Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Father Talks Alleged Abduction; Usher's Ex-Wife Files for Custody; Faith Healing Couple Faces Murder Charges; Priest Called an Angel After Rescue; DOGTV Entertains Pooches.
Aired August 08, 2013 - 13:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What is the hardest thing for you emotionally in this, dealing with having your wife, your daughter, and your son all in some type of not being with you anymore? What's the hardest thing emotionally in dealing with this?
BRETT ANDERSON, FATHER OF MISSING CHILDREN: I believe the hardest thing emotionally is still to come when I have to go and start cleaning out their apartments and rooms. I have a lot of support here with me and we'll try to get through it.
CUOMO: We are here for you as well. We want to get the word out that everybody is looking for DiMaggio, that they're looking for Hannah and, yes, that we have Ethan's face out there just in case. What do you want to say to this man if he is monitoring the news?
ANDERSON: Like I said before, have you taken everything, the damage is done, just let my daughter go. Let her go home safe. Let her with be me and try to mend things from there.
CUOMO: That's all that matters to you right now is getting her back. What happens to him is secondary.
ANDERSON: That's correct.
CUOMO: Look, it must be impossible for you to stay strong like this. I give you all the respect in the world for coming on and talking about this and keeping the fight up. I know, to you, it is the only thing you can do because all that matters to you in the world is missing right now. But anything we can do to help we will.
(CROSSTALK)
CUOMO: And we know that there has been a fund set up, yes?
ANDERSON: Yes, there has. I don't have a whole lot of information but it is called the Anderson Family Memorial Fund, and it is set up through Wells Fargo out of the Sparks, Nevada, Wells Fargo. And it was done very quickly by a friend of mine and some amazing people named Andrew and Michelle St. Pierre. I can't thank them enough. We will try to get more information with how this works as time moves on.
CUOMO: What are you going to do with the fund? ANDERSON: Well, I am not a rich guy. I am going to most likely use whatever I can to help with any up coming expenses, and the most likely then, if there is anything left over, I will donate that somewhere for exploited children.
CUOMO: It's very noble. Please know that as information develops and things that you want us to get out, we are a phone call away from you. OK?
ANDERSON: I appreciate that.
CUOMO: I am very sorry to meet you this way. But we will keep hope alive that Hannah can be found and that she is safe.
ANDERSON: Thank you very much.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: That is just so heartbreaking. There is an arrest warrant for a murder that has been issued for DiMaggio. A judge signed off on a $1 million bond once he is taken into custody.
This, it could be a bitter custody battle for their son who almost drowned. Usher's ex-wife says she wants her kids back. We have the story up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: Usher's ex-wife is fighting to get custody of their two sons. A court hearing that will happen tomorrow after their 5-year- old got stuck in a swimming pool drain. Tamika Foster filed an emergency motion saying the boy almost drowned because he was not properly supervised. Well, he is now doing much better in a hospital, but foster says that Usher is away from his children 85 percent of the time, on tour, on recording shows for "The Voice." Usher won primary custody of the children last year after a bitter court fight. The public celebrity battles over children nothing new really, but it does leave these children caught in the middle. From Alec Baldwin and Kim Bassinger's nasty custody battle for their child when she was just six years old to Britney Spears and Kevin Federline's fight for custody of their boys.
We'll bring in psychologist, Wendy Walsh, who joins us from Los Angeles.
And you have counseled many people getting divorces here and it is really about the kids caught in the middle of all of this and especially these kids in the limelight of their parents who are celebrities. What do you think these kids are going to go through? What kind of unique experience are they going to have?
WENDY WALSH, PSYCHOLOGIST: Well, the sad thing is when I do counsel people, I am always saying look through your life, through the lens of your children. Think about what they are seeing and feeling here. Put the kids first. The problem with celebrities is so many suffer from their own brand of narcissism that it is all about them and not the kids.
My concerns are the attachment issues. They're very young children, Suzanne, and if he is traveling 85 percent of the time and he has primary custody, who is this revolving door of paid caregivers. And really are they emotionally safe. We know she is saying they're not physically safe. I am wondering how emotionally safe they are.
MALVEAUX: Talk about the fact these kids have to go through this in front of all of us. They have no privacy, no sense. Everybody is talking about it here. What specifically or uniquely will they have to deal with and how can they be protected?
WALSH: The good news now of course is that they are small and hopefully not sitting in front of CNN right now, four and five years old and as they get older this will all be available on the Internet to them. You know, I think they're going to go through a lot of trauma. They're going through it now. They're having attachment injuries as they're being thrown back and forth, and wondering how safe they are, and if the adults around them, that's their world, can protect them, if the world is safe or not. That's what they're wondering.
MALVEAUX: It is not unique to celebrities. There are so many couples getting divorced and have kids and have I to work it out and it doesn't and how can they make it easier for the kids whose emotions really are at stake?
WALSH: You know, I have to quote my colleague, Dr. Drew, here that we are really in a culture of narcissism everywhere, Suzanne. And so more and more parents need to stop thinking about their own needs and start instead thinking about the needs of their genetic line, which are the children that they have given birth to.
MALVEAUX: What does that look like?
WALSH: If we can just stop --
MALVEAUX: If you can just tell us --
WALSH: What does that look like?
MALVEAUX: Yes, tell us what that looks like. What do they need to do to protect their kids?
WALSH: What I ask parents to do -- and none of them ever do it by the way. I have only known one case of parents that did it. Why don't you keep the family home in tact and you trade houses of week and see how that feels. I know one family lasted one year doing that. Yet, they expect kids to last their entire childhood being bounced back and forth. Then they wonder how these children of divorce start having affairs and separate relationships. They only know the two-household life. We're training them for love. We're training them for attachment. We have to be their primary caregiver and be in their lives as much as possible. That means not taking a job 3,000 miles away because it is a great job opportunity. It may mean making less money but living a few block from your kids if you will be divorced. MALVEAUX: All right. Good advice as always. And we wish Usher and his family the best if they can work it all out clearly and them and many other children going through the similar experience.
Wendy, thank you. Appreciate it.
This family, they chose prayer instead of medical care for their kids. Now a Philadelphia couple faces murder charges in the death of their infant son. This is not the first time that one of their children has died. That story up ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: Doctors are in the business of saving lives but a Michigan doctor allegedly scammed patients and the government. Today, a judge will decide if Dr. Fared Fadaah (ph) will be released from jail on bond. He is accused of giving chemotherapy to healthy patients and getting $35 million from false Medicare claims. Our affiliate, WXYZ, got video of the FBI collecting boxes of evidence from the oncologist's home and offices. He faces 20 years in prison if convicted.
A judge in Philadelphia is refusing to dismiss murder charges against a fundamentalist Christian couple whose eight-month-old son died of pneumonia. Herbert and Katherine Shibol did not seek medical care for their baby. Instead they prayed.
As Gary Tuchman reports, it has happened before.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At this north Philadelphia cemetery, most of the graves are marked, but not this spot where two small children are buried, two children who would be alive today, say authorities, if their parents gave them medical care.
Herbert and Katherine Shibol are charged with third-degree murder following the death of their eight-month-old son Brandon this spring.
SETH WILLIAMS, PHILADELPHIA DISTRICT ATTORNEY: Instead of caring and nurturing him, they ultimately caused his death by praying over his body instead of taking him to the doctor.
TUCHMAN: Unbelievably, this isn't the first time this has happened to the Shibols. In 2009, their 2-year-old son, Kent, died. The parents did not seek medical care to treat him.
JOANNE PASCATORI, PROSECUTOR: I tried the previous case two sand a half years ago and the circumstances that case to this case are early similar.
TUCHMAN: If the first case they were found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the death of Kent. The prosecutor asked for prison time. But the judge instead opted for probation and allowed the couple to move back to their home in their seven other children. The judge did order them to seek medical care for their children in the future.
Joanne Pascatori prosecuted this case then and will prosecute this as well.
(on camera): When the judge gave probation you must have been very upset.
PASCATORI: I was upset. I was upset at that and I was upset because I felt that they just didn't get it, and they weren't going to get it. And now here we are standing here again two-and-a-half years later and another one of their children is dead and they still don't get it.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): Which is why they have been charged with a more serious count of third-degree murder this time around for the death of their Baby Brandon.
So what's with the parents? Authorities point to Philadelphia's First Century Gospel Church, where the Shibols belong, a church that declares its trust in God alone for physical healing.
(on camera): This church lists many of its core philosophies on its website. Relevant to this case is one particular belief that I will quote in part: "If we are trusting in prescription or medication, Satan is able to hinder our victory from God."
TUCHMAN (voice-over): So why is this type of faith healing preached? We wanted to talk to the church's pastors.
(on camera): Hi. I'm Gary Tuchman with CNN.
(voice-over): The daughter of the chief pastor said he did not want to speak with us.
(on camera): How are you? Is the pastor home?
(voice-over): The wife of the assistant pastor said the same thing.
Herbert Shibol remains in jail. Katherine Shibol has been released to live with her parents. The remaining children are in state custody.
(on camera): Mrs. Shibol, do you feel you did right by God?
KATHERINE SHIBOL, ACCUSED OF MURDER: No comment.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): This is Herbert Shibol's attorney.
BOBBY HOOF, ATTORNEY FOR HERBERT SHIBOL: He is sad. He is in a grieving mode. I looked at him this morning and he seemed have lost weight. In terms of holding up, he is a stand-up guy.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): Certainly, that's a most controversial characterization.
We wanted to show you pictures of Herbert and Katherine Shibol's two little boys. But lawyers on both sides say they don't know if any pictures of them in life. All they have are their autopsy photos taken shortly before they were buried in their unmarked graves.
(on camera): A lot of people say you have no love for your child because you let two children die without medical help.
SHIBOL: No comments.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): Gary Tuchman, CNN, Philadelphia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: What a tragic story.
A priest appears at a crash site and says a prayer, and then it has an extremely powerful impact. Hear why some are calling this mysterious priest a real life angel. That's up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: People in a small Missouri community are crediting a Catholic priest with pulling off a miraculous rescue with the power of prayer. The priest appeared at the site of a serious car wreck on Sunday. And as soon as he said a prayer, rescue workers were able to do what they could not do before, pull a pinned woman out of her crushed car. The priest disappeared as quickly as he appeared. Now, no one can find him.
Rajah Maples of our affiliate, KHQA, has the details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RAJAH MAPLES, REPORTER, KHQA (voice-over): New London fire chief, Raymond Reed, says rescue crews spent the first 45 minutes after the accident trying to get Katie Lintz out of this car to no avail Sunday morning shortly after 9 a.m. The metal on this older model Mercedes dulled the department's equipment.
RAYMOND REED, CHIEF, NEW LONDON VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT: The materials it was constructed of were probably better than how cars were constructed today. It was a very well built car. When you compact materials like that one was compacted, they become even stronger, because you're cutting through multiple things instead of just one layer.
MAPLES: About an hour into the rescue, Katie told rescue workers she'd like to pray out loud with them. That's when a priest appeared out of nowhere.
REED: He came up and approached the patient and did offer a prayer. It was a Catholic priest. And he had anointing oil with him. And a sense of calmness come over her then, even more so than what she had been already. And it does us as well. I can't be for certain what -- who said or how it was said or where it come from. But myself and one of the other firefighters that was beside me, we very plainly heard that -- that we should remain calm, that our tools would now work, and that we would get her out of that vehicle. The Hannibal Fire Department showed up right after that prayer with fresh equipment and was able to finish the extrication. After getting Katie safely into the helicopter, at least a dozen other rescue workers turned around to thank the priest who was nowhere in sight. The highway had been blocked for a quarter of a mile during the hour and a half rescue, leaving no bystanders or no parked cars nearby.
Lintz's family and friends are amazed by the story.
UNIDENTIFIED FAMILY MEMBER: Where did this guy come from? We're looking for a priest. Whether it was a priest serving as an angel or actually angel that came in wearing the priestly attire. He was an angel to all those and to Katie.
REED: We just would like to find this gentleman and be able to thank him.
As a first responder, you don't know what you're going to run into. Everything is a case by case basis, everything that we come across. We have a lot of tools that allow us to do many things. We have extensive training. In this particular case, it is my -- my feeling that it was nothing more than sheer faith.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: Good for them. Katie Lintz has had several surgeries, but friends and family say that she is in good spirits.
Nowadays there's a TV channel for just about everybody, right? Now there's even a channel for man's best friend. We're going to test it out on one of our furry friends, up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: All right. If your dog is home alone, needs to be entertained, there is actually a channel for that. I kid you not. It is called DOGTV.
Jeanne Moos explains how this actually started and whether or not it could help your pet. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(MUSIC)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Who would sit and watch three minutes --
(MUSIC)
MOOS: -- of a dog running through a corn field? Not Ginger.
(on camera): Look! It looks just like you. Look! Just like you.
(voice-over): No wonder it's just like her. It's DOGTV --
(MUSIC)
MOOS: -- the first television network for dogs has just gone national on DirecTV.
(MUSIC)
MOOS: What's the target demo?
RON LEVI, FOUNDER & CHIEF CONTENT OFFICER, DOGTV: Wherever there's a dog and he's home alone, we feel this is the perfect babysitter.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Been there, done that. Been there, done that.
ANNOUNCER: Don't let your dog get lonely. DOGTV.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MOOS: The creators say they did three years of research on dog behavior, watching video from surveillance cameras set up in 38 apartments to see what dogs do when they're alone and how they react to TV.
LEVI: We learned a lot of dogs were not too happy with the barking noises. Some of them got irritated and angry and anxious or whatever.
MOOS: Romeo, for instance --
(BARKING)
MOOS: -- gets so excited husband owners can't even watch shows on Animal Planet. So DOGTV features almost no barking. Just the occasional squeaky toy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(SQUEAKING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MOOS: They've enhanced certain colors to make them more visible to dogs since canines don't see as many colors as humans.
There are three types of doggy programming. Stimulation.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good boy!
MOOSE: Relaxation.
And exposure to get dogs used to things like car rides and babies and thunderstorms.
DOGTV costs five bucks a month. At least your dog won't have to sit through erectile dysfunction ads.
(on camera): Are there commercials?
LEVI: It's commercial free. It's ad free. It's 24/7.
MOOS (voice-over): Forget channel surfing.
Some trainers think DOGTV is silly. It makes dogs hyper, trying to make sense of stuff coming out of a box. But the Humane Society recommends leaving a TV on if your dog has separation anxiety.
DOGTV is even being tested in veterinary clinics and shelters.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Immediately, the dog sat down and watched it.
MOOS: DOGTV's creators say some dogs are mesmerized --
(MUSIC)
MOOS: -- while others can't be bothered.
(on camera): Look. Nope. Nope. Stay.
Ginger. Try to stay awake for this. Huh? Ginger, want the remote?
LEVI: We don't expect dogs to sit all day and become canine couch potatoes.
MOOS (voice-over): Ginger became a couch potato without even showing the remotest interest in DOGTV, unless she's dreaming of leaping through that cornfield.
Jeanne Moos, CNN --
(MUSIC)
MOOS: -- New York.
(MUSIC)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: Couch potatoes, but they're dogs now.
That's it for me. Brooke Baldwin takes it from here. Have a good afternoon.
