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American Morning

American Hostage Jill Carroll Released; Sago Mine Survivor Randy McCloy Released from Hospital

Aired March 30, 2006 - 09:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to CNN's AMERICAN MORNING. I'm Miles O'Brien in New York.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Soledad O'Brien reporting from Washington D.C. this morning. Lots of news to bring you today. Stories breaking all around us this morning. Of course our top story, the American hostage Jill Carroll has now been freed, just happened a few hours ago. She said she was treated well. Never threatened, she pointed out, during her nearly three months in captivity.

We begin this morning with Jason Carroll. He's live for us in Chapel Hill. He is of course at Jill's father's house.

Hey, Jason?

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Soledad.

You know, I spoke to Jill's father just a little while ago. He came to the front door. He had a mobile phone in one hand as he was talking to me, and he revealed how he heard from his daughter. He said he was sleeping. It was about 6:00 a.m. His phone started ringing. He picked it up, and it was his daughter's voice. She simply said, "Hi dad, this is Jill. I'm released." It was just that simple. He said it took a few moments for him to realize exactly what was happening and who was on the other end of the phone. He says, from the sound of her voice, and the tone of her voice, she seemed to be in good spirits, seemed to be in very good health. He says he's still pretty much in shock, and he said he's not going to be doing any on-camera interviews right now until Jill is safely in her family's arms.

He did release a statement. It said, quote, "We are thrilled and relieved that Jill has been released unharmed. We want to thank the many thousands of people who gave their support and prayers for Jill. We want to especially thank the people of 'The Christian Science Monitor,' who did so much work to keep Jill's image alive while in Iraq."

Jill, of course, was working as a freelance journalist for "The Christian Science Monitor" when she was taken captive about three months ago. Much of the details surrounding the reunion with her family have not really been worked out at this point. But the family says at this point they do not plan to travel to Baghdad. Her father did not want to release too many details at this point. Suffice to say, though, that the family is ecstatic. Jill has a twin sister. Her mother lives in Evansville, Illinois. The whole family planning to get together, work out some of the details there. The family just ecstatic at this point that this ordeal is finally over for them -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Jason, it is. It's wonderful news, obviously, not just for the family, although that's most important, but really everybody that is following Jill Carroll's story -- Thanks.

M. O'BRIEN: Thank you, Soledad.

Jill Carroll's mother, Mary Beth Carroll, lives in Evanston, Illinois. That's a suburb of Chicago.

CNN's Keith Oppenheim is outside the home, hasn't had a chance to speak with her yet, but we're waiting for that moment.

Hello, Keith.

KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miles, I'm at the apartment building where Mary Beth Carroll lives in Evanston, a city north of the city of Chicago. She has not come out and spoken to the media which gathered in front of this apartment building, But Mary Beth Carroll did speak to one of our producers, Susan Garrity (ph), this morning, and basically gave this description, that she is extremely relieved that her daughter is OK, listening to her daughter's description that she was unharmed meant an enormous amount, as you can imagine, to a mother.

At the same time, she is concerned about the description that her daughter gave of having been in a cell, confined without a window and wonders about the effects on her with all that.

Still, at the same time, no gameplan that she could tell us about at this point. She is in contact with U.S. authorities. Seems to think it was doubtful that she would go to Baghdad any time soon, so this all sounds very fluid right now, Miles, as to where Mary Beth Carroll will go to reunite with her daughter. She's in contact with U.S. officials about it, but so far she hasn't spoken to us except for by phone.

Back to you.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes, it'll be interesting to see how this plays out. Maybe she'll head to Landstuhl, Germany where a lot of former hostages have ended up. But her health seems impeccable. So it will be interesting to see.

Please let us know the moment you hear from Mary Beth Carroll. Keith Oppenheim in Evanston, Illinois -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Another story we're following, the Sago mine survivor Randy McCloy. Just a few words from him this morning. Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RANDY MCCLOY JR., SAGO MINE SURVIVOR: Yes, I'd just like to thank everybody for their thoughts and prayers. I believe that's it.

Thank you all.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

S. O'BRIEN: It was brief, but really what everybody wanted to hear. Randy McCloy now ready to leave the hospital. He's been there nearly three months. Let's get right to CNN's Chris Huntington.

He's live at the hospital in Morgantown, West Virginia.

Hey, Chris, good morning.

CHRIS HUNTINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Soledad.

Well, part of the ceremony, I guess we can call it that, this morning, West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin presented a road sign to Randall McCloy calling it Miracle Road. Randall McCloy and Anna McCloy's road didn't have a name apparently. Randy would say, well it's over a hollow and around a corner, and now it's called Miracle Road. Randy's one other words, at least here publicly to us when he left the room, was he turned around, and he said to the governor, thanks for the sign. The governor said, well, I don't have anything to add to that.

Randal McCloy is known, we've been told by his family members, he's a man of great wit and few words, and chooses them carefully. And he has been very carefully in not speaking publicly about the specifics of what happened in the mine with his fellow miners.

We learned today, Soledad, from the doctors, honesty, they can afford to be honest at this point, they said they did not think Randal would make it when they first took him under their care in early January, but Anna McCloy who never left his side, never lost her faith that her husband would make it, and this is what she had to say here just a short time ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNA MCCLOY, RANDY MCCLOY'S WIFE: Our family's glad to be going home. Today is another part of our miracle, just three months after the accident.

However, there are 12 families who are in our thoughts and prayers today and every day. The families of Randy's coworkers and friends are celebrating with us today just as we continue to mourn with them. Please keep all of those in your thoughts and prayers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTINGTON: So they head home to their house in Simpson, West Virginia, about 40 minutes from here in Morgantown. His outpatient rehabilitation will continue for months, and perhaps years to come. The doctors, though, believe he is capable of a full cognitive recovery -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: It will be so interesting also to hear details from him, which we really haven't heard of what happened down there. And why was he the lone survivor? What did he do that everyone else didn't do. Chris Huntington for us this morning.

Chris, thank you.

(NEWSBREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

M. O'BRIEN: Coming up on the program, the climate of fear in a Mexican town gripped by violence. And the worries that it may soon spread to its U.S. neighbor, just across the border.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Opening bell just -- there it is. You heard one, you heard them all. Dow Jones Industrial average opening at 11,215, 61 points up on yesterday's trading.

In just a short time, Mary Winkler is expected back in court. She, of course, the Tennessee woman accused of killing her husband, a minister.

Leslie Ballin is one of the attorneys working on her defense team. He joins us now from Selmer, Tennessee.

Mr. Ballin, good to have you with us. What are we going to see in court today?

LESLIE BALLIN, MARY WINKLER'S ATTORNEY: Well, today we're going to start shortly. My co-counsel, Mr. Farese, is preparing for his part in the hearing. It's going to be a relatively short hearing this morning. It's a preliminary hearing. We are considering actually waiving that hearing and that decision will be made at the very last moment.

M. O'BRIEN: All right, and will -- a plea will be entered today. There wasn't one last time.

BALLIN: Well, a plea, under our rules of procedure -- a plea has been entered on her behalf of not guilty. You know, this is an emotionally charged day. It's full of -- sorrow, heartache. And, you know, we're going to court today and I've not had a chance to talk with the Winkler family, but Mary Carol's thoughts are with them. Our condolences go out to them.

And certainly we're talking about court today, but we're also -- the subject matter involving a loss of life. And as bright and sunshiney as it is outside, it's pretty cloudy in the courtroom.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes, I should say. What about bail or bond? Are you going to try to get her freed?

BALLIN: When you say freed on bond, it might be in our best interest, and I think what we're going to do is ask the judge not to consider bond today. There will be some forensic psychological examinations done. Mary Carol is not doing very well this morning emotionally and we're concerned for her.

M. O'BRIEN: Why don't you tell us a little bit about her emotional state this morning and how she's been generally?

BALLIN: She is trying to cope with the loss that she finds herself in. She is accused with the homicide of the husband that she loved. She has not been with her children. Her three kids are with the paternal grandparents, and from what we understand, they are in very, capable loving hands. But she's separated from them and she's just an emotional wreck.

M. O'BRIEN: Three young children. One of them a 1-year-old. There's been a lot of speculation and discussion about the possibility that she may have been suffering from some postpartum depression. What do you say about that?

BALLIN: That's one of the reasons that we're asking for the psychological examination. In the homicide case, a person's mental state is at issue. It's an element of the offense, and I think it is the prudent thing to do to ask for a psychological evaluation. Depending on what that evaluation shows, it will dictate defense strategy.

M. O'BRIEN: So you're giving us a little bit of a hint of your strategy at this point, that she might have been depressed?

BALLIN: Something that we're looking into. I think we would be dropping the ball if we didn't look into that. So we want to see what defenses are available for us, and for Mary Carol, of course.

M. O'BRIEN: It is widely reported that she confessed to authorities early on. What has she admitted to at this point?

BALLIN: I'm sure that you can appreciate that I cannot go into things said in the attorney-client relationship. The prosecutor in this case, Betsy Rice, has been available to us in person, on the phone. It's her policy to have open file discovery. She will share that information with us timely, even has suggested that she will give us that information earlier than the law requires her to. And we just appreciate the prosecutor being so willing to work with us in this very heartbreaking matter.

M. O'BRIEN: So we might learn a lot more about the prosecution's contentions today, even?

BALLIN: If we have the hearing, yes. If we decide to waive the hearing and wait to get our discovery information later -- but then again not much later -- you may not. The public may still be left with what happened.

M. O'BRIEN: What happened and why. Exactly.

BALLIN: Exactly.

M. O'BRIEN: Leslie Ballin, attorney for Mary Winkler. Thank you. I realize you can't share with us everything you know because of the nature of your relationship with her. Thank you very much for your time.

Soledad.

BALLIN: Thank you, sir.

S. O'BRIEN: Well, Miles, we showed you on Wednesday how the trip from inside Mexico to the border towns can be fraught with violence. It turns out that things aren't much safer in some of those border towns.

Ed Lavendera is in Laredo, Texas, this morning.

Hey, Ed. Good morning.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Soledad.

When you take this little road here and pass through that checkpoint, and couple hundred yards away, you reach the town of Nuevo Laredo. We're in Laredo here. And even though this is two separate cities in two different countries separated by a river, anyone who lives here will tell you that this is really just one big city.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAVANDERA (voice-over): When Nuevo Laredo bleeds -- and it often does -- newspaper headlines tell the gory details. For several years, rival drug cartels have waged a deadly war to control this border town, though violence brought tourism to a standstill.

SHERIFF RICK FLORES, WEBB COUNTY, TEXAS: I've never seen any of that. I thought it was only in the movies.

LAVANDERA: Last year, the murder rate almost tripled in Nuevo Laredo, and there have already been 40 murders this year. This man was appointed chief of police last year. Eight hours later, he was dead. In February,, drug cartel members launched grenades and gunfire into the offices of "La Manana" newspaper.

Raymundo Ramos had spent the last five years covering "La Nota Roja." For the paper, that's what reporters here call the bloody crime beat.

LAVANDERA (on camera): (SPEAKING IN SPANISH). It looks like this is a city out of control.

RAYMUNDO RAMOS, JOURNALIST: (SPEAKING IN SPANISH)

LAVANDERA: He says we're living like prisoners in our own city, because not even the police can make us feel secure. Everyone here is living with insecurity about what could happen.

(voice-over): After the attack, Ramos left the paper. Now he's working with a human rights group and selling tequila gift packages on the side to make ends meet. There have been isolated incidents of drug cartel violence filling into Laredo. There have been several dozen kidnappings of American citizens. But something else worries the mayor of Laredo.

MAYOR BETTY FLORES, LAREDO, TEXAS: A lot of the people that are involved in the business, if you will, already live here, and perhaps have lived here and in other parts of this country for many years. Why? Because they feel safer. So in that respect, I think we have had some spill-over.

LAVANDERA: Getting the violence under control here is the top mission. More than 10,000 trucks cross the border every day. This is one of the most crucial commercial entry points into the U.S. The fear is that drug violence will slow the trucks down.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAVANDERA: And another sign of the fear in this morning's newspapers, the latest person killed in Nuevo Laredo, a message carved into the body of the latest victim, a warning to one of the cartels and the news media who cover the story. Because of that, bylines are no longer printed in many papers that cover these stories of the reporters who have to cover this kind of news.

Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Oh, my goodness. Let me ask you a question about the violence in Nuevo Laredo. Is it widespread? Or is it a very sort of targeted to specific people kind of violence?

LAVANDERA: Well, what we've heard from several people is that the people who are being killed, in some way or another, are often believed to be involved in this cartel. So it is targeted killing in that regard. But when many people in Nuevo Laredo will tell you is just don't know where that's going to erupt. And what they're afraid of is just being caught in the crossfire.

S. O'BRIEN: Ed Lavandera for us this morning. Ed, thanks.

CNN's Lou Dobbs is in Cancun for the trilateral summit. One the eve of it, Mexican President Vincente Fox said he's going to extradite criminals who terrorize border towns in the U.S. Lou's going to talk about that and much more in a special "Broken Borders" special report, live from Mexico, tonight 6:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

"CNN LIVE TODAY" is coming up next. Daryn Kagan is working on that.

Good morning.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Soledad, good morning. More of what we don't hear often enough. Good news today from Iraq. We'll have more on American Jill Carroll, released by her captors just a few hours ago, and she's talking about it. You'll see her entire interview as she talks about her captivity, what she saw and how she was treated.

Also we're minutes away from that expected court appearance by the wife accused of murdering her minister husband. Miles just talked to her attorney. The word out of Selmer, Tennessee is that Mary Winkler may give a reason for her alleged crime. You'll want to stay tuned for that, just minutes away right now on "CNN LIVE TODAY."

For now, Miles, back to you in New York.

M. O'BRIEN: Thank you very much, Daryn. We'll see you just a few moments from now.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MARKET REPORT)

S. O'BRIEN: President Bush is in Cancun, Mexico. He's there, of course, for the immigration summit. He was asked, though, his reaction about Jill Carroll's release.

Here's what he had to say:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUESTION: Sir, do you have a reaction to Jill Carroll's release?

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRES. OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank God.

QUESTION: What do you know about why she was released?

BUSH: I'm really grateful she's released. I want to thank those who worked hard to release her. And we're glad she is alive.

And it's good to see you all. And I'd like to make sure you work more than you play.

I'm always optimistic.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

S. O'BRIEN: President Bush joking a little bit with reporters there as you heard him saying. He hopes that the journalist covering him are working more than they are playing in Cancun, Mexico.

But starting off by saying thank God, that he's glad that Jill Carroll is alive and has been released. It's a story we have been following since we got on the air. A short break. AMERICAN MORNING is back in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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