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Breaking News
Jessie Davis Case
Aired June 23, 2007 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, there, Rick. We're going straight to a news conference in Canton, Ohio. This is about missing woman Jessie Davis there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... from the Stark County Sheriff's Office, agents of the FBI, the Summit County Coroner's Office, the Metro Parks Police and the National Park Service are on scene. We have placed Bobby Cutts under arrest and he's presently in the custody of the Stark County Sheriff's Office.
Bobby Cutts will appear in Canton Municipal Court on Monday, June 25th, 2007 where he will officially be arraigned on two counts of murdered, which includes the unborn child.
This is still an ongoing investigation in conjunction with the FBI, Stark County prosecutor's office, the Stark County Crime Lab, the Canton Police Department, the Ohio State Patrol and the Stark County Sheriff's Department. Anyone with information should contact authorities that following tip line, 330-430-3818. Tips may also be received at www.sheriff.co.stark.oh.us and click on the Jessie Davis alert.
Our hearts go out to the family of Jessie Marie Daves and we'll do whatever we can to ease their burden during this difficult time. We'd like to thank the thousands of people who volunteered to assist with the search for Jessie as well as everyone who provided tips concerning her disappearance.
At this time, county prosecutor John Ferrero
JOHN FERRERO, STARK COUNTY PROSECUTOR: Good afternoon, everyone. As Rick said, Mr. Cutts has been charged with two counts of murder. I want to applaud all of the law enforcement that was involved in this, the FBI, the state and local people, the Sheriff's Department. They did a very good job here. And commend them on that.
But one important thing, this case is still being investigated. And there's a lot of things -- a lot of things that you people want to know that we just can't disclose at this time because of the continuing investigation.
So I ask for your -- for your patience on that. We will vigorously prosecute this case. We will take this to the -- to a court of law, and we will prosecute, as I said, vigorously. As it stands right now, he is facing two counts of murder, which is the murder of Jessie Davis and also her unborn child. CHIEF DEAN MCKIMM, CANTON POLICE: Thanks, John. Good afternoon. Since this is the first opportunity I've had to address the media, I'd like to make a brief statement and introduce myself. My name is Chief Dean McKimm of the Canton Police Department.
First let me start by expressing my sincerest sympathy to the family and friends of Jessie. As well as those of the community who have suffered as a result of this regrettable crime which brings us all here today.
In expressing these condolences I know I speak also for the many dedicated members of the Canton Police Department. It goes without saying that we all hoped for a different outcome to the disappearance of Jessie. And the announcements today bring deep sorrow to not just Jessie's family and friends, but to countless other whose have worked on this in a law enforcement capacity or followed this case throughout the media.
I want to thank the Sheriff's Department and the FBI for their hard week in these recent days as well as the hard work which inevitably faces law enforcement in the months ahead as we undertake the task of steering this case through the justice system.
I'll just say I want to thank those many fine members of the community who have shown their support to the family of Jessie and in doing so demonstrating their intense desire to see that justice prevails in our area.
While the Canton Police Department has kept its professional distance from this investigation and despite the major developments you're learning about today, I want to make it perfectly clear that just as we have since the discovery of this tragic crime, the Canton Police Department stands ready, able, and anxious to continue our efforts with the FBI and the Sheriff's Department through the conclusion of this case.
As you might expect, I followed this case rather closely since its inception. While the crime itself is not, unfortunately, unique, the many angles and nuances have certainly struck a chord with the public and therefore the media at large.
I would just remind everyone that this case as it continues to progress, no one wants a quicker resolution to this crime than law enforcement. But time will be required. In the end, I believe that justice will be served and members of the community will reap the benefit of another professional and cooperative effort by their local and national law enforcement agencies.
Nationally much has been made of the fact that an officer of the Canton Police Department has been charged in this investigation. There is no denying that this has resulted in giving our department a black eye in the opinion of the local community as well as the opinion of the people across the nation.
I fear discussing addressing the reasons for this officers' involvement are well beyond the scope of this press conference. What I do think is important is that people of this community and those across the nation not be so quick to judge any law enforcement agency by the isolated acts of a rogue officer.
Doing so denigrates all of the many selfless acts of law enforcement personnel who daily put their lives on the line to protect and serve the citizens in their community. No organization comprised of people can ever promise perfection or guarantee that one of their own won't go astray.
The real measure of an organization, especially in regard to law enforcement, is how they react when a problem like this arises. Since I've been chief and even before, the Canton Police Department has made it a priority to be open and fair in dealing with wrongdoing by its officers. This instance was treated no differently.
I believe that if you look beyond the tragic loss of life, which is certainly the central focus of this case, you'll find another story which is one with a very clear and specific message. That message is regardless of who you are or what position you hold in Stark County, the law enforcement will pursue justice and hold the guilty parties responsible as the facts dictate.
Finally, let me just add that despite the fact that law enforcement's best efforts could not return Jessie safely to her family, I sincerely hope that the closure this information brings and the promise of pending justice allows her family to return some semblance of normalcy to their lives as quickly as possible. Thanks.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Any questions?
QUESTION: Yes. (inaudible) Can you tell us exactly where her body was found and how did you come to find her there? What information led to this lake?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At this time, it's still an ongoing investigation. We're still processing the investigation. And following up. We can't release that information.
QUESTION: (inaudible)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As I said, we're not disclosing anything about the investigation or how we conducted it.
QUESTION: Is he already in the jail or is he just in custody?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's already in the jail, yes.
QUESTION: Is there a second suspect?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're still looking into the investigation. We're asking for any tips and information to be delivered to the hot line or to the Web site.
QUESTION: Does that mean that you believe he had help doing this?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not going to disclose anything about the investigation. Any tips or anything can be given to the tip line.
QUESTION: Were any of the tips helpful in what you found out today?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Again I can't give you any information about the investigation. We still have a lot of work to do. And we cannot release that to the public.
QUESTION: (inaudible)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Again, I cannot comment on that.
QUESTION: How was Mr. Cutts taken into custody?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was arrested by sheriff's deputies and brought to the Stark County Jail and booked in.
KEILAR: Very sad end to a story we've been following now at CNN for days. Police there in Canton, Ohio, saying that a body has been find in a lake. A body that they believe to be the body of Jessie Davis. Jessie Davis, of course, the 26-year-old Ohio woman who has been missing since June 13th. She was almost nine months pregnant when she went missing.
Her boyfriend, Bobby Cutts, who is actually a Canton police officer who's now been put on leave has been arrested. Cutts is the father of her children. Blake, two years old, and Chloe, the unborn daughter that they had together. At this point, Cutts is facing charges of two counts of murder. One for Jessie Davis and one for Chloe, their unborn daughter. And he will be arraigned on Monday.
Of course, this is a terrible, terrible day for the family of Jessie Davis and also for the thousands of people who have been searching diligently throughout the Canton area for any sign of Jessie Davis. I want to tell you that tonight, Larry King will be going live at 9:00 p.m. on this story. Any developing details, he's going to bring them to you. Again, 9:00 p.m. Eastern, a special edition of LARRY KING LIVE.
But meanwhile, let's go back now to LOU DOBBS THIS WEEK now in progress.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STEVEN AFTERGOOD, FEDERATION OF AMERICAN SCIENTISTS: It's transparently silly. If it were true, then we'd have to rewrite all of the text books that we all grew up with. It's obvious that the vice president's office is part of the executive branch. And to claim otherwise is preposterous.
MALVEAUX: Those textbooks say the U.S. Constitution establishes the office of vice president under executive branch. Article II Section i.
(on camera): What is also interesting is that the bush administration has made the case numerous times for keeping information secret, citing executive privilege and executive power. So it seems inconsistent that the vice president's office is now saying that he's in a unique position. Suzanne Malveaux, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DOBBS: Coming up next, the Bush administration aggressively defending its executive privileges. Is the administration on the brink of a constitutional showdown with Congress? Jonathan Turley, professor of law, George Washington University, joins us.
Also, new evidence that unscrupulous employers are exploiting the guest worker programs to drive down wages and force Americans out of jobs.
And, the high cost of amnesty. The director of the Congressional Budget Office will be here to discuss the grand amnesty plan, a plan the CBO says isn't effective. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: There's been precious little research for some reason on the part of the executive branch or Congress on the cost of this so-called amnesty program. And legislation.
The Congressional Budget Office, however, did come in at the request of Congress to take a look at part of what the cost might be. Peter Orszag is the director of the Congressional Budget Office, and he has come up with an estimate about how much his office believed amnesty will cost.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PETER ORSZAG, DIRECTOR, CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE: Eighteen billion dollars for the federal budget as a whole over the next 10 years, so for each person in the United States, that's about $5 a year. So pretty modest fiscal impact over the next decade.
DOBBS: Modest fiscal impact, and your study assesses what kind of efficiency in stopping illegal immigration? How -- it will just stop illegal immigration cold, right?
ORSZAG: No. The legislation does not shut down the black economy, and therefore it does not eliminate unauthorized immigrants. We estimate that it would reduce the flow of unauthorized immigrants by about a quarter relative to today.
DOBBS: So in other words, this grand bargain will basically be amnesty for anywhere between 12 million and 20 million illegal aliens. It will only curtail the flow of illegal aliens in this country by 25 percent. It will cost roughly $2 billion a year net to the treasury. And that's it.
ORSZAG: Well, that's one way of looking at it. Obviously another way of looking at it is that there would be some reduction in the number of illegal immigrants in the United States ...
DOBBS: There would be what, I'm sorry?
ORSZAG: There would be some reduction in the number of illegal immigrants.
DOBBS: Sure, 25 percent reduction.
ORSZAG: And some increase in legal immigrants and by 15 or 20 years out, those two would basically balance each other, so the number of immigrants in the United States would be roughly what it would be in the absence of this legislation. More legal ones, somewhat fewer less illegal ones.
DOBBS: So, in other words, darn little impact in terms of the flow of immigration. It just would sort of invert at some point 12, 14 years out so that more people would be legalized because effectively illegal aliens would be legal, correct?
ORSZAG: That's one of the things going on. But you got the basic story right, which is it doesn't have in the long term any big effect on the number of immigrants in the United States.
DOBBS: So, so when we hear the president say, and we hear the Senate Democratic leadership say that this is going to stop illegal immigration, that it's going to not cost the American taxpayer anything, it's all just a big boffo, wonderful, Disneyland result, they're full of it?
ORSZAG: Well, I wouldn't use that kind of language.
DOBBS: Of course you wouldn't.
ORSZAG: What I would say is, again, the net fiscal impact is pretty small. It's probably not where you want to be paying most of the attention. And the impact on the number of immigrants in the United States isn't that big, either. It just changes the nature of those immigrants away from illegals and toward legal.
DOBBS: Right. And what it really does, it seems to me, at least, you could argue this, and I will not put it in terms that would be repugnant to you, it seems it really is amnesty for all the illegal -- all the illegal employers of illegal aliens. That's its principle, short-term impact.
ORSZAG: I'm going to let various different participants, including yourself, characterize it in different ways. I think our job is to just analyze what the impact is.
DOBBS: Let's talk about that analysis a little further as well. Did Congress, did anybody say to you, let's look at the fiscal impact of this, 30 years out? Because, as you know, 10 years is an interesting snapshot, but the real impact comes with Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, when those given legal status become citizens, their impact on Social Security, as you know, Robert Rector at the Heritage Foundation, putting the number at around $2.6 million just for the retiree benefits assuming that the number of illegal aliens is relatively limited.
ORSZAG: Well, Lou, as Toby Keith would say, that's not how it is.
DOBBS: All right. Did you say Toby Keith?
ORSZAG: The Office of the Chief Actuary -- I did say Toby Keith.
DOBBS: You rock on, Mr. Director.
ORSZAG: The Office of the Chief Actuary at Social Security has looked at the long-term impact on the Social Security solvency from this legislation and suggested that if anything it's a slight net improvement over the next 75 years. We've looked 20 years out and we also find small impacts. The reason is, yeah, you're paying more benefits, but you also are collecting more revenue from people.
DOBBS: Now, are you also making the same assumption as does Robert Rector, and this seems critical, do you maintain fidelity with the fact that 60 percent of the illegal immigrants, those who are not visa over-stayers, but those who have actually entered the country illegally, do not have high school educations?
ORSZAG: Yeah, we do assume that there is a -- as you note, there really is quite a difference. If you look, for example, even below high school drop-outs you look at eighth grade drop-outs and below, 36 percent of immigrants from Mexico and Central America have that level of education, only one percent of native-born workers. We do assume that there is a continued disparity in educational attainment of immigrants.
DOBBS: Do you -- can you think of some reason why there has not been an exhaustive study of the fiscal impact? You've done ...
ORSZAG: I think ours has been, is.
DOBBS: You believe it is.
ORSZAG: Yeah, I do.
DOBBS: You believe it is that exhaustive study. OK. Well, with that, and without quibbling over whether it is or it isn't, it is a valuable addition to the body of research, and we thank you for being with us here.
ORSZAG: Well, thank you for having me.
DOBBS: Peter Orszag of the Congressional Budget Office, thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DOBBS: Up next, the Senate's only independent senator, Bernie Sanders, joins me. We'll hear what he has to say about illegal immigration and amnesty.
And there's new evidence that our nation's borders remain far from secure. Like we needed more evidence.
And is it partisan politics or are the Bush administration's skirting the law? Constitutional scholar Jonathan Turley joins us. We'll find out whether the vice president's office is part of the executive branch. Interesting question, don't you think? Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN "Breaking News."
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: We welcome you back. Some unexpected yet startling developments. I'm Rick Sanchez here with Brianna Keilar. The information that we're now getting out of Ohio is really two-fold. They have made an arrest and they have found the body now of 26-year- old Jessie Davis who was nine months pregnant when she went missing.
KEILAR: That's right. And the arrest is of Bobby Cutts Jr. This is a canton police officer, who was Davis' boyfriend. He's on leave at this point. He's the father of both of her children, both two-year- old Blake and of the unborn Chloe, who has we said, she was almost nine months pregnant.
And CNN's Jim Acosta was at this news conference there in North Canton. Let's get to him. Jim, what can you tell us?
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brianna, you basically stated exactly where things stand. A body was found today at 3:30 this afternoon according to the Stark County Sheriff's Department. It was found in the county north of here, Summit County.
And they do believe at this point that this is the body of Jessie Marie Davis and her unborn child. They won't exactly -- it's mysterious. They exactly won't say where they found this body, although the press release it does say they recovered the body with the help of the National Park Service, so we're actively trying to find out if there are any National Park properties up in Summit County.
When pressed on that detail they wouldn't tell us exactly where Ms. Davis or presumably Ms. Davis was found. I can tell you that on Monday, a court appearance has been scheduled for Bobby Cutts Jr. He's scheduled to appear in the Canton Municipal Court here in Canton, Ohio.
And as you mentioned, he is the canton police officer and the gentleman who's also believed to be the father of her unborn child and the father of Jessie Marie Davis' two-year-old son, Blake. That two- year-old son, Blake, is the little toddler who apparently saw something happen to his mother some time late last week. He's the little boy who has been saying over and over again to his grandmother, mommy is in the rug because he saw her being carried out or rolled up in some sort of comforter that looked like a rug.
But right now that's all the Sheriff's Department is telling us right now. They have at least found this woman or at least they believe they have found this woman. It's pretty close to 100 percent here. Because this was a pregnant woman that they found up in Summit County, the county to the forth of here and they've placed her former boyfriend under arrest.
And he is now being held here at he jail in Stark County. SANCHEZ: You know, I am intrigued by that story you just told about the little boy who may have actually been, Jim, the first person who may have given him up. First of all, how old is this little boy?
ACOSTA: He's only two years old, Rick and ...
SANCHEZ: But it was his description, apparently -- correct me if I'm or right or if I'm wrong. Police were talking to someone else or members of the media were talking to someone else, presumably his grandmother or aunt and they saw him in the background either gesturing or saying something that implied that his mother had been killed?
ACOSTA: Right. I mean, that is something that we've heard over and over again since this started. You know, in certain interviews with Patty Porter, that is the grandmother of this little boy, the mother of Jessie Davis occasionally you'd hear in the background the little boy just chiming in, "mommy is in the rug" sort of uncontrollably. And because they feel like this has been such a scarring experience for him, that he saw something that was just disturbing, that he keeps repeating this. They're not really sure why. The family is not really sure why.
The authorities may know more. One thing that we've seen throughout the investigation is that the authorities, as they told us yesterday and as they told us today, they're only telling the media, they're only telling the public exactly how much they think we should know. You know, whatever they think might be helpful to their investigation is what they're revealing to us. So as I've observed from the beginning of this, they're holding a lot close to the vest at this point, Rick.
KEILAR: And one of the things that's really interesting about this case, Jim, is the boyfriend, the man now in custody, Bobby Cutts Jr. He's a Canton police officer on leave. Can you tell us -- we heard a little bit there in the press conference, they said this was kind of a black eye on the police department, didn't they?
ACOSTA: Yeah. Well, you heard the Canton police chief there. He stepped up to the microphone to say no matter who you are, no mater what walk of life you're in, you are held accountable to the law. Basically saying that just because he's a police officer, doesn't mean he was going to beat the rap here. And one thing that we can tell you about Bobby Cutts, one thing that we've heard all along here is that he's presently married and estranged or separately from his current wife, that he's fathered children with this wife who is apparently moved in with her parents.
And he's also apparently fathered at least one child with another woman in this town. So he's fathered children by our count with three women in this community. It wasn't clear -- the family believes that he was the father of Jessie Davis' unborn child. She was due to be born in the first week of July. Thad already picked out a name. Her name was to be Chloe.
But as we heard from the family's attorney here this evening, they will now have to plan a funeral for both Jessie and that little girl.
SANCHEZ: By the way, here's a programming note. Stand by there just a minute, Jim. We're going to be staying with this story for quite some time. We've got a couple of things to share with you.
For those of you who may not know or may just be joining us now, police have, in fact, announced at this point that they have made the arrest of Bobby Cutts and they have found the body of 26-year-old Jessie Davis as well.
We're also just now starting to get some new pictures in. These are -- this is video, aerial video that we're going to share with you of the area where the body was found. We're going to be sharing that with you as well. We also are going to be playing some of the cuts from the news conference and showing you that so you can catch up on what's going on with this story and hear it really in police's own words. It came over only about 10 or 15 minutes ago.
And we hope to be able to hook up with some investigators and people who are really close to this story. In the meantime, that news conference we're talking about just let up about, oh, within the last 15 to 20 minutes. Jim Acosta was there. He monitored the entire thing.
He is still with us live. Jim, let's go back to Cutts. And the idea that I understand has been coming over most of the reports out of Canton is that police have really had an eye on him for quite some time. That they've been questioning him all throughout. Is that the case?
ACOSTA: That's right. They've questioned him at least once. And they have searched his home and his car. We saw earlier this week, we saw the FBI and local sheriff's department investigators inside his garage, pulling out bags of items that they wouldn't really talk about.
But they said during that period of time that he was being cooperative with the searches. We also understand that on the night that Jessie was last heard from, last Wednesday, he was seen inside a local bar here called Champs. And was seen, you know, drinking with friends in that bar - year?
SANCHEZ: Jim, Jim, Jim, we're just getting to interrupt you for a minute because we're getting live pictures. This is the very first picture of what we're presuming to be the body of 26-year-old Jessie Davis. Nine months pregnant. We see it now being driven away. These are pictures coming in from WKYC.
And we thank our station there, affiliate station for that, out of Summit County, Ohio. I'm being told -- and Taneesha (ph), this is correct, right? We have nailed down that this is the body of Jessie Davis or that report coming in from that area? Just to make sure where the producers that this -- this is -- these are, in fact, the pictures from the area that we're talking about.
Live pictures, we were told just moments ago, by some of the folks here at CNN when the pictures first came in. The report was that it came in from a lake there in that area. Still questions about exactly where that was. Do you recall, Brianna? Was it in fact Summit County? Because we've been getting some conflicting information about that.
KEILAR: That's right. Police say that they discovered the body there. Actually Jim Acosta reporting that it was north of Stark County there in Summit County. I know that Equisearch, this group that was assisting them, this group that searched for Natalee Holloway and was assisting them in that search, they were searching a lake today. But at this point, we're not exactly sure whether this body presumed to be that of Jessie Davis was discovered in a lake. Obviously we see people here looking at an area, but, again, this appeared to be kind of a wooded area. Appears not to be a lake. Again, we don't ...
SANCHEZ: And those are -- and those were live pictures we were looking at there just moments ago of what certainly appeared to be a body being put in the ambulatory vehicle. And that was from the particular area where the body had presumably been found. So a lot of this information, we're getting it as you're getting it folks. This is brand new information coming to us now of this really startling developing story involving Bobby Cutts Jr., arrested by police in the disappearance of Jessie Davis, 26 years old and perhaps the story that's really riveted so many people to this story is the fact that she was nine months pregnant at the time that she was missing.
And he is said to be the father of her child. So you have a man who's presumably the father of the child of a woman who is nine months pregnant. She goes missing. And now as we are able to report because of police confirmed just moments ago her body has been found there in the area, somewhere around the lake. Somewhere in Summit County.
KEILAR: And one of the really startling facts of this is that the man that has been arrested, Bobby Cutts Jr., is a Canton police officer.
SANCHEZ: Uh-huh.
KEILAR: There in that city. And we heard during the press conference from the Canton police chief saying, you know, this is kind of a black eye on the police department, but as we heard from Jim Acosta also saying that no one can beat a rap, so if he's responsible, then he's -- he's going to be facing -- he's going to be facing the consequences of this.
SANCHEZ: This is a tough investigation. And, you know, it's funny. Police have been very, you know, and you heard Jim Acosta mention this moments ago. Police have really held things close to the vest.
Because I would imagine - as a matter of fact, we have somebody on the line now who can help us kind of figure this out as we see the vehicle leaving with Jessie Davis' body now. We have someone on the line. Our own Mike Brooks, who's one of our police analysts here at CNN.
To explain to us why police were so methodical about the information and although people in the community may have been screaming for his arrest, they were hesitant to do so. Mike, come on in.
MIKE BROOKS, FORMER CRIMINAL INVESTIGATOR (on phone): Well, I can tell you, Rick, they've been playing things very close to the vest. Both the Stark County Sheriff's Office and the FBI that have been investigating this all along. They were very careful, never to call him a suspect or a person of interest. I don't like the term person of interest myself, but they called him an associate.
But during a criminal investigation, after 26 years of this stuff, you want to look at the people closest to the victim. And then -- and what we're seeing right now, that's the FBI evidence response team van right there, Rick, that white van. We've been seeing that a number of times throughout the week. They're very, very -- they wanted to make sure they crossed all the Ts and dotted all the Is and make sure they eliminated anybody closest to them.
And right now as we know, the person closest to her was Bobby Cutts.
SANCHEZ: Yes. Sufficed to say that he was. Let me stop you for a minute, Mike, and let's talk about the pictures that viewers are actually looking at right now. Because presumably, the body was just found within the last couple of hours. Police told us we received word here in the CNN NEWSROOM somewhat hastily that they'd have this impromptu news conference all of a sudden at 6:00. It actually even began early.
And now soon after that, we are seeing these very first pictures of this area for the first time. Of the body and now after we see the body taken away, we see these people in the woods. Why are they there? What are they looking for?
BROOKS: Rick, once you find a -- the place where the body was found, somewhere in Summit County, I just spoke with the FBI and that's all they would say right now because it's still early on in the investigation. But what we're seeing here, we're seeing members of the FBI evidence response team. I was a team leader on the evidence response team in Washington, DC. These are agents that specialize in crime scene investigations.
And what they're doing -- From where -- from where that body was found, they will go ahead and go out at least 100 to 500 yards looking for anything that they could -- of evidence that could be involved with this. They're going to take a look at the area where the body was found. They're looking for tire impressions, they're going to look for footprints, all of these kinds of things, to help build their case.
Because, you know, right now it looks like Bobby Cutts is involved, but they'll still go ahead and process this particular scene to build even a better case against Bobby Cutts, who looks like he is the suspect involved in this -- you know, in this homicide.
KEILAR: Let's go now. We have some new sound in. This is from Rick Pitini, I believe, correct me if I'm wrong, this is the family lawyer for -- for the Davis family. Rick Pitini. This is the family lawyer for Jessie Davis' family. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICK PITINI, DAVIS FAMILY ATTORNEY: But they've gone through an absolute roller coaster of emotions. I've seen them laugh, I've seen them cry, I've seen them be angry, upset, everything you can imagine. So I don't know. I don't know. I've never had to deal with anything like this before. I hope I never do again. It's tough to express to all of you their deepest gratitude for allowing them to come on your various shows and programs and to get this matter out. At the same time, I would ask you all kindly to please leave them alone for a little bit. They need their space.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Yeah, that's Rick Pitini. He's speaking on behalf of the Davis family there. You can imagine what they're going through at this point. Let's catch you up now on a couple of things that are going on here. First of all, for those of you just now joining us, there has been an arrest. There have been charged filed now in this case of the disappearance of 26-year-old Jessie Davis. She was nine months pregnant.
The pictures you're looking at there on the screen, that's part of the FBI search team that has just come in to do a search. Very close to where her body was discovered.
We have our analyst Mike Brooks who is standing with us on the line. We also have -- we also have Jim Acosta, who is there with this news conference just concluded moments ago where police made these startling and somewhat unexpected announcements on this day.
We're going to be going back to both of them. And we're also going to bring you some sound from that news conference so that you can hear how police explained this themselves when they met with reported. We'll have all of that for you in just a little bit. Stay with us, you're watching CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KEILAR: And just to let you know, tonight at 9:00 p.m. Eastern, Larry King will have a special edition of LARRY KING LIVE talking about a very sad discovery today. Jessie Davis, the Ohio woman who was almost nine months pregnant had been missing for 10 days now. Police say that they have found a body that they believe is her body. Also saying that they have made an arrest. That of Bobby Cutts Jr., a Canton police officer who was the boyfriend of Davis. And was the father of her two-year-old son and believed to be the father of her unborn child as well.
SANCHEZ: It's funny. It's somewhat expected, almost anticipated by people following this story, but yet startling to hear it. And to hear it announced by police so abruptly.
So we're going to let you hear it now. This is a police chief out there. This is Dean McKimm. Chief of Canton police as he made the announcement, oh, some 25 minutes ago. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MCKIMM: Despite the fact that law enforcement's best efforts could not return Jessie safely back to her family, I sincerely hope that the closure that the closure this information brings and the promise of pending justice allows her family to return some semblance of normalcy to their lives as quickly as possible.
There is no denying that this has resulted of giving our department a black eye in the opinion of the local community as well as the opinion of the people across the nation. I fear discussing addressing the reasons are well beyond the scope of this press conference. I feel that people across this community and those across the nation should not be so quick to judge any law enforcement agency by the isolated acts of a rogue officer.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Once again, that's the police chief making some of his comments. There you're looking now at live pictures. We're going to be staying with these pictures and showing you this as it unfolds. The FBI obviously -- whenever you have an investigation like this, it obviously involves joint task forces. When we use that term, we throw it out loosely, I know sometimes people who haven't worked with police don't know what it means.
Joint task force essentially means that you have different agencies working together and oftentimes it includes local police departments. In this case, it would be the different counties involved in this case. Summit County, part of Cuyahoga County. Obviously the Canton Police Department as well as members of the FBI.
KEILAR: And let's go now to Mike Brooks. We have him on the line. He's a former criminal investigator working also as a private investigator. Just give us a sense, Mike. How would police have nailed this down where they get to the point where they can make this arrest of Bobby Cutts, the boyfriend of Jessie Davis?
BROOKS: Well, the lead agency throughout this investigation early on has been the Stark County Sheriff's Office. We've been hearing from their chief deputy over the last number of days along with the FBI. We have seen a number of searches of -- of Bobby Cutts' house. Apparently the first search was a consensual search where they searched the house. Then they went back and searched his truck and another car that was in his garage.
Then day before yesterday, the FBI got a search warrant, which I thought was unusual since he had consent, but they had enough reason to go back to look for some additional evidence. We heard initially that they had been looking for her cell phone and also the comforter that apparently was missing from the house. It's believed that he may have put the body in that when he carried it out of the house.
And they went back. And I was also hearing from a source that they were looking for other specific evidence. So I think what they were doing as they were building the case, they also had interviewed Bobby Cutts a number of times. And as of yesterday, I had asked - I had asked one source, you know, had they given him a polygraph? They said no, they had not given him a polygraph as of yet.
So I think what they were doing, they were going ahead and letting this play out. And that's a good investigative technique to go ahead and involve him like this. And let him just kind of sit and then as they were building their evidence, they would come, they would take a look at the cell phone records.
And one of the theories I was going on, Rick, and one of the reasons I believe as an investigator that they went back to that house is that her cell phone, which was missing, they were able to go ahead and make an analysis of the cell phone records, which they had subpoenaed. Take a look at those records and then go back and say where was the last place we saw a ping, which is contact with a cell phone tower. Because all you have to have the phone on. You don't have to be using it.
And what they did, I believe what they found out was that it was in the area of Bobby Cutts' house. And that's the reason that they went back to the house looking for that particular cell phone.
KEILAR: Now, Mike, let me ask you, in a situation like this where we're having so much interaction with someone that they haven't named as a suspect but obviously someone that they are suspicious of, what type of behavior are they looking for that might stand out?
BROOKS: They're looking, what they're doing, Brianna, they're looking at -- and interviewing all of his family members, anyone close to him. They had some video of him at the Champs Sports Bar where apparently he went to have a couple of beers and that was on the Wednesday night. So you know what they were trying to do is develop a timeline. After this, I guarantee you that they had someone constantly surveilling him and I guarantee you that they probably got a Title III to go ahead and listen to his phone conversations. And they also had gone back and taken some, you know, his computer and these kind of things and done some analysis of all of this.
So I think it's just a culmination of everything that they had enough evidence that they brought him in, showed him what they had and that's when he went ahead we're hearing that he went ahead and confessed and told them where the body was.
SANCHEZ: How do you do that, though, Mike? Can you imagine -- Presuming that what police are saying is true is he's in fact the murderer in this case, that is what police are now alleging, certainly not us, how does one behave? How do you know the difference between someone -- and how difficult would it be to not behave irregularly after something like that?
Interestingly enough, there has been sound of him. There have been interviews that he's given. He almost had to. He really couldn't go into hiding because that would increase the presumption of guilt. Let's do this. Let's go to a piece that was prepared by Anderson Cooper on how this case has unfolded over the last 10 days or so.
Stay with us, Mike. Here's the piece.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST (voice-over): For Patricia Porter, the pain is in bearable.
PATRICIA PORTER, MOTHER OF JESSIE DAVIS: It feels like you have fallen into hell and you're hanging on trying to crawl back out and you cannot believe anything that happened to such a beautiful girl.
COOPER: But something did happen to her daughter, 26 year old Jessie Davis. Nine months pregnant, Jessie's due date is July 3rd. Last week, she and her unborn child vanished.
Here's what we know from her mother and police. Wednesday night, Jessie and her mom talked on the phone. It was the last time anyone heard from her. On Thursday at 8:15 a.m., a worried coworker sent Jessie a text message but got no reply.
Throughout the day Jessie's mom repeatedly tried to reach her daughter. By Friday, growing increasingly concerned, Jessie's mother headed to her home. What she saw there led to this 911 call.
PORTER: We need help at 8686 Essex.
911 DISPATCHER: 8686 what street?
PORTER: Essex.
911 DISPATCHER: What is the problem?
PORTER: My daughter is gone. She's due in two weeks and my grandson is all alone and this whole house has been ransacked.
911 DISPATCHER: How old is your ...
PORTER: My grandson is two.
911 DISPATCHER: And he's gone?
PORTER: He's here alone.
911 DISPATCHER: And how old is the child that was left alone?
PORTER: She wouldn't leave him alone. My God, something is wrong. She's due in two weeks. And she's just missing. Her car's here, her purse, her house is trashed and she's not here.
COOPER: This is Jessie's son, Blake. He was found by himself on the first floor. Upstairs in the master bedroom, the scene was chilling.
PORTER: The comforter was off and her mattress was pushed over, the night stand was knocked over. The lamp was knocked over. And somebody poured bleach all over her carpet.
COOPER: The evidence is disturbing. So are the words of two-year-old Blake. During a local TV interview with the grandmother, Blake can be heard in the background saying, "Mommy is in the rug." Listen.
BLAKE DAVIS, SON OF JESSIE DAVIS: Mommy's in the rug.
PORTER: Mommy's in the rug. He keeps saying that.
COOPER: Police are still treating the case as a disappearance, but say that foul play is suspected.
WHITNEY DAVIS, SISTER OF MISSING WOMAN: There's a hole there, and it just -- it hurts my heart. Because I -- I mean, you know, she's the one you look up to. She's your big sister and she's such a strong person and you can't imagine anything would ever happen to her. She didn't have any enemies. She didn't -- she's never done anything wrong.
COOPER: By Saturday, volunteers were out looking for Jessie, putting posters up across the neighborhood. On Sunday, the search continued and officials said the father of the boy and the unborn child, police officer Bobby Cutts Jr. as well as his wife are cooperating with the investigation.
Tonight, there is still no sign of Jessie and as the desperate hunt goes on, a plea no mother should ever have to make.
PORTER: I just want my daughter to come home.
COOPER: Anderson Cooper, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KEILAR: And of course, the latest on this development just here in the last couple of hours, a very sad ending to this case of Jessie Davis. Police in Canton, Ohio, say they have found a body they believe to be that of Jessie Davis. And they've also made an arrest. The arrest of Bobby Cutts Jr., Jessie Davis' boyfriend. The father of her two-year-old son, Blake. Presumably the father of her unborn daughter, Chloe. He at this point being held on two counts of murder. One for Davis and one for the unborn child.
SANCHEZ: Yeah. He's going to be arraigned Monday. That's what police are telling us. In fact they made that announcement a little while ago. We're going to let you hear more of the announcement that police made today. It's about five to six minutes long. We're going to let you listen to that in its entirety.
And also we were talking to Mike Brooks just a little bit ago, who is good enough to stand by with us throughout our coverage, about Bobby Cutts himself. His behavior. What he had to say, what his composure was, or his lack thereof, depending on who is certainly measuring that there in the community.
He did give a news conference not long ago where he talked to reporters. Looking at it back now in hindsight, well, that's what we're going to let you do. We'll try to dig it up and play for you on the backside. We're going to go to a break right now and then we'll let you see it. Stay with us. We'll be right back. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN "Breaking News."
KEILAR: And coming up tonight at 9:00 p.m. Eastern, a special report. A special edition of LARRY KING LIVE. This is -- he'll be talking about the very sad end to a story we've been covering for days here on CNN.
Authorities in Canton, Ohio say they have found a body. A body they believe to be that of 26-year-old Jessie Davis. You'll probably recall that Davis is the Ohio woman who was almost nine months pregnant. She meant missing about 10 days ago.
Also at this point police are saying that they have made on arrest, the arrest of Bobby Cutts Jr., Davis' boyfriend. The father of her two-year-old. The presumed father of her unborn child and he is also a Canton police officer. At this point he's facing two charges of murder for both Jessie Davis and for the unborn baby.
SANCHEZ: And we welcome you back. I'm Rick Sanchez here with Brianna Keilar. We are going to be staying with this story because there are developments still coming in. Suddenly the name Bobby Cutts, 30 years old, looms large now as you look at some of those -- some of those pictures. There's Bobby Cutts now. That's obviously some file pictures that we've been showing you in the past.
But we can take you now to the place where Bobby Cutts lives. Just outside his home is reporter Denise Strzelczyk. She is with us with WHOIO. She's good enough to join us by phone to bring us up to date on what's going on there.
DENISE STRZELCZYK, WOIO TV: Hi, Rick. It's been a strange day here at Bobby Cutts Jr.'s home. Since Jessie Davis disappeared, this place business in an overflowing with family, friends, supporters of Bobby Cutts Jr. Then at about 1:30 this afternoon, suddenly family and friends packed up water, food, electronics, put it in cars and just left. At about 3:30, then when Jessie Marie Davis' body was found not in this county. We're in Stark County. It was found in Summit County in a heavily-wooded area several miles away from here.
The place here, the house here, was completely dead at that point. We didn't see anybody until 5:00 this afternoon when the sheriff showed up with a plain-clothes officer. He knocked on the front door, he looked inside the front door, went around the back of the house, checked out the back yard, spoke with the neighbor. Then came back to the front of the house again and looked again in the front door and then got in his car and then took off and left and hasn't been back since.
At 6:00, to give you an idea of the timeline, that's when the announcement was made that Bobby Cutts Jr. was in fact arrested and charged with two counts of murder. And there's been no activity here since. Rick and Brianna?
SANCHEZ: Denise, you mentioned that suddenly everyone just pulled out of the home. To what do you attribute that?
STRZELCZYK: Well, from what our sources are telling us, an anchor at our station is very good friends with a friend of Bobby Cutts Jr. From what she said, there was a point at some time in the house when everybody was together when Bobby Cutts Jr. began confessing to what had taken place.
SANCHEZ: You know, what's interesting, that was going to be my very next question to you. Because as your describing that timeline I started thinking to myself that we here in the CNN NEWSROOM had received information from police and they were adamant about the fact that they were now questioning him throughout the morning and part of the afternoon.
STRZELCZYK: Right.
SANCHEZ: And then shortly after all of that questioning that police say they had done, they announced that they had found her body and that they had arrested him, which would certainly lead one to believe whether Bobby Cutts in words somehow led police to that body.
STRZELCZYK: Well, we got our tip shortly after 1:30 that in fact he was turning himself in to the FBI and that's probably when the other developments took place. And we were told through our tip that he did lead police to Jessie Davis' body. Again, that's not confirmed. Police aren't saying that.
SANCHEZ: Right.
STRZELCZYK: But that's what our source told us.
KEILAR: So, Denise, can you tell us about this area? As you said, it's Summit County, which is north of Stark County. You said it's heavily wooded. We heard from our Jim Acosta that the body was recovered with help from the National Park Service. Is this a national park?
STRZELCZYK: You know, that's a very good question. It came up during the press conference. Because we know according to police that the National Park Service was involved in recovering this body. But police would not confirm or deny that her body was found in a national park. They said that this was a service that the National Park Service provided in these kinds of situations. That sounded a little bit interesting to me.
SANCHEZ: Can you hang on for just a minute?
S STRZELCZYK: Sure.
SANCHEZ: I want you to listen to something and I want our viewers to listen to something, too, if we have it. In the control room we asked to see if we could find that cut of Bobby Cutts when he spoke to reporters when the very first questions about his possible involvement came up. I know you probably are very familiar with this, Denise.
STRZELCZYK: Yes, I've been covering it from the start. SANCHEZ: Do we have that, Taneesha? Let's go ahead and roll that, then.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
TODD PORTER, "CANTON REPOSITORY": Bobby, did you have anything at all to do with the disappearance of Jessie?
BOBBY CUTTS JR., CHARGED WITH MURDER OF JESSIE DAVIS: No, I didn't.
PORTER: Have authorities given you any indication if you are a suspect?
CUTTS: I mean, they've continued to say that I'm not a suspect, but I mean, I'd be dumb and naive to think that they weren't treating me as a suspect, different things I've had to go through the past couple of days.
PORTER: Have any authorities told you that you've been cleared in this -- in this investigation?
CUTTS: No. They -- they have not told me that I've been cleared, but as like I said on the media, I mean, they said to the media that neither me nor my wife are suspects. But I don't feel that we've actually been treated as that were 100 percent true.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Yeah. Brianna and I are looking at ourselves now as we listen to him here now in hindsight. You certainly can get some reflection on this. But Denise, what did you think when you first heard that interview?
STRZELCZYK: Well, I think all along we thought this guy is a suspect. I mean, police searched his home not once but twice. So to go in that home a second time had to mean that they found something that justified them getting a hold of this second search warrant.
So I think the fact that he was a member of law enforcement also played into this to a certain extent. I think that police and investigators were very careful not to say that he was a suspect. I don't know. Perhaps maybe to make sure that, you know, that he didn't take off. We're really not sure, but I think it was -- it was clear from the start that he was a suspect.
But we were never told that he was officially a suspect.
KEILAR: So, Denise, we know that Bobby Cutts, by our count, anyways, has four children by three different women including Jessie Davis. Obviously the Canton police officer, he is married at this point but he has actually said that he is estranged from his wife and that she was aware of this relationship that he had by Jessie Davis.
What can you tell us about Cutts? What's the sense that you get from talking to people there on the ground about what type of guy this is. STRZELCZYK: Well, that's an interesting thing. Neighbors here say that he was - that they really didn't know that much about him, that he really kept to himself, that he wasn't the kind of guy that was out on his front yard mowing his grass and saying hello to everybody and they really didn't know a lot about him but from everything that I've been able to gather, this is a guy who was quite the ladies' man, had quite a few girlfriends.
From what I hear, though, his wife, for whatever reason, did not move out of their home until recently.
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