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Mansion Murder Suspect; ISIS Storms Ancient City; Oil Spill Cleanup. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired May 21, 2015 - 14:00   ET

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


[14:00:07] ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Poppy Harlow, in today for Brooke Baldwin.

Breaking developments in the manhunt for the prime suspect in the killing of a family and their housekeeper. Sources telling us here at CNN, the suspect told his girlfriend that he does plan to surrender. Daron Dylon Wint may have been so money hungry that he tortured a child in order to get his way. And it was a pizza that he ordered in the midst of all of it that has now led to his arrest warrant for murder. Washington, D.C., police say that DNA found on a pizza crust belongs to Wint. An intense manhunt is now focused on Brooklyn, New York.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF CATHY LANIER, DC METROPOLITAN POLICE: The Capital Area Regional Fugitive Task Force has searched several locations in Prince George's County, Maryland, looking for Mr. Wint. Information gained from interviews and new information in the past few hours, we have information that we believe Mr. Wint is currently in the Brooklyn, New York, area.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Well, the pizza crust that was found at this quadruple murder scene of a 10-year-old boy, Philip Savopoulos, his father, Savvas, his mother, Amy, and their housekeeper, Veralicia Figueroa, is what has led these investigators to this man. All the victims were bound with duct tape and a source tells CNN the boy's body showed some of the worst signs of torture.

With me now, CNN's Deborah Feyerick. She's been working her sources on this story.

You have just learned, in the past few moments, that the authorities have been able to locate the suspect's girlfriend and talk to her.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Right. That's exactly right. It appears that the murder suspect, Wint, was in touch with his girlfriend, may have even been up in the Brooklyn area. We're now being told that the girlfriend was picked up in the Brooklyn area this morning. She's being questioned by authorities. According to two sources, the girlfriend told police that Wint planned

to turn himself in. To be clear, he remains a fugitive, and there's no indication that he's made contact with any authorities. Obviously everybody looking at this with a little bit of skepticism, but his family has urged him to surrender himself. It's not clear how he's traveling or where he is now, but the police chief did make clear that this was not a random crime. That, in fact, the fugitive knew the victims. Specifically, the father, because they worked at the same company. The father, Savopoulos, was CEO and president of American Iron Works and we are now learning that, in fact, Wint was working there as well. Not clear whether he was still employed there, though.

HARLOW: I think it's interesting, Deb, when we listened to that police press conference, the police chief there said she would not answer the question as to whether or not they'd been in contact with Wint, with the suspect. She wouldn't say, yes, we have, or, no, we haven't. We know they haven't located him, but that they hadn't been - she wouldn't say if they'd been in contact at all, been able to reach him in any way. Do we know anything else about that?

FEYERICK: Well, again, the girlfriend has said he is planning on surrendering. He was planning on turning himself in. This could be a wild goose chase to pull authorities off, have them go in a different direction. Whether he's reached out to them, there's a heavy presence of police, of U.S. marshals, all trying to track him down right now. But he is not in custody. He's still at large. He's still a fugitive. And so whether he is now making contact, whether he's decided to, but the girlfriend continues to be questioned by authorities. They're trying to get as much information as possible. She lives in the Brooklyn area and that's why the focus of this manhunt sort of shifted up to this area earlier today.

HARLOW: From Washington up there.

FEYERICK: Exactly, up in Washington. Correct.

HARLOW: All right, Deb Feyerick, great reporting. Thank you so much.

Let's talk more about this now with our guests. Daron Dylon Wint, the suspect, is 34 years old. He's a citizen of Jamaica. He does have a criminal record. Let's talk about it more with criminal profiler Pat Brown.

Pat, thanks for being here. I appreciate it. Let's begin with this. When you look at someone who could carry something out like this, what kind of person tortures someone, including a 10-year-old child, and orders pizza at the same time? It seems unbelievable, but police are saying this is actually what happened.

PAT BROWN, CRIMINAL PROFILER: Yes, no, I think some - what people would generally call him is a nasty piece of work, but I would call him a psychopath and a sadistic psychopath at that, that he could commit this horrible crime and not care one bit about what he's doing to this child, kill four people, but - and then have no conscience. So, I mean, if you're hungry while you're doing this, you're going to order dinner. The lucky part is, he's stupid. And, you know, his mother didn't teach

him apparently to eat all his food. But you don't leave the crust around with your DNA on it. So he did a really - a really, really silly thing for a criminal. So it might be - at least we now know who it is, at least, instead of wondering who in the heck it could possibly be. So that's an advantage for the police.

HARLOW: You say he's stupid. At the same time, whoever carried this out thought to erase the video from the security system.

[14:05:00] BROWN: Well, you know, when you're a criminal, you're not that bright a criminal. You'll do some things but you just won't do other things.

One of the other mistakes he made was when he stole the Porsche and basically he drove it home to Prince George's County, supposedly two miles from his house. And that is very common among criminals. Usually they even go closer than that because they don't want to bother to walk too far. So - but he just - you know, he drove it come to close to where he lived. So these are things you don't do if you're really, really thinking things through like some kind of mastermind. He's not a mastermind criminal. He just thinks of things, oh, I should do this, but he doesn't think, I should do that, which is an advantage, I was saying, in that the police at least know who he is.

Now, catching him right now is another thing. I mean he's a psychopath and probably a pathological liar. So is he going to turn himself in? Really? Why? So that's probably a lie. And he's very dangerous because he could easily become a spree killer because if you've already killed four people, why not five, why not six, why not seven. He could take hostages. He could, you know, carjack people. He could go into somebody else's home and, you know, he's very, very dangerous, and that's the most important thing is they have to get him before he, you know, causes any more horrible damage.

HARLOW: Let's take a look at his rap sheet. I mean this does someone who has a - is someone who has an extensive rap sheet. But take a look at these charges. It includes second-degree assault, burglary, lying to police. From what we know at this point, it does not include any murders, any aggravated assaults, any kidnapping. Given that, does it appear to you that Wint could be, would be the ring leader in all of this or potentially a secondary person involved?

BROWN: I mean, just because you haven't gotten caught for something horrible yet doesn't mean you're not going to do it. I mean there's a lot of people who don't commit that - totally, you know, violent crime like homicide until they're in their 30s or 40s, sometimes when they're 60. So I think what we have is evidence that he is a - has a thug mentality and that he has a psychopathic mentality. He's a criminal.

And at certain points in time what happens with psychopaths, if something is going on in their life they're not happy about and they say, oh, you know, I'm fed up with where I'm at, I think I can make this big leap, perhaps he saw this as a big opportunity. He worked for this guy. Maybe he chatted him up, knows where he lives, thinks, hey, here's a way for me to get a bunch of cash. You know, and that's what he decided to do. Maybe he's jealous. Who knows what's going on in his mind.

Does he have an accomplice? Good question. And we don't know that yet. We have to examine a lot of evidence before there would be any way to know whether he has somebody else helping him out.

HARLOW: Does it surprise you that the authorities are now saying it was DNA on the pizza crust that led to his arrest? Not DNA anywhere else. And this is a guy who the authorities say was in this home with these four innocent victims that he allegedly murdered for hours and hours on end, and then they get to him through pizza crust.

BROWN: Well, they say they make dumb mistakes. And that is how most criminals get caught is by simply making dumb mistakes. And so, you know, you have a long - the longer period of time you're some place, the bigger the chance are you're going to make the stupid mistake. So because he was in the house for so long, you know, anything could have happened that could have left some kind of evidence around and clearly did. So that was very, very fortunate.

HARLOW: And as we said, authorities focusing on Brooklyn, New York, right now looking for this suspect. And they've been in touch, as Deborah Feyerick reported, with his girlfriend, who says he will turn himself in. We will be monitoring.

Pat Brown, thanks so much.

BROWN: Thanks, Poppy.

HARLOW: Coming up next, breaking news. ISIS' takeover. More and more territory they are - they are taking. The terrorists going door to door now in one ancient city, hunting down soldiers. This as we get word they are now in control of, get this, 50 percent of Syria. President Obama responding, what the president is saying.

Also, that massive oil spill in California. Now we know it is five times worse than previously thought. And now we know more about the company involved with quite a checkered safety record.

Also, one of the bikers arrested in that deadly shootout is walking out of jail. Hear why.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:13:10] HARLOW: Rockets fired at ISIS terrorists in the backdrop, smoke rising above an ancient city. That has existed since the end of the stone age. Today, residents around the Syrian city of Palmyra telling us that ISIS fighters are, quote, "everywhere," going door to door and hunting down government soldiers. The U.S. now admitting that saving Palmyra may not be possible right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARIE HARF, STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESWOMAN: This is something we're following. We're concerned about this. Obviously it has been caught in the crossfire for some time and we'll speak up about it. But beyond that I'm not sure what more can be done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: But despite this admission and despite ISIS claiming city after city, keep in mind, this comes just five days after they were able to topple Ramadi. And now they are doing the same across Syria and Iraq. President Obama still seems confident in his effort to fight ISIS. He tells "The Atlantic" in a new interview, quote, "I don't think we are losing," referring to losing against ISIS.

Joining me now to talk about it, Arwa Damon, CNN's senior international correspondent.

Arwa, can we talk about the significance of the seizure of Palmyra, considering now that the big headline is 50 percent of Syria has been overtaken by ISIS. Why is this city so critical?

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's critical on a number of levels. If we're going to just speak in pure military terms, it does allow ISIS for quicker, easier access, another route straight towards the capital, Damascus. In terms of the historical significance that you were referencing there, it would be absolutely devastating to all if ISIS were to destroy the ancient historic sites of Palmyra, similar to what it did to a number of sites that it took over here in Iraq.

And then, of course, there's the humanitarian toll in all of this that was caused by the fighting there, by the ISIS advance into the city. And then the added significance of, this is one of the few, rare times, one must say, that ISIS and the Syrian regime are battling out directly. ISIS tends to focus a lot of its efforts on winning back the bulk of its territory from the other Syrian rebel groups. It doesn't necessarily take on the government in this kind of combat, directly arrest territory from the Syrian regime. So that is also a fairly interesting development. Perhaps a shift in how ISIS is planning on taking up even more territory inside Syria.

[14:15:32] HARLOW: What are the people of Palmyra able to do? Because just days ago when we were talking about Ramadi, only about a tenth of the population was able to flee Ramadi. What happens to the people, the innocent civilians there?

DAMON: Unfortunately, sadly, probably a fate similar to what we have seen in the other areas that ISIS has taken over. Those that are lucky enough end up fleeing with just the clothes on their backs, grabbing whatever they can. Those that end up stuck inside the city face life under ISIS. If, again, they are lucky, they are not killed, they're not dragged out from their homes, they're not accused of being elements of the Syrian regime or elements of the rebel fighting forces that were taking on ISIS. We are hearing of some (ph) executions taking place. We're hearing also that at least 100 Syrian regime soldiers were killed in the clashes that took place.

The young man that CNN spoke to was describing how there were at least 50 people alongside him, all holed up in a house. The city effectively under curfew. People at this stage absolutely terrified. One can only imagine, especially given everything that they would have heard about how ISIS conducts itself once it has taken over a city, their entire realities will be altered at this stage.

HARLOW: Arwa Damon reporting for us live from Baghdad. Arwa, thank you very much for that.

Let's talk more about this city of Palmyra, why it is so important not only right now but historically. It is in the ISIS crosshairs. And what you're looking at are irreplaceable ancient ruins, considered one of the most valuable heritage listed sites in the world. The ISIS presence here, a daunting prospect for historians. Consider what we have watched ISIS do in the past. They've taken sledge hammers and dynamite to anything that that group deems to be a false idol.

Let's bring in Bonnie Burnham. She's the president of the World Monument Funds.

Thank you for being here, Bonnie.

BONNIE BURNHAM, PRESIDENT, WORLD MONUMENT FUNDS: Thank you.

HARLOW: Let's begin with what Arwa just mentioned, and that is the historical significance of this entire city to, you know, classicism, to the history of the world.

BURNHAM: It's an incredible apparition. It's a city in an oasis. It stands completely alone in the desert by itself. And it was always a great crossroads of civilization, built up to be a really major city in the first and second century A.D., which was the hay day.

But when the western world was rediscovering antiquity in the 17th and 18th century, and explorers would go into these places, it really inspired a whole new sense of what civilization was, what it meant to rule a large area of people of all different countries and tribes and people traveling through the region about establishing institutions and the architecture of the ancient world was copied by the European societies and by us in America. The White House, these buildings with the classical orders, they're reflecting the idea of what these institutions of the ancient world represented and what it was to be a great ruling power.

HARLOW: Historically speaking, what we've seen ISIS do in the Mosul Museum, for example, and now what will likely happen here, unfortunately, given what we've seen ISIS do to all of these relics, what does that remind you of in history? When has it been so bad on this front?

BURNHAM: Well, it reminds me of things that I learned about after World War II. I was born just after World War II, and the world was still obsessed with what had happened and especially the bombing of great cities in Europe, as well as the efforts to prevent the loss of great cities in Europe, like St. Petersburg, which people defended, as opposed to Dresden, which was completely destroyed. But Europe was in rubble after World War II and it took years, it took decades to recover. And we see the same thing happening right now.

HARLOW: And this can't be recovered.

BURNHAM: It's heartbreaking.

HARLOW: It is heartbreaking.

When you look at what ISIS might want to do - if they don't destroy them, I had been reading a fascinating "New York Times" article you were quoted in. They said there's a high likelihood that ISIS will try to sell some of these antiquities on the black market. I automatically think, who's buying them?

[14:19:54] BURNHAM: Well, Palmyra's already been a hot spot for this kind of thing ever since the beginning of this conflict in Syria. And the state board, the National Antiquity Services in Syria has been very well supported by the regime, and those people have been doing everything they can to prevent looting. And they've been able to recover a lot of antiquities. But with more and more of this disruption, gangs of antiquities thieves have formed, and they have the capacity to just get this stuff out of the region. It goes away from the sites, it goes into other places of the Middle East.

HARLOW: Where does it go?

BURNHAM: Well, we don't know where it's going because it's not really turning up. It's not turning up very much in America. Everybody's on alert. And they're actually trying to pass laws that prevent this material from coming into the United States, as they did with Iraq about 10 years ago. But it's probably being warehoused somewhere for a time when it would be possible to just reintroduce it into the market. It has to make its way into the market in order to have any real value.

HARLOW: Bonnie Burnham, thank you so much. It is heartbreaking indeed to see.

BURNHAM: Thank you.

HARLOW: Thanks. Good to have you on the program.

BURNHAM: (INAUDIBLE).

HARLOW: Well, to find out how you can help those impacted by the ISIS threat, go to cnn.com/impact. A lot of ways to help there.

Next, as the summer tourist season heats up, an oil spill is turning out to be much worse than thought even just yesterday. This is forcing California to shut down a big popular beach, to declare a state of emergency. It is threatening wildlife and businesses. We'll take you there live.

Also, we talked to the mother who is generating all kinds of buzz for how she dealt with her daughter's inappropriate behavior online.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you a freak? UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Does your FaceBook page say you're a freak?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And do you even know anything about being a freak?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:26:00] HARLOW: That oil spill in California is five times bigger than experts estimated just one day ago. Crews right now racing to save oil-drenched birds and try to scoop up gobs of oil from pristine beaches. This after an underground pipeline ruptured. The company says that about 80,000 gallons of oil may have spilled on to land, about 21,000 may have spilled right into the Pacific Ocean. California's governor, Jerry Brown, has declared a state of emergency. Paul Vercammen is on the story. He joins me from Santa Barbara County.

Paul, how's the cleanup effort going there?

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Poppy, I think we have some statistical evidence and some visual evidence that it is going better today. If you look behind me, you can see these oil-stained rocks. And yesterday and the day before, with every single wave, it seemed that more oil was poured onto the beach. The look of this is a lot cleaner.

And recently, just in a press conference, the Coast Guard saying along with Plains All American Pipeline, that they've been able to recover some 7,700 gallons of oil mixed with water. And as you pointed out earlier, with this spill, they say some 105 gallons of oil, that most of it was kept on land. In other words, the total amount of oil that might have gone into the water is 21,000.

It is over this where they also say that they've gone into this culvert. They went underneath the freeway where the oil had spilled and they've cleaned up some. They use this term, 400 yards of oil.

In the meantime, more evidence coming out that some wildlife has been affected. Certainly pelicans. And they say that they've had lobsters - there's lobsters offshore here - and some fish also killed in this mess. And where I'm standing right now, Refugio State Beach, and the beach just down the way, El Capitan, normally very busy. People would be pouring in here right now, preparing for their memorial weekend holidays. These campgrounds sold out. Well, they're both closed for at least another seven days.

HARLOW: Yes.

VERCAMMEN: So indeed an economic impact, Poppy. HARLOW: So the bigger question becomes the safety record of this company, right, Plains All American Pipeline? They have 10 oil spills in four U.S. states between 2004 and 2007. They paid a $3.2 million fine for that. You're also looking at a company that just five years ago the EPA ordered them to pay over $40 million for 10 previous spills. And according to "The Los Angeles Times," about 175 violations is how many they've had in recent years. What more are you learning about the company? What are people saying about this company and its safety record?

VERCAMMEN: Well, along those lines, you know, it was the EPA and the Justice Department that went after Plains. And they found that in those 10 spills that you were highlighting, that they all related to corrosive or corroded pipeline. And that's one of the reasons they also were fined in this matter.

You know, all -- Plains All American is saying, look, considering the amount of business we do, these are not an unusual amount of pipelines. But right now the Environmental Defense Center, a nonprofit organization in this county, which is very aggressive in offshore oil drilling litigation, they are poring over all of the documents related to this spill. And while they have not said that they are threatening to sue, you can bet that they will file a lawsuit if they find anything that they think is untoward or was done wrong by Plains American in this case. So we could have lawsuits in our hand. And no doubt the state could jump in as well because of what has happened to all these state beaches on this memorial weekend.

HARLOW: Yes. But the one thing you can't undo, no matter how many lawsuits you file, is the damage that's been done.

Paul Vercammen, thank you very much. Appreciate it.

[14:29:50] Well, the first suspect to make bail in Sunday's deadly biker gang shootout is now out of jail. Texas authorities confirmed to us here at CNN that Jeff Beatty (ph) posted the $1 million bail yesterday after being arrested outside of that Twin Peaks restaurant. At least 169 of those people remain behind bars. They face organized crime charges.