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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees

Florida Man Searches for Lost Brother in Sinkhole; McCain Worries over Sequester; Stepping Down With A Sense Of Humor; Lawyers: Holmes May Plead Insanity; Pooch Poisoned At Westminster Dog Show?

Aired March 01, 2013 - 20:00   ET

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

ANDERSON COOPER, HOST: Good evening, everyone.

Tonight, killer romance. How Travis Alexander met the woman who would one day stab, slash, and shoot him. Were there warning signs? Dr. Drew Pinsky joins us, and does Mark Geragos, here to look at where the surreal capital murder trial of Jodi Arias goes next.

Also, Senator John McCain tells me there's plenty of blame to go around for the forced spending cuts kicking in tonight, but he has also got a dire warning. He says some of those cuts could put American lives at risk. He joins us ahead.

We begin though with a man who watched his brother swallowed up by the earth and the nightmare isn't over yet, the sinkhole that opened up late last night inside this home in a Tampa, Florida, suburb. That's right, a sinkhole inside the home. As much as 30 feet across and it's getting deeper even now.

The frantic 911 call came in just after 11:00 last night. The anguish and fear from the family is raw and captured on this tape.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, we need an ambulance (INAUDIBLE) stuck underneath the house. The house just fell through!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK, and what happened to the house?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The bedroom floor just collapsed, and my brother-in-law is underneath the house.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. Hold on one second. Let me connect you with the EMS, OK?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

COOPER: Well, it's difficult to imagine what they were going through. Underneath the house, Jeff Bush. Jeff's brother Jeremy, who narrowly escaped the sinkhole himself, leapt into the hole, digging at the sand and the wreckage. He kept digging. He said he heard his brother's voice calling out from somewhere, buried in that sinkhole.

He kept digging until police pulled him out because the floors were threatening to give way and still are tonight. Jeff Bush is still missing, presumed dead, but Jeremy is not giving up hope. To say he wishes he were back in that hole right now digging, searching, listening for signs that his brother is alive would be -- well, that would be an understatement.

We spoke to him earlier at the scene.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Jeremy, I'm so sorry for what you're going through. I cannot imagine how difficult this must be for you, for your entire family. Can you walk us through last night? You had just gotten home from work. What happened?

JEREMY BUSH, BROTHER FELL INTO SINKHOLE: I just got home from work. Me and my wife, my father-in-law, and my 2-year-old daughter went to somewhere to get something to eat. Came back home. Told my brother, knocked on my brother's door, told him that we weren't working today.

He told me OK. I walked, me and my wife, my 2-year-old daughter, and my father-in-law walked into my room. Sitting there, two minutes went by. Hears a loud noise. Sounded like a train coming through the house.

And then I ran toward my brother's bedroom because I heard my brother scream. So I ran to the bedroom. I went to go open the door and run in. My old lady turned the light on and I see that there was no floor there. Everything was gone, my brother's bed, my brother's dresser, my brother's TV. And my brother was gone.

And this big hole, all I could see was -- barely see his bed. And I jumped in the hole to try and dig him out. I got a shovel and just started trying to dig him out. I thought I heard him screaming for my help. I thought I heard him asking me for help. So I tried and tried and tried digging him out. And I was screaming and screaming for him. And I couldn't get him out.

I tried so hard. I tried everything I could.

COOPER: Were you able to see him at all? Did you see him at all in the hole?

BUSH: No, I could not see him at all. All I seen was his corner of his bed, corner of his box spring, and a corner of his bed frame, and the cord going from his TV to the cable wire. That was all I seen.

COOPER: And how long did you hear him for?

BUSH: Maybe I heard -- I thought I heard him two or three times yelling for help, yelling for help. And I just started -- I asked my father-in-law to go grab me a shovel. And I jumped in the hole and started digging for him, and digging for him.

And then the cop -- a cop came and snatched me out of the hole because he said it was unstable. The ground was still falling. The rocks -- the concrete was still falling. And I think that cop saved my life.

But no one's doing nothing to save my brother's life.

COOPER: How deep was the hole when you were in it?

BUSH: It was over my head. It was about up to my chin.

COOPER: And I know police obviously and firefighters on the scene. I mean, is anybody in the hole now? Is anybody digging?

BUSH: Nobody has been in the house at all. The last night, they came and used some special equipment. And from what I heard, they lost some of the equipment in the hole. And that was it. They have never been inside the house yet, and he's been in there since 10:00 last night, and nobody's been in there to get him out. Nobody.

COOPER: Are you -- are you holding on to hope at all?

BUSH: I'm praying that there's an air pocket in there, that he can survive in. But I can't see anybody surviving that long in a hole like that. There was too much dirt, too much stuff.

COOPER: Have they given you any updates or anything?

BUSH: No, nothing at all. Nothing at all. I'm still sitting here in the dark. Don't know what's going on. Haven't seen nobody go inside the house.

It's like I said, I work two jobs trying to support my family. And now I have nothing. My 2-year-old daughter has nothing. My wife has nothing. And I have nothing now. And I don't know what to do. And I lost my brother.

COOPER: Your brother Jeff, what's he like?

BUSH: He was a great person, man. He was a little weird. He had his little moments, but he was my brother, man, I loved him. I did everything I could for him. I gave him a place to live. I got him a job. I did everything I could for him. And then I tried digging him out of the hole and I guess I couldn't do enough to get him out. And I feel so bad because I couldn't get him out. And nobody else is doing nothing to help him.

COOPER: Jeremy, I'm so sorry for what you're going through, and I -- what happens now? I mean, where are you?

BUSH: There's a picture of my brother right there. There's a picture of my brother right there. The man I love. The guy I always -- he's my brother, man. He was everything to me. That's him.

COOPER: How is the rest of your family? BUSH: Distraught, my mom's in bad health as it is. It's really hard on her. She's got really bad health, and this is not helping at all.

COOPER: Are you able to talk to authorities to ask them about what's going on? About why they're not in the house?

BUSH: They won't tell me nothing. They won't tell me nothing. All I know is they said they're drilling right now to see if the ground is stable enough for them to go inside the house. If it's not stable enough for them, I don't know. I think they're going to tear the house down and try to get him out that way.

COOPER: Do you have any indication about why this happened? Was the house built on a sinkhole? Do you know anything about how this occurred?

BUSH: I have no idea. We had two -- I think it was in September or August, something like that, we had somebody come out for the insurance, and they were checking for sinkholes and checking for damage and stuff like that, checked all the walls and made sure there was no cracks or anything in the walls.

He said everything was fine. And now all of a sudden, my brother's dead because he fell in a sinkhole. The sinkhole swallowed him up as he was sleeping in bed.

COOPER: But you're pretty sure that you heard him calling? You heard him calling out?

BUSH: I -- I could swear I heard him calling out.

COOPER: Jeremy, I'm so sorry for what you're going through. And our thoughts and our prayers are with you and the rest of your family and with your brother. Thank you for talking to us.

BUSH: All right, thank you.

COOPER: Stay strong. Thank you, Jeremy.

BUSH: Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: That is just -- it's unbelievable. John Zarrella is also on the scene. The earth itself continues to be a threat to human life as it continues to give ground. John joins us now.

What's going on right now, this moment, John? What's the latest?

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anderson, we just got word that the drilling operations have stopped for the evening. They'll resume those at first light. By the drilling operations, I mean they have been using ground penetrating radar, they've been using electronic probes. They have what's called a ground-drilling cone that they had out here earlier tonight where they're literally drilling holes, taking core samples, trying to get a handle on the dimensions of this sinkhole.

And what they told us was it is unstable around the house and that they don't know when or if they will be able to get back inside that house. Bottom line, they do not want to risk anybody else's life. This is a recovery operation now. It's not a rescue operation. And they're not going to go back in there until they are certain that it is safe for people to go in to that house.

So again, tonight, Anderson, all the work is shut down. They'll pick it up tomorrow, but again, as you mentioned at the top, the sinkhole is at least 30 feet deep. It's continuing to get deeper and it's continuing to widen, and the slopes are very, very steep, according to engineers, which means that it has to continue in that soft sand. It's going to continue to widen -- Anderson.

COOPER: We don't have a picture of the sinkhole, but I want to show some people pictures of other sinkholes just to get a sense of what kind of size we're often talking about, the power of them. You see a fire truck there collapsed into a sinkhole. That's obviously not the same sinkhole, but these are again different ones just to give you a sense.

John, at this point, is there any indication that Jeremy's brother may still be alive? I mean, you say it's basically now they're looking at it as a recovery operation. Have they confirmed that he's dead?

ZARRELLA: They haven't flat out confirmed it, but they're not treating it with any sense of urgency, and the way they put it during a news conference at 6:00 this evening was, they did not want to risk anyone else's life going in there. So they're presuming at this point that he is deceased, that there's no way he could have survived being literally covered alive in all of the dirt and debris as that hole began to collapse around him -- Anderson.

COOPER: These other sinkholes that we're showing pictures of, what causes a sinkhole?

ZARRELLA: You know, Florida is built on literally about 3,000 feet of limestone, several thousand feet of limestone, all of the state of Florida. Up in this part, more of it, and what happens is when that limestone gets porous, you get ground water rushing through. A lot of times you get caverns that open up.

And then over time, as the water then gets drained out, you end up with these giant literally caverns and then it begins to collapse. And again, soft sand all around, it's very porous, and that's what's happened here. And exactly why it opened up where it did, you know, that's just Mother Nature doing what Mother Nature tragically did in this case. But it's really the geology of Florida, Anderson. That why there's so many here.

It's very, very porous limestone in many places. And, as you know, a lot of aquifers in Florida that are fed from groundwater, that are encased in this limestone. And when the water disappears, sometimes you end up with a cavern and ultimately what happens is it collapses.

COOPER: And any indication -- I mean, is there generally any kind of a warning? Because, I mean, Jeremy was saying this thing just happened -- you know, they heard the sound, it sounded like a freight train hitting their house, and his brother was gone. Is there cracks in walls if it's happening underneath the house, or has anything like this happened in that neighborhood before?

ZARRELLA: Yes, in fact, all around here. Not right here in this neighborhood, but not too far off from here, they had a rash of sinkholes a couple years ago, you know, that they believe was from water being pulled out for farmland around here that actually opened up a cavern.

But, yes, you can notice cracks in the walls and you can have inspectors come out and look at your house for signs that perhaps you have got some settling issues which could be indicative of a sinkhole.

But in many, many cases, we have seen it over the years, Anderson, where suddenly, someone will wake up and part of their bedroom is gone, part of their living room is gone. But tragically, in this particular case, this sinkhole just opened up right underneath where this man was lying in bed, and with no warning at all. And he was gone in a matter of instants.

COOPER: When you see those pictures of other sinkholes, you know, the fire truck inside the hole, how -- ultimately, how do they get dealt with? Do they just get filled up?

ZARRELLA: Ultimately, in many cases, they don't. They end up with a giant hole in the ground, and that's the way it stays. A lot of times they'll fill back up with water and sometimes you can end up with a lake.

There have been instances, Anderson, where sinkholes have actually appeared underneath and very close to lakes and before you know it, all the water is gone and you end up with an empty hole. But some of them are just too massive and too deep that there's just no way to fill them all and they're just left as open gaping holes in the earth.

COOPER: So horrible a thing about Jeremy's brother, may still have been alive while -- you know, Jeremy is convinced he heard him calling out and then he got yanked out of the hole because it just wasn't safe. It's just such a horrible situation for that family.

John, appreciate the reporting on that. We'll continue to update you throughout this hour if necessary. Let us know what you think. Follow me on Twitter @AndersonCooper. Have you ever seen anything like this in person? I'll be tweeting tonight as well.

Coming up next, critics say he's the president, shouldn't he do something? Well, $85 billion in spending pain about to take effect, what President Obama and leading lawmakers did do today and what they didn't do to stop it. Also, I'll talk to Senator John McCain on America's fighting men and women who he says will get hit the hardest and maybe put in risk by this.

Also, everyone trying to follow the example of Pope Benedict and call it quits? He first said so in Latin, and retired in luxury. We're going to show you some of the other much less traditional, even more (INAUDIBLE) ways of heading out the door or getting pushed. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Welcome back. Raw politics. Now the budget cuts that kick in tonight with both the House and Senate enjoying a long weekend, both parties fighting over who deserves the blame for it.

A last-minute meeting between President Obama and congressional leaders got nowhere this morning. A Republican congressional aide calling the tone subdued. Afterwards, President Obama blamed Republicans for not accepting taxes as part of a deal to close the budget deficit and head off these forced cuts.

Also mixing his "Star Wars" and "Star Trek" metaphors, he lashed out at critics who expect him to solve the problem by exercising stronger leadership.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I know that this has been some of the conventional wisdom that has been floating around Washington that somehow, even though most people agree that I'm being reasonable, that most people agree I'm presenting a fair deal, the fact that they don't take it means that I should somehow, you know, do a Jedi mind meld with these folks and convince them to do what's right.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: In the meantime, House Speaker John Boehner got -- not budging, calling the revenue discussion in his words "over." Also lately, there is a war of words being fought over just how bad the $85 billion in defense and discretionary spending cuts are actually going to be, everything from end of the world to no big deal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (r), SOUTH CAROLINA: He's the commander-in- chief. On his watch, we're going to begin to unravel the finest military in the history of the world at a time we need it most.

JIM DEMINT, PRESIDENT-ELECT, HERITAGE FOUNDATION: There are no cuts here. He's trying to set the stage to suggest that this small cut in spending will have any kind of effect related or similar to what his tax increases have done.

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), MINORITY LEADER: Spending cuts that will cause unemployment, instability, and uncertainty in our economy takes place. It is a day when soon people will be getting a pink slip.

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), FLORIDA: Those cuts, those things that people are going to face is nothing compared to what this nation is going to face if we continue to spend a trillion dollars a year more than we take in.

REP. DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (R), FLORIDA: They're cutting the seniors that they deliver meals to back by one meal a day because of the sequester cuts.

SEN. RAND PAUL (R), KENTUCKY: It's a pittance. I mean, it's a slowdown in the rate of growth. There are no real cuts happening over 10 years.

OBAMA: They will hurt our economy. They will add hundreds of thousands of Americans to the unemployment rolls. This is not an abstraction. People will lose their jobs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: The fact is thousands of federal workers will be furloughed and everything from air travel to HIV prevention programs could get hit. But as you heard Lindsey Graham there say, how the cuts affect defense is now a big concern to him and especially to Senator John McCain who joined me earlier.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: As you know, meetings at the White House today on the sequester, met for an hour-and-a-half. I mean, do you get the sense -- I mean, the sense I get is the American people are just fed up, sick of hearing about this, sick of this kind of finger-pointing. Who do you blame?

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: I think everybody can share some of the blame. And I will admit to being a partisan Republican. But I believe it is the job of the president of the United States, particularly as commander-in-chief, when we're talking about the effects on defense here.

I believed a year ago that the president should call people into the office and start negotiating. But having said that, I will accept blame, and I think Republicans voted for it. But again, I think the president should be leading. And we should be sitting down and really ready to do whatever is necessary to prevent, in my view, a blow to national defense.

COOPER: You have been in Washington for a long time, and, you know, we had George Mitchell on the program, we had Trent Lott on the program, who pointed back to days when they were in office, and, you know, there was a lot of partisanship, there was a lot of finger- pointing, but when push came to shove, people could get things done.

It doesn't seem like that's the case anymore. MCCAIN: In a lot of ways you're correct. Now there are a few exceptions. Last year, we did pass a few bills, although it was the least productive Congress since 1947. That's just a fact.

COOPER: The least productive since 1947?

MCCAIN: Since 1947, the least productive Congress. This year, we have worked on an agreement we made. It was hard-fought, but to avoid a 51-vote Senate, I can assure you we're making progress on immigration reform. Republicans and Democrats, eight of us are working together.

There are some areas that I think we are working together, but this one, obviously, is now the transcendent issue.

COOPER: Rand Paul was on CNN the other day saying that these are -- you know, it's kind of nibbling around the edges. It's a pittance. Can you come up with a solution if there's people in your own party who are saying this isn't such a big deal? It's not such a bad thing?

MCCAIN: In all due respect to my colleagues in the Congress, I think you can believe them or those men and women who are serving in the military.

And one other aspect of this, this disrupts the lives of an all- volunteer force. We're so proud that we have the finest of our America that are serving in our military. They don't know what they're going to be doing tomorrow.

Are we going to be able to supply them with the equipment that they really need? We're still in a war. And so what we're doing to them is a great disservice, in my view, and in my view, it should be enough to force us to stop this if you believe our military leaders.

COOPER: Is it more depressing to work in Washington now?

MCCAIN: Yes.

COOPER: Was it more -- as a public figure, as a public servant, was it -- did you have a better sense of accomplishment in the past?

MCCAIN: I had a much better sense of accomplishment in the past. There are still areas where I work together with my Democrat colleagues all the time. I mean, in the Defense Committee, we work together all the time.

But there are other areas, and in all due respect to some of my newer colleagues, that may not be the case, 42 percent of the senators in the United States Senate have now been there six years or less.

COOPER: And what does that tell you?

MCCAIN: It tells me that I think it's very helpful and healthy to have been in minority and majority. That way I think you understand the problems and challenges of being on both ends of the spectrum. COOPER: Do you think some people are too -- too ideological and not -- that compromise is a dirty word to some people?

MCCAIN: I think that you can stick to your principles and still make compromises. I think there's no reason why we shouldn't be proud of the fact that back in 1983, our icon, our hero, Ronald Reagan, and Tip O'Neill, when Social Security was about to go broke, walked out of the White House on the Rose Garden and said, we're fixing Social Security.

They raised taxes. They raised the retirement age. They made -- Tip O'Neill made compromises. I still respect Ronald Reagan and admire his principles, but he was ready to make compromises in order to save Social Security. So I don't think that compromise is necessarily a betrayal of principles.

COOPER: Senator McCain, thank you very much.

MCCAIN: Thanks for having me on, a very interesting time.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Interesting times indeed. For more on the story, go to cnn.com.

Now ahead, a new angle to the Arias case -- the Jodi Arias case. How Travis Alexander met Jodi Arias, were there any signs as the romance developed that he was potentially dealing with a dangerous woman? Dr. Drew Pinsky joins us ahead, also Mark Geragos as well.

The new developments in the case against the accused Aurora theater shooter, court documents have just been released and they could shed light on a possible plea. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: As Jodi Arias prepares to take the witness stand again on Monday, a look tonight at her and Travis Alexander, how their relationship started and ended in that bloody bathroom, ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: So you say you're sick of your job? You say you've had enough, but you just don't know how to say so or show it? Well, look over my shoulder there. The high profile departure of a once hot start-up CEO that is going viral tonight. Deborah Feyerick got his story and more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When you're getting fired from the world of discount chicken wings and bargain basement liposuction, it pays to have a sense of humor.

The 32-year-old Andrew Mason, cofounder of a coupon web site wrote to his employees, "People of Groupon, after four and a half intense and wonderful years as CEO, I have decided I'd like to spend more time with my family. Just kidding, I was fired today."

Mason seemed to be borrowing a line from Conan O'Brien's "People of Earth" resignation letter, but that's not all they have in common. These guys are rich enough to talk back. Quote, "No one should waste a second feeling sorry for me," Conan said, as he left his NBC show with a $32 million payout.

Mason who owns $213 million in stock shares said, quote, "I'm OK with having failed at this part of the journey." "Business Insider's" Vivian Giang compiled a 13 best resignation letters of all time.

VIVIAN GIANG, "BUSINESS INSIDER": I would say that I would not recommend people to resign this way unless you have a fortune to back you up already.

FEYERICK: Many of these guys did. Goldman Sachs Executive Director Greg Smith slammed the company over what he viewed as meager $500,000 bonuses. Sun Micro CEO Jonathan Schwartz went out with a tweet that included him writing, "Seems only fitting to end on a hash tag haiku."

It's not just rich executives who go out with a bang. Who could forget the dramatic exit of JetBlue flight attendant Steven Slater. He pulled his plane's emergency chute and ended up with a booking photo as his going away present.

Kevin Nolte ended his career at Merck posting this video. If you just don't care, you can always bear your chest in the company lunch room.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm here to tell you I'm quitting.

FEYERICK: Or simply march out with a band like Joey De Francesco. Deborah Feyerick, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: That's one way to go, I suppose. Let's get caught up on some of the other stories we're following. Randi Kaye is here with the "360 Bulletin" -- Randi.

RANDI KAYE, CNN INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, lawyers for the Colorado theatre shooter filed court documents today showing he may plead not guilty by reason of insanity. He's accused of killing 12 people and wounding 58 at an Aurora cinema last July.

Bruce Davis, a former follower of Charles Manson is not getting parole. California Governor Jerry Brown has reversed a Parole Board decision to let Davis out of jail saying the 70-year-old still poses a threat to society. Davis is serving two life sentences for killing two men back in 1969.

And a dog owner believes her prized pooch was poisoned at the famous Westminster dog show here in New York City. A Samoyed named Cruz died last month, four days after competing in that show -- Anderson. COOPER: So bizarre. Randi, appreciate that. Thanks very much.

We just gotten word that President Obama has signed the sequestration order that goes into effect at the end of the evening tonight, I think around midnight time.

Coming up inside the Jodi Arias and Travis Alexander, inside their relationship, she admits she killed them. Now a jury in Arizona is going to have to decide whether it was premeditated. We'll take a look at how they met.

And I'll speak to Dr. Drew Pinsky about whether there were any warning signs that Arias was capable of shooting him, stabbing him 29 times, cutting his throat from ear to ear.

Also ahead, when students stuff started disappearing from the locker room at a high school in California, two sophomores put together a sting operation even hiding in a locker to find out who the culprit was. You won't believe who turned out to be stealing. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Welcome back. In "Crime and Punishment" tonight, riveting drama, deadly deception in the Jodi Arias murder trial. Now Arias is going to be back on the stand in Arizona on Monday after a marathon cross-examination session ended yesterday with her breaking down in tears as she talked about the day she killed ex-boyfriend, Travis Alexander.

At 10:00 tonight by the way, in about an hour and 20 minutes, we're going to have an "AC 360" special report all about the case, including a look at how Jodi and Travis met and what their relationship was like before the deadly day back in 2008. Randi Kaye reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE (voice-over): Jodi Arias has sung a lot of different tunes since this picture of bliss turned into a blood bath. It's a grisly tail of passion gone wrong, of sex, lies --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm not guilty.

KAYE: And a life brutally cut short.

VINNIE POLITAN, HLN AND "IN SESSION" ON TRUTV HOST: This is a case. This is a story. This is a criminal defendant unlike any other we have met before. Jodi arias, beautiful young woman, accused of brutally murdering her ex-boyfriend, Travis Alexander.

As a matter of fact, the day she admittedly killed him, they had sex. They took pictures, but then she stabs him 29 times. Almost decapitates him, shoots him in the head, and she says it's self defense. But the prosecutor has a whole different theory here. That it was premeditated, cold-blooded murder because she was obsessed with Travis Alexander.

KAYE: The end for Jodi and Travis was foul and heinous, but their courtship actually began quite innocently, in of all places, sin city.

DAVID HUGHES, FRIEND OF TRAVIS: We were there for a convention. Our company had a big event there. I was there in Las Vegas with him.

KAYE: Travis Alexander was a motivational speaker and close friend and co-worker of David Hughes in the fall of 2006.

HUGHES: And I knew that he was single and he was always looking for Ms. Alexander.

KAYE: Enter saleswoman and aspiring photographer, Jodi Arias.

HUGHES: I told Travis, there's this cute girl I work with. You should meet her. He said introduce me. So I introduced them and they were to develop a relationship pretty quickly from there.

POLITAN: They met in Vegas. The night they met, it seemed things heated up very quickly because Jodi Arias has said within a week or so, they're having sex in the car.

KAYE: Jodi and Travis had an instant physical connection, a whirlwind romance, but a long distance one with her in Palm Desert, California, and him 5 hours away in Mesa, Arizona. Still, that wouldn't slow them down. Shana Hogan is the author of "Picture Perfect" about the Jodi Arias case.

SHANNA HOGAN, AUTHOR, "PICTURE PERFECT": From the very beginning, Travis and Jodi were in almost constant communication. They talked every day. They exchanged thousands of e-mails and text messages.

KAYE: Jodi was so attracted to Travis that she converted to the Church of Latter Day Saints because Travis was a Mormon.

HUGHES: She started to inquire more about the LDS faith and ended up joining the church, which I'm sure brought their relationship -- made it even stronger.

KAYE: To outsiders, Travis and Jodi appeared devout, a pure Mormon couple, but appearances as was often the case with these two, would prove deceiving.

HOGAN: Secretly behind the scenes, Travis and Jodi's relationship was not pure, it wasn't chaste. They had this intense sexual relationship that they kept hidden from everyone.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Joining me now live is Dr. Drew Pinsky, host of "Dr. Drew On Call" on HLN, and also criminal defense attorney, Mark Geragos, co-author of the upcoming "Mistrial: An Inside Look at How the Criminal Justice System Works and Sometimes Doesn't."

From what we know, Dr. Drew, about their past, I mean, are there signs? I mean, is it sociopathic behavior or psychopathic behavior?

DR. DREW PINSKY, HOST, HLN'S "DR. DREW ON CALL": Well, that's a good question. We don't know for sure. It's one of those and there are signs that she wasn't well. People described her as empty, zombie-like, chameleon like, but it really is the alchemy of the two of them together that was so explosive.

His friends describe him as addicted to her. As you heard it in the Randi's report, it was all underground. He couldn't go to anybody. He felt out of control because he was hiding it from the church. It was unlike anything he had ever done.

She was luring him in and reeling him in all the time. Together, this thing was an obsession relationship on both sides. I'm not saying she's the one who killed the guy.

MARK GERAGOS, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: How psycho is she?

PINSKY: Completely. Thank you for that clinical term.

GERAGOS: I was going to say -- go to Drew for the analysis. This woman is every guy's nightmare.

COOPER: I think that's what's interesting and so compelling about watching this testimony. Because it's rare unless you're a doctor that you actually have the opportunity to see someone's sociopathic behavior or psychopathic behavior playing out in front of you.

PINSKY: All the lies and the tears that seem empty, and the tears are really that she's been caught.

GERAGOS: I used to say a couple days ago, I used to want to take this tape and play it for new lawyers on how not to do cross- examination or how to dial it back, but now, after you have seen whatever, you take an hour a day, she is just a nut.

I mean, completely a diabolical nut. You don't need much more than that. The interesting thing about it, though, is I'm not so sure that doesn't help her in front of that jury.

COOPER: Because?

PINSKY: Because? They feel sympathy for that?

GERAGOS: You have 12 people there, and ultimately, she could resonate with somebody who says she's a brother, sister, daughter.

PINSKY: However, when you see -- a lot of people haven't seen the pictures of the brutality of the slaughter. When you see that, you say, my God, too much. GERAGOS: I said this the other night to Drew. I thought it was so effective. If you're the prosecutor on this, instead of spending all your time screaming at her and yelling at her and doing whatever, you take up those pictures.

And I don't care what she does or how she acts or anything else. That is what would convict her. That's where you should have focused. You could have gotten in two hours, talked about the pictures.

PINSKY: These pictures are nothing like the jury is seeing. There's a brutality. It's butchering.

GERAGOS: Which is why day two of the cross-examination by this guy was infinitely better when he started to play around with the pictures because if you look at the pictures, she can't -- she can't deal with them.

PINSKY: There's no way to deal with them.

COOPER: It's interesting how also everybody is watching the trial. Everybody has different things they have sort of pointed out as being the things that really resonated with them.

With me, there are two things. One, the fact that she filled up all her gas in California, drove to Arizona. To me, screams out premeditation. Also, the photographs that she took of Travis Alexander, time stamped two to three minutes before she killed him.

PINSKY: Stunning.

COOPER: We're showing it. This is a photo, Travis Alexander staring directly into her eyes. Travis Alexander in the shower two to three minutes before she starts to kill him, seemingly premeditatedly so even when she's taking the photo said, she knows she's going to kill him.

GERAGOS: Isn't amazing to you all the time she's been on the stand, those two points, I agree with you, if that's my client, that's what I'm dreading for the entire time, completely lost. Why is it completely lost because you spent so much time dealing with trying to be the kind of over the top in terms of your performance.

COOPER: And testimony begins again Monday. She's back on the stand, day, I guess, 14 of her testimony.

PINSKY: Well, I think, again, men are reacting differently to her than women. The women are the ones who are going to sympathize with her. Men are freaked out like you are.

COOPER: Dr. Drew, Mark Geragos, thank you very much. Have a good weekend.

Be sure to tune in tonight to an AC 360 special report, "Sex, Lies, and Audiotape, The Jodi Arias Trial." That's in our 10:00 hour, an 1:10 from now, everything about the case, all the ins and outs and details on it. A pair of high school students coming up, doing what the police could not. They stopped a locker room crime spree in their school with an ingenious stakeout. When they busted their suspect, it shocked the whole community. Find out who it was, ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Welcome back. It's a sting operation unlike any we have seen before. It ended a strange crime spree at one California high school. Personal items started disappearing from inside the school's locker room. No one knew who was behind it.

When students started pointing fingers at each other, some friends decided to their own sleuthing. What they uncovered shocked the whole community. Casey Wian has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Except for the cell phone surveillance video, it's a story that could have been lifted straight out of a Nancy Drew mystery. This modern day young detective is named Justine Betti, a sophomore at small town Linden High School in Central California.

JUSTINE BETTI, HIGH SCHOOL SOPHOMORE: I was like holding my breath so I wouldn't breathe heavy and she wouldn't hear me. I was shaking so bad. It was scary.

WIAN: Call it the case of the locker room pick pocket. Justine, her friend, Marissa, and another girl were goofing around in P.E., hiding in lockers, first for fun and then to see if they could catch a thief.

MARISSA CODOG, HIGH SCHOOL JUNIOR: I had things stolen from my P.E. class multiple times.

BETTI: We watched to see what was going on in there after everybody left because we didn't know who is taking our things.

WIAN: They suspected a fellow student was taking money and valuables, but they were wrong. It wasn't a student stealing. It was a teacher.

BETTI: The teacher took some jeans out of a gym bag and she took money out of there.

WIAN: But the girls need proof, so two days later, they set up makeshift cell phone surveillance cameras. One with Justine in a locker, Marissa's tapes in a second locker, and waited.

CODOG: The camera was through a hole in the locker.

WIAN: Sure enough, along came the thief. This time, the camera captured it all. There it was, a 30-year veteran teacher going through student clothing and backpacks.

BETTI: I just needed to get evidence and a video to show people if they didn't believe it.

WIAN: When they took the video to Linden High's principal --

CODOG: We were nervous that we were going to get in trouble, but we knew it was worth it was things like that shouldn't be happening at the school.

WIAN: The teacher has been placed on administrative leave while an investigation is under way.

BETTI: It's not OK for a teacher that all of the students trust and a teacher that was so nice and made you feel comfortable to be stealing things like that.

WIAN (on camera): The San Joaquin County Sheriff's Department told CNN it did conduct an investigation into allegations of a teacher stealing money at Linden High School. No arrests have been made. The case has been turned over to the district attorney.

(voice-over): As for our young heroines might detective work be in their future?

BETTI: I don't think so. I'm not sure. It's stressful.

WIAN: And no, they didn't get in trouble. Casey Wian, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Wow, see if the teacher actually gets fired.

Coming up, a Michigan man is the victim of theft. He doesn't care so much they took his TV, but he's -- well, we'll tell you what he's really concerned about. The "Ridiculist" is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Time now for the "Ridiculist." Tonight, we have a tragic tale from Michigan where a man and his fiance were unfortunately the victims of somebody busting into their home, taking their stuff. Let me introduce you to Mr. Early Johnson.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We parked in the back and noticed our door was ajar. The house had been broken into. A couple TVs were missing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: He didn't care much about the TVs. It was something else that was stolen that bothered him. Here's his fiance to explain.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I went into the bedroom and I told him, I said, you're getting ready to get mad. I said, all your porn is gone. (END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: In case you didn't catch it. I quote at the end was all your porn is gone. This isn't just any porn collection we're talking about. Early is like the most avid philatelist, instead of stamps, he collected vintage pornography.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I had a collection with every African- American who has been in porn from the '70s up until now. I had the DVDs. Notice, it was stacked like this high. As you see that right there, that's the only thing that's left.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: That's right, a lone DVD that is all that remains from a veritable Mt. Everest of vintage porn.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My porn collection is valuable, man. My collection was the best in Michigan. A guy in Connecticut told me that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Who better to judge one's porn collection from a guy in Connecticut? Serious though, early said his stash was worth about $7,500, and they're afraid to talk openly about this crime on the local news.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP0

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They probably think, they're freaks. It's something natural and it's healthy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm no scum bag guy who's a pervert. It keeps my relationship fresh and tight and I learn stuff I can use on her.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Keeps the relationship fresh and tight. Nor are they afraid to talk openly about it on "Jimmy Kimmel Live."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you guys have porn insurance because that's so important?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, we did not.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Early, is it possible that Angela threw your porn out because she would be my lead suspect.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: It's nice to see they have a sense of humor about it. It's nice also that he's getting a little fame out of the heinous crime that was perpetrated upon him. The question is once the bright light of attention begins to fade, how in the world will Early deal with his loss?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do I do now? Collect over, start over and buy them again.

(END VIDEO CLIP0

COOPER: That's the spirit. I know what you're thinking. Is there somewhere I can donate to early in his time of need? Perhaps a benefit concert is in the works or some sort of a telethon. Fear not, the generous people of the adult entertainment industry are apparently giving Early a whole bunch of free movies to help replenish his collection. It's a pornacopia of riches on the "Ridiculist."

That does it for us. Let's kill that music. Tune in one hour from now for an AC 360 special on the Jodi Arias trial. Thanks for watching. "PIERS MORGAN TONIGHT" starts now.