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At This Hour

2nd American Battle Ebola Getting Closer to Home; Another "The Hunt" Fugitive Found Dead; Campers in California Trapped by Wall of Mud; Water Now Determined Safe to Drink in Toledo

Aired August 04, 2014 - 11:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: The second American battling the deadly Ebola virus is getting closer to coming home. Nancy Writebol is a missionary who had been aiding Ebola victims in West Africa. She is set now to be flown out of Liberia and is due to arrive in Atlanta tomorrow.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: She will be treated in the same hospital, Emory Hospital, as the other U.S. patient, Dr. Kent Brantly. He arrived this weekend. What's amazing is he was spotted walking out under his own power out of the ambulance and into the hospital. It really is an amazing site, considering days earlier, he said to the doctors, I'm going to die. You would think he would know that as being a physician.

Chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, live outside of the hospital in Atlanta.

We need to mention, Sanjay, that you are on the faculty there. Tell us about the details about this experiment, some are saying secret serum, that likely saved his life.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: There are some pretty extraordinary details around this, Michaela. The medicine was flown in. It's something that needs to be kept at subzero temperatures. It was flown into Liberia. The background is it had never been used in a human before. This wasn't something they had much of details about. Didn't know it was going to work or not. It had to be flown in subzero temperatures, thawed out naturally and not administering any heat. That's relevant because what happened after that, Dr. Brantly said the first dose should go to Ms. Writebol because he was younger and thought he was more likely to recover.

They were thawing it out for her, and during that time period, he had a sudden deterioration. He started to have labored breathing. The rash became much worse. He thought he was going to die. He said as much to the health care professionals around him. At that point, the medicine that was thawed was brought to him. It was administered to him through an I.V., and within 20 minutes to an hour, according to our sources, he had a near complete reversal of his symptoms. His breathing got better. The rash went away. And by the next morning, he was able to get up and shower, walking around, again of his own power, before he got on the jet to be Medevac'ed to the United States. So it's one story but it really seemed to have a dramatic impact on him.

BERMAN: That is just amazing to hear a story like that. It doesn't usually happen with these kinds of drugs.

Sanjay, what about Nancy Writebol? Will it have the same effect on here? And what about the idea now of trying to get more of this to more people in need?

GUPTA: Yeah. Well, you know, it's so interesting, John, what we're describing is, first of all, it's real-time and it's never happened before. This particular medicine, which is known as a monoclonal antibody, had never been given to a human before. I can't emphasize that enough. Typically, the process is you go through clinical trials. You see if something is safe. You see if something is effective and if it can be given to large numbers of people. A lot of that got bypassed in this case. It was a bit of a Hail Mary saying let's just try this. The mortality rate is so high. Maybe it will work. And in Dr. Brantly case, it appears to have worked. Nancy Writebol also got two doses. The first dose didn't have such a profound effect, but the second dose seemed to have stabilized her and made her ready to be able to take this flight, which is going to be taken shortly as well.

It's a difficult medical to administer. It has to be thawed out. It has to be given as an I.V. It's much easier to give this medication in hospitals than in remote locations in Africa where a lot of these patients are being treated. But that is the goal. And we understand some of those conversations are under way. The Defense Threat Reduction Agency, which looks into these issues, actually increased funding to this particular biopharmaceutical firm because of promising results. And whether it had to do with Dr. Brantly or not, we don't know, but there are discussions to see if this could be made more widely available. We've had no treatments, no vaccines, no medicines for Ebola. So this will be another first.

PEREIRA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, a really amazing medical marvel, really.

I also want to talk about the fact, on the ground, at some point, maybe we can get this story. In some regions in West Africa, there's no trust in medical experts and people coming into the village. There's very little trust the locals have of medical professionals, so that is keeping them from --

BERMAN: That's one reason it's spreading.

PEREIRA: Absolutely. That's another part of the story that needs a look at.

BERMAN: 36 minutes after the hour. Ahead for us, another murder suspect found dead after being featured on CNN's "The Hunt." We'll have that story next.

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BERMAN: Another huge manhunt is over. A fugitive found dead and for the second time in a week, it was a fugitive featured on CNN's new series "The Hunt" with John Walsh.

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TOM BOSENKO, SHERIFF, SHANE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA: Shane Miller became our main suspect almost immediately. We do know that Mr. Miller was not at the scene when we arrived. One of his vehicles was missing. This would turn into a very extensive manhunt for Mr. Miller.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: Shane Miller's remains were found near a riverbank in California not far from the area where he had abandoned his truck. Miller was the prime suspect in the shooting deaths of his wife and two young daughters some 15 months ago. That case was featured in last month's premiere episode of "The Hunt" with John Walsh.

Joining us to talk about it, our colleague and host of "Legal Views, Ashleigh Banfield.

Really great to have you here with us.

This was a story that was so compelling. I followed along. Terrifying to thinking this man was on the run. And boom.

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN HOST, LEGAL VIEW: People in California were terrified. This was a guy who had survivalist skills. Who had, if the acquisitions were correct, in cold blood shot his wife and two young daughters, multiple times, killed them and took off.

(CROSSTALK)

PEREIRA: And a bunker with all sort of ammunition.

BANFIELD: Sure. There's a reason there's a most-wanted page. Now he's not anymore. And thank you so much, John Walsh. This has happened so often with John Walsh, over 1,000 people on "American's Most Wanted." Now we have got two who are no longer with us.

BERMAN: What gives here? We've got the news yesterday. Really, two in a week.

(CROSSTALK)

BERMAN: The show premiered three weeks ago. Why is this helpful for law enforcement?

BANFIELD: Having worked on "America's Most Wanted," having worked with John Walsh for the last 19 years of so, the success rate that he had, over a thousand people were caught because of the reach of television. The community gets involved and all eyes are critical. So many people think they can evade the radar because no one is looking? If you got a police force, if it's a small local police force, that's tricky.

PEREIRA: Their resources are strapped.

(CROSSTALK)

BANFIELD: Yes.

PEREIRA: But it's also interesting, the fact that people are more willing to talk to them than they are to talk to the police. A lot of people are not trusting the law enforcement.

BANFIELD: A lot of them can be anonymous. They can be with law enforcement as well. But people are pretty wary. He just had reach. I covered a case where one of his guys was caught in Thailand. Imagine "American's Most Wanted" being repurposed in Thailand. My assumption is "The Hunt" may do just as well overseas. These guys think they can get away anywhere.

BERMAN: The last suspect, the Mozdir guy, he was killed in a shoot- out in New York. There were several officers hurt in this process. Law enforcement officers do want this assistance.

BANFIELD: When I have told to law enforcement about John Walsh, they love John Walsh, because he brings good news, he brings tips. He brings hundreds of thousands of tips that they would heretofore never have had. In this particular case, this was an old girlfriend who knew of the show and saw an ex-boyfriend who was completely different. His image had completely changed. No one would have recognized this guy but that girlfriend did.

PEREIRA: And here's the thing that's so hard for families, is they feel they live with the agony every day, and fear that once it's out of the headlines, it's forgotten. And he makes it a point because he knows that all too well --

BANFIELD: How about you living in California feeling the fear about a crime you might have ever known about?

PEREIRA: Sure. And now this is another one. We don't know at what point this man, this suspect, this fugitive died. He's off the streets now. And those people don't have to worry --

(CROSSTALK)

BANFIELD: And no longer most wanted.

PEREIRA: That's right.

Ashleigh Banfield.

BERMAN: Great to have you here.

You can see Ashleigh again in a mere 16 minutes on her show, "Legal View." So stick around for that.

PEREIRA: Ahead @THISHOUR, hundreds of campers trapped behind a wall of mud in southern California. What's being done to rescue them? We'll bring you the latest, coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) PEREIRA: Let's head to the West right now. Drought-stricken California is now coping with too much water at once. In fact, one person lost their live with their vehicle was swept into a creek.

BERMAN: Of even greater concern the fate of 500 children and adults in a church camp in the mountains. Authorities were able to make contact with the camp. They determined everyone is safe, although the way out is block.

PEREIRA: Our Ted Rowlands joins us now on the phone.

It is good to have you, Ted.

I know you are heading to the area. Such a concern, given the drought-like conditions that plague the entire state and all of this deluge, this water that comes down. It is a real concern. What do you know about the plan to evacuate that campground?

TED ROWLANDS, CNN INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There's a lot of clean up. There's bulldozers out to try to open up the roadways here. They received four and a half, almost five inches of rain in a very short time over the week. If you look at the pictures, it's just amazing, the wall of mud that came crashing down, engulfing vehicles. We mentioned the fatality. An individual's car was completely overrun with mud.

As far as the campers go, they are all right. They're not young kids. We're talking about middle school, high school campers. There's adults there. They have plenty of food. I'm sure it's unnerving for them, but they are safe. Authorities believe they'll be able to get to them at some point today. There is a lot of work to do.

BERMAN: All right. Thanks so much. Get to that site. Tell us what you see when you get there. Appreciate you with being with us.

Also joining us by phone is Ryan Beckers from the San Bernardino Fire Department.

Thanks so much for being with us, Ryan.

What's the latest from your end?

RYAN BECKERS, SPOKESMAN, SAN BERNARDINO FIRE DEPARTMENT (voice-over): The latest is all pretty good news. I wanted to clear one misconception. The fatality that has been talked about was a separate incident about 50 miles away. Same weather system, and I don't have much information on it, but I just want the folks from Forest Falls to know there were no fatalities in the incident that occurred there. And as a matter of fact great news, so far, everybody has been determined accounted for and safe.

PEREIRA: That is really great news. We're happy to pass that information along.

Give us an idea of what we're looking at. You and I both know that southern California is in the midst of a terrible drought. I imagine its share of forest fires. Is all of that kind of combining to make the situation what it is?

BECKERS: The thing about this particular community, as you may remember from the -- covering out here, the community of Forest Falls is built in such a way, in a canyon, that any time they get rainfall, this is an event. Lots of residents tell me this is pretty bad. It's a huge wall of mud sort of cutting off the town. The good news is our crews with county roads and county fire, the sheriff's department, the Forest Service, have all -- we've been able to punch through that last wall of mud and we're able to get through, so folks stranded on the other side can start making their way out of town if needed.

BERMAN: That's great news. Let me ask you this. Given the way the weather's been and the forecast for the rain, was it a mistake for those people to be there right now in these conditions?

BECKERS: No, this community is -- thrives on its campers and its hikers. This kind of thing comes up so suddenly, I think it would be incorrect to make that kind of judgment.

PEREIRA: Those campers we've heard about, they're essentially sheltering in place. Other folks, are they able to get in and out? Are the roads being cleared? How are things looking for today?

BECKERS: What happens is there are numerous mudslides that cut off the main road through town, the only road in and out of town. Each time one of those walls of mud is cleared off, the people, who live in that part of the town, are able to get out, if needed. Those on the other, see, until those walls are cleared, they're still stranded. So there were still about 100 folks who were out of town, so to speak, who sheltered in place overnight at the community center. By now, they should be about getting ready to be -- able to be evacuated. And the campers, there were hundreds of kids who were -- as you know, just coming up there for a week in the mountains. They all sheltered in place until the road is clear for them to start evacuating once enough transportation is arranged for them.

PEREIRA: How's the weather looking today?

BECKERS: Muggy and warm but holding off on the rain so far.

PEREIRA: We'll take it.

Ryan Beckers, we want to say a big thank you to you.

He's the PIO from the San Bernardino Fire Department there, letting us know about the situation.

That is a concern. We see all of that water. What a mess those folks deal with.

BERMAN: Luckily, they're safe.

Coming up, a three-day ban on tap water in Ohio is lifted.

So you want to take a sip of that?

PEREIRA: No thanks.

BERMAN: We'll discuss, next.

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BERMAN: People in Toledo, Ohio, can drink their tap water again. That word this morning from the mayor. About 400,000 people were forced to rely on bottled water other the weekend after a toxic substance was detected in the water supply last Friday.

PEREIRA: That toxin was believed the result of excessive algae growth in Lake Erie where the city draws its fresh water from. This morning, the mayor declared the emergency was over and the water was safe.

BERMAN: Want to bring in Alexandra Field.

Alexandra, they say it's safe to drink but we've seen the pictures of the algae bloom. How safe should people feel?

ALEXANDRA FIELD, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It definitely doesn't look appealing. Make no mistake about it, elected officials are telling people they've done a battery of tests over the weekend. The levels have all come back normal. They're saying turn on the taps, you can drink, you can shower.

But the bigger issue here is that we have to really step back and see this is a recurring problem in Lake Erie. They've been monitoring the water supply. They do daily testing. They saw these toxins the day they turned up, and that's why they were able to act immediately and implement this ban. But there's no assurance we won't see the toxins get back into the water system. That's why they're so concerned.

PEREIRA: This was one area. There's, I'm sure, many communities that source their water from Lake Erie. Are we going to see this happen repeatedly down the coastline?

FIELD: What's important here is that we are all now paying attention to this issue. The people who run these water treatment facilities all along Lake Erie are keenly aware of it. Last year, the city of Toledo had to go back into their budget, allocate $1 million, to treat this problem. There's a way to treat it once the toxins come in. You can treat the water. But there's a threshold for that. There's a tipping point because this is water that we're drinking. There's only so much you can do.

PEREIRA: Would it have turned a pale green before it --

(CROSSTALK)

PEREIRA: -- Kermit the frog-green --

(CROSSTALK)

BERMAN: Did the algae bloom sneak up on them?

(CROSSTALK) FIELD: You see those pictures, you can see from space, that's how big it is. What they're saying is what may have happened is these blooms may have moved. They're on the surface of the water. What may have happened is the bloom shifted over the intake valve. That's what can cause the spike in the toxin level. At the same time, it can then drift away. That's why you do daily tests. You've got to look at the factors contributing to the growth of these blooms.

BERMAN: If you did drink this when you weren't supposed to, what happens?

PEREIRA: It's bad, right?

FIELD: Yeah. People can become sick, nauseous. Something that can affect your liver. In extreme cases, it can cause liver failure. You don't want to mess around with it.

BERMAN: No --

(CROSSTALK)

PEREIRA: And here's the thing. They were saying, don't bathe kids, the elderly. Now they're saying it's OK. I don't know, would you? I would still be nervous.

FIELD: The mayor has been cautious about this, because there were some tests that came back that seemed to indicate that things looked OK. Look, they took this water, they tested this in four different locations by a variety of methods. Who wants to be the guy standing out there saying it's safe when there isn't chance that it isn't?

BERMAN: Alexandra Field, thanks for being with us.

(CROSSTALK)

BERMAN: That's some good news for the people of Toledo.

PEREIRA: Absolutely.

BERMAN: All right, we have some awesome news to report. We are proud to report that Miss Michaela Pereira was presented with the 2014 Angelo B. Henderson Community Service Award this weekend in Boston at the convention for the National Association of Black Journalists.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: I learned early on the meaning of community service from my parents not because of the words they say but their actions. I realized also along the way how lucky and fortunate and blessed I was and I decided at a young age that I would have to spend a lifetime repaying that karmic debt that I owed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: No, no, no, we are lucky and blessed to have you and to work with you. This was no mean feat here. This is for work that Michaela has done

in the community to make sure children get a chance to thrive. L.A.'s best friend. All kinds of --

(CROSSTALK)

BERMAN: Wonderful, wonderful work.

PEREIRA: You know all things that happen in Boston, don't you?

BERMAN: I'm a reporter.

PEREIRA: You are a reporter. Nothing gets by you.

BERMAN: Congratulations.

PEREIRA: It was such a tremendous evening.

Thank you to my peers and colleagues for honoring me.

I feel very, very humbled. Lots of work to do.

BERMAN: We are so proud of you.

PEREIRA: Thank you.

That's it for us. Oh, beat you to it!

(LAUGHTER)

BERMAN: Thanks so much for watching. "LEGAL VIEW" with Ashleigh Banfield starts right now.

PEREIRA: All that nicety nice.

BERMAN: Yeah.

PEREIRA: Step on your line.

(CROSSTALK)

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