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Ariel Castro's Daughter Speaks Out; Bryce Reed Will Plead Not Guilty
Aired May 11, 2013 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ALISON KOSIK, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Alison Kosik. Here are the top stories we are following.
FBI investigators are in Cleveland, healing up a home next door to the one where three women were allegedly held captive, beaten and tortured. And the man who helped one of the women freed opened up about the herring escape.
The attorney for first respondent Bryce Reed says his client will say not guilty to having bomb-making materials. Three with an emergency crew member at last month's fertilizer plant explosion in Texas.
NASA astronaut spent hours outside of the space station today. They had to fix an ammonia leak. NASA called it an emergency but said the crew was not in any danger.
A man suspect of living a double secret life for more than a decade is spending his first weekend under 24/7 seven watch to the nine by nine foot jail cells. This said FBI investigators press forward and their search for clues on Cleveland's three more streets.
CNN national correspondent Susan Candiotti is there live.
Susan, what is all the activity there today?
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It has been going on for a couple of days and is still going on at this hour, Alison. The FBI is out here. Crime scene investigators, of course, are working hand and hand with the Cleveland police department to secure this crime scene. This house where this terrible alleged acts took plays where three women where held hostage in this house for at least ten years and now are free.
But there is a lot of work to be done at that house to board it up. They removed much, if not all, of the evidence by now. But now, they have to protect it because if this is a crime scene and of course, if this case comes to trial, they need to make sure that nothing is touched. So, they are putting up a fence around the place. They are boarding up all the windows to protect it.
Meantime as you know, we have the results of the DNA, a testing that was done on the DNA of suspect, Ariel Castro, who is charge in this case. And it proved that in fact, he is the father of that 6-year-old little girl who is born while in captivity. And they are still running a check against it running his DNA against all other unsolved cases in the country, just in case there is a match there -- Alison.
KOSIK: Susan, one of the victims, Michelle Knight, she has left the hospital. We are obviously not sure of her whereabouts right now, but she is refusing any contact with her family. What are police saying about this?
CANDIOTTI: Yes. We don't know the particulars but we certainly know she doesn't appear to have any contact with her family, not with her mother nor with other relatives as well. Now, clearly, the family has acknowledged they have had difficulties over the years, but for whatever reason, Michelle Knight is released in the hospital now. And she is somewhere, or I am told by a source close to the investigation some place that is safe and she is very comfortable, I'm told. And of course, she wants her privacy as to the two other young women involved in this matter.
KOSIK: OK, Susan Candiotti in Cleveland. Thank you.
And now, the latest on the neighborhood hero who helped rescue the three missing women. Today, Charles Ramsey joined Rock Newman. He is a radio host and former boxing promoter on the "We Act Radio" in Washington D.C. CNN with exclusive three invited to join them at the station. Ramsey talked about his 2003 conviction for assaulting his wife. He described the events that led up to the incident. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHARLES RAMSEY, HELPED RESCUE MISSING WOMEN: I'm still in my house one day, right? So, the phone call, no. I'm on the other end say this Mr. (INAUDIBLE) because she came back home. (INAUDIBLE). And she is saying, I'm not doing that. And I tried to grab her and pull her hair out. And before I can get to her, my mother was there. So --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE REPORTER: You just heard your wife (INAUDIBLE), but it was your wife sleeping with another man.
RAMSEY: And see, to this day, still did not go why he wasn't doing or here, you know you had it coming and you deserve it, none of it. I learned from it. I think it was 15 years ago.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE REPORTER: You did?
RAMSEY: Yes. Running from that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOSIK: Ramsey also told Rock Newman how he would have treated the suspect if he had got to him before the police. That is coming this hour.
Friends and family of Ohio suspect Ariel Castro are shock that he had allegedly been hiding such a terrible secret in this house. One of this daughters told CNN in an exclusive interview, she had no idea what was going on. But Angie Greg says it is all adding up now. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ANGIE GREGG, DAUGHTER OF ANGIE CASTRO: All these weird things that I have noticed over, you know, over the years like about, you know, how he kept his house locked on so tight at certain areas and, you know, how it would be out at my grandma's having dinner, he would disappear for, you know, for an hour or so and then come back and there would be no explanation where he went like it is --. Everything is making sense now. It is all adding up. And I'm disgusted. I'm horrified.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: Did you ever see any signs of a 6-year- old there?
GREGG: I never saw signs in the house. I never saw, you know, her with him. But about two months ago, he picked me up. We spent the afternoon together. I just -- we have some service on my car. And he showed me a picture that was on his cell phone randomly and he said look at this cute little girl. It was a face of her. And I said she is cute. Who is her, you know? And he said this is my girlfriend's child. And I said, Dad, that girl looks like Emily. Emily is my younger sister.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOSIK: And we are going to have more of that interview ahead. And a look at suspect Ariel Castro's odd behavior from a daughter's standpoint.
The lawyer for Texas emergency worker says his client has no connection to the explosion at a deadly fertilizer plant there. Bryce Reed was a first responder at the April 17th blast. And now police have charged him with having the materials to build a pipe bomb. Our David Mattingly just spoke with Reed's attorney and joins us now with an update.
What have you learned?
DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Alison, Bryce Reed's attorney says he plans to vigorously defend himself against the allegations that are pending now in federal court. He was brought in the court yesterday where he was arrested on charges on future charges that he held bomb-making material at one time. Authorities finding this out because he allegedly gave this material to another resident, that resident then contacting authorities, these materials including a small piece of pipe, a fuse, some powdered materials that are used to make explosives. In other words, he have the materials to make a pipe bomb.
But as we are hearing today, his attorney says they plan to vigorously defend themselves against these allegations. And of course, it immediately brought up questions about what possible connection this could have for the actual devastating explosion at the plant not far from here.
And the response to that brought eye written response from his attorney reads Mister Reed had no involvement whatsoever in the explosion at the West, Texas fertilizer plant. And he goes on to talk about how Mr. Reed was one of the first responders and lost people close to him in that explosion.
They also cautioned everyone who knows, and people who might be close to him, to not rush to judgment against Mr. Reed at this point. Because when they go back into court on Wednesday, they will be entering a not guilty plea to these charges -- Alison.
KOSIK: Any indication, David, as to why Bryce Reed had the makings for the pipe bomb?
MATTINGLY: None whatsoever. And in fact when I talked to his attorney about this, he said he didn't have any details and they hope themselves to learn more about. This is the process goes on. And as a perhaps might learn more about these charges when they get back into court on Wednesday. But right now, he has had a very brief conversation with his client and does not know a great many details about where these charges are coming from.
KOSIK: Now, Reed has been in the public eye since the blast, right?
MATTINGLY: That's right. He had a very high profile after this happened. In fact, in the day after the disaster, he was giving interviews. He appeared live giving an interview on CNN the day after. He was also very noticeable at a memorial service sometime later, actually delivering a eulogy for one of the fallen firemen. So, he has had a very high profile in this, a very well known figure for people who have been following the coverage of this disaster and the aftermath. And now, again, a very high profile for a man accused of a serious crime, which carried about ten years in federal prison if he's found guilty.
KOSIK: David Mattingly, live in Waco, Texas, thank you.
Now the Boston bombing investigation in a big red flag the U.S. didn't know about. A low enforcement office tells CNN Russia withheld details about ominous text between suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev and his mother in 2011. The source says in the text, Tsarnaev told his mother he was interested in joining a militant group, carrying out attacks against Russia. And the controversies surrounding Tsarnaev's grave site continues even after his burial. The suspect was buried this week in unmarked grave in a Muslim cemetery in Deswell, Virginia. Some local officials and residents say he shouldn't be buried there.
And now, here to Atlanta where a woman claims she was bitten by a bomb sniffing dog at Hartsfield-Jackson international airport. Susan (INAUDIBLE) told WSB that she did nothing to provoke the dog and that she was treated by paramedics at the airport. The TSA has released this statement, saying we are working with the Atlanta PD, the police department, to investigate the incident with the canine.
The Ohio suspect's daughter talks about her father, how he abused her mother and always kept his basement locked.
Also, the man who rescued the three young women described in detail his heroic actions.
And Christian heavy metal rock star, (INAUDIBLE) is it in a lot of trouble. We are going to tell you why.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KOSIK: Were there signs that accused kidnapper Ariel Castro had three women captive in his house? Could it have been stopped sooner? Those are the big questions everybody is asking now. Even his own daughter says she didn't pick up on the signs. But in an exclusive interview with CNN, Angie Greg says there were signs.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GREGG: He never wanted to leave the house more than a day at a time even when it came down to visiting us in Indiana. When it came to going out and visiting my sister, just recently, he was adamant in the fact that he wanted to leave home early morning and he had to be back by evening which is why a lot of our travel plans ended up being canceled.
LAURIE SEGALL, CNN MONEY TECHNOLOGY REPORTER: And you lived in that home in the early '90s. What was it like living in that home?
GREGG: Living in that home, there were a lot of good memories. I remember my dad ling us up and cutting our bangs himself and I remember, you know, good times, going on family outings, carnivals, motorcycle rides with my dad, garage sale hunting, you know, there were a lot of good times. I remember, you know, going shopping with my mom, going to restaurants, you know, playing with friends in the corner church yard and things were pretty peaceful unless mom and dad were fighting. Now, when mom and dad were fighting it was like I wanted to just melt into the ground.
SEGALL: Was he abusive? You know, there are people have said, you know, he was abusive towards your mother. Did you see that?
GREGG: Yes.
SEGALL: What kind of abuse?
GREGG: He was pretty jealous. He was always saying that my mom, you know, was messing with certain neighbors, things like that, and I have seen him basically stomp on her like she was a man, like beat her pretty bad several times.
SEGALL: What do you think about the signs, you said he would turn the music up loud and you have been frequenting this house for a long time. When was the last time you went?
GREGG: It was about a couple months ago.
SEGALL: Can you describe what the interaction was like?
GREGG: Normal, like usual, I would give him a call. We would be talking. He would say come over, and so I would go over and knock on the door, and even though he told me to come over, he would, you know, point like this through the window like hold on a second, and he would take forever to come to the door. He would always wave me through the back. We never really went through the front. Now, if you go inside the house, a lot of the times he would have the music turned up real loud, but it never struck me as odd. He is a musician. Now, sometimes there was no music. There was just talking, reminiscing, and looking at photos, like he fed me there. You know, he has cooked things and fed me. We would play with the dogs. I would have the boys over and --
SEGALL: Were there certain areas in the home off limits?
GREGG: Ever since my mom lived in that house the basement was always kept locked, and ever since I moved out for good and my furniture was brought over within the next year, I have never been upstairs in the house, and I never had reason to be. I asked him a long time ago when I was younger, you know, but I was already moved out and married, I asked him if I could see my room for old time sake and he says, honey, there is so much junk up there, you don't want to go up there.
SEGALL: When you think about what was behind those doors, how do you cope with that?
GREGG: I mean, it all makes sense now. Now I know.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KOSIK: Now, those words are really chilling to hear. But, it didn't stop there. Angie Gregg says her dad is a monster and she wants nothing to do with him. More from that exclusive interview next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KOSIK: As we celebrate mother's day this weekend, we salute CNN hero Martha Ryan. She is in San Francisco helping homeless to be get the care they need.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Years ago my daughter and I were homeless and my main priority was to get high. Then I got pregnant again and I was like what am I doing? I need to change.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have never met a woman who wanted to hurt her unborn baby, but I have met a lot of women that did not know how to do the right thing. The common denominator is poverty. Poverty is an accident of birth. Pregnancy is a wonderful window of opportunity. A mother can turn her life around.
MARTHA RYAN, CNN HERO: My name is Martha Ryan, and I help expectant mothers, many who were homeless, break the cycle of poverty for good.
You can't just be saved. You have to do the work yourself.
I learned very early on that prenatal care alone was not enough.
We need a place to stay as soon as possible.
We will help you with housing as well. They really needed help with complex issues and now we serve the entire family.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you so much.
RYAN: You're so welcome.
Given opportunities, nothing stops them.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Getting over my addiction wasn't the hardest part.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I love you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Getting my kids stable, finding my confidence.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Smaller circles.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I work here now. I am so happy to be able to relay the things I have learned to moms. This program gave me the tools and I found myself worth.
RYAN: We are investing in people. Believe in yourself and just take one day at a time. their ability to change their lives. Now, that is inspiring.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOSIK: We need your help to find great stories like these. Please go to CNN heroes.com right now to donate -- to nominate someone you know making a difference and deserves to be recognized.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KOSIK: Back to our exclusive interview with the daughter of Ariel Castro. He is the man accused of kidnapping and holding three women hostage inside his Ohio home and his daughter has powerful words for him including you are dead to me.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GREGG: I have lost my mother and now I have lost a father but I don't cry for him. I don't cry for him.
SEGALL: If you could say anything to Ariel, if you had a message for him, what would it be?
GREGG: All this time, all this time, why? I don't even know what to say. Why after all this time, why did you do it in the first place? Why did you take those girls and why did you never leave and why did you never feel guilty enough to let them go?
SEGALL: Your family is attached to this stigma. What is the message that you want to tell people that they might not understand?
GREGG: That my father's actions are not a reflection of everyone in the family and they're definitely not a reflection of myself or my children. We don't have monster in our blood.
SEGALL: You call your dad a monster.
GREGG: Yes, yes, there will be no visits. There will be no phone calls. He is dead to me.
SEGALL: In a day you lost the man that raised you. That must be hard.
GREGG: He is nothing but a memory anymore. He can never be daddy again.
SEGALL: So long you called him daddy. You wrote on his facebook I love you daddy. How do you grapple with that?
GREGG: It is hard. But, I have no sympathy for the man. I have no sympathy. He was another person whose life deceived and manipulated people and I could never forgive him. The Ariel I knew, if you would have asked me this last week, I would have told you he is the best dad and the best grandpa and he was very kind and loving and he did for me and he did for his grandchildren -- I just would have never saw this coming, ever, until I saw it with my own eyeballs.
SEGALL: When people talk about the 6-year-old they're saying could have been a child that he had with one of these women who he was holding captive, did you ever see any signs of a 6-year-old there? Did you ever see him with her?
GREGG: I never saw signs in the house. I never saw her with him. But, about two months ago he picked me up. We spent the afternoon together. I just had service on my car, and he showed me a picture that was in his cell phone, randomly, and he said look at this cute little girl. It was like a face shot, and I said she is cute, who is that, you know? He said this is my girlfriend's child. And I said, dad, that girl looks like Emily. Emily is my younger sister. And he said, no, that's not my child. This is my girlfriend's child by somebody else. I said, dad, if you're not sure, you need to get a paternity test. And he changed the subject again. I told him, dad, if there is one of us floating around out there, if I have another sister, then I would like to know about it so I can be in her life. And he changed the subject and I just never brought it back up. I figured at the most he had an illegitimate child out there, you know, and I would find out eventually, so I never really put much more thought to it.
SEGALL: And looking back now and knowing that this could in fact have been a child of a woman that he held captive for years and years, how do you feel when you think about that?
GREGG: I never would have thought that when I first saw the picture of Amanda in the hospital bed with the little girl on TV, I knew that was her because I never forgot that face. She looked so much like him and my sister. It is unreal.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KOSIK: DNA test have shown that the child is Ariel Castor's daughter. Laurie Segall joins me now.
Laurie, that little girl is Angie's half sister. Did Angie tell you if she wants to reach out to Amanda Berry to meet her and the little girl?
SEGALL: You know, I actually asked her that question. I said if this is in fact -- if your blood relation, would you want to and she said absolutely. She said, look, we're going through -- they're going through so much right now. I want to give them time to heal, but she did say that, you know, I would like to see this little girl. But right now it is healing and that's what it is about for them. She said her heart went out to this family and she is just trying to wrap her head around all of this, Alison.
KOSIK: I am hearing a lot of noise behind you. What's going on there in Cleveland?
SEGALL: Looks like there is some kind of protester people here are shouting things. We're not exactly sure what is going on. But they are coming right now as you can see we are at the location of the home where these girls were held captive for so long. And as you heard from the interview with Angie, she had been to this home quite a bit. You know, I can't go into detail. I am not sure exactly what they are shouting about right now. But, as you can imagine, a lot of people have been approaching this place and have been coming here, and expressing their thoughts because this is a tight-knit community, a lot of emotions, a lot of people saying we can't believe this has gone on. If you look over here, there are balloons out for the women and the victims -- Alison.
KOSIK: All right, Laurie Segall in Cleveland. Thank you.
And just like the families of the three women held captive in Ohio, there are many other parents of missing children waiting for them to come home. We are going to talk to two experts on how long and how frustrating that wait can be.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KOSIK: Welcome back to the CNN NEWSROOM. I am Alison Kosik.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KOSIK (voice-over): The families of the three women who vanished in Ohio thought they would never see their daughters again. But now they're reunited; balloons and welcome home signs are tied outside Gina DeJesus' home and her mother says she knew this day would come.
NANCY RUIZ, GINA DEJESUS' MOTHER: I want to thank everybody that believed; even when I said she was alive and believed and I want to thank them. Even the ones that doubted, I still want to thank them the most because they are the ones that made me stronger, the one that made me feel the most that my daughter was out there.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOSIK: And those words are giving hope to other parents whose children are missing.
I am joined now by Ernie Allen of the International Center for Missing and Exploited Children and former FBI special agent Ken Lanning.
Ernie, let me start with you. Do you think it is a good idea that this case keeps hope alive or is there kind of a danger of false hope here?
ERNIE ALLEN, INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR MISSING AND EXPLOITED CHILDREN: Alison, there is no such thing as false hope. We need to keep these cases alive.
The media forgets, the spotlight dims, the world assumes these kids are dead, but was it false hope for the families of Elizabeth Smart, Jaycee Dugard, Shawn Hornbeck, Jessica Muhlenberg, so many others? We need to find -- to bring closure to find answering for these searching families.
KOSIK: Ken, how unusual is it that these girls who have been gone for so long would still be alive after this many years?
KENNETH LANNING, FORMER SPECIAL AGENT, FBI: You know, we first can look at the limited research that we have that tells us that most of these child abduction cases don't really go on much beyond 24 hours.
And in the longer term cases we know that still there 57 percent of the children are recovered; about 40 percent are murdered; 4 percent are unknown. But o me the answer is not in the research. The answer is that until the case gets resolved, you got to keep moving forward. You got to keep investigating. You got to keep looking. You got to keep hope alive, however slim that hope is.
KOSIK: Ernie, where do these women begin? You know, in captivity for so long, how do these women and their families begin to recover from this?
And then you have got the added pressure of the fact that these women can't even leave their home with the media pressure. You know, we're hovered over -- not just us obviously but a lot of media are hovering around their houses and trying to watch their every move.
ALLEN: Well, we need to ensure that they have space, that they have privacy, that they have time. They're going to need professional help. We're not going to be able to restore those 10 years they've lost. They're not going to be able to go back to where they were a decade ago.
But it is a day at a time. You work to achieve a kind of new normal, so I hope that the community and their families are patient, there are going to be good days and bad days, but a lot of these victims do get better.
KOSIK: Ken, what can investigators learn from this case that can help in other investigations?
LANNING: I believe that we can learn from every case and the old unit where I used to work, the behavioral science unit, behavioral analysis unit, that's what we did in that unit.
And in this particular case I think is at least three major kind of teaching points. One has to do with maybe improving our ability to evaluate missing children and to try to get a better sense which category they might fit in so we can focus the investigation.
The second thing has to do with improving our ability to do neighborhood investigations. This is not as simple and easy people think.
I think the third major teaching point of this case is to relook and rethink about this idea of labeling everybody who abducts children as a pedophile or a child molester. Here we have an individual who at least one of his victims was an adult and he's still victimizing in adulthood.
KOSIK: All right. Thank you, Ernie Allen and Ken Lanning. Thanks for your time.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, Alison.
KOSIK: A young woman in Bangladesh has an incredible -- an incredible story to tell. Find out how she survived more than two weeks in the rubble of a collapsed building.
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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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KOSIK: We have new details about a young woman in Bangladesh who spent 16 days trapped in the rubble of a collapsed building.
The 19-year-old woman named Reshma (ph) told reporters she drank rainwater and ate food from her co-workers' lunch boxes. The garment factory in Dhaka where she worked collapsed on April 24th, killing more than 1,000 people.
Jodi Arias goes from the courtroom to the psych ward; why she is being watched 24/7 and what she is saying about the death penalty, now that she is a convicted murderer. That's coming up.
But first, this weekend Anthony Bourdain heads to Morocco and the city of Tangiers, all about food, the music and the atmosphere.
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(MUSIC PLAYING)
ANTHONY BOURDAIN, CNN HOST: Pretty much never getting out of this. I feel like Elton John at home. There are some countries you go to. As soon as you get off the plane the place smells like some place you want to be right away.
And that's true of Tangiers. But for me, part of this part of the world that really does it for me should be happening any minute now. It is magic.
Oh, yes, when the other ones start to come in. That's when it gets really good. There's three of them now. So beautiful. Really you get three of those going and you know you are not in Leomi (ph), New Jersey. You know you're someplace.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
KOSIK (voice-over): Looks good. And you can see Anthony's entire trip to Morocco tomorrow night right here on CNN at 9 pm Eastern and Pacific. That's "ANTHONY BOURDAIN: PARTS UNKNOWN," Sunday night.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KOSIK: In Cleveland, Ohio, today, FBI investigators are sealing up a home next door to the one where three women were allegedly held captive, beaten and tortured.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KOSIK (voice-over): Ariel Castro is already charged with kidnapping and rape in the case and now he could be facing aggravated murder charges. The prosecutor says he may seek those charges related to claims Castro starved and punched one of his captives, Michelle Knight, to induce at least five miscarriages.
Could the prosecutor seek the death penalty on those charges? Let's bring in Joey Jackson; he's an HLN legal analyst and defense attorney.
Joey, hello to you.
JOEY JACKSON, HLN LEGAL ANALYST: Good afternoon, Alison.
KOSIK: Tell us about the possible death penalty in this case. Give us more info.
JACKSON: Sure. Well, as we know, Ohio certainly has a death penalty statute. The issue is going to be whether or not this would qualify as a death penalty.
Now in evaluating that, Alison, what they're looking at is something called unlawful termination of a pregnancy. And when we look to the issue of murder, of course, we look and we see that it has to apply to a person.
And so I think so if they pursue this charge, Alison, they're going to be looking to determine the viability of these pregnancies, how far along they were and that could potentially present problems of proof because, remember, it could have been awhile ago.
And since it was so long ago, forensic evidence, which is generally necessary to prosecute these charges, would be absent. KOSIK: OK. And so I guess because there wouldn't be necessarily forensic evidence, how would they sort of move forward on charges like that? There certainly aren't any, as you said, medical records of these alleged pregnancies and miscarriages.
So is there anything else that they can glean from this? I mean, what about -- ?
JACKSON: Sure.
KOSIK: -- what about the witness testimonies, the girls themselves?
JACKSON: Yes. That's critical in a case like that, of course. I mean, if there are other people. What happens in a courtroom, Alison, is that you need corroboration, certainly the person who was the subject of this, you know, assault and as a result of that these terminated pregnancies would come forward and have a lot to say about it in a court of law.
Certainly no one should have to endure this, and if there was anyone in the home, particularly those others who were held captive, the other women, they can testify about what they saw, their observations.
If they actually saw a fetus, whether the fetus was moving, was it viable, how did he go about terminating these pregnancies and beating and punching?
And so I think that would be evidence that would be very compelling; whether it would be enough to establish the fetuses were viable without the forensic evidence would be the issue.
But remember this, even if they don't get the death penalty here, these charges alone carry life imprisonment. So either way he is going to have to be accountable for these in a very significant way, either with his life in terms of the death penalty or with life imprisonment.
KOSIK: What's the likelihood that these women won't testify? I mean, they have been through so much and to go in a courtroom and relive all of this, what's the likelihood that they wouldn't?
JACKSON: They really have. It is really unthinkable to have to even speak about this, right, Alison? It is crazy to think they were there for 10 years. But one thing is clear here. There are a number of things.
And that is that you have a situation where you have great people who work with victims. And it is going to take awhile to be sure and to be clear in order to get them acclimated, these people who were held captive in order to -- I mean, you have to think about the emotional trauma, the psychological trauma, the physical abuse.
And so that certainly is a detriment to them. But I think with people working with them over the course of time, they will be able to get them integrated back into society, to get them comfortable enough. And you have to think that they want these women justice, and so in light of the justice that they'll be seeking you have to think that they will be very motivated to testify so that he can get his just deserts and be held accountable under the law.
KOSIK: All right. HLN legal analyst and defense attorney Joey Jackson. Thanks so much for your time.
JACKSON: Pleasure, Alison. Thank you.
KOSIK: Rock legend Roky Erickson struggled with mental illness that kept him off the stage for years, but now he's performing once again. Sanjay Gupta has the story.
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DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Roky Erickson is a legend for fans of early psychedelic music. In fact, he's been making music since he was a child.
ROKY ERICKSON, MUSICIAN: It was something I could always look forward to, you know, if I would get out of school early, then I could go home and play guitar.
GUPTA (voice-over): The 13th Floor Elevators, "You're Going to Miss Me." It hit the charts in the 1960s.
JEGAR ERICKSON, ROKY'S SON: We have Roky, 17, you know, making music. Going to "American Bandstand."
GUPTA (voice-over): His son, Jegar, recalls the day his dad's world changed.
JEGAR ERICKSON: The cops focus on him. He got arrested for picking up a person. There was a joint found on him and...
GUPTA (voice-over): So to avoid prison, Roky pleaded insanity and he was committed to a psychiatric hospital. He was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and treated with Thorazine, electroshock therapy and experimental medications.
JEGAR ERICKSON: He described it a little bit to me. And I didn't expect it. He said, sometimes I hear something and it's running, running, running, and I tell it to shut up. And I do the best I can.
GUPTA (voice-over): What's kept him alive, he says, is music.
ROKY ERICKSON: Find the things that you have that you love and are important and make sure that you know you have them with you.
JEGAR ERICKSON: If he didn't have his musical career he could be just any dude on the street holding a sign, dealing with a mental illness.
GUPTA (voice-over): Forty years later, every day is still a battle. But Roky says his mental health is improving. And today, he's back touring, performing with his son's band -- The Hounds of Baskerville -- Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.
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KOSIK: When word got out that three women had been rescued from a kidnapper in Cleveland, one man became an instant hero. Charles Ramsey, the next-door neighbor who helped Amanda Berry break free talked today about what he would have done if he had found the alleged kidnapper first. That's just ahead.
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KOSIK: The man who helped rescue the three Cleveland kidnapping victims is pretty humble. He says he's no hero.
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KOSIK (voice-over): Today Charles Ramsey joined Rock Newman, a radio host and former boxing promoter on the we act radio (ph) in Washington, D.C. CNN was exclusively invited to join them at the radio station.
Ramsey said Amanda Berry is the real hero here for staying at the scene to make sure that Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight got out of suspect Ariel Castro's house safely.
CHARLES RAMSEY, HELPED RESCUE MISSING WOMEN: And that Gina DeJesus came out of that house and that Michelle girl came out of that house, that (inaudible), man, listen, it was like that heaven had for a split second opened up and then God said, enough. This has gone on long enough. You weren't supposed to grab no girls. See, this was a test, fool. And you failed it with flying colors.
ROCK NEWMAN, RADIO HOST: How do you describe how you're feeling?
RAMSEY: Happy was the first one and she was like, (inaudible)? She alive. And then look at that one. She alive. But then that goes out the way. Because see, I'm not -- what do you want to call it? (Inaudible) timid. I'm a predator. So we switched from, boy, that was a good thing to if I get my hands on Ariel before the police --
NEWMAN: You just had some instinct that you wanted to take care of business yourself?
RAMSEY: You wouldn't be interviewing me. At least not live to live when I can touch you. You -- I would be in the penitentiary, brother. I'd have made history just like Ariel. I'd have been the first human on Earth who was able to take a person's head off their body and kick it down the street like a soccer ball.
NEWMAN: Wow. Man, oh, man, what a story.
(END VIDEO CLIP) KOSIK: And Ramsey said he doesn't want any reward money. He says it should go to the victims instead.
There is a problem with the International Space Station. Did a spacewalk fix it? A live report coming up.
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