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Body Found in Chicago Suburb Identified as Nailah Franklin; Update on Seattle Woman Trapped for 8 Days in Car; Child Sex Assault Tape
Aired September 28, 2007 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Want to take a look at this picture. This little girl could be anywhere, and judging by the hellish videotape these images were taken from, she could be in horrible danger.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, that is a good way to describe it. We expect to hear any minute now from Nevada's detectives who are asking for your help in finding this little girl and the man who's monstrous depravity is captured right here on tape.
Take a look at that.
Hello, everyone. I'm Don Lemon, live at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.
NGUYEN: Yes, good afternoon, everybody. I'm Betty Nguyen, in today for Kyra Phillips.
You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Want to get you the latest in a story that we have been following very closely this afternoon. That dealing with California schools under lockdown in the Oroville Union High School district, the Las Plumas High School, to be exact. Well, that lockdown is over after a student though has been taken into custody.
Police say that student went into the school early this morning with a gun and opened fire into the air. After that, took some students, possibly a teacher as well, as a hostage in the situation, but now that student has been taken into custody. The lockdown is over, and we're getting more information as to exactly what happened and why. And as soon as we get that, we'll bring it straight to you.
LEMON: Also following details of another developing story.
Fredricka Whitfield working those details for us.
It is a sad ending to a story that a family had hoped would not turn out this way, Fred.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: It is indeed heartbreaking.
CNN has confirmed that officials are now positively identifying that body found in the Chicago suburb yesterday as that of 28-year-old Nailah Franklin. The pharmaceutical rep has been missing since last Wednesday, launching a frantic search among her friends and family. An entire community looking for this young lady after she didn't show up for an important business meeting last Thursday.
The last time anyone remembers corresponding with her was Wednesday evening. And now 24 hours after this body was located just about two miles away from where her vehicle had been located, abandoned over the weekend, this body was found, and now a positive I.D. that it is indeed that of 28-year-old Nailah Franklin.
Our hearts go out to her family and friends because certainly, as you said, Don, this is not the outcome that they had been hoping for. They were just hoping for her safe return, but at the same time extending prayers to any other family members who may have been attached to the identity of that body. But now they know for certain that it is, indeed, that of Nailah Franklin -- Don.
LEMON: Very sad. All right.
Fredricka Whitfield, thank you so much for that update.
NGUYEN: Well, any minute now we do expect a lead detective with the Nye County Sheriff's Department in Nevada to give us the latest on a desperate search for a little girl. She's seen in a revolting videotape being assaulted by a grown man. The FBI is also trying to track down the pair.
As soon as the news conference begins, we will take to you Nevada and bring that to you live.
LEMON: And we're expecting another news conference on the condition of a woman who survived this crash. Take a look. The bureaucracy almost killed her.
A 33-year-old woman near Seattle, she crashed her SUV last week on her way home from work. She was trapped in that wreckage that you're looking at right now in a ravine, at the bottom of that ravine for eight days. When searchers finally got a hold of her cell phone records, they found her within minutes.
So what took so long to get the search up to speed? Her husband tells CNN a tangled web of red tape got in the way.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOM RIDER, CRASH VICTIM'S HUSBAND: I knew she was missing. I knew something happened. And no one would believe me except operator number 65. He's the one that started the case.
No one would believe me. They all thought that she's an adult, she can go where she wants.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: And did you think she had been in an accident or did you think that maybe somebody had taken her?
RIDER: I didn't -- I thought somebody had taken her, she was in an accident. I thought all kinds of things. And the only way that I was able to not crumple up in a little corner was to think, you know, the least damaging to anything was that maybe she just didn't want to be around me for a while. But I still wanted her found.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: A live press conference happening now at the Harborview Medical center about this situation.
Let's listen in.
(JOINED IN PROGRESS)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So she can't speak yet.
QUESTION: Tell me, as a doctor who, when you see all type of injuries, given what she's been through, your assessment of how she's doing. Just your personal take.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She's doing pretty well. The kidney damage or the kidney dysfunction at this point is not surprising given her injuries. It's too early to tell which direction that's going to go, but I think she'll recover from it. It might take some time.
QUESTION: Can you talk about the lack of water and how that would (INAUDIBLE)? Was that obviously what she's experiencing here is dehydration after a week, is that correct?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There is dehydration, as well as the fact that she had muscle that was not -- that was dead, basically. When muscle dies it breaks down and it has toxic byproducts that clog up the kidney and cause kidney failure. So on top of just being dehydrated, she also had some direct injury to her kidneys that no doubt was made worse by the prolonged days that she didn't have any fluids.
QUESTION: I don't understand when you say muscle damage. Are you talking about the damage of the leg, or what happened?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Of the leg.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Likely, she had some sort of crush-type force to that leg that caused it to swell up. And if there is also a fracture there, just the amount of swelling that occurs in the leg can lead to what's called compartment syndrome, where there's not enough blood flow either going in or going out of that leg. And that could lead to the muscle itself dying.
When muscle dies, it breaks down and it causes toxins that can build up in the kidneys, and that's what causes the kidney damage, which then gets worsened if then the kidney doesn't have enough fluids running -- you know, going through the body to try to flush out -- flush out all those toxins.
QUESTION: Can you go back to the water for a minute and just really talk about just how significant it is that -- we know that you can survive without food for much longer than water. I mean, this is pretty amazing, I think, but I'm not a doctor. I mean, when you think about eight days without water, I mean, the chances of surving that, does that surprise you that...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It doesn't -- based on -- based on her age and the degree of her injuries that we know of, it's not entirely that surprising to me based on other patients that we've seen in similar conditions. I think iif she didn't have any of this muscle damage, she probably would have had some dysfunction of her kidneys, maybe not as severe, just from being dehydrated, just from having no fluids in for a week.
QUESTION: What are your options for treatment? I mean, if you have kidney damage, I mean, it's severe enough I suppose you could do dialysis, but what -- how do you treat that? I mean, how do you tackle that?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So the standard treatment is to give a lot of IV fluids and to try to rehydrate the kidney and to try to make the patient make a lot of urine to try to flush out those toxins. That's the standard treatment and that's what she's been getting with some improvement.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She's had some improvement since we first started -- since she first got here. She still has -- you know, she still has extensive dysfunction there, but it is improving.
It might take several days for it to get substantially better, and at the same time we need to make sure that she doesn't have further muscle damage that we haven't even diagnosed yet.
QUESTION: Is it -- what can you say with regard to the fact that she survived, that she's alive? I mean, how, in your assessment...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She is young, and the extent of her injuries are significant but not -- they weren't life-threatening, otherwise she probably would have been dead, if she had any significant intestinal injury or a head injury. Those things really add to whether a person is going to survive or not, not being cared for, you know, for over a week.
But, you know, the fact that, again, she's young, she's healthy, she probably had normal kidney function, she is, I would say, sort of where I expected someone in her condition to be at. She certainly could have been worse.
She could have -- probably not a whole lot better, but does she fall outside of my expected -- my expected -- my expectations that she should be alive even? No, not really. Not based on, you know, previous patients that have been in this situation that we've seen.
QUESTION: Can you tell us what kind of doctor you are and what you specialize in? UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm a general surgeon and also specialize in trauma surgery and critical care.
QUESTION: Doctor...
LEMON: All right. Doctors at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, Washington, updating us on the situation happening there.
A 33-year-old woman, Tanya Rider, sat at the bottom of a ravine inside of her car for eight days without food or water. Obviously doctors saying her kidneys -- shut down kidney failure, other muscle problems and injuries. She's going to have some darker -- dark days, probably some darker days than now before it gets better.
Her husband may speak at this press conference. He has had a very interesting story. At one point he said he was even considered a suspect. If he comes to the microphones, we will take that for you live.
We'll continue to update -- Betty.
NGUYEN: Well, authorities in Oroville, California, are speaking. Here are some live pictures of the Las Plumas High School.
And what they're telling us is that the lockdown there at that high school has been lifted, it is over. What we understood a little bit earlier is that a student came in, opened fire into the air, and held some hostages.
In fact, we're going to leave this for just a moment because, Don, I believe you have some more information.
LEMON: Yes, we're going to go back to Nevada now. That little girl who we've seen in the pictures there, they want her identified.
And let's listen in to Nevada authorities about this little girl.
(JOINED IN PROGRESS)
SHERIFF ANTHONY DE MEO, NYE COUNTY, NEVADA: And to my left is the district attorney of my county, Bob Beckett, and he'll answer questions as it relates to the prosecution or any type of D.A.-related questions.
Let me just clarify. Darren Tuck -- apparently Darren Tuck had -- was complaining about misconduct. And I can (INAUDIBLE) in the past we had two contacts with him as far as arrests -- a traffic ticket that back to July 2007 and domestic battery went back to 2006.
As far as the -- I can answer some questions as far as how we're following up on these tips, but I think the most important information that you're here for and that we want to get to the public is looking -- is trying to give you information of persons of interest we're looking for, and that's going to be this gentleman, Chester Arthur Stiles. Chester Arthur Stiles is wanted by Las Vegas Police Department for sexual assault and lewdness with a minor under the age of 14 years of age. There is a nationwide warrant out for him from metro -- Las Vegas Metropolitan Police, and there's also an FBI warrant for him as well, a fugitive to escape prosecution.
So those warrants are active, and the FBI gave us that -- gave us the information early yesterday. We're following up on some additional information that we had received, and we are looking for him.
He's not considered a suspect but he's considered a person of interest. We're going to give you a photograph of him. And there -- yes. There are certain similarities to Mr. Stiles that we believe will enable us to get information once he's captured, once he comes forward, to try to identify the victim of the crime.
The other is the name -- the possible name of the victim. Her name actually is very -- a rare name, fortunately. Actually, her name is a variant of Madeleine, or -- which means the gift of the lord.
Her name -- we hope that the gift we get and the gift that she gets is the identification of her and her safe -- safety in the proper hands of child protective services. And also maybe the family can lead us to who the additional information is relating to the suspect.
Her name is Madison.
There are five variants of Madison, so I'm not going to give you the spelling. But there's five variants of how you spell Madison.
Madison is a very rare name. Actually, looking as far as the investigative aspect, it became very popular after the movie "Splash". That was apparently a character that Daryl Hannah played.
So it's a very recent name. It's a very rare name. And we hope that that will enable us to get more information out to the public to try to identify who this girl is.
We believe that maybe the mother may not come forward with that information. We allege, based upon what we saw in the video, that this was not the first time that this young -- this young girl was subject to that type of abuse. So we believe that a caregiver, a relative, next door neighbor, will make some type of a -- for lack of a better word, some type of an identification of the name, some kind of comparison that we can utilize to further our investigation to try to bring this girl into safety.
We are looking to prosecute the suspect, but the most concern we have in law enforcement at this time is the rescue and safety of that young victim.
David Boruchowitz is the lead investigator. He'll answer any investigative questions. He actually has some timelines he wants to share with you.
If you have any questions, we'll have those after the -- after this briefing.
And I do appreciate you coming to us in Nye County. We appreciate everything that you guys have done for us in the press. Without your help, we would not have developed the leads we have developed thus far, and I really appreciate it.
Thank you.
QUESTION: Can you just clarify that the person whose picture you just showed us, do you believe it's possible he is the same person on that videotape?
DE MEO: It's possible. We're looking at him -- first of all, there's active warrants for his arrest. So we actually have the -- we actually have probable cause to actually bring him in once he's located.
We want to talk with him. We believe that he may shed some light on this investigation. But he is not -- we're not considering him a suspect in this case. We're considering him a person of interest.
And I know there's that fine line, but like I said, is that we would like to talk with him. He may give us some information as to who this child may be.
QUESTION: Are there enough facial similarities you think it could be him?
DE MEO: We believe so. In fact, the FBI gave us information yesterday they believe there's enough similarities.
When we bring him into custody and we talk with him, there may be some other physical descriptors that we have that may also solidify whether or not he's our person that we're looking for as a suspect in this crime, or discredit him as far as just being, you know, a person that's actually done crimes such as this -- I mean, as far as lewdness with someone under the age of 14 -- but he's considered -- he's a criminal at large at this time.
QUESTION: Are the warrants only in relation to this case?
DE MEO: Excuse me?
QUESTION: Are the warrants that are active...
DE MEO: No, they're related to cases in Las Vegas. He's had some contact with Las Vegas, some doing with some property crimes.
One as recently as a battery on a peace officer down in Vegas. So he's had some history with the law enforcement. He's also had some history with law enforcement reference to sex crimes.
QUESTION: How far back are we talking (INAUDIBLE)?
DE MEO: Well, you'd have to talk with Las Vegas with that. Right now we're working on the open warrants. Those cases are actually Las Vegas cases.
Metro has been very cooperative with us. They're an outstanding law enforcement agency. And we actually have cooperation with all our federal partners from the FBI, the U.S. Marshals, so on and so forth.
Other organizations have offered to assist us in this as well. So we're getting a lot of cooperation, and we're very pleased with that.
But like I said before, is that this case is -- that the most important thing right now we're looking for is the identity of the female, and get her help, find out who she is, get her help, and see what we can do to resurrect her life. I mean, it's a very sad situation she finds herself in.
And, you know, we don't use -- people usually don't see the victims of these types of crimes. This is an unusual circumstance for law enforcement. The only thing we had was her picture.
And we made that heart wrenching decision. And it was a decision that actually we talked about for a while. It wasn't something we just made, you know, in a split second.
But we had to find a way of rescuing her. Our important -- you know, our important, you know, part of the investigation is her identification and her rescue.
Someone out there has information. We believe it may be a caregiver, a relative, an aunt, a grandmother, someone, a next door neighbor, a service worker, you know, in restaurant. Maybe even the mother not even realizing this is going on.
We don't know. But all we know is that this is who the suspect identifies in the video. He mentions her by name in the video. And so that's the only name that we have to go on. So we believe that's the name that -- that's her name. We believe that's her name.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)
DE MEO: It's a mug shot.
QUESTION: It's a mug shot. And are there enough similarities in the previous case, the lewdness of the minor to this case, that also leads you to believe that this would be more than a person of interest potentially?
DE MEO: Still looking at him. We're reviewing the cases that Las Vegas sent us as reference to this one particular case where he ran.
We're looking at any similarities. Right now he has some physical descriptors that are similar. So we're looking at making sure that, first of all, we've got to bring him to justice.
He's a fugitive right now. The FBI has a warrant for his arrest for a fugitive, escaping prosecution. The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department has a nationwide fugitive warrant for him. So they definitely do want him. And we're looking to -- we're looking to question him once he's brought into custody.
We don't know his location at this time. And if we did, definitely we'd be having a news conference saying he's right now being questioned by either the FBI, Metropolitan Police Department, with us there as far as making sure the questions that we have to assist us in our investigation are also asked as well.
QUESTION: Has he ever registered as a sex offender in Las Vegas?
DE MEO: He's not on the -- he's not on the sex offender Web site, but that might -- they might pull that information -- they might pull that information once the open warrant. So I didn't see it -- I didn't see it on his Web site.
We have no contact with Mr. Stiles. We went through our records to see if he had any contact with law enforcement in this jurisdiction. He has not.
QUESTION: How do you spell his last name?
DE MEO: I'll give it to you. I don't want to -- I'll give you that as well. And I apologize for not giving the spelling initially.
It's S-T-I-L-E-S. I'll say it again, S-T-I-L-E-S. His first name is Chester. His middle name is Arthur.
He's a white male. His DOB is 09-14-1970. He has brown hair, and he has -- I guess it would be hazel eyes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
DE MEO: Hazel eyes.
QUESTION: Is he your only suspect right now (INAUDIBLE)?
DE MEO: We're still open -- we're still keeping the investigation open. We actually have some information possibly. There are other tips as well we're following up on.
Nothing concrete at this time. This right now is the person we're looking for. We've identified him as someone we definitely want to question to see if he can provide us any information on the identity of the victim and maybe possibly identify somebody else if he's not the suspect.
QUESTION: Because of the metro involvement with the warrant, is there reason to believe that he's still in this area?
DE MEO: We don't know. I don't know. But the FBI issued -- issued a fugitive warrant for his arrest, so they believe he has fled the jurisdiction as well.
We don't know his exact location. Like I said, you know, I know in law enforcement if we knew where he was, he would be in custody. Because we actually have the warrants for his arrest.
Vegas would definitely want to bring him back to their jurisdiction for prosecution. We would definitely want to speak to him wherever he is apprehended so we can see if he is someone that is going to shed any light on this investigation or we should just discount him.
We don't know at this time. Like I said, this is someone we definitely are looking for. The information we got very early on from the FBI, other law enforcement sources as well, is a person of interest, and we're following up with that.
QUESTION: Do you have reason to believe yet that that crime on that tape was committed here?
DE MEO: We don't know. We know that we identified the second girl we're looking for.
We had believed that once we put her picture up that that girl -- and we held it back for a while because we didn't see her being a victim of any type of assault. We looked at it as a voyeur type incident. But we believe once that that photo was -- once that still was up there, we could identify her, hoping that she would be able to lead us to who the suspect is or who this victim is.
We responded to a call for service in January 2005 for a peeping tom. She did not realize until we showed her that picture that she was actually being videotaped by a peeping tom. Maybe this person who was in the tape or not, we don't know.
What we can tell you is that the video with the suspect and with this victim, this young child, was videotaped over -- we believe this voyeur type incident with the -- with the teenager. So the teenage incident took place previous to the videotaping of this horrendous act, and so we're looking at the timeline of that video being 2000 -- probably January 2005 and on until May of 2007. And we allege, contrary to Mr. Tuck, is that he had the videotape in his possession in May of 2007.
Let me say this -- if Mr. Tuck found that video in the desert, realized its content, and had turned it over to the Nye County Sheriff's Office, right now we would be pursuing an investigation against the suspect on that and not a dual prosecution on Mr. Tuck. Mr. Tuck has hindered our investigation by holding onto that tape, and we definitely are still looking for a prosecution against Mr. Tuck for the exhibiting of that videotape. And we have testimony that he -- we have statements that he exhibited tape to several people, and also that he had that tape in his possession since May of 2007.
QUESTION: You have not been able to connect him as an associate of your person of interest?
DE MEO: Not yet. But his prosecution -- understand this, exhibiting pornography in the state of Nevada is a life sentence. So he is looking at, if his prosecution -- prosecution of Mr. Tuck for the exhibiting of the pornography should he be found guilty -- and that's in the hands -- that falls outside law enforcement. That's in the other part of our criminal justice system.
But once -- if he should be convicted of that, which is a Category A felony, he's looking at lifetime in jail. Under possession of the pornography, that's about a six-year sentence.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a one to six sentence. He can receive up to six years for possession. Ten to life on the dissemination of pornographic material if he's convicted.
QUESTION: If you're convinced that he's lied about where he got the tape, obviously he knows something about where that tape came from that could potentially lead you to your suspect who's on the tape. Have you served warrants on his property, have you served warrants on his computer to check any contacts that he has had with other people who may be interested in this type of material?
DE MEO: Well, and that's (INAUDIBLE). But Detective Boruchowitz is going to answer those questions.
He's been involved in this investigation since before the tape was turned in and we had information that Mr. Tuck had the tape. So, David Boruchowitz, who's the lead investigator, will better answer those investigative questions.
If you have any more questions as far as the sheriff, once David Boruchowitz is finished with his questioning, with his statement, any question you may have for him, Bob will give a statement as far as the D.A.'s side of it, and I will be here to answer any questions during this briefing or after this briefing. I know I've been in contact with many of you, and I understand we've made our office very accessible to the press.
You people are going to be the ones that are going to make the connectivity between who this young girl is, how we are going to rescue her and identify her and bring her into a situation where she can get help, who the suspect is, whether it be Mr. Stiles or someone else. But we believe, strongly believe, that you are going to help us resolve this case and bring it to its logical conclusion.
This is nothing new in law enforcement. What's happening here is as always happened with the media, we give you information, you put it out to the people, we get tips and leads, and we burn a lot of shoe leather to follow up those leads to make sure that we run our investigations to a final course.
We're not going to stop regardless until this girl is rescued, until we have the -- until we find out her disposition. And this case, as far as the Nye County Sheriff's Office is concerned, because of the incidents that we viewed on the tape -- and I only viewed a small part of it.
I'm not new to law enforcement. I come from a large city back East, as you can tell from my accent. I spent 25 years there.
I was born and raised in the streets of Brooklyn. I have seen a lot of horrific stuff. Nothing that I have seen in my career has come anywhere close to what this girl has gone through.
And, you know, I just don't imagine that anyone should go there this, whether how old they are, no matter what. And this person, whoever this person is, is a predator that, as far as I am concerned, belongs in custody and should be successfully prosecuted in jail for as long as the law allows.
But I'll turn this over to Detective Boruchowitz for his statement and answer your questions.
Thank you so much.
DET. DAVID BORUCHOWITZ, NYE COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE: Good morning -- afternoon.
For starters, obviously I'll mirror the sheriff's words. We appreciate your coverage. Appreciate your patience.
I know sometimes we're not getting back as quick as we can to you. I assure you that as we get information, we're getting it to you.
More importantly, if you can pass along to your viewers, thank you to them. Thus far, everything that we have and that we are releasing to you has come from media tips, whether it's been through other agencies for media tips or through us.
Media tips are pouring in across the country to us. We're estimating we're in access of 4,000 or possibly more tips into our agency specifically.
"America's Most Wanted" has received a large number. I couldn't give you an exact number that they have forwarded to us, as well as the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and Child Seekers and every other agency that's working with us throughout the state.
I'm going to give you a timeline of this investigation from prior to my contact with Mr. Tuck initially up until this point. The facts as we are giving them to you is exactly what we have.
Our understanding is there's some things that are being broadcast, not necessarily intentionally, that are miscommunications or misunderstandings about some of the events, and we want to make sure those are clarified to the public so that everything is understood and it's a fair story being presented. OK.
This -- we believe that this entire investigation stems further back than Mr. Tuck in the middle of September. The Nye County Sheriff's Office detectives division has been working an ongoing burglary investigation within the area from Nevada. We have numerous burglaries that are linked together with the same suspect.
At the time that Mr. Tuck came forward to us with the tape, we had approximately -- and this is a rough number -- 13 to 14 members of this burglary ring in custody already. We had an additional between 15 and 25 suspects that are either still at large or were at large at that time. Word on the street was spreading rapidly among criminals that we were hunting these burglars and they were going to be brought to justice.
Mr. Tuck contacted the Nye County Sheriff's detective division and notified us that he had found a tape, a videotape that he had found in the desert that had an act that he stated was horrible and wanted to turn in. Accommodations were made immediately where I met with Mr. Tuck and Mr. Tuck turned the videotape over to me.
During the course of that initial investigation, Mr. Tuck advised me that he had had the tape for four days. Mr. Tuck was interviewed several times, during the course of that interview, specifically about the time frame that he'd had it. And Mr. Tuck told me he'd had it for four days.
The videotape was returned to the sheriff's office with me where it was examined and the horrible assault that we have advised you about was discovered. Immediately I contacted Mr. Tuck by phone and again re-interviewed him by telephone. Mr. Tuck's story was the same. I Mr. Tuck regarding several items of the initial interview and Mr. Tuck's story remained consistent.
At that point we began the department investigation into this tape and the allegations of Mr. Tuck in terms of when he received it. During subsequent interviews very shortly after that initial discovery, Mr. Tuck advised us it could have been a week he had the tape, but he did turn it over to us within that week's time period of when we had received the tape into our office.
At that point the Nye County sheriff's office was not comfortable with Mr. Tuck's story of finding the tape in the desert. We attempted, myself, as well as many other members of the Nye County sheriff's department, attempted to make contact with Mr. Tuck at the phone numbers we had been provided by him at the time of him turning the tape in. Mr. Tuck avoided contact with us and refused to return any of our phone calls. Mr. Tuck was then contacted and spoke with our office and made an appointment to come in and meet with us for subsequent interviews.
At that point Mr. Tuck's attorney called Nye County Sheriff's Office Lieutenant Howard and advised him, after Tuck failed to show up, that Mr. Tuck was not coming. At that point, obviously, Mr. Tuck is our only link to this horrible sexual assault on a video of a little child. It was our desire to apply some investigatory pressure, and we arrested Mr. Tuck for possession of child pornography.
At that point an independent witness contacted the Nye County sheriff's office out of concern in regards to why Mr. Tuck was arrested for possession of the tape. During that interview we were informed that Mr. Tuck had advised this witness that he had this tape in his possession and its content in May of 2007.
This witness simply obtained that information from Mr. Tuck during the course of a conversation. This witness advised Mr. Tuck to turn that tape in immediately so that the Nye County sheriff's office could do something for that little girl that was on that tape.
At that point, I contacted Mr. Tuck in the Nye County detention center; he agreed to speak with me. During that conversation he advised me that he had no attorney representing him for the case, that he had not told his attorney to tell Lieutenant Howard what he had told him. And when interviewed regarding the tape, stuck to the initial story that he had had it for approximately a week. During further interview with Mr. Tuck, and the presentation of our witnesses, and the facts that we had obtained at that point, Mr. Tuck conceded that he had indeed had it since May of 2007.
Mr. Tuck stated that he had not turned it in to us because he was scared. During that interview as well as interview of other witnesses, we were able to identify Mr. Tuck had shown this video to at least one other person that we have identified, and they were -- at least a portion of the video was watched by that individual. At that point we, as a detective division, followed the leads we had, which were very few, and Mr. Tuck severed conversation with our office.
Thus, we had no recourse except to make the decision to make the picture of the poor little girl public to you, and to the people of the United States. From that time after receiving that photograph, the Nye County sheriff's office began to receive leads. These leads obviously are widespreading (sic). People have asked us relative to the nature of those leads. Those leads range from absolutely every corner of the United States and absolutely every family relationship, neighbor, church member, shopping, saw them in a casino, saw them in a hotel. They are coming in rapidly.
At that point we released the photo of the perpetrator. Our hopes would be somebody would recognize this man and come forward and advise us who he is. Tips as well began to pour in from the members of the public.
Using enhancement, we were able to identify that the TV in the video was manufactured in 2003. The DVR in the video between 2003 and 2004. Again, from leads from the public, we were able to identify that the dress that the little girl was wearing, or nightgown, was manufactured in spring of 2003, giving us some sort of a timeline on the video. We continued to follow these leads, and in all honesty received more and more with every bit of information we've released to you.
At that point, we had several meetings and decided that the release of the second girl in the video was essential to this investigation, in an attempt to identify the perpetrator and this poor little girl. Upon doing so, within a very short matter of time, the public was able to identify that girl through a tip to our office. That girl was identified as a 13-year-old member from Parumps (ph) community, in reference to the fact that you guys are requesting for her information, and her address, and her to speak to the public, at this time we are not releasing that.
If she has desires, or her family has desires to speak to you, that will be up to them to contact you. We've put her picture all over the United States, and we appreciate you taking it off, but we're not going to involve her anymore.
During the course of the second video on the VHS tape with that -- with the teenage girl, she is a victim of somebody peeping through a window. There is no active sexual assault. There's nothing more than a video of her in her residence. During the course of following up on the tips we received in terms of her identity, the Nye County sheriff's office detectives division was able to locate this girl.
During an interview of her, she was aware of the fact that she had been videotaped. She had reported to the Nye County sheriff's office, at the date of the occasion that this had occurred. She had observed the man in the window, videotaping her, and had immediately contacted us. The Nye County sheriff's office responded on October 16th of 2005 at 9:33 in the evening to her residence for this call. Upon arriving, deputies, that were working that night, were unable to locate the suspect, were unable to locate any evidence to link him to the scene of the crime. And the incident went cold.
We have no specific evidence as to the two videos on the VHS tape being aired at the same time. As the sheriff mentioned, we have the belief they may have been dubbed, one over another. The other option we have explored, and is continuing to be explored through forensics, is whether they may be a compilation of videos onto one VHS tape stemming from two separate videos.
Upon that second girl being identified, we had you remove her photograph from the media. We then presented you with some enhanced photographs of the perpetrator in the video. Upon the release of those photographs, we received several tips that were viable that came through to our office reference the possible identification of that suspect, which is -- which is where we're following up at this point. We have several leads that we're continuing to work. Obviously, we've told you that Mr. Stiles is a person of interest. It will be up to you guys, as reasonable people, to look at the photographs and determine exactly your opinion of physical characteristics. We obviously are making our own and working on that as part of the investigation.
In regards to the little girl, the sheriff has released to you her name. We are inundated with phone calls from the public, which we are greatly appreciative. We are establishing a call center here at the Nye County sheriff's office to assist us with manning these tips as they come in. We're going to release a little bit more information to the public in an attempt to screen some phone calls -- some of the leads that people may have, and that's why we've decided to release that name.
We have obviously thousands of people that are concerned for any little girls that they're aware of, and in hopes of the name Madison (ph) being given to you that maybe we may find that.
QUESTION: David, is it true that she has a mark on her arm? And if so, what kind of mark, and where is it?
BORUCHOWITZ: What I can tell you is we're not releasing the exact location of that. We're retaining that as a method of screening here with in the Nye County sheriff's office. We can tell you that she does have a specific birthmark, mole, or significant marking on her body, and that is definitely an identifying characteristic. Due to the nature of the thousands of leads we're taking, and the need for us to prioritize those needs, we're retaining exactly -- its exact location at this time. That may be released at a future date depending on how that goes.
QUESTION: Can you say right now, which way you're moving towards, is this little girl from southern Nevada, or is she from somewhere else.
BORUCHOWITZ: In all honesty, we have absolutely no idea. The forensic aspect of the analyzing of the tape hopefully will lead us to some more information. We're glad to have removed the second video off the VHS and in terms of it's location and the victim in that video, simply because that narrows our search down to a specific incident, instead of two specific incidents. We're exploring all possibilities. Obviously, we the problem is we have absolutely no idea where this videotape was made.
QUESTION: What kind of tape is it?
BORUCHOWITZ: It's a VHS tape, yes.
QUESTION: Detective, is Mr. Stiles from Clark County, Nye County, do you know where he is presently?
BORUCHOWITZ: I don't have specific information. I believe he resided in Clark County at some point.
QUESTION: Is there still a chance that (OFF MIC)
BORUCHOWITZ: Span further, meaning older?
QUESTION: To 2005 (OFF MIC).
BORUCHOWITZ: Correct. We don't know. We've put the older date, obviously the 2003, 2004 date on there, we believe is the earliest this tape could be produced. The forensic portion of this hopefully will provide additional information. And obviously as we continue to work leads, hopefully that won't be necessary because our hope is that we'll have this little girl in somewhere safe very quickly.
QUESTION: And due to the nature of this -- past legal problems, you still have no reason to believe that he could have killed her?
BORUCHOWITZ: We have no reason to believe anything at that point regarding that.
QUESTION: You mention a burglary ring initially. Is there any other tie with the case as you were working hard on a burglary when all this came about and he handed in the tape?
BORUCHOWITZ: There is no specific ties to that burglary case. Like I said, we're trying to paint the picture based on the information we have and Mr. Tuck, and the information he's provided. We're assembling our own theory for the purpose of the investigation as to -- if that connects it to this case through Mr. Tuck.
QUESTION: Can you talk about the suspect in that burglary, Mr. Tuck a suspect in that ring?
BORUCHOWITZ: Not as far as we knew at this point.
QUESTION: Do you believe this tape was stolen in one of the burglaries?
BORUCHOWITZ: We have no reason to believe that. Let me clarify so everyone understands. The burglary ring that we were working on and the cases we were working on, the associates of that ring are directly correlated to Mr. Tuck. We are simply under the impression that that is why Mr. Tuck came forward. This is a question you guys have presented to us on various levels throughout the investigation, as to why Mr. Tuck would come forward with this tape.
That is a theory that we've developed during the course of this investigation as to the only logical explanation, why after five months of possessing this horrible video, Mr. Tuck would decide to come forward and present this.
(CROSS TALK)
QUESTION: Hoping for leniency from you, is that what you're saying?
BORUCHOWITZ: That would be the assumption, correct.
QUESTION: Why would he stop being cooperative now? It would seem that that would go against any goodwill --
BORUCHOWITZ: In reality that would have to be a question Mr. Tuck would have to answer.
QUESTION: And you mentioned the name Madison (ph) was mentioned on this tape. Have you heard anything else? I mean is that the only thing we know about this girl? And does it comes from the tape? In other words, no one has called in and said Madison -- or?
BORUCHOWITZ: We've received numerous calls, just about every name you can imagine has been given to us. We're following every lead diligently. In terms of a specific call reference Madison, we have not tied anybody yet to this video.
QUESTION: If (OFF MIC) still not clear or won't reveal where this video is from have you served search warrants on his property? Have you looked at his computer? Have you looked at his Internet activity to see if there are any connections to other who may have something on (OFF MIC)?
BORUCHOWITZ: Mr. Stiles' residence has been searched. I can tell you that. In terms of elaborating further on that at this point --
QUESTION: Has Mr. Stiles (OFF MIC) BORUCHOWITZ: I'm sorry, I misspoke, take that back. Mr. Tuck's residence has been searched and in terms of the additional investigation, that's ongoing still.
(END LIVE FEED, IN PROGRESS)
LEMON: All right, you're listening to investigators in Las Vegas, Nevada. Just listening to it, I still can't believe it; after they are talking about this.
What's new out of this, and hopefully which will provide them with some answers is they've named a person of interest. They're calling him a criminal at large. You're looking at pictures from the videotape there. There's also -- they provided a picture for a man. His name is Chester Arthur Stiles. There it is right there. This is from the Las Vegas police department fugitive website.
According to their website, 34 years old, 6'3", brown hair, green eyes. In the press conference they said hazel eyes. But there is also a bit of a discrepancy because they said his birthday was 9-14, '70, which Betty so smartly pointed out would make him 37.
So, regardless of the age, or what have you, you have a picture of the person they're looking for. They want to question him in the disappearance of this little girl in the sex tape that they have there.
They're thinking that this little girl's name is Madison (ph). They said Madison (ph) for them, the meaning of Madison is "gift of the Lord", and they're hoping that their gift from the Lord is that they find this little girl in time before she is done more harm and that she is still alive. Again, they're looking for that suspect, we believe 34 years old, Chester Arthur Stiles.
That investigator said he spent 25 years in a big city, I believe he said he grew up in Brooklyn. Nothing I have seen in my career has come anywhere close to what this little girl has gone through. And that is from a seasoned veteran detective of a police department.
NGUYEN: The sheriff, in fact, of that police department. We will get so much more on this investigation. We're going to be speaking with the correspondent for "America's Most Wanted" who has been following this case from day one.
In the meantime, though -- that's right after this break. In the meantime, if you know any information, if you have looked at these pictures and they just ring a bell with you, you can call "America's Most Wanted", 1-800-CRIMETV. You can also leave tips on their website. Here it is: www.amw.com. We have so much more on this case. Don't go anywhere.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Chester Arthur Stiles, Chester Arthur Stiles is wanted by Las Vegas police department for sexual assault, and lewdness with a minor under the age of 14 years of age. There is a nationwide warrant out for him from metro Las Vegas metropolitan police and there is also an FBI warrant for him as well, a fugitive to escape prosecution.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: That was the Nye County sheriff speaking of a person of interest in this case dealing with a little girl who is involved in just awful sex acts, which were caught on tape. The search is on for the man involved in that. In fact, "America's Most Wanted" is also trying to find not only the little girl but the man on the tape with her. It's correspondent Jon Leiberman has been following this case since day one. He joins us now.
I want to ask you, first of all, we've learned a lot in that news conference just minutes ago, that being Chester Arthur Stiles, 34 years old, between 34 and 37 depending on this date of birth, which is a little bit of a discrepancy. But the point here being that he is a person of interest with a bit of a history. What do you know about this guy?
JON LEIBERMAN, "AMERICA'S MOST WANTED": In fact, Betty, that's a great question. We have his rap sheet right here. This guy currently is wanted for the rape of a child out of Las Vegas. He's also wanted on a federal -- what we call a UFAP, which is unlawful flight to avoid prosecution. Which means he ran knowing that he was a fugitive. He also has battery on a police officer, unlawful carrying of a weapon, and so he has quite a rap sheet.
Let me make it very clear, this person is very important in this investigation. Whether or not it's the person on the tape, we're not sure right now, but I'll put it like this, Betty. They wouldn't have named him a person of interest, publicly, if they didn't think that he had something to do with the making of this tape, or if it is indeed him on the tape.
NGUYEN: Well, Jon, let's just take a look, because we do have some pictures, not only of the man on the tape but we also have some pictures of Stiles, a mug shot, in fact. You can see some similarities. I mean, I'm no expert, but you can see similarities.
LEIBERMAN: Here is the other thing, too, Betty, if they didn't have a warrant for this guy's arrest, maybe they would charge him in connection with this chase. But from a law enforcement standpoint there no reason at all to come out and say that he's the main suspect, that he's the guy on the tape. That may scare him away even more.
The prudent thing to do, which is what the police are doing, is to say, look, we have active warrants for this guy. And I can tell you that police have much more than just a physical description. There are other things on that tape that led them to believe, working with Las Vegas cops, that Mr. Stiles was involved here. So this is definitely somebody that we need to get in custody immediately.
NGUYEN: What we also learned from the tape is the little girl's name is Madison (ph), at least according to the tape. And this I found very interesting. They did some digging into what she was wearing. That dress that you see her wearing there was manufactured in spring 2003. Now, there was another girl on the tape, as well as she was the victim of a peeping Tom. She reported that case in 2005. So it seems like this awful act, that was caught on that tape, happened quite some time ago.
LEIBERMAN: Yeah, it's definitely probably at least two years ago. And I'll tell you what's heartbreaking is the little girl is expressionless in the video. It's almost like she's had her soul sucked out. That's why we need to find this little girl. It's especially disturbing, too, when you hear police come out and say, look, maybe even this little girl's own mother might not report her, because maybe there's more abuse in her past, or things like that.
So we're urging anybody who may recognize this little girl, and as you mention, Betty, the photos on that tape could be at least two years old. This girl is probably aged a little bit in her appearance. She could be five to seven years old now. So it's important that people look at the features, not necessarily try to make an exact match between what she looked like then, and the person that they know now.
NGUYEN: It is just so chilling. And, in fact, the sheriff himself says that he's been in law enforcement some 25-plus years. And, quote, "nothing has come anywhere close to what this little girl has been through." So hopefully by looking at her picture and learning what we have about the person of interest, and the other people involved in this and putting the number up, we can find someone who knows something that will lead to an arrest. Thank you so much, Jon. We appreciate your time.
LEIBERMAN: Sure.
NGUYEN: If you have any information, please call "America's Most Wanted", 1-800-CRIMETV. You can also leave tips on the their website www.amw.com.
LEMON: Keeping watch on Myanmar from space. A satellite's eye can go where other's can't. Coming up, we'll find out what those eyes are seeing in that troubled country.
NGUYEN: Plus, what is going on in the windy city? Thousands of complaints against Chicago cops. Very little, apparently, done about it. We'll explain. You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: World leaders are meeting at the State Department today to discuss ways to reduce pollution and greenhouse gases. CNN has spent the last several months looking at the various threats to the environment for a special documentary called "Planet In Peril." Anderson Cooper takes us to Yellowstone National Park to help us understand the challenges facing the world's greatest creatures.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Yellowstone National Park, crown jewel of America's park system. Its beauty is other worldly, a fully intact ecosystem. Scientists say this is the natural world as it should be, but it hasn't always been this way.
(On camera): Sometimes it's hard to see the impact the loss of one species can have on an entire ecosystem. In order to demonstrate it, you sometimes have to look at the reverse. What happens when one species is reintroduced to an ecosystem? We have come here to Yellowstone Park because in 1995 gray wolves were brought back to this park. A total of 41 wolves were brought back here over two years, and since then their numbers have increased steadily, and they've had a major impact on this entire area.
(Voice over): To get a sense of that impact, we wanted to see the animal for ourselves. It's late afternoon in the park, and the light is fading fast. It's not easy to find the wolves. They're elusive and very sensitive to the presence of humans. There's a lot of running, ducking, and hiding.
(On camera): There's a bison which died several 100 yards from here, along a little river. At night the wolves are going to come and feed on it. They were out here last night. There's a good chance they will be back tonight. So, we're trying to get as close as possible. We don't want to scare the wolves off by getting too close.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a wolf right there. He's standing on a rock.
COOPER: Yeah, I see him.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: "The Planet in Peril" CNN special with Anderson Cooper airs Tuesday and Wednesday, that's October 23rd and 24th at 9:00 Eastern.
NGUYEN: Well, a crumpled SUV in a ravine. After eight days, it wasn't the end of the road, though, oh, no, for Tanya Rider. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They said the reason she survived in that car for seven days was because it was cold. One more day she would have been dead.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: Her incredible survival story and her husband's quest to find her. You don't want to miss this one. It's in the NEWSROOM.
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