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American Morning

Atlanta Hostage Recounts Night with Gunmen

Aired March 14, 2005 - 08:30   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.


SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR, AMERICAN MORNING: Good morning. Welcome everybody. Just about half past the hour on this AMERICAN MORNING. Mr. Hemmer's got the day off, but we've got Mr. Cafferty pitching in for us.
Hello, good morning.

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR, AMERICAN MORNING: Thank you Miss O'Brien. Coming up, more of the amazing story of Ashley Smith, the young woman who lived just outside Atlanta, taken hostage by the man suspected of going on a killing rampage there. Remarkable woman, remarkable story.

O'BRIEN: She in fact spent several hours talking to Brian Nichols. They talked about family and God and faith. The 26-year-old widow followed him as he ditched a stolen car. There are so many pretty amazing twists and turns in the story. We're going to hear it all straight from her just ahead.

But first, another look at the headlines from Carol Costello this morning. Good morning, again.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN NEWS ANCHOR, AMERICAN MORNING: Good morning to both of you. Good morning to all of you.

"Now in the News": Another mass protest in Beirut, Lebanon. Take a look at this. You're looking at a live picture from Martyr Square. It's been a regular tug-of-war the last couple weeks between Syrian supporters and those calling for Syrian troops to get out of Lebanon.

A minute of silence is expected during today's event in honor of the former Lebanese prime minister Hariri, killed a month ago today. Literally hundreds of thousands of people out there.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan says recent developments in the Middle East are reenergizing peace talks. Annan meeting with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas this morning. He has already held talks with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in Jerusalem and will be back there tomorrow for the opening of a newly revamped Holocaust Museum. This is Annan's first visit to the region in four years.

In Washington, a showdown over next year's $2.6 trillion budget. Senate and House committees begin work today on two different proposals. Both cut domestic programs and benefits, but there is no agreement on tax cuts. Lawmakers hope to pass the budget resolution this week. A very tough decision for the mother of Jessica Lunsford. You remember her. Angie Bryant was her mother. She's returned to her home in Cincinnati after attempts to find the nine-year-old girl have failed. It's been nearly three weeks since Jessica disappeared from the Florida home she lived in with her father and grandparents. The search for the girl continues this morning.

Let's head down to Atlanta to get a check on the weather. Because things are looking up, Chad.

(WEATHER FORECAST)

The suspect in the Atlanta courthouse shootings could face some charges as early as today. Brian Nichols is believed to be responsible for killing four people Friday then taking a 26-year-old single mother hostage in her own home. Ashley Smith is a woman who kept her wits about her through a night with the gunman and her story is so compelling, we want to share even more with you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ASHLEY SMITH, TAKEN HOSTAGE BY BRIAN NICHOLS: He told me to go into the bathroom. So I went into the bathroom and he followed me to the bathroom. And he said, "do you know who I am?" I said, "No." Because he had a hat on, and then he took his hat off and he said, "Now do you know who I am?" And I said "Yeah, I know who you are. Please, don't hurt me. Just please don't hurt me. I have a five-year- old little girl. Please don't hurt me."

He said, "I'm not going to hurt you if you do what I say." I said all right. So I got -- he told me to get in the bathtub so I got in the bathtub. He said, I really don't feel comfortable around here. I'm going to walk around your house for a few minutes so I can get the feel of it.

I said "OK." He said, "I don't want to hurt you. I don't want to hurt anybody else so please don't do anything to make me hurt you." He said, "Somebody could have heard your scream already. And if they did, the police are on the way and I'll have to hold you hostage and kill you and probably myself and lots of other people and I don't want that." I said, "OK, I'll do what you say.

He looked around my house for a few minutes. I heard him opening up drawers and just going through my stuff. And he came back in and he said, "I want to relax. I don't feel comfortable with you right now so I'm going to have to tie you up." He brought some masking tape and an extension cord and a curtain in there and I kind of thought he was going to strangle me. I was really kind of scared. But he told me to turn around and put my hands behind my back. And he wrapped my hands in a praying position, so I did that. And he wrapped masking tape around my hands.

Then he told me to go into my bedroom and I sat down on the bed, like he asked. And he wrapped my legs with masking tape and an extension cord. He also took a curtain and put it around my stomach. I told him that I was supposed to go see my little girl the next morning at 10:00. And I asked him if I could go see her. He told me no.

My husband died four years ago. And I told him that if he hurt me, my little girl wouldn't have a mommy or a daddy. She was expecting to see me the next morning. And if he didn't let me go, she'd be really upset. He still told me no. But I could, I could kind of feel that he started to know who I was. And he said maybe. Maybe I'll let you go. Just maybe. We'll see how things goes.

We went to my room, then I asked him if I could read. He said, "What do you want to read?" I said I have a book in my room. I went and got it. I got our Bible and I got a book called "The Purpose- Driven Life". I turned it to the chapter I was on that day, chapter 33. I started to read the first paragraph of it. After I read it, he said, "Stop. Will you read it again?" I said, "Yeah, I'll read it again." So I read it again to him. It mentioned something about what you thought your purpose in life was, what were you -- what talents were you given, what gifts were you given to use.

And I asked him what he thought. He said, "I think it was to talk to people and tell them, you know, about you." I basically just talked to him and tried to gain his trust. I didn't want him to hurt anybody else. He didn't want to hurt anyone else. He just told me he wanted a place to stay, to relax, to sit down and watch TV, to eat some real food.

I talked to him about my family. I told him about things that had happened in my life. I asked him about his family. I asked him why he did what he did. And his reason was because he was a soldier.

I asked him why he chose me and why he chose Bridgewater Apartments. He said he didn't know. He just randomly -- but after we began to talk and he said he thought that I was an angel sent from God and that I was his sister and he was my brother in Christ and that he was lost and God led him right to me to tell him that he had hurt a lot of people.

He asked me what I thought he should do. I said, "I think you should turn yourself in. If you don't turn yourself in" -- this is what I said, "If you don't turn yourself in, lots more people will get hurt and you're probably going to die."

And he said, "I don't want that to happen." He said, "Can I stay here for a few days? I just -- I want to eat some real food and watch some TV and sleep and just do normal things that normal people do." So, of course, I said, "Sure, you can stay here." I didn't want -- I wanted to gain his trust.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Smith's story doesn't end there. After the break, we'll hear about her final moments as a hostage. Including the unusual offer that Nichols made just before letting her go. That's ahead. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) CAFFERTY: Continuing now with the story of 26-year-old Ashley Smith and her night with gunman Brian Nichols. Smith is being called a hero this morning, and rightfully so. She kept calm for hours as a hostage of the suspected killer in the Atlanta shootings. More now of her incredible story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SMITH: About 5:30, 6:00, well, 6:00, 6:30, he said "I need to make a move." I said, "OK, a move?" He said, "I need to get rid of this car before daylight. This truck." I said, "OK." I knew that if I didn't agree to go with him, follow him to get the truck or take the truck, then one of two things -- he would kill me right then and say, all right, well, if you're not going to help me, then I don't need you anymore. Or the police would never find him or it would take longer and someone else would get hurt. I was trying to avoid that. So I went.

And he said -- I said, "Can I take my cell phone?" He said, "Do you want to? I said, "Yeah." And I'm thinking, well, I might call the police then and I might not. So I took it anyway. He didn't take any guns with him. The guns were laying around the house. Pretty much after he untied me, they were laying around the house.

At one point he said, you know, "The guns are laying in there. I'd rather you shoot me than them." I said, "I don't want anyone else to die, not even you."

So we went to take the truck, and I was behind him following him. I thought about calling the police and I thought, he's about to be in the car with me right now, so I can call the police and when he gets in the car, then they can surround me and him together and I can possibly get hurt. Or we can go back to my house and I really felt deep down inside that he was going to let me see my little girl.

So I said -- then when I leave, he can be there by himself. Well, he finally agreed to let me go see my daughter and to leave at 9:00, 9:30. And I really believed that he was going to.

From the time he walked into my house until we were taking that truck, he was a totally different person to me. I felt very threatened, scared. I felt like he was going to kill me when I first -- when he first put the gun to my side. But when I followed him to take the truck, I felt like he was really going to turn himself in.

We went back to my house, and got in the house. And he was hungry so I cooked him breakfast. He was overwhelmed with -- "Wow," he said, "Real butter? Pancakes?" And I just talked with him a little more. Just about -- we pretty much talked about God, mainly, and what his reason was, why he made it out of there. I said, do you believe in miracles? Because if you don't believe in miracles, you're here for a reason. But he put the guns under the bed, like I'm done. I'm not gonna mess around with them anymore. It's over with.

He gave me some money before I was about to leave. It was kind of like he knew -- I said, "You might need this money." He said no, "I don't need it. I'm going to be here for the next few days. I basically said, "You keep the money." He said no. I don't need it.

He asked me if there was anything I could do -- or he could do for me before I left or while I was gone. He said, is there anything I can do while you're gone? I know he was probably hoping deep down that I was going to come back, but I think he knew that I was going to do what I had to do.

I had to turn -- I asked him several times, come on, just go with me. He said, I'll go with you in a few days. But when he asked me is there anything I can do while you're gone, like hang your curtains or something, and I said, "If you want to."

He just wanted some normalness to his life right then. I think he realized all this that I've been through, this is not me. I don't know. That's my opinion of what he -- but I left my house at 9:30. And I got in the car and I immediately called 911. And I told them that he was there. And she asked me where I was. I said, "I'm on my way to see my daughter."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CAFFERTY: SWAT teams and federal agents moved in, surrounded the apartment. He waved a white towel in the window and he surrendered.

Tonight at 10:00 Eastern, be sure to join Aaron Brown for a special edition of "NEWSNIGHT" titled "26 Hours Inside the Atlanta Manhunt". We'll be back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody.

CAFFERTY: Warner Music will have a public offering. But should you get in on it? Andy Serwer is here "Minding Your Business".

Isn't that related to us? Isn't that like some distant cousin?

ANDY SERWER, COLUMNIST, "FORTUNE": It was. Warner Music, they got to keep the name. Who would want to lose a great name like Warner, Time Warner, or AOL. A great name like that?

CAFFERTY: Especially AOL.

SERWER: Great names.

CAFFERTY: Yes.

SERWER: Let's talk about the markets first of all, see how investors fared last week. Not so great, actually. The Wall Street roller coaster heads down. Nasdaq down 6 percent for the year. Futures a bit higher this morning. It would be interesting to take out one stock this morning, Jack, and that of course is Walt Disney. Because they have a new CEO, Michael Eisner has announced stepping down as of October 1. Bob Iger will take over. And high on his agenda is to make a deal with Pixar, the animation studio headed up by Steve Jobs. Of course, they did "Toy Story" and "Finding Nemo" and all those other hits and they're at loggerheads right now.

Steve Jobs actually said, "I'm going to hold off on negotiations until I find out who the new CEO is. Iger has to go do it." Of course, Bob Iger's wife is?

O'BRIEN: Willow Bay.

SERWER: Willow Bay, TV news anchor.

O'BRIEN: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)

SERWER: That's right.

Warner Music, yes, in fact is going public. Who knew? Did you know?

CAFFERTY: I didn't know that.

O'BRIEN: Yes, I did, which I'm never on top of business.

SERWER: You knew. Right, exactly.

How would you like to own a piece of Madonna or Green Day? There's Green Day, Jack. Because your broker may call up -- there's Green Day -- may call up and ask you if you want to buy a piece of this company. It was owned by Time Warner. Edgar Bronfman, Jr., he of the Canadian liquor fortune bought the company a year ago. And now, essentially he's flipping it. You gotta wonder when they do one of these deals and then they want to sell it to the public. Another great act from Warner Music, the Goo-Goo Dolls, Jack.

CAFFERTY: I have all their stuff.

SERWER: The Goo-Goo Dolls.

CAFFERTY: I have all their records. They make records, right?

SERWER: Have the Goo-Goo Dolls ever been on AMERICAN MORNING?

O'BRIEN: Not yet, but we are constantly negotiating the booking of them.

SERWER: Yes, Goo-Goo Dolls. That's all I have, Jack.

CAFFERTY: One can only hope.

SERWER: Yes.

CAFFERTY: Time for "The File", which they're making me do in addition to Hemmer's job. I should be getting...

O'BRIEN: What a long day for you.

SERWER: Double'em up.

CAFFERTY: I'm not getting enough money for this today. CAFFERTY: Can a college degree improve your memory in old age? Researchers at the University of Toronto, this is a story I'm interested in, memory and old age, studying brain imaging. And they think it can.

They found that when given a memory test old people, like myself, with more years of education have greater activity in the frontal lobes of the brain than those with fewer years of education. The front part of the brain controls a person's memory skills. Education seems to strengthen a certain person's ability to call in the reserves in this region of the brain. And compensate for other functions lost to aging.

SERWER: True.

CAFFERTY: I'm losing the rest of them, too.

SERWER: Yes.

CAFFERTY: Hunting is very last season. You know what I mean? You gotta go out, buy a gun, you have to get the bullets, you have to get the license, you have to go find where the animals are you, you have to shooter. You have to drag -- it's just a very tedious thing. And then you go to a taxidermist and pay a fortune to get them these things stuffed if you want to hang them on your mantle.

That can cost a lot of money. Now you can get ahead without going to the trouble of hunting them. Animalhead.com provides faux taxidermy for true nature lovers. A cheetah, for example, which is illegal to hunt in Africa, is available for $195. Pretty lame looking cheetah. It has three kinds of faux fur on it. A traditional moose head with handmade antlers is the $595.

SERWER: That's funny.

O'BRIEN: It looks like a cartoon.

CAFFERTY: Yes.

SERWER: I think that is Bullwinkle, there?

CAFFERTY: You can get a dragon or a unicorn, if you are so inclined.

Valentine's Day, which is gone now till next year, let's see, means flowers and chocolates for the ladies, and what do men get? They get the bill. Now, though, Canadian men may soon be getting their own holiday. Steak and sex day.

SERWER: Hey!

CAFFERTY: Andy -- got his attention.

SERWER: Oh, boy.

CAFFERTY: Radio station FLO 93.5 in Toronto, Ontario, is lobbying to have March 14 declared "Steak & Sex Day". It would fall exactly one month after Valentine's day and provide women a chance to give back to their loved ones.

SERWER: That's an idea whose time has come, I think. I'm sorry to say.

(LAUGHTER)

O'BRIEN: Too bad you're not in Canada.

SERWER: I may move.

O'BRIEN: Thank you, Jack.

Today's top stories straight ahead this morning. Also, can't stick to a diet? The time you wake up in the morning could hold the key, believe it or not. Dr. Gupta explains ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ASHLEY SMITH, TAKEN HOSTAGE BY BRIAN NICHOLS: My husband died four years ago. And I told him if he hurt me my little girl wouldn't have a mommy or a daddy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: A woman taken hostage outside Atlanta tells the incredible story of just how she got through to the man suspected in a killing rampage.

And the developing story at this hour, hundreds of thousands of people in the streets of Beirut, defying Syria, another huge turnout on this AMERICAN MORNING.

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 March 14, 2005 - 08:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR, AMERICAN MORNING: Good morning. Welcome everybody. Just about half past the hour on this AMERICAN MORNING. Mr. Hemmer's got the day off, but we've got Mr. Cafferty pitching in for us.
Hello, good morning.

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR, AMERICAN MORNING: Thank you Miss O'Brien. Coming up, more of the amazing story of Ashley Smith, the young woman who lived just outside Atlanta, taken hostage by the man suspected of going on a killing rampage there. Remarkable woman, remarkable story.

O'BRIEN: She in fact spent several hours talking to Brian Nichols. They talked about family and God and faith. The 26-year-old widow followed him as he ditched a stolen car. There are so many pretty amazing twists and turns in the story. We're going to hear it all straight from her just ahead.

But first, another look at the headlines from Carol Costello this morning. Good morning, again.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN NEWS ANCHOR, AMERICAN MORNING: Good morning to both of you. Good morning to all of you.

"Now in the News": Another mass protest in Beirut, Lebanon. Take a look at this. You're looking at a live picture from Martyr Square. It's been a regular tug-of-war the last couple weeks between Syrian supporters and those calling for Syrian troops to get out of Lebanon.

A minute of silence is expected during today's event in honor of the former Lebanese prime minister Hariri, killed a month ago today. Literally hundreds of thousands of people out there.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan says recent developments in the Middle East are reenergizing peace talks. Annan meeting with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas this morning. He has already held talks with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in Jerusalem and will be back there tomorrow for the opening of a newly revamped Holocaust Museum. This is Annan's first visit to the region in four years.

In Washington, a showdown over next year's $2.6 trillion budget. Senate and House committees begin work today on two different proposals. Both cut domestic programs and benefits, but there is no agreement on tax cuts. Lawmakers hope to pass the budget resolution this week. A very tough decision for the mother of Jessica Lunsford. You remember her. Angie Bryant was her mother. She's returned to her home in Cincinnati after attempts to find the nine-year-old girl have failed. It's been nearly three weeks since Jessica disappeared from the Florida home she lived in with her father and grandparents. The search for the girl continues this morning.

Let's head down to Atlanta to get a check on the weather. Because things are looking up, Chad.

(WEATHER FORECAST)

The suspect in the Atlanta courthouse shootings could face some charges as early as today. Brian Nichols is believed to be responsible for killing four people Friday then taking a 26-year-old single mother hostage in her own home. Ashley Smith is a woman who kept her wits about her through a night with the gunman and her story is so compelling, we want to share even more with you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ASHLEY SMITH, TAKEN HOSTAGE BY BRIAN NICHOLS: He told me to go into the bathroom. So I went into the bathroom and he followed me to the bathroom. And he said, "do you know who I am?" I said, "No." Because he had a hat on, and then he took his hat off and he said, "Now do you know who I am?" And I said "Yeah, I know who you are. Please, don't hurt me. Just please don't hurt me. I have a five-year- old little girl. Please don't hurt me."

He said, "I'm not going to hurt you if you do what I say." I said all right. So I got -- he told me to get in the bathtub so I got in the bathtub. He said, I really don't feel comfortable around here. I'm going to walk around your house for a few minutes so I can get the feel of it.

I said "OK." He said, "I don't want to hurt you. I don't want to hurt anybody else so please don't do anything to make me hurt you." He said, "Somebody could have heard your scream already. And if they did, the police are on the way and I'll have to hold you hostage and kill you and probably myself and lots of other people and I don't want that." I said, "OK, I'll do what you say.

He looked around my house for a few minutes. I heard him opening up drawers and just going through my stuff. And he came back in and he said, "I want to relax. I don't feel comfortable with you right now so I'm going to have to tie you up." He brought some masking tape and an extension cord and a curtain in there and I kind of thought he was going to strangle me. I was really kind of scared. But he told me to turn around and put my hands behind my back. And he wrapped my hands in a praying position, so I did that. And he wrapped masking tape around my hands.

Then he told me to go into my bedroom and I sat down on the bed, like he asked. And he wrapped my legs with masking tape and an extension cord. He also took a curtain and put it around my stomach. I told him that I was supposed to go see my little girl the next morning at 10:00. And I asked him if I could go see her. He told me no.

My husband died four years ago. And I told him that if he hurt me, my little girl wouldn't have a mommy or a daddy. She was expecting to see me the next morning. And if he didn't let me go, she'd be really upset. He still told me no. But I could, I could kind of feel that he started to know who I was. And he said maybe. Maybe I'll let you go. Just maybe. We'll see how things goes.

We went to my room, then I asked him if I could read. He said, "What do you want to read?" I said I have a book in my room. I went and got it. I got our Bible and I got a book called "The Purpose- Driven Life". I turned it to the chapter I was on that day, chapter 33. I started to read the first paragraph of it. After I read it, he said, "Stop. Will you read it again?" I said, "Yeah, I'll read it again." So I read it again to him. It mentioned something about what you thought your purpose in life was, what were you -- what talents were you given, what gifts were you given to use.

And I asked him what he thought. He said, "I think it was to talk to people and tell them, you know, about you." I basically just talked to him and tried to gain his trust. I didn't want him to hurt anybody else. He didn't want to hurt anyone else. He just told me he wanted a place to stay, to relax, to sit down and watch TV, to eat some real food.

I talked to him about my family. I told him about things that had happened in my life. I asked him about his family. I asked him why he did what he did. And his reason was because he was a soldier.

I asked him why he chose me and why he chose Bridgewater Apartments. He said he didn't know. He just randomly -- but after we began to talk and he said he thought that I was an angel sent from God and that I was his sister and he was my brother in Christ and that he was lost and God led him right to me to tell him that he had hurt a lot of people.

He asked me what I thought he should do. I said, "I think you should turn yourself in. If you don't turn yourself in" -- this is what I said, "If you don't turn yourself in, lots more people will get hurt and you're probably going to die."

And he said, "I don't want that to happen." He said, "Can I stay here for a few days? I just -- I want to eat some real food and watch some TV and sleep and just do normal things that normal people do." So, of course, I said, "Sure, you can stay here." I didn't want -- I wanted to gain his trust.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Smith's story doesn't end there. After the break, we'll hear about her final moments as a hostage. Including the unusual offer that Nichols made just before letting her go. That's ahead. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) CAFFERTY: Continuing now with the story of 26-year-old Ashley Smith and her night with gunman Brian Nichols. Smith is being called a hero this morning, and rightfully so. She kept calm for hours as a hostage of the suspected killer in the Atlanta shootings. More now of her incredible story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SMITH: About 5:30, 6:00, well, 6:00, 6:30, he said "I need to make a move." I said, "OK, a move?" He said, "I need to get rid of this car before daylight. This truck." I said, "OK." I knew that if I didn't agree to go with him, follow him to get the truck or take the truck, then one of two things -- he would kill me right then and say, all right, well, if you're not going to help me, then I don't need you anymore. Or the police would never find him or it would take longer and someone else would get hurt. I was trying to avoid that. So I went.

And he said -- I said, "Can I take my cell phone?" He said, "Do you want to? I said, "Yeah." And I'm thinking, well, I might call the police then and I might not. So I took it anyway. He didn't take any guns with him. The guns were laying around the house. Pretty much after he untied me, they were laying around the house.

At one point he said, you know, "The guns are laying in there. I'd rather you shoot me than them." I said, "I don't want anyone else to die, not even you."

So we went to take the truck, and I was behind him following him. I thought about calling the police and I thought, he's about to be in the car with me right now, so I can call the police and when he gets in the car, then they can surround me and him together and I can possibly get hurt. Or we can go back to my house and I really felt deep down inside that he was going to let me see my little girl.

So I said -- then when I leave, he can be there by himself. Well, he finally agreed to let me go see my daughter and to leave at 9:00, 9:30. And I really believed that he was going to.

From the time he walked into my house until we were taking that truck, he was a totally different person to me. I felt very threatened, scared. I felt like he was going to kill me when I first -- when he first put the gun to my side. But when I followed him to take the truck, I felt like he was really going to turn himself in.

We went back to my house, and got in the house. And he was hungry so I cooked him breakfast. He was overwhelmed with -- "Wow," he said, "Real butter? Pancakes?" And I just talked with him a little more. Just about -- we pretty much talked about God, mainly, and what his reason was, why he made it out of there. I said, do you believe in miracles? Because if you don't believe in miracles, you're here for a reason. But he put the guns under the bed, like I'm done. I'm not gonna mess around with them anymore. It's over with.

He gave me some money before I was about to leave. It was kind of like he knew -- I said, "You might need this money." He said no, "I don't need it. I'm going to be here for the next few days. I basically said, "You keep the money." He said no. I don't need it.

He asked me if there was anything I could do -- or he could do for me before I left or while I was gone. He said, is there anything I can do while you're gone? I know he was probably hoping deep down that I was going to come back, but I think he knew that I was going to do what I had to do.

I had to turn -- I asked him several times, come on, just go with me. He said, I'll go with you in a few days. But when he asked me is there anything I can do while you're gone, like hang your curtains or something, and I said, "If you want to."

He just wanted some normalness to his life right then. I think he realized all this that I've been through, this is not me. I don't know. That's my opinion of what he -- but I left my house at 9:30. And I got in the car and I immediately called 911. And I told them that he was there. And she asked me where I was. I said, "I'm on my way to see my daughter."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CAFFERTY: SWAT teams and federal agents moved in, surrounded the apartment. He waved a white towel in the window and he surrendered.

Tonight at 10:00 Eastern, be sure to join Aaron Brown for a special edition of "NEWSNIGHT" titled "26 Hours Inside the Atlanta Manhunt". We'll be back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody.

CAFFERTY: Warner Music will have a public offering. But should you get in on it? Andy Serwer is here "Minding Your Business".

Isn't that related to us? Isn't that like some distant cousin?

ANDY SERWER, COLUMNIST, "FORTUNE": It was. Warner Music, they got to keep the name. Who would want to lose a great name like Warner, Time Warner, or AOL. A great name like that?

CAFFERTY: Especially AOL.

SERWER: Great names.

CAFFERTY: Yes.

SERWER: Let's talk about the markets first of all, see how investors fared last week. Not so great, actually. The Wall Street roller coaster heads down. Nasdaq down 6 percent for the year. Futures a bit higher this morning. It would be interesting to take out one stock this morning, Jack, and that of course is Walt Disney. Because they have a new CEO, Michael Eisner has announced stepping down as of October 1. Bob Iger will take over. And high on his agenda is to make a deal with Pixar, the animation studio headed up by Steve Jobs. Of course, they did "Toy Story" and "Finding Nemo" and all those other hits and they're at loggerheads right now.

Steve Jobs actually said, "I'm going to hold off on negotiations until I find out who the new CEO is. Iger has to go do it." Of course, Bob Iger's wife is?

O'BRIEN: Willow Bay.

SERWER: Willow Bay, TV news anchor.

O'BRIEN: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)

SERWER: That's right.

Warner Music, yes, in fact is going public. Who knew? Did you know?

CAFFERTY: I didn't know that.

O'BRIEN: Yes, I did, which I'm never on top of business.

SERWER: You knew. Right, exactly.

How would you like to own a piece of Madonna or Green Day? There's Green Day, Jack. Because your broker may call up -- there's Green Day -- may call up and ask you if you want to buy a piece of this company. It was owned by Time Warner. Edgar Bronfman, Jr., he of the Canadian liquor fortune bought the company a year ago. And now, essentially he's flipping it. You gotta wonder when they do one of these deals and then they want to sell it to the public. Another great act from Warner Music, the Goo-Goo Dolls, Jack.

CAFFERTY: I have all their stuff.

SERWER: The Goo-Goo Dolls.

CAFFERTY: I have all their records. They make records, right?

SERWER: Have the Goo-Goo Dolls ever been on AMERICAN MORNING?

O'BRIEN: Not yet, but we are constantly negotiating the booking of them.

SERWER: Yes, Goo-Goo Dolls. That's all I have, Jack.

CAFFERTY: One can only hope.

SERWER: Yes.

CAFFERTY: Time for "The File", which they're making me do in addition to Hemmer's job. I should be getting...

O'BRIEN: What a long day for you.

SERWER: Double'em up.

CAFFERTY: I'm not getting enough money for this today. CAFFERTY: Can a college degree improve your memory in old age? Researchers at the University of Toronto, this is a story I'm interested in, memory and old age, studying brain imaging. And they think it can.

They found that when given a memory test old people, like myself, with more years of education have greater activity in the frontal lobes of the brain than those with fewer years of education. The front part of the brain controls a person's memory skills. Education seems to strengthen a certain person's ability to call in the reserves in this region of the brain. And compensate for other functions lost to aging.

SERWER: True.

CAFFERTY: I'm losing the rest of them, too.

SERWER: Yes.

CAFFERTY: Hunting is very last season. You know what I mean? You gotta go out, buy a gun, you have to get the bullets, you have to get the license, you have to go find where the animals are you, you have to shooter. You have to drag -- it's just a very tedious thing. And then you go to a taxidermist and pay a fortune to get them these things stuffed if you want to hang them on your mantle.

That can cost a lot of money. Now you can get ahead without going to the trouble of hunting them. Animalhead.com provides faux taxidermy for true nature lovers. A cheetah, for example, which is illegal to hunt in Africa, is available for $195. Pretty lame looking cheetah. It has three kinds of faux fur on it. A traditional moose head with handmade antlers is the $595.

SERWER: That's funny.

O'BRIEN: It looks like a cartoon.

CAFFERTY: Yes.

SERWER: I think that is Bullwinkle, there?

CAFFERTY: You can get a dragon or a unicorn, if you are so inclined.

Valentine's Day, which is gone now till next year, let's see, means flowers and chocolates for the ladies, and what do men get? They get the bill. Now, though, Canadian men may soon be getting their own holiday. Steak and sex day.

SERWER: Hey!

CAFFERTY: Andy -- got his attention.

SERWER: Oh, boy.

CAFFERTY: Radio station FLO 93.5 in Toronto, Ontario, is lobbying to have March 14 declared "Steak & Sex Day". It would fall exactly one month after Valentine's day and provide women a chance to give back to their loved ones.

SERWER: That's an idea whose time has come, I think. I'm sorry to say.

(LAUGHTER)

O'BRIEN: Too bad you're not in Canada.

SERWER: I may move.

O'BRIEN: Thank you, Jack.

Today's top stories straight ahead this morning. Also, can't stick to a diet? The time you wake up in the morning could hold the key, believe it or not. Dr. Gupta explains ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ASHLEY SMITH, TAKEN HOSTAGE BY BRIAN NICHOLS: My husband died four years ago. And I told him if he hurt me my little girl wouldn't have a mommy or a daddy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: A woman taken hostage outside Atlanta tells the incredible story of just how she got through to the man suspected in a killing rampage.

And the developing story at this hour, hundreds of thousands of people in the streets of Beirut, defying Syria, another huge turnout on this AMERICAN MORNING.

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