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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees

Synagogue-Burner Captures Himself; Plane Crash Leads to Tragedy

Aired April 27, 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: Lou, thanks very much. A white supremacist who turned on his video camera before he threw a fire bomb: we have the tape and the cops have the criminal. 360 starts now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER (voice-over): A shocking tape reveals a vicious crime.

SEAN GILLESPIE: I'm going to fire bomb it with a molotov cocktail.

COOPER: A white Supremacist records himself about to fire bomb an Oklahoma synagogue. Tonight the tape that helped put this neo-Nazi behind bars.

Who is this girl? Florida cops want your help to find a victim of child porn. Tonight can you find clues in these photos that could rescue this girl from child predators?

A ministry student missing after a frantic midair call to 911.

JONATHAN LEBER, PILOT: My plane ran out of fuel.

COOPER: Out of gas, he ditches his plane in the freezing waters of Lake Michigan. Tonight what happened to the rescue and where is 20-year-old Jonathan Leber.

Michael Jackson's ex-wife, the mother of his two kids takes the stand. Will she spill the secrets of Neverland? Tonight we take you "Beyond the Headlines." Who is Debbie Rowe? And what is her real arrangement with Jackson?

And is your sleep a nightmare? Night terrors, sleepwalking, sleep eating, what you need to know about the bizarre bedtime habits that keep millions from getting a good night's rest.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: Live from the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is ANDERSON COOPER 360.

COOPER: And good evening to you. It's probably not going to be a surprise to any of you that a new report out today says that terrorist activity increased sharply last year. I mean, if you see the news out of Iraq every day you know that. But tonight a reminder that hate doesn't just exist in far away places. Danger can be as close as your neighborhood.

Just yesterday a white supremacist, a member of the so called Aryan Nations, was convicted in Oklahoma City of fire bombing a synagogue. Before he threw the bomb, however, he turned on his video camera and he hit "record."

Rick Sanchez reports tonight on hate caught on tape.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICH SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): What you are looking at is an act of terror. A masked man with a molotov cocktail fire bombing a synagogue in Oklahoma City last April.

ANN DEE LEE, TEMPLE B'NAI ISRAEL: I think this is a discoloration where the fire bomb was thrown.

SANCHEZ: Ann Dee Lee is a member of the temple that was bombed.

LEE: This ticks me off, if you want to know the truth.

SANCHEZ (on camera): Make you feel more vulnerable?

LEE: Of course. You can't help but feel that. You can lie and be big and tough and say no, we're fine. But it does have an impact.

SANCHEZ: See that camera? That's the actual surveillance camera that recorded the fire bombing here at Temple B'Nai Israel. It did what it is supposed to do, it caught the act. What it didn't do because of the ski mask was capture the man. Two weeks later, though, authorities had a suspect.

(voice-over): The suspect Sean Gillespie had plenty to say to the FBI when they arrived to question him. He said nothing, though, about the synagogue bombing. In fact, he thought he was being arrested for a string of racist attacks in Little Rock, Arkansas.

(on camera): He bragged about running over black people. Bragged about this.

ROBERT MCCAMPBELL, U.S. ATTORNEY: Right. And I don't know if that actually occurred or not. But somebody who would want to brag about that and would want people to know, he thinks that's the right way to act. That's somebody we've got to send an unmistakable message too.

SANCHEZ (voice-over): He also bragged about disrupting a Martin Luther King Day march in Spokane, Washington, beating up a homeless man in Philadelphia, and attending a Klan rally in Arkansas. Sean Gillespie was, in fact, so busy boasting he told agents it was OK to check his truck. And that's where they found his video camera.

MCCAMPBELL: He had been making a tape which appears to be like a training tape that he would later want other people to see about how to go about these acts. And, of course, in the course of that he admits the crime. SANCHEZ (on camera): How important was this tape?

MCCAMPBELL: It was incredibly important. I mean you see his face. He says I'm getting ready to commit this crime. And then you can see the flame where he actually committed it.

SANCHEZ: We asked the U.S. attorney to play the tape Gillespie had made.

GILLESPIE (INAUDIBLE) training center. I am going to fire bomb it with a molotov cocktail. Destroy a window first, and then throw a molotov cocktail in for maximum damage. I will film it for your viewing enjoyment. My kindred white power. You see the damage.

SANCHEZ: Interestingly enough the synagogue was not Gillespie's intended target. Before the crime he opened an Oklahoma City phone book, like this one, started looking for a Jewish-sounding name and found one. Headed over there but somehow got lost along the way. Frustrated, he saw a synagogue, decided that instead would be the place where he would vent his hate.

(on camera): In fact, he called the synagogue a target of opportunity and talked about wishing he'd thrown the fire bomb on the roof where it would have done more damage. But Gillespie didn't stop there. The U.S. attorney says while in jail, awaiting trial, he made five phone calls, all recorded. And each time he boasted about his attack on the synagogue.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What'd you do?

GILLESPIE: They got me videotaped. I fired -- I made bombs and blew up a Jewish synagogue.

SANCHEZ (on camera): What kind of person talks like that?

MCCAMPBELL: Well, my reaction as a prosecutor is there's lines you have to draw in society. And the people who want to cross those lines need to be incarcerated.

LEE: I don't have anything good to say about the man. I don't understand his thinking.

SANCHEZ (voice-over): When it came time for Sean Gillespie's day in court, his video stole the show and sealed his fate. His lawyer didn't even call a single witness. He told jurors his client was sorry for what he had done. In less than two hours the jury returned with a verdict. Gillespie cried then screamed, cursing at government attorneys.

(on camera): Did he get what he deserves?

LEE: I think so. I think the penalty was very just.

SANCHEZ: Sean Gillespie will be sentenced to a minimum of 35 years in federal prison.

Rick Sanchez, CNN, Oklahoma City.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Well, quick news note for you, the Anti-Defamation League reports incidentally that anti-Semitic incidents in the United States have reached its highest total in nine years. A total of 1,821 incidents were reported in 2004 -- that's an increase of 17 percent over the previous year.

Coming up next on 360, Florida police searching for a little girl used in child porn. They want your help. Take a close look at these pictures of the room, the background. Is there a hidden clue that you can see that might crack the case?

Also ahead tonight, a plane crash, 911, a young pilot radioing for help. And then he and his plane vanish. Rescuers searching Lake Michigan, but the mystery of what really happened remains.

And do you have trouble sleeping? Millions of Americans suffer from night terror, sleepwalking, screaming, horrible dreams. Tonight we're going to take a close look at what causes them, and what you can do about them. You are going to meet one girl that plunged 25 feet in her sleep and survived. All part of our special week-long series, "Sleepless in America." There are a lot of you out there.

And all that's ahead. First your picks -- the most popular stories right now on CNN.com.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Searching for a little girl in Florida. All cops have to go on are child porn pictures and some hidden clues. Can you help crack the case? 360 next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: This next story is a tough one to talk about because it involves child pornography, and the very thought, of course, is sickening. And, I know it's easier to just turn away, but don't. Police want your help tonight because there is a little girl out there who desperately needs help. She's somewhere between nine and 12 years old. We don't know her name. We don't know where she lives, or what she looks like. But, in the dark, cyber-sick world of pedophilia, she has a very familiar face.

These are some of the nearly 200 explicit photos this girl has appeared in. Police have placed a white silhouette over the girl because she's an underage victim. Now, they released these pictures in February, and using computers, as you see, they cut that silhouette out. They filled in the background, and, amazingly, based on these photos you are looking at, some viewers recognized where all these photos were taken. The pictures were shot -- of all places -- at a Walt Disney World hotel.

Now, investigators are asking for your help again tonight because they've released a photo today of a girl seen in some of the photos with the pedophilia victim, and they hope you might recognize her.

Here is CNN's David Mattingly.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Her face remains hidden to the public, but she is well known to child porn investigators around the world, who are desperately trying to find her in ways they've never dared before.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are releasing the photograph of the material witness and hope that, if a citizen can identify her, it will greatly increase the chances of successfully identifying the perpetrator and recovering the victim.

MATTINGLY: Orlando Police now taking the extraordinary step of going public with a child they believe is a material witness in the case, about nine years old in this picture, when it was taken a couple of years ago. Investigators have no evidence she is a victim or witnessed any acts of abuse. But they believe she is sitting on the same couch in the same room where this highly sought after girl was photographed being sexually abused. Find the girl on the couch, investigators hope, and they will find their victim.

DET. SGT. PAUL GILLESPIE, TORONTO POLICE: I'm confident that the victim perhaps knows this person, and this witness may be able to help us with that.

MATTINGLY: On the trail of this case for years, Paul Gillespie of the Toronto Police Child Exploitation Unit has been hampered, he says, by secrecy. It's been the rule in law enforcement to never reveal the faces of child pornography victims out of fear that it could place the child in danger from the abuser. But according to Gillespie, it's a rule he says that needs to be changed.

GILLESPIE: I think we have to take into account that we have to start taking, perhaps, a little more aggressive measures to get in and break this cycle.

MATTINGLY: Using computers earlier this year, Toronto detectives removed the victim girl from her own pictures and recreated the rooms behind her -- pictures they could then show to the public. And it paid off -- someone recognized a bedspread from an Orlando resort. It was an unheard of break, but the hotel records, with thousands of names, didn't take them very far.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think those records are going to prove valuable from a historical standpoint, but at this point, we have no idea who we're looking for. So, one name means nothing more than the next name at this point

MATTINGLY: Investigators believe this potential witness's photograph is their last best hope. Years spent scouring more than 200 photographs of the unknown victim have yielded few usable clues. If this girl's photograph doesn't help find their victim, more extreme measures, they say, may be taken. How close are you to releasing this girl's picture?

GILLESPIE: Well, that's always going to be an option, to be quite honest with you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MATTINGLY (on camera): If that comes to pass, it would be a landmark step in the fight against child pornography, but for now, in this case, investigators in two countries are now waiting by the phone for that one phone call that will now bring them a break in this case.

And you can get involved in this case. They provided a phone number. It is 1-866-635-HELP, and, as if you might need any other incentive to get involved in this case, there is a $5,000 reward, also, being offered.

Anderson?

COOPER: You know, David, let's just look at this photo again that police just released today, because, I mean, this could be the break in the case that people have been hoping for.

What do we know about the girl on the couch that we're looking at right now? We don't know that she was -- is she photographed in the same photographs with this other girl?

MATTINGLY: No, she is not in the same photographs. We really want to make that clear. And we don't know what part of the country she's in or anything like that. But we do know, according to investigators, that she is sitting on this couch in the same room that was used at some other time to photograph this other girl who is seen in these pictures on the Internet all over the world. So, they feel like if they find this one girl, whose picture they can show to the public, that she might lead them to the girl that they cannot show us.

COOPER: And, do they know where that couch is? I mean is that one of the couches in this hotel?

MATTINGLY: It was not in the hotel. They don't believe it's in Orlando, but they don't really know exactly where it is. They do know it's in some house, somewhere, possibly, they believe in the northeastern United States or possibly southeastern Canada. But that's a very large section, millions and millions of homes. There's no way to really pinpoint.

COOPER: And, if we can, just -- let's try to put up that number again or, David, if you know that number, again, just say it out again, because -- we have it on the screen -- 1-866-635-HELP.

This is a story which a lot of people have already responded to. I mean, David, it's really viewers responding to this story that has led police to this hotel in Florida, wasn't it?

MATTINGLY: What makes this case different from all the others out there, you have to look at the numbers. There are 50,000 dif -- separate faces, on the Internet, of child pornography victims, and investigators say every year they identify maybe 500 of those faces. The clues they have been able to see in this girl's photographs have brought them that much closer to finding her and perhaps she could be one of that select 500.

COOPER: David, I'm sorry -- did you say there were 50,000 faces out there of children in child porn on the Internet -- 50,000?

MATTINGLY: That's what investigators are telling us. They say they have been able to identify 50,000 separate faces on the Internet that are victims of child pornography and they are able to find only 500 of these children in a year.

COOPER: That is just -- that's an unbelievable statistic. I've never heard that before.

David Mattingly, thanks very much. Let's hope there's some break on this case tonight.

Security is beefed up at a U.S. port. Erica Hill from HEADLINE NEWS joins us with that and other stories at 17 past the hour.

Hey, Erica.

ERICA HILL, CNN HEADLINE NEWS: Hey, Anderson.

That's right -- a first in the battle against terrorism here on the home front. All international cargo coming into the port of Oakland, California, is now being scanned for radioactive material. The goal here to prevent a bomb from getting into the United States. By next year, Custom officials hope that more than 300 seaports in the country will be using those scanners.

On to Bethlehem, West Virginia: a first grader handcuffed at this school. The police chief said he loosely handcuffed the boy on Friday when he started kicking him, after reportedly running from teachers. The town's mayor and school official believes the incident was handled correctly, but the boy's parents are not happy and have filed a complaint.

In Boston, Massachusetts, alleged dog-napper, arrested. Police say Steven Cyr stole a truck with a key and a puppy left inside. This is the victim. Look at that little face. This is Dakota. The pooch's owner called his cell phone which was also left in the truck. When the suspect answered the phone, he threatened to kill Dakota if he didn't get $500 in ransom. Luckily, though, we're happy to report the dog was not hurt, and the suspect was arrested after Dakota's owner met with him, exchanging some cash for the truck keys.

On to Wauwatosa, Wisconsin -- which is just fun to say, by the way -- black bear captured. The 154-pound bear fell out of a tree into a net after getting shot with a tranquilizer. He gave a pretty big scare to folks in this commercial area. We're told, though, he is back in the woods tonight.

And that's the latest from HEADLINE NEWS. Anderson? COOPER: Yikes! You know, Erica, that was extraordinary bear video. I don't know that it tops, though, our video from our -- from the 360 archives, our bear archives, which we -- this is a bear falling out of a tree. Again, it was tranquilized in Misoula, Montana, about a year half ago. Fell on to a trampoline after the wildlife officials...

HILL: That's insane!

COOPER: I know. It looks like the bear got hurt. We are told by wildlife officials, it did not in fact get hurt. Apparently the bear is OK. So, there you go.

HILL: I can't -- I'm sorry. I'm have -- aaahh, I can't stop looking at it.

COOPER: I know. Crazy.

HILL: Some nice moves on the trampoline, though.

COOPER: Well, you know, yeah, that's part of our bear archive. We have extensive bear archives.

HILL: Somehow I'm not surprised.

COOPER: Erica, thanks very much. We'll talk to you again in about 30 minutes.

Coming up ahead, tonight on 360, parasomnia. Do you know what that is? We're talking about night terrors, people sleep-walking, having nightmares, people even eating while they're still asleep in their bed. A lot of sleep disorders out there; millions of Americans suffer from them. Tonight we're going to look at all of them. We're also going to meet one girl who plunged 25 feet off her parents' deck while she was still asleep. She survived. We'll take a look now at what her parents do to keep her safe every night. That's part of our special series, "Sleepless in America."

Also ahead tonight, a plane crashes into Lake Michigan. Its pilot makes a desperate call to 911 for help as he sinks, slowly, into the water. You can hear his pleas as rescue workers scramble to find him. And the search is still on.

Also a little bit later tonight, Michael Jackson's ex-wife -- yeah, kind of ex-wife, they were actually married -- takes the stand against him. She gave him two children and gave up custody. So, was their marriage all about money? We're going to take you "Beyond the Headlines" to find out more about the mysterious woman who once called the pop star hubby. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: In Wisconsin today the search has been called off for a young solo pilot whose small plane went down in the icy waters of Lake Michigan. A young man who had time enough to use his cell phone to beg for help. Emergency crews responded, but they found no wreckage, no pilot, nothing to study right now but those terrible tapes of his call.

CNN's Keith Oppenheim takes us into the cold water of Lake Michigan.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Jonathan Leber was a young pilot who survived a plane crash into Lake Michigan. What his body could not withstand was the frigid water temperature. Chief Dan Haney of Coast Guard Station Milwaukee led the effort to find Leber. If anything, he led with optimism.

CHIEF DAN HANEY, COAST GUARD STATION MILWAUKEE: I don't like to think necessarily that he would drown right away. I think to the hopeful side of it and say, you know what, he's going to be right there and I'm going to go by him and see him and I'm going to pull him on board and everything will be fine.

OPPENHEIM: That was the hope. The reality, at least a portion of it, was caught on 911 tapes. Leber who was flying his single engine plane from Michigan to Wisconsin ran out of fuel Monday night. And after surviving the water landing five miles offshore from Milwaukee, he called for help on his cell phone.

OPERATOR: Milwaukee Sheriff 911 mobile, this is Mark. How can I help you.

JONATHAN LEBER, PILOT: Yeah, hi, I just -- my plane ran out of fuel. I'm five miles off of Timmerman. And I need help really fast.

OPERATOR: OK, what are you doing there?

LEBER: I'm sitting on my plane right now.

OPERATOR: OK, are you flying or are you on the ground?

LEBER: I'm on -- I'm in Michigan, Lake Michigan.

OPERATOR: OK, what's your first name?

LEBER: Jonathan Leber.

OPERATOR: Do you have flotation equipment, Jonathan?

LEBER: No, I don't.

OPERATOR: Do you know how to swim.

LEBER: Yes.

OPERATOR: Coast Guard (INAUDIBLE) 6530, 6530, group Milwaukee.

OPPENHEIM: In minutes, crews from the Milwaukee Fire and Police Departments and the Coast Guard headed out into the darkness to search for Leber, they presumed the plane might have sunk quickly. HANEY: The person in the water is essentially a head or maybe half of a head. And so you've got a very small object that you are looking for.

OPPENHEIM: In this case a living object that is freezing, floating in a search area of more than 200 miles. Still, there is optimism.

(on camera): The Coast Guard predicts that if someone fell into this water, they would last potentially, three hours. But, crewmen here know the race against time is more intense than that. I'm about to get into this water. I am obviously wearing a dry suit from the Coast Guard. Here we go.

And as you can see, my hands are exposed. Anything that's exposed will get cold really fast. And the crewmen here know that the time of survival in this water is more likely not to be measured in hours but in minutes.

(voice-over): For the record the water I entered was much calmer, but almost as cold, about 40 degrees.

But despite the odds, crews pressed on. Five boats followed grid patterns to maximize the chances of finding Leber. Two helicopters and a Canadian cargo plane scanned the water from the air. After 16 hours, nothing. The search for John Leber was called off.

(on camera): Is it hard for you to think about the end for a guy like that? You know, he didn't have much of a chance despite all that you did?

HANEY: It's very hard. You know, we had a lot of resources out. We had a lot of boats. We had a lot of helicopters. Heaven knows, you know, we looked as hard as we could. It's very hard on us to not be able to find this person and to be able to bring closure.

OPPENHEIM (voice-over): And perhaps that is the nature of Coast Guard search and rescue.

OPERATOR: OK, Jonathan? Jonathan.

LEBER: Help.

OPPENHEIM: That small voice you heard calling for help may explain, while a family is mourning the loss of a 20-year-old man, the rescue crews who went out looking for him take part in the grieving. Keith Oppenheim, CNN, Milwaukee.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Michael Jackson's ex-wife, the mother of his two kids, takes the stand. Will she spill the secrets of Neverland? Tonight we take you "Beyond the Headlines." Who is Debbie Rowe? What is her real arrangement with Jackson?

And is your sleep a nightmare? Night terrors, sleepwalking, sleep eating. What you need to know about the bizarre bedtime habits that keep millions from getting a good night's rest. 360 continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Are you one of the millions of Americans suffering from night terrors, sleep walking, horrible dreams? What causes them and what you can do to get a better night's sleep. 360 next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SCREAMING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Unbelievable. I know what you're thinking, that is not a scene from "Exorcist 12," the return of Linda Blair. It's something much scarier -- a person experiencing what's called a night terror. And it can makes a nightmare look like a dream. The number of Americans who suffer from sleep problems is enormous. According to the National Sleep Foundation, 75 percent of adult Americans have a sleep problem, 75 percent.

Now, night terrors are much more than a simple sleep problem. The heart rate can soar to 160 beats per minute. It can activate a fight or flight response, and that's when things can get very dangerous.

Tonight as we continue our week-long series "Sleepless in America," we're looking at the strange things that make us go bump in the night.

CNN's Heidi Collins investigates.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the mysterious world of sleep, parasomnia are the drama queens of the night. Doctors estimate these bizarre sleep behavior affect between 12 and 20 percent of Americans. And you won't believe what happens when the lights go out. Caught on tape here in this sleep lab video. Sleepwalking, sleep eating, angry sleep talking. Violently acting out dreams. For some people, sleep truly is a nightmare. Fifteen-year-old Laura Sienko has been sleepwalking for as long as she can remember. But the last four years have been the worst -- spent in the throws of night terrors.

LAURA SIENKO, SLEEPWALKER: I see these people staring in at me and they're coming to get me or something. In my dream they had caught me, and it was my parents holding me back. It's scary. And I can't really differentiate what's real and what's not.

COLLINS (on camera): During a night terror Laura is in a twilight zone, neither awake nor completely asleep -- petrified by a terrible dream yet conscious enough to act. Coupled with sleepwalking it's a dangerous combination. Laura doesn't remember most of these episodes but her parents Becky and Mike can't forget.

How does it impact you?

BECKY SIENKO, LAURA'S MOTHER: It's so horrible, because she bolts up. She's just panic-stricken and the scream is horrible. It's just a blood-curdling scream, and she takes off.

MIKE SIENKO, LAURA'S FATHER: The terror and the speed and the strength. I've been on the ground holding her with one leg and she is dragging me.

COLLINS (voice-over): By day, Laura is a vibrant happy teenager. She's a high school sophomore who loves sports and spending time with her two sisters. But everything changes at night. Under the cover of darkness, something haunts Laura. One night two years ago, something terrified her so badly that she'd do anything to escape.

MIKE SIENKO: 2:15 in the morning, we're sound asleep and woke to just this blood-curdling scream. The next thing you see is Laura flying by the bed heading towards this door. I start immediately screaming to Laura, Laura, no, no. Because I saw her come by here. She flipped on the light. And her hands just kind of moved down on the door and she unbolted it, unlocked it and just flung the door open. And she continued on a path as fast as you could imagine right off here. And screaming the whole time. She never stopped.

COLLINS: Laura hit the ground 25 feet below, still asleep, still screaming amazingly after the fall still franticly on the move. At the time the Sienko home was under renovation. There was a deck but no railing, only wooden posts and sloping earth underneath.

LAURA SIENKO: When I landed, I landed right here against this. And I ran through these bushes and over these rocks and around the house. I collapsed like in this area.

COLLINS: Laura broke two vertebrae in her lower back and spent one week in the hospital, 10 weeks in a body cast, 18 weeks in a back brace. What causes her midnight madness? Doctors aren't sure, but they know sleep disorders run in families. Both Mike and Becky have a history of sleepwalking, so does Laura's identical twin, Meghan. And aside from genes other factors can play a role.

DR. CARLOS SCHENCK, PSYCHIATRIST, MINN. REGIONAL SLEEP DISORDERS CTR.: The most potent trigger of sleepwalking and night terrors for people who are susceptible is sleep deprivation. That is far and away the most potent trigger. Sleep deprivation, stress, medication, alcohol, irregular sleep schedule, all those can be aggravating or precipitating factors.

COLLINS: The altered state is worse than any nightmare you've ever had. And unlike a nightmare, a night terror doesn't have a vivid complex plot that keeps you paralyzed, just an overwhelming and primal sense of fear, usually striking in the first and deepest stage of sleep.

BECKY SIENKO: That picture will be in my mind forever of her leaping right here into the sky.

MIKE SIENKO: It is scary. I tell you what. It's not going to happen again.

COLLINS: Mike Sienko, won't let it happen again. Every night, this quiet Minnesota home turns into a fortress to keep Laura safe.

MIKE SIENKO: I put chairs in front of the doors, and I offset them. I double-check that the doors are all bolted. We moved the bench in front of this door on the balcony. It's a heavy bench. You know, even Laura's strength you're not going to move this out. And I hit the floor here in the doorway and that's where I go to sleep at night.

COLLINS: There for two years every night since the accident. Safeguarding Laura is a real family affair, pooch included. Taz lays watch on Laura's leg. The jingle of her collar serves as a warning bell if Laura tries to bolt. And Meghan has positioned her bed close to the door of the room they share.

MEGHAN SIENKO, LAURA'S SISTER: Unbelievably scary waking up to her screaming. It's my job to turn on the light and then she will wake up.

COLLINS: The Sienko's say their sleeplessness is worth it. There's been no repeat incident. Laura's bones have healed. And she has found the right specialist to diagnose and treat her problem. For now she takes anti-anxiety medicine each night, and will soon learn special exercises to get control over her body even self-hypnosis.

DR. LAUREL WILLIS, PEDIATRICIAN, MINN. REGIONAL SLEEP DISORDER CTR.: For Laura, we recommended that she utilize some biofeedback or meditative strategies to deepen her sleep and to sort of smooth out the sleep cycles so that she's not responding to whatever that trigger is.

COLLINS: Laura has missed out on some of the joy of being a teenager. Trips and sleep-overs at friend's house are simply impossible, too much danger, not enough protection. Doctors say there's a chance she'll outgrow her parasomnia. She's already coming to terms with battling and overcoming a life of bad dreams.

LAURA SIENKO: I think about it and I mean I really wish that I didn't have to deal with it. I wish -- I hope that some day it will be OK.

COLLINS: Heidi Collins, CNN, Duluth, Minnesota.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Remarkable. Tomorrow night we're going to continue our special series, "Sleepless in America," with a look at sleep personalities. Night owls vs. early bird. Which one are you? I think I'm a night owl. We'll see. We're also going find out what impact that has on your health. It does have a big impact. That's tomorrow on 360. Coming up next tonight, however Michael Jackson's ex takes the stand. The question is, who is Debbie Rowe? We're taking it "Beyond the Headlines" tonight. Did she give up her kids for money? And what is her real deal with Jackson?

Also tonight spider cam: how quick thinking by a chef saved his life when a spider like this bit him. It's an amazing story. You're going to want to see.

Also, a little later tonight a classic cookie -- mmm Oreos, goes on a diet. The battle against trans-fat hits the cookie jar. We'll explain.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Well, the pep was noticeably absent from Michael Jackson today. He took his time walking to the Santa Maria courtroom, perhaps it had something to do with who was testifying today: Her name, Debbie Rowe. She's not only a witness, she was Jackson's wife and is the mother of at least two of his children. Prosecutors in the child molestation case called Rowe today hoping she was going to tell jurors she was pressured to praise Jackson in a video that he produced.

Now, in that video she said the singer would never hurt a child. This has been one of the more popular stories on CNN.com all day. Every day Rudi Bakhtiar gives us an angle that you don't find anywhere else. Rudi, what did you turn up today?

RUDI BAKHTIAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Anderson, she's the woman who may seal Jackson's fate. And tonight, we went searching to find out just who Debbie Rowe is.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEBBIE ROWE, MICHAEL JACKSON'S EX-WIFE: He would never hurt a child ever. It's not in him. No way.

BAKHTIAR: Who is Debbie Rowe? We've heard a lot about Michael Jackson's second wife, the one who gave him two children, is largely a mystery.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And that's really by design. She was a simple person before. And she still leads a simple life.

BAKHTIAR: On Michael Jackson's official Web site, the biography of the singer makes no mention of her, not one word. Observes say they were an unlikely couple to begin with. And it wasn't love that first brought them together, it was a doctor.

They were introduced in the 1980s when Jackson went to a dermatologist office. He was the patient, she was the nurse. And it appears she made quite an impression on the King of Pop.

RANDY TARABORRELLI, JACKSON BIOGRAPHER: Michael just thought that she was one of the most entertaining women that he has ever known. BAKHTIAR: For 15 years they were friends. But in the fall of 1996 their relationship changed. While on tour in Sydney, Australia, Jackson and Rowe were married in a private civil ceremony, but one Jackson biographer says it was a marriage of convenience.

TARABORRELLI: I think that their marriage was really for the purposes of public relations and image making, but not for the purposes of love and romance.

BAKHTIAR: Another Jackson watcher was much more blunt.

JIM MORET, LEGAL ANALYST: Debbie Rowe was married so that she could produce children for Michael Jackson. I don't even know that marriage would have come into the picture had Michael Jackson's mother Katherine not interceded and felt that they should be married.

BAKHTIAR: And just three months after their marriage, Rowe gave birth to a boy, Prince Michael. Fourteen months later she gave birth to a girl, Paris.

Though they were parents, they apparently didn't share much time together.

TARABORRELLI: Their relationship has been very strange. She never lived at Neverland. When they were husband and wife, they never lived together. Yet she was having these children for Michael Jackson and giving them to him to raise.

BAKHTIAR: And raise he did. After the couple divorced in 1999, Rowe gave up her parental rights to both of the children, calling Michael a brilliant father.

Court records show she signed a confidentiality agreement that forbids her from discussing paternity, Michael's mental or physical condition, purported drug use, sexual behavior or the lifestyle of their children. For that, court documents show she received a multimillion dollar settlement.

But then, amid the new molestation charges, things began to change and Rowe resurfaced. Last year, she made a very public appearance at a chic Los Angeles restaurant where she sat down with two associates of Jackson's. Sources say Rowe was seeking a new legal arrangement when it comes to the children. The woman who stood in the shadow of one of the most famous people in the world now stepping into the light.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BAKHTIAR: And as for Rowe's testimony today, it's been dramatic and emotional. With tears in her eyes she said Jackson was a friend of hers. And in a blow to the prosecution she insisted that she was never told to say positive things about him on the video.

COOPER: And she will be testifying tomorrow, no doubt, it continues. All right. Rudi Bakhtiar, thanks very much. Coming up next tonight on 360, what would you do if you were bitten by a deadly spider? What happened to a chef who lived thanks to quick thinking and this camera phone. That's a photo he took. You won't want to miss the story.

Also ahead tonight, a 300 pound sea lion saved after swimming into a very dangerous situation.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Erica Hill from HEADLINE NEWS joins us now at about 10 to the hour with the latest stories in the headlines. Hey, Erica.

HILL: Hey, Anderson.

And we're just hearing from the White House, moments ago announcing that President Bush will hold a news conference tomorrow night. It will happen in prime time at 8:30 Eastern, and will focus on Social Security and the president's energy policy. Mr. Bush rarely held conferences in his first term. They have, however, become more frequent since his reelection.

On now to Tel Aviv, Israel: history in the making. Tonight, Russian President Vladimir Putin became the first Kremlin leader to visit the Jewish state. During the Cold War, Israel was a bitter enemy of Moscow, but the relationship has improved since the fall of the Soviet Union.

Near Los Angeles, California, a 300-pound sea lion released. The wandering animal had found its way into a power plant water tank. He was pretty comfortable there, since last week, but probably not the best place for him to be. So, today, researchers managed to airlift the sea lion and return it to open waters.

And a former employee of Carlos Santana is now suing the musician and his wife, claiming he was fired for, quote, "not being closer to God." The man says Santana's wife wanted him terminated because her spiritual guru said he was too old to become enlightened. Santana's lawyer says the musician has no comment.

And, those are the headlines this hour.

Anderson, I'm not touching that with a 10 foot pole.

COOPER: Yeah. No comment, that's an enlightened response, I think. No comment.

Erica Hill, thanks very much. We'll see you again in about 30 minutes.

You know, every night we span the globe for the most interesting international story of the day that we can bring to you. We call it "The World in 360," and tonight the story is about an itsy-bitsy spider. Actually, it's about a deadly itsy-bitsy spider. A British man was simply cleaning his kitchen when one of these creepy-crawlies bit him. This was no ordinary spider: the man could have died if it weren't for his camera phone. ITV's Helen Callaghan explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HELEN CALLAGHAN, ITV: They strike fear into the hearts of millions. They are lurking under our sofas, hiding behind our curtains, waiting silently. But they are not usually as deadly as the spider that chef Matthew Stevens disturbed in his pub kitchen in Somerset.

MATTHEW STEVENS, CHEF: I was cleaning out the Carnetta machine, and squeezed a cloth, and I thought there was a rose thorn going into my hand, and I looked, and shook the cloth, and it was a spider, and -- went to pick it up, it bit me. And then I let it go. I went to pick it up again, and it bit me on the other hand, drew a little cut on my hand and then my friend bathed it with vinegar and salt, and then I got rushed to the hospital.

CALLAGHAN: Fortunately, Matthew had taken a photo with his phone to show his friends, not realizing it would help to save his life. As Matthew lay shaking in his hospital bed, thanks to that pictures, experts were able to tell the doctor that Matthew needed an antidote, fast, because he had been bitten by a Brazilian Wandering Spider, one of the most poisonous in the world.

The venom from this spider can cause muscle spasms, vomiting, and it can kill. But, thankfully, the one that bit Matthew has been caught, and luckily for me, this one is very dead.

Helen Callaghan, ITV News, Worcestershire.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Well, let's find out what is coming up at the top of the hour on "PAULA ZAHN NOW."

Hey, Paula.

PAULA ZAHN, HOST, "PAULA ZAHN NOW": Hi, Anderson.

Coming up at eight, the controversial decision to release a little girl's photograph in the desperate effort to stop a horrific case of child pornography. I'm going to be talking with a detective who has devoted his life to tracking down pedophiles and rescuing their victims.

And, Anderson, the tough question, these investigators have to weigh is, in releasing the photo, does this in fact put this little girl at greater risk, or could it potentially save her life down the road? A very tough call, and these calls are being made all across the country.

COOPER: Yes, and there's a little girl out there who is in desperate need of help. Paula, thanks very much. We'll be watching in about seven minutes. Thanks.

Coming up next, though, on 360, a cookie makeover. Find out why one of your favorite cookies, the Oreo, well, the recipe is changing, and maybe it's good for you. Well, we'll try to find out. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Well, a lot of you have been writing to us about the little Florida girl, hand-cuffed by police, after a prolonged classroom tantrum. Some of you have supported the actions of the teachers, or criticized the police, or the parents, but the most interesting email today came from Mary in May's Landing, New Jersey.

On the subject of corporal punishment, she writes, "Apparently, the nice doctor that was on your program last night, that stated it's never necessary or warranted to use corporal punishment on a child, never nursed a teething baby. If you've ever had a child bite your nipple --" ouch " -- the appropriate thing to do is immediately flick an exposed area of skin with your finger. Babies are smart and will connect this pain with the bite and will not do it again."

Mary, I'm going to take your word for it on this one, all right? We'll just move on.

Another Mary, this one from Asheboro, North Carolina, writes: "Help! Last night on 360, Anderson used the phrase 'try the veal.' Someone on a sports show said it yesterday as well. I've been on a fruitless quest all day to find out what it means. Could you please explain?"

Mary, you don't really need to know what it means, but from now, on every time I say it, I want you to just laugh out loud. Got it? I'll be here all week; try the veal.

Send us an email at CNN.com/360, anytime, day or night. Just click on the "Instant Feedback" link. We love to hear from you.

Tonight, taking the fat of the land to "The Nth Degree." We like to bring good news if we possibly can, so here's a small serving of that rare treat.

Today, Nabisco, which owns Kraft, which makes Oreos, announced that it had licked the problem of transfats in the famous cookie's filling, so that, soon, you too will be able to lick that famous cookie filling without clogging your arteries. Transfat is the evil stuff everyone is now hunting down, the demon rum of the 21st century. Partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, or margarine, made into semisolid mush for the convenience of manufacturers. It gives snacks a good long shelf life, but shortens your shelf life: a fine tradeoff.

Now, the folks who've been folding this sludge into whatever we crave, are offering it up as a sacrifice on the altar of good health. Fast food chains are banishing it. Manufacturers are forswearing it. Dietitians are preaching fire-and-brimstone sermons against it. The stuff is on its last wobbly legs.

Well, so, so-long transfat, it's been nice chewing on you. Of course, the way things work out these days, a couple years from now, there's going to be some new study, some new scientist who's going to come out, claiming that transfat really isn't so bad after all, and I will have missed all those yummy, fatty Oreos.

Well, I'm Anderson Cooper, that's 360 for tonight. Thanks very much for watching. CNN's prime time coverage continues right now with Paula Zahn. Hey, Paula.

END

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 April 27, 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: Lou, thanks very much. A white supremacist who turned on his video camera before he threw a fire bomb: we have the tape and the cops have the criminal. 360 starts now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER (voice-over): A shocking tape reveals a vicious crime.

SEAN GILLESPIE: I'm going to fire bomb it with a molotov cocktail.

COOPER: A white Supremacist records himself about to fire bomb an Oklahoma synagogue. Tonight the tape that helped put this neo-Nazi behind bars.

Who is this girl? Florida cops want your help to find a victim of child porn. Tonight can you find clues in these photos that could rescue this girl from child predators?

A ministry student missing after a frantic midair call to 911.

JONATHAN LEBER, PILOT: My plane ran out of fuel.

COOPER: Out of gas, he ditches his plane in the freezing waters of Lake Michigan. Tonight what happened to the rescue and where is 20-year-old Jonathan Leber.

Michael Jackson's ex-wife, the mother of his two kids takes the stand. Will she spill the secrets of Neverland? Tonight we take you "Beyond the Headlines." Who is Debbie Rowe? And what is her real arrangement with Jackson?

And is your sleep a nightmare? Night terrors, sleepwalking, sleep eating, what you need to know about the bizarre bedtime habits that keep millions from getting a good night's rest.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: Live from the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is ANDERSON COOPER 360.

COOPER: And good evening to you. It's probably not going to be a surprise to any of you that a new report out today says that terrorist activity increased sharply last year. I mean, if you see the news out of Iraq every day you know that. But tonight a reminder that hate doesn't just exist in far away places. Danger can be as close as your neighborhood.

Just yesterday a white supremacist, a member of the so called Aryan Nations, was convicted in Oklahoma City of fire bombing a synagogue. Before he threw the bomb, however, he turned on his video camera and he hit "record."

Rick Sanchez reports tonight on hate caught on tape.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICH SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): What you are looking at is an act of terror. A masked man with a molotov cocktail fire bombing a synagogue in Oklahoma City last April.

ANN DEE LEE, TEMPLE B'NAI ISRAEL: I think this is a discoloration where the fire bomb was thrown.

SANCHEZ: Ann Dee Lee is a member of the temple that was bombed.

LEE: This ticks me off, if you want to know the truth.

SANCHEZ (on camera): Make you feel more vulnerable?

LEE: Of course. You can't help but feel that. You can lie and be big and tough and say no, we're fine. But it does have an impact.

SANCHEZ: See that camera? That's the actual surveillance camera that recorded the fire bombing here at Temple B'Nai Israel. It did what it is supposed to do, it caught the act. What it didn't do because of the ski mask was capture the man. Two weeks later, though, authorities had a suspect.

(voice-over): The suspect Sean Gillespie had plenty to say to the FBI when they arrived to question him. He said nothing, though, about the synagogue bombing. In fact, he thought he was being arrested for a string of racist attacks in Little Rock, Arkansas.

(on camera): He bragged about running over black people. Bragged about this.

ROBERT MCCAMPBELL, U.S. ATTORNEY: Right. And I don't know if that actually occurred or not. But somebody who would want to brag about that and would want people to know, he thinks that's the right way to act. That's somebody we've got to send an unmistakable message too.

SANCHEZ (voice-over): He also bragged about disrupting a Martin Luther King Day march in Spokane, Washington, beating up a homeless man in Philadelphia, and attending a Klan rally in Arkansas. Sean Gillespie was, in fact, so busy boasting he told agents it was OK to check his truck. And that's where they found his video camera.

MCCAMPBELL: He had been making a tape which appears to be like a training tape that he would later want other people to see about how to go about these acts. And, of course, in the course of that he admits the crime. SANCHEZ (on camera): How important was this tape?

MCCAMPBELL: It was incredibly important. I mean you see his face. He says I'm getting ready to commit this crime. And then you can see the flame where he actually committed it.

SANCHEZ: We asked the U.S. attorney to play the tape Gillespie had made.

GILLESPIE (INAUDIBLE) training center. I am going to fire bomb it with a molotov cocktail. Destroy a window first, and then throw a molotov cocktail in for maximum damage. I will film it for your viewing enjoyment. My kindred white power. You see the damage.

SANCHEZ: Interestingly enough the synagogue was not Gillespie's intended target. Before the crime he opened an Oklahoma City phone book, like this one, started looking for a Jewish-sounding name and found one. Headed over there but somehow got lost along the way. Frustrated, he saw a synagogue, decided that instead would be the place where he would vent his hate.

(on camera): In fact, he called the synagogue a target of opportunity and talked about wishing he'd thrown the fire bomb on the roof where it would have done more damage. But Gillespie didn't stop there. The U.S. attorney says while in jail, awaiting trial, he made five phone calls, all recorded. And each time he boasted about his attack on the synagogue.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What'd you do?

GILLESPIE: They got me videotaped. I fired -- I made bombs and blew up a Jewish synagogue.

SANCHEZ (on camera): What kind of person talks like that?

MCCAMPBELL: Well, my reaction as a prosecutor is there's lines you have to draw in society. And the people who want to cross those lines need to be incarcerated.

LEE: I don't have anything good to say about the man. I don't understand his thinking.

SANCHEZ (voice-over): When it came time for Sean Gillespie's day in court, his video stole the show and sealed his fate. His lawyer didn't even call a single witness. He told jurors his client was sorry for what he had done. In less than two hours the jury returned with a verdict. Gillespie cried then screamed, cursing at government attorneys.

(on camera): Did he get what he deserves?

LEE: I think so. I think the penalty was very just.

SANCHEZ: Sean Gillespie will be sentenced to a minimum of 35 years in federal prison.

Rick Sanchez, CNN, Oklahoma City.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Well, quick news note for you, the Anti-Defamation League reports incidentally that anti-Semitic incidents in the United States have reached its highest total in nine years. A total of 1,821 incidents were reported in 2004 -- that's an increase of 17 percent over the previous year.

Coming up next on 360, Florida police searching for a little girl used in child porn. They want your help. Take a close look at these pictures of the room, the background. Is there a hidden clue that you can see that might crack the case?

Also ahead tonight, a plane crash, 911, a young pilot radioing for help. And then he and his plane vanish. Rescuers searching Lake Michigan, but the mystery of what really happened remains.

And do you have trouble sleeping? Millions of Americans suffer from night terror, sleepwalking, screaming, horrible dreams. Tonight we're going to take a close look at what causes them, and what you can do about them. You are going to meet one girl that plunged 25 feet in her sleep and survived. All part of our special week-long series, "Sleepless in America." There are a lot of you out there.

And all that's ahead. First your picks -- the most popular stories right now on CNN.com.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Searching for a little girl in Florida. All cops have to go on are child porn pictures and some hidden clues. Can you help crack the case? 360 next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: This next story is a tough one to talk about because it involves child pornography, and the very thought, of course, is sickening. And, I know it's easier to just turn away, but don't. Police want your help tonight because there is a little girl out there who desperately needs help. She's somewhere between nine and 12 years old. We don't know her name. We don't know where she lives, or what she looks like. But, in the dark, cyber-sick world of pedophilia, she has a very familiar face.

These are some of the nearly 200 explicit photos this girl has appeared in. Police have placed a white silhouette over the girl because she's an underage victim. Now, they released these pictures in February, and using computers, as you see, they cut that silhouette out. They filled in the background, and, amazingly, based on these photos you are looking at, some viewers recognized where all these photos were taken. The pictures were shot -- of all places -- at a Walt Disney World hotel.

Now, investigators are asking for your help again tonight because they've released a photo today of a girl seen in some of the photos with the pedophilia victim, and they hope you might recognize her.

Here is CNN's David Mattingly.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Her face remains hidden to the public, but she is well known to child porn investigators around the world, who are desperately trying to find her in ways they've never dared before.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are releasing the photograph of the material witness and hope that, if a citizen can identify her, it will greatly increase the chances of successfully identifying the perpetrator and recovering the victim.

MATTINGLY: Orlando Police now taking the extraordinary step of going public with a child they believe is a material witness in the case, about nine years old in this picture, when it was taken a couple of years ago. Investigators have no evidence she is a victim or witnessed any acts of abuse. But they believe she is sitting on the same couch in the same room where this highly sought after girl was photographed being sexually abused. Find the girl on the couch, investigators hope, and they will find their victim.

DET. SGT. PAUL GILLESPIE, TORONTO POLICE: I'm confident that the victim perhaps knows this person, and this witness may be able to help us with that.

MATTINGLY: On the trail of this case for years, Paul Gillespie of the Toronto Police Child Exploitation Unit has been hampered, he says, by secrecy. It's been the rule in law enforcement to never reveal the faces of child pornography victims out of fear that it could place the child in danger from the abuser. But according to Gillespie, it's a rule he says that needs to be changed.

GILLESPIE: I think we have to take into account that we have to start taking, perhaps, a little more aggressive measures to get in and break this cycle.

MATTINGLY: Using computers earlier this year, Toronto detectives removed the victim girl from her own pictures and recreated the rooms behind her -- pictures they could then show to the public. And it paid off -- someone recognized a bedspread from an Orlando resort. It was an unheard of break, but the hotel records, with thousands of names, didn't take them very far.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think those records are going to prove valuable from a historical standpoint, but at this point, we have no idea who we're looking for. So, one name means nothing more than the next name at this point

MATTINGLY: Investigators believe this potential witness's photograph is their last best hope. Years spent scouring more than 200 photographs of the unknown victim have yielded few usable clues. If this girl's photograph doesn't help find their victim, more extreme measures, they say, may be taken. How close are you to releasing this girl's picture?

GILLESPIE: Well, that's always going to be an option, to be quite honest with you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MATTINGLY (on camera): If that comes to pass, it would be a landmark step in the fight against child pornography, but for now, in this case, investigators in two countries are now waiting by the phone for that one phone call that will now bring them a break in this case.

And you can get involved in this case. They provided a phone number. It is 1-866-635-HELP, and, as if you might need any other incentive to get involved in this case, there is a $5,000 reward, also, being offered.

Anderson?

COOPER: You know, David, let's just look at this photo again that police just released today, because, I mean, this could be the break in the case that people have been hoping for.

What do we know about the girl on the couch that we're looking at right now? We don't know that she was -- is she photographed in the same photographs with this other girl?

MATTINGLY: No, she is not in the same photographs. We really want to make that clear. And we don't know what part of the country she's in or anything like that. But we do know, according to investigators, that she is sitting on this couch in the same room that was used at some other time to photograph this other girl who is seen in these pictures on the Internet all over the world. So, they feel like if they find this one girl, whose picture they can show to the public, that she might lead them to the girl that they cannot show us.

COOPER: And, do they know where that couch is? I mean is that one of the couches in this hotel?

MATTINGLY: It was not in the hotel. They don't believe it's in Orlando, but they don't really know exactly where it is. They do know it's in some house, somewhere, possibly, they believe in the northeastern United States or possibly southeastern Canada. But that's a very large section, millions and millions of homes. There's no way to really pinpoint.

COOPER: And, if we can, just -- let's try to put up that number again or, David, if you know that number, again, just say it out again, because -- we have it on the screen -- 1-866-635-HELP.

This is a story which a lot of people have already responded to. I mean, David, it's really viewers responding to this story that has led police to this hotel in Florida, wasn't it?

MATTINGLY: What makes this case different from all the others out there, you have to look at the numbers. There are 50,000 dif -- separate faces, on the Internet, of child pornography victims, and investigators say every year they identify maybe 500 of those faces. The clues they have been able to see in this girl's photographs have brought them that much closer to finding her and perhaps she could be one of that select 500.

COOPER: David, I'm sorry -- did you say there were 50,000 faces out there of children in child porn on the Internet -- 50,000?

MATTINGLY: That's what investigators are telling us. They say they have been able to identify 50,000 separate faces on the Internet that are victims of child pornography and they are able to find only 500 of these children in a year.

COOPER: That is just -- that's an unbelievable statistic. I've never heard that before.

David Mattingly, thanks very much. Let's hope there's some break on this case tonight.

Security is beefed up at a U.S. port. Erica Hill from HEADLINE NEWS joins us with that and other stories at 17 past the hour.

Hey, Erica.

ERICA HILL, CNN HEADLINE NEWS: Hey, Anderson.

That's right -- a first in the battle against terrorism here on the home front. All international cargo coming into the port of Oakland, California, is now being scanned for radioactive material. The goal here to prevent a bomb from getting into the United States. By next year, Custom officials hope that more than 300 seaports in the country will be using those scanners.

On to Bethlehem, West Virginia: a first grader handcuffed at this school. The police chief said he loosely handcuffed the boy on Friday when he started kicking him, after reportedly running from teachers. The town's mayor and school official believes the incident was handled correctly, but the boy's parents are not happy and have filed a complaint.

In Boston, Massachusetts, alleged dog-napper, arrested. Police say Steven Cyr stole a truck with a key and a puppy left inside. This is the victim. Look at that little face. This is Dakota. The pooch's owner called his cell phone which was also left in the truck. When the suspect answered the phone, he threatened to kill Dakota if he didn't get $500 in ransom. Luckily, though, we're happy to report the dog was not hurt, and the suspect was arrested after Dakota's owner met with him, exchanging some cash for the truck keys.

On to Wauwatosa, Wisconsin -- which is just fun to say, by the way -- black bear captured. The 154-pound bear fell out of a tree into a net after getting shot with a tranquilizer. He gave a pretty big scare to folks in this commercial area. We're told, though, he is back in the woods tonight.

And that's the latest from HEADLINE NEWS. Anderson? COOPER: Yikes! You know, Erica, that was extraordinary bear video. I don't know that it tops, though, our video from our -- from the 360 archives, our bear archives, which we -- this is a bear falling out of a tree. Again, it was tranquilized in Misoula, Montana, about a year half ago. Fell on to a trampoline after the wildlife officials...

HILL: That's insane!

COOPER: I know. It looks like the bear got hurt. We are told by wildlife officials, it did not in fact get hurt. Apparently the bear is OK. So, there you go.

HILL: I can't -- I'm sorry. I'm have -- aaahh, I can't stop looking at it.

COOPER: I know. Crazy.

HILL: Some nice moves on the trampoline, though.

COOPER: Well, you know, yeah, that's part of our bear archive. We have extensive bear archives.

HILL: Somehow I'm not surprised.

COOPER: Erica, thanks very much. We'll talk to you again in about 30 minutes.

Coming up ahead, tonight on 360, parasomnia. Do you know what that is? We're talking about night terrors, people sleep-walking, having nightmares, people even eating while they're still asleep in their bed. A lot of sleep disorders out there; millions of Americans suffer from them. Tonight we're going to look at all of them. We're also going to meet one girl who plunged 25 feet off her parents' deck while she was still asleep. She survived. We'll take a look now at what her parents do to keep her safe every night. That's part of our special series, "Sleepless in America."

Also ahead tonight, a plane crashes into Lake Michigan. Its pilot makes a desperate call to 911 for help as he sinks, slowly, into the water. You can hear his pleas as rescue workers scramble to find him. And the search is still on.

Also a little bit later tonight, Michael Jackson's ex-wife -- yeah, kind of ex-wife, they were actually married -- takes the stand against him. She gave him two children and gave up custody. So, was their marriage all about money? We're going to take you "Beyond the Headlines" to find out more about the mysterious woman who once called the pop star hubby. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: In Wisconsin today the search has been called off for a young solo pilot whose small plane went down in the icy waters of Lake Michigan. A young man who had time enough to use his cell phone to beg for help. Emergency crews responded, but they found no wreckage, no pilot, nothing to study right now but those terrible tapes of his call.

CNN's Keith Oppenheim takes us into the cold water of Lake Michigan.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Jonathan Leber was a young pilot who survived a plane crash into Lake Michigan. What his body could not withstand was the frigid water temperature. Chief Dan Haney of Coast Guard Station Milwaukee led the effort to find Leber. If anything, he led with optimism.

CHIEF DAN HANEY, COAST GUARD STATION MILWAUKEE: I don't like to think necessarily that he would drown right away. I think to the hopeful side of it and say, you know what, he's going to be right there and I'm going to go by him and see him and I'm going to pull him on board and everything will be fine.

OPPENHEIM: That was the hope. The reality, at least a portion of it, was caught on 911 tapes. Leber who was flying his single engine plane from Michigan to Wisconsin ran out of fuel Monday night. And after surviving the water landing five miles offshore from Milwaukee, he called for help on his cell phone.

OPERATOR: Milwaukee Sheriff 911 mobile, this is Mark. How can I help you.

JONATHAN LEBER, PILOT: Yeah, hi, I just -- my plane ran out of fuel. I'm five miles off of Timmerman. And I need help really fast.

OPERATOR: OK, what are you doing there?

LEBER: I'm sitting on my plane right now.

OPERATOR: OK, are you flying or are you on the ground?

LEBER: I'm on -- I'm in Michigan, Lake Michigan.

OPERATOR: OK, what's your first name?

LEBER: Jonathan Leber.

OPERATOR: Do you have flotation equipment, Jonathan?

LEBER: No, I don't.

OPERATOR: Do you know how to swim.

LEBER: Yes.

OPERATOR: Coast Guard (INAUDIBLE) 6530, 6530, group Milwaukee.

OPPENHEIM: In minutes, crews from the Milwaukee Fire and Police Departments and the Coast Guard headed out into the darkness to search for Leber, they presumed the plane might have sunk quickly. HANEY: The person in the water is essentially a head or maybe half of a head. And so you've got a very small object that you are looking for.

OPPENHEIM: In this case a living object that is freezing, floating in a search area of more than 200 miles. Still, there is optimism.

(on camera): The Coast Guard predicts that if someone fell into this water, they would last potentially, three hours. But, crewmen here know the race against time is more intense than that. I'm about to get into this water. I am obviously wearing a dry suit from the Coast Guard. Here we go.

And as you can see, my hands are exposed. Anything that's exposed will get cold really fast. And the crewmen here know that the time of survival in this water is more likely not to be measured in hours but in minutes.

(voice-over): For the record the water I entered was much calmer, but almost as cold, about 40 degrees.

But despite the odds, crews pressed on. Five boats followed grid patterns to maximize the chances of finding Leber. Two helicopters and a Canadian cargo plane scanned the water from the air. After 16 hours, nothing. The search for John Leber was called off.

(on camera): Is it hard for you to think about the end for a guy like that? You know, he didn't have much of a chance despite all that you did?

HANEY: It's very hard. You know, we had a lot of resources out. We had a lot of boats. We had a lot of helicopters. Heaven knows, you know, we looked as hard as we could. It's very hard on us to not be able to find this person and to be able to bring closure.

OPPENHEIM (voice-over): And perhaps that is the nature of Coast Guard search and rescue.

OPERATOR: OK, Jonathan? Jonathan.

LEBER: Help.

OPPENHEIM: That small voice you heard calling for help may explain, while a family is mourning the loss of a 20-year-old man, the rescue crews who went out looking for him take part in the grieving. Keith Oppenheim, CNN, Milwaukee.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Michael Jackson's ex-wife, the mother of his two kids, takes the stand. Will she spill the secrets of Neverland? Tonight we take you "Beyond the Headlines." Who is Debbie Rowe? What is her real arrangement with Jackson?

And is your sleep a nightmare? Night terrors, sleepwalking, sleep eating. What you need to know about the bizarre bedtime habits that keep millions from getting a good night's rest. 360 continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Are you one of the millions of Americans suffering from night terrors, sleep walking, horrible dreams? What causes them and what you can do to get a better night's sleep. 360 next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SCREAMING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Unbelievable. I know what you're thinking, that is not a scene from "Exorcist 12," the return of Linda Blair. It's something much scarier -- a person experiencing what's called a night terror. And it can makes a nightmare look like a dream. The number of Americans who suffer from sleep problems is enormous. According to the National Sleep Foundation, 75 percent of adult Americans have a sleep problem, 75 percent.

Now, night terrors are much more than a simple sleep problem. The heart rate can soar to 160 beats per minute. It can activate a fight or flight response, and that's when things can get very dangerous.

Tonight as we continue our week-long series "Sleepless in America," we're looking at the strange things that make us go bump in the night.

CNN's Heidi Collins investigates.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the mysterious world of sleep, parasomnia are the drama queens of the night. Doctors estimate these bizarre sleep behavior affect between 12 and 20 percent of Americans. And you won't believe what happens when the lights go out. Caught on tape here in this sleep lab video. Sleepwalking, sleep eating, angry sleep talking. Violently acting out dreams. For some people, sleep truly is a nightmare. Fifteen-year-old Laura Sienko has been sleepwalking for as long as she can remember. But the last four years have been the worst -- spent in the throws of night terrors.

LAURA SIENKO, SLEEPWALKER: I see these people staring in at me and they're coming to get me or something. In my dream they had caught me, and it was my parents holding me back. It's scary. And I can't really differentiate what's real and what's not.

COLLINS (on camera): During a night terror Laura is in a twilight zone, neither awake nor completely asleep -- petrified by a terrible dream yet conscious enough to act. Coupled with sleepwalking it's a dangerous combination. Laura doesn't remember most of these episodes but her parents Becky and Mike can't forget.

How does it impact you?

BECKY SIENKO, LAURA'S MOTHER: It's so horrible, because she bolts up. She's just panic-stricken and the scream is horrible. It's just a blood-curdling scream, and she takes off.

MIKE SIENKO, LAURA'S FATHER: The terror and the speed and the strength. I've been on the ground holding her with one leg and she is dragging me.

COLLINS (voice-over): By day, Laura is a vibrant happy teenager. She's a high school sophomore who loves sports and spending time with her two sisters. But everything changes at night. Under the cover of darkness, something haunts Laura. One night two years ago, something terrified her so badly that she'd do anything to escape.

MIKE SIENKO: 2:15 in the morning, we're sound asleep and woke to just this blood-curdling scream. The next thing you see is Laura flying by the bed heading towards this door. I start immediately screaming to Laura, Laura, no, no. Because I saw her come by here. She flipped on the light. And her hands just kind of moved down on the door and she unbolted it, unlocked it and just flung the door open. And she continued on a path as fast as you could imagine right off here. And screaming the whole time. She never stopped.

COLLINS: Laura hit the ground 25 feet below, still asleep, still screaming amazingly after the fall still franticly on the move. At the time the Sienko home was under renovation. There was a deck but no railing, only wooden posts and sloping earth underneath.

LAURA SIENKO: When I landed, I landed right here against this. And I ran through these bushes and over these rocks and around the house. I collapsed like in this area.

COLLINS: Laura broke two vertebrae in her lower back and spent one week in the hospital, 10 weeks in a body cast, 18 weeks in a back brace. What causes her midnight madness? Doctors aren't sure, but they know sleep disorders run in families. Both Mike and Becky have a history of sleepwalking, so does Laura's identical twin, Meghan. And aside from genes other factors can play a role.

DR. CARLOS SCHENCK, PSYCHIATRIST, MINN. REGIONAL SLEEP DISORDERS CTR.: The most potent trigger of sleepwalking and night terrors for people who are susceptible is sleep deprivation. That is far and away the most potent trigger. Sleep deprivation, stress, medication, alcohol, irregular sleep schedule, all those can be aggravating or precipitating factors.

COLLINS: The altered state is worse than any nightmare you've ever had. And unlike a nightmare, a night terror doesn't have a vivid complex plot that keeps you paralyzed, just an overwhelming and primal sense of fear, usually striking in the first and deepest stage of sleep.

BECKY SIENKO: That picture will be in my mind forever of her leaping right here into the sky.

MIKE SIENKO: It is scary. I tell you what. It's not going to happen again.

COLLINS: Mike Sienko, won't let it happen again. Every night, this quiet Minnesota home turns into a fortress to keep Laura safe.

MIKE SIENKO: I put chairs in front of the doors, and I offset them. I double-check that the doors are all bolted. We moved the bench in front of this door on the balcony. It's a heavy bench. You know, even Laura's strength you're not going to move this out. And I hit the floor here in the doorway and that's where I go to sleep at night.

COLLINS: There for two years every night since the accident. Safeguarding Laura is a real family affair, pooch included. Taz lays watch on Laura's leg. The jingle of her collar serves as a warning bell if Laura tries to bolt. And Meghan has positioned her bed close to the door of the room they share.

MEGHAN SIENKO, LAURA'S SISTER: Unbelievably scary waking up to her screaming. It's my job to turn on the light and then she will wake up.

COLLINS: The Sienko's say their sleeplessness is worth it. There's been no repeat incident. Laura's bones have healed. And she has found the right specialist to diagnose and treat her problem. For now she takes anti-anxiety medicine each night, and will soon learn special exercises to get control over her body even self-hypnosis.

DR. LAUREL WILLIS, PEDIATRICIAN, MINN. REGIONAL SLEEP DISORDER CTR.: For Laura, we recommended that she utilize some biofeedback or meditative strategies to deepen her sleep and to sort of smooth out the sleep cycles so that she's not responding to whatever that trigger is.

COLLINS: Laura has missed out on some of the joy of being a teenager. Trips and sleep-overs at friend's house are simply impossible, too much danger, not enough protection. Doctors say there's a chance she'll outgrow her parasomnia. She's already coming to terms with battling and overcoming a life of bad dreams.

LAURA SIENKO: I think about it and I mean I really wish that I didn't have to deal with it. I wish -- I hope that some day it will be OK.

COLLINS: Heidi Collins, CNN, Duluth, Minnesota.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Remarkable. Tomorrow night we're going to continue our special series, "Sleepless in America," with a look at sleep personalities. Night owls vs. early bird. Which one are you? I think I'm a night owl. We'll see. We're also going find out what impact that has on your health. It does have a big impact. That's tomorrow on 360. Coming up next tonight, however Michael Jackson's ex takes the stand. The question is, who is Debbie Rowe? We're taking it "Beyond the Headlines" tonight. Did she give up her kids for money? And what is her real deal with Jackson?

Also tonight spider cam: how quick thinking by a chef saved his life when a spider like this bit him. It's an amazing story. You're going to want to see.

Also, a little later tonight a classic cookie -- mmm Oreos, goes on a diet. The battle against trans-fat hits the cookie jar. We'll explain.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Well, the pep was noticeably absent from Michael Jackson today. He took his time walking to the Santa Maria courtroom, perhaps it had something to do with who was testifying today: Her name, Debbie Rowe. She's not only a witness, she was Jackson's wife and is the mother of at least two of his children. Prosecutors in the child molestation case called Rowe today hoping she was going to tell jurors she was pressured to praise Jackson in a video that he produced.

Now, in that video she said the singer would never hurt a child. This has been one of the more popular stories on CNN.com all day. Every day Rudi Bakhtiar gives us an angle that you don't find anywhere else. Rudi, what did you turn up today?

RUDI BAKHTIAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Anderson, she's the woman who may seal Jackson's fate. And tonight, we went searching to find out just who Debbie Rowe is.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEBBIE ROWE, MICHAEL JACKSON'S EX-WIFE: He would never hurt a child ever. It's not in him. No way.

BAKHTIAR: Who is Debbie Rowe? We've heard a lot about Michael Jackson's second wife, the one who gave him two children, is largely a mystery.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And that's really by design. She was a simple person before. And she still leads a simple life.

BAKHTIAR: On Michael Jackson's official Web site, the biography of the singer makes no mention of her, not one word. Observes say they were an unlikely couple to begin with. And it wasn't love that first brought them together, it was a doctor.

They were introduced in the 1980s when Jackson went to a dermatologist office. He was the patient, she was the nurse. And it appears she made quite an impression on the King of Pop.

RANDY TARABORRELLI, JACKSON BIOGRAPHER: Michael just thought that she was one of the most entertaining women that he has ever known. BAKHTIAR: For 15 years they were friends. But in the fall of 1996 their relationship changed. While on tour in Sydney, Australia, Jackson and Rowe were married in a private civil ceremony, but one Jackson biographer says it was a marriage of convenience.

TARABORRELLI: I think that their marriage was really for the purposes of public relations and image making, but not for the purposes of love and romance.

BAKHTIAR: Another Jackson watcher was much more blunt.

JIM MORET, LEGAL ANALYST: Debbie Rowe was married so that she could produce children for Michael Jackson. I don't even know that marriage would have come into the picture had Michael Jackson's mother Katherine not interceded and felt that they should be married.

BAKHTIAR: And just three months after their marriage, Rowe gave birth to a boy, Prince Michael. Fourteen months later she gave birth to a girl, Paris.

Though they were parents, they apparently didn't share much time together.

TARABORRELLI: Their relationship has been very strange. She never lived at Neverland. When they were husband and wife, they never lived together. Yet she was having these children for Michael Jackson and giving them to him to raise.

BAKHTIAR: And raise he did. After the couple divorced in 1999, Rowe gave up her parental rights to both of the children, calling Michael a brilliant father.

Court records show she signed a confidentiality agreement that forbids her from discussing paternity, Michael's mental or physical condition, purported drug use, sexual behavior or the lifestyle of their children. For that, court documents show she received a multimillion dollar settlement.

But then, amid the new molestation charges, things began to change and Rowe resurfaced. Last year, she made a very public appearance at a chic Los Angeles restaurant where she sat down with two associates of Jackson's. Sources say Rowe was seeking a new legal arrangement when it comes to the children. The woman who stood in the shadow of one of the most famous people in the world now stepping into the light.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BAKHTIAR: And as for Rowe's testimony today, it's been dramatic and emotional. With tears in her eyes she said Jackson was a friend of hers. And in a blow to the prosecution she insisted that she was never told to say positive things about him on the video.

COOPER: And she will be testifying tomorrow, no doubt, it continues. All right. Rudi Bakhtiar, thanks very much. Coming up next tonight on 360, what would you do if you were bitten by a deadly spider? What happened to a chef who lived thanks to quick thinking and this camera phone. That's a photo he took. You won't want to miss the story.

Also ahead tonight, a 300 pound sea lion saved after swimming into a very dangerous situation.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Erica Hill from HEADLINE NEWS joins us now at about 10 to the hour with the latest stories in the headlines. Hey, Erica.

HILL: Hey, Anderson.

And we're just hearing from the White House, moments ago announcing that President Bush will hold a news conference tomorrow night. It will happen in prime time at 8:30 Eastern, and will focus on Social Security and the president's energy policy. Mr. Bush rarely held conferences in his first term. They have, however, become more frequent since his reelection.

On now to Tel Aviv, Israel: history in the making. Tonight, Russian President Vladimir Putin became the first Kremlin leader to visit the Jewish state. During the Cold War, Israel was a bitter enemy of Moscow, but the relationship has improved since the fall of the Soviet Union.

Near Los Angeles, California, a 300-pound sea lion released. The wandering animal had found its way into a power plant water tank. He was pretty comfortable there, since last week, but probably not the best place for him to be. So, today, researchers managed to airlift the sea lion and return it to open waters.

And a former employee of Carlos Santana is now suing the musician and his wife, claiming he was fired for, quote, "not being closer to God." The man says Santana's wife wanted him terminated because her spiritual guru said he was too old to become enlightened. Santana's lawyer says the musician has no comment.

And, those are the headlines this hour.

Anderson, I'm not touching that with a 10 foot pole.

COOPER: Yeah. No comment, that's an enlightened response, I think. No comment.

Erica Hill, thanks very much. We'll see you again in about 30 minutes.

You know, every night we span the globe for the most interesting international story of the day that we can bring to you. We call it "The World in 360," and tonight the story is about an itsy-bitsy spider. Actually, it's about a deadly itsy-bitsy spider. A British man was simply cleaning his kitchen when one of these creepy-crawlies bit him. This was no ordinary spider: the man could have died if it weren't for his camera phone. ITV's Helen Callaghan explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HELEN CALLAGHAN, ITV: They strike fear into the hearts of millions. They are lurking under our sofas, hiding behind our curtains, waiting silently. But they are not usually as deadly as the spider that chef Matthew Stevens disturbed in his pub kitchen in Somerset.

MATTHEW STEVENS, CHEF: I was cleaning out the Carnetta machine, and squeezed a cloth, and I thought there was a rose thorn going into my hand, and I looked, and shook the cloth, and it was a spider, and -- went to pick it up, it bit me. And then I let it go. I went to pick it up again, and it bit me on the other hand, drew a little cut on my hand and then my friend bathed it with vinegar and salt, and then I got rushed to the hospital.

CALLAGHAN: Fortunately, Matthew had taken a photo with his phone to show his friends, not realizing it would help to save his life. As Matthew lay shaking in his hospital bed, thanks to that pictures, experts were able to tell the doctor that Matthew needed an antidote, fast, because he had been bitten by a Brazilian Wandering Spider, one of the most poisonous in the world.

The venom from this spider can cause muscle spasms, vomiting, and it can kill. But, thankfully, the one that bit Matthew has been caught, and luckily for me, this one is very dead.

Helen Callaghan, ITV News, Worcestershire.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Well, let's find out what is coming up at the top of the hour on "PAULA ZAHN NOW."

Hey, Paula.

PAULA ZAHN, HOST, "PAULA ZAHN NOW": Hi, Anderson.

Coming up at eight, the controversial decision to release a little girl's photograph in the desperate effort to stop a horrific case of child pornography. I'm going to be talking with a detective who has devoted his life to tracking down pedophiles and rescuing their victims.

And, Anderson, the tough question, these investigators have to weigh is, in releasing the photo, does this in fact put this little girl at greater risk, or could it potentially save her life down the road? A very tough call, and these calls are being made all across the country.

COOPER: Yes, and there's a little girl out there who is in desperate need of help. Paula, thanks very much. We'll be watching in about seven minutes. Thanks.

Coming up next, though, on 360, a cookie makeover. Find out why one of your favorite cookies, the Oreo, well, the recipe is changing, and maybe it's good for you. Well, we'll try to find out. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Well, a lot of you have been writing to us about the little Florida girl, hand-cuffed by police, after a prolonged classroom tantrum. Some of you have supported the actions of the teachers, or criticized the police, or the parents, but the most interesting email today came from Mary in May's Landing, New Jersey.

On the subject of corporal punishment, she writes, "Apparently, the nice doctor that was on your program last night, that stated it's never necessary or warranted to use corporal punishment on a child, never nursed a teething baby. If you've ever had a child bite your nipple --" ouch " -- the appropriate thing to do is immediately flick an exposed area of skin with your finger. Babies are smart and will connect this pain with the bite and will not do it again."

Mary, I'm going to take your word for it on this one, all right? We'll just move on.

Another Mary, this one from Asheboro, North Carolina, writes: "Help! Last night on 360, Anderson used the phrase 'try the veal.' Someone on a sports show said it yesterday as well. I've been on a fruitless quest all day to find out what it means. Could you please explain?"

Mary, you don't really need to know what it means, but from now, on every time I say it, I want you to just laugh out loud. Got it? I'll be here all week; try the veal.

Send us an email at CNN.com/360, anytime, day or night. Just click on the "Instant Feedback" link. We love to hear from you.

Tonight, taking the fat of the land to "The Nth Degree." We like to bring good news if we possibly can, so here's a small serving of that rare treat.

Today, Nabisco, which owns Kraft, which makes Oreos, announced that it had licked the problem of transfats in the famous cookie's filling, so that, soon, you too will be able to lick that famous cookie filling without clogging your arteries. Transfat is the evil stuff everyone is now hunting down, the demon rum of the 21st century. Partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, or margarine, made into semisolid mush for the convenience of manufacturers. It gives snacks a good long shelf life, but shortens your shelf life: a fine tradeoff.

Now, the folks who've been folding this sludge into whatever we crave, are offering it up as a sacrifice on the altar of good health. Fast food chains are banishing it. Manufacturers are forswearing it. Dietitians are preaching fire-and-brimstone sermons against it. The stuff is on its last wobbly legs.

Well, so, so-long transfat, it's been nice chewing on you. Of course, the way things work out these days, a couple years from now, there's going to be some new study, some new scientist who's going to come out, claiming that transfat really isn't so bad after all, and I will have missed all those yummy, fatty Oreos.

Well, I'm Anderson Cooper, that's 360 for tonight. Thanks very much for watching. CNN's prime time coverage continues right now with Paula Zahn. Hey, Paula.

END

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