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Ray Rice Sparks Conversation on Domestic Violence; Rebels Sold Sotloff; Home Depot Massive Hack; Fourth Ebola Patient Arrives in U.S.; Did Author Identify Jack the Ripper?

Aired September 09, 2014 - 09:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thanks so much for joining me.

While everyone seems to be clamoring for the NFL commissioner to step aside for not doing more to punish Ray Rice, the heart of the matter is, what about the women? All the mothers and daughters and sisters who are abused by someone who loves them and why all too often we're quick to point the finger of blame their way. Even after the NFL gave Rice the heave-ho, some of the commentary was aimed squarely at his wife.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: After that video, now you know what happened in there, she still married him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They are - they're currently married.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I mean, look, Rihanna went back to --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Chris Brown.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, to Chris Brown right after. A lot of people thought that was a terrible message.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And then there's Jay-z and Beyonce and Solange that was also in an elevator.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But you noticed Jay-z didn't hit back. There was some craziness there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think the message is, take the stairs.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The message is, when you're in an elevator, there's a camera.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: When I watched that segment I wanted to -- actually I wanted to throw up, and so did millions of others online. At least my friends at Fox apologized, sort of.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Comments that we made during this story yesterday made some feel like we were taking the situation too lightly. We are not. We were not. Domestic abuse is a very serious issue to us, I can assure you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Perhaps the silver lining, those lame comments sparked the online movement "why I stayed." According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, one out of every four women in America will experience domestic violence in their lifetime. Women between the ages of 20 and 24 are at the highest risk. So let's talk about this. Joining me now is Jan Langbein, she's the executive director of the Genesis Women's Shelter in Dallas.

Welcome back, Jan.

JAN LANGBEIN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, GENESIS WOMEN'S SHELTER: Thank you, Carol.

COSTELLO: First of all, your reaction to the "Fox & Friends" comments.

LANGBEIN: Oh, I'm horrified, "take the stairs." I mean, please. I am constantly surrounded by messages and so are victims of domestic violence surrounded by messages that this is somehow her fault or that if she had taken the stairs or done something else or not worn that outfit, that this abuse wouldn't have happened. It's not about her actions at all.

COSTELLO: Why aren't - why do you suppose so many people point the finger of blame at the woman in domestic violence cases?

LANGBEIN: You know, it has to be a complete -- no understanding of what domestic violence is all about. We know that the question in itself of why does she stay continues to victimize that - victimize that victim to be real honest.

COSTELLO: So -- most women who are abused actually want to leave the relationship and some frankly can't for a lot of reasons. So tell our viewers what you hear from women about why they can't leave.

LANGBEIN: Right. And I'm not sure they want to leave. What I hear so often is they want the abuse to stop. We -- the number one question I'm asked is, why won't a woman leave? Why doesn't a woman leave a relationship? And there are hundreds of reasons as individual as each victim of domestic violence. She leaves because she hopes there is change. She leaves because of the promises that it will never happen again. She doesn't - I mean she doesn't leave because of those things. She stays because they have children together, or her understanding of what her faith doctrine is. She stays because she doesn't know it's against the law or she stays perhaps in a high-profile relationship because of the aftermath, the outpouring and reliving that in the media day after day.

But the number one reason is that leaving doesn't stop the violence. Most women who are killed are killed after they've left, not while they're in the relationship. So we need to spread the word about getting out, but getting out safely. I think that's the way we should address that. But the number one question should not be, why doesn't she leave, or why does she stay with him, but keep our eye on the ball and say, why did he do it in the first place? Why does someone punch his wife in the face?

COSTELLO: OK. So I don't know if you heard but Janay Rice, she sent a statement via Instagram and she said, in part, "if your intentions, the media, were to hurt us, embarrass us, make us feel alone, take all happiness away, you've succeed on so many levels. Just know we will continue to grow and show the world what real love is. Ravens Nation, we love you." She clearly believes Ray Rice is undergoing counseling and that the counseling will be effective. Is it possible for offenders to control their anger issues?

LANGBEIN: Well, and I would love to say here that it's not just about anger management, that violence in the relationship is all about power and control. And when that feels out of control to someone, that's when it becomes -- it can become the most violent. Can he change his behavior? Certainly. I think if he really, really wants to. But it's not just for a week and it's not just for seven months. It's a lifetime effort. This is something that will be in their relationship, and they will be connected because of this child as they go forward, but we know that hope for change is a strong reason to stay together. We also know that because the abuse didn't happen overnight, the healing doesn't happen overnight either.

COSTELLO: All right, Jan, thanks so much for being with me. I appreciate it.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, the family of murdered American journalist Steve Sotloff now saying he was sold off to ISIS for thousands of dollars. Who they blame for making money off their loved one's death, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: We're learning more about the circumstances surrounding the beheading of American journalist Steven Sotloff. His family now blames a member of a moderate rebel group to tipping off ISIS to his whereabouts after Sotloff crossed the border into Syria last August. Listen to what Sotloff's friend and family spokesman told CNN's Anderson Cooper.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: He was sold at the border?

BARAK BARFI, SOTLOFF FAMILY SPOKESMAN: Yes. We believe that the so- called moderate rebels, that the - that people want us, our administration to support, one of them sold him probably for something between $25,000 and $50,000 to ISIS and that was the reason that he was captured.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Shocking, right? Joining me now, CNN national security analyst and former CIA operative Bob Baer.

Welcome.

BOB BAER, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Thanks.

COSTELLO: So what do you make of that, these moderate rebels that some of our lawmakers want to arm, sold Steven Sotloff to ISIS?

BAER: Well, Carol, exactly, that's the problem. There is no moderate in Syria. You know, what happens is a journalist arrives in Turkey, hooks up with one of these Free Syrian Army. They promise to protect him. They pay a $10 bribe, get him across the border and immediately sell him. It's a fairly standard practice. And they did it with Doctors Without Borders, a bunch of other aid groups. A lot of money is involved. These people are poor. They're refugees. It is a chaotic situation. A failed state. Call it what you will. But, you know, once you cross that border into Syria, you're free game.

COSTELLO: Are there any rebels within Syria that the United States can trust?

BAER: None at all. If we were to give arms to the Free Syrian Army, they would sell them to ISIS, sell them to other groups. It could even be worse, if that's possible. It's, again, this is such a chaotic mess, there are no obvious solutions.

COSTELLO: So what do you think the president will say tomorrow when he lays out his strategy to defeat ISIS in light of this?

BAER: Carol, I've never seen a bigger mess, even Iraq, the Islamic State has been turned back in a couple villages, but the problem is, it's Shia militias. These are the same militias that were killing our soldiers five or six years ago. In fact, one of them ambushed an American group in Karbala and executed five of them. That's the same group that's been fighting ISIS. So we -- there are no natural allies and the government in Baghdad has failed. There is no Iraqi army to re-take the country and, frankly, Carol, I think we really have to entertain the possibility of a partition of Iraq. I just don't see another solution.

COSTELLO: Even boots on the ground?

BAER: No, they -- we'd get eaten up in Syria. We'd get eaten up in Iraq. We don't have 500,000 troops to control that large area. I just don't think the American people will stand for it. I understand the air raids, that we have to hold back these people, that they are awful, that we should decapitate that organization, but we don't want American soldiers there and I don't think really seriously the American people won't put up with it.

COSTELLO: Bob Baer, thanks for your insight, as always. I appreciate it.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, another American infected with Ebola has just arrived back home. The unidentified American now en route to the isolation unit at Emery University Hospital in Atlanta. We'll talk about that next.

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COSTELLO: If you shop at Home Depot this summer, stop what you're doing and make sure your credit and debit card information is safe. The home improvement chain security system was reportedly breached in what might be the largest retail store hack in history. Yes, even eclipsing last year's massive attack on Target customers.

CNN Chief Business Correspondent Christine Romans is following the story, so Home Depot finally ponied up and said this happened?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: We can drop the word reportedly, it happened. Home Depot said it happened, it's been going on since April. They found out about it last week, that's right, since the spring selling season, that important time for all of you who shop at Home Depot, that's when this thing started. It's "The New York Times" reporting 60 million people who have been breached.

Home Depot would not confirm that number to me, only would say yes we have been hacked, we're investigating it. Please be patient with us as we have this investigation internally and with law enforcement Carol, they say if you want to get credit monitoring from them, you can, but my personal suggestion is anybody who shopped at Home Depot, check all of your credit card and ATM debit statements going back to April.

COSTELLO: Did Home Depot indicate what kind of information was stolen?

ROMANS: They say at this point it doesn't look like debit card PIN numbers were stolen, but their cyber security experts say it might be too soon to know for sure. It looks like it was your credit card information. Brian Krebs, the cyber security blogger who first noticed this, he said from what he can tell it's enough information for someone to have a counterfeit card made of yours and go out there and use it right away.

COSTELLO: OK that's scary. So if it happened in May, your accounts could have been hacked into, and would you notice?

ROMANS: Some people don't notice. Sometimes the banks notice. This is how Brian Krebs found out about it, because the banks started saying that they were noticing some activity and also he could see on the dark web out there that they were trading this stuff. It was called -- they were trading it in batches called American sanctions and European sanctions, Russian language batches, so a little bit added jibe to the United States and American consumers in there.

But look, Carol, it's the Wild West out there for your information. This is what's so maddening to me. We have made it so easy to take a piece of plastic and buy what you want and not have to pay for it right away that all of your information and financial identity is attached to that. We have this magnetic strip on the back, other countries don't use the magnetic strip anymore, it's old technology, and health care companies, too, have been criticized for being very slow, not banks, sorry, retailers and health care have been criticized for being slow and very out of date and clunky on this. It's the banks where they're spending a lot of money because they could take down the global economy.

COSTELLO: What's the answer for consumers besides only using cash?

ROMANS: I know, that's the old way somebody would knock you over the head and steal your wallet. Either way they're going to get you. Monitor your own accounts always. Even though technology makes it so easy to forget it, check all of your accounts right now. That should be good enough. If you want to sign up for the credit monitoring you can. Cyber security experts sort of laugh, they say it's adding insult to injury, to say oh sorry we gave Russian or Eastern European hackers all your information but here you can get free credit monitoring. It's too late. They need to prevent it in the first place.

COSTELLO: All right, Christine Romans, thanks as always. We appreciate it.

Moments ago, the fourth American patient infected with Ebola stepped foot on U.S. soil. The unidentified patient, who was infected in Sierra Leone, will be treated at Emory University hospital in Atlanta. And like the three other patients, he or she will be put into a special isolation unit to ensure the deadly virus does not spread.

This comes as the U.S. government announced a $10 million contribution to help combat the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. The money will help train and equip some 100 additional health workers in the area.

The Word Health Organization describes the growing Ebola outbreak as a dire emergency. The deadliest Ebola outbreak in history has already taken more than 2,100 lives in Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Nigeria. CNN senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen live at Emory with the latest. Good morning, Elizabeth.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Job good morning, Carol. Carol, as you said, we're expecting the arrival of this fourth Ebola patient here. One of the big differences between what this patient will -- the treatment this patient will be getting and the two who were here earlier is that this patient, we're told, will not be getting Zmapp. And Zmapp has been called the secret serum, this experimental drug.

We don't know, of course, what affect that will have on this person's treatment. The folks who got it here walked out of the hospital and were discharged and are now thankfully doing well. We don't know again what that means for this patient. It may be that those two patients did well not because of the Zmapp but because they just got great what's called supportive care. They were hydrated; their other medical needs were seen to; their bleeding was taken care of, et cetera. So we don't know what impact that will have on this fourth patient. Carol?

COSTELLO: All right, we'll check back with you, Elizabeth Cohen reporting live from Emory University hospital in suburban Atlanta.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, more than 100 years after he terrorized London's East End, investigators still aren't sure of the real identity of Jack the Ripper. But up next, the author of a new book says he knows exactly who Jack the Ripper was. We'll talk about that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: It is a mystery that has eluded police and amateur sleuths for more than a century. Who is Jack the Ripper? The notorious serial killer who brutally slashed five women in London's East End back in the late 1800s. The 126-year-old cold case spawned theory after theory after theory and Hollywood produced countless movies, including the 2001 film "From Hell" starring Johnny Depp.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He must be someone with money.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And how do you know that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This ain't killing for profit; this is ritual.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Interestingly enough, my next guest tells the British newspaper that the Johnny Depp movie is what sparked his interest in the case and eventual investigation. Russell Edwards is a businessman and the author of newly released book "Naming Jack the Ripper." In it, in the book, he claims to have uncovered Ripper's identity based on DNA evidence found on a shawl near one of the crime scenes.

Russell joins me now live from London. Good morning, sir.

RUSSELL EDWARDS, BUSINESSMAN AND AUTHOR: Good morning to you, Carol.

COSTELLO: So what about that Johnny Depp movie moved you to fully investigate the Jack the Ripper case and write a book about it?

EDWARDS: Well, I've been in and around the East End for about 11 years before the film came out and then when I saw the film I just questioned where was the Ten Bells Pub and where were all these murder sites? And that sparked my interest in the Jack the Ripper mystery. And, of course, I realized it was a mystery book, it was a true mystery. This man did exist, he did murder these victims, these poor unfortunates were brutalized by a murderer. But yet it all spawned from watching the Johnny Depp film.

COSTELLO: So what did you uncover that others have not uncovered, so that you can reveal Jack the Ripper's identity?

EDWARDS: Well, in 2007, about seven and a half years ago, I was alerted that a shawl was for sale at auction that has been purported to have been taken from the body of Catherine Eddowes on the night of her murder. The police officer that asked if he could take the shawl home for his wife because she's a seamstress, now this shawl is about seven feet long by two feet wide. He wanted it for the silk for her. Of course she didn't want anything to do with this and then he passed it down to his family line to his great, great grand nephew, a gentleman by the name of David Melville Hays, who I bought it from.

Then I thought, you know, if this is the only tangible piece of evidence, it's certainly worth having a look at this. Of course seven and a half years later, I certainly -- I only started trying to authenticate the provenance of the shawl and here we are with the true identity Jack the Ripper.

COSTELLO: So DNA evidence -- you say DNA evidence was on this shawl. And where did it lead you?

EDWARDS: Yes, well we had DNA evidence from the victim and we had DNA evidence deposited on there by the murderer. I managed to find the descendants of both the victim and the murderer and in three and a half years, using cutting edge scientific techniques by Dr. Jari Louhelainen ,who helped me on this journey, we managed to get a perfect match.

COSTELLO: So who is Jack the Ripper?

EDWARDS: Jack the Ripper was one of the three main suspects named by the Chief of Police who was in charge of the investigations at the time and his name is Aaron Kosminski. Now Aaron Kosminski was a 23- year-old Polish immigrant at the time of the murders who came to Whitechapel and 1881 with his family. Not long after the murders ceased, he was placed in Colney Hatch Lunatic Asylum and diagnosed with what was called mania from there he was transferred to another asylum where he died in 1919 at age 54.

COSTELLO: OK. So I wish I had more time to talk with you but I can't wait to read the book, and thank you. It's fascinating.

EDWARDS: Thank you.

COSTELLO: Thank you so much. Russell Edwards.

The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts now.