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Legal View with Ashleigh Banfield

Militant's Car Hits, Kills Soldier in Canada; West Africa Travelers Restricted to Five U.S. Airports; Identifying Remains; Jeffrey Fowle Released

Aired October 21, 2014 - 12:30   ET

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

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Can I ask you, Mr. Matlock, you know, the headlines that are coming out of Indiana is that prosecutors are saying he's relishing in leading them to the bodies, looking at the photographs of the victims alive and dead, and that the information may be just the tip of the iceberg, that there may be many more than seven.

It's one thing to say he was creepy and you didn't like him. But does any of this square with you, the person that you knew, was he capable of this much evil?

MATLOCK: I really don't know a lot about Darren. Because like I said, he was a creepy dude. He stayed with his business from me because he always knew we didn't -- I didn't click with him. I mean, I just didn't -- I felt strangeness from him. OK. So I didn't hang out with him or didn't hang out with my mom. I mean, if I went by, he was not there. OK. And that was that. And if he was there, he went upstairs and got out of my face. Because he knew -- I don't have no conversation for him.

But, like I said, everybody would be talking and I'm hearing the conversation and I'm trying to convince my mom to move on and leave this guy. So what is she in this relationship for? He's creepy. You know, he wanders around at night. And you don't even know where he's at half the time probably. But she's like, oh, no, whatever. The guy's a nut case.

BANFIELD: Well --

MATLOCK: He's with his friends playing basketball, blah, blah, blah. No, he's not. He's out messing with some whores, which is what he's out doing probably. And then I hear this thing that he's being arrested, I'm like, oh, my god. It is what it is. He was a strange dude. He was doing something. And they need to be checking here in Austin. He might have been doing something to people here more than just that one girl he got accused of trying to rape.

BANFIELD: Yes. Well, definitely raping. I mean, it was an aggravated rape for which he only served five years.

I have to say, Edward Matlock, I really appreciate you taking the time. I'm sorry that this has happened to your family. And there are still so many unanswered questions about how this could happen, why it happened and whether there will be indeed more victims to surface. Edward Matlock, the son of the ex-wife of Darren Vann who is the

suspected serial killer who's been arrested in Indiana, having led police to seven different bodies.

And by the way, we also have breaking news that's coming to us out of Canada. Two Canadian soldiers hit by a car. One of them killed. And authorities say this was no accident. That the driver was a radicalized Muslim and that the act was retaliation for that country joining the fight against ISIS.

The details on that coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

BANFIELD: We have some shocking and pretty surprising news out of Canada to report. Reuters is reporting that a Canadian soldier has died after being run down by a car driven by a suspected Islamic militant. And police say he was one of two soldiers attacked while they were walking near a strip mall not far from the major city of Montreal yesterday.

CNN's Deb Feyerick is following the story. She's here to bring us more details.

It's not the kind of story you expect to come out of Canada, certainly Montreal is a big city but wow.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, yes, exactly. And it was initially being investigated as a hit-and-run. Now it is being investigated as a link to terror.

BANFIELD: Why?

FEYERICK: The reason is the attack was carried out by a 25-year-old man described as a recently radicalized Muslim convert. Authorities did have him on radar. The Canadian National Security investigators had been monitoring the man after what they call clear indications that he has become radicalized. And one official describes this attack, quote, "as clearly linked to terrorist ideology."

Now the two soldiers from the Canadian Armed Forces, they were walking in a mall parking lot and one of them was wearing his uniform. That's when the attack took place. That car was the car driven by the suspect, the alleged killer. He took off after hitting these two soldiers.

BANFIELD: Wow.

FEYERICK: Drove for about four miles, rolled his car into a ditch. When he exited the vehicle, you can see some of the markers just there to the left behind.

BANFIELD: Yes. FEYERICK: Well, apparently when he got out of the car, that's when

police opened fire. He is dead. But one of those soldiers also dead. He died of his injuries. The second soldier was harmed --

(CROSSTALK)

BANFIELD: So the perpetrator is dead?

FEYERICK: Perpetrator is dead. That's --

BANFIELD: They shot him after he escaped the vehicle?

FEYERICK: After he walked out of the vehicle. Exactly.

BANFIELD: But he did --

(CROSSTALK)

FEYERICK: They found a knife.

BANFIELD: Did he threaten them --

FEYERICK: They found a knife. That's all they'll say. They didn't say where the knife was found. But there was a knife found on scene. And what we do know is that the Canadian Security Intelligence Services has been really aggressively monitoring these, you know, suspected extremists. He was one of them. So he was definitely on radar -- Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: It's a little astounding. I wasn't expecting that detail that as soon as he emerged from the car wreck, four miles away -- is that four miles away?

FEYERICK: Exactly. He just sped off --

BANFIELD: They shot him?

FEYERICK: They shot him.

BANFIELD: And he didn't have a gun?

FEYERICK: He had a knife. He had a weapon. And --

BANFIELD: Wow.

FEYERICK: You can never forget. If somebody escapes that way, you know, that vehicle is also considered a weapon.

BANFIELD: Sure.

FEYERICK: He killed one officer.

BANFIELD: What an amazing detail.

FEYERICK: So yes. So it was pretty frenetic. It is being investigated as terror. BANFIELD: Keep us posted on --

FEYERICK: You bet.

BANFIELD: Certainly when they do the forensics on a computer, I'm sure that that will release a lot more.

FEYERICK: Exactly. Exactly.

BANFIELD: Deb Feyerick --

FEYERICK: And they're clearly looking at his Facebook page.

BANFIELD: Without question. All right. Great. Thank you for that. Amazing details. Appreciate it.

And we've got some other big news that's developing right now on the Ebola story, the epidemic. There are new rules now, new rules on how travelers from Ebola-stricken countries can come to the United States after so much politicking over travel bans and stopping the travelers from arriving.

Well, you might be surprised to hear what restrictions are ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

BANFIELD: And this just in to CNN. Breaking news on the Ebola epidemic. The Department of Homeland Security has just announced that the United States will ensure that any passengers flying from Ebola- stricken countries land only in one of five designated airports in the continental United States.

Our aviation correspondent Rene Marsh joins me live now from Washington.

You're going to have to help me get through this one. If you're coming direct or connected, you're only allowed to land in these five airports that have screening measures in place and how on earth is that actually doable?

RENE MARSH, CNN AVIATION AND GOVERNMENT REGULATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ashleigh, that word coming from the Department of Homeland Security just a short time ago. This will start effective tomorrow.

How is it possible? Well, they say that they will be working with the airlines to make sure anyone with an itinerary which originates in one of those three countries, Liberia, Sierra Leone or Guinea, has to be routed if they are destined for the United States to one of the five airports that you're looking at on your screen here.

You remember last week we talked a lot about this enhanced screenings at these five specific airports in which they're giving out detailed CDC questionnaires and doing temperature checks. They also tell us that 94 percent of travelers come through these five airports. So that is the initiative.

That's the step that they're going to be taking here is making sure if you come from the Ebola hot zone, you are going to be landing at one of these five airports. Of course, there were talks before, calls for this to be expanded to other airports. We see they did not go that route. What they're doing instead is funneling all of these flyers to these specific airports.

Does it sound like it's something that's complicated? Perhaps. But they point out that we're talking about 150 people per day. They don't feel like that's a lot of passengers to deal with. So they believe that they can effectively work with the airlines to make sure that they can track these people so that they are landing, again, at these five airports.

One other thing I want to add, Ashleigh, we are getting a fuller picture from Customs and Border Protection. As we know, they are on the front lines when these passengers arrive. Some numbers, they say since this enhanced screening came into effect last week, as of today, more than 500 people have come through to these airports, these five airports.

Only four cases in which an individual had to be transported to a hospital for further examination -- Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: And obviously that yielded nothing, those transported patients. But I'm still so curious. And we don't -- we can't get into it now but eventually they're going to have to let us know if someone takes a week layover, how do you know that they're coming from that affected country? It's so perplexing.

Rene Marsh live for us. Thank you for that.

More information now on that man who was arrested in connection with the disappearance of a Virginia college student. That man is now facing charges in a whole other case. And by the way, the CSI that is going on right now in Virginia might astound you. But this case, they do not want to mess up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: We've got some brand-new details about the remains that were found in the search for missing college student Hannah Graham. There's a police source that is close to our Kean Casarez, who told us that the investigation -- in the investigation, they have discovered now that the skull from those remains has been sent to the medical examiner's office in Richmond. What's interesting about that is that the rest of the skeletal remains are still at the scene.

The source also tells Jean Casarez that once the rest of the skeleton is moved, the investigators in that area are going to start collecting dirt samples. Probably not unusual as this investigation tries to peg down whether the suspect in the case, Jesse Matthew, is connected to this actual site.

The source also tells us that investigators are looking in this area to see if this also might be a dumping ground for other victims.

Joining me again from Orlando is Dr. G. from the TV show "Dr. G. Medical Examiner."

And with your medical examining experience, I want you to just drill down a little bit on this notion that the skull of the remains has been sent to the medical examiner's office. And here we are, four days since these remains were found, and the rest of that skeleton is still exactly on the site. Does that tell you that they are absolutely meticulously combing this site and not moving anything so as not to compromise any evidence for a prosecution?

DR. JAN GARAVAGLIA, CHIEF MEDICAL EXAMINER, 9TH DISTRICT, FLORIDA: Right. So what they probably are doing is sending the skull back to get it identified. One of the main and quickest ways we'll identify a skeleton is through dental records. And her -- chances are she's been to a dentist, may have fillings, and that will be an easy way to identify her. The other way would have been DNA. That would take at least a couple weeks, a week to two. You would use one of the long bones --

BANFIELD: But why leave the rest of the remains behind? Why - why for four days now this --

GARAVAGLIA: Because they're mapping it.

BANFIELD: Yes. That's what I thought.

GARAVAGLIA: You want to map it. This is -- you want to map it and you want to grid it. And what that's going to tell you is just kind of the progression of the decomposition with the movement of the animals. I'm sure a lot of the bones have been moved with animals. The animals don't' wait until you're totally skeletonized. Often times they'll pull at the soft tissue and then they move it in usually anatomic units. So that actually --

BANFIELD: I know this is normal conversation for you, Dr. G. It's hard for the rest of us, though, as laypeople, to sort of realize this very could have been Hannah. It's just - it's difficult information to process.

GARAVAGLIA: Yes, it's - it's - it is. And, you know, it's something we have to -- I have to face every day in my office is some, you know, poor human being that has been left out to decompose. But this isn't, you know, this isn't TV forensics. This is real-life forensics. And they're -

BANFIELD: Yes.

GARAVAGLIA: And you're not going to be -- you only have one chance at mapping this body. You're not going to be really looking for trace evidence anymore. You're -

BANFIELD: Right. I want you to tell me about this because it doesn't matter if they link Jesse to Hannah, because he was seen on video with her. GARAVAGLIA: Right.

BANFIELD: They need to link Jesse to the site. And in that end, I remember in the Casey Anthony case, when they found Caylee's remains, they mapped for dozens and dozens of yards. I mean the circumference of that search was massive. Same issues that you were just mentioning. They wanted to know the progression of how those remains ended up where they were, so they didn't leave anything unturned. So in this respect, are they also getting soil samples to check his sneakers? Are they getting tire track and footprint samples to see if they can match the patterns of his tire or whatever car he might have been in, because you can't walk there?

GARAVAGLIA: Right. And that's possibly what they're doing.

They're also - and what they're not going to be doing - and a lot of people think that they should be - and that's looking for trace evidence on these bones. Their - her DNA is not even on top of these bones anymore. You wouldn't be able to get that DNA. The only way you're going to get her DNA is actually in the cells within the long bones themselves. And his DNA is long gone. The fingernails are long gone. We would be looking for trace evidence if she was fresh under her nails. No, those are long gone.

You know, what are the things that destroy DNA, especially trace DNA? It's going to be humidity and it's going to be heat. And since the day she's gone, there's been at least four inches of rain in that area, if my calculations are correct when I did that, and there's at least six days where it's been over 80 degrees, 25 days, 70 or 80 degrees. So she is really going to be long gone. The trace evidence is going to be long gone. And really what's left are the bones. And we want to see how those bones are dispersed. But you also want to see if anything is left that he left.

BANFIELD: Dr. G. - Dr. G., I need to -- I'm so sorry to interrupt. I'm so sorry to interrupt, but I have breaking news I have to get to. I thank you so much for your insight into this case.

GARAVAGLIA: Sure.

BANFIELD: But I've got some breaking news out of North Korea that I want to bring to our audience right now, and that is the American who's been held in North Korea, I believe since May, on the offense of leaving a Bible at his hotel, has apparently been released. That's Jeffrey Fowle that you're looking at on your screen. Apparently he is on his way home. And this according to a State Department official telling CNN that Jeffrey Fowle is free and is on his way home. Apparently a government plane, an American government plane, picked Mr. Fowle up on Tuesday before flying to Guam, one of the American protectorates. And apparently the detailed reports came in - no, he was detained as he was trying to leave North Korea and he was one of the interviews that CNN got exclusively of the three detainees in North Korea.

I want to bring up our global affairs correspondent, Elise Labott.

This is such a surprising piece of news, Elise. What else do you know about this?

ELISE LABOTT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's really about it, Ashleigh. It kind of came out of the blue this morning. One of our sources in the region told us that there was a U.S. plane in Pyongyang. And after looking and checking with our sources, we were told that Mr. Fowle, who a 56-year-old man from Dayton, Ohio, is on his way home. Obviously his family will be very happy, as you said. He was arrested in May for leaving a hotel in a Bible.

Now, North Korea does allow some religious organizations and churches to operate in the country, but does not tolerate any type of independent religion or proselytizing, doesn't take kindly to that at all, and he was arrested for perpetrating so-called hostile acts. And in an exclusive interview with CNN's Will Ripley last month, he talked about his charges and admitted his guilt. Take a listen.

Oh, unfortunately we don't have that sound. We'll get that for you as soon as we can. But basically what he was saying is that he admitted that he left the hotel in a Bible and he says that this is an illegal act. He confessed his crime. He admitted his guilt. And in this interview, this exclusive interview with CNN's Will Ripley, he asked for the government to send help. He was very worried that he would be facing trial and be sent to prison. He has three children and a wife to support. Very worried about that. And at the same time he asked for the U.S. government to send an envoy, such as Bill Clinton did in 2009 to release those journalists.

BANFIELD: But, Elise, you know, what I'm so curious about, I've got to be honest with you, this is fantastic news, but we're dealing with two other people at the same time who did this exclusive interview with Will Ripley.

LABOTT: Yes.

BANFIELD: Kenneth Bae and Matthew Miller, who were also extremely contrite in their interviews. Who also admitted to whatever infraction it was they were charged with in that country. What's their fate?

LABOTT: Well, officials say that they're still working to release Matthew Todd Miller and Kenneth Bae. As you know, Kenneth Bae's has been the one we've been hearing a lot about. He was sentenced to 15 years in a hard labor camp. He says he's been -- in this interview, has been working six days a week, eight hours a day, Ashleigh, in a labor camp. And basically also looking for U.S. support, all of them asking for the U.S. -- but let's take a listen right now to Jeffrey Fowle talking to CNN's Will Ripley just last month, Ashleigh.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFFREY FOWLE, FREED AMERICAN: I need to let people know that I'm getting desperate. I'm getting desperate for help. This is -- I understand there are three Americans in detention now here in the DPRK, which I think is the most since the Pueblo incident.

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You have no communication with the others? FOWLE: No. No. I know the game the name of the third guy. I know

Kenneth Bae's been here for the longest. Kenneth Bae. I'm sure he's desperate to get back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LABOTT: Kenneth Bae, Ashleigh, very desperate to get back. This poor man in a North Korean prison camp. But what officials tell me is this is really the most valuable prison that the U.S. wants to get back because he's been there for so long and so they feel it will take a little bit longer but they want to and will be certainly assuring Kenneth Bae's family, Matthew Todd Miller's family, throughout the whole day that they will not rest until those two Americans come home, Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: Elise, seeing that there was an American government plane heading over to, you know, to Guam, at least, I'm not sure if they were ever anywhere near North Korea, but the pick-up at least at one point was Guam, did the Americans --

LABOTT: The pick-up was in North Korea, Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: The pick-up was in North Korea. An American plane landing in North Korea. Thank you for that.

All right, so was there any notion that the Americans thought that they were actually going to get three detainees when they sent that plane?

LABOTT: No, my understanding is that it was specifically about Jeffrey Fowle. And if you remember earlier this year, Merrill Newman, an elderly gentleman who was arrested in North Korea, also on similar charges that he did wrong, hostile acts to North Korea, he was arrested, in jail for some time, and the United States just got a call and said, listen, come pick him up.

BANFIELD: Right. This is great news.

LABOTT: Now, certainly, the circumstances around his - around his -- Jeffrey Fowle's release will be made -- we'll be checking with our sources in the coming hour. But it seems as if it did just happen out of the blue, Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: Elise, thank you for that.

Again, our breaking news, Jeffrey Fowle, the American detained in North Korea, free and on route home on an American plane. We'll have a whole lot more on this with our Wolf Blitzer after this quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)