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Sources: U.S. Evacuating Special Ops Forces From Yemen; Machete-Wielding Man Shot Inside Airport; "Hot Plate" Starts Brooklyn Fire: Kills Seven Children; Robert Durst Bail Hearing Set For Monday; FBI Looks At Cold Cases For Link To Durst
Aired March 21, 2015 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[12:00:00]
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: -- airport.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She pulled a can of wasp spray and sprayed the officer in the face.
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WHITFIELD: Armed with a machete and wasp spray, a man goes on the attack taking aim at TSA agents.
And manhunt, police searching for the man who shot a woman on a Texas freeway after she honked at him. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Hello again, and thanks so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. We are tracking major developments happening today in Yemen. Sources tell CNN, the U.S. is evacuating about 100 special operations forces from the Al-Anod Air Base.
This is over concern that the security situation in Yemen is deteriorating. CNN correspondent, Jomana Karadsheh joins us now from Baghdad. So the last of the American troops who were stationed there, and of course, the embassy was evacuated back in January. So are there any U.S. personnel in Yemen?
JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, of course, the counterterrorism operations in Yemen, Fred, have been surrounded with a lot of mystery. But what we do know at this point from officials, these are the last of U.S. forces there on the ground there, in the process of evacuating, as you mentioned.
A hundred special operations forces members from the Alanad Air Base. We saw the U.S. embassy there last month, along with other diplomatic missions from the country. And this does come after months of a deteriorating situation.
A security situation, and a political crisis in that country that seems to be -- is continuing to worsen. Now, there is a lot of concern, Fred, about what this means for the counterterrorism operations in a country that has been a hot bed of terrorist activity for a very long time now.
Of course, the United States there had an ally in the government of President Hadi there in Sana'a. We saw earlier this year that government was pushed out with the Shia-Houthi rebels taking control of the capital, and a lot of concern about what happens next with the counterterrorism operations in the midst of this political instability and this chaos.
Of course, terrorist groups, extremist groups, are known to exploit a situation like this. As we know, Yemen has been a base -- the main base for one of al Qaeda's top franchises in the world, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, AQAP.
Concerns about this group growing stronger there and also concerns recently about the emergence of the ISIS threat also there in Yemen -- Fred.
WHITFIELD: All right, Jomana Karadsheh, thank you so much. Appreciate that. So what does this mean for the U.S. and its relations in Yemen? I want to bring in David Rohde in New York. He is CNN global affairs analyst and a Reuters' investigative journalist, who spent a year as a prisoner of the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Good to see you, David. So what role in your view did these special ops troops have in Yemen, and how big of a blow is it that they would be pulled out now?
DAVID ROHDE, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: They had a major role, and it's a huge propaganda victory for the Islamic State. They are claiming responsibility for a lot of the chaos. There were two suicide bombings that killed 130 people just a few days ago.
And that chaos has led the last American troops to leave Yemen. The U.S. can carry out drone strikes, but the Islamic State can say we have successfully driven both all the American diplomats from the embassy and all the American troops out of Yemen.
WHITFIELD: And it was long believed that AQAP, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, really had a strong hold on Yemen, but now if this is ISIS is kind of doing the pushing and shoving and bombing there, what does this say about these two terror groups in Yemen and what does this say about the, I guess, deterioration of maybe AQAP also?
ROHDE: That's -- you're absolutely right. And what's frightening here is that essentially, the Islamic State is being more radical than al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and being more successful. The Islamic State, you know, their claims by their supporters of an attack in Tunisia earlier this week that killed 23 people, mostly foreigners.
They have successfully carried these two suicide attacks in Yemen. This is a huge propaganda, you know, for them. They're not necessarily involved in planning these attacks, but the fact that all these young men are carrying out attacks across the region, it breeds the chaos they want to see.
It's breeding this kind of Sunni-Shia clash across the region that really helps them and it's really a very alarming situation.
WHITFIELD: So attacks in Yemen, attacks in Tunisia so these attacks across the globe are happening very close together by calendar dates, but there are some slight differences in how these attacks are being carried out.
[12:05:06] And that's making it even more difficult, is it not, for law enforcement to try to prevent it because everything is changing, apparently, from attack to attack.
ROHDE: It is. And in Tunis, it was young men armed with rifles. There were two that were killed and many accomplices, but they were, again, very effective carrying out attack in the city's most famous museum and killing so many foreigners.
They used suicide bombers in Yemen, you know, to attack Shias. It was an attempt by the Islamic State, hard line Sunnis to create tension with the Shias. Yemen more and more looks like Syria.
And then which looks like Somalia and then there is Libya, there is chaos there. The attackers in Tunisia trained in Libya. So I hate to be alarmist, but this is really a dangerous situation. Instability is steadily spreading across the Middle East.
WHITFIELD: Yes, so when we talk about growing, we're not talking about the threat growing, but the presence, and it seems like you mentioned the camps in Libya, the residency, so to speak, of ISIS, is growing.
ROHDE: That's what's so disturbing. If a young person wants to, you know, get training and declare allegiance to ISIS. They can do that in parts of Libya. They can do that in parts of Yemen. They can do that in Syria. And it's -- this is -- you know, I'm talking about a change that's occurred just in the last few weeks.
And, you know, I don't -- there's no easy answer to this, but it does seem that the Obama administration's policy, which was more hands-off, more rely on drones, Special Forces, it is not working. Instability is steadily spreading in the region.
WHITFIELD: Wow. Already, David Rohde, thank you so much, very sober details there. Appreciate that.
ROHDE: Thank you.
WHITFIELD: All right, and this incredible story out of New Orleans this morning. Police shoot a man threatening TSA agents with a machete and bug spray. Travelers were sent scrambling as 62-year-old Richard White stormed a security checkpoint.
And at one point an agent fought back, and -- with that machete you see on the ground, and the TSA agent using a piece of luggage to fight back and that's when a police officer opened fire, shooting White in the leg, chest and face.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A chaotic scene at New Orleans's Armstrong International Airport. An injured TSA officer is wheeled away on a stretcher. After police say a machete-wielding man, who also used wasp spray attacked security staff at a concourse checkpoint.
SHERIFF NEWELL NORMAND, JEFFERSON PARISH: He walked down the TSA pre- line, encountered the TSA officer who was checking the boarding passes with the scanning machine to be scanned. He was challenged at that point in time by the TSA officer. The response was he pulled a can of wasp spray and sprayed the officer in the face.
DARLINGTON: Police say the suspect identified as 62-year-old Richard White then encountered two more TSA agents, and started swinging a machete. The incident apparently continued through the secure area until the suspect was shot three times by a Jefferson Parish sheriff's deputy.
White was taken to an area hospital where he underwent surgery. Police say a shot from sheriff's deputy also hit a TSA officer who was being chased by the suspect. Her injury was not life threatening.
The incident sent passengers and airport workers scrambling to safety and closed the airport for a short time. Police do not have a motive in the attack.
NORMAND: We don't know whether or not this individual was a member of the traveling public. We suspect not. He has been a taxi driver. He's recently received a chauffeur's license, has little or no criminal history.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: An unbelievable scene there and several bystanders did suffer minor injuries. Police say there is no indication that the incident posed a threat to national security, however.
All right, straight ahead, a horrific fire in Brooklyn, New York, claiming the lives of seven children. CNN's Shasta Darlington is live for us there -- Shasta.
DARLINGTON: That's right, Fredricka. There were two survivors when this fire swept through a family home here in Brooklyn. Right now, Mayor Bill De Blasio is during the damage. More details after this.
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WHITFIELD: All right, this horrific developing story out of Brooklyn. New York Mayor Bill De Blasio is going to address the public about a horrific fire this morning that killed seven children in their home, and they were all siblings.
You can see in this video here, the house is nothing but a burned-out shell now. There were two survivors, a mom and her 14-year-old daughter, and they literally jumped out of the window to escape the flames.
CNN correspondent, Shasta Darlington, is with us now from Brooklyn. This is a horrible situation. I don't know how anybody there is going to be able to recover from this.
DARLINGTON: That's right, Fredricka. The fire commissioner is saying this is not only a tragedy for the family and the tight-knit Jewish community here, but for the city as a whole, and devastating for the firefighters, who are on the scene. Listen to this.
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DANIEL NIGRO, NEW YORK FIRE COMMISSIONER: Firefighters forced their way in, extinguished fire on the first floor, which started in the kitchen. Pushed upstairs and found the children in their bedrooms, in the back of the home.
This is the largest tragedy by fire that this city has had in seven years. It's difficult to find one child in a room during a search. To find a house full of children that can't be revived, I'm sure this will take its toll on our members for quite some time.
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DARLINGTON: Now, the fire started in the kitchen, it was a malfunctioning hot plate. They're commonly used in the Jewish community to heat food on Sabbath, and the fire quickly spread to the second floor. The commissioner said they didn't find any evidence of smoke detectors on the first and second floor.
Again, the mother and the daughter were able to survive by jumping out the second-story windows. But seven children between the ages of 5 and 15 were killed. One was killed right here on the scene, others in the hospitals in the region.
Other details from the commissioner, they haven't been able to contact the father, who is away at a conference to let him know. I spoke to a neighbor who said he saw the house engulfed in flames, and the three really just moved back here a few years ago after living in Israel. It's just a devastating event and tragedy for this community -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: So Shasta, how about the mother and the 14-year-old? Where are they? Are they hospitalized? What's their situation now?
DARLINGTON: They are hospitalized in critical condition with severe burns. We'll obviously be waiting for more updates about their condition and just hoping they can get ahold of the father.
[12:15:12] Right now, of course, the mayor, Bill De Blasio, is touring the damage behind me with the police commissioner. We're expecting to hear more from them and we may get more details about the condition of the mother and daughter -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: My goodness. All right, Shasta Darlington, thank you so much. We'll have much more from the NEWSROOM after this. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[12:19:30]
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you go down 3,000 kilometers straight down, you will find liquid iron at about 1,400 degrees and that is exactly the material I use to make these evocations of the body.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Anthony Gourmet's obsession with the human form and the space it occupies has led him to create over 2,000 sculptures based on his own body. Arguably the greatest of which is the angel of the north which towers over the British landscape.
His work is exhibited in public spaces around the world and he has received prestigious international arts awards, including Britain's prize and Japan's premium.
[12:20:12] Today, he is in his studio in London, giving three dimensions to a new idea.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You don't get good work without good ideas. But the ideas come from the work. Sculpture of all the arts perhaps is the most silent. And then if you listen to the work you've already made, it's really where all the core ideas come from. One work is the mother of the next.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: And you can check out the full show at cnn.com/onestowatch.
All right, checking our top stories now, a 28-year-old woman in Houston is in critical condition after she was shot in the head in an apparent road rage incident during rush hour. She told officers she honked her horn at a white SUV and the suspect then reportedly sped away as she called 911.
The search for a rookie LAPD officer suspected in a homicide has turned into an international manhunt. The FBI believes Officer Henry Salas is in El Paso or Mexico. Police say he fled to that area after allegedly shooting a man outside a California nightclub last week. The FBI considers Salas to be armed and dangerous and is offering $25,000 for information leading to his arrest.
And parts of the northeast are thawing out from a spring snowstorm. The snow totals looking more like January than the first full day of spring. Seven inches fell in one area of Long Island, and New York Central Park was blanketed under more than 3 inches of fresh, wet snow.
And the strange story of millionaire, Robert Durst, has thrown into the public spotlight with the HBO documentary "Jinx." Now he has been charged with murder and the accusations against him could grow. We follow the trail of evidence right after this. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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WHITFIELD: Hello again, everyone. Thanks so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. Robert Durst, the focus of HBO's true crime documentary series "The Jinx" was charged with first degree murder this week in the 2000 killing of his long-time confidante, Susan Berman.
There are a lot of different threads to this story and we're going to take the next 20 minutes or so to look at this case and we'll be talking to our legal guys about what kind of evidence authorities really have against him. That's coming up.
And Kyung Lah meantime, gets us started with a look of what led to Durst's arrest.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think he has the ability to be a sociopath, but I think he's also a narcissist. And you put the two together. It's basically the bottom of the barrel.
KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Jim McCormick, mincing no words about Robert Durst. They were brothers in law. Durst marrying his baby sister, Cathy McCormick. Jim McCormick says his sister wrote in her journal that she feared her husband, that he abused her.
She was planning to divorce him. January, 1982, they have a fight and she vanishes. Immediately, McCormick suspects Durst. We spoke last week, just two days before Durst's arrest.
JIM MCCORMACK, KATHY MCCORMACK'S BROTHER: There's too many, you know, subtle he clues and bits of circumstantial evidence that were adding up to a preponderance of "you're guilty."
LAH: One of these subtle clues, Durst takes four days to report her missing to now retired NYPD homicide detective, Mike Struck. Struck never nails his prime suspect.
MIKE STRUCK, NYPD HOMICIDE DETECTIVE (RETIRED): Keeps coming back to the fact that we never found her body. We had a crime scene.
LAH (on camera): No evidence.
STRUCK: No evidence, no crime scene.
LAH (voice-over): The case grows cold until 2000, when investigators reopen it. This time, the millionaire flees New York to this rundown apartment in Galveston, Texas. Hiding out, cross-dressing and posing as a mute woman.
For months, he is speaking to virtually no one, except this woman, Susan Berman. Durst and Berman were decades-long friends. She was his confidante, corresponding by letters and phone. New York investigators decide to interview her, but before she could be questioned, around Christmas 2000, someone shoots Berman execution style in her Beverly Hills home.
The killer sends police this anonymous hand-written note obtained and shown in the HBO docu series "The Jinx." The note lists Berman's address and one word, cadaver.
(on camera): When she died, what did you think?
MCCORMACK: I said Bob is eliminating the witnesses and people who have knowledge of Kathy's passing.
LAH (voice-over): In "The Jinx," a new stunning revelation by the stepson of Susan Berman. In a storage box, the stepson comes across a letter Durst sent to Berman shortly before she died. Durst's handwriting, the killer's note to police, they bear remarkable similarities, down to the misspelling of "Beverly."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The address on the front is exactly like the cadaver note.
LAH: Remember, Durst is living as a mute woman in Texas, but police are able to track him to California at the time of Berman's death. So what, says Durst, on "The Jinx."
ROBERT DURST: California is a big state.
LAH: Death continues to follow the millionaire. Less than a year later, October 2001, at Durst's Texas apartment building, his neighbor, Morris Black, goes missing. Black's dismembered body parts begin washing ashore in Galveston Bay, 22 of them, a torso, limbs, but no head.
STRUCK: The fact that the head never showed up, that's his home run that's his luck process.
LAH: And that ghoulish luck actually becomes his legal defense. Durst admits he chopped up Black's body, but only after shooting Black in the head in self-defense. No head, no bullet, the jury buys it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Robert Durst, not guilty.
LAH (on camera): Do you think he's Teflon?
MCCORMACK: No. No. I think he's been well-protected by others and enabled by others, financially.
LAH: Are the walls coming in on Robert Durst?
MCCORMACK: I would think so.
LAH (voice-over): In the final episode of "The Jinx" Robert Durst is presented with a close match between his handwriting and the killer's. On camera, he appears unfazed. He then walks away to the rest room, his mic still on. The camera records as he talks to himself. DURST: There it is. I killed them all, of course.
LAH: "Killed them all, of course."
[12:30:07] (on camera): Do you have hope?
MCCORMACK: I have a lot of hope. I think Kathy's coming home is a good way to describe it. Kathy will come home.
LAH: Is this the closest you have felt to that?
MCCORMACK: Yes.
LAH: Over the years?
MCCORMACK: Yes.
LAH (voice-over): Retired cop, Mike Struck, also carries that hope that the elusive justice he sought will finally arrive, but he warns, do not underestimate Robert Durst.
STRUCK: And I think they'll hopefully pull it out.
LAH (on camera): If they don't, will you be surprised?
STRUCK: No. Bob Durst seems to be a lucky guy. Some walk free from it. That kind of sucks, but it's the truth.
LAH (voice-over): Families in multiple states searching for their truth for decades, hope that luck may have finally run out. Kyung Lah, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: And Robert Durst is now being held in New Orleans until details of his extradition to Los Angeles for the Berman case can be worked out. Dick DeGuerin, Durst's attorney tells CNN's Jean Casarez, his client needs to be in a hospital setting, not because he's a suicide risk, but because he suffers from serious medical conditions.
Durst has a stint in his head because he needs treatment for hydrocephalus, a condition marked by excessive fluid in the brain. Also in the past few years, he has had cancer of the esophagus and spine surgery.
All right, still ahead, I'll ask our legal guys what kind of case authorities really do have against Robert Durst. Will a recorded confession be enough to convict him?
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[12:35:24]
WHITFIELD: It's the case that has countless twists and turns, and the most recent twist has prompted authorities to charge millionaire, Robert Durst, with first degree murder. That decision came after a crucial moment in HBO's documentary, "The Jinx," when Durst, having finished an interview, but still wearing an open microphone, makes what seems to be a very incriminating statement.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DURST: What the hell did I do, killed them all, of course.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Let's bring in our legal guys, Avery Friedman and civil rights attorney and law professor in New York this week, and Richard Herman, a New York criminal defense attorney, and law professor joining us from Las Vegas. All right, good to see both of you.
AVERY FRIEDMAN, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY: Good to see you, Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: OK, so Avery, you first, do those muttered remarks by Durst, spoke into a hot mic, neutralize two-party consent rule in California?
FRIEDMAN: Well, that's a rule in California where both parties have to consent. I don't think it applies at all. The fact is, it's an unfettered stream of consciousness. It's exactly what prosecutors are looking for. This is an admission. It's going to be part of the evidence.
The only challenge, I think the prosecutor is going to be facing here is how much weight is the jury going to assign that admission. And I think that's -- that rises or falls in terms of where this case is going.
WHITFIELD: But then Richard, what is this about. HBO was working with police to come degree. And if that is the case, can his defense argue entrapment that the mic was intentionally not turned off when he went to the bathroom?
RICHARD HERMAN, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, the argument could be is HBO actually an agent of the government. Fred, it's really -- it's almost a bar exam question, whether that statement is admissible or not. You have issues of authenticity.
It was made two years ago. Maybe more than two years ago, chain of custody on that. Was it a knowing waiver by him, which obviously it was, it's hearsay. There is no probative value of it, does it exceed the prejudicial value.
I think it's admissible. Even if it is admissible, Fred, this is not going to make a first degree murder conviction, this recording. The defense will have a hay day on this.
WHITFIELD: We have not heard anything about any --
HERMAN: Exactly.
WHITFIELD: Physical evidence. Still no DNA, right, in large part and so it's still mostly circumstantial?
HERMAN: That's right.
WHITFIELD: So why would this admission make a difference or how could it make a difference?
HERMAN: I think it does not make a difference, Fred. When law enforcement gets frustrated, they jump and make mistakes. This is ridiculous. There is no way they get a conviction off this or the letter. The envelope, by the way, which if you look at the handwriting, you can make a determination that it's different. And a lot of people outside --
WHITFIELD: Really, that it's different?
FRIEDMAN: I don't --
HERMAN: It's different. Look at the es. Just look at the es. They're not the same.
WHITFIELD: Beverly, mispelled the same way?
FRIEDMAN: You're going to get a handwriting expert looking at it.
HERMAN: Battle of experts.
FRIEDMAN: I think it's going to be -- there is no getting around -- there is no getting around the reality of that admission. You're right, it is getting in. And as I say, this case doesn't turn on anything other than a jury either accepting or rejecting the weight of that admission. And it's the most important thing prosecutors --
WHITFIELD: Avery, isn't all of the other evidence or lack thereof, wouldn't that weigh more than this admission or whatever you want to call it?
FRIEDMAN: Well, it is an admission and you know, let me tell you something. If you're defending the case, you're going to raise issues. You're going to raise issues. The judge is going to let it in. You're going to deal with issues, for example, of DNA.
This guy is a convicted felon. They've got DNA evidence all over the place. Whether they can apply it here, we don't know right now. But frankly, if I were prosecuting, I would like to move forward on the case.
WHITFIELD: So has he even proven he is very clever and maybe that muttering or whatever that was -- was just to kind of add fuel to the fire and he may have been playing everybody, you know? I mean, and this is just another page of --
HERMAN: Fred --
WHITFIELD: -- cleverness.
HERMAN: The defense will say, it's part of a theatrical performance on a documentary being done by HBO, and that's vein it was done in. Fred, there are serious questions of probable cause of first degree murder. First degree murder charges based on this, Fred, they've got a long way to go.
[12:40:11] California better have more than this recording and the writing samples. They better have more or they're going to get laughed out of court and he'll get another victory.
WHITFIELD: OK, we're going to talk more about this. We're not done, and that's why you stick around with us. We're a few more minutes to talk more. And HBO is owned by Time Warner and that is CNN's parent company as well. So the FBI now putting --
HERMAN: With all due respect, Fred.
WHITFIELD: With all due respect, full disclosure.
FRIEDMAN: Whatever.
WHITFIELD: Watch it. So the FBI is now putting out this nationwide call for investigators in so many states to reexamine their cold cases. We'll see if there is any way there is a connection to Durst and we'll talk about that and much more with our legal eagles. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[12:44:35]
WHITFIELD: The attorney for real estate heir and accused killer, Robert Durst, is firing back at federal authorities. He says if the FBI is trying to link his client to other cold cases, then they must not have much on him to begin with.
This, after the feds are investigating whether Durst could be connected to unsolved murders in several states. They're also looking into his potential involvement in the case of a missing California teen. Here's CNN's Dan Simon.
[12:50:03] (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The FBI is putting out a call to local police departments to examine cold cases where Durst lived over the past 50 years.
The wealthy real estate heir has a reported net worth of $100 million and lived or owned a property in several states including New York, Vermont, Texas and California.
CHIEF ANDREW MILLS, EUREKA POLICE DEPARTMENT: We are certainly interested in any information that may or may not come out of interviews with Mr. Durst. If information comes to us that allow us to further our investigation then we will certainly take the opportunity to do that.
SIMON: One case that has piqued interest is in the small northern California town of Eureka. The 16-year-old Karen Mitchell went missing in November 1997. She was on her way to work at a day care center.
According to local news reports at the time, she was last seen leaning into a light blue car that she may have gotten into. A witness gave police a description of the man behind the wheel, the sketch bearing a striking resemblance to Robert Durst.
MATT BIRKBECK, AUTHOR, "A DEADLY SECRET": Durst apparently knew Karen Mitchell. Karen had volunteered at a homeless center in Eureka which Durst had frequented, which he had a habit of doing in these different cities. In addition, Mitchell's aunt ran a shoe store in a mall in Eureka and Durst had gone there several times, one time dressed as a woman.
SIMON: Author and investigative reporter, Matt Birkbeck, wrote "A Deadly Secret" about Robert Durst, copies of which were found in Durst's Houston home. In New Orleans meanwhile where he checked into this hotel using a fake name, court documents also reveal he had more than $40,000 in cash mostly in $100 bills, a rubber or latex mask to disguise identity, some marijuana and a loaded Wesson .38 revolver.
A law enforcement official telling CNN he appeared to be on the lam and planned to travel from New Orleans to Cuba. Durst was arrested in New Orleans on Saturday and charged with the 2000 murder of Susan Berman, his friend and spokeswoman.
She was killed just before New York investigators were to question her about the disappearance of Durst's first wife. The arrest coming a day before the final installment of HBO's documentary about his life, when he made this alleged confession while talking to himself in the bathroom.
ROBERT DURST: Killed them all, of course.
SIMON: Durst's attorney says not to read too much into those comments. Durst himself has long denied any involvement in Berman's death and his wife's disappearance.
JIM MCCORMACK, BROTHER OF DURST'S FIRST WIFE: I was chilled actually vindicated, but chilled by the open and unsolicited admission of guilt.
SIMON: That's Jim McCormack, the brother of Durst's first wife, Kathy, who says he hopes Durst will finally confess to killing her and others.
MCCORMACK: I'm hopeful that he will finally man up, tell his lawyers to bug off, and he wants to have this thing over and put behind him.
SIMON: Dan Simon, CNN, San Francisco.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: And in a phone interview with CNN's Jean Casarez, Robert Durst's attorney, Dick DeGuerin, talked about the search for evidence in other cold cases, saying, quote, "They seem to be going to such great lengths to pin something else on him that they must not have much of a case to begin with."
Let's bring in again our legal guys, Avery Friedman, Richard Herman. Richard, something tells me you might be in agreement with what he said.
HERMAN: Well, Fred, we talked earlier. When law enforcement get desperate, desperado, Don Henley, the eagles, and they seemed very desperate here, and they want this guy bad. He's not a very likeable fellow. They want him.
He's worth $100 million. He's got incredible legal teams surrounding him and protecting him. When they get desperate, they make mistakes. When they manufacture cases, defense attorneys have a field day punching holes in them.
There is just -- and unless they put together the great type of cold case investigation and they can corroborate with hard facts, this guy is going to walk on everything, Fred --
FRIEDMAN: We're leaving something out here.
WHITFIELD: What are we leaving out? What is he leaving out? I'm not part of it.
FRIEDMAN: While all of us were doing legal last week, the FBI zeroed in on this guy. Why? Because in the first flight between New Orleans and Havana, guess who was booked on it? He had $40,000 in cash. He had a latex mask.
HERMAN: So what?
FRIEDMAN: Really? So what? You don't think that means anything?
HERMAN: Right.
FRIEDMAN: Put it all together. He knew the walls were crumbling down. He knew they were zeroing in on the Susan Berman case and that's exactly why this case is moving forward. They got him just in the nick of time.
WHITFIELD: Except it also boils down to what's the evidence. We're talking about the admission.
HERMAN: Exactly.
WHITFIELD: And -- or are you saying he anticipated that that muttering, that being caught on tape, was going to be enough to represent these walls coming in on him, because we've heard from investigators nothing of any new evidence.
HERMAN: I think, Fred, what happened here was, the investigation has been going on for a couple of years.
FRIEDMAN: Exactly right. [12:50:10] HERMAN: He knew that and HBO has been providing information to authorities over the past two years. So I think that --
WHITFIELD: That relationship --
HERMAN: Right, yes. That he was a target here and knowing he was a target, the question is, and the theory, is, well, he was going to flee the country and run to Cuba, and flight is an element of guilt. Therefore, there it is.
But Fred, I agree with you. It all comes down to the evidence. We don't know -- right now, there is nothing new here, Fred, nothing. This is ridiculous.
FRIEDMAN: Anybody asking the question. For all the trouble that Robert Durst has had, and all the allegations and all the activities involved in, what lawyer on earth advised him to move forward and do the HBO special in the first place? This is just absolutely mind boggling. No one is even talking about that.
WHITFIELD: Yes.
FRIEDMAN: How in the world did they get him to convince him to do this?
WHITFIELD: Maybe now that's our water under the bridge, and now, you know --
FRIEDMAN: That's for sure.
WHITFIELD: Second-guessing as to why that was allowed to happen. Let's talk about what is moving forward. We know the FBI is asking various jurisdictions, all these places he has been to look at these cold cases one more time, reexamine, see if there is any connection between Durst and these places.
We already know from Dan Simon's piece he has property in at least four states, New York, Vermont, California and Texas. So what needs to happen in many of these jurisdictions to reopen these cases to try to draw some parallels to Durst? Again, it's going to have to boil down to DNA or some sort of evidence.
HERMAN: That's exactly right.
FRIEDMAN: DNA is everything. DNA is everything because what else is there other than assumptions. On the Eureka case involving Karen Mitchell, that was 1997. New evidence, we don't know, probably not. But I think there is some value in exploring, taking that statement that was made in the hot mic, and trying to dig deeper to see if they can dig anything up. Right now, the only thing that's hot is Susan Berman. The other cases --
HERMAN: The mic statement is ridiculous, Fred.
WHITFIELD: We're talking months more of investigative work. FRIEDMAN: Yes.
WHITFIELD: Right.
HERMAN: But Fred, you know, you put on "Forensic Files" on HLN every day and you see them solve cold cases all of the time. The question is, will they be able to find some sort of forensic evidence locking him in. Will they be able to have some sort of guarantee? Because otherwise, Fred, you may get a loosey-goosey investigator who puts together a charge against him, he's going to get blown out of the water. This guy is too good.
(CROSSTALK)
WHITFIELD: We're going to have to leave it right there. Something tells me we'll be talking about it again, though, very soon.
FRIEDMAN: I think so.
WHITFIELD: Avery, Richard, thank you so much, Gentlemen. I really appreciate it. You all are so great.
All right, much more on the NEWSROOM after this.
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[12:56:55]
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TRI TRAN, CO-FOUNDER, MUNCHERY: I always had a problem with what's for dinner. I look at my wife and she works, too. We also have young kids at the time. I figured there must be another option to get healthy, but really delicious food.
I'm Tri Tran. I'm the co-founder of Munchery. The company started out of my living room in San Francisco, but then we quickly moved into a commercial kitchen. People can order wholesome food cooked by top chefs.
Every day there is a different menu that they are cooking and it's chilled. You can order via our web site or on our mobile app. Order the same day, get it delivered, Twitter and Facebook, allow customers to share their experience with their friends, about half of the customers were referred by an existing customer.
I was born in Vietnam. I came to this country when I was 11 as a refugee on one of these boats. It wasn't until I was 22 that I actually was able to see my parents again for the first time. And it actually made a startup look much easier compared to something like that. We really enjoy servicing our customer, but we know there are always other people in need.
LESLIE BACHO, SF MARIN FOOD BANK: For every online purchase, Munchery donates 30 cents to the food bank which is enough for us to provide a meal. Since 2013, we have raised over $100,000. TRAN: We have grown about six times over, and we're expanding quickly now to other parts of the country. We never forget our origin, and we never take things for granted.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: All right, checking our top stories now, police in North Carolina say the man arrested in connection with the grisly murder of a former Food Network contestant and her husband has admitted to destroying the victims' bodies.
Police say they found human remains in a wood stove at the home of the suspect, Robert Jason Owens. Authorities say the victims, Christy Cod, a finalist on season eight of the Food Network Star, and her husband, Joseph, had hired the man to work on their home. Christie was reportedly five months pregnant.
And Bobbi Kristina Brown has been moved to a medical rehab facility, according to a source close to the family. The 22-year-old daughter of Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown is still in a medically induced coma after being found unresponsive her Atlanta home in January. The extent of her injuries is unknown as police continue to treat her case as a criminal investigation.
And the highly publicized return of Serena Williams to a California tournament she boycotted for more than a decade is cut short because of a knee injury. Williams' first boycotted the Indian Wells Tournament 14 years ago when she and her family were booed by the crowd which they attributed to racism. Williams says she is looking forward to returning to the event next year.
And we have so much more, straight ahead in the NEWSROOM, which all begins right now.
Happening right now, 100 American special operators evacuated from Yemen, following a deadly mosque attack. A former Navy SEAL weighs in on what it means that there are no longer any U.S. forces in that country.
Then -- chaos at a New Orleans airport.
