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Pregnant Woman Missing in Ohio; Reporters Evacuated From Building Near White House

Aired June 18, 2007 - 15:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Don Lemon, live at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Betty Nguyen, in for Kyra Phillips today.

Happening right now, we are getting word that we have some new audio into CNN, this being the newly released 911 tapes from the case of a missing woman. You see her here, 26-year-old Jessie Davis. She went missing last week. And these tapes are of your mother when she discovered that her nine-month -- her daughter, who is nine months pregnant, was not only missing, but the house was in disarray, and her 2-year-old son was left home alone.

Let's take a listen to these tapes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PATTY PORTER, MOTHER OF MISSING PREGNANT WOMAN: My daughter's gone. She's due in two weeks, and my grandson is alone. And this whole house has been ransacked.

911 OPERATOR: How old is your...

PORTER: My grandson's 2.

911 OPERATOR: And he's gone?

PORTER: He's here alone.

911 OPERATOR: OK. You need to calm down, so I can understand you.

PORTER: I'm trying.

911 OPERATOR: OK.

PORTER: He's here alone, and she's gone. Her car's here.

911 OPERATOR: Who's gone?

PORTER: My daughter.

911 OPERATOR: OK. How old is she?

PORTER: She's 27 years old. 911 OPERATOR: OK. And how old is the child that was left alone?

PORTER: She didn't leave him alone. My God, something's wrong. She's -- she's due in two weeks. And she's just missing. Her car is here, her purse. The house is trashed. And she's not here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: Oh. Just a frantic phone call right there, when a mother discovers her daughter is missing and nine months pregnant, due any day now.

There are no leads and no suspects in this case. We heard from police just last hour. We're going to get back to this story in a moment.

I understand we have some other breaking news to tell you about -- Don.

LEMON: Yes.

We want to go to the White House now. Our Ed Henry is on the phone.

Ed, we understand the White House has been evacuated. Please update us.

ED HENRY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Oh, yes, Don, actually, the press center across the street from the White House has been evacuated. That's where we work, of course, along with the rest of the press corps.

The reason is that a canine dog, apparently, according to the Secret, Service, had some sort of hit on a vehicle, a suspicious hit, suggesting concern about the potential for explosives or something like that. The significance of this, of course, is that the Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, is staying at Blair House across the street from the White House, you know, that big meeting tomorrow with President Bush.

That's where the press center, our temporary work quarters, are, right around the corner from Blair House. From where I'm standing, out on Pennsylvania Avenue, I can't tell if the White House itself has been evacuated.

But I can tell you we cannot walk over to the North Lawn of the -- of the White House, where we normally do our live shots, because the Secret Service has certainly beefed up its presence. It already was beefed up because of Prime Minister Olmert's visit. But we're trying to get a handle on how serious the threat is, because, obviously, these kinds of things happen, not every day, but they happen from time to time.

And, a short time later, it almost ends up getting cleared as -- as being not a major concern, but -- but, obviously, everyone -- heightened sense of security right now because of the Israeli prime minister being here, because of all the tensions in the Mideast, obviously.

So, I think, out of an abundance of caution, clearly, the Secret Service decided, in a rare move, to evacuate the press corps from our center, the temporary quarters, which are across the street from the White House, right along Lafayette Park. And, as you know, that's just around the corner from Blair House, where the prime minister is staying -- Don.

LEMON: And, yes, Ed, so, let's -- let's clarify here, because initial reports were coming in the White House had been evacuated, the White House itself, the president, first lady.

No one in the White House affected.

HENRY: Right.

LEMON: Clarify again for our viewers which parts of the White House has been evacuated and what...

(CROSSTALK)

HENRY: Well, at this point -- at this point, just what's known as Jackson Place, which is across the street from the White House right along Lafayette Park, has being evacuated.

That's where the press corps is staying temporarily while they work on -- on the old briefing room and renovate. There's no sign that the White House has been evacuated. I think it's just, again, the Secret Service trying to make sure that they're on top of the situation.

You can certainly see a heightened security presence here on Pennsylvania Avenue. I'm trying to get a look at the White House lawn itself. And I -- there's no sign that there's been a larger evacuation. It appears, at this moment, to just be the press corps, because we happen to be, where we are, closer to where this vehicle, the suspicious vehicle, came up.

And, again, it was a canine dog, according to Secret Service, that found some sort of a suspicious activity that they wanted to get on top of. So, we're trying to get more information on that right now.

But, in the meantime, they have put the press corps out on the street to just make sure that we're safe and get us away from where that vehicle was. And, right now, they're cutting off access for everyone from Pennsylvania Avenue over to the White House.

LEMON: OK. OK. Ed, we're going to check back with you. Thank you so much. We will check back, as I just said. Thanks.

NGUYEN: Well, we do want to get you back to that story of a missing mother in Ohio -- so far, no leads, no suspects. And we heard from police just last hour.

Well, CNN's Jim Acosta joins us now with the mother of 27-year- old Jessie Davis.

Jim, obviously, we want to know if she has heard any more information about the whereabouts of her daughter.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Betty, yes.

Patty Porter is with us now. And you just heard that dramatic 911 recording of the phone call Ms. Porter made to authorities last week about her daughter's disappearance.

And she's joining us now.

And, Ms. Porter, I just wanted to ask you, what was going through your mind when you got to your daughter's house, and saw your grandson there, and your daughter was missing?

PATTY PORTER, MOTHER OF MISSING PREGNANT WOMAN: I think I immediately thought that someone had taken her. I was just screaming, not my daughter, not my daughter. I just -- it was just an unbelievable feeling for her -- just not to find her there.

ACOSTA: And the house was in disarray, as you found it. What did you think at that moment as to what happened to your daughter? You -- you feel like she's been abducted, because, at this point, the police are saying that this is just a disappearance, that she's missing. They are not going as far saying she was abducted.

But you feel like she was taken?

PORTER: She was taken. I know that. She would have never left. She would have never, ever left.

ACOSTA: And, we were saying earlier this morning, you were telling me that, you know, she's the kind of mother -- you know, she's two weeks away from her due date and the mother of a 2-year-old boy -- that this is not -- she wouldn't just pick up and run off.

PORTER: Oh, no, never. She would -- she didn't even use the bathroom with the door shut. I mean, she wanted to make sure she could see him every moment. That's what kind of a mother she was. She was just with him all the time. She would have never, ever left him.

ACOSTA: And, speaking of your son, he has, almost uncontrollably, been saying over and over again, mommy is in the rug. What does that mean? Can you tell us a little bit about what that means?

PORTER: I instantly knew what he meant when he said it. I knew he meant the comforter, because her comforter is the same color as my oriental rug. And it -- he wouldn't know the word comforter. That wouldn't -- that's not a familiar word for a 2-and-a-half-year-old.

ACOSTA: And, as police have told us just a few moments ago, that comforter, along with her cell phone, is missing. Do you have any idea as to what is happening in this investigation? Are you optimistic that they have some leads that perhaps they're not sharing with the media, because they have to keep their investigation, you know, in a sound state? What -- what can you tell us?

PORTER: I think they're doing the best they can. And I think that they're working as hard as they can with what they have.

And we're just -- we just pray that people will continue, if they hear anything, if they know anything, to notify them, and just continue -- continue looking for her. I think that's -- at this point, that's all we can do, and pray that she comes home.

ACOSTA: Well, after listening to that 911 recording, our hearts go out to you, Ms. Porter. Thank you very much for your time. We appreciate it.

And, Betty, I just want to throw it back to you. You just heard it right there from Ms. Porter herself. She just does not believe that her daughter is the kind of person who would just run off. And, in her mind, even though the police are not going that far at this point, she feels like this is an abduction.

NGUYEN: Well, Jim, keep her there for just a second, because I want you to ask her something.

The first thing that she said is, when she discovered that her daughter was not in the house, and it was in disarray, and the child was there by himself, she thought someone had taken her. Does she have any idea? Does she have someone in mind who may have done this?

ACOSTA: Our anchor in Atlanta is asking me -- and it's -- it's the question that keeps coming up, and I know it's a difficult subject to -- to deal with, but -- and that is, do you know who this might be? If you feel like this is an abduction, you know, who do you think is behind it?

PORTER: I have no idea. I -- I -- you can't conceive that you have ever looked in the eyes of a human being that, you know, that could do something like this. So, my mind doesn't allow me to think it's anyone I have ever seen.

ACOSTA: You feel like this might be a stranger?

PORTER: I don't -- I have -- I have to. It's the only way I can deal with this at this moment, is that I have to believe that this is someone that we don't know.

ACOSTA: Thank you very much, Ms. Porter.

And, Betty, you heard it right there. Obviously, this is not a this is not where the investigators are going with this, in terms of what they're telling the public. This is just the gut feeling on the part of a mother who is awfully worried about where her daughter is right now -- Betty.

NGUYEN: It's such a mystery, though, Jim. And, obviously, we're going to be following it, especially hearing what the 2-year-old had to say after he was found in that home alone.

Of course, as you get anything new, please do let us know, Jim Acosta reporting, live in Canton, Ohio. Thank you, Jim.

LEMON: You talk about a family's tragedy in Ohio. Now to the tragedy all across north Texas, where the water is still rising -- rescuers are going door to door by boat, evacuating people and pets from their flooded homes.

Much of Gainesville and Sherman, Texas, well, they're under water. And two mobile home parks in Haltom City, they are in ruins, many of those homes washed right off their foundations there. A 4- year-old girl, sadly, was swept from her mother's arms to her death. That area saw between four and five inches of rain in just one hour.

As a matter of fact, why don't we go now to Gainesville, Texas, and get a check from Kay Lunnon. Kay Lunnon is a spokesman for the Gainesville, Texas, Emergency Management Department, the right person to talk to about the update on this situation.

Tell us the situation there now, Ms. Lunnon.

KAY LUNNON, SPOKESPERSON, GAINESVILLE, TEXAS, EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT DEPARTMENT: Hi.

We're in rescue mode at this time, after receiving about eight- and-a-half inches of rain last night. Much of the city is still under water. The local fire and EMS and law enforcement responded immediately with all their resources. We have professional rescue teams that have divided the city, and they're going door to door by quadrants to...

LEMON: And tell us more -- tell us more about those efforts, going door to door by quadrant. Now, just -- we have been hearing reports that people were in their homes as the waters were rising, and they were screaming for someone to come in and help them out. Is that true? And, if so, elaborate on that for us.

LUNNON: Well, we had, as I said, resources from about 69 cities that came in -- or different locations -- and there were boats, hovercraft boats, that went, you know, to the various houses that we knew about that people were on the roofs to be rescued.

But, at present time, they are going -- they're trying to do an accountability for anybody who is missing or still stranded out there. So, they have divided the city into quadrants, and they're going door to door now...

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: And, Kay, Kay Lunnon, we wish you much luck with this, spokesperson for the Gainesville, Texas, Emergency Management Department.

Thanks again.

LUNNON: Thank you. Bye.

NGUYEN: Well, we do have some breaking news to tell you about as well, this just into the CNN.

T.J. Holmes has been working a developing story for us.

What do you know, T.J.?

T.J. HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Betty.

We're back to the Duke lacrosse case. It does not -- doesn't stop. Of course, we just saw, last week, the disbarment of Mike Nifong. Well, we got another development in the case. The three Duke lacrosse players who were accused in this case have now reached a financial settlement with Duke University.

Of course, they were exonerated, as you see there, from the rape and assault charges. But now they have reached a settlement with their university, Duke University. After, of course, these charges came out, the three were kicked out of school. The team's season was canceled. The coach resigned.

Well, now the students have reached some kind of financial agreement with the university. Right now, that number is not being disclosed. And, of course, the team -- not the team, but the -- these individuals, these players, those three there, they have all been -- been through it, and have racked up, what they say, millions of dollars in legal bills, trying to fight this thing.

And it ends up they were being exonerated. And, sure enough, we can confirm now -- we don't know what the number is, but they have reached a financial settlement with Duke University, after they were kicked out of school, the team's season canceled. So, we don't know.

And -- and, of course, there's still the possibility their attorneys might go after Mike Nifong, might file some kind of a civil suit against -- against him as well, the DA who admitted that he was a little overzealous in this thing.

There, you see at pictures of him at his ethics trial that happened last week. And, again, he was found being guilty of being disbarred, and being forced to step down from his post as the Durham County, DA -- so, some more developments in this Duke lacrosse case.

But -- but, again, the players, the three accused, who have been exonerated, have now reached a financial settlement with Duke University. Undisclosed, what the particular amount is.

So, we haven't heard the last of this story yet, but that's just the latest development in that strange case -- Betty.

NGUYEN: I think you're right about that. We haven't heard the last.

Thank you, T.J. Well, the man known as the fake firefighter got some very real prison time today. Peter Braunstein was sentenced to 18 years to life in the sexual assault of a former co-worker, dressed in a firefighter's uniform.

Here's what he did. He set a small fire outside her apartment door, and then bluffed his way in. He then sexually tortured her for 12 hours. His lawyers insist that he is mentally ill. But, last month, a jury took just four hours to convict him on most charges.

LEMON: A coalition airstrike, collateral damage -- al Qaeda fighters in Afghanistan were the target. But the children, seven of them, were unintended victims. We will have the latest straight ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM.

NGUYEN: And he was ordered to figure out what went wrong at Abu Ghraib. But higher-ups, well, they didn't like what he found. Was Army Major General Antonio Taguba punished for doing his job? Journalist Seymour Hersh joins us in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: It is 17 past the hour. And three -- here are three of the stories we're working on for you right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Happening right now, reporters have been evacuated from a government building near the White House, after a security dog apparently smelled something suspicious in a car. The building is serving as a temporary headquarters for the White House press corps.

A major shift in America's Mideast policy announced this afternoon by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. The U.S. is lifting sanctions against the Palestinian government, now that Hamas is no longer part of it. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas formed a new government after the militant group seized control of Gaza.

Police have no leads and no suspects in the search for a northern Ohio woman who is nine months pregnant. She went missing. Jessie Davis was last heard from last week. Her 2-year-old son was the last person to see her.

We want to get -- we talked about that parts of the White House being evacuated, specifically, the part of temporary housing for the press corps.

We want to get to Ed Henry, who is joining us by telephone with an update on that.

Ed, what do you have?

ED HENRY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Don, one piece of new information.

I have heard from a Secret Service officer that, in fact, the vehicle that registered some sort of a problem is an Israeli vehicle. And I don't have more on -- on what exactly that means. That could mean that it's from the Israeli embassy here in the U.S. It could obviously mean that it is somebody, a vehicle traveling with Prime Minister Olmert here to the White House.

There's, of course, a big meeting tomorrow between President Bush and Prime Minister Olmert. Security was already very high because Prime Minister Olmert will be staying at Blair House, which is sort of just around the corner from where the White House press corps is staying temporarily.

And what we're told is that a canine dog basically had what they call a hit on a vehicle, some sort of suspicion that there was a problem. That prompted, maybe 15, 20 minutes ago, the Secret Service to evacuate the White House press corps.

There -- it's hard to tell from our vantage point here at about 17th and Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest -- that's just down from the White House -- hard to tell what's going on at the White House itself. But we have no suggestion that the White House itself is being evacuated, just the area around the Blair House and Lafayette Park, because of an abundance of caution -- Don.

LEMON: OK, so dog in a canine unit smelled something suspicious in one of the vehicles, and you said it was an Israeli vehicle that was possibly in Prime Minister Olmert's entourage or -- correct?

HENRY: That's right. I mean, that's just one piece of information we have picked up, is that -- that the initial understanding from law enforcement is that it was an Israeli vehicle.

Again, this could be a false alarm. We have this happen from time to time, where a canine will find something -- quote, unquote -- "suspicious," but, upon further inspection, it turns on out to be nothing.

I think, obviously, given the heightened sense of security right now with Prime Minister Olmert here, there's always a heightened sense of security when a visiting head of state is staying at Blair House, across the street from the White House, but especially when it's someone from the Mideast, especially right now, given the tensions in the Mideast and all that we have been talking about throughout today and the last few days.

LEMON: All right.

HENRY: The Secret Service is going to make sure they get to the bottom of this.

At this moment, there's no sign of any major, you know, problem. It's just a sense of caution, concern. And that's why the Secret Service is cordoning off now a little bit of a wider section. They're pushing us back about half-a-block, mostly because they're trying to get their arms around the situation -- Don.

LEMON: All right, Ed Henry out on the street at the White House, temporarily knocked out of their -- their temporary headquarters, the press corps at least -- Ed Henry, thank you. HENRY: Yes.

NGUYEN: Well, it was an attack that sparked fears of a whole new wave of sectarian bloodshed in Iraq.

Well, now, we learn four people have been arrested in last week's bombing of the Golden Mosque in Samarra, one of Shiite Islam's holiest shrines. The four haven't been identified. But they were seized in a raid by Iraqi security forces, along with bomb parts and videos showing attacks on coalition forces. Now, a bombing at that same mosque last year spawned the sectarian strife that's raging in Iraq right now.

If al Qaeda has a home in Iraq, it might be the city of Baquba. That's what U.S. commanders say, but the Army is gearing up for an offensive they hope will drive the insurgents out of the shadows and out of the city.

CNN's Karl Penhaul shows us how nerve-racking life in Baquba can be.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The dawn reveille, an attack helicopter blasts insurgent positions across the palm grove. Shock and awe dissolves, as a guerrilla sniper targets U.S. troops in this combat outpost in Old Baquba.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He shot one of our -- one of our sergeants in the head. I would say he is pretty accurate.

PENHAUL: This soldier searches for a ghostly enemy he rarely sees.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's kind of the guessing game.

PENHAUL: It's sniper versus sniper, each scouring the battered cityscape for a gap in the concrete or a chink in the glass.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You look for every loophole there is out there. Most of the time, it's shooting through loopholes.

PENHAUL: It's a war of attrition. The slow pace of fighting and the steady march of death seems to be grinding down these soldiers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... feeling, or, after so many people die, you just kind of lose -- you know, it's a natural occurrence. It just happens, and it's kind of like a dream. You just -- it's not reality.

PENHAUL: He says six friends have been killed in the last few months -- then a shot at a hole 400 yards away.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right on the money?

PENHAUL: It's the only shot these soldiers will take for much of the day, not knowing if the insurgent gunman was ever even there. (on camera): U.S. military commanders say Baquba is now one of the most dangerous places in all Iraq. And they say that, in the coming weeks, they plan major offensive operations to root out al Qaeda fighters.

(voice-over): As the day fades, a prayer call wails from a minaret. Soldiers call this the witching hour, dusk, when insurgents often ramp up their fight.

As night envelopes the outpost...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's the forecast? Is it all right?

PENHAUL: ... the radio's ominous crackle.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sounded like a big--ass IED, right there on Gold (ph).

PENHAUL: A roadside bomb is exploded under a U.S. patrol 600 yards away. Soldiers head to the rescue -- out in the palm groves, a sentry spooked by the shadows. Illumination flares cut through the dark.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let her rip. Start shooting the palm groves.

PENHAUL: A machine gun spits into the black, the G.I.'s nightmare, by day or night, a ghostly enemy he rarely sees.

Karl Penhaul, CNN, Old Baquba, Iraq.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: A pregnant woman abruptly disappears, leaving behind a tiny son and a trail of unnerving clues -- that story, and updates on it, straight ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: All right, this new video just in to CNN.

Moments ago, our Ed Henry reported that parts of the White House had been evacuated, specifically, the press center, which is across the street from the executive mansion.

And you're looking at new video. There, you see police officers on the scene, this all happening just a short time ago, when members of the press were told to vacate their temporary filing center, which is around the corner from Blair House. That's significant, because there is a heightened security level. And that's where visiting dignitaries stay, at Blair House. And Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is visiting. And he will be meeting with the president tomorrow. He is staying there. So, there's some concern there.

According to our Ed Henry, there are reports that there was an Israeli vehicle which is in the motorcade for the Prime Minister that was stopped. So, they're checking this out. So, still, according to our folks there at the White House, still parts of the White House, specifically, the press area, temporary quarters for the press, evacuated. And you see folks there waiting on the street.

We're going to continue to update you on this story just as soon as we get more information in. But that's new video just in to CNN.

NGUYEN: Well, we also are getting some new information, some legal information, also some business information.

Ali Velshi joins us with the latest on the Enron sentencing.

What do you know, Ali?

ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Betty, we have -- the Department of Justice has just let us know that there has been a sentencing in the case of the CEO of Enron Broadband. That was a division of Enron.

Ken Rice was the CEO of Enron. And he figures prominently in the whole unfolding of Enron. He pleaded guilty back in 2004 to securities fraud. But, because he cooperated, like, I think, about 20 other Enron executives, because he cooperated with the Department of Justice in the -- in the trial of Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling, he wasn't sentenced until now.

He's received a 27-month prison sentence, could have gotten up to 10 years. And he's been ordered to forfeit about $15 million, most of which has already been forfeited. Only about $400,000 is outstanding. That money is going into a fund to help victims of the Enron fraud.

So, it's one of the last major sentencing in -- sentencings in the Enron case. Nothing about it is unexpected. What we were wondering about is, with all these executive who did, in fact, cooperate with the government, what were their sentences going to be?

The government wanted make sure that they actually did cooperate, and assist in getting the convictions that the government was able to get. So, Ken -- Kenneth Rice is his name. He was the former chief executive of Enron Broadband, convicted on several counts of securities fraud charges in 2004, when he pled guilty. He's now being sentenced.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

LEMON: Hello, everyone. I'm Don Lemon, live at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.

NGUYEN: Good afternoon, everybody. I'm Betty Nguyen.

A house in disarray. A small boy left alone. That is the scene described by Ohio mom Patty Porter. Her pregnant daughter, Jessie Davis -- you see her there -- well, she is missing. And Porter is terrified.

You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. All right. Here is the scenario.

She is due to give birth any day now, but no one can seem to find her. Twenty-six-year-old single mother Jessie Davis missing since last week in North Canton, Ohio. Police say they still have no leads or suspects. Davis' mother was the last person to talk to her and reported her missing.

CNN's Jim Acosta spoke with Patty Porter just moments ago about the moment she knew something was wrong.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PATTY PORTER, MISSING WOMAN'S MOTHER: I was just screaming, not my daughter, not by daughter. I just -- it was just an unbelievable feelings for her -- to not find her there.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And the house was in disarray as you found it. What did you think at that moment as to what happened to your daughter? You feel like she's been abducted? Because at this point...

PORTER: Absolutely.

ACOSTA: ... the police are saying that this is just a disappearance, that she's missing. They're not going as far as saying she was abducted. But you feel like she was taken.

PORTER: She was taken. I know that. She would have never left. She would have never ever left.

ACOSTA: And as we were saying earlier this morning, you were telling me that she's the kind of mother -- you know, she's two weeks away from her due date and the mother of a 2-year-old boy, that this is not -- she wouldn't just pick up and run off.

PORTER: Oh, no, never. She didn't even use the bathroom with the door shut. I mean, she wanted to make sure she could see him every moment. That's what kind of a mother she was. She was just with him all the time. She would have never, ever left him.

ACOSTA: And speaking of her son, he has almost uncontrollably been saying over and over again, "Mommy is in the rug." What does that mean? Can you tell us a little bit about what that -- what that means?

PORTER: I instantly knew what he meant when he said it. I knew he meant the comforter, because her comforter's the same color as my oriental rug. And it -- he wouldn't know the word comforter. That wouldn't -- that's not a familiar word for a two and a half year old.

ACOSTA: If you feel like this is an abduction, you know, who do you think is behind it?

PORTER: I have no idea. I -- you can't conceive that you've ever looked in the eyes of a human being that you know that could do something like this. So my mind doesn't allow me to think it's anyone I've ever seen.

ACOSTA: You feel like this might be a stranger.

PORTER: I don't -- I have to. It's the only way I can deal with this at this moment, is that I have to believe that this is someone that we don't know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: The father of Jessie Davis' 2-year-old son is a married police officer. He's also believed to be the dad of her unborn child. Police have talked to him but do not consider him a suspect.

LEMON: Stepha Henry's family says she was fascinated by crime. Now they are wondering if something criminal happened to her.

The 22-year-old New Yorker was visiting family in south Florida over Memorial Day Weekend when she vanished. She was last seen at a nightclub party in the town of Sunrise. Police are searching for a car that could yield some clues, but they haven't found anything yet.

Henry's mother talked to CNN's Tony Harris earlier.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SYLVIA HENRY, MOTHER OF MISSING WOMAN: I know Stepha is not this kind of person. She's very responsible. She's honest. She has her goals set in mind.

She has everything in order. She does her thing the way that you would expect a young lady to do it. She has fun, and she also do her schoolwork, and she was also works diligently at the president's intern office in John Jay College.

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Have police checked her e-mail accounts? Have those accounts been able to shed any light on her comings and goings, who she was in contact with? And have those people been contacted?

HENRY: I am sure the police have checked everything, because they told me they're doing a thorough job on it. But they didn't give me any information as to who she spoke to or who they think might be a suspect.

HARRIS: How aggressive can you be in a situation like this? Is there any more that -- I know you're probably wracking your brains on this. But is there anything more that you feel you can do, should do, at this time?

HENRY: Well, what I'm thinking now that I may have to bring in some more -- get some more help to -- in locating my daughter.

HARRIS: And tell me why that is. Do you feel like you're getting maximum cooperation from the local authorities?

HENRY: Yes, I am getting enough maximum -- I'm getting a lot. I'm very pleased with that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Silvia Henry speaking to Tony Harris earlier in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Henry, her daughter, is an honors graduate in criminal justice and she planned to go to law school next year. Her parents have moved to Florida temporarily from New York to draw more attention to her case.

NGUYEN: I want you to take a look at this. Flashfloods in the Fort Worth area mean dramatic rescues after high waters swamp homes and cars. North Texas has its hands full.

We have those details, ahead in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Following several developing stories in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Check this out. It's not a picture. It's not a still picture. This is video from the traffic camera in Washington, D.C., not far from the White House.

As a matter of fact, the streets are H Street Northwest and Connecticut Avenue.

NGUYEN: It looks like a ghost town.

LEMON: Barely a soul on the street there.

This camera shot is courtesy of trafficland.com, our TrafficLand affiliate there. Obviously, this camera is used for rush hour and anything that happens. Usually, you know, pedestrians and cars are there. But this is all because of new video here.

Take a look at this.

Parts of the White House, specifically the press corps, where the press -- a temporary place for the press to do their filing, evacuated just a short time ago. Our Ed Henry reporting it's because a dog and a canine unit smelled something suspicious. And they believe, according to initial reports, that it was an Israeli vehicle that was possibly in the motorcade for visiting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

Ehud Olmert is staying around the corner from this at the Blair House, and security has been upped because of this. So we're continuing to follow this developing story. We have our Ed Henry on it, as well as our entire Washington bureau on this story, trying to figure out exactly what's going on.

And as soon as we get new information on this, more information, we'll bring it to you live right here in the CNN NEWSROOM. And, of course, updates from "THE SITUATION ROOM" at the top of the hour with Wolf Blitzer.

NGUYEN: Well, speaking of updates, a tragedy across north Texas, where the water is still rising. We've been telling you about this all day long.

Rescuers are going door to door, by boat, in fact, evacuating people and pets from their flooded homes. Now, much of Gainesville and Sherman, Texas, is under water. And two mobile home parks in Haltom City are in ruins. Many of those homes washed right off their foundations.

Just look at this video.

I want to tell you this as well. A 4-year-old girl was swept from her mother's arms to her death. That area saw between four and five inches of rain in just one hour.

Now, we're going to get more from the ground. WFAA's Cynthia Vega is in Haltom City, which took the brunt of a lot of damage that swept through Texas.

Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CYNTHIA VEGA, REPORTER, WFAA: The mourning is going on as we speak regarding that 4-year-old little girl who was swept from her mother's arms into the creek just as they were escaping from their own trailer home as those floodwaters raged. It is a major loss that many are feeling this hour, but still, even in the aftermath of these floodwaters, the fire officials, all of the authorities calling the damage here nothing short of catastrophic.

Take a look and you can see for yourself the impact of the storm. Even in the early morning hours, two homes still burning, the aftermath of gasoline rupturing.

The raging floodwaters also sent vehicles smashing into one another yards from where they were originally parked. And even mobile homes sent hurling into the creek in one piece.

David Roberto Lera (ph) told us that he barely had time to rescue his mother-in-law off her front porch before her home, too, literally blew away.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was in the water. And I went to save her. And I did it. I did it, but it was too dangerous.

VEGA: Atmos Energy now on the scene trying to repair that ruptured gas line. Also, though, you can see no end in sight to the amount of damage here. Neighbors still gathering with one another, assessing their damage. It will be quite some time before they know the full extent of it.

Some aren't even being allowed back inside their homes because of that gas line rupture. I can tell you this, though -- they are very, very worried about tonight's weather forecast. They don't want a repeat performance.

Reporting live here in Haltom City, I'm Cynthia Vega.

Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: He was ordered to figure out what went wrong at Abu Ghraib, but higher ups didn't like what he found. Was Army Major General Antonio Taguba punished for doing his job? Journalist Seymour Hersh joins us next in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Well, innocent civilians used as human shields in Afghanistan. The U.S. military says that's what happened when a coalition airstrike killed seven children at a compound where al Qaeda fighters were believed gathered.

Military officials say they confirmed that al Qaeda fighters were inside the targeted compound all day Sunday and that several were killed in the strike. But, they say they did not see any evidence that children were also inside. Some children who survived the strike reportedly said militants forced them to stay inside the building all day.

LEMON: In the words of a two-star general, "If I lie, I lose. If I tell the truth, I lose." That's a predicament Antonio Taguba says he found himself in as he investigated the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

Now retired, he says he was forced out. General Taguba spoke at length to journalist Seymour Hersh of "The New Yorker". The headline, Taguba says that a congressional hearing -- at a congressional hearing, Donald Rumsfeld deliberately misrepresented his knowledge about the abuses at the Iraqi prison.

I spoke with Seymour Hersh a short time ago and asked what he took away from his talk with General Taguba.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEYMOUR HERSH, "THE NEW YORKER": The one issue, of course, is he was just a two star general who had come up from the bottom to the top the hard way and was a deputy commander in the war zone in Kuwait. And he was tapped by just chance.

They needed a two-star general to investigate Abu Ghraib, and they hit on him. He just did his job.

As far as he is concerned, he was appalled by what he found. He thought it was systematic. He wrote a very tough report.

He knew people told him, watch out, Tony. You could get in trouble doing this. But he did the best he could, and he suffered for it. Instead of going on to a good career, he was sent back to Washington and retired as a two star and felt very badly about it.

LEMON: Mr. Hersh, we are going to talk about that, because the Pentagon actually responded today, at least Donald Rumsfeld's former spokesperson responded. But again, this report that you are talking about and that he's talking about apparently came out long before others admitted, at least according to him, that they saw this report. And in this report he says, "Numerous incidents of sadistic, blatant and wanton criminal abuses were inflicted on several detainees... systemic and illegal abuse."

Now the defense secretary is saying that he didn't see this report until shortly before he had to speak in front of hearings. He's saying, Mr. Taguba, that the defense secretary saw this long before.

What's the discrepancy there?

HERSH: What he's saying, Taguba, is this -- that on May 7th, Rumsfeld was called. After the story came out, I was involved in breaking it in "The New Yorker". CBS had some photographs on the air. It became a scandal.

Don Rumsfeld was called to testify before the House and Senate Armed Services Committee, and his testimony was then, oh, my God, if I had only known. I just saw the photographs the other day. I hadn't seen them. I didn't know much about it.

What Taguba knew and what bothered him very much was, within days of the original complaint which was made months earlier by a soldier in January of '04, five months earlier, within days the back channel was humming. Messages were being sent from the field from Baghdad to Rumsfeld's immediate military assistant, a three-star general.

And everybody else at the senior level of the Pentagon saying this is serious, this is real. You didn't -- and they were very explicit descriptions of the photographs.

LEMON: OK.

HERSH: So you didn't have to see the photograph to know what it was, is the point.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: And CNN has asked the White House to respond to Hersh's article which appears in this month's "New Yorker".

We were told, "The president addressed this fully. He first saw the pictures on TV, and he was upset by them. He found the actions abhorrent and urged the Defense Department to get to the bottom of the matter."

NGUYEN: Over the cheerful protests of the victims' families, the Australian government has released video of a Black Hawk chopper crash that killed two soldiers last year.

Take a look at this.

The chopper crashed into the deck right there of a Navy transport ship while trying to land in high winds. It then spun into the seas off Fiji and then sunk. Eight troops aboard were able to survive. The Australian military launched an inquiry into the crash today.

Computers on the International Space Station getting a critical test today. So what's next for the astronauts? Well, you have to stay tuned, because we have that story right here in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Well, that closing ell is about to ring on Wall Street.

LEMON: I know. And I feel like I'm in a time warp.

Ali Velshi is standing by with a final word.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

LEMON: Now it's time to go to "THE SITUATION ROOM" and Wolf Blitzer.

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