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CNN Live Today

Serial Killer Suspect Arrested

Aired May 28, 2003 - 10:12   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.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's get back now to the arrest of a suspect second in a string of killings in Louisiana. Derrick Todd Lee was picked up in Atlanta last night, and in court this morning, he waived extradition back to Louisiana. That means he could be going back to Louisiana anytime to face rape and murder charges.
Joining us now to talk about the case is Richard Mekam, U.S. marshal for the northern district of Georgia.

Tell us a little bit more about how this capture took place.

RICHARD MECUM, U.S. MARSHAL: Well,l basically, we and the Marshal Service learned about the possibility of Mr. Lee being in Atlanta, and that was back Sunday morning, this past Sunday morning. And we already had a task force in place up in north Georgia that we were looking for someone else.

KAGAN: Totally unrelated case?

MECUM: Totally unrelated case. And we were notified by Louisiana Sheriff's Department and police department in Baton Rouge that Mr. Lee was possibly in Atlanta, if we could start checking it out and see.

Through our investigation, we were able to determine that Mr. Lee, in fact, was here in Atlanta. We didn't know quite where, but we knew he was in atlanta.

KAGAN: Do we know why he was staying here?

MECUM: Not specifically, no, and I don't think we still know exactly why he was here. We had learned from the previous investigation that he had gone to Chicago. He had -- the Louisiana Police Department had run some swab checks on him to establish DNA on him to see if it would match these killings, and that was on May 5th.

KAGAN: So once they did that, he took off and disappeared?

MECUM: He did, he took off. And we find on May 6th, he purchased a bus ticket, went to Chicago. He stayed in Chicago at least two days. So we had him in Chicago on May 6th and then leaving on May 8th, he went back to Louisiana. He did some other traveling around, but we couldn't really establish where he went or what was going on at that point.

KAGAN: Was there any suspicion as he was traveling from Louisiana to Chicago, to Atlanta that he possibly committed any crimes?

MECUM: Takes a possibility. We have looked at other agencies to give them, you know, the same information as far as DNA to see if they could possibly clear up anything that might be taking place in their communities that they can establish.

But we find that he came to Atlanta and he was here for a short time, went back to Louisiana, and then came back to Atlanta again.

So all of last week, Monday through Friday of last week, he worked here downtown for a construction company doing finishing on concrete, and then he received a check last Friday for payment, and he cashed that. So he had some money in his pocket at that point.

KAGAN: When you consider the heinous crimes that's he's accused of committing, the capture was kind of anticlimatic, as I understand it?

MECUM: There was.

KAGAN: There were a couple of near misses. There were a couple of tips you got. You got there, and he had just left, but once law enforcement found him what? Behind a tire shop?

MECUM: Well, we have a lot of technology where we can do an investigation and see where people at or what they're doing. But when it gets right down to it, the investigation begins just how much shoe leather can you wear out and how many people can you talk to? I think the biggest advantage that we had in this and that is yesterday at 1:00, we announced to the media as much information that we could get. So we entered a different phase of the law enforcement section. We'd exhausted just about everything that we had to do at that point, except just continuing badgering this guy. We drove him to the ground, we drove him out of his hole, so to speak, and he's moving. So the question is, where's he at? So Through the media and then...

KAGAN: The public.

MECUM: ... the people. So we announced that at 1:00 yesterday afternoon. By 8:00, seven hours later, we had him.

KAGAN: And no struggle when he...

MECUM: No struggle, no, fortunately.

KAGAN: And he's apparently on his way back to Louisiana.

MECUM: That's good.

KAGAN: Thank you for insight into the capture.

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 May 28, 2003 - 10:12   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's get back now to the arrest of a suspect second in a string of killings in Louisiana. Derrick Todd Lee was picked up in Atlanta last night, and in court this morning, he waived extradition back to Louisiana. That means he could be going back to Louisiana anytime to face rape and murder charges.
Joining us now to talk about the case is Richard Mekam, U.S. marshal for the northern district of Georgia.

Tell us a little bit more about how this capture took place.

RICHARD MECUM, U.S. MARSHAL: Well,l basically, we and the Marshal Service learned about the possibility of Mr. Lee being in Atlanta, and that was back Sunday morning, this past Sunday morning. And we already had a task force in place up in north Georgia that we were looking for someone else.

KAGAN: Totally unrelated case?

MECUM: Totally unrelated case. And we were notified by Louisiana Sheriff's Department and police department in Baton Rouge that Mr. Lee was possibly in Atlanta, if we could start checking it out and see.

Through our investigation, we were able to determine that Mr. Lee, in fact, was here in Atlanta. We didn't know quite where, but we knew he was in atlanta.

KAGAN: Do we know why he was staying here?

MECUM: Not specifically, no, and I don't think we still know exactly why he was here. We had learned from the previous investigation that he had gone to Chicago. He had -- the Louisiana Police Department had run some swab checks on him to establish DNA on him to see if it would match these killings, and that was on May 5th.

KAGAN: So once they did that, he took off and disappeared?

MECUM: He did, he took off. And we find on May 6th, he purchased a bus ticket, went to Chicago. He stayed in Chicago at least two days. So we had him in Chicago on May 6th and then leaving on May 8th, he went back to Louisiana. He did some other traveling around, but we couldn't really establish where he went or what was going on at that point.

KAGAN: Was there any suspicion as he was traveling from Louisiana to Chicago, to Atlanta that he possibly committed any crimes?

MECUM: Takes a possibility. We have looked at other agencies to give them, you know, the same information as far as DNA to see if they could possibly clear up anything that might be taking place in their communities that they can establish.

But we find that he came to Atlanta and he was here for a short time, went back to Louisiana, and then came back to Atlanta again.

So all of last week, Monday through Friday of last week, he worked here downtown for a construction company doing finishing on concrete, and then he received a check last Friday for payment, and he cashed that. So he had some money in his pocket at that point.

KAGAN: When you consider the heinous crimes that's he's accused of committing, the capture was kind of anticlimatic, as I understand it?

MECUM: There was.

KAGAN: There were a couple of near misses. There were a couple of tips you got. You got there, and he had just left, but once law enforcement found him what? Behind a tire shop?

MECUM: Well, we have a lot of technology where we can do an investigation and see where people at or what they're doing. But when it gets right down to it, the investigation begins just how much shoe leather can you wear out and how many people can you talk to? I think the biggest advantage that we had in this and that is yesterday at 1:00, we announced to the media as much information that we could get. So we entered a different phase of the law enforcement section. We'd exhausted just about everything that we had to do at that point, except just continuing badgering this guy. We drove him to the ground, we drove him out of his hole, so to speak, and he's moving. So the question is, where's he at? So Through the media and then...

KAGAN: The public.

MECUM: ... the people. So we announced that at 1:00 yesterday afternoon. By 8:00, seven hours later, we had him.

KAGAN: And no struggle when he...

MECUM: No struggle, no, fortunately.

KAGAN: And he's apparently on his way back to Louisiana.

MECUM: That's good.

KAGAN: Thank you for insight into the capture.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com