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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
Where are the WMD?; Should You Share Your Credit Report With Your Fiance? Massive Manhunt Continues For Suspected Murderer/Kidnapper
Aired January 08, 2004 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON COOPER, HOST (voice-over): Weapons inspectors are leaving Iraq without any WMD. What happened to the hunt?
A massive manhunt, searching for a suspected child kidnapper.
A big deal in the Enron scandal. We'll look at Club Fed: life on the inside for white collar criminals.
Bye-bye Modesto. Scott Peterson's defense scores a victory in court.
Sacrificing for your spouse. How far would you go for the person you love?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: Live from the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is ANDERSON COOPER 360.
COOPER: Good evening. Welcome to 360.
At this moment, a manhunt is under way and authorities want your help. A Georgia man described as a jealous ex-husband -- that is him there -- accused of killing three former in-laws and his baby daughter. Police say he is on the run right now with two daughters and a former step daughter in tow. An Amber Alert has been issued across the region. We're going to have details in just a moment.
First, our top story. New developments today in the search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. CNN has confirmed the Bush administration has withdrawn a 400-member team looking for weapons. Officials do point out hundreds still remain.
A separate team remains. A new report released today says it is unlikely they will find anything. The report says Iraq ended its WMD programs by the mid 1990s.
In Washington, national security correspondent David Ensor has the latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After six months of interviewing Iraqis and weapons inspectors and reviewing intelligence, the report's authors are scathing about the Bush administration's pre-war statements on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction programs.
JESSICA MATTHEWS, CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT: The representation by senior officials show a fairly systemic misrepresentation of the facts over and above the intelligence failings with respect to chemical and biological weapons.
COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: I'm confident of what I presented last year.
ENSOR: At a news conference, Secretary of State Powell strongly defended his pre-war presentation to the United Nations of what was known about Iraq's weapons programs.
POWELL: And anything that we did not feel was solid and multi sourced we did not use in that speech.
ENSOR: The Carnegie report says the threat was exaggerated and that war was not the best or only option. It calls for U.S. national security policy to drop the idea of unilateral preemptive war. It says U.S. intelligence was unduly influenced by policymakers and recommends possibly making the post of director of Central Intelligence a career job, not a presidential appointment to avoid the politicization of intelligence.
CIA officials from the top down have consistently said there is no need for that change. It would not work and they have always and will always tell it like it is.
STUART COHEN, CIA OFFICIAL: No reasonable person could have reached conclusions other than the ones we reached.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: David Ensor joins us in Washington.
David, what do we know about the group behind this report, Carnegie? I mean, do they have an agenda?
ENSOR: It is a prestigious think tank. There is a bit of an agenda in the sense that two of the three authors were always opposed to the war before the war started and did serve in democratic administrations. Still, this is a serious, carefully written report. It is likely to be quoted in the election campaign by whoever becomes the Democratic nominee, I would say.
COOPER: All right. No doubt about that. David Ensor, thanks very much for that.
Later in the program, former U.N. weapons inspector Scott Ritter and a terrorism expert talk bout WMD and what happens how in Iraq.
In Iraq tonight, U.S. military officials are launching an investigation into the crash of a Black Hawk helicopter. It went down earlier today in Fallujah. Nine U.S. soldiers died in that crash.
CNN's Satinder Bindra is live in Baghdad with the latest -- Satinder.
SATINDER BINDRA, CNN NEW DELHI BUREAU CHIEF: Anderson, this helicopter was on a routine medivac mission when it crashed just west of Baghdad. The Army says it's launched an investigation, but eye witnesses say it was struck by a missile in its tail rotor.
Now, nine U.S. soldiers aboard it were killed. And this is not the first time that a U.S. helicopter has been targeted in the area just west of Baghdad. On January 2, a reconnaissance helicopter was also shot down, killing one crewmember.
Also today, a U.S. C-5 transport airplane was also targeted this. This plane was just taking off from Baghdad International Airport when crewmembers reported heavy vibrations in one of its engines.
Now, crewmembers decided to make an emergency landing. They did make it safely. All 63 crewmembers onboard the plane were safe. Again, this is not the first time that a U.S. transport aircraft taking off from Baghdad International Airport has been targeted by insurgent fire -- Anderson.
COOPER: All right. Investigation undergoing right now. Satinder Bindra, thanks very much.
The downing today of a U.S. helicopter certainly isn't the first in Iraq, as Satinder mentioned. Here is a quick news note for you. Since Operation Iraqi Freedom began last March, there have been 14 chopper crashes. The deadliest, November 15. Seventeen U.S. soldiers killed when two UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters went down in the northern city of Mosul.
Now to the southeastern U.S. A dramatic manhunt happening right now. The FBI has been called into the search for Jerry William Jones, a man suspected of killing four people, including his baby daughter, and then kidnapping two other daughters and a third girl, part of the area searched here right in this overhead shot.
Martin Savidge is monitoring the manhunt from Georgia.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SHERIFF JERRY DAVIS, GORDON COUNTY, GEORGIA: We're looking for this man right here.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Thirty-one-year- old Jerry William Jones is the subject of a multi-state manhunt. A phone call led police to this rural community in north Georgia, where they discovered the bodies of three adults and a 10-month-old infant in two neighboring homes.
Investigators say all four of the victims are related. A number of them had been shot several times. The infant apparently strangled. Three other children, all girls, ages 10, four, and three, are missing and believed kidnapped by the suspect. An Amber Alert has been issued across the region. And authorities say they are gravely concerned for their safety.
DAVIS: The statement was made, "If you notify the officers, I will harm the children."
SAVIDGE: That statement was made by Melissa Peeler (ph), the mother of the three missing children, estranged from Jones. She called police from Oregon Wednesday evening, saying Jones had called telling her what he had done. She had called earlier in the afternoon, but at that time police found nothing out of the ordinary outside the house. But after she called a second time, police found the bodies.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We do not know where he's at. We do not know where he's headed to.
SAVIDGE: The suspect, Jerry Jones, has a long criminal record and has been haunted by tragedy. His mother and stepfather died aboard the Value Jet plane that crashed in 1996. Several years later, his brother died in a car crash.
Relatives tell newspapers in south Florida that Jones' biological father was violent toward his family. But what matters most now is the present and the safe return of three young girls in a small town where authorities take the crime personally.
DAVIS: The way that he's treated these people, I want him bad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SAVIDGE: Jerry Jones' criminal record dates back all the way to 1989. He was arrested on burglary charges and sentenced to eight years in prison. Even now he's on probation for two other crimes -- Anderson.
COOPER: Martin, investigators are saying this suspect acted methodically. What exactly does that mean?
SAVIDGE: It means he took his time, Anderson. He went from one house and then to the next house, even hid the bodies and cleaned up after the murder scene. Then he sat down and waited for the oldest child, the 10-year-old, to come home from school, abducting her and two other children -- Anderson.
COOPER: Methodical indeed. All right. Martin Savidge, thanks very much.
On to Houston. A dramatic development in the Enron investigation. Today, a federal judge set a deadline of noon tomorrow for the wife of former Enron CFO Andrew Fastow to decide whether she wants to enter a guilty plea. Lee Fastow is a former assistant treasurer at Enron. Her husband is also working on a plea deal. Now, the wife's attorney says the goal is to let one of the Fastows stay home with their kids while the other is serving prison time.
Ed Lavandera has details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED LAVANDERA, CNN DALLAS BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): Eight months ago, Lee Fastow pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy and filing false tax returns. Prosecutors accuse Ms. Fastow of helping her husband, Andrew, disguise the profits made from the shady accounting deals that toppled the Enron corporation. But now, Ms. Fastow wants to plead guilty. Her attorneys say the couple's two children are the reason why she's coming clean.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You'd have to be a mother to fully understand. She has two children at home. If Andy, her husband, has to go to jail sometime, we don't want the children to be without parents.
LAVANDERA: In the deal, Ms. Fastow would plead guilty and only spend five months in prison. Quite an offer consideringing she could face 10 years if convicted in a trial. Sources say prosecutors are also working to negotiate a plea agreement with Andrew Fastow. He was the chief financial officer at Enron.
Prosecutors are playing hardball with Mr. Fastow. The message is, cooperate with prosecutors or both you and your wife go to trial, are sent to prison, and your children are left parentless. Phillip Hilder (ph) is the attorney for Enron whistleblower Sharon Watkins. He says the Fastows don't have many options.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If both convicted, both would be spending an enormous amount of time in the federal prison as opposed to cutting their losses and minimizing their risk with relatively light prison terms.
LAVANDERA (on camera): So the government really backed them into a corner?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAVANDERA: So while all this is happening now, well, the looming trials of both Ms. Fastow and Mr. Fastow are looming. Ms. Fastow is scheduled to go to trial next month. Mr. Fastow in April. And many believe here and say as those trial dates approach closer, that both Mr. and Mrs. Fastow didn't feel like they had many options left. And that's why they're talking with prosecutors now -- Anderson.
COOPER: All right. Ed Lavandera, thanks, from Houston.
The prisons to which white collar criminals sometimes are sentenced have been called Cub Fed. You probably have heard that term. Stories of golf courses, tennis courts. Later in the program, we're going to speak with a convicted white collar criminal who says Club Fed is no day at the beach.
Right now we're following several developing stories for you "Cross Country." Let's take a look.
Modesto, California: change of venue. A short time ago, a judge officially ordered the Scott Peterson trial moved out of Stanislas County, where the defense says Peterson has been demonized. The change of venue will probably delay the trial start date. We're going to have more on this coming up later on in the program.
Cleveland, Ohio: lottery lie. This woman is a liar. She admits she lied about buying a winning lottery ticket and then losing it. Elecia Battle sued to block the certified winner from getting the $162 million jackpot. She has apologized and dropped the suit.
Phoenix, Arizona: pipeline panic. Drivers rush to gas stations after a rumor that there was a pipeline rupture and fuel shortage. That actually did happen back in August. Arizona State officials say this time it was just a rumor.
Denver, Colorado: Bryant booed. That's right. The crowd booed Kobe Bryant last night at his first game in Colorado since being accused of sexual assault. The crowd started booing when Bryant was introduced and continued every time he touched the ball.
There they go again. Bryant's Lakers lost the game.
That's a look at stories "Cross Country" tonight.
The general and the pop queen. Madonna bestows a kiss of endorsement on a presidential hopeful. The question is, will it help or hurt his chances of winning the White House? We'll go live to the campaign trail for that and all the day's campaign news.
Also, a veteran teacher accused of molesting an 11-year-old boy. She called it a relationship. Is it Mary Kay Laterno (ph) all over again? We're going to take a closer look at this shocking case.
Plus, do you think salmon is the only healthy food left? Well, I've got some bad news for you. New concerns over the health of certain kinds of salmon. Dr. Sanjay Gupta with a report that may influence what you have for dinner tonight.
But first, let's take a look "Inside the Box" at the top stories on tonight's network newscasts.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: All right. Enough Madonna. The superstar is backing four-star General Wesley Clark. Madonna has posted a letter of support on her Web site for the Democratic presidential hopeful and urges others to join Clark's army.
CNN's Dan Lothian is on the campaign trail tonight in New Hampshire.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Riding a wave of positive poll numbers, retired General Wesley Clark is now enjoying two key endorsements from two very different worlds. The material girl praising him on her Web site and in a recent CNN interview.
MADONNA, ENTERTAINER: I think he's a natural born leader
LOTHIAN: And the Enron whistleblower now by his side on the campaign trail.
SHERRON WATKINS, CLARK SUPPORTER: And what I see in Wes Clark is someone that moderate Republicans can get behind. And to win an election, he needs not only Democrat votes, but moderate Republicans to vote for him as well. And I see tha the's the candidate that can attract those moderate Republican voters.
LOTHIAN: Watkins helped Clark maximize his message at this stop in Concord, as the retired general pushed his plan to end corporate welfare.
WESLEY CLARK (D), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Four steps that I'll take to crack down on tax shelters, close corporate loopholes and recapture at least $10 billion a year.
LOTHIAN: Clark's recent surge is now putting pressure on frontrunner Howard Dean, after a week that saw him on the cover of "TIME" and "Newsweek," and (UNINTELLIGIBLE) with high profile endorsement Bill Bradley. Despite reports that Dean's aides are sheltering him from the national press in order to better manage the message, Dean's campaign says it's false.
JOE TRIPPI, DEAN CAMPAIGN MANAGER: We're not trying to go over or under the heads of the national press corps. We're just trying to make sure that with 10 days to go in Iowa that we're spending every bit of moment we can speaking directly to the people of Iowa and New Hampshire.
LOTHIAN: Meanwhile, the other top-tier candidates on the trail in New Hampshire are sharpening their focus on Clark while trying to gain ground.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LOTHIAN: We are currently at another Clark event here in Concord, New Hampshire. Clark will be speaking shortly. Right now they are showing a biographical video.
I want to bring up something that happened yesterday when the Dean campaign released that anti-Clark flyer, while announcing that there is the war of the fliers. The Clark campaign has now released its own flier, and in that flier they're saying that yesterday's flier from the Dean campaign was filled with, "inaccuracies and half-truths" and that it was not leadership. What it is, is just politics as usual -- Anderson.
COOPER: All right. It all sounds like politics as usual. Dan Lothian, thanks very much from Concord.
Word tonight of a familiar name possibly getting into the race for the U.S. Senate. Remember Katherine Harris? Supporters of the Florida congresswoman say she's leaning toward running for Senator Bob Graham's seat. They say she will reveal her plans next week. Harris, of course, oversaw the disputed 2000 presidential election in Florida as secretary of state.
Well, today, residents in one Florida community are stunned. Not about Katherine Harris. They are stunned about a Florida teacher who is charged with having a sexual relationship with a former student. The student was 11 years old when the alleged molestation began.
CNN national correspondent Susan Candiotti reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Police say the music teacher's secret sex with her now 12-year-old former student was discovered when the boy's mother noticed a text message on his cell phone from the teacher.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was sexual in nature. And that alarmed her, which it should have.
CANDIOTTI: Police say Carol Flannigan, the mother of a teenage son, taught the alleged victim in the fourth grade and that the two secretly met over 19 months. Detectives say the first encounter was during a sleepover at Flannigan's house.
(on camera): After a sleepover in her house in June 2002, police charge Mrs. Flannigan had sex with her student at least another five times in several places, including this park, a hotel room, and back at her home.
(voice-over): This week, police secretly taped a phone call between the teacher and her alleged victim. According to a police affidavit, the boy asks, "Why did you pick me to have sex with?" Mrs. Flannigan replied, "I told you why. I don't know why it happened. I don't know why I love you so much."
In 2002, Boca Raton police investigated Flannigan for kissing the same boy. But the allegations were called unfounded. Palm Beach County school parents are astounded.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Really fighting for those kids. You know, you go to school every day and you trust that person. Other than your mom and dad, you trust your teacher. And that was terrible. That wasn't right.
CANDIOTTI: Flannigan's attorney says he expects to post a $30,000 bond. Contact with the boy and other minors is forbidden.
Susan Candiotti, CNN, Palm Beach County, Florida.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Unbelievable. Sadly, the story is nothing new. Let's flash back for a moment.
In 1996, remember Mary Kay Letourneau? The Washington State teacher repeatedly had sex with one of her sixth grade students. She then got pregnant. Letourneau was charged with second-degree child rape. She was sentenced to prison for six months. But it didn't end there.
Released on probation, she was again impregnated by the boy. That gave her a seven-year prison sentence. They even co-wrote a book together, "Only One Crime, Love." That was the name of their book, professing their love for each other.
The boy in all of this and his mother brought charges against state officials, saying police failed to protect him from Mary Kay Letourneau. In 2002, a civil jury in Kent, Washington ruled the relationship could not have been prevented by the school district or local police.
Well, we are following a number of developing stories internationally now. Let's take a look in the "UpLink."
Baghdad: anger and disappointment. The anticipated release of Iraqi prisoners creates chaos. Only about 80 men were released today. That's one of them there. And U.S. officials say they were not part of an amnesty program. That led some in the crowd to shout "liars, liars." Coalition officials now say the release will be done quietly for security and privacy reasons.
Bam, Iran, amazingly another survivor. A 56-year-old man pulled alive from earthquake rubble. He is reportedly in a coma. The man right there had been buried for 13 days, but he is alive. The quake, of course, killed an estimated 30,000 people.
And that's a quick look at the "UpLink" tonight.
Today, more troubling news about food. As if it weren't tough enough to eat healthy food these days, you've got mad cow, no carbs, watching the sodas. And today, be careful about fish, especially salmon. But not just any salmon. Salmon raised in fish farms. I told you, it is getting tough out there.
Here is Dr. Sanjay Gupta to explain.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): We're not trying to confuse you, seriously. But it turns out that salmon, the one food that you thought was truly good for you, low fat, heart healthy and low in mercury, may have some problems after all.
A large study of 700 salmon from 16 cities now shows farm-raised salmon may have up to 11 times more dioxins, PCBs and other potential cancer-causing contaminants compared to wild salmon. And while that sounds bad, the FDA is not particularly concerned, saying even those levels are pretty low. And it's not clear what the health risks of those contaminants really are.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please don't change the diet. FDA will take care of this potential problem by continuing to get these levels lower.
GUPTA: Still, the Institute for Health and Environment advises caution.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One should limit your consumption of farmed salmon to probably on the average of not more than one farmed salmon meal per month.
GUPTA: The institute also suggests you ask where your farmed salmon came from. Salmon farmed in northern Europe had the most contaminants, followed by farms in North America and then Chile. Chile had the lowest contamination level overall.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA: I come bearing gifts for you.
COOPER: You've got a salmon right here.
GUPTA: I've got some advice and some salmon as well. And here's the thing about it. If you're still concerned about these contaminants -- and most people will be a little bit -- if you skin the salmon and you grill it you will get rid of most of those...
COOPER: Oh, really?
GUPTA: Yes.
COOPER: Because I've been wolfing down salmon like four times a week lately.
GUPTA: Farmed or wild? Skin it.
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: All right. Good news. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thanks very much.
GUPTA: All right.
COOPER: I'll still eat salmon.
White collar criminals doing hard time from life on top to life behind bars. Find out what it's really like inside the so-called Club Feds. We'll hear from a woman who has been there.
Also tonight, Charles Manson. Why the defense used his name in relation to Scott Peterson today. Also, a little later, weapons searchers leaving Iraq. Is the real hunt for WMD over? We'll hear some differing opinions.
But first, today's "Buzz." Do you believe the Bush administration misrepresented the threat from Iraq's WMD to justify war? Vote now: cnn.com/360. We'll have results at the end of the program.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Our intelligence officials estimate that Saddam Hussein had the materials produce as much as 500 tons of sarin, mustard and VX nerve agent. In such quantities, these chemical agents could also kill untold thousands.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Well, that was President Bush during his last State of the Union speech. And while Saddam Hussein never counted for the weapons of mass destruction the president described, apparently neither has the U.S. military.
And a new report today suggests they will likely never find any. The report came from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a respected, but politically left of center group that opposed the war.
With me from New York, Albany, New York, is Scott Ritter, a former chief U.N. weapons inspector.
Scott, good to see you.
And joining me from Washington is Andrew Apostolou. He's with the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies.
Andrew, thank you, as well, for being with us. Andrew, I want to start off with you. We learned today 400 weapons hunters have left Iraq empty-handed, it seems. What does this suggest to you?
ANDREW APOSTOLOU, FOUNDATION FOR THE DEFENSE OF DEMOCRACIES: Well, what it suggests actually is -- and, frankly, you've answered your own question. The Iraqis could never account for their WMD stocks. The U.N. never believed the lies that they told them. And what we have found is they're still a mystery as to the stocks.
The fundamental truth, however, is Iraq was in flagrant and blatant violation of its U.N. obligation. This regime was never going to tell us the truth, was never going to comply with the WMD obligations under the Gulf War cease-fire. And what we did was quite rightly to enforce those U.N. resolutions and end the regime.
COOPER: Scott, is the hunt for WMD over?
SCOTT RITTER, FMR. U.N. CHIEF WEAPONS INSPECTOR: No. I think the technical aspects of the hunt are over. The political aspects aren't.
Obviously, what we just heard from Mr. Aspostolou is indicative of the kind of political spin I think we're going to get from the Bush administration and those who support the Bush administration's Iraq policy, trying to make a case that there still is the potential of a threat posed by Iraq weapons of mass destruction and the need to look for them, no matter how long that hunt may be. And therefore, legitimizing the military invasion of Iraq.
COOPER: Andrew, we learned in this report today from Carnegie -- basically, they say it is unlikely that WMD will ever be found in Iraq. Do you think the U.S. has been on a wild goose chase this whole time?
APOSTOLOU: Well, no. I mean, the point is this, that as Hans Blix said in March of last year, he had a strong presumption that there were 10,000 liters of anthrax that couldn't be accounted for and might exist.
The Iraqi story that they destroyed the WMD but forgot to make any records of the destruction, didn't have any trace of the destruction, and oops, didn't have anybody to witness them, was simply not credible. They lied to us and they then went about concealing their lies.
COOPER: Scott Ritter, all along you were saying that there were no WMD. What do you think, in your opinion, you knew that you claim others didn't?
RITTER: Well, I base my statements from my seven years on the ground experience in Iraq, knowing that we accounted for 90 to 95 percent of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction capabilities, knowing that we had in place an effective modern regime covering the totality of Iraq's industrial infrastructure, that they had not reconstituted a WMD manufacturing capability in 1998.
Knowing that the inspection process itself, although not perfect, worked. And the case of biological weapons is clear. Hans Blix indicated that he had an issue with the Iraqi accounting. He Blix had teams on the ground doing their job.
You know, they just published the 15th report, UNMOVIC, Hans Blix's old group, in which they said they took samples from sites that had been indicated by the Iraqis that destruction had taken place. They did genetic geno typing. And guess what? The Iraqis were telling the truth.
The anthrax was destroyed. The anthrax that was in bombs was the same anthrax that they produced.
The inspection process, if given the chance, would have confirmed what the Iraqis stated in 12,500 pages they presented to the United Nations in December of 2002, all weapons were destroyed. We should have given this process a chance to play itself out. Instead, the Bush administration rushed off to a war, a war that's killed hundreds of Americans, killed thousands of Iraqi and destroyed the credibility of the United States and Great Britain.
COOPER: Andrew, do you think WMDs will be found?
APOSTOLOU: Well, I'm sorry. Mr. Ritter told the U.S. Senate in September 1998 that Iraq had not disarmed. He's clearly changed his mind. The fact is David Kelly, the late British arms inspector quite rightly said, the problem with this regime is it would never give up its weapons, its weapons options and that the only way to stop those programs from coming to military maturity, and that's the key danger, was by regime change.
(UNINTELLIGIBLE) said exactly the same thing. He said that talking about the stocks as Mr. Ritter continuely does is to trivialize a grave threat to international security. The fact is this regime used this repeatedly for external aggression and internal repression. The victims of Saddam's weapons still suffer the consequences. Talk to people in Iraq, Kurdistan, talk to people Iran, talk to the victims. You will see that the consequences of what this man did live on to this day and they will live off after he has faced justice.
COOPER: We are going to have to leave it there. Scott Ritter, appreciate it. Andrew Apostolu, as well.
Thank you.
Of course, we want to hear from you at home.
Do you believe the Bush administration misrepresented the threat from Iraq to justify a war?
Vote now, cnn.com/360. Results at the end of the program.
And a change of venue in the Scott Peterson trial. We are going to see what it could mean for his defense.
Plus have you had enough of the Britney marriage story, you know, also the annulment story?
Yes, we thought so.
Before the issue is totally annulled we are going to look in our "Overkill" segment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Time for the reset. Tonight's top stories. And we have this information just in to CNN.
Government officials tell CNN they expect the national threat level to be lowered from code orange to code yellow within the next week. This is just getting into CNN. Just in. Officials say threat information coming in now is more general than it was going into the holiday season when the level was raised.
Moving on to Ranger, Georgia. Four dead, three children missing and police look for this man. Police in north Georgia have issued an AMBER Alert after they discovered the bodies of three adults and a 10- month-old baby. Deputies are looking for 31-year-old Jerry William Jones.
Have you seen him?
They want to hear from you if you have. They say Jones killed the first victims, including his former in-laws, tried to cover up the crime and has since kidnapped girls 10, four, three. Two of the girls are his own children. We are going to more on this developing story in just a moment.
Moving on to New York City. Moving on up. The Nasdaq closed at its highest level since, well, since July 2001. The index ended the day just over 2,100.
Washington: no silicone implants. None on me. The FDA says it will continue -- not yet. Says its 10-year ban on most silicone gel breast implants. Scientists at the agency says they have questions about how often the devices break apart. The ruling came after a corporation asked for permission to sell them again.
Jacksonville, Florida: Billy Graham's surgery. The 85-year-old evangelist underwent hip replacement surgery at the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) clinic there after falling in a local hotel room. He was in town to visit the doctor for his regular checkup. That's a look at stories on "Reset" tonight.
Now back to the manhunt going right now this hour in the southeastern United States. The FBI has been called into the search for Jerry William Jones, a man suspected of murder and kidnapping.
Martin Savidge joins us now live from Calhoun, Georgia. Martin, what's going on?
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The FBI is joining with a lot of national resource that it brings to bare there. They are setting up what they call a task force-like operation. Georgia authorities say they will spare no expense and will spare manpower when it comes to trying to track down Jerry Jones and certainly trying to find the three young girls alive and well. Their ages 10, four and three.
The big question people have at this point and one that authorities are not commenting on is what triggered all of this?
Why did it begin in the first place?
What set Jerry Jones off?
I talked to an uncle of the young girls. He tells me that what it was is that Jerry Jones had made a threat against his estranged wife and said if you ever leave me I will kill your family. Well, apparently over the Christmas holidays there was a breakup and she did in fact leave, and went to Oregon, left the children behind with her parents and also with her sister. Those were the first victims to be killed. It was his in-laws and also it was her sister that was found murdered and 10-month-old baby that was the biological daughter of Jerry Jones. Now he's made off with two of his own children and another child that belonged to Melissa Peely (ph) who is the mother.
COOPER: Just so horrible. Think we were looking at an overhead shot of where some of the killings, alleged killings took place.
When did this all begin?
I mean, when was the first body discover and how soon was it discovered after the killing spree began?
SAVIDGE: Well, you know, there is a lot of talk going on about how this particular timeline came down. The bodies were discovered yesterday. It began, all of this concern began when the mother, Melissa Peeler, began calling from Oregon. She had apparently received a phone call from Jerry Jones. And Jerry Jones had confessed to her what he had done. She immediately called authorities here and said, look. I'm very concern about my family, will you check on their welfare? Two sheriff deputies went out to the houses out in that particular area and thy began looking around. They did not go in the house, but from everything they saw on the outside it all looked perfectly normal, including looking in the windows. It was the second call the mother made around 11:15 last night that sent authorities looking again. They went inside and made that very gruesome discovery -- Anderson.
COOPER: Just terrible. The manhunt is on as we said. Police actively searching. Fbi has been brought in. Martin Savidge, following the manhunt. Thanks very much, Martin, appreciate the update.
We want to move on now to "Justice Served." A victory for the defense. About an hour ago the judge in the Scott Peterson case agreed to move the trial out of Modesto saying it is necessary for a fair trial. During the debate a strange twist. Both sides, both the defense and the prosecution cited the 1970 Charles Manson murder trial.
CNN's David Mattingly reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was a not so simple question posed to the court -- could Scott Peterson get a fair trial in his home county?
But one easily answered, according to the judge, by looking outside the courthouse.
AL GIROLAMI, JUDGE: In my over 30 years in this community I have not seen anything like the publicity generated by this case.
MATTINGLY: It was what Scott Peterson wanted to hear. His attorney described a lynch mob mentality in Stanislaw County, citing the night Peterson was arrested when a crowd outside the jail jeered at his arrival, some calling him a murderer. MARK GERAGOS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: It is a very good day. And we are extremely pleased. The court has taken the first step towards ensuring a fair trial in this case, and I think that's what everybody is interested in doing, except the prosecution.
MATTINGLY: Prosecutors argued there was no need to move. The jury pools all over California were subject to the same media coverage of this emotionally charged case. Going so far to cite the trial of mass murderer Charles Manson, pointing out that sensational trial was not moved.
DAVID HARRIS, DEPUTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: Any time you move a trial, I think we've stated this before, you have the additional cost of housing all the witnesses, housing all the officers, arranging for the court facilities. You know, there's just logistical things that have to go on.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MATTINGLY: Now that the trial is moving, the question is where. The court says it prefers one of three counties in the San Francisco Bay area. That issue now goes to a state judicial board. That board will decide which county is actually capable of handling a case of this size. A case that both sides are predicting could take up to six months before they reach a verdict -- Anderson.
COOPER: All right, David Mattingly live from Modesto. Thanks, David.
What will be the impact of this decision? It happened a little more than an hour ago. Joining us Court TV's Lisa Bloom. Lisa, good to see you.
LISA BLOOM, ANCHOR, COURT TV: Hi.
COOPER: I get why the defense wanted this moved. They said there was like a lynch mob atmosphere in Modesto against Scott Peterson. Why was the prosecution arguing though that it should not be moved?
BLOOM: Well, for the same reason. There were opinion polls that the judge reviewed that said that a large percentage of Stanislaus county residents had already decided the case and decided that Scott Peterson was guilty. That was significantly higher for Stanislaus county folks than people who lived in San Francisco, Sacramento, or Los Angeles.
COOPER: Well, they kind of argued that to the judge. They kind of said our polls show that people want to convict this guy so we want to keep it here and they just, what, expenses, that sort of thing?
BLOOM: Of course. And convenience of the witnesses. Most of the witnesses are from the Modesto area and it's inconvenient for them to travel. Certainly, victims' family members don't like to have to travel long distance to watch the trial.
COOPER: Odd that they both cited Charles Manson in the court today.
BLOOM: You've got to wonder about the PR savvy of the defense in making any analogy from Scott Peterson...
COOPER: Well, you're looking at Geragos.
BLOOM: No, but I actually think the defense had the better part of the argument that clearly, it should have been moved because Scott Peterson is on trial for his life. He's facing execution potentially. This has to be a fair trial. All of the precautions have to be taken. So I think change of venue was appropriate.
COOPER: And also, just down the road, it eliminates one more possible avenue for an appeal if, in fact, he's convicted.
BLOOM: That's right. And that's why I think prosecutors will not appeal this decision. They will go through with whatever the court decides as to where this case should be tried.
COOPER: Both sides have mentioned pre-trial publicity. The prosecution basically blamed the defense for all the publicity. The defense says there's just so much interest in this case you can't get a fair trial here in Modesto. But there's publicity worldwide for this thing. People know about this case. Why is it going to be any different in L.A. or elsewhere?
BLOOM: It is different in Modesto and Stanislaus county. The "Modesto Bee" has front-page lengthy stories on this case nearly every day. I read them to find out what's going on in this case. Also, many people in Stanislaus county were personally involved in the search for Laci Peterson or they knew somebody who was involved...
COOPER: It's the level of personal involvement, you think, that makes a difference.
BLOOM: Although all of us are following this case nationwide and as you said, even internationally, the level of interest in the case in Stanislaus county is really sky-high and that's why it was fair to move it.
COOPER: All right. We'll see where it goes. Lisa, thanks.
All right. Love and money. Merging bank accounts. A family budget? How to talk cash with your special someone coming up.
Also tonight, overkill in the media. What did we pick this week? It is a hard one. It is a hard one. All right, Britney Spears. Sure, we'll do her (UNINTELLIGIBLE) wedding.
Plus, strikeout on the American dream. Two Cuban baseball players trying to -- caught trying to flee the revolution. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DESI ARNAZ, "I LOVE LUCY": Every month I put money in the bank and every month you spend it all and more besides. I don't understand it. I mean, I like to know the reason. Why are you overdrawn at the bank? Lucy?
LUCILLE BALL, ACTRESS: Eeww.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: I think Cathlin (UNINTELLIGIBLE), one of our big producers here, She's a "Lucy" fan. I think she's responsible for that clip. Anyway, pop culture imitates life as we just saw in that classic "I Love Lucy" clip. Desi giving Lucy some grief for bad money management.
Now maybe you had a similar encounter with your significant other but don't let it bankrupt your love life. That's the advice in the book, "Love and Money, A Life Guide to Financial Success." The author, Jeff Opdyke. The book is based on his "Love and Money" column in the "Wall Street Journal" Sunday and he's a personal finance reporter for the paper as well and he's married, I should point out.
Jeff, good to see you. Thanks for being with us. You say couples just don't talk about money.
JEFF OPDYKE, AUTHOR, "LOVE AND MONEY, A LIFE GUIDE TO FINANCIAL SUCCESS": That's true. They don't. I mean, people are not raised to talk about money as kids. Think about what your parents did. You never found out what your mom and your dad earned for the most part.
You weren't raised to think about money. Money is something you sort of hid. You didn't want the neighbors to know how much money you had or how much money you didn't have. And today, people will talk about anything in their life including sex. But when it comes to money they just shut down completely because it's so private.
COOPER: And when should a couple start talking about money?
OPDYKE: You should talk about money the minute you are in a relationship and you know this relationship is going to go somewhere. If it is casual dating, probably not. When it goes to the point where you are moving in together, you are going to create a life, you're going to get married, you need to understand money because there are financial compatibility issues that go along with all the big issues like how do we raise kids? Do we even have kids? What are your religious beliefs? What's your work ethic?
COOPER: So when you say talk about money with your loved one, it's not just talk about how much you make, how much I make. It is about your relationship, your attitudes towards money, whether you are a spend thrift, how much you think should be spent.
OPDYKE: Absolutely. I mean, one of the biggest issues couples face going into a marriage is actually the debt load in the marriage. That becomes one of the huge issues in the first five years of marriage that can point to whether or not your marriage is going to survive or not.
It's how much debt you bring into marriage. People never talk about that. They get together, they hook up, they never exchange things like, say, a FICO score which most people don't even think about. I mean, who wants to exchange their credit ratings. But just do something like that...
COOPER: You are such a romantic.
OPDYKE: I know. I really am. My wife loves me for it. When you exchange something like a credit rating and you can talk about the issues. Why is your credit so bad and why is your credit so good?
COOPER: You recommend people exchange credit ratings?
OPDYKE: I do. I recommend it in the book. Get your FICO score. You can get it off the Internet these days, pretty quickly and pretty easily. And people can talk about it, and you can understand why it is that your spouse has so much debt. Is he or she just getting out of med school and it's med school kind of debt or is it...
COOPER: How do you know that someone is a right money match for you?
OPDYKE: That's hard to say. It is not like you're going to create a perfect money match each time because everybody is different financially. You just have to understand how you view money and how your spouse views money or your significant other views money so you can begin to understand how you each think about money and you can begin to talk about it and address it that way.
COOPER: Interesting. All right, Jeff Opdyke, appreciate you joining us. Thanks. Pretty interesting.
Every Thursday we focus on a story that has enjoyed or endured excessive media attention. For this week's "Overkill," there were really only two contenders. The wedding of Britney Spears and the annulment of the wedding of Britney Spears.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DIANE SAWYER, CO-HOST, "GOOD MORNING AMERICA": Well, late-night talk shows are talking about it, talk shows in general, and we are talking about it for sure. Superstar pop idol...
KATIE COURIC, CO-HOST, "THE TODAY SHOW": Britney Spears got hitched this weekend to a childhood friend at a Las Vegas wedding chapel.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE, "THE EARLY SHOW": After just 55 hours of wedded bliss, Britney Spears has officially gone from Mrs. back to Miss.
COOPER (voice-over): The marriage alone would have guaranteed headlines. But annulling 55 hours later, not only gave TV shows a chance to show Britney saying... BRITNEY SPEARS, POP STAR: Oops, I did it again...
COOPER: It was like pouring something flammable on something already burning. Tabloids fanned the flames and the Britney blaze was out of control. Some tabloids forked over big bucks to anyone who had photos of the nuptials. Nothing about Britney was too trivial for discussion.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She had a wedding/annulment dinner about 4:00 on Saturday afternoon.
COOPER: Days later, running out of fuel and devoid of news, the tabloids tried to keep the embers glowing. "The Post" even ran a contest for your own Britney wedding, annulment not included. And if you think it's over, it's not. Tomorrow, "People" magazine promises to tell us what really happened.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Well, can't wait for that.
It is an American dream for lots of kids. Play baseball and make it to the majors. Some baseball players in Cuba have the same dream. But following it can be risky, they have recently learned. We're going to have that.
Plus, Liza Minnelli shows up in divorce court but where's David Gest? Inquiring minds want to know. We'll be right back with "The Current."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: All right. Time to check on the pop news in tonight's "Current." Let's see what's going on.
The teen star of "8 Simple Rules For Dating My Teenage Daughter" tells "Teen Vogue" she didn't want to do the show without John Ritter and she thought it was wrong that ABC didn't end the show when he died. Then she got over it.
Harrison Ford's divorce from Melissa Mathison is now final. Ford is free to begin dating Calista Flockhart.
The "Washington Post" reports that the Bush twins complained to her mother that Secret Service security made it tough to get into bars and drink when they were under age. Laura Bush reportedly told the agents to back off. I believe the phrase we're looking for is dream mother.
Liza Minelli showed up yesterday in divorce court where her lawyer complained that husband, David Guest, was hiding out in Hawaii. In fairness to David Guest, most men who said they'd been beaten up by Liza Minelli probably would have disappeared off the Earth entirely.
Moving on tonight, 4 Cuban baseball players were thrown in jail this week after they were caught trying to defect. They join the ranks of a growing number of dissident athletes who are looking for better opportunities abroad. Lucia Newman has one of their stories from Havana tonight.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LUCIA NEWMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When fans turned up to see Cuba's national champion team play last Sunday, they saw something conspicuously missing, the team's two top hitters. 20-year- old Kendri Morales (ph), Cuba's great baseball hope, and a fellow batter Baribaro Condicares (ph) had been fired.
No one at Kendri Morales' (ph) house was willing to speak to us on camera. Sources close to him confirmed that players were caught trying to escape Cuba from the seaside town of Cai Bariend (ph).
In October, Cuban officials whisked Morales off the field during a pre-Olympic game in Panama and flew him home. Already suspicious, he would be lured by U.S. baseball agents and the promise of making millions in the major leagues.
His family says Morales is distraught, knowing full well what happens when you're declared a traitor to Cuban baseball and the revolution. Just ask Orlando Chinea. The prominent coach from Santa Clara says he was banned from even entering a baseball field for life after trying unsuccessfully to defect in 1998.
ORLANDO CHINEA, FRM. BASEBALL COACH (through translator): Ever since than, I've been wait fog authorization to leave Cuba to migrate to the United States, but they won't let me he says. I've been retained here for almost seven years.
NEWMAN (on camera): But despite the risks and the consequences if they get caught, Cuban baseball players continue trying to make it to the big time and the big money. In the last six months alone, at least four top players have managed to defect.
(voice-over): Those who get caught, like Orlando Chinea, are almost always sentenced to be sports outcasts, unable to play the game they live for in Cuba, unable to follow their dream of fame and fortune abroad. Lucia Newman, CNN, Santa Clara, Cuba.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Have you got HDTV? I sure hope not, because HDTV could mean big problems for me, by taking my face to the "Nth Degree." We'll explain coming up.
Plus tomorrow, when conventions collide. One group is there for Internet porn, the other the Consumer Electronics Show. Can 2 grown conventions share Las Vegas without driving each other crazy?
First, today's "Buzz" question. "Do you believe the Bush administration misrepresented the threat from Iraq to justify a war?" Vote now CNN.com/360. We've been getting thousands of votes on this. Send us yours. We're going to have the results when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Been getting thousands and thousands of votes tonight. Time for the "Buzz." We asked you, "do you believe the Bush administration misrepresented the threat from Iraq to justify a war?" 89 percent of you said yes. 11 percent voted no. Certainly not a scientific poll. But it is your buzz. We appreciate you voting.
Tonight, taking high definition to the "Nth Degree." The "Wall Street Journal" reports that high definition television, HDTV, has makeup artists and the people they make up sweating and sweating visibly over the advent of high definition TV.
Why? Because it's so crisp, so sharp that it shows everything. I mean there's no secret that some TV people already use special camera lenses to hide some things, to soften or even improve their image.
See, if I did this, it would look like this, blurring away my misshapen figures and making me beautiful. But HDTV reveals everything and you can't cover it with make-up, because it will show the makeup as well.
See? And if I can't wear makeup, HDTV will mercilessly reveal every wart and wrinkle on my face. See? I'm old, hideously, hideously old. Now, I want to see what Jerry Orbach would look like? I didn't think so. There's a thin line between brave and stupid.
So please, think before you upgrade; in not for me, then do it for Andy Rooney.
That wraps up our program tonight. Thanks for watching. Coming up next, "PAULA ZAHN NOW."
END
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With Your Fiance? Massive Manhunt Continues For Suspected Murderer/Kidnapper>
Aired January 8, 2004 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON COOPER, HOST (voice-over): Weapons inspectors are leaving Iraq without any WMD. What happened to the hunt?
A massive manhunt, searching for a suspected child kidnapper.
A big deal in the Enron scandal. We'll look at Club Fed: life on the inside for white collar criminals.
Bye-bye Modesto. Scott Peterson's defense scores a victory in court.
Sacrificing for your spouse. How far would you go for the person you love?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: Live from the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is ANDERSON COOPER 360.
COOPER: Good evening. Welcome to 360.
At this moment, a manhunt is under way and authorities want your help. A Georgia man described as a jealous ex-husband -- that is him there -- accused of killing three former in-laws and his baby daughter. Police say he is on the run right now with two daughters and a former step daughter in tow. An Amber Alert has been issued across the region. We're going to have details in just a moment.
First, our top story. New developments today in the search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. CNN has confirmed the Bush administration has withdrawn a 400-member team looking for weapons. Officials do point out hundreds still remain.
A separate team remains. A new report released today says it is unlikely they will find anything. The report says Iraq ended its WMD programs by the mid 1990s.
In Washington, national security correspondent David Ensor has the latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After six months of interviewing Iraqis and weapons inspectors and reviewing intelligence, the report's authors are scathing about the Bush administration's pre-war statements on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction programs.
JESSICA MATTHEWS, CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT: The representation by senior officials show a fairly systemic misrepresentation of the facts over and above the intelligence failings with respect to chemical and biological weapons.
COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: I'm confident of what I presented last year.
ENSOR: At a news conference, Secretary of State Powell strongly defended his pre-war presentation to the United Nations of what was known about Iraq's weapons programs.
POWELL: And anything that we did not feel was solid and multi sourced we did not use in that speech.
ENSOR: The Carnegie report says the threat was exaggerated and that war was not the best or only option. It calls for U.S. national security policy to drop the idea of unilateral preemptive war. It says U.S. intelligence was unduly influenced by policymakers and recommends possibly making the post of director of Central Intelligence a career job, not a presidential appointment to avoid the politicization of intelligence.
CIA officials from the top down have consistently said there is no need for that change. It would not work and they have always and will always tell it like it is.
STUART COHEN, CIA OFFICIAL: No reasonable person could have reached conclusions other than the ones we reached.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: David Ensor joins us in Washington.
David, what do we know about the group behind this report, Carnegie? I mean, do they have an agenda?
ENSOR: It is a prestigious think tank. There is a bit of an agenda in the sense that two of the three authors were always opposed to the war before the war started and did serve in democratic administrations. Still, this is a serious, carefully written report. It is likely to be quoted in the election campaign by whoever becomes the Democratic nominee, I would say.
COOPER: All right. No doubt about that. David Ensor, thanks very much for that.
Later in the program, former U.N. weapons inspector Scott Ritter and a terrorism expert talk bout WMD and what happens how in Iraq.
In Iraq tonight, U.S. military officials are launching an investigation into the crash of a Black Hawk helicopter. It went down earlier today in Fallujah. Nine U.S. soldiers died in that crash.
CNN's Satinder Bindra is live in Baghdad with the latest -- Satinder.
SATINDER BINDRA, CNN NEW DELHI BUREAU CHIEF: Anderson, this helicopter was on a routine medivac mission when it crashed just west of Baghdad. The Army says it's launched an investigation, but eye witnesses say it was struck by a missile in its tail rotor.
Now, nine U.S. soldiers aboard it were killed. And this is not the first time that a U.S. helicopter has been targeted in the area just west of Baghdad. On January 2, a reconnaissance helicopter was also shot down, killing one crewmember.
Also today, a U.S. C-5 transport airplane was also targeted this. This plane was just taking off from Baghdad International Airport when crewmembers reported heavy vibrations in one of its engines.
Now, crewmembers decided to make an emergency landing. They did make it safely. All 63 crewmembers onboard the plane were safe. Again, this is not the first time that a U.S. transport aircraft taking off from Baghdad International Airport has been targeted by insurgent fire -- Anderson.
COOPER: All right. Investigation undergoing right now. Satinder Bindra, thanks very much.
The downing today of a U.S. helicopter certainly isn't the first in Iraq, as Satinder mentioned. Here is a quick news note for you. Since Operation Iraqi Freedom began last March, there have been 14 chopper crashes. The deadliest, November 15. Seventeen U.S. soldiers killed when two UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters went down in the northern city of Mosul.
Now to the southeastern U.S. A dramatic manhunt happening right now. The FBI has been called into the search for Jerry William Jones, a man suspected of killing four people, including his baby daughter, and then kidnapping two other daughters and a third girl, part of the area searched here right in this overhead shot.
Martin Savidge is monitoring the manhunt from Georgia.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SHERIFF JERRY DAVIS, GORDON COUNTY, GEORGIA: We're looking for this man right here.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Thirty-one-year- old Jerry William Jones is the subject of a multi-state manhunt. A phone call led police to this rural community in north Georgia, where they discovered the bodies of three adults and a 10-month-old infant in two neighboring homes.
Investigators say all four of the victims are related. A number of them had been shot several times. The infant apparently strangled. Three other children, all girls, ages 10, four, and three, are missing and believed kidnapped by the suspect. An Amber Alert has been issued across the region. And authorities say they are gravely concerned for their safety.
DAVIS: The statement was made, "If you notify the officers, I will harm the children."
SAVIDGE: That statement was made by Melissa Peeler (ph), the mother of the three missing children, estranged from Jones. She called police from Oregon Wednesday evening, saying Jones had called telling her what he had done. She had called earlier in the afternoon, but at that time police found nothing out of the ordinary outside the house. But after she called a second time, police found the bodies.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We do not know where he's at. We do not know where he's headed to.
SAVIDGE: The suspect, Jerry Jones, has a long criminal record and has been haunted by tragedy. His mother and stepfather died aboard the Value Jet plane that crashed in 1996. Several years later, his brother died in a car crash.
Relatives tell newspapers in south Florida that Jones' biological father was violent toward his family. But what matters most now is the present and the safe return of three young girls in a small town where authorities take the crime personally.
DAVIS: The way that he's treated these people, I want him bad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SAVIDGE: Jerry Jones' criminal record dates back all the way to 1989. He was arrested on burglary charges and sentenced to eight years in prison. Even now he's on probation for two other crimes -- Anderson.
COOPER: Martin, investigators are saying this suspect acted methodically. What exactly does that mean?
SAVIDGE: It means he took his time, Anderson. He went from one house and then to the next house, even hid the bodies and cleaned up after the murder scene. Then he sat down and waited for the oldest child, the 10-year-old, to come home from school, abducting her and two other children -- Anderson.
COOPER: Methodical indeed. All right. Martin Savidge, thanks very much.
On to Houston. A dramatic development in the Enron investigation. Today, a federal judge set a deadline of noon tomorrow for the wife of former Enron CFO Andrew Fastow to decide whether she wants to enter a guilty plea. Lee Fastow is a former assistant treasurer at Enron. Her husband is also working on a plea deal. Now, the wife's attorney says the goal is to let one of the Fastows stay home with their kids while the other is serving prison time.
Ed Lavandera has details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED LAVANDERA, CNN DALLAS BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): Eight months ago, Lee Fastow pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy and filing false tax returns. Prosecutors accuse Ms. Fastow of helping her husband, Andrew, disguise the profits made from the shady accounting deals that toppled the Enron corporation. But now, Ms. Fastow wants to plead guilty. Her attorneys say the couple's two children are the reason why she's coming clean.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You'd have to be a mother to fully understand. She has two children at home. If Andy, her husband, has to go to jail sometime, we don't want the children to be without parents.
LAVANDERA: In the deal, Ms. Fastow would plead guilty and only spend five months in prison. Quite an offer consideringing she could face 10 years if convicted in a trial. Sources say prosecutors are also working to negotiate a plea agreement with Andrew Fastow. He was the chief financial officer at Enron.
Prosecutors are playing hardball with Mr. Fastow. The message is, cooperate with prosecutors or both you and your wife go to trial, are sent to prison, and your children are left parentless. Phillip Hilder (ph) is the attorney for Enron whistleblower Sharon Watkins. He says the Fastows don't have many options.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If both convicted, both would be spending an enormous amount of time in the federal prison as opposed to cutting their losses and minimizing their risk with relatively light prison terms.
LAVANDERA (on camera): So the government really backed them into a corner?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAVANDERA: So while all this is happening now, well, the looming trials of both Ms. Fastow and Mr. Fastow are looming. Ms. Fastow is scheduled to go to trial next month. Mr. Fastow in April. And many believe here and say as those trial dates approach closer, that both Mr. and Mrs. Fastow didn't feel like they had many options left. And that's why they're talking with prosecutors now -- Anderson.
COOPER: All right. Ed Lavandera, thanks, from Houston.
The prisons to which white collar criminals sometimes are sentenced have been called Cub Fed. You probably have heard that term. Stories of golf courses, tennis courts. Later in the program, we're going to speak with a convicted white collar criminal who says Club Fed is no day at the beach.
Right now we're following several developing stories for you "Cross Country." Let's take a look.
Modesto, California: change of venue. A short time ago, a judge officially ordered the Scott Peterson trial moved out of Stanislas County, where the defense says Peterson has been demonized. The change of venue will probably delay the trial start date. We're going to have more on this coming up later on in the program.
Cleveland, Ohio: lottery lie. This woman is a liar. She admits she lied about buying a winning lottery ticket and then losing it. Elecia Battle sued to block the certified winner from getting the $162 million jackpot. She has apologized and dropped the suit.
Phoenix, Arizona: pipeline panic. Drivers rush to gas stations after a rumor that there was a pipeline rupture and fuel shortage. That actually did happen back in August. Arizona State officials say this time it was just a rumor.
Denver, Colorado: Bryant booed. That's right. The crowd booed Kobe Bryant last night at his first game in Colorado since being accused of sexual assault. The crowd started booing when Bryant was introduced and continued every time he touched the ball.
There they go again. Bryant's Lakers lost the game.
That's a look at stories "Cross Country" tonight.
The general and the pop queen. Madonna bestows a kiss of endorsement on a presidential hopeful. The question is, will it help or hurt his chances of winning the White House? We'll go live to the campaign trail for that and all the day's campaign news.
Also, a veteran teacher accused of molesting an 11-year-old boy. She called it a relationship. Is it Mary Kay Laterno (ph) all over again? We're going to take a closer look at this shocking case.
Plus, do you think salmon is the only healthy food left? Well, I've got some bad news for you. New concerns over the health of certain kinds of salmon. Dr. Sanjay Gupta with a report that may influence what you have for dinner tonight.
But first, let's take a look "Inside the Box" at the top stories on tonight's network newscasts.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: All right. Enough Madonna. The superstar is backing four-star General Wesley Clark. Madonna has posted a letter of support on her Web site for the Democratic presidential hopeful and urges others to join Clark's army.
CNN's Dan Lothian is on the campaign trail tonight in New Hampshire.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Riding a wave of positive poll numbers, retired General Wesley Clark is now enjoying two key endorsements from two very different worlds. The material girl praising him on her Web site and in a recent CNN interview.
MADONNA, ENTERTAINER: I think he's a natural born leader
LOTHIAN: And the Enron whistleblower now by his side on the campaign trail.
SHERRON WATKINS, CLARK SUPPORTER: And what I see in Wes Clark is someone that moderate Republicans can get behind. And to win an election, he needs not only Democrat votes, but moderate Republicans to vote for him as well. And I see tha the's the candidate that can attract those moderate Republican voters.
LOTHIAN: Watkins helped Clark maximize his message at this stop in Concord, as the retired general pushed his plan to end corporate welfare.
WESLEY CLARK (D), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Four steps that I'll take to crack down on tax shelters, close corporate loopholes and recapture at least $10 billion a year.
LOTHIAN: Clark's recent surge is now putting pressure on frontrunner Howard Dean, after a week that saw him on the cover of "TIME" and "Newsweek," and (UNINTELLIGIBLE) with high profile endorsement Bill Bradley. Despite reports that Dean's aides are sheltering him from the national press in order to better manage the message, Dean's campaign says it's false.
JOE TRIPPI, DEAN CAMPAIGN MANAGER: We're not trying to go over or under the heads of the national press corps. We're just trying to make sure that with 10 days to go in Iowa that we're spending every bit of moment we can speaking directly to the people of Iowa and New Hampshire.
LOTHIAN: Meanwhile, the other top-tier candidates on the trail in New Hampshire are sharpening their focus on Clark while trying to gain ground.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LOTHIAN: We are currently at another Clark event here in Concord, New Hampshire. Clark will be speaking shortly. Right now they are showing a biographical video.
I want to bring up something that happened yesterday when the Dean campaign released that anti-Clark flyer, while announcing that there is the war of the fliers. The Clark campaign has now released its own flier, and in that flier they're saying that yesterday's flier from the Dean campaign was filled with, "inaccuracies and half-truths" and that it was not leadership. What it is, is just politics as usual -- Anderson.
COOPER: All right. It all sounds like politics as usual. Dan Lothian, thanks very much from Concord.
Word tonight of a familiar name possibly getting into the race for the U.S. Senate. Remember Katherine Harris? Supporters of the Florida congresswoman say she's leaning toward running for Senator Bob Graham's seat. They say she will reveal her plans next week. Harris, of course, oversaw the disputed 2000 presidential election in Florida as secretary of state.
Well, today, residents in one Florida community are stunned. Not about Katherine Harris. They are stunned about a Florida teacher who is charged with having a sexual relationship with a former student. The student was 11 years old when the alleged molestation began.
CNN national correspondent Susan Candiotti reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Police say the music teacher's secret sex with her now 12-year-old former student was discovered when the boy's mother noticed a text message on his cell phone from the teacher.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was sexual in nature. And that alarmed her, which it should have.
CANDIOTTI: Police say Carol Flannigan, the mother of a teenage son, taught the alleged victim in the fourth grade and that the two secretly met over 19 months. Detectives say the first encounter was during a sleepover at Flannigan's house.
(on camera): After a sleepover in her house in June 2002, police charge Mrs. Flannigan had sex with her student at least another five times in several places, including this park, a hotel room, and back at her home.
(voice-over): This week, police secretly taped a phone call between the teacher and her alleged victim. According to a police affidavit, the boy asks, "Why did you pick me to have sex with?" Mrs. Flannigan replied, "I told you why. I don't know why it happened. I don't know why I love you so much."
In 2002, Boca Raton police investigated Flannigan for kissing the same boy. But the allegations were called unfounded. Palm Beach County school parents are astounded.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Really fighting for those kids. You know, you go to school every day and you trust that person. Other than your mom and dad, you trust your teacher. And that was terrible. That wasn't right.
CANDIOTTI: Flannigan's attorney says he expects to post a $30,000 bond. Contact with the boy and other minors is forbidden.
Susan Candiotti, CNN, Palm Beach County, Florida.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Unbelievable. Sadly, the story is nothing new. Let's flash back for a moment.
In 1996, remember Mary Kay Letourneau? The Washington State teacher repeatedly had sex with one of her sixth grade students. She then got pregnant. Letourneau was charged with second-degree child rape. She was sentenced to prison for six months. But it didn't end there.
Released on probation, she was again impregnated by the boy. That gave her a seven-year prison sentence. They even co-wrote a book together, "Only One Crime, Love." That was the name of their book, professing their love for each other.
The boy in all of this and his mother brought charges against state officials, saying police failed to protect him from Mary Kay Letourneau. In 2002, a civil jury in Kent, Washington ruled the relationship could not have been prevented by the school district or local police.
Well, we are following a number of developing stories internationally now. Let's take a look in the "UpLink."
Baghdad: anger and disappointment. The anticipated release of Iraqi prisoners creates chaos. Only about 80 men were released today. That's one of them there. And U.S. officials say they were not part of an amnesty program. That led some in the crowd to shout "liars, liars." Coalition officials now say the release will be done quietly for security and privacy reasons.
Bam, Iran, amazingly another survivor. A 56-year-old man pulled alive from earthquake rubble. He is reportedly in a coma. The man right there had been buried for 13 days, but he is alive. The quake, of course, killed an estimated 30,000 people.
And that's a quick look at the "UpLink" tonight.
Today, more troubling news about food. As if it weren't tough enough to eat healthy food these days, you've got mad cow, no carbs, watching the sodas. And today, be careful about fish, especially salmon. But not just any salmon. Salmon raised in fish farms. I told you, it is getting tough out there.
Here is Dr. Sanjay Gupta to explain.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): We're not trying to confuse you, seriously. But it turns out that salmon, the one food that you thought was truly good for you, low fat, heart healthy and low in mercury, may have some problems after all.
A large study of 700 salmon from 16 cities now shows farm-raised salmon may have up to 11 times more dioxins, PCBs and other potential cancer-causing contaminants compared to wild salmon. And while that sounds bad, the FDA is not particularly concerned, saying even those levels are pretty low. And it's not clear what the health risks of those contaminants really are.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please don't change the diet. FDA will take care of this potential problem by continuing to get these levels lower.
GUPTA: Still, the Institute for Health and Environment advises caution.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One should limit your consumption of farmed salmon to probably on the average of not more than one farmed salmon meal per month.
GUPTA: The institute also suggests you ask where your farmed salmon came from. Salmon farmed in northern Europe had the most contaminants, followed by farms in North America and then Chile. Chile had the lowest contamination level overall.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA: I come bearing gifts for you.
COOPER: You've got a salmon right here.
GUPTA: I've got some advice and some salmon as well. And here's the thing about it. If you're still concerned about these contaminants -- and most people will be a little bit -- if you skin the salmon and you grill it you will get rid of most of those...
COOPER: Oh, really?
GUPTA: Yes.
COOPER: Because I've been wolfing down salmon like four times a week lately.
GUPTA: Farmed or wild? Skin it.
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: All right. Good news. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thanks very much.
GUPTA: All right.
COOPER: I'll still eat salmon.
White collar criminals doing hard time from life on top to life behind bars. Find out what it's really like inside the so-called Club Feds. We'll hear from a woman who has been there.
Also tonight, Charles Manson. Why the defense used his name in relation to Scott Peterson today. Also, a little later, weapons searchers leaving Iraq. Is the real hunt for WMD over? We'll hear some differing opinions.
But first, today's "Buzz." Do you believe the Bush administration misrepresented the threat from Iraq's WMD to justify war? Vote now: cnn.com/360. We'll have results at the end of the program.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Our intelligence officials estimate that Saddam Hussein had the materials produce as much as 500 tons of sarin, mustard and VX nerve agent. In such quantities, these chemical agents could also kill untold thousands.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Well, that was President Bush during his last State of the Union speech. And while Saddam Hussein never counted for the weapons of mass destruction the president described, apparently neither has the U.S. military.
And a new report today suggests they will likely never find any. The report came from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a respected, but politically left of center group that opposed the war.
With me from New York, Albany, New York, is Scott Ritter, a former chief U.N. weapons inspector.
Scott, good to see you.
And joining me from Washington is Andrew Apostolou. He's with the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies.
Andrew, thank you, as well, for being with us. Andrew, I want to start off with you. We learned today 400 weapons hunters have left Iraq empty-handed, it seems. What does this suggest to you?
ANDREW APOSTOLOU, FOUNDATION FOR THE DEFENSE OF DEMOCRACIES: Well, what it suggests actually is -- and, frankly, you've answered your own question. The Iraqis could never account for their WMD stocks. The U.N. never believed the lies that they told them. And what we have found is they're still a mystery as to the stocks.
The fundamental truth, however, is Iraq was in flagrant and blatant violation of its U.N. obligation. This regime was never going to tell us the truth, was never going to comply with the WMD obligations under the Gulf War cease-fire. And what we did was quite rightly to enforce those U.N. resolutions and end the regime.
COOPER: Scott, is the hunt for WMD over?
SCOTT RITTER, FMR. U.N. CHIEF WEAPONS INSPECTOR: No. I think the technical aspects of the hunt are over. The political aspects aren't.
Obviously, what we just heard from Mr. Aspostolou is indicative of the kind of political spin I think we're going to get from the Bush administration and those who support the Bush administration's Iraq policy, trying to make a case that there still is the potential of a threat posed by Iraq weapons of mass destruction and the need to look for them, no matter how long that hunt may be. And therefore, legitimizing the military invasion of Iraq.
COOPER: Andrew, we learned in this report today from Carnegie -- basically, they say it is unlikely that WMD will ever be found in Iraq. Do you think the U.S. has been on a wild goose chase this whole time?
APOSTOLOU: Well, no. I mean, the point is this, that as Hans Blix said in March of last year, he had a strong presumption that there were 10,000 liters of anthrax that couldn't be accounted for and might exist.
The Iraqi story that they destroyed the WMD but forgot to make any records of the destruction, didn't have any trace of the destruction, and oops, didn't have anybody to witness them, was simply not credible. They lied to us and they then went about concealing their lies.
COOPER: Scott Ritter, all along you were saying that there were no WMD. What do you think, in your opinion, you knew that you claim others didn't?
RITTER: Well, I base my statements from my seven years on the ground experience in Iraq, knowing that we accounted for 90 to 95 percent of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction capabilities, knowing that we had in place an effective modern regime covering the totality of Iraq's industrial infrastructure, that they had not reconstituted a WMD manufacturing capability in 1998.
Knowing that the inspection process itself, although not perfect, worked. And the case of biological weapons is clear. Hans Blix indicated that he had an issue with the Iraqi accounting. He Blix had teams on the ground doing their job.
You know, they just published the 15th report, UNMOVIC, Hans Blix's old group, in which they said they took samples from sites that had been indicated by the Iraqis that destruction had taken place. They did genetic geno typing. And guess what? The Iraqis were telling the truth.
The anthrax was destroyed. The anthrax that was in bombs was the same anthrax that they produced.
The inspection process, if given the chance, would have confirmed what the Iraqis stated in 12,500 pages they presented to the United Nations in December of 2002, all weapons were destroyed. We should have given this process a chance to play itself out. Instead, the Bush administration rushed off to a war, a war that's killed hundreds of Americans, killed thousands of Iraqi and destroyed the credibility of the United States and Great Britain.
COOPER: Andrew, do you think WMDs will be found?
APOSTOLOU: Well, I'm sorry. Mr. Ritter told the U.S. Senate in September 1998 that Iraq had not disarmed. He's clearly changed his mind. The fact is David Kelly, the late British arms inspector quite rightly said, the problem with this regime is it would never give up its weapons, its weapons options and that the only way to stop those programs from coming to military maturity, and that's the key danger, was by regime change.
(UNINTELLIGIBLE) said exactly the same thing. He said that talking about the stocks as Mr. Ritter continuely does is to trivialize a grave threat to international security. The fact is this regime used this repeatedly for external aggression and internal repression. The victims of Saddam's weapons still suffer the consequences. Talk to people in Iraq, Kurdistan, talk to people Iran, talk to the victims. You will see that the consequences of what this man did live on to this day and they will live off after he has faced justice.
COOPER: We are going to have to leave it there. Scott Ritter, appreciate it. Andrew Apostolu, as well.
Thank you.
Of course, we want to hear from you at home.
Do you believe the Bush administration misrepresented the threat from Iraq to justify a war?
Vote now, cnn.com/360. Results at the end of the program.
And a change of venue in the Scott Peterson trial. We are going to see what it could mean for his defense.
Plus have you had enough of the Britney marriage story, you know, also the annulment story?
Yes, we thought so.
Before the issue is totally annulled we are going to look in our "Overkill" segment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Time for the reset. Tonight's top stories. And we have this information just in to CNN.
Government officials tell CNN they expect the national threat level to be lowered from code orange to code yellow within the next week. This is just getting into CNN. Just in. Officials say threat information coming in now is more general than it was going into the holiday season when the level was raised.
Moving on to Ranger, Georgia. Four dead, three children missing and police look for this man. Police in north Georgia have issued an AMBER Alert after they discovered the bodies of three adults and a 10- month-old baby. Deputies are looking for 31-year-old Jerry William Jones.
Have you seen him?
They want to hear from you if you have. They say Jones killed the first victims, including his former in-laws, tried to cover up the crime and has since kidnapped girls 10, four, three. Two of the girls are his own children. We are going to more on this developing story in just a moment.
Moving on to New York City. Moving on up. The Nasdaq closed at its highest level since, well, since July 2001. The index ended the day just over 2,100.
Washington: no silicone implants. None on me. The FDA says it will continue -- not yet. Says its 10-year ban on most silicone gel breast implants. Scientists at the agency says they have questions about how often the devices break apart. The ruling came after a corporation asked for permission to sell them again.
Jacksonville, Florida: Billy Graham's surgery. The 85-year-old evangelist underwent hip replacement surgery at the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) clinic there after falling in a local hotel room. He was in town to visit the doctor for his regular checkup. That's a look at stories on "Reset" tonight.
Now back to the manhunt going right now this hour in the southeastern United States. The FBI has been called into the search for Jerry William Jones, a man suspected of murder and kidnapping.
Martin Savidge joins us now live from Calhoun, Georgia. Martin, what's going on?
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The FBI is joining with a lot of national resource that it brings to bare there. They are setting up what they call a task force-like operation. Georgia authorities say they will spare no expense and will spare manpower when it comes to trying to track down Jerry Jones and certainly trying to find the three young girls alive and well. Their ages 10, four and three.
The big question people have at this point and one that authorities are not commenting on is what triggered all of this?
Why did it begin in the first place?
What set Jerry Jones off?
I talked to an uncle of the young girls. He tells me that what it was is that Jerry Jones had made a threat against his estranged wife and said if you ever leave me I will kill your family. Well, apparently over the Christmas holidays there was a breakup and she did in fact leave, and went to Oregon, left the children behind with her parents and also with her sister. Those were the first victims to be killed. It was his in-laws and also it was her sister that was found murdered and 10-month-old baby that was the biological daughter of Jerry Jones. Now he's made off with two of his own children and another child that belonged to Melissa Peely (ph) who is the mother.
COOPER: Just so horrible. Think we were looking at an overhead shot of where some of the killings, alleged killings took place.
When did this all begin?
I mean, when was the first body discover and how soon was it discovered after the killing spree began?
SAVIDGE: Well, you know, there is a lot of talk going on about how this particular timeline came down. The bodies were discovered yesterday. It began, all of this concern began when the mother, Melissa Peeler, began calling from Oregon. She had apparently received a phone call from Jerry Jones. And Jerry Jones had confessed to her what he had done. She immediately called authorities here and said, look. I'm very concern about my family, will you check on their welfare? Two sheriff deputies went out to the houses out in that particular area and thy began looking around. They did not go in the house, but from everything they saw on the outside it all looked perfectly normal, including looking in the windows. It was the second call the mother made around 11:15 last night that sent authorities looking again. They went inside and made that very gruesome discovery -- Anderson.
COOPER: Just terrible. The manhunt is on as we said. Police actively searching. Fbi has been brought in. Martin Savidge, following the manhunt. Thanks very much, Martin, appreciate the update.
We want to move on now to "Justice Served." A victory for the defense. About an hour ago the judge in the Scott Peterson case agreed to move the trial out of Modesto saying it is necessary for a fair trial. During the debate a strange twist. Both sides, both the defense and the prosecution cited the 1970 Charles Manson murder trial.
CNN's David Mattingly reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was a not so simple question posed to the court -- could Scott Peterson get a fair trial in his home county?
But one easily answered, according to the judge, by looking outside the courthouse.
AL GIROLAMI, JUDGE: In my over 30 years in this community I have not seen anything like the publicity generated by this case.
MATTINGLY: It was what Scott Peterson wanted to hear. His attorney described a lynch mob mentality in Stanislaw County, citing the night Peterson was arrested when a crowd outside the jail jeered at his arrival, some calling him a murderer. MARK GERAGOS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: It is a very good day. And we are extremely pleased. The court has taken the first step towards ensuring a fair trial in this case, and I think that's what everybody is interested in doing, except the prosecution.
MATTINGLY: Prosecutors argued there was no need to move. The jury pools all over California were subject to the same media coverage of this emotionally charged case. Going so far to cite the trial of mass murderer Charles Manson, pointing out that sensational trial was not moved.
DAVID HARRIS, DEPUTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: Any time you move a trial, I think we've stated this before, you have the additional cost of housing all the witnesses, housing all the officers, arranging for the court facilities. You know, there's just logistical things that have to go on.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MATTINGLY: Now that the trial is moving, the question is where. The court says it prefers one of three counties in the San Francisco Bay area. That issue now goes to a state judicial board. That board will decide which county is actually capable of handling a case of this size. A case that both sides are predicting could take up to six months before they reach a verdict -- Anderson.
COOPER: All right, David Mattingly live from Modesto. Thanks, David.
What will be the impact of this decision? It happened a little more than an hour ago. Joining us Court TV's Lisa Bloom. Lisa, good to see you.
LISA BLOOM, ANCHOR, COURT TV: Hi.
COOPER: I get why the defense wanted this moved. They said there was like a lynch mob atmosphere in Modesto against Scott Peterson. Why was the prosecution arguing though that it should not be moved?
BLOOM: Well, for the same reason. There were opinion polls that the judge reviewed that said that a large percentage of Stanislaus county residents had already decided the case and decided that Scott Peterson was guilty. That was significantly higher for Stanislaus county folks than people who lived in San Francisco, Sacramento, or Los Angeles.
COOPER: Well, they kind of argued that to the judge. They kind of said our polls show that people want to convict this guy so we want to keep it here and they just, what, expenses, that sort of thing?
BLOOM: Of course. And convenience of the witnesses. Most of the witnesses are from the Modesto area and it's inconvenient for them to travel. Certainly, victims' family members don't like to have to travel long distance to watch the trial.
COOPER: Odd that they both cited Charles Manson in the court today.
BLOOM: You've got to wonder about the PR savvy of the defense in making any analogy from Scott Peterson...
COOPER: Well, you're looking at Geragos.
BLOOM: No, but I actually think the defense had the better part of the argument that clearly, it should have been moved because Scott Peterson is on trial for his life. He's facing execution potentially. This has to be a fair trial. All of the precautions have to be taken. So I think change of venue was appropriate.
COOPER: And also, just down the road, it eliminates one more possible avenue for an appeal if, in fact, he's convicted.
BLOOM: That's right. And that's why I think prosecutors will not appeal this decision. They will go through with whatever the court decides as to where this case should be tried.
COOPER: Both sides have mentioned pre-trial publicity. The prosecution basically blamed the defense for all the publicity. The defense says there's just so much interest in this case you can't get a fair trial here in Modesto. But there's publicity worldwide for this thing. People know about this case. Why is it going to be any different in L.A. or elsewhere?
BLOOM: It is different in Modesto and Stanislaus county. The "Modesto Bee" has front-page lengthy stories on this case nearly every day. I read them to find out what's going on in this case. Also, many people in Stanislaus county were personally involved in the search for Laci Peterson or they knew somebody who was involved...
COOPER: It's the level of personal involvement, you think, that makes a difference.
BLOOM: Although all of us are following this case nationwide and as you said, even internationally, the level of interest in the case in Stanislaus county is really sky-high and that's why it was fair to move it.
COOPER: All right. We'll see where it goes. Lisa, thanks.
All right. Love and money. Merging bank accounts. A family budget? How to talk cash with your special someone coming up.
Also tonight, overkill in the media. What did we pick this week? It is a hard one. It is a hard one. All right, Britney Spears. Sure, we'll do her (UNINTELLIGIBLE) wedding.
Plus, strikeout on the American dream. Two Cuban baseball players trying to -- caught trying to flee the revolution. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DESI ARNAZ, "I LOVE LUCY": Every month I put money in the bank and every month you spend it all and more besides. I don't understand it. I mean, I like to know the reason. Why are you overdrawn at the bank? Lucy?
LUCILLE BALL, ACTRESS: Eeww.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: I think Cathlin (UNINTELLIGIBLE), one of our big producers here, She's a "Lucy" fan. I think she's responsible for that clip. Anyway, pop culture imitates life as we just saw in that classic "I Love Lucy" clip. Desi giving Lucy some grief for bad money management.
Now maybe you had a similar encounter with your significant other but don't let it bankrupt your love life. That's the advice in the book, "Love and Money, A Life Guide to Financial Success." The author, Jeff Opdyke. The book is based on his "Love and Money" column in the "Wall Street Journal" Sunday and he's a personal finance reporter for the paper as well and he's married, I should point out.
Jeff, good to see you. Thanks for being with us. You say couples just don't talk about money.
JEFF OPDYKE, AUTHOR, "LOVE AND MONEY, A LIFE GUIDE TO FINANCIAL SUCCESS": That's true. They don't. I mean, people are not raised to talk about money as kids. Think about what your parents did. You never found out what your mom and your dad earned for the most part.
You weren't raised to think about money. Money is something you sort of hid. You didn't want the neighbors to know how much money you had or how much money you didn't have. And today, people will talk about anything in their life including sex. But when it comes to money they just shut down completely because it's so private.
COOPER: And when should a couple start talking about money?
OPDYKE: You should talk about money the minute you are in a relationship and you know this relationship is going to go somewhere. If it is casual dating, probably not. When it goes to the point where you are moving in together, you are going to create a life, you're going to get married, you need to understand money because there are financial compatibility issues that go along with all the big issues like how do we raise kids? Do we even have kids? What are your religious beliefs? What's your work ethic?
COOPER: So when you say talk about money with your loved one, it's not just talk about how much you make, how much I make. It is about your relationship, your attitudes towards money, whether you are a spend thrift, how much you think should be spent.
OPDYKE: Absolutely. I mean, one of the biggest issues couples face going into a marriage is actually the debt load in the marriage. That becomes one of the huge issues in the first five years of marriage that can point to whether or not your marriage is going to survive or not.
It's how much debt you bring into marriage. People never talk about that. They get together, they hook up, they never exchange things like, say, a FICO score which most people don't even think about. I mean, who wants to exchange their credit ratings. But just do something like that...
COOPER: You are such a romantic.
OPDYKE: I know. I really am. My wife loves me for it. When you exchange something like a credit rating and you can talk about the issues. Why is your credit so bad and why is your credit so good?
COOPER: You recommend people exchange credit ratings?
OPDYKE: I do. I recommend it in the book. Get your FICO score. You can get it off the Internet these days, pretty quickly and pretty easily. And people can talk about it, and you can understand why it is that your spouse has so much debt. Is he or she just getting out of med school and it's med school kind of debt or is it...
COOPER: How do you know that someone is a right money match for you?
OPDYKE: That's hard to say. It is not like you're going to create a perfect money match each time because everybody is different financially. You just have to understand how you view money and how your spouse views money or your significant other views money so you can begin to understand how you each think about money and you can begin to talk about it and address it that way.
COOPER: Interesting. All right, Jeff Opdyke, appreciate you joining us. Thanks. Pretty interesting.
Every Thursday we focus on a story that has enjoyed or endured excessive media attention. For this week's "Overkill," there were really only two contenders. The wedding of Britney Spears and the annulment of the wedding of Britney Spears.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DIANE SAWYER, CO-HOST, "GOOD MORNING AMERICA": Well, late-night talk shows are talking about it, talk shows in general, and we are talking about it for sure. Superstar pop idol...
KATIE COURIC, CO-HOST, "THE TODAY SHOW": Britney Spears got hitched this weekend to a childhood friend at a Las Vegas wedding chapel.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE, "THE EARLY SHOW": After just 55 hours of wedded bliss, Britney Spears has officially gone from Mrs. back to Miss.
COOPER (voice-over): The marriage alone would have guaranteed headlines. But annulling 55 hours later, not only gave TV shows a chance to show Britney saying... BRITNEY SPEARS, POP STAR: Oops, I did it again...
COOPER: It was like pouring something flammable on something already burning. Tabloids fanned the flames and the Britney blaze was out of control. Some tabloids forked over big bucks to anyone who had photos of the nuptials. Nothing about Britney was too trivial for discussion.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She had a wedding/annulment dinner about 4:00 on Saturday afternoon.
COOPER: Days later, running out of fuel and devoid of news, the tabloids tried to keep the embers glowing. "The Post" even ran a contest for your own Britney wedding, annulment not included. And if you think it's over, it's not. Tomorrow, "People" magazine promises to tell us what really happened.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Well, can't wait for that.
It is an American dream for lots of kids. Play baseball and make it to the majors. Some baseball players in Cuba have the same dream. But following it can be risky, they have recently learned. We're going to have that.
Plus, Liza Minnelli shows up in divorce court but where's David Gest? Inquiring minds want to know. We'll be right back with "The Current."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: All right. Time to check on the pop news in tonight's "Current." Let's see what's going on.
The teen star of "8 Simple Rules For Dating My Teenage Daughter" tells "Teen Vogue" she didn't want to do the show without John Ritter and she thought it was wrong that ABC didn't end the show when he died. Then she got over it.
Harrison Ford's divorce from Melissa Mathison is now final. Ford is free to begin dating Calista Flockhart.
The "Washington Post" reports that the Bush twins complained to her mother that Secret Service security made it tough to get into bars and drink when they were under age. Laura Bush reportedly told the agents to back off. I believe the phrase we're looking for is dream mother.
Liza Minelli showed up yesterday in divorce court where her lawyer complained that husband, David Guest, was hiding out in Hawaii. In fairness to David Guest, most men who said they'd been beaten up by Liza Minelli probably would have disappeared off the Earth entirely.
Moving on tonight, 4 Cuban baseball players were thrown in jail this week after they were caught trying to defect. They join the ranks of a growing number of dissident athletes who are looking for better opportunities abroad. Lucia Newman has one of their stories from Havana tonight.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LUCIA NEWMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When fans turned up to see Cuba's national champion team play last Sunday, they saw something conspicuously missing, the team's two top hitters. 20-year- old Kendri Morales (ph), Cuba's great baseball hope, and a fellow batter Baribaro Condicares (ph) had been fired.
No one at Kendri Morales' (ph) house was willing to speak to us on camera. Sources close to him confirmed that players were caught trying to escape Cuba from the seaside town of Cai Bariend (ph).
In October, Cuban officials whisked Morales off the field during a pre-Olympic game in Panama and flew him home. Already suspicious, he would be lured by U.S. baseball agents and the promise of making millions in the major leagues.
His family says Morales is distraught, knowing full well what happens when you're declared a traitor to Cuban baseball and the revolution. Just ask Orlando Chinea. The prominent coach from Santa Clara says he was banned from even entering a baseball field for life after trying unsuccessfully to defect in 1998.
ORLANDO CHINEA, FRM. BASEBALL COACH (through translator): Ever since than, I've been wait fog authorization to leave Cuba to migrate to the United States, but they won't let me he says. I've been retained here for almost seven years.
NEWMAN (on camera): But despite the risks and the consequences if they get caught, Cuban baseball players continue trying to make it to the big time and the big money. In the last six months alone, at least four top players have managed to defect.
(voice-over): Those who get caught, like Orlando Chinea, are almost always sentenced to be sports outcasts, unable to play the game they live for in Cuba, unable to follow their dream of fame and fortune abroad. Lucia Newman, CNN, Santa Clara, Cuba.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Have you got HDTV? I sure hope not, because HDTV could mean big problems for me, by taking my face to the "Nth Degree." We'll explain coming up.
Plus tomorrow, when conventions collide. One group is there for Internet porn, the other the Consumer Electronics Show. Can 2 grown conventions share Las Vegas without driving each other crazy?
First, today's "Buzz" question. "Do you believe the Bush administration misrepresented the threat from Iraq to justify a war?" Vote now CNN.com/360. We've been getting thousands of votes on this. Send us yours. We're going to have the results when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Been getting thousands and thousands of votes tonight. Time for the "Buzz." We asked you, "do you believe the Bush administration misrepresented the threat from Iraq to justify a war?" 89 percent of you said yes. 11 percent voted no. Certainly not a scientific poll. But it is your buzz. We appreciate you voting.
Tonight, taking high definition to the "Nth Degree." The "Wall Street Journal" reports that high definition television, HDTV, has makeup artists and the people they make up sweating and sweating visibly over the advent of high definition TV.
Why? Because it's so crisp, so sharp that it shows everything. I mean there's no secret that some TV people already use special camera lenses to hide some things, to soften or even improve their image.
See, if I did this, it would look like this, blurring away my misshapen figures and making me beautiful. But HDTV reveals everything and you can't cover it with make-up, because it will show the makeup as well.
See? And if I can't wear makeup, HDTV will mercilessly reveal every wart and wrinkle on my face. See? I'm old, hideously, hideously old. Now, I want to see what Jerry Orbach would look like? I didn't think so. There's a thin line between brave and stupid.
So please, think before you upgrade; in not for me, then do it for Andy Rooney.
That wraps up our program tonight. Thanks for watching. Coming up next, "PAULA ZAHN NOW."
END
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