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CNN Live Saturday
John Karr to be Deported From Thailand Sunday to Face Murder Charges in Ramsey Case; Israel Strikes Alleged Hezbollah Weapons Smugglers; Did John Mark Karr Murder JonBenet Ramsey; Mexican Serial Killer Arrested in Denver
Aired August 19, 2006 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush's surveillance program is to go before an appeals court heavy on republicans. A lower judge appointed by Democrat Jimmy Carter declared the program unconstitutional this week since it operates without warrants.
And today, the national Democratic Party, led by Howard Dean, approved a new presidential primary schedule. It moves up contests in Nevada and South Carolina to election year January, which would give those states more influence.
And Olympic winning, medal winning sprinter Marion Jones has reportedly failed a test for performance enhancing drugs. Track and field officials are awaiting results of a follow-up test. Jones denied previous doping allegations.
And the surgeon treating the race horse Barbaro will have a new patient next week. Dr. Dean Richardson is to operate on the broken arm of a polar bear from the Erie, Pennsylvania zoo.
To our stop story now. He's now a suspect in the killing of 6- year-old JonBenet Ramsey and soon John Karr will be bound for the United States to face the justice system here. He's due to arrive in Los Angeles tomorrow night. Right now he is behind bars in Thailand.
But in just 14 hours, about 14 hours, Karr will be deported from that country. So let's go live to Bangkok, where CNN's investigative correspondent, Drew Griffin, following this case. Drew, what have you learned?
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Early Sunday morning here and, Carol, John Mark Karr is waking up in this detention center, the immigration detention center behind us. We expect later on, perhaps in as little as eight hours, he will be removed from this facility and placed into the hand of U.S. immigration officers and then brought back to Colorado to face the charges that he's facing there, charges that he may be changing his mind about getting involved with.
Take a listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GRIFFIN (voice-over): This prisoner, released last evening here in Bangkok, told us John Mark Karr is still talking, but now perhaps trying to change his story.
UNKNOWN MALE: But he said of all the story that they are saying, everything is not true, some are false. Yeah. That's all I got to say. Thank you.
GRIFFIN: Karr has not been seen since Thursday, when he was paraded in front of cameras, announcing he was with JonBenet Ramsey when she died.
JOHN MARK KARR, SUSPECTED MURDERER: I love JonBenet and she died accidentally.
GRIFFIN: Thai authorities have been interrogating him about his teaching career in Bangkok, where he worked just briefly. He was fired from one school previously and applied, but was not hired at another.
Convinced he has not committed any major crimes here, later today Karr will be deported, escorted back to the U.S. by U.S. immigration agents. Homeland security official Ann Hurst visited Karr for a second time Saturday.
ANN HURST, HOMELAND SECURITY OFFICIAL: He's in good condition.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRIFFIN (on-camera): Carol, we've been trying to determine what kind of condition and what kind of cell he is in in this facility. All we've learned from Thai authorities, that he's with two English- speaking guards, but they insist that is not because he's on any kind of suicide watch or anything.
I think they just think he's a high profile inmate of this detention center and they want to make sure that he is okay.
Carol?
LIN: Drew, I hear you might be on that same commercial flight with Karr?
GRIFFIN: We'll see. The flights out of Bangkok today, very difficult. And I think that is what made the process delayed a little bit. It's heavy tourist season right now and the flights are full. The U.S. government had to go and find a direct flight to the U.S. with several seats on board to take care of the entourage or the group that's going to take him over.
So logistically speaking, I think this was more difficult than legally speaking. Thai officials, they want to get rid of this guy. They want to deport him.
LIN: It might explain why he got a business class seat, too, at taxpayer's expense. All right, the justice system at work. Drew Griffin, reporting from Bangkok.
Well, to many, John Mark Karr's arrest only leads to more questions. CNN's Tom Foreman takes a closer look at this decade-old case which he covered from the very beginning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In this quiet town, nagging questions have always surrounded the theory that an unknown intruder killed JonBenet. And if Karr has given a confession and if it is true and if he is to be charged, authorities will want those questions answered.
UNKNOWN FEMALE: What happened?
KARR: Her death was an accident.
FOREMAN: How did a killer get into the house? Police sources said at the beginning there was no forced entry, no footprints in the snow. Those assertions have been challenged in the years since and a window was apparently left unlocked.
But in the neighborhood, no witnesses reported a passing car, a vagrant, a barking dog, nothing of value for police. How did the intruder navigate the darkened house to find his victim, brutally kill her, and hide the body without waking anyone?
Investigators said from the outset the house was a sprawling maze of hallways, rooms, staircases and closets. The storage room where the body was found was even overlooked by police when they first searched the house for the missing girl. And, by the way, Karr lived in Alabama at the time of the murder.
Why did the killer leave a ransom note for a murder? The handwritten note contained details about John Ramsey's past and his personal finances, which a casual acquaintance would not know.
PATSY RAMSEY, JONBENET'S MOTHER: Then I go down the spiral staircase and there on one of the rungs of the stair is the three-page ransom note.
FOREMAN: And the questions just go on and on. Why did the killer use a broken paintbrush from Patsy's hobby kit to twist a cord around JonBenet's neck? Why did no phone call ever come for the supposed ransom before the body was found? Such questions have made the authorities highly cautious about reaching any conclusions.
One of the arguments all along has been that the Boulder authorities have simply been too cautious and that's why there's never been an arrest.
(on-camera): What do you think?
UNKNOWN FEMALE: I'm not commenting further at this time.
FOREMAN: You can't even talk about that?
UNKNOWN MALE: Excuse us, sir. Thank you very much.
FOREMAN (voice-over): And for now, the questions are still outrunning the answers. Tom foreman, CNN, boulder, Colorado.
(END VIDEO CLIP):
LIN: Well, a critical piece of evidence could lie in an old yearbook inscription. That story and other potential clues to the case are just ahead on "CNN Live Saturday."
Meantime, it is day six of the cease-fire in the Middle East and it's still holding, but not without controversy. Lebanon accuses Israel of violating the U.N.-backed truce with a commando raid in southern Lebanon. But Israel defends its actions, saying it's keeping Hezbollah from rearming itself with weapons from Iran and Syria.
And just minutes ago, U.N. chief Kofi Annan said the raid indeed violates the U.N.-backed cease-fire. Our Brent Sadler is in Beirut with more on how the raid could affect this truce.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRENT SADLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The aftermath of a bloody clash in Lebanon's Bekaa valley, straining a barely week old U.N. broken cease-fire. Blood and bandages are left scattered across open fields after helicopter-borne Israeli commandos launched a raid against a bastion of Hezbollah fighters. One Israeli soldier confirmed killed in a fierce firefight.
Although confined to the Bekaa, it was the first deadly skirmish since the cessation of hostilities. Israel claimed the commando raid was aimed at disrupting Hezbollah attempts to rearm from Iran and Syria, an act of self-defense, which Israel insists its forces are entitled to take.
MARK REGEV, ISRAELI FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESMAN: We had specific information that a weapons shipment was coming from Syria for Hezbollah. That is in direct violation of the U.N. Security Council resolution which established the cease-fire and we were responding to that violation of the cease-fire.
SADLER: Lebanese officials sought to put the blame both on Israel and the United Nations for taking a non-committal stand towards Israel's latest military action.
The defense minister warned a crucial deployment of Lebanese troops to the south of the country could unravel if the U.N. failed to censure Israel for the raid. Meanwhile, a handful of French military engineers landed in the south, the first sign of any international troop reinforcements actually hitting the ground since the truce came into effect.
A much bigger overall U.N. force of 15,000 soldiers is planned, but it's taking longer than expected to deploy significant elements of the force. And the resumption of Israeli military action in Lebanon gives this U.N. official cause for concern.
TERJE ROED-LARSEN, U.N. SPECIAL ENVOY: A worry related to the potential troop contributors and a worry related to possible retaliation from Hezbollah, which, again, could escalate the situation and, worst case, bring it out of control.
SADLER (on-camera): For now Lebanese army troops are trying to stabilize south Lebanon with the support of a minimal U.N. force of about 2,000 peacekeepers. Now in urgent need of more troops, clear rules of engagement and a new arsenal of weapons. At best, significant U.N. reinforcements are unlikely to arrive imminently and it could take as long as a year for a new U.N. mission to work up to full strength, time enough, warn Lebanese officials, for the cease- fire to wobble some more in a still hostile environment.
Brent Sadler, CNN, Beirut.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIN: Well, the video images tell only part of the story. Later this hour, what you didn't see on television from the Middle East. Stunning images captured by a photographer on the front lines.
Plus, there's a serial killer caught. Hundreds of women raped, strangled and killed on the Mexican border. Is this man the culprit?
But up next...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
U.S. SENATOR GEORGE ALLEN (R-VA): So welcome, let's welcome macaca here. Welcome to America and the real world of Virginia.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIN: Macaca, meaning monkey, the word heard around the Web and the U.S. Senator who uttered it. Was it a racial slur? You decide.
You're watching "CNN LIVE SATURDAY." Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LIN: Now the most popular stories on CNN.com. John Mark Karr could soon be back on U.S. soil. Karr is now the notorious suspect in the death of 6-year-old JonBenet Ramsey. His flight from Thailand is scheduled to arrive in Los Angeles tomorrow night.
An illegal immigrant and her son have found sanctuary in a Chicago church. U.S. immigration agents say they will not forcibly remove the woman to deport her to Mexico.
And a judge's ruling is splitting an Ohio town. Two teens involved in a prank will be allowed to finish their high school football season before serving jail time. The prank involved placing a fake deer in the road so cars would have to swerve to avoid it. One ended up in a ditch.
You can read more about it at CNN.com. Click on the "most popular" tab.
Well, some of the Web blogs are still buzzing over Senator George Allen's recent contribution to the U.S. political lexicon. If you've never heard the word "macaca," you're probably not alone. Senator Allen used it recently. And maybe the best excuse is he didn't know what he was saying.
So why should we care? Well, we may be seeing him running for president one day. Here is CNN's Andrea Koppel.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Senator George Allen's videotaped off-the-cuff remarks were e-mailed to journalists by his Democratic opponent's campaign.
ALLEN: This fellow here, over here with the yellow shirt, macaca or whatever his name is, he's with my opponent. He's following us around everywhere and it's just great.
KOPPEL: The fellow Senator Allen was referring to is 20-year-old S.R. Sidarth, an American college student of Indian descent and, at least for the summer, a volunteer with the James Webb campaign.
Armed with this digital handy cam, Sidarth had been assigned to track Senator Allen all last week, a common practice among some campaigns. But Sidarth says it wasn't until Friday, during a speech near the Kentucky border and with Sidarth's camera rolling, that Allen singled him out in the crowd, twice referring to him as "macaca," the scientific grouping for a type of monkey. And in some European countries, "makaka" is used as a racial slur.
ALLEN: So welcome, let's give a welcome to macaca here. Welcome to America and the real world of Virginia.
S.R. SIDARTH, JIM WEBB CAMPAIGN VOLUNTEER: I was disappointed that someone like a Senator of the United States would use something completely offensive.
KOPPEL: Allen's communications director denies the Senator was deliberately making a racially charged remark, telling CNN, "The Senator know Sidarth's name." He said Allen's staffers had nicknamed Sidarth "Mohawk" for the young man's short haircut and perhaps the Senator was confusing that nickname when he called him macaca.
Later in a statement, Allen said he made up a nickname for Sidarth "which was in no way intended to be racially derogatory. I apologize if the comments offended this young man." But Sidarth says he had introduced himself to Allen earlier that week.
(on-camera): And you said, "My name is Sidarth."
SIDARTH: Yes. And he shook my hand. He also is very good with names, legendarily. He tries very hard to learn people's names when he's meeting them.
KOPPEL (on-camera): In Allen's written statement, he also said his comments about a welcome to America and the real world of Virginia were aimed at his opponent, who Allen said had never been to that part of Virginia.
Andrea Koppel, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIN: More now from the foot in the mouth file. Former U.N. ambassador Andrew Young wasn't being very diplomatic this week when talking up retailer Wal-Mart. Young had been hired to boost the company's image, but he didn't last long.
Referring to smaller stores that are Wal-Mart's competition, Young said, quote, "They've ripped off our communities enough. First it was Jews, then it was Koreans and now it's Arabs." In resigning, young apologized.
Now, we're not finished yet. Here's Florida Republican Tramm Hudson, who's running for a seat in Congress. He says, quote, "I grew up I Alabama," Hudson says in remarks that were caught on camera, "and I understand," he continued, "and I know this from experience, but blacks are not the greatest swimmers or may not even know how to swim." Hudson apologized.
Coming up, images from the front lines. Amazing pictures of battles you won't see anywhere on television. I'll talk to the man who actually took them. That interview up next.
Plus, more questions now than ever before in a decade-old case. Did John Karr skill JonBenet and why the ransom note? Could his high school yearbook hold clues?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LIN: After more than a month at war, the video coming out of the Middle East starts to look the same. But when you stop to look at just one picture, sometimes it's a different story.
And we feel that this photographer's work, like the picture you see here, gives us deeper insight into the young soldiers who were fighting on the front lines. Jensen Walker joins us now to show and tell us what he saw behind the scenes.
Jensen, good to see you. I want to share this first picture, because you say that this is your favorite. Why?
JENSEN WALKER, PHOTOGRAPHER: It showed a whole combination of both his hands on his head, the sort of gripping of the power of the guns and that close to it, there's sort of a visceral response for me because I was that close to the point where the concussion at the end of the barrel sucked the wind from my chest and the dust blowing forward on me.
LIN: So you really did feel what it was like to be on the front lines. There's a picture that you took of two soldiers in a contemplative moment. It looks like one is reading some sort of religious scripture. Was this common there and did you sense or see a religious overtone to the fighting?
WALKER: There were certain groups in and amongst the larger group of the artillery that were definitely -- whether or not they were orthodox or whether or not because they were in the conflict, they felt a closer call to a religious need, but everything from morning prayers to -- there were often trips from the rabbis that would come into the camp with blaring techno music and they would dance and use meditative chants to sort of to break the rhythm, but also to sort of give a religious overtone, I think, to some of their work.
LIN: And something more than just a short prayer before battle. I think that when people look at the conflict between Israel and a country like Lebanon, with players like Iran and Syria on the sidelines, you wonder whether the soldiers on the front lines sense that and whether they see this battle as a religious battle or they take their religion as comfort.
WALKER: I think that depended on some of the soldiers. There was the religious right that would come in with their slogans and certain soldiers would move towards that. And then there were others that would stay with their unit who felt that they didn't need to engage in that sort of encouragement.
LIN: And you saw a real contrast. I mean, there's a picture here, it looks like a big celebration. Do you know what they were celebrating?
WALKER: That was a religious right group that came in and the hats and the stickers that they were placing on the artillery rounds was sort of a meditative chant, which "Nahma nehuman" (ph), forgive the Hebrew, but it's a meditative chant. And they were also singing "Down with Nasrallah, we'll bomb you into a previous century."
LIN: Some people would find that picture disturbing. I'm wondering, the soldiers that you spoke with, what were their feelings or what were their thoughts or awareness that they were hitting Lebanese civilians?
WALKER: I asked them at one point, "How do you guys accurately place such large rounds from such a large distance," and, you know, this was their job. They said, "These are very specific munitions rounds that we use for supporting our troops who are over there, as well as, you know, we have eyes on the ground for tactical strikes."
And, you know, they had a lot of feeling that they were doing what they were trained to do to support both front line soldiers and their mission.
LIN: And some of the faces, one in particular, so young. I mean, there's a -- he almost looks like a boy smoking a cigarette.
WALKER: A lot of them were boys. I talked with some of them. They talked of dreams of moving to Santa Monica to be a photographer and learn how to surf.
LIN: Santa Monica, California? You're kidding.
WALKER: No. He wanted to learn how to be a photographer, a fashion photographer and learn how to surf.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIN: But the war first.
WALKER: The war first.
LIN: Jensen Walker, terrific pictures. Thank you so much for sharing your experience with the Israeli defense forces.
WALKER: Thank you.
LIN: Now, coming up, things only the killer knows. Did John Karr murder JonBenet Ramsey and could four initials in his high school yearbook hold clues?
CNN investigates, next.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNKNOWN FEMALE: You're some little freaked out, intimidated, frightened right wing Republican, thin-lipped (bleep) --
LIN: Thin lipped or thin skinned? The Internet ad that has got some on the right all riled. CNN's Jeanne Moos has that later this hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LIN: Now in the news. In a little more than nine hours, John Karr will fly out of Bangkok bound for Los Angeles. He claims to have been with JonBenet Ramsey the night the little girl was murdered 10 years ago. More on the stunning and strange turn of events straight ahead.
Now, Lebanon is objecting to an Israeli military raid earlier today in the Bekaa Valley. Lebanese officials say it's a clear violation of the U.N.-brokered cease-fire agreement. But Israel says Hezbollah was reloading with more weapons coming from Iran.
And three coalition soldiers, along with one American serviceman, were killed today in separate battles with Afghan militants. The three coalition troops were killed by Taliban extremists in the northeastern province of Kunar. The Americans and one Afghan soldier were killed in a firefight in the south.
Still no word on the whereabouts of a Fox News television crew. Reporter Steve Centanni and photographer Olaf Wiig were abducted at gun point Monday in Gaza. No ransom or claims of responsibility have been made.
You might know him from the MTV show "Viva La Bam". The Associate Press says Vincent Margera is facing child sex charges. The 50-year-old was reportedly arrested last night and is being held without bond in a Denver suburb. The charges involve inappropriate touching.
Back to our top story now, Thailand's deportation of American murder suspect John Karr. The 41-year-old teacher claims he was with 6-year-old beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey the night of her death. But Karr's reported confession is being questioned by many, including his own family and ex-wife. He's set to be flown back to the United States tomorrow for violating Thai immigration laws.
It has been a wild week with news of the Karr arrest and his reported confession before reporters and now something almost as strange. A message from his high school yearbook that may implicate him further. Here is CNN's David Mattingly.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The mild manner and polite tone of a restrained John Mark Karr could be a deceptive cover. A U.S. law enforcement official tells CNN that Karr provided in graphic detail gruesome physical facts about the condition of JonBenet's body that only the coroner, the investigators, and the killer could have known. Details so closely guarded they have been a virtual secret for 10 years.
During his exchange with reporters in Bangkok, we can hear in this audio how Karr seemed frustrated he could not say what he knew in short sound bites.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What happened in the basement?
JOHN MARK KARR, SUSPECTED MURDERER: It would take several hours to describe that, to describe that.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you could be brief.
KARR: There's no way I could be brief about -- there's no way I could be brief about it.
MATTINGLY: Since the murder of JonBenet, authorities have long been puzzled by the cryptic letters "SBTC," the signature at the end of a long ransom note found in the Ramsey home. Now the inscription from a high school yearbook written by Karr in 1982,and obtained by CNN,shows in capital block letters the words "I Shall Be the Conqueror," SBTC.
The owner turned the yearbook over to authorities, curious to know if the phrase could be linked to the ransom note. Leaving old classmates in Karr's former hometown of Hamilton, Alabama to wonder what happened to the bright, talkative, skinny teenager they used to know.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The way he talks and the way he acts on TV is nothing like what he was in high school, nothing.
MATTINGLY: The "Associated Press" reports anonymous sources say Thai authorities swabbed Karr's mouth to retrieve cell samples for DNA testing and that more tests will be done when he returns to the U.S.
In California, prison officials search the cell of Richard Allen Davis, the killer of 12-year-old Polly Klaas. Karr was reportedly obsessed with the child's murder and might have exchanged e-mails with her killer. But no evidence of any contact was found.
VERNON CRITTENDON, SAN QUENTIN STATE PRISON: Investigators did, in fact, speak with Richard Allen Davis and it was shared with me that they concluded from that discussion that there was no direct contact with John Karr and Richard Allen Davis.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LIN: And the biggest question facing investigators now, did John Karr really have something to do with JonBenet Ramsey's death? Harold Copus is a former FBI special agent who worked on the Ramsey case as a private investigator. He's with us now. Harold, you were first contacted by the Ramsey family through intermediaries. OK, was it related to the murder?
HAROLD COPUS, FMR. RAMSEY PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR: It was related to the murder but we're doing background investigation and leads here in Atlanta, Georgia, nothing really to pertain to the major portion of the case. The little girl was murdered in Boulder, Colorado.
LIN: Right, in Boulder. So, nothing panned out in Atlanta?
COPUS: Nothing panned out in Atlanta.
LIN: And yet John Karr has a brother who lives here.
COPUS: You know, ten years later, that's what you find out. But at that time no one knew this was going on.
LIN: When you saw the video Wednesday, what went through your mind? When you heard his confession, do you believe him?
COPUS: I didn't believe him then.
LIN: Why?
COPUS: Well, little things, such as, well, it wasn't a violent death, it was an accident, and things of this nature. We all know from just looking at TV ten years ago, that death was a horrible child, it was a young child. Little things don't add up. You've got his wife saying we were together.
LIN: Now she's double-checking. She's looking for photos from that Christmas as confirmation.
COPUS: Certainly.
LIN: So she's kind of sticking by her story but she still wants to verify. But he seems to know some details that only the coroner and the investigators in Boulder know. Does that further convince you that he may have something to do with the crime? COPUS: Well, it will add something to his side of the ledger.
LIN: How could he know those details, though?
COPUS: He's been four years working with a professor who has done a couple of documentaries.
LIN: But even that professor wouldn't know these details, according to investigators.
COPUS: Well, we don't know. The investigator worked very closely with the Ramsey family. We don't know what's been disclosed and we haven't heard from the professor yet. So, I listen, like anyone in law enforcement, a lot of skepticism. I'll wait and see. Two things will put this guy in, DNA, handwriting. Two things are going to take him out. He wasn't in Boulder, Colorado, and the fact that he's probably, could be a serial confessor.
LIN: Now, they have this sample, apparently, from an inscription that he made in his high school yearbook. Is that going to be, just because it is reprinted, they may not have the original, is that going to be good enough to match with the ransom note? Wouldn't that put him at the crime scene?
COPUS: There's always a debate on that, on handwriting. When those document examiners, they want the originals. If they can't have the original, they'll work from first generational copies. On the defense side you'll always attack that. On law enforcement, we'll say that's the best we have. We need to wait and see when the document examiner, either by the Boulder PD, more than likely they go to the FBI lab.
LIN: And from what I remember, because I covered that case for a different network, the DNA evidence, I mean, the whole question of the investigative procedures inside that house, how quickly it was cordoned off, evidence that they missed and uncertain DNA evidence, they couldn't even, at least, confirm publicly that she was sexually assaulted. John Karr claiming that he did assault her. So, at least through the Thai police, who interviewed him. So what are the complexities there? Do you think there's going to be hard and fast evidence, if you don't have firsthand copy of his inscription in the yearbook to link to the ransom note, DNA may be corrupted at the scene.
COPUS: Well, you know what happens in a case like this. Heart sometimes overrides logic. You want for the family for this to be resolved. Logic, though, may say, and the case facts may not support it. Now, did Boulder mess it up initially? Listen, those people are professional. They stayed on it for ten years. When something like that happens, you know, everyone on Monday morning judges you. I always say three other police officers show up, could have, would have and should have and all of those people there questioning everything you have done. It was chaotic. It started out as a missing person and then quickly drifted to a murder.
LIN: All right. Harold Copus, we'll see what happens. He is due to arrive in the United States late tomorrow.
COPUS: That's correct. Thank you.
LIN: Well we don't know yet if John Karr is lying, telling the truth, confessing to a crime, you didn't commit any crime, let alone murder, doesn't seem to make much sense. But as we hear from CNN's Rick Sanchez, false confessions are more common than you might think.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The BTK killer, otherwise known as Dennis Rader, pleaded guilty to murdering ten people.
DENNIS RADER, BTK KILLER: Then I killed them.
SANCHEZ: Robert Chambers, convicted of killing a woman he picked up at a bar.
Gary Ridgeway confessed to murdering 48 women in a killing spree in the 1980s.
GARY RIDGEWAY, CONFESSED TO KILLING SPREE: Then I got behind her and I killed her.
SANCHEZ: These are the chilling words of men who became famous for their confessions. All of their confessions feeding a media circus, making them twisted rock stars of murder. But not every confession carries the truth. Some just want the fame. In the 1930s, when Charles Lindbergh's baby was infamously kidnapped, hundreds of fake confessors lined up at police departments to take the credit.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are voluntary false confessions where people often do have a pathological need for attention or recognition or fame. These are people who walk into a police station and volunteer a confession.
SANCHEZ: For that reason, convicted criminals, such as Texas drifter Henry Lee Lucas, originally claimed to murder 350 people.
HENRY LEE LUCAS, CLAIMED TO MURDER 350 PEOPLE: It didn't matter. I mean, I didn't have no feelings about killing.
SANCHEZ: But instead of going down in history as a prolific serial killer, as he bragged, he instead went down as a prolific serial confessor, ultimately found guilty of 13 murders.
But false confessions don't always come from those seeking fame. Sometimes they come from hours spent in interrogation rooms, where suspects are made to feel like a confession is the easy way out.
SAUL KASSIN, PROFESSOR, WILLIAMS COLLEGE: It is OK for an interrogator to say to a suspect that they have evidence, when in fact that's not true. And once you've got that suspect feeling trapped, then the interrogator is likely to shift gears to make confession sound as if it's not going to have such devastating consequences. SANCHEZ: In 1989, the Central Park jogger rape case had already become a media circus. And in a turn that stunned New Yorkers, suspect Cory Wise made this famous confession after he had been interrogated for hours.
CORY WISE, CONFESSED TO CENTRAL PARK RAPES: This is my first rape.
SANCHEZ: He spent years in jail until the real rapist confessed, backed by DNA evidence. In fact, according to the Innocence Project, more than a quarter of all the cases later exonerated by DNA were originally convicted after a false confession.
KASSIN: And so it's important, I think, for people to understand they can't always tell a false confession when they see one. And, therefore, an in-depth analysis is necessary.
SANCHEZ: So are John Mark Karr's words to the media an effort to become another rock star of murder? Or is he a real murderer?
Rick Sanchez, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LIN: Coming up, a story you won't believe. A peaceful horse ride turns into a case of petrifying road rage.
LARRY SMITH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Larry Smith at the PGA championship, just outside Chicago, where the third round is wrapping up. Coming up, the story of a PGA veteran's emotional summer as another PGA favorite makes his move in an attempt to win a major. That's coming up as CNN LIVE SATURDAY continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LIN: This just in to the CNN Center. Earlier we reported that four coalition troops died in fierce fighting in Afghanistan. A.P. now reporting that those troops were actually American. The coalition troops are clashing with insurgents in two different battles across that country. Four U.S. soldiers and two Afghan soldiers died and six others Americans wounded in continuing fights with Taliban elements in that country.
All right, we'll bring you the news as it happens. We also want to bring you the latest from the PGA. Chris Dimarco at the PGA Championship today. The worlds best golfers turning the season's last major tournament into a nail biter and making a general mess of the leader board. So for the latest we go to Larry Smith at the Medinah Country Club, just outside of Chicago, Larry.
SMITH: Well Carol, you know what, I tell you, so many stories here in the final major of the 2006 golf season. We'll take the last one first. Tiger Woods has never lost a major in which he led or was tied for the lead after three rounds. That may be his position tonight going into tomorrow's final round. Woods shot a course record tying 65 today to go to 14 under par and is currently tied for the lead with England's Luke Donald, who is still on the course, finishing his 18th hole here at the PGA Championship.
Now, sitting in a group six shots back is Chris Dimarco, as you mentioned, the former Florida Gator. And what a story he's had to tell this year. The veteran PGA tour player has never won a major. But has had a bigger fight on his hands in recent weeks, personally. His mother died of a heart attack on July 4th and though Dimarco rallied to a second place finish at last month's British Open, he has been more concerned with the emotional struggles of his father.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRIS DIMARCO, PROFESSIONAL GOLFER: He's still struggling. You know, he has to go home every day, walk into that house, walk into that bedroom empty. You know, they were together for 46 years. They were apart two weeks in 46 years. If there's anything positive to come out of everything, it's that I really got my dad back, so to speak, rather than a huge fan of my golf. You know what I mean? He could care less about the golf now. He just is so happy he's my dad, and I'm his son. And, you know, fathers in this game can get caught up in that sometimes. Their son is on the PGA tour and, you know, how is the PGA tour going? They tend to forget about how their son is doing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SMITH: Well, another golfer who is battling an emotional, personal warfare this week is Billy Mayfair. The 40-year-old's mother in intensive care in Arizona, after suffering a stroke and a heart attack just two days ago. This just two weeks after Mayfair, himself, underwent surgery for testicular cancer. He decided to play in the PGA only after a test last week came up negative. Mayfair struggling just a bit today, 1 over par on the day, as he stands 5 under par and for the most part is out of contention to win his first career major.
And while we're speaking of emotions, of course, that of Tiger Woods, himself. His father passed away in May. We know about the long nine week layoff he took. Missed the cut at the U.S. Open, but has been on a real tear lately, winning the British Open last month, his 11th career major. A win since then and now tomorrow he could come up and win his 12th career major. And what a story he has been as he's battled back from his own personal adversity. Let's go back to you.
LIN: Wow, intense times out there. Larry, thank you.
Accessing America now. A quick-thinking YMCA leader averts a bus crash in Medford, Oregon. She grabbed the wheel of a bus loaded with kids when the driver suffered a fatal seizure. She stopped the bus safely in a fog lane.
And the signs say it all. Children of polygamist families rallied today in Salt Lake City. The rally is the first of its kind. Organizers say polygamists have traditionally avoided the spotlight, fearing criminal prosecution and ridicule. The children call for more understanding.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARY, PART OF POLYGAMIST FAMILY: Hi, my name is Mary. I'm the 14th child in a large family and I have several moms. My mothers are talented people, working in a variety of careers. Among them, I can find the advice that I need. All my mothers love me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIN: In Barrington, New Hampshire, a frightening case of road rage for a 7-year-old horse rider. The girl's mother says a teen driver flew into a rage when she motioned for him to slow down. A neighbor tried to intervene there, but was stabbed with a knife. Police took the teen into custody.
In Denver, police believe they have taken a serial killer off the streets. Edgar Alvarez Cruz is suspected of raping and murdering at least ten young women in Juarez, Mexico. Reporter Heidi Hemmat of CNN Affiliate KDVR has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HEIDI HEMMAT, KDVR: Women disappear from Juarez, Mexico every day. Hundreds of them are raped and murdered, their bodies dumped in the desert, their killer never found. But tonight a Colorado connection to the brutal killings more than 1,000 miles away. U.S. marshals say they arrested a Mexican serial killer at this home in Denver.
DAVE FLOYD, U.S. MARSHALL SERVICE: He's a person of interest in multiple homicides in the city of Juarez.
HEMMAT: Investigators tell us Edgar Alvarez Cruz raped and killed at least ten women in Juarez before quietly moving to Denver a few years ago.
A woman who identified herself as Maria told us she is Cruz's girlfriend. She said immigration officials took Cruz away from the home two days ago, but she didn't know why until now.
MARIA, CRUZ GIRLFRIEND: I've seen documentation that they've been looking for him down there, but he's been here for so long.
HEMMAT: Maria went on to say she didn't believe her boyfriend could kill anyone. She believes he is innocent.
MARIA: No, I don't think it's true because I've known him for quite some time.
HEMMAT: Still Mexican authorities say Cruz is a violent man who may be behind hundreds of unsolved murders in Juarez. And investigators say Denver is a safer place because he's been found.
FLOYD: It's good to us to have him off the streets of Denver and out of this country.
(END VIDEOTAPE) LIN: That was Heidi Hemmat of CNN Affiliate KDVR in Denver.
Now up next, the Internet ad for makeup that's made some Republicans furious.
But first, here's what's coming up on CNN's "THIS WEEK AT WAR."
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN ANCHOR: Will the United Nations be able to enforce the tenuous cease-fire in the Middle East? Are U.S. troops in harm's way as sectarian violence rises on Iraqi streets? And the war on terror, why aren't we safe five years after 9/11? We'll discuss all this coming up on "THIS WEEK AT WAR."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LIN: Mac Cosmetics hired outspoken comedian Sandra Bernhard to be their spokeswoman for a new online ad but they are getting more press than they bargained for. Bernhard was giving lip, mocking Republicans.
Thin lips, pouty lips, loose lips. When has a makeup ad created so much attention for the puckers of politics? Well Jeanne Moos now on the Mac spot and the lip service that followed.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Lend me your lips. This is the story of a makeup company worried about Republicans being thin-skinned about thin lips.
SANDRA BERNHARD, COMEDIAN: Can you really handle it? I mean when you think about it, can you handle these lips?
MOOS: Comedienne Sandra Bernhard is always giving lip. Who better to perform a seemingly ad-libbed rant on an Internet commercial for Mac plush glass lip gloss.
BERNHARD: Sexy, power pouched, loud mouth.
MOOS: Apparently this was too loud mouth.
BERNHARD: If you're some little freaked-out, intimidated, frightened right wing Republican thin-lipped (EXPLETIVE DELETED).
MOOS: Right wing Republican thin lipped B-word, never mind that Republican Abe Lincoln had a nice full lower lip, not to mention Condi. Never mind that when we asked this question, who do you think has skinnier lips, Republicans or Democrats? We kept getting this answer.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Republicans by a long shot.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Republicans, more uptight.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Their lips are probably always pursed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They have to bite them all the time.
MOOS: On the other hand it's not easy naming full lipped Democrats. Let's see there's Barak Obama. There's Jimmy Carter.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know if Monica Lewinsky was a politician but I heard she has so me fat lips.
MOOS: But thin-lipped conservatives.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sean Hannity.
MOOS: Rolled off the lips of passers-by.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Giuliani.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He has no lips.
MOOS: From Rudy to Anne Coulter, to the vice president to the newly the independent.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Lieberman, now that's a thin lipped guy.
MOOS: There is one plump lipped Republican who came up, Florida Senate candidate Katherine Harris.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's been a lot of surgical procedure there so you don't know how they started out.
MOOS: As for the Sandra Bernhard video, a spokesperson from Mac said, there is one sentence in the video that offended some people and that was not the intent. We immediately edited the sentence out of respect to those customers and then took the video down.
Who do you think has thinner lips, Republicans or Democrats?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It all depends, honey, on which one is the biggest liar, because the biggest liar always has the thinnest lips.
BERNHARD: Full and flushy.
MOOS: But you've still got a thin upper lip.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can't help it, honey. It runs in the family.
MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LIN: Well there's so much more on CNN tonight. Up next, "THIS WEEK AT WAR" examines whether the Middle East cease-fire is going to hold. And then at 8:00 Eastern, "CNN PRESENTS: Terror 2.0." At 9:00, Jon Bon Jovi and Larry King on two decades of rock 'n' roll. And at 10:00 Eastern, you thought hanging chads was bad, well some say electronic voting machines are just a high tech version of the same old problem. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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