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American Morning
13-Year-Old Boy Accused of Killing With a Baseball Bat; Millions of Dollars of Illegal Drug Ecstasy Smuggled into U.S.
Aired April 14, 2005 - 07:00 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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. A shocking crime where a 13-year-old boy accused of killing with a baseball bat. He was teased about losing a ballgame.
Baghdad shattered by bombings on a crowded street. Dozens are dead or wounded already this morning
And millions of dollars of the illegal drug ecstasy smuggled into the U.S. How it got here could be a major embarrassment for the military.
And could you spy on the conclave to elect the next pope? High- tech infiltrators looking for the biggest of secrets, on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Bill Hemmer and Soledad O'Brien.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome, everybody. Lots going on this morning. We'll find out what is happening in that search for the missing 13-year-old girl in Florida. CNN obtained these home videos of Sarah Lunde just a little bit ago. She is of course the girl, the young woman in the red shirt. She's got a ponytail. She's washing the cars right there. Well, the sheriff of Hillsborough County, where she's missing, is going to join us in just a few moments to talk about that case.
HEMMER: Also on a much different topic, one of the greatest athletes in 25 years, Bo Jackson, is on our show today. Recently accused of taking steroids during his career, he's fighting back, and fighting back in a big way, too. Bo knows a lawsuit. We'll talk to him.
O'BRIEN: Bo's knows a good lawyer, too.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Bo's going to own a newspaper.
O'BRIEN: Yes, he will.
CAFFERTY: Remember that story yesterday about they were going to legalize hunting cats in Wisconsin? The cats have won. And the people who watch this program probably have something to do with it. We'll have an update on that for you in a few minutes.
The question of the day this morning concerns the state of West Virginia. The legislature there has passed a law making English the official language of the state of West Virginia. You can do your own jokes. We'll talk some more about it in a few minutes.
O'BRIEN: Thank you, Jack.
CAFFERTY: You're welcome, Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Let's take a look at this story this morning. Two Air National Guardsmen accused of using a military plane to smuggle drugs. The U.S. attorney says they brought millions of dollars worth of ecstasy into the country.
Deborah Feyerick is outside the federal courthouse in New York this morning.
Deb, good morning to you. Explain to us exactly what the men are accused of and how they got caught.
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Soledad, we're talking ecstasy, 290,000, worth up to $11 million. Authorities say this wasn't the first time either. Captain Franklin Rodriguez and Master Sergeant John Fong, both of New York City, are accused of using an Air Force cargo jet to bring drugs from Germany into New York. They were busted yesterday and they appeared in federal court.
Authorities say that the two from the Air National Guard were on an official mission, that they had actually delivering training supplies to the Republic of Georgia, then on the way back they stopped in Germany, and they allegedly went into a hotel room and loaded packages of ecstasy into their personal luggage. Captain Rodriguez then flew the plane back to New York, as he was officially scheduled to do. Then officials say the master sergeant load those drugs into a private car.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTOPHER GIOVINO, DRUG ENFORCEMENT ADMIN.: They were carrying drugs with them. They were apprehended by members of our strike force, as well as the Department of Defense.
CAPT. KEVIN KERLEY, NYPD STRIKE FORCE: The investigation is continuing. We believe there's no other military personnel involved in this ring. The investigation is continuing in Europe and in the continental U.S. at this time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FEYERICK: Now authorities say that at least one of the men was paid $10,000 per trip. They face -- both of them face a maximum 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Deb, so how did they get caught and what tipped off the military to these obviously flights that they should not have been doing?
FEYERICK: Well, Soledad, that's exactly it. The military was tipped off to this, and so they began an investigation into it, and the investigation panned out. Again, this wasn't the first time the two men allegedly had been smuggling drugs into the country, and now they're in a whole heap of trouble.
O'BRIEN: Deb Feyerick in New York for us this morning. Deb, thanks a lot.
A 13-year-old baseball player is under arrest in Palmdale, California. He is charged with killing a teenage friend with an aluminum bat. Fifteen-year-old Jeremy Rourke (ph) was rushed to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead after he got in a fight with the suspect after a game on Tuesday night. Police arrested the suspect, a pitcher for the losing team, soon after the incident. Witnesses say the attack began when two friends got into an argument at the snack bar.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The boy pulled out a bat and he, like, kind of hit him once in the side and once up around the neck, and then he just hit him really with tremendous force to the head. And I just -- I saw his head just -- it sounded like a pumpkin getting hit with a bat.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: Join us in our next hour when we talk to a coach of one of the teams that was playing that night -- Bill.
HEMMER: Wow.
Police near Tampa, Florida this morning resume their search for a 13-year-old girl. Sara Lunde has been missing since early in the morning. Authorities have questioned nearly two dozen known sexual offenders in that area, including one man knows the girl's mother.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: Sheriff David Gee in Hillsborough County.
Sir, do you have any new leads this morning?
SHERIFF DAVID GEE, HILLSBOROUGH CO., FLORIDA: You know, there have been a few leads that have come in overnight, and we are following those up. Nothing I can really comment on at this time. But we are starting to get a few phone calls, which is encouraging at this point.
HEMMER: There is a convicted sex offender who apparently is a friend of the mother of this girl. His name is David Onstad (ph). He's age 36. He's behind bars at this point. What can you tell me about him, sheriff?
GEE: Well, as you just said, he is a registered sex offender. He was arrested within the past month by our agency for failure to report his sex-offender status and update his address. As a matter of fact, he is being arraigned on that charge in Tampa this morning, I believe at 9:00. Right now, he is certainly one of the leads we're pursuing, not the only lead. And I really can't comment any further as to his status, or place in this investigation at this time.
HEMMER: Do you consider him suspicious?
GEE: You know, again, I really don't want to characterize him at all at this point, other than to say we are pursuing that lead. He certainly has our attention, and we are doing all the normal things we would do that would be reasonable in an investigation like this, to try to follow up on him as well as any others. There were some 24 sex offenders and/or predators in this area. We've been able to locate all but one of those right now, and again, don't want to just limit it to people who happen to be in that status, you know, any other suspicious people.
HEMMER: I can understand that, sheriff. A "Tampa Tribune" is reporting today that apparently he showed up at the girl's house Sunday morning hours after the older brother last saw his younger sister. With full respect to your previous answer, can you characterize this man as cooperative at this point?
GEE: We have had conversations with him, and you know, there has been some cooperation. Beyond that, I'd rather not go into it.
HEMMER: All right.
Have the parents checked out clean?
GEE: So far, no indication of any involvement with the parents. The father has been out of the child's life for over 10 years. We found him. He appears to alibied, and no indication that he would have any contact with her. The mother was out of town during the time of her disappearance, and she's been very cooperative with us. And no apparent involvement at all there.
HEMMER: In the past, Sarah has run away from home before. Could this be another case of a runaway, sheriff?
GEE: You know, that's a possibility. We can't discount that at this time. The last time she was gone for any period of time was when she was in foster care at the age of nine. Since then, she would have apparently periods of maybe temper tantrums; she would leave for a few hours. We're relying on the family and on the pastor, the local pastor, who she was very close to, and He has characterized this as completely out of the ordinary and feels that she would have done this for this period of time and would have come forward by now.
HEMMER: Good luck to you, sheriff. David Gee in Ruskin, Florida this morning.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: Now a follow-up on a story we told you about yesterday. The head of the Centers for Disease Control says most of the samples of a deadly flu strain have already been destroyed. More than 4,000 laboratories around the world mistakenly received samples of the virus that caused the Asian flu pandemic back in 1957. More than a million people died then. Even so, health officials continue to emphasize that the public is safe.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. JULIE GERBERDING, CDC DIR.: We want to leave you with one important message, and that is while the risk of the situation is very low, we're not taking any chances and we're doing everything we can to make sure there's no threat to human health.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: The samples were part of a kit send to labs to help scientists identify various strains of the flu -- Bill.
HEMMER: From the state of Connecticut, it seems to be on the way to allowing same-sex civil unions. The state's house has passed legislation that would give gay and lesbian couples all the rights and privileges of marriage, although they would not be eligible for marriage licenses. If passed, Connecticut would be the second state to allow same-sex unions. Vermont does it. Massachusetts allows gay marriages as well. That bill now heads to the state Senate, and the governor, the Republican governor Jodi Rell, says she will sign the bill into law if approved by the Senate.
About 10 minutes past the hour now.
(WEATHER REPORT)
O'BRIEN: Well, CNN's chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour has faced many dangerous situations in war zones, but none quite like an experience in Saudi Arabia that she described to Jay Leno last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTL. CORRESPONDENT: I remember once going to visit some U.S. troops, and they welcomed us and they fed us, and we were going to cover them, and at night, they said, you know, here are the showers, would you like to have a shower? We thought, this is great. And we went and we had our showers, and only later did we find out that apparently they were all sitting around the hills with their nightvision goggles.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: Wow.
O'BRIEN: That's a funny story. She just won a big award, Matrix Award that we went to, to honor her. She and a bunch of other really incredible women got the honor.
HEMMER: Interesting, she also said Jay last night with her son and her husband, her life has changed substantially in the way she looks at danger in the world, whereas before she admits, hey, I was kind of going there, not giving it much thought, and now...
O'BRIEN: You have a kid, get married, changes everything. HEMMER: Also, in a moment, spy games at the Vatican. Could new- millennium technology unlock old secrets at the conclave. That is intriguing. We'll get to it.
O'BRIEN: Also a surprising turnaround on silicone implants. Dr. Sanjay Gupta explains why a 13-year-old ban might soon come to an end.
A bloody round of violence in Iraq. The latest on that and the fight to win the freedom of an American hostage. That's story's next on AMERICAN MORNING.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: From Iraq today, 11 are dead, 37 wounded after a pair of nearly simultaneous suicide car bombings in Baghdad. Iraqi police say the bombers were targeting police convoys. Most of the dead are civilians, some are police officers.
A third suspected car bomb was located nearby, later detonated by U.S. and Iraqi forces.
Also in Kirkuk in the north, three Iraqi police officers dead, four others wounded when a gunman opened fire on a police station there.
O'BRIEN: The Bush administration says it working hard to win the freedom of an American hostage being held in Iraq, but says it refuses to negotiate with its captors. Jeffrey Ake was shown pleading for his life in a videotape aired Wednesday on the Arabic network Al-Jazeera. He asked the U.S. to begin withdrawing troops from Iraq and begin a dialogue with anti-U.S. fighters to win his release.
Ake is an Indiana businessman who was kidnapped at a Baghdad construction site on Monday. The American hostage Jeffrey Ake lives in La Porte, Indiana. The town's mayor is Leigh Morris.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MYR. LEIGH MORRIS, LA PORTE, INDIANA: Jeff is a very strong individual, and we have a great deal of compassion for him here and a lot of support, and so our prayers are that he's going to be coming back home to his community and his family very, very soon.
O'BRIEN: He is a father with four children. He's a well-known businessman in the community. What else can you tell us about Jeff Ake?
MORRIS: Jeff is a wonderful family man. His family is extremely important to him, has four wonderful children, a lovely wife. He's been a successful businessman. I wouldn't say Jeff is a wealthy person at all, but a successful businessman, started his business from a garage and has built it into something very significant.
There's a humanitarian side to Jeff as well. Recently he was in Nigeria, for example, working to improve the availability of clean drinking water there. I'm sure that's what took him to Iraq as well.
I can imagine there would be many other things that he could have that done that would have been more profitable to him, but I think Jeff had this desire to help people, and that's probably what took him to Iraq.
O'BRIEN: As you well know, the administration's policy is not to negotiate with hostage-takers. Does that in any way diminish your sense of hope for Jeff's safe return?
MORRIS: No. I know that a great deal of effort is being put in to trying to bring Jeff home again. We don't negotiate with terrorists, and I understand that. But there are many ways to help, and prayer is one of those ways, and that's certainly going to be in abundance here in our community, but I know the federal government is trying to do a number of things to try to help as well.
O'BRIEN: Small town, as you mentioned, 22,000 people, if my numbers are right. Is shock the best way to describe how people are doing there today?
MORRIS: Well, When I learned of it, it was sort of like being kicked in the stomach, and I suspect that was the collective reaction of this community as well. A lot of people have asked me, is there a lot of anger? But I really think rather than anger there's compassion, and concern and support. And I feel the community coming together in very powerful ways to pray for Jeff and his family, and to hope for his return. We have a prayer vigil coming up tomorrow evening which we would love to turn into a "welcome home Jeff" ceremony, so we'll hope that might happen between then.
O'BRIEN: We'll hope that as well for you, Mayor Morris. Thank you for talking us to, the mayor of La Porte, Indiana this morning.
MORRIS: Thanks, Soledad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: Fingers crossed there.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon believes Iran is working on a nuclear weapon and that it is fast approaching the point of no return. His words from yesterday. He also spoke with Wolf Blitzer here on CNN.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARIEL SHARON, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: In order to possess a bomb, that will take them time. But the problem now is entirely different. They have some problems. In order to overcome them, they are making every effort. No doubt they are working now in order to possess a nuclear weapon, which would work out to be a great danger, not only for Israel, but for Europe and the United States.
(END VIDEO CLIP) HEMMER: Also Sharon says he does not think Israel plans to launch a unilateral strike on Iranian nuclear sites as it did on Iraq back in 1981.
In a moment here, more bad news for the company at the center of a huge identity-theft case. There may have been more security breaches than we were told about before. Andy has that, right after a break on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Welcome back, everyone.
An identity theft mystery is now solved and the Senate tries to get to the bottom of all these recent breaches. Andy Serwer is "Minding Your Business," first check this morning.
And good morning to you.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Good morning to you.
Some more startling developments in this identity-theft story. Let's go to Washington, first of all. Disclosure of Senate hearings yesterday by executives from Lexis-Nexis, get this, there may have even been more breaches with regard to its database. Just to recap, you might remember last month, the company acknowledged that 30,000 filed had been compromised. Then earlier this week, it said, oops, it's actually 300,000 files, and then yesterday an executive telling senators that there may have been more before 2003, they're not really sure. Well, guess what, I bet someone's going to request that you get to the bottom of that.
Now GM, we talked to you about this one yesterday, that it told holders of its GM Mastercard that their files had been compromised, and we also said we didn't know how many people had been compromised, and we also said it was related to a national retailer. We didn't know the answer to that either. But I suggested that perhaps we would find out. We didn't have to wait long. Today's "Wall Street Journal" reporting that HSBC, the giant international bank, a subsidiary of the bank here in the United States, is the bank in question that holds those cards for GM and that the national retailer is Polo Ralph Lauren. And the number of people who may have had their files compromised, 180,000.
CAFFERTY: 180,001 -- Casey James. Put that -- we can all maybe borrow this guy's credit card right here. Right down that number.
SERWER: Maybe we're helping that problem. We're making the problem worse.
O'BRIEN: Stop the graphic, Todd. Thank you.
SERWER: I'm hoping that's dummy type, as they say in the print business.
CAFFERTY: We can go out and get us some new duds or something. SERWER: That is dummy type, I've been told.
HEMMER: We'd like to thank Mr. Casey this morning here on AMERICAN MORNING.
SERWER: What was that number again? I can use a couple of new suits here.
Ten million Americans had their identity stolen in 2003. I bet it's going to be a lot more last year.
HEMMER: But the next shoe to drop in this story is when somebody gets ripped off as a result.
SERWER: Well, that's happening, too.
HEMMER: Thank you, Andy.
SERWER: You're welcome.
O'BRIEN: Well, it was yesterday's Question of the Day, but there is some resolution in the kitty story.
SERWER: Yes.
CAFFERTY: Why, thank you, ma'am.
Update on the Question of the Day from yesterday morning. Wisconsin residents passed a proposal on Monday that would allow hunters shoot cats that didn't have on a collar or an obvious owner. And we asked you if you thought that was a good idea. And most of you said, no, it's a really stupid idea.
Well, guess what, the governor of Wisconsin now says it ain't going to happen. Cat hunting will not become legal in that state. Governor Jim Doyle said Wednesday that he received calls around the country -- that was in his news release -- denouncing this idea and he will not allow it to succeed. He said he doesn't want his state to be known as a place where they shoot cats.
My hunch is that the people who watch this program may have had something to do with this.
HEMMER: I wan to salute Jack Cafferty, saving the cats.
SERWER: Shut, can't hunt cats in Wisconsin.
HEMMER: Well done.
CAFFERTY: I haven't done much here, but I got the hawk's nest rebuilt up on Fifth Avenue.
SERWER: Yes, he's an animal friend here.
O'BRIEN: Exactly.
SERWER: Conservation jack.
CAFFERTY: Notice I make no effort to do anything for people.
SERWER: Yes, we've noticed.
CAFFERTY: All right, here's today's topic. English is now the official language of West Virginia. What wrong with that sentence? State legislators inadvertently passed an amendment over the weekend when it was quietly inserted to a bill on a totally different subject, state parks and recreation, just kind of snuck it in there. Congress has debated the idea of English as our official language several times since 1981, but the legislation has never passed. Supporters of official English think if government services were provided only in English, perhaps immigrants would have an incentive to learn English and to assimilate more quickly into our society. The ACLU of course is opposed to the idea.
Here's the question, should the rest of the country follow West Virginia's lead and make English the official language?
SERWER: You're going to get some great e-mails, and some tasteful jokes.
(CROSSTALK)
O'BRIEN: ... for all the poor immigrants who struggle with learning the language when they come to this country.
CAFFERTY: The problem is we don't struggle with learning the language, because we've made it so that they don't have to. Our schools are given extra money so they can teach...
(CROSSTALK)
CAFFERTY: You call the government office, the automated phone service says, habla Espanol, press 19, I mean, come on.
O'BRIEN: Yes, because there are some services people need, and the don't speak the language fully yet.
(CROSSTALK)
O'BRIEN: We shouldn't sit next to each other today, because we're going to disagree on this.
CAFFERTY: If you want to take advantage of the services in the United State, then you should learn the language.
O'BRIEN: You are wrong on this, Mr. Cafferty.
HEMMER: Back to your corners.
CAFFERTY: How much money do we spend to instruct students in Spanish at the expense of citizens who don't get the teacher's attention.
(CROSSTALK)
O'BRIEN: I'm done talking to you, Mr. Cafferty. We'll talk later.
CAFFERTY: No, you're not. I'm here until 10:00. We're not done by a longshot.
O'BRIEN: All right, then we've got 2 1/2 hours to hack this out.
CAFFERTY: That's right.
O'BRIEN: Ahead this morning, the secrets of the Vatican's conclave, shrouded in mystery, but thanks to modern spy technology, what happens behind closed doors could be revealed to the world. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired April 14, 2005 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. A shocking crime where a 13-year-old boy accused of killing with a baseball bat. He was teased about losing a ballgame.
Baghdad shattered by bombings on a crowded street. Dozens are dead or wounded already this morning
And millions of dollars of the illegal drug ecstasy smuggled into the U.S. How it got here could be a major embarrassment for the military.
And could you spy on the conclave to elect the next pope? High- tech infiltrators looking for the biggest of secrets, on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Bill Hemmer and Soledad O'Brien.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome, everybody. Lots going on this morning. We'll find out what is happening in that search for the missing 13-year-old girl in Florida. CNN obtained these home videos of Sarah Lunde just a little bit ago. She is of course the girl, the young woman in the red shirt. She's got a ponytail. She's washing the cars right there. Well, the sheriff of Hillsborough County, where she's missing, is going to join us in just a few moments to talk about that case.
HEMMER: Also on a much different topic, one of the greatest athletes in 25 years, Bo Jackson, is on our show today. Recently accused of taking steroids during his career, he's fighting back, and fighting back in a big way, too. Bo knows a lawsuit. We'll talk to him.
O'BRIEN: Bo's knows a good lawyer, too.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Bo's going to own a newspaper.
O'BRIEN: Yes, he will.
CAFFERTY: Remember that story yesterday about they were going to legalize hunting cats in Wisconsin? The cats have won. And the people who watch this program probably have something to do with it. We'll have an update on that for you in a few minutes.
The question of the day this morning concerns the state of West Virginia. The legislature there has passed a law making English the official language of the state of West Virginia. You can do your own jokes. We'll talk some more about it in a few minutes.
O'BRIEN: Thank you, Jack.
CAFFERTY: You're welcome, Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Let's take a look at this story this morning. Two Air National Guardsmen accused of using a military plane to smuggle drugs. The U.S. attorney says they brought millions of dollars worth of ecstasy into the country.
Deborah Feyerick is outside the federal courthouse in New York this morning.
Deb, good morning to you. Explain to us exactly what the men are accused of and how they got caught.
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Soledad, we're talking ecstasy, 290,000, worth up to $11 million. Authorities say this wasn't the first time either. Captain Franklin Rodriguez and Master Sergeant John Fong, both of New York City, are accused of using an Air Force cargo jet to bring drugs from Germany into New York. They were busted yesterday and they appeared in federal court.
Authorities say that the two from the Air National Guard were on an official mission, that they had actually delivering training supplies to the Republic of Georgia, then on the way back they stopped in Germany, and they allegedly went into a hotel room and loaded packages of ecstasy into their personal luggage. Captain Rodriguez then flew the plane back to New York, as he was officially scheduled to do. Then officials say the master sergeant load those drugs into a private car.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTOPHER GIOVINO, DRUG ENFORCEMENT ADMIN.: They were carrying drugs with them. They were apprehended by members of our strike force, as well as the Department of Defense.
CAPT. KEVIN KERLEY, NYPD STRIKE FORCE: The investigation is continuing. We believe there's no other military personnel involved in this ring. The investigation is continuing in Europe and in the continental U.S. at this time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FEYERICK: Now authorities say that at least one of the men was paid $10,000 per trip. They face -- both of them face a maximum 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Deb, so how did they get caught and what tipped off the military to these obviously flights that they should not have been doing?
FEYERICK: Well, Soledad, that's exactly it. The military was tipped off to this, and so they began an investigation into it, and the investigation panned out. Again, this wasn't the first time the two men allegedly had been smuggling drugs into the country, and now they're in a whole heap of trouble.
O'BRIEN: Deb Feyerick in New York for us this morning. Deb, thanks a lot.
A 13-year-old baseball player is under arrest in Palmdale, California. He is charged with killing a teenage friend with an aluminum bat. Fifteen-year-old Jeremy Rourke (ph) was rushed to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead after he got in a fight with the suspect after a game on Tuesday night. Police arrested the suspect, a pitcher for the losing team, soon after the incident. Witnesses say the attack began when two friends got into an argument at the snack bar.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The boy pulled out a bat and he, like, kind of hit him once in the side and once up around the neck, and then he just hit him really with tremendous force to the head. And I just -- I saw his head just -- it sounded like a pumpkin getting hit with a bat.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: Join us in our next hour when we talk to a coach of one of the teams that was playing that night -- Bill.
HEMMER: Wow.
Police near Tampa, Florida this morning resume their search for a 13-year-old girl. Sara Lunde has been missing since early in the morning. Authorities have questioned nearly two dozen known sexual offenders in that area, including one man knows the girl's mother.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: Sheriff David Gee in Hillsborough County.
Sir, do you have any new leads this morning?
SHERIFF DAVID GEE, HILLSBOROUGH CO., FLORIDA: You know, there have been a few leads that have come in overnight, and we are following those up. Nothing I can really comment on at this time. But we are starting to get a few phone calls, which is encouraging at this point.
HEMMER: There is a convicted sex offender who apparently is a friend of the mother of this girl. His name is David Onstad (ph). He's age 36. He's behind bars at this point. What can you tell me about him, sheriff?
GEE: Well, as you just said, he is a registered sex offender. He was arrested within the past month by our agency for failure to report his sex-offender status and update his address. As a matter of fact, he is being arraigned on that charge in Tampa this morning, I believe at 9:00. Right now, he is certainly one of the leads we're pursuing, not the only lead. And I really can't comment any further as to his status, or place in this investigation at this time.
HEMMER: Do you consider him suspicious?
GEE: You know, again, I really don't want to characterize him at all at this point, other than to say we are pursuing that lead. He certainly has our attention, and we are doing all the normal things we would do that would be reasonable in an investigation like this, to try to follow up on him as well as any others. There were some 24 sex offenders and/or predators in this area. We've been able to locate all but one of those right now, and again, don't want to just limit it to people who happen to be in that status, you know, any other suspicious people.
HEMMER: I can understand that, sheriff. A "Tampa Tribune" is reporting today that apparently he showed up at the girl's house Sunday morning hours after the older brother last saw his younger sister. With full respect to your previous answer, can you characterize this man as cooperative at this point?
GEE: We have had conversations with him, and you know, there has been some cooperation. Beyond that, I'd rather not go into it.
HEMMER: All right.
Have the parents checked out clean?
GEE: So far, no indication of any involvement with the parents. The father has been out of the child's life for over 10 years. We found him. He appears to alibied, and no indication that he would have any contact with her. The mother was out of town during the time of her disappearance, and she's been very cooperative with us. And no apparent involvement at all there.
HEMMER: In the past, Sarah has run away from home before. Could this be another case of a runaway, sheriff?
GEE: You know, that's a possibility. We can't discount that at this time. The last time she was gone for any period of time was when she was in foster care at the age of nine. Since then, she would have apparently periods of maybe temper tantrums; she would leave for a few hours. We're relying on the family and on the pastor, the local pastor, who she was very close to, and He has characterized this as completely out of the ordinary and feels that she would have done this for this period of time and would have come forward by now.
HEMMER: Good luck to you, sheriff. David Gee in Ruskin, Florida this morning.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: Now a follow-up on a story we told you about yesterday. The head of the Centers for Disease Control says most of the samples of a deadly flu strain have already been destroyed. More than 4,000 laboratories around the world mistakenly received samples of the virus that caused the Asian flu pandemic back in 1957. More than a million people died then. Even so, health officials continue to emphasize that the public is safe.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. JULIE GERBERDING, CDC DIR.: We want to leave you with one important message, and that is while the risk of the situation is very low, we're not taking any chances and we're doing everything we can to make sure there's no threat to human health.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: The samples were part of a kit send to labs to help scientists identify various strains of the flu -- Bill.
HEMMER: From the state of Connecticut, it seems to be on the way to allowing same-sex civil unions. The state's house has passed legislation that would give gay and lesbian couples all the rights and privileges of marriage, although they would not be eligible for marriage licenses. If passed, Connecticut would be the second state to allow same-sex unions. Vermont does it. Massachusetts allows gay marriages as well. That bill now heads to the state Senate, and the governor, the Republican governor Jodi Rell, says she will sign the bill into law if approved by the Senate.
About 10 minutes past the hour now.
(WEATHER REPORT)
O'BRIEN: Well, CNN's chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour has faced many dangerous situations in war zones, but none quite like an experience in Saudi Arabia that she described to Jay Leno last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTL. CORRESPONDENT: I remember once going to visit some U.S. troops, and they welcomed us and they fed us, and we were going to cover them, and at night, they said, you know, here are the showers, would you like to have a shower? We thought, this is great. And we went and we had our showers, and only later did we find out that apparently they were all sitting around the hills with their nightvision goggles.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: Wow.
O'BRIEN: That's a funny story. She just won a big award, Matrix Award that we went to, to honor her. She and a bunch of other really incredible women got the honor.
HEMMER: Interesting, she also said Jay last night with her son and her husband, her life has changed substantially in the way she looks at danger in the world, whereas before she admits, hey, I was kind of going there, not giving it much thought, and now...
O'BRIEN: You have a kid, get married, changes everything. HEMMER: Also, in a moment, spy games at the Vatican. Could new- millennium technology unlock old secrets at the conclave. That is intriguing. We'll get to it.
O'BRIEN: Also a surprising turnaround on silicone implants. Dr. Sanjay Gupta explains why a 13-year-old ban might soon come to an end.
A bloody round of violence in Iraq. The latest on that and the fight to win the freedom of an American hostage. That's story's next on AMERICAN MORNING.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: From Iraq today, 11 are dead, 37 wounded after a pair of nearly simultaneous suicide car bombings in Baghdad. Iraqi police say the bombers were targeting police convoys. Most of the dead are civilians, some are police officers.
A third suspected car bomb was located nearby, later detonated by U.S. and Iraqi forces.
Also in Kirkuk in the north, three Iraqi police officers dead, four others wounded when a gunman opened fire on a police station there.
O'BRIEN: The Bush administration says it working hard to win the freedom of an American hostage being held in Iraq, but says it refuses to negotiate with its captors. Jeffrey Ake was shown pleading for his life in a videotape aired Wednesday on the Arabic network Al-Jazeera. He asked the U.S. to begin withdrawing troops from Iraq and begin a dialogue with anti-U.S. fighters to win his release.
Ake is an Indiana businessman who was kidnapped at a Baghdad construction site on Monday. The American hostage Jeffrey Ake lives in La Porte, Indiana. The town's mayor is Leigh Morris.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MYR. LEIGH MORRIS, LA PORTE, INDIANA: Jeff is a very strong individual, and we have a great deal of compassion for him here and a lot of support, and so our prayers are that he's going to be coming back home to his community and his family very, very soon.
O'BRIEN: He is a father with four children. He's a well-known businessman in the community. What else can you tell us about Jeff Ake?
MORRIS: Jeff is a wonderful family man. His family is extremely important to him, has four wonderful children, a lovely wife. He's been a successful businessman. I wouldn't say Jeff is a wealthy person at all, but a successful businessman, started his business from a garage and has built it into something very significant.
There's a humanitarian side to Jeff as well. Recently he was in Nigeria, for example, working to improve the availability of clean drinking water there. I'm sure that's what took him to Iraq as well.
I can imagine there would be many other things that he could have that done that would have been more profitable to him, but I think Jeff had this desire to help people, and that's probably what took him to Iraq.
O'BRIEN: As you well know, the administration's policy is not to negotiate with hostage-takers. Does that in any way diminish your sense of hope for Jeff's safe return?
MORRIS: No. I know that a great deal of effort is being put in to trying to bring Jeff home again. We don't negotiate with terrorists, and I understand that. But there are many ways to help, and prayer is one of those ways, and that's certainly going to be in abundance here in our community, but I know the federal government is trying to do a number of things to try to help as well.
O'BRIEN: Small town, as you mentioned, 22,000 people, if my numbers are right. Is shock the best way to describe how people are doing there today?
MORRIS: Well, When I learned of it, it was sort of like being kicked in the stomach, and I suspect that was the collective reaction of this community as well. A lot of people have asked me, is there a lot of anger? But I really think rather than anger there's compassion, and concern and support. And I feel the community coming together in very powerful ways to pray for Jeff and his family, and to hope for his return. We have a prayer vigil coming up tomorrow evening which we would love to turn into a "welcome home Jeff" ceremony, so we'll hope that might happen between then.
O'BRIEN: We'll hope that as well for you, Mayor Morris. Thank you for talking us to, the mayor of La Porte, Indiana this morning.
MORRIS: Thanks, Soledad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: Fingers crossed there.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon believes Iran is working on a nuclear weapon and that it is fast approaching the point of no return. His words from yesterday. He also spoke with Wolf Blitzer here on CNN.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARIEL SHARON, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: In order to possess a bomb, that will take them time. But the problem now is entirely different. They have some problems. In order to overcome them, they are making every effort. No doubt they are working now in order to possess a nuclear weapon, which would work out to be a great danger, not only for Israel, but for Europe and the United States.
(END VIDEO CLIP) HEMMER: Also Sharon says he does not think Israel plans to launch a unilateral strike on Iranian nuclear sites as it did on Iraq back in 1981.
In a moment here, more bad news for the company at the center of a huge identity-theft case. There may have been more security breaches than we were told about before. Andy has that, right after a break on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Welcome back, everyone.
An identity theft mystery is now solved and the Senate tries to get to the bottom of all these recent breaches. Andy Serwer is "Minding Your Business," first check this morning.
And good morning to you.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Good morning to you.
Some more startling developments in this identity-theft story. Let's go to Washington, first of all. Disclosure of Senate hearings yesterday by executives from Lexis-Nexis, get this, there may have even been more breaches with regard to its database. Just to recap, you might remember last month, the company acknowledged that 30,000 filed had been compromised. Then earlier this week, it said, oops, it's actually 300,000 files, and then yesterday an executive telling senators that there may have been more before 2003, they're not really sure. Well, guess what, I bet someone's going to request that you get to the bottom of that.
Now GM, we talked to you about this one yesterday, that it told holders of its GM Mastercard that their files had been compromised, and we also said we didn't know how many people had been compromised, and we also said it was related to a national retailer. We didn't know the answer to that either. But I suggested that perhaps we would find out. We didn't have to wait long. Today's "Wall Street Journal" reporting that HSBC, the giant international bank, a subsidiary of the bank here in the United States, is the bank in question that holds those cards for GM and that the national retailer is Polo Ralph Lauren. And the number of people who may have had their files compromised, 180,000.
CAFFERTY: 180,001 -- Casey James. Put that -- we can all maybe borrow this guy's credit card right here. Right down that number.
SERWER: Maybe we're helping that problem. We're making the problem worse.
O'BRIEN: Stop the graphic, Todd. Thank you.
SERWER: I'm hoping that's dummy type, as they say in the print business.
CAFFERTY: We can go out and get us some new duds or something. SERWER: That is dummy type, I've been told.
HEMMER: We'd like to thank Mr. Casey this morning here on AMERICAN MORNING.
SERWER: What was that number again? I can use a couple of new suits here.
Ten million Americans had their identity stolen in 2003. I bet it's going to be a lot more last year.
HEMMER: But the next shoe to drop in this story is when somebody gets ripped off as a result.
SERWER: Well, that's happening, too.
HEMMER: Thank you, Andy.
SERWER: You're welcome.
O'BRIEN: Well, it was yesterday's Question of the Day, but there is some resolution in the kitty story.
SERWER: Yes.
CAFFERTY: Why, thank you, ma'am.
Update on the Question of the Day from yesterday morning. Wisconsin residents passed a proposal on Monday that would allow hunters shoot cats that didn't have on a collar or an obvious owner. And we asked you if you thought that was a good idea. And most of you said, no, it's a really stupid idea.
Well, guess what, the governor of Wisconsin now says it ain't going to happen. Cat hunting will not become legal in that state. Governor Jim Doyle said Wednesday that he received calls around the country -- that was in his news release -- denouncing this idea and he will not allow it to succeed. He said he doesn't want his state to be known as a place where they shoot cats.
My hunch is that the people who watch this program may have had something to do with this.
HEMMER: I wan to salute Jack Cafferty, saving the cats.
SERWER: Shut, can't hunt cats in Wisconsin.
HEMMER: Well done.
CAFFERTY: I haven't done much here, but I got the hawk's nest rebuilt up on Fifth Avenue.
SERWER: Yes, he's an animal friend here.
O'BRIEN: Exactly.
SERWER: Conservation jack.
CAFFERTY: Notice I make no effort to do anything for people.
SERWER: Yes, we've noticed.
CAFFERTY: All right, here's today's topic. English is now the official language of West Virginia. What wrong with that sentence? State legislators inadvertently passed an amendment over the weekend when it was quietly inserted to a bill on a totally different subject, state parks and recreation, just kind of snuck it in there. Congress has debated the idea of English as our official language several times since 1981, but the legislation has never passed. Supporters of official English think if government services were provided only in English, perhaps immigrants would have an incentive to learn English and to assimilate more quickly into our society. The ACLU of course is opposed to the idea.
Here's the question, should the rest of the country follow West Virginia's lead and make English the official language?
SERWER: You're going to get some great e-mails, and some tasteful jokes.
(CROSSTALK)
O'BRIEN: ... for all the poor immigrants who struggle with learning the language when they come to this country.
CAFFERTY: The problem is we don't struggle with learning the language, because we've made it so that they don't have to. Our schools are given extra money so they can teach...
(CROSSTALK)
CAFFERTY: You call the government office, the automated phone service says, habla Espanol, press 19, I mean, come on.
O'BRIEN: Yes, because there are some services people need, and the don't speak the language fully yet.
(CROSSTALK)
O'BRIEN: We shouldn't sit next to each other today, because we're going to disagree on this.
CAFFERTY: If you want to take advantage of the services in the United State, then you should learn the language.
O'BRIEN: You are wrong on this, Mr. Cafferty.
HEMMER: Back to your corners.
CAFFERTY: How much money do we spend to instruct students in Spanish at the expense of citizens who don't get the teacher's attention.
(CROSSTALK)
O'BRIEN: I'm done talking to you, Mr. Cafferty. We'll talk later.
CAFFERTY: No, you're not. I'm here until 10:00. We're not done by a longshot.
O'BRIEN: All right, then we've got 2 1/2 hours to hack this out.
CAFFERTY: That's right.
O'BRIEN: Ahead this morning, the secrets of the Vatican's conclave, shrouded in mystery, but thanks to modern spy technology, what happens behind closed doors could be revealed to the world. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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