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Police Capture Quadruple Murder Suspect; Former Attorney Defends D.C. Murder Suspect; Militants Seize Syria's Last Entry Into Iraq. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired May 22, 2015 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you so much. I appreciate that.

NEWSROOM starts now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Happening now in the NEWSROOM, a massive manhunt ends. A murder suspects nabbed. Police hunt down Daron Wint for the gruesome killings in D.C. The chase stretching from Washington to New York City. Still, Wint's former lawyer says he's a nice guy.

ROBIN FICKER, FORMER ATTORNEY FOR SUSPECT: They've got the wrong guy. It's not him. It's a witch hunt, it's a group grope, they're out to get him.

COSTELLO: And it's not over yet. After that deadly biker shoot-out Texas authorities say they are investigating new threats against officers. The difference this time? Officials say the bikers are supplied with grenades and explosives.

Plus, a scandal rocking reality TV's most conservative family. Why Josh Duggar is apologizing. Will this force the family off the air?

Let's talk. Live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

We begin in the nation's capital where a massive manhunt for an alleged killer is now over. Overnight police arrested 34-year-old Daron Dylon Wint, along with five others suspected -- accomplices rather, after the gruesome slaying of a prominent D.C. family.

Wint is accused of torturing and killing a husband and wife, their 10- year-old son and the family's housekeeper. DNA on a pizza crust inside the family's mansion tying Wint to the crime. Authorities tracked him down to New York and when police got there, through, he was already on the run. It was back in Washington where that gruesome crime was committed that police were able to close in on the suspect.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) CMDR. ROBERT FERNANDEZ, U.S. MARSHALS CAPITOL AREA REGIONAL FUGITIVE TASK FORCE: We also called Prince George's County, Maryland Police Department and they had a helicopter in the air in five minutes. Once we reached the location in D.C. where we felt we could take him down, then we did a vehicle pin maneuver on both vehicles and were able the arrest everyone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: CNN's senior Washington correspondent Joe Johns has more for you this morning.

Good morning.

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Daron Wint is expected to make his first appearance in court in this case sometime after 1:00 Eastern Time. He is facing first-degree murder charges. His appearance will come after 48 hours of a cat-and- mouse game with authorities that led them from here in the Washington, D.C. area all the way to New York and back here to D.C.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FERNANDEZ: We were able to take him down and arrest him.

JOHNS (voice-over): Breaking overnight, the multi-state manhunt is over. Police arresting six people, including 34-year-old Daron Wint in what they call a great takedown in D.C. around 11:00 p.m. It's unknown who's being arrested here.

Wint on the run for a week charged for the slayings of a prominent CEO, his wife, their young son and housekeeper, allegedly torturing the 10-year-old, killing all four of them before setting the house located in an upscale D.C. neighbor on fire.

FERNANDEZ: New York Police Department did a fantastic job getting us vital information last night.

JOHNS: U.S. Marshal Robert Fernandez says investigators worked 48 straight hours first tracking Wint all the way up to New York City Wednesday night, just barely missing him. Police believe Wint saw himself identified on the news and took off. Investigators then located the suspects back in Maryland the following night at a Howard Johnson Hotel 20 miles north of the White House.

FERNANDEZ: When we were approaching, we realized he was in a vehicle. They started going northbound on Route 1. We followed him for about four or five miles.

JOHNS: The task force including 20 vehicles and a county helicopter tailing two vehicles, a sedan where Wint was identified in the backseat, the small moving truck, sources told CNN affiliate WJLA. A large amount of cash was found inside. Police arresting a total of four men and two women.

FERNANDEZ: They are the most amazing investigators I have ever seen. It's incredible what these guys are capable of doing.

JOHNS: Forty-six-year-old Savvas Savopoulos was the president and CEO of American Iron Works, a multi-million dollar building materials manufacturer. Wint once worked for that same company and according to one source allegedly sold $40,000 that was delivered to the home before setting it afire.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JOHNS: And the Savopoulos family put out a statement this morning thanking law enforcement for bringing about an arrest in the case. Also it says in part, "While it does not abate our pain, we hope that it begins to restore a sense of calm and security to our neighborhood and to our city. We are blessed to live in a community comprised of close circles of friends who have supported us and grieved with us."

So the question now going forward, Carol, is whether any of those other individuals who were arrested last night with Daron Wint turned out to have anything to do with the murder in this house behind me -- Carol.

[09:05:14] COSTELLO: All right. Joe Johns reporting live from Washington, D.C. this morning.

A former attorney for the suspect Wint says police have the wrong guy, insisting that the man he knows is so nice he's someone you would want your grandmother to have lunch with. Early this morning, CNN's Alisyn Camerota talked with the attorney Robin Ficker. He's represented Wint during six previous cases. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FICKER: Well, I represented him in six cases in the past. He was not found guilty in any of those six cases. I know him to be a kind, gentle, nonaggressive person, someone you wouldn't mind your grandmother going to lunch with. He is not the guy that did this. His DNA was found on pizza that was delivered outside the home, and then later that pizza crust was found in a dumpster, but the murders were committed inside the home. They've got the wrong guy.

It's a group grope, a rush to judgment. There's a presumption of innocence which is not being mentioned by the police.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR, "NEW DAY": According to ABC News last night, his relatives describe him as he is very hostile, he's arrogant, he doesn't listen, you try to tell him and guide him the right way but he thinks he knows the law.

You are the only person that we have heard who considers him a gentle, kind person?

FICKER: Every mother's child at some point becomes angry, becomes hostile towards their parents. We know that. I'm a parent three times over and I've seen it in my kids who are wonderful successes. I think we're nitpicking here trying to brand him in the public's eye, in the court of public opinion, the police should take their case to court. There is no evidence of DNA -- his DNA on any of the victims, is there? No.

CAMEROTA: We don't know. All we know that's been released so far -- I mean, obviously we -- we're not privy to what the investigators have inside the house, but that there was pizza, as you say, delivered to the home, that pizza was eaten and his DNA was found on it. So how do you explain that connection?

FICKER: I've had many cases where the DNA findings have been thrown out of court. We don't know who conducted this DNA and how it was done. It needs to be scrutinized. Why is the -- why are the police letting out piecemeal, little bits of evidence in a Chinese water torture method. They need to conduct themselves in court and not keep talking to the media trying to brand this guy.

CAMEROTA: Mr. Ficker, why do you feel so strongly about this?

FICKER: Because I have met him many times, represented him in court, and there were no findings of guilt, although it started out as though he were the guilty one, it turned out he wasn't.

CAMEROTA: OK.

FICKER: I think --

CAMEROTA: And describe to us --

FICKER: You know, you may be next. You may be next. Someone may find another person's DNA in your house, I am sure they could. We need to protect the least of these in order to protect all of these.

CAMEROTA: Sure. Fair enough. I mean, you are a defense attorney, you do an important public service in this country. Will you represent him in this case?

FICKER: It's possible but I have not been contacted by the family or retained in the family to represent him in this particular case.

CAMEROTA: When you --

FICKER: Although we've been successful in the past.

CAMEROTA: When you say that he was kind and gentle, can you give us some examples?

FICKER: I've met with him many times. I've observed hundreds of thousands of people in my life, completed 30,000 cases in court. When I'm sitting across from a person for hours at a time, I can tell that they're kind and gentle. He was not a mean, aggressive person at all, he was a young man finding his way, a student of Prince George's Community College. He tried to get into the Marines, he was patriotic, he was well-meaning and he remains that way as far as I know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: OK. So kind of a contentious interview, so Alisyn joins me now, and after this interview you actually fact-checked what this lawyer said.

CAMEROTA: Well, we had to fact-checked it because he said there were no findings of guilty, and that was wrong. I mean, basically, he was suggesting that when he represented him there were no findings of guilty. That part is true. However, in 2009, Daron Wint was found guilty of assaulting one of his girlfriends in Maryland, and in 2010, he actually pleaded guilty to malicious destruction of property after he allegedly threatened to kill a woman and her infant daughter breaking into her apartment, stealing a television and vandalizing her car.

So in other words, the rosy picture that his attorney -- his previous attorney paints is not the full picture of this person.

COSTELLO: I just -- I don't know. Like I just can't believe that this -- I don't know why the lawyer would say all of these nice things about this man because surely he knew that about this man.

[09:10:06] CAMEROTA: And I mean, he really was sort of trying to leave the impression that basically police were over charging him, that he was just unlucky that he was a victim of police sort of excessive law enforcement. That is an exception.

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: For all we know, that could be true.

CAMEROTA: Perhaps in the cases that he represented him, perhaps that was true. However, what he was conveniently not mentioning is that there are other chapters of Daron Wint's life and legal record where he was convicted and he did plead guilty to violent crimes. So he's not just the sort of Boy Scout that his previous attorney was depicting him as.

COSTELLO: Alisyn Camerota, thanks for stopping by. I appreciate it.

So I also would like to bring in Mary Ellen O'Toole, a former FBI profiler and special agent to talk more about this.

Welcome, Mary Ellen. How are you?

MARY ELLEN O'TOOLE, FORMER FBI PROFILER: I'm fine, thank you.

COSTELLO: So you heard what Alisyn says. There are black marks in this guy's background, yet his attorney says he's this gentle giant. So what do you make of that?

O'TOOLE: Well, we hear that a lot. That there is a conflict between how one person will characterize an individual and as someone else will characterize a person. Frankly, at this point that has to take a backseat, because my -- with a case like this, there will be more forensic evidence that will come out, and the forensic evidence will tell the story. So all these characterizations either good or bad will not have a louder voice than the forensic evidence.

We've only heard about one piece of that evidence, which is that DNA on the crust of the pizza. But I am very sure there will be more very convincing forensics to either point in this man's direction and/or point to somebody else.

COSTELLO: Well, let's talk a little bit more about the DNA on the pizza. It was found nearby. We do know that Wint worked for the family, so it is possible maybe to explain it away that way, right?

O'TOOLE: If you are just looking at one item of evidence, but in a case like that, you never do that. You have to look at the totality. You can't just pull out one piece, one behavioral piece, or one forensic piece. One piece by itself may not be able to stand alone, but at the end it's all the pieces together and what they show us.

COSTELLO: OK. And just -- and just the profile of someone who would be capable of this kind of heinous crime, does Wint fit that profile in any way? Because we do know he had violent episodes in his past and that includes violent episodes against his family. According to the "Washington Post," his own father had to take out a restraining order against him.

O'TOOLE: I don't know -- even with that, I don't know enough about him to say this person is a good fit or not, and really, quite honestly, in the FBI we don't do it that way. What we do is we look at the crime scene. Because oftentimes, you may have an offender -- I don't think it's likely in this case, but it has happened. I've had an offender who committed, say, a series of murders without any criminal record.

So I have to -- when I'm analyzing a case, I have to really set that aside and really analyze the crime scene itself, and then I can bring in the background of the offender because oftentimes we don't have all the criminal behavior that they were involved in, or they got away with a lot. So we have to look at that criminal history, the former criminal history and say, is this the complete picture?

COSTELLO: All right. Mary Ellen O'Toole, thanks for your insight. Appreciate it.

O'TOOLE: You're very welcome.

COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM -- you're welcome.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, growing concerns as ISIS claims another big victory, seizing a border crossing between its newly captured cities in Iraq and Syria.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [09:17:22] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: ISIS militants gobble up more territory and an international watchdog says the group now controls more than half of Syria. The breathtaking gains further solidify this week with the capture of Syria's ancient city of Palmyra, and the Iraqi city of Ramadi. And just hours ago, we learned that ISIS fighters seized control of Syria's last crossing into Iraq.

CNN's Arwa Damon is in Baghdad with more for you.

Hi, Arwa.

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, and we were just at a bridge that is the only safe main crossing for people that are trying to flee that violence in and around Ramadi, from Anbar province, to get to Baghdad. But the bridge today was closed. And on the other side of it, we met hundreds of refugees stuck in the most horrific conditions with no shelter during a sizeable sand storm. The wind gusting up the type of sand that sticks to the back of your throat, gets back in your lungs.

And among those stuck on the other side of this bridge were babies, the elderly, and women and children. Many of them were absolutely infuriated. They were desperate because they can't understand why it is that after everything that they have been through, after having survived ISIS, taking over their cities and towns, now, the central government is not allowing them to cross over into Baghdad.

They say they need water, they are thirsty, they're hungry, children don't have powdered milk, and mothers nursing are unable to do so. We tried asking some of the authorities that were there, the soldiers, why the gate was closed, they couldn't really give us a straight answer. We're trying to track that down because the Iraqi government has in the past opened up this particular bridge, although only to individuals who have a sponsor in Baghdad, but these are absolutely horrific conditions that these refugees are finding themselves in.

COSTELLO: So, why isn't the Iraqi government helping these people?

DAMON: Well, this is what they say. They say that because of the security situation, if you are going to cross from Anbar province into Baghdad province, across this bridge, you have to have a sponsor in Baghdad. Otherwise, you're not allowed to cross.

And a lot of people have come through using friends, or family or relatives as their sponsors. But then, for some reason today, this bridge was closed. We heard various murmurs that maybe it was due to the security situation. Some people saying it was closing for a few hours. Others saying it was maybe going to be up for a few days.

But that is exactly the question that so many of these refugees were asking.

[09:20:02] Why is the government abandoning us once again? I mean, they are so infuriated, so aggravated, that one man went so far as to say, if I die here I don't want to be buried in Iraq, because a country that treats me like this I cannot call it my own. COSTELLO: Arwa Damon, reporting live from Baghdad this morning. The

snowballing momentum of ISIS in this week's capture of two key cities further stokes the growing concerns over a U.S. strategy or lack of one.

Let's bring in Philip Mudd, a former counterterrorism official with the CIA. He also serves on the National Intelligence Council and the advisory board of the National Counterterrorism Center.

Welcome, Philip

PHILIP MUDD, CNN COUNTERTERRORISM ANALYST: Good morning.

COSTELLO: Good morning.

I want to play for you part of an exclusive CNN interview with the critical ally in the region, Jordan. And this is from the king of Jordan. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KING ABDULLAH II, JORDAN: I want people to understand this focus should not just be on Syria or Iraq. We have the same problems in Africa, Boko Haram, Shabaab. We have the same problems in Asia, and elsewhere. And so, what we need to do is have this as holistic approach, because this is a fight that begs all countries and all regions together. This is a fight I've said many times before, inside of Islam. But Muslims, Christians, Jews, other religions, all nations are all together inside of this fight. It should be led by us because this is a problem inside of our religion.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: So, who should ride to Iraq's rescue then?

MUDD: Look, one of the lessons you have in counterinsurgency operations, and this is over the course of decades, not just in Iraq, but in southeast Asia, for example, is if the home team in this case, obviously, that's Iraqi military and the Shia led government, if the home team over the course of years doesn't have the capability and will to carry the fight to the enemy, no amount of foreign support is going to help them succeed.

So, people talk about a lack of U.S. strategy and they also talk about ISIS gains. The question here, and I think the king is right, is, do Iraqis themselves with some support, Americans, Jordanians, Turks, for example bring the fight to the enemy?

The same holds true as the king said in places like northern Nigeria. That's a group of African countries. In Somalia, that's also a group of African countries with some U.S. support.

So, I don't think the debate about U.S. being in the lead to me matches up with what I know about counterinsurgencies -- the local guys have to bring the fight home or else they're ultimately going to fail. COSTELLO: So, I'm a little confused about what some lawmakers want.

They say that the Obama strategy isn't working. I think many people would agree with that.

MUDD: Yes.

COSTELLO: So, should the United States take more of a lead? Like what do they want?

MUDD: There is two questions we have to separate out. One is Syria where it appears the opposition is growing in momentum. We have been slow, whether -- either side of the aisle you are on, Democrat or Republican, you got to acknowledge, we've been slow to come to the game in Syria, because we can't figure out how to support people in an opposition that's in such disarray. But the acceleration and the gains by ISIS and its affiliates in Syria is remarkable.

So, somebody has got to ask the question, simply, what happens afterward?

Big difference from Iraq, we were there with 150,000 plus, and we didn't succeed in training and equipping the Iraqi military then. There are people who talk about making changes around the margins in Iraq. For example, should we have more forward deployed troops? Should we accelerate training?

I think those are fair questions. Should we have an independent avenue to arm the Kurds in the north, for example, which would infuriate Baghdad, but I think it's a good idea. Baghdad has not been effective here.

At the core, though, people are struggling because there is no answer to the central question. When is the Iraqi government going to bring Sunnis in, you just heard that report from Arwa Damon saying, they appeared to be ignoring the Sunnis in Anbar province, because it is those villagers who have to defend against ISIS. Until they do, this war will not be won regardless of how much support the Americans give the Iraqis.

COSTELLO: And the reason that the Iraqi government won't help these refugees from Ramadi is because they are Sunnis, right? And they are afraid that the Sunnis will somehow take over the government, is that true?

MUDD: That's right. This is a pretty simple story. Remember, Saddam Hussein, we think of him as a dictator. Put another lens on that story, he was a Sunni. Sunnis are a vast minority in Iraq. The Shia make up something like 60 percent, 65 percent of the population, and they felt oppressed under Saddam. So, fast-forward in a democratic society when you own 60 percent to 65 percent of the population, you win.

The Iraqi leadership are Shia, and they are sitting and saying, wow, we don't like ISIS, but if we start to arm Sunni tribals, what do you think is going to happen? They might turn against us. So, there's a calculation that says, by the way, with the support of the Iranians in Baghdad, it says, we want the Shia to stay on top, we've seen what life is like with Saddam when the Sunnis are top.

[09:25:00] So, we're worried about giving too much power, authority, weaponry, money to the Sunni tribals.

I think that's a mistake but that's what's happening now.

COSTELLO: Philip, thanks for your insight. I appreciate it.

MUDD: Thank you.

COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM: new charges for six Baltimore police officers now indicted in the death of Freddie Gray. We'll talk about that, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: In Baltimore, a grand jury now indicted six police officers in the death of Freddie Gray. They will be arraigned on July 2nd. They are facing a new charge in addition to the ones already filed against them. As you well know, Gray died last month, one week after he was arrested and allegedly suffered a traumatic spinal cord injury, while he was being transported in a police van.

Well, now, a grand jury in Baltimore has indicted those six officers and new charges have been filed against some of them.

We're going to head to Washington now, or Baltimore, I think, and CNN national correspondent, Suzanne Malveaux. Washington -- Suzanne is in Washington.

Good morning.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Carol. Well, the attorneys for the Gray family, they are satisfied -- the family is relieved and the community of West Baltimore finally feels the fears and frustrations with the police department is going to be heard through the case against these six police officers.

Now, the number of charges against all six remain the same, but the most serious one, second degree depraved heart murder for the officer, Caesar Goodson, he -- that remains -- he drove the police van. What is interesting about this, Carol, some of the lesser charges have been dropped.