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Florida Woman's Plea Before Violent Death; Garrido Kidnap Investigation; Battling Swine Flu
Aired September 02, 2009 - 13:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Nothing will bring Denise Lee back, but if the 911 system had worked like it should have on January 17, 2008, there's a good chance her children would still have their mother. Denise's convicted killer, Michael King, could rot in prison or die in a death chamber.
A jury was mulling that over today, although we've just learned that the court wants to take some extra time to determine if he's competent to actually continue. Whatever the end result, this story won't end there. This Florida case pushes forward cracks the 911 system where there's no room for error. One 911 call Denise made not long before her violent death was played during the trial.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
VOICE OF DENISE LEE, MURDER VICTIM: Please, I just want to go home. Please let me go. Please let me go. I just want to see my family again.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: That call lasted about six minutes. A witness who saw Denise banging on a car window and screaming was on the phone with 911 for nine minutes. Nine minutes. But no deputies were sent to check it out.
Jack Fords, the host of "In Session" on HLN - he's been following this case. And Jack, talk about a communication breakdown.
JACK FORD, HOST, "IN SESSION": Kyra, you know, this has been such a gut-wrenching case here, and the tragedy has been compounded by those two 911 phone calls you mentioned.
Quick background, 21-year-old Denise Lee, mother of two, kidnapped from her own home, forced to leave her two children alone there. Her body is found naked, buried, with a bullet in her head some two days later.
Well, here's where the 911 calls come in. The one that you just played a few moments ago, well, Denise Lee, whose father is a police detective, had the presence of mind, was clever enough that while she was in the defendant, Michael King's car, terrified as you can imagine, she grabbed his cell phone and without him knowing it, hits 911.
She then proceeds, under the guise of begging him for her life, to pass off all sorts of clues to what's going on here to a 911 operator. She's able to get her name in, where she's been kidnapped from, her home, give some idea of directions here.
Again, the 911 operator, although they certainly passed this one on, but the operator, a lot of people say, really didn't jump on this the way she should have, at one point asking -- saying to Denise Lee, who now, as we said, terrified, and screaming for her own life, begging for her own life, the operator says, "I can't hear you. Can you have the man turn the radio down a little bit?"
Clearly, that's not going to happen. The woman is trying to make the defendant here not even be aware of the fact that she's talking to 911.
But this tape was played inside of the courtroom, Kyra, and you know what? I spent a lot of years as a prosecutor and a defense attorney, I have handled some two dozen death penalty and murder cases. I felt nauseous when they played it inside of the courtroom. It was heartbreaking.
Listen to some of what she has to say here, and you'll get a sense of, through all this terror, how clever she was.
Listen to this.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
OPERATOR: Hello?
DENISE LEE, MURDER VICTIM: (INAUDIBLE) just let me go!
OPERATOR: Hello?
LEE: I just want see my family!
OPERATOR: Hello? Hello?
LEE: Please, I'll do anything you want. Just let me go.
OPERATOR: Hello?
LEE: Please let me go. Please let me go. I just want to see my family again.
OPERATOR: Hello?
LEE: Please let me go. Please let me go. I just want to see my family again.
OK.
OPERATOR: Hello?
LEE: Please let me go! I'm sorry. Please let me go!
OPERATOR: Hello? LEE: Please let me go. Please!
OPERATOR: Hello?
LEE: Help me!
(END AUDIO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Now, at some point in time, Kyra, this 911 operator does comprehend what's happening here. And it is passed on and a search gets started.
But the great tragedy, the additional great tragedy, superimposed on the death of Denise Lee, is that another 911 phone call is made by a motorist, a woman by the name of Jane Kowalski, who does what we would like to think all concerned citizens would do. She pulls up to a light, and she sees this vehicle.
Now, she can't see Denise Lee, but she can sees a hand frantically banging against the window. She hears a voice screaming inside of that car. She calls 911 right away.
Now, here's where the tragedy comes into play. The 911 phone call goes to a different county from the one that just heard the 911 phone call from Denise Lee. And Jane Kowalski then explains to this 911 person, there's something going on inside this car next to me, I hear screaming.
She thought it was a child, but she gives some very dramatic detail about what is happening inside of that car.
Listen to a little bit of this 911 call.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
JANE KOWALSKI, CALLED 911: There's a child in the car between 5 and 10. And it was banging on the window and screaming and crying, and screaming. Like, screaming, screaming. And not a happy scream. Like, a "Get me out of here!" scream.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
FORD: Now, you saw some members of the family sitting in that courtroom. Some of them stayed, including Denise Lee's father, to listen to her voice on the 911 tape.
The real tragedy about this one, Kyra, it never gets passed on. Apparently, there was a shift change taking place. And even though Jane Kowalski said, I'll follow this, I can stay with this car if you want me to, she's told, no, that's OK, we've got it.
And we find out later, apparently there were police within a mile of this car that could have done something. It never got passed on, and it was just shortly after apparently that Denise Lee was murdered.
So, you can see, as I said, some gut-wrenching testimony taking place inside of this courtroom and some real questions being raised about the 911 system.
PHILLIPS: Yes, no doubt. I mean, that is what we have been asking.
I mean, I'm looking at all the various notes here, and she was on the phone with 911, it says here, for nine minutes, on the phone with the dispatcher for nine minutes. Now, they have ways to ping those cell phones, see where they are, and dispatch squad cars. So, is anybody answering that question about what happened in those nine minutes when she's on the phone?
FORD: We're finding out a couple of things. One with regard to Denise Lee's phone call.
As you can see, it took a while for the 911 operator to grasp what was going on here. You keep hearing the operator saying, "Hello? Hello?"
Finally, a little bit later in that tape, you hear the operator saying to somebody else, "I think maybe she's in a car and that the person doesn't know she's talking to us." Well, yes, exactly. That's what was happening.
As I said, this woman was so self-possessed in the midst of her terror to do this. But apparently, prosecutors say, once Michael King realized what she was doing, took the phone back, dismantled the phone so that they could not then find where it was.
It was enough to get them started in the search, to get his name. They then go to his house, they find evidence of what apparently happened in his house in terms of the sexual assault, and they start looking for him, but it wasn't enough for them to locate him.
And then the other one was Jane Kowalski's phone call. They simply dropped the ball. Nobody picked up on it and passed it on to the next level so somebody could have said, let's find out where this person is. We have personnel on the ground there, let's get them there very quickly and find out what this is all about.
PHILLIPS: Nine minutes. that is plenty of time to get a squad car out there to find out what's going on.
PHILLIPS: Jack Ford, we'll continue to follow it. Thanks so much.
FORD: All right, Kyra. Good to talk to you. You take care.
PHILLIPS: Likewise.
And remember, Denise's family has set up a foundation in her memory to champion 911 reform. You can actually find it at deniseamberlee.org.
The white supremacist accused of that shooting rampage at Washington's Holocaust Museum doesn't want to talk to a shrink, but a judge today ordered James Von Brunn to undergo a psych evaluation anyway. Police say the 89-year-old suspect killed a guard in the June attack. Von Brunn told the court that the Constitution guarantees him the right to a speedy and fair trial. He also added that he is a U.S. Navy officer and swore to protect his country, a vow he says he takes seriously.
He's the Georgia man heard on a 911 call telling police his whole family is dead. Today he's free on bail.
Guy Heinze, Jr. made his first court appearance today. He's accused of drug possession, evidence tampering, and lying to police after eight people were killed in a mobile home in coastal Georgia. Heinze was placed under house arrest and fitted with an ankle bracelet, but it's unclear where Heinze will stay. The mobile home he shared with his family is still a crime scene. Police have not samed Heinze a suspect in those murders, but they haven't ruled him out either.
To northern California now, where police say they found nothing yet that would link Phillip Garrido to the unsolved murders of prostitutes a decade ago. Two other departments are also looking into unsolved kidnappings. It's now been a week since Garrido's alleged abduction of Jaycee Dugard 18 years ago, and we're still learning more by the minute.
CNN's Kara Finnstrom is in Antioch.
And Kara, let's go ahead and start with Mrs. Garrido, Nancy. She too is actually being held and charged. Her attorney has now been talking, he's been all over the media.
What do we know?
KARA FINNSTROM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, making the rounds, if you will, this morning.
Gilbert Maines talking to numerous media outlets.
One of the more interesting things he had to say was that he believes a type of bond developed between Nancy Garrido, Jaycee Garrido, and her daughters. A type of love, a type of family relationship. But he also added that he's only gotten to know her over the past five days, and that he is still really kind of forming that trust relationship between a client and their lawyer.
And here's what he had to say this morning on "AMERICAN MORNING."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GILBERT MAINES, NANCY GARRIDO'S ATTORNEY: I have been trying to establish a line of communication with my client so that I can get behind what is going on. You should -- I'm sure you understand that this is a horrendous things for her.
I mean, I realize it's horrendous for Jaycee and her parents and the children. But my concern right now is that my client get a fair trial. And to do that, I have to open a line of communication in which she will confide in me and talk to me so I can formulate any defense that is available, so I can discover it and formulate it. That's parts of my job.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FINNSTROM: So Kyra, he also mentioned there that he was not aware of this case before he took it and that he's got a lot of research to do to get up to speed.
PHILLIPS: Well, what's the status of the investigation to other crimes that Garrido may be linked to now, Kara?
FINNSTROM: Well, as you mentioned, Pittsburgh Police have now said that they have no connection at this point between Garrido and that string of murders that took place in the 1990s, mostly of prostitutes. They actually came here, they did a search of the property.
There are two investigations that continue though. Two other girls that went missing in the 1980s, both of those girls vanished just about 20 miles away from here, and police continue to investigate on those fronts.
PHILLIPS: Kara, thanks.
Does President Obama need to get his mojo back as it relates to the ongoing health care reform battle? Key White House aides tell CNN the president is considering all options to recapture the momentum, and that a major speech, one that would include specific details on health care reform, could be coming up.
The president has come under fire from both sides of the aisle on the so-called public option.
The health care debate is more like an illness when applied to President Obama's approval ratings. According to the most recent CNN/Opinion Research poll, President Obama's overall approval rating now stands at 53 percent. It dropped three points from July and eight points off from June.
So, where is the president's slippage? Apparently, it's among Independent voters. For the first time, a majority of them don't like what Mr. Obama is doing. The latest numbers show 53 percent of Independents disapprove.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, big supporter of the public option. The problem is, not all of her fellow Democrats are. And neither are some big-name Republicans who are calling her out on the issue.
Tennessee Senator Lamar Alexander is warning of "a minor revolution "in this country if Democrats try to force the issue. And he says that Americans are scared to death of sweeping policy changes.
It's also worth noting that Pelosi's predecessor, former Republican House Speaker Dennis Hastert, is quoted in "The Kansas City Star." He says that Pelosi "blew it" by not forcing a vote on health care reform before the summer recess.
It's the virus that's sweeping across the country. Swine flu hitting folks everywhere, but especially kids. Does the government have a battle plan? We've got some answers for you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Swine flu on the march across the country. A favorite target, college students. Emory University here in Atlanta is one of the latest to be hit with the H1N1 virus. The school says about 50 students sickened by the virus have been moved to what was an empty dorm. No classes for them until they recover.
So, how are you feeling? A new CNN/Opinion Research poll actually shows the number of Americans concerned about swine flu has doubled since May. Thirty-nine percent of those questioned are worried about a family member that will get the H1N1. Another 17 percent say they're not worried now but have been in the past few months.
We knew it was coming, the number of sick people growing by the day. So, do the feds and locals have a strategy to counter the swine flu?
Our Jason Carroll has been doing some digging around.
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, as you know, there are several ways to prevent catching or spreading H1N1, but many medical experts agree, if an outbreak occurs, there's no one set way to deal with it. So, there are a lot of different plans in place to try and tackle this potentially deadly problem.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CARROLL (voice-over): With children across the country back in school, or heading back, parents have concerns about another H1N1 or swine flu outbreak, and what is being done about it. The short answer? It depends on where you live.
MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG (I), NEW YORK CITY: A key goal this fall will be to keep schools open and in session, even if some students come down with the flu.
CARROLL: Closing schools this fall a last resort in New York City, where H1N1 forced a temporary closing of 57 schools this past spring. Now the city's back to school plan includes free vaccinations for elementary school students.
BLOOMBERG: Our current plan is to offer them to students in every elementary school in the city, public and private.
CARROLL: Free vaccines will begin in October, once medical shipments arrive. The city will also open flu centers to help ease hospital overcrowding.
In the spring outbreak, city health officials estimate nearly one million people came down with the illness. Bracing for the next wave, the president says vaccines are on the way nationwide and urged state health officials to do their part.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We need state and local governments on the front lines to make anti-viral medications and vaccines available.
CARROLL: Also hit by H1N1, Texas, 34 deaths. In California, 128. San Francisco has a plan similar to New York's. Flu clinics will be set up to vaccinate high-risk people including school children, in October.
By mid-November, free vaccinations will be available on site in schools. In Houston, Texas, no plans for flu clinics at this time or free shots. Houston's health department anticipating "immunizations will happen through private providers." If necessary, clinics will be set up.
So why not a standard response for all states? The Centers for Disease Control says influenza and H1N1 are so unpredictable, it's best for states to develop their own responses. Some medical experts say city health officials are in a better position.
DR. ANDREW GARRETT, COLUMBIA NATIONAL CENTER FOR DISEASE PREVENTION: They know the city best and they know the experience that happened in the spring with H1N1 best.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CARROLL: One area medical experts agree is preventative measures. The Centers for Disease Control suggest washing hands frequently. School staff should routinely clean surface areas. And, if felling sick, stay home and seek immediate medical treatment.
And Kyra, as you know, these are things you can do no matter what city you live in -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Jason, thanks so much.
(NEWSBREAK)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: They're exhausted, but today firefighters in southern California are getting a bit of a break as they battle that big wildfire just north of L.A. The weather has taken a turn for the better, with cooler temps and higher humidity, but the fight is still far from over.
CNN's Reynolds Wolf has been in the thick of things there. He joins us now from Lakeview Terrace.
Give us a feel for what it's like, Reynolds.
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, we're going to give you the good news first. Let's knock that out of the park. You have 22 percent of this fire contained, a fire that's burned over 140,000 acres. That's wonderful, that they have got 22 percent contained. The problem is, we've still got a lot of fire to deal with.
What we're going to do is step over here and give you an idea. This is not the only game in town. They're dealing with a lot here. Of course, you've got the Station Fire, but take a look at the state of California, the map here.
Farther to the north, you've got the Big Meadow Fire. That's about 55 percent contained. That's still a struggle. Farther to the north of 49, 100 percent containment.
What they want is to have this scenario finally play out in the fires we have in parts of southern California, where you have the Station Fire, the Morris Fire, the Pendleton Fire, and the Old Glen (ph) Fire. So, certainly some rough stuff.
For our viewers that just happening to be tuning in across America, Kyra, what we want to do is just give them a quick synopsis, get a good idea of how this fire started.
It actually began, if you take a look at this map, it started from the bottom, from the south, worked its way up towards the top. And then, right along the border that you have, just south of Soledad, they were able to bring it to a screeching halt.
You'll notice this black line here. That black line is where they were able to stop the fire. But every spot that you see red on this map, the fire is still out of control in those places.
Kyra, there's a whole lot of red on this map, a whole lot of red. And where we've been seeing a great deal of it has been right over here in this area.
Take a look at this. This is the San Gabriel wilderness. In this particular area, you've got virgin wilderness. We're talking a lot of overgrowth. We've got a lot of trees, a lot of shrubs, a lot of chaparral, stuff that's been there for some 60 years that hasn't seen a single plane.
This is the leading edge. The line has actually been moving right into that part of the forest. Firefighters from the overnight hours, they've been doing all they possibly could to try to stop this in its tracks. But still, certainly, some rough times, to say the very least.
Now, want to show you something else.
Right down here in this area, this is Mount Wilson. This is where, if you happen to ever fly into LAX, you'll notice this is one of the most noticeable things you'll see, the high hills -- the transmitters is right here.
Well, I'll tell you, that's been a real tough thing for them. The fire's been cooperating by moving very slowly there, but as we pop out and move away a little bit, the issue they have had is trying to communicate with other crews. It's been really tough, because you've got so many signals tucked into the very top of that mountain.
You've got, of course, your microwave signals. You've got all the TV stations, a lot of radio station signals there. So, just things like a standard BlackBerry, it's almost impossible to use when you're up in that area. So, very difficult for the crews to really communicate with each other. And communication for these guys is really a very important thing.
We had the governor here a few hours back. He came in, gave everybody pretty much a big pat on the back. And why shouldn't he? They've done a great job.
They've been working around the clock, those 12-hour shifts for some of them. But many of the people, when they're out on those fire lines, they're not going to stay there just for 12. Their plane's close buy, they'll stay there for a lot longer.
They're tired, they have been working very hard. But they're very optimistic. They have a good idea they're going to stay on top of this, and they say they're hoping that by the time we get to the weekend, we'll have a much better hold or handle on this fire. But still, a lot can happen over those next couple of days.
Let's send it back to you, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right. Reynolds Wolf, thanks so much.
Well, lucky break for a big tourist resort on Mexico's Baja California Peninsula. Hurricane Jimena brushed past Los Cabos overnight, apparently sparing that area any serious damage. But it's still not a pleasant experience for those along the coast. Several thousands people in Los Cabos spent the night in shelters. That storm lost a lot of its punch as it closed in on the coastline.
(WEATHER REPORT)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: It's a pretty shocking statistic, the World Health Organization says that 10 percent of the kidney transplants worldwide are probably done through the black market. CNN's special investigations unit has been working this story, actually uncovering a global ring of human organ trafficking. Drew Griffin has been on that story. It's pretty remarkable actually what you discovered when you think of all the people that we know are on these long lists to get these transplants --
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS UNIT: Right.
PHILLIPS: And you don't really hear about the black market.
GRIFFIN: There's a whole other group of people who wouldn't even think of going on these lists. PHILLIPS: Right.
GRIFFIN: And what we found during our investigation is a man you're about to meet, an Israeli man whose own mother needed a kidney but wouldn't take one from her own son, so this guy went out and bought one. That experience turned into a business. He says he's helped more than 200 people get kidney transplants instead of waiting for one. His mission is only to help patients. As you're about to hear he cares very little about the mostly desperate donors. He's asked us to hide his identity.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GRIFFIN (voice-over): Do you know anything about the donors?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nothing. To tell you the truth I didn't even care from where it comes from. I've seen something like 60 patients in one year.
GRIFFIN: You yourself seen 60 patients?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, only my company. You must know that I never deal with the donors. There's no things that I do. I don't deal with the donors, I never met them. I never go to see who they are. The only one I see is only the patient. Sometimes there are many, many, many people who are desperate, they don't have any work, they don't have money to survive. So they can sell their kidney.
GRIFFIN: Your mother, you said, she wouldn't dare take a kidney from her son.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
GRIFFIN: But she would take a kidney from a person she will never know in China?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. What's so strange about that?
GRIFFIN: You can jump to the head of the line because you have money?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
GRIFFIN: It says that the rich person has more of a right to their health and their life than the poor person.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is reality. This is how it happens. This is the truth. And it's sad, but this is what it is.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GRIFFIN: His fee is usually $5,000 he gets for basically facilitating the deal. It covers his expenses he says and a small profit.
PHILLIPS: OK. Bottom line, is he doing anything illegal here? And number two, where is he doing the surgeries and the swaps?
GRIFFIN: You need two things, you need a patient and a donor, then you need a hospital. When he started out, he was doing package deals in China. It was legal, everything was above the board. He would take his patients to China. He would get a Chinese donor and the deal would be done. China shut it down so he moved to the Philippines, same thing, the donors were in the Philippines. Now because Israeli law continues to evolve, the patient and the donor have to come to him and say we're basically relatives, I am going to give this man my kidney and he goes out and he finds a hospital whether it be in the United States, in the Ukraine, anywhere who is believing to be doing this altruistic kidney donation. When in fact, nobody's asking any questions, the patient and the donor may have a deal, he fully believes they have a deal but he is not involved in it.
PHILLIPS: It's bizarre to think that's happening in the U.S. because there's supposed to be so many checks and balances. We look forward to the follow up. Thank Drew.
There's more on this disturbing topic tonight on CNN prime, watch "Secret Harvest, The Illegal Trade in Body Parts." It's on "Anderson Cooper 360," 10 P.M. Eastern only on CNN.
A woman of God meets an unholy fate in an Oklahoma church. We're pushing forward on the search for a twisted killer.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: A new report involving Bernie Madoff's business dealings isn't very flattering to the SEC. A watchdog group says investigators with the Securities and Exchange Commission mishandled that investigation and they missed ample warnings that Madoff's multibillion dollar dealings were fraudulent.
It's not likely the Scottish lawmakers will throw the Lockerbie bomber back in jail but today they voted against the government's decision to release him. Abdel Baset Ali Al Megrahi is said to be in bad shape in a Libyan hospital where he's dying from cancer. His health has weakened since he was let out of prison last month.
A strong earthquake has hit Indonesia killing nearly three dozen people, more than 300 others are injured. Survivors are huddled on the street afraid to go back into buildings after the magnitude seven quake struck just off of Java Island.
Jimena is losing some of its punch, it's been downgraded now to a category one hurricane as it pummels the midsection of Mexico's Baja Peninsula. Its winds have weakened to about 90 miles an hour. Power lines are down, roadways are choked with mud, but no major damage is reported.
Four years ago, the storm came wiping out neighborhoods and lives, hurricane Katrina brought New Orleans to its knees, but four years later, the city is rising, slowly but surely. CNN's Anderson Cooper takes us down the street, guided by a New Orleans resident you might recognize. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAMES CARVILLE, NEW ORLEANS RESIDENT (on camera): Over here is a nursing association. There's a really trendy bar here --
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On Freret Street James Carville sees signs of growth all around him.
CARVILLE: The interesting thing about Freret Street is this area got three feet of water. Everything here after the storm was wiped out. The seven blocks that way, some of the most affluent neighborhoods in the southern United States. Seven blocks that way, some of the poorest wards and (INAUDIBLE) neighborhoods. The little bit of a sense I have is how Freret Street goes, how goes New Orleans. Because it's a place that it can make a come back and it is.
COOPER: The Freret Street Gym was the first business to reopen in this neighborhood after the storm. Father Kevin Wildes, an avid boxer, is president of Loyola University.
(On camera): How is New Orleans doing?
KEVIN WILDES, NEW ORLEANS RESIDENT: I think it's doing very well, especially in terms of the private sector and the nonprofit sector. This gym is one small gym but Mike had three feet of water in here, he got in after the storm, he cleaned it up, and got it opened again. And you see the shops and restaurants all over the place.
COOPER (voice-over): While areas that got the most water, like the lower ninth ward have been slow to rebuild, in much of New Orleans, signs of the storm are hard to find. More restaurants are open here now than before Katrina. Carville took us to eat at Paschals (INAUDIBLE).
(On camera): I've never been in a city where people eat more or if they're not eating they're talking about what they just ate or what they're about to eat.
CARVILLE: Yes, what we do is we'll talk about where we're going for supper while we're eating lunch. I already know. And it's not -- it's a decision that you just don't make off the top. There's a lot of thought.
COOPER (voice-over): After lunch, we drive to what was once a run-down housing project. It's now being rebuilt into a mixed income neighborhood.
CARVILLE: This is a real -- has real potential of being a real success story. It could be a white guy here and an African-American there and a Hispanic there and somebody, you know, an Asian there. And that's the kind of city, people that live here, we want to live in that kind of city.
COOPER (on camera): In past years as I came here after the storm, you didn't get a sense of the kind of energy and actually seeing results, but this time you're actually kind of seeing what the money has been spent on. You're starting to see things being built, you're seeing schools being fixed.
CARVILLE: We're doing better. And you're starting to finally see it and took me to understanding that it just can't happen overnight, it takes a while.
COOPER (voice-over): There's no doubt daunting problems remain, crime, infrastructure, lack of affordable housing, access to health care, but Carville is optimistic. The progress is real, money is being spent, the city pulses with life.
CARVILLE: When you live in New Orleans, you have to understand this, you don't just live in a city, you live in a culture. We have our own food, our own music, our own funerals, our own social structure, our own architecture, our own literature.
COOPER (on camera): It's a completely unique place.
CARVILLE: Completely unique and it's not just a city, it's a culture. People, we admire what Atlanta has done, we admire what Denver has done. But we don't want to be Atlanta and Denver we want to be New Orleaneans.
COOPER (voice-over): Anderson Cooper, CNN, New Orleans.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: It might not have had any taste or class, but it's got lots of insensitivity. Take a look at the idea that some real geniuses and an ad agency came up with. What on this green earth were they thinking?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: We're checking up on a critical patient, the economy. Twelve months ago, Lehman Brothers collapsed, AIG was bailed out, Merrill Lynch was sold all of in a matter of days this happened and those actions rocked the financial world and the entire economy. Now fast forward one year, how are we faring now and what's ahead? Susan Lisovicz joins me with a look at where things stand. She was actually here taking part in a panel with all these big name CEOs and I love this. This is so typical Susan, right, she's smart, she's sassy, she's beautiful and she opens up her speech talking about sex, but it does have a business connection?
SUSAN LISOVICZ: That was yesterday's speech to women who are small business owners and actually it caught their attention and it's something to remember. Because actually a big muckety muck in the business world said that sex and finance have a lot in common. They have some thought but little stored knowledge and a lot of heavy breathing. And that's why people keep making the same mistakes in both. And so don't let your emotions run away with you and I think a lot of us have learned that lesson the hard way unfortunately. And so we got to learn from what's happened and I think what's happening is people are reigning it in. Kyra?
PHILLIPS: Well, let me ask you. And then you had a chance to talk with the head of Home Depot, any heavy breathing going on there? How's his business?
LISOVICZ: Heavy breathing, it might be more like gasping, right? Home Depot is tied to the fortunes of the housing market. And actually he had a great quote. He said, "Bad is not good until worse happens." Well worse is not happening now, so I guess it's better or even good. But we need to go a much -- we need to get a lot better to say things are normal or things are healthy. So sales are down, it's not opening as many stores, what's happening is and we have seen this in lots of sectors Kyra, when somebody goes into Home Depot, they're more likely to buy a box of nails, or a can of paint and not do some high end bathroom do it yourself project. They're just spending less.
PHILLIPS: All right well then, I guess, what did they say with regard to are we in a recovery or not? Because he wasn't the only one there, you also had what, the head of --
LISOVICZ: The CEO of AFLAC.
PHILLIPS: AFLAC, that's right, the NYSE.
LISOVICZ: The Emory business schools and the CEO of the NYSE, Senator Saxby Chambliss as well as the CEO and presidents of the Federal Reserve, the bank right here in Atlanta. So all different spectrums and they all say the same thing, that consumer spending, which is really the engine of recovery is going to be restrained for some time. Why is that? Because we have been burned, with our house values and our stock values, we're spending again, we're spending wisely.
And we're seeing how retailers are adapting. Office Depot and Staples are offering back-to-school supplies for pennies. K-mart and Sears are doing layaway, something we haven't seen really, in a couple of decades. So, we're spending smarter. That's good for us, getting our finances back in order, and businesses have to adapt accordingly. We're getting there. Slowly.
PHILLIPS: It's always good to see you. Nice to have you here. Come visit any time.
LISOVICZ: It's a pleasure to be with my work family.
PHILLIPS: That's right. Next time, we'll catch a Braves game there over at the -- I know you love your baseball.
LISOVICZ: You got it.
PHILLIPS: Well, check out this story, this is one that made us of say what the... when we saw this advertisement. Take a look at that picture. The World Wildlife Fund; it kind of said the same thing that we said. Can you figure out what's going on there?
An ad agency in Brazil actually came up what this to illustrate how many people were killed in the 2004 tsunami compared to 9/11. Yes, Susan is shaking her head as well. We all did this.
A bunch of Photoshopped planes about to crash into New York City, plus the Twin Towers are still in the picture. Insensitive? Check. Tasteless and boneheaded? You know it. And the agency pitched this to the World Wildlife Fund. It wasn't wild about it, of course, rejected it and thought that was that.
But someone actually submitted the ad to a competition with the WWF's cute little panda logo on it. And it went viral on the Internet. WWF can't say it enough: they're appalled, and they never approved it.
As always, Team Sanchez back there working on the next hour of NEWSROOM. Can -- did you see that picture, Rick?
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: I didn't. I was working on some of these scripts.
PHILLIPS: Oh, OK. So, you weren't paying attention...
SANCHEZ: Oh, yeah. Look, yes...
PHILLIPS: Look at this picture!
SANCHEZ: No, Angie showed me this. And we had a conversation about this earlier...
PHILLIPS: Absolutely...
SANCHEZ: It's kind of ominous. I mean look, I was there when this happened. I covered this story, I was in the downtown New York, and this image is seared into my head. And when I see that picture, I can't help but think of that day, and I imagine a lot of other people are affected, especially if you're a family that lost a loved one.
At the same time, it's a very -- it's a very media-specific ad that seems to do the job it's trying to get the attention -- by trying to get you're attention. So, it's one of those...
PHILLIPS: It's insensitive, and it got dumped as it should have been.
SANCHEZ: Was it?
PHILLIPS: Yes. Yes. They tossed it out.
SANCHEZ: It's a good thing I listen to Kyra every afternoon.
PHILLIPS: Yes. So glad you could pay attention. OK, I'm trying to pay attention to you. What are you talking about in the next hour?
(LAUGHTER)
SANCHEZ: Let me draw a scenario for you here. You walk into a Wal-Mart, right? And there's a little kid on the screen, 2 years old, screaming like crazy, like my kids have done in the past, and I have been embarrassed by it. But a man, he's 61 years old hears the screaming, and he says to the mom, Kyra, he says, "You know what? If you don't shut that kid up, I'm going to shut him up for you." Well, that's kind of rude and insulting, and you think well, it's a pretty stupid thing to say.
But then he goes and actually does it! He actually goes and starts slapping the kid around. This is an amazing story that we've come across which you and I both know is the kind of story that people will stop us on the street and talk about tomorrow. Because it sticks with people. We're going to have that.
The other thing I'm going to have is something that we often cover. Trying to figure out what the U.S. policy is with our enemy, Cuba. What is the deal with the U.S. and Cuban embargo, and when it will possibly be lifted? Is this administration showing signs that it's moving in that direction? When it will happen?
Well, guess what? Ambassador -- former U.N. Ambassador Richardson, now the governor of New Mexico is going to be joining me live. He just got back from Havana and met with Cuban officials, and he's going to let us know what the real deal is.
PHILLIPS: Yes. No, I want to know. A lot of friends wanting to open up businesses there, and they've got high hopes for that. It will be interesting to see how that all plays out.
SANCHEZ: And then you got some of my old buddies in Miami who are saying no, don't do it.
PHILLIPS: All right. Straight from the mouth of the Cubano. Thank you, Rick.
SANCHEZ: Say hi to your dad.
PHILLIPS: Yes. He loves you.
Bizarre, twisted, unsolved. In Oklahoma, a pastor killed in her own church. The details get even more insane by the day. Who could have done it? We dig deeper into the investigation.
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PHILLIPS: A bizarre and horrific murder scene in a place of salvation. The evidence plays out like a horror movie. The victim, an Oklahoma pastor who devoted her life to helping the needy. A person who took that life and twisted it beyond belief. What you're about to hear is disturbing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER (voice-over): Unimaginable is how residents of Anadarko, Oklahoma are describing the crime that has stunned the small community and has many religious leaders re-evaluating their own security plan.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's absolutely no logic.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The scene discovered nine days ago inside this small Pentecostal church was described by the Cato County district attorney as the worst he's seen in 17 years as a prosecutor. A source close to the investigation tells CNN the naked body of 61-year-old pastor Carol Daniels was found lying behind her church altar, her arms outstretched. Authorities believe the body was staged following her death. The source tells CNN Daniels' clothing was taken from the scene, and a dissolving agent was sprayed around her body, perhaps suggesting the killer or killers tried to remove valuable evidence.
Daniel's son says his mother never mentioned any perceived danger while at church.
ALVIN DANIELS, VICTIM'S SON: She was very cautious for the most part, and she usually would leave the door open in case people came in to worship.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Pastor Daniels traveled 60 miles from Oklahoma City every Sunday in hopes that someone, anyone would show up at church for worship. With mostly elderly members, few ever attended. But on that day, a friend and his wife traveled to Anadarko to meet her. They all Daniel's car, but the doors to the church were locked. They immediately alerted police.
BISHOP SILKEY WILSON, FRIEND OF DANIELS: Nobody would come to the door, and we banged on the windows and we dove around the building and tooted the horn on the car, and we got no response. I didn't know what to think.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Preliminary notes obtained by CNN from the state medical examiner designate Daniels' death a homicide, due to multiple sharp force injuries. Severe injuries to Daniels' neck, chest and hands are visible. The notes go on to suggest that most of the injuries to the chest appear to have been inflicted by the killer after her death.
So far, there are no suspects. An FBI profiler has been consulted and state and local authorities are hoping a reward, now increased to $15,000, will provide new leads. Also, video surveillance from a nearby convenience store could hold further clues.
JESSICA BROWN, OKLAHOMA STATE BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION: When it shows her vehicle pulling out to the church. We are looking at, examining it on a forensic basis. But at this point in time, what it does, it confirms our timeline that she arrived about 10:00, and her body was found about noon.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: A small memorial now decorates the front door of this church, a church that until now rarely had visitors.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: We're definitely not going to let that story go. We'll keep pushing forward on it and bring you any new details.
We'll see you back here tomorrow. Rick Sanchez starts from here.
