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Sheriff: Pregnant Marine Dead; A Suspect Past? Gary Hilton Investigation; Red Flags in D.C.?
Aired January 11, 2008 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: The sheriff says he just wants to cry. A pregnant young Marine missing for almost a month from Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, is dead.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: The prime suspect is a fellow Marine whom the victim accused of rape.
We have extensive coverage all this hour in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Hello, everyone. I'm Don Lemon, live at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.
PHILLIPS: And I'm Kyra Phillips.
You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.
LEMON: It is 2:00 p.m. here in the East, and earlier today there was a glimmer of hope Maria Lauterbach would be found alive. But by noon, those hopes were gone. This hour, authorities in North Carolina are looking for the grave of the pregnant Marine on a tip from a key witness.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHERIFF ED BROWN, ONSLOW COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA: Mrs. Lauterbach is dead and has been buried here in Onslow County. The suspect in the case is the Marine accused by her for assaulting her. And while you all have been getting up here, we have been getting out there and/or searching the area for the grave that could be in and around the place where she was murdered.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: CNN's Ed Lavandera joins us live from Jacksonville, North Carolina.
Ed, it sounded like no one was expecting that news from the sheriff today.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, no, I think it's safe to say it was absolutely stunning to have received that note and that information. At the very least, we thought, you know, perhaps that the interviews this morning with her roommate hadn't gone well and they would still be on the lookout for her. But no one expected what we heard this morning. LEMON: So, Ed, just a short while ago I spoke with the sheriff there in Onslow County, and he talked about this suspect. Can you tell us a little bit more about him -- I think at last report, they said that the suspect was about eight hours ahead of investigators -- and where they are looking and searching?
LAVANDERA: Right. They are looking -- actually, it's not too far away from where we are, described as a residential wooded area in a shallow grave. So the sheriff here says they have a team of people here along a road called Gun Branch Road.
We are sending teams out there to kind of get a sense of what is going on there. We anticipate that there will be search warrants served at the home of Corporal Armando Lauren, who is the 21-year-old Marine corporal who they are looking for.
And as you mentioned, he is also the person that Maria Lauterbach had accused in a sexual assault case at Camp Lejeune. So, she was in the process of going through the military court hearings.
In fact, she had been scheduled to testify sometime in December at what they call an Article 32 hearing, which is a essentially a grand jury testimony in the military court process. She was supposed to testify there shortly before -- shortly after she went missing.
So, a lot of activity here in Jacksonville, North Carolina, as they continue to put out bulletins and be on the lookout for this Marine corporal. We are still working on trying to get pictures of him so that people can see him if they want, and also that he's been told to be driving a black Dodge pickup truck -- Don.
LEMON: Hey, Ed -- yes, yes, a quad-cab pickup truck.
Just so -- you were getting at that North Carolina license plate, I think it's TRK, if I'm not correct, 1522? I hope I have my numbers correct here.
LAVANDERA: Right.
LEMON: OK. So, listen, I want to ask you about this witness.
Everyone is talking about this key witness. The sheriff has been talking about that. He wouldn't give us much information.
What are you hearing there since you're on the ground? Are you hearing any more from investigators about who this key witness might be and what their involvement in this whole situation, whether they were an eyewitness or what have you?
LAVANDERA: The key witness is only described to us as a female former Marine. And apparently it sounds like from the initial information we're getting is that she had contacted investigators here in Jacksonville, perhaps late last night, around 11:00 last night, and then again this morning, which is interesting, because if that initial call had come around 11:00, authorities here say that Corporal Lauren had left the area. They believe he left the area around 4:00 a.m. this morning and then resumed those conversations with them.
Now, they don't have a body in this case yet, and the sheriff, for some reason, feels obviously he must have heard enough to be able to say that he believes that Maria Lauterbach is dead. Because they do not have a body yet, and yet he is coming out and saying that she is dead, and only saying that they have, in his words, a tangible piece of evidence that makes them believe that that is, indeed, the case.
LEMON: Yes, he sounded pretty confident on that.
All right. Thank you very much for that report.
Ed Lavandera.
PHILLIPS: Hundreds of people, friends and family of Meredith Emerson are paying their respects right now in a church in Athens, Georgia. The 25-year-old University of Georgia grad was kidnapped and killed after a new year's hike. Her parents say that they are taking Emerson's dog back with them to Colorado.
As for the man accused of killing Emerson, he's generating a lot of interest outside Georgia.
Rusty Dornin has new details on that part of the story.
What more do we know about Gary Hilton?
RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, some interesting information coming in now that sheds more light on him. We haven't really known a lot about him. But I spoke to his former employer, John Tabor.
Apparently, Hilton was some kind of a handyman for a -- well, actually did marketing for a wall siding service. And it turns out that he was the one who called police and gave them a tip. Said, look, this person of interest, I know who this is. This is Gary Hilton. This is a man who used to work for me.
And he called the GBI and gave them the description and gave them his license plate number. That's how we found out to begin with.
So then, after that, out of the blue, apparently Hilton called Tabor on Thursday afternoon from that Huddle House, from that restaurant we've been hearing about. Apparently, Meredith Emerson was still alive.
Called him and said, can I have my job back? Because last summer they had a falling out and Tabor had fired Hilton. So he asked -- apologized for his behavior and asked for his job back.
Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN TABOR, GARY HILTON'S FORMER EMPLOYER: He said he needed some money to get started. So I told him -- I told him I would leave a check for him at the office on Claremont (ph) Ridge for him to retrieve the following day. What I did was an attempt to set a trap to enable the authorities to catch him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DORNIN: It was a check for $800, apparently, that had been left at his office. And so the GBI set up surveillance there, but Hilton never showed up. And Tabor's pretty convinced that Hilton was on his way from the area in Dawson where Emerson's body had been dumped to the office when he was intercepted, because it's only about an hour -- I mean, excuse me, a mile away from the office is where they found Hilton in his van.
PHILLIPS: And there were so many times where there were so many close calls. He was almost caught. And then just to think that Emerson, that she was alive for a couple days...
DORNIN: And he -- Tabor said -- he and his family are actually in Colorado right now, and he said he and his family have been heartsick about this. That he did everything he could to try to save Meredith Emerson's life, and he wanted her family as well to know that.
Of course, in the meantime, Hilton is still being looked at by other authorities. In Florida, of course, he is the prime suspect in Florida for the murder of Cheryl Dunlap (ph), and he's still -- we haven't heard from North Carolina yet, and it turns out the federal authorities have taken over that case in the murder of an elderly couple there.
PHILLIPS: He could be tied to on number of other murders.
All right. Rusty Dornin, appreciate you working the story for us.
LEMON: Well, this was the scene on Wednesday in Washington, D.C. Take a look at this video.
Authorities taking the bodies of four girls -- they were sisters -- out of their town home. The girl's mother is now charged with first-degree murder, and now we're learning there were red flags at this home long before those bodies were found.
CNN's Brianna Keilar joins us now with that very sad story -- Brianna.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Very sad, especially, Don, because just a number of missed opportunities here.
According to court documents, no one reported seeing these girls alive after May of last year. Now, that's seven months ago. And on April 30th, just a short time before they seemingly disappeared, a social worker from the school of the 17-year-old victim, the oldest girl, alerted D.C. police and also D.C. family services. She told him that Banita Jacks, the mother of these four kids, that she may be suffering from mental illness, and that she was also possibly holding her elder daughter hostage by not letting her go to school. At that point, the family services -- this is a city employee, a social worker with family services, went to the house three times in the following days to follow up, but no one answered the door. And just a couple weeks later the case was closed, even though the family services social worker was unable to find or verify the well-being of these kids.
I asked D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty if he thought there were missed opportunities to help these girls.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR ADRIAN FENTY (D), WASHINGTON: I do. I do. I think that there are not only points where the opportunity to act was missed, but that employees, at best, were just going about their job in a check box -- in a checking-the-box type of way, instead of really looking at the circumstances.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: And because of that, Fenty says it's a real possibility that some city employees will lose their jobs over this.
Meanwhile, at this point, the mother, Banita Jacks, is still in jail. She's facing four charges of first-degree murder, and according to court documents, she told police that her children were "possessed by demons." And she, at this point, is denying killing them, but the D.C. medical examiner found preliminary evidence that one of the children was stabbed, another beaten, and the two others strangled -- Don.
LEMON: Goodness. Goodness. Goodness.
OK. So obviously, Brianna, we know that there were holes in the system. Someone is being held accountable to this, I'm sure. What is being done to fix that?
KEILAR: Well, Mayor Adrian Fenty told me that the city is going to review how schools coordinate information when kids withdraw from schools or start being home schooled, because in this case, the kids left charter public schools. The mother said they were being home schooled. And it really wasn't verified. There was no formal way to connect the dots.
Fenty also said the city is going to overhaul family services so they aren't just doing what he said, checking the box. That they're actually -- these social workers are actually making sure that these at-risk kids are being taken care of -- Don.
LEMON: All right.
CNN's Brianna Keilar.
Brianna, thank you.
PHILLIPS: The search for the bodies of four children has widened in south Alabama. Their father accused of throwing them some 80 feet off a bridge into Mississippi Sound.
About 70 volunteers and law enforcement officers are searching a 150-square-mile area. Police say the father confessed at first, but he has now recanted and says he gave the children to a woman who claimed to know their mother.
From the pinnacle of her sport to prison, former Olympic champion Marion Jones has gotten six months behind bars for lying about using steroids and for what she knew about a check fraud scheme. She has been ordered to surrender March 11th. Before sentencing, Jones pleaded with the judge not to separate her from her two young children. He says he gave her the maximum under their plea deal to send a message to athletes who have overlooked the values of "hard work, dedication and team work."
In the chaos after Hurricane Katrina there were two go-to guys, General Russel Honore and Coast Guard Commandant Thad Allen, and they join us in the NEWSROOM to take a look back on those times, and, of course, to look ahead to the future.
LEMON: It will be very interesting to hear that conversation.
And we keep hearing the "R" word, a possible recession. A concern for all Americans. Stay with us to find out how the weather -- how they weather the storm and how you can, too.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Instead of bankruptcy, a buyer for a high-flying financial services company brought low by the mortgage crisis. Bank of America has agreed to buy Countrywide Financial for $4.1 billion in stock. Countrywide is America's largest mortgage lender, but it's been crippled by the skyrocketing foreclosure rate.
Bank of America is the nation's biggest consumer bank, and that deal won't be final until shareholders and regulators approve it. But that's not expected to be a problem.
LEMON: Well, it used to be whispered, but with the credit crisis getting deeper and deeper, you're hearing more people say the word "recession" out loud. And they are not very happy about it.
How real is the possibility, though, and is there anything, anything, you and I can do to protect ourselves?
Well, that sounds like a question for our personal finance editor, Ms. Gerri Willis. And guess what? She's standing by in New York. Hopefully she can answer that.
Gerri, should people be moving their 401(k) money out of the market?
GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: Well, we might as well start with the stock market since it's down 235 points today.
If you're watching it every day though and seeing it fall, you might be tempted to move the money. Don't do it. A 401(k) is meant to be a long-term investment. If you take it out now, you could miss out on considerable savings.
It's nearly impossible this time in the market. Just think, if you made the big mistake of selling your stocks at the bottom of the 1987 crash in October, you would have missed out on nearly 25 percent portfolio gain in the next year. And if your portfolio was $100,000, you would have missed out on making $25,000 that year just by trying to time the market.
LEMON: OK. So, and the question is, is there anything you can do to protect yourself from the ups and downs, protect your 401(k) from that?
WILLIS: Sure. It's all about diversification.
You don't want to lose big if one sector or one company completely tanks. And look at your asset allocation.
If you're young, you can afford to be pretty aggressive with more stocks in your portfolio, but as you get older and you're nearing retirement, you want to be just a little more conservative.
And make sure you're contributing enough. If the market is down, it could actually be a good time to invest more money when stocks are undervalued.
If you're a young person, you should be contributing at least 10 percent of your salary to your 401(k). As you get older, you can up that percentage.
Bottom line, though, look for the stock sales. I think we're having one today.
LEMON: Yes. OK, so, besides the 401(k), not everyone is invested in that. So besides that, not everyone's going to retire immediately. What else can you do to weather a recession, Gerri?
WILLIS: Well, the big thing you have to be concerned about is your job. Recessions often mean big layoffs. So raise your profile at work. Make sure your boss knows your value.
Make it a point to work on the best and most high-profile projects. Renew connections with old colleagues, and take classes to keep up with the latest in business.
Also, make sure you have a good-sized emergency fund, three to six months worth of living expense. They've got to be socked away. And if you really are in one of those industries where you might lose your job, look into getting a no-cost home equity line of credit.
That's a HELOC. You won't have to tap into it unless you need the extra money. But if you lose your job, it can help you make your mortgage payment until you find your next job.
LEMON: OK, Gerri. And I don't want you to say anything about what I'm going to say next. I just want you to nod, because I was reading ahead, and you are doing something this weekend on how to buy foreclosures from a tour bus? That is very interesting.
WILLIS: Yes.
LEMON: So don't say anything.
WILLIS: I'm not supposed to say anything.
LEMON: It's a tease, yes. We want folks to watch. But it's very interesting.
Gerri, thank you, as usual, always.
WILLIS: My pleasure.
LEMON: And be sure to catch Gerri this weekend on "OPEN HOUSE." She'll be talking economy and politics, plus a new way to buy foreclosures from a tour bus. And you'll find out how to save money on your medicine.
That's "OPEN HOUSE," Saturday, 9:30 a.m. Eastern, right here on CNN. And you can watch it on Headline News Saturday and Sunday at 3:30 p.m.
PHILLIPS: General Russel Honore and Admiral Thad Allen led rescue and relief efforts during Hurricane Katrina. We're going to be talking with them now about the challenges and the changes ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Getting live pictures right now from our North Carolina affiliates WRAL and WTVD. It's the search, the ongoing search, for that pregnant Marine that's been missing for nearly a month. We've been telling you about this story and the twists and turns that have been taking place.
Twenty-year-old Lance Corporal Maria Lauterbach had been missing. Apparently, she was about to testify in a sexual assault case, and now police say they're looking for the suspect as well, 21-year-old Corporal Armando Lauren.
He has declined to meet with investigators. He is not in custody yet, so while the search goes on for him and his involvement in what police there are now calling a murder, that search right there going on -- the sheriff's department -- in sort of a barren dirt road area.
Here is some tape. They've been pulling over cars as well that have been coming through this area.
These are -- OK, these are search crew trucks, we are being told. You can see the shovels in the back of the pickup. As you know, if you've been watching CNN, the sheriff had come forward and said they believe that she is actually buried in a grave, possibly somewhere in this area. So, search teams now with shovels, trucks, and dogs, looking for that gravesite, looking for her body.
A sad ending to what the sheriff said has been a really tough night for him.
We're going to continue to follow this story as we get in more details. We're watching the search here for the suspect. In addition, the search for what the sheriff's department now says is a dead, pregnant Marine, 20-year-old Lance Corporal Maria Lauterbach.
LEMON: Meantime, Kyra, a controversial plan for national I.D. cards is back. But this time, the government's trying to make it more palatable.
The Real I.D. Act passed in 2005. It required states to set tough new standards for drivers' licenses and other identification cards.
It was supposed to take effect this year, but that was delayed amid complaints about the cost of the program and privacy concerns. Today, homeland security secretary -- the homeland security secretary, again, pushed back the start date to 2014 for most Americans and 2017 for Americans over 50.
Despite the delay, homeland security chief Michael Chertoff insists the program is necessary.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL CHERTOFF, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: There are three categories of people who will be very unhappy about secured drivers' licenses -- terrorists and people who want to get on airplanes in federal buildings, and avoid terrorists watch lists; illegal immigrants who want to work in this country by pretending to be American citizens; and con men. And we're going to disappoint all three categories of these people by announcing today's final Real I.D. rule for drivers' licenses.
LEMON: Critics call Real I.D. a big brother program that essentially creates a system of internal passports.
PHILLIPS: Stocks have been volatile virtually every day of this young year. And today's big move to the downside is not only being driven by Countrywide Financial.
(BUSINESS REPORT)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Thanks to our affiliate WTDV out of Onslow County, North Carolina, right now, this is the search that's going on for the body of 20-year-old Lance Corporal Maria Lauterbach. Sad developments, today, as we heard from the sheriff. As he mentioned, a lot of twists and turns.
They now feel pretty confident that she was murdered and she was murdered by a young 21-year-old corporal by the name of Cesar Armando Lauren. He is the suspect they are trying to track down and talk to now. They believe that she was murdered and that she was buried in a grave somewhere in this field. Sheriff's deputies, search teams, out there looking for her body right now. They believe she is somewhere out here in this field.
Apparently, as we learn more about this case, this 21-year-old Corporal Cesar Armando Lauren had sexually assaulted Lauterbach and she was going forward with pressing charges. There was an investigation that ensued. Well, her body vanished a month ago as that case was going forward.
Now, the search for this 20-year-old pregnant marine, Lance Corporal Maria Lauterbach, going on right now out in this forest area in North Carolina. We're following it.
LEMON: President Bush is in the Middle East, and while he's there, there's some news coming out of that not necessarily concerns the president, it concerns what happened in the Strait of Hormuz and possibly other incidents with that.
Jamie McIntyre, just out of a Pentagon briefing with some new information for us.
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Don, CNN has learned that in addition to the confrontation last Sunday, in which small Iranian patrol boats confronted three U.S. warships, there were two other incidents in the month of December in which there were confrontations between U.S. warships and Iranian boats, in or near the Strait of Hormuz, including one in which warning shots were fired.
Navy officials tell CNN that back on December 19th, the USS Whidbey Island an amphibious assault ship was entering the Persian Gulf by the way of the Strait of Hormuz when it was confronted by some small Iranian patrol craft. In that case, the commander of the ship fired warning shots in the air to warn the small boats away.
In addition, there was a second incident on December 22nd, in which another ship, a frigate, the USS Carr, sounded its horn to warn the boats away, much the way the USS Hopper did in this latest incident on Sunday.
At today's Pentagon briefing, Admiral Michael Mullen, the chairman of the joint chiefs, acknowledged that there had been previous incidents, downplayed them, said the latest was the most serious. But said that he had reviewed the information on this and that his commanders had, in their response, had,"got it exactly right."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ADMIRAL MIKE MULLEN, JOINT CHIEFS CHAIRMAN: We're not anxious to -- to see a miscalculation here which could occur and certainly not anxious to get into combat with them. But as I said in my opening statement, please do not misread restraint for lack of resolve. And those ship's COs will defend themselves.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCINTYRE: The COs are the commanding officers. By the way, the USS Whidbey Island came back out of the Gulf, went through the Strait of Hormuz just a couple of days ago, this past Wednesday, without any significant incidents. That's the latest transit of the strait since this first dust-up.
Now the Pentagon, under some scrutiny for the way it released the audio transmissions in the original confrontation, is working now to release an entire 36-minute videotape that shows, from beginning to end, what happened on Sunday. We're expecting that they'll release that in the next couple of hours to try to clear the record to make sure that no one thinks they released that audio out of context.
Again, the question there is, did the audio warning, the one that said "We're coming at you, you will explode in a few minutes," did it come from the Iranian boats? Did it come from another boat? Did it come from a shore station, or did it come from someplace else? The Navy has said all along it can't say for sure where that audio transmission came from.
LEMON: Jamie, we thought it was just a one time deal. It seems to be getting more interesting now. Senior Pentagon correspondent, Jamie McIntyre.
Thank you, Jamie.
PHILLIPS: When one of the most devastating natural disasters in American history slammed the Gulf coast, the country needed strong leaders. It got two of them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Put those down, weapons down! I'm not going to say it again. God damn it. Get those...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: General Russel Honore, a tough-talking, no nonsense Louisiana native came home and took control of the chaos after Katrina. Then came Coast Guard Admiral, Thad Allen, with his steady hand and silent warrior-type leadership. He was the perfect counterpoint to the general's outspoken style. Allen took the helm of helicopter rescues and massive aid efforts for people caught in the storm's aftermath. Now Allen is head of the U.S. Coast Guard and General Honore is getting ready to retire from military life.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: So what do you think? Are you ready for retirement?
GEN. RUSSEL HONORE, U.S. ARMY: I think retirement is ready. But I'm not sure if I'm ready for retirement. So I use the word transition.
PHILLIPS: Transition?
HONORE: Because I've got to go to work.
PHILLIPS: You think that the military can handle no Russel Honore?
ADM. THAD ALLEN, U.S. COAST GUARD: I think it will be a gaping hole in the army, but they will have to live without him.
PHILLIPS: All right, serious business, let's go to Katrina. And we'll talk about both of you in the future in a minute.
But, General Honore, everybody remembers when you hit the ground and how crazy that was, but you did take control. What do you think the most memorable for you was, looking back now a couple years later?
HONORE: Well, it would be the sight of the people around the Superdome and camera shots of flying around and seeing people on the top of their homes that we were -- I realized we were in something historic, and we needed to move fast. And it was a significant moment -- and still to reflect back on that. That happened, and the potential of it happening again.
PHILLIPS: Then came the massive amount of dead bodies. And I remember trying to get you to talk to me about it. And that was not -- that was a very difficult time for you. How did you deal with that and get through that? And that must have left a heavy impression.
HONORE: Well, we have -- we have a culture in the military that we protect our dead. And the family has a right to know first. And one of the things we got in a tiff with CNN about was taking pictures or reporting on where we were picking up the remains. And we were scared that someone would see a relative being taken from a home and would find out their fate that way.
And we respect everybody's right for -- to be treated with dignity and respect, particularly those who have passed. And that was a significant moment in our history. At the same time, we understand what everybody else was trying to do, tell the American people what was going on.
PHILLIPS: So many people wanted so many answers.
HONORE: Yes.
PHILLIPS: And I know you felt that, too, Admiral Allen, that was tough for you. But at the same time, you came in and there were amazing stories of rescues. And that was the U.S. Coast Guard and the your air assets. It was happening by the minute.
ALLEN: Well, our people performed admirably and we came in from all over the country. In think in the first 24 hours, our people at the air station, at Bell Chase in New Orleans, were absolutely remarkable. Everybody had flown in the next 24 hours, it was probably the greatest marshalling of aviation assets in the Coast Guard's history. They're very proud of them. And the boat crews as well.
PHILLIPS: What were the boat crews telling you? What were the pilots telling you? Because I know they were exhausted. They were working around the clock. And they were just grabbing people off roof tops and swooping them up out of the water.
ALLEN: I think the first 24 to 36 hours, the things that were disturbing people the most were we were picking people up, putting them on overpasses, flying back out to get more people and still seeing the people there. The point we were starting to take water to the people that we had rescued the day before, it was the ability to get those people someplace safe after they had been put on high ground, but they weren't evacuated yet.
PHILLIPS: I remember, too, your interaction with the kids and you went to a lot of these shelters and visited with the kids. That left a huge impression on you, didn't it, all those children?
ALLEN: It did. I came in a few days after Russ got there. But we moved from the response and the search-and-rescue portion to try and get people into emergency housing and the fact you're dealing with families that were dislocated. The wrap-around services that are required for small children. Trying to keep people in school and things like that is a very significant challenge.
HONORE: What appeared to be in the nation, absolute chaos. To those people on the ground, they were in some of the worst living conditions one can describe at the Superdome. But, studying that, what are we going to do in the future?
PHILLIPS: And let's look forward to the future.
HONORE: Yes.
PHILLIPS: I know you were really concerned about the trailers and the health issues and all of that. I remember you on the phone with FEMA and trying to deal with all that. Are you still concerned about that, looking forward and looking where we are right now? What do you think is the biggest challenge now?
ALLEN: Well I think Russ and I are in complete agreement on this, moving forward, we have to start looking at what happens before the event and the preparedness, not only the national, federal and state levels, but individuals, because the government is not going to be there right away, especially in a catastrophic event. And we have to let the personal preparedness moving forward -- Russ?
HONORE: I think we need to create a culture of preparedness in America, a culture of preparedness in the 1960s, we had that in America, because we were worried about nuclear weapons. Matter of fact, I think you might be old enough to -- when you were in school, you had to do a little duck and cover.
PHILLIPS: Yes, I remember the film, notice I didn't say videotape, yes. HONORE: But, we had a culture of preparedness in America. We need to reinstill that. We need our civil defense corps. We need communities, and we need families to stop, take, pause, and no kidding and do something about it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Well, now that Allen is commandant of the Coast Guard and General Honore is retiring, what does the future hold and is Honore going to run for public office? More of my exclusive interview next hour right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
LEMON: Very interesting stuff. Can't wait to see that.
This is -- take a look at these live pictures. These pictures are coming to us from North Carolina, courtesy of our affiliate WRAL. These are investigators, they are on the search that missing -- Lance Corporal Maria Frances Lauterbach who went missing somewhere mid- December, around December 14th and December 19th, missing persons report filed. They're looking for her body. They believe it's buried here.
And they're also looking for 21-year-old Corporal Cesar Armando Lauren (ph), he's believed to be the suspect in this case and the person who is responsible. Haven't found her body and they're looking for it. They're on top of the case and we are following along with them.
Also, a fighter jet down, wreckage strewn through the woods. It wasn't a pilot error. The jet just came apart in mid-flight. We'll talk with the pilot who somehow survived this doomed mission.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: So many our stories, we're able to bring them to you because of our awesome crew on the National Assignment Desk. Betty Nguyen is over there following the stories that they're working on right now in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Hey, Betty.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, they're working very hard here at the National Desk. Let me take a look-see, because we're seeing the assignment editors over here, they're bringing in not only the news but the video from our hundreds of affiliates into the NEWSROOM.
And we've got a story for you that's happening right now out of Athens, Georgia. Want you to take a look at this. A memorial service is underway right now for Meredith Emerson. I want to try to give you a live look at that.
But as you recall, her decapitated body was found Monday in the north Georgia mountains. Emerson lived near Atlanta and graduated from the University of Georgia in Athens. And she vanished New Year's Day while hiking with her dog. Her body was found on Monday in the Dawson Forest Wildlife Management area which is north of Atlanta. But we're also getting, Kyra, some new information about the man accused of Emerson's brutal murder. Police now say 61-year-old Gary Hilton stopped at a restaurant and called his former boss to get his job back while his 24-year-old victim was still outside in his van alive. And according to witnesses, the two were seen letting their dogs play along a hiking trail the day Emerson went missing. That, again, was New Year's Day. Police say Hilton gave them information that led them to Emerson's body. Hilton is currently being held without bail in Dawson County.
And he's also the prime suspect in another case, this being of a woman found dead in a national park last month in Florida. So, there's a lot of investigating still to be done in this case, not only Emerson's case but the one of the woman who was missing. And so, we're on top of all that.
And as soon as more information and video comes into CNN, we'll try to give you a live look at that memorial service as well. We're right here with the latest at the National Desk -- Kyra?
PHILLIPS: Appreciate it, thanks, Betty.
LEMON: Well, this is one horrific sight. Take a look at that. That is wreckage, smashed-up debris of an Air Force fighter jet, an F- 15 Eagle that snapped in half while roaring through the sky at 500 miles an hour. There's no way any pilot could survive, right? Well, wrong.
Major Stephen Stilwell got badly banged up, but got himself out of that plane before the crash and he joins us now from St. Louis. Major Stilwell, thank you very much for joining us today.
MAJ. STEPHEN STILWELL, MISSOURI AIR NATIONAL GUARD: Yes, I'm glad to be here.
LEMON: Yes, how are you doing?
STILWELL: I'm doing great.
LEMON: You're doing great, all right.
So tell us, November 2nd, you're on -- you're doing a routine sort of mission, a training mission, you're flying through the air at 500 miles an hour and what?
STILWELL: Well, Don, that's correct, we were doing a basic fighter maneuver and I was flying with the highly experienced F-15 pilot and I was just doing a normal procedure and my airplane started to break in half.
LEMON: Break in half. I don't know, can you see video where we are? Can you see ...
STILWELL: I can.
LEMON: OK, we've got some animation that shows exactly what happened, when you were doing this. So, again, we're seeing -- look at that. And that's you, that's a split-second decision that you had to make there.
STILWELL: Yes, Don, it's amazing, you know, that's one of the great things about the Air National Guard and all the training we received from the members of the 131st fighter wing, they did a phenomenal job teaching us how to get out of situations that we're put in. So, it's world class.
LEMON: Yes, so I know you're not involved in the investigation. But according to the investigation, they believe that it might be these beams that are faulty. And how did you know -- obviously, maybe you'd had some -- you've known about them, but how did you know that something was wrong in this instance, besides, you know, the plane splitting in two? Did you know before then that something was wrong?
STILWELL: Don, I didn't. The first time I noticed it and I started my turn, it was a pretty aggressive turn around 7.8 gs and I started to feeling the airplane starting to fishtail and when I started to do that, then I heard a loud wind rush and almost like a rapid decompression, and then the airplane started to break apart. I didn't know at the time. But of course, it was becoming very violent inside the airplane.
LEMON: And here's a big question and people don't know, which you know, makes you even more of a -- I guess we call it a Superman. Your left shoulder, I believe, was fractured, so you did all of this one hand. Your right hand, your right arm, the only thing working. What did you have to do? How did you even have the presence of mind and even the strength to do this?
STILWELL: I don't know, Don, it's just one of those things. Like again, it goes back to my training. We have two ejection handles, one on the left, one on the right. I knew my left arm was broken and I struggled to get to the ejection handle on the right side and pull it. But that goes back to the training, again.
LEMON: Yes.
STILWELL: They do a great job.
LEMON: When you look at this animation, when you look at that wreckage, the crash there, I know, have you had a chance to see it?
STILWELL: I have.
LEMON: What goes through your head?
STILWELL: Well, you know, it's tough. But it's one of those things you got to deal with and move on. I can't dwell on the past and I got to look forward to the future.
LEMON: Yet -- and still in all of this, what happened, and we know that, you know, part of the fleet has been grounded, all of it was grounded right after this, you said, the men and women of the 131st fighter wing is great, and you believe that the people who fly these planes and the people who put them in the air, you still have much respect for them.
STILWELL: Oh, absolutely. I think they're -- the F-15s' record speaks for itself. What the future holds, I don't know, but it's been a phenomenal airplane and the people that fly it are world class. They're better than I am.
LEMON: Yes, I guess the question is, do you have any idea when or if you're going to fly again?
STILWELL: I don't know, Don. You know, that's one of the unfortunate things that this structural failure, you know, has caused a situation where I've got a broken arm and I've got an injured shoulder. And what my future is, I don't know. It's going to be a couple, maybe up to a year of physical therapy and we'll see from there.
LEMON: If you had your druthers, would you still go up?
STILWELL: Well, I love to fly.
LEMON: Yes.
STILWELL: I was born to be a fighter pilot and that's what I'm going to be.
LEMON: I anticipated that answer. I have to ask though, I asked you how you were doing, and you said you were doing OK. Obviously, you have physical therapy and some recovering to do.
Your family, we were talking before you went on the air, you have a 17-year-old daughter. I'm sure they were just worried as heck about you, and probably really happy, or she was at least, that you were OK. First time you saw her after the accident, describe that to us.
STILWELL: Well, that was tough. I think the hardest part about the whole accident scenario, you're laying on the ground out in the woods and you're hurt and you want to call the people that you love. And that's the part that got emotional for me, is I called my daughter and I wanted to let her know that I was injured but I'm on the ground, I'm alive. And that was difficult. And then the same thing there, she walked into the hospital room, that's probably the toughest part of the whole ordeal so far.
LEMON: Yes, well, and as we -- I'm going to end with this. Scotty, I don't know, the director, if we can get that animation up to show people exactly what happened and maybe possibly that wreckage to see what he survived.
I'm going to ask you, Major Stilwell, any final words?
STILWELL: Yes, happy birthday to Hannah (ph), she turned 17 yesterday.
LEMON: We will end on that. Happy Birthday to Hannah, and we're happy that you're OK. And really, we appreciate you joining you us. I know it's been a tough time, you said the media -- it's been tough dealing with the media, and for you being a public person, because that's not where your forests are.
STILWELL: Absolutely. And God bless America. Thank you, sir.
PHILLIPS: Still the search taking place right now in Onslow County, North Carolina, for the body of 20-year-old Lance Corporal Maria Lauterbach. A lot of twists and turns, and today we found out police believe she was murdered and she is buried somewhere in this field. The suspect, 21-year-old Corporal Cesar Armando Lauren. The search for him goes on as well.
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PHILLIPS: There are plenty more losers than winners when it comes to year's Golden Globes Award show. This year's party, scrapped, and boiled down to a weekend news conference. CNN's Kareen Wynter has more on this latest casualty of the writers' strike.
Boy, it is hitting Hollywood hard.
KAREEN WYNTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Oh, Kyra, such a disappointment. Hollywood, they are all crying right now. Usually, this is your neck of the woods, you've been out here, you probably covered this, there's usually such a grand affair. We're right outside the Beverly Hilton the home of the Golden Globe Awards, and you know, during this time every year, you see the flowers going in, the tents going up, all the security.
No such scene this year. And the Writers' Guild of America, they have to be celebrating in the background. This is a huge, huge victory for them. They've managed to bring down one of the most lucrative shows in town. So the show has been canceled, and what can we expect? Well, NBC News instead will be airing a live broadcast where they're simply announcing the night's winners.
This is as a result of the ongoing strike. It's been going on since November and the writers just weren't able to reach an agreement with the production studios and the networks. They're feuding basically over contracts. Sticking point being in the age area of new media, and so they have no writers for the show on Sunday and consequently, many actors refusing to attend.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUESTION: Would you cross the picket line to go to the Globe?
GEORGE CLOONEY, ACTOR: No, and of course I belong to six unions.
KATHERINE HEIGL, ACTRESS: I really support the union and I support the strike. But I really want this night. I really want to go. I really want to be there. I really want to celebrate the year of work and celebrate all the people that I admire and respect and their work and drink a lot, you know.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WYNTER: It's not just actors here are feeling the pain. Many businesses are taking a big hit in losses from the night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LAUREN MESKELL, TUXEDO SHOPKEEPER: We had everything ready to go for them. So, we just kind of put it all on hold. And we'll be ready for the rest of the award shows coming up, and for the future Golden Globes. But for right now, you know, we thought we would be going out, it is unfortunate we don't have that business but things get canceled.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WYNTER: And just to give you an idea of how much money, we're talking big bucks here, Kyra, that the Golden Globe Awards usually bring in. $80 million, that's all down the drain. So you can see the ripple effect all across the board here.
PHILLIPS: Wow. It seems the SAG Awards show is happening in a couple of weeks, right? How were they able to work that out?
WYNTER: The Screen Actors Guild, they have a great relationship with the Writers' Guild. The actors, Katherine Heigl, Eva Longoria they have been out on the front lines speaking out in defense of these writers. And so, both sides were able to reach an interim agreement in the form of a waiver.
So for that night, there will be writers working on the show. No such case for the Golden Globes. You have to wonder with the Academy Awards coming up that's around the corner in February, what's going to happen to them? Will they reach an agreement in time, even it is just an interim one? So the suspense continues.
PHILLIPS: Yes, it does. And we'll follow it all with you. Kareen Wynter, great to see you.
LEMON: The nation's biggest consumer bank is getting together with the nation's biggest mortgage lender, apparently just in time. We'll tell you what's in it for both sides.
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LEMON: Well for weeks police tried to find a pregnant young Marine who disappeared from Camp Lejeune. Today they found -- or they're looking for her body.
PHILLIPS: They're also looking for the fellow Marine whom the victim had accused of rape. He's a prims suspect in her death.
Hello, everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips, the CNN Center in Atlanta.
LEMON: And I'm Don Lemon. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
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