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Manhunt for a Suspected Kidnapper; A Twister Tears Apart a Town

Aired February 25, 2007 - 22:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This was an absolute kidnapping for ransom.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Now we know it was a kidnapping. Police zeroing in on the man who they say tied a young boy to a tree.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Lord, all I want you to do is save us today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: A twister tears apart a town. Tonight, you'll hear from survivors.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're seeing a lot of waste, fraud, and abuse, not just Iraqi money, but American taxpayer dollars.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Twelve billion dollars missing. You'll hear the outrage.

Plus, what are the chances? He's a fiery leader. And he was an equally fiery segregationist. Now connected by slavery.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It actually helped lift back women up into the eyes of the rest of the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: And the story of a real Dream Girl. One of the original Supremes joins us in the CNN NEWSROOM.

And hello again, everybody. This is B control. This is where we're going to begin our newscast tonight. Boy, there's a lot going on. We're going to begin with a manhunt for a suspected kidnapper. Now hard to believe that they haven't caught up with him yet. This guy is either a step ahead of every police officer in Florida, or he's hiding out somewhere. The latest now from CNN's Fredricka Whitfield.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): This is how 13- year-old Clay Moore described his kidnapper to investigators.

Florida police say Moore's description was dead-on. They issued an arrest warrant Sunday for this man, identified as 22-year-old Vicente Ignacio Beltran-Moreno, also known as Nacho.

CHARLIE WELLS, SHERIFF, MANATEE COUNTY, FLORIDA: This man abducted Clay Moore. We are sure of it.

WHITFIELD: Moore told police that Beltran-Moreno took him at gunpoint from a school bus stop in Parrish, Florida, about 30 miles from St. Petersburg, and forced into a red pickup truck.

Police say the suspect drove Moore to a wooded area near a farm where he once worked and tied him to a tree with duct tape before driving away.

Moore used a safety pin and his teeth to free himself, then looked for help.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was very creative. And when he sat down and told me, he talked to us about it, it was pretty ingenious for a 13- year-old, kind of MacGyver-like.

WHITFIELD: Police also credited Moore with keeping his wits about him and remembering details of his ordeal.

WELLS: He was extremely helpful and observant during that short time that he was with this suspect, and he gave us valuable information.

WHITFIELD: Information that led police to search Beltran- Moreno's Florida home on Sunday morning. Video provided by the police department shows what appears to be the red Ford Ranger truck that Moore described.

Police say they also found a clue to a motive - a handwritten ransom note that might have been intended for Moore's parents.

WELLS: I was shocked. I was shocked. And I think every one of us that read that - I can't even describe it. I don't think, like I said earlier, I don't believe I've ever read a real one before.

WHITFIELD: Florida officials believe that Beltran-Moreno has fled the state. But the Manatee County sheriff says his work on the case isn't over. He believes there's a good chance police will capture the suspect soon.

WELLS: I believe that, at the end of the day, we'll be able to either determine where he is or locate him and bring him to justice.

WHITFIELD: Fredricka Whitfield, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: Now we've been trying to get new information on the story throughout the course of the day. In fact, one of the things that just about everybody is following this story has been trying to get is information from the parents of this little boy, Clay Moore. The little boy is really a hero, by the way.

Well, his father, Tim Moore, has finally spoken to members of the media. He did so just moments ago. In fact, let's take that sound quad if we can right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TIM MOORE, CLAY'S FATHER: A person of this nature, they're diseased. And like I said, it could have been a lot worse, but I'm just going to leave it to that. He's just a - he's a menace to society and he needs to go away.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Hopefully he doesn't go too far away because police are on the beat for this guy. And a lot of parents in that area are hoping that they'll be able to catch him soon.

Let's go to Lynn Carsons now. She's joining us from our affiliate WFLA. She's live in Palmetto, Florida tonight.

Lynn, why is this guy so hard to catch?

LYNN CARSONS, WFLA NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Well, detectives tell me one of the reasons why is because this guy goes by so many different names.

Another reason, clearly, this is a man who is on the move. Florida authorities don't even believe he is in the state right now.

Early this morning, they figured out where this man lived. They raided his home. They were able to find the pickup truck that they believe that he used during the kidnapping. They were also able to find some things in his house that they hope will eventually be able to lead them to that 22-year-old man that they are after, but it certainly is a challenge.

SANCHEZ: As we watch this, we begin to wonder, what his intention was? I mean, he tied the child up, but apparently not well enough because the child was able to get away. Do we know what his M.O. was with this case?

CARSONS: Well, Manatee County Sheriff said he is certain that this man was after money. They found a ransom note in that pickup truck, demanding money and also something that is very frightening to many parents. In that note, there were also threats about what would happen to that 13-year-old boy if that man did not get his money.

So clearly, they think money was the motive. They still believe this was completely random. And they also believe that this man is very dangerous. When you think about it, he kidnapped this 13-year- old boy in front of 12 other kids, who all got a look at him.

SANCHEZ: That's unbelievable. Hey, we thank you so much. Lynn Carsons from affiliate WFLA for bringing us up to date on that. We all have our fingers crossed that they'll be able to catch them soon. And of course, the fear is if they don't, he could possibly do something like this again.

Take you now to Dumas, Arkansas. They're in shock. And you what? They should be. They've been walloped by a tornado that seemed to almost target the town. Buildings destroyed, a lot of people injured, even looting, looting after the fact. Here's CNN's Sean Callebs.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It only took a couple of minutes for two powerful bursts - possibly twin tornadoes - to turn Brandy Lay's life upside- down. Her home destroyed. Brandy's job gone, too, when the pet food factory where she worked was mangled by punishing winds.

She says the outlook for Dumas, Arkansas, is bleak.

BRANDY LAY, STORM VICTIM, DUMAS, ARKANSAS: I think it'll devastate it. My place of employment is demolished. And they're one of the biggest employers in this town.

I just don't know if it'll recover.

CALLEBS: Friends and family helped the Lays salvage what they can, no matter how random.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) did seem to make it. (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

CALLEBS: The fact that the mother of two kept her wits in a time of crisis paid off. Seconds before this, Brandy rushed next door to lead an elderly neighbor to safety, just as emergency warnings blared.

LAY: By the time we got to the grass, the sirens went off. And we made it from her driveway to our house and into the hallway, and it happened that quick.

CALLEBS: "It" was a violent rumbling Brandy will never forget.

LAY: You know, you hear people say it sounded like a freight train. It sounded like there was a freight train right on top of my head. And it was just like someone took the house and just shook it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And the roof just blew off?

LAY: And the roof just blew off.

CALLEBS: Powerful winds scored a direct hit on the town's major power substation, meaning it will be days before electricity is restored.

Sheriff Jim Snyder says the economic damage to his town of about 5,000 will last much longer.

JIM SNYDER, SHERIFF, DUMAS, ARKANSAS: It's kind of crippled a small town like this. We probably have - we're looking at probably 800 people out of work. Probably a third of our businesses are gone.

CALLEBS: The sheriff says, right after the storm looters hit. From a distance, Snyder saw people break into this drycleaner.

SNYDER: Then I watched them go in, and when I saw them coming out of that, they had ransacked the cash register and gotten the money out of that.

CALLEBS: The sheriff says nearly three dozen people were taken to local hospitals. But he says it could have been much worse.

Brandy Lay escaped injury, her sense of humor intact as she tried to calculate the odds of losing her livelihood and her house at the same time.

LAY: About 80 million to one, but it happened to me.

CALLEBS: Sean Callebs, CNN, Dumas, Arkansas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: Now let's do this now. Let's try and answer the question a lot of people are thinking about. And that is, are we out of the woods at least as far as some of he severe weather and these tornadoes are concerned? Jacqui Jeras following that for us as well as the rest of the weather. Jacqui, what you got?

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hey, Rick. For the most part, you know, you can't rule out an isolated severe storm at this point across parts of central Florida. Still kind of watching the Carolinas, as things are still sort of hugging the coast here. We did have a severe thunderstorm watch that included may say from Wilmington down towards Savannah. That has expired now. So they're aren't any watches. And conditions not really looking very favorable.

But still really packing a punch with this storm from Minneapolis all the way over towards New York City. We'll start out with a thunderstorm part of this system. And you can see Tampa not getting wet yet, but there are some stronger thunderstorms offshore that are going to be moving through here. Kind of hit and miss through much of the overnight hours.

There are those stronger thunderstorms that have moved offshore from the Carolinas. Still kind of hitting the Outer Banks here and on up, heading towards maybe say the Norfolk area. You get a little farther north, and we're talking about a little bit of freezing rain and sleet moving in towards Wilmington. Here's Philadelphia. Mostly snow, but we're going to see some sleet mixing in on occasion, especially overnight. Might even see a little bit of rain and then changing back over to snow.

And New York City predominantly snow, but could be seeing a little bit of mix moving in for you as well.

Now the snowfall accumulations are going to be pretty light, at least compared to what you saw across parts of Minnesota into Wisconsin and Michigan over the last 24 plus hours. And everywhere that you see purple here on our map, that's where we're expecting maybe four to eight inches at best.

And with the mix coming in, makes it kind of difficult for those forecast snowfall totals. This will mostly be an event through the day tomorrow, Rick. And getting much better by tomorrow evening.

SANCHEZ: All right, Jacqui, thanks a lot. We'll be checking back with you in just a little bit.

We've got an Olympic medalist story now to follow for you as well. We're going to bring you the latest on this. This is breaking news that's coming to us. He's proving himself one tough customer tonight. He's recovering from something that probably would have been the end for you or me. This is an amazing story. Rulan Gardener.

Now remember, if you watch the Olympics, he took gold in the Grecco Roman wrestling. This was in the 2000 Sydney Games. Well, here's what happened now. He and two other fellows went down in a small plane this weekend in Utah.

Here's the story. They survived the crash, but they still weren't out of trouble. After crashing into the lake, the plane began to sink. They swam for about an hour to shore in waters that were about 44 degrees. Finally, they spent the night without a fire in some island. Then they flagged down a fisherman the next day in the morning.

By the way, they weren't able to keep warm during the night. They said they had to be treated for hypothermia because of that. They're really out of the woods now. And doctors say they will be just fine.

We are bringing in some new weather pictures and reports you're going to be able to see right here. In fact, we've been checking over in our Epic Center and to bring you the very latest pictures as they come in, especially in regards to weather but every other story as well.

And then there's this story. Another story we're working on. Al Sharpton and Strom Thurmond, you might see them as polar opposites, right? But they have a lot more in common that you and they could possibly have figured out.

Also...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When you have billions of dollars in cash without any clear accounting, it could have gone anywhere.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: There is no paper and no trail, but the hunt is on to find $12 billion missing in Iraq. Who is to blame?

And then her funeral, her home, and her baby's daddy, are we finally getting to the end of the Anna Nicole Smith saga? We are going to be taking you live to the Bahamas. You're watching CNN. We are the most trusted name in news.

By the way, we're also the only national newscast right now bringing you the very latest as it happens. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Checking the most popular stories on cnn.com tonight. A zookeeper's been mauled to death in Denver. A 140 pound jaguar attacked the worker in the doorway to its exhibit. The animal was shot when it tried to approach emergency workers as well.

Also, full speed ahead for Iran's nuclear program. Iran's president says his nation's uranium enrichment effort has no break and no reserve gear.

And at the weekend box office, a motorcycle riding bounty hunter roared to first place for a second straight weekend. The Nicolas Case thriller "Ghostwriter" brought in almost $20 million. The NEWSROOM returns in just 60 seconds.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Suicide bomb attack, it's on a college campus. That's part of what you were hearing there. It was the alert being sounded. 40 people, mostly students, were killed. Another 55 were wounded. This is the second time this campus has been attacked in less than two months.

And get this. An Iraqi official says the suicide bomber was a woman. Also tonight, there's concern and some questions about the health of Iraq's President Jalal Talabani. He was flown to Jordan today on a U.S. plane for medical treatment. Talabani's son tells CNN that his father is suffering from exhaustion. And he's denying reports the president suffered a heart attack.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUBAD TALABANI, JALAL TALABANI'S SON: He did not have a heart attack. I spoke with him this morning. And he was in good spirits. He's suffering from (INAUDIBLE) and exhaustion, but the reports about him having a heart attack or a stroke are completely false. He made his own way o the plane. He made his own way off the plane and into his motorcade. He has been up and about. He has been returning correspondences. He's still been working.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Talabani is 73-years old. We're going to be checking on his condition throughout the night.

By the way, if you're wondering why we're over here, you see these boxes right here? Imagine taking $12 billion in denominations of $100 bills. This is what it would look like if you stuck them on crates on a pallet, and then tried to ship it to Iraq.

All sounds well and dandy, until you find out that the money afterwards - after it gets on a C-130 to Iraq is missing. And nobody seems to be able to find out where it went.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

REP. HENRY WAXMAN, CHAIRMAN CMTE. ON GOV'T REFORM: Who in their right mind would send 360 tons of cash?

RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): What was that?

WAXMAN: It's 360 tons of cash into a war zone. But that's exactly what our government did.

SANCHEZ: Three hundred sixty tons of cash, totaling $12 billion. $12 billion. So much money, it had to be shrink wrapped and then shipped to Iraq on a C-130 four years ago.

It was sent to help jumpstart the new Iraqi government.

PAUL BREMMER: The banks were closed. And in any event, we're unable to transfer funds electronically. So we had to pay Iraqis in cash wherever in Iraq they lived.

SANCHEZ: That's Paul Bremmer, the man who was in charge of the provisional authority in Iraq. Earlier this month, he sat before a House Oversight Committee to try and explain what happened to this money.

Today, the Bush administration could only account for a third of the $12 billion. Democrat Henry Waxman chairs the committee.

WAXMAN: Did some of this money get in the hands of the insurgents and those who are fighting us today in Iraq?

SANCHEZ: There is no evidence of that. But the Democratically controlled House wants to know how in the world this transaction went so badly? Bremmer told the committee most of the money went to paying civil service salaries and pensions.

But don't ask for any receipts, he says, because strict accounting rules were next to impossible. BREMMER: As so often in Iraq, the ideal clashed with the reality we faced. We had to find a way to get the Iraqi people's money working quickly for them rebuilding their country.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: You know, it's the biggest question facing people as they consider the situation in Iraq is, you know, the money that has been involved, the money that's been borrowed from China. The money that seemingly has been lost.

When you look at the size of something like this in denominations of $100 bills, you begin to wonder.

Now that money could have done a lot, had it gotten into the right hands. And the question, of course, now is, is it ever going to be tracked down?

Well, we wanted to find out about this. So today, we tried to get some answers from the congressman who's investigated this. That's Congressman Waxman. He talked to my colleague, Fredricka Whitfield.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WAXMAN: The United Nations put the United States in charge of that money as trustees for the Iraqi people. It was the Iraqi money, but because it was their money and we were in charge of it, that didn't mean we should have been handing out...

WHITFIELD: So what are your fears...

WAXMAN: ...part of accounting.

WHITFIELD: What are your fears as to how this money may have been spent?

WAXMAN: Well, you have billions of dollars in cash without any clear accounting, it could have gone anywhere. It could have gone in the hands of the insurgents. It could have gone into Swiss bank accounts. It certainly went into a lot of people's pockets, but it didn't serve the interests of the Iraqi people or allow us to live up to our responsibilities as the trustees for those firms.

WHITFIELD: So during the five hour hearings with - in front of the House Oversight Reform Committee, Mr. Bremmer said that the ideal clashed with reality. And they needed to get money fast to the ministries in Iraq. And in order to pay people to carry out the business that's helping to rebuild the country, and other things that needed to be attended to, they had to get the money to them fast. And that's the explanation. Why is that not enough?

WAXMAN: Especially Inspector General Stuart Bowen said he didn't expect them to have a perfect system that we would expect of U.S. corporations doing business. He expected that it had some semblance or recordkeeping, and some verification of the number of employees in these Iraqi... WHITFIELD: So what's next? Is there anything next?

WAXMAN: I think we need to look back at what happened there, to realize that set the tone for the years that have gone by since, where a lot of money's been wasted. The Iraqi people saw that money can be wasted. We've seen contractors overcharge for the work they've done in Iraq. And without recordkeeping, without limitations, we're seeing a lot of waste, fraud, and abuse of not just Iraqi money, but American taxpayer dollars.

WHITFIELD: Congressman Henry Waxman, thanks so much for your time.

WAXMAN: You're welcome. Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: And we thank Fredricka Whitfield for that. Now we're also wondering what you think of all this. Is this something that just happened in the confusion of war? In other words, is it an acceptable casualty of war? Or is this just plain unacceptable? Your opinion. That's what we want.

Give us a call, 1-800-807-2620. That's 1-800-807-2620. We will air your comments.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you set down the whole Bush administration, Nancy Pelosi who's third in line as Speaker of the House would become the first female president. And Hillary and Barak would have to fight her.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Well, you know he loves a good fight. Louis Farrakhan giving what some call his final public speech. And he didn't hold back. Wait 'til you hear what else he has to say.

But first, tracing your family tree can bring you all sorts of surprises. Just ask Al Sharpton. The details, next, in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Welcome back to the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Rick Sanchez. And by the way, we've been following this story in Florida about this little boy who escaped from alleged kidnapper. We were just told moments ago that we might be able to talk to his aunt. She might have some new information for us. We should get that for you in just a number of minutes. So stay with us on that.

Amazing story. Here's another amazing story we've been talking about all day here in the NEWSROOM. It's a civil rights activist and a segregationist U.S. senator linked by a shared family history they never knew existed. What are the odds? Here's CNN's Joshua Levs.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AL SHARPTON, REV., CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST: Good morning.

JOSHUA LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Al Sharpton, one of today's best known civil rights figures, a presidential candidate in 2004; Strom Thurmond, the late senator who once ran for president as a segregationist and had a biracial daughter, he died a few years ago at the age of 100.

The two families share a newly discovered link.

SHARPTON: I couldn't describe the emotions that I've had over the last two or three days, thinking about this. Everything from anger and outrage, to reflection and to some pride and glory.

LEVS: "The New York Daily News" worked with ancestry.com to look into Sharpton's background for a special report and discovered the link, explaining it this way. Sharpton's great grandfather Coleman Sharpton, along with a woman believed to be his wife and two children, were given as slaves to Julia Thurmond. She and Strom Thurmond share an ancestor.

SHARPTON: In the story of the Thurmonds and the Sharptons is a story of the shame and the glory of America.

LEVS: Sharpton said when the paper approached him with the idea, he knew he'd learn a lot, but he wasn't prepared for what he calls probably the most shocking thing in his life.

SHARPTON: In a thunderstorm, you go outside you expect the thunder and the lightning. Well, until someone tells you it's going to last 40 days, that's like hearing how Strom Thurmond was part of the deal.

LEVS (on camera): Sharpton said he once met Thurmond years ago. He has not spoken with Thurmond's relatives about the news. Sharpton called this an opportunity for Americans to think about history and about how far the nation has come.

Joshua Levs, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: By the way, we checked and found out the family trees go far beyond the Internet these days. You ever heard of a country called Guinea Bissau? Well, DNA testing has linked the ancestors of actress Whoopi Goldberg to that African country. Guinea Bissau's leaders only recently heard about Whoopi's test results. They've now invited her to come over for a visit, but it's probably not going to happen soon we hear, because her publicist says she just does not like to fly.

Another family tree that we're tracking these days. This one has a lot of limbs to it. Anna Nicole Smith and her daughter, who is the daddy?

Rusty Dornin checking this out for us.

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We may not find out who's the daddy, but we will find out who'll be the guardian of Anna Nicole Smith's daughter here in the Bahamas and how Bahamians feel about the circus in town, coming up next.

SANCHEZ: Thanks so much, Rusty. We'll look forward to it.

Meanwhile, now take a look at this. Would you believe two kids found it in their backyard? What is it? We'll explain.

Also, don't forget tonight's calling question. The $12 billion missing in Iraq, is this a casualty of war or just plain unacceptable? Give us a call at 1-800-807-2620. 1-800-807-2620. A lot of news coming your way. Stay with us. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

RICK SANCHEZ, ANCHOR, CNN NEWSROOM: Welcome back. I'm Rick Sanchez in the CNN newsroom. Tonight we've got a way to help you out of those "I don't know" moments.

When you rent a car and they ask you if you want them to fill your tank instead of you filling the tank in before you turn the car back in, what do you say?

Well, here's tonight's "On The Go" warning on that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM PARSONS, BESTFARES.COM: The number one definitely don't-do, if you have an empty tank, bring it back to the car rental company and say "You fill it up."

When I was on a recent trip to Florida, it was $6.99 a gallon to refuel. In my case, by filling up the gas tank - and it was pretty empty - it was $35, $40. If they had done it, it would have been over $140. This is where it's truly highway robbery. It's a way the car rental companies take advantage of you.

The policy I take every time is, when I leave the airport I will mark down the first exit where I see a group of gas stations, because there's usually never a gas station anywhere near the airport. And then I'll come back and there's where I'll just pull over, make sure it's filled up.

In my opinion right now, it's best that you fill up the car. Don't ever bring that car back empty, unless you'd like to refinance your home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) SANCHEZ: And we welcome you back. And tonight we could be on the eve of decision time in the Anna Nicole Smith saga. Tomorrow, competing courtroom battles are expected to play out in the Bahamas.

Who gets to keep the baby? Who gets to keep the house?

Also, what do Bahamians think about having all this going on in their back yard? Here is CNN's Rusty Dornin.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT, THE BAHAMAS: The laidback lifestyle of Bahamian culture is one of live and let live, until these: suggestive pictures of Anna Nicole Smith and Shane Gibson, the minister of immigration - reportedly the man who helped her become a citizen so quickly.

So we set out to see how Bahamians feel about being sucked into this ever widening international drama.

For Melissa Duveaux (ph) life goes on - races with the teams from her church group. But a woman who never cared about this story does now.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One of our leading politicians had to resign because of it. So it's brought a lot of - more bad than good to me.

DORNIN: Down at the local seaside fish and produce market, some see the scandal here as all just election politics, Bahamian style.

So, it did have an effect. I mean, it did have.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On the politicians.

DORNIN: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not the country.

DORNIN: OK, local politics. But people are still talking about it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, it's big news here, you know. They have it in the courthouse, every day on the radio. It's a big thing down here with Anna Nicole Smith.

DORNIN: At the park a game of hoops and reflections on the newfound, worldwide publicity.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think (UNINTELLIGIBLE) a positive view, really, you know, because now we're getting a lot of P.R. we didn't pay for. So, it's a real plus for the Bahamas.

DORNIN: You can see that down at the cruise ship docks. Taxis line up with offers of a new tourist stop.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They want to go by Anna Nicole Smith's house. They want to take a few pictures in that area.

DORNIN: Our driver tells us taxis don't normally come out to this part of the island. They do now, bringing visitors from all over the world.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I feel thankful for Anna Nicole. She has brought much business here, because all the tourists coming to the country wants to see it.

DORNIN: Even the locals stop by to take pictures through the gates, where reporters and photographers are poised for action.

Out at the cemetery the plot where Smith's son lies - and she will soon be buried - also has become a tour stop. The plots are unmarked, but Gregory Strahan (ph) is happy for the business.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People just want to see the graveyard. They're walking around the graveyard trying to figure out which one, oh, which one it is, you know. And the grave is unmarked and they're just like, oh, man, I can't figure it out, you know.

DORNIN: And while the boost to tourism may last for awhile, many like Melissa Duveaux (ph) are looking forward to an end to the madness.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So we're happy that she's going to buried here, if that is the case. And we're happy that everything would be over very soon - at least we hope.

Guys, is that the case?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes!

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DORNIN: We also got a sense of how fed up some people here are with the whole circus. Speaking to the helicopter company that was being approached by several media companies about possibly putting helicopters up for when she is buried here, he said he wants no part of it. And the government could impose a six hour flight restriction around it.

Meantime, Rick, of course tomorrow is the big hearing about the guardianship for Dannielynn, Anna Nicole's baby daughter.

SANCHEZ: And there's also another hearing, I understand, on whether or not he's going to be able to keep that house where they were living in. But it's - what, is there a contract? Did somebody ever sign a contract saying, "I'm deeding the home over to you," or not?

DORNIN: Well, that's the question. The man representing G. Ben Thompson, who was previous owner of the house says they want him out of that house, that he has no right to be there.

Of course, the attorney for Anna Nicole Smith is saying, no, she was given that house and she has a right to remain there. And we do also have an affidavit of some papers they filed, that they want to have Howard K. Stern appointed as a representative of the estate.

And that would, if the judge decided to let him keep the house, that would allow him to stay there. Because right now, really, he has no right to stay there.

SANCHEZ: How do you prove that somebody gave you something is going to be the question the judge is probably going to be asking.

Rusty Dornin, we thank you, hanging in there and bringing us that report.

We've been following this story for you. Clay Moore - what a heroic story. The story of this young man, tied to a tree by an alleged kidnapper.

He's able to get away, get the police, described the suspect. Police now know who they're looking for. The problem is, they still haven't found the person that they're looking for in this case.

We do have somebody on the air who can shed some light on this story for us. We told you we're going to be doing everything we can to bring you the breaking items in this story.

And we've got Lisa Rumsey standing by now. She is the little boy's aunt. And the question we've got to ask you first, Lisa, how's he doing? How's he hanging in there?

LISA RUMSEY, AUNT OF CLAY MOORE (via telephone): He's hanging in there. He's a trooper. He's a fire. He is - he's a warrior. And he won.

SANCHEZ: Yes, I'd say so. I mean, he tells his story of what? He used, what, a safety pin, to be able to untie himself from the tree, right?

RUMSEY: Correct. I can't go into any more details than - right.

SANCHEZ: Have the authorities said that he could get any kind of counseling at this point? Are they - what are they recommending to the family?

RUMSEY: I'm sure the entire family - I don't know about him, but I'm going to need counseling after all of this.

SANCHEZ: It's been hard on you, hasn't it?

RUMSEY: It's been hard on the whole family. This is hitting very close to home.

SANCHEZ: What was the time like in that interval between the point where he was gone and the point where he finally came back?

RUMSEY: Very emotional. A lot of prayers. A lot of prayers. The entire world was praying for this child. SANCHEZ: What do you know about the suspect, who is still at large?

RUMSEY: Very little. The only thing I know is just the composite that Clay had written up.

SANCHEZ: Vicente Beltran is his name. If you could send a message to him right now, what would you say to him?

RUMSEY: I hope somebody finds you before we do.

SANCHEZ: Lisa Rumsey, we thank you. You've been very kind ...

RUMSEY: You're welcome.

SANCHEZ: ... to take the time to talk to us.

We wish you the very best, and certainly our best to Clay, as well.

RUMSEY: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Rain, hail, ice and snow. You might have had one or a combination of all of it this weekend. We've been staying on top of this for you, as well.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARY WILSON, SINGER: It actually lifted, helped lift black women up into the eyes of the rest of the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Now the rest of the world is taking a second look at Motown, thanks to "Dreamgirls." A singer who shared in the dream from the start - you might say, the original - she shares her story with us in just 12 minutes.

More from the NEWSROOM. I'm Rick Sanchez. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: And we welcome you back. I'm Rick Sanchez. We've been following the beads all night long to get the latest pictures, especially with all the weather we're having all over the country, and we're going to begin here.

This is the D.C. area. Imagine having to drive through this. Well, it hasn't been fun. This is what you call a snow emergency. That's what's been declared there in Fredrick and St. George's County.

A real mess on the highways. Cars have been toppled. They've gotten sleet, they've gotten snow. And they've gotten ice consistently.

Snow emergency means they have to have all the cars off the highway by morning so they can get the plows back through.

And then we got this. This is from one of our eye reporters. His name is Jerry. He's out in Colorado. He wanted to show us what he's been going through this weekend, so he started taking out his video camera, and he's been showing us.

This is a whiteout. That's a ground blizzard. I mean, we've been listening even just to the sound. It just seems to howl as the wind blows between the trees, and all the snow. Listen to that.

And then we're going to show you what's really rough for some people on this night. Five hundred and fifty flights have been cancelled at Chicago's O'Hare Airport, and this is what's going on. They're having to sleep. At least the airport folks were nice enough to put out some cots, so they can sleep, as well.

We're wondering when these people are going to be able to get out of there. So, let's go over to Jacqui Jeras.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: We've got some more iReport pictures coming in from this massive storm from over the weekend. A beautiful picture, but look at the bend on the ice on those trees.

This is from Tish Harder from Ames, Iowa. A half of an inch of ice coated the trees. On top of that they got eight inches of snow. She said you could just hear the snapping of the limbs outside.

We'll go a little farther up to the north to Nevis, Minnesota, from Greg Wentz. He took this picture of this back deck. He is estimating about a foot of snow there. This was really the first major snowstorm for north-central parts of Minnesota.

And believe it or not, while we have had some very active weather here in the United States, well, on the other side of the world in Scandinavia, they've had a series of storms.

This is from our iReporter Joseph Salmonsen from Kristiansand, Norway. He's estimating between two to three meters of snow has fallen in the last week. That equates to six to 10 feet of snow. He stood up in his backyard and gave us this iReport.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSEPH SALMONSEN, KRISTIANSAND, NORWAY: Most shops have been closed downtown in Norway's biggest city. In (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Kristiansand, most of the shops are being held closed. A lot of schools are closed.

Also, the biggest malls in (UNINTELLIGIBLE) center have been closed for the past few days.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JERAS: A big thank you from Joseph all the way from Norway.

You can be an iReporter whether you live in Norway or right here in the U.S. Send us your weather and news, pictures and stories, at CNN.com/ireport.

Rick, all the way from Norway. Can you believe it?

SANCHEZ: I can't. That's amazing. We have one from Colorado. We've got a guy from Norway. They're really coming in from all over the place. Heck of a job for us tonight, Jacqui.

JERAS: They're great.

SANCHEZ: Appreciate it.

JERAS: Thanks.

SANCHEZ: Today in the Motor City, what many believe will be Louis Farrakhan's last public speech, thousands - in fact, the lower tiers of Detroit's Ford Field - (UNINTELLIGIBLE) the Nation of Islam leader speak in his usual, ever blunt and direct style. He called for the impeachment of President Bush.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LOUIS FARRAKHAN, NATION OF ISLAM LEADER: What should they do about a man lying to the American people, deceiving the members of Congress, prosecuting an unjust war? Is that not only reason to impeach him, but to set down his whole administration?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Farrakhan did point out that he is grateful to be able to speak freely because he lives in America, a country he says that he loves.

An Olympic medalist proving himself one tough customer tonight. He is recovering from something that probably would have been, well, the end for most everybody else.

Rulon Gardner is his name. You may remember him. He took the gold in Greco-Roman wrestling at the 2000 Sydney games.

He and two other guys went down in a small plane this weekend in Utah. They survived the crash, but they weren't out of trouble yet. They crashed into a lake and then they had to swim.

It was 44 degrees in the water. Swam for an hour till they finally got to shore. Spent the night without a fire.

The next morning they got up and they were able to flag a fisherman down. And as a result, he was able to put them on a boat and get them out of there. Treated for hypothermia, as you might expect.

Doctors say that they're going to be fine. But certainly, we're going to be following this story, and we think we might be able to talk to him soon. We're trying to see if we can make that happen. And if we do, we'll do that.

As a matter of fact, we're being told now we've got him. There he is.

Mr. Gardner, thanks so much for joining us, sir.

RULON GARDNER, OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST (via telephone): Oh, thank you. It's good to be on the radio, even though it's not the best circumstances.

SANCHEZ: Yes, this kind of is like radio, because we can't see you. But we certainly can hear you loud and clear. What was it like after the plane crashed?

First of all, take us to the moment when the plane starts to go down.

GARDNER: Well, what we were doing was, we were kind of doing what we call skimming. That's where you go over the surface of the water or the ground. And going over the water it's - you know, it's kind of fun. It's exhilarating.

And what we did is, actually Lake Powell, the area that we were up in, looking at a houseboat. And we were just back, taking off to head back to Salt Lake City.

As we took off we went up and we started coming over the mountains and we kind of came in between the canyons, and we started skimming. And we kind of came in there and we kind of made a left- hand turn.

And I think just with everything that was going on, and I think it was a little bit tough to kind of catch the depth of the water and how far it was away from the aircraft. But our aircraft kept going down.

And right before impact, the individual in the back, Les, said, hey, you know, watch your wheel, because basically we're going to hit. And so at that point ...

SANCHEZ: Sounds like - it sounds like when the wheel caught the plane, what, did it flip into the water?

GARDNER: It did. And it actually kind of skipped. And I think what he did is, he kind of - it caught a little bit, and so it skipped in a kind of - the back rear left wheel, actually the pilot's wheel on the back left side of the aircraft actually kind of caught first. And it kind of threw us, you know, kind of nosedive into the water.

SANCHEZ: So, now you're in the water. The plane starts to sink and you've got to figure out, what are we going to do?

You start swimming. How do you know what direction to swim in?

GARDNER: Well, you know, when the plane hit it, it went from 150 miles an hour down to zero in about two seconds. And the first thing to do is, you know, get your seat belt off, open the door and jump out of the aircraft. And we jumped. They said, hey, let's go this way. Let's go to the beach over here. And we started looking around. And that beach seemed like a long ways away.

And I think the shock of getting in there, I kind of lost my focus for a second. And that point we focused and they said, hey, get on your back. Back stroke all the way into the beach and you'll be OK.

SANCHEZ: Forty-four degrees. That's what the temperature in the water is according to the reports that we've been reading. And it took you an hour to finally swim to shore.

When you get to the shore, there's no way to make a fire. You've just got to wait it out.

I imagine your clothes are really wet. That must have been one cold night, Rulon.

GARDNER: It was. As we got to the shore, I found the other group - the other two individuals. They were already in severe hypothermia. They were already shivering. They had very little recollection of where they were at. You know, talking to them, going over that. We kind of got together.

We kind of started getting together as a group and hugging and kind of getting to close to try to create enough body heat to sustain ourselves through the duration of the night, because the sun going down about 5:30 at night, all the way until about seven o'clock the next morning until the sun comes up, you know you're in for a long night.

The temperature got down to about 25 degrees last night. It was kind of really dangerous.

SANCHEZ: You are one tough cookie. Congratulations to you and the other two fellows who were with you. We're glad we had a chance to talk to you. I know you've got a lot of fans and they're all happy to see that you're doing well.

What an amazing story you're now able to tell. And glad to see that your dog is happy to have you there, too. He's trying to get in there in the background.

Rulon Gardner, thanks so much for being with us.

We have following a lot of news for you on this night. Still a lot coming your way. Stay with us. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Welcome back. As we told you, we mentioned that Jennifer Hudson is living out her dream tonight, winning the Best Supporting Actress Oscar. "Dreamgirls" started the night with more nominations than any other film this year. But not everyone sings the movie's praises. We caught up with an original member of the Supremes, Mary Wilson. And at one point, the Supremes sold more records than just about anybody except Elvis and the Beatles.

We've run out of time tonight, but you can see the entire story, our interview with her, with Ms. Wilson, and the comments on CNN.com.

CNN is live from the Academy Awards tonight at midnight Eastern. Don't miss Hollywood's after-party, they inside scoop on the winners, the losers and all the big parties. Right here on CNN.

I'm Rick Sanchez. Boy, we've had a lot of news over the last hour, and we're not done yet. If you stay with us, you're going to learn why you might want to start collecting pennies again, especially if you drive an SUV.

Thanks so much for being with us.

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