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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
Nineteen Dead as Snow, Rain Pound California; AWOL Marine on Rampage
Aired January 11, 2005 - 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.
ANDERSON COOPER, HOST: Good evening from New York. I'm Anderson Cooper.
Nineteen dead as rain and snow pound California and other parts of the West.
360 starts now.
A California mother, trapped by floods, fights to hold onto her 2-month-old baby. The rescue raft capsizes. Tonight, we take you to the water's edge. The story behind this daring and dramatic rescue, caught on tape.
Buried alive by a massive mudslide. Rescue crews dig through the dirt searching for survivors. Tonight, a California coastal community, devastated. But was this disaster a ticking time bomb waiting to blow?
An AWOL Marine on a rampage. Not wanting to return to Iraq, he allegedly kills a California cop. Tonight, what this video may tell investigators about the case.
Amber Frey, here, there, and everywhere, selling her book. Tonight, we bring you the Amber Frey Cliff Notes edition.
And the tsunami's littlest victims. What happened to these two children after they were recovered from the water? Tonight, we solve the mystery of two little children lost in the storm.
ANNOUNCER: Live from the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is ANDERSON COOPER 360.
COOPER: And good evening again.
The weather out West continues to be bad, and so, therefore, does the news.
This is the scene near the town of St. George in southern Utah -- unbelievable -- where the Santa Clara River took the better part of a house on a wild downstream ride. One death has so far been attributed to the flooding in Utah.
As for what you get when you mix this kind of water with tons of earth, well, you get this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I am not, it's coming down.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: A moving mountain of mud. Yesterday's landslide at La Conchita, California, is still, right now, being cleared, bucket by bucket. Three people are known to have died here. Nine have been pulled out alive. That is remarkable.
The number of missing is unclear right now, anywhere from a dozen to three dozen. There are conflicting reports, no clear answers. We'll get the latest from the scene in just a moment.
But first, there have been some truly remarkable rescues these last few days. Now, yesterday, we showed you this one, a man nearly swept away more than once, a man whose life hung by a fraying rope held in the hands of strangers. They rescued him.
Today, another rescue, one very, very small Californian who really ought to be missing, miraculously is not, thanks to some strangers who would not give up.
In a day that has seen death, this really is a wonderful story. Here is Miguel Marquez.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's about as scary as a rescue gets. A mother clutching her 2-month-year-old son, both are swept down a river raging with water, trees, boulders, and mud.
RICH ATWOOD, L.A. COUNTY FIRE DEPARTMENT: It was as shocking as anything I could ever imagine. I did not think we were going swimming that day, I really did not.
MARQUEZ: Rich Atwood, a Los Angeles urban search and rescue firefighter, was in the raft with the mother and son. He says he was responsible for their safety. When that raft flipped, what did he feel?
ATWOOD: For short period of time, the terror in my -- you know, my heart just being torn apart, thinking, you know, I have two small kids at home. You know, how would you feel? How would you feel? Just brutal.
We had over half the boat flooded, and in a matter of seconds, less than that, we're in the water swimming. You go underwater, I pop up, my first thing is, Where's the mother, where's the child?
MARQUEZ: The firefighter was immediately separated from the mother and son. Atwood had to now concentrate on saving himself, while Collins made the split-second decision to run along the river, tracking the mother and son, till he had an opportunity to act. CAPT. LARRY COLLINS, L.A. COUNTY FIRE DEPARTMENT: Yes, I was seeing this as do or die, get them now, especially, get the baby now, before another wave comes, a wave or flood surge comes in and washes her off that sandbar.
MARQUEZ: Captain Larry Collins was in charge of the entire operation. He finally got to the mother and the boy after they washed up on a sandbar.
COLLINS: This baby was crying, pretty vigorously, weakly, but vigorously. He was very cold and shivering. He was, you know, clearly hypothermic. He was kind of a gray pallor.
MARQUEZ: The baby can be heard crying as he's carried to a waiting ambulance.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, so him and his mom were in the water.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Him and mom were in the water, (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
MARQUEZ: The baby's cries are music to firefighters' ears. The team that specializes in rescues almost saw one go very badly.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MARQUEZ: Now, firefighters say one thing that complicated this already tricky rescue operation is that when they got there, the husband of the woman who they rescued was agitated, and as they say, irrational. A shoving match occurred out there between him and some of the rescuers. And now the Los Angeles County district attorney is considering filing a misdemeanor charge against the man of interfering with firefighters.
The woman and her baby are in the hospital today, and recovering, Anderson.
COOPER: Miguel, again, I mean, I'm fascinated how authorities were on the scene. Had they prepositioned people along this river, I mean, with the idea that this was going to flood? I mean, how did they get there so quickly?
MARQUEZ: This was an area that they knew, but the family had lived in a cabin up there above that river. They called 911. When they got there, they assessed the situation. The family had already come down to the river's edge, they were already cold and wet. Firefighters decided best thing to do was to try to get them across the river.
When they tried, the first raft across was the woman and her baby. You saw what happened. The father and the a year-and-a-half- year-old girl, after seeing that, went back up to the cabin. They are there now. And mother and son are in the hospital, Anderson.
COOPER: Amazing. Miguel Marquez, thanks. Now, later this evening on 360, we are going to talk with one of the men you just watched save that infant. A lot of people e-mail us, say we don't report good news enough, happy endings. Stick around, because the man you'll meet made a happy ending possible for that little child.
Let's get an update now on rescue efforts at that landslide in La Conchita. It happened yesterday. Authorities were evacuating the area when the mountainside gave way.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, hey, (UNINTELLIGIBLE), it's falling.
COOPER: Things could certainly have been worse. They were certainly bad enough, however. Four people died in the downfall of that thick clay. Remarkably, nine people have so far been pulled out of this mess alive. Take a look at that. It is hard to believe anyone could be pulled out alive.
Right now, the search goes on for the many who are still missing.
CNN's Ted Rowlands is there.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Another body has been pulled out, but no more survivors. Still, rescue crews here will work through the night, digging and listening for signs of life.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, it keeps you optimistic. Like I said, tsunami victims are still being found. So there's always hope.
ROWLANDS: Firefighter Garrett Prader (ph) helped rescue three people kept alive in air pockets, including a woman who was almost buried alive.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was probably a good 20, 30 feet in underneath several layers of flooring and roof, and she was actually had debris, and she was pinned from her legs down. But she had debris all the way up to her neck.
ROWLANDS: But thus far, stories of survival are outnumbered by heartbreaking examples of possible loss. Jimmy Wallet (ph), a father of three, left his home just minutes before the hillside gave way. Friends say he was buying ice cream for his children, and watched the mudslide crash down on his home. His wife, father, and daughters, ages 10, 6, and 2, were inside.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When he came out of the thing, he saw it come down and ran up the street as fast as he could. And they just -- he couldn't get up there fast enough.
ROWLANDS: Jimmy Wallet's father was found dead. The rest of his family is among the more than 20 people still missing. He and other members of the community are working alongside rescue crews looking for life in this mountain of debris.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROWLANDS: It is windy and cold here tonight, but it is dry. And for that reason, it believed that this hillside is safe. So crews, Anderson, will work overnight, hoping to find a miracle, somebody alive in all the debris.
COOPER: Ted, can you explain to me how it is that anyone could be found alive? I mean, I heard the person in your report saying that the people who have been found sort of been under debris, and that, I guess there was an air pocket there. But I would think, with that mountain of mud, as we've seeing it now just coming down, I mean, it's amazing to me anybody could breathe underneath that.
ROWLANDS: Well, what they say could be the case, is that if somebody is wedged in a corner of a house, up against something solid, it is possible that they indeed could be alive. In fact, they heard, using listening devices this morning, something underneath the debris. They investigated, have not found anything. But they're holding out (UNINTELLIGIBLE) there's a chance, albeit a small one.
COOPER: Amazing they found nine people alive so far. Ted Rowlands, thanks for the report.
The destruction is pretty familiar to the residents of La Conchita. The same thing happened there 10 years ago. Here's a 360 flashback. It was March 1995 after a powerful storm. About 600,000 tons of mud buried nine homes. No one was injured in this one. In the aftermath, property owners and county officials blamed each other, one saying safeguards should have been in place, the other saying the homes shouldn't have been built near an unstable hillside.
In the end, the county built an 18-foot-high retaining wall, the same wall which gave way yesterday, that allowing countless tons of clay to destroy, for one, the home of the man who joins us now live from Ventura County, California.
Drew McCrary also lost friends in the mudslide, and is, to say the least, very angry over what he says wasn't done out there.
Mr. McCrary, we appreciate you being with us. I know it's at a very difficult time for you.
You were on the beach walking your dog when the mudslide hit. You returned to your home. What did you find?
DREW MCCRARY, LOST FRIENDS, HOUSE IN MUDSLIDE: When I came home, I looked over, and I took the alleyway up, up, so just, I couldn't see what had happened from my viewpoint until I got to the top of the street and then looked over towards my house and saw big pile of dirt and rubble.
COOPER: And so you can't see your house at all.
MCCRARY: Pardon me? COOPER: You can't see your house at all now, it's completely buried?
MCCRARY: No, no, it's completely covered. It's completely covered.
COOPER: I understand a close friend of yours is missing. Do you have any updates about his condition, his whereabouts?
MCCRARY: No, it's a woman. And she lived in the house behind me, and she was taking a nap. And she's under there still, I guess.
COOPER: Drew, I know you blame the county, to some degree, for what happened. Why do you the blame the county?
MCCRARY: OK. First of all, FEMA, 10 years ago, when the first slide happened, FEMA offered to come here and secure the hill completely. The county of Ventura said, No, we will take care of it. They didn't take care of it. They did nothing. They finally built a 20-foot fence, like a Band-Aid on a gaping wound.
COOPER: Well, Drew, the, the...
MCCRARY: And then...
COOPER: ... the county says that, and we (UNINTELLIGIBLE), we talked to them, they have this quote, I think it was in from "The L.A. Times" today, they said, "This is the site of a ancient landslide. Everyone who lives there is aware of that." How do you respond to that statement?
MCCRARY: Well, then, why did they issue permits to build here? And furthermore, after this, that first slide happened, they -- people asked me, Why did you stay here with the landslide? We stayed here because the County of Ventura told us it was safe to move back in, and raised our property tax.
COOPER: Well, Drew, I know it's a difficult time for you. I know you're left, really, with nothing. I know you got your dog and the clothes on your back. And I know you're searching for your friends now. We wish you, we wish you well, and we hope you find your friend soon. Drew McCrary, thank you for being with us.
MCCRARY: OK, can I say something more?
COOPER: Sure.
MCCRARY: We had no warning, we had no warning whatsoever. No matter what the media is telling you, we had no warning whatsoever.
COOPER: Well, Drew, the police...
MCCRARY: You can ask any...
COOPER: Yes.
MCCRARY: ... citizen of La Conchita.
COOPER: Yes, we talked...
MCCRARY: They will tell you the same thing.
COOPER: We just, just...
MCCRARY: No warning.
COOPER: We, we just, we like to cover all sides here. We talked to the sheriff's office. They said that there was a seismic grid that should show movement in a case like this, and it didn't go off. When the seismic grid goes off, that's our warning. In this case, it didn't go off, so we had no warning. That's what the sheriff is telling us. You don't buy that?
MCCRARY: That the firemen had a warning, a 24-hour watch, a week before that, that we weren't informed of. Also, the police scanner at 7:00 this morning, on the police scanner, it stated, The hill's coming down. And it's right there on the police scanner. We weren't informed of anything. It was business as usual in La Conchita when I took my dog down to the beach.
COOPER: Drew, I know there, there are a lot of questions to be answered at this point. Right now, the focus is on recovering those who are still missing. And again, our thoughts go out to you and all those folks there. Drew, appreciate you joining us. Thank you.
Should point out that about an hour ago, one very large weather- related problem was removed with an explosion. Crews used explosives to break up this massive boulder -- there it is -- that blocked a roadway near Malibu, California. The heavy rains sent the 25-foot rock plunging down a hill and onto Topanga Canyon Boulevard. All the debris from the blast will be removed before the road is reopened, of course.
In Orlando, Florida, an emergency landing was clearly not par for the course. That is just one of the stories we're following cross- country right now.
You're looking at the setup to an emergency landing -- take a look -- by the quick-thinking pilot of a Cessna in trouble. Now, he was trying to make a clean landing on a golf course. He crashed into a utility pole instead. Now, that collision may have been a, actually, a lucky accident. It appeared the pilot was about to overshoot the fairway, crash into a parking lot. Two people, you can see one of them there, seriously injured. The injuries we're told, are not said to be life-threatening.
Moving on to Oxon Hill, Maryland, a deadly end to a helicopter flight that was supposed to save lives. Medical chopper had just dropped off a patient at a local hospital. It was returning to its base when it crashed in the Potomac River near Washington, D.C. A paramedic was killed. A nurse survived. And the pilot is missing and presumed dead. Back to Los Angeles, California, an extraordinary legal maneuver in Michael Jackson's child molestation case. His lawyers want a key hearing about possible past sex offenses to be held behind closed doors in the judge's chambers, not in open court. We're yet to hear a ruling on that.
And Howard Dean is running for a new office. Dean made it official today. Not running, he is running for chair of the Democratic National Committee. The announcement on his blog, really no big surprise. He's been openly campaigning for the job for a while.
That's a quick look at stories cross-country tonight.
360 next, a young Marine, AWOL, opens fire on police. It may have been suicide by cop. His mom says the stress of war changed her boy. Take a look at that, covering all the angles tonight.
Plus, living on coconuts and a prayer, a man survives two weeks adrift in the ocean. An unbelievable story. Hear for yourself how he managed to stay alive.
Also tonight, a 2-month-old baby rescued from raging water, twice rescued. The man who saved him joins us live.
All that ahead. First, let's take a look at your picks, the most popular stories right now on CNN.com.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Julia Cratayus Raya (ph) noticed something wasn't right. She says when her son, Andreas (ph), returned from serving in Fallujah, Iraq, he, quote, "came back different."
Sunday, the 19-year-old Marine was supposed to report back to duty at Camp Pendleton, California. He was expecting to be shipped back to Iraq. What he did instead, police say, was go to war in another place closer to home, and left a trail of bodies and questions in his wake.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER (voice-over): The grainy security video shows a hunter waiting for his prey. In this case, police officers in Ceres, California, lured to the scene by reports of a man with a gun.
ART DE WEHR, CERES DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC SAFETY: When the officers arrived, the armed suspect opened fire with a rapid-firing rifle, almost immediately gunning down Officer Ryno in mere seconds after he stepped out of his vehicle.
COOPER: Once the suspect realizes the officers are present, he immediately fires on them and chases them down, continuing to fire. Seconds later, another officer stumbles into the ambush as well.
DE WEHR: Sergeant Stevensons arrived shortly afterwards, and, like Officer Ryno, was fired upon within seconds and died almost instantly from the suspect's spray of bullets.
COOPER: Raya was killed in a shootout three hours later, when he was cornered by other police officers.
LT. BILL HEYNE, STANISLAUS COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT: When the suspect jumped the fence, he exposed the ASKS (ph) assault rifle again, and from about 100 yards, the officers opened fire, and he fell to the ground.
COOPER: And as police began looking into the crime, the explanation they got made them wonder if the young Marine had decided dying in battle here might have been preferable to risking death in Iraq.
HEYNE: In speaking with family, they conveyed to us that their son did not desire to return to Iraq.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: One police officer dead tonight, Officer Sam Ryno is in serious condition. He is 50 years old, and he's in serious condition right now.
With more on the shooting, joining by phone from Modesto, California, is Ceres Police Department spokesman Deputy Jason Woodman.
Jason, thanks very much for being with us.
This notion of suicide by cop, what makes you think this might be a possibility?
JASON WOODMAN, CERES POLICE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN (on phone): Well, as you can see from the video, and based on statements that we got from officers that were involved, as well as witnesses, it was premeditated. He laid there in wait. As soon as he saw the officers, he immediately engaged in gunfire with them.
COOPER: He actually requested that the officers be sent to the scene. How did that happen?
WOODMAN: Well, what happened is, he had walked into the liquor store, and was pacing around, acting strange, and he walked back outside with his rifle. And he fired a round. It did not strike him. But he went back inside the liquor store, told the employees that he had just been shot and they need to call police. That's when police were called.
COOPER: And according to witnesses, I mean, according to the police who were there, what was his state of mind? How did he appear, agitated?
WOODMAN: Yes, he appeared very agitated, very aggressive, and he did not hesitate once he saw those officers. He had it in his mind that that's what he was going to do, and he chased them down, even as they tried to retreat to cover. He advanced on them and continued firing on them. COOPER: You know, his mom has said he was different when he, when he returned from, from Iraq. Certainly that, that's no excuse. Is, is there any other evidence to support that, that his alleged desire not return to Iraq played any kind of role in this?
WOODMAN: Well, no, just the statements, you know, from people that knew him that he did not want to go back to Iraq. You know, along with that, along with, you know, the -- all the other, you know, statements that we have, it's very evident that, you know, that he was intent on engaging these officers in gunfire, and that he was not concerned with the bullets that were going to be flying in his direction.
COOPER: Just, if we could just end for a moment talking about two people who matter more in this, Officer Ryno and Officer Stevenson, Officer Stevenson passed away, how is Officer Ryno doing?
WOODMAN: Well, he's in serious condition. He was with -- upgraded from critical. So that's good news. He is in pretty good spirits, considering everything that's gone on. He's been able to have visitors. He's been able to speak with some family and friends that are close with him. So his prognosis looks promising at this point.
COOPER: And Officer Stevenson, how is his family doing?
WOODMAN: Well, as you can imagine, they're grieving. They have a long road ahead of them and a long grieving process. But they're getting a lot of support from the community, and friends and family and the police department.
COOPER: Our thoughts are certainly with both of them and their families and you as well. Thank you very much for taking the time to speak with us. Jason Woodman, appreciate it.
WOODMAN: No problem. Thank you.
COOPER: 360 next, dramatic water rescue. A 2-month-old baby saved from raging floodwaters, twice. We're going to meet the man who pulled the little boy to safety. He joins us live.
Also tonight, remember all those stories about kids who survived the tsunami being kidnapped, sold into sexual slavery? Were any of them really true? Coming up, we track down one of those stories, and solve the mystery of what happened to two little children lost in the storm.
And a little later, securing the homeland for a nation at war, President Bush picks a former Clinton nemesis. Is he the right man for the job? We're covering all the angles.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Our nation is still at war. We're focused. We're taking decisive actions on the home front that are critical to winning this war.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Well, today, President Bush says he took decisive action by nominating the next secretary of homeland security. His name is Michael Chertoff, and if appointed, promises to think outside the box, not the Constitution. Chertoff is one of the chief architects of the war on terror, but it's his war against the Clintons that is generating just as much attention today.
CNN's White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Bush's second pick for homeland security, Federal Appeals Court Judge Michael Chertoff.
BUSH: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Mike has shown a deep commitment to the cause of justice and an unwavering determination to protect the American people.
MICHAEL CHERTOFF, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY NOMINEE: On September 11, 2001, I joined members of dozens of federal agencies in responding to the deadliest single attack on American civilians ever.
MALVEAUX: Chertoff's nomination came as a surprise to most in Washington. He'd been left off the widely circulated short list for the secretary's post. But Sunday morning, after the president's bike ride, Mr. Bush quietly called Chertoff from his motorcade to offer him the job.
Bush aides say privately, Chertoff is a compromise, considered by administration officials as the anti-Kerik, a reference to President Bush's first pick, former New York police commissioner Bernie Kerik, who withdraw his nomination after the White House vetting process raised questions.
BERNARD KERIK, FORMER HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY NOMINEE: I want to conclude, I want to apologize to my family, my friends, the president, President Bush.
MALVEAUX: The president took no chances the second time around.
BUSH: He's been confirmed by the Senate three times.
PAUL LIGHT, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: There are going to be no surprises about him as he moves through this process. And that's clearly an advantage compared to Bernie Kerik.
MALVEAUX: His role as a key figure in shaping the government's legal response to 9/11 makes him someone the president can trust.
Chertoff's critics question whether his resume might be too partisan for the job. During the Clinton administration, Chertoff was the chief counsel to the Republican Senate Whitewater committee that investigated President Bill and Hillary Clintons' Arkansas business dealings, a probe widely seen then as politically motivated.
LIGHT: I don't think it's going to be a major issue. I think the more significant issue is his lack of management experience.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: But management experience aside, Chertoff is likely to face many other questions regarding his knowledge about emergency preparedness, as well as securing transportation, as well as protecting the border, Anderson.
COOPER: Suzanne from the White House, thanks very much.
Stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most reliable news your security.
Canada has confirmed a new case of mad cow disease, the second one in just nine days. That tops our look at what's happening around the world in the uplink.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency says the disease has shown up in a cow from Alberta. They say no part of the animal has entered the human or animal food system. This cow is not believed to be linked to the mad cow case reported on January 2, just a day after the U.S. said it plans to reopen its border to Canadian beef in March.
Tikrit, Iraq, a deadly car bombing outside a police station, six Iraqi police officers killed, at least four others wounded.
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, five detainees to be set free. Pentagon says the last four Brits and an Australian will be released, and insists the men are enemy combatants of the U.S. but says the U.K. and Australian governments have accepted responsibility for them.
That's a quick look at stories in the uplink.
A California mother trapped by floods fights to hold onto her 2- month-old baby. The rescue raft capsizes. Tonight, we take you to the water's edge, the story behind this daring and dramatic rescue, caught on tape.
Amber Frey, here, there, and everywhere, selling her book. Tonight, we bring you the Amber Frey Cliff Notes edition.
And the tsunami's littlest victims, what happened to these two children after they were recovered from the water? Tonight, we solve the mystery of two little children lost in the storm.
360 continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: It is a sight certainly worth seeing again. A mother and infant son and their rescuer dumped into a raging stream, but miraculously come out alive. And we're joined now in San Dimas, California, by Los Angeles County urban search and rescue firefighter, Rich Atwood who was in that boat. Rich, thanks very much for being with us. What a time you have had. Let's go back. You were on the raft with Erica Henderson (ph), her 8 week-year-old son William trying to rescue them, suddenly the raft itself tipped over.
What happened?
RICH ATWOOD, L.A. COUNTY FIRE DEPT.: Basically, we got into the boat, and we're preparing to cross the river. Explain to the mother that we're going to kneel down in the boat, get in. We got in the boat. And we started to, what we call ferry across the water. The nose of the boat kind of went south on us down river, we started -- the nose dove down. She leaned a little bit forward, we started taking on water. Then the boat went back up and pointed up river the way it's supposed to face, and the side of the boat started taking on more water, and within a split second, we were both in the water.
COOPER: Now, Rich, we're looking at the video of the moment, the water starts coming over that boat, and you guys go in.
I mean, what is going through your mind?
Because what you can't see in the video is that the woman who's in the foreground is clutching the baby to her chest, when you knew you were going in the water, what did you think?
ATWOOD: Well, getting back to what was I thinking when things were going on? She had that baby attached to her chest with one of those like baby harnesses. So the baby wasn't going anywhere. It's securely -- attached to the woman. She had her personal flotation device on and a helmet. And when things started getting dicey in there with the water coming in, I had a choice of either leaning forward and trying to grab her or to lean back and try to counteract what was going on. That was the choice I made was to lean back and try to counter it. And that wasn't working. All of a sudden, boom, the boat's upside down, we're in the drink.
COOPER: Unbelievable. You must have been scared for your own life I imagine?
ATWOOD: My biggest concern, you think yes, it's scary. My biggest concern is, where's my -- where's my victim, where's the baby? As soon as I went in the water, it's like, my God, where are they at? I'm looking around trying to find them, and things went crazy. I went underwater a couple of times. I heard her screaming to my side and I ended up going through some downstream hazards that put me under water, so I popped up a little while later, and I looked up. And I finally got out -- I finally got into a safe area. I ended up on a sandbar, and I was looking around and just trying to figure out where they were at, and if I could possibly continue the rescue in getting them out.
COOPER: And she ended up on a sandbar. We have a picture of the little baby, of William being taken out by another one of your rescuers.
You said this is the most humbling experience of your life, how so?
ATWOOD: Well, you have to figure you're entrusted with these lives. I had a precious young life and I the woman with us also, the mother. We're in the boat, and all of a sudden, everything went chaotic. We're upside down, we're floating down the river, and I'm thinking, how am I going to save this person? I can't even find them right now. And then I end up on this sandbar, and I don't have my victim with me. You know, to me, I'm just thinking, my God, what happened? Where are they at? what can I do to get them back to shore, get them safe? And then, a brief moment, I'm thinking, what could possibly happen? I didn't know what status was on them down river. I didn't know they were being extracted by another team, a backup team down river. So, I was -- I was feeling pretty darn bad at that time.
COOPER: I hope you are surrounded by people who, a, appreciate what you do, and let you know it. Because just looking at that video with you and your colleagues did, it's extraordinary. And Rich, I appreciate you being here just to talk about a little bit. You saved a little child's life. And we do appreciate it. Thanks very much.
ATWOOD: Thank you.
COOPER: Rich Atwood.
It is remarkable that today more than two weeks after that terrible tsunami, we can still talk about missing people found alive. Tens of thousands of people are still missing, no doubt about it. But that number has been reduced by one, a man rescued on a raft, alone, but very much alive.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER (voice-over): At first glance, you wouldn't realize what Ari Afrizal went through. He looks fit and seems to have no trouble walking on his own. There's no obvious sign he spent two weeks fighting for his life, adrift in the Indian Ocean. Ari says he was working at a construction site in Indonesia's Aceh Province when the tsunami swept him out to sea. He tried desperately to stay above the water, swept by the current, his homeland grew smaller in the distance. Soon, he was all alone, his only company whatever objects he found to keep himself afloat.
ARI AFRIZAL, TSUNAMI SURVIVOR (through translator): The first day I clung to a piece of wood. The second day I retrieved a small fishing boat, but it was leaking.
COOPER: Ari says through all this, he prayed and prayed. He believes the raft was God's answer. It didn't have rescuers, but it did have another saving grace, bottled water. That and a little food floating by kept him alive.
AFRIZAL (through translator): I managed to survive as I ate the flesh of old coconuts for about 12 day. For three days, I didn't get to eat anything.
COOPER: He says ship after ship passed him by, none seemed to notice him. Badly sun burned and weak, he began to lose hope. But on Sunday, he spotted a container ship.
AFRIZAL (through translator): I managed to whistle at the ship, and then waved my hands. The ship sped on, but it sound at Klaxon and I stood up. I thought the ship had left the area and I sat down and cried. But ship returned and cheered me up. I then waved at them as I knew I was safe.
COOPER: Now safe at a hospital in Malaysia, Ari Afrizal thinks of a home he left behind, a land now very different than the one he was ripped from two weeks ago. He thinks of the people who were there, his parents, his three brothers and sister, and his girlfriend. He doesn't know if any of them are still alive.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: You know last week when we were in Sri Lanka, we kept hearing these stories about kids being abducted in the wake of the tsunami, sold into sexual slavery. In fact, we counted about 907 mentions of abducted kids reported in the media in the last week or so. Most of the story, however, were never proven. So we really began to wonder how real was this? Were kids being abducted?
We picked one story that was making headlines in Sri Lanka. Two missing kids rescued from the storm, the story said, but taken away by a mysterious stranger. The children's aunt worried they were kidnapped. We sent out to find the truth about these two little kids and what really happened to them. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER (voice-over): Their faces silently stare from the front page a Sri Lankan paper, 5-year-old Jennia Dari (ph) and her 7-year- old brother Sunara (ph), shown here with their parents. The paper alleges the kids were kidnapped after being rescued from the tsunami. A mysterious stranger allegedly took them away. Their aunt is convinced, they'd been kidnapped.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I believe that they are alive.
COOPER: There had been so many stories like this in the wake of the tsunami, we sent out to discover what really happened to these two kids. We drove to where they were last seen, the town of Galle, where more than 1,000 people died. They were in a car with their parents on a family vacation when the tsunami hit.
(on camera): So the car was swept by the water about more than 100 yards to this spot?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
COOPER: And was it completely covered in water?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Completely covered.
COOPER: Ananda Da Silva (ph) saw the car submerged in this ditch.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They came and tried to turn this car.
COOPER: They were actually -- they were down in the water trying to turn the car over.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
COOPER: The newspaper claimed the children were alive when they were pulled from the water. Da Silva remembers it differently.
(on camera): What did the girl look like when they took her out of the car?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At times, she (UNINTELLIGIBLE) and her head is like this.
COOPER: So her head is on her shoulder.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, yes, eyes are closed.
COOPER: But you think both of them were dead.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Four of them were -- died, definitely.
COOPER: The newspaper said a man on a motorbike took the kids away, hinting he was a kidnapper. But eyewitnesses led us to this man, he tried desperately to save the little girl's life.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I saw the child laying on the ground and immediately I picked up the child and gave her mouth to mouth.
COOPER: He took her to a nearby hospital, even though he says she was already dead. Because the media reported the girl was kidnapped, he now finds himself in trouble with the law.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I went with good intentions of saving someone's life. But in return, I got a very bad name and everyone looks at me like I'm a criminal, like I'm a kidnapper.
COOPER: The little girl's brother was found half an hour later under water. Eyewitnesses insist he was dead. His body handed over to Sri Lankan soldiers.
We went to the hospital where he said he gave her body to the doctors. When we got there, it was easy to see why any record of her arrival was impossible to find. The hospital was a washed out shell, nearly destroyed by the surging ocean. Before we left, the head of the hospital confirmed what all other eyewitnesses had told us. She was dead.
(on camera): So the girl is dead? 100 percent? UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
COOPER: We went to the next hospital to find her body. This is where the little girl's body was finally brought, we're told, we're going to go to the morgue right now and try to find if there is a picture of her. We're told she was buried in a mass grave. More than a thousand bodies had been laid out in this room. Nurses were still trying to clean the floor to get rid of the stench, that had seeped into the concrete. No amount of washing seemed to work. Once you're actually here looking at the photographs of the dead who had been recovered you can see how it is virtually impossible for a lot of parents or family members to find their missing children. The photos that everyone has of their child that this is how they looked in life and in death they look completely different. They are really unrecognizable.
The bodies are bloated, discolored, distorted by death. Genadori's (ph) picture was likely somewhere on this wall, but we couldn't come close to finding it.
The hospital told us where she was likely buried. The end of the dirt road in a freshly dug mass grave. No grave markers show the spot, just rubber gloves of morgue workers left behind. A sandal buried in the mud. This is the final resting place of more than 1,000 people, likely among them, 5-year-old Genadori and her 7-year-old brother. Children, who it turns out, were not kidnapped, not sold into slavery two little children who were simply swept away.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: It's worth pointing out that for all of the talk of abductions, as of Friday, only two complaints had been filed with government -- with the government department charged with overseeing kidnapping. Of those two in Sri Lanka, neither have been substantiated. We should also point out that after we learned of Genadori's death, we asked the hospital why they hadn't notified her aunt? They said it wasn't their responsibility. We found out later they did indeed tell her that night. Understandably, the aunt was distraught, but she says she accepts the hospital's findings.
The tsunami also damaged one of Thailand's natural attractions. Its coral reefs. Here's a quick news note. At least 100 volunteer divers are helping to clean up the pristine waters. People, debris and rubbish were flung into the area during the tsunami. Some large chunks of coral snapped off.
However marine experts say the overall damage isn't as bad as initially feared and some reefs were not hit at all.
360 next. Blowing her cover. Former CIA spy gives us details of her job. What it's really like inside the agency? Plus, Amber Frey, Scott Peterson's mistress. She's here, there, everywhere, plugging her new book. Don't worry, she's not on this program. But we're going to give you the Cliff Notes on her PR campaign.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COOPER: All right, nobody was better than Sean Connery. Cool, collected, so quick with the one-liners. As Bond, James Bond, of course, Connery made being a spy look so exciting, so glamorous, so unlike anything Lindsay Moran experienced at the CIA. She spent five years as a secret agent, a case officer, and for her, the work was at times double O dull. Moran gives us a rare glimpse into the whole cloak and dagger world in the book "Blowing My Cover: My Life As A CIA Spy." I spoke with her earlier.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: In terms of recruiting spies, because that was your job, as a case officer, you were not a spy. Your job was to recruit spies. How did you go about doing that? What was the key?
LINDSAY MORAN, FMR. CIA SPY: Well, the key was really to assess someone. To try and determine what their vulnerabilities were, and that's something that we learned at the farm. How to meet someone, schmooze them, really get to know them and try to find out what their weaknesses were.
COOPER: How do you know who will make a good spy?
MORAN: There are different kind of personality characteristics that you might look for, and a lot of good assets are egomaniacs, because they're the kind of people who might sort of thrive off the internal mystique of working for the CIA. Or someone with a kind of inflated sense of self-importance. And your job as a case officer is to play upon their ego, to make them feel important. And then they might divulge more information or brag to you or if that secret information or information that is of value to the U.S. government, then you have yourself a good agent.
COOPER: It's also fascinating in the book you talk about the training that you went at the farm. Part of it was POW training. What was that like?
MORAN: What we went through during the experience I certainly wouldn't call it torture, but it was kind of border line abusive. They would grill you. A lot of times we would have to squat in an uncomfortable position. In fact I write about it in the book. One part that I thought was kind of amusing was one of the worst forms of abuse that they could come up with was handcuffing you to a fence out in the rain where you would sit by yourself. And I never let on that this was actually my favorite part of POW experience, because when you were handcuffed to the fence you were kind of left alone.
COOPER: But did you feel, when you were in this POW training, did you actually, -- did you ever lose sight of the fact that this is just part of the training, this is a game? Or did you feel at times feel threatened? Did you feel a prisoner?
MORAN: I do describe in the book that the wall between make- believe and real started to erode rather quickly. And there were times when I thought, is this really an exercise? And while I tried to keep reminding myself that it was just an exercise, I think that it was interesting to me psychologically, how quickly all of us started to become very stressed by what we knew intellectually was an exercise. But we did have a couple of people who really broke down in tears.
COOPER: What was it like just on a day-to-day, hour-by-hour base? Were you paranoid all the time, when you are living in Macedonia, you have diplomatic immunity, but still, were you scared all the time? What was it like?
MORAN: I wouldn't say scared. I was never really scared for my personal safety, but, yes, paranoid. I think that it's -- you almost inherently become paranoid when you are working for the agency, and probably if you spend a whole career there, you leave a very paranoid and perhaps slightly strange individual.
COOPER: All right, Lindsay Moran, thanks.
MORAN: Thank you.
COOPER: 360 next, Amber Frey alert. She's on a one-woman campaign to sell, sell, sell. Her book that is. Don't worry, you don't have to actually read the book. We are going to give you the cliffnotes in a moment.
Also tonight, when athletes attack, why would good news bring out the worst for a very rich ballplayer? The list of reasons in "The Nth Degree."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Amber Frey, convicted killer Scott Peterson's much- talked about mistress turned police helper, turned witness for the prosecution, turned author, is out and about selling her book. She's talked with Oprah and Matt, Nancy and Dan, Hannity and what's his face.
Now, I was away, so I missed most of these interviews, but luckily Henry the intern watched every one, and he has compiled a sort of cliffnotes to talking with Amber. It's short, and to the point, and about as deep as the actual interviews she's been giving "Inside the Box."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER (voice-over): What do you ask a woman who's already been asked it all? Some interviewers try to go for emotion.
DAN ABRAMS, MSNBC HOST: So let me ask you that question, forgiveness? Forgiving Scott Peterson?
AMBER FREY: Yes, I have.
COOPER: All right, so much for emotion. Others try to re-create that first spark.
OPRAH WINFREY, TALK SHOW HOST: OK, and what did you think when you first saw him?
FREY: I thought he was handsome.
He opened the door. I thought he was handsome.
MATT LAUER, NBC NEWS: So you were not disappointed when he walked in?
FREY: No. I wasn't disappointed, no.
COOPER: OK. Handsome, check. Not disappointed, check. What about romance?
SEAN HANNITY, CO-HOST, "HANNITY & COLMES": What did you think when he pulled out that champagne?
FREY: That he had thought ahead. That he was -- you know, there's a romantic side to him.
LAUER: It's been well reported that you spent the night.
FREY: Yes.
LAUER: What were you thinking at that time? Was it the champagne, or was it the charm of Scott Peterson?
FREY: Probably a little bit of both.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was so charming at first, right? Roses and champagne and cooked for you?
FREY: Right.
COOPER: Right! Now, remember, interviewers, just because Amber Frey has already answered a question, don't be afraid to ask it again.
LAUER: Did you ask him how he lost his wife?
FREY: It's almost like putting salt on a wound.
WINFREY: Why you didn't say, how did you lose her?
FREY: I felt, you know, like that would be putting salt in the wound.
COOPER: For a woman who's written a whole book sure seems like there's a whole lot Amber Frey doesn't know.
FREY: I don't know.
I don't know why he did what he did.
I don't know why Scott Peterson did what he did.
COOPER: Amber Frey may not know, but her lawyer, Gloria Allred, certainly knows one thing. GLORIA ALLRED, FREY'S ATTORNEY: May I say how proud I am of the courage that Amber has shown.
I think she's just an enormously courageous young woman. So I'm just wanting to make the point that she was so courageous.
COOPER: Out of all the TV appearances Frey has done, only one interviewer came up with a truly original question. Court TV's Nancy Grace.
NANCY GRACE, COURT TV: Would you take his collect phone call?
FREY: No. That's a new one. I haven't heard that yet.
COOPER: Neither have we. Now, we don't need to read her book. The whole tawdry tale can be quickly summed up. Handsome, not disappointed, champagne, romance and courage. "Inside the Box."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Now you know. 360 next, Randy Johnson's first pitch in New York goes, well, wild. Seems being rich can't buy the Big Unit some manners. We're going to take that to "The Nth Degree," next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Tonight, taking gratitude to "The Nth Degree." You know, it's nice when people are thankful, don't you think?
Take this fellow here, name of Randy Johnson, throws baseballs for a living. Quite a living, too. Just got himself traded from Arizona to the Yankees at 32 million bucks for a two-year contract extension.
So he shows up here in Manhattan, island of his wildest aspirations, and does this. Accost a TV cameraman trying to take his picture, yelling, "don't get in my face and don't talk back to me."
It's OK, though, he explained himself in a statement.
"I hope everyone understands," he said, "that the past few days have been a bit overwhelming, and I wish I had handled the situation differently. I'm sorry it happened."
Well, sure, we understand, you big lug, you. How can it not be overwhelming? Getting everything you ever wanted and then some, being the toast of the town, being looked up to as a conquering hero? That kind of dream come true is bound to make a guy prickly. Silly of us to have expected a, you know, maybe a smile and a tip of the hat.
Also, there is this. Randy Johnson stands six feet, 10 inches tall. The air has to be pretty thin where he has got his head.
I'm Anderson Cooper. Thanks for watching 360. CNN's prime-time coverage continues now with Paula Zahn -- Paula.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired January 11, 2005 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, HOST: Good evening from New York. I'm Anderson Cooper.
Nineteen dead as rain and snow pound California and other parts of the West.
360 starts now.
A California mother, trapped by floods, fights to hold onto her 2-month-old baby. The rescue raft capsizes. Tonight, we take you to the water's edge. The story behind this daring and dramatic rescue, caught on tape.
Buried alive by a massive mudslide. Rescue crews dig through the dirt searching for survivors. Tonight, a California coastal community, devastated. But was this disaster a ticking time bomb waiting to blow?
An AWOL Marine on a rampage. Not wanting to return to Iraq, he allegedly kills a California cop. Tonight, what this video may tell investigators about the case.
Amber Frey, here, there, and everywhere, selling her book. Tonight, we bring you the Amber Frey Cliff Notes edition.
And the tsunami's littlest victims. What happened to these two children after they were recovered from the water? Tonight, we solve the mystery of two little children lost in the storm.
ANNOUNCER: Live from the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is ANDERSON COOPER 360.
COOPER: And good evening again.
The weather out West continues to be bad, and so, therefore, does the news.
This is the scene near the town of St. George in southern Utah -- unbelievable -- where the Santa Clara River took the better part of a house on a wild downstream ride. One death has so far been attributed to the flooding in Utah.
As for what you get when you mix this kind of water with tons of earth, well, you get this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I am not, it's coming down.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: A moving mountain of mud. Yesterday's landslide at La Conchita, California, is still, right now, being cleared, bucket by bucket. Three people are known to have died here. Nine have been pulled out alive. That is remarkable.
The number of missing is unclear right now, anywhere from a dozen to three dozen. There are conflicting reports, no clear answers. We'll get the latest from the scene in just a moment.
But first, there have been some truly remarkable rescues these last few days. Now, yesterday, we showed you this one, a man nearly swept away more than once, a man whose life hung by a fraying rope held in the hands of strangers. They rescued him.
Today, another rescue, one very, very small Californian who really ought to be missing, miraculously is not, thanks to some strangers who would not give up.
In a day that has seen death, this really is a wonderful story. Here is Miguel Marquez.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's about as scary as a rescue gets. A mother clutching her 2-month-year-old son, both are swept down a river raging with water, trees, boulders, and mud.
RICH ATWOOD, L.A. COUNTY FIRE DEPARTMENT: It was as shocking as anything I could ever imagine. I did not think we were going swimming that day, I really did not.
MARQUEZ: Rich Atwood, a Los Angeles urban search and rescue firefighter, was in the raft with the mother and son. He says he was responsible for their safety. When that raft flipped, what did he feel?
ATWOOD: For short period of time, the terror in my -- you know, my heart just being torn apart, thinking, you know, I have two small kids at home. You know, how would you feel? How would you feel? Just brutal.
We had over half the boat flooded, and in a matter of seconds, less than that, we're in the water swimming. You go underwater, I pop up, my first thing is, Where's the mother, where's the child?
MARQUEZ: The firefighter was immediately separated from the mother and son. Atwood had to now concentrate on saving himself, while Collins made the split-second decision to run along the river, tracking the mother and son, till he had an opportunity to act. CAPT. LARRY COLLINS, L.A. COUNTY FIRE DEPARTMENT: Yes, I was seeing this as do or die, get them now, especially, get the baby now, before another wave comes, a wave or flood surge comes in and washes her off that sandbar.
MARQUEZ: Captain Larry Collins was in charge of the entire operation. He finally got to the mother and the boy after they washed up on a sandbar.
COLLINS: This baby was crying, pretty vigorously, weakly, but vigorously. He was very cold and shivering. He was, you know, clearly hypothermic. He was kind of a gray pallor.
MARQUEZ: The baby can be heard crying as he's carried to a waiting ambulance.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, so him and his mom were in the water.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Him and mom were in the water, (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
MARQUEZ: The baby's cries are music to firefighters' ears. The team that specializes in rescues almost saw one go very badly.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MARQUEZ: Now, firefighters say one thing that complicated this already tricky rescue operation is that when they got there, the husband of the woman who they rescued was agitated, and as they say, irrational. A shoving match occurred out there between him and some of the rescuers. And now the Los Angeles County district attorney is considering filing a misdemeanor charge against the man of interfering with firefighters.
The woman and her baby are in the hospital today, and recovering, Anderson.
COOPER: Miguel, again, I mean, I'm fascinated how authorities were on the scene. Had they prepositioned people along this river, I mean, with the idea that this was going to flood? I mean, how did they get there so quickly?
MARQUEZ: This was an area that they knew, but the family had lived in a cabin up there above that river. They called 911. When they got there, they assessed the situation. The family had already come down to the river's edge, they were already cold and wet. Firefighters decided best thing to do was to try to get them across the river.
When they tried, the first raft across was the woman and her baby. You saw what happened. The father and the a year-and-a-half- year-old girl, after seeing that, went back up to the cabin. They are there now. And mother and son are in the hospital, Anderson.
COOPER: Amazing. Miguel Marquez, thanks. Now, later this evening on 360, we are going to talk with one of the men you just watched save that infant. A lot of people e-mail us, say we don't report good news enough, happy endings. Stick around, because the man you'll meet made a happy ending possible for that little child.
Let's get an update now on rescue efforts at that landslide in La Conchita. It happened yesterday. Authorities were evacuating the area when the mountainside gave way.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, hey, (UNINTELLIGIBLE), it's falling.
COOPER: Things could certainly have been worse. They were certainly bad enough, however. Four people died in the downfall of that thick clay. Remarkably, nine people have so far been pulled out of this mess alive. Take a look at that. It is hard to believe anyone could be pulled out alive.
Right now, the search goes on for the many who are still missing.
CNN's Ted Rowlands is there.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Another body has been pulled out, but no more survivors. Still, rescue crews here will work through the night, digging and listening for signs of life.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, it keeps you optimistic. Like I said, tsunami victims are still being found. So there's always hope.
ROWLANDS: Firefighter Garrett Prader (ph) helped rescue three people kept alive in air pockets, including a woman who was almost buried alive.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was probably a good 20, 30 feet in underneath several layers of flooring and roof, and she was actually had debris, and she was pinned from her legs down. But she had debris all the way up to her neck.
ROWLANDS: But thus far, stories of survival are outnumbered by heartbreaking examples of possible loss. Jimmy Wallet (ph), a father of three, left his home just minutes before the hillside gave way. Friends say he was buying ice cream for his children, and watched the mudslide crash down on his home. His wife, father, and daughters, ages 10, 6, and 2, were inside.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When he came out of the thing, he saw it come down and ran up the street as fast as he could. And they just -- he couldn't get up there fast enough.
ROWLANDS: Jimmy Wallet's father was found dead. The rest of his family is among the more than 20 people still missing. He and other members of the community are working alongside rescue crews looking for life in this mountain of debris.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROWLANDS: It is windy and cold here tonight, but it is dry. And for that reason, it believed that this hillside is safe. So crews, Anderson, will work overnight, hoping to find a miracle, somebody alive in all the debris.
COOPER: Ted, can you explain to me how it is that anyone could be found alive? I mean, I heard the person in your report saying that the people who have been found sort of been under debris, and that, I guess there was an air pocket there. But I would think, with that mountain of mud, as we've seeing it now just coming down, I mean, it's amazing to me anybody could breathe underneath that.
ROWLANDS: Well, what they say could be the case, is that if somebody is wedged in a corner of a house, up against something solid, it is possible that they indeed could be alive. In fact, they heard, using listening devices this morning, something underneath the debris. They investigated, have not found anything. But they're holding out (UNINTELLIGIBLE) there's a chance, albeit a small one.
COOPER: Amazing they found nine people alive so far. Ted Rowlands, thanks for the report.
The destruction is pretty familiar to the residents of La Conchita. The same thing happened there 10 years ago. Here's a 360 flashback. It was March 1995 after a powerful storm. About 600,000 tons of mud buried nine homes. No one was injured in this one. In the aftermath, property owners and county officials blamed each other, one saying safeguards should have been in place, the other saying the homes shouldn't have been built near an unstable hillside.
In the end, the county built an 18-foot-high retaining wall, the same wall which gave way yesterday, that allowing countless tons of clay to destroy, for one, the home of the man who joins us now live from Ventura County, California.
Drew McCrary also lost friends in the mudslide, and is, to say the least, very angry over what he says wasn't done out there.
Mr. McCrary, we appreciate you being with us. I know it's at a very difficult time for you.
You were on the beach walking your dog when the mudslide hit. You returned to your home. What did you find?
DREW MCCRARY, LOST FRIENDS, HOUSE IN MUDSLIDE: When I came home, I looked over, and I took the alleyway up, up, so just, I couldn't see what had happened from my viewpoint until I got to the top of the street and then looked over towards my house and saw big pile of dirt and rubble.
COOPER: And so you can't see your house at all.
MCCRARY: Pardon me? COOPER: You can't see your house at all now, it's completely buried?
MCCRARY: No, no, it's completely covered. It's completely covered.
COOPER: I understand a close friend of yours is missing. Do you have any updates about his condition, his whereabouts?
MCCRARY: No, it's a woman. And she lived in the house behind me, and she was taking a nap. And she's under there still, I guess.
COOPER: Drew, I know you blame the county, to some degree, for what happened. Why do you the blame the county?
MCCRARY: OK. First of all, FEMA, 10 years ago, when the first slide happened, FEMA offered to come here and secure the hill completely. The county of Ventura said, No, we will take care of it. They didn't take care of it. They did nothing. They finally built a 20-foot fence, like a Band-Aid on a gaping wound.
COOPER: Well, Drew, the, the...
MCCRARY: And then...
COOPER: ... the county says that, and we (UNINTELLIGIBLE), we talked to them, they have this quote, I think it was in from "The L.A. Times" today, they said, "This is the site of a ancient landslide. Everyone who lives there is aware of that." How do you respond to that statement?
MCCRARY: Well, then, why did they issue permits to build here? And furthermore, after this, that first slide happened, they -- people asked me, Why did you stay here with the landslide? We stayed here because the County of Ventura told us it was safe to move back in, and raised our property tax.
COOPER: Well, Drew, I know it's a difficult time for you. I know you're left, really, with nothing. I know you got your dog and the clothes on your back. And I know you're searching for your friends now. We wish you, we wish you well, and we hope you find your friend soon. Drew McCrary, thank you for being with us.
MCCRARY: OK, can I say something more?
COOPER: Sure.
MCCRARY: We had no warning, we had no warning whatsoever. No matter what the media is telling you, we had no warning whatsoever.
COOPER: Well, Drew, the police...
MCCRARY: You can ask any...
COOPER: Yes.
MCCRARY: ... citizen of La Conchita.
COOPER: Yes, we talked...
MCCRARY: They will tell you the same thing.
COOPER: We just, just...
MCCRARY: No warning.
COOPER: We, we just, we like to cover all sides here. We talked to the sheriff's office. They said that there was a seismic grid that should show movement in a case like this, and it didn't go off. When the seismic grid goes off, that's our warning. In this case, it didn't go off, so we had no warning. That's what the sheriff is telling us. You don't buy that?
MCCRARY: That the firemen had a warning, a 24-hour watch, a week before that, that we weren't informed of. Also, the police scanner at 7:00 this morning, on the police scanner, it stated, The hill's coming down. And it's right there on the police scanner. We weren't informed of anything. It was business as usual in La Conchita when I took my dog down to the beach.
COOPER: Drew, I know there, there are a lot of questions to be answered at this point. Right now, the focus is on recovering those who are still missing. And again, our thoughts go out to you and all those folks there. Drew, appreciate you joining us. Thank you.
Should point out that about an hour ago, one very large weather- related problem was removed with an explosion. Crews used explosives to break up this massive boulder -- there it is -- that blocked a roadway near Malibu, California. The heavy rains sent the 25-foot rock plunging down a hill and onto Topanga Canyon Boulevard. All the debris from the blast will be removed before the road is reopened, of course.
In Orlando, Florida, an emergency landing was clearly not par for the course. That is just one of the stories we're following cross- country right now.
You're looking at the setup to an emergency landing -- take a look -- by the quick-thinking pilot of a Cessna in trouble. Now, he was trying to make a clean landing on a golf course. He crashed into a utility pole instead. Now, that collision may have been a, actually, a lucky accident. It appeared the pilot was about to overshoot the fairway, crash into a parking lot. Two people, you can see one of them there, seriously injured. The injuries we're told, are not said to be life-threatening.
Moving on to Oxon Hill, Maryland, a deadly end to a helicopter flight that was supposed to save lives. Medical chopper had just dropped off a patient at a local hospital. It was returning to its base when it crashed in the Potomac River near Washington, D.C. A paramedic was killed. A nurse survived. And the pilot is missing and presumed dead. Back to Los Angeles, California, an extraordinary legal maneuver in Michael Jackson's child molestation case. His lawyers want a key hearing about possible past sex offenses to be held behind closed doors in the judge's chambers, not in open court. We're yet to hear a ruling on that.
And Howard Dean is running for a new office. Dean made it official today. Not running, he is running for chair of the Democratic National Committee. The announcement on his blog, really no big surprise. He's been openly campaigning for the job for a while.
That's a quick look at stories cross-country tonight.
360 next, a young Marine, AWOL, opens fire on police. It may have been suicide by cop. His mom says the stress of war changed her boy. Take a look at that, covering all the angles tonight.
Plus, living on coconuts and a prayer, a man survives two weeks adrift in the ocean. An unbelievable story. Hear for yourself how he managed to stay alive.
Also tonight, a 2-month-old baby rescued from raging water, twice rescued. The man who saved him joins us live.
All that ahead. First, let's take a look at your picks, the most popular stories right now on CNN.com.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Julia Cratayus Raya (ph) noticed something wasn't right. She says when her son, Andreas (ph), returned from serving in Fallujah, Iraq, he, quote, "came back different."
Sunday, the 19-year-old Marine was supposed to report back to duty at Camp Pendleton, California. He was expecting to be shipped back to Iraq. What he did instead, police say, was go to war in another place closer to home, and left a trail of bodies and questions in his wake.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER (voice-over): The grainy security video shows a hunter waiting for his prey. In this case, police officers in Ceres, California, lured to the scene by reports of a man with a gun.
ART DE WEHR, CERES DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC SAFETY: When the officers arrived, the armed suspect opened fire with a rapid-firing rifle, almost immediately gunning down Officer Ryno in mere seconds after he stepped out of his vehicle.
COOPER: Once the suspect realizes the officers are present, he immediately fires on them and chases them down, continuing to fire. Seconds later, another officer stumbles into the ambush as well.
DE WEHR: Sergeant Stevensons arrived shortly afterwards, and, like Officer Ryno, was fired upon within seconds and died almost instantly from the suspect's spray of bullets.
COOPER: Raya was killed in a shootout three hours later, when he was cornered by other police officers.
LT. BILL HEYNE, STANISLAUS COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT: When the suspect jumped the fence, he exposed the ASKS (ph) assault rifle again, and from about 100 yards, the officers opened fire, and he fell to the ground.
COOPER: And as police began looking into the crime, the explanation they got made them wonder if the young Marine had decided dying in battle here might have been preferable to risking death in Iraq.
HEYNE: In speaking with family, they conveyed to us that their son did not desire to return to Iraq.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: One police officer dead tonight, Officer Sam Ryno is in serious condition. He is 50 years old, and he's in serious condition right now.
With more on the shooting, joining by phone from Modesto, California, is Ceres Police Department spokesman Deputy Jason Woodman.
Jason, thanks very much for being with us.
This notion of suicide by cop, what makes you think this might be a possibility?
JASON WOODMAN, CERES POLICE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN (on phone): Well, as you can see from the video, and based on statements that we got from officers that were involved, as well as witnesses, it was premeditated. He laid there in wait. As soon as he saw the officers, he immediately engaged in gunfire with them.
COOPER: He actually requested that the officers be sent to the scene. How did that happen?
WOODMAN: Well, what happened is, he had walked into the liquor store, and was pacing around, acting strange, and he walked back outside with his rifle. And he fired a round. It did not strike him. But he went back inside the liquor store, told the employees that he had just been shot and they need to call police. That's when police were called.
COOPER: And according to witnesses, I mean, according to the police who were there, what was his state of mind? How did he appear, agitated?
WOODMAN: Yes, he appeared very agitated, very aggressive, and he did not hesitate once he saw those officers. He had it in his mind that that's what he was going to do, and he chased them down, even as they tried to retreat to cover. He advanced on them and continued firing on them. COOPER: You know, his mom has said he was different when he, when he returned from, from Iraq. Certainly that, that's no excuse. Is, is there any other evidence to support that, that his alleged desire not return to Iraq played any kind of role in this?
WOODMAN: Well, no, just the statements, you know, from people that knew him that he did not want to go back to Iraq. You know, along with that, along with, you know, the -- all the other, you know, statements that we have, it's very evident that, you know, that he was intent on engaging these officers in gunfire, and that he was not concerned with the bullets that were going to be flying in his direction.
COOPER: Just, if we could just end for a moment talking about two people who matter more in this, Officer Ryno and Officer Stevenson, Officer Stevenson passed away, how is Officer Ryno doing?
WOODMAN: Well, he's in serious condition. He was with -- upgraded from critical. So that's good news. He is in pretty good spirits, considering everything that's gone on. He's been able to have visitors. He's been able to speak with some family and friends that are close with him. So his prognosis looks promising at this point.
COOPER: And Officer Stevenson, how is his family doing?
WOODMAN: Well, as you can imagine, they're grieving. They have a long road ahead of them and a long grieving process. But they're getting a lot of support from the community, and friends and family and the police department.
COOPER: Our thoughts are certainly with both of them and their families and you as well. Thank you very much for taking the time to speak with us. Jason Woodman, appreciate it.
WOODMAN: No problem. Thank you.
COOPER: 360 next, dramatic water rescue. A 2-month-old baby saved from raging floodwaters, twice. We're going to meet the man who pulled the little boy to safety. He joins us live.
Also tonight, remember all those stories about kids who survived the tsunami being kidnapped, sold into sexual slavery? Were any of them really true? Coming up, we track down one of those stories, and solve the mystery of what happened to two little children lost in the storm.
And a little later, securing the homeland for a nation at war, President Bush picks a former Clinton nemesis. Is he the right man for the job? We're covering all the angles.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Our nation is still at war. We're focused. We're taking decisive actions on the home front that are critical to winning this war.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Well, today, President Bush says he took decisive action by nominating the next secretary of homeland security. His name is Michael Chertoff, and if appointed, promises to think outside the box, not the Constitution. Chertoff is one of the chief architects of the war on terror, but it's his war against the Clintons that is generating just as much attention today.
CNN's White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Bush's second pick for homeland security, Federal Appeals Court Judge Michael Chertoff.
BUSH: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Mike has shown a deep commitment to the cause of justice and an unwavering determination to protect the American people.
MICHAEL CHERTOFF, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY NOMINEE: On September 11, 2001, I joined members of dozens of federal agencies in responding to the deadliest single attack on American civilians ever.
MALVEAUX: Chertoff's nomination came as a surprise to most in Washington. He'd been left off the widely circulated short list for the secretary's post. But Sunday morning, after the president's bike ride, Mr. Bush quietly called Chertoff from his motorcade to offer him the job.
Bush aides say privately, Chertoff is a compromise, considered by administration officials as the anti-Kerik, a reference to President Bush's first pick, former New York police commissioner Bernie Kerik, who withdraw his nomination after the White House vetting process raised questions.
BERNARD KERIK, FORMER HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY NOMINEE: I want to conclude, I want to apologize to my family, my friends, the president, President Bush.
MALVEAUX: The president took no chances the second time around.
BUSH: He's been confirmed by the Senate three times.
PAUL LIGHT, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: There are going to be no surprises about him as he moves through this process. And that's clearly an advantage compared to Bernie Kerik.
MALVEAUX: His role as a key figure in shaping the government's legal response to 9/11 makes him someone the president can trust.
Chertoff's critics question whether his resume might be too partisan for the job. During the Clinton administration, Chertoff was the chief counsel to the Republican Senate Whitewater committee that investigated President Bill and Hillary Clintons' Arkansas business dealings, a probe widely seen then as politically motivated.
LIGHT: I don't think it's going to be a major issue. I think the more significant issue is his lack of management experience.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: But management experience aside, Chertoff is likely to face many other questions regarding his knowledge about emergency preparedness, as well as securing transportation, as well as protecting the border, Anderson.
COOPER: Suzanne from the White House, thanks very much.
Stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most reliable news your security.
Canada has confirmed a new case of mad cow disease, the second one in just nine days. That tops our look at what's happening around the world in the uplink.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency says the disease has shown up in a cow from Alberta. They say no part of the animal has entered the human or animal food system. This cow is not believed to be linked to the mad cow case reported on January 2, just a day after the U.S. said it plans to reopen its border to Canadian beef in March.
Tikrit, Iraq, a deadly car bombing outside a police station, six Iraqi police officers killed, at least four others wounded.
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, five detainees to be set free. Pentagon says the last four Brits and an Australian will be released, and insists the men are enemy combatants of the U.S. but says the U.K. and Australian governments have accepted responsibility for them.
That's a quick look at stories in the uplink.
A California mother trapped by floods fights to hold onto her 2- month-old baby. The rescue raft capsizes. Tonight, we take you to the water's edge, the story behind this daring and dramatic rescue, caught on tape.
Amber Frey, here, there, and everywhere, selling her book. Tonight, we bring you the Amber Frey Cliff Notes edition.
And the tsunami's littlest victims, what happened to these two children after they were recovered from the water? Tonight, we solve the mystery of two little children lost in the storm.
360 continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: It is a sight certainly worth seeing again. A mother and infant son and their rescuer dumped into a raging stream, but miraculously come out alive. And we're joined now in San Dimas, California, by Los Angeles County urban search and rescue firefighter, Rich Atwood who was in that boat. Rich, thanks very much for being with us. What a time you have had. Let's go back. You were on the raft with Erica Henderson (ph), her 8 week-year-old son William trying to rescue them, suddenly the raft itself tipped over.
What happened?
RICH ATWOOD, L.A. COUNTY FIRE DEPT.: Basically, we got into the boat, and we're preparing to cross the river. Explain to the mother that we're going to kneel down in the boat, get in. We got in the boat. And we started to, what we call ferry across the water. The nose of the boat kind of went south on us down river, we started -- the nose dove down. She leaned a little bit forward, we started taking on water. Then the boat went back up and pointed up river the way it's supposed to face, and the side of the boat started taking on more water, and within a split second, we were both in the water.
COOPER: Now, Rich, we're looking at the video of the moment, the water starts coming over that boat, and you guys go in.
I mean, what is going through your mind?
Because what you can't see in the video is that the woman who's in the foreground is clutching the baby to her chest, when you knew you were going in the water, what did you think?
ATWOOD: Well, getting back to what was I thinking when things were going on? She had that baby attached to her chest with one of those like baby harnesses. So the baby wasn't going anywhere. It's securely -- attached to the woman. She had her personal flotation device on and a helmet. And when things started getting dicey in there with the water coming in, I had a choice of either leaning forward and trying to grab her or to lean back and try to counteract what was going on. That was the choice I made was to lean back and try to counter it. And that wasn't working. All of a sudden, boom, the boat's upside down, we're in the drink.
COOPER: Unbelievable. You must have been scared for your own life I imagine?
ATWOOD: My biggest concern, you think yes, it's scary. My biggest concern is, where's my -- where's my victim, where's the baby? As soon as I went in the water, it's like, my God, where are they at? I'm looking around trying to find them, and things went crazy. I went underwater a couple of times. I heard her screaming to my side and I ended up going through some downstream hazards that put me under water, so I popped up a little while later, and I looked up. And I finally got out -- I finally got into a safe area. I ended up on a sandbar, and I was looking around and just trying to figure out where they were at, and if I could possibly continue the rescue in getting them out.
COOPER: And she ended up on a sandbar. We have a picture of the little baby, of William being taken out by another one of your rescuers.
You said this is the most humbling experience of your life, how so?
ATWOOD: Well, you have to figure you're entrusted with these lives. I had a precious young life and I the woman with us also, the mother. We're in the boat, and all of a sudden, everything went chaotic. We're upside down, we're floating down the river, and I'm thinking, how am I going to save this person? I can't even find them right now. And then I end up on this sandbar, and I don't have my victim with me. You know, to me, I'm just thinking, my God, what happened? Where are they at? what can I do to get them back to shore, get them safe? And then, a brief moment, I'm thinking, what could possibly happen? I didn't know what status was on them down river. I didn't know they were being extracted by another team, a backup team down river. So, I was -- I was feeling pretty darn bad at that time.
COOPER: I hope you are surrounded by people who, a, appreciate what you do, and let you know it. Because just looking at that video with you and your colleagues did, it's extraordinary. And Rich, I appreciate you being here just to talk about a little bit. You saved a little child's life. And we do appreciate it. Thanks very much.
ATWOOD: Thank you.
COOPER: Rich Atwood.
It is remarkable that today more than two weeks after that terrible tsunami, we can still talk about missing people found alive. Tens of thousands of people are still missing, no doubt about it. But that number has been reduced by one, a man rescued on a raft, alone, but very much alive.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER (voice-over): At first glance, you wouldn't realize what Ari Afrizal went through. He looks fit and seems to have no trouble walking on his own. There's no obvious sign he spent two weeks fighting for his life, adrift in the Indian Ocean. Ari says he was working at a construction site in Indonesia's Aceh Province when the tsunami swept him out to sea. He tried desperately to stay above the water, swept by the current, his homeland grew smaller in the distance. Soon, he was all alone, his only company whatever objects he found to keep himself afloat.
ARI AFRIZAL, TSUNAMI SURVIVOR (through translator): The first day I clung to a piece of wood. The second day I retrieved a small fishing boat, but it was leaking.
COOPER: Ari says through all this, he prayed and prayed. He believes the raft was God's answer. It didn't have rescuers, but it did have another saving grace, bottled water. That and a little food floating by kept him alive.
AFRIZAL (through translator): I managed to survive as I ate the flesh of old coconuts for about 12 day. For three days, I didn't get to eat anything.
COOPER: He says ship after ship passed him by, none seemed to notice him. Badly sun burned and weak, he began to lose hope. But on Sunday, he spotted a container ship.
AFRIZAL (through translator): I managed to whistle at the ship, and then waved my hands. The ship sped on, but it sound at Klaxon and I stood up. I thought the ship had left the area and I sat down and cried. But ship returned and cheered me up. I then waved at them as I knew I was safe.
COOPER: Now safe at a hospital in Malaysia, Ari Afrizal thinks of a home he left behind, a land now very different than the one he was ripped from two weeks ago. He thinks of the people who were there, his parents, his three brothers and sister, and his girlfriend. He doesn't know if any of them are still alive.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: You know last week when we were in Sri Lanka, we kept hearing these stories about kids being abducted in the wake of the tsunami, sold into sexual slavery. In fact, we counted about 907 mentions of abducted kids reported in the media in the last week or so. Most of the story, however, were never proven. So we really began to wonder how real was this? Were kids being abducted?
We picked one story that was making headlines in Sri Lanka. Two missing kids rescued from the storm, the story said, but taken away by a mysterious stranger. The children's aunt worried they were kidnapped. We sent out to find the truth about these two little kids and what really happened to them. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER (voice-over): Their faces silently stare from the front page a Sri Lankan paper, 5-year-old Jennia Dari (ph) and her 7-year- old brother Sunara (ph), shown here with their parents. The paper alleges the kids were kidnapped after being rescued from the tsunami. A mysterious stranger allegedly took them away. Their aunt is convinced, they'd been kidnapped.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I believe that they are alive.
COOPER: There had been so many stories like this in the wake of the tsunami, we sent out to discover what really happened to these two kids. We drove to where they were last seen, the town of Galle, where more than 1,000 people died. They were in a car with their parents on a family vacation when the tsunami hit.
(on camera): So the car was swept by the water about more than 100 yards to this spot?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
COOPER: And was it completely covered in water?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Completely covered.
COOPER: Ananda Da Silva (ph) saw the car submerged in this ditch.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They came and tried to turn this car.
COOPER: They were actually -- they were down in the water trying to turn the car over.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
COOPER: The newspaper claimed the children were alive when they were pulled from the water. Da Silva remembers it differently.
(on camera): What did the girl look like when they took her out of the car?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At times, she (UNINTELLIGIBLE) and her head is like this.
COOPER: So her head is on her shoulder.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, yes, eyes are closed.
COOPER: But you think both of them were dead.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Four of them were -- died, definitely.
COOPER: The newspaper said a man on a motorbike took the kids away, hinting he was a kidnapper. But eyewitnesses led us to this man, he tried desperately to save the little girl's life.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I saw the child laying on the ground and immediately I picked up the child and gave her mouth to mouth.
COOPER: He took her to a nearby hospital, even though he says she was already dead. Because the media reported the girl was kidnapped, he now finds himself in trouble with the law.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I went with good intentions of saving someone's life. But in return, I got a very bad name and everyone looks at me like I'm a criminal, like I'm a kidnapper.
COOPER: The little girl's brother was found half an hour later under water. Eyewitnesses insist he was dead. His body handed over to Sri Lankan soldiers.
We went to the hospital where he said he gave her body to the doctors. When we got there, it was easy to see why any record of her arrival was impossible to find. The hospital was a washed out shell, nearly destroyed by the surging ocean. Before we left, the head of the hospital confirmed what all other eyewitnesses had told us. She was dead.
(on camera): So the girl is dead? 100 percent? UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
COOPER: We went to the next hospital to find her body. This is where the little girl's body was finally brought, we're told, we're going to go to the morgue right now and try to find if there is a picture of her. We're told she was buried in a mass grave. More than a thousand bodies had been laid out in this room. Nurses were still trying to clean the floor to get rid of the stench, that had seeped into the concrete. No amount of washing seemed to work. Once you're actually here looking at the photographs of the dead who had been recovered you can see how it is virtually impossible for a lot of parents or family members to find their missing children. The photos that everyone has of their child that this is how they looked in life and in death they look completely different. They are really unrecognizable.
The bodies are bloated, discolored, distorted by death. Genadori's (ph) picture was likely somewhere on this wall, but we couldn't come close to finding it.
The hospital told us where she was likely buried. The end of the dirt road in a freshly dug mass grave. No grave markers show the spot, just rubber gloves of morgue workers left behind. A sandal buried in the mud. This is the final resting place of more than 1,000 people, likely among them, 5-year-old Genadori and her 7-year-old brother. Children, who it turns out, were not kidnapped, not sold into slavery two little children who were simply swept away.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: It's worth pointing out that for all of the talk of abductions, as of Friday, only two complaints had been filed with government -- with the government department charged with overseeing kidnapping. Of those two in Sri Lanka, neither have been substantiated. We should also point out that after we learned of Genadori's death, we asked the hospital why they hadn't notified her aunt? They said it wasn't their responsibility. We found out later they did indeed tell her that night. Understandably, the aunt was distraught, but she says she accepts the hospital's findings.
The tsunami also damaged one of Thailand's natural attractions. Its coral reefs. Here's a quick news note. At least 100 volunteer divers are helping to clean up the pristine waters. People, debris and rubbish were flung into the area during the tsunami. Some large chunks of coral snapped off.
However marine experts say the overall damage isn't as bad as initially feared and some reefs were not hit at all.
360 next. Blowing her cover. Former CIA spy gives us details of her job. What it's really like inside the agency? Plus, Amber Frey, Scott Peterson's mistress. She's here, there, everywhere, plugging her new book. Don't worry, she's not on this program. But we're going to give you the Cliff Notes on her PR campaign.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COOPER: All right, nobody was better than Sean Connery. Cool, collected, so quick with the one-liners. As Bond, James Bond, of course, Connery made being a spy look so exciting, so glamorous, so unlike anything Lindsay Moran experienced at the CIA. She spent five years as a secret agent, a case officer, and for her, the work was at times double O dull. Moran gives us a rare glimpse into the whole cloak and dagger world in the book "Blowing My Cover: My Life As A CIA Spy." I spoke with her earlier.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: In terms of recruiting spies, because that was your job, as a case officer, you were not a spy. Your job was to recruit spies. How did you go about doing that? What was the key?
LINDSAY MORAN, FMR. CIA SPY: Well, the key was really to assess someone. To try and determine what their vulnerabilities were, and that's something that we learned at the farm. How to meet someone, schmooze them, really get to know them and try to find out what their weaknesses were.
COOPER: How do you know who will make a good spy?
MORAN: There are different kind of personality characteristics that you might look for, and a lot of good assets are egomaniacs, because they're the kind of people who might sort of thrive off the internal mystique of working for the CIA. Or someone with a kind of inflated sense of self-importance. And your job as a case officer is to play upon their ego, to make them feel important. And then they might divulge more information or brag to you or if that secret information or information that is of value to the U.S. government, then you have yourself a good agent.
COOPER: It's also fascinating in the book you talk about the training that you went at the farm. Part of it was POW training. What was that like?
MORAN: What we went through during the experience I certainly wouldn't call it torture, but it was kind of border line abusive. They would grill you. A lot of times we would have to squat in an uncomfortable position. In fact I write about it in the book. One part that I thought was kind of amusing was one of the worst forms of abuse that they could come up with was handcuffing you to a fence out in the rain where you would sit by yourself. And I never let on that this was actually my favorite part of POW experience, because when you were handcuffed to the fence you were kind of left alone.
COOPER: But did you feel, when you were in this POW training, did you actually, -- did you ever lose sight of the fact that this is just part of the training, this is a game? Or did you feel at times feel threatened? Did you feel a prisoner?
MORAN: I do describe in the book that the wall between make- believe and real started to erode rather quickly. And there were times when I thought, is this really an exercise? And while I tried to keep reminding myself that it was just an exercise, I think that it was interesting to me psychologically, how quickly all of us started to become very stressed by what we knew intellectually was an exercise. But we did have a couple of people who really broke down in tears.
COOPER: What was it like just on a day-to-day, hour-by-hour base? Were you paranoid all the time, when you are living in Macedonia, you have diplomatic immunity, but still, were you scared all the time? What was it like?
MORAN: I wouldn't say scared. I was never really scared for my personal safety, but, yes, paranoid. I think that it's -- you almost inherently become paranoid when you are working for the agency, and probably if you spend a whole career there, you leave a very paranoid and perhaps slightly strange individual.
COOPER: All right, Lindsay Moran, thanks.
MORAN: Thank you.
COOPER: 360 next, Amber Frey alert. She's on a one-woman campaign to sell, sell, sell. Her book that is. Don't worry, you don't have to actually read the book. We are going to give you the cliffnotes in a moment.
Also tonight, when athletes attack, why would good news bring out the worst for a very rich ballplayer? The list of reasons in "The Nth Degree."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Amber Frey, convicted killer Scott Peterson's much- talked about mistress turned police helper, turned witness for the prosecution, turned author, is out and about selling her book. She's talked with Oprah and Matt, Nancy and Dan, Hannity and what's his face.
Now, I was away, so I missed most of these interviews, but luckily Henry the intern watched every one, and he has compiled a sort of cliffnotes to talking with Amber. It's short, and to the point, and about as deep as the actual interviews she's been giving "Inside the Box."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER (voice-over): What do you ask a woman who's already been asked it all? Some interviewers try to go for emotion.
DAN ABRAMS, MSNBC HOST: So let me ask you that question, forgiveness? Forgiving Scott Peterson?
AMBER FREY: Yes, I have.
COOPER: All right, so much for emotion. Others try to re-create that first spark.
OPRAH WINFREY, TALK SHOW HOST: OK, and what did you think when you first saw him?
FREY: I thought he was handsome.
He opened the door. I thought he was handsome.
MATT LAUER, NBC NEWS: So you were not disappointed when he walked in?
FREY: No. I wasn't disappointed, no.
COOPER: OK. Handsome, check. Not disappointed, check. What about romance?
SEAN HANNITY, CO-HOST, "HANNITY & COLMES": What did you think when he pulled out that champagne?
FREY: That he had thought ahead. That he was -- you know, there's a romantic side to him.
LAUER: It's been well reported that you spent the night.
FREY: Yes.
LAUER: What were you thinking at that time? Was it the champagne, or was it the charm of Scott Peterson?
FREY: Probably a little bit of both.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was so charming at first, right? Roses and champagne and cooked for you?
FREY: Right.
COOPER: Right! Now, remember, interviewers, just because Amber Frey has already answered a question, don't be afraid to ask it again.
LAUER: Did you ask him how he lost his wife?
FREY: It's almost like putting salt on a wound.
WINFREY: Why you didn't say, how did you lose her?
FREY: I felt, you know, like that would be putting salt in the wound.
COOPER: For a woman who's written a whole book sure seems like there's a whole lot Amber Frey doesn't know.
FREY: I don't know.
I don't know why he did what he did.
I don't know why Scott Peterson did what he did.
COOPER: Amber Frey may not know, but her lawyer, Gloria Allred, certainly knows one thing. GLORIA ALLRED, FREY'S ATTORNEY: May I say how proud I am of the courage that Amber has shown.
I think she's just an enormously courageous young woman. So I'm just wanting to make the point that she was so courageous.
COOPER: Out of all the TV appearances Frey has done, only one interviewer came up with a truly original question. Court TV's Nancy Grace.
NANCY GRACE, COURT TV: Would you take his collect phone call?
FREY: No. That's a new one. I haven't heard that yet.
COOPER: Neither have we. Now, we don't need to read her book. The whole tawdry tale can be quickly summed up. Handsome, not disappointed, champagne, romance and courage. "Inside the Box."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Now you know. 360 next, Randy Johnson's first pitch in New York goes, well, wild. Seems being rich can't buy the Big Unit some manners. We're going to take that to "The Nth Degree," next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Tonight, taking gratitude to "The Nth Degree." You know, it's nice when people are thankful, don't you think?
Take this fellow here, name of Randy Johnson, throws baseballs for a living. Quite a living, too. Just got himself traded from Arizona to the Yankees at 32 million bucks for a two-year contract extension.
So he shows up here in Manhattan, island of his wildest aspirations, and does this. Accost a TV cameraman trying to take his picture, yelling, "don't get in my face and don't talk back to me."
It's OK, though, he explained himself in a statement.
"I hope everyone understands," he said, "that the past few days have been a bit overwhelming, and I wish I had handled the situation differently. I'm sorry it happened."
Well, sure, we understand, you big lug, you. How can it not be overwhelming? Getting everything you ever wanted and then some, being the toast of the town, being looked up to as a conquering hero? That kind of dream come true is bound to make a guy prickly. Silly of us to have expected a, you know, maybe a smile and a tip of the hat.
Also, there is this. Randy Johnson stands six feet, 10 inches tall. The air has to be pretty thin where he has got his head.
I'm Anderson Cooper. Thanks for watching 360. CNN's prime-time coverage continues now with Paula Zahn -- Paula.
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