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Search for Flight 370 Updated; Searching for Sound; Fort Hood Investigation Continues; Lopez's Family Rleases a Statement

Aired April 04, 2014 - 15:00   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: And we continue on, hour two. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thank you so much for being with me here on this Friday afternoon.

Here we are. Four weeks ago today, Flight 370 vanished. And today, the search for the wreckage has totally changed here. Searchers have now taken the mission underwater. That's how I mean by this change, scouring this 150-mile track of the ocean floor trying to locate the plane's black boxes before those pingers on the devices go silent, assuming they are still emitting any pings at all by this point in time. The batteries of course could be dead.

Crews today dropped a U.S. pinger locater in the water. Here's a picture of what it looks like here. It's this listening device, hoping it will listen for and pick up the pings emitted by the two black boxes. Also on standby, this, this is an underwater robot, it's called a Blue Fin that uses sonar to check the seabed for wreckage.

But it's important to just get a reality check. One scientist who helped develop the flight data recorder technology, that's the black box technology, says finding them at this point would be -- quote -- "remarkable." The Australians still hopeful on finding a debris field.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AIR CHIEF ANGUS HOUSTON, JOINT AGENCY COORDINATION CENTER: I think there's still a great possibility of finding something on the surface. There's lots of things in aircraft that float. I mean, in previous previous searches, life life jackets have appeared.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: As for what went on inside the cockpit of Flight 370, here you have the two, two-and-a-half pages of transcript that was finally made public. But what about the audio, what about communications between air traffic control and the cockpit?

Malaysian officials are not allowing passengers' families to listen to that audio recording? The reason. This is an ongoing investigation.

So, joining me now to discuss the bigger picture here, aviation correspondent Richard Quest and Mike Williamson.

So, guys, good to see you. Mike, let me begin with this point. We were discussing this before here. You have that this TPL, this towed pinger locater that's deployed listening for the pings. You were explaining to me that it's typically used in tandem with the underwater submersibles. In this case, they are not doing that yet. Why wouldn't they be?

MIKE WILLIAMSON, OCEAN SEARCH SPECIALIST: Well, Brooke, the purpose -- the primary purpose of the acoustic pingers is to locate the actual location of the data recorders and voice recorders within a debris field, not to find the debris field itself.

Their short range makes them not really adaptable to a wide search area. That's what we're faced with. What we're trying right now, or what Australians and the navy are trying are sort of a low-probability last-ditch effort, if you will, to try to get something, a signal from their best idea of where it might be.

BALDWIN: Right. You said debris field. I thin maybe you meant black box.

And Richard Quest, here, we know they're honing in on this 150-mile track, give or less. And here we have the potential for this pinger to go away in a matter of days. Is that kind of thorough search even doable in that time frame?

RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, if you look at the data on how fast this moves, just a couple of knots per hour, and you look at both the pinger, which can cover 50 to 100 miles and another one up to a hundred miles in a day, then you start to see it is very much -- look, the reason I'm not saying clutching at straws is because we don't know the underlying science that has driven them to this particular two tracks.

If there is greater evidence and credibility, integrity of information, then that makes sense. But they haven't revealed that yet. There's no reason necessarily why they should tell us. Their job is to find it, not to keep us amused, so to speak.

Ultimately, though, they are running against the clock. And the clock is very, very late in the day.

BALDWIN: Richard, let me just stay with you and, Michael, have you weigh in, because I was reading about the Air France 447 from a couple of years ago. And, Richard, I remember you covered that very, very closely. And the issue with that, take the pinger issue away. Right? They did finally the black box two years and a month after that plane crashed.

But it was these submersibles, the vessels that found the wreckage. And, initially, correct me if I'm wrong again, but they had flown over the wreckage, or been over the wreckage early on and missed it.

QUEST: Oh, absolutely. That's one of the things, yes. Yes. If you read the report, it makes it quite clear in the early parts of the search, they did go over the wreckage and didn't see it. They went over, they never heard the black box. This black box pinger, look, it's not the most reliable piece of equipment that you're ever going to come across, for a variety of reasons, not least of which, mechanical, distance, topography. All sorts of reasons can lead one -- can lead it not to be successful. But in 447, in each winter, they would go away, they would look at the science, they would refine the search area, they would then have to get the money and the commitment from the French, from the Brazilians and from everybody else to let them go back out there again.

Airbus was very much involved in that decision. But, yes, I think it was the fourth or the fifth attempt, and it was the 10th day of the second week that they finally found it. It was literally the last moment.

BALDWIN: And so there's at least maybe a sliver of hope that with science and time, they can do that. Richard Quest and Mike Williamson, thank you both for joining me here.

We keep going back to the batteries and the pingers and the missing plane. They were only expected to last give or take 30 days, at best 45. It's unlikely the best case would happen. The batteries were actually, we have learned now, for scheduled for replacement, but the recorders were never sent back for overhaul, the manufacturer told CNN today.

And here we are Friday, four weeks into the search. No doubt no one is watching the time more closely than the loved ones of those missing on Flight 370. And that includes Danica Weeks. Her husband, Paul, is a mining engineer. She is hoping crews will hear those pings. But even, she says, even if they never do, she says she will not give up.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANICA WEEKS, WIFE OF FLIGHT 370 PASSENGER: I don't think for the rest of my life I will ever give up trying to find out what happened. I owe that to my soul mate and, you know, my loving, amazing, strong, awesome husband who, you know, was an amazing father and an amazing husband. He was an extraordinary man. I owe it to him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: CNN's Paula Newton joins me from Perth, 3:00 in the morning in Perth, Australia.

Paula, you sat down with her right after she met with the man in charge of the search operation. What more did she share with you?

PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, she met with Air Chief Angus Houston.

Now, Brooke, you will remember he is the man now heading up this operation, coordination, making sure it goes smoothly. They spent two hours together, Brooke, and she was quite blunt. He laid out all the information as he had it, everything he knew, but she still comes to the conclusion, as we have been saying, there is a lot of guesswork here. What she says about the investigation, she has great confidence that the right professionals are working on it, that they have the right equipment, the ships, the airplanes. But she still has that doubt, are they looking in the right place? That's the one thing she keeps saying over and over, are they looking in the right place?

She has her doubts. And she also, Brooke, without any proof of what happened to her husband, it's quite a roller coaster of emotions for her. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WEEKS: I have a slight, slight hope. And I have to catch myself as, you know, seeing the excitement of him coming home. And I have to -- I have to get rid of that out of my brain quickly, because I can't let myself go to that level of excitement, because it would only -- it's only going to make me crushed when I find out the real truth, which we're all expecting will be that the plane has crashed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: Without any proof, without any trace, she's still can't deny that she has this hope that somehow everyone has been wrong and that her husband is still alive. She knows that that's not true, but lack of proof, that's what she keeps pointing to, the fact that there's no evidence, it's just so tough, she says, for her to even begin to grieve for her husband -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: And that is just one of the 239 stories.

Paula Newton, thank you so much, in Perth.

And so as we talk about and we talk to the family members of these passengers, they want answers from the Malaysian government. They have been denied yet again because officials will not let them listen to the audio recordings between the cockpit and air traffic control. They want to hear that.

So, coming up next, I will talk to a woman whose husband, whose hero husband was on board Flight 93 that crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, on 9/11. And she was able to hear the cockpit recordings. Did that help give her peace in any way?

Plus, Air France 447 crashed into the Atlantic Ocean, as it took two years to find that black box. What did investigators learn from that search? We will ask someone who worked on the case coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Welcome back to CNN's special coverage. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

And when we talk about this missing plane, no one wants answers to what happened more than the families of the passengers and the crew members on board. But the families were tell a blow today in their pursuit for those answers. Malaysian officials denied their request to listen to those audio recordings between the cockpit of MH370 and the air traffic controllers. Some people are asking why do they need to hear it in the first place?

Deena Burnett Bailey is glad she did. Let me be crystal clear. Her story is entirely different from that of the one we're focusing on in the Southern Indian Ocean. But the FBI some years ago allowed her and families of the passengers aboard Flight 93 hear the chilling audio, that violent struggle in the cockpit on September 11. Remember, this was the plane that crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

And so Burnett's husband at the time, Tom, here he is and their family, is one of several American heroes who were heard trying to take control of the plane after the four terrorists hijacked it. Burnett and 39 passengers and crew died after the plane crashed in Pennsylvania in that field.

And Tom Burnett was able to call his wife before that horrific crash a number of times. And one of those times, he told her -- and I'm quoting now -- "I know we're all going to die. There's three of us who are going to do something about it. I love you, honey."

And Deena Burnett-Bailey joins me now from Little Rock, Arkansas. And she, I should mention, co-authored a book called "Fighting Back: Living Life Beyond Ourselves."

So, Deena, truly an honor and a pleasure to have you on.

DEENA BURNETT-BAILEY, WIDOW OF FLIGHT 93 VICTIM: Thank you so much, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Did you, when it came time -- did you hesitate at all when the FBI said would you like to listen to the audio recording from the cockpit, did you hesitate in wanting to hear it at all?

BURNETT-BAILEY: I did not hesitate.

And just to be completely clear, they never came to us and said, would you like to listen to it? From the very first day of September 11, 2001, I asked and fought for that tape to be released to the family members.

And it took seven months to have that released. They released it to us in April of 2002. But it was a long process. I spoke to many different governors, U.S. representatives, U.S. senators, FBI, the director of the FBI, many times over during that seven-month period to have that cockpit voice recorder released. They were all concerned about what we would hear and how we would react to it.

BALDWIN: We now know you won that battle after seven months, because you were allowed to hear it.

BURNETT-BAILEY: Yes.

BALDWIN: And, if you can, just walk me through this process. I don't know how many family members were in this battle with you hear to listen to the audio, but can you describe what it was like walking into the room and just hearing what you did?

BURNETT-BAILEY: You know, every family who was represented on that plane was allowed to have up to four family members come into the room to hear the voice recording.

And most of the families chose at least one person to represent them so that they could hear it. And we were allowed to hear it twice. And in addition to that, we had a transcription that was on a video screen. So what you couldn't understand, you could at least see the words.

And it was -- it was an experience that I had looked forward to for seven months. And so, for me, it gave me this incredible sense of peace. I was able to hear Tom's voice. There were many other family members who heard their loved one's voice. And it really helped us to not only hear the sounds and answer the questions that we had, but it created this visual that allowed us to have a better understanding of what our loved ones went through and what they experienced on that flight.

It was hugely important to be able to have that with us for the remaining years and trying to grieve and get past the -- the sorrow and letting go of the grief.

BALDWIN: Was it one thing, Deena, in particular that you heard that helped you with that sense of peace, or was it just in totality?

BURNETT-BAILEY: I think a little of both, really. It was in totality. I knew that he was involved with the task at hand. He was not afraid. He was not, you know, sitting down and letting whatever was taking place on that plane happen to him.

He was fighting back to make a difference. And so that was huge. But I did hear him. I heard him shouting direction and leading, and knowing that he was doing what he told me on the phone he was going to do was really important to me.

BALDWIN: All these years later, goose bumps, Deena. Yes, go ahead.

(CROSSTALK)

BURNETT-BAILEY: I have to tell you, really what was most important I think for most of us in that room is that the scenario of what happens in your own mind is more of a nightmare than really hearing those sounds and having the visual that they create for you.

So I would really encourage the family members to continue to ask and fight for...

BALDWIN: I wondered if you had advice for them.

BURNETT-BAILEY: ... the release of that -- yes, for that recording.

BALDWIN: Keep fighting. BURNETT-BAILEY: Because like -- the nightmare that you create in your mind is just so much harder than anything you could hear on that tape.

BALDWIN: Deena Burnett-Bailey, thank you for coming on. Appreciate it.

BURNETT-BAILEY: Thank you, Brooke.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: We wish them the best of luck. Thank you.

Coming up, 150 miles, up to 13,000-feet deep here, the search area for this missing 777 has been narrowed to a specific part of the Indian Ocean. But it still presents a myriad of challenges here for these investigators. We will take you into our virtual room for a unique view of what exactly they're facing there.

Plus, we are starting to learn more about the victims killed at Fort Hood and the heroic actions they were doing to keep others safe. And investigators here, obviously, searching for a motive in this case. Why did he do it? Coming up next, we will learn about the gunman's mental state and his actions moments before opening fire.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Military investigators have searched the home of Army Specialist Ivan Lopez today. They're looking for clues that will tell them why this Fort Hood soldier, this Army specialist went on that deadly shooting rampage Wednesday afternoon.

CNN has learned that officials didn't actually find any physical evidence, for example, a suicide note, that would clearly indicate some sort of a motive. The FBI searched his computer and searched his cell phones and they're also interviewing witnesses.

CNN has also learned that not only did Lopez buy his .45-caliber semiautomatic weapon there from this Killeen gun store not too far off post. A law enforcement officials tells us Lopez also bought -- and I'm quoting the source -- a large amount of ammunition at the same time and continued to buy more ammunition on multiple visits.

There are reports too that Ivan Lopez may have been in a verbal altercation before the shooting. That's what we were hearing from General Milley down at Fort Hood yesterday. We also know from Army officials that he had been previously treated for anxiety, depression, issues of sleeping, taking Ambien, for example.

CNN senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is here to flesh out some of this, because there's been a lot of discussion on PTSD. And we know he was undergoing a possible diagnosis that had yet to happen. But anxiety, depression, clearly other things were going on.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right.

I think when somebody is in the military and something like this happens...

(CROSSTALK)

COHEN: We all jump to it, right. But he was being evaluated for that.

What we do know is he said that he had depression. And, Brooke, I think a lot of people think of depression as something, they're lying in bed, you can barely get to work. And that of course does happen. But depression can also become angry depression, as one psychologist put it to me.

BALDWIN: How do you mean?

COHEN: Angry depression meaning that your depression, you kind of fester and you become angry at people and blame people for the way that you're feeling.

And she said you especially see this in men more than in women. You go from -- you feel awful, but then it ends up being turned outward and you blame others. And so that is also a very possible explanation for what happened here.

BALDWIN: But there are a number of people who suffer from depression in this country who have it more or less in check. What is it that is the catalyst for someone to then take that depression into rage, into violence?

COHEN: Right, I'm so glad that you mentioned that, because there are lots of people with post-traumatic stress, lots of people with depression, anxiety who manage to live fulfilling, wonderful lives who contribute to the world and society and they don't do anything like this. I think that's important to put that out there.

But for some people, it may -- they have trouble controlling that anger that might come from depression. Maybe there was a specific event that just made him so angry that he couldn't handle it anymore. It may not have been just the depression, but other things that were going on with it. We see this in workplace violence. There have been incidents where something bad happens at a workplace and other people would just sort of go right to their spouse and be over it. But other people bring a gun into work.

It's not always clear, unfortunately, why some people take that turn. And therapists would love to be able to figure that out.

BALDWIN: Right, the why.

(CROSSTALK)

COHEN: It's sometimes just hard to be able to predict why someone does that.

BALDWIN: We know they're investigating his background, these purchases, things at his home. We're also getting now this family statement has just came in. Elizabeth, let me just read this. The shooter's family has just released a statement.

They're saying -- quote -- this is Ivan Lopez's family -- "The family is saddened and asks for prayers for those affected and deceased in the lamentable incident. Ivan Lopez, the soldier's father, is still astonished and described his son as a calm family man and a young worker who constantly sought to look after his family's future and to be a good son."

The family goes on, "The situation is very painful. I seek prayers for all of the families affected, more so when there is an ongoing investigation. My son must not have been in his right mind. He wasn't like that." This is according to the father of Ivan Lopez.

"As an active soldier, he defended the nation and received medals. He also worked honestly as a police officer on the island," referring to Puerto Rico, where he's from. According to his father, the soldier was under medical treatment, and the passing of his mother, grandfather, as well as recent changes that occurred after moving to the base, remember, he had been at Fort Bliss before this, certainly affected his existing conditions, because of his experience as a soldier.

He will not make any further comments while awaiting the results of the investigations conducted by authorities.

But, quickly, since I have you, that was more insight, right, the passing of family members and other things in the move from Bliss to Hood that could have altogether built this momentum for him to do what he did.

COHEN: Right. And you wonder, and I think someone brought this up when you were in Texas, maybe he should have stayed at Bliss and kept with that treatment that he was undergoing.

When someone sometimes is in a fragile state...

BALDWIN: Why move?

COHEN: Right. Why move? They can hold it together with the support that they have. But when they move, they're going into this, they don't have the same kind of support and who knows what's awaiting them there. They seem to be alluding that something happened...

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: No one knew why he was leaving and everyone was asking yesterday when I was down there.

COHEN: And no one knew what he moved into. We don't know what that situation was, right?

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Right. Thank you. Elizabeth Cohen, thank you very much.

Coming up next, we're going to take you back into the investigation into the missing plane MH370. And we have talked about the new search area quite a bit the last hour-and-a-half here. But exactly how did this become the new focus? Tom Foreman explains and gives us a unique look at the challenges of this part of the Indian Ocean and a similar ocean search in 2009, investigators looking in the Atlantic, remember, this was going from Rio to Paris for Air France Flight 447.

We are talking to a former FAA investigator who worked on that case. What did he learn that could help find Flight 370?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)