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Kidnapped Teen Reunited with Father; Captor's Disturbing Family History; Sinkhole Swallows Hotel; Holder's Push to Limit Mandatory Sentences; FB Post Leads to Terror Threat Charge; Obama's Strong Words for Snowden; Report: Hernandez, Fiancee Investigated; Rain Washed Out Colorado Roads; Reports: Apple to Unveil New Phone; NYC to L.A. In 45 minutes

Aired August 12, 2013 - 10:00   ET

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


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CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now in the NEWSROOM, reunited 16-year-old Hannah Anderson finally back with her dad.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm so glad she's safe.

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COSTELLO: The California teenager kidnapped triggering a nationwide amber alert. This morning, new information about her kidnapper's past.

Breaking overnight, a massive sinkhole swallows a part of a hotel just minutes from Disney World.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: one woman was sitting in the tub, and the tub just levitated.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It went out the buildings, going by searching for them in the rooms.

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COSTELLO: Sixty feet of earth opening up and devouring part of a three-story building. New worries this morning that the hole is getting deeper.

Apple's new iPhone could be here sooner than you think. What kind of magical features will this one include?

Plus --

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We'll be launched out of this rail gun. You're off, 600 miles per hour.

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COSTELLO: Wow. New York to L.A. in less than an hour? That's right. You heard it right. A travel revolution could be announced today. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Good morning. Thank you so much for being with me. I'm Carol Costello. We begin with a dramatic rescue of an abducted teenager. Right now Hannah Anderson is back with her father. The 16-year-old does not appear to have any physical injuries, but, of course, the emotional trauma is haunting. Police say her captor, a man described as a long-time family friend killed Hanna's mother and her younger brother before whisking the teenager into the Idaho wilderness.

And new this morning, images of just how determined James DiMaggio was in hiding his getaway car. Look very closely at these images and you will see the brush and timber that made the car virtually invisible both from the ground and from the air. But not far away the big break came when an alert horseback rider, three of them, four of them actually, had a chance encounter with them.

They became suspicious. They called authorities who tracked them down and shot and killed DiMaggio once he stepped safely away from the teenager. Hannah's rescue came as much needed consolation for family and friends who are mourning the deaths of her mother and brother. Here is a great aunt of the teenager.

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JENNIFER WILLIS, HANNAH'S GREAT AUNT: I can't even cry anymore I'm so happy. I don't have any tears left.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Me neither. It's been such a hard week.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: The sense of dread only grew in the days after the teenager's disappearance as we learned shocking details about her abductor, DiMaggio, and chilling parallels with his very troubled father. CNN's Casey Wian is live in San Diego to tell us more. Good morning.

CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Truly bizarre details emerging about James DiMaggio's father as Hannah Anderson's family here in the San Diego area anxiously awaits her return.

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WIAN (voice-over): The family of 16-year-old Hannah Anderson after fearing the worst for nearly a week.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm so glad she's safe.

WIAN: Before leaving for Idaho, Hanna's father texted CNN he was nervous and excited about their reunion. As the family looks forward to Hannah's future, there are new questions about her alleged kidnapper's past. James DiMaggio was described as Hannah's father's best friend, a valuable handyman, a trusted uncle figure to Hannah and her brother, Ethan.

But he was also the son of another troubled man also named James DiMaggio, who held the 16-year-old daughter of a former girlfriend captive in 1989. Now a woman, she spoke with CNN affiliate, KFMB.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (via telephone): I asked him not to kill us and he said don't worry, you won't feel a thing.

WIAN: She escaped and the elder James DiMaggio went to prison. The woman attended the same high school as his son who she says told her this one day.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was walking to my locker and his son said, my dad is out and said to let you know he'll be waiting for you after school.

WIAN: Friday on "PIERS MORGAN TONIGHT," a friend of the younger DiMaggio warned that his father's past might be influencing the son's actions.

ANDREW SPANSWICK, DIMAGGIO'S FRIEND: What I found out was that Jim's father had committed suicide in 1998.

WIAN: To be exact, DiMaggio's father took a fatal drug overdose August 10, 1998, 15 years to the day before an FBI agent killed his son in these remote Idaho woods, freeing another 16-year-old girl.

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WIAN: Now here's another date that may have influenced all of this, August 3rd. That's the day James DiMaggio's father disappeared before he committed suicide. It's also the same date that DiMaggio's mobile home was found in flames, burning up the body of Hannah Anderson's young brother and mother and launching the manhunt that finally ended over the weekend -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Casey Wian, live from San Diego this morning.

Just hours ago, a hotel not far from Disney World was ripped apart and swallowed by a massive sinkhole. Authorities said the sinkhole, which measures 60 feet wide and 15 feet deep is growing deeper. Thirty five guests staying at the Slumber Bay Resort in Lake County, Florida, were sent scrambling when the thing started sinking. They were forced to evacuate.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One person had to break out of a window because the door frame collapsed and him and his wife and his infant, he had to break the window so they could escape. Then there were windows breaking everywhere. One of the security guards ran up and was evacuating people, barging into their rooms. It was the most surreal experience I never could imagine in my wildest dreams that this would be my 2013 vacation.

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COSTELLO: The stories she'll have to tell, really scary. We'll have much more on the story at the bottom of the hour in just about 20 minutes. We'll take you live to Florida.

Big changes could keep some drug offenders out of prison. Attorney General Eric Holder will announce today he is eliminating the mandatory minimum prison sentence for certain nonviolent drug offenders. In an excerpt of his speech released to CNN, Jolder will say in flexible sentences, quote, "Reduce the discretion available to prosecutors, judges, and juries. They breed disrespect for the system. When applied indiscriminately, they do not serve public safety. They have had a disabled effect on communities, and they are ultimately counterproductive."

Ashleigh Banfield anchors "LEGAL VIEW" on CNN and this is a big shift by the Justice Department.

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, ANCHOR, CNN'S "LEGAL VIEW": It is. But you know what, Carol? You and I have talked about these stories forever, prison overcrowding. We've got 5 percent of the world's population here in America, but we have 25 percent of the world's prisoners and it's costing us roughly $80 billion a year, at least that's the 2012 stat. So what the Justice Department is saying on the federal level only, he's suggesting this, Eric Holder.

That they're going to start leaving off some information on those indictments specifically information about how much illegal substances you were caught with because that is a way to side step the existing laws on those mandatory minimums. And, Carol, mandatory minimums basically put a stranglehold on judges.

They lose that discretion which means you're in the slammer regardless and we have nothing to say on it regardless of whether you're violent, regardless of whether you have a violent past, regardless of all these things that maybe, just maybe, I don't know a drug treatment program could deal with. So what's critical here, carol, is that we're not changing the laws. We're just changing how we handle the laws and that's what Eric Holder is doing.

COSTELLO: So for example, if you get caught with a certain amount of, I don't know, heroin or ecstasy or something like that, a judge won't automatically sentence you to a certain number of years in prison. He has discretion to do something else.

BANFIELD: He'll have the discretion because that critical information will now be left off the indictments. The prosecutors are all being told now by the feds don't put that information in there because that's what gets you to those mandatory minimums. Not everybody though. Look, there are still those who will not qualify for this and there's like a four-point deal here.

The criteria you are going to have to meet if you're one of those unfortunate people to get caught and to do those kinds of things, you can't be violent, you can't have a weapon or involve sales to minors, you can't be a leader of a criminal organization or have significant ties to gangs or cartels, and you can't have a significant criminal history either.

So less anybody watching right now, Carol, thinks, good God, we're allowing a bunch of drug thugs out onto the streets, that's not necessarily what this is intended to be. Can I also just mention, there might be a lot of people with open mouthing gaping saying the Republicans will be -- this will be red meat for them?

Not really because there are a lot of states that have been doing things just like this, red and blue, and there's support, bipartisan support, for this kind of thing. We have a problem. We have way too many prisoners and not enough prison space and it's a lot of money.

COSTELLO: It's bigger than that. The war on drugs in America just isn't working. It's clear it's not working. Statistics support that so you would like to think it's more than just jail overcrowding that's forcing these changes. You would think you have to treat addicts instead of just sending them to jail and maybe that will help.

BANFIELD: Very well thought out, Miss Costello, because that's what Eric Holder said, too. There's a moral issue here, as well. Remember that stat I quoted at the beginning of our conversation, 25 percent of the world's prisoners and 5 percent of the world's population. We're doing something wrong. It's not that we're a more violent or dangerous or difficult nation than other nations. We're just incarcerating at a rapid, rapid rate, and Eric Holder did say that there is this moral issue as well, hence, those criteria. That makes a big difference in all this.

COSTELLO: OK, so on another note, you do have a new show that starts today "LEGAL VIEW." So tell us, share.

BANFIELD: OK. So it's pretty exciting. Every day at 11:00, we're not only bringing you the news that CNN is known for because we do breaking news like nobody else, but we're also going to give you the focus on crime and justice and the legal issues that face our country. It just seems every single day whether it's an Ariel Castro or whether it's a Zimmerman or whether it's some other issue, it pervades just about every part of the news in some way. Supreme Court hearings, they've just been so busy for us. So we have really decided to focus a lot of content into crime and justice. I cannot wait. Will you be a guest on the show?

COSTELLO: I would love to be a guest on the show and it comes on at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time, and I watch it every morning. Ashleigh Banfield, thank you so much.

BANFIELD: Thank you, Carol Costello. It's nice to see you.

COSTELLO: Nice to see you, too.

When is an online post dismissed as a joke or considered a serious threat? It's a fine line that may be crossed by a 19-year-old. After spending five months in jail, he has a chance to get the charges dismissed. CNN's Pamela Brown has more for you.

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PAMELA BROWN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is the Facebook post that turned 19-year-old Justin Carter's life upside down.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This kid is just beaming with -- he's beaming with life. He's just trying to -- you know, and they took it all away from him.

BROWN: Carter spent five months in jail after writing in part, I think I'm going owe shoot up a kindergarten and watch the blood of the innocent rain down during a heated threat about an online game. Authorities charged him with making a terroristic threat, a felony that could led him behind bars for 10 years. But his family says it was nothing more than a sarcastic comment.

JENNIFER CARTER, JUSTIN'S MOTHER: The idea my son would ever hurt small children is just ludicrous. He never would. He's not that kind of person.

BROWN: Now Carter's lawyers hope this screen grab will actually help their case. According to court documents, they claim carter made no real threat because he used the words I think. Carter's attorneys want the judge to throw out the case on first amendment grounds.

DONALD FLANARY, ATTORNEY: They need to look at the context of what's put online. Because if they would have, I think they would have seen that it was sarcasm.

BROWN: Investigators tell CNN they found evidence Carter was engaged in online bullying and made his threat to a woman, a random stranger, though several warrants turned up no evidence of an actual plot. Now, another college student, Caleb Clemens, will go on trial in a few days for a very similar situation.

Clemens, a student at Georgia Southern University, has been behind bars for six months for a post on Tumblr, writing, "I plan on shooting up Georgia Southern. Pass this around to see the affect it has to see if I get arrested. Clements told authorities that the Tumblr post was an experimental literary piece and part of an art project. Now he's fighting for his freedom.

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BROWN: And just like in Carter's case, police in Georgia found Clemens had no actual plans to attack the school and he didn't own any weapons. Today in court, Carter's attorneys want the judge to order the state to release the full conversation of that Facebook post along with any information about where the post came from, grand jury recordings, testimony, and transcripts. We have reached out to prosecutors in both cases and are still awaiting comment. Of course, we will continue to update you on both of these cases -- Carol.

COSTELLO: We look forward to it. Pamela Brown, many thanks. It is vacation time for President Obama, but before the president left for Martha's Vineyard, he had some strong words for NSA leaker Edward Snowden. Now Snowden's father is hitting back. CNN's Dan Lothian is in Martha's Vineyard with more. Good morning, Dan.

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Well, you know, for the president, yes, he's on vacation, but it's always a working vacation, and he can't escape the Snowden case. The NSA leaker's father delivering a harsh rebuke while at the time strongly defending his son and insisting that the light and the truth will shine through.

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LOTHIAN (voice-over): President Obama in vacation mode, on a Martha's Vineyard golf course, showing a bit of frustration after missing a putt. While NSA leaker Edward Snowden's father appeared on a Sunday morning talk show taking aim at the president and a Republican congressman who has labeled his son a traitor.

LON SNOWDEN, NSA LEAKER'S FATHER: My son has spoken the truth. He has sacrificed more than either the president of the United States or Peter King has ever in their political careers or their American lives.

LOTHIAN: Lon Snowden was reacting to the president's pre-vacation news conference where he dismissed the notion that the younger Snowden's actions served a greater good.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I don't think Mr. Snowden was a patriot. The fact is that Mr. Snowden has been charged with three felonies.

LOTHIAN: Now Snowden's father says he and his attorney will be traveling to Russia very soon to help his son fight those charges.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have visas. We have a date which we won't disclose right now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But it's imminent?

LOTHIAN: It's that frenzy and outspoken criticism by U.S. officials that Lon Snowden claims will make it difficult for his son to get a fair hearing if he returns to the U.S.

SNOWDEN: I want my son to come home if I believe that the justice system that we should be afforded as Americans is going to be applied correctly.

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LOTHIAN: Now, Snowden says that some of these comments by lawmakers have been irresponsible, that they have essentially poisoned the well, and that it would be very difficult for an impartial jury to be found -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Dan Lothian, reporting live from Martha's Vineyard this morning. Thank you.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, floods rip through a Colorado town over the weekend sweeping away cars and destroying homes. Now one person is dead and two others are missing.

Up next, a closer look at the extreme weather moving across our country.

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COSTELLO: Time to check our top stories at 18 minutes the past hour. There is a new twist in the murder case against former NFL player Aaron Hernandez. The "Bristol Press" is reporting that investigators are now focusing on Hernandez's fiancee, specifically whether she hid the murder weapon. According to the newspaper, search warrants claim Jenkins was seen removing something from the house as investigators tighten their focus on Hernandez.

Shark week became a little too real for a 10-year-old South Carolina surfer. Tyson Royston says an eight-foot-long bull shark grabbed onto his leash at a surfing competition. He said he was able to fight the shark off, swim to safety. That surfing contest has been postponed until next month.

Roads turned into rivers in Colorado over the weekend. At least one person died. Two others still missing after flash floods ripped through Colorado. Take a look at the stunning video. Is shows car being literally swept away? Look at that. That's crazy. Firefighters say the waters reached speeds of up to 30 miles per hour.

Meteorologist Jennifer Delgado is here in the severe weather center, and that's some scary pictures.

JENNIFER DELGADO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Scary pictures. You know what, Carol, that's something we typically see coming out of monsoon season say out of India with all the rushing water there. They picked up 1.5 inches of rainfall in a very short amount of time, but the terrain made the situation worse because the water came down the mountain and the region is recovering from a wildfire the year before, so there was nothing for that water to hold onto. So basically all the water just swept through the channel. You can see the burn scar.

This is what we talk about, the flooding there, the video of the rushing water, and why we say you never travel through a flooded street. But back over to our graphic here very quickly. What you're seeing in red, Carol, this is actually vegetation this is alive. What you're seeing in green, this is the vegetation that was killed in the wildfire the year before so this whole area a bad situation.

We are still talking about more rain for parts of the Midwest, Carol. Some of these locations are going to be dealing with flooding as we go through the next couple days because we have a front that's coming through, and that frontal system, Carol, is going to mean some very heavy rainfall and some problem spots with flooding.

We have increased some of the flood watches for parts of the plains and the Midwest. But there is going to be a cool down courtesy of a cold front. Temperature in Chicago tomorrow is 74 degrees, Carol. Sunny, you need a day off.

COSTELLO: I do.

DELGADO: Maybe two?

COSTELLO: Maybe three for you. Thank you, Jennifer.

DELGADO: You're welcome.

COSTELLO: All right, Apple fanatics, talk about the tech giant's next event is already heating up. Alison Kosik is live, and she has her finger on the pulse of Apple this morning.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I do. Drum roll, please. There's talk, Carol, of a September -- thank you, thank you -- talk of a September 10th event. This is when this iPhone is going to be unveiled. It's all talk, no confirmation yet. These things are always the worst kept secrets. Apple executives dropped the big hint on a conference call a few months ago saying aping has some exciting new products in the pipeline for fall.

It makes sense when you look at their history. The last two iPhones also came out in the fall. What's going to be on the new iPhones? This is what we're hearing. The next iPhone is going to have a camera. It's expected to be faster. There will be a fingerprint sensor on the phones as well and they will run on the IOS 7 operating system.

Now, one thing analysts are looking for, Carol, is that this phone is not priced at the high end. They're looking for a lower cost iPhone that will maybe grab consumers who aren't willing to shell out hundreds of dollars for the iPhone -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Interesting. Alison Kosik, thank you very much. Appreciate it. It's Monday. What can I say? Thank you, Alison.

Coming up next in the NEWSROOM, does a commute from New York to Los Angeles in 45 minutes sound a little crazy? Well, one entrepreneur says it's possible if you travel in a tube. We'll be right back.

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COSTELLO: Are you tired of those long five-plus hour flights between New York City and Los Angeles? Well, how would you like to get there 45 minutes, yes, in 45 minutes flat? Serial entrepreneur Elon Musk says it is possible with a wild new creation called the "Hyperloop" where giant tubes whisk us -- see it, the giant tube -- whisking us around the world? Here is Maggie Lake with more.

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MAGGIE LAKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It sounds like something out of a cartoon show "The Jetsons." A space age method of transport that some say could get you from New York to L.A. in less than an hour. Entrepreneur Elon Musk of Tesla and Space X fame hinted at the project in an interview with tech site, Pando Daily.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's called the Hyperloop.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Hyperloop?

LAKE: But naming it is the easy part.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But I don't know what that is.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Trying to explain it is something else entirely as the host of "All Things D" found out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ara concord, a rail gun, and an air hockey table.

COSTELLO: Still confused? I met up with Science writer, Brian Merchant, inside the old school New York City subway system to get the real Hyperloop scoop.

(on camera): What do we think it might be like? It's supposed to be nothing like the infrastructure we're used to, right?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right. So he says it's going to be the fifth mode of transportation, like nothing we have ever seen before.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hopefully something like this. What would it look like?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The smart money says it will look something like a pneumatic tube, an enclosed tube, and we just blast air through that, kind of like those old school mail systems where they stuff the package up and it gets sucked up and we'll be launched out of this rail gun, boom, you're off, 600 miles per hour.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm imagines my face like -- is this something I want to ride on?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think so because in a controlled environment, speed itself doesn't actually impact human health.

COSTELLO: The basic idea for this type of transport has been around for decades, and while we don't even know when or if the Hyperlook will even be bill, it has captured the imagination of futurists. Videos like this one on YouTube are attempting to show what a Hyperloop system would look like but in the real world there will be challenges.

COSTELLO: We're going to have some serious not in my backyard problems.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But all of us stuck in traffic jams, air delays, and stinky subways can dream, can't we?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I love it. It is the voice needed no move us forward, somebody that says these old ways aren't working. Old transit is kind of boring, it's inefficient. Why don't we leapfrog all that with something radical? LAKE: We'll see if Elon Musk can take radical and turn it into reality.

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COSTELLO: OK, so I love this and hate this, Maggie Lake. Actually, I don't hate it. It's just more scary than anything else because I can't imagine my body traveling that fast in a tube, but I understand there's going to be more online about it today?

LAKE: There is, Carol. But I'm going to do what Elon has been doing, and that's rein in expectations a little bit. Everyone got so excited when he started talking about this because he's been such a phenomenal entrepreneur, he's defied the skeptics. I'm sure, like you and myself. We've all been suffering on some form of horrible transportation. He's going to release the information on Twitter, but in recent days he's been saying I'm so stretched thin, I'm so busy myself trying to get us to colonize mars and get electric cars on the road.

I'm going to publish the design but it's going to be open source so others will have to participate and build it. So that probably means we're not going to see it anytime soon, but it may move the conversation forward. And I have to tell you, it was about 110 degrees in that subway station so I, for one, am praying this does help us leapfrog our current situation.

COSTELLO: That would be cool though. OK. I'm going to think about that like all day now. Maggie Lake, thanks so much. I appreciate it.

The earth opens and a building falls in. We'll have the latest from Florida where a huge sinkhole is growing huger right near Disney World.

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