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Criminal Charges In Hazing Death; John Edwards Trial; Spy's Naked Body In A Bag; Behind President Obama's Secret Trip; Cops: Girl, 6, Burned at Tanning Salon; Arming The World; Newt Gingrich Suspends Campaign; Former NFL Player Dies; Chinese Activist Speaks Out
Aired May 02, 2012 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, everyone. I'm Brooke Baldwin. A huge show on tap. Let's get right to it.
Any moment now the lives of several college students could change forever. They are the ones prosecutors say responsible for killing this Florida A&M University student. Robert Champion was going to be named the school band's drum major of the year. But witnesses say the people he made music with hazed him to death. That was last November. Since then, expulsions, dismissals, the suspension of the band, reforms at his high school, but no arrests.
Take a look at this live picture here. This is what we're watching for. You can see the mic flags (ph) are set up, ready to roll, as we're watching here. News is about to happen. Perhaps lives will be affected. Happening now. A Florida state attorney is going to be holding a news conference to announce the criminal charges here for Champion's killing. So we're going to wait and watch for that.
In the meantime, I want to bring in CNN's George Howell, who was all over this story who -- I remember last fall.
And, George, just bring me up to speed here. Remind us, do we know the range of charges, how many people could be charged?
GEORGE HOWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Just got off the phone, Brooke, with the state attorney's office and we do now know the range of charges that we will hear here in a few minutes in Orlando. It will range from misdemeanors to felony charges. And, Brooke, we know that in the state of Florida, hazing is a felony charge. But, again, could this be manslaughter? Could it be murder? How many people will be charged in this case? We have yet to see. But certainly a lot of questions as we hear from these prosecutors, Brooke.
BALDWIN: I remember it was Champion's parents just last month talking about how, you know, they are seeking justice in this case. Those who hurt, who hazed their son needs to be charged. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT CHAMPION, SR., FATHER: My family needs justification for my son and me (ph). And the kids in the school that go to FAMU need to be caught. There are kids -- they're walking around with them in their environment that don't know who they're walking around with, don't know if it could happen to them or not.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Have you, George, I know you've been in touch with the Champions, have you been in touch with them at all today ahead of this news?
HOWELL: Not today, but we do know that Pam Champion will be on "AC 360" tonight and she will speak to Anderson obviously about waiting for this moment. And also her relief. You know, her feelings about what she hears today from Orlando.
But, Brooke, one important thing to point out, the people who will be charged in this case, they're still out there. No one has been arrested in this case. And, keep in mind, this happened in Orlando. The school is in Tallahassee. It will take some time for prosecutors and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to work with these different municipalities and make the arrests. But again, we know that several people will be arrested in this case.
BALDWIN: Remind me, when this was last November, it was a hazing ritual called "crossing bus c" if I remember correctly. What did that entail?
HOWELL: "Crossing bus c," what we've learned it's when a person walks backwards from the front of the bus to the back of the bus while band members beat, punch throughout that process. And if you don't make it to the back of the bus, you start over again. That's what we've learned about "crossing bus c."
And it's really interesting to point this out. The family filed a civil lawsuit. And in that civil lawsuit, they allege that the bus driver knew that hazing was happening on the bus, knew that Robert Champion was being beaten. And they also allege that hazing occurred routinely when the bus traveled with the band. Whether the bus driver is part of this criminal case, we have yet to see. But, again, those are the allegations that the family's attorney is putting forward.
BALDWIN: George Howell, stand by. Of course we're going to be watching for that signal out of Orlando. As soon as we see the news of those criminal charges, we will bring that to you live. Huge news there out of Florida this afternoon.
Meantime, more news unfolding now. "Rapid Fire." Roll it.
A blind human rights activist who escaped house arrest in China tells Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, "I want to kiss you." Chen Guangcheng left the U.S. embassy in Beijing today, finally confirming he'd been hiding there for six days. Chen arrived at a Beijing hospital for treatment and a reunion with his family. China want an apology for what it calls U.S. interference. But Clinton is pleased with the way the U.S. handled the case.
A tense and deadly day in Cairo exactly three week before the start of Egypt's presidential election. At least 11 people were killed in clashes between unidentified attackers and protesters calling for an immediate end to military rule there. Many of these protesters outside Egypt's defense ministry are Islamists. They're upset that an ultra conservative Islamic candidate was kicked off the ballot.
Spectacular sunsets obscured by smoke as Texas firefighters battle their first major wildfire of the season here. Flames have charred 24,000 acres. The remote and rugged Davis Mountains. We're talking west Texas here. The fires are threatening the scenic Davis Mountain Resort, if you're familiar with that. Everyone who lives there under orders right how to get out. The fires were started by lightning.
And, punishment handed out today for New Orleans Saints players involved in that pay for pain scandal. The harshest penalty given to number 51, linebacker Jonathan Vilma, banned without pay for the entire 2012 season. Also suspended here in this case, three other current and former Saints players, Anthony Hargrove, Will Smith and Scott Fujita. Saints coach, Sean Payton, was already suspended for the season, for the team paying players to injure their opponents. Alleged (INAUDIBLE) mastermind, defensive coordinator, Gregg Williams, was suspended indefinitely here.
Magic Johnson officially a new owner of the L.A. Dodgers. The group outlined its plans for the team just about an hour ago. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAGIC JOHNSON, CO-OWNER, L.A. DODGERS: So believe this, we're going to win again and hopefully all of you will come and support that winning organization, hopefully you will support Dodger pride, and we're committed for the long haul. We're going to be on it --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: For the long haul he says. The Dodgers emerged from bankruptcy just yesterday, paving the way for the $2 billion deal -- $2 billion -- to go through.
Brand new video shows a shadowy figure jumping off a duck boat -- here's the duck boat -- right before this deadly crash. Look at this, in Philadelphia. Two Hungarian students were killed when a barge slammed into this disabled tour boat. This was just about two years ago. Why are we seeing the video now you ask? Because attorneys for the students' parents, one week before a federal trial in that wrongful death lawsuit, that's why. They say the jumper is an employee of the duck boat operator.
Investigators are searching for the cause of a spectacular fire that ripped through part of filmmaker Terry Perry's multimillion-dollar studio in Atlanta overnight. You see the aftermath there. Al the charred sort of outside of this particular building. Some of it collapsing. Several buildings are entirely charred. His rep says Perry's grateful no one was injured and nearly all the damage is limited to the back lot facade.
And we've all had days like this, right, when you want to do that. "The Scream" resonates more than a century after Edvard Munch created it. And one of four versions the Norwegian artist painted could scream into the record books tonight at Sotherby's in New York. The auction house expect to sell for more than $80 million. That is the highest pre-sale estimate in Sotherby's history. Other experts say "The Scream" could fetch $200 million for this particular painting.
Got a lot for you over the next two hours. Watch this.
Live during it hour, Newt Gingrich is expected to call it quits. But will the Republican mention a certain political enemy when he does so?
I'm Brooke Baldwin. The news is now.
When a six-year-old died, he had scars all over his body and weighed just 29 pounds. Now, as his parents sit behind bar, we're hearing there were many chances to save this little boy.
Plus, the body of a secret agent found naked, locked inside a duffle bag. Was it murder or a sex game gone awry?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: None of it (ph) can be certain.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: And the man who John Edwards fired after a reported argument about Rielle Hunter takes the stand and tells his side.
Want to take you live now to Orlando. State attorney speaking here in the case of potential criminal charges filed in that FAMU hazing case. Take a listen.
(BEGIN LIVE FEED)
LAWSON LAMAR, FLORIDA STATE ATTORNEY: I have come to believe that hazing is a term for bullying. It's bullying with a tradition. A tradition that we cannot bear in America.
FAMU is a fine university. It has a lot of fine traditions. But there's some that we would rather not acknowledge. The tradition of hazing in our nation's colleges and universities is something that will continue to happen out of sight until a student like Robert Champion pays the ultimate price. A family has lost their son. A university has lost a fine, kind, young student.
Thanks to a thorough investigation conducted by the Orange County Sheriff's Office and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, we are able today to move forward in the process. Earlier today we were able to speak with Robert's family and discuss with them our plan for moving forward.
This case is complicated. Investigators worked vigorously to contact students who live out of town and out of state. Based upon their investigation and the medical examiner's reports, we know that Robert Champion died as a result of being beaten. His death is not linked to one sole strike, but is attributed to multiple blows. There are three distinct points I would like to make. I want to relay them to the public. A public that has watched this entire matter in total disbelief.
First, in 2011, the Florida legislature, in an earnest effort to stop this type of violence, passed a well written law that defines hazing. The law sets out felony level penalties for participants when hazing results in serious bodily injury or death. Florida statute 1006 provides that hazing means, among other things, any brutality of a physical nature such as whipping, beating and branding. And then it further goes on and says, a person commits hazing, a third degree felony, when he or she commits any act of hazing upon another person and the hazing results in serious bodily injury or death of such other person.
It's a very different burden of proof than we have in a normal homicide case. This is a homicide by hazing. And the way the state statute addresses it is by calling it hazing with death.
Second, after working closely with my homicide team, we're ready to announce the filing of charges against 13 individuals stemming from that tragic incident. The majority of those charges are hazing resulting in death, felonies of the third degree, which because of death score out differently than a normal third degree felony. If the defendant does not have a prior record, the maximum punishment is just right at six years.
We've also filed over 20 counts of misdemeanor hazing. Those involve different victims who were not seriously injured. At this time, I'm not going to parse out the specifics of the charges or the names of those charged due to the fact that they are at large. You'll hear from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement today and they will tell you about the efforts that they are making to bring these people into custody.
With this many defendants, the prosecution of this case, much like the investigation, will be labor intensive and time consuming. But obtaining justice for Robert Champion, his family, and by extension the university family, is paramount. We never shy away from difficult prosecutions.
Lastly, my team and I believe that the Orange County Sheriff's investigation, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement's good work, and at medical examiner's report provide more than sufficient evidence to charge the case. However, let me strongly state that I urge anyone who has facts about this homicide to come forth and tell the whole truth, especially those not charged, because further charges may be forthcoming in the future.
While the public will eventually see the medical examiner's report, I would like to share some small parts of it. It illustrates the violence of this homicide. I do so to put Robert Champion's death into perspective for those who may doubt that this was a homicide.
I worked closely with Dr. Garavallia (ph) and their report states, in part, Robert Champion died as a result of hemorrhagic shock due to soft tissue hemorrhage incurred by blunt force trauma sustained during a hazing incident. It goes on farther to say, he had extensive contusions on his chest, arms, shoulder, and back with extensive hemorrhaging in deep muscles. In other words, Robert Champion tragically died from being beaten to death on that bus.
This case will not be tried in the media for which some unknown reason tends to be the trend in our country. Remember, these charges are only allegations and do not constitute proof of guilt. Every defendant has a right to trial by jury and is cloaked with the presumption of innocence. We will do our talking in court.
While we will follow the law regarding public records, which means, as you know, when we furnish discovery upon defense demand, those records which are discoverable and sent for discovery will be released to the media. Well not be providing interviews or off the record comments to anyone. This case is too important to the future of Florida and indeed to the future of America and its university system.
(END LIVE FEED)
BALDWIN: State Attorney Lawson Lamar speaking there, outlining horrific, horrific details in the hazing death. He says, without a doubt, this was homicide as a result of hazing. Multiple reports of blunt force trauma. He was detailing some of really just the gruesome details in that medical examiner report just to prove the point that he is saying this is, in fact, a homicide.
The news that we heard, we knew there would be criminal charges filed. We just heard they are now officially charging 13 individuals specifically in the death of Robert Champion, hazing resulting in death. That's a felony in the third degree. And he mentioned if any of those individuals do not have any priors against them, that the maximum punishment for that is six years, and on top of those 13 charges there, there are 20 counts of misdemeanor hazing and that is unrelated to the Robert Champion death and related to other victims of hazing.
Want to bring in George Howell, who's been following this.
And, George, I mean I know from your reporting on the case that there were something like four students expelled as a result. So the number 13 -- 13 charged -- really jumps out at me.
HOWELL: Yes. And the other interesting point, obviously those four, that happened a while back. Interesting to see whether they are part of this. And you heard the state attorney, he's not giving these names yet.
BALDWIN: Right.
HOWELL: And obviously because, as I mentioned, this is going to be an extensive process to make the arrests. Again, there were more than 30 people on that bus. We now know 13 individuals will be charged, 20 different misdemeanor hazing counts. The process to go and speak with those different municipalities, whether it's from Tallahassee, whether it's in Atlanta, where some people live, it will take some time for these investigators to make those arrests, Brooke.
BALDWIN: George Howell, we appreciate it. Again, you just can't help but think about the parents of Robert Champion.
HOWELL: Indeed.
BALDWIN: We know Pam Champion, the mother, will be on "AC 360" tonight, 8:00.
Thank you, George.
Meantime, the man who John Edwards fired after a reported argument about Rielle Hunter takes the stand today. Tells his side. And it involves a big warning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: So John Edwards, sitting in a bar one night, woman comes up, are you John Edwards? You can't be. You're more handsome than John Edwards is. That chance flirtation involving Rielle Hunter triggered the chain of events that ended John Edwards political career. Now, Edwards entering court each and every day to fend off federal charges. Today, the man who witnessed that fateful encounter is on the witness stand in Greensboro, North Carolina. Joe Johns is there for us.
Hey, Joe.
JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Brooke, there's been a lot of heavy and combative testimony during this trial, but this morning Josh Brumberger, a former aide to John Edwards, also a prosecution witness, really lightened things up a bit, recounting his travels with Edwards in 2006, before Edwards declared his final run for president, with Edwards' mistress, Rielle Hunter, tagging along, by the way. She was shooting web videos of Edwards, including on a trip to Uganda, which can be found on YouTube and other places.
Brumberger said he was the bearer of bad news to Edwards, issuing several warnings about Hunter. The first warning shortly after she walked up and introduced herself to Edwards at the Regency Hotel in New York. Brumberger said he told Edwards that Miss Hunter looked, quote, "a little nutty." He researched things. She posted on the Internet and said he found all sex, drug, rock and roll and astrology. Later, Brumberger said, he was surprised to see Hunter with her camera traveling with Edwards and essentially said he wasn't impressed.
Brumberger now off of the stand. Testimony continues here in Greensboro.
Brooke, back to you.
BALDWIN: Joe Johns, thank you so much.
Naked, locked in a bag, inside his bathtub. Is the death of a secret agent spy a murder mystery or sex game gone awry? The coroner just shared its opinion. It is very surprising.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: A British spy with whispers of a kinky sex life, his naked body jammed into a duffle bag, locked from the outside. Folks, this is definitely not out of a James Bond movie. The mysterious death MI6 agent Gareth Williams may stay a mystery forever. But today the coroner says she definitely suspects something criminal happened. And as Dan Rivers reports, it could have been a sex game gone wrong or even a professional hit.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAN RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He was a mathematics prodigy who'd been recruited as a code breaker and a spy. But Gareth Williams' life in the shadows has been thrust under the spotlight by his death. His body was found at his government provided apartment here in central London. It was zipped into a sports bag like this and padlocked with the key inside. There was no sign of a struggle or a break-in, and his body had no visible injuries.
The inquiry looking into his death appointed this expert to see if it was possible to climb inside the bag, zip it shut and lock it from the inside. After 300 attempts, he was able to get close, but still unable to lock it. Theories about what happened include that he was drugged by a foreign intelligence agent who placed his body in the bag, or that he was taking part in a bizarre sexual game with someone else. A small trace of someone else's DNA was found on the bag.
Gareth Williams worked here at Britain's top secret government communications headquarters where sensitive e-mails and phone calls from around the world are intercepted. He was then temporarily transferred to MI6, where fictional spy James Bond worked. His bosses told the inquest, Williams had recently qualified for operational deployment, but don't think his death is connected to his work in cyber security.
His last movements were caught on closed circuit TV shopping in central London. But it's also been revealed he had $32,000 worth of women's designer clothes in his apartment and had visited sadomasochistic website, although his families denies he was gay or that he had a secret sex life.
Pathologists at his inquest say he could have suffocated in the bag, but also may have been poisoned, because it took more than a week to discover his body and no traces of toxin could be found.
RIVERS (on camera): Despite numerous experts making their best guest about how Gareth Williams died, none of them can be certain. His body was simply too badly decomposed, meaning the enigma of the code breakers death may never be solved.
Dan Rivers, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: So today the coroner released her findings in Gareth Williams death. I want to bring in Atika Shubert. And, Atika, from what I understand, she definitely thinks something sinister happened there.
ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, she did not make a verdict of an unlawful death. She said there wasn't any concrete evidence of that. However, she said that it was highly likely that a third person was involved. She believes perhaps locking him in the bag and then placing the bag in the bathtub. And she believes that that third party may have had some sort of criminal intent.
But, again, there's no clear evidence of this. This is just based on the forensic evidence that was there on that expert witness that you saw that was not able on to lock himself into the bag. And perhaps most telling, the lack of evidence. There was no handprints, no footprints or anything in the bathtub near the bag.
BALDWIN: So the duffle bag, the $32,000 in female designer clothes, the visits to these sadomasochistic websites. I mean, ultimately, how does this look for the agency MI6?
SHUBERT: Well, it certainly didn't look good. However, it's interesting. In the coroner's report, she says that all of these clothes that were found in the apartment were unworn, still in their packages. And it seems like he just had a very deep interest in fashion and maybe -- my have been giving some of these away as presents. None of them had been worn before.
And the visit to sadomasochistic websites had only been four different sites and that it was a very small part of his browsing activity. So all of that seems to have fallen by the wayside in the report.
What is interesting is she said that his employees -- his employers at MI6 did not report his death for almost a week after he failed to show up to work, for meetings. And she said -- she criticized that, saying that was a major oversight. And also that they held on to evidence, including nine memory sticks, and did not give it over to police until several months later.
BALDWIN: Wow. Atika Shubert, thank you.
You have heard the speech. You have heard the plan. But what you have yet to hear are the secrets behind President Obama's surprise trip to Afghanistan. One reporter says the whole thing played out like a spy novel.
Wait until you hear this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: If Michelle Obama makes a secret trip to Target, somehow we find out. President goes to Five Guys for a burger, cameras follow. So that got us wondering how in the world that President Obama get it all the way to Afghanistan without someone spilling the beans?
You saw the pictures on this show just yesterday. President Obama landing in Afghanistan in Air Force One under the cloak of darkness, but to be welcomed like this.
So how did they pull this off? For answers, we turn to the Pentagon, to our correspondent there, Barbara Starr. Barbara, what exactly is involved in pulling something off like that?
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Brooke, every once in a while, Washington can keep a secret. Not too often. But when it comes to the president of the United States traveling into a war zone, everyone involved is sworn to secrecy.
The planning starts weeks in advance. The small numbers of traveling press going with the president. They were absolutely sworn to secrecy. Their cell phones, their laptops taken away just in case they got tempted.
Arriving in darkness absolutely that's for maximum secrecy to make sure that he is not seen arriving on the ground or that there's any understanding beyond that small group that he's actually there. He goes in it helicopters that are heavily armed.
Massive protection at all times. Getting him into the war zone in the middle of the night was just the beginning of the challenge because once the world knew that the president was in the war zone, then the challenge becomes getting him out. If he stays too long, the threat really does increase. So they got him out there before day break.
BALDWIN: Before they got him out of there, I was watching I'm sure you were as well 7:30 Eastern, the president spoke to the nation. I want to play a little bit of the sound from last night then we'll talk.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: This time of war began in Afghanistan and this is where it will end. With faith in each other and our eyes fixed on the future. Let us finish the work at hand and forge a just and lasting peace.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: So the president threw out a couple of numbers, Barbara. You know, he said on one hand he's committed to pulling out the 23,000 U.S. troops by the end of the summer, turning over security fully to the Afghan government by 2014. He is committed to a full and just peace as he points out. So how does the Pentagon make this happen?
STARR: Well, you know, that middle of the night agreement that the president signed with Hamid Karzai, the president of Afghanistan, was a key step. That's a strategic partnership agreement, all the big sounding words there.
You know, there will be agreements on economic and security assistance. There will be shared values about democracy, but you're right, Brooke, the hard work now really begins. How do you get reductions in the 88,000 troops still there?
There is every indication now that the two countries will agree that U.S. troops will stay there believe it or not until about 2024 in some fashion. Smaller numbers, training, helping, assisting, maybe some combat.
But still you're looking at the potential of a quarter century nearly of U.S. troops in Afghanistan. So the big question may be what do the Taliban have in mind. They're not likely to go away anytime soon. They seem to keep being able to pop their heads up and launch these attacks. That may be the long term challenge -- Brooke.
BALDWIN: Just right after the president left, there was the car bomb killing seven I know. Barbara Starr, thank you.
Next, I'll tell you a story that you will never ever forget. It's about a 6-year-old little boy who is now dead. His body pound with scars only weighing 29 pounds. You're about to hear how this happened and why will this child could have been saved. I read this article, and I teared up. This is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: This story made me so angry. This is a "Philadelphia Inquirer" piece. How could a 6-year-old with signs of alleged abuse be so overlooked? I just want to warn you upfront. Some of the details are hard to hear. If you have little ones, just a heads up, you might want them to leave the room right now.
Kalil Wime's parents took him to the hospital back on March 19th, but it was too late. Kalil was already dead. He was covered in scars, in fact, Kalil had so many scars it took a medical examiner more than an hour to log all of the marks on his tiny body.
When I say tiny, I mean it, because Kalil weighed a scant 29 pounds when he died. That is less than two-thirds of size of a normal 6-year-old boy. He reportedly slept in a filthy bed, locked in a room without furniture and was beaten with books and extension cords.
All of this seemingly right under the noses of city social workers. The "Philadelphia Inquirer" reports they visited the home multiple times. They saw little Kalil, but they never opened a case file.
I want to bring in Mike Newall, the "Philadelphia Inquirer" staff writer who are did an incredible job digging in to will this story.
Mike, I want to begin sort of I guess in reverse order with Kalil's death. I know you write in your piece. Doctors described his body as extremely emaciated. How did he die?
MIKE NEWALL, STAFF WRITER, "PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER": Blunt force trauma. His mother said that she woke him. She unlocked his room, took him into the bathroom for a bath. He was trying to put on his pants and slipped on water on the tile floor. She yelled at him to get up quick enough and he didn't get up quick enough and she hit him in the back of the head and he was unconscious before he hit the floor.
BALDWIN: And to add on to that, these parents, I use that word loosely, these are biological parents didn't take him to the hospital for more than 10 hours.
NEWALL: You're right, they waited 13 hours. His biological father laid video games, made himself a steak. His biological mother went to Popeye's before they realized that it was an appropriate time to take the child to the hospital.
BALDWIN: Now in the final let's say eight months of Kalil's life, I want you to describe in detail the abuse that he endured.
NEWALL: Like you said, it's tough stuff. His parents in their confession said they beat him almost daily with extension cords, with belts. As understand, he had so many bruises on his -- scars on his body that the medical examiner just said there was too many to put a count on.
In the last year of his life, he had some type of stomach issue and would throw up sometimes two to three times a day. His biological parents thought he was doing this on purpose and would lock him in his bedroom. And if he got sick during the night, they would beat him for it in the morning.
BALDWIN: You mentioned around Thanksgiving, they hammered the lock on his door so he couldn't leave his bedroom. But I want to point out life was not always this nightmare for this little boy because he was with foster parents who it sounds like loved him. If you can just sort of juxtapose that experience in those years with that man and woman versus his biological parents.
NEWALL: Yes, that's what's so striking about this. The first three years of his life, he lived with a relative, Alisha Nixon, who was his foster parent and trying to adopt him and he lived a happy little life of a toddler.
And he was healthy, he was getting medical treatments. The only five days that he spent with his biological parents before he was returned to them, he wound up in the hospital dirty, soiled with asthma attack.
But first three years, he was happy, healthy, and in the words of his foster mother, a bubbly little boy.
BALDWIN: Now when a judge ruled that Kalil should go back to the biological parents, you quote his foster parents as saying, quote, "when they get him back, they're going to destroy him."
You report on the scars, bones protruding, the fact that DHS had previously pulled seven of his siblings from that same home for neglect. My question is how in the world did this child wind up back in this home? Don't answer that. We'll get a quick break in. The answer is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: We're back with Mike Newall with the "Philadelphia Inquirer." I just want to note a lot of you have been tweeting me and you're mad and I'm glad you're had because we can do better here.
Back to Kalil, back to this story. Mike, I know you spoke with two of his older sisters who told you they with their own eyes witness this had abuse and yet they did not do something better, they did not call police. Why not?
NEWALL: They were worried. They didn't want their mother to lose her children again. So they thought -- they were worried if they notified police, that she could lose Kalil and his little sister.
BALDWIN: Do they regret that decision?
NEWALL: I think they do, but I also think that they grew up in this house with this woman and so I think there was -- I don't think the abuse is a new thing in this household.
BALDWIN: I do want to point out we reached out to DHS as I know you did. They can't talk about the specifics of the case, but I do want to read you what the commissioner told us.
Quote, we are committed to a continuous review of our performance and are now engaged in a carefully review of our policies and practices as well as our response in this particular case.
When the review is completed, we will make any necessary changes to ensure the safety of the children we serve.
NEWALL: And I think --
BALDWIN: Go ahead.
NEWALL: I think at the heart of will case is the tension at the heart of every child welfare system which is the desire on DHS to want to reunify families, but also to protect children. And time and time again in this boy's life it seems like in moving toward reunification, they missed opportunities that could have helped him.
BALDWIN: And as you point out in your piece, there are thousands of cases like this going in front of judges and the judge doesn't get all the information, essentially there is perhaps the tendency to rule toward as you point out reunification with the parents, right, which is sort of what it sounds like this judge did.
NEWALL: Yes, and I think that's obviously a noble thing and I think there are teachable moments good and bad in this. The moments we're looking at is when they decided to reunify the parents or the child with the parents who had seven children removed, was the bar high enough and I don't think anyone agrees that it was.
And then secondly for the eight months, the last eight months of this boy's life, social workers and DHS staff had their eyes on him. And he was in great danger and that was visibly so according to those who knew him and according to the medical examiner. So was this a systemic thing, was it individual workers? We just are trying to find out exactly what happened.
BALDWIN: Well, again, I commend you in pointing this out and hopefully the bar will be raised as a result of this kind of conversation. We need to be having nationally.
And my final question to you, as we pointed out, these biological parents are now in jail. They're facing charges of starving and torturing their son to death. My question is about the foster parents who truly, truly loved this little boy. How in the world are they handling this?
NEWALL: Well, they -- Alisha Nixon who is the child's foster grandmother are fighting just as hard now as they did when he was alive to get the facts of his case out there and to ensure that whatever teachable moments that can come from his case can help other kids. But obviously they are completely grief stricken.
BALDWIN: Mike Newall, I thank you for your journalism and your reporting. We can do better. Be right back.
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BALDWIN: Now, I want you to look at this picture we're about to show you. You're going to see the 44-year-old, Patricia Krentcil. She is a New Jersey mother of five and you're looking at this and I think to say she likes to tan is a bit of an understatement.
Ladies and gentlemen, she love it is apparently. Here she is explaining her tanning habit to a reporter.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is obvious you tan a lot.
PATRICIA KRENTCIL, TANNING ENTHUSIAST: Yes, I do. My whole life though.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Would you say you tan too much?
KRENTCIL: No, I love to tan.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: OK. So what's the big deal? She's an adult. She can tan herself to oblivion if she so chooses. But the problem is this. Police in Nutley, New Jersey say Krentcil took her 6-year-old daughter to the tanning salon and she suffered burns as a result.
Krentcil denies it, but she is now facing child endangerment charges. Next hour, I'm going to talk with our legal analyst, Joey Jackson about this case and ask what could happen to this mother of five. A defensive tackle paralyzed while playing college ball even though Eric Legrand is in a wheelchair, he gets signed by an NFL team and I'm going to speak with him live.
Plus in a matter of moments, Newt Gingrich is going to call it quits. No drama there. But there is drama in whether he mentioned Mitt Romney, the man he ripped apart over the last year. We'll take you will live.
But first, buying a prosthetic arm could soon be like buying a pair of shoes. You might be able to pick one up, small, medium, maybe large. Details in this week's technovations.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's like putting a backpack on, very simple and very fast.
BALDWIN (voice-over): Bill has that new type of prosthetic arm that could give hope to people all around the world. Created by a group of engineering students from the University of Illinois, the arm doesn't have to be custom made.
ADAM BOOHER, IPT PRESIDENT: It's designed to be able to be taken out of the box or off the shelf and fit to someone in less than 20 minutes.
BALDWIN: Their open socket technology makes the arm effective and affordable and the device will cost less than $300.
BOOHER: The socket is the part where we've done our innovation. It uses both rigid plastic pieces and flexible cloth pieces to enable to be very easily adjustable.
BALDWIN: The students founded the non-profit IPT during their senior year in 2010 to help people who can't afford prosthetics.
BOOHER: The vast majority of people who are in need of prosthetic care are living in developing countries. But the key for us will really be partnering with aid organizations to get it out there and in the hands of people who use it.
BALDWIN: The group is working with amputees in Guatemala to test the device.
BOOHER: Everyone has the right to have access to prosthetic care. By creating this technology, we can allow people to regain independence that they may have lost by losing their limb.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: A sad development in a story that has touched a lot of you. A dad writes a bucket list for his infant daughter, six months old suffering from a rare genetic disorder. Now doctors said she wouldn't live past two.
So her parents set up a blog writing about her final days. And all the things they had hoped to do with her. Like get a fake tattoo, play with a pinwheel. But today, we're learning that little Avery has died.
On the blog, her dad writes in part, yesterday afternoon, and I'm quoting, "one of her lungs collapsed and she went into cardiac arrest. I immediately performed CPR on her and was able to bring her back to life, but only for a brief period of time before she passed away shortly after arriving at the hospital."
"Avery's passing this quickly came as a complete shock to all of us as she had just been given a thumbs up at her last doctor's appointment three days ago." He goes on to say they never lost hope despite the severity of her condition.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LAURA CANAHUATI, AVERY'S MOTHER: We've got all the time in the world to cry. We can cry, you know, when she's no longer here. But for now, we want to try and enjoy the time we do have with her and just make memories.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: And now top of the hour. We have some breaking news here.
The man at the center of this international crisis between the U.S. and China is speaking now to CNN.
Stan Grant is standing by live in Beijing, where Chen Guangcheng left the sanctuary of a U.S. Embassy earlier. He had been to the hospital.
Stan, tell me what he said to you.
STAN GRANT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, extraordinary, Brooke.
We had a chance to speak to Chen Guangcheng over the phone from his hospital bed for the last 15, 20 minutes. We also spoke to his wife. Now, this has been an incredible saga. If you look back at the past week, he escaped house arrest. He took refuge in the U.S. Embassy for the past six days.
Today, it looked as though there was a breakthrough. He walked from the embassy a free man. He was taken to a hospital for medical treatment, reunited with the family.
But now there has been a complete backflip. Speaking to him, he says that feels he's been let down by the United States. He says while he was in the embassy, he was not given the full story. He was cut off from the news and he was encouraged to leave.
When he left, he went to the hospital, he met his wife, and his wife told him what had been happening to her ever since he fled. She told him that the guards who were locking them down in their village took her away, tied her to a chair and interrogated her. They said that they were waiting for them with weapons back in their house.
Chen Guangcheng told me very clearly that if he stays in China, he fears for his life. Initially, he wanted to stay in the country. They were undertakings given from the Chinese government to the United States that he would be able to leave here as a free man. He says that is no longer going to be the case.
He wants to leave and he wants to leave as soon as possible. He's made this appeal directly to President Barack Obama himself, saying he must do more about human rights in China. He wants to leave China. If he stays here, he says, he will not live.
As far as his wife is concerned, she says this is not a country she wants to bring her children up in. She says she feels as if they no longer have a future here, a very, very different story to the one we were hearing earlier from the United States.
The U.S. was insisting that he was happy to leave. The U.S. was insisting that this was a deal that they would monitor and he would have a safe future in this country. He's now disputing that. He's saying the U.S. in fact let him down. He was encouraged to leave without all the information and now he wants to get out of China -- Brooke.
BALDWIN: Stan, can you be more specific? When you say that he says that the U.S. let him down, let him down how?
GRANT: He says that he was not given all the information about what was happening on the outside.
Now, remember, since he fled, people who have assisted him, some of his supporters, when they have spoken to the media, including CNN, they have been rounded up and arrested. Some of them are still under house detention right now. Others have been detained and questioned.
There have been threats made against his family. He says that his wife, as we mentioned before, was tied up and interrogated, that the message from the local Chinese Communist Party officials in his province that they were waiting for them there with weapons. He says he should have been told all this information before he left the embassy. Once he left the embassy, he was then at the mercy of the Chinese government.
He says right now they're in the hospital room. His wife says she's not even free to leave hospital, she doesn't feel safe, and the authorities and the guards there won't allow her to leave the hospital. In that way, he says, he wasn't given the full story and he feels let down.
He says this can be remedied if the United States opens its doors and allows him to leave here. Otherwise, as I mentioned before, he was very clear to me. If they stay here, he feels that their lives will be in danger -- Brooke. BALDWIN: Did he explain to you, Stan, how he pulled off this escape from being under house arrest, blind, scaling a wall, crossing a creek? And did he have help?
GRANT: What a story, yes, an extraordinary story.
He did have help. He had help waiting for him on the outside. But this is an extraordinary saga. What he did was, for the month leading up to this, he had planned this escape. He pretended to be sick, that he would not be able to move from his bed. He spent hours on his bed asleep pretending to be ill.
His captors dropped their guard. They thought he was no threat to them. He used to listen to them outside at night. He worked out their movements, where they would go, when they would come back, what times they were around. And when he saw his moment, under cover of darkness, he made his run for it.
Remember, a blind man scaling walls, he crossed a river. He had fallen down repeatedly. It took him one day to get clear. He then found a rendezvous car. He had been in touch with his supporters. And in that vehicle, they were able to bring him to Beijing and ultimately to the U.S. Embassy.
It took several days before the authorities, before the guards actually realized that he'd left. Once he'd left, that's when the threat started. That's when the crackdown started on his family. And that's when it was made very clear to his wife, if he stayed in the embassy, they were going to be in danger.
He left the embassy in good faith, he says. Now he feels as though that good faith has been -- has been exhausted, that trust has been exhausted. He wants to get out of here. He doesn't trust China and he wants to go to the United States -- Brooke.
BALDWIN: So when you talk about how he's angry with the U.S., that the U.S. misled him and that after, speaking with his wife, that she was tied down and interrogated, am I to assume that the interrogations happened after he fled house arrest, or this is prior to?
GRANT: Yes.
No, there's been a history of brutality and violence. If you listen to Chen Guangcheng, he says this has been going on for some time now. He says that he had been beaten, his wife had been beaten, his mother had been beaten repeatedly, that the guards had scoffed at them and said, we're above the law, there's nothing you can do to us.
He said this has been going on for the 18 months that he had been kept under house arrest. What has happened since, though, is that they have increased those efforts. They wanted to know where he was. They wanted to know how he got away, who helped him, which is why they took his wife, tied her, he says, and interrogated her for many hours, which is why he says the message now from the officials is, if you don't -- if you stay at the embassy, we're waiting for your wife and family here with weapons in your house.
He also said that the guards have told -- have said that they installed cameras inside the house where they can watch their every move and they will be taken back there and never be able to leave again.
You must remember, though, Brooke, of course, this is an emotional man. It's 3:00 a.m. here in the morning now. He has been up for many, many hours. He's been in this extraordinary situation, escaping, hiding out in the embassy, a man whose health has not been great, a man who has been the center of this extraordinary attention around the world.
BALDWIN: Sure.
GRANT: Obviously, emotion is running very, very high right now.
BALDWIN: Well, as you bring up his frustrations with the U.S. Embassy, have you reached out to the embassy? What is the embassy telling CNN?
GRANT: Yes. Yes, we have spoken to U.S. officials a little bit earlier in the night, and they were insisting that he had left the embassy in good faith.
They say that they have protocols and that they followed those protocols. They asked him three times separately, are you willingly -- are you able to willingly leave the embassy? Do you want to go? He said yes to each those requests.
I think what we're seeing here is that all sides are telling the truth, but each side does not have the full information. When -- he says when he left the embassy, he did not know how bad the situation was outside. He did not know about the threats. He did not know what was being done to his wife.
He said what he wished for was that the people inside the embassy had been more honest with him, that they had kept him abreast of the news. He was cut off from the news. He didn't know what -- this whole story that was swirling around him and he said he wanted more information.
He feels that he has made the decision without having all the information in front of him and that he was also encouraged to leave. Having left the embassy, he's now at the mercy of the Chinese government.
BALDWIN: So now, even though he feels misled by the United States, he doesn't want to stay in China. He wants to come to the United States. As you point out, he's making this appeal to President Obama.
We heard President Obama in a news conference a couple of days ago with the prime minister of Japan. He was asked about that and the president didn't say very much, just said he was aware of the news reports and that obviously the issue of human rights come up every time the U.S. is speaking with China.
Stan Grant, I appreciate your -- your reporting there for us Beijing really through this whole week, even when you were chased away from their home trying to find the family. Stan, we appreciate you.
In the meantime, I do want to move along, because we have more breaking news. We have just gotten word that an NFL superstar has reportedly died of a suicide.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: All right, CNN has now confirmed the death of NFL superstar Junior Seau, played something like 19 seasons in the NFL, played for the Dolphins, the Chargers, the Patriots, a very, very sad day for I'm sure many, many of his colleagues within the league.
In fact, I want to bring in Mark McMillian, who, I understand, Mark, you were friends with Junior Seau?
And, again, just to be clear here, as we're just now getting the news, I just want to be totally transparent. Again, we're learning from "The North County Times" that Junior Seau has passed away, reportedly by suicide.
I'm sure this is just tough to hear for you.
MARK MCMILLIAN, FORMER NFL PLAYER: Yes.
Like I said, we're still -- I'm still getting texts and phone calls from guys from around the league. So, with all the stuff that's coming in, it's -- like I said, it's a shocker. This is a long list of guys that continue -- continuing to just go down this path.
I lost another dear friend, Andre Waters, years ago to a suicide as well. So it's a tough blow. And it's just another wakeup call for the NFL to figure out some ways to help out guys that built this league and made it the league that it is and make sure these guys have care for -- once they're done playing.
BALDWIN: Mark, help me understand. And as we continue our conversation, I understand there are live pictures now outside of Junior Seau's home in Oceanside.
And, wow, you can see, I'm sure, this is members of the press, police trying to keep everyone back. So, as we look at these pictures, Mark, when you bring up that this should be a wakeup call to the NFL, you have so many fans of these superstar players and you think, wakeup call? I mean, these guys are living the dream. What do you mean by that?
MCMILLIAN: Because it's happening more often. Like I said, within our era that we have played the game in obviously the '70s, the '80s, and the '90s, and the reality of it, this is not going to be the end of it.
There's going to be more guys that's going to go down this same path. I know ESPN did the special on Jim McMahon a couple of weeks ago. And me and Jimmy Mac played together in Philly as well. And just to see the condition that he's in, just not knowing what to expect or what's going to happen next, and just...
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: Forgive me for interrupting, but what path? What path that they're going down?
MCMILLIAN: Guys are committing suicide. Guys are taking their own lives.
Last week, it was another player from the past on the Atlanta Falcons who committed suicide as well. I can't remember his name off the top of my head. But this is two suicides within the last two weeks from former NFL players just going through the depression.
And I also have a good friend who played a long time who is going through Lou Gehrig's disease. He has ALS and -- from the head trauma with him, and it's something that I worry about with him as well. Just hopefully, he just feels the love and support, that he doesn't have to go down this path.
And no one knows what was going on in Junior's mind but Junior. And it's sad. And there's going to be all kind of speculations and stuff. So, hopefully, we can get some answers after everything kind of settles down and find out what exactly was going on.
BALDWIN: Right.
MCMILLIAN: And with the research that they're able to do nowadays on guys' brains, they're able to come to some conclusions. So...
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: Sorry. Sorry, Mark. Forgive me, forgive me. I know you have just lost your friend. I have to interrupt you. But I appreciate it.
And we're going to follow it up. I have to interrupt you because we have to go to this, Newt Gingrich speaking live, about to quit the race for president.
(BEGIN LIVE EVENT COVERAGE)
