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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees

New Weather Warnings in Texas, Oklahoma, Mexico; Cyber Crooks Stealing More Than 100,000 Tax Returns from IRS Computers; Interview with Dave Holloway. Aired 8-9:00p ET

Aired May 27, 2015 - 20:00   ET

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

[20:00:22] ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Good evening. Thanks for joining us.

Tonight, how crooks are using your identity to steal billions meant for people who lost their jobs. Authorities could stop it, the question is, why haven't they? We are Keeping Them Honest tonight.

We begin though with breaking news.

Tonight, the CDC and the Pentagon are scrambling to contain the fallout of a potentially deadly error. The U.S. military mistakenly shipping live anthrax samples to research labs in as many as nine states and also to an air base in South Korea. Anthrax is, of course, considered highly lethal and potential biological weapon. This is the kind of thing that is never ever supposed to happen. They are supposed to be safeguards in place. The question is, how did it happen and how many people are potentially have been exposed.

Our chief national security correspondent Jim Sciutto joins me with the latest.

So what do we know about this mistake?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: It is a really remarkable failure, almost inexplicable failure. We are learning tonight that four workers have now been placed under post exposure treatment to anthrax. This doesn't mean they are showing symptoms of it. This is really out of an abundance of caution, but it does show the level of concern.

It was a site in Maryland that tested the sample, found out it was live and this raised the alert for those eight other states. But a foreign base in Korea and they tested the remaining samples in Utah facility that sent them and they were all live and the assumption is that all of the samples sent were live. It is really a remarkable breach in light of how dangerous samples like this are.

COOPER: So is there any risk to the general public because of this?

SCIUTTO: Well, this is what they say. There is a protocol for shipping live samples. That was not followed here because they were thought to be neutralized samples. But as the position of Pentagon that the protocol that they were shipped under is severe enough that there is no risk to the public. But listen, this is something that is raising questions at the highest levels of the Pentagon and there is an investigation under way to see how this happened.

COOPER: All right, Jim Sciutto. Appreciate the update. Thanks.

From bad bacteria, now to big bucks, and the questions for the authorities tonight. It is a new kind of identity theft that you need to know about and that is on top of a similar kind of crime that is already in the headlines. You are probably familiar with that one, cyber crooks stealing more than 100,000 tax returns from IRS computers. Sources telling us late today that the breach originated in Russia. The scam apparently netting about $50 million in tax refund which is real chicken feed compare to what you are about to see.

Now, what we uncovered is happening in every state in the country to the tune of $5.6 billion. And could you be a victim and not even know about it.

Details now from our senior investigative correspondent Drew Griffin.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is a routine traffic stop in South Florida with what's become a routine fine.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Driver, step on out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He has been arrested for gun charges before.

GRIFFIN: This suspect carrying a counterfeit credit card.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right now, you are under arrest for possession of a counterfeit credit card.

GRIFFIN: Part of what is being called an identity fraud tsunami now targeting a much bigger pile of money, unemployment benefits, easily swindled using your stolen identity and government agencies that seem powerless to stop it.

Detective Greg Catlin of the North Miami beach police department says criminal gangs are turning from heroin, cocaine or marijuana to fraud. Thieves use ATMs and stolen an identity to cash in on unemployment benefits that the state of Florida sent them on debit cards like these.

DET. GREG CATLIN, NORTH MIAMI BEACH POLICE: Fraud is better than drugs on the street, no doubt about it.

GRIFFIN: Because?

CATLIN: Easy money and less work.

GRIFFIN: Unemployment benefit theft is a multi-billion dollar illegal industry stolen right under the nose of the very government handing it out. And yes, anyone can be a victim, even detectives on a police force.

DET. CORA MANN, NORTH MIAMI BEACH POLICE: Someone scammed my identity and filed for unemployment from city (INAUDIBLE).

GRIFFIN: Detective Cora Mann investigated crimes for the North Miami Beach police. But for three months, while she was working, a criminal had stolen her identity, filed for unemployment benefits with the state of Florida and was receiving $3,000 worth of unemployment benefits in her name.

Were you shocked at how easy that took place, considering that you were working the whole time?

MANN: I was astonished how easy that took place and I'm here every day working 60 hours a week but I'm getting unemployment claims filed in my name.

CATLIN: It is all in the 15-25-year-old street gang members. And they are using the stolen identity to get unemployment funds.

GRIFFIN: Soon after this interview, police raided the south Florida home, confiscating information for more than 1,000 people, three brothers, one a juvenile, were arrested, just one ring of many operating in the Miami area. The two adult brothers have pled no contest to identity theft charges and await sentencing. No one wanted to talk to us when we showed up at the house, including this man wrapped in a bed sheet who tried to block us from shooting the address and mailbox.

[20:05:21] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just get out of here. I don't want to answer your questions.

GRIFFIN: It is happening in every state. Unemployment benefit fraud, including identity theft, is costing the nation an estimated $5.6 billion a year. The U.S. labor department and inspector general called the program particularly at risk for sending out improper payments. And the number one reason they get away with it, no one in government seems to really check if the person filing for unemployment is really unemployed.

Wilfredo Ferrer is the U.S. attorney for southern Florida.

That seems to be such a simple, basic step, and why isn't it happening?

WILFREDO FERRER, U.S. ATTORNEY, SOUTH FLORIDA: Because a lot of these programs, the state and federal programs, were designed as programs based on trust. A lot of these programs did not anticipate that we are going to be confronting a tsunami of fraud that we have seen around the country and in south Florida.

GRIFFIN: Ferrer's office tested Florida system and found the state makes it easy for the criminals. A name, date of birth and Social Security and a driver's license number and a series of questions establishing someone's identity is all that is need and the money is soon flowing on to a state issued debit card or a bank account. How is that possible? We asked Jesse Panuccio, who oversees Florida's state unemployment benefits.

JESSE PANUCCIO, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY: One of the things in modern society we want is the claimants to have a society that is efficient and fast for them.

GRIFFIN: Panuccio says states are under a federal mandate to get unemployment checks out within two weeks, many times he says that has left the state of Florida unable to verify the claims are real.

Does that interfere with stopping fraud?

PANUCCIO: Well, there is always a balance. There is a balance between being efficient and making sure you have all the integrity you can in the system.

GRIFFIN: In a 15-month span, Panuccio says his office caught or stopped 97,000 false claims for benefits preventing about $400 million in fraud. But he has no idea how many fraudulent claims his office didn't catch.

He recently raised the alarm with this letter to U.S. secretary of labor, Tom Perez, warning that organized criminal elements have begun attacking public benefit systems on a daily basis.

CNN reached out to the U.S. labor secretary who first agreed to an interview and then his office abruptly canceled. The only explanation from a staffer, saying something about our story didn't, quote, "pass the smell test." Instead of answering tough questions we were sent a statement saying the department of labor is fighting fraud with $625 million to modernize and update computer systems, new technology to improve prevention and detection of improper payments and creating a web based processing system that allowed verification of a claimant's eligibility. The statement ends saying there is no place for fraud and abuse in the UI program.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: And Drew Griffin joins us now. I mean, the system seems so easy to manipulate. The police detective, while she was working, someone was basically stealing her unemployment benefits?

GRIFFIN: It is a system, Anderson, designed to push the money out first, ask questions later and in that instance it took the state three months to ask the question, is this person, this detective, really unemployed. By then, the crooks had $3,000 of unemployment benefits.

COOPER: And the labor secretary Tom Perez, I mean, he doesn't want to talk to you about what we can do to stop this fraud. I don't get that.

GRIFFIN: I don't get it either. This is money that comes out of all of our paychecks. That is where this comes from. This is taxed money. We wanted to ask tough questions about what is going on with that money. All I can tell you is this cabinet secretary, and quite frankly, Anderson, others particularly at the V.A. simply will not sit down to face tough questions. They hide behind public affairs office that sent out these statements but no tough questions. And this is a tough question. Where is this money going and why aren't they stopping it?

COOPER: It is amazing when public servants just refuse to answer questions. I mean, if they have nothing to hide, if they know the answers why not sit down. It is not as if -- I don't get it. We'll keep after them.

Drew Griffin, thanks very much. Keeping Them Honest.

Up next. More breaking news. Right now new weather warnings in Texas and Oklahoma to tell you about. The rivers running high again along with the heartache as more the missing are located.

And later, ten years after Natalee Holloway disappears in Aruba, can you imagine that, then years. I will talk to her dad and a private investigator about a possible new clue that might provide some answers that they've been waiting a decade for.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:13:43] COOPER: Flood watches and warnings are up again across big parts of Texas and voluntary evacuations notice has gone up in at least two localities, one in Parker County and according to Houston Chronicle, another in the city of warden on the Colorado River.

And in Dallas, the Trinity River is now running about seven feet above flood stage and is expected to remain there into tomorrow morning.

In Houston, officials has raised the number of damages buildings from 1400 to 4,000. And the number of missing people fell today sadly that is because more bodies are being found.

Ana Cabrera joins us now. She is along the Blanco River in Wimberley, Texas -- Ana.

ANA CABRERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Anderson. You can see the flood was catastrophic. Nine cabins of this property alone were mutilated, leaving behind these piles of splintered wood, of twisted metal, of tossed furniture.

We talked to the owners here. They have family has had the property in the family for 70 years and they never seen flooding anything like this. Normally, the Blanco River stays way down there, but the water rose so fast and with such fury, some people couldn't escape. And of the 12 people still missing tonight, nine are from this area.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My God.

CABRERA (voice-over): It has been four days since the floodwaters rose in Texas. And for the families of those still missing, four days of agony mixed with hope.

[20:15:01] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're certainly optimistic that they may show up.

JOE MCCOMB, MISSING THREE FAMILY MEMBERS: We're hoping and praying that miracles will happen and we're very optimistic but at the same time very realistic in this situation.

CABRERA: Joe McComb's son, John, along with daughter-in-law, Laura, 6-year-old grandson Andrew and 4-year-old granddaughter, Layton, were thrown in the raging Blanco River after their house was ripped off its foundation.

MCCOMB: And John said as they were floating down the river the house ran into a bridge and the house just shattered and the floodwaters and the volume and the speed it was coming, he said it just started to wash all of them in all different directions.

CABRERA: Jonathan was listed as missing, but then miraculously was found. According to his father, as far as 12 miles away from where his house once stood with a collapsed lung and broken sternum. His wife and children are still missing. $ five more listed as missing were in the same ill-fated house. Friends of the McComb. Ralph Carey, his wife, Sue, their daughter Michelle, her husband William and their 6-year-old son also named William.

MCCOMB: There were nine in the house and he is the only one that made it out and accounted for. So that is taking a toll on him emotionally and psychologically.

CABRERA: Authorities reported late today that the body of Michelle has been found. The rest of her family are still missing. One ray of hope, the McComb family dog Maggie was found in a tree near the Blanco river. She is now being treated by veterinarians from the Texas, an animal hospital.

81-year-old Kenneth Riceig (ph) is also missing. He was last seen here. About ten miles way, 74-year-old Dayton Harry Thomas was last seen in his home. He is beloved by this community.

LYDIA GISON, MISSING MAN'S NEIGHBOR: He will be really missed. I mean, yes. It is very tragic to know how he died too, I mean. You know, we think he died. You know, he is missing now.

CABRERA: And just yesterday in the suburb of Houston, the car of 73- year-old Alex Tovar was found submerged in water with the driver nowhere to be found. Tonight, her family, like many others in Texas, continue to search for the missing, holding to hope.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She's cold and she's wet, she belongs at home and that's where we're trying to get her.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I feel for the others that are going through the same situation and may God be on their shoulder.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: It is so sad. What is the biggest threat right now? CABRERA: Well the problem, Anderson, is the isolated thunderstorms

that could pop up anywhere, really, at any time and they come such a tremendous amount of water that creates real problems because the ground is already so saturated. So even this community here in Wimberley is concerned that the river behind me could rise again yet again. And we do know that although, this one has receded for now, other rivers are continuing to rise as we speak.

You mentioned the town of Wharton, Texas, southeast of here, where we know that river, the Colorado River, is expected to reach above flood stage tonight. That is before they get additional rainfall and could peak sometime on Friday or even into the weekend. So the flood threat remains across much of Texas for the next several days, Anderson.

COOPER: Yes. Ana Cabrera, appreciate the reporting.

Last night, our Gary Tuchman steps briefly into the floodwaters. And eve just a few feet in, you could sense the power and the danger of all that water, which actually raises the question if the river has the sprint to pick up a home, carry downstream and break it into pieces, how do rescuers cope with it?

And today Gary got a lesson from the best. We spoke to him yesterday, the man in this "Wall Street Journal" photo doing a very difficult and very danger job.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Respecting the power of the water. That is what anybody training to save lives on the river has to accept as a bedrock principal. The man in the water is Captain Jay Horton of the San Marcos, Texas fire department, one of the nation's top swift water rescue experts.

CAPT. JAY HORTON, SAN MARCOS FIRE DEPARTMENT: You have to have the training, you got to have the equipment. If you don't have the training and you don't have the equipment, don't go in.

TUCHMAN: Captain Horton is about to put me through the initial training he gives to firefighters.

I bet your firefighters don't get that kind of attention.

Other lifesaving supplies attached. First lesson, the entrance into the water when you are going to save a life.

HORTON: We're going in with a lifeguard entry. And it is really ugly looking dive because you are hitting like a duck coming in for a landing. You keep your chest up so your head doesn't go underwater, so you can keep eye visual contact with your victim.

TUCHMAN: So I do the duck dive.

Once you are in the water with its currents, rescuers go into what is called the survival swim position. HORTON: This is downstream. That's where danger is coming from. I'm

going into trees and rocks and really, I want to catch it with the more powerful legs.

TUCHMAN: So we head over the water fall. Here we go.

The idea, to keep your head above water and try not to spin around. Maintain control, keep your legs forward.

[20:20:07] HORTON: This is probably the number one rescue device that we use most often to save people.

TUCHMAN: This is the throw bag.

HORTON: This is called the throw bag.

TUCHMAN: Inside the throw bag, 65 feet of rope. I play the victim. I went over the waterfall and the bag in rope is thrown. It is a complete pass.

These currents are dangerous. Around branches and garbage in the bottom of the water and you tire quickly and then can you be in trouble and in good weather, it is good to stay away from bodies of water with these kind of currents.

HORTON: You hook this up and lock it in and then get out here on this perch. Are we ready?

TUCHMAN: I'm the victim. There will be two rescuers. And it is called a live bait technique.

Captain Horton is tethered to a rope being held on shore by another firefighter. He is swimming out to get me before I head over the next waterfall. The rescue and today's lesson both successful.

HORTON: We're trying to get the victim out of there but we can't allow them to kill our rescue. So we have to go in there with the knowledge and with the training and with the experience so that everybody goes home at the end of the day.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: And I remember one of the things he was saying last night, if you don't have the gear, firefighters sometimes go into the water and with the firefighter helmet, if it gets under the current it can actually break somebody's neck if the water is moving fast enough. The water looks rough even after the river is receding, how do they do this at night when the visibility is so low?

TUCHMAN: You know, at night it is absolutely much more treacherous, but you have to stick to the same principals, face out of the water, lie your back, keep your feet forward to act as a shield. And you can see behind me, Anderson, this river's currents are still very strong even though it is almost below flood stage now.

But one thing that investigators and authority and people who work in the water say is that you can't think deal with natural instinct to do a crawl, the fastest way to get in to the water on the stomach, because if you do that, your face will go under water and your head is upfront, you're your head can get hurt.

COOPER: Incredible, the power of that water. Gary, thanks very much.

Just ahead, ten years after the disappearance of Natalee Holloway, a potential, the possible leads in the case, although, the family will tell you, there have been plenty of possible lead in the last ten years. We are going to have a live update from Aruba.

And I'll speak with Natalee Holloway's father and a private investigator who has been working the case for a decade.

Also later more breaking news. New information about that quadruple murder in Washington, D.C. What we are learning tonight about who beyond the main suspect that authorities think might have been involved.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:26:56] COOPER: Well, this weekend marks ten years since Natalee Holloway disappeared. And in that decade, there have been false hopes, leads that turned out to be nothing. The last person Natalee was seen with was arrested, released, arrested again and released again and is now in prison for the murder of another woman. Natalee's father has been following leads this whole time along with the private investigator.

I'm going to speak with them both in a moment. But first a look back at Natalee's disappearance and the newest piece of information in the case.

Martin Savidge reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the ten years since Natalee Holloway vanished in Aruba, her father has never stopped looking for her. It has been a decade, a false hopes and dead ends.

DAVE HOLLOWAY, NATALEE HOLLOWAY'S FATHER: Ponds, have dogs over there numerous times. I've searched cemeteries. I probably know that terrain better than some of the residents who live on the alley.

SAVIDGE: May 2005, Natalee Holloway was on high school graduation trip to Aruba and disappears. Suspicions fall on three young men she seen leaving a night club with. Two brothers and a Dutch nationals, the son of a judge, 17-year-old Joran Van Der Sloot.

They first say that they dropped Natalee off at her hotel, then the story changes. The brothers say that actually they dropped Joran and Natalee off at a different hotel. And Joran says that is where he left her, on this beach, alive and well.

Hundreds of tourists and locals search for her. Authorities detain a number of people and then let them go. Dutch fighter jets are even flown overhead scanning with sensors. Nothing is found. Many, including her father, believe Natalee is the victim of foul play, her body thrown in the ocean. Joran Van Der Sloot is never charged. The case goes cold.

Then three years later, Dave Holloway gets a call from a mysterious man telling him --

HOLLOWAY: She's (INAUDIBLE) and I know where her body is hidden. And my thought is this is another crazy.

SAVIDGE: You have had a lot of those in the story?

HOLLOWAY: Quite a few.

SAVIDGE: Holloway dismisses the lead and the years drag on. In 2010, Van Der Sloot is arrested and eventually convicted of the murder of 21-year-old Stephany Flores Ramirez in Peru. Five years to the day Natalee Holloway vanished.

To Holloway it is more proof that Van Der Sloot is responsible for his daughter's disappearance but he is no closer to finding her. In 2012, a judge legally declared Natalee dead.

Then in march he gets a phone call from a Dutch journalist who tells him of an amazing lead. An eyewitness to his daughter's death.

Did you know who he was referring to?

HOLLOWAY: I did not at the time. I said who are you referring to and he started bring me up to date and I said that sounds like the same guy who contacted me back in 2008.

SAVIDGE: And just as in 2008, the witness says Natalee is buried on land. After years of disappointment, Holloway is afraid to believe it.

HOLLOWAY: I thought I can't go here because I've gone through so many of these where they had details and facts and it turned out to be nothing.

SAVIDGE: So he asked a private investigator to check the witness out, and soon the investigator calls back.

HOLLOWAY: He said, hey, Dave, the guy passed this voice analysis test, and I thought, oh, my gosh.

SAVIDGE: Now, for the first time in nearly a decade, the dad who never gave up, dares to hope he may finally bring his daughter back home.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: And Martin Savidge joins me from Aruba. What do we know about this witness? How credible is he? SAVIDGE: Pretty amazing story. By the way, we are standing in front

of the hotel where Natalee Holloway stayed 10 years ago. Jurrien De Jong is this witness's name. He lives in Amsterdam, he is Dutch, but he was here in 2005. He admits he has a criminal past, but what you find out is that this is not really a new witness. This is a guy who has come back time and time again to the Holloway family and to the authorities, trying to convince them what he saw is really what happened. But the problem is a lot of people, almost everyone, believes Natalee ended up in the ocean, and no one wants to hear otherwise. When we heard this, we said we got to this guy. So we flew to Amsterdam. Tomorrow we'll introduce you to him. We'll sit down and we'll question him and grill him, and you will be able to decide whether what he says you think is really true. Anderson.

COOPER: All right, Martin Savidge, I appreciate it, we look forward to that tomorrow.

And joining me now are Natalee's father, Dave Holloway, and the lead private investigator, TJ Ward, who had been working with the Holloways since Natalee's disappearance.

Does it seem like it's been ten years for you, Dave? It has got to be hard to comprehend that?

HOLLOWAY: We went through some of the hard parts in the very beginning. 2005 to 2008 was probably one of the toughest time periods, because it just happened, and then you start trying to go through an emotional type closure.

COOPER: Is such a thing possible? I always think that word closure is sort of a word people use in TV a lot. But you never move on from it fully?

HOLLOWAY: You just try to get close. Basically what we did is we tried to come up with a theory of what we thought happened, and then we went through some legal processes, where we had Natalee declared deceased, and after Joran was put in prison for the murder of another girl, that kind of help put closure on things for our family.

COOPER: When you found out that he had killed another girl and that he was going to serve so much time, what went through your mind?

HOLLOWAY: Well, I knew based on his personality and what we've seen so far, that he's going to do it again to some innocent girl. And then here we have it -- it did happen.

COOPER: Does it feel like a little bit of justice?

HOLLOWAY: You try to satisfy yourself in your own mind that he is in jail. It is not for Natalee, but he has got to think about it.

COOPER: This trip that you just took down there with TJ, I want to talk to you about that. First of all, there is a witness who I guess had contacted you back in 2008. TJ, do you believe this witness is credible? TJ WARD, PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR: I had an opportunity to speak to this

witness several times, and I was able to take his transmission from a 40-minute conversation, and from the conversation, from doing an analysis on it, determined he is being truthful from what he saw and what he knows.

COOPER: And so you went down there just recently. What were you able to see and what were you able to do?

HOLLOWAY: We wanted to see what the Marriott Hotel looked like and just kind of see if we could believe his story.

COOPER: Because he said that she was buried under a staircase where the Marriott is now.

HOLLOWAY: The foundation. And I wanted to see what the area looked like, and we did take a service/cadaver dog with us, maybe in hopes of getting lucky, but we were not allowed to search the area that was in question.

COOPER: Do you think about giving up?

HOLLOWAY: No. I mean, I just -- sometimes I have to do a self-check to say, you know, am I going more than what most people would normally do? I just have to look in the mirror and see, and it's just like this lead here. I couldn't pass it up. And I just had to go, and I think that is what most every parent would do as well. You just can't let it go.

COOPER: What do you want people to remember about Natalee when they think about her? And a lot of people obviously still pray for her and pray for your family and think about her, people know her name around the world. What do you want people to remember when they think of her name?

HOLLOWAY: I just want everyone to know that you have got kids in a household, and you can preach to them and preach to them and preach to them about safety, and bad things do happen. And this is one of them.

[20:35:00]

But Natalee is one of those kids who was a model student and had her life planned out.

COOPER: She wanted to be a doctor.

HOLLOWAY: She wanted to be a doctor and had her life planned out and knew where she was going in life. And you look at situations like ours, they study so hard and graduate, expect them to go to college, and boom, missing. And I just feel for her because of the hard work as well.

COOPER: Do you believe one day you will have an answer?

HOLLOWAY: I do. I always thought it would be right around the corner, and here we are ten years later. And I think one of these days we finally will. This could be one of them, and this situation here, or it may not be.

COOPER: I hope you get an answer. Thank you so much for talking to us. And TJ as well.

WARD: Thank you.

COOPER: As Martin Savidge said, you'll meet this alleged witness on the program tomorrow.

Coming up next, breaking news, new details tonight about the man accused of killing a wealthy Washington couple, their young son and their housekeeper after holding them hostage. He once worked at the family's company, but our source says he was far from a model employee.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:40:30]

COOPER: Tonight we're getting new details about the man charged with murdering a wealthy businessman, his wife, young son and one of their housekeepers after holding them hostage inside of their Washington mansion. Now, even before they arrested the suspect, Darren Wint, police said this was not a random crime. The alleged killer once worked at the business the family owned. And now we're learning more about his time at the company, what kind of an employee he was. Our Pamela Brown has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAMELA BROWN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Tonight we're learning more about suspect Darren Wint, and his connection to Savvas Savopoulos's company. Wint worked for American Iron Works more than 10 years ago as a welder. A source says he was not a good employee and had a bad attitude, constantly changing positions within the company. It's unclear if he was fired or left on his own in 2005. The source says Wint's cousin also worked for the company around the same time. Tonight, we have learned police are looking at one of Wint's cousins, who was with him during his arrest last Thursday, though it's unclear if it's the same cousin who worked at AIW.

D.C. police also continue to investigate two of the women who were also there. According to police documents, one of the women admitted to purchasing money orders after the murders. They were released from police custody after less than 24 hours, and have not been charged with a crime.

DANNY CEVALLOS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: It does not mean that the released persons are no longer of any interest to the police. I wouldn't say those people are completely off the hook yet.

BROWN: Still a mystery, who is in this surveillance video, seen fleeing the scene after the family's stolen Porsche was torched. A witness describes the driver as someone with well groomed hair, a very different description than Wint, who so far is the only suspect in the case. Meantime, a lengthy obituary for the Savopoulos family in the Washington Post on Tuesday. Their 10-year-old son Philip, who was allegedly stabbed and burned, was fondly known as Flip and had a passion for racing cars. Savvas Savopoulos loved the arts, including operas. His wife Amy was an active volunteer in her children's schools. Their surviving family members are their two daughters, away at boarding school during the murders.

MIKE MANATOS, FAMILY FRIEND: That's the other part of this tragedy, that I think this is going to be the next focus for a lot of people once they get out of all the questions about what happened and why, it's the survivors, it's those two daughters, and without their parents and their brother, that's just hard to imagine what they are going through right now.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Pamela joins us now. What are your sources telling you about the construction vest that was found in the family garage and believed to have been worn by the driver of the family's stolen Porsche?

BROWN: There have been a lot of questions about these construction vests, Anderson, and two sources I've been speaking with say that American Iron Works, where Darren Wint worked for Savvas Savopoulos, does not have a neon lime green construction vest as part of its uniform similar to those found in the Savopoulos family garage and believed to be worn by the driver of the family's stolen blue Porsche, based on a witness account. That same witness also said he had the short, well groomed hair, the driver of that car.

We've also learned, Anderson, from talking to neighbors, that there was paving taking place around the family's home in the weeks leading up to the murders. We don't know if that is connected at all, but what we do know is that police believe the suspects were watching activity around the home, and that there was no forced entry. So it stands to reason, Anderson, that perhaps the suspect or suspects wore the vests to gain entry into the home.

COOPER: Pamela, appreciate the reporting. I want to bring in CNN law enforcement analyst, retired NYPD detective Harry Houck. It's interesting, so these vests, they are not the company vests, these vests that were found. And an eyewitness says that the driver of the Porsche, the stolen Porsche, had short hair. I mean, eyewitness testimony is notoriously flawed, so I guess police have to go on that, the idea that they had short hair?

HARRY HOUCK, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Right, exactly, you know, the fact is that the (inaudible) was recovered, and I don't know that the vest was recovered inside the car so they can match whether or not, if it was destroyed in the fire. They matched it to the same kind of brand that was found in the garage, so that's an important factor for me. They also might have saw the construction workers out on the street wearing that same color, and used that as a ruse to get into the house.

COOPER: Investigators are also now looking at I guess the cousin of Darren Wint, who also had been an employee at the construction company and was with him at the time he was apprehended. And I remember talking to you the other night, when they released the

people who were with Darren Wint very quickly, less than 24 hours.

HOUCK: And I was pretty much shocked about that. The only thing I can think is that they turned. Somehow, they are cooperating with the police and therefore they let them go. Because the one female who allegedly went and bought the money orders, she knew that money was from the murder. She knew exactly what he was doing.

[20:45:00]

The police have been looking for this guy for a week. So, why wasn't she held?

COOPER: Right.

HOUCK: You know, I mean she's helping him money launder at the moment now, so why wasn't she arrested that night? All I can think it was that maybe they are all cooperating very closely with the police. All I can think of.

COOPER: There is still so much that we don't know and so many unanswered questions. I mean that the man under the surveillance video ...

HOUCK: Right.

COOPER: ... police do not believe it is Darrin Wint ...

HOUCK: Right.

COOPER: ... but I'm not sure how they know that for sure.

HOUCK: Well, they don't know for sure 100 percent, because he did have a hoodie on. But the fact is, you know, we have got the fire at about 1:30 in the afternoon and the vehicle was found in flames, around 5:30, where did the car go for about four hours? You know, it's really interesting. And why would anybody want to wear a vest and drive like a maniac in a Porsche? You know, attracting attention to themselves for four hours.

COOPER: Yes.

HOUCK: That's really - the case is really strange.

COOPER: I mean clearly, they're going to be looking a lot of surveillance videos from around Washington just to ...

HOUCK: Exactly.

COOPER: ... where that vehicle went for so long. Harry, I appreciate you being on.

Just ahead, a scare mid-flight. Imagine this: you're on a plane. The jet dropped 13,000 feet with both engines failed. Details ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: We just got some sad news out of Texas in the search for a woman whose car was found submerged in the flood waters near the town of Rosenberg. Alice Tovar, that's her name, local affiliate KTRK reporting that her body has now been recovered.

[20:50:03]

COOPER: She was 73 years old.

Half-way around the world, major questions, as new details emerge after a harrowing flight aboard a Singapore Airlines, Airbus A-330. A flight for a time with no power coming from either engine. Rene Marsh reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RENE MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Singapore Airlines flight 836, with 194 on board was flying over the South China Sea down for Shanghai when both engines went out. The sudden loss of power at 39,000 feet as the jetliner passed through bad weather. Within seconds, the aircraft dropped nearly 13,000 feet.

MARY SCHIAVO, CNN AVIATION EXPERT: The pilot has to basically put the plane that's now lost the power in his engines a dive and that wind going through those engines spins the turbines and helps the pilots get a re-light, but even with a re-light, getting your engines actually going again, you know, fuel is burning, you have to be able to sustain those engines, so it is a really tricky maneuver.

MARSH: Singapore Airlines says the problem started about 3.5 hours after departing from Singapore. They say one engine regained power while pilots worked on the second.

SCHIAVO: That is something that they are trained to do and in all cases on all planes, there is a point at which the manuals say, don't try any more diving restarts just look for a place to put it down and set it down.

MARSH: This is the latest of several incidents involving Asian Airliners. In February, both engines on a trans-Asia flight lost power, flight 235 crashed into a river in Taiwan. In December, Air Asia flight 8501, an Airbus-320, disappeared from radar and crashed into the Java Sea minutes after the pilot asked for clearance to climb in altitude to avoid bad weather. And Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing disappeared without a trace more than a year ago. But as for Singapore Airlines, its safety record is one to brag about. This year, it was rated one of the top ten safest airlines.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARSH: Well, this was a brand new plane, not even a year old. The airline says, it found no anomalies with the plane's engines, but bad weather like a severe downpour rain could cause engines to flame out. It is not clear if that's what happened here. A full investigation is now underway. Nevertheless the aircraft was put back into service just a few hours later. Anderson.

COOPER: That must be terrifying. Rene, I appreciate the reporting. Thanks.

There is a lot more happening tonight. Amara Walker has a "360" news and business bulletin. Amara.

AMARA WALKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, FIFA is under fire. Nine top officials from soccer's governing body have been indicted by the U.S. Justice Department. Five corporate executives are also charged. The accused face racketeering, corruption and other charges involving an alleged $150 million in bribes and kickbacks.

Comedian Tracy Morgan has settled with Wal-Mart for an undisclosed amount over a deadly accident that left him seriously injured. Nearly a year ago a speeding Wal-Mart truck slammed into Morgan's limo bus on the New Jersey turnpike killing his friend.

And a demonstration of a driver assistance feature on a Volvo SUV didn't go as planned when the vehicle crashed into the journalist gathered to watch. The video was originally billed on YouTube as a self-parking accident but Volvo believed it was mislabeled and appeared to be a test of the SUV's pedestrian detection system, which wasn't even installed on the SUV in question and that is why the men were hit. They were bruised, but believe it or not, they are OK.

COOPER: Quite a demonstration. Amara, thank you very much. Coming up, something to make you smile although this one might also make you -- I don't know -- queasy. I think you'll like it. "The Ridiculist" is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Time now for "The Ridiculist." With the unofficial start of summer now upon us, lots of people will probably be cooking out enjoying the outdoors, not a care in the world, which is exactly the bad drop for tonight's story from a Pennsylvania town not far from Trenton, New Jersey. There group of family friends gathered recently to celebrate the birthday of a young woman. About 40 guests were there. There was a swimming pool. People playing horseshoes in the backyard. It was just good old-fashioned wholesome fun when this happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And out of nowhere from the sky comes a bunch of feces and lands on here very hard.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: So, this was a young lady's 16th birthday party. Did I mention that? I hesitate to call it her Sweet 16, because I think once a bunch of feces starts to rain down hard on the pool and the balloons and the table and the canopy in the backyard, the sweetness of the occasion tends to - I don't know, dissipate somewhat. But this is not a story with all bad news. Oh no, there was at least one stroke of good luck.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We just got done with the cake, thank God, we took the cake back in because within two minutes, something fell from the sky. It was brown and it was everywhere. It got on everything.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: We get it. We know what it looks like. It is like one of those fortunately unfortunately story. Fortunately, the weather was great to have a party. Unfortunately, human waste fell from the sky. Take your pick. Fortunately, the cake was already back inside. Unfortunately, that doesn't mean people were done eating.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was eating cake and then I just heard a big splat and it was gross.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It looks like if 100 birds flew over and went to the bathroom all simultaneously, that is what it looked like. And everybody wasn't very happy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: I think we got it. We got the image. It's a fact nothing turns happy birthday to you into crappy birthday doo doo faster than getting pelted with feces at your Sweet 16. So, (INAUDIBLE) party goer discovered on an app that there were several planes flying over at the time. Not the planes are supposed to empty their facilities like that, but I don't know. I guess it is more plausible theory than a 100 birds executing a simultaneous massive flying dump. Yeah, I said dump. The FAA is apparently investigating.

[21:00:00]

COOPER: I don't know how. So we'll be sure to keep you posted on that on "The Ridiculist. That does it for us. Do you think they are examining? Droplets? We'll see you again 11 p.m. - for DNA, maybe.