Return to Transcripts main page
Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
Shawn Hornbeck Speaks; Alleged Missouri Kidnapper Pleads Not Guilty; New Hope For Parents of Missing Children
Aired January 18, 2007 - 22:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Shawn Hornbeck spoke, the first time we have heard from the kidnapped teen.
And, in a Missouri courtroom, Michael Devlin, his accused kidnapper, spoke, as well. The details are starting to come out, how Shawn survived so many years in captivity, why he felt unable to escape. We have tried to imagine ourselves or our children in his place. We have heard plenty of questions, some of them pretty insensitive, from too many pundits.
Tonight, you will hear a little bit from Shawn himself, after he and his family sat down with Oprah Winfrey for a remarkable interview.
Fortunately -- we're going to have that story in just a moment -- a road map to -- to recovery does exist for children like Shawn, something I talked more about tonight with a doctor from NYU Child Study Center and Dr. Sharon Cooper of the National Center For Missing and Exploited Children.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Sharon, in -- in a case like Shawn's, how difficult is it for a child to return to a -- a normal life, if -- if that's even possible?
DR. SHARON COOPER, NATIONAL CENTER FOR MISSING AND EXPLOITED CHILDREN: You know, when a child has been abducted, such as Shawn has been, he has had a life-changing experience. I don't think we could ever expect him to have a totally normal life, because this experience is something I'm sure he will never forget.
I think the biggest issue will be trying to help him reintegrate, both into his family, into his social situation, and hopefully into an academic setting.
COOPER: Marylene, how, though, does a child reintegrate? I mean, you have been away for four years, or however long it's been, you're a different person.
DR. MARYLENE CLOITRE, NEW YORK UNIVERSITY CHILD STUDY CENTER: Right.
I mean, most of the kids that I have worked with who have this kind of experience say that they will never be the same person that they were before. So, the goal is to help them start making sense of the experience they have had, and piece together who they were before with who they were then.
COOPER: Sort of create a narrative.
CLOITRE: Yes, and with the idea of who they can be in the future, bringing those pieces together.
And it's a process. You know, it's not at any one moment, there's going to be a transition from a confused person to a -- a well-understood new person. It's going to be a process when he's 15, 16, 17, 18, trying to make sense of what's happened, and carrying it with him, and sort of organizing his sense of self, hopefully in a positive way, based on how well he can make sense of where he's been.
COOPER: So, Sharon, I mean, things like going to school, I mean, Shawn already went to his school on Saturday, saw friends he hadn't seen since he was 11 years old. Is it a good idea for him to go back to school, to go back to that school? Should he be tutored privately?
S. COOPER: You know, I think that it's going to be very important for us to figure out where he is academically, and whether or not he's going to be on the same plane as his peers. His...
COOPER: Because that would be an odd situation, I guess, for -- you know, for him to go back and suddenly be in a lower grade than his friends were.
S. COOPER: That is correct. And I think he has to decide where his comfort zone is.
But, also, the school has an obligation to help him. They need to evaluate where his academic levels are, and make sure that they can try to provide remediation for him, because he has been out of school for four years. And I don't think that he would want to have that burden on his shoulders of trying to be at the same level of his peers academically, if he hasn't been exposed to the same type of education that they have had over this period of time.
COOPER: And, you know, Marylene, I try to put myself in a parent's situation, where it's got to feel like you are in a mine field, where you -- you want to ask all these questions to your child, but, at the same time, you are not sure how much to ask, how much you should be pressing them.
What -- what advice -- from your experience, what advice do you have?
CLOITRE: Right.
I think it will be important at some point that he be able to communicate his parents what's gone on. But I think, first, they should take -- allow him to take the lead. And, secondly, I imagine they will need some counseling themselves. First of all, having a child kidnapped is a traumatic experience, in and of itself.
And, secondly...
COOPER: Do -- do they also have to acknowledge that -- that he's a different person than the one they knew?
CLOITRE: Yes. Yes.
COOPER: That's got to be hard.
CLOITRE: And, secondly, they have to feel ready to hear whatever he has to say. And many parents are not. They may feel overwhelmed, shocked, guilty, or what is...
COOPER: So, it's not just counseling for -- for Shawn or any child. It's counseling...
CLOITRE: Right.
COOPER: ... for an entire family.
CLOITRE: Exactly, yes.
S. COOPER: In addition, I think the other point is that, when you have children who have been recovered like this, parents have that very difficult time of not being overly protective, because their gut reaction is to be overly protective. And this can cause the child, unfortunately, to begin to feel vulnerable, as if they are not able to handle what else is going to be for them in life.
And, so, that's a very thin line for the child and family to walk.
COOPER: You know, I...
(CROSSTALK)
CLOITRE: And...
COOPER: Go ahead.
CLOITRE: And, alternatively, sometimes, kids feel that they need to protect their parents from their own experience, afraid that their parents will be more upset than they were by what they went through.
COOPER: So, you -- you can't just return, and not have, you know, years of anger and confusion.
CLOITRE: Right. Right.
I imagine, you know, the last four years, he has probably had very little control over what has happened in his life.
S. COOPER: Right.
CLOITRE: Part of recovery is going to be about his taking control, having some self-determination about what's -- what will happen next, and making sense of his experience.
The idea that people are readily sort of labelling his experience, or even ourselves describing what he might feel like, can raise some anger in him, because it's now his time to make sense of what's gone on. And I think we should be respectful of allowing him first to understand what his experience has been, and let him tell his story...
COOPER: And...
CLOITRE: ... if he chooses to.
COOPER: And -- and recovery is possible. I mean, we have heard these statistics of kids who have been abused go on...
CLOITRE: Right.
COOPER: ... to become abusers themselves. That's not...
CLOITRE: No.
COOPER: ... guaranteed.
CLOITRE: No.
S. COOPER: No.
CLOITRE: That's not true at all. Actually, people who are abusers have a history of abuse themselves. But most kids who have been abused go on to be very normal people.
And I disagree with the idea that he will never be a normal kid. I think this experience will shape his life, will inform who he will become. But people -- people are known to actually grow from their traumas, if they were able to wrestle with it and make sense of it.
And, so...
S. COOPER: I also...
CLOITRE: ... I'm very hopeful for him.
S. COOPER: I also think, Marylene, as you were saying, with respect to the issue of control, the challenge will be his being allowed to take control of his life, because....
CLOITRE: That's right.
S. COOPER: ... so often, families feel that they, in their efforts to protect their child, will want to put into place lots of rules and regulations that they think will keep the child safe, which is very hard for a child in this age group, who is going to normally want to establish his independence, and begin to emancipate himself from his family.
COOPER: I appreciate both of your expertise and appreciate you talking about -- about this, and -- and what other children face in this situation.
Dr. Sharon Cooper and Marylene Cloitre, thanks very much. CLOITRE: You're welcome.
S. COOPER: Thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Well, again, Shawn and his parents appeared today with Oprah Winfrey. And we can't imagine it was an easy thing to do. It certainly was heartbreaking to watch.
Here is a little bit of their remarkable interview.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
A. COOPER (voice-over): Today, for the first time since his dramatic rescue last week, we heard from Shawn Hornbeck himself in an interview that clearly showed his affection for his parents.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE OPRAH WINFREY SHOW")
OPRAH WINFREY, HOST, "THE OPRAH WINFREY SHOW": Can you tell me how you got through these past four years?
SHAWN HORNBECK, FORMER KIDNAP VICTIM: Hope and praying.
WINFREY: Hope and praying. You said you would pray and cross yourself every night?
HORNBECK: Yes.
WINFREY: And what would the prayer be?
HORNBECK: That, one day, my parents would find me, and I would be reunited with them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: For the most part, 15-year-old Shawn was quiet and reserved, no doubt overwhelmed by the meticulously orchestrated media event.
He revealed some details about his confinement, telling Oprah Winfrey he slept and played video games to pass the time. Shawn also said that he was the one who posted a message on the Web site his parents started after he vanished.
Under the screen name Shawn Devlin, his alleged kidnapper's last name, he wrote, "How long are you planning to look for your son? Shawn didn't go into detail about what he endured during his more than four years in captivity.
But, to Shawn's parents, still clearly struggling over the scope of abuse their son might have experienced, Oprah posed this question, the question many have been wondering about.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE OPRAH WINFREY SHOW") WINFREY: Do you think he was sexually abused?
CRAIG AKERS, STEPFATHER OF SHAWN HORNBECK: Yes.
WINFREY: Do you think he was -- do you think he was tortured?
PAM AKERS, MOTHER OF SHAWN HORNBECK: That, I don't know yet.
C. AKERS: Well, you know, there is more than one kind of torture. There is mental torture. There is physical torture. I have no doubt that, you know -- mentally, that he's not the same boy that he was.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL DEVLIN, DEFENDANT: I'm not guilty.
COOPER: At this point, Michael Devlin has pleaded not guilty to kidnapping. No charges of abuse have been filed.
Shawn's parents also told Oprah they have not talked with him yet about his ordeal, but the acknowledgement of possible sexual abuse on national television opens a whole new dimension to this case, and might, if true, provide a window into another unanswered question: Why didn't Shawn Hornbeck try to leave?
CLOITRE: Sexual abuse is a form of intimidation and violence, and, like all other forms of violence, becomes a vicious cycle. The more intimidating the captor is, the more frightened the child feels, and the more dependent they become on them, and thinking there is no way out of this.
COOPER: When Oprah asked Shawn's parents why he didn't run away, his stepfather, Craig Akers, said -- quote -- "There had to have been something held over his head. If he could have walked away, he would have. There is definitely something that stopped that from happening."
Oprah said, Shawn told her he didn't try to escape because he was terrified.
Child trauma expert Dr. Marylene Cloitre says, regardless of the type of abuse, the path to healing for Shawn will be a long one, and that what he may need most and certainly did not find today is privacy.
CLOITRE: I think it's going to be very important for Shawn, in his feeling like a good person and like a -- a young man who has control over his life, to be able to determine what's said about what's happened. And I think that's something that will have to be negotiated with his parents and with his community and with the media.
COOPER: Shawn ended the interview by telling Oprah that he's hoping to get back to a normal life soon, a place that, right now, must seem awfully far away.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Well, today, we also saw significant new developments where Michael Devlin is concerned.
He was arraigned today on the abduction of Ben Ownby. He entered a not-guilty plea. He will be arraigned, as well, at some point in question with the Hornbeck case. But that may not be all.
Last night, we learned that police were exploring possible connections between Michael Devlin and two more missing children. And, today, that number grew to three.
The latest on that from CNN's Jonathan Freed.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JONATHAN FREED, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Scott Kleeschulte was 9 years old when he disappeared in Saint Charles, Missouri, a Saint Louis suburb.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have never been able to put his picture out yet. And that -- it's just -- that would be too hard.
FREED: Scott's family has been searching for him, for any answers at all, for 19 years.
The hardest part?
RICHARD KLEESCHULTE, FATHER OF SCOTT KLEESCHULTE: Not knowing, is he still out there, or, if he's not, what -- what did happen? We would -- we would like to have a closure, one way or the other.
FREED: Saint Charles police haven't stopped working on that. And that's why they are going interview Michael Devlin, the man accused of kidnapping 13-year-old Ben Ownby last week, and 15-year-old Shawn Hornbeck more than four years ago. The two boys were found at Devlin's apartment last Friday in nearby Kirkwood.
At his arraignment in the Ownby case today, Devlin pleaded not guilty. However, the prosecutor in the case said Devlin confessed to kidnapping the boy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When Mr. Devlin was taken into custody, he did confess that he had kidnapped Ben Ownby from Franklin County.
FREED: Devlin's attorneys declined comment on that, but said intense media attention to the case would make it hard for Devlin to get a fair trial.
The judge said Devlin would face 30 years to life if convicted in the Ownby case alone. Saint Charles police say Devlin has been living too close to their community to ignore him as a possible suspect.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going do everything we can. We're going to cross our T.'s and dot our I.'s to get to the bottom of if Devlin is involved or not with our case. FREED: Saint Charles is the latest police department to look for possible links between Devlin and unsolved missing-children cases.
Up the road, in Lincoln County, investigators say the details of Shawn Hornbeck's disappearance resemble the Arlin Henderson case. Like Hornbeck, Henderson was 11 years old when he vanished in 1991. And the two boys were both slight with close-cropped hair.
(on camera): Arlin Henderson was last known to be on this stretch of Chantilly (ph) Road in Lincoln County. He was just riding his bike, and he disappeared. They found his bike a couple of months later about two miles away.
(voice-over): Shawn Hornbeck was also last seen riding a bike on a rural road.
LIEUTENANT RICK HARRELL, LINCOLN COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT: Well, I think it's common sense. And it's good -- good law enforcement. If they develop a suspect in the -- in the region that fits a -- a certain profile of a case that we have had since 1991, then, we are going to look back into our archives.
Scott Kleeschulte's family doesn't even know what Scott looks like today, if this age-progression image even comes close. But they refuse to give up looking for him, and say, if Shawn Hornbeck could eventually come home:
KLEESCHULTE: Down deep, I -- I -- I think there is hope. I mean, this just proves you can't give up. And I have just got a gut feeling that something might come out of this.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Jonathan joins us now.
Jonathan, has Devlin or his attorneys said anything about the speculation that he might be involved in -- in other cases of missing kids?
FREED: They have been asked about a connection to the Henderson case up in Lincoln County. And they declined to comment on that.
And, Anderson, CNN is trying to get to them about these other cases that keep popping up, the three that we have been discussing now.
COOPER: Police are -- must be concerned about giving false hope to -- to families who are out there looking for their missing kids.
FREED: They definitely are. I'm standing in front of one police department, where that is exactly what we were talking about earlier today.
But the departments, especially in these longer-standing cases, Anderson, say that they are in such regular contact with the families, that the families have gotten to know the case officers here, and they can put it in -- in better perspective when they come to them with a development like this.
So, they are definitely hopeful, but they say that they don't feel that they are giving them false hope.
COOPER: All right, Jonathan Freed, thanks for the latest.
As terrible as it was, Shawn and Ben's nightmare, being kidnapped by a stranger, it is actually pretty rare. Here's the "Raw Data."
In 1999, which is the most recent data available, 58,200 children were taken by people unrelated to them. The Justice Department says that nearly half of the victims were sexually assaulted. But just 115 of the kidnappers were strangers or people the children barely knew.
In a moment, the mother and uncle of Arlin Henderson, who you just saw, the 11-year-old boy taken more than 15 years ago, we will talk to them. They have new hope tonight, as police call Devlin the most viable suspect in Arlin's disappearance.
And later: the monster next door hiding in plain sight.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DENNIS RADER, CONVICTED SERIAL KILLER: I took the belt and then strangled her.
A. COOPER (voice-over): Leading double lives, hidden lives, keeping deadly secrets -- how they live with themselves, and how they get away with it over and over again -- ahead on 360.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: That is Arlin Henderson, who vanished in 1991, as he looked then and as he might look now.
As always, if you think you have seen him, call 1-800-THE-LOST.
The arrest of Michael Devlin has brought new hope to his mom, hope that perhaps the mystery of his disappearance may get solved.
I talked to his mom, Debra Henderson-Griffith, and his uncle James McWilliams earlier. And, as you will hear, they have been through far too much already.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Debra, I can't imagine what -- what this week has been like for you. Authorities are now saying that -- that Devlin is the most viable lead in the investigation of your son's disappearance.
What do you think of -- of this possible break, after -- after these 16 years?
DEBRA HENDERSON-GRIFFITH, MOTHER OF ARLIN HENDERSON: I'm -- I'm really glad for the break. I'm hoping something comes out of it.
I'm hoping for answers. And this has been the best lead we have had. So, we're just holding our breath until the authorities -- until the authorities question him.
COOPER: We're -- we're looking at a picture now of your son.
Tell us about what happened, how -- how he went missing.
HENDERSON-GRIFFITH: We were -- typical day. We were at home. And he decided he wanted to go out and ride his bicycle. I guess it was about 2:30, somewhere around there.
And I told him, yes, go ahead, but I was going to cook supper early, so I could give grandma her medicine, because she had to eat before she took it, and for him to come back in a little bit.
And he said: "All right, mom. Save me some Poli sausage."
And I stood at the door and watched him get on his bike and ride down the street. And that was the last I saw of my son.
COOPER: And I understand, three months later, a -- a farmer found his bicycle; is that correct?
HENDERSON-GRIFFITH: Yes. Yes. It was found in a bean field.
COOPER: I understand that -- that, for -- for a long time, you -- you kept sausage, Polish sausage, in -- in your freezer, just in case he came back.
HENDERSON-GRIFFITH: Yes, I did. And I still try to keep it in there. But I have got three teenagers that -- my grandkids. And they keep pretty well everything eaten up.
(LAUGHTER)
HENDERSON-GRIFFITH: So, I have to keep remembering Arlin.
COOPER: What -- what has -- I mean, you said it was like a roller coaster. What -- I -- I think it's impossible for anyone to imagine what -- what -- what these years have been like. How do you -- how do you get through?
HENDERSON-GRIFFITH: Prayer. And, like I said, I'm raising my three grandkids. They keep me going, and my family, and hope.
COOPER: James, one of the investigating sheriffs says that he sees a striking resemblance between a picture of Arlin and a picture of Shawn Hornbeck when they were both 11.
Have -- have you had a chance, or your family had a chance, to -- to speak with -- with the Hornbeck family? Or do -- I mean, do you see a resemblance?
JAMES MCWILLIAMS, UNCLE OF ARLIN HENDERSON: The resemblance with my nephew and Shawn Hornbeck was -- like we said earlier, they both took a ride on their bikes, like they normally would, and just vanished in thin air.
And, now, they keep us updated, you know, and let us know that, you know, they are still working, and hoping and praying that there is something going to good come out of this.
COOPER: Debra, there -- there have been, I guess, hopes raised and hopes dashed a lot over the years.
Back in 2001, a guy actually falsely confessed to killing Arlin, to killing your son. He then recanted, after investigators basically poked holes in the story. That must have just been horrific.
HENDERSON-GRIFFITH: Yes. I had to sit in the courtroom and listen to this young man say all the terrible things he had -- that had been done to my son. And I didn't think I was going to survive that.
But I kept thinking, you know, if -- I don't know how this is. It couldn't be this way. And I told the police, and I told -- I even told the news reporters, this -- this boy is perjuring himself. I don't know why. I can't comprehend why. And, finally, they gave him a lie-detector test, and he failed it.
COOPER: I understand you -- you have stayed. You have kept your number the same. You have -- you have -- you know, you have -- you have stayed in the same place, because you want -- if Arlin is able to come back, you want him to be able to find you.
Do -- do you -- is there still -- there -- you still have hope every day?
HENDERSON-GRIFFITH: Oh, yes, every day. I can just see him walking up. I have stayed in the same place. I have changed my phone number, but I kept it under his father's name, Arthur Henderson, so he would know. And everybody around knows me. And, if he went anywhere, he could find me.
COOPER: Debra, I'm -- I'm sorry to be talking to you under these circumstances. But you're -- you are a strong woman. And -- and I know it's important for to you get the message out about Arlin and about all the other kids out there who are still missing.
So, I appreciate you talking.
HENDERSON-GRIFFITH: Well, thank you for having -- having me. And thank you for keeping Arlin's name going, and his pictures going, because, some day, there is going to be a miracle. And you are all invited to the party.
(LAUGHTER)
COOPER: Well, I will -- I will be happy to be there.
HENDERSON-GRIFFITH: Thank you. (END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: We will definitely be happy to be there.
Accused kidnapper Michael Devlin seemed normal to his neighbors and co-workers, but was he really leading a double life? Could he be a criminal? And could his neighbors have been living next to someone they didn't even know?
Plus: 100 hours of legislation in half the time. House Democrats, well, they made it look easy, but will their bills get passed? The slower Senate -- we're "Keeping Them Honest," when 360 continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: That's video of the Michael Devlin's arraignment today.
Last week, he was a pizza manager. Tonight, he's an accused child abductor -- if true, two very different sides of the same man. We have seen this before, of course, when what appears to be a typical life turns out to be anything but.
Here is CNN's Randi Kaye.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): First comes the crime, followed by the capture, and, then, inevitably, the shock and amazement.
GERALD TREMMEL, SERVED IN MILITARY WITH DENNIS RADER: He was kind of a quiet guy. He sort of stayed by himself.
KAYE: Dennis Rader blended in well in a Kansas community gripped by fear for decades. He had a wife and two children, and even served as his church president. How could anyone have guessed he was the infamous BTK killer, responsible for at least 10 murders? All of them involved torture, too.
PAUL CARSTEDT, ATTENDED CHURCH WITH DENNIS RADER: He brought spaghetti sauce and a salad, and he said, here, this is for the congregation.
KAYE: They are neighbors, sometimes husbands or fathers, with families, friends, steady jobs, but also something else.
DENNIS RADER, CONVICTED SERIAL KILLER: I went ahead and tied her up, and then put a bag -- a bag over her head and strangled her.
KAYE: They all have a secret life.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The people who are most able to get away with these crimes for years are the ones that look beyond suspicion, who blend in well. KAYE: Like Rader, other serial killers, Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy, the Boston Strangler, never attracted attention, until it was too late.
CANDICE DELONG, FORMER FBI PROFILER: People that involve themselves in these kind of crimes oftentimes are very, very cunning and above average intelligence. And, unless they make a huge mistake, you are probably not going to be able to know what they are doing behind closed doors.
KAYE: And far beyond the horrifying revelations about killers and kidnappers, others, too, live a lie.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REVEREND TED HAGGARD, NEW LIFE CHURCH: Everybody ready to study the Bible?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAYE: Take Ted Haggard. As an evangelical minister, he was married, with five children, and the leader of thousands of worshipers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HAGGARD: We say moral purity is better than immorality. We say telling the truth is better than telling a lie.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAYE: But his moral authority came undone after he admitted he bought crystal meth from a male prostitute. He was never charged with a crime, but said -- quote -- "There is a part of my life that is so repulsive and dark that I have been warring against it all my adult life."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, NOVEMBER 14, 1997)
MARY KAY LETOURNEAU, DEFENDANT: I did something that I had no right to do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAYE: And remember Mary Kay Letourneau? While she was teaching teenagers, she was also having sex with one of them. The mother and spouse served prison time and revealed her secrets on national TV.
And now there is Michael Devlin.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was always pleasant to me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I never had any problem with him at all.
KAYE: The mystery surrounding him is just beginning. But it's becoming increasingly clear he, too, wasn't just the person he seemed to be.
Randi Kaye, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Well, from leading a double life to stealing a life -- have you seen this young woman? She looks sweet, but she is hiding a secret, one that is destroying a family desperately searching for a loved one. We'll have the story tomorrow night on 360.
Also tomorrow, we're devoting a full hour to the return of the missing boys in Missouri. Don't miss a 360 special, "Taken: Children Lost and Found." That's at 11:00 p.m. Eastern.
Coming up, though, tonight, our first look at the late Steve Irwin's final adventure. Plus, billions of your hard-earned tax dollars going to companies so wealthy they can buy and sell entire countries. Crikey.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Most of us put up with long lines and strict security rules in airports, because we know they're destined to stop potential terrorists from getting on an airplane, but the heightened security was no match for a clever kid from Washington state.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's a 9-year-old kid that was able to go through security, everything and with no money, no ticket, no parents, no nothing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: That's just part of the wild journey that took this young boy halfway across the country. See how it ended in our next hour.
It only took House Democrats 42 hours and 15 minutes to finish their 100-hour legislative agenda. Tonight, they crossed off the last item on their list, passing a big that would get rid of billions of dollars of tax breaks for the oil industry. That's billions of dollars that you are paying for. Before you celebrate, it is not over yet.
CNN's Joe Johns tonight is keeping them honest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: The bill is passed.
JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): House Democrats wrapped up their first 100 hours rush ahead of schedule with a big finish, taking a swipe at big oil, voting to end taxpayer subsidies that they say the industry doesn't need and consumers reeling from price at the pump can't afford.
REP. JOHN LEWIS (D), GEORGIA: Oil companies are making record profit. They do not need our help. They're not begging for our help. They made more than $96 billion in profit.
JOHNS: The House also voted to try to undo an almost mind boggling blunder involving leases for oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. That when it's all said and done could cost taxpayers a whopping $10 billion or more.
Here's what happened. In 1989 and '99, the Interior Department negotiated leases with some 50 companies for deep water oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.
But many of the oil companies say if they have to pay the royalties now, that cost will be passed straight to consumers.
Congressional Republicans, for their part, are making the point, it's not the industry that screwed this one up.
REP. JOHN SULLIVAN (R), OKLAHOMA: The companies who entered into these agreements cannot be blamed by -- for the federal government's mistakes. The contracts signed by the federal government and energy producers are legal and binding.
JOHNS: The guy who's trying to unravel all of this says there's no evidence that the government intentionally let oil companies off the hook, as some critics have suggested.
EARL DEVANEY, INTERIOR DEPARTMENT, INSPECTOR GENERAL: This at a minimum is a shockingly cavalier management approach to an issue with a profound -- with profound financial ramifications. A jaw-dropping example of bureaucratic bungling.
JOHNS: Keeping them honest, what you didn't hear a love Democrats talking about today was that the blunder that started all of this was committed by the administration of a Democratic president. That's right. It happened on Bill Clinton's watch. Just the same, the Bush administration didn't fix it.
One watchdog group says the problem lies in the Interior Department agency responsible for the leases.
BETH DALEY, PROJECT ON GOVERNMENT OVERSIGHT: The big picture problem that is we have an agency that's totally captured by the oil industry and does its bidding, even if it compromises its mission to protect the taxpayer.
JOHNS: The White House supports the idea of recovering royalties but strongly opposes other parts of the House bill.
Joe Johns, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Well, straight ahead tonight, he died doing what he loved and what you loved watching him do. Steve Irwin, one last time, one final adventure.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEVE IRWIN, CROCODILE HUNTER: Crikey. It's dangerous, but it's so fun.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: But fun turned to horror. Steve Irwin's final journey.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
IRWIN: He'll defend what is his, with great violence. It doesn't matter what I'm doing in his territory. He considers it as his job to kill me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Well, the world knew Steve Irwin as the Crocodile Hunter. He died, of course, doing what he loved. The last documentary he was made, the one that he never finished, will air this Sunday on the Animal Planet and Discovery Channel.
The images show Irwin as he would want to be remembered, with great energy, great humor and a love for life.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
IRWIN: Woo-hoo! Have a look at this. Here is the biggest sea snake I've ever seen in my entire life. This would have to be a Stoke's, the biggest sea snake on earth, and this one would be over six feet long. I'm a six-footer, and I reckon he'd be as long as me, and his body is as fat as my arm, almost as fat as my leg.
COOPER (voice-over): This is the project Steve Irwin was working on when he died.
S. IRWIN: We are so lucky. We are so honored to have the king of all sea snakes cruising along right next to our boat.
COOPER: He teamed up with Philippe Cousteau, the grandson of the renowned ocean explorer, Jacque Cousteau, searching for the Ocean's Deadliest creatures.
Shot off the coast of eastern Australia, Irwin and his crew videotaped some of the not-so well-known sea predators, like the venomous stone fish. Its poison can cause paralysis, even death.
S. IRWIN: Crikey, I love stone fish. They're so fun. Each fish has got their individual personalities. They're great. And their eyes on top of their head and their camouflage techniques.
COOPER: Ironically, the documentary does not focus on stingrays, the animal that killed Steve Irwin. JOHN STAINTON, STEVE IRWIN'S BUSINESS MANAGER: It came over the top of a stingray, and a barb -- the stingray's barb went up and went into his chest and put a hole into his heart.
COOPER: His death was shocking. Thousands attended his memorial service where his 8-year-old daughter, Bindi, spoke.
BINDI IRWIN, DAUGHTER OF STEVE IRWIN: My daddy was my hero. He was always there for me when I needed him. He listened to me and taught me so many things. But most of all, he was fun.
I know that Daddy had an important job. He was working to change the world so everyone would love wild life like he did.
COOPER: His work will continue. His wife Terri told Larry King the promise she made.
TERRI IRWIN, WIFE OF STEVE IRWIN: He said the one thing I want you to promise is you'll always run the zoo. I mean, it was a given that I'll do my best with our children. And his concern was for -- his deepest love, I think, was for the zoo of any of the wild life work he did, because that's something that he's put so much of his own personal money and time and effort into.
S. IRWIN: Whoa. Look at the size of this one.
COOPER: Whether he was working with sea snakes, the box jelly fish, the blue-ringed octopus which can kill a person with just one bite, great while sharks and, of course, crocodiles.
S. IRWIN: Woo! This is perfect. Exactly what we're looking for. This is exactly where we'd set a trap, right here. We target the animal that we want. We locate the slide, and then we put the trap in.
I reckon we go for here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It sounds good.
S. IRWIN: This is going to be good.
COOPER: It was crocodiles that made Steve Irwin famous, and in this documentary we see him putting tracking devices on a saltwater croc, the largest reptile in existence.
This is as Steve Irwin would want to be remembered: teaching people about nature, swimming with the animals he loved, the Crocodile Hunter until the very end.
S. IRWIN: Woo! How's that? He's going for a deep dive, tail flicking and he's heading southwest, just about right where he came from. Woo-hoo! Mission accomplished. Beauty.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: The Crocodile Hunter's final adventure. Up next, hear about Steve Irwin's last moments from Philippe Cousteau, who was with him when he died.
And in our next hour, the latest from Missouri. Is the man accused of kidnapping Shawn Hornbeck and Ben Ownby connected to more missing children? Hear what police have to say, coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
S. IRWIN: Ooh! See the way that he flattens his neck out, that typical cobra neck flattening? What he's doing is he's saying, "I'm venomous, I'm wild and I'll bite you!"
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: That's Steve Irwin on one of the -- one of his last wildlife adventures before he was killed by a stingray. Philippe Cousteau was with Irwin the day he died, and he also worked with him on that final project. I spoke to him earlier.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: What was it like working with Steve Irwin?
PHILIPPE COUSTEAU, OCEANOGRAPHER: Amazing. When the producers at Animal Planet first approached me to do "Ocean's Deadliest" with Steve, I jumped at the opportunity. I didn't quite know what to expect, because I'd never met him before.
COOPER: I mean, his personality was sort of larger than life on television, obviously.
COUSTEAU: Yes. He was. You know, he put on a little bit more energy when he was on TV. But when we got out there, he was just the same genuine, fun, honest jokester of a guy that you see on television, just a little bit toned down.
COOPER: There are so many remarkable images in this documentary, the work that you guys were doing with the great white sharks is -- you know, it's kind of terrifying to see, at least for me. I'm completely chicken.
COUSTEAU: You're not a diver?
COOPER: I have dived, but literally, the last time I snorkeled, I saw a shark and I got out of the water.
COUSTEAU: We were in cages, so we'll get you a cage. All that thick steel between you. No problem. It was a great experience.
COOPER: Had you worked with great whites before?
COUSTEAU: No, I hadn't, and you know, as I say in the film, one of my dreams to be able to do that and they were just as magnificent and majestic as I imagined they would be.
COOPER: You weren't scared?
COUSTEAU: No.
COOPER: What were some of the other things which you had never done before which you got a chance to?
COUSTEAU: I definitely had never wrangled a salt water crocodile before. And they put me right on this 15-foot crocodile, on the tail. And the crocodiles use their tails to turn and put leverage to lift their body up and go into a death roll. And that would just be a disaster when people are on the crocodile's head.
COOPER: Hence the name death roll.
COUSTEAU: Yes. So getting on that, you know, having to pull that tail straight and then getting up, and I got to the head of the 11-footer, working to attach the satellite tracking tags. And that was definitely a new experience for me.
COOPER: Obviously, it's called deadliest creatures, but I mean, ironically, the stingray wasn't even part of the documentary.
COUSTEAU: Stingray had nothing to do with it. You know, it was a quiet, beautiful day. We were waiting for tiger sharks, actually. And obviously...
COOPER: You were on the main boat?
COUSTEAU: I was on Croc One doing some research. And Steve, you know, he was always boundless, full of energy, and he wanted to go for a free dive, some snorkeling, to see if he could get some B-roll maybe for this show, for Bindi's show.
And they saw a huge bull nose stingray. And you know, were filming next to it, swimming along next to the stingray, and it just got startled, and darted aside. Its tail, one in a billion, its tail whipped around, and the barb found its way into his heart. It was freakish.
COOPER: How far away were you?
COUSTEAU: I was only a couple hundred yards, the boat, off the bow of Croc One. You know, Steve made it to the surface before he went unconscious. They pulled him into the dinghy.
They raced to the back of Croc One. We pulled him out of the boat, and you know, we did everything we could, CPR and -- and you know, treatment for about an hour and a half until we got him to an island about an hour and a half away where the paramedics were there, and they diagnosed him.
COOPER: What do you want people to take away from this documentary?
COUSTEAU: I want people to understand a few of these stories, although these animals are dangerous, we are there doing science with them. And they all have an important role to play in their environment, keeping their environment healthy.
That was Steve's work, trying to bridge that gap. We all have this huge disconnect between ourselves and the environment. We think the environment, conversation is about trees and birds. And it's not. It's about nature. It's about our relationship to nature.
We all -- you know, clean air and clean water, nonnegotiable things for survival for all humans. So there's a connection we have that we don't think we do, that we have i with the environment. And the film was trying to bridge that gap, help us understand these animals have an important role to play in the environment.
And so Steve and I saw eye to eye on that. That's a conclusion we were both excited about. And we had to bring that to camera.
COOPER: Philippe Cousteau, thanks very much.
COUSTEAU: Anderson, thanks for having me. I appreciate it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Well, coming up, our "Shot of the Day". What's a deer doing out there on the ice? We'll see how folks helped it escape. It definitely had our newsroom talking today.
First, Randi Kaye joins us with a 360 news and business bulletin -- Randi.
RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, Anderson.
Get ready for ice storm round two. They are still cleaning up from the last storm. Well, now forecasters are saying much of Oklahoma and parts of Missouri could get six inches of snow between tomorrow and Sunday. Close to 200,000 people in those states are still without power.
Harvard researchers have confirmed a study they published last year that found an 11 percent increase in nicotine in cigarettes from 1997 to 2005. Tonight they say they know what caused it. The lead researcher says cigarette companies were using raw tobacco that actually contained more nicotine.
A spokesman for Philip Morris disputed the findings.
It was a down day on Wall Street. The Dow slipped nine points. The NASDAQ dropped 36 points. And the S&P 500 lost four points.
And important news tonight for parents. "Consumer Reports" is retracting its story that said many infant car seats failed disastrously in crashes in speeds as low as 35 miles per hour.
The magazine now says some of those test crashes were done at higher speeds than initially claimed.
So Anderson, a lot of parents went out and bought new car seats, only to find out that their other ones are actually OK. COOPER: All right. Well, Randi, thanks.
Now the "Shot of the Day". Take a look at this, Randi. A TV news helicopter, Norman, Oklahoma, captures a deer stranded in the middle of a frozen lake.
Check this out. The helicopter's pilot used the wind from the aircraft's rotor to try to push the dear literally into a break in the ice. There you go. Where then managed to hold on to some ice with its front legs.
He then lowered the helicopter. The wind sent the deer sliding on its belly across the ice until it reached the shore and scampered into a nearby wooded air and off to safety.
Now an update on the "AC 360 Takes You Live Sweepstakes". A lot of you have been asking who's the grand prize winner? Ta-da-da-da. Want to congratulate Leigh Penny of Phoenix, Arizona. She and a guest have won a trip here to New York for a behind the scenes look at 360.
And while the sweepstakes is over, you can still check out our special web site, CNN.com/AC and watch video clips from the program, test your news knowledge and, oh, a whole lot more.
Coming up in our next hour, the latest on Ben Ownby and Shawn Hornbeck and their alleged kidnapper, Michael Devlin. A lot of new developments, including Shawn's appearance today, telling his story to Oprah Winfrey.
Plus, the man President Bush needs to make his Iraq strategy work, Iraq's prime minister. The question is, can the U.S. really trust him?
And now a look at a company here at home saving lives in Iraq, a company that is definitely on the rise.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Blood loss is a leading cause of death on the battlefield, but one company is hoping to improve the chance of survival.
HemCon, short for hemorrhage control, has developed a bandage which can stop bleeding in just two minutes. Made with an extract from shrimp shells called chitosan, the bandage sticks to bleeding tissue and seals the wound.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hundreds of years ago, Chinese fisherman would rub this -- this material under their fingers when their fingers were bleeding and cracked.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: HemCon's first customer was the U.S. military. By early 2003, bandages were delivered to troops in Afghanistan. Today every soldier deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan must carry at least one HemCon bandage. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: About 120 documented lives that have been saved through the use of our product. We've gone from just a few thousand dollars of revenue in 2002 to about $24 million in 2006.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: HemCon says now emergency medical professionals and dentists across the country are using the bandages.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you look at the success rate as documented by the military, they find the product 97 percent effective. That same number we would expect to transpire to the civilian applications.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Michael Devlin entered a not guilty plea today in the abduction of Ben Ownby, the first of two kidnappings Missouri authorities have charged him with. He's going to be arraigned later on charges he kidnapped Shawn Hornbeck, who was rescued last Friday along with Ben.
Shawn had been missing more than four years. Today he spoke about his ordeal to Oprah Winfrey. He said he spent the time sleeping, playing videogames and watching TV. He said he was too terrified to try to escape.
His parents, who were by his side, told Oprah they believe he was sexually abused.
In the meantime, his rescue has touched off a new search for at least three other missing kids and their possible connection with suspect Michael Devlin.
More on that now from CNN's Jonathan Freed.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JONATHAN FREED, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Scott Kleeschulte was 9 years old when he disappeared in St. Charles, Missouri, a St. Louis suburb.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've never been able to put his picture out yet. That would be too hard.
FREED: Scott's family has been searching for him for any answers at all for 19 years. The hardest part...
RICHARD KLEESCHULTE, SCOTT'S FATHER: Not knowing is he still out there or if he's not, what did happen? We would like to have a closure one way or the other.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.voxant.com
