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Georgia Police Hold Press Conference on Mobile Home Killings; California Battles Wildfires

Aired August 31, 2009 - 14:59   ET

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

RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, thanks a lot, Kyra. We told you there would be information coming to us now. This is one of the officials there in Brunswick, Georgia, who is sharing with us now, hopefully answering some of the questions that we have as to these eight people who found dead. I think he's starting to get going here. Let's go ahead and listen in.

POLICE CHIEF MATT DOERING, GLYNN COUNTY, GEORGIA: ... OK? I will entertain other questions. Other than that, I will not comment. If you ask me questions about it, that will be my answer. OK? I'll say that from the very outset.

Let me say at this moment again, that my condolences go out to the family members on behalf of our community and the board of commissioners and the people who live in this neighborhood. I wish I could give them more from that which I gave last night, and there's little more I can give right now.

That being said, I'll tell you this much. Right now actively assisting in the investigation are the following agencies. The Glynn County Emergency Management Agency search and recovery volunteers, the Glynn County Sheriff's Office, the Brunswick Police Department, the Glynn Brunswick Narcotics Enforcement Team, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the United States Marshals Office.

The autopsies are still under way in Savannah of the other four victims. One additional victim has positively been identified, of which I am not releasing the identity, pending the notification of the family members.

That's all I have at this moment. Any questions relating, I'm going to go, as usual, clockwise, starting on my left.

QUESTION: Can you tell us anything at all about the families and those that have been identified? I mean, you know there's funeral funds for the Toler family. Can you give us any I.D. of some of the victims?

DOERING: You Are going to have to be a little more clear on that question.

QUESTION: Are the Toler family -- or was that the family involved?

DOERING: Yes, yes, because, remember, yesterday, I identified the Tolers -- Michael Toler.

QUESTION: Rusty Toler and Rusty Jr.?

DOERING: I'm only going to say that one Michael Toler only right now. And that obviously is the Toler family.

QUESTION: Where do we stand on suspects?

DOERING: As -- the same at last night. It remains the same, unknown.

QUESTION: Again, people...

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: And I'm sure you have heard this many times, that the community is very worried, very concerned about what's going on out there. They're trying to get some answers. Do they need to be locking their doors? What do you want to tell them?

DOERING: The same as I have always said. You need to be cautious. I'm not going to say anything that's misleading. I'm just going to tell you the facts as I know them to be. And I'm consistent with that. I wish I could give you more. I just can't. I don't have it to give them.

QUESTION: You realize that's becoming frustrating for a lot of people? I mean...

(CROSSTALK)

DOERING: I do realize that, as much as it is for me to stand up here and have to say that. But that is all that I can say. I can't and I will not speculate. That's all I can say. Sorry.

QUESTION: Can you tell us the condition of the remaining survivors in the hospital?

DOERING: The one remaining victim still remains critical.

QUESTION: A young boy?

DOERING: I will not comment.

Ma'am, I'm sorry. Did you have a question?

QUESTION: Yes.

DOERING: OK. Go ahead.

QUESTION: Chief, I'm understanding you always say that you can't say this and you can't say that. What do you feel that you can give us that would be an update?

(CROSSTALK)

DOERING: Well, I have never said I can't tell you. I just said that I won't.

QUESTION: OK. What were you saying that you could tell us that would be an update?

DOERING: I just gave it to you. That's it.

QUESTION: That's it?

DOERING: That's it.

QUESTION: OK.

DOERING: Sir?

QUESTION: Have you been able to speak with the victim in the hospital, get anything out of them, possibly?

DOERING: No.

All the other questions? OK.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) They have no idea what is going on. What do you say to them right now?

DOERING: Well, they do, because investigators have been in contact, not with all family members. Don't misunderstand that. The family members that we understand are family members have been updated and have been in touch. That's all I can say right now.

And, yes, I understand their frustration, believe me. And I appreciate your frustrations, as well as others'. But this is a very difficult investigation, as I know you all are aware. And, right now, we're doing everything we possibly can do in order to find those responsible and figure out what happened.

And I have to be very careful not to release those details that can jeopardize that investigation. And much of that does go to the manner of death, which is what you all asked about, the cause of death, and, of course, any suspects that we may be looking for.

And that's the best answer I can give right now. Believe me, I wish I could give you more. It just wouldn't be appropriate for me to do that. I would rather everybody out there listening understand, if I can tell you, I will.

I'm not wanting to mislead anybody about anything. I'm going to tell you straight up what I have, and that's that simple. I know it's frustrating. You think it's a pleasure for me to stand up here and say that? I can assure you it's not. I would much rather be coming out here and telling you much more than I am. And I appreciate the questions and I appreciate the frustration. But we, too, are frustrated.

Have got question, sir?

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) DOERING: OK. Yes, he has been. That's the family member that reported it to us, to clarify.

QUESTION: Is he still in custody?

DOERING: He is still in custody.

QUESTION: Are you aware of legal representation (OFF-MIKE)

DOERING: Yes, I am.

QUESTION: Can you reveal that?

DOERING: No, sir.

QUESTION: Has he been charged with anything other (OFF-MIKE)

DOERING: You got a question, I thought over here somewhere?

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

DOERING: Early this morning, I consulted with the FBI, just seeing what they could offer, put them in touch with our evidence technicians, our supervisors on scene. They consulted, and they offered to provide some assistance with the evidence.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

DOERING: Well, yesterday, I said one or more. And I can't say it's one. And I can't say that it's more than one. But, right now, that's about all I can say. I wish I could be more definitive.

Sir, you had one other here.

QUESTION: The charges against (OFF-MIKE)

DOERING: They remain the same.

QUESTION: No other arrests?

DOERING: No other arrests.

Go ahead, sir.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) the U.S. Marshals, what's their role (OFF- MIKE)

DOERING: They're helping for the search of evidence. Right now, we have a very large-scale operation occurring as I speak to you for evidence recovery. They're helping in that process, along with those other agencies I mentioned earlier.

Yes, ma'am?

QUESTION: Is there any (OFF-MIKE) revenge motive?

DOERING: I don't answer hypotheticals. Next question.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

DOERING: Well, you all ask many, many, many questions the same or multiple ways. I have answered that question. Next.

QUESTION: Have you made any more progress in narrowing down the timeline? You said the time frame yesterday was about (OFF-MIKE) hours?

DOERING: If I understand your question, have we made any progress in narrowing a timeline down? No more than what we had last night, no.

QUESTION: Can you tell us anything about how long the survivors were there before (OFF-MIKE)

DOERING: No, I cannot comment on that.

Yes, ma'am?

QUESTION: The bodies were discovered shortly after 8:00 p.m., is that correct?

DOERING: That's correct.

QUESTION: Why did it take the coroner's office until 10:30 to (OFF-MIKE)

DOERING: No comment. OK.

For purposes of the next called press conference, I wish that I had more to give you today about the identity of the victims, and I actually anticipated having more of that. I hope by time tomorrow at 3:00 p.m., which will be my next scheduled one, to have that information for you. That's all I can tell you right now.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

DOERING: Chad, would you get rid of this guy?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm sorry, sir.

DOERING: He's trespassing. Would you remove him, please?

Question? Go ahead.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

SANCHEZ: This is a real law-and-order guy. We were going to cut out of this thing, but it looks like he's going to take another question. So, let's go ahead and stay with it here a little bit.

DOERING: Yes, I will always do that without saying it.

Anything that I think is very important to the community, I can assure you, I will be calling a special called press conference. This is just a routine for me to try to give you a timeline when you can come back and I will try to give you more if I can. That's all. But, yes, I will.

Any more questions? Yes, ma'am?

QUESTION: OK. You said probably about two more days before they finish all the autopsies?

DOERING: Well, that was yesterday. They anticipated two days to complete the autopsies. We're at the latter part of today. And, so far, I have not got any indication of how much longer it will take. So, it's likely going to go into tomorrow, the autopsies.

SANCHEZ: Well, there you have it.

If this story was perplexing before, it's even more perplexing now. Welcome back. I'm Rick Sanchez here in the world headquarters of CNN.

Let me try and take you through this as best as we can. This is really a mystery now. Nine people found in a home in Brunswick, Georgia, eight of them are now dead. One is just barely hanging on.

How did they die? Who are they? Who killed them? Should residents in the area be frightened? We do now know something else that I want you to hear, because what this will do is provide some of the clues that so far this chief, Matt Doering, is not providing, for his reasons, perhaps understandable.

First you are going to hear the voice of a woman who then gives the phone to a man who actually found these bodies. The man will say -- and you are going to hear it -- "My whole family is dead."

Here we go. Let's play that, Dan.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's freaking out. It's Guy.

911 OPERATOR: Guy? What's his last name?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Guy, what's your last name? What's your last name, honey? Heinze.

Yes, here, talk to...

GUY HEINZE, FAMILY MEMBER OF VICTIMS: Hello. My whole family's dead.

911 OPERATOR: OK. Tell me what's going on, sir. What...

HEINZE: Yes, I just got home from -- I was out last night. I got home just now. And everybody's dead.

(CROSSTALK) HEINZE: My dad's dead.

(CROSSTALK)

911 OPERATOR: How many people are there?

HEINZE: There's probably six. My whole family's dead.

911 OPERATOR: OK.

HEINZE: It looks like they have been beat to death. I don't know.

(CROSSTALK)

911 OPERATOR: OK. You're what -- 47 New Hope Plantation, correct?

HEINZE: Yes. I mean, I don't know what to do, man.

911 OPERATOR: OK. Take a deep breath. They have got them coming for you. Just stay on the line with me, OK?

(CROSSTALK)

911 OPERATOR: They're coming for you.

HEINZE: My family's dead.

911 OPERATOR: How many people are there? Your dad. Who else is there?

HEINZE: My dad, my -- my uncle, my cousin.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: All right, I want to stop the tape there and I want to take you through this narrative. I need to tell you something at this point.

The man that you just heard on the tape, he is 22-year-old Guy Heinze Jr. There he is again.

And after speaking to the authorities, Heinze was taken into custody himself now. Now, he's taken into custody on suspicion of tampering with the evidence, marijuana possession, illegal possession of prescription drugs, and also for lying to police.

At last word, police did not consider Heinze to be a suspect in this case in terms of being a murder suspect. But it does add another layer to this developing mystery.

I want to stop again. I want you to listen to this now. This is more of this 911 call. Here, Heinze is asked by the operator to describe the scene in the mobile home where all those bodies are strewn. Now, remember, police are saying they're not telling reporters how these folks died. But you're going to get some clues about this when you listen to this part of the 911 tape.

Let's go ahead and listen to it together.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

HEINZE: It looks like a (EXPLETIVE DELETED) murder scene.

911 OPERATOR: I understand that. But did somebody tear up everything? Or they just beat up...

HEINZE: People was beat. Everybody's dead.

911 OPERATOR: OK. You have no idea who could have done this?

HEINZE: I don't know who did it.

911 OPERATOR: Tell me about your cousin Michael. What's going on with him right now?

HEINZE: He's breathing, but he's having trouble breathing.

911 OPERATOR: He's having trouble breathing?

(CROSSTALK)

HEINZE: Yeah. He's in pain, man.

911 OPERATOR: Can you tell how they were killed?

HEINZE: I don't know.

911 OPERATOR: Are they beat up. Have they been shot?

HEINZE: I don't know.

911 OPERATOR: You don't know?

HEINZE: Michael's breathing. He needs an ambulance.

911 OPERATOR: Yes, they're going to be there in just a second. Everybody's already en route and somebody else has dispatched them, OK? OK. This is very important. And you're doing a good job helping us.

HEINZE: Hey, I've got to call my brother. I have to call my brother.

911 OPERATOR: OK, well, you need to stay on the phone with us. You can tell your brother in just a little bit. OK?

HEINZE: My brother -- I've got to tell him my dad's dead. His dad's dead.

911 OPERATOR: OK. I want you to go next to your...

(CROSSTALK) HEINZE: I done been inside. I been in there with Michael. He needs an ambulance.

911 OPERATOR: All right, well, I want you to go inside to Michael and tell me exactly -- see if you can talk to him and see if you can ask him where -- where...

HEINZE: He's got Down syndrome. He can't really talk.

Michael...

911 OPERATOR: Ask him, say, where do you hurt?

HEINZE: Where do you hurt, Michael? Michael, where are you hurting, man? Michael.

911 OPERATOR: He can't talk?

HEINZE: I don't know. (INAUDIBLE) breathing. He just...

911 OPERATOR: You can see his chest rising, though?

HEINZE: Yes, yes.

911 OPERATOR: OK, just calm down. We've got a squad that's going to be there in just a minute. Put me back on the phone with the other guy.

And I'm going to get the...

HEINZE: I got to call my brother.

911 OPERATOR: OK.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: So, imagine you walk into a home and you find eight people in total. That's how many have died so far -- one is hanging on, which is a ninth -- that have been, according to what we just heard him described, beaten. So, that leads to yet another question, doesn't it?

How is it possible that one or two suspects can take over eight or nine people and beat as many as eight of them to death without those people either fighting back or getting away from the scene?

It is, as we mentioned at the outset, a perplexing case. By the way, you heard some talk there about someone named Michael being found alive. He was described as having Down syndrome. We have received some information from authorities, the little we have.

Authorities are now saying that a victim named Michael Toler died later at Savannah Hospital. He was the eighth victim to die. Again, the ninth is still in critical condition.

There are lots of questions here. We hope to be able to provide some of those throughout the course of this hour. We're going to let you hear some of these 911 tapes again, and we will let you hear some of what the police chief there, Chief Matt Doering, said just moments ago.

Here's what else we have coming up.

Just how bad might this fire get, and what's the strategy for trying to control it? We are there for you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She comes and talking to me and always smiling.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Now, these pictures, we have gotten these pictures overnight. They show how a woman abducted and kept as a sex slave lived. And now we have got these pictures and some information that reveals what may be another part of this story -- what people say who saw her in public. This is so strange. We will bring it to you. It's getting weird. And it's ahead.

Also, don't forget the after-show. It comes on at 4:00, CNN.com/live.

We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Welcome back. We have got some pictures knew. That's Deval Patrick, the governor of Massachusetts. He's announcing that January 19 will be when they will have a special election to choose the replacement, if the man can be replaced, for Senator Ted Kennedy. There's been a lot of controversy and comment about this.

Some within inside the Kennedy camp are suggesting some names, some even suggesting that it be kept within the Kennedy family. There are some reports today that Senator Kennedy's wife is not interested in the position, as had been previously reported or at least alluded to.

Again, we're hearing now from the governor that the date is set for January 19. And we're going to be all over this. If we can turn some of that sound around for you, we will do that.

Meanwhile, the other developing story -- actually, two developing stories that we're following for you right now, one of the huge fires devastating parts of Los Angeles. We are going to have that for you.

And then the story of a man, as horrible as this sounds, who took a little girl, abducted her and then had her living, hidden really, in his backyard, got her pregnant twice. And now here's the update. We have got new pictures of that backyard and people who are coming forward saying they saw the girl grown up and her daughters in public. And they describe her. How can that be? We will ask the question. We will show you the video. Stay there. We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Welcome back. I'm Rick Sanchez.

No question it's one of the most bizarre stories of the day. Eight people are found dead inside a home. It appears now they were beaten to death. A ninth is still in critical condition. You heard the news conference. You also heard the 911 tape. And now all of you are reacting.

Let's go to the Twitter board, if we possibly can. Many of you are about as freaked out about this as we are.

"Yes, residents in the area should be afraid." That's what you see that first tweet there say.

The other one says, "Sounds like a drug deal gone bad to me." Let's go in tight on that one.

There's this one. "I live in Brunswick. And from what I can tell, they aren't doing much of anything, except enjoying being on CNN."

That's people being very, very critical of the police department for the way they're handling this and the lack of information they're giving to the public. A lot of folks are scared.

Listen to this one: "Wow, Rick, this Brunswick press conference is the weirdest thing I have ever seen."

All right. For those of you who may have missed it, by the way, we're going to be re-cuing some of that, the news conference and the 911 tape, so you can catch up what is going on. The 911 tapes really are chilling.

I want you now to see these picture that we have been able to acquire for you overnight. How can a child being hidden from authorities who got pregnant twice live in this squaller? Look at these pictures. This is the place where Phillip Garrido, convicted sex offender, is accused of using this little girl that he abducted as his sex slave. She was only 11. She's a grown woman now.

Look at the tents. Look at the shacks. Look at furniture, the mattresses that are strewn around. OK. Now, after considering that, I want you to watch this report prepared for you by my colleague Ed Lavandera.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Jaycee Dugard appeared to have settled into an unimaginable routine during her 19 years of captivity. Behind the scene, she lived in this messy backyard prison but to the outside world, she was the creative force behind Philip Garrido's printing business designing business cards for clients all over the town of Antioch. Deepal Karunaratne describes her as intelligent with an attention to detail.

DEEPAL KARUNARATNE, GARRIDO BUSINESS ASSOCIATE: She was always having a very pretty smile on the face. She comes and talking to me and always smiling. And she's a very pretty girl. Very pretty young lady. LAVANDERA: Even Dugard's daughters appeared to live a normal life. These are pictures of the young girls obtained by CNN. The 11- year-old went by the name of Angel. The 15-year-old, Starlet. We've blurred their faces to protect their privacy.

The pictures were taken two weeks ago at a birthday party for Cheyvonne Molino's daughter. Molino says Garrido called Jaycee and the daughters "my girls" and often brought them to Molino's wreck yard delivering bottles of water on hot days.

CHEYVONNE MOLINO, GARRIDO'S BUSINESS ASSOCIATE: They made it seem like these little girls were like living like wolves or jungle kids in the backyard, you know, dungeon. Perhaps that is it but they didn't give me the visual to me. They were polite. They were well- mannered.

LAVANDERA: Molino says Angel and Starlet were huge fans of Hannah Montana. She says Jaycee dreamed of becoming a model, always clean and well dressed. No hint of the tragic reality.

Investigators have expanded the crime scene at Phillip Garrido's home. They brought cadaver dogs to search the property next door. Authorities are looking into whether Garrido could be connected to a string of murders in the 1990s.

JIMMY LEE, SPOKESMAN, CONTRA COSTA SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT: What we also know is that Phillip Garrido had access to that property. He used that property and it looks like he lived on that property in a shed.

LAVANDERA: As we've scoured Garrido's hometown looking for clues, we found this in a hardware store. The name Phil G. on a donation card. On August 17th, this receipt shows Garrido bought a pressure switch and then left a $2 donation to the Children's Miracle Network.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: Now, here's what perhaps is the most bizarre angle of this story. If Jaycee, or Alyssa, as she was called by her captor, was allowed to be out in public from time to time, as we just heard somebody say in that report filed by Eddie, then why didn't she ever ask for help? Why didn't she reach out?

That is the question I'm going to ask to my next guest. And she's going to hopefully be able to explain it to the rest of us.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's a kid. Guy just came home. His whole family's dead.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: All right, again, for those of you who just missed this part of our newscast, our top story today is the chilling 911 call from the man who first comes upon a home in Brunswick, Georgia. He reports finding seven people dead, eventually eight, nine, if you -- well, there is one that is just still hanging on. No arrests, lots of questions. How did they die? And police with -- as you have been writing to me on Twitter, with an attitude, not giving the public any answers.

Also, I have got to tell you about this. The mayor of Juarez, Mexico, has traveled all the way to Atlanta. He's come here, on his own dime, by the way, because he has something that he wants to tell me about his city, where the murder rate there is about 250 a month -- a month. I think we should give him a listen.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: There's three interesting weather stories that I want to bring you up to date on.

First of all, you have seen what is going on with some of those hurricanes out West. Then we have got apparently another storm developing out West. And then just out of the blue, there's another potential storm that's developed on the East Coast.

Chad Myers standing -- Chad, take your pick, man.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Where do you want to start, my friend?

(LAUGHTER)

SANCHEZ: I guess the hurricane.

MYERS: All right. Let's start with the hurricane, because it's now only five, six miles per hour from a Category 5 hurricane.

And there is Cabo San Lucas. This would be Guadalajara. There would be Chihuahua, Mazatlan the other way, moving from the north -- west-northwest, but going to be very close to grazing Cabo San Lucas. If this storm continues to be that strong -- and there's no indication that it's going to lose a lot of power -- it is going to do -- or at least could do -- quite a bit of damage here along this long strip of land, which would be Baja California.