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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
Newsweek Retracts Explosive Allegation; '05 Hurricane Season Predicted as Worse than '04; Springtime Allergy Tips; 911 Calls Produce Varied Results; Synagogue Bomber Faces Stiff Sentence
Aired May 16, 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, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening, everyone. Newsweek magazine retracts a story that inflamed the Muslim world. 360 starts now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER (voice-over): Newsweek magazine retracts the story that touched off riots in the Muslim world, leaving at least 15 dead. Tonight, how did the magazine get it so wrong?
Hurricane alert, a new report says this hurricane season may be a whopper. Tonight, what you need to know about this summer's coming storms.
Allergies on the rise, affecting 30 million Americans. Tonight, 360 M.D. Dr. Sanjay Gupta makes a house call for your itchy eyes and running noses.
A jury says Samantha Runnion's killer should face death. Tonight, the crime that shocked a nation and changed a sheriff forever.
She made frantic calls to 911 asking them to save her three daughters kidnapped by a deranged husband. Tonight, how the three girls ended up dead, and why the Supreme Court is hearing their mother's case.
"911: Lives on the Line." What happens when you dial for help? What makes it work? What happens when it fails? 360 takes you inside the calls. Meet some of the people saving lives at the other end of the line.
And a first-time mom makes a desperate call to 911. Tonight how a dispatcher helped this frantic mother calm down and save her baby's life.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: Live from the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is a two-hour special edition of ANDERSON COOPER 360.
COOPER: And good evening again. We begin tonight with a journalist's worse nightmare seemingly come true. A flawed story leads to violent outrage and people die. On top of that, America's reputation and credibility are badly damaged. Newsweek magazine today first apologized, then retracted a story that it printed earlier this month, saying that a copy of the Koran, Islam's holy text, had been flushed down a toilet to rattle Muslim detainees at the U.S. Naval base in Cuba.
The story has been taken back. Now the question becomes can the fury of the Muslim world also be taken back. The "World on 360" tonight from CNN International's Becky Anderson.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ...year, up to 40 million Americans suffer the symptoms of hay fever...
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Clearly that was the wrong story. We're going to try to get now Becky Anderson's report up in just a moment. She was taking a look at some of the demonstrations that have really erupted throughout the Muslim world, most notably in Afghanistan in recent days in response to "Newsweek" magazine's report.
In that report they had one source that they went on the report with who had said that the Muslim holy text, the Koran, had been flushed down a toilet to try to upset a Muslim detainee at Guantanamo Bay.
"Newsweek" editor Mark Whitaker had this to say today to Jim Lehrer of PBS.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "THE NEWSHOUR WITH JIM LEHRER")
MARK WHITAKER, EDITOR, NEWSWEEK: What our original report said was that a U.S. official, a source who we had dealt with in the past, we believed to be critical, we believed to have access to internal documents, was saying this had turned up in an internal investigation.
We -- as we reported in the magazine this week, we offered the Pentagon a chance to comment on that story. We went to the extraordinary lengths of actually showing the entire story to a separate high-level Pentagon official. They disputed other aspects of the story but did not dispute that.
After we published the story, we were not challenged on any aspect of it for 11 days until we heard on Friday night, 24 hours before our deadline, from the Pentagon that we had gotten it -- had gotten it wrong.
In the time we had before publishing we decided to disclose as much as we could. We got back to the original source, the source said they thought he had still seen something but couldn't verify that it was in the investigation we mentioned.
As a result, we admitted that we may have gotten it wrong, and we apologized for that. Then today both at the White House and elsewhere people began asking whether this was a retraction. I think given the part that everybody is focused on, given that we had already said we had made a mistake, and that we regretted it, we went ahead and said, of course, that amounts to a retraction.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Well, let's take a look at the international outrage to this story from CNN International's Becky Anderson.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Some in the Muslim world are reacting skeptically to the "Newsweek" statement that its story that American interrogators at Guantanamo had desecrated the Koran might not be true.
That report last week was follow by anti-American riots in a number of Muslim countries, including Pakistan, India, Indonesia and Afghanistan, in which at least 16 people died, and more than a hundred were injured.
ABDULLAH ABDULLAH, AFGHAN FOREIGN MINISTER: How it was played into that scale in Afghanistan, we have to look into that. In -- certainly, certainly, the elements which they don't want the process to succeed in Afghanistan has capitalized, have been able to capitalize on that.
ANDERSON: Despite "Newsweek"'s backpedaling, many acknowledge that the harm has already been done, playing into the hands of U.S. enemies and putting American allies in the Muslim world in a tough spot.
JOHN MCLAUGHLIN, FMR. ACTING CIA DIRECTOR: In the Muslim world, desecration of the Koran is really right at the top of the list of things likely to spark revulsion and protest. And in this case it's particularly unfortunate that it has happened in some of the countries that work most closely with us in the war on terrorism. In a number of these countries, brave governments do so against the wishes of substantial parts of their populations.
ANDERSON: In Afghanistan, where the worst of the rioting occurred, the initial "Newsweek" report came amid an uptick in fighting with the Taliban. U.S. officials there say they doubt the allegations against those at Guantanamo.
COL. JAMES YONTS, COALITION SPOKESMAN IN AFGHANISTAN: I am aware of the "Newsweek" article. And I know that they are looking into that to see how much truth is to what is being reported. The fact, though, is that it does not change our stated position from the United States. And as you heard from our administration all the way down, and from this command here, as well, that any disrespect to the Koran and any other religion is not tolerated by our culture and our values.
ANDERSON: Yet the fact that the U.S. continues to hold an estimated 520 foreign nationals, many of them Muslim, at Guantanamo, and the complaints of abuse made by some of those who have already been released, continues to be a sore point in the Muslim world and potential fuel for trouble.
MCLAUGHLIN: Even in countries that cooperate very closely with us and who are wonderful allies, there is always some latent anti-U.S. sentiment. And something like this is what brings it out. It's sparked the dry tinder in some cases.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: And, Anderson, "Newsweek"'s apology and U.S. denials of the charges apparently aren't going to be enough. Both Pakistan and Afghanistan at this stage still asking for an official investigation into the alleged desecration of the Koran and punishment for anybody found guilty -- Anderson.
COOPER: Yes, Becky, this is not the first time we have heard of these kind of allegations?
ANDERSON: No, absolutely not. Internationally people pointed to the fact that allegations like these have arisen before. A report issued in 2004, for example, by three young men from the north of England, known as the "Tipton Three," who were detained in Afghanistan in 2001, then held in the Guantanamo for two-and-a-half years -- subsequently released, remember, without charge -- also alluding to religious humiliation.
They alleged the guards would throw prisoner's Korans in the toilet. Now perhaps these allegations are true, perhaps they're not. The questions being asked here are should "Newsweek" have reported the Koran allegation given its inflammatory nature, and should the Arabic news channel that picked it up rebroadcast it knowingly -- knowing that the fierce allegations would have been received around the world. Those are questions being asked. They haven't yet been answered -- Anderson.
COOPER: Certainly have not. Becky Anderson, thanks very much.
We also invited "Newsweek" magazine to respond but it declined today. I'm joined now by CNN terrorism analyst Peter Bergen and media critic Howard Kurtz of CNN's "RELIABLE SOURCES" and the Washington Post, which, we should say for the record, is owned by the same parent company as "Newsweek".
Peter, Howard, thanks for being with us. Peter, let me start off with you. With the "Tipton Three," the story was out there before. These allegations had been made. There weren't demonstrations when it was on CNN.com a year ago. Why now are there these demonstrations?
PETER BERGEN, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: Well, as you probably are no doubt aware, there is a lot of anti-American sentiment in that part of the world. Bin Laden scores a 65 percent favorability rating in Pakistan, which is better than President Bush does here. And those numbers are also true in countries like Jordan and Morocco.
So as John McLaughlin pointed out in that report, I mean, this was light to a tinder, and, you know, a reaction occurred. And I think it is symptomatic. This is rather the occasion rather than the cause, the reports of the Koran. I think there's a lot of latent anti-Americanism. The war on terrorism in much of that part of the world is seen as actually a war on Islam, and these kind of reports feed into that.
COOPER: But who is whipping it up? I mean, all of these guys we're seeing here probably didn't read the latest copy of "Newsweek". And these allegations, as I said, have been out there before.
BERGEN: Well, certainly there are people in Afghanistan we have seen -- I've been very optimistic about the situation in Afghanistan for some period of time. Suddenly we are seeing a lot of things go south. There was a bomb that went off and killed three people in Kabul last weekend. Just today an Italian aid worker was kidnapped, also in the middle of Kabul.
So we're seeing the Taliban sort of resurgent. Traditionally they have a spring offensive when the weather gets better. And this is all part and parcel of this wider movement and effort to destabilize the central government.
COOPER: OK. Howard, from the media standpoint, why did "Newsweek" finally now decide to retract?
HOWARD KURTZ, HOST, "RELIABLE SOURCES": "Newsweek" says it didn't know there was any problem with the story until Friday when the violence broke out. The amazing thing about this story, Anderson, is that it was one-half sentence in a 10-sentence item about this investigation into tactics used at Guantanamo Bay.
It wasn't picked up by the American media, perhaps in part because detainees had alleged this before. "Newsweek" now saying it had a U.S. government source, an unnamed source who was -- confirmed it, that source now backing off.
And the Pentagon didn't make any dispute or denial of the story, again, until the violence broke out.
COOPER: So is "Newsweek" saying pointblank, the story is not true or simply the one source that they had which they depended on for the story has now backed down?
KURTZ: "Newsweek" is not saying that it can prove or disprove that such an incident involving the defiling of the Koran ever took place ever in the history of the Guantanamo interrogation. What "Newsweek" is saying is that the specific allegation in this item, that a U.S. government official said that military investigators had confirmed this has taken place, this would be in an upcoming military report, that it can no longer substantiate. That it is retracting. That it is apologizing for.
And you know, of all the high profile media blunders that I've covered in the last couple of years, this is one that has -- was probably triggered by the shortest amount of words but with the deadliest consequences.
COOPER: Peter, is it beyond the realm of possibility that a tactic like this was used? I mean, "60 MINUTES" reported just recently, one interrogator coming forward, saying that they routinely seemed to sort of use religion against some of these prisoners, in one case a woman using fake menstrual blood on a man to sort of defile him. Is it beyond the realm of possibility?
BERGEN: I don't think it's beyond the realm of possibility, to be honest. And it's not just the British detainees who have reported this, other detainees have reported this. So I think it is still an open question. I think that there is a great misunderstanding amongst a lot of non-Muslims about how important the Koran is. The Koran is the living word of God.
So Arabic-language Koran is such a sacred part of the Muslim culture that I think a misunderstanding of that has occurred not only at "Newsweek", but perhaps elsewhere. And that is why we're seeing the reaction we're seeing.
COOPER: And it's a reaction which will no doubt continue in one form or another. Peter Bergen, we appreciate it. And Howard Kurtz, again, thanks very much.
Coming up next on this two-hour edition of 360, Florida bracing for another possible pounding. That's right, we're talking about hurricanes. The season is just around the corner. And there's a new report out, get ready for this, it says you better load up on some supplies because it's going to get nasty. We'll have that ahead.
Also tonight, you call 911 for help but that doesn't mean you're going to get it. The emergency system is under greater pressure today than perhaps ever before. We're talking about cell phones, Internet phones, not enough money to go around. Tonight, we're taking a special close-up look at "911: Lives on the Line."
Also tonight: invasion of the bees. Find out how millions of them ended up inside the walls of one couple's home, millions of bees inside one couple's home. Unbelievable. All that ahead.
Right now, let's find out the most popular stories on cnn.com.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Remember that? It doesn't seem that long ago, does it? Last year's hurricane season in full force, Charley, Frances, Ivan, and Jeanne, all became household names. Well, believe it or not, we are just a little more than -- a little over two weeks really away from a new hurricane season. June 1 is the date. Forecasters believe this one is going to be just as bad if not worse than last year's.
The government predicts there are going to be seven to nine hurricanes. Three to five of them will be major storms with winds exceeding 110 miles an hour. Get the galoshes ready. And folks in Florida, they are not welcoming the news.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER (voice-over): With less than a month to go before the start of hurricane season, in Pensacola, Florida, Wilton Holmes (ph) is making yet another trip to the Home Depot.
WILTON HOLMES, FLORIDA HOME OWNER: We're in the process of rebuilding our condo that we have on the beach.
COOPER: In Florida, they don't ask if you got hit by a hurricane last year, they ask how many times.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The last one caught us off-guard. And it was real -- it was devastating.
COOPER: Between August 13 and September 25, Florida was slammed by not one, not two, but four major storms. It killed 113 people and caused $40 billion worth of damage. I was there for all four.
...Charley...
... with 145 mile-an-hour winds....
... Frances...
... but you really have no idea what is coming toward you...
... Ivan...
... I've got the video...
... and Jeanne...
... whoa!
An average Atlantic season produces six hurricanes. Today forecasters predicted this year will be above average with seven to nine storms.
CONRAD C. LAUTENBACHER, NOAA ADMINISTRATOR: We can't predict very accurately this far in advance how many will strike the United States. But with higher levels of activity, the statistics favor more of them striking the United States. So we would say to be prepared for two to three of these to make landfall.
COOPER: Last year storms spread misery all around the Southeast and even up through Ohio and Pennsylvania.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I urge all of you who are in these hurricane- prone areas to do what you can to prepare now.
COOPER: Good advice, even if you don't want to hear it. Do you know the quickest routes out of town? Do you have an idea of what family pictures and keepsakes you would absolutely want to take along? Have you set aside food that won't spoil if you lose power? And when was the last time you checked your insurance policy or jotted down your agent's phone number?
MAX MAYFIELD, NATL. HURRICANE CENTER: Have that hurricane plan, and have it in place now before the hurricane season gets here. The battle against the hurricane is won now, not when the hurricane comes knocking on the door.
COOPER: Back in Pensacola, Wilton Holmes and his neighbors are hoping they will at least have doors by the time this season's hurricane come knocking. This year, however, they are also worrying, what if?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Get relaxed and next thing you know it's there and you're not ready.
COOPER: This is no time to relax. Hurricane season starts in just over two weeks, on June 1.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: And we already have the names of the summer storms. Here's a quick news note for you. This year's list contains names such as Ophelia, Wilma, and Stan. Chances are we'll become familiar only with the names of the top of the list, the first five being Arlene, Brett, Cindy, Dennis, and Emily. The names of storms that are particularly costly or deadly are removed from the list. So you won't see another Charley or Frances or Ivan or Jeanne. Good riddance.
We're following a number of stories right now across the country. Let's take a quick look. Sophia Choi from HEADLINE NEWS joins us with the latest.
Hey, Sophia.
SOPHIA CHOI, CNN HEADLINE NEWS: Hi, Anderson. Well, wine lovers can certainly drink to this. In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court has ruled against restrictions on out-of-state wine sales. The court says such laws are anti-competitive. The decision overturns laws in 24 states and could open up Internet wine sales.
West Point, Virginia, President Bush plugs his energy plan. In a speech at a biodiesel refinery, he stressed the importance of developing alternate fuels. President Bush called on the Senate to approve his energy bill, which was passed by the House last month.
Atlantic City, New Jersey, splash landing: yesterday a corporate jet skidded off a runway of an airfield and into a bay. Yesterday a corporate jet, as we said, skidded but luckily the pilot and three passengers onboard escaped with only minor injuries. The pilot says the jet's braking system failed. The FAA says the airfield is not supposed to be used by jets.
Miami-Dade County, Florida, mm, mm, yummy honey, but not where you'd expect. Beekeepers removed more than 3 million bees and 50 pounds of honey from behind the walls of this home. The homeowners say they heard buzzing noises for several months but had no idea there were bees behind their walls.
And that's a look at the headlines. And Anderson, you'd have to wonder why they didn't go check it out earlier when they said it sounded like a buzzsaw? COOPER: Yes. For a couple months you hear buzzing noises? You would think you would at least, I don't know, put a glass up to the wall or something.
CHOI: At least they weren't killer bees, just honey bees.
COOPER: Yes. I guess that is looking at the bright sides. Thanks, Sophia, we'll see you again in about 30 minutes.
Coming up next in this two-hour edition of 360, are you one of the millions of Americans suffering from outdoor allergies right now? Find out how to breathe a little easier. Ahead our 360 M.D., Dr. Sanjay Gupta, has some much needed relief.
Also tonight, hate crime caught on tape. A neo-Nazi shoots a video of himself before firebombing a synagogue. Find out how a little arrogance, a lot of stupidity, and a rolling camera helped police nab their man.
And a little later, volcanic eruption: 25 years after Mount St. Helens, find out why scientists say we aren't properly prepared for the next big blast.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Well, for many of you, there's no joy in springtime. Sneezing, itchy eyes and headaches all part of the daily routine as the pollen invades and allergies attack. The doctors say it is only getting worse. So is there any way to get relief? You bet, says 360 M.D. Sanjay Gupta. He tells us how we can overcome those pesky allergies.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KRISTEN STONE, ALLERGY SUFFERER: It's a haze, like a fog, like you are just walking through life in a fog. That's when it is mild, when it's severe, it is almost, I would say, like getting a migraine. You know, your head just -- the pressure is very painful.
SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For years Kristen Stone woke up groggy and unfocused, enduring frequent headaches, living with a burning itch in her eyes, nose, and throat, working hard to breathe through her congestion.
STONE: I don't think people know how debilitating allergies really are. I think they're just like, oh, you have an allergy, big deal, just deal with it.
GUPTA: But they are a big deal to at least 30 million Americans. Kristen and many others suffer from hay fever or outdoor allergies made worse in the spring and the fall. And many allergists, like Dr. Clifford Bassett, say seasonal allergies have been on the rise. The main trigger: pollen.
DR. CLIFFORD BASSETT, ALLERGIST, AAAAI: In many urban areas we have seen an overplanting of male plants, trees and shrubs. And male plants typically are involved with pollen that produces a lot of symptoms.
GUPTA: And the prettier and more fragrant a plant is, it is less likely that it will trigger allergies. Beautiful plants tend to be insect-pollinated plants, not wind-pollinated plants like trees or grass.
BASSETT: So not only do pollens cause seasonal allergies, but the foods we eat may also aggravate and cause an allergy attack.
GUPTA: In fact, eating some fruits, including apples and pears, can aggravate allergies. And if you're taking Echinacea to ward off symptoms, you may be making them worse because the popular supplement is in the same family as ragweed.
The best way to prevent debilitating allergies, reduce your exposure to pollen by spending less time outside in the morning when levels are at their highest. And reduce your exposure at night by washing your hair at the end of the day, changing your clothing, and removing your shoes before getting into the bedroom.
BASSETT: That will help to reduce pollen exposure by over 50 percent, which will translate into feeling better when you wake up in the morning.
GUPTA: Also, use a HEPA filter in air conditioning at home and in your car to filter out the allergens. Avoidance is one thing, treatment another. It's become a billion-dollar industry from over- the-counter medications like Claritin and Benadryl, to a whole host of prescription antihistamines, decongestants, and asthma medications like Zyrtec and Allegra, to immunotherapy in the form of shots.
The good news, there are a lot of options. The bad news, the best treatment is different for everyone.
BASSETT: Get tested and get the right treatment. And early treatment and continuous treatment works better than just taking as- needed treatment.
GUPTA: For Kristen Stone, she has finally found something that works for her, a daily over-the-counter antihistamine.
STONE: Which helps to keep me focused and alert, I'm able to go to events, I'm able to go to my kids' soccer games and softball games and be able to do those things that I couldn't do before.
GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Well, tomorrow, we're going to look at peanut allergies. They affect millions of Americans and are known to kill. You may be surprised by what can trigger a dangerous reaction. 360 M.D. Sanjay Gupta is going to have that report tomorrow.
A jury says Samantha Runnion's killer should face death. Tonight, the crime that shocked a nation and changed a sheriff forever.
"911: Lives on the Line.: What happens when you dial for help? What makes it work? What happens when it fails? 360 takes you inside the calls. Meet some of the people saving lives at the other end of the line.
This two-hour special edition of 360 will continue in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: You are about to meet a man named Sean Gillespie. He is only 21 years old, but he has already thrown his life away. He's currently awaiting sentencing for attacking a synagogue in Oklahoma City. He could be in his fifties by time he sees freedom again.
CNN's Rick Sanchez reports Gillespie's conviction was swift because his crime and even his hate were all caught on tape.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN: 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 the discoloration where the fire-bomb was thrown.
SANCHEZ: Ann Dee Lee is a member of the temple that was bombed.
LEE: It ticks me off, if you want to know the truth.
SANCHEZ: Does it 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: You 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.
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.
He bragged about running over black people -- bragged about this.
ROBERT MCCAMPBELL, U.S. ATTORNEY: Right. 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 to. SANCHEZ: 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, in fact, was 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: How important was this tape?
It was incredibly important. 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.
MCCAMPBELL: We asked the U.S. attorney to play the tape Gillespie had made.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEAN GILLESPIE: ... Zionist training center. I'm going to fire- bomb it with Molotov cocktail, destroy a window first and then throw the Molotov cocktail in for maximum damage. I will film it for your viewing enjoyment, my kindred. White power.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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. He headed over there but somehow got lost along the way. Frustrated, he saw a synagogue and decided that instead would be the place where he would vent his hate.
(voice over) 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.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What did you do?
GILLESPIE: They got me videotaped. I made bombs and blew up a Jewish synagogue.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: What kind of person talks like that?
MCCAMPBELL: 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: 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.
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: Coming up next on this two-hour edition of "360", a jury decides the fate for Samantha Runnion's killer, while the man who brought him to justice talks about how the case hit him personally.
Also ahead tonight: the eruption of Mount St. Helen, 25 years later. It's only time before the next big blow.
Is the area even prepared?
A little later, "911: Lives on the Line." It is the three numbers we all depend on. Will 911 be there for you when you need it most? A special report coming up.
ALI VELSHI, CNN: This week's "Turnaround" found us in Walnut Creek, California, where Denise Vickers runs a small bakery. But she is getting burned by financial concerns.
DENISE VICKERS, OWNER, WALNUT CREEK BAKING CO.: We are in the situation where we have a line of credit that is being called due. We are trying to get them to extend it and not to close it so that we still have the line of credit available.
VELSHI: Denise, like many business owners, needs the right ingredients to help her with the money matters. Mentor Gary Rogers, CEO of Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream, had some ideas.
GARY ROGERS, CEO, DREYER'S GRAND ICE CREAM: You not only need to become profitable, but you need to become profitable enough that you can pay off that debt.
VELSHI: Here's what Gary suggested: Figure out the cash flow, update bankers on a regular basis and talk to others who have succeeded in a similar business.
Running a small business is no piece of cake, but Denise took Gary's advice and she's on her way to her turnaround.
I'm Ali Velshi. See you next time.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Today jurors in California had a choice for the man who killed 5-year-old Samantha Runnion: life in prison or death. The decision took seven hours.
The jury recommended that Alejandro Avila be executed for the murder of Samantha. He abducted her, you'll remember, from outside her home in 2002. Her body was found the very next day. Sentencing will be held in July. And chances are the man who brought him to justice will be there to see it.
CNN's Miguel Marquez has more on the sheriff who did everything he could for little Samantha.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN: Her name was Samantha Runnion. As soon as she was abducted, Sheriff Mike Carona knew he was in a race against time.
SHERIFF MICHAEL CARONA, ORANGE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA: If you don't find that child within the first three hours, 74 percent of the children are dead.
MARQUEZ: But this sheriff was ready. A deputy at Samantha's house just four minutes after she was taken, a sketch of the suspect widely circulated. And he used what was then a new method to tell the county a child was missing, an Amber Alert.
CARONA: During the early hours we were very, very hopeful, again, because we had such a quick response. Unlike a lot of other law enforcement agencies across this country, we had already run an Amber Alert.
MARQUEZ: So hopeful he made a promise to Samantha's mother.
CARONA: Where it became personal to me is the first time I had to sit down with Erin Runnion and ask her for a picture of Samantha so we could get that out to the public. And telling her, much like I'm looking you in the eyes, and saying, I'll bring Samantha home alive.
MARQUEZ: Carona all but begged the public for help, and he got it. Thousands of phone calls, tips. But soon came the call no one wanted to hear.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my God, we found a dead body. Please hurry. OK, I'm in the Ortegas, OK? Ortega Mountains in Riverside County, OK?
MARQUEZ: The sheriff, a self-described by-the-book man, went into denial.
CARONA: To a person, we didn't want to believe it. There was an absolute sense of denial by all of us.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They believe they found a small child, the body of a small child here in this ravine.
MARQUEZ: The race to save Samantha had failed. Now Mike Carona's mission was a manhunt. Again, he made it personal.
CARONA: Don't sleep, don't eat, because we're coming after you. We will take every resource that's available to us to bring you to justice.
MARQUEZ: Within days, the hunt was over. Alejandro Avila was arrested. Again, the sheriff didn't mince words.
CARONA: I am 100 percent certain that Mr. Avila is the man who kidnapped and murdered Samantha Runnion.
MARQUEZ: Later, when thousands came to mourn the little girl and the sheriff rose to speak, something remarkable happened.
First, they applauded.
(APPLAUSE)
Then they stood.
(APPLAUSE)
Later, even the president would thank the sheriff.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I want to congratulate you for your good work, for helping to make your community as safe as possible.
MARQUEZ: The race to save Samantha was not in vain. Just days after her death, California made Amber Alerts a state law. Congress and the president soon followed. Samantha's mother Erin became an advocate for child safety.
ERIN RUNNION, SAMANTHA'S MOTHER: There have been 40 -- over 40 Amber Alerts issued in the state of California, and every single child has been recovered alive.
MARQUEZ: The case that grabbed Mike Carona's heart still doesn't let go. He gave his word to Samantha's mother, and he failed to keep it.
CARONA: I did make a commitment to her mother, and I failed in that original commitment. And that part -- that's the one that you just grapple with, and it sticks with you for the rest of your life -- probably the rest of my life.
MARQUEZ: This sheriff will always remember the little girl he never met.
Miguel Marquez, CNN. (END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: And a jury has recommended that Samantha Runnion's killer be executed.
Sophia Choi from HEADLINE NEWS joins us with the latest at about 18 to the hour. Hey, Sophia.
CHOI: Hi, Anderson. An Iraqi market place erupts into a fireball as two car bombs explode just minutes apart. Take a look at the pictures here. This was the scene in southern Baghdad earlier today. Police say the blast killed nine Iraqi soldiers and an unspecified number of civilians. A number of attacks across Iraq today have killed at least 24 Iraqis.
Here in the U.S., some hope for cancer sufferers. This study says breast cancer patients who follow a low-fat diet are 24 percent less likely to have their cancer come back. Another study found that taking aspirin regularly can help colon cancer patients reduce the risk of a relapse by half. Now, some doctors warn, though, that more research needs to be done, as always.
Another study published in "The Archives of Dermatology" has found that the popular acne-fighting drug Accutane did not cause depression in a group of adolescents. Accutane has been linked to birth defects, and the FDA is now monitoring it for ties to suicide.
Now, keep in mind, another study published just this month shows that the drug can cause depression in a small percentage of people.
And golfing great Jack Nicklaus is hanging up his clubs. The 65- year-old says the British Open in July will mark the end of his tournament career. Nicklaus has won a record 18 majors, and Anderson, the Golden Bear says he's just a sentimental old fool. You saw how emotional he got right there. I bet you he will get just as emotional at his last tournament in July.
COOPER: A remarkable career he's had. Thanks, Sophia. We'll see you again in about 30 minutes.
CHOI: Sure.
COOPER: Coming up next in this two-hour edition of 360, Mount St. Helens, a sleeping giant? Twenty-five years after its major eruption, find out why scientists say we're not ready for the next one.
Also tonight, "911: Lives on the Line." A special report: A woman trapped under tons of debris calls for help on her cell phone. A dispatcher recalls every precious minute it took to save her life.
Plus, inside a 911 call center in hot Miami on weekend nights. The calls for help, the stress, the tragedies and the triumphs.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COOPER: Unforgettable images of a day that shook the nation. This Wednesday marks the 25th anniversary of the eruption of Mount St. Helens, May 18th, 1980. Within minutes, 57 people were killed, and a lush landscape was transformed into a wasteland.
This has been one of the most popular stories all day on CNN.com. And our own Rudi Bakhtiar is here to give us an angle you won't see anywhere else -- Rudi.
RUDI BAKHTIAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Anderson, we tend to focus on Mount St. Helens because of that incident 25 years ago, but there are 169 volcanoes in the United States. So we wanted to find out what scientists are doing to make sure it doesn't happen again.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BAKHTIAR (voice-over): October 2004. The sleeping giant awakens, and the nation holds its breath. As ash and steam rise from the crater, so does the fear of another catastrophic eruption.
We keep a close eye on Mount St. Helens, but if you think it's the only volcano to be wary of here in the United States, think again.
The consortium of U.S. volcano observatories says there are currently 18 volcanoes that it considers to be of a very high threat. They include Mount Hood, Mount Rainer, Kilauea and Shasta. The USVO believes the volcanoes in a very high threat category pose a potential for explosive eruptions. They are also close to densely populated areas.
Thirty-seven other volcanoes in the U.S. were considered a high threat, and 48 others posed a moderate threat. The reason for this assessment isn't to scare, it's to prepare. The USVO is calling for a national volcano early warning system to reduce the risk of danger.
The seismologists believe monitoring should, quote, "provide the ability to track detailed changes in real time and to develop, test and apply models of ongoing and expected activity."
To be sure, monitoring volcanoes has come a long way since 1980. Back then they were done primarily on paper. Today, scientists use sensors, microphones and computers.
Also 25 years ago, changes in the landscape of a volcano were captured with the use of aerial photos. Now it can be achieved instantly with GPS Global Positioning Units.
How much will an early warning system cost? The hope is to use the technology of today to reduce the threat of tomorrow.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
Anderson, the threat of an eruption isn't only for people on the ground. According to one report, nearly 100 commercial jets are known to have inadvertently flown into ash plumes since 1980 at altitudes as high as 37,000 feet, including eight where one or more of the engines shut down. Three 747s actually lost all of their engines.
COOPER: Rudy Bakhtiar, thanks very much.
Next on this two-hour edition of "360", a special report, "911: Lives on the Line." A woman trapped and the 911 hero who answered her call for help.
Also ahead tonight: Crying wolf. Pranksters abusing the 911 system and how it endangers all our system.
And it's not just people who dial 911. You're going to meet a dog who is a lifesaver who dialed 911 with her nose and a wet nose at that. We're covering all the angles.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: One of the first things many parents teach their young children is when you need help you dial 911. It's really a nation- wide panic button. Every day 911 operators receive half a million calls. That's every day.
And the fact that we rely so heavily on the system means it is under greater strain than perhaps ever before. It's not the volume of calls we're talking about. In some cases, new technology is to blame like cell phones and Internet phones. They created problems that really have yet to be resolved.
For the next hour we're going to be focusing on our 911 system. We're going to have some remarkable stories how it has saved lives and some equally remarkable ones of how the technology failed and how it's sometimes being abused in ways that endanger us all.
Rick Sanchez is going to take us inside the emergency response system in Miami.
SANCHEZ: It's 19 minutes past midnight. A woman from this house calls police to report an emergency.
You can hear the siren going. Means we received a 326. That means there's a burglary in progress. And we're racing to it as we speak
COOPER: That's ahead. We begin with a story where everything worked out as it should, the story of a horrible explosion, a badly injured victim with a tenuous phone connection and one 911 operator who refused to hang up.
Here's CNN'S Adaora Udoji.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JENNIFER ROHAN, BLAST VICTIM: Hi, I'm in the Eatontown explosion at Petco.
ANTHONY CELANO, 911 OPERATOR: Are you stuck inside the building?
ROHAN: I'm stuck inside the building.
CELANO: Where are you in the building?
ROHAN: I don't know. I'm underneath all this rubble.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ADAORA UDOJI, CNN: Jennifer Rohan was trapped under tons of debris. The New Jersey Petco store where she worked exploded, the devastation so powerful the roof plunged to the basement taking her down, too.
ROHAN: I remember hearing it. I remember being like, "oh, my God."
I kind of felt like my body was on a roller coaster without the benefit of the roller coaster being there. I remember actually just lifting off the ground.
UDOJI: Miraculously, Jennifer's cell phone survived the crash. She was conscious. Within minutes, she was talking to a Monmouth, County, 911 dispatcher Anthony Celano.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROHAN: Please save me.
(UNKNOWN): Jennifer, stay right with us.
ROHAN: I think I'm going to die.
CELANO: We're not going to let that happen. Stay on the line with me. OK?
ROHAN: Help!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
UDOJI: Jennifer could hear dozens of firefighters combing through the wreckage, but they could not hear her. In shock and badly injured she started losing hope.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROHAN: I got to get another phone call, hold on.
CELANO: No, Jennifer. Don't worry about that phone call. OK?
ROHAN: Huh?
CELANO: Don't worry about the phone ringing. Keep me on the line. OK?
ROHAN: I would like to say goodbye to my loved ones.
CELANO: Jennifer, keep me on the line. OK? (END VIDEO CLIP)
UDOJI: Anthony assured her for 51 minutes, the longest call of his five-year career, while guiding firefighters. She remembers every minute.
ROHAN: He remained calm and kept me very calm, as well, and kept me awake and kept me off the phone with my friends who would have probably gotten me into a panic.
CELANO: Inside I was anxious and nervous and so it was...
UDOJI: You were feeling anxious and nervous at the time? You certainly didn't sound like it.
CELANO: You can't let the person on the other end know that -- you can't get upset. You don't want to yell at them. You don't want to raise your voice. You just got to keep it even all the way through.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CELANO: Jennifer?
ROHAN: Yes.
CELANO: Stay with me. OK?
ROHAN: I'm trying.
CELANO: You feel like you're going to pass out?
ROHAN: I can wiggle my fingers. One of them is split wide open.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
UDOJI: Two months later the scene looks very different. The building has been torn down, the debris taken away.
For the first time, Jennifer got to meet the man who helped her through the uncertain moments before she was rescued.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROHAN: Hey.
CELANO: How are you?
ROHAN: I'm all right. How are you doing?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
UDOJI: Anthony didn't come empty-handed. Jennifer came in a wheelchair still healing after losing part of her leg and part of a finger. She suffered the worst injuries of four people hurt in the explosion. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROHAN: Thank you so much.
CELANO: No problem. I'm glad I could help.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROHAN: There's no doubt in my mind if I hadn't been able to get through to somebody that I would not have made it through that. So I'm just very lucky I got Anthony.
CELANO: It's the first time I ever talked to somebody on a 911 call and met them in person. It, kind of, I guess came full circle.
UDOJI investigators say the blast followed a natural gas leak caused by construction workers puncturing a nearby gas line. Pictures don't accurately capture the devastation. It's hard to believe no one died here. But back then, Jennifer didn't think she would make it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CELANO: Whatever you do, just stay as still as possible. OK? I don't want you to move.
ROHAN: OK. I'm having problems breathing now.
CELANO: OK. Do you have any debris laying across your chest?
ROHAN: I am on my side.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROHAN: There's so many people out there in our community that do things like Anthony does and we never thank them. The firemen, policeman, we never thank them -- the 911 operators.
CELANO: It's always interesting.
UDOJI: Anthony refuses to take all the credit.
CELANO: Everybody did an awesome job. There was about 15 to 20 fire departments out there, all the police and the state troopers. They kicked butt.
UDOJI: Voices Jennifer was thrilled to hear.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FIREFIGHTER: Hey, Jen?
ROHAN: Yeah?
FIREFIGHTER: I'm going to have to cut your coat.
ROHAN: Whatever makes you happy, dude. (LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
UDOJI: Jennifer Rohan is now suing the companies involved in that construction work. Reportedly at least one company has said they had no idea the gas line was there. The local prosecutor found no criminal conduct, but he drew no conclusion as to which company was at fault. Rohan is also looking forward to returning to work, saying she can't imagine her life, Anderson, without animals. And her Petco store promises to make a comeback.
COOPER: I love that, on the tape, she said, whatever makes you happy, dude, to the firefighter about cutting her coat.
All right, Adaora Udoji, thanks very much.
Well, that is a 911 success story. And, over the course of the next hour, you're going to hear several more, hardworking dispatchers saving lives. But the 911 security blanket is not as safe as you might think, and people have died because of it. Consider this. When making an emergency phone call from your home, the dispatchers will generally know where the call is coming from.
Now, that of course is crucial in case the caller is in danger, perhaps a young child or incapacitated, and they can't actually describe where they are. But you may be surprised to find out what happens when a cell phone is used to make a 911 call. It turns out, only 40 percent of the 911 call centers in this country are equipped with technology that lets dispatchers know your wireless phone number and where you are. And that is very alarming, considering that one quarter of calls made to 911 come from cell phones.
CNN's Keith Oppenheim takes a look now at one case in which the lives of dying people were literally on the line and police couldn't figure out where they were.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TWILA HORNICKEL, MOTHER OF VICTIM: She was always smiling. I don't think we have any pictures where she wasn't smiling.
KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Twila (ph) Hornickel's 20-year-old daughter, Janelle, is now a memory, a picture of a smiling college student. It was here by this sand pit in eastern Nebraska I took a walk with Janelle's family near the place where Janelle and her 20-year-old boyfriend, Michael Wamsley, died.
(on camera): Does this spot make you feel sad?
T. HORNICKEL: Sure. It really does. Mother's Day was real hard, because it made a hole in our family.
OPPENHEIM: The tragedy happened on January 4 in a blinding snowstorm. The couple was driving this pickup towards Omaha and got lost. They called for help with a cell phone Twila had given to her daughter.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
911 OPERATOR: Sarpy County, 911.
JANELLE HORNICKEL: Hi. I'm here to report -- I feel very threatened.
911 OPERATOR: Hello?
J. HORNICKEL: I'm by Mandalay apartment complexes.
911 OPERATOR: Are you in Omaha?
J. HORNICKEL: Yes.
911 OPERATOR: All right, let me transfer you. Stay on the line.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
OPPENHEIM: The problem is, Hornickel and Wamsley were not in Omaha. They were in a neighboring county and very confused. Autopsies would later reveal they were high on methamphetamine.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Both had enough that the likelihood of them being able to find out where they were going or act rationally was gone.
OPPENHEIM: Michael Wamsley would do most of the talking during nearly two hours of calls to various 911 dispatchers. Presumably because he was impaired, the information he gave about where he was wrong.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
911 OPERATOR: Could you describe to me, like, any of the street names that you've come across tonight, the last thing you remember seeing?
MICHAEL WAMSLEY: All I know for sure is Poppleton, and then there's a couple blocks. Then there's the Poppleton apartments. Then they got those other apartments.
911 OPERATOR: Poppleton is way north of Harrison. That's not anywhere near Gretna.
WAMSLEY: OK. Well, ma'am, I don't know exactly, but I need help. I talk to 'em. I told the lady, and my phone's just about to die. You're my last chance here.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
OPPENHEIM: One day after the anguishing 911 calls, Michael Wamsley's body was found frozen in the snow. Six days later, Janelle Hornickel's body was discovered. They had left the safety of the pickup truck and walked into the cold weather. T. HORNICKEL: I would have liked to have stopped them. I would have liked to have known why they were out here. But the issue stands that they were. And with the drug use involved, you're not -- if we could have found them, we could have dealt with that. But we were cheated out of that chance.
OPPENHEIM: As much as this case raised awareness about the destructive use of methamphetamine, it also brought attention to problems with cell phones in emergencies. Sarpy County officials say, Wamsley and Hornickel might have been saved with what is called phase two technology, the ability of 911 centers to receive location coordinates from cell phones and know where a caller is.
Consider that, in some parts of Nebraska, 911 dispatchers can't locate a cell phone caller at all. That's called phase zero.
(on camera): But here in Sarpy County, dispatchers can do a little better than that with phase one technology. But, still, that has its limits. We're going give you a little demonstration here and I'm going to dial 911.
911 OPERATOR: Sarpy County 911.
OPPENHEIM: Hi. This is Keith Oppenheim. Can you see the location of where I'm calling from?
911 OPERATOR: I can see the general area that you're in, but I do not know your exact location.
OPPENHEIM: The dispatchers can read the address of the tower that might my cell phone signal is reaching, but that only gives them a general idea of where I am, because they're not at phase two. In other words, they can't pinpoint my exact location and realize that I'm calling them from just outside the dispatch center.
(voice-over): Wamsley and Hornickel were calling counties with phase one ability, but it wasn't enough to find them. Ironically, had they been 25 miles to the east, in Iowa, where phase two is up and running, the call's location could have been picked up. Such differences aren't unusual. According to the National Emergency Numbers Association, less than half of 911 centers in the U.S. can detect where a cell phone caller is.
Now Nebraska's legislature has ordered a study to determine whether cell phone companies should charge an extra dollar a month to pay for the latest technology.
JAN HOWARD, SISTER OF VICTIM: I don't think a lot of people understand that, with their cell phones, they are inaccessible.
OPPENHEIM: After her sister's death, Jan Howard appeared before a Nebraska legislative panel and testified that a surcharge to update 911 centers would make a dramatic difference.
HOWARD: And I was trying to show them how it was from our point that I would have given anything to spend that $12 a year more to not have gone through what me and my family went through.
OPPENHEIM: And perhaps what two lost 20-year-olds went through can be a reminder.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
WAMSLEY: Honey, come on. Get up.
911 OPERATOR: Is she starting to lay down?
WAMSLEY: Yes. She's breathing. Please, you've -- get over here to help.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
OPPENHEIM: That the ability of emergency responders to help people in desperate trouble depends on their ability to find where the trouble is.
Keith Oppenheim, CNN, Omaha, Nebraska.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER (voice-over): She made frantic calls to 911, asking them to save her three daughters, kidnapped by a deranged husband. Tonight, how the three girls ended up dead and why the Supreme Court is hearing their mother's case; "911: Lives on the Line," what happens when you dial for help? What makes it work? What happens when it fails? 360 takes you inside the calls. Meet some of the people saving lives at the other end of the line.
And a first-time mom makes a desperate call to 911. Tonight, how a dispatcher helped this frantic mother calm down and save her baby's life.
This special edition of 360 will continue in a moment.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Welcome back this special edition of 360. I'm Anderson Cooper.
You may be surprised to hear that almost a million Americans have thrown out their regular home phones and signed up instead with an Internet-based phone service, one that sends your calls digitally through the Web, rather than through standard phone lines. Now, the appeal is, it is usually cheaper. But some of the Internet phone services do not mesh with the 911 system.
For example, with an Internet phone service, someone who is sitting in, say, Boise, Idaho, can be calling from a Boston area code. So when they call the 911 dispatcher, they get confused. Some Internet phone services don't even connect their users to 911 or they route callers to nonemergency numbers, which may not be staffed in off-hours.
Cheryl Waller says that's exactly what happened to her last March. Her baby had stopped breathing. She grabbed her Internet- based phone and dialed 911, unaware that she was being connected to a nonemergency phone number. By the time she ran to a neighbor's house to use their phone and help arrived, Cheryl's three-month-old baby had died.
Cheryl Waller and her attorney, Mike Smith (ph), join us now from Orlando.
Cheryl, thank you so much for being with us. I'm sorry for your loss.
CHERYL WALLER, MOTHER: Thank you.
COOPER: I know I can only imagine how painful this is for you. But take us back to that night. You realized your baby wasn't breathing. You call 911. What happened?
WALLER: The only thing that I received on the other end was, hang up and dial 911. If this is an emergency, hang up and dial 911. So I did several times. And, eventually, I realized I wasn't getting anybody.
So, I grabbed her and I ran across the street. I had my neighbors call 911.
COOPER: And how long was it before help arrived?
WALLER: I don't know. It seemed like forever.
COOPER: When you signed up for phone service through the Internet with Vonage, you actually signed an agreement that acknowledged you weren't going receive the traditional 911 services. They said that, when you dial 911, the call is routed from the Vonage network to the public safety answering point or local emergency service personnel. That's what it said in the agreement. Did you realize you were signing that?
WALLER: That was never, never made clear to me. There is no way I would have ever had a 911 service at my house that was connected to a nonemergency number. I have several children in my home, and now I have one less.
COOPER: Mike, you haven't filed a lawsuit yet. I understand the issue is being looked at by a number of states. What do you want to see happen?
MIKE SMITH, ATTORNEY: Well, Anderson, there's several things that we are hoping to accomplish, first of all, awareness. We want the public to be aware of the fact, for those people that are signing up for 911 Internet service, we want them to be aware of the fact that what they're getting may not actually be the traditional 911 service that they think that they're getting.
In fact, in this particular case, Ms. Waller received an 11-page service agreement. And buried within that service agreement that had 54 sections, buried within that was the terms that actually told you it is really limited 911 that you're getting. And we want the public to ask questions. Those people that have Vonage or any other Internet phone, we want them to ask the questions, so that when an emergency happens, they don't find themselves in the situation that Ms. Waller did.
COOPER: Cheryl, did you try to call Vonage? The next day, I understand, you called them. What did they say to you?
WALLER: They actually laughed and said that they could not revive a baby.
COOPER: Wait a minute. The person you called at that company laughed?
WALLER: Yes. They were -- it was a woman named Marsha (ph). She was laughing at me. She says, I can't revive a baby. And then she thought she put me on hold and she went in the background for another five minutes and laughed about it, joked about it.
COOPER: We spoke to a representative of Vonage, who refused to address specifically the question of whether the death of your daughter had to do with the service. But they did say this.
They said -- quote -- "Our hearts go out to the Waller family. And we are doing everything in our power to make sure that this never happens again. In the meantime, we're sending calls to live, manned emergency service centers. In the event we cannot send the calls to a live manned emergency service center, we're sending the calls to a live manned phone line at a local law enforcement agency."
Cheryl, is this enough?
WALLER: No, because that live manned phone they say is at a police station could be the front desk, where an operator went home for the day. That is not enough. Stop advertising you have 911. You don't have it. Stop advertising it.
COOPER: Well, Cheryl Waller, again, I appreciate you being on. I think a lot of people didn't realize this, don't realize it. And I know you want to educate the public about it. So, we appreciate you taking the time to do it, as painful as it is for you.
Cheryl, thank you.
And, Mike Smith, as well, thanks for joining us.
WALLER: Thank you, Anderson.
SMITH: Thank you.
COOPER: A couple of other stories to bring you up to date right now.
Sophia Choi from HEADLINE NEWS joins with us the latest at about a quarter past the hour.
Hey, Sophia.
SOPHIA CHOI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Anderson.
"Newsweek" takes it back. It retracted a story that triggered riots by Muslims in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The story said the U.S. had found that copies of the Koran had been desecrated by American interrogators at Guantanamo Bay. The U.S. says there is no such evidence.
Put some teeth in the Michael Jackson defense. An orthodontist testified that Jackson's teenage accuser visited his office during the time the boy was allegedly being held captive at Neverland.
And, Anderson, better pack up that rain parka again, yes, the one you wore last hurricane season. Forecasters say this year's Atlantic hurricane forecast could be even worse, with as many as nine Atlantic storms in the forecast, five of them category three or higher. Now, that would mean that winds would be at least 111 miles per hour. The season runs from June through November.
And that's a look at the headlines.
Anderson, guess you better get ready to hang on.
COOPER: Yes. Really looking forward to it. All right, Sophia, thanks very much. Let's hope it doesn't happen. See you again in about 30 minutes.
Coming up next in this special two-hour edition of 360, just who decides when there is an emergency?
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
JESSICA GONZALES, MOTHER: My kids still aren't home. I'm a little wigged out. I don't know what to do.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
COOPER: We have the story of a mother who said there was an emergency, the police who said there wasn't and the tragedy that followed.
Also, later, we're going to take you inside an emergency call center where things can get very tense indeed.
Plus, a 911 case that played out on live TV and it turned out to be a hoax.
We're covering all the angles.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COOPER: The 911 system is a remarkable piece of technology; 6,000 call centers in the U.S. take close to 200 million calls a year. But for all the high-tech machinery, how calls are handled often boils down to human judgment, dispatchers who determine what is a real emergency and what is not. Now, often, they get it right. But sometimes there are tragic mistakes.
The story now of a mother in Colorado who just couldn't help but think that her three daughters were in danger. So, she did what any parent would do. She called 911 and that's when her battle began.
Here is Sean Callebs.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Three little brown-eyed, brown-haired girls, so close, their mom, Jessica Gonzales, called them peas in a pod. Rebecca, the oldest.
GONZALEZ: She was 10. She was the little mommy.
CALLEBS: Katheryn was eight.
GONZALEZ: And she was the middle daughter. She was very shy.
CALLEBS: And the seven-year-old.
GONZALEZ: Leslie was the baby.
CALLEBS: Sadly, this wasn't the picture-perfect family. Jessica was estranged from her husband, Simon, though she did allow him to see the girls occasionally. But on June 22, 1999, something didn't seem right and she called the Castle Rock Police dispatcher, saying she needed help.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
GONZALEZ: I filed a restraining order against my husband. And we had agreed that whatever night was best, I would let him have the dinner hour. But, tonight, there was no sign of him around or anything, and the girls are gone.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
CALLEBS: It was around 7:20 in the evening. Jessica told a police dispatcher the girls were missing.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
911 OPERATOR: When was the last time you saw them?
GONZALEZ: About 5:30. They were, like, we're going to out. And I am like, if daddy comes, you let me know and come tell me if you are leaving.
(END AUDIO CLIP) GONZALEZ: Jessica said, in her mind, it was a clear restraining order violation. She wanted police to act immediately and arrest her husband. Police looked for the 30-year-old man, but from the information gathered on the call to the dispatcher, they decided it wasn't a life-threatening emergency.
TONY LANE, CASTLE ROCK POLICE CHIEF: There was no violation of the restraining order. He had -- and it was listed in the restraining order -- the right to take the girls out to dinner one night a week.
CALLEBS: But before the girls disappeared, Jessica says, in a tense conversation, she adamantly told her husband he could not take the girls on this night.
GONZALEZ: He said, then I know what I have to do. And, of course, he always made empty threats and cried wolf way too many times. So, I didn't really know what that meant.
LANE: She was asked a couple of times if she thought the kids were in any danger at all. And she said no, that she didn't fear that at all.
CALLEBS: At one point, when Jessica called the 911 emergency number...
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
GONZALEZ: My kids still aren't home. I'm a little wigged out. I don't know what to do.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
CALLEBS: She was eventually told:
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
911 OPERATOR: OK, Jessica. You know what I want you to do? I want you to call back on a nonemergency line. OK?
GONZALEZ: OK.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
CALLEBS (on camera): Around 8:00 that night, Jessica said she finally reached her husband and he said he was with the girls at this amusement park in Denver. She called the Castle Rock Police once again. Authorities, convinced that Simon Gonzales was not in violation of the restraining order, did nothing. Jessica said, by this point, she had grown frustrated by that she perceived as police inaction.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
GONZALEZ: You guys said, well, if he's not back by midnight, give us a call.
911 OPERATOR: OK. I remember that. OK, we'll have an officer come by.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
CALLEBS: But instead of waiting for the police, an anxious Jessica this time went directly to the Castle Rock station. By this time, it was the seventh time she talked with the Castle Rock Police. Three hours later, tragedy.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shots fired.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
CALLEBS: Simon Gonzales opened fire on the Castle Rock Police station.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We got a man dead. Officers appear OK.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you confirm, man down, officers are OK?
(END AUDIO CLIP)
CALLEBS: Gonzales was dead, then a horrific discovery.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We got possibly three dead children inside of the vehicle.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
CALLEBS: Police say Gonzales killed his three daughters. To this day, Jessica doesn't understand why the small police agency didn't do more.
GONZALEZ: I won't make excuses for them. I can't. I can't imagine why. I really can't.
LANE: I think, based on the information that the officers were dealing with that night, they acted very appropriately.
CALLEBS: Jessica filed suit against the city of Castle Rock for $30 million. The case has made its way all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Justices are being asked to decide not if the police acted improperly, but whether Jessica can sue the city, arguing her property rights were violated when police failed to act on her claim the restraining order had been violated. Jessica's lawyer says police have to be held accountable.
BRIAN REICHEL, ATTORNEY FOR GONZALES: The tragedy in all of this is that it is our belief that the police simply weren't trained in how to respond to these types of situations. CALLEBS: The high court ruling is expected in a matter of weeks. Castle Rock city leaders say they expect to be vindicated. Jessica contends it is not about the money.
GONZALEZ: And, hopefully, for -- this will stop some of the future tragedies that come out of domestic violence. And that's ultimately my goal.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CALLEBS: And, for her, a way to keep the memory of three small children alive.
Sean Callebs, CNN, Denver, Colorado.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: And we'll keep you updated on how the Supreme Court rules.
Coming up next in this special two hour edition of 360:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The actual map. And it will pinpoint in that area where the caller is at.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: We're going to take you inside an emergency call center where life-or-death decisions are made every day in a matter of seconds.
And a little later, an extreme emergency with a little baby's life on the line.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Welcome back to this special two-hour edition of 360.
We're devoting the entire hour to something that may save your life, 911 calls. We sincerely hope you'll never need to dial those three numbers. But, if you do, we want to show you who might be on other end of the line.
We sent Rick Sanchez inside a busy emergency center in Miami.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Miami, Florida, is a hot destination at any time of the year. But, on this weekend, police are expecting it to be particularly eventful. And if it is a hot night in the city, this is where it will first be detected.
This is Miami's 911 center, one of the most sophisticated in the entire country, where the people on the midnight shift begin by checking an old-fashioned bulletin board for a listing of local events.
(on camera): From an emergency standpoint, knowing that an event is taking place better prepares you for the aftermath of that event.
LT. LILLIE HARRIS, MIAMI POLICE DEPARTMENT: Without a doubt. Without a doubt.
SANCHEZ: People who go to concerts, get into traffic accidents, they often can have too much to drink. They often can change their moods.
HARRIS: Yes.
SANCHEZ: This can cause you to have to work a little more.
HARRIS: Yes. And all of that is factored into the operational plans.
SANCHEZ (voice-over): It is 19 minutes past midnight. A woman from this house calls police to report an emergency.
(on camera): You can hear the siren going. It means that we have just received a 326. That means there is a burglary in process and we're racing to it as we speak.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There might be a family inside and somebody is trying to pry the door open. That's why the -- we are getting the authorization to run out signal three.
SANCHEZ: So, some lives could be in danger on a call like this?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Correct.
SANCHEZ (voice-over): At the scene, police arrive to a locked home, frightened residents, and an explanation only an experienced street cop could put together. This was no burglary.
SGT. MANNY MORALES, MIAMI POLICE: My gut tells me it's more than likely that (INAUDIBLE) that came to purchase or use narcotics in the front house, made a mistake and went to the back house.
SANCHEZ: This man has called police to report being attacked by a woman, kicking and punching him and his vehicle, he says. He tells us it's a jealous ex-girlfriend.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She threw that at your face? She hit you in the face with that?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING SPANISH).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And then what -- (SPEAKING SPANISH) -- what did she do?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING SPANISH).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So she said -- so she threw something against the car and then did she threaten you? (SPEAKING SPANISH)?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Si.
SANCHEZ: Meanwhile, back at the police communication center, the calls continue to stream in.
SINDY PAUL, 911 OPERATOR: If it's a life-threatening emergency, they just want the police officer right there. They don't want us to go down the list of the protocol. They want immediate assistance.
SANCHEZ: It's a Saturday night. And getting clear information from nervous callers can become a frustrating ordeal at both ends of the line.
For people calling 911, it's the perception they're not getting what they need fast enough.
(on camera): For example, you may wonder why these dispatchers seem to be playing a game of 20 questions with you, why you don't hear them talking to a police officer.
Here is why. While they're getting your information, these officers are actually talking to the police officers, simultaneously, oftentimes relaying that information. Happens just like that.
(voice-over): Back on the streets, police have found the jealous ex-girlfriend. It's a classic case of he says/she says. But because of a witness account, she is arrested, and will spend at least one night in the county jail.
PAUL: Attention units en route to 322 at 345 Northwest Street/5 Street. The only information we have is that the offender is still on the scene. Repeat, the offender is still on the scene. No description.
SANCHEZ: Thanks to the quick call, police arrive on the scene in time to arrest a suspect, charged with attacking a man with a machete. The wounded victim of a machete attack was raced to the hospital. His mother gets the news from consoling neighbors.
Police were able to get to the scene in just three minutes, thanks in part to some new technology.
(on camera): This gives you what? The text information.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Correct. The address and the phone number where the caller is calling from.
SANCHEZ: All written out for you?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
SANCHEZ: And this over here -- this is state of the art. It's a map, right?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, the actual map, and it will pinpoint in that area where the caller is at. Right now, we have you at 9th...
SANCHEZ (voice-over): You see that circle on the map? That's a cell phone radius which lets police narrow the caller down to a four- block area. But as he moves into another radius, they're able to narrow him down even further.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE), she's hiding under the table in the dining hall -- in the hallway.
SANCHEZ: The midnighters are now well into their shift when a burglary call gets personal.
It changes to a 315. That means an officer needs assistance. Back-up arrives, and together they search the area. The officer is OK. However, the bad guy has gotten away.
The next call brings police and fire rescue together, responding to a man who may be having a heart attack. They need to get him to the hospital right away. But what about his kids? They would be left alone. It's a dilemma.
A helpful neighbor comes to the rescue, until a family member can arrive.
(on camera): You're going to take care of the children?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
SANCHEZ: Neighborly thing to do, huh?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right. Because they'd do it to me.
SANCHEZ (voice-over): That gives fire rescue the green light to transport their patient.
MORALES: Extra large loads...
SANCHEZ: The midnight crew is almost ready to call it a night. Good news for Sergeant Morales, but he's got one more incident to deal with. A so-called baker act, somebody police consider to be a danger to themselves or others. This woman says her sister stole her eyes and she needs to get back to ancient Rome.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Relax real quick.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm not going to jail?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, you're not going to jail.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're not going to jail.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And based on the statements, on the observations that I made here, OK, we're going to take you to GMH (ph) crisis so you can talk to somebody, OK?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just came from them. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know you just came from them.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't need a crisis, (INAUDIBLE) to you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It looks like you need crisis to me, OK? Just have a seat real quick, sweetheart. We're just trying to get you the help that you need, OK?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: And there you have it. That's the midnight shift. Started -- there are five of us -- started sometime around 9:00, went through 7:00 the next morning. In all, 124 arrests were made that night.
What we learn is that what they're trying to do is standardize this system somehow, try to come up with a way so that it's as exact as they can possibly make it, and I'll give you an example of what they're doing.
They actually have now put out a protocol list. Obviously, it can't be an exact science, because there is too much subjective conversation going on, but if they give the operators the words that they should use when people make the phone calls, then they can use that as a guideline. And what that does is that eliminates most errors. They're trying to get as state-of-the-art as they possibly can get, or at least moving in that direction.
I'm Rick Sanchez. Anderson, back over to you.
COOPER: You know, Rick, it's amazing when you see -- when you spend that amount of time with the officers and the dispatchers, I mean, they do this every day, day in, day out, hour after hour, and the kind of stuff they deal with, I mean, it runs the gamut.
SANCHEZ: It's interesting you should say that, because I talked to a lot of them and pulled them aside and I said, do you ever take this home with you? And they said, we most definitely do, especially when it involves kids or even some of our fellow officers. Sometimes it takes weeks to get over this. And sometimes they have to get them counselors as well.
COOPER: Tough job. All right, Rick Sanchez, thanks very much.
Coming up next in our 911 special hour, the modern-day equivalent of crying wolf. Coming up, the real shocking real story behind a hostage drama you may have seen on live television.
Also a little later tonight, a story you won't want to miss. The dog that called 911 and saved her owner's life. Amazing. All with that wet nose.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Sophia Choi from HEADLINE NEWS joins us with the latest at about a quarter -- about 20 to the hour -- Sophia. CHOI: Hi, Anderson. As Iraq's new government pledged to crack down on insurgent killings, more roadside bombings took their toll and more bodies found. Hundreds of Iraqis have been killed in attacks since the end of April.
The U.S. says it's disturbed that Uzbekistan's military opened fire on anti-government demonstrators. The Uzbek government is an ally in the war on terror, and the U.S. has a military base there.
In Santa Ana, California, the mother of five-year-old Samantha Runnion thanked jurors today for recommending the death penalty for her killer, Alejandro Avila. Samantha was snatched while playing in her yard almost three years ago.
And an elevator inside the Washington Monument stalled and trapped some tourists today. The group said a guide spent that time explaining the monument's history in detail. Always nice to get back on the ground, huh? Those are the headlines at this hour.
Anderson, back to you.
COOPER: Sophia, thanks very much.
Coming up next on this special edition of "360," a 911 operator remembers the time a baby's life was on the line. Could the operator find the right words to save a tiny baby's life? You won't want to miss that story.
And a little bit later: it isn't only people that call 91. You're going to meet a high-tech dog who's a lifesaver.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: We're looking at the challenges facing the nation's 911 emergency response system. Now it handles half-a-million calls for help every day. Both the technology and the dedication of the 911 operators is truly amazing.
Gary Tuchman has the story of one call, a perfect blend of technology and humanity with a young life hanging in the balance.
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN: The call came in at 4:53 in the afternoon.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CINDY WALKER, 911 OPERATOR: 911, what is your emergency?
CHERYL DRIGGERS: My baby stopped breathing.
WALKER: OK. Stay on the line with me. I'll get help to you. OK?
TUCHMAN (voice-over): Barrett Driggers (ph) was two-and-a-half weeks old; his body completely limp; his mother on the phone with the Leon County, Florida, 911 center.
Helping her was dispatcher Cindy Walker (ph).
WALKER (voice-over): She was in a state of panic. It made me think of my own children and how I would feel, you know, in this situation.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): This 911 center averages more than 33, 000 calls per year. But for Cindy Walker, the CPR call was her first and the fact that it involved a baby only added to the pressure.
Cheryl Driggers (ph) did not realize it at the time, but Cindy Walker was using a special computer system.
WALKER: While I was taking the call I put the address in and the determined it was a 2.5-week-old infant not breathing.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): A system which lists customized instructions on the screen.
WALKER (voice over): I told her this: Listen carefully and I'll tell how you to do CPR compressions. Place two fingers in the center of his chest, right between the nipples.
WALKER: Now what I want you to do -- listen carefully. I'm going to tell you how to do CPR compressions. Place two fingers in the center of his chest, right between the nipples.
C. DRIGGERS: OK.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): At that point, thought, the baby still wasn't breathing.
C. DRIGGERS (voice-over): That was going through my mind: I've lost him. What am I going to do? I won't be able to see him grow up. I'm not going to be able to see the first steps.
WALKER: Push down one inch with only your fingers touching the chest. Pump his chest rapidly five times.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): It was right after those words that Cindy Walker and an EMS supervisor with her worked their magic.
WALKER: OK. Put your mouth over his nose and mouth, one soft puff and then pump five times on his chest.
Breathe lightly like you're blowing up a balloon.
Are you covering his nose and mouth? Keep doing that.
C. DRIGGERS: He's starting to cry.
WALKER: All right. Good.
C. DRIGGERS: OK, baby.
WALKER: Keep crying. TUCHMAN (voice-over): Paramedics took the infant to the hospital. Doctors think the baby had choked on digested food. But little Barrett's (ph) life had been saved. Cheryl and Jason Driggers (ph) regard Cindy Walker as a hero.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
C. DRIGGERS: She was incredible. She is incredible. She was so calm. She was so knowledgeable. And I was on the other end just hysterical.
TUCHMAN: How did you feel when you heard him cry?
C. DRIGGERS: It was the best feeling in the whole wide world.
JASON DRIGGERS, FATHER: I don't know how you explain it. You go from not knowing if he's alive or what is going on to knowing he's fine. That's the weight of the world lifted off your shoulders.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): Cindy Walker and EMS Supervisor Tom McNabb received letters of commendation from the Leon County Sheriff's Office as well as gratitude from the Driggers.
Cindy Walker wonders if emotionally she could have continued her job if Barrett's life had not been saved. Barrett's mother thinks of the what ifs.
C. DRIGGERS: Your children aren't supposed to consume you. You're supposed to raise them for 18, 20 years and then send them out. But I really -- as young as Barrett was, he was my whole world at that point. And I don't know what we would have done.
TUCHMAN: Lucky, aren't you?
C. DRIGGERS: Yes, very blessed. The Lord blessed us tremendously. He put all the right people at the right places at the right time.
TUCHMAN: Gary Tuchman, CNN, Tallahassee, Florida.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Very blessed indeed.
Coming up next, the most amazing 911 call you have ever heard. You will not understand a thing the caller says because the caller is this dog.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: This hour, we have been looking at the burdens placed on 911 services. Now, one problem we haven't yet addressed is crank calls. Now, when we were kids, we all learned the fable about the boy who cried wolf. It's an ancient story, of course, and a crucial lesson for most of us. But now, thanks to the Internet and 911 system, crying wolf is taking on a whole new malicious twist. Here is CNN's Deborah Feyerick.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It began with a frantic call to New Jersey police. A teenage girl saying she had just been beaten and raped, and that her two attackers were holding her prisoner. One of them even grabbing the phone.
LARRY BOYD, UNCLE OF "BOMBING" VICTIM: He told the police if you show your face here, I will kill her, I will kill one of you, and I'm going to kill myself.
FEYERICK: Larry Boyd's niece was living on the first floor of the New Brunswick home where the call was supposedly made. Police hoped Boyd might recognize the caller's voice. A SWAT team converged. The neighborhood was shut down. And hostage negotiators tried to coax out the suspects. Six hours later...
BRUCE KAPLAN, PROSECUTOR: There were three people that came out of the third floor of the apartment.
FEYERICK: The teens who came out seemed to fit the description. It was a total coincidence.
The 911 call never came from New Jersey. Police say it came from Arlington, Texas, from 23-year-old Fatin Ward. Fatin's mom insisted we shield her face. She says her daughter is obsessed with chat rooms and people she meets on the Internet, and that the teen watched the New Jersey drama play out on TV.
DORTHULA WISENER, MOTHER: She was so excited on the chatline laughing with them, because I guess they were all watching it. Laughing and grinning like, you see it? I can't believe that she was that excited over something so serious.
FEYERICK: The call was a prank, known in chatrooms as "bombing." The caller takes revenge on someone who has made them angry by reporting a fake emergency. Police respond, guns drawn.
KEVIN BARROWS, FORMER FBI AGENT: It's a serious problem for law enforcement. And there is really very little ability for them to decipher what's a fake call and what's a real call, until it's often too late and they've been deployed.
FEYERICK: Internet services now make it easy for caller ID to reflect whatever number someone chooses. It's what happened when Pennsylvania police dispatcher Jim Connel got a prank call.
JIM CONNEL, POLICE DISPATCHER: 12241132, stand by.
FEYERICK: From a woman now believed to also be Fatin Ward.
CONNEL: I actually thought it was a real call. She was excited, she was crying, you could tell she was nervous. She -- the first thing she said is a friend of mine, the father is shot, and the mother and the baby.
FEYERICK: Police believe the target inside that home may have been a teenager who fought with Ward on the phone. The teen and his mom were terrified by the experience.
SGT. TIM RUOFF, PALMER TOWNSHIP POLICE: Both were very panicked and fear-stricken. They did not know what was going on. They did not know the circumstances, or why they're being called out. And it puts them in a very difficult situation, coming out and having their house surrounded by police officers.
FEYERICK: So far no one has been hurt. But police worry it's just a matter of time.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We would enter a plea of not guilty...
FEYERICK: Fatin Ward and a friend recently pleaded not guilty to making the New Brunswick calls. Authorities in at least a dozen towns in three states, New Jersey included, are now investigating whether Ward may be responsible for a number of other phony calls, and whether these pranks are just the beginning.
Deborah Feyerick, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Well, finally tonight, you've got to have faith that a dog is man's best friend, especially when that dog's name is Faith and it saves your life. Leana Beasley is alive today thanks to her canine companion making a 911 call with her nose. I spoke to Leana earlier.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: So let's go back to the day that Faith really saved your life. First of all, she's got -- everyone calls her Faith, but her official name is much longer. It's Faith Van Moritz Fernberg (ph)?
LEANA BEASLEY, SAVED BY DOG'S 911 CALL: It's Faith Van Moritz Bergberg (ph).
COOPER: OK, very grand name for Faith.
BEASLEY: Yes.
COOPER: Going back to that day, you felt bad. You thought it was the flu, but it was your liver really shutting down.
BEASLEY: Yes.
COOPER: What happened?
BEASLEY: I -- Faith wouldn't let me go to sleep. She kept jumping up on the bed and running circles on my bed. So -- and she wouldn't stop. So...
COOPER: She doesn't normally do that, I don't think. BEASLEY: No. This is very odd behavior for her. She's not allowed normally up on my bed. And so she repeatedly kept doing this. So I finally, I got up, got back into my wheelchair, and sat out in the living room with her, to try to calm her down. I was beginning to feel nauseous, so I went into the kitchen to make some hot water for hot chocolate. And as I was reaching across the stove for the kettle, I just went black, passed out.
And when I fell out of my wheelchair, I hit my head on the kitchen cabinet. And that threw me into immediate grand mal seizures. And that's when Faith sprang into action, and she knew exactly what to do for the seizures.
COOPER: So even -- what did she do? I mean, you started having a seizure, what did she do?
BEASLEY: She immediately ran to the phone, picked it up, brought it back to me. She ran back to the base, pushed the speed dial button, came back to me again.
COOPER: So Faith -- she dials 911 with her nose. Let's play the recording from 911 to hear what happens next.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
911 OPERATOR: 911. This is Jenny. Please state your emergency. 911. Hello? Hello?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: When you heard that 911 call for the first time, what was that like?
BEASLEY: I just got chills. I was just -- every time I hear it, I get chills. I was just totally, totally amazed.
COOPER: I know Faith has had a lot of training. Can you show me how she dials 911?
BEASLEY: Faith. OK. Faith, 911. Good girl. OK. Make a call. Good girl.
COOPER: So you have a button especially marked for 911.
BEASLEY: This is just her training phone. The phone that she actually calls 911 on is black. And the speed dial button is painted white. And then she's target-trained to push the white button with her nose.
COOPER: How do you view her? I mean, I've got a dog, I view her as part of the family. I mean, do you...
BEASLEY: She's actually -- I consider her an extension of my own physical body, just like my wheelchair is. My wheelchair is my legs, my mobility. And Faith is the same thing. She's an extension of me. We're a team. And I take care of her, and she takes care of me. COOPER: You guys make a great team.
BEASLEY: Yeah.
COOPER: It's really great to meet you. Thank you so much for coming in.
BEASLEY: It's nice meeting you.
COOPER: And Faith Van (ph) -- what is it, Moritz (ph)?
BEASLEY: Faith Moritz (ph) ...
COOPER: Bernberg (ph).
BEASLEY: Yes. Faith Vam Moritz Bergenberg (ph).
COOPER: Bergenberg (ph).
BEASLEY: Bergberg (ph).
COOPER: I'll just call her Faith.
BEASLEY: Yes.
COOPER: Faith, good job.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: And that is one great dog.
I'm Anderson Cooper. Thanks for watching this special two-hour edition of 360. CNN's prime-time coverage continues right now with "LARRY KING LIVE." Larry's guest is going to be actor Robert Blake.
END
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Aired May 16, 2005 - 19:00 Â ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening, everyone. Newsweek magazine retracts a story that inflamed the Muslim world. 360 starts now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER (voice-over): Newsweek magazine retracts the story that touched off riots in the Muslim world, leaving at least 15 dead. Tonight, how did the magazine get it so wrong?
Hurricane alert, a new report says this hurricane season may be a whopper. Tonight, what you need to know about this summer's coming storms.
Allergies on the rise, affecting 30 million Americans. Tonight, 360 M.D. Dr. Sanjay Gupta makes a house call for your itchy eyes and running noses.
A jury says Samantha Runnion's killer should face death. Tonight, the crime that shocked a nation and changed a sheriff forever.
She made frantic calls to 911 asking them to save her three daughters kidnapped by a deranged husband. Tonight, how the three girls ended up dead, and why the Supreme Court is hearing their mother's case.
"911: Lives on the Line." What happens when you dial for help? What makes it work? What happens when it fails? 360 takes you inside the calls. Meet some of the people saving lives at the other end of the line.
And a first-time mom makes a desperate call to 911. Tonight how a dispatcher helped this frantic mother calm down and save her baby's life.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: Live from the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is a two-hour special edition of ANDERSON COOPER 360.
COOPER: And good evening again. We begin tonight with a journalist's worse nightmare seemingly come true. A flawed story leads to violent outrage and people die. On top of that, America's reputation and credibility are badly damaged. Newsweek magazine today first apologized, then retracted a story that it printed earlier this month, saying that a copy of the Koran, Islam's holy text, had been flushed down a toilet to rattle Muslim detainees at the U.S. Naval base in Cuba.
The story has been taken back. Now the question becomes can the fury of the Muslim world also be taken back. The "World on 360" tonight from CNN International's Becky Anderson.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ...year, up to 40 million Americans suffer the symptoms of hay fever...
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Clearly that was the wrong story. We're going to try to get now Becky Anderson's report up in just a moment. She was taking a look at some of the demonstrations that have really erupted throughout the Muslim world, most notably in Afghanistan in recent days in response to "Newsweek" magazine's report.
In that report they had one source that they went on the report with who had said that the Muslim holy text, the Koran, had been flushed down a toilet to try to upset a Muslim detainee at Guantanamo Bay.
"Newsweek" editor Mark Whitaker had this to say today to Jim Lehrer of PBS.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "THE NEWSHOUR WITH JIM LEHRER")
MARK WHITAKER, EDITOR, NEWSWEEK: What our original report said was that a U.S. official, a source who we had dealt with in the past, we believed to be critical, we believed to have access to internal documents, was saying this had turned up in an internal investigation.
We -- as we reported in the magazine this week, we offered the Pentagon a chance to comment on that story. We went to the extraordinary lengths of actually showing the entire story to a separate high-level Pentagon official. They disputed other aspects of the story but did not dispute that.
After we published the story, we were not challenged on any aspect of it for 11 days until we heard on Friday night, 24 hours before our deadline, from the Pentagon that we had gotten it -- had gotten it wrong.
In the time we had before publishing we decided to disclose as much as we could. We got back to the original source, the source said they thought he had still seen something but couldn't verify that it was in the investigation we mentioned.
As a result, we admitted that we may have gotten it wrong, and we apologized for that. Then today both at the White House and elsewhere people began asking whether this was a retraction. I think given the part that everybody is focused on, given that we had already said we had made a mistake, and that we regretted it, we went ahead and said, of course, that amounts to a retraction.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Well, let's take a look at the international outrage to this story from CNN International's Becky Anderson.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Some in the Muslim world are reacting skeptically to the "Newsweek" statement that its story that American interrogators at Guantanamo had desecrated the Koran might not be true.
That report last week was follow by anti-American riots in a number of Muslim countries, including Pakistan, India, Indonesia and Afghanistan, in which at least 16 people died, and more than a hundred were injured.
ABDULLAH ABDULLAH, AFGHAN FOREIGN MINISTER: How it was played into that scale in Afghanistan, we have to look into that. In -- certainly, certainly, the elements which they don't want the process to succeed in Afghanistan has capitalized, have been able to capitalize on that.
ANDERSON: Despite "Newsweek"'s backpedaling, many acknowledge that the harm has already been done, playing into the hands of U.S. enemies and putting American allies in the Muslim world in a tough spot.
JOHN MCLAUGHLIN, FMR. ACTING CIA DIRECTOR: In the Muslim world, desecration of the Koran is really right at the top of the list of things likely to spark revulsion and protest. And in this case it's particularly unfortunate that it has happened in some of the countries that work most closely with us in the war on terrorism. In a number of these countries, brave governments do so against the wishes of substantial parts of their populations.
ANDERSON: In Afghanistan, where the worst of the rioting occurred, the initial "Newsweek" report came amid an uptick in fighting with the Taliban. U.S. officials there say they doubt the allegations against those at Guantanamo.
COL. JAMES YONTS, COALITION SPOKESMAN IN AFGHANISTAN: I am aware of the "Newsweek" article. And I know that they are looking into that to see how much truth is to what is being reported. The fact, though, is that it does not change our stated position from the United States. And as you heard from our administration all the way down, and from this command here, as well, that any disrespect to the Koran and any other religion is not tolerated by our culture and our values.
ANDERSON: Yet the fact that the U.S. continues to hold an estimated 520 foreign nationals, many of them Muslim, at Guantanamo, and the complaints of abuse made by some of those who have already been released, continues to be a sore point in the Muslim world and potential fuel for trouble.
MCLAUGHLIN: Even in countries that cooperate very closely with us and who are wonderful allies, there is always some latent anti-U.S. sentiment. And something like this is what brings it out. It's sparked the dry tinder in some cases.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: And, Anderson, "Newsweek"'s apology and U.S. denials of the charges apparently aren't going to be enough. Both Pakistan and Afghanistan at this stage still asking for an official investigation into the alleged desecration of the Koran and punishment for anybody found guilty -- Anderson.
COOPER: Yes, Becky, this is not the first time we have heard of these kind of allegations?
ANDERSON: No, absolutely not. Internationally people pointed to the fact that allegations like these have arisen before. A report issued in 2004, for example, by three young men from the north of England, known as the "Tipton Three," who were detained in Afghanistan in 2001, then held in the Guantanamo for two-and-a-half years -- subsequently released, remember, without charge -- also alluding to religious humiliation.
They alleged the guards would throw prisoner's Korans in the toilet. Now perhaps these allegations are true, perhaps they're not. The questions being asked here are should "Newsweek" have reported the Koran allegation given its inflammatory nature, and should the Arabic news channel that picked it up rebroadcast it knowingly -- knowing that the fierce allegations would have been received around the world. Those are questions being asked. They haven't yet been answered -- Anderson.
COOPER: Certainly have not. Becky Anderson, thanks very much.
We also invited "Newsweek" magazine to respond but it declined today. I'm joined now by CNN terrorism analyst Peter Bergen and media critic Howard Kurtz of CNN's "RELIABLE SOURCES" and the Washington Post, which, we should say for the record, is owned by the same parent company as "Newsweek".
Peter, Howard, thanks for being with us. Peter, let me start off with you. With the "Tipton Three," the story was out there before. These allegations had been made. There weren't demonstrations when it was on CNN.com a year ago. Why now are there these demonstrations?
PETER BERGEN, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: Well, as you probably are no doubt aware, there is a lot of anti-American sentiment in that part of the world. Bin Laden scores a 65 percent favorability rating in Pakistan, which is better than President Bush does here. And those numbers are also true in countries like Jordan and Morocco.
So as John McLaughlin pointed out in that report, I mean, this was light to a tinder, and, you know, a reaction occurred. And I think it is symptomatic. This is rather the occasion rather than the cause, the reports of the Koran. I think there's a lot of latent anti-Americanism. The war on terrorism in much of that part of the world is seen as actually a war on Islam, and these kind of reports feed into that.
COOPER: But who is whipping it up? I mean, all of these guys we're seeing here probably didn't read the latest copy of "Newsweek". And these allegations, as I said, have been out there before.
BERGEN: Well, certainly there are people in Afghanistan we have seen -- I've been very optimistic about the situation in Afghanistan for some period of time. Suddenly we are seeing a lot of things go south. There was a bomb that went off and killed three people in Kabul last weekend. Just today an Italian aid worker was kidnapped, also in the middle of Kabul.
So we're seeing the Taliban sort of resurgent. Traditionally they have a spring offensive when the weather gets better. And this is all part and parcel of this wider movement and effort to destabilize the central government.
COOPER: OK. Howard, from the media standpoint, why did "Newsweek" finally now decide to retract?
HOWARD KURTZ, HOST, "RELIABLE SOURCES": "Newsweek" says it didn't know there was any problem with the story until Friday when the violence broke out. The amazing thing about this story, Anderson, is that it was one-half sentence in a 10-sentence item about this investigation into tactics used at Guantanamo Bay.
It wasn't picked up by the American media, perhaps in part because detainees had alleged this before. "Newsweek" now saying it had a U.S. government source, an unnamed source who was -- confirmed it, that source now backing off.
And the Pentagon didn't make any dispute or denial of the story, again, until the violence broke out.
COOPER: So is "Newsweek" saying pointblank, the story is not true or simply the one source that they had which they depended on for the story has now backed down?
KURTZ: "Newsweek" is not saying that it can prove or disprove that such an incident involving the defiling of the Koran ever took place ever in the history of the Guantanamo interrogation. What "Newsweek" is saying is that the specific allegation in this item, that a U.S. government official said that military investigators had confirmed this has taken place, this would be in an upcoming military report, that it can no longer substantiate. That it is retracting. That it is apologizing for.
And you know, of all the high profile media blunders that I've covered in the last couple of years, this is one that has -- was probably triggered by the shortest amount of words but with the deadliest consequences.
COOPER: Peter, is it beyond the realm of possibility that a tactic like this was used? I mean, "60 MINUTES" reported just recently, one interrogator coming forward, saying that they routinely seemed to sort of use religion against some of these prisoners, in one case a woman using fake menstrual blood on a man to sort of defile him. Is it beyond the realm of possibility?
BERGEN: I don't think it's beyond the realm of possibility, to be honest. And it's not just the British detainees who have reported this, other detainees have reported this. So I think it is still an open question. I think that there is a great misunderstanding amongst a lot of non-Muslims about how important the Koran is. The Koran is the living word of God.
So Arabic-language Koran is such a sacred part of the Muslim culture that I think a misunderstanding of that has occurred not only at "Newsweek", but perhaps elsewhere. And that is why we're seeing the reaction we're seeing.
COOPER: And it's a reaction which will no doubt continue in one form or another. Peter Bergen, we appreciate it. And Howard Kurtz, again, thanks very much.
Coming up next on this two-hour edition of 360, Florida bracing for another possible pounding. That's right, we're talking about hurricanes. The season is just around the corner. And there's a new report out, get ready for this, it says you better load up on some supplies because it's going to get nasty. We'll have that ahead.
Also tonight, you call 911 for help but that doesn't mean you're going to get it. The emergency system is under greater pressure today than perhaps ever before. We're talking about cell phones, Internet phones, not enough money to go around. Tonight, we're taking a special close-up look at "911: Lives on the Line."
Also tonight: invasion of the bees. Find out how millions of them ended up inside the walls of one couple's home, millions of bees inside one couple's home. Unbelievable. All that ahead.
Right now, let's find out the most popular stories on cnn.com.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Remember that? It doesn't seem that long ago, does it? Last year's hurricane season in full force, Charley, Frances, Ivan, and Jeanne, all became household names. Well, believe it or not, we are just a little more than -- a little over two weeks really away from a new hurricane season. June 1 is the date. Forecasters believe this one is going to be just as bad if not worse than last year's.
The government predicts there are going to be seven to nine hurricanes. Three to five of them will be major storms with winds exceeding 110 miles an hour. Get the galoshes ready. And folks in Florida, they are not welcoming the news.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER (voice-over): With less than a month to go before the start of hurricane season, in Pensacola, Florida, Wilton Holmes (ph) is making yet another trip to the Home Depot.
WILTON HOLMES, FLORIDA HOME OWNER: We're in the process of rebuilding our condo that we have on the beach.
COOPER: In Florida, they don't ask if you got hit by a hurricane last year, they ask how many times.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The last one caught us off-guard. And it was real -- it was devastating.
COOPER: Between August 13 and September 25, Florida was slammed by not one, not two, but four major storms. It killed 113 people and caused $40 billion worth of damage. I was there for all four.
...Charley...
... with 145 mile-an-hour winds....
... Frances...
... but you really have no idea what is coming toward you...
... Ivan...
... I've got the video...
... and Jeanne...
... whoa!
An average Atlantic season produces six hurricanes. Today forecasters predicted this year will be above average with seven to nine storms.
CONRAD C. LAUTENBACHER, NOAA ADMINISTRATOR: We can't predict very accurately this far in advance how many will strike the United States. But with higher levels of activity, the statistics favor more of them striking the United States. So we would say to be prepared for two to three of these to make landfall.
COOPER: Last year storms spread misery all around the Southeast and even up through Ohio and Pennsylvania.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I urge all of you who are in these hurricane- prone areas to do what you can to prepare now.
COOPER: Good advice, even if you don't want to hear it. Do you know the quickest routes out of town? Do you have an idea of what family pictures and keepsakes you would absolutely want to take along? Have you set aside food that won't spoil if you lose power? And when was the last time you checked your insurance policy or jotted down your agent's phone number?
MAX MAYFIELD, NATL. HURRICANE CENTER: Have that hurricane plan, and have it in place now before the hurricane season gets here. The battle against the hurricane is won now, not when the hurricane comes knocking on the door.
COOPER: Back in Pensacola, Wilton Holmes and his neighbors are hoping they will at least have doors by the time this season's hurricane come knocking. This year, however, they are also worrying, what if?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Get relaxed and next thing you know it's there and you're not ready.
COOPER: This is no time to relax. Hurricane season starts in just over two weeks, on June 1.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: And we already have the names of the summer storms. Here's a quick news note for you. This year's list contains names such as Ophelia, Wilma, and Stan. Chances are we'll become familiar only with the names of the top of the list, the first five being Arlene, Brett, Cindy, Dennis, and Emily. The names of storms that are particularly costly or deadly are removed from the list. So you won't see another Charley or Frances or Ivan or Jeanne. Good riddance.
We're following a number of stories right now across the country. Let's take a quick look. Sophia Choi from HEADLINE NEWS joins us with the latest.
Hey, Sophia.
SOPHIA CHOI, CNN HEADLINE NEWS: Hi, Anderson. Well, wine lovers can certainly drink to this. In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court has ruled against restrictions on out-of-state wine sales. The court says such laws are anti-competitive. The decision overturns laws in 24 states and could open up Internet wine sales.
West Point, Virginia, President Bush plugs his energy plan. In a speech at a biodiesel refinery, he stressed the importance of developing alternate fuels. President Bush called on the Senate to approve his energy bill, which was passed by the House last month.
Atlantic City, New Jersey, splash landing: yesterday a corporate jet skidded off a runway of an airfield and into a bay. Yesterday a corporate jet, as we said, skidded but luckily the pilot and three passengers onboard escaped with only minor injuries. The pilot says the jet's braking system failed. The FAA says the airfield is not supposed to be used by jets.
Miami-Dade County, Florida, mm, mm, yummy honey, but not where you'd expect. Beekeepers removed more than 3 million bees and 50 pounds of honey from behind the walls of this home. The homeowners say they heard buzzing noises for several months but had no idea there were bees behind their walls.
And that's a look at the headlines. And Anderson, you'd have to wonder why they didn't go check it out earlier when they said it sounded like a buzzsaw? COOPER: Yes. For a couple months you hear buzzing noises? You would think you would at least, I don't know, put a glass up to the wall or something.
CHOI: At least they weren't killer bees, just honey bees.
COOPER: Yes. I guess that is looking at the bright sides. Thanks, Sophia, we'll see you again in about 30 minutes.
Coming up next in this two-hour edition of 360, are you one of the millions of Americans suffering from outdoor allergies right now? Find out how to breathe a little easier. Ahead our 360 M.D., Dr. Sanjay Gupta, has some much needed relief.
Also tonight, hate crime caught on tape. A neo-Nazi shoots a video of himself before firebombing a synagogue. Find out how a little arrogance, a lot of stupidity, and a rolling camera helped police nab their man.
And a little later, volcanic eruption: 25 years after Mount St. Helens, find out why scientists say we aren't properly prepared for the next big blast.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Well, for many of you, there's no joy in springtime. Sneezing, itchy eyes and headaches all part of the daily routine as the pollen invades and allergies attack. The doctors say it is only getting worse. So is there any way to get relief? You bet, says 360 M.D. Sanjay Gupta. He tells us how we can overcome those pesky allergies.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KRISTEN STONE, ALLERGY SUFFERER: It's a haze, like a fog, like you are just walking through life in a fog. That's when it is mild, when it's severe, it is almost, I would say, like getting a migraine. You know, your head just -- the pressure is very painful.
SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For years Kristen Stone woke up groggy and unfocused, enduring frequent headaches, living with a burning itch in her eyes, nose, and throat, working hard to breathe through her congestion.
STONE: I don't think people know how debilitating allergies really are. I think they're just like, oh, you have an allergy, big deal, just deal with it.
GUPTA: But they are a big deal to at least 30 million Americans. Kristen and many others suffer from hay fever or outdoor allergies made worse in the spring and the fall. And many allergists, like Dr. Clifford Bassett, say seasonal allergies have been on the rise. The main trigger: pollen.
DR. CLIFFORD BASSETT, ALLERGIST, AAAAI: In many urban areas we have seen an overplanting of male plants, trees and shrubs. And male plants typically are involved with pollen that produces a lot of symptoms.
GUPTA: And the prettier and more fragrant a plant is, it is less likely that it will trigger allergies. Beautiful plants tend to be insect-pollinated plants, not wind-pollinated plants like trees or grass.
BASSETT: So not only do pollens cause seasonal allergies, but the foods we eat may also aggravate and cause an allergy attack.
GUPTA: In fact, eating some fruits, including apples and pears, can aggravate allergies. And if you're taking Echinacea to ward off symptoms, you may be making them worse because the popular supplement is in the same family as ragweed.
The best way to prevent debilitating allergies, reduce your exposure to pollen by spending less time outside in the morning when levels are at their highest. And reduce your exposure at night by washing your hair at the end of the day, changing your clothing, and removing your shoes before getting into the bedroom.
BASSETT: That will help to reduce pollen exposure by over 50 percent, which will translate into feeling better when you wake up in the morning.
GUPTA: Also, use a HEPA filter in air conditioning at home and in your car to filter out the allergens. Avoidance is one thing, treatment another. It's become a billion-dollar industry from over- the-counter medications like Claritin and Benadryl, to a whole host of prescription antihistamines, decongestants, and asthma medications like Zyrtec and Allegra, to immunotherapy in the form of shots.
The good news, there are a lot of options. The bad news, the best treatment is different for everyone.
BASSETT: Get tested and get the right treatment. And early treatment and continuous treatment works better than just taking as- needed treatment.
GUPTA: For Kristen Stone, she has finally found something that works for her, a daily over-the-counter antihistamine.
STONE: Which helps to keep me focused and alert, I'm able to go to events, I'm able to go to my kids' soccer games and softball games and be able to do those things that I couldn't do before.
GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Well, tomorrow, we're going to look at peanut allergies. They affect millions of Americans and are known to kill. You may be surprised by what can trigger a dangerous reaction. 360 M.D. Sanjay Gupta is going to have that report tomorrow.
A jury says Samantha Runnion's killer should face death. Tonight, the crime that shocked a nation and changed a sheriff forever.
"911: Lives on the Line.: What happens when you dial for help? What makes it work? What happens when it fails? 360 takes you inside the calls. Meet some of the people saving lives at the other end of the line.
This two-hour special edition of 360 will continue in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: You are about to meet a man named Sean Gillespie. He is only 21 years old, but he has already thrown his life away. He's currently awaiting sentencing for attacking a synagogue in Oklahoma City. He could be in his fifties by time he sees freedom again.
CNN's Rick Sanchez reports Gillespie's conviction was swift because his crime and even his hate were all caught on tape.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN: 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 the discoloration where the fire-bomb was thrown.
SANCHEZ: Ann Dee Lee is a member of the temple that was bombed.
LEE: It ticks me off, if you want to know the truth.
SANCHEZ: Does it 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: You 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.
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.
He bragged about running over black people -- bragged about this.
ROBERT MCCAMPBELL, U.S. ATTORNEY: Right. 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 to. SANCHEZ: 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, in fact, was 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: How important was this tape?
It was incredibly important. 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.
MCCAMPBELL: We asked the U.S. attorney to play the tape Gillespie had made.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEAN GILLESPIE: ... Zionist training center. I'm going to fire- bomb it with Molotov cocktail, destroy a window first and then throw the Molotov cocktail in for maximum damage. I will film it for your viewing enjoyment, my kindred. White power.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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. He headed over there but somehow got lost along the way. Frustrated, he saw a synagogue and decided that instead would be the place where he would vent his hate.
(voice over) 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.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What did you do?
GILLESPIE: They got me videotaped. I made bombs and blew up a Jewish synagogue.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: What kind of person talks like that?
MCCAMPBELL: 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: 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.
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: Coming up next on this two-hour edition of "360", a jury decides the fate for Samantha Runnion's killer, while the man who brought him to justice talks about how the case hit him personally.
Also ahead tonight: the eruption of Mount St. Helen, 25 years later. It's only time before the next big blow.
Is the area even prepared?
A little later, "911: Lives on the Line." It is the three numbers we all depend on. Will 911 be there for you when you need it most? A special report coming up.
ALI VELSHI, CNN: This week's "Turnaround" found us in Walnut Creek, California, where Denise Vickers runs a small bakery. But she is getting burned by financial concerns.
DENISE VICKERS, OWNER, WALNUT CREEK BAKING CO.: We are in the situation where we have a line of credit that is being called due. We are trying to get them to extend it and not to close it so that we still have the line of credit available.
VELSHI: Denise, like many business owners, needs the right ingredients to help her with the money matters. Mentor Gary Rogers, CEO of Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream, had some ideas.
GARY ROGERS, CEO, DREYER'S GRAND ICE CREAM: You not only need to become profitable, but you need to become profitable enough that you can pay off that debt.
VELSHI: Here's what Gary suggested: Figure out the cash flow, update bankers on a regular basis and talk to others who have succeeded in a similar business.
Running a small business is no piece of cake, but Denise took Gary's advice and she's on her way to her turnaround.
I'm Ali Velshi. See you next time.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Today jurors in California had a choice for the man who killed 5-year-old Samantha Runnion: life in prison or death. The decision took seven hours.
The jury recommended that Alejandro Avila be executed for the murder of Samantha. He abducted her, you'll remember, from outside her home in 2002. Her body was found the very next day. Sentencing will be held in July. And chances are the man who brought him to justice will be there to see it.
CNN's Miguel Marquez has more on the sheriff who did everything he could for little Samantha.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN: Her name was Samantha Runnion. As soon as she was abducted, Sheriff Mike Carona knew he was in a race against time.
SHERIFF MICHAEL CARONA, ORANGE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA: If you don't find that child within the first three hours, 74 percent of the children are dead.
MARQUEZ: But this sheriff was ready. A deputy at Samantha's house just four minutes after she was taken, a sketch of the suspect widely circulated. And he used what was then a new method to tell the county a child was missing, an Amber Alert.
CARONA: During the early hours we were very, very hopeful, again, because we had such a quick response. Unlike a lot of other law enforcement agencies across this country, we had already run an Amber Alert.
MARQUEZ: So hopeful he made a promise to Samantha's mother.
CARONA: Where it became personal to me is the first time I had to sit down with Erin Runnion and ask her for a picture of Samantha so we could get that out to the public. And telling her, much like I'm looking you in the eyes, and saying, I'll bring Samantha home alive.
MARQUEZ: Carona all but begged the public for help, and he got it. Thousands of phone calls, tips. But soon came the call no one wanted to hear.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my God, we found a dead body. Please hurry. OK, I'm in the Ortegas, OK? Ortega Mountains in Riverside County, OK?
MARQUEZ: The sheriff, a self-described by-the-book man, went into denial.
CARONA: To a person, we didn't want to believe it. There was an absolute sense of denial by all of us.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They believe they found a small child, the body of a small child here in this ravine.
MARQUEZ: The race to save Samantha had failed. Now Mike Carona's mission was a manhunt. Again, he made it personal.
CARONA: Don't sleep, don't eat, because we're coming after you. We will take every resource that's available to us to bring you to justice.
MARQUEZ: Within days, the hunt was over. Alejandro Avila was arrested. Again, the sheriff didn't mince words.
CARONA: I am 100 percent certain that Mr. Avila is the man who kidnapped and murdered Samantha Runnion.
MARQUEZ: Later, when thousands came to mourn the little girl and the sheriff rose to speak, something remarkable happened.
First, they applauded.
(APPLAUSE)
Then they stood.
(APPLAUSE)
Later, even the president would thank the sheriff.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I want to congratulate you for your good work, for helping to make your community as safe as possible.
MARQUEZ: The race to save Samantha was not in vain. Just days after her death, California made Amber Alerts a state law. Congress and the president soon followed. Samantha's mother Erin became an advocate for child safety.
ERIN RUNNION, SAMANTHA'S MOTHER: There have been 40 -- over 40 Amber Alerts issued in the state of California, and every single child has been recovered alive.
MARQUEZ: The case that grabbed Mike Carona's heart still doesn't let go. He gave his word to Samantha's mother, and he failed to keep it.
CARONA: I did make a commitment to her mother, and I failed in that original commitment. And that part -- that's the one that you just grapple with, and it sticks with you for the rest of your life -- probably the rest of my life.
MARQUEZ: This sheriff will always remember the little girl he never met.
Miguel Marquez, CNN. (END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: And a jury has recommended that Samantha Runnion's killer be executed.
Sophia Choi from HEADLINE NEWS joins us with the latest at about 18 to the hour. Hey, Sophia.
CHOI: Hi, Anderson. An Iraqi market place erupts into a fireball as two car bombs explode just minutes apart. Take a look at the pictures here. This was the scene in southern Baghdad earlier today. Police say the blast killed nine Iraqi soldiers and an unspecified number of civilians. A number of attacks across Iraq today have killed at least 24 Iraqis.
Here in the U.S., some hope for cancer sufferers. This study says breast cancer patients who follow a low-fat diet are 24 percent less likely to have their cancer come back. Another study found that taking aspirin regularly can help colon cancer patients reduce the risk of a relapse by half. Now, some doctors warn, though, that more research needs to be done, as always.
Another study published in "The Archives of Dermatology" has found that the popular acne-fighting drug Accutane did not cause depression in a group of adolescents. Accutane has been linked to birth defects, and the FDA is now monitoring it for ties to suicide.
Now, keep in mind, another study published just this month shows that the drug can cause depression in a small percentage of people.
And golfing great Jack Nicklaus is hanging up his clubs. The 65- year-old says the British Open in July will mark the end of his tournament career. Nicklaus has won a record 18 majors, and Anderson, the Golden Bear says he's just a sentimental old fool. You saw how emotional he got right there. I bet you he will get just as emotional at his last tournament in July.
COOPER: A remarkable career he's had. Thanks, Sophia. We'll see you again in about 30 minutes.
CHOI: Sure.
COOPER: Coming up next in this two-hour edition of 360, Mount St. Helens, a sleeping giant? Twenty-five years after its major eruption, find out why scientists say we're not ready for the next one.
Also tonight, "911: Lives on the Line." A special report: A woman trapped under tons of debris calls for help on her cell phone. A dispatcher recalls every precious minute it took to save her life.
Plus, inside a 911 call center in hot Miami on weekend nights. The calls for help, the stress, the tragedies and the triumphs.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COOPER: Unforgettable images of a day that shook the nation. This Wednesday marks the 25th anniversary of the eruption of Mount St. Helens, May 18th, 1980. Within minutes, 57 people were killed, and a lush landscape was transformed into a wasteland.
This has been one of the most popular stories all day on CNN.com. And our own Rudi Bakhtiar is here to give us an angle you won't see anywhere else -- Rudi.
RUDI BAKHTIAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Anderson, we tend to focus on Mount St. Helens because of that incident 25 years ago, but there are 169 volcanoes in the United States. So we wanted to find out what scientists are doing to make sure it doesn't happen again.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BAKHTIAR (voice-over): October 2004. The sleeping giant awakens, and the nation holds its breath. As ash and steam rise from the crater, so does the fear of another catastrophic eruption.
We keep a close eye on Mount St. Helens, but if you think it's the only volcano to be wary of here in the United States, think again.
The consortium of U.S. volcano observatories says there are currently 18 volcanoes that it considers to be of a very high threat. They include Mount Hood, Mount Rainer, Kilauea and Shasta. The USVO believes the volcanoes in a very high threat category pose a potential for explosive eruptions. They are also close to densely populated areas.
Thirty-seven other volcanoes in the U.S. were considered a high threat, and 48 others posed a moderate threat. The reason for this assessment isn't to scare, it's to prepare. The USVO is calling for a national volcano early warning system to reduce the risk of danger.
The seismologists believe monitoring should, quote, "provide the ability to track detailed changes in real time and to develop, test and apply models of ongoing and expected activity."
To be sure, monitoring volcanoes has come a long way since 1980. Back then they were done primarily on paper. Today, scientists use sensors, microphones and computers.
Also 25 years ago, changes in the landscape of a volcano were captured with the use of aerial photos. Now it can be achieved instantly with GPS Global Positioning Units.
How much will an early warning system cost? The hope is to use the technology of today to reduce the threat of tomorrow.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
Anderson, the threat of an eruption isn't only for people on the ground. According to one report, nearly 100 commercial jets are known to have inadvertently flown into ash plumes since 1980 at altitudes as high as 37,000 feet, including eight where one or more of the engines shut down. Three 747s actually lost all of their engines.
COOPER: Rudy Bakhtiar, thanks very much.
Next on this two-hour edition of "360", a special report, "911: Lives on the Line." A woman trapped and the 911 hero who answered her call for help.
Also ahead tonight: Crying wolf. Pranksters abusing the 911 system and how it endangers all our system.
And it's not just people who dial 911. You're going to meet a dog who is a lifesaver who dialed 911 with her nose and a wet nose at that. We're covering all the angles.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: One of the first things many parents teach their young children is when you need help you dial 911. It's really a nation- wide panic button. Every day 911 operators receive half a million calls. That's every day.
And the fact that we rely so heavily on the system means it is under greater strain than perhaps ever before. It's not the volume of calls we're talking about. In some cases, new technology is to blame like cell phones and Internet phones. They created problems that really have yet to be resolved.
For the next hour we're going to be focusing on our 911 system. We're going to have some remarkable stories how it has saved lives and some equally remarkable ones of how the technology failed and how it's sometimes being abused in ways that endanger us all.
Rick Sanchez is going to take us inside the emergency response system in Miami.
SANCHEZ: It's 19 minutes past midnight. A woman from this house calls police to report an emergency.
You can hear the siren going. Means we received a 326. That means there's a burglary in progress. And we're racing to it as we speak
COOPER: That's ahead. We begin with a story where everything worked out as it should, the story of a horrible explosion, a badly injured victim with a tenuous phone connection and one 911 operator who refused to hang up.
Here's CNN'S Adaora Udoji.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JENNIFER ROHAN, BLAST VICTIM: Hi, I'm in the Eatontown explosion at Petco.
ANTHONY CELANO, 911 OPERATOR: Are you stuck inside the building?
ROHAN: I'm stuck inside the building.
CELANO: Where are you in the building?
ROHAN: I don't know. I'm underneath all this rubble.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ADAORA UDOJI, CNN: Jennifer Rohan was trapped under tons of debris. The New Jersey Petco store where she worked exploded, the devastation so powerful the roof plunged to the basement taking her down, too.
ROHAN: I remember hearing it. I remember being like, "oh, my God."
I kind of felt like my body was on a roller coaster without the benefit of the roller coaster being there. I remember actually just lifting off the ground.
UDOJI: Miraculously, Jennifer's cell phone survived the crash. She was conscious. Within minutes, she was talking to a Monmouth, County, 911 dispatcher Anthony Celano.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROHAN: Please save me.
(UNKNOWN): Jennifer, stay right with us.
ROHAN: I think I'm going to die.
CELANO: We're not going to let that happen. Stay on the line with me. OK?
ROHAN: Help!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
UDOJI: Jennifer could hear dozens of firefighters combing through the wreckage, but they could not hear her. In shock and badly injured she started losing hope.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROHAN: I got to get another phone call, hold on.
CELANO: No, Jennifer. Don't worry about that phone call. OK?
ROHAN: Huh?
CELANO: Don't worry about the phone ringing. Keep me on the line. OK?
ROHAN: I would like to say goodbye to my loved ones.
CELANO: Jennifer, keep me on the line. OK? (END VIDEO CLIP)
UDOJI: Anthony assured her for 51 minutes, the longest call of his five-year career, while guiding firefighters. She remembers every minute.
ROHAN: He remained calm and kept me very calm, as well, and kept me awake and kept me off the phone with my friends who would have probably gotten me into a panic.
CELANO: Inside I was anxious and nervous and so it was...
UDOJI: You were feeling anxious and nervous at the time? You certainly didn't sound like it.
CELANO: You can't let the person on the other end know that -- you can't get upset. You don't want to yell at them. You don't want to raise your voice. You just got to keep it even all the way through.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CELANO: Jennifer?
ROHAN: Yes.
CELANO: Stay with me. OK?
ROHAN: I'm trying.
CELANO: You feel like you're going to pass out?
ROHAN: I can wiggle my fingers. One of them is split wide open.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
UDOJI: Two months later the scene looks very different. The building has been torn down, the debris taken away.
For the first time, Jennifer got to meet the man who helped her through the uncertain moments before she was rescued.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROHAN: Hey.
CELANO: How are you?
ROHAN: I'm all right. How are you doing?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
UDOJI: Anthony didn't come empty-handed. Jennifer came in a wheelchair still healing after losing part of her leg and part of a finger. She suffered the worst injuries of four people hurt in the explosion. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROHAN: Thank you so much.
CELANO: No problem. I'm glad I could help.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROHAN: There's no doubt in my mind if I hadn't been able to get through to somebody that I would not have made it through that. So I'm just very lucky I got Anthony.
CELANO: It's the first time I ever talked to somebody on a 911 call and met them in person. It, kind of, I guess came full circle.
UDOJI investigators say the blast followed a natural gas leak caused by construction workers puncturing a nearby gas line. Pictures don't accurately capture the devastation. It's hard to believe no one died here. But back then, Jennifer didn't think she would make it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CELANO: Whatever you do, just stay as still as possible. OK? I don't want you to move.
ROHAN: OK. I'm having problems breathing now.
CELANO: OK. Do you have any debris laying across your chest?
ROHAN: I am on my side.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROHAN: There's so many people out there in our community that do things like Anthony does and we never thank them. The firemen, policeman, we never thank them -- the 911 operators.
CELANO: It's always interesting.
UDOJI: Anthony refuses to take all the credit.
CELANO: Everybody did an awesome job. There was about 15 to 20 fire departments out there, all the police and the state troopers. They kicked butt.
UDOJI: Voices Jennifer was thrilled to hear.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FIREFIGHTER: Hey, Jen?
ROHAN: Yeah?
FIREFIGHTER: I'm going to have to cut your coat.
ROHAN: Whatever makes you happy, dude. (LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
UDOJI: Jennifer Rohan is now suing the companies involved in that construction work. Reportedly at least one company has said they had no idea the gas line was there. The local prosecutor found no criminal conduct, but he drew no conclusion as to which company was at fault. Rohan is also looking forward to returning to work, saying she can't imagine her life, Anderson, without animals. And her Petco store promises to make a comeback.
COOPER: I love that, on the tape, she said, whatever makes you happy, dude, to the firefighter about cutting her coat.
All right, Adaora Udoji, thanks very much.
Well, that is a 911 success story. And, over the course of the next hour, you're going to hear several more, hardworking dispatchers saving lives. But the 911 security blanket is not as safe as you might think, and people have died because of it. Consider this. When making an emergency phone call from your home, the dispatchers will generally know where the call is coming from.
Now, that of course is crucial in case the caller is in danger, perhaps a young child or incapacitated, and they can't actually describe where they are. But you may be surprised to find out what happens when a cell phone is used to make a 911 call. It turns out, only 40 percent of the 911 call centers in this country are equipped with technology that lets dispatchers know your wireless phone number and where you are. And that is very alarming, considering that one quarter of calls made to 911 come from cell phones.
CNN's Keith Oppenheim takes a look now at one case in which the lives of dying people were literally on the line and police couldn't figure out where they were.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TWILA HORNICKEL, MOTHER OF VICTIM: She was always smiling. I don't think we have any pictures where she wasn't smiling.
KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Twila (ph) Hornickel's 20-year-old daughter, Janelle, is now a memory, a picture of a smiling college student. It was here by this sand pit in eastern Nebraska I took a walk with Janelle's family near the place where Janelle and her 20-year-old boyfriend, Michael Wamsley, died.
(on camera): Does this spot make you feel sad?
T. HORNICKEL: Sure. It really does. Mother's Day was real hard, because it made a hole in our family.
OPPENHEIM: The tragedy happened on January 4 in a blinding snowstorm. The couple was driving this pickup towards Omaha and got lost. They called for help with a cell phone Twila had given to her daughter.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
911 OPERATOR: Sarpy County, 911.
JANELLE HORNICKEL: Hi. I'm here to report -- I feel very threatened.
911 OPERATOR: Hello?
J. HORNICKEL: I'm by Mandalay apartment complexes.
911 OPERATOR: Are you in Omaha?
J. HORNICKEL: Yes.
911 OPERATOR: All right, let me transfer you. Stay on the line.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
OPPENHEIM: The problem is, Hornickel and Wamsley were not in Omaha. They were in a neighboring county and very confused. Autopsies would later reveal they were high on methamphetamine.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Both had enough that the likelihood of them being able to find out where they were going or act rationally was gone.
OPPENHEIM: Michael Wamsley would do most of the talking during nearly two hours of calls to various 911 dispatchers. Presumably because he was impaired, the information he gave about where he was wrong.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
911 OPERATOR: Could you describe to me, like, any of the street names that you've come across tonight, the last thing you remember seeing?
MICHAEL WAMSLEY: All I know for sure is Poppleton, and then there's a couple blocks. Then there's the Poppleton apartments. Then they got those other apartments.
911 OPERATOR: Poppleton is way north of Harrison. That's not anywhere near Gretna.
WAMSLEY: OK. Well, ma'am, I don't know exactly, but I need help. I talk to 'em. I told the lady, and my phone's just about to die. You're my last chance here.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
OPPENHEIM: One day after the anguishing 911 calls, Michael Wamsley's body was found frozen in the snow. Six days later, Janelle Hornickel's body was discovered. They had left the safety of the pickup truck and walked into the cold weather. T. HORNICKEL: I would have liked to have stopped them. I would have liked to have known why they were out here. But the issue stands that they were. And with the drug use involved, you're not -- if we could have found them, we could have dealt with that. But we were cheated out of that chance.
OPPENHEIM: As much as this case raised awareness about the destructive use of methamphetamine, it also brought attention to problems with cell phones in emergencies. Sarpy County officials say, Wamsley and Hornickel might have been saved with what is called phase two technology, the ability of 911 centers to receive location coordinates from cell phones and know where a caller is.
Consider that, in some parts of Nebraska, 911 dispatchers can't locate a cell phone caller at all. That's called phase zero.
(on camera): But here in Sarpy County, dispatchers can do a little better than that with phase one technology. But, still, that has its limits. We're going give you a little demonstration here and I'm going to dial 911.
911 OPERATOR: Sarpy County 911.
OPPENHEIM: Hi. This is Keith Oppenheim. Can you see the location of where I'm calling from?
911 OPERATOR: I can see the general area that you're in, but I do not know your exact location.
OPPENHEIM: The dispatchers can read the address of the tower that might my cell phone signal is reaching, but that only gives them a general idea of where I am, because they're not at phase two. In other words, they can't pinpoint my exact location and realize that I'm calling them from just outside the dispatch center.
(voice-over): Wamsley and Hornickel were calling counties with phase one ability, but it wasn't enough to find them. Ironically, had they been 25 miles to the east, in Iowa, where phase two is up and running, the call's location could have been picked up. Such differences aren't unusual. According to the National Emergency Numbers Association, less than half of 911 centers in the U.S. can detect where a cell phone caller is.
Now Nebraska's legislature has ordered a study to determine whether cell phone companies should charge an extra dollar a month to pay for the latest technology.
JAN HOWARD, SISTER OF VICTIM: I don't think a lot of people understand that, with their cell phones, they are inaccessible.
OPPENHEIM: After her sister's death, Jan Howard appeared before a Nebraska legislative panel and testified that a surcharge to update 911 centers would make a dramatic difference.
HOWARD: And I was trying to show them how it was from our point that I would have given anything to spend that $12 a year more to not have gone through what me and my family went through.
OPPENHEIM: And perhaps what two lost 20-year-olds went through can be a reminder.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
WAMSLEY: Honey, come on. Get up.
911 OPERATOR: Is she starting to lay down?
WAMSLEY: Yes. She's breathing. Please, you've -- get over here to help.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
OPPENHEIM: That the ability of emergency responders to help people in desperate trouble depends on their ability to find where the trouble is.
Keith Oppenheim, CNN, Omaha, Nebraska.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER (voice-over): She made frantic calls to 911, asking them to save her three daughters, kidnapped by a deranged husband. Tonight, how the three girls ended up dead and why the Supreme Court is hearing their mother's case; "911: Lives on the Line," what happens when you dial for help? What makes it work? What happens when it fails? 360 takes you inside the calls. Meet some of the people saving lives at the other end of the line.
And a first-time mom makes a desperate call to 911. Tonight, how a dispatcher helped this frantic mother calm down and save her baby's life.
This special edition of 360 will continue in a moment.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Welcome back this special edition of 360. I'm Anderson Cooper.
You may be surprised to hear that almost a million Americans have thrown out their regular home phones and signed up instead with an Internet-based phone service, one that sends your calls digitally through the Web, rather than through standard phone lines. Now, the appeal is, it is usually cheaper. But some of the Internet phone services do not mesh with the 911 system.
For example, with an Internet phone service, someone who is sitting in, say, Boise, Idaho, can be calling from a Boston area code. So when they call the 911 dispatcher, they get confused. Some Internet phone services don't even connect their users to 911 or they route callers to nonemergency numbers, which may not be staffed in off-hours.
Cheryl Waller says that's exactly what happened to her last March. Her baby had stopped breathing. She grabbed her Internet- based phone and dialed 911, unaware that she was being connected to a nonemergency phone number. By the time she ran to a neighbor's house to use their phone and help arrived, Cheryl's three-month-old baby had died.
Cheryl Waller and her attorney, Mike Smith (ph), join us now from Orlando.
Cheryl, thank you so much for being with us. I'm sorry for your loss.
CHERYL WALLER, MOTHER: Thank you.
COOPER: I know I can only imagine how painful this is for you. But take us back to that night. You realized your baby wasn't breathing. You call 911. What happened?
WALLER: The only thing that I received on the other end was, hang up and dial 911. If this is an emergency, hang up and dial 911. So I did several times. And, eventually, I realized I wasn't getting anybody.
So, I grabbed her and I ran across the street. I had my neighbors call 911.
COOPER: And how long was it before help arrived?
WALLER: I don't know. It seemed like forever.
COOPER: When you signed up for phone service through the Internet with Vonage, you actually signed an agreement that acknowledged you weren't going receive the traditional 911 services. They said that, when you dial 911, the call is routed from the Vonage network to the public safety answering point or local emergency service personnel. That's what it said in the agreement. Did you realize you were signing that?
WALLER: That was never, never made clear to me. There is no way I would have ever had a 911 service at my house that was connected to a nonemergency number. I have several children in my home, and now I have one less.
COOPER: Mike, you haven't filed a lawsuit yet. I understand the issue is being looked at by a number of states. What do you want to see happen?
MIKE SMITH, ATTORNEY: Well, Anderson, there's several things that we are hoping to accomplish, first of all, awareness. We want the public to be aware of the fact, for those people that are signing up for 911 Internet service, we want them to be aware of the fact that what they're getting may not actually be the traditional 911 service that they think that they're getting.
In fact, in this particular case, Ms. Waller received an 11-page service agreement. And buried within that service agreement that had 54 sections, buried within that was the terms that actually told you it is really limited 911 that you're getting. And we want the public to ask questions. Those people that have Vonage or any other Internet phone, we want them to ask the questions, so that when an emergency happens, they don't find themselves in the situation that Ms. Waller did.
COOPER: Cheryl, did you try to call Vonage? The next day, I understand, you called them. What did they say to you?
WALLER: They actually laughed and said that they could not revive a baby.
COOPER: Wait a minute. The person you called at that company laughed?
WALLER: Yes. They were -- it was a woman named Marsha (ph). She was laughing at me. She says, I can't revive a baby. And then she thought she put me on hold and she went in the background for another five minutes and laughed about it, joked about it.
COOPER: We spoke to a representative of Vonage, who refused to address specifically the question of whether the death of your daughter had to do with the service. But they did say this.
They said -- quote -- "Our hearts go out to the Waller family. And we are doing everything in our power to make sure that this never happens again. In the meantime, we're sending calls to live, manned emergency service centers. In the event we cannot send the calls to a live manned emergency service center, we're sending the calls to a live manned phone line at a local law enforcement agency."
Cheryl, is this enough?
WALLER: No, because that live manned phone they say is at a police station could be the front desk, where an operator went home for the day. That is not enough. Stop advertising you have 911. You don't have it. Stop advertising it.
COOPER: Well, Cheryl Waller, again, I appreciate you being on. I think a lot of people didn't realize this, don't realize it. And I know you want to educate the public about it. So, we appreciate you taking the time to do it, as painful as it is for you.
Cheryl, thank you.
And, Mike Smith, as well, thanks for joining us.
WALLER: Thank you, Anderson.
SMITH: Thank you.
COOPER: A couple of other stories to bring you up to date right now.
Sophia Choi from HEADLINE NEWS joins with us the latest at about a quarter past the hour.
Hey, Sophia.
SOPHIA CHOI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Anderson.
"Newsweek" takes it back. It retracted a story that triggered riots by Muslims in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The story said the U.S. had found that copies of the Koran had been desecrated by American interrogators at Guantanamo Bay. The U.S. says there is no such evidence.
Put some teeth in the Michael Jackson defense. An orthodontist testified that Jackson's teenage accuser visited his office during the time the boy was allegedly being held captive at Neverland.
And, Anderson, better pack up that rain parka again, yes, the one you wore last hurricane season. Forecasters say this year's Atlantic hurricane forecast could be even worse, with as many as nine Atlantic storms in the forecast, five of them category three or higher. Now, that would mean that winds would be at least 111 miles per hour. The season runs from June through November.
And that's a look at the headlines.
Anderson, guess you better get ready to hang on.
COOPER: Yes. Really looking forward to it. All right, Sophia, thanks very much. Let's hope it doesn't happen. See you again in about 30 minutes.
Coming up next in this special two-hour edition of 360, just who decides when there is an emergency?
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
JESSICA GONZALES, MOTHER: My kids still aren't home. I'm a little wigged out. I don't know what to do.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
COOPER: We have the story of a mother who said there was an emergency, the police who said there wasn't and the tragedy that followed.
Also, later, we're going to take you inside an emergency call center where things can get very tense indeed.
Plus, a 911 case that played out on live TV and it turned out to be a hoax.
We're covering all the angles.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COOPER: The 911 system is a remarkable piece of technology; 6,000 call centers in the U.S. take close to 200 million calls a year. But for all the high-tech machinery, how calls are handled often boils down to human judgment, dispatchers who determine what is a real emergency and what is not. Now, often, they get it right. But sometimes there are tragic mistakes.
The story now of a mother in Colorado who just couldn't help but think that her three daughters were in danger. So, she did what any parent would do. She called 911 and that's when her battle began.
Here is Sean Callebs.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Three little brown-eyed, brown-haired girls, so close, their mom, Jessica Gonzales, called them peas in a pod. Rebecca, the oldest.
GONZALEZ: She was 10. She was the little mommy.
CALLEBS: Katheryn was eight.
GONZALEZ: And she was the middle daughter. She was very shy.
CALLEBS: And the seven-year-old.
GONZALEZ: Leslie was the baby.
CALLEBS: Sadly, this wasn't the picture-perfect family. Jessica was estranged from her husband, Simon, though she did allow him to see the girls occasionally. But on June 22, 1999, something didn't seem right and she called the Castle Rock Police dispatcher, saying she needed help.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
GONZALEZ: I filed a restraining order against my husband. And we had agreed that whatever night was best, I would let him have the dinner hour. But, tonight, there was no sign of him around or anything, and the girls are gone.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
CALLEBS: It was around 7:20 in the evening. Jessica told a police dispatcher the girls were missing.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
911 OPERATOR: When was the last time you saw them?
GONZALEZ: About 5:30. They were, like, we're going to out. And I am like, if daddy comes, you let me know and come tell me if you are leaving.
(END AUDIO CLIP) GONZALEZ: Jessica said, in her mind, it was a clear restraining order violation. She wanted police to act immediately and arrest her husband. Police looked for the 30-year-old man, but from the information gathered on the call to the dispatcher, they decided it wasn't a life-threatening emergency.
TONY LANE, CASTLE ROCK POLICE CHIEF: There was no violation of the restraining order. He had -- and it was listed in the restraining order -- the right to take the girls out to dinner one night a week.
CALLEBS: But before the girls disappeared, Jessica says, in a tense conversation, she adamantly told her husband he could not take the girls on this night.
GONZALEZ: He said, then I know what I have to do. And, of course, he always made empty threats and cried wolf way too many times. So, I didn't really know what that meant.
LANE: She was asked a couple of times if she thought the kids were in any danger at all. And she said no, that she didn't fear that at all.
CALLEBS: At one point, when Jessica called the 911 emergency number...
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
GONZALEZ: My kids still aren't home. I'm a little wigged out. I don't know what to do.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
CALLEBS: She was eventually told:
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
911 OPERATOR: OK, Jessica. You know what I want you to do? I want you to call back on a nonemergency line. OK?
GONZALEZ: OK.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
CALLEBS (on camera): Around 8:00 that night, Jessica said she finally reached her husband and he said he was with the girls at this amusement park in Denver. She called the Castle Rock Police once again. Authorities, convinced that Simon Gonzales was not in violation of the restraining order, did nothing. Jessica said, by this point, she had grown frustrated by that she perceived as police inaction.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
GONZALEZ: You guys said, well, if he's not back by midnight, give us a call.
911 OPERATOR: OK. I remember that. OK, we'll have an officer come by.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
CALLEBS: But instead of waiting for the police, an anxious Jessica this time went directly to the Castle Rock station. By this time, it was the seventh time she talked with the Castle Rock Police. Three hours later, tragedy.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shots fired.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
CALLEBS: Simon Gonzales opened fire on the Castle Rock Police station.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We got a man dead. Officers appear OK.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you confirm, man down, officers are OK?
(END AUDIO CLIP)
CALLEBS: Gonzales was dead, then a horrific discovery.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We got possibly three dead children inside of the vehicle.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
CALLEBS: Police say Gonzales killed his three daughters. To this day, Jessica doesn't understand why the small police agency didn't do more.
GONZALEZ: I won't make excuses for them. I can't. I can't imagine why. I really can't.
LANE: I think, based on the information that the officers were dealing with that night, they acted very appropriately.
CALLEBS: Jessica filed suit against the city of Castle Rock for $30 million. The case has made its way all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Justices are being asked to decide not if the police acted improperly, but whether Jessica can sue the city, arguing her property rights were violated when police failed to act on her claim the restraining order had been violated. Jessica's lawyer says police have to be held accountable.
BRIAN REICHEL, ATTORNEY FOR GONZALES: The tragedy in all of this is that it is our belief that the police simply weren't trained in how to respond to these types of situations. CALLEBS: The high court ruling is expected in a matter of weeks. Castle Rock city leaders say they expect to be vindicated. Jessica contends it is not about the money.
GONZALEZ: And, hopefully, for -- this will stop some of the future tragedies that come out of domestic violence. And that's ultimately my goal.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CALLEBS: And, for her, a way to keep the memory of three small children alive.
Sean Callebs, CNN, Denver, Colorado.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: And we'll keep you updated on how the Supreme Court rules.
Coming up next in this special two hour edition of 360:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The actual map. And it will pinpoint in that area where the caller is at.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: We're going to take you inside an emergency call center where life-or-death decisions are made every day in a matter of seconds.
And a little later, an extreme emergency with a little baby's life on the line.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Welcome back to this special two-hour edition of 360.
We're devoting the entire hour to something that may save your life, 911 calls. We sincerely hope you'll never need to dial those three numbers. But, if you do, we want to show you who might be on other end of the line.
We sent Rick Sanchez inside a busy emergency center in Miami.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Miami, Florida, is a hot destination at any time of the year. But, on this weekend, police are expecting it to be particularly eventful. And if it is a hot night in the city, this is where it will first be detected.
This is Miami's 911 center, one of the most sophisticated in the entire country, where the people on the midnight shift begin by checking an old-fashioned bulletin board for a listing of local events.
(on camera): From an emergency standpoint, knowing that an event is taking place better prepares you for the aftermath of that event.
LT. LILLIE HARRIS, MIAMI POLICE DEPARTMENT: Without a doubt. Without a doubt.
SANCHEZ: People who go to concerts, get into traffic accidents, they often can have too much to drink. They often can change their moods.
HARRIS: Yes.
SANCHEZ: This can cause you to have to work a little more.
HARRIS: Yes. And all of that is factored into the operational plans.
SANCHEZ (voice-over): It is 19 minutes past midnight. A woman from this house calls police to report an emergency.
(on camera): You can hear the siren going. It means that we have just received a 326. That means there is a burglary in process and we're racing to it as we speak.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There might be a family inside and somebody is trying to pry the door open. That's why the -- we are getting the authorization to run out signal three.
SANCHEZ: So, some lives could be in danger on a call like this?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Correct.
SANCHEZ (voice-over): At the scene, police arrive to a locked home, frightened residents, and an explanation only an experienced street cop could put together. This was no burglary.
SGT. MANNY MORALES, MIAMI POLICE: My gut tells me it's more than likely that (INAUDIBLE) that came to purchase or use narcotics in the front house, made a mistake and went to the back house.
SANCHEZ: This man has called police to report being attacked by a woman, kicking and punching him and his vehicle, he says. He tells us it's a jealous ex-girlfriend.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She threw that at your face? She hit you in the face with that?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING SPANISH).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And then what -- (SPEAKING SPANISH) -- what did she do?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING SPANISH).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So she said -- so she threw something against the car and then did she threaten you? (SPEAKING SPANISH)?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Si.
SANCHEZ: Meanwhile, back at the police communication center, the calls continue to stream in.
SINDY PAUL, 911 OPERATOR: If it's a life-threatening emergency, they just want the police officer right there. They don't want us to go down the list of the protocol. They want immediate assistance.
SANCHEZ: It's a Saturday night. And getting clear information from nervous callers can become a frustrating ordeal at both ends of the line.
For people calling 911, it's the perception they're not getting what they need fast enough.
(on camera): For example, you may wonder why these dispatchers seem to be playing a game of 20 questions with you, why you don't hear them talking to a police officer.
Here is why. While they're getting your information, these officers are actually talking to the police officers, simultaneously, oftentimes relaying that information. Happens just like that.
(voice-over): Back on the streets, police have found the jealous ex-girlfriend. It's a classic case of he says/she says. But because of a witness account, she is arrested, and will spend at least one night in the county jail.
PAUL: Attention units en route to 322 at 345 Northwest Street/5 Street. The only information we have is that the offender is still on the scene. Repeat, the offender is still on the scene. No description.
SANCHEZ: Thanks to the quick call, police arrive on the scene in time to arrest a suspect, charged with attacking a man with a machete. The wounded victim of a machete attack was raced to the hospital. His mother gets the news from consoling neighbors.
Police were able to get to the scene in just three minutes, thanks in part to some new technology.
(on camera): This gives you what? The text information.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Correct. The address and the phone number where the caller is calling from.
SANCHEZ: All written out for you?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
SANCHEZ: And this over here -- this is state of the art. It's a map, right?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, the actual map, and it will pinpoint in that area where the caller is at. Right now, we have you at 9th...
SANCHEZ (voice-over): You see that circle on the map? That's a cell phone radius which lets police narrow the caller down to a four- block area. But as he moves into another radius, they're able to narrow him down even further.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE), she's hiding under the table in the dining hall -- in the hallway.
SANCHEZ: The midnighters are now well into their shift when a burglary call gets personal.
It changes to a 315. That means an officer needs assistance. Back-up arrives, and together they search the area. The officer is OK. However, the bad guy has gotten away.
The next call brings police and fire rescue together, responding to a man who may be having a heart attack. They need to get him to the hospital right away. But what about his kids? They would be left alone. It's a dilemma.
A helpful neighbor comes to the rescue, until a family member can arrive.
(on camera): You're going to take care of the children?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
SANCHEZ: Neighborly thing to do, huh?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right. Because they'd do it to me.
SANCHEZ (voice-over): That gives fire rescue the green light to transport their patient.
MORALES: Extra large loads...
SANCHEZ: The midnight crew is almost ready to call it a night. Good news for Sergeant Morales, but he's got one more incident to deal with. A so-called baker act, somebody police consider to be a danger to themselves or others. This woman says her sister stole her eyes and she needs to get back to ancient Rome.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Relax real quick.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm not going to jail?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, you're not going to jail.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're not going to jail.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And based on the statements, on the observations that I made here, OK, we're going to take you to GMH (ph) crisis so you can talk to somebody, OK?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just came from them. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know you just came from them.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't need a crisis, (INAUDIBLE) to you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It looks like you need crisis to me, OK? Just have a seat real quick, sweetheart. We're just trying to get you the help that you need, OK?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: And there you have it. That's the midnight shift. Started -- there are five of us -- started sometime around 9:00, went through 7:00 the next morning. In all, 124 arrests were made that night.
What we learn is that what they're trying to do is standardize this system somehow, try to come up with a way so that it's as exact as they can possibly make it, and I'll give you an example of what they're doing.
They actually have now put out a protocol list. Obviously, it can't be an exact science, because there is too much subjective conversation going on, but if they give the operators the words that they should use when people make the phone calls, then they can use that as a guideline. And what that does is that eliminates most errors. They're trying to get as state-of-the-art as they possibly can get, or at least moving in that direction.
I'm Rick Sanchez. Anderson, back over to you.
COOPER: You know, Rick, it's amazing when you see -- when you spend that amount of time with the officers and the dispatchers, I mean, they do this every day, day in, day out, hour after hour, and the kind of stuff they deal with, I mean, it runs the gamut.
SANCHEZ: It's interesting you should say that, because I talked to a lot of them and pulled them aside and I said, do you ever take this home with you? And they said, we most definitely do, especially when it involves kids or even some of our fellow officers. Sometimes it takes weeks to get over this. And sometimes they have to get them counselors as well.
COOPER: Tough job. All right, Rick Sanchez, thanks very much.
Coming up next in our 911 special hour, the modern-day equivalent of crying wolf. Coming up, the real shocking real story behind a hostage drama you may have seen on live television.
Also a little later tonight, a story you won't want to miss. The dog that called 911 and saved her owner's life. Amazing. All with that wet nose.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Sophia Choi from HEADLINE NEWS joins us with the latest at about a quarter -- about 20 to the hour -- Sophia. CHOI: Hi, Anderson. As Iraq's new government pledged to crack down on insurgent killings, more roadside bombings took their toll and more bodies found. Hundreds of Iraqis have been killed in attacks since the end of April.
The U.S. says it's disturbed that Uzbekistan's military opened fire on anti-government demonstrators. The Uzbek government is an ally in the war on terror, and the U.S. has a military base there.
In Santa Ana, California, the mother of five-year-old Samantha Runnion thanked jurors today for recommending the death penalty for her killer, Alejandro Avila. Samantha was snatched while playing in her yard almost three years ago.
And an elevator inside the Washington Monument stalled and trapped some tourists today. The group said a guide spent that time explaining the monument's history in detail. Always nice to get back on the ground, huh? Those are the headlines at this hour.
Anderson, back to you.
COOPER: Sophia, thanks very much.
Coming up next on this special edition of "360," a 911 operator remembers the time a baby's life was on the line. Could the operator find the right words to save a tiny baby's life? You won't want to miss that story.
And a little bit later: it isn't only people that call 91. You're going to meet a high-tech dog who's a lifesaver.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: We're looking at the challenges facing the nation's 911 emergency response system. Now it handles half-a-million calls for help every day. Both the technology and the dedication of the 911 operators is truly amazing.
Gary Tuchman has the story of one call, a perfect blend of technology and humanity with a young life hanging in the balance.
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN: The call came in at 4:53 in the afternoon.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CINDY WALKER, 911 OPERATOR: 911, what is your emergency?
CHERYL DRIGGERS: My baby stopped breathing.
WALKER: OK. Stay on the line with me. I'll get help to you. OK?
TUCHMAN (voice-over): Barrett Driggers (ph) was two-and-a-half weeks old; his body completely limp; his mother on the phone with the Leon County, Florida, 911 center.
Helping her was dispatcher Cindy Walker (ph).
WALKER (voice-over): She was in a state of panic. It made me think of my own children and how I would feel, you know, in this situation.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): This 911 center averages more than 33, 000 calls per year. But for Cindy Walker, the CPR call was her first and the fact that it involved a baby only added to the pressure.
Cheryl Driggers (ph) did not realize it at the time, but Cindy Walker was using a special computer system.
WALKER: While I was taking the call I put the address in and the determined it was a 2.5-week-old infant not breathing.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): A system which lists customized instructions on the screen.
WALKER (voice over): I told her this: Listen carefully and I'll tell how you to do CPR compressions. Place two fingers in the center of his chest, right between the nipples.
WALKER: Now what I want you to do -- listen carefully. I'm going to tell you how to do CPR compressions. Place two fingers in the center of his chest, right between the nipples.
C. DRIGGERS: OK.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): At that point, thought, the baby still wasn't breathing.
C. DRIGGERS (voice-over): That was going through my mind: I've lost him. What am I going to do? I won't be able to see him grow up. I'm not going to be able to see the first steps.
WALKER: Push down one inch with only your fingers touching the chest. Pump his chest rapidly five times.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): It was right after those words that Cindy Walker and an EMS supervisor with her worked their magic.
WALKER: OK. Put your mouth over his nose and mouth, one soft puff and then pump five times on his chest.
Breathe lightly like you're blowing up a balloon.
Are you covering his nose and mouth? Keep doing that.
C. DRIGGERS: He's starting to cry.
WALKER: All right. Good.
C. DRIGGERS: OK, baby.
WALKER: Keep crying. TUCHMAN (voice-over): Paramedics took the infant to the hospital. Doctors think the baby had choked on digested food. But little Barrett's (ph) life had been saved. Cheryl and Jason Driggers (ph) regard Cindy Walker as a hero.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
C. DRIGGERS: She was incredible. She is incredible. She was so calm. She was so knowledgeable. And I was on the other end just hysterical.
TUCHMAN: How did you feel when you heard him cry?
C. DRIGGERS: It was the best feeling in the whole wide world.
JASON DRIGGERS, FATHER: I don't know how you explain it. You go from not knowing if he's alive or what is going on to knowing he's fine. That's the weight of the world lifted off your shoulders.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): Cindy Walker and EMS Supervisor Tom McNabb received letters of commendation from the Leon County Sheriff's Office as well as gratitude from the Driggers.
Cindy Walker wonders if emotionally she could have continued her job if Barrett's life had not been saved. Barrett's mother thinks of the what ifs.
C. DRIGGERS: Your children aren't supposed to consume you. You're supposed to raise them for 18, 20 years and then send them out. But I really -- as young as Barrett was, he was my whole world at that point. And I don't know what we would have done.
TUCHMAN: Lucky, aren't you?
C. DRIGGERS: Yes, very blessed. The Lord blessed us tremendously. He put all the right people at the right places at the right time.
TUCHMAN: Gary Tuchman, CNN, Tallahassee, Florida.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Very blessed indeed.
Coming up next, the most amazing 911 call you have ever heard. You will not understand a thing the caller says because the caller is this dog.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: This hour, we have been looking at the burdens placed on 911 services. Now, one problem we haven't yet addressed is crank calls. Now, when we were kids, we all learned the fable about the boy who cried wolf. It's an ancient story, of course, and a crucial lesson for most of us. But now, thanks to the Internet and 911 system, crying wolf is taking on a whole new malicious twist. Here is CNN's Deborah Feyerick.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It began with a frantic call to New Jersey police. A teenage girl saying she had just been beaten and raped, and that her two attackers were holding her prisoner. One of them even grabbing the phone.
LARRY BOYD, UNCLE OF "BOMBING" VICTIM: He told the police if you show your face here, I will kill her, I will kill one of you, and I'm going to kill myself.
FEYERICK: Larry Boyd's niece was living on the first floor of the New Brunswick home where the call was supposedly made. Police hoped Boyd might recognize the caller's voice. A SWAT team converged. The neighborhood was shut down. And hostage negotiators tried to coax out the suspects. Six hours later...
BRUCE KAPLAN, PROSECUTOR: There were three people that came out of the third floor of the apartment.
FEYERICK: The teens who came out seemed to fit the description. It was a total coincidence.
The 911 call never came from New Jersey. Police say it came from Arlington, Texas, from 23-year-old Fatin Ward. Fatin's mom insisted we shield her face. She says her daughter is obsessed with chat rooms and people she meets on the Internet, and that the teen watched the New Jersey drama play out on TV.
DORTHULA WISENER, MOTHER: She was so excited on the chatline laughing with them, because I guess they were all watching it. Laughing and grinning like, you see it? I can't believe that she was that excited over something so serious.
FEYERICK: The call was a prank, known in chatrooms as "bombing." The caller takes revenge on someone who has made them angry by reporting a fake emergency. Police respond, guns drawn.
KEVIN BARROWS, FORMER FBI AGENT: It's a serious problem for law enforcement. And there is really very little ability for them to decipher what's a fake call and what's a real call, until it's often too late and they've been deployed.
FEYERICK: Internet services now make it easy for caller ID to reflect whatever number someone chooses. It's what happened when Pennsylvania police dispatcher Jim Connel got a prank call.
JIM CONNEL, POLICE DISPATCHER: 12241132, stand by.
FEYERICK: From a woman now believed to also be Fatin Ward.
CONNEL: I actually thought it was a real call. She was excited, she was crying, you could tell she was nervous. She -- the first thing she said is a friend of mine, the father is shot, and the mother and the baby.
FEYERICK: Police believe the target inside that home may have been a teenager who fought with Ward on the phone. The teen and his mom were terrified by the experience.
SGT. TIM RUOFF, PALMER TOWNSHIP POLICE: Both were very panicked and fear-stricken. They did not know what was going on. They did not know the circumstances, or why they're being called out. And it puts them in a very difficult situation, coming out and having their house surrounded by police officers.
FEYERICK: So far no one has been hurt. But police worry it's just a matter of time.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We would enter a plea of not guilty...
FEYERICK: Fatin Ward and a friend recently pleaded not guilty to making the New Brunswick calls. Authorities in at least a dozen towns in three states, New Jersey included, are now investigating whether Ward may be responsible for a number of other phony calls, and whether these pranks are just the beginning.
Deborah Feyerick, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Well, finally tonight, you've got to have faith that a dog is man's best friend, especially when that dog's name is Faith and it saves your life. Leana Beasley is alive today thanks to her canine companion making a 911 call with her nose. I spoke to Leana earlier.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: So let's go back to the day that Faith really saved your life. First of all, she's got -- everyone calls her Faith, but her official name is much longer. It's Faith Van Moritz Fernberg (ph)?
LEANA BEASLEY, SAVED BY DOG'S 911 CALL: It's Faith Van Moritz Bergberg (ph).
COOPER: OK, very grand name for Faith.
BEASLEY: Yes.
COOPER: Going back to that day, you felt bad. You thought it was the flu, but it was your liver really shutting down.
BEASLEY: Yes.
COOPER: What happened?
BEASLEY: I -- Faith wouldn't let me go to sleep. She kept jumping up on the bed and running circles on my bed. So -- and she wouldn't stop. So...
COOPER: She doesn't normally do that, I don't think. BEASLEY: No. This is very odd behavior for her. She's not allowed normally up on my bed. And so she repeatedly kept doing this. So I finally, I got up, got back into my wheelchair, and sat out in the living room with her, to try to calm her down. I was beginning to feel nauseous, so I went into the kitchen to make some hot water for hot chocolate. And as I was reaching across the stove for the kettle, I just went black, passed out.
And when I fell out of my wheelchair, I hit my head on the kitchen cabinet. And that threw me into immediate grand mal seizures. And that's when Faith sprang into action, and she knew exactly what to do for the seizures.
COOPER: So even -- what did she do? I mean, you started having a seizure, what did she do?
BEASLEY: She immediately ran to the phone, picked it up, brought it back to me. She ran back to the base, pushed the speed dial button, came back to me again.
COOPER: So Faith -- she dials 911 with her nose. Let's play the recording from 911 to hear what happens next.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
911 OPERATOR: 911. This is Jenny. Please state your emergency. 911. Hello? Hello?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: When you heard that 911 call for the first time, what was that like?
BEASLEY: I just got chills. I was just -- every time I hear it, I get chills. I was just totally, totally amazed.
COOPER: I know Faith has had a lot of training. Can you show me how she dials 911?
BEASLEY: Faith. OK. Faith, 911. Good girl. OK. Make a call. Good girl.
COOPER: So you have a button especially marked for 911.
BEASLEY: This is just her training phone. The phone that she actually calls 911 on is black. And the speed dial button is painted white. And then she's target-trained to push the white button with her nose.
COOPER: How do you view her? I mean, I've got a dog, I view her as part of the family. I mean, do you...
BEASLEY: She's actually -- I consider her an extension of my own physical body, just like my wheelchair is. My wheelchair is my legs, my mobility. And Faith is the same thing. She's an extension of me. We're a team. And I take care of her, and she takes care of me. COOPER: You guys make a great team.
BEASLEY: Yeah.
COOPER: It's really great to meet you. Thank you so much for coming in.
BEASLEY: It's nice meeting you.
COOPER: And Faith Van (ph) -- what is it, Moritz (ph)?
BEASLEY: Faith Moritz (ph) ...
COOPER: Bernberg (ph).
BEASLEY: Yes. Faith Vam Moritz Bergenberg (ph).
COOPER: Bergenberg (ph).
BEASLEY: Bergberg (ph).
COOPER: I'll just call her Faith.
BEASLEY: Yes.
COOPER: Faith, good job.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: And that is one great dog.
I'm Anderson Cooper. Thanks for watching this special two-hour edition of 360. CNN's prime-time coverage continues right now with "LARRY KING LIVE." Larry's guest is going to be actor Robert Blake.
END
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