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Marine on the Run; Republican Presidential Candidates Attempt to Woo Michigan Voters

Aired January 14, 2008 - 15:00   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: It's the $25,000 question: Where is the Marine accused of killing, burning and burying a fellow Marine and her unborn child?
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: The FBI is leading what a North Carolina sheriff calls an Earth-wide manhunt. We will talk with Sheriff Ed Brown this hour.

Hello, everyone. I'm Don Lemon, live at the CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta.

PHILLIPS: And I'm Kyra Phillips. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Some movement today in the nationwide hunt for a U.S. Marine on the run, but no indication that authorities are getting any closer to Corporal Cesar Laurean, the accused killer of a pregnant fellow Marine who had accused him of rape. Joining us with the latest now from Jacksonville, North Carolina, CNN's Rusty Dornin.

Rusty, bring us up to date.

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, there are just so many puzzling and really disturbing questions about this case and how it was initially investigated.

We did learn today, authorities do believe that Maria Lauterbach was murdered on December 15, on or about December 15. That is only one day after the last time that she spoke to her mother and about four days before she was reported missing by her mother and Marines began looking into the case.

What is -- the questions that keep coming up are, why weren't the local authorities here told of this rape allegation back from April? Why were they not told about that? There was a military protection order, also known as an MPO, that was issued in May -- it's like a temporary restraining order -- against Laurean in the case. It expired in September.

But let's listen to Sheriff Ed Brown, as he talks about the military investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ED BROWN, SHERIFF OF ONSLOW COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA: If you knew the level of the command, you would understand it. There is a downhill unit level of command, that this incident had already allowed the MPO to expire. We have learned that.

It happened in April. They was still allowed to work in conjunction with each other. So, at that time -- now, we have learned this since -- at that time, it was not even an issue that they felt important enough to bring to the attention of NCIS, since it was a unit-type situation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DORNIN: So many questions. And the district attorney here is meeting with NCIS investigators this afternoon, so he can get some more of his questions answered.

Meantime, the Marines have issued a statement, saying the commanders are looking at every aspect of this investigation, who was making the decisions when, right back from the rape allegations to this military protection order, right up to what was supposed to be an Article 32 hearing that Maria Lauterbach was scheduled to testify in, but never did so.

Meantime, there is a $25,000 reward that has been issued for finding Cesar Laurean. Also, the FBI has put him up on their most- wanted list on their Web site, on posters nationwide. They're also working with an outdoor apparently billboard company where they're going to be putting up his picture on billboards on highways.

That's happening first in Columbus, Ohio, and Las Vegas, Nevada. But right now it doesn't appear that they are any closer to finding his whereabouts than they were a couple days ago -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, Rusty, thanks.

And we're actually going to talk with Sheriff Ed Brown coming up at 3:30 Eastern time right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

LEMON: Hot off the CNN Political Ticker: the Grand Old Party and a battle royal in Michigan.

Primary day is tomorrow, and Mitt Romney, John McCain, Mike Huckabee are all hitting the state hard today. Romney, the native son, really needs a win after two runner-up finishes. The latest polls give him a narrow edge over McCain, who is trying to ride momentum from his win last week in New Hampshire.

And just four days after Michigan, South Carolina's GOP voters make their choice. McCain, Huckabee, and Fred Thompson are pushing hard there. White evangelicals make up half of the state's likely GOP voters. That could bode well for Huckabee, the former Baptist minister, but a recent poll shows McCain in the lead there.

South Carolina Democrats have their primary a week after the Republicans. John Edwards is hoping his Carolina roots will give him an edge over Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Nevada's caucuses fall on the same day as South Carolina's GOP primary. And they will get the attention of the Democrats. Barack Obama is in Nevada right now, and former President Clinton is stumping for his wife, who has been in a racially charged back-and-forth with Obama over support for the civil rights movement.

Hanging chads in 2000, missing C's in 2008. It's Florida, and early voting's going on right now, ahead of the January 29 primary. But already there's a problem with Volusia County's absentee ballots. More than 2,000 have Barack Obama's name misspelled. His first name should be spelled B-A-R-A-C-K, but the ballots left out the C. Election officials say voting machines can still read them.

Let's go straight to tomorrow's battleground state, Michigan. where jobs, or the lack of them, are on voters' minds. CNN's Mary Snow is following the Republican candidates, and she joins us now from Detroit.

Hi, Mary.

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, Don.

And I'm following them to an unlikely place on the campaign trail and that's the Detroit Auto Show. But this is the place to be in Detroit. And because the Michigan primary moved up its date, it also coincides with candidates coming here. And all three Republican candidates campaigning here today are expected to make an appearance at this auto show.

But the real story here is the economy and the economy behind the auto industry. It's been hit hard. There have been massive layoffs. And this has really forced economic issues to the forefront. Mitt Romney, the Republican presidential candidate, as you mentioned, a Michigan native, is hoping to gain support here by vowing to restore the automotive industry.

He is saying that he will re -- put -- sorry about that -- put money into research in order to get new technology here for new vehicles. Senator John McCain is also calling for more research for green technology, saying that some of these jobs are gone for good, but new jobs need to be developed.

And Mike Huckabee is also campaigning in the state. He is saying that Michigan is owed by the U.S. It needs help, and the U.S. should come to its aid, because Michigan was the motor, if you will, of the U.S. economy at times and really saved America, in his words.

He is also, though, appealing to conservatives, evangelicals in the state. He had been saying the fact that he is even a player here is good news for him, because this is not a state that he had really been focusing on, but he has been campaigning here in recent days -- Don.

LEMON: Mary Snow, thank you very much for that.

PHILLIPS: The Democrats have their eyes on Nevada this week, while the two front-runners slug it out over civil rights comments.

CNN's Jim Acosta live in Las Vegas with more on that -- Jim. JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kyra.

Yes, the Democratic contenders in this race here in Nevada are hitting each other hard over an issue that came up a week ago when Senator Hillary Clinton made a remark that seemed to suggest that President Lyndon Johnson deserved more credit than Martin Luther King for the civil rights legislation of the 1960s.

And while she later clarified that statement, the comment angered some African-American leaders. Over the weekend, Clinton accused the Barack Obama campaign of taking advantage of that gaffe and distorting her comments.

Yesterday here in Las Vegas, Obama was campaigning here. He called that claim ludicrous.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I am baffled by that statement by the senator, after she made an ill-advised statement about Dr. King and suggesting that Lyndon Johnson had more to do with the Civil Rights Act.

SEN. HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON (D-NY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I was responding to a speech that Senator Obama gave in New Hampshire where he did compare himself to President Kennedy and to Dr. King.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Now, earlier today, trying to do a little damage control, Hillary Clinton appeared at an MLK celebration in New York, where she spoke passionately on the subject of civil rights, and reiterated her admiration for the civil rights leader Dr. King.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: We need to be recommitted to Dr. King's dream. It was a dream that demanded action, and he gave that action every day of his life, until he was taken from us. We must demand that every American share in this nation's prosperity. Every American, no matter where you start out, should have the opportunity to fulfill your God-given potential.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: And back here in Nevada, Barack Obama has a slate of campaign events planned for later today. He's appearing four times across the state in anticipation of the Nevada caucuses, and all eyes will be on the Illinois senator to see whether or not he continues to raise this subject or whether he will just let this one go -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Yes, we're following it too here in the NEWSROOM. Jim Acosta, live in Vegas, appreciate it.

And for more on the candidates and their next stops, go to cnnpolitics.com. It's your one-stop shop for all things political. LEMON: And speaking of presidents now, let's go to Betty Nguyen in the newsroom.

Betty, this is presidential news, but not quite the kind -- I don't know -- is it the kind we're used to?

(LAUGHTER)

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, OK, let's just say we're going from politics to presidential romance.

LEMON: Ah, l'amor, huh, as we say?

NGUYEN: The French president, yes, to this be exact. Nicolas Sarkozy, it appears, according to French newspapers, that he is married. Yes, he just got a divorce back in October to his wife, Cecilia, with whom he has a 10-year-old son.

Well, it appears that, just last week, president Nicolas Sarkozy married former Italian supermodel Carla Bruni at the Elysee Palace last week. And the president pretty much told the press that, look, I'm going to be getting married soon and you may not even find out about it until after it is done.

Voila. It is done, according to French reports. And this is quite the talk, shall we say, especially since the couple was in Egypt over the Christmas break and there was a lot of criticism about the two taking expensive trips.

Here are some pictures from that. And the president was criticizing -- or criticized for spending too much time hanging out and having fun. And just give you a little bit of background on Bruni, according to reports, she has had previous affairs with such rock stars as Mick Jagger, and Eric Clapton, even told a tabloid, a French magazine, last year that -- quote -- "monogamy bores me terribly."

Well, hopefully that's not the case anymore. After all, she has just married the French president, according to newspaper reports. So, Don, there you have it.

(LAUGHTER)

NGUYEN: Why are you laughing? This is love. This is serious stuff.

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: I know. I know. Well, you know, when you said the whole thing about the rock stars and whatever...

NGUYEN: As long as it lasts. We will see. I know.

LEMON: I guess he's kind of a rock star in his own right.

NGUYEN: His own right, I suppose. LEMON: Power is an aphrodisiac, as they say.

(CROSSTALK)

NGUYEN: Third marriage. We will see how it goes.

LEMON: Yes. OK. Thank you, Betty.

NGUYEN: Sure.

(WEATHER UPDATE)

LEMON: Real-world progress against cyber-predators -- we will talk to Connecticut's attorney general about today's MySpace announcement.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Sixteen past the hour. Three of the stories we're working on for you right here in the CNN NEWSROOM: It's been called the forgotten war, but not today. CNN has learned more U.S. troops are heading into Afghanistan -- 3,200 Marines are being notified of their deployment.

The search for a fugitive Marine growing more intense by the hour. The feds are working to put up billboards nationwide in their hunt for Corporal Cesar Laurean, wanted in the killing of a pregnant fellow Marine.

New testimony from the star witness into the latest inquest into Princess Diana's death. Her former butler says Diana's mom had criticized her for dating two Muslim men. He also says the princess wasn't really ready to marry boyfriend Dodi Fayed.

PHILLIPS: Raising the profile of online predators -- MySpace reaches an agreement with dozens of states to boost the site's protections. The deal was announced today by several attorneys general, including Connecticut's. Richard Blumenthal joins us now live.

Richard, thanks for being with us.

RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, CONNECTICUT ATTORNEY GENERAL: Thank you, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: So, I was reading here that the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children says that the number of missing children linked to online communication has actually increased from 10 percent of cases two years ago to 65 percent in 2007.

I was amazed by those numbers. Is MySpace where most of these predators were targeting children?

BLUMENTHAL: Not necessarily the predominant place that predators were targeting children, but certainly an available opportunity for them. And this agreement, which really is a landmark or milestone agreement, aims to implement better technology to prevent predators from reaching children on MySpace, to expunge all the inappropriate content, like pornography, and better protect children, and really empower parents to fulfill their role more effectively.

So, there's a long-term task force that will involve MySpace, acknowledging the importance of age and identity authentication, and also a commitment to explore and develop that technology, but also more than 70 specific measures right now that MySpace has implemented or will work to implement.

And that is really a very, very profoundly promising model for the whole industry to adopt.

PHILLIPS: All right, we have what MySpace has agreed to do, basically in a nutshell, on a number of graphics here.

And, as we take a look at those up on the screen, how are you going to hold MySpace accountable? Because they don't necessarily have to do this, right?

BLUMENTHAL: There is no penalty set forth in this agreement. But there are principles, and we're going to be monitoring and overseeing MySpace very closely. We're going to be involving other social networking sites, Facebook, for example, as well as technology companies and experts in technology.

But MySpace has committed either to adopt or work to implement these specific measures. Just one example, for example, as a parent of four children, I find particularly attractive, the idea that parents will be given tools or means, techniques, to stop their children from having access to MySpace through an e-mail registry that will involve other information as well, tracking or searching for key words that will eliminate, screen out underage users.

We're going to develop, hopefully, better technology through this task force, but we will be watching very closely, and working in partnership with MySpace and other social networking sites that have an interest, all 49 attorney generals.

PHILLIPS: Well, so, Richard, how do you actually remove a sexual offender from the site? How do you identify a sexual offender and how do you get him or her off the site?

BLUMENTHAL: Sexual offenders, if they're convicted of a state or federal crime, are on a registry that can be matched against the profiles on MySpace for a convicted sex offender. Using his or her real name, purging that predator can be readily done.

It is really the hidden or concealed predators who pose as teenagers, the 35-year-old men posing as an 18-year-old, that age and identity verification or authentication are designed to preclude. And that's the technology that we hope to develop through this task force.

The attorneys general believe the technology's already reliable. But MySpace has a different view, and we're going to work together with them in partnership to try to implement that technology to protect children.

PHILLIPS: Yes, it's just so scary to see what's happening online.

But Richard Blumenthal, Connecticut's attorney general, it's good to see that some type of deal got reached.

BLUMENTHAL: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: Appreciate your time.

BLUMENTHAL: Thank you.

LEMON: We have been reporting on CNN about a blast, a suicide bomber in Kabul, Afghanistan, a suicide blast there killing five people, including one American. And joining us now by telephone is someone who was there at the hotel. His name is Robert Stewart.

Explain to us where you were and what you heard and what you did.

ROBERT STEWART, WITNESS: Hi.

Myself and four of my colleagues went to the Serena for dinner and to go to the gym. We drove in the front gate, and when we parked the car, the firing broke out, small-arms fire outside the gate, followed by some grenades.

And apparently the insurgents came inside the gate. They had attacked the guards outside. There was approximately eight or 10 guards. They got outside and began firing towards the hotel, and the guests began evacuating outside. Some people were...

(CROSSTALK)

STEWART: Yes, go ahead.

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: Just to -- I want to tell our viewers, just so they know, the Serena Hotel, it is a newly built luxury hotel that is frequented by foreign embassies, by Americans, anyone who comes in. Americans usually go there for dinner. There are parties. They hold meetings there, a very popular place in downtown Kabul.

Go on and explain to us what happened from there.

STEWART: OK.

As they began evacuating the guests, more grenades went off outside near the parking area and an insurgent or two got inside the building. Some people were killed with small arms. The suicide bomber blew up near the front of the building. I'm not sure -- I didn't see that happen. I was near the back of the hotel.

We came back up a few minutes later towards the front of the hotel. There was still a lot of chaos. But there was -- had three critically wounded people, different parts of the front of the hotel. And some people were administering first aid.

And I helped administer first aid. We found one of the Filipino workers had been shot near the near the gymnasium, where two other people were shot. And one of the Norwegian delegation or a reporter -- I'm not sure which -- was -- he was down.

And they were administering first aid to him. And, on the other side, another Norwegian had been shot and some people were administering first aid to them. They were critically wounded, but they survived.

LEMON: And Robert Stewart is a civilian contractor there.

And you said you were going to the gym. I'm looking at one account of someone else who was in the gym, Mr. Stewart. And they -- and she said, thank God she didn't go into the shower, because they heard -- she heard gunfire, a lot of it. It was very close, close enough that plaster came off the ceiling.

And another eyewitness said that -- this is a bit gruesome -- but there was blood everywhere. They had to step over bodies. Did you witness anything like that?

STEWART: I was administering first aid to the bodies, yes. They had been shot through the lungs, and there was -- yes, it was a pretty major trauma, yes.

LEMON: Yes.

I understand, too, that five ambulances, they said, U.S. troops and Humvees rushed to the hotel to help out, and journalists and office workers were kept from the building.

(CROSSTALK)

STEWART: Absolutely.

The building was not -- it was not secure. The soldiers arrived fairly quickly from the nearby base. My colleague had called that in. And they arrived and then they sent the trauma teams in, and they started administering first aid to the wounded, yes.

LEMON: This is -- since the fall of the Taliban in 2001, this is quite unusual, this, a blast and a killing of this magnitude in Afghanistan, in Kabul.

STEWART: It is, for sure. I hadn't seen anything like it. I have been on and off for three years here, so we didn't expect this, anything like this, actually.

LEMON: Any of your -- anyone you work with injured in this?

STEWART: No, they weren't. Everybody was safe for us, thank God.

LEMON: Yes. So, you're there as a civilian contractor, and there are many people there who are doing humanitarian missions there as well. We have got troops there, obviously. Are you going to stay there?

STEWART: We're going to stay here. We work with humanitarian groups as well here, and there's a lot of people doing a lot of good things and making a lot of changes. This is not going to -- it's not going to stop us. But I think -- I think the mission should carry on, because it is helping. And these people absolutely need us.

LEMON: OK.

Robert Stewart, who is a civilian contractor, an American who is in Kabul, Afghanistan, experienced that suicide blast and the killings that happened there.

Thank you, and stay safe, sir.

STEWART: Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Thank you.

PHILLIPS: Seated at the piano for a lesson, he's hit by a stray bullet -- one little's boy tragic story.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Want to get back to our top story now, more potential leads in the hunt for that U.S. Marine who is on the lam right now, police trying to track down the -- this Marine, who has been linked to that brutal slaying near Camp Lejeune, Lejeune, North Carolina.

Today, investigators told us that, at some point, a truck matching that of Corporal Cesar Laurean's was spotted 150 miles away in the Raleigh-Durham area. They also say that a bank card belonging to murdered fellow Marine Maria Lauterbach was found in a Durham bus station.

A separate series of tips had Laurean getting on or off a bus in Shreveport, Louisiana. Joining us now from Jacksonville, North Carolina, Onslow County Sheriff Ed Brown.

Sheriff, thanks for being with us.

And you heard just those latest details that we have been learning. What can you tell us about the truck being spotted, about the use of an ATM card, all these new pieces of information that you're getting?

BROWN: I can tell you that the truck was -- a truck was spotted fitting Laurean's -- the description of Laurean's truck in the Raleigh-Durham area, which makes it interesting.

However, that is as far as it went. It wasn't recovered. I can tell you that, at this time, we're still on a major manhunt across the United States for locating Laurean. At that time, we still have investigators investigating and working on the part of the investigation, part of them working on the -- hunting Laurean. PHILLIPS: Sheriff, do you think you have any solid clues to where he may be? There's been talk about Mexico. There's been talk about Texas.

BROWN: Kyra, I -- the thing that I feel -- and this is just I feel -- that every phone call I get is going to be one to tell me that he has been located and where he's at.

PHILLIPS: So, you're -- basically, you're going after every single lead. Have you -- have you joined forces with other police departments, other sheriff's departments around the country to try and find him? How intense is this manhunt?

BROWN: Well, the investigation has really been accelerated with the assistance of the media that has been here in this case. I'm getting calls from California, if not with leads, with wanting to put money into the reward fund for apprehension of Laurean.

The law enforcement agencies throughout the United States -- due to our media coverage in this -- it eliminates the red tape when you call them in or they call us and say they've got a spotting or we call them and need them to check something out. They know about it. They know about it before they get the call, so it eliminates the red tape.

PHILLIPS: Sheriff, let me ask you about the restraining order situation. From what I understand, there was never any type of restraining order against Cesar Laurean. But then I heard you earlier say there was some sort of restraining order through the military.

Could you please explain to me was there a restraining order or not and were there two different ones -- a military type one and also one that was or was not filed through your department?

BROWN: Understand, Kyra, and we have a situation with the military, that is a different unit of government. That is the military side of the government -- federal. And ours is the civilian side of the government.

When she is on that base, what happens on that base is of major concern to the military. When she is off that base, if that concern is not one they feel like needs to be brought to our attention, it is not.

Now let me clear up about the MPO. I did not know about an MPO until Friday night, after the body of Mrs. Lauterbach was discovered. And that came about as a result of we were being able to sit down and start talking with the investigators. And the investigator came up to me and said, sheriff, there was an MPO copy found in her property in the car.

Me being and trying to maintain the integrity I always have is I don't try to cover nothing up. And I may, I've said we are going to let the media know that I found one...

PHILLIPS: And that -- that's the military...

BROWN: And I brought it to you all's attention the next day.

PHILLIPS: Is that the military retraining order?

BROWN: That is a military restraining order that expired three months ago -- 90 days ago. However, even though it was expired and it was military and had nothing to do with coming in our direction, because it had no need to come in our direction, then it would not be unusual for it not to come this way.

PHILLIPS: So, so...

BROWN: You have to understand it...

PHILLIPS: Why wasn't...

BROWN: ...understand, if you would...

PHILLIPS: OK.

BROWN: You want me to finish this?

PHILLIPS: Yes. No, I want you to finish.

BROWN: You have to understand, if you would...

PHILLIPS: OK.

BROWN: OK. Let me explain and that way you don't have to ask me any more questions.

Here is the way it works. The military has 40,000 military people on it. On that base, they have different units on the base. I don't know how many they have, but they have many units. And that MPO -- the military retraining order -- this incident that everybody is trying to talk about started in April of this year -- eight months ago. And the restraining order or MPO was issued in July and expired in September. So in actuality I reckon you would say that there was no active restraining order at all.

PHILLIPS: OK, so why wasn't there a...

BROWN: But there had been one.

PHILLIPS: ...civilian one? Why wasn't there a civilian restraining order?

BROWN: Because the -- I'm going to say this. I don't know from their mindset. But my belief is that the situation at hand did not appear to be -- would be something that would affect the outside -- in the community, the civilian community. There is a place on the restraining order, if they feel necessary, to send that to the civilian side to mark that and it would come this way.

But evidently there was no -- they saw no need. And not knowing everything about this investigation -- and you heard different remarks about the validity of the witness or the missing person in this case -- there's some concern that it had resolved itself, really, at a time as far back as 90 days ago.

PHILLIPS: So is that...

BROWN: But I'm not going to try to...

PHILLIPS: No, tsar. I understand. And I don't want to keep beating a dead horse here. But what...

BROWN: OK. No problem. Anything (INAUDIBLE).

PHILLIPS: What about -- what about the fact that Mr. Laurean had told you he was going to come down four or five times -- he made promises to you he was going to come down and talk to investigators? Why was he given so much latitude, because he never did come down and talk with your investigators, correct?

BROWN: He never did come and talk to our investigators. That's not giving latitude. Kyra, we live in a free country. And a free country requires -- when you get start putting somebody -- bringing them down against their will or in telling them to come down against their will, you need more than just the fact that there has an incident that has died on -- that has expired on the base. And that is why -- Laurean refused to come.

I won't say he refused to come. And when we went to the military authorities, if you'll remember in that release, we went there for two reasons. We went there to get Durham -- Sergeant Durham -- back from California. And we went there to inform the military authorities of this investigation. And we were seeking some opportunity to speak to Laurean. And I think that that visit produced -- I know it produced both.

PHILLIPS: All right...

BROWN: We got Mr. -- we got Mr. Durham back here in 48 hours. And we got Mr. Laurean making an appointment, but refusing and failing to make them.

PHILLIPS: All right, so here's, I guess, just the bottom line. I'm just trying to understand if, indeed, somebody dropped the ball here, because this woman accused this man of rape and now she's dead and so is her baby. And this guy is somewhere on the loose. And you say he murdered her. So what happened?

I mean she said that he raped her. That's obviously a tremendous threat. You've got an expired restraining order from the military. You have a restraining order that was never filed on a civilian sense. He never came down and met with investigators. Shouldn't have somebody been a little more aggressive to try and protect this woman who is now dead?

BROWN: Well, Kyra, I'll let you be the investigator in this case. Word is that they were still having association together, even since the time of the incident. I don't know. I'm in the same position you're in. I don't know a lot of facts. And I'm not going to try and defend a lot of facts. But I'm telling you this -- and I think this needs to go down on record. We identified Laurean as a person of key interest in this investigation on the 7th of January. After we had run a bunch other leads, his name came up -- or the incident was known about and his name came up on the 7th. On the 11th, we have the letter from his wife. On the 6th, we have a call from his attorney saying three good attorneys in this county said he's not coming down.

Now, you know, America and that is our freedom. And we in law enforcement are not and do not have the power to go against -- unless we get orders issued by the judge or arrest orders issued.

PHILLIPS: Well, we will definitely follow this search. We'll continue to show his picture, Sheriff Ed Brown. And, hopefully, somewhere, in some state, this man will be brought to justice. We'll continue to follow it.

Sheriff, thank you for your time. I appreciate it.

BROWN: And thank you for all your help in this.

PHILLIPS: Appreciate it.

LEMON: Seated at the piano for a lesson, he's hit by a stray bullet -- one little boy's tragic story.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: One minute the sounds of a piano lessen in progress -- the next, gunshots. And that quickly, a 10-year-old's life, well, it changes in an instant. It happened in Oakland, California.

And joining us with details now our Dan Simon. Hi, Dan.

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, hi, Don.

The details of this are just so chilling. Here you have a 10- year-old boy. He is at his piano lesson and he gets hit by a stray bullet. He is going to survive, but in all likelihood, he's going to be paralyzed waist down for the rest of his life.

Here's what happened. There was a robbery across the street at a gas station. The suspect fired three shots at the clerk. All three shots missed, but two of the shots -- get this -- struck the car that was driven by the 10-year-old's mother. She was in the car at the time, waiting for the piano lesson to end. She nearly lost her life. And then the third shot went through the wall of the music school -- went through the piano, actually -- then struck the young man.

We're told that he is, in fact, going to be paralyzed. The bullet just missed his major artery in his heart, just by a few millimeters. Right now, it's still lodged in his side.

Doctors talked about his prognosis. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DR. JAMES BETTS, CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL, OAKLAND: He's going to face years of rehabilitation and a life -- at least from what we can tell now -- we're all hoping that there might be some degree of recovery. But our neurosurgeon, Dr. Peter Sun, has seen him. And we're concerned and feel that the injury probably is permanent and the paralysis is permanent. But a challenging life for this young boy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICHARD RODRIGUEZ, CHRISTOPHER'S FATHER: This is probably the worst thing that ever happened to me in my life. I mean I love my son greatly. And it means everything to me to see him suffer the way he is. I just -- I feel like half his life was taken from him, you know, his inability probably to walk ever.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIMON: Well, police did arrest the suspect, a 24-year-old Oakland man. He's been charged with attempted murder. Police did recover the weapon and some cash. As for the young man, it looks like he's going to need several more surgeries. And of course, we're talking about some hefty medical bills for the hospital, along with the family.

They've set up a place where you can donate that will go toward his medical bills. If you look on your screen there, there is an account set up at Wells Fargo. So anybody wishing to donate and help this young man can just go to any Wells Fargo Bank, Don.

LEMON: Oh, that's very sad. Just in an incident -- a young guy taking a piano lesson.

SIMON: That's exactly right.

LEMON: Yes. All right, Dan Simon. We appreciate that report. We hope he gets better. Thank you so much.

And something new for you from our friends at CNN and TruTV. We've teamed up to bring you crime and punishment. It's a crime and punishment segment. You can check it out on our Web site, CNN/crime.

PHILLIPS: And lately when you say Britney Spears, you only get drama and today is no exception. Drama in the court this hour. Will the troubled pop star regain the right to visit her kids? Stay tuned.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, pop star goes MIA. But look -- we found her, thanks to live television capability and helicopters from our affiliates. KCAL's chopper got Britney here.

Who knows what she's doing, folks? She's getting in cars, out of cars, talking with this guy. Who knows who this is? Maybe it's the guy she's dating now. I don't know. She was apparently a no show for her latest court date in the battle over the visitation rights with her kids.

But after this little drama here -- she's smoking a -- she smoking? Oh, all right. Yes, she's smoking a cigarette there, hanging out. All right -- playing with her hair. Kareen Wynter, you poor thing, live in Los Angeles with the latest developments of the little drama here for the diva. I guess we just saw her get into a car, so maybe that means she's on the way to court.

KAREEN WYNTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, who knows? And you're -- actually, that's a tall order. You're asking me, Kyra, to make sense of this all. If you're confused, what's going on here, you know? I'm dizzy covering this.

PHILLIPS: OK. I am told that the helicopter...

WYNTER: All right, you know what?

PHILLIPS: ...is following her, Kareen. I guess she is on her way to court so...

WYNTER: Absolutely.

PHILLIPS: All right.

WYNTER: And I'm teasing you. I love you. But, you know, the cameras are out there and it's believed that she is on her way here. There were some rumblings last hour that she would actually, you know, make it here sometime today. I mean, after all, the hearing began hours ago. Kevin Federline was on time. I'll fill you in on that in just a bit.

But I just want to turn the cameras and show you what's going on in the court. It's a little calm right now, but anything can happen. That's really the intersection that we've been focusing on, because Kevin Federline is coming in and out. Right now, court's -- they took a break for lunch. But just a few minutes ago, it was nuts out here, Kyra. Four members of the paparazzi actually got cited because Los Angeles police are cracking down. They've had it up to here with the media and the paparazzi. And as Kevin's car was leaving that exit there, well, what did the paparazzi do?

They ran out into the street and just created all this disorder. So they were cited. And that's really, you know, what's going on here. A lot of members of the media -- people from all over the country covering this, because it is, indeed, an important hearing. We could find out at the end of the day if Britney Spears will get back visitation rights, which have since been yanked.

PHILLIPS: All right, well, we'll keep -- we'll keep tracking it, Kareen, via helicopter -- oh there it is.

LEMON: There it comes.

PHILLIPS: Here we go -- live Britney came, baby. You can't see this, Kareen, but... WYNTER: Absolutely. And it's all for you.

PHILLIPS: Exactly. She did the little show, you know, so all the paparazzi could catch these pictures of her and -- you know, talking to her boyfriend. I guess they had a little smoochy, too. She jumped in the car. Someone convinced her she'd better go to court. So here you go. Live pictures as she heads to the courtroom.

WYNTER: And you know what, Kyra?

We're laughing about it. We're making fun. It is a serious topic and I wish she would take it seriously. There are two children involved here.

PHILLIPS: Yes, it's sad.

WYNTER: So, you know, let's hope that she makes it here some time today. Absolutely.

PHILLIPS: It is sad. Well, here -- you've got someone here with a lot of talent and money and hopefully she can get her act together. Kareen Wynter, appreciate it.

LEMON: I think we're not laughing at that, we're laughing at the situation of the choppers following her and just how much of a spectacle this all has become. All right. There Britney Spears is rolling on into court.

PHILLIPS: I'm over it.

LEMON: Yes. Scientists create a beating animal heart in a lab. What does it mean for you and maybe your future medical care?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: It sounds like science fiction -- scientists at the University of Minnesota rebuild and restart a dead rat heart. It really happened. And it could lead to amazing breakthroughs for some of the five million Americans living with heart failure.

Earlier in the NEWSROOM chief researcher Doris Taylor joined us and explained how they did it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DORIS TAYLOR, UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA, CENTER FOR CARDIOVASCULAR REPAIR: Basically, we took the heart from an animal that was dead and used soap -- detergents, if you will, the same thing in shampoo -- to drip into the blood supply and actually wash all the cells out of the heart. And then once we had done that and had the frame, it's like gutting your house. We had the frame and then we transplanted cells back in and were able to generate a new heart that could actually beat.

PHILLIPS: So what was the reaction when you actually saw this heart start to beat? I mean, I can just imagine how all of you reacted.

TAYLOR: You know, it's one of those yes moments in life. I've only had two minutes like this in my life. And it was just remarkable.

PHILLIPS: Wow! OK, now, we mentioned possibly five years. Is that how close you are to doing this same procedure on a human being?

TAYLOR: You know, there's no reason that we can't move this forward. Our goal is to build a heart for people who need it. If you needed a heart, the goal would to be take a pig heart, remove all the cells, take your cells, grow them in the laboratory, transplant them into that heart and create a heart that matches you.

PHILLIPS: Oh, my gosh. Now what if it's somebody that's had heart problems and they have a heart attack. They're pronounced dead. Is it possible this same type of research could lead to starting up that heart again, even if they had been pronounced dead?

TAYLOR: You know, we hope it never gets to that point. Clearly, our goal is to build organs before you ever reach that point. There's no reason to think that with defibrillators and the ability to restart the heart, that we couldn't, potentially, one day take one of those organs and use it to rebuild a new heart.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Experts not involved with the project say that the results are a landmark achievement.

LEMON: Papa Smurf and Smurfettes celebrating a very big birthday. That and a wrap of the action on Wall Street straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Time now to check in with CNN's Wolf Blitzer.

PHILLIPS: He's standing by in "THE SITUATION ROOM" to tell us what's coming up at the top of the hour.

Hey, Wolf.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, guys. Thanks very much.

The explosive issue of race and politics -- it's a big topic in the Democratic race for the nomination -- the war of words fierce. Twenty-four hours before the Michigan primary, the biggest concern in that state -- the economy. We'll talk to Governor Jennifer Granholm about who she supports and why this primary, even for the Democrats, matters.

And as President Bush gets a royal welcome in Saudi Arabia, there are new questions over a $20 billion arms deal to the Saudis. What will the money buy and is it a good idea?

All that and a lot more coming up right here "THE SITUATION ROOM." back to you. PHILLIPS: Thanks, Wolf. All right. We'll see you at the top of the hour.

LEMON: And here's a look at some of the most popular videos right now at CNN.com.

A Florida gator with a taste for dog has already dragged one pooch into the pond. Firefighters managed to rescue two other dogs.

Number two, a baby girl with a big goal -- to be cradled and kissed by every presidential candidate.

And number three, rescue on the high seas as the Greek cargo ship hits trouble in the English Channel.

Check out those stories and much, more at cnn.com.

PHILLIPS: All right, the closing bell is about to ring on Wall Street.

LEMON: Susan Lisovicz standing by with a final look at this trading day. The numbers are in the up category -- positive.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes.. And, you know, before we do that, let's talk about a huge day across the pond in Belgium to celebrate Belgium's most famous export after chocolate and beer -- and that is the Smurfs. Those little blue forest dwellers celebrate their 50th anniversary today. They started with a comic strip made famous -- a lot of people think they're American because of the Hanna Barbera animated series from the '80s.

But people in Belgium, I am told -- and we are seeing right here, they're dressed up as Smurfs. I'm not sure if they're speaking in Smurf language, which is frequented by the word Smurf. It's used as a noun and a verb. In any case, happy anniversary to the Smurfs. They're going to celebrate that all year long.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

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