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Son Charged With Killing Family; Legacy of Dugard Kidnapping; Can Sex Offenders be Cured?

Aired September 05, 2009 - 22:00   ET

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

RICHARD LUI, CNN ANCHOR: A very good evening to you. I'm Richard Lui, in for Don Lemon, who is off this night.

We begin with a developing story in South Georgia. A man who called 911 last weekend to report his family had been killed has now been charged with eight counts of first degree murder. A 3-year-old critically injured in the savage attack continues to fight for his life.

CNN's Sean Callebs is in Brunswick, Georgia, where funerals were held today for seven of those victims.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Loved ones are saying good-bye to eight people brutally killed in a mobile home in the small Georgia coastal town of Brunswick.

Family members told me they were floored when authorities told them 22-year-old Guy Heinze, Jr. had been charged with all eight murders. He stands accused of killing his own father, five other relatives, and two family friends. The killings have shocked this region.

CHIEF MATT DOERING, GLYNN COUNTY POLICE DEPT.:It's the most heinous crime we've ever had in the community.

CALLEBS: A week ago, Guy Heinze, Jr., the man now charged in the killings, made this frantic 911 call after he claimed he discovered the bodies...

GUY HEINZE, JR: My whole family's dead.

CALLEBS: ...something wasn't right.

And after police arrived, they charged Heinze with possession of drugs, obstruction of justice, and tampering with evidence for allegedly taking a shotgun from the mobile home and hiding it in a car.

At the time, police said, he was not a suspect. Two days later, his attorney, Ron Harrison, said his client is not a killer.

RON HARRISON, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Mr. Heinze denies his involvement in the murders. CALLEBS: Has he been cooperating?

HARRISON: He has been cooperating and will continue to cooperate.

CALLEBS: Wednesday, a judge set Heinze's bond at $20,000. Then Friday, Heinze walked out of the county jail, only to be arrested two hours later and charged with murder.

DOERING: Very late this afternoon, two pieces of information came forward to us. We took those two pieces of information, compared it to the whole of all the evidence collected, all week long, and we were satisfied.

CALLEBS: Police won't say what this new evidence is, or reveal a possible motive. It doesn't make sense to a shocked and grieving family, who can only say good-bye to the close-knit relatives who shared a violent death.

Sean Callebs, CNN, Brunswick, Georgia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LUI: And now we take you to western Pennsylvania, where a tragic end in the frantic hunt for a missing 4-year-old boy happened there. Wyatt Smitsky's body was found stuffed in a neighbor's septic tank. The discovery was made after searchers noticed the septic tank cover had been tampered with. One person is in custody, but no charges have been filed. The search began last night when the little boy did not come home after playing outside with his two sisters.

And then a totally different outcome in the case of a missing boy in southern Illinois to tell you about now. The 6-year-old was found alive, hidden in a secret room at his grandmother's home in Illinois. Ricky Chekevdia was allegedly kidnapped by his mom during a custody dispute two years ago. Police officers and the little boy's father are just echoing gratitude now that the boy was found safe.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STAN DIGGS, ILLINOIS STATE POLICE: We let him out of the car and he ran around like he had never seen the outdoors. It was actually very sad.

Surprisingly, Ricky is in very good spirits. For someone who's been isolated in that house with no other outside beings, he's very social, very polite, very talkative little boy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE CHEKEVDIA, BOY'S FATHER: Their efforts were diligent. And I owe them a debt of gratitude. The greatest trial will be the re- integration of my son and that's going to be the bigger challenge.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LUI: Ricky was found just nine days before his seventh birthday. Tonight, he's safe and sound with a relative on his dad side. His mom, Shannon Wilfong, you see here, is facing felony child abduction charges.

Philip Garrido's alleged kidnapping of Jaycee Dugard in 1991 was a tragedy for the family, but some good did come out of it in a very real way. Jaycee's ordeal probably helped save other children from a similar fate.

Here's CNN's Kara Finnstrom.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANGIE KEIL, LAKE TAHOE PARENT: Everyone was just going, did you hear Jaycee's alive and she's found? We're all so excited.

KARA FINNSTROM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Neighbor Angie Keil never forgot the blue-eyed girl so violently snatched on her way to school. During the nearly two decades since, sadness and fear have reverberated in the small mountain community.

SUE BUSH, FORMER TEACHER: There were tears and they were scared. And they should have been scared.

FINNSTROM: Jaycee Dugard's fifth grade teacher said classmates wrote Jaycee letters.

MEGAN DORIS, FORMER CLASSMATE: This is my senior yearbook.

FINNSTROM: One classmate, Megan Doris, felt Jaycee's absence during each life milestone.

DORIS: She didn't have the chance to graduate high school, to have friends, turning, you know, 21 and going to college. I think that's probably been the most haunting thing.

FINNSTROM: But Angie Kiel says in the midst of all the horror and loss, Jaycee unknowingly gave her and other parents an incredible gift.

EMMET FREEMAN, STUDENT: This guy walked around the corner, and he said, if you come find my wallet with me, I'll give you $5.

FINNSTROM: That was Kiel's son, Emmet, shortly after a frightening 2002 encounter. Emmet said the man chased him, but he got away on his bike.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Practice these things with your family.

FINNSTROM: Emmet was taught to escape through a program in schools called A Fighting Chance.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My name is Terry. I'm Jaycee Lee Dugard's mother. FINNSTROM: Jaycee's mother helped launch it in her daughter's honor, six years after her disappearance.

BROOKE LANE, "A FIGHTING CHANCE": We would put the kids in the trunk of the car, and we would lower the -- we would actually lower this. We don't latch it all the way.

FINNSTROM: Isn't that a little scary for the kids?

LANE: At first it is a little scary for them. But, boy, when they get out of the trunk, they feel really good. They understand what it takes to break wires, what it takes to kick out taillights or what it takes to bang on the top of the roof and really make a lot of noise.

FREEMAN: The training they told me just say no, you don't know this guy, and so I did.

KIEL: You just never know what would have happened, but the fact that Emmet knew what to do and knew not to even engage in any conversation meant that he is with me now.

FINNSTROM: Kiel says in this community where nobody used to lock doors, the training appears to have helped a number of children. Now she's overjoyed, knowing a girl who started it all is finally back home.

KIEL: I can't imagine what it would be like to get her back.

FINNSTROM (on camera): Jaycee's mother ultimately move away from South Lake, Tahoe, but this community has always felt very connected to the Dugard Family. Sunday, they will be holding a hometown parade of celebration to show their support.

Kara Finnstrom for CNN, South Lake Tahoe, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LUI: Now, in just a moment, I'm going to speak about the Garrido case with a convicted child molester and a doctor who works with sex offenders. But, first, let's go to Greg Hardesty, who writes with the Orange County Register.

And, Greg, you know, you were the first to get an interview with Jaycee Dugard's aunt, Tina Dugard. And this, of course, is so important to try to understand what they're going through and what they're thinking.

First off, I want to ask you, it's been told that when we talk about Jaycee Dugard, she worked in the business. She had a lot of interface with customers, even e-mailing them, and had chances, it appears, to run.

Did her aunt indicate as to why she didn't?

GREG HARDESTY, REPORTER, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER: No, she didn't. Unfortunately, the aunt would not discuss anything that had to do with the conditions in which she lived or anything that could possibly affect the ongoing criminal investigation. She spoke in general terms. That's the big mystery. It's like -- and her girls, Jaycee's girls, as we know, according to Tina, had access to the Internet, which raises similar questions. Well, you know, they had access to the outside world.

LUI: Did you get any sense in terms from her aunt in which she was speaking with, with her niece as to whether Jaycee had sympathy for her captor, any indications in that space?

HARDESTY: You know, again...

LUI: Right.

HARDESTY: ...any questions directly related to her alleged abductors, she really wouldn't --

LUI: Didn't want to talk about.

HARDESTY: Yes.

LUI: Got it. Hey, you know, let's now listen to some of the sound from the aunt.

HARDESTY: Sure.

LUI: She did talk earlier about how Jaycee was adjusting now that she was free, no longer in captivity.

Let's take a listen.

HARDESTY: Sure.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TINA DUGARD, JAYCEE'S AUNT: I want you to know that a lot of great things are happening right now. And that they're happy. The girls are with their mom. I've heard her call my sister mom. It was nice. We were all sitting together, and my sister was french braiding Jaycee's hair. And I remember thinking, wow, she's french braiding Jaycee's hair for the first time in 18 years.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LUI: And hearing her sister being called mom in 18 years as well.

So what was your sense in terms of normalcy and how close the aunt was describing what Jaycee was going through?

HARDESTY: Well, the way she described it, there was -- the word normal came up a lot. They were focusing on doing normal things as a family, bonding like, you know, families do when they spend time together. She described the reunion as almost like a family vacation, the five days she spent with everybody. And, you know, it's just overwhelming sense of joy, which I think at this point is masking a lot of the horror that this family has underwent all these years. And they will have to deal with that in the future.

So right now they're focusing on the pure, unbridled joy of being together. It's a miraculous story.

LUI: Yes. After close to two decades, as you have been telling us.

Greg Hardesty, who writes for the "Orange County Register."

Thank you so much for giving us a bit of an insight in terms of her interview. Again, the first to have an opportunity to speak with the family. Appreciate that.

HARDESTY: My pleasure.

LUI: So what makes a person a sexual predator, and can they ever get over their impulses? We'll ask convicted sex offender Jacob Goldenflame. He joins us next.

And we've seen the headlines in the Chris Brown-Rihanna case, but domestic violence is a huge problem in the African-American community. Only that is largely underreported. We'll tell you why.

And a terrifying sight off the coast of Cape Cod. Several large sharks, including great white, looking like that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LUI: The Garrido case has provoked outrage across the country and around the world. Phillip Garrido had already served decade for rape, and many people say he should never have been released.

Well, our guests tonight are Dr. Fred Berlin with the sexual disorders clinic at John Hopkins University School of Medicine, and Jake Goldenflame, who spent five years in prison for child molestation. That was 15 years ago. He now works to help other sex offenders overcome their problem.

OK, I want to first go to a tweet, gentlemen. We will go to Melbuck194, who wrote into us today saying, "Exactly how long does it take for one to recover? For you to recover, you said he has been recovering for 15 years -- has he recovered?"

And that's to you, Jake.

Jake Goldenflame, how do you know that you're rehabilitated?

JAKE GOLDENFLAME, CONVICTED CHILD MOLESTER: Well, the best way I can answer that is this -- whenever an urge comes up -- and no matter how slight it may be, a sexual urge of attraction for somebody who's underage, along with the urge, instantly, there's a message attached to it, and the message to me is, you're in danger.

And so immediately instead of dwelling on the sexual urge and fantasizing what I might want to do and strategizing some way to go after that person, instead my attention is, I'm in danger. How do I get myself out of this as responsibly as possible and as fast as possible? I'll put my attention on something else. I'll look another way. I'll give my attention to something else. Whatever it takes not to go in the direction that's going to excite me unnecessarily towards somebody that I don't want to hurt.

And sometimes additional messages will come up like, do you really want to ruin that young person's life? Because now you know that's what will happen. You don't have the right to do that. You accept it, and you let it go.

LUI: Jake, when you were in prison, you had spiritual counseling as well as therapy.

I want to now move over to Dr. Berlin.

Dr. Berlin, how often does this work alone with offenders?

DR. FRED BERLIN, JOHN HOPKINS UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: Well, again, there are a variety of offenders. And so it's like asking can you help someone who's been a drunk driver? There's not one solution. But there are many offenders who don't go on after getting help to repeat, and certainly, if it's been 15 years in Jake's case, I commend him for that.

LUI: Jake, one of the ideas that has been floated out there as a solution is castration.

What if that was offered to you?

GOLDENFLAME: I would decline it because I don't think it would be necessary. And I would very deeply feel that it would be a spiritual affront to me and to my body if I were to ask for such a thing to be done to it.

LUI: OK, now, that that debate is out there, I do want to drill down very quickly Dr. Berlin, castration, what is that procedure actually? What happens in that procedure?

BERLIN: Well, surgical castration involves removal of the testes, and the testes produce testosterone, which is the hormone that energizes sexual drive. And so the idea is if someone's hungering sexually for children, if we can reduce the intensity of that hunger, it should make it easier for them to control themselves.

Now the first rule of medicine is to do no harm. We should only use that when necessary. These days we don't need to put anybody through the trauma of surgically removing the testes, because there are a variety of medicines available that can also reduce testosterone.

LUI: Dr. Berlin, though, once they get castrated, those who do decide or who are required to be castrated, can they still physically rape, though? BERLIN: Well, what they could do is gain access on the black market of testosterone and replace it and be right back to square one. So I do think where we have concerns about the safety of the community, that those are cases where there has to be some sort of monitoring, even with the medication. It's given usually by a monthly injection. We know whether or not the person's received it. We can monitor blood levels to be sure their testosterone is down. In helping these individuals, we always want to give priority to community safety.

LUI: You know, Jake, eight states in the United States do do this, castration, either chemical or physical, through surgical means.

Do you see this as cruel and unusual punishment?

GOLDENFLAME: I do indeed. I very strongly sensitive about that. I think it's going the wrong way. I think that it's putting all the attention on, well -- if we can only find some one-size-fits-all remedy to this problem, that's what we will do and we'll be done with it.

I think that's going the wrong way. I think the right way to go instead is for the public to understand, this is the public's problem. This is the parents' problem. They've got a child that they have to raise, they want to protect that child. It's their job to do so. It's not the state's job to go around castrating people.

And what I mean by this, we have Megan's law. We created it so parents would know who are the convicted people in this community who bear sexual assault in their past? You should know who they are. It's available on your computer. You should use that information to tell your children to stay away from those people. You should know who those people are so you can keep an eye on them. And if they're acting strangely or doing things that are strange, call the authorities. It is your job. So long -- if the Garrido case doesn't teach us anything, it should teach us you can't expect the system to do it for you all the time because sometimes the system is so overloaded, it can't handle all of the cases that there are out there. You have to do it.

BERLIN: If I may, if I may, with all due respect to Jake, if there are people out there who are having a difficult time controlling themselves, if they're going to be able to live more safely in the community by doing so, if providing medicine for them that assists them in controlling themselves makes others safe, as a physician, I certainly don't want to deny them access to something that will help in that way. And I don't want to use it punitively. On that point, I agree with Jake.

GOLDENFLAME: Yes. Right.

LUI: Dr. Berlin, Jake, great segue for what we're going to talk when we go for a break. Stick around, please, because when we come back, we will take a closer look at the option of castration.

Does it work? Well, we've got some statistics for you. Could it effectively here step the offenders?

And then later, the Obama administration on the defensive after the president's scheduled speech to school kids comes under fire, and the White House struggles to regain control of the health care debate.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LUI: Sex offenders, as well as castration as a solution. And you've been tweeting on the subject with us.

Mountainsister tweeted and said, "Sex offenders should be segregated into treatment and kept from society permanently. Humane but separated."

And then there's DanieClarke who tweets, "Sex offenders should be castrated along with life in prison and maybe some therapy."

We move now to MissPrittyMami, "Sexual offenders, especially repeated ones, should be sexually clipped and have their hands removed from their wrist."

And JKWallace said, "Once sex offenders are put in jail, must keep them there. One strike you are out law must come to be."

All right. Thank you all for tweeting on our conversation. Of course, you can do more if you like. Just go to our Web site.

All right, Dr. Berlin, I want to go to a statistic that I found in "The Washington Post," and they were alluding to a study done by the Danish. And it says, that those who are castrated, when we talk about recidivism, that goes from eight out of ten cases, or to bring up to 40 out of 50 cases, down to one out of 50 post castration. So from 40 out 50 to one out of 50 post castration.

Is it that effective?

BERLIN: Yes. Now, again, I want to make it clear, when given to appropriately selected individuals. I don't want to get the sense of everyone who's ever committed a sex offense needs to be castrated. But there are a group of people who are driven by abnormal sexual cravings. That's igniting the problem. And by lowering those cravings, they are much better able to control themselves. And there is extremely good evidence that this is a technique that will lower recidivism rates dramatically.

LUI: Jake, you were saying earlier, not one solution for all, right?

GOLDENFLAME: Right.

LUI: But if these statistics are correct, this is hard to refute.

GOLDENFLAME: Let me make it clear if I may to join Dr. Berlin here. I want to distinguish between chemical castration and surgical castration.

I'm utterly opposed to surgical castration as cruel and unusual. That's what I meant there. I absolutely salute what Dr. Berlin has done in his clinic with the use of chemical castrating drugs. I happen to know one of his patients who's been there a number of years, who's told me again and again how grateful he is for having had that medicine made available to him. He's continuing on an optional basis himself. Chemical castration can appropriately be used well in appropriate cases.

But I say again, there's no such thing as a one-size-fits-all solution. And that's where I think we would err if we went whether it's into chemical castration, surgical castration or anything else. It's not one-size-fits-all. There are different kinds of sex offenders as Dr. Berlin have said. Some of whom would profit more than others.

LUI: So what would be some of the other solutions then would you say?

GOLDENFLAME: Well, one of the things you might do is you might have a more intensive field supervision unit for people like this. So that when they do come out on parole, they're wearing an active GPS monitor. There's somebody who's tracking them hour by hour during the day, and you've got units on the field ready to intercept this guy if he goes places he shouldn't go. You have lie detector tests that can also be used with these people, where you can put them on a polygraph.

There are a variety of additional tool that could be used other than castration. If you believe that this is a person who doesn't fall in the category, where castration is the answer. Where they might be able to prove and earn their way back, you would have them under close supervision.

LUI: Let's bring in Dr. Berlin.

Dr. Berlin, we've got a bunch of different solutions that are possibly out there.

Discuss them if you would.

BERLIN: Well, perhaps if I can discuss a theme, and that is every one of us agrees that the first priority has to be to keep the community safe. But if within the context of keeping the community safe we can also salvage lives and give people an opportunity to be productive and good citizens, I think that's a good thing. And what concerns me about the discussion is often is let's keep ourselves safe and the heck with these people. They're less than human. They don't matter.

I understand those feelings. I know where the pain is coming from. But many of these people when you come to know them are not these vile creatures we tend to think about. And so I would simply suggest that in finding the solution in answering your question, if in keeping us safe we can salvage some of these lives, perhaps that's something worth thinking about. LUI: And, Jake, in your experience, five years in prison and then 15 years of recovery, did you feel like you were not treated as human?

GOLDENFLAME: I wouldn't use that term, but I do recall a period after I left prison and was in the community where the community attitude towards people like me was so hostile that I felt that we were being removed from society whatsoever, that there was no future for us in this country. And as a result, I left the country for a while for that reason. I don't find that to be the case today, at least not for me. But I understand from many they get that same feeling.

Again, we're overreacting. We're treating everybody the same when the very concept, the very term sex offender is so broad, it encompasses so many different kinds of people. And I understand people's anguish. After all, these are their children they care about. But we have to be careful when we design our policies and we decide what kind of laws we want, that we do the appropriate thing with the appropriate kind of offender. We need to understand offenders better. The differences between them, and the things that can be done to help them recover. That's a possibility we should discuss, too. Because sometimes with some additional assistance, evidence has shown, they can profit markedly in gaining their way back into living good lives in the community.

LUI: Jake Goldenflame, convicted sex offender, also author of "Overcoming Sexual Terrorism." Dr. Berlin, founder of the Sexual Disorders Clinic, thank you both for a very, very compelling discussion this evening. Appreciate it.

BERLIN: Thank you very much.

GOLDENFLAME: Thank you.

LUI: Breaking the cycle of domestic violence.

Earlier, singer Chris Brown talked about a situation with our LARRY KING. But for every high-profile case that grabs headlines, there are thousands of families suffering in silence. We will meet one woman who's working to make a difference.

And then later for you, you know it's going to be a bad day when a car not only crashes into your house, but takes out the entire second floor.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LUI: I don't remember, and I don't want to get into that. Two recurring themes for singer Chris Brown during his interview with Larry King, which you just saw. He was asked repeatedly about what happened the night he attacked his girlfriend, Rihanna.

Here's a little bit of that conversation again.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) LARRY KING, HOST, LARRY KING LIVE: When you hear about all the things that the police and the reports say you did, how do you react to that?

CHRIS BROWN, SINGER: I -- I don't -- like, I'll just look at it and like, wow, like, I'm in shock, because, first of all, that's not who I am as a person and that's not who I promise I want to be. And so I -- I just -- when I look at like the police reports or I hear about the police reports, I don't know -- I don't know what -- what to think. I just don't know what to think. I'm just like, wow.

KING: Do you remember doing it?

BROWN: No.

KING: You don't remember doing it?

BROWN: I don't -- I don't -- it's like -- it's crazy to me. Like, I was just -- I'm like wow.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LUI: Now, there's more of that conversation online. If you missed it, logon to cnn.com for that.

Something else you will hear in Larry King's interview with Chris Brown, by the way. Allegations of other unreported physical disputes between him and Rihanna.

Studies show unreported domestic abuse is not uncommon in the African-American community.

Randi Kaye spoke to a woman who speaks from her own experience.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This woman lived a nightmare for six long years. Day in and day out, she was abused by her husband, emotionally, physically and sexually.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He would want to have sex, and I would say no. And then I would have to -- I would say fight for my life to try and keep him from raping me.

KAYE: Like so many women, she stayed in the relationship. She had four children, and wanted to keep her family together.

(on camera): How bad did it get?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: After I left him, he took a crowbar and he broke into the house, and I was asleep. And when I woke up, he was standing at the door with a crowbar, and he said, "I should hit you with this."

KAYE (voice-over): She never reported her husband's abuse and he was never arrested or charged, which is why we're not identifying her. (on camera): Help me understand why you didn't go to the police.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For an African-American woman to call the police on Africa-America man, it would be like sending another brother to jail to prison. And not believing that they would get the right treatment from the police.

KAYE (voice-over): That statement might sound bizarre to some, but it's not uncommon in the African-American community. And experts say it makes a bad problem worse.

(on camera): Just how prevalent is domestic violence among African-American women?

A study by the Department of Justice from 2001 to 2005 found domestic abuse among black women 25 percent higher than white women. In fact, it was higher than women of all other races except Native- American.

(voice-over): Ruth Slaughter has worked with survivors of domestic violence for more than 30 years, mainly in the African- American community. Women stay in abusive relationships, she says, because they're in denial.

RUTH SLAUGHTER, HELPS SURVIVORS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE: He's going to get better. It's only this one time. And when he apologizes and says that he's sorry, you hope that this will be the last time, and you believe him.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're supposed to be the strong, you know, women able to bear anything. That's one of the reasons that we endure the abuse more -- reported abuse more than others, because we're trying to protect ourselves and we're trying to protect the African- American community.

KAYE: In the celebrity case of Chris Brown and his girlfriend, Rihanna, police say Brown shoved her head against the passenger window and continued to punch her in the face, even threatened to kill her. Brown pleaded guilty and publicly apologized in this video posted on YouTube.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: I have told Rihanna countless time, and I'm telling you today that I'm truly, truly sorry.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: But with singer Chris Brown sentenced to probation and community service for doing this to a woman, this victim says it sends the wrong message.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The whole problem with domestic abuse, perpetrators, is a lack of accountability. That's not enough accountability and responsibility for him. I think the message needs to be a little stronger. KAYE: This woman eventually got the message. She divorced her abuser. Today, she counsels other women who are in abusive relationships, trying to stop the violence, trying to end the denial.

Randi Kaye, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LUI: A terrifying sight off the coast of Cape Cod. That's right.

Great white sharks, you can see them there.

And check this out. We heard of cars going into homes, but the second floor of a home?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

RICHARD LUI, CNN ANCHOR: People in Los Angeles can still see flames burning in the hills above the city, but rescue crews say neighborhoods are in the clear right now. A raging wildfire that left two firefighters dead and destroyed 70 homes about half contained at the moment. And firefighters say they've built a protective line to keep communities safe. Now they're battling the flames chewing into the nearby wilderness. A $100,000 reward has been offered now for information leading to an arson arrest in that case.

All right, let's go over to Jacqui Jeras at the moment. And when we take a look at the weather, it was pretty warm towards the end of the week, which firefighters don't like.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LUI: Well, my friend, you have been very good to us so this holiday weekend so far.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Doing what I can.

LUI: You're doing an awesome job. Look at that. Great weather, for the most part, all across the country.

JERAS: You can't complain much about that overall.

LUI: That's right.

Jacqui Jeras, thank you.

It's like a scene from a Hollywood car chase, but in this case, it's too real.

It happened on Long Island, New York. A man was driving so fast in his jeep, and he jumped a speed bump and crashed into this house on the second floor. The jeep ripped a hole in the house, fell down through the foyer and landed with its headlights pointed towards the sky. Out of a movie, isn't it? The homeowner was asleep on the couch when that happened. He wasn't hurt, but he still can't believe that this whole thing happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN SARLI, HOMEOWNER: I was shocked. I don't know.

How could you do this?

You know, what were you thinking?

How fast were you doing?

He was doing a "Dukes of Hazard."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LUI: Well, the driver of the jeep faces now DUI charges. He suffered only minor injuries and his passenger was not hurt at all. But amazing story and pictures as you saw there.

President Obama's money man is in London tonight talking about the economy.

And if you think the only place to see Klingons, Darth Vader or Stormtroopers is at the movies, think twice.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LUI: The president's go-to man on the economy is in London where reviving the world economy and curving bonuses for bankers are some big issues at a meeting of G-20 finance ministers there.

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner is among the group which represents the world's 20 largest and fastest growing economies. Now in an exclusive interview with our Richard Quest, Geithner says the world economy is stabilizing, but we still have a ways to go.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TIMOTHY GEITHNER, TREASURY SECRETARY: We have brought the world economy back from the edge of the abyss, and you are starting to see the necessary conditions for a recovery. But we don't have recovery yet. We have growth under way, but we don't yet have a -- the conditions for a self-sustaining recovery led by private demand, which is what we're all committed to achieve.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LUI: G-20 ministers also took on the issue of those huge bonuses for bankers that's caused so much outrage around the world. They agreed on a framework for curbing those bonuses, but the details will have to be worked out at the G-20 summit in Pittsburgh. That's happening later this month.

Come and stay a while, won't you?

That's what a Connecticut couple is urging people to do. They're the owners of the bed and breakfast, and they saw their business drop off during the recession, but things are starting to rebound for them.

Our Gerry Willis has that story in today's "Money and Main Street" report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR (voice-over): At the heart of Litchfield County, Connecticut are its bed & breakfasts like this one Dean and Jean Marie Johnson bought in the town of Norfolk five years ago. At the time, it seemed like a cash cow. But last year along with the economy, bookings dropped off even steeper than the national average of 7.3 percent.

JEAN MARIE JOHNSON, OWNER, MOUNTAIN VIEW INN: We were down about 20, 25 percent overall in terms of bookings. And that was really a reflection of the economy. People holding back on discretionary spending. This year it started out fairly week the bad weather, you know, the wet spring didn't help.

WILLIS: But help was on the way. This is the first summer of the Infinity Music Hall and Bistro, a newly refurbished public music venue in the town, making Norfolk an overnight destination.

KIM YAFFA, ENTERTAINMENT DIRECTOR, INFINITY MUSIC HALL: I think it is becoming a destination for people. I know the inns are filling up. I know the restaurant is busy, the restaurant next door is busy. So I'm sure we are making an impact.

WILLIS: It's an impact the Johnsons are starting to feel, but not enough of one to sit back and relax. Dean and Jean Marie are taking all possible steps to bring in overnight visitors in the door.

DEAN JOHNSON, OWNER, MOUNTAIN VEIW INN: We call this our budget room. But actually a lot of people find it small, it's intimate and it is a lot less expensive than some of the other rooms.

WILLIS (on camera): What is the price differential?

DEAN JOHNSON: The price here is maybe $100 less than more expensive rooms down the hall.

WILLIS (voice-over): These days budget means bookable. The Johnsons see more guests in this room than any other, and they are willing to negotiate.

JEAN MARIE JOHNSON: Given the fact that people are more stretched we are more concerned about their discretionary fund, we are much, much more flexible. So if someone says we can only stay one night, we almost always accommodate them for that one night stay.

WILLIS: And one-night stays are on the rise in part thanks to Infinity. 200 schedules shows, sold out performances and big name bands have meant needed bookings for Mountain View Inn.

DEAN JOHNSON: I think it's maybe 20 percent more than we would have had previously.

WILLIS: And for the remainder of the summer season --

DEAN JOHNSON: We're pretty much sold out on weekends.

WILLIS: Gerri Willis, CNN, Norfolk, Connecticut.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LUI: The outrage over President Obama's upcoming speech to school kids has been quite an education for the White House amid the fight to get back on message in the health care debate.

And then later, the scene in downtown Atlanta right outside our world headquarter doors could accurately be described as geeks in paradise. And we'll take you there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LUI: Call it health care reform plan B. CNN has learned the White House is quietly talking about drafting its own health care legislation right now. Our sources stress that nothing has been set in stone, but the administration is leaning against a public option.

President Obama is slated to speak to Congress about health care on Wednesday night, and we're told the bill may be delivered some time right after that. This is a more hands-on approach for the White House, which has so far left it up to Congress to hash out that.

And a quick reminder, CNN will carry the president's health care reform address to Congress live Wednesday night at 8:00 Eastern.

So the White House plans to release the transcript on Monday of President Obama's planned back-to-school address to America's school children, but that might be a little too late for his critics. The political uproar over the speech caught fire with conservatives who say the president is using the remarks to push his own political agenda.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JENNIFER SEITER, TEA PARTY PROTESTER: I'm not happy about it. They are totally disregarding what the parents have the right to do and what their children should be seeing. And it's, it's totally cutting the parent out of the picture.

JULIA FARMER, TEA PARTY'S PROTESTER: This is crossing a line. And I'm going to use an ugly word right now, but I believe a fascist line that the president has no right whatsoever to go into these pre-K to sixth grade children and try to somehow sell his agenda.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LUI: Well, White House aides insist Tuesday's address is not political.

They say the speech and accompanying lesson plans are designed to encourage students to study hard and stay in school. Well, you don't have to be in school, by the way, to catch the president's speech to the kids. Just tune in to CNN. We plan to carry it live right here at noon Eastern on Tuesday.

Don't miss that.

A father of three becomes a savior of 47. He's a CNN hero who will surprise you.

And this --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's geek-o-rific. So it's just actually seeing other people that are kind of like you in the same place.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LUI: And a lot of them. Self-described nerds of the world unite and take over downtown Atlanta.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LUI: And now to our hero of the week for you.

It's been ten years since the small Southeast Asian island of Timor erupted in a violent fight for independence. In its wake, more than 250,000 people were displaced. Many of them, its most vulnerable residents -- children.

One commercial pilot was so moved by the disturbing images that he saw on CNN that he changed his entire life to help them. Meet captain Boudi Swarti.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN HERO.

BUDI SOEHARDI, CNN HERO: There were riots, buildings being burned, people just trying to save their lives. The children is supposed to have proper upbringing, and what they were having there was far from being normal. This is so devastating to me and my family. That's why we committed to go and to help.

My name is Budi Soehardi. I'm a pilot for Singapore Airlines. I created an orphanage to help the children in East Timor.

When we started, we only had four children, and we found other even more who needed help badly. So we decided to build our own orphanage building.

Right from the beginning, we give them vaccination, clothing, food. But we cannot give them anything more valuable than the proper education.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (via translator): (INAUDIBLE) when my parents die, I couldn't go to school. For me, Budi is an angel. I'm now in medical school.

SOEHARDI: We are able to provide and to teach them just be who you are, help others, and do it from your heart.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LUI: To find out more about Budi's work and his desires there to make a difference, and learn about other 2009 heroes, go to CNN.com/heroes, and be sure to keep an eye out.

In just a few weeks, we will be announcing the top ten CNN heroes of 2009.

It certainly is not Halloween yet. We're just in September, but it sure does look like we have a bit of Halloween in Atlanta, and we'll tell you why we got that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LUI: You know, things around here have been stranger than fiction, shall we say. Science fiction, that is. Dragon Con has hit Atlanta just down the street from CNN's world headquarters. That's what we're looking at. So we bring you the sights, the sounds, the strange creatures from the big sci-fi and fantasy convention.

Enjoy this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's geek-o-rific. It's just actually seeing other people that are kind of like you in the same place. And before the Internet, you know, you kind of had to know somebody that knew somebody that knew somebody that knew somebody that was into what you were into. And now we can all kind of get together in the virtual reality, you know, in the World Wide Web, and then meet up here.

There's people that I only see here once a year that I talk to on message boards for the rest of the year, so it's really cool.

I have a great time when I come. There's so many subcultures and things. It's really interesting to see everybody getting together and actually getting along for a change.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have been coming here since I was about 7 years old. I still come every year just to see the people, the costumes and the fans. People look for something fun to do, and I think people enjoy escaping reality, so they come here to chill. I think it's the people that they meet here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE). But nonetheless, everything has been splendid, splendid, splendid. There's many customs that are novices that you wouldn't expect to be as good as they are, but -- yet they are.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The film "Aliens" is what got us into this. I've always been into science fiction. And just, as you grew older, bigger toys for bigger boys. That's what it is.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Some of our friends we know who always come to this convention, they can't make it this year, but maybe next year, you know.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All of the cons have been a little bit less, you know, a little bit smaller since the recession. But last year, a year and a half, I've notice it has been a little smaller.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's really great to see people actually working on their costumes. There's not as much store bought as you would normally see. So you're seeing a lot more dedication to the fathom these days.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pure, unbridled insanity. Just completely out of their little heads, and that's what makes it great.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Honestly, it's just being a fan of something. Something you like. Something you like and you put your heart into it. And it all works out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LUI: And my favorite, Mario Brothers. You saw that guy in the last 30 seconds.

I'm Richard Lui at the CNN center in Atlanta. A CNN special report "Michael Jackson: The Man in the Mirror" begins right now.