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American Morning

Flight Attendant Dramatically Quits Job; House of Representatives Called Back Into Session From Recess; Stabbings Could Be Linked in Three States; How to Buy Happiness; Teen Struggles to Kick Prescription Drug Addiction; Pentagon Belt-Tightening; Prison Escapee Manhunt; Predicting Alzheimer's

Aired August 10, 2010 - 07:00   ET

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

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. We're coming up on the top of the hour right now on this Tuesday, August 10th. Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING. I'm Kiran Chetry.

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. I'm John Roberts. Thanks so much for being with us. Lot to talk about this morning, let's get you right to it.

A huge costly disruption or the greatest resignation ever? A JetBlue flight attendant now facing criminal charges for allegedly cursing out passengers, and cracking open a beer and sliding down the emergency chute at JFK. We'll have more on his dramatic exit in just a moment.

CHETRY: The House is back in town. Lawmakers returning to Washington for a rare session during its recess. Why? They're going to be voting on a $26 billion spending measure. Democrats say it's necessary to save thousands of teaching jobs. Republicans aren't buying it calling it election year politics. We're going to get a live report from Capitol Hill just ahead.

ROBERTS: And the drugs require prescription for a very good reason. They can be dangerous, addictive, even deadly. Yesterday, we introduced you to a young woman struggling to get clean. So, she was able to -- was she able to break her addiction to prescription pills?

First though, the fallout from the flight attendant who was as mad as hell and not going to take it anymore. Steven Slater did something yesterday that a lot of people would probably like to do to either a rude customer or an obnoxious boss. The JetBlue employee is now facing charges of criminal mischief and reckless endangerment.

CHETRY: Yes. After giving passengers a bye-bye (ph) that will go down in history. Allan Chernoff has more on the meltdown this morning.

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: How many people have actually thought of doing this at their workplace? He did it, he certainly did, the most dramatic exit we can think of at JFK. Flight attendant Steven Slater told a passenger to sit down when JetBlue's flight 1052 from Pittsburgh pulled up at the gate yesterday afternoon. The passenger refused and continued removing his luggage from an overhead bin, which then accidentally struck the flight attendant. That set off Mr. Slater. He demanded an apology. The passenger declined using a not-very-nice four-letter word.

And then Slater turned on the public address system and delivered that same four-letter word to the passengers onboard and in particular to the man who had refused to sit. He then activated the inflatable slide, grabbed some beer from the galley, and slid his way down, out of a career, we assume, as a flight attendant.

Slater quickly got in his car and drove home, but it wasn't long before police were at his door to arrest him. He's now facing two felony charges, reckless endangerment and criminal mischief. Theoretically that could land him in prison for seven years. I guess we can assume he is not a flight risk?

CHETRY: It is amazing he was such a prodigy. He's 38. He says he's been in the business pore 28 years. He's been doing this since he was 10?

CHERNOFF: Yes, right. That was the reported story that he gave on the plane.

CHETRY: It was just a flourish.

CHERNOFF: Who knew? It seems that he probably was under tremendous pressure. Obviously we all know there is lots of pressure just being a flight attendant, all of us see it every single day. But according to an online posting he also has been caring for his ill mother as he did for his father. So stress can really get to you. Sometimes you crack and I think a lot of people can understand it.

ROBERTS: In this case it looked like he not only cracked, he shattered.

CHERNOFF: Yes, indeed. The end portion that he actually could face jail time -- wow. That's something about the repercussions of doing what maybe a lot of people would really like to do.

ROBERTS: I'd like to talk to him about all of this once they let him out of jail. Thanks, Allan.

CHETRY: We also have a lot of comments coming from the Web site. We'll read a couple.

One says, "Give the guy a break. I can only imagine how frustrating it must be to deal with stupid, arrogant passengers on flights every day. He is a human being and apparently reached his maximum stupid person capacity and had enough."

"I've been tempted to exit a plane that way myself," writes another person, "when trapped on the tarmac for an hour or more with no fresh air, no water to drink, surrounded by stinky passengers, surly flight attendants, and screaming babies. I don't blame the guy. There comes a point when you've just had it." CHETRY: Also another person - in this hour we've been getting a lot of support for this guy, because last hour people were not as tolerant, I guess. "Mega props to this guy. I'm sure he reached his BS threshold dealing with ridiculous passengers. Gotta hand it to him, telling off the passengers over the PA then cracking a beer before you deploy your emergency slide for your grand exit -- epic."

ROBERTS: Let us know what you think at CNN.com/amfix.

CHETRY: New this morning, a dragnet for an escaped convict and his lover now expanding to Canada. Police say they fear John McCluskey, who's been on the run since late July and his suspected accomplice, won't go down without a fight. The two are suspected of killing a couple in New Mexico.

ROBERTS: A new test help may predict whether you are likely to get Alzheimer's disease. Spinal fluid can reveal certain proteins that are telltale signs for the disease. Those biomarkers, researchers say were found in 90 percent of patients diagnosed with Alzheimer's.

CHETRY: And a move to trim the Pentagon's $530 billion budget, Defense Chief Robert Gates proposing some cuts, including getting rid of the U.S. joint forces command. It could mean a loss of up to 3,000 jobs.

ROBERTS: House members are back in Washington this morning to take care of some unfinished business. The rare session during recess was called so members could vote on a $26 billion spending bill. Democrats says it's critical for cash strapped state and local governments and will prevent thousands teacher layoffs. The measure still faces strong Republican opposition.

Our Congressional Correspondent Brianna Keilar is live outside of Capitol Hill this morning. Good morning. Imagine being called back on your break.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, and it very rarely happens. The last time here was December of 2008 when Congress was called back during winter recess to pass a federal assistance to U.S. automakers. You may know it as the "auto bailout."

Before that, it was all the way back in the summer of 2005. Congress came back a few days early following Hurricane Katrina. They passed a funding bill for that.

But this is basically almost sacrosanct here, the summer break. Congress leaves, staffers go on vacation. The ones who do come in kind of roll in wearing jeans and flip-flops a lot of the time. So for Congress to come back here, for the House to come back here, it is pretty dramatic.

ROBERTS: Why the urgency this time around?

KEILAR: This particular bill, it actually has to do with sort of an unexpected development. The House left for recess about a week before the Senate did this last week, and the Senate unexpectedly got a couple of Republicans onboard with the $26 billion bill. It includes $10 billion for teachers to prevent layoffs or for teachers who have been laid off to get them back in the classroom, and then $16 billion to help states pay Medicaid costs so that they don't have to cut back in other areas and lay off firefighters, police officers, the like.

So this is a Democratic pushed bill, and this is really them seizing this moment to come back and not wait four weeks. But of course, as you mention, John, Republicans say this isn't going to save the 300,000 jobs that Democrats say it is going to save. They say this is just an election year payoff to teachers unions and just more big spending, guys.

ROBERTS: Do Democrats have the votes to get this through, Brianna?

KEILAR: Speaker Pelosi thinks that she does. She's already scheduled an enrollment ceremony, which is a pretty public spectacle that would be after the vote. President Obama is expected to sign it this evening.

That said, they are expecting -- Democrats are -- that they can lose some of those fiscally conservative Democrats, some blue dog Democrats on this vote, because as one aide put it to me, to ask a fiscally conservative Democrat to come back from recess and pass a $26 billion bill, even if it doesn't add to the deficit, which this one doesn't, is just too much of an ask, guys.

ROBERTS: Brianna Keilar for us this morning outside Capitol Hill, thanks.

CHETRY: All right, well, it's seven minutes past the hour. Time for a check of this morning's weather headlines.

(WEATHER BREAK)

CHETRY: Well, this next story is another one where people sort of just lose it for reasons that perhaps they later regret. This woman wanted her McNuggets, and this is the first time we're actually seeing video of this drive-through attack. It happened in Toledo, Ohio, New year's morning.

Melanie DuShane became enraged when she was told that McDonald's was only serving breakfast. It was 6:00 a.m.

ROBERTS: She got out of the car, she punched the employee in the mouth a couple of times, as you can see there. Tried to climb through the window but couldn't get the leg up. Maybe she didn't have all her faculties in place.

Then when the woman behind the counter closes the window, she grabs a half-empty beer bottle and throws it through the glass. Last month the woman got 60 days behind bars for her McNugget meltdown.

CHETRY: And the best part is after it was over, there you see another car pull up, and the McDonald's employee calmly presses a couple buttons, opens up the door, and hands her the food. So that just goes to show you how great they are there, because it doesn't matter what goes on, they're going to get your hot meal to you and you're going to be on your way.

ROBERTS: Can you imagine? I think we need to sign that woman up to be the chief flight attendant for all of the airlines because she maintained her cool in some pretty trying circumstances.

Stabbings in Michigan, Virginia, and Ohio -- police say they could all be linked fitting the same pattern. Now the FBI is involved. We're talking to the county prosecutor in Flint, Michigan coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: It's 12 minutes after the hour. This morning police in three states and the FBI are trying to figure out who's behind 19 different stabbings, five of them deadly. They think they're all connected, saying that the crimes fit the same pattern.

The attacks started on May 24th in flint, michigan. Then last week the scene shifted to Leesburg, Virginia and recently shifted to Toledo, Ohio. Joining us live this morning from Flint, Michigan, county prosecutor David Leyton. Mr. Leyton, thanks for being with us this morning.

What makes you think this is the same person?

DAVID LEYTON, PROSECUTOR, GENESEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN: Well, there are similarities in the crimes. Specifically we have victims who have survived who have talked to our task force investigators and given a description of the assailant. That description matches the description being given by the victims in Leesburg.

And also the victims who have survived have given a description of the vehicle involved in the crimes here, and that matches the description given by the survivors of the crimes in Leesburg. And so based on that, we believe we have similarities that kind of match up, and so we think we have the same perpetrator.

ROBERTS: So what is the vehicle that we're talking about here?

LEYTON: The vehicle is a -- between a 1995 and 2005 Chevrolet Blazer or GMC Jimmy. It is green in color, over beige or gold, kind of a two-tone type of vehicle. And each of the individuals who have been able to give a statement who have given us credible information have told us that's what the vehicle looked like that the assailant was in when the attacks occurred.

ROBERTS: We had Mr. Leyton a second ago a sketch of the suspect. Can you give us a description of the suspect?

LEYTON: Yes. He's somewhere between say 5'10" and 6'2". He's a white male and he's usually wearing a ball cap. And he has that stud in his left ear, so we've asked people to be on the lookout for that individual.

Obviously he could have removed the stud but there probably would be some kind of a piercing there that would still remain. So that's the description of the individual that the victims have been able to provide to the investigators.

ROBERTS: Most of his victims -- but not all of them -- have been African-American. Are you treating this as a racial crime?

LEYTON: Well, the evidence suggests that we've had now 16 incidents here and 14 of the 16 individuals who have been attacked are African-Americans. Flint, where most of these crimes have occurred, is a predominantly African-American community.

In Leesburg, you have three stabbings. Two of the individuals were African-American, one was a Hispanic, Latino, it's my understanding. It is also my understanding also Leesburg is a predominantly white community.

So the evidence would suggest that, but we don't know what's in the mind of the assailant, we don't know what he's thinking. We don't know why he's doing this. We know he's an evil guy, but we don't really know enough to make the leap that this is racially motivated. .

ROBERTS: Let's take a quick look at the timeline and the travel that's involved here. The last assault in Michigan was on Monday, August 2nd. The next night, August 3rd, there was an attack in Leesburg. Whichever highway you take, of course, changes the distance but it's about 510 miles. But you say the timeline matches up.

LEYTON: The investigators have told me that the timeline indeed does match up, that there would be ample time for the assailant to do the crime in Genesee County, Michigan, and then travel to Leesburg and commit the crime there as well.

ROBERTS: Right. And then we have another attack in Toledo, Ohio, last Saturday night, just three days ago now. Does that -- that obviously would fit back in with the pattern if he were driving back to Michigan. Do you think as you pursue this investigation that he may have gone back to Michigan?

LEYTON: Well, we don't know where he is at the moment and we certainly want to know which is why we've reached out to the community to ask for leads and tips. But the timeline is such that he could have been in Leesburg, could have come back to Toledo. It's right on the way back to Genesee County, Michigan. All you do is make a right- hand turn and head north, and you're right back here. You come up Route 23, so you're right back here.

The timeline adds up. Plus, while all of these other crimes in Leesburg and Toledo were occurring, there were no stabbings in Genesee County, Michigan. So that furthers our indication that this is the same person.

ROBERTS: Now, we have up on the screen at the moment, too, a tip line that we want to pass along to our viewers. If you've got any information, call Michigan state police at 866-246-9500. That's 866- 246-9500.

David Leyton, the Genesee County prosecutor, good to talk to you this morning. Thanks for taking the time. Good luck to you in catching this fellow.

LEYTON: Thank you very much. We'll catch him.

ROBERTS: All right.

CHETRY: Well, you heard the old adage that money can't buy happiness, but now researchers say that indeed it can. Just not in the way that you imagined. We'll explain right after the break.

Seventeen minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Twenty minutes past the hour. Welcome back. Along with a handshake and apology for the hot weather, Texas Governor Rick Perry greeted President Obama in Austin yesterday with a letter requesting 1,000 additional National Guard troops at the Texas-Mexico border. Governor Perry delivered the letter to White House adviser Valerie Jarrett just after the president came off at Air Force One. The governor says that federal support for the border is, quote, "insufficient."

ROBERTS: And while the president was in Texas, Dallas police officer crashed his motorcycle. He was one of the people who was in the motorcade. Senior Corporal Michael Manis (ph) is said to be in good condition. Doctors kept him hospitalized overnight for observation. The president was in Texas for yesterday's big speech on education and to raise money for Democratic candidates.

CHETRY: Well, whoever said that money can't buy happiness apparently wasn't spending that money correctly, according to researchers at least. They say that buying a new TV or a gadget may not do so much to lift your spirits. Instead, they found that people who spent money on an experience perhaps a vacation tended to be happier. So I found out why when we spoke to Thomas Gilovich, a psychology professor at Cornell University.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

THOMAS GILOVICH, CHAIRMAN, PSYCHOLOGY DEPT. CORNELL UNIV.: Many people have the intuition that, well, the vacation will come and quickly go, but I will always have a flat-screen television. But one of the great enemies of happiness is adaptation. We get a lot of satisfaction out of the things that we buy initially, but then they sort of disappear psychologically. We don't much notice them. But strangely, the experiences, even though in a material sense they come and go. They tend to live on in the stories that we tell, the memories that we have, and they provide more long-term satisfaction.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: He also went on to say that it is true that people in wealthier countries tend to be happier than citizens of poorer countries. But the other interesting thing about the study, and one of the accompanying articles was a woman who just had what you would say had it all, you know, a nice house, two bedrooms, two cars, the whole nine yards, and wasn't that satisfied. She found herself on the work check treadmill, as she called it, and pared everything down to just 100 possessions. Did a lot of things that she always wanted to do like charity work and trips and found herself a lot more satisfied.

ROBERTS: It gets down to quality, not quantity in many cases.

CHETRY: Yes.

ROBERTS: Addicted to prescription drugs. We're going check back in with Melissa, a young woman who's struggling to get clean. We've got her story coming right up.

It's 23 minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Today part two of our special series "Addicted." We know that some of the most dangerous and addictive drugs can often be found in your own medicine cabinet. More and more people are discovering that perhaps their teenagers are sampling in this with the false belief that they may be safer than street drugs.

Well, today we're checking back in with Melissa who was just 13 years old the first time that she tried prescription pills that were prescribed to her mother. Well, she was battling addiction for years and hit rock bottom when she tried to take her own life. That's when Melissa decided to get serious about staying clean.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MELISSA, 18-YEAR-OLD FORMER DRUG USER: I went over to a friend's house and I thought I was having a good time and I ended up trying to commit suicide. I felt really lonely and I guess a lot of times when you're using drugs that's how you end up feeling. But I felt really alone and I felt worthless. I don't remember calling an ambulance or how it got to me. I went to the hospital. I was in intensive care for four days. They told me I was 15 minutes away from death.

CHETRY: What did you take?

MELISSA: I took Benadryl, Tylenol, Aleve, Advil. Basically there were some prescription pills that were in there. I took some of those as well. I'm not sure what they were. I basically went for anything I could get my hands on.

CHETRY: After you came to, in the hospital, what was the first thing that went through your mind?

MELISSA: The first thing that came to my mind was wanting to get high and thinking that I needed to be high. I've been in rehab and it just -- it wasn't enough for me. It didn't strike me as that serious but being 15 minutes away from death, that was my bottom. That's as low as I can get and it made me realize what I need to do.

CHETRY (voice-over): After being released from the hospital, Melissa was sent to a mental health facility. Where after years of abusing prescription pills, as well as alcohol and pot, she made the decision to get clean.

(on camera): What was the withdrawal like when you were at the mental hospital?

MELISSA: It was terrible. It was absolutely terrible. I had really, really bad nightmares and I just felt unease and uncomfortable all the time. It's like you think you're going to stop doing the drugs and, OK, maybe things will start to get better but it gets worse before it gets better.

CHETRY (voice-over): And that meant getting the proper diagnosis. During her counseling sessions, Melissa learned she was bipolar and began receiving the right treatment. She also made the tough call to leave home temporarily, moving to North Carolina to stay with her sister and escape her daily temptations. We gave Melissa a video camera and asked her to document her recovery.

MELISSA: I woke up today, so far feeling good. No temptations, no craving.

I got to say this isn't easy. I don't know what went wrong, but for some reason I just want to get high. Otherwise I just have to keep on the right track and I feel really positive. Everything's been going good.

CHETRY: She'd been clean for three weeks. However --

MELISSA: I guess I'm just going to have to see what happens when I get home. And I'm scared. I'm definitely scared getting sober and cutting (expletive deleted) is really, really scary.

CHETRY (on camera): The real challenge for Melissa lies ahead. She's back here in her hometown. She's been here for just a day and she knows how easy it could be to slip back into the same habits.

And where are you? You're home. You're back living with your mom.

MELISSA: Yes.

CHETRY: You say that your mom does have prescription drugs. How is that working out?

MELISSA: It was a little scary at first. But, you know, she got a lockbox and put them in a lockbox. And more so my concern was coming home to my hometown where people are going to, you know, send me a text message like, hey, I got my script, or something like that.

CHETRY (voice-over): When we sat down with Melissa, she had been sober for 46 days and says she sees life differently now.

(on camera): So what's your first thought usually when you wake up in the morning now?

MELISSA: Typically I wake up and look outside and just kind of wonder what's going to come throughout the day, wonder what it will bring.

CHETRY: And when you were using drugs, what was your first thought when you woke up?

MELISSA: Normally, I feel like crap. I'm tired and I need to go get high.

CHETRY: Do you ever sometimes look back and say, man, I got off lucky compared to what could have happened?

MELISSA: I got off extremely lucky. I don't know why I haven't died with certain amounts of drugs I put into my system.

CHETRY (voice-over): An addiction she says has left a scar that she hopes will fade with time.

MELISSA: I love my life. I couldn't say that a while ago. I couldn't say that I love myself. I couldn't say that. I thought I was beautiful and now I think I'm an extremely beautiful person, more so on the inside and that's all that matters, is that I'm happy with myself.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHETRY: You know, Melissa truly is a beautiful person and when we spoke to her, we just had a feeling that she was just destined for better things out of life. And we were very happy to report as we did when we first aired this story that she was sober 48 days and counting, I think it was. She had gotten clean, gotten her driver's license. She was working toward earning her GED.

But sadly, this story has taken a turn in that we haven't been able to contact her now for about a month and there are just some fears when she broke off contact with my producer that perhaps --

ROBERTS: She's backsliding.

CHETRY: Well, we don't know but we have been trying to contact her and we're going to continue to follow her journey either way.

ROBERTS: Maybe if she's listening, maybe there are some friends that can reach out to you. She did have a new sense of self- confidence. Let's hope she kept on the right road.

Crossing the half-hour now. That means it's time for this morning's top stories. Air rage on steroids! A Jetblue flight attendant, Steven Slater, now facing criminal charges. Witnesses say he went nuts as his plane landed at New York's JFK Airport yesterday on a flight from Pittsburgh.

Slater allegedly unleashed a foul-mouthed tirade on passengers, then grabbed some beer from the gallery, opened up the door, popped the emergency chute and slid away. Coming up at 8:10 Eastern, we're going to talk with Phil Cetelinet. He was one of the passengers who witnessed the flight attendant's meltdown and actually rode on the air train with him all the way to the parking lot.

CHETRY: Wow. All right. We'll hear what he has to say about witnessing that.

Meantime, Levi Johnston is planning to run for mayor in his hometown of Wasilla, Alaska. This is part of a TV reality show. Wasilla is, of course, where Levi's almost-mother-in-law, Sarah Palin, got here start in politics. As for the people who will take Levi's candidacy seriously, his manager said "people questioned Jesus, so I definitely don't care about these mere mortals questioning Levi Johnston."

ROBERTS: And opponents of a planned mosque near New York's Ground Zero getting the green light to run ads on city buses. Two groups had sued the transit authority for refusing to run their ads. The ads show a plane flying into a burning World Trade Center tower alongside a rendering of the proposed mosque with the words, 'why there?' between the two structures.

Well, Defense Secretary Robert Gates wants to get some -- wants to see, rather, some belt tightening at the Pentagon. The centerpiece of his budget plan, getting rid of the U.S. Joint Forces Command. A move that could cut 3,000 jobs.

Barbara Starr joins us live from the Pentagon with this morning's security watch and obviously, Barbara, the question involved here will be is that going to jeopardize our nation's security?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, probably not, to be honest. You know, the Joint Forces Command is one of these pieces of Pentagon bureaucracy that a few years after it was created, people look at it and say, well why do we really need that. It is part of the military that tries to get all of the services to work together.

So Gates is proposing cutting it as part of this big budget cutting plan, but in fact a lot of what it does will simply be taken over by another part of the Defense bureaucracy. Defense secretaries for decades keep talking about let's cut the budget, let's cut the budget. This is something that they all talk about.

Gates, however, is really trying to make an effort. He says he is talking about things like cutting that command. He's talking about really trying to severely cut down on the use of contractors. He's even talking about cutting the number of generals and admirals on the Pentagon payroll. But will that really make a cut in the now $700 billion of annual spending for running both the bureaucracy and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan? Listen to why the secretary says he feels he has to take these steps.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT GATES, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: The culture of endless money that has taken hold must be replaced by a culture of savings and restraint. Toward this end, I am directing that any new proposal or initiative, large or small, be it policy, program or ceremony, come with a cost estimate.

That price tag will help us determine whether what we are gaining or hope to gain is really worth the cost, either in dollar terms or in the diversion of limited manpower and resources from other missions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STARR: But a lot of questions about whether this type of budget cutting is really going to make a long-term difference in that $700 billion price tag around the U.S. military. And a lot of concerns already emerging in Congress, they don't like to see jobs cut, especially from their states. John.

ROBERTS: Barbara Starr at the Pentagon this morning. Barbara, thanks.

CHETRY: Well, there's a manhunt this morning intensifying for an escaped convict and his accomplice. They apparently have dubbed themselves the modern day Bonnie and Clyde. They're considered armed and dangerous. There is a massive search going on. We'll get the latest on the hunt.

Thirty-five minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MUSIC PLAYING)

CHETRY: Thirty-eight minutes past the hour right now.

Police are bracing for a battle today when they finally catch up to a fugitive couple on the run. They believe they're getting closer. John McCluskey and Casslyn May Welch are reportedly not only lovers but cousins and suspected of killing a couple in New Mexico and possibly now headed toward Canada.

Tracy Province was also one of the escaped inmates but he was captured, arrested early yesterday morning in Wyoming.

Joining me now to talk more about the manhunt for these two, Fidencio Rivera. He is the chief deputy for the U.S. marshals in Arizona and he's leading this manhunt. Thanks so much for being with us this morning, from Phoenix.

FIDENCIO RIVERA, CHIEF DEPUTY, U.S. MARSHAL FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA: Good morning. Glad to be here.

CHETRY: Well, as I understand, you guys have been focusing on an area around Yellowstone Park. What's the latest this morning that leads you to believe they may still be in that area?

RIVERA: The latest information indicates that they're still in western Montana. We believe they have left the Yellowstone National Park area and are now either in the western Montana or possibly in southwest Canada.

CHETRY: Oh, and possibly making it over the border. I know that you had a little bit of a break yesterday because you picked up escaped convict Tracy Province who we had mentioned was also on the run with them. Apparently they decided to split apart. This was near Yellowstone. He went quietly, actually appeared to be a little bit relieved that he was not on the run anymore.

Did he give you guys any intel, any good information about the other two still on the loose?

RIVERA: He gave us very limited information. The little information he did give us we're trying to corroborate. And we believe that there was some half-truths in that information he provided but regardless, I think we, you know, -- he public's information has been the driving force behind apprehending Province yesterday and now hopefully that will help us find McCluskey and his accomplice, Welch.

CHETRY: All right. We're showing pictures right now. If either of them look familiar to people. Will you refresh those who are watching again on what exactly they are wanted for, what they are suspected of.

RIVERA: Yes. John McCluskey was convicted of attempted homicide for a drive-by shooting in 2009. His partner, Casslyn Welch, is wanted for the conspiracy in the escape of McCluskey. In addition, John McCluskey is a suspect. He was linked by forensics to a double homicide of an elderly couple in Santa Rosa, New Mexico.

So we believe that both these individuals are armed and extremely dangerous. We're concerned for the public safety. We believe that it is in the interest of the public if they see them to please contact 911, the local police and do not try to impede these individuals in any way whatsoever.

CHETRY: I also understand that according to some source interviews that you guys did, people have been claiming that they have said in the past that they wouldn't be taken alive by authorities, referred to themselves as Bonnie and Clyde and indicated that they may commit suicide.

So obviously, you're dealing with people who, most likely, will not just, you know, throw up their hands and say "OK, you know, we surrender." What do you do in a situation like that knowing that when you finally catch up with them it could get violent?

RIVERA: We prepare for the worst and hope for the best. Our personnel are well trained. We notify law enforcement and the public in this case as well to make them aware of the serious danger and risk associated with contact with these two individuals. I think law enforcement is well trained, well prepared and the first individual that was arrested last Sunday, Renwick, had a shoot-out with law enforcement and we were able to capture him without anybody getting hurt, to include Renwick himself. Now we have John McCluskey who we believe is armed, has weapons and has indicated to associates and other individuals he's been in communication with that they will not be taken alive.

CHETRY: Do you know anything about their survival skills, about whether or not they'd be able to live for long periods of time, perhaps in a woods in an area where they would be out of sight from every day people?

RIVERA: I'm not sure to the extent of training or background that either one of these have. We know that they are familiar with camping. We believe they have very limited resources. Whatever resources they have are very limited. When the initial escape transpired, the plan was for them to get in a vehicle, a get-away vehicle they had nearby.

But in the confusion of the escape, Renwick was able to find the vehicle first and he left. Eventually was captured in Colorado. These other two individuals had left money behind, additional weapons, and identification in that vehicle so we believe that they're desperate. They have limited resources and will probably rob and potentially kill to further their escape as was potentially evidence which the incident in Santa Rosa, New Mexico.

CHETRY: Right. So it sounds like a dangerous situation for anybody who unfortunately encounters them. Best of luck. I know that, as you said, you are working some tips believing that they may be in western Montana or perhaps made their way across the border with Canada.

Best of luck to you. I hope you catch up with them soon. Fidencio Rivera, chief deputy marshal for the district of Arizona. Thanks.

RIVERA: Thank you.

ROBERTS: Coming up on the most news in the morning. A potential breakthrough in Alzheimer's research. A spinal fluid test that could help predict whether you are likely to develop the disease. Our chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta on the significance of this discovery. And it looks like it is pretty significant.

And Rob's got this morning's travel forecast right after the break. Stay with us.

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ROBERTS: Good morning, Charlotte, North Carolina. A lot of sky in that shot, and, right now, the sky is mostly sunny, a little bit of cloud. Seventy-six degrees, the temperature on the ground. Later on today, those skies will be sunny, with a high of 97 degrees in Charlotte.

CHETRY: And it's going to be a scorcher in a lot of parts of the country today. Forty-seven minutes past the hour.

Rob Marciano checking all the weather headlines for us this morning. You also have an eye on the gulf.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. Let's think of that. You know, let's talk about the gulf. This -- this little disturbance we mentioned yesterday, guys, is kind of rolling across Florida. It's really been a nuisance for Florida for the past three or four days, bringing heavy rains to this area. And now it's kind of centered right about here.

It's not quite tropical as we would characterize it, but it could very well get that way, and they're going to -- they're probably going to fly a recon aircraft in there this afternoon to check it out. So we'll watch that carefully. Obviously, anything that's in the gulf, being surrounded by land, it gets to be a bit of a worry this time of year as we're cranking up into primetime hurricane season.

Heat advisories, in the meantime, and heat warnings out for the central part of the country. This sounds like a broken record. We've been talking about that for a week and half, aren't we? We'll try to stay cool, but they've been extended to places like Philadelphia and New York. These two spots will be well into the 90s today.

Couple of showers in spots across the tri-state area to -- to kind of get the day going, but that's only going to kind of keep things even more steamy once that water gets on the road and the sun comes down to bake things up.

Hazy, hot and humid here, and thunderstorms, already a few of them rolling across the northern plains and it will be cool out west.

Speaking of West, let's go really West, actually, I guess, across the date -- the international dateline. There was a 7.5 magnitude earthquake in the Vanuatu Islands here near American Samoa, and this was not quite enough to generate a tsunami.

They -- they measured a bit of a -- a wave action, but as far as we have gotten reports of, no immediate threat for a tsunami with that one. But, nonetheless, a major earthquake happening in that ring of fire area.

As far as daytime highs today back home, 100 degrees expected in Kansas City. It would be 103 in Dallas, 97 at St. Louis, 98 degrees in Washington, D.C. and 93 degrees in New York City, 75 in Los Angeles.

Your heat and humidity across the Big Apple will only last for a couple of days. This weekend looks to be another winner. It might make it three in a row, so, guys, you're on a roll.

CHETRY: We love to hear that. Absolutely. We'll take it any day.

Thanks, Rob.

MARCIANO: OK, guys.

ROBERTS: Thanks, Rob. Nice day in L.A. This morning's top stories just minutes away, including at the top of the hour, the flight attendant who had just had enough, sliding to freedom down the emergency chute with a beer in his hand. Freedom was short lived, though. We'll talk to a passenger who witnessed the meltdown not only on the plane but on the air train on the way to the parking lot.

CHETRY: Well, at 37 minutes past the hour, parents who need their moment of Zen, teaching their toddlers to meditate. Is this really possible? When is a kid too young for yoga and deep breathing? Well, Deepak Chopra will join us to share his thoughts.

ROBERTS: And at 50 minutes after the hour, your muffin top may kill you. Why flabby bellies could lead to a shorter life even if you're not really overweight.

Those stories and more, coming your way, beginning at the top of the hour.

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ROBERTS: Fifty-three minutes after the hour. It's time now for your "A.M. House Call", stories about your health.

It could be a major development in the battle to wipe out Alzheimer's disease.

CHETRY: You know, researchers have found a spinal fluid test that may help predict the onset of the brain disease with near perfect accuracy. That sounds hard to believe.

Chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta is in Atlanta to talk more about this potential breakthrough. And if that's the case, it really is a breakthrough. Explain more about this, Sanjay.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, a word we don't use very often. You're right, breakthrough. But -- but it is an -- an appropriate word here.

We haven't had that much to talk about with regard to Alzheimer's for some time now, but this is -- this is a pretty big deal in the world of neurology and -- and neurosurgery. And what we're talking about here is a -- is a test, a spinal tap test, where you take a little bit of cerebral spinal fluid from someone's body and analyze that, take a look at it.

And what researchers were sort of focusing on were two proteins. They're called the amyloid protein and the tau protein. You don't need to remember the names, but they are sort of a signature for Alzheimer's disease.

Here's what they found that was so interesting and exciting as well is that they looked at three groups of people, people with Alzheimer's, people who had mild memory problems and people that had no memory problems whatsoever. And the people that had known Alzheimer's almost with -- almost with 100 percent predictability, it was able to diagnose, in fact, that they did have Alzheimer's, again, from that -- that spinal tap test.

And people who have -- had mild memory problems, about three- quarters of them had this abnormal set of proteins in their fluid. All of them, within five years, went on to develop Alzheimer's. That's the -- that's the amazing thing. If they got the abnormal test result, all of them within this mild memory group went on to develop Alzheimer's within five years.

So that -- that's what -- what researchers are really focusing in on. They've been looking for so long for some sort of predictive test that could tell you ahead of time if someone was -- was going to develop this disease. This may be it, or an important clue to it.

ROBERTS: It's a predictive test. It seems to be extraordinarily valuable, and spinal taps are fairly common once somebody has got a disease process going on. But for preventative medicine, spinal tap seems to be a pretty dramatic step.

GUPTA: Yes. I mean, you know, there's no question. This is a procedure that, certainly, you know, because of the field that I'm in, I perform all the time. It does involve women who have had epidurals, for example, during pregnancy will understand what this is like.

But, basically in the lower part of the back, a needle is placed through a couple of the bones. And in this case that -- that needle goes through the outer layer of where the spinal roots are and you take a little bit of cerebrospinal fluid out that way. Usually someone has to lay flat or on their side for several minutes after -- afterward.

But, as you said, John, it is a test that's commonly performed. People need to be trained to do this procedure. Most general practitioners don't do it routinely, so that would have to change, obviously, if this was to become a -- a more standard screening test.

But, yes, that -- that's probably the biggest drawback right now of this particular sort of examination.

CHETRY: I just want to clarify because, I mean, it is fascinating when you talk about the 100 percent accuracy. You talked about the third group who had no symptoms.

GUPTA: Right.

CHETRY: I mean, is it -- is it that as you develop Alzheimer's or even the early parts of it, this protein is released? Or can you technically clear yourself? Let's say you have a family history of Alzheimer's, can you get a spinal tap, not have the proteins, and say I'm not going to develop it?

GUPTA: Great question. And -- and here's the way to look at it. And this is -- this is statistically very important. So in that third group, for example, who had no memory problems whatsoever, a third of them had this abnormal protein mixture in their cerebrospinal fluid. It is predicted that all the people that had the abnormal finding are going to go on to develop memory problems. But that is not to say, Kiran, to your point, that if you have a normal test that you wouldn't go on to develop Alzheimer's. So the test is predictive in the sense that if you have the abnormality, you're very likely to go on and develop Alzheimer's, but you're not cleared necessarily if the test comes back normal or negative, so to speak.

CHETRY: All right. It's a tough thing because as we -- as we know, there are not that many medications out there for people to take.

GUPTA: And -- and this is one of the things in medicine. So now you have a better idea of how these proteins accumulate. You know that they're making their way into the cerebrospinal fluid. It may give -- it may give researchers better idea of how to potentially prevent this and how to potentially treat it in someone who's developed these problems.

But, you're right. I mean, this is a difficult thing. You -- you find out that someone has something, but there's not a lot that you can necessarily do about it. Obviously that's the next important step in this whole thing.

CHETRY: Well, hopefully this is a big break in that in -- in future research. Fascinating stuff, Sanjay. Thanks so much.

GUPTA: Thank you.

CHETRY: Oh, we're going to take a quick break. Your top stories coming your way in just two minutes.

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