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Family of American killed in Syria Speaks; Video Surfaces of Boston Suspects; Texas Beauty Queen Murder

Aired May 31, 2013 - 14:00   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: First on CNN: Chilling video of the Boston bombing suspects working out before their attack.

An American woman goes to syria, fights with the rebels and dies. But what the heck was she doing there?

Bloody crime scene revealed. New pictures of where the Blade Runner shot his girlfriend.

Plus -

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (singing): Twinkle, twinkle little star.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: A 10-year-old girl with weeks to live is being denied a transplant because of her age. Now her urgent fight is going to the president's inner circle.

And a man stages a kidnapping in hopes of becoming a hero, but his plan takes a horrifying turn.

I'm Brooke Baldwin. The news is now.

And here we go on this Friday. Good to see all of you. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

We begin with some breaking news and live pictures. Look at this. Huge, huge flames shooting out of this hotel. This is -- these are live pictures from our affiliate KPRC out of Houston, Texas. Massive plumes of smoke.

If you know this area, this is the Southwest Inn on the Southwest Freeway. Multiple stations responding. You can see EMS there on the ground as well. We know it's a four alarm fire. Four alarm meaning trucks from four different stations are responding. That is how massive this thing is. Many, many people fighting this thing.

We're making phone calls. We're trying to figure out -- obviously it is way too early to figure out how this fire started, but we will keep a close eye on this and bring you any late developments as soon as we get them.

But first, this.

Want to begin this hour with a CNN exclusive, the grief-stricken family of Nicole Mansfield. If you don't know the name, I want you to take a look because this is Nicole Mansfield. This is her in happier times with her daughter, from whom we will hear in just a moment. And this is Nicole Mansfield as well. Her American driver's license as shown on Syrian TV. That's right, Syrian state TV.

In an exclusive interview, Nicole Mansfield's grieving father tells CNN he had asked the U.S. government to revoke her passport, which might have prevented this. Nicole Mansfield apparently has died in the Syrian civil war. And according to the Syrian government, she was fighting on the side of a rebel group linked to al Qaeda. You're looking at this bullet riddled car in which Mansfield and two other westerners reportedly died at the hands of the Syrian Armed Forces.

Want you to listen now to this horribly grief-stricken family in suburban Flint, Michigan. Listen first to what the father says about his concerns that Nicole, raised Baptist, had gotten in with the wrong kind of people after converting to Islam. He says three years ago he actually took his concerns to the FBI.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GREGORY MANSFIELD, FATHER OF WOMAN SLAIN IN SYRIA: Just knowing in my heart that something was not right, you know. They need not let her go on like she was, you know? They needed - and obviously my feelings and my intuition was right because this has gone on.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What was it, though, specifically three years ago that concerned you? Was --

G. MANSFIELD: She -- because of stuff that was being said that Easter about Israel.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you be more specific?

G. MANSFIELD: Well, I -- you know, it was three years ago. All I know is that I went to the FBI about my concerns. And I know that they did follow up because they were following her for a while. They just -- they needed to revoke her passport and this wouldn't be -- this wouldn't be going on. We wouldn't be sitting here right now.

TRIANA JONES, DAUGHTER OF AMERICAN SLAIN IN SYRIA: I didn't believe it was my mom the first time I saw them. And then I had to look again and I looked at her body, and her feet and her hands, and her nose and her mouth and I just - I knew it was her. And it makes me mad that they're all over the Internet and the media, like they can take that down. And they don't need to - I shouldn't have to see my mother's body like that all over the media and the Internet. There are people calling her a terrorist. There are people calling her a CIA agent. And she was neither. She was just an American woman who was misguided by people who had bad intentions, good intentions but were extreme about it.

CAROLE MANSFIELD, GRANDMOTHER OF AMERICAN SLAIN IN SYRIA: (INAUDIBLE) identity and she wanted people to know who she was. She sure got it. That's all I can tell you. Loved her. Loved her dearly. Dearly.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's OK. It's OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do you say to her? What do you say to her right now?

C. MANSFIELD: Your grandfather's going to be mad at you. Very mad at you. He was a true American. I'll never stop loving her, in spirit, always.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We can't control what she believed in. We can try to maybe help her. But when she set her mind to something, that was it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Wow. Obviously this family is broken over the loss of Nicole Mansfield. Again, Nicole Mansfield from Michigan, dead in Syria's civil war. And Syria's saying she had links to al Qaeda.

With me now, veteran international journalist Jim Clancy.

Let's begin with part of the interview that we -- so much of that interview we played, but a part of it we didn't, the family says that she has a background in health care. That she went to Syria to help. Is it possible, Jim Clancy, that she went, you know, for laudable reasons but was just in a bad spot?

JIM CLANCY, CNN INTERNATIONAL: We don't know exactly. We can't say with any amount of certainty because her case isn't yet developed. We may later learn how she got there. How she died is going to be a completely different case. How she got there, though, anyone with any kind of medical training -- and she had some, limited medical training, she cared for people in their home, she had been doing that for about 10 years. She was online, in contact with people. There's a clear enough record there where if you have some medical skills, they will try to recruit you to come and help because of the Syrian resistance, the opposition, is in desperate need of medical care.

BALDWIN: So then how skeptical should we be of Syria's claim that in this bullet riddled car they found weapons, they found a flag to al- Nusra, which is that group with links to al Qaeda. How skeptical?

CLANCY: Very skeptical I think of the fact that she might have been a fighter. It's just not in the general context of things in Syria that a woman, a western woman, would be taken in to fight. She could be used, however, certainly, as somebody in the medical field. And, you know, the arms, the al-Nusra flag that was found, the maps, the computer, all of those things can be added after the fact.

BALDWIN: I see.

CLANCY: You know, all of this can change. There's a lot of propaganda, especially going on over the course of the last six weeks on the ground in Syria. Propaganda by both sides really. BALDWIN: So let me just take that a step further, as you - as we were talking before. So this could be propaganda possibly on the side of the rebels saying, hey, this woman is a martyr. She's a hero for our side and the reverse on the other side.

CLANCY: That's one dimension of it. That's one dimension of it. I think in this case you don't know, was she held? You know, she had a communication with her daughter saying, you know, I'm missing my documents. I can't travel. Well, that would be her passport. But there's her passport. Whether was she telling the truth to her daughter? Was she just staying longer? Was she at some point captured? Was she then executed? There's been a report today that, you know, about 50 people that were held prisoner were executed.

This is a common thing in a very vicious, vicious conflict that gives no quarter, you know, respects no profession, medical or otherwise. This is a very difficult war. And people that find their way inside it - and Idlib, you know, is very easy to get to from Turkey.

BALDWIN: Uh-huh, right there.

CLANCY: So people that find themselves inside there, they may think that they're secure for a moment, but they're not.

BALDWIN: But they're not.

Let's stay on it. Let's keep asking questions. Obviously our heart goes out to this family there in Flint, Michigan. Very tough for them.

CLANCY: Very tough for them to see their daughter like that.

BALDWIN: Jim Clancy, thank you so much.

And now, just in to CNN, we are getting word of two small planes having crashed in Phoenix. There are reports these two planes collided. One of them on fire at one point. No word as far as who was on board. Updates as soon as we get them.

Now to some of the hottest stories in a flash. "Rapid Fire." Roll it.

An asteroid whizzing past planet earth today. NASA is calling it one of the quote/unquote "big ones." It's nearly two miles wide and it is traveling with its own moon in tow. But, not fret, no danger of it hitting our planet. At its closest point, nearly three hours from now, it will still be 3.5 million miles away. NASA says it will be more than 200 years before the asteroid gets this close to earth again.

Also today, a possible break here in the investigation into the series of threatening letters to President Obama, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and a gun control group. Authorities are questioning a person of interest in Texas. We have this new video here of that person's home. Preliminary tests of two of these letters did test positive for that deadly poison, ricin.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, NEW YORK: Well there's - like there's always threats. Unfortunately, that comes with the job. I leave it to the world's greatest police department to worry about it. And go about my business. I don't know much more than what's in the -- really nothing more. I think virtually everything's been in the paper.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Third letter, sent to the White House, is still being tested. All three letters were postmarked in Shreveport, Louisiana.

If you live in the Midwest, you know what to do. Brace yourselves for more bad weather today. Strong thunderstorms are forecast for late this afternoon in Oklahoma, in Kansas, Arkansas, Missouri. And some of those clouds, those storms, could produce large tornadoes, possibly damaging hail. The cities most at risk today include Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Norman and Broken Arrow in Oklahoma, and Joplin, Missouri.

Now to the surveillance video from central California. The man there in the white shirt leaving his truck, going into a restaurant unaware he just dropped $2,000 on the ground. You see this guy? Grabs the loose bankroll, sees it (ph) and crossed paths with the victim inside the restaurant, never revealed he had the man's money.

Coming up next, video of the two Boston bombing suspects working out at the gym. What does this tell investigators about the Tsarnaev brothers? Plus, find out what happened moments before this video was taken.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: First on CNN, we have gotten video of the two Boston bombers together days before their acts of terror. On Friday, three days before the bombings on that Patriots Day marathon Monday, Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev worked out with a friend. This is a Boston gym. This is surveillance video from security cameras there in the gym. We know that the bombs had been made by this point in time. Their plan was in full motion. The brothers skipping rope, appearing calm, composed. CNN's national correspondent Deborah Feyerick is in New York with more on this.

And what is the video at least tell investigators, Deb?

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, what the video does is essentially it fill in a hole on the timeline, which is very important because investigators are so keen to understand exactly what these two men were doing in the days leading up to the bombing, where they were, where they went. Clearly this places them in Boston, a little suburb called Austin. But it also - there's other information on the tape.

For example, when the brothers are entering the gym, they're wearing what appears to be the same jackets they were wearing the day of the bombing as well. So when investigators are going to look at other surveillance tapes, they know that chances are likely that they were doing a dry run, they might have been wearing the same clothes.

But all of this is something that's offering up clues. It's always in the details, Brooke.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FEYERICK (voice-over): Seventy-two hours before the bombs detonated, almost to the minute, suspects Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev worked out together at a gym in Boston. Security cameras at the Wai Kru Mixed Martial Arts Center show the brothers arriving with a friend just before 2:45 Friday afternoon.

We spoke to the manager who asked we only use his first name, Michael. He says Tamerlan, who you see in the hat, looked different. Noticeably missing, Tamerlan's full bushy religious beard, which he'd had for about two years. The manager describes Tamerlan as extremely opinionated and outspoken about his Muslim religion, and says he didn't ask Tamerlan why he'd shaved because he didn't want to engage in what was likely to be a long, heated debate. Now he wonders whether Tamerlan's shaving the beard may have been part of an Islamic ritual purification prior to death.

PAUL CRUICKSHANK, CNN TERROR ANALYST: Shaving the beard may be a way to blend in, not to attract scrutiny from security services in carrying out the Boston attacks.

FEYERICK: Tamerlan trained at Wai Kru several times a month for free, a professional courtesy to the nationally ranked golden gloves boxer. Dzhokhar rarely came, showing up just two or three times in roughly two years.

CRUICKSHANK: We've seen with western militants want to be jihadists a real emphasis on physical training, physical fitness, wanting to be prepared for jihad.

FEYERICK: Almost immediately, the manager, who is off screen to the right, asks the men to follow posted gym rules and take off their shoes. Younger brother Dzhokhar complies right away. Tamerlan does not, arguing instead, not giving any ground. The manager later e-mails the owner asking him to ban Tamerlan, calling him arrogant, selfish, never helping anyone else.

The argument doesn't seem to phase Tamerlan, who's the first one in the ring. His years of training are evident. Watch how skillfully he handles the jump rope. Dzhokhar has more difficulty, less stamina as he struggles to hold up the oversized shorts. The manager says the man in the middle was introduced as a friend. We've blurred his face. He was later questioned and released by the FBI.

Tamerlan remains focused, barely missing or breaking stride. It's right here that the brothers interact. They seem relaxed. Dzhokhar resting at times. Tamerlan moving, moving, working out, 72 hours before two bombs exploded near the finish line of the Boston Marathon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FEYERICK: And so, Brooke, just looking at this video, you know, it's so fascinating to watch their demeanor, to see the interaction between the two of them. And also, you've got to keep in mind that this is the first time we're actually seeing any video of the brothers together before the bombing. The only video we saw of them together was when they were allegedly planting the bombs the day of the marathon.

Brooke.

BALDWIN: OK. So clearly they had cameras at the gym, because we're looking at the surveillance video. Anything else investigators can glean? Any leads from this gym where they apparently worked out?

FEYERICK: Well, the manager and the owner of the gym, the Wai Kru gym, have been - they've been very, very cooperative. They've been working with the FBI. The FBI came, they saw the surveillance tapes, took a couple of screen grabs. More importantly, agents asked whether in fact there were any other Chechens that had been hanging out at the gym. And the name they gave up was Ibragim Todashev, and he's the one who was just recently killed in Florida after being questioned about a triple homicide which police believe Tamerlan may have been involved in. So it's a lot of moving parts.

BALDWIN: The investigation continues. Deborah Feyerick, thank you.

Coming up next, a beauty queen murdered. The prime suspect, a priest, who remains free to this day. Gary Tuchman leads a special CNN investigation into this fascinating cold case. He'll join me live in studio to explain, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: You are about to hear a story, a chilling cold case story, involving a young Texas woman and a catholic priest. This is Irene Garza, a successful young schoolteacher, a beauty queen. She was brutally raped and murdered 53 years ago in south Texas. But, today, the man who state and local police believe is Irene Garza's killer remains free, living a normal life. And CNN's Gary Tuchman has this story and this preview of this documentary, "The Beauty and the Priest." What a story.

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's an amazing story and it's a very sad story. You know, there are lots of cases in this country, murder cases, that have not been solved. But this is not one of them according to police. Every cop who has ever dealt with this case say they solved it. They know who the murderer is. They know who killed this beauty queen. They've known it for 53 years and still nothing has happened to this man. He's still living a good life despite this. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): She had beautiful, shiny hair. She had this natural effervescence. She had the most musical type voice. She had a way with children. And she smelled like flowers.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): In 1960, Irene Garza was raped and murdered in McAllen, Texas.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The one thing I remember is just screams. TUCHMAN: There was a suspect.

TUCHMAN (on camera): Who do you believe killed Irene Garza?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Father John Bernard Feit.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): Father John Feit. Back then, a catholic priest.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No evidence in this case right now points us in any other direction.

TUCHMAN: So why is he still a free man?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: So let me ask you the same question, why is this man free?

TUCHMAN: We will have the alarming details about that tonight. But what I can tell you is this. In the state of Texas, only the district attorney can aggressively try to get an indictment. There have been three district attorneys in this county since 1960. None of them have wanted to do so despite the fact that the local police in McAllen, the Texas Rangers, which are the prestigious state police, they've all said since 1960 this is the guy who killed this girl.

Now, what we should point out is this. His personal belongings were found by his body. He admitted to attacking another girl a few weeks before. But the most unbelievable thing is that the church, everyone acknowledges this, the church in 1960 sent him away after the murder to a monastery.

BALDWIN: They did.

TUCHMAN: In the monastery there was a monk. The monk was his psychological counselor. This monk talks to us on camera and this monk tells us that John Feit admitted to him that he killed -- that he was a murder. And he kept it quiet all these years. And now the monk feels very guilty. He said that's the way it was done back then. He's talking now.

And one of the problem which we'll address tonight is that the district attorney doesn't believe this monk, doesn't believe another priest who says he was around John Feit when this happened, and doesn't believe all the police to this day and that's why he doesn't want to aggressively go forward with this case. But it's maddening, it's infuriating and it's so sad for this family that suffered for more than half a century.

BALDWIN: I'm setting my DVR as I'm thinking DVR this. Gary Tuchman, thank you. "The Beauty and the Priest," it airs tonight, 10:00 p.m. Eastern, 10:00 p.m. Eastern here on CNN. Thank you so much, Gary. We appreciate it.

TUCHMAN: Thank you, Brooke. Good seeing you.

BALDWIN: And now the American mom locked up in that Mexican prison is now a free woman after a terrifying ordeal. Now the question is this, how often do things like this happen? And what can you do to prevent something like this from happening to you? We have some advice for from my special guest who knows a thing or two about situations in Mexico.

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