping the entire community to get rid of these incompetent doctors who have caused harm to the public time and time again.
CHUNG: Mr. Bordas, do you believe that the high cost of medical malpractice insurance is affecting the quality of care?
BORDAS: No, I don't.
The doctors that I know -- and I know a lot of doctors live in large homes, expensive home. They drive expensive automobiles. They belong to country clubs. I don't think they're hurting. I personally believe that the insurance carriers have had a tough time of it, like most of us had, in the stock market. And because of the losses they have sustained, they've increased some of the doctors' rates. And it's unfortunate, but that -- I think they're the real culprit in this supposed medical negligence crisis.
CHUNG: Dr. Hofreuter, do you expect a settlement some time soon? Or is this going to go on for some time?
HOFREUTER: Well, we had a meeting today at the governor's office with an area legislator and three involved surgeons, as well as the entire governor's staff. And I'm cautiously optimistic that we're moving to a solution.
CHUNG: All right. Dr. Hofreuter, Jim Bordas, thank you so much for being with us.
BORDAS: Thank you.
HOFREUTER: You're welcome.
CHUNG: When we come back: a one-karat diamond ring went down the drain? So, how did it come back almost 20 years later?
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHUNG: Zagat may want to add a new category to the famous guide. As you can see in tonight's "Snapshot," it's airline food.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(voice-over): Pay as you eat at 30,000 feet? America West plans to test a program that will offer passengers meals in flight for a price. A chicken kiev plate, for example, would cost 10 bucks.
Shop 'till you drop or pop a pill? "The Wall Street Journal" reports on a push to classify compulsive shopping as a mental problem and suggest antidepressants could help shoppers curb their buying binge.
Lost and found almost 20 years later: a one-karat diamond ring and another stone ring found at the bottom of a waste water drainage pool in Connecticut. The engravings revealed the owner, who said the rings fell down the bathroom sink in 1985.
A crooning Captain Kirk: William Shatner, the fearless leader of spaceship Enterprise, will soon beam into a recording studio and start another album.
And, in Cuba, the bare essentials: 80 dancers, painted in brilliant colors, one completely naked, recently were on exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: Still ahead: our "Person of the Day," the man who went above and beyond to lend a helping hand.
CONNIE CHUNG TONIGHT continues in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHUNG: A doctor who stopped to help survivors of a deadly car accident is not just tonight's "Person of the Day." He also happens to be the most powerful man in the United States Senate.
Tennessee Senator Bill Frist, the new majority leader, is also a heart surgeon. And, on vacation in Florida yesterday, he stopped his car at the scene of a tragic accident. An SUV had rolled over several times. Two children were killed. Four people survived the crash, including a woman who needed a breathing tube.
Frist helped paramedics, who were having difficulty inserting the tube. Rescue crews and off-duty firefighters at the scene said the senator's good samaritan efforts helped save lives.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LT. JOHN BAGNARDI, SPOKESMAN, FLORIDA HIGHWAY PATROL: It's comforting for me to know that, just because someone is famous or has a very high prestige, if it was me out here, that that person would stop. That's what we like to see from our elected officials.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHUNG: Senator Frist has been called into action in previous emergencies, such as the 1998 shooting at the Capitol.
In a statement about last night's emergency, Frist said -- quote -- "As a doctor, my first instincts are to help. And I was privileged to offer my assistance today at the scene of this horrible accident. My heart goes out to the family, which must face the start of a new year with this terrible tragedy."
Frist isn't talking publicly about his life-saving actions, but we do have with us Broward County fire and rescue captain Jeff Andrews.
Captain Andrews, thank you for being with us.
CAPT. JEFF ANDREWS, BROWARD COUNTY FIRE & RESCUE: You're welcome. Thanks.
CHUNG: Captain Andrews, I know that the location of the accident wasn't a place the rescue crews could get to easily. So, how much of a difference did Senator Frist make?
ANDREWS: He made a tremendous difference.
We have an extended response time to get out to the Alligator Alley, where we responded to this accident. And having someone on scene that had the knowledge that he had and provided the information that he provided enabled us to get the correct units on scene in a quick amount of time.
CHUNG: And I know that there was a woman who had trauma to her face. And he was quite instrumental in helping her. What did he do?
ANDREWS: We had a female patient that we had a difficult time trying to achieve an airway on. And by doing that, we were trying to place a tube down this woman's trachea in order to protect her airway and to ventilate her with oxygen.
She was very difficult, because of the facial trauma that she had. And he was very helpful in helping to maintain that airway, to open the airway, and to get the intubation, and assisted me in actually getting the intubation, so that we could provide a secure airway for that patient to transport her to the hospital.
CHUNG: Sir, did you know who he was? Because you were working right next to him after you arrived on the scene.
ANDREWS: No, I had no idea. At one point, I asked him. I looked over and I said, "It's obvious that you've got some sort of medical training." And he said, yes, he was a thoracic surgeon. And I just said something to the fact that it's nice to have him on scene.
CHUNG: When did you find out that it was actually Senator Frist?
ANDREWS: After all the patients had left the scene and we were in the process of cleaning up equipment and restocking all our supplies that it kind of started going around that -- actually, who he was, that he was Senator Frist.
CHUNG: He could have easily have come to you and introduced himself as Senator Bill Frist. It's kind of heartwarming to know that he didn't do that.
ANDREWS: Yes.
Like the rest of us out there, he was so involved in patient care that it was obvious that introductions, there were really no time for introductions. It was nice to have -- we had about six or seven people that had some sort of medical training out there along with us that had just stopped to offer their assistance.
And it really helped to get the critical patients loaded as soon as possible and get them off of the scene. And it was obvious that, like I said, he had some medical training. And, really, nothing needed to be said. He just knew what to do when it needed to be done. And it was just like having a member of the team out there.
CHUNG: Captain Andrews, are you a Democrat or a Republican?
ANDREWS: I don't know if I should answer that.
(LAUGHTER)
CHUNG: Well, I'm just wondering if Senator Frist may have captured a new voter in the state, if he runs for president or something, because he's from Tennessee. You can't vote for him, you know?
(LAUGHTER)
ANDREWS: That's true.
No, I'm hoping that we got a new supporter within the fire and rescue department and that he'll help us to provide better services throughout the areas, not only here in South Florida, but around the country.
CHUNG: Well, there you go. Aren't you the politician? You should run for office, Captain Andrews.
(LAUGHTER)
ANDREWS: I don't think.
CHUNG: Thank you so much for joining us. Appreciate it.
But wait. I want to tell you the story about the time that Senator John Glenn saved my life. I was a floor reporter at the Democratic National Convention. And I was wearing one of those backpacks that go around your waist and have a microphone attached this way.
And, all of a sudden, it caught on fire. And I thought it was on the floor, the fire was on floor. But then I went this way and the smoke came with me. And at that moment, my battery pack was on fire. And Senator John Glenn ripped out those wires and saved my life. And I said, "Oh, Senator Glenn, thank you so much." His aide said he saves lives all the time.
Well, there you go.
Stay with us for a quick word about tomorrow.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHUNG: Tomorrow: the latest on Laci Peterson, the pregnant woman who disappeared on Christmas Eve. Plus: Why would high school hockey players harass one of their own teammates? Maybe because she's a girl?
And coming up next on "LARRY KING LIVE": Hollywood secrets revealed by legendary actress Maureen O'Hara.
And thank you so much for joining us. And for all of us at CNN, good night. We'll see you tomorrow. And happy new year.
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