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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees

Aruba Case Update; Edgar Ray Killen Sentenced; Brush Fires; Abramoff Investigation

Aired June 23, 2005 - 19:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

ANDERSON COOPER, HOST, "ANDERSON COOPER 360": Christine, thanks very much.
Good evening, everyone. A surprise arrest in Aruba: the father of a suspect is now a suspect himself. 360 starts now.

(voice over): Under arrest: the father of Joran Van Der Sloot. Tonight, why the judge is now a suspect in Natalee's disappearance.

Wildfires spreading fast: California, Arizona. Tonight we take you to the front lines of the inferno.

And you won't believe what's living in your mattress and your pillow. Tonight, the tiny creatures you're sleeping with, and what you can do to get rid of them before they make you sick.

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

COOPER: Good evening to you.

We begin tonight in Aruba, where a surprising development happened today in the hunt for American Natalee Holloway. Another suspect has been arrested, one unlike the others in police custody. He's not a teenager, for one, who was seen with Holloway at a nightclub, nor is he a young party deejay or entertainer. No, police this time arrested a judge, the father of one of the other suspects.

CNN's Karl Penhaul has been following the case in tonight's "World in 360". Karl, what's the latest?

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, police arrested Judge Paul Van Der Sloot about five hours ago. Now he's under interrogation at the police station, we're told by prosecutors.

He was questioned by police as a witness, or a possible witness, in the case of Natalee Holloway over the weekend. But now prosecutors say very clearly, he's viewed as a suspect in the -- involved possibly in the disappearance of Natalee Holloway. What the prosecutors will have to decide within the hour now is whether they have enough, in questioning him, to hold him for a further two days.

Of course, his son, Joran Van Der Sloot, has now been in custody for about two weeks. He was arrested along with the Kalpoe brothers, Satish and Deepak, two weeks ago. They were the last three people seen in the company of Natalee Holloway. And in the course of the day, we did talk to the Kalpoe brothers' mother. And she says that when she visited Satish Kalpoe in jail on Tuesday, he has admitted to her that he had been lying.

And just to give you a little bit of information about Judge Van Der Sloot, he's a 53 year old. He brought his family to Aruba about 15 years ago from Holland. And before being a judge, he was a top official in the prosecution service of this island, Anderson.

COOPER: Karl, a bunch of things to talk about. One, I've heard him described as a judge by some, and then by others as a kind of a wannabe judge. So sort of a judge in training. Which is accurate?

PENHAUL: We put that question to Paul Van Der Sloot about two weeks ago. He describes himself as a judge. The attorney for Joran Van Der Sloot also describes Paul Van Der Sloot as a judge. He's a judge in his early stages of judgeship, Anderson, but has already presided over some cases.

COOPER: OK, authorities saying he may be involved. Are they giving any sense of how he may be involved? I mean, what's the thought here?

PENHAUL: No. Really authorities are tight-lipped on this, as we've been saying all along here. Dutch law very different from U.S. law. They're not giving out any information at all, so no clues as to what he may have said or given away during the interview session over the weekend that has now warranted his arrest and accusation that he may be involved in Natalee's disappearance, Anderson.

COOPER: All right, Karl Penhaul, thanks very much.

We're going to continue following this. We're going to talk to Karl a little bit later on in the program for more developments.

All along, Natalee Holloway's mother has said she believed other people, not just the four suspects they had in custody these last couple days, were involved in her daughter's disappearance. She said it was her intuition.

CNN's Chris Lawrence was with Beth Holloway Twitty today when she got word of the judge's arrest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) communicated...

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Natalee Holloway's mother had waited nearly a week for any real development in her daughter's disappearance. We were the only ones riding with Beth Holloway Twitty when she and a friend got the call Paul Van Der Sloot has been arrested.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They're showing it on CNN right now.

BETH HOLLOWAY TWITTY, NATALEE HOLLOWAY'S MOTHER: The arrest? They're here (ph) (INAUDIBLE). How could they show it on CNN?

(CROSSTALK)

TWITTY: CNN's showing it, the arrest. CNN is showing it right now.

LAWRENCE: No one expected that an hour earlier, especially Beth.

TWITTY (on phone): OK, honey. No new news, just, I think you need to be here tomorrow, OK?

LAWRENCE: She was making plans to welcome more of her family.

TWITTY: You're going to fly in for just the weekend, because I want you to come.

LAWRENCE: Saying good-bye to a friend who had to fly home.

(on camera): How long have you been here (INAUDIBLE)?

(voice-over): Beth has been so frustrated. For nearly four weeks now, devoting every minute to her daughter's disappearance.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Start early, end late.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) we ate dinner at 12 (INAUDIBLE).

LAWRENCE: Beth was surprised, and smiled as she got the call about Judge Van Der Sloot's arrest. She immediately called her husband.

TWITTY: OK. I love you, Jack. Bye.

LAWRENCE: When we got back to the hotel where Natalee had been staying, Beth rushed in to meet with investigators, having nothing to say on Judge Van Der Sloot's arrest.

(on camera): Are you surprised at all, like, at that coming so soon after you spent time with him? And, you know, just spent that hour with him?

TWITTY: (INAUDIBLE).

LAWRENCE: And with that, she walked inside, hoping she's one step closer to finding her daughter.

Chris Lawrence, CNN, Palm Beach, Aruba.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: What every day must be like that, for that woman, for the family of Natalee Holloway. It's terrible.

Later this hour, we're going to talk to CNN's Nancy Grace. She's been following this case from the get-go. We'll get her thoughts about the mystery unfolding now in Aruba.

In California, a wildfire ironically named Paradise is burning across 4,500 acres of the Morongo Valley, about 100 miles east of Los Angeles. Now, 1,000 firefighters are battling the blaze. You can see some of them there. It is only one third contained at this point.

And over in Arizona, there's a 30,000-acre fire burning in the Tonto National Forest just outside Phoenix.

CNN's Jonathan Freed is there. Jonathan, what's the latest?

JONATHAN FREED, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good evening, Anderson.

I can tell you that we're about 25 miles northeast of downtown Phoenix in Carefree, Arizona. And let's start by taking a look over my left shoulder. About five miles away from us is where one of the hot spots is burning right now. You can see the smoke. And at times, we even think that we're seeing a glow. We're not sure if it's the light and the angle in the distance that's playing tricks on us, but we're -- but we think that we're possibly even seeing a glow from flames down there right on that far ridge.

This fire has been burning, Anderson, since Tuesday night. It was ignited by a lightning strike.

Now, let's pan up from here for a second, tilt up. And you can see a thunderhead that has formed over that -- this hot spot, Anderson. What's going on is the heat from the fire is causing all of the moisture to rise up and to form this gigantic thunderhead.

Now, the forest people here were telling me that one of their concerns is that if it builds up to a critical mass, they say it is possible that it could at one point collapse upon itself, and that there might be some kind of a downdraft, which could conceivably force the fire out in various directions and spread it.

Now, let's move over to my right, and I'll tell you about the second half of what's been going on here. In the distance, you can see -- I don't know if you can make it out, but there is a radar dome about 10 miles away on a peak that's probably centered up for you now. And that is Humboldt Mountain. That's part of the air traffic control system. It's an unmanned automated facility. The second hot spot is burning over there.

Now, over to the left, over to the left we have Butte Mountain. That's where about 200 homes were evacuated, and 125 people were driven out of their homes. And there are some million-dollar homes down in that area as well.

So we're talking about 30,000 acres, Anderson, in this area, burned or burning at this time.

COOPER: We'll be following the situation. Thanks very much, Jonathan.

Coming up next on 360, a former KKK member sentenced for a 41- year-old crime. But have old stereotypes really changed? Find out what the former mayor of one Southern city has to say. It's going to shock you.

Also tonight, extensive coverage of the surprise arrest in Aruba. Why is the judge in custody, and where is Natalee Holloway? All that ahead. CNN's Nancy Grace also joins us live to talk about the missteps in the investigation, and there have been a lot of them so far.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Tonight, the final act to one of the ugliest chapters in America's fight for racial equality is over. This man, Edgar Ray Killen, was sentenced in Philadelphia, Mississippi, today to 60 years in jail for masterminding the 1964 murders of three civil rights workers.

The 80-year-old Killen was a former KKK member. He showed no emotion when the sentence was read.

And these were his victims. Take a look. Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner, and James Chaney. All three men were ambushed on a Mississippi road, shot to death, buried under 15 feet of earth by a bulldozer. Their bodies were found 44 days later.

You know, the trial of Edgar Ray Killen opens up a lot of old wounds. It also shines a cold, hard light on the past. And certainly much has changed since the '60s, but some things, sadly, seem to stay the same.

During the trial, Philadelphia's former mayor, Harlan Majure, told the jury the KKK did a lot of good. Said they were a peaceful organization.

Now, we don't take sides on 360, but we do care about the facts. The truth does matter.

So I talked to the former mayor earlier this week. And what he says, well, you got to hear for yourself.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Why do you believe the Ku Klux Klan at any time in their history was a peaceful organization and did a lot of good?

HARLAN MAJURE, FORMER MAYOR OF PHILADELPHIA, MISSISSIPPI: Because when I was a small child, in the mid-'30s and during the Depression years, my daddy worked at a little country store and made $2 or $3 a day. At night, when he would come in from being at that store, he would say, well, the Klan was busy over the weekend. And he was not a member of the Klan, none of our family have ever been a member of the Klan.

But he'd say they went by to see whoever, so-and-so, because if there was anybody in the community, of the neighbors, that would not take care of the family, too sorry to work, or waste their money and not take care of the wife and the children, the Klan would pay them a visit. If there was somebody in the neighborhood that was messing around somebody's house, or with somebody else's wife, the Klan would pay them a visit. And they visited more white people, and they whipped more white people than they did black people. This was, like I said, in the '30s.

COOPER: Are you kidding? Do you know that the U.S. Senate just apologized for their role in not preventing the lynchings of several thousand African-Americans going back more than 100 years, 4,700 lynchings that happened between 1882 and 1968?

MAJURE: No. I'm not aware of that.

COOPER: You were a twice-elected official. Don't you have responsibility to be aware of the history, not only of your town and your -- and -- but the country we live in? I mean, shouldn't -- if you're going make comments about the Ku Klux Klan, shouldn't you read some history books about it?

MAJURE: Well, I didn't plan to be making any comments about it. I was summoned to be up there. I didn't believe even that the people were killed. I thought it was a publicity stunt until later on, and the -- while they were looking for them, the FBI and whoever else were having a search party. Then I realized that it had actually happened. But I didn't believe it before that.

COOPER: You thought at the time that James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner, that it was a publicity stunt by...

MAJURE: Exactly. You're right. Uh-huh And it should not have happened. I -- we were never in favor of that type of an operation. We wasn't in favor of what they did coming down here. But certainly not killing anybody. That's wrong.

COOPER: You're saying, you're, you're, you, they should not have been killed, but they shouldn't have come down there?

MAJURE: Well, I'm saying that the people that were responsible for their death was the people that organized them, wherever, whatever towns they were in. I think one of them, two of them, were from New York City. They should have been properly trained and expected more or less what you come into, and to try to change the tradition one summer that had been going on for hundred and maybe thousands of years, it just doesn't happen.

COOPER: I'm sorry, sir. I really try to be respectful of all my guests, and I respect you and your position, but you just said that these three men, who were murdered in the dead of night and buried in an unmarked grave and just abandoned, and, you know, bulldozered over -- you said the people who were responsible for their deaths are the people who sent them there to do voter registration, not the actual people who pulled the triggers?

MAJURE: Well, I'll say they were responsible for them, without schooling them, without properly training them, without giving them proper protection when they come down here, because they should have known they were coming into a hostile environment. It would have happened in any city, in any state. Where are you? Where am I talking to you?

COOPER: New York City.

MAJURE: All right. If I recruited a group of young people, and I have two granddaughters that would be the right age for that now, to go in and say, We're going to clean up the drugs, the prostitution, the money laundering, the gang wars, and stuff like that, in the city of New York, we're just going to move in and take over, because that stuff is illegal, and it was when I was up there in the military. Do you think we'd see the sunrise the next morning if we went in there, forcibly, changing that?

COOPER: Sir, it's just sad that in this day and age, you're comparing people who came down to try to help African-Americans who were living in your community and had been there for hundreds of years, people who had the right to vote, and couldn't vote, and weren't being allowed to vote, and weren't being allowed to sit at lunch counters, you're comparing people who came down to help those people to someone, like, trying to root, root, you know, root out drug dealers and killers and rapists?

MAJURE: No, I'm comparing the situation. They were uninvited. They should -- we were making progress down here. It was slow, and it wasn't at the speed that the federal government, and wasn't at the speed of whoever these were that organized this wanted to.

COOPER: Well, whoever these were -- you know, the National -- the NAACP. I mean, you say as if these three people came down were aliens from outer space. I mean, yes, two of them were from New York. But you know what? James Chaney was from Meridian, Mississippi. And that's where, that's where my grandmother's from, that's where my dad was born in Quitman, Mississippi, not too far from where you are right now.

And I got to tell you, you know, what's wrong with someone from Meridian, Mississippi, an African-American, saying, I want to be able to vote?

MAJURE: Not anything wrong with it, far as I'm concerned. The timing was bad. And we were more or less invaded. But it's just like I said, if I did the same thing in New York City, they wouldn't see the sunrise, and you know that.

COOPER: When was the right timing to give African-Americans the vote?

MAJURE: I don't have the answer to that question. There is no way I could.

COOPER: You testified that Mr. Killen is a good guy, basically. You were testifying to his character. Do you still think he's a good guy now that the jury's said he's responsible for manslaughter? MAJURE: Oh, this should not have happened, and evidently he was probably part of it, because I didn't hear the testimonies. But there's no way that you can answer all these questions that you asked, because this is history. And it was history in the making. They should have known they were going to run into a hostile situation when they came in. But they should not have been killed. I never thought that.

COOPER: Well, sir, I appreciate you coming on the program and giving us your perspective, and we do appreciate it. Mayor Harlan Majure, appreciate it very much, sir.

MAJURE: All right, thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: That was the two-time elected mayor of Philadelphia, Mississippi.

I should point out that an awful lot of people would argue that three people come down to a town where they know it's going to be a hostile situation, where they know their lives are in danger, and yet they come down anyway to help other people, those people are heroes, not interlopers.

Coming up next on 360, a new arrest in Aruba in the disappearance of Natalee Holloway. The father of a suspect now becomes a suspect. We'll have a live report from Aruba.

Also, our colleague, CNN's Nancy Grace, weighs in on the investigation. She joins me live.

Also ahead tonight, royal pomp and circumstance. Prince William graduates from university. Find out what he plans to do now.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: In a few minutes on 360, we're going to go live to Aruba for the latest on the new arrest in the disappearance of Natalee Holloway.

Now let's go to Sophia Choi from HEADLINE NEWS for some of the other stories we're following tonight. Hey, Sophia.

SOPHIA CHOI, HEADLINE NEWS: Hi there, Anderson.

Well, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld clashes with senators on Capitol Hill over Iraq. Rumsfeld was grilled by a Senate panel about how long U.S. troops will be in Iraq. He said there's no timetable for a withdrawal. Rumsfeld also heard skepticism from both Democrats and Republicans on how the war is going. He says those who think America is losing the war are wrong.

At the Supreme Court, a victory for towns and cities. A narrowly divided court has ruled communities can seize homes and businesses to clear the way for hotels, shopping malls, or other private developments. The case involved the city of New London, Connecticut, where homeowners are fighting a plan to transform the waterfront, saying there had to be a public purpose for seizing property, like the building of a highway or a school.

In Atlanta, Georgia, justice for Ashley Smith. She's the woman hailed as a hero for turning in a man accused of a deadly courthouse shooting spree in Atlanta in March. Now a grand jury has indicted these two men for the stabbing death of Smith's husband in 2001.

And on a lighter note, in Scotland, Prince William graduates from St. Andrews University. The second in line to the throne earned a master's degree in geography. He will spend the summer working in London's financial sector.

And, Anderson, if you think you've seen a lot of him lately, just wait, because, well, you know, the deal with the media is off now, you know (ph).

COOPER: Yes, I guess they were, they were going to kind of not bug him too much while he's in college...

CHOI: Right.

COOPER: ... and now I guess the gloves are off. It's poor, too bad for him.

CHOI: So we'll see. He's going to be splattered all over the place. You know it.

COOPER: Yes, well, anyway, (INAUDIBLE).

CHOI: Yes.

COOPER: Anyway, Sophia, thanks very much. We'll see you again in about 30 minutes.

Don't forget, you can watch video on our Web site any time. Just go to CNN.com, click the video link.

Under arrest, the father of Joran Van Der Sloot. Tonight, why the judge is now a suspect in Natalee's disappearance.

And you won't believe what's living in your mattress and your pillow. Tonight, the tiny creatures you're sleeping with, and what you can do to get rid of them before they make you sick.

360 continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: At half-past the hour, let's reset tonight's top stories.

Firefighters in Southern California seem to be getting some control over wildfires near Morongo Valley 100 miles east of Los Angeles. The blaze has torched some 4,500 acres, the flames reaching 80 feet high. At least six homes were destroyed, one was damaged. Firefighters hope to have the blaze surrounded by tomorrow. Across the border in Arizona, another fire is raging just outside of Phoenix in the Tonto National Forest. This one's burned at least 30,000 acres. Ten structures have been destroyed. Fire crews are having trouble putting this one out because it's been burning in hilly, rocky terrain, and the weather has been extremely hot.

And an extremely surprising development on the island of Aruba, in the case of Natalee Holloway, the 18-year-old girl from Alabama, who's been not seen since May 30. There was another arrest, this time of the father of one of the young men who's already in custody in connection with the case, a man who's a judge there in Aruba.

We gathered a roundtable to talk about this. Joining us live from Aruba, CNN colleagues Karl Penhaul and Chris Lawrence. And with me in New York, Court TV anchor Lisa Bloom. And in a moment, a little bit later on, we'll going to talk to CNN's Nancy Grace.

Let's -- Karl, let me start off with you. What is the latest on the arrest? Do we know why this man has been taken into custody?

PENHAUL: No, what prosecutors have told us so far, Anderson, is that he has been arrested on suspicion of some kind of involvement with Natalee Holloway's disappearance. They haven't elaborated further. What we do know, then, is that within about half an hour, prosecutors will have to decide if they've got enough information now to justify holding the judge for two more days.

COOPER: Chris, you were with Natalee's mom when she actually got the call. You were riding in a car with her. What was her reaction?

LAWRENCE: Oh, she was very surprised. She was very happy. She smiled as soon as she heard the news. She got on the phone immediately and called her husband. And it was interesting, because he was telling her that he was watching it on TV on CNN. And she started telling her friend, who was sitting next to her, it's on CNN, it's on CNN, it's on, the arrest. And she's saying, how could it be on CNN? They're right here with us already.

And obviously Karl here had already gone on the air with it and let the world know that this arrest had been made.

COOPER: Lisa, I thought they were able to hold him for eight days. Why suddenly this deadline of tonight?

LISA BLOOM, COURT TV ANCHOR: Initially they hold him and they interrogate him until 8:00 p.m. The prosecutor then goes before a judge and shows reasonable suspicion, articulable suspicion, to continue holding him.

Then the eight-day cycles start. Ultimately he can be held for 116 days under Aruban law without being charged, just for interrogation purposes.

COOPER: What, why do you think he's been brought in? I mean, there are a couple of different options. BLOOM: Well, the possible theories are he's part of a cover-up. His son was involved in -- told him something. He wasn't forthcoming with police, perhaps even lied to police. Or he was directly involved with the crime perhaps.

COOPER: He was called in over the weekend and police were saying, oh, well, he's being called in as a witness. But clearly I guess they weren't getting the answers they wanted. They could have arrested him to talk to him.

BLOOM: Well, exactly. But he's being called a suspect now, Anderson. That makes this case very different. It's not just a bunch of teenagers perhaps involved in wrongdoing, but a judge, an Aruban judge now being called a suspect. This is a major development, I think, in the case.

COOPER: Karl, have they -- they impounded his car, both the vehicles from their home. They've searched the home as well, correct?

PENHAUL: That is correct. They took bags of items from the Van Der Sloot home about 10 days ago.

Now they also seized two cars from that home and one car from the Kalpoe brothers' homes, Anderson.

COOPER: How much time did these three young men who were initially arrested, how much time were they free and clear before they got arrested? Because there is some talk that the police were monitoring them, wanted to see what kind of e-mail conversations or cell phone conversations they were having.

PENHAUL: Well, the police told us that the arrest or the timing of the arrest of the three people last known to have seen Natalee -- that's Joran Van Der Sloot and the two Kalpoe brothers -- was a tactical timing. That may indicate they were traced some way before they were actually arrested. But we do know that they were interviewed by police several times in the 10 days since Natalee disappeared and before they were arrested.

COOPER: I want to put a statement up on the screen -- a statement that was made by Anita Van Der Sloot, which is Joran's mother, to the Associated Press. She told the Associated Press that her son has essentially changed his story, what she said to the Associated Press. This is the statement that she claims her son made. "Mom, I dropped the girl at the beach, I walked with her, I left her there because she wanted to stay there. I left and I don't know what happened. There my statement ends." Lisa...

BLOOM: You know, Anderson, I picked up on that, too. He would leave her alone on the beach in a foreign country in the middle of the night. That's a statement that is hard to believe. I think that's a significant break in the case, too.

COOPER: That is contradictory -- Karl Penhaul -- to what previously he had told police, isn't it? PENHAUL: Well, initially all three boys had told police that they dropped Natalee off at the Holiday Inn where she had been staying. But this afternoon, we had been talking to Nadira Ramirez. She's mother of the two Kalpoe brothers. She said initially her sons stuck to that story. But then on Tuesday when she visited her younger son Satish in prison, that Satish told his mom, mom, I lied to you, we dropped Joran and Natalee off at the beach, near the Marriott.

Now, I put that to Anita Van Der Sloot when I talked to her this afternoon. She didn't repeat the comments that she seems to have made to the Associated Press earlier in the day. She simply said I don't know what is going on. I don't know what's going on. But it is a very tough time for her. And she does seem dazed. She said to me herself, she feels like she's living in some kind of crazy nightmare.

COOPER: Karl Penhaul, Chris Lawrence, appreciate you joining us. Lisa Bloom, good to have you back. Thank you very much.

We're going to have more on this case just right after the break with CNN's Nancy Grace who joins me here live.

We're also going take a look at bed bugs, things that are living in your mattress, in your pillows that, well, yes, I forgot my pillow, actually, after I saw this report. Probably you will too. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Well, Nancy Grace had been covering the Natalee Holloway case extensively on her nightly program on CNN's Headline News. She's also the author of a hot selling new book "Objection." An excellent book, which I am three-quarters of the way through. I'm pleased as punch -- she hasn't autographed it yet -- pleased as punch she's here tonight. Our CNN colleague, the shy and retiring Nancy Grace. Good to have you.

NANCY GRACE, CNN HEADLINE NEWS: Thank you for having me, Anderson.

COOPER: You know, I want to talk about this Natalee Holloway case. I want to put something on the screen that Anita Van Der Sloot, Joran's mother, apparently has told the Associated Press. Because this statement, basically, that her son has changed his story. She now says that this is the statement her son made. "Mom, I dropped the girl at the beach. I walked with her. I left her there, because she wanted to stay there. I left. And I don't know what happened. There my statement ends."

You were a former prosecutor. The fact this guy is changing his story and the other suspects are all pointing the fingers at the one another. What is going on?

GRACE: Well, a lot is going on. And the fact that Joran Van Der Sloot's father, a judge, has now been arrested is even more suggestive that his son could be involved. Now, I am taking the father's arrest as a major break in the case. What does the father have to do with it, Anderson? It could be as simple as finding the girl's sandal in the back of the boy's car. It could be helping to hide the body. It could be simply covering for his son, backing up his story.

COOPER: Because there was a length of time from her disappearance...

GRACE: Eleven days, Anderson -- 11 days when they arrested the two minority security guards who had never seen Natalee Holloway, as opposed to the three young men behind bars tonight that escorted her from Carlos 'n Charlies.

COOPER: Now, some investigators are saying, look, we wanted them out and about and talking with each other and e-mailing one another because we were following them all along. Do you think it was good police work, or slow on the uptake?

GRACE: I think they were a day late and a dollar short. And here is another reason why. When you think you have forensic evidence such as hair, semen, fibers, fingerprints, blood, in a car, you don't wait 11 days to seize the car and process it by a crime scene tech. I think the arrest of the father could mean several things. It could be a strategy, Anderson to say to the son, Joran Van Der Sloot, hey, we have your dad behind bars, you happy? You willing to talk now? Or do you want us to keep him in lock-up just like you.

COOPER: They've kept them separate. They didn't allow the judge to visit his son. And now he's staying at a different police station. They don't want them comparing stories.

GRACE: That's right.

Now I'm wondering on the outside looking in if the father didn't somehow help them orchestrate a statement because, remember, when these three young men were taken into custody, they did have the same statement. That they dropped her off at the Holiday Inn, a security guard came up and helped her as she stumbled. That's the last they saw of her.

Now that story has changed drastically, not only the location, to the Marriott versus the Holiday Inn, but to the security guards involvement as well. So, where did they get that original story?

And Anderson, how have three young men, virtually unsophisticated, managed to stick to the story? Where did they get it? Think about it? Did they get it from the father?

COOPER: Also, talking about missteps in the case, there is a lot of forensic evidence which apparently hasn't even been looked at. This guy Croes who they brought into custody, whose one of the suspects now -- the deejay -- apparently they didn't search the boat he had access to. They didn't impound his car, his vehicle.

GRACE: Well Anderson, I nearly did a back flip last night with the Aruban government representative on the show. I asked her...

COOPER: Who, by the way, never says anything.

GRACE: No, who never says anything. But she did stutter a couple of times. I asked, have you searched Croes -- Croes is a 26- year-old deejay who mans a party boat -- I guess they go out on the water, they party hardy, and then they come back -- I said, did you check his car? Did you process it forensically?

She said, oh, yes, we have.

And I said, well, you know what, it didn't ever leave his driveway. And I find it very difficult to believe that you did a thorough search for fingerprints, fibers, blood, semen, microscopic search in the man's driveway. So I'm taking everything they say with a box of salt.

COOPER: I want to play this sound bite from George "Jug" Twitty, Natalee Holloway's stepdad, because all along, they have been looking at this judge and saying, you know what, something isn't right here. Let's play this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE "JUG" TWITTY, NATALEE HOLLOWAY'S STEPFATHER: He's -- I met him. I met him the night I got here. I got here 12 hours after it happened. And the guy's -- he's sickening to me. He's a chicken. You can tell. Why he is running this morning on TV? If he has nothing to hide, why is he running to his car? He makes my stomach turn.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Natalee Holloway's mom said it was her intuition, she felt there were other suspects involved. Do you think this thing could get bigger? Do you think there may be other -- more people?

GRACE: I think it can get bigger, Anderson, but here's the kicker. Their system, the Dutch system, is not like ours. I have been there. I have dived there. I'm a little familiar with the currents around the island.

I'm more concerned, however, with their system of justice. It is kind of arrest now, explain later. This would never be tolerated in America, where you arrest someone, and then a few days later you decide to tell them why they're arrested. And you keep them indefinitely without charging them.

On the other hand, they can't seem to crack these three young guys. I'm a little suspicious of their interrogation techniques. It sounds like, oh, you don't want to talk today, Anderson? OK, how about a cup of tea? I'm just not getting a good feel about the way they are handling the investigation.

COOPER: I talked to one of those security guards, one of the black Arubans who they arrested immediately and held -- held...

GRACE: Ridiculous.

COOPER: ... for more than a week, and one of the Kalpoe brothers actually apologized to him -- he was in the jail cell next to him -- he apologized to him and said that they'd made up the story.

GRACE: Well, that's why I'm wondering about this deejay. Is that just another name the Kalpoe brothers or Van Der Sloot pulled out of the hat to point the blame at somebody else? Because I don't know that we have any connection between Natalee Holloway and this deejay -- this father, he's a 26-year-old father of two, I believe, and Natalee Holloway. So I'm wondering if he's just been pulled out of the hat like the two security guards. But I'm telling you, Anderson, the arrest of this father is very significant to this investigation.

COOPER: A major break in the case, as you said, it could be. Nancy Grace, it's great to have you here. The book is "Objection."

GRACE: The book is "Objection!" Give it a little verve, Anderson.

COOPER: With an exclamation mark. "Objection!"

GRACE: There you go.

COOPER: There you go. And I know you're covering the case live on HEADLINE NEWS tonight. Thanks very much.

GRACE: Thank you for having me, Anderson.

COOPER: It's our pleasure. Always. Good to see you.

Coming up on 360, it's "Enough to Make You Sick." Do you have an old mattress in your house?

GRACE: No.

COOPER: I got like a 15-year-old mattress...

GRACE: My apartment is not big enough to have an old mattress.

COOPER: You won't believe what is living in your mattress and your pillow. Yeah, it's disgusting. We'll tell you how to get rid of these bugs.

Also tonight, accusations of fat cats and kickbacks. A look at a high-powered scandal rocking Washington, D.C. You will not believe what these charges are. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Let's get the latest headlines from Sophia Choi at HEADLINE NEWS. Hey, Sophia.

CHOI: Hi there, Anderson.

We begin with more Gitmo allegations. Today, the U.N. Commission on Human Rights says it has -- quote -- "reliable information" that detainees at Guantanamo Bay were tortured and abused. According to the commission, that information came from declassified documents. There was no immediate response to these new allegations from the U.S. government.

In Washington, Karl Rove under fire. Democrats are demanding an apology after he made controversial remarks involving September 11. During a speech this week, the White House strategist said "liberals saw the savagery of the 9/11 attacks and wanted to offer therapy and understanding to the attackers."

Camden, New Jersey, a massive search is now under way for three children. Police are looking for five-year-old Jesstin Pagan, six- year-old Daniel Agosto and 11-year-old Anibal Cruz. They disappeared yesterday evening. The three children were last seen playing near their homes.

And just like clockwork, just in time for July 4, comes yet another push to ban the burning of the American flag. The House approved the latest bid to create a constitutional amendment to prohibit the desecration of the flag. This is the seventh time the House has approved the amendment, but it has yet to get past the Senate. Although, Anderson, some say it has got a pretty good chance this time.

COOPER: All right, Sophia Choi, thank you very much. See you again in about 30 minutes.

Don't forget our new and free tool on our Web site. You can watch video 24/7 on CNN.com, just click on the video link, and it's free.

So if you want to get business done in Washington, it's not free. One person to talk to is someone many call Casino Jack. That's the nickname given to a top Republican lobbyist, and he has friends in very high places. But things are not going well these days, however, for Casino Jack, who, along with another lobbyist, stands accused of swindling his bosses out of tens of millions of dollars. And you will not believe how some senators say he did it. CNN's legal -- senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JACK ABRAMOFF, REPUBLICAN LOBBYIST: I have met many folks over the time I've been here. I've met many great people, and I obviously had met some Democrats as well.

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SR. LEGAL ANALYST (voice-over): Jack Abramoff has been in Washington a long time.

ABRAMOFF: When people ascend to power in this town, the culture of this town, the establishment in this town, the "Washington Post," the "New York Times," all of these liberal institutions take them over, and they become people who want to be popular and are willing to sell out their principles.

TOOBIN: And he's done well as a lobbyist, very well. Consider the fee he and his associate Mike Scanlon received representing the Choctaw Indians.

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: According to a January 8, 2002, e- mail from Mr. Abramoff to Mr. Scanlon, the two had charged the Mississippi Choctaw $7.7 million for projects in 2001. Of that amount, Mr. Scanlon spent $1.2 million for the efforts; he and Mr. Abramoff split an astounding $6.5 million.

TOOBIN: What did they do to earn that? They told their clients, the Choctaws and other Indian tribes, they would lobby hard to pressure Congress and others on gambling issues.

But here is the catch. A Senate committee says they created a money trail that included an Abramoff charity and a sham corporation to divert money to pet causes and their own pockets.

MCCAIN: And what happened? He approached you in some way?

DAVID GROSH, FORMER DIRECTOR, AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL CENTER: Phone call.

MCCAIN: And said?

GROSH: Do you want to be head of an international corporation? A hard one to turn down.

(LAUGHTER)

TOOBIN: David Grosh is a construction worker, a bartender and the former director of the American International Center. He says Mike Scanlon approached him about running the organization. He says he attended one board meeting which lasted about 15 minutes.

GROSH: I asked him what I had to do and he said nothing. So that sounded pretty good to me.

TOOBIN: Grosh testified he was paid about $2,500 for his part in the alleged scheme. And looking back, it wasn't worth it.

GROSH: I'm embarrassed and disgusted to be part of this whole thing. The Lakota Indians have a word, wakisu (ph), which aptly describes all of us right now.

TOOBIN: Wakisu (ph) means fat taker, one who takes the best of everything for himself. It is a harsh allegation, and one that lawyers for both Abramoff and Scanlon deny.

Jeffrey Toobin, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: It is an unbelievable case. We'll continue to follow it.

Let's find out what's coming up at the top of the hour on PAULA ZAHN NOW. Hey, Paula.

PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, Anderson. Thanks so much. Tonight, we'll take a shocking looking inside the Iraqi insurgency. We're going to take you to what can only be described as torture houses where captives were held and abused physically and mentally for weeks on end. The locations were discovered by U.S. Marines during a recent offensive. They give us a very chilling portrait of just who the U.S. is up against in Iraq. That story at top of the hour. The pictures, I've got to tell you, I've seen a bunch of them, really gets you in the gut.

COOPER: Yeah. About eight minutes from now. Paula, thanks very much. We'll be watching.

Coming up next on 360, do you know what you share your bed with? What lives in your pillows? Creepy crawlies you can't see that might be making you sick. Will tell you how to rid your home of these unwanted guests.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: All this week we've been looking at the hidden germs that we all live with at work, in restaurants, even in your free make-up at those department stores.

Tonight we hit home with microscopic creepy crawlies, perhaps millions of them, living in your mattress and pillows. And the older your bedding is, the more bugs you likely have.

They're called dust mites. And 360 M.D. Sanjay Gupta, reports they can trigger some pretty nasty allergies. But don't worry, he'll also tell you how to get rid of them.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When they bought their new house in late 2004, Allyson and Reid Winnick were filled with promise and pride.

ALLYSON WINNICK, INDOOR ALLERGY SUFFERER: We moved here October 1, into a pristine, gorgeous home on the beach, and within a couple of weeks we all started getting sick, coughs and congestion and runny noses.

GUPTA: The whole family was besieged by a mysterious illness. They were exhausted, moving at a slower pace. It became harder to wake up in the morning, and 7-year-old Justin was late for school almost every day.

WINNICK: I was ready to move out.

GUPTA: Increasingly frustrated and confused, the Winnicks had air samples taken in their new home. They feared it was sinister mold growing in the air ducts, or even asbestos, or fiberglass from new construction. It was neither.

WINNICK: It was lots of dust mites. Lots and lots of dust mites -- and nothing else. Everything else came out clean. It was in every room that we tested, the bedrooms, the playroom, the living room. It was everywhere.

GUPTA: The Winnicks were suffering from indoor allergies from dust mites. Dust mites are microscopic spiders so small that 7,000 of them can fit on a dime. They thrive in humidity and feed off skin cells humans shed.

The Winnicks aren't alone; 99 percent of all households have them. The average number in any given bed? Two million.

DR. GILLIAN SHEPERD, ALLERGY SPECIALIST: In the case of the dust mites, what the allergy substance is, is, disgustingly, it is a very potent protein in the fecal dropping of these mites. And they tend to be in highest concentrations in bedding, in pillows.

GUPTA: While the Winnicks' indoor allergy trigger is the dust mite, there are several other culprits when it comes to indoor allergies.

SHEPERD: Indoor allergies are extremely common. Probably vastly more common than seasonal allergies. The number one culprits are the pets at home.

GUPTA: With cats and dogs, the actual allergen isn't their hair, but a protein found in their saliva, dander, skin and urine. It's so pervasive it is easily transported on an owner's clothing.

As for cats, even if you remove one from a room, it takes six months before it's free of cat allergen. Also, there may be a reason why some people are allergic to some cats and not others.

DR. CLIFFORD BASSETT, ALLERGY SPECIALIST: The darker the color the pet dander on cats, the more allergy symptoms. And male cats have more dander and seem to have more allergenic properties than female cats in a variety of preliminary studies.

GUPTA: Besides dust mites and pet dander, cockroaches are also a major source of indoor allergies in cities.

SHEPERD: One of the difficulties in many of these perennial allergens is that you can clean vigorously; however, they're going to recur. So it's something that requires ongoing effort.

AVINOAM HELLER, HEALTHY NEST: We're going to use vibration and suction to get the -- to get the allergens out of it. Just roll it up now.

GUPTA: The Winnicks turned to Healthy Nest, a company that specializes in testing and ridding the home of allergens. The treatments can cost hundreds of dollars.

HELLER: A good idea is actually to uncover the bed and leave it open. Leave windows open when you can. And if you have the opportunity to expose your mattress or your bed to direct sunlight, that's an excellent thing to do.

GUPTA: Other ways to fight indoor allergies, keep humidity below 50 percent, possibly with a dehumidifier. Use allergy protectant covers for your mattress, box springs and pillows. Wash your sheets weekly in hot water and use a hot dryer. Vacuum weekly with a HEPA filter.

Consider hardwood or tile floors. Carpets can accumulate 1,000 times more allergen than non-carpeted floors. As for stuffed toys, put them in a plastic bag and freeze for 24 hours to kill those mites.

Now six months after finding the dust mites, the Winnicks have learned to deal with them.

WINNICK: So everything's good. No one sneezes in the morning when they wake up anymore.

GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: And what a charming visual: little, tiny, microscopic bugs eating your dead skin and defecating in your bed. Really charming. Thanks, Dr. Gupta.

Don't forget our 360 germ challenge. You gave us grief about our dirty office. And, yes, we know it was dirty. And yea, I know, my desk was worse than a toilet bowl. Yeah, believe me, I've heard it a lot the last several days. Well, now is your chance to show us how clean your house is. E-mail us, tell us why Dr. Germ should come to your house and test your house. See how clean it really is. Put it to the test. Go to CNN.com/360. Click on the "Instant Feedback" link. Let us know.

Tomorrow, our series "Enough to Make You Sick" continues with the menacing mold in your home. How you can protect your family.

That's 360 for this evening. I'm Anderson Cooper. Thanks for watching.

CNN's primetime coverage continues now with Paula Zahn. Hey, Paula.

END

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