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Airliner Vanishes From Radar; Agent Foils Major Terrorist Plot; Search For Kidnapped Girls; Airline Grounds Frequent Flier; Obama May Clarify Same-Sex Marriage Stance; Airliner Vanishes From Radar

Aired May 09, 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. If it's live, if it's happening right now, we have got it for you.

First I want to begin with this news. The feds are getting serious about finding this fugitive on the run. Take a good long look at this picture because during the show this man, who may be holding two little girls hostage, will be added to the FBI's top 10 list of most wanted criminals. We have gotten in some new surveillance video and word now of murder charges. So you're about to find out exactly how the feds are out today hunting this guy.

Also happening right now, a new commercial jetliner is missing. It has at least 45 people onboard. I want to turn to Chad Myers, who's been watching this.

Chad, I know it disappeared something like 21 minutes after takeoff. That was hours and hours ago. What happened?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It was on a little -- just almost like a training mission, but it was a training mission for people that wanted to buy the plane. It left Jakarta. Went up just for about a 20 or 30 minute ride and it didn't come back. It actually was -- it asked for permission to go from 10,000 feet down to 6,000 feet. The only problem, Brooke, is when I take a look at this, there's a 7,000 foot mountain right where they asked to come down to 6,000 feet. They are still obviously in a search and rescue mode at this point. Somewhere plus or minus 42 people onboard. A brand new -- this is a Sukhoi 100. They're trying to sell a thousand of these planes. Right now the search doesn't look very good. They had -- they put a couple helicopters up looking for the plane. The weather got a little bit tough. The helicopters had to go back. They're waiting for daybreak to go back up and see if they can find any survivors.

Brooke.

BALDWIN: Might this be -- did you mention possibly a weather issue?

MYERS: It could have been, although all the wind directions that we saw were -- just everything was fine. But when you get close to -- this is a volcano. An old volcano. When you get close to this, you can get up and down motions that the pilot doesn't expect. And if the pilot was just going to try to make a nice little sweep around the volcano and all of a sudden he found downdrafts or something coming down a valley, he couldn't get up high enough, there's always that possibility that weather played at least a little bit of a role in this for sure.

BALDWIN: OK, Chad Myers, we'll be watching to see what, in fact, ends up happening with that particular plane. Thank you.

Now to this. Score one for the good guys. And a darn good thing as well. Because an undercover agent has managed to double cross the terrorists and foil their latest plan for another massive bombing. Take a look here. This is the guy who apparently got outfoxed. He is Ibrahim al Asiri. He is a Yemen-based bomb making mastermind. You remember him. We talked about him just last week. And as we said, he is the one who built the bomb that was hidden in a terrorist's drawers, carried onboard that airliner when it just about exploded. Remember that was Christmas Day 2009, incoming into Detroit. Now this man also has built bombs concealed in toner cartridges. Printer toner cartridges and found at the last minute on a tip onboard U.S.-bound cargo planes. Two very, very close calls.

This latest attempt here happened just within the past couple of weeks. But we're now learning that the guy who volunteered to sneak this particular bomb onto an airliner, he snatched that thing. He took it to Saudi Arabia. It turns out he was an agent and the FBI is looking at the bomb as we speak.

And just for good measure here, this guy is dead, possibly because the agent learned his whereabouts and told the CIA where to aim a drone on Sunday. Fahd Quso died in that attack in Yemen. He was convicted of the bombing of the U.S. warship Cole, which killed 17 Americans. Paul Cruickshank knows more about these Yemen-based terrorists than you and I could even possibly imagine. In fact, I know, Paul, you've gotten some new information that helps us -- some sort of filling in the blanks in this story. What else do you know?

PAUL CRUICKSHANK, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: Well, yes, Brooke, we've been speaking to sources briefed by Saudi counterterrorism officials. And they're saying that this operation, which thwarted this plot, was a Saudi-led counterterrorism operation from start to finish. That several months ago, Saudi intelligence picked up chatter that this group, al Qaeda in the Arabian peninsula, may again be plotting to target an American airliner. And they took advantage of this by sending in an agent who was pretending to be a suicide bomber, who was actually recruited into the plot and was then able to provide the Saudis and then the Americans with this device.

But this was a Saudi-led investigations. The Americans were then brought in once this agent reported back from Yemen that there was a real, concrete plot going on, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Well, kudos to the Saudis for doing just that and then involving the U.S. obviously. We mentioned this, you know, bomb-making mastermind, Ibrahim al-Asiri. You talk a lot about AQAP, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. What more do we know about him? What do we know about people who he's potentially teaching on how to make these types of bombs?

CRUICKSHANK: Well, what we do know is that he's still at large in Yemen. He's very, very dangerous. He's very skilled at making these sorts of explosive devices, which are very difficult to detect. And we are being told that he's taught new recruits in how to make these sorts of explosives. So that's a very, very worrying scenario.

It's possible when the Saudis sent this agent in several months ago, that one of the things they wanted to do was try and locate this bomb maker. But it seems clear that they were not able to do so, that he's still at large and he's still a threat. And in Yemen this group, al Qaeda, has a greater safe haven now, more resources than ever before to launch this sort of operation. So very threatening scenario, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Paul, what else do we know just about the bomb itself? We know, as we mentioned, the FBI now has it. It's looking into it. This was apparently another type of underwear bomb. Do we know if it's more advanced than the one, obviously, that didn't work, thank goodness, back in 2009?

CRUICKSHANK: Well, what we're hearing from the sources is that it was based on the same explosives PETN as in the underwear attack and also the printer bombing attack. And one of the sources said about the same amount of explosives as in the printer bomb attack. And now officials said that would have been enough to bring down a plane.

We're also hearing that he was trying to learn from some of his previous mistakes. Create a more sophisticated mechanism to explode this device. So this is a bomb maker who's becoming ever more dangerous, Brooke.

BALDWIN: And when you talk about this PETN, we talked about this before, this is the kind of stuff that isn't necessarily detectable in airports.

CRUICKSHANK: It's difficult to detect. And they brought in some of these body scanning technology. We've seen that deployed in many U.S. airports. So we're being told that has a good chance of detecting it. Perhaps 80 or 90 percent. But no guarantee that it's going to detect it. So that's worrying to U.S. counterterrorism officials. They want all sorts of layers of security. And they believe that really the key thing is intelligence. Thwarting these plots before a potential suicide bomber can get on a plane, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Right. It's frightening. But at least we now know the U.S. is taking a good long look at that bomb.

Paul Cruickshank, I appreciate you. Thank you so much.

And a lot more to cover here. Watch this.

A kidnapping suspect is on the run as the lives of these two little girls just hang in the balance. How do the feds track a man who they say is armed and dangerous.

I'm Brooke Baldwin. The news is now.

A little boy, forced to return to his parents, is beaten to death, even as his foster mom tries to save his life. You will hear her heartbreaking story when she joins me live.

Plus, would you pay $350,000 for a lifetime pass to fly? I'll speak live with one guy who bought the golden ticket. Now the airline wants it back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: The FBI is now adding a new name to its 10 most wanted fugitive list. That being Adam Mayes, now charged in the disappearance of a Tennessee mom and her three young daughters. That FBI announcement, that's minutes away. We're going to bring that to you live. That's going to happen at the top of the hour.

We have also received -- take a look here -- this is the affidavit that now officially accuses Mayes, also accuses his ex-wife of first degree murder. And in it there are all kinds of details where it talks about he and Jo Ann, her oldest daughter Adrienne, they were killed. We're going to get into those details here, what we're learning just now, this afternoon, in a moment.

But I want you to watch this. This is newly released surveillance video. You can see Mayes -- wait for it, because you're going to see him here. He's the subject of this intense manhunt. And the video shows Adam Mayes in the middle of the screen there. This is April 30th. This is three days after Bain and her daughters disappeared. It is from a camera inside a gas station. This is Guntown, Mississippi, where the bodies of Bain and her oldest daughter were found at Mayes' home. Mayes is believed to have Bain's other two girls. Here they are. And authorities say they are still hopeful that these two girls are alive. Now Pat Brown, she profiles criminals, we're bringing her in. She's also the found and CEO of the Sexual Homicide Exchange, which provides criminal profiling to police departments at absolutely no charge.

Pat, welcome to you.

PAT BROWN, CRIMINAL PROFILER: Hi.

BALDWIN: When we look back at that surveillance video, you see him smack dab in the middle of the screen. It looks like his hair is cut just a little bit. Perhaps trying to alter his appearance from what we've been seeing in these mugshots, you know, flashed all over cable news. Looks pretty calm. What do you think of this?

BROWN: Yes. Well, that makes me think we're dealing with a psychopath. Well, we've got a guy who's already murdered two people, so this is a psychopath. And we've seen from other people like this, you know, if you talk about serial killer, for example, how many serial killers have shown up at work in the morning and everybody says, they were just normal. They did their normal job and yet they killed somebody the night before or they kill somebody and go home to their family and have a nice dinner with them. So they're very good at simply acting and changing -- no, they're really not that bothered by what they did.

BALDWIN: And, again, to be clear, in this affidavit, he and this ex- wife charged -- charged with first degree murder here. I want to play a little sound. This is the -- follow me -- this is the ex-wife's sister describing this man, describing Mayes. She says she's known him for 25 years. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOBBI BOOTH, TERESA MAYES' SISTER: He likes to drink a lot. He does a lot of drugs. He's just a loner. He's never had, like, a legitimate steady job. He's never lived out on his own. He's never -- you know, he's always been with his mom and dad. Just -- he -- you know, he didn't finish school. He's not trustworthy. But like I said, I just never pictured this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: You know it's always, gosh, we never thought he could be capable of something like this potentially. You know, lived with mom. Apparently that was the house where these two -- you know, these two bodies were found. Does anything in that description jump out at you, Pat?

BROWN: Yes. Well, that he's a useless user and he probably mooches off of people constantly, which means he's manipulative, he gets what he wants from them. And this should have been -- it's really sad. I mean I hope all families pay attention to this. It's one thing to have a guy who's down on his luck, but it's another thing when you have this kind of person, you should not get them anywhere near your children because if they're psychopathic, like he appears to be, he can develop an kinds of interests in your kids that are not normal.

Now, he's gone out there claiming that at least one of the young ones, or maybe two of the young ones, are his own children. And this is probably just some idea he's come up with to say, hey, you know, those are really my kids. He's probably a totally pathological liar.

BALDWIN: Right, that would explain things.

BROWN: Or he may have an interest in those kids we don't like, you know, and that's what concerns me a lot right now.

BALDWIN: I want to go back to this affidavit because we're now learning this is -- so I'm going to read a little bit. This is from this interview with Teresa Mayes, the ex-wife of Adam Mayes, who we were talking about. She admits, this is to police, admitting to agents with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigations, she was involved with the removal and/or confinement of these two individuals and the removal of the two corpses from Harden (ph) County, Tennessee. So you know they were already dead. Then they take them to Mississippi. It goes on. Additionally she stated that she was present while Adam Mayes killed Jo Ann Bain in a garage adjacent to this home in Tennessee. So you have now this ex-wife and this mother arrested here. And they're charged also with conspiracy. It's just awful when you read all those details. She talks about when and where and how.

BROWN: Yes. I know we have a mom who maybe didn't fall far from that tree. And the wife -- a lot of psychopaths will pick their wives by looking for someone who will just put up with them and go along with everything they say. So when they try to date anybody, they just see how easy they are to manipulate. And if they're going to manipulate, hey, you're good to go. Come along with me. So my guess is he -- that wife and she's -- or some people say she's an ex-wife -- just did everything he said. She was probably scared of him and under his thumb. So she went along with everything.

BALDWIN: See, now, as we mentioned, we're going to get some more information at the top of the hour from this particular news conference. But we are, you know, hoping, obviously, the police find these two little girls safe and sound. But Mayes, as we mentioned, he's cut his hair. He's altered his appearance. If you're an investigator, Pat, how do you go about tracking down this kind of man, potentially delusional, psychopathic man, and rescue these girls safe and sound?

BROWN: Well, the thing is, he's not delusional at all. Psychopaths aren't delusional.

BALDWIN: Ah.

BROWN: They have a plan of exactly what they want to do. You look for where he's been. You look at the places he knows. You have to get inside his mind and figure out what he's planning next. And those girls are in extreme danger because they're not anybody he really cares about because psychopaths are incapable of caring about anyone. So people say, oh, he believes they're his and he'll take care of them. No, he doesn't. And so they really need to get to those girls as quickly as possible. And it's a grim situation. It really is. And I just hope they figure out where he's at and finally get a hold of him.

BALDWIN: I think we're all hoping the same thing. Pat Brown, I appreciate it. Again, we're going to bring you that news conference in just about 45 minutes from now.

Meantime, if you could pay three hundred and something thousand dollars for a lifetime pass to fly on any airline, would you do it? Unlimited travel. I'm about to talk live here with one guy who did precisely that and now American Airlines, they would like to have some words with him about his golden ticket. Wait until you hear his story.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: I've got to just come right out and tell you, I've been looking forward to talking to my next guest all day long because he has done something most of us really can only dream of or that we see in the movies, like this one, starring George Clooney. This is "Up In the Air." Clooney plays a business traveler who achieves star travel status by logging 10 million frequent flyer miles.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE, ACTRESS, "UP IN THE AIR": Oh, my God. I wasn't sure this actually existed.

GEORGE CLOONEY, ACTOR, "UP IN THE AIR": It's a concierge key, yes. I was pretty excited the day that bad boy came in.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Clooney's 10 million miles is amateur hour compared to my guest today. Jacques Vroom flew for business, pleasure or just because he had a couple hours free, from what I understand. Millions and millions of airline miles made possible by a lifetime pass for unlimited first class travel on American Airlines. We're going to talk more about that pass and how it landed Vroom in a little bit of legal trouble here in a minute.

But first, Jacques, welcome. Nice to meet you and have you on here.

JACQUES VROOM, UNLIMITED AAIRPASS FREQUENT FLYER: Thank you. Thank you very much.

BALDWIN: I just want to first throw this -- I want to throw this out at you. Of all the years that you had this -- we're calling it a golden ticket -- of all the years you had this golden ticket, I want you to tell me about the most, you know, crazy, elaborate, intricate trip you had when you didn't have to pay a thing.

VROOM: First of all, I didn't have to pay a thing extra, but I did have to pay not quite $500,000 up front.

BALDWIN: Right. We're going to get to that.

VROOM: OK. I can think of a couple of things. I'm an old guy, but I, in my youth, liked -- and still do -- like motorcycles quite a lot. The brilliant motorcycle publishing is not in the United States, in my opinion, it's in Britain. So there was a magazine called "Fast Bikes" that was published in England. And you basically couldn't get it in the United States. So one time a friend of mine and I flew over, took the subway to the offices and asked if we could have the new copy and they said, you know, we could have mailed this to you for $4 or $5. And we said, well, it's cheaper to come get it.

BALDWIN: What, you're telling me you went to London to buy a magazine?

VROOM: Yes, ma'am.

BALDWIN: OK. OK. And I know you've been all over the world, too, because I've read a little bit about you and, you know, it would have, I guess, cost thousands and thousands of dollars. But let's be clear, you know, you did ultimately -- it was something like $350,000, right, to pay. You ultimately paid it in increments. Paying something like, what, almost $500,000 to get this ultimately, you know, free forever sort of trip.

VROOM: Yes.

BALDWIN: And you took your last trip --

VROOM: Right. Right. Free for $500,000, right.

BALDWIN: Free for $500,000. Thank you very much, there is the caveat. But you took your last trip on this pass. It was your birthday in 2009. And American Airlines, they pulled the plug. They pulled the plug on your account, claiming you had abused said ticket. How did they find you? What did they tell you?

VROOM: Well, I mean they found me by going to the check-in counter and I was trying to check in to go back to the United States, going back to Dallas where I lived. But they had decided, I guess, that -- well, it looks to me like they decided that this thing was costing them too much money and they needed to find a way out of it. That's only speculation on my part. And who am I to talk about the motives of anyone. But the -- they felt as if I were doing something that they didn't like, which was taking some kind of compensation for the other person flying with me. And so they set up a sting and --

BALDWIN: To be clear -- forgive me for interrupting -- but not only did you --

VROOM: Sure.

BALDWIN: Once you finally paid this $500,000, this is, you know, forever flying you and a companion. And so, you know, you did, yes or no, you know, take along or sell said companion ticket to others, not necessarily a companion.

VROOM: I'm not sure I understood that. I never took anybody with me at all whom I didn't know.

BALDWIN: OK. OK. Well, American Airlines, we do know, that they're suing you. And I just want to also say you're suing them.

VROOM: Sure.

BALDWIN: And I just want to read part of the statement that the airline sent to us. "If we determine that any activity has violated our policies or is fraudulent in nature, including the non-fraudulent provisions that were included in these original contracts in question, we take the actions we deem appropriate."

So where does this stand right now, you and American Airlines? You laugh.

VROOM: Well, pardon me while I just sort of steal myself for a second about the exquisite clarity of that language. But the --

BALDWIN: Is it anywhere?

VROOM: A little bit after -- I'm sorry, a little bit after July of 2009, they sued me for fraudulent use of the air pass. And -- but on that day they just said, you cannot fly on American anymore. Your air pass is rescinded. Your miles accumulated are rescinded. And you're just stuck here in London with nothing to do. Certainly nothing to do with American. And made me leave the airport.

BALDWIN: OK. So we'll follow it and we'll see where this ends up landing. Just, bottom line, 15 seconds, are you back with the rest of us (INAUDIBLE) in coach now? VROOM: There's some very nice people in coach. I had no idea.

BALDWIN: There are some nice folks in coach. And it sounds to me like you'd be a pretty interesting person to sit next to, Jacques Vroom.

Jacques Vroom, I appreciate it. Sounds like you had some fun times. And I'm sorry to say it --

VROOM: God, we had some great times.

BALDWIN: Jacques, thank you.

VROOM: I have much to be thankful for. So, it's OK.

BALDWIN: Thank you, sir.

A city bus slams -- slams into a student. The whole thing caught on tape. You're going to see what happens next. How these passengers react.

Plus, new concerns over satellite images of a military site in Iran. We are getting word of activity there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: More news unfolding now. Rapid Fire. Roll it.

First up, Mark Zuckerberg. He is in some hot water over his hoodie he wore Monday during a presentation to get investors to buy Facebook stock just before it goes public next week. An analyst told Bloomberg TV that the hoodie shows, quote, "a mark of immaturity for the CEO of Facebook." Still, that same analyst gave a buy rating for the stock.

Queen Elizabeth spoke to parliament today for the 57th time in her reign. I think this my favorite part of the story, because the annual event is formally known as Her Majesty's Most Gracious Speech. She spoke for 10 minutes and echoed an ambition often heard on this side of the Atlantic.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUEEN ELIZABETH: My ministers' first priority will be to reduce the deficit and restore economic stability.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Economic stability. Next month the queen celebrates 60 years on the throne. Watch CNN starting Sunday, June 3rd, for full coverage of her Diamond Jubilee celebration. I will see you live from London.

The postal service has backed off of a plan to save $500 million a year by closing post offices throughout rural America. The agency wanted to close thousands of post offices that just didn't bring in much money. Public backlash was swift. It now plans to keep rural post offices open, but for fewer hours each and every day. And it will force thousands of full-time workers into part-time jobs and offer buyouts to 13,000 postmasters nationwide.

John Travolta's lawyer calls a lawsuit against the actor, and I'm quoting him, "absurd and ridiculous." In it, two anonymous massage therapists say Travolta groped one and sexually attacked the other. Travolta's attorney says once the suit is thrown out, his client plans to sue for malicious prosecution. The massage therapists are asking for $2 million in damages.

And in Texas, a horrifying moment caught here on camera. Watch this with me. The city bus here is going to hit -- you can hear the breaks -- hit a University of Texas student. This is during a finals week rally. Obviously we're showing it to you because it's OK. This young man amazingly walked away moments later with minor injuries.

And people get on a train. Maybe be a long at the office and hear this just out of the blue. This is the Copenhagen Philharmonic Orchestra. This is their version of a flash mob on a train. All of this recorded there on the metro. That is awesome.

Hundreds of "Occupy" protesters showed up today at the Bank of America headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina as shareholders were meeting. Our affiliate, WXOC TV reports police arrested five people. Protesters say they are against the bank's foreclosure practices and coal mine investments.

And satellite images showing new activity have aroused some sort of suspicion about key Iranian military site here. Take a look at these images. The International Atomic Energy Agency suspects nuclear weapons research has taken place at the complex southeast here of Tehran.

There are concerns the site is being cleaned before nuclear inspectors are allowed in. Meantime, Tehran continues to deny nuclear research is, in fact, taking place.

As the same-sex marriage issue is heating up, a source tells CNN President Obama is getting grilled on his evolving stance. That's the president's word and advocates are expecting him to clarify his position very soon

If you're at work, you can also watch us on your desk top. Just go to cnn.com/live.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: I want to let you know, we are expecting possible news here from President Obama on the uproar on his same-sex marriage position, a position that's really been muddy at best.

Jessica Yellin, our chief White House correspondent here. Jessica, obviously there are risks and rewards, right? There are risks in alienating some voters if he comes out and says yes, I am in favor of gay marriage.

We saw what happened in yesterday in North Carolina with Amendment One, which passed. You know, basically barring gay marriage, civil unions, domestic partnerships. Talk about the risks of the president not coming out for gay marriage today.

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That an interesting question, Brooke, you know, if he doesn't come out for gay marriage, he risks alienating many of his LGBT supporters who are part of his ground troops, people who are some of his key volunteer network and major, major donors in this cycle.

When Wall Street money has dried up, gay and lesbian donors have been giving, but also young voters tend to be overwhelmingly in favor of gay marriage. And the youth vote is a constituency that's, as we' been talking about for a long time now, key for the president to get them, not just win them, but get them out in numbers this cycle.

And then there's also this aspect to the president's sort of -- his brand, if you will, where he talks a lot about standing up for principle over politics, being clear on his beliefs. You know, they always say part of their message is that Mitt Romney is a flip-flop or he doesn't have core values.

And if the president argues that he has this sort of authenticity, you know, some of the activists I talk to say, doesn't it seem that the president would risk seeming inauthentic if he doesn't come down on this issue one way or the other.

BALDWIN: So what if he does come double play on the issue and what if he does agree with what we've heard from Arnie Duncan and Vice President Joe Biden, yes, he is in support of gay marriage. What happens next? I guess practically speak?

YELLIN: Good question again, so there is the defense marriage act, which is on the books right now. The president has said has already stopped defending that in court.

You know, in practical terms, he could say in a second term, I will fight to overturn DOMA, the defense of marriage act. Nobody I've talked to has said even the most ardent gray right activists say they need that to happen next.

All they want, the most ardent gray right activists at this point is for the president to say he supports gay marriage because they feel that in itself would be a signal to young gay and lesbian Americans that the president stands up for them.

And that that is enough because it somehow is affirming to young gay and lesbian Americans that there's somebody who believes in their equal rights. So there are next steps that could be taken legally, but nay aren't pressing for that just yet. There are initiatives in states that people are fighting for and in the courts.

BALDWIN: OK, well, we will see if the president clarifies his evolving stance. Thank you.

It may look like an ordinary soccer ball, but it generates energy while you're playing with it. This is week's technovations.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN (voice-over): Kick a soccer ball around. Turn on a light.

JULIA SILVERMAN, UNCHARTED PLAY CO-FOUNDER: The socket is a soccer ball that doubles as a portable generator. When you play with the ball, it actually harnesses the energy from play.

BALDWIN: Created by two Harvard grads, the socket provides a power source for people in developing countries. A simple designed based on high school physics.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have a gyroscope a motor store that power. You can power a lamp, a cell phone charger. We've been prototyping hot plates, water sterilizes.

BALDWIN: The balls are now being donated and distributed by NGOs in places like Mexico and South Africa.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's, you know, an energy source, but it's also a source of empowerment. It's based on a sport that is so loved and is grounded in this issue of energy, which is so critical to everyone's lives.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Coming up next, a guest I promise you don't want to miss here. This boy is forced to return to his parents. His foster mom tried to save his life. She is standing by live to tell his heart breaking story.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: I wanted to take a moment today to focus on a case we couldn't forget, I couldn't forget, that we shouldn't forget. I'm talking about a little boy, Khalil Wymes. The last three years of Khalil's short life were an absolute nightmare.

He was 6 years of age, but he was the size of a 3-year-old. He wasn't just malnourished he was subjected to unimaginable abuse. I want you to listen to Mike Newell. He's the Philadelphia "Inquirer" reporter who really dug deeper into this story and talked me last week.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIKE NEWALL, STAFF WRITER, PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER: His parents said they beat him almost daily with extension cords, with belts. He had so many scars on his body that the medical examiner 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 or 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 beat him in the morning.

BALDWIN: How did he die?

NEWALL: Blunt force trauma. His mother said that she unlocked his room, took him into the bathroom for a bath. He was trying to put on his pants and he slipped on water. She yelled at him to get up 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 these biological parents didn't take him to the hospital for more than 10 years.

NEWALL: No, you're right, Brooke. They waited 13 hours. His biological father played video games, made himself a steak. His biological mother went to Popeyes before they realized that it was an inappropriate time to take the child to the hospital.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Popeye's and video game. Social workers visited Khalil's home several times but they seemingly didn't notice the battered and emaciated little boy.

But somebody did notice something was terribly wrong and tried to do something about it. Khalil's cousin and her mother, Lorraine Nixon are here.

I just want to say I am so sorry about Khalil. This story saddens me. It makes me mad. I just wanted to continue this national conversation.

Ladies, when you hear these details about the extension cords and the fact that his biological parents were going to Popeye's and playing video games before taking him at a hospital. Can you even wrap your heads around that?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No. No. It's extremely difficult to listen to those details.

BALDWIN: When you listen to those details. How does that make you feel? You tried so many times to save this little boy.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm sick -- I hate to say that I'm not surprised. They're monsters.

BALDWIN: They're monsters. I want to ask you -- tell me about Khalil. We heard about these horrendous stories you should another roof. But under your roof, he was a happy little boy, was he not?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was. He was funny and smart and sweet and very affectionate. He was excited about everything. He was very loving and there aren't enough sweet words to describe how wonderful he was.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. He was a happy, loving, beautiful, sweet little boy.

BALDWIN: And when you hear about his life with his biological parents, the locks hammered shut, deprived of food. Seven siblings removed from this home because of neglect. Yet still this judge ruled that he be placed back in the custody of his biological parents. How many times did you call DHS, Alicia?

ALICIA NIXON, KHALIL WIMES' FOSTER MOTHER: I don't know if I can count how many times I called DHS, how many times I called his caseworker, her supervisors, their supervisors, all the way up to Ambrose.

I tried to appeal to everybody's morals and their -- what should be their human side to look out for Khalil. And at least check on him and make sure he was OK, but to no avail. Nobody wanted to do any more than they were supposed to do.

BALDWIN: Let me ask you this. Was it obvious just to the naked eye when you would get Khalil back, did you see scars? When you hear from this medical examiner, it took 61 minutes to just actually log all the scars, the bones protruding on his body. Was it obvious to you he wasn't taken care of?

NIXON: Well, that's the thing. I got Khalil when he was a week old. And I haven't seen him any more -- I'm sorry, after March 2009. The last time I saw him was at his funeral.

I did not know anything about the extended abuse, but there was one visit he came home and he pointed out a scratch on his nose. We deduced it was something that happened maybe while playing with Maya, his younger sister.

And we left it at that because at the time, we had no idea about their history, his parents' history.

BALDWIN: You had no idea.

NIXON: None.

BALDWIN: OK. Let me get this in there. We did our due diligence. We reached out to DHS. They told us, quote, "We are committed to a continuous review of our performance and are now engaged in a careful review of our policies and practices, as well as our response in this case. When the review is completed, we will make any necessary changes to ensure the safety of the children we serve." I hate that I'm talking to you, but I'm glad I'm talking to you at the same time because this should be part of a national conversation.

I know some of these older siblings in Khalil's home, they parentally, according to this reporter I talked to, they saw the abuse. They were just too afraid to speak up because they were afraid Khalil would be taken from their parents' custody.

My final question, could anything have been done differently? What can we as a nation learn from this tragedy?

NIXON: Well, firstly, I want to say the adult siblings that you speak of were afraid to take him away from the place that he was being armed. That makes no sense. It makes no sense. You don't can want your mother to lose a child she's abusing. That's backwards.

LA REINE NIXON, KHALIL WIMES' COUSIN: There are lots of thing that we can learn that date back six years when we were trying desperately to get help from the city of Philadelphia and from DHS.

But the judges in this case clearly made decisions that didn't make any common sense and may have actually violated the law that we did not find out until after Khalil's death.

And then in terms of DHS, an analogy that I used earlier was that a car cannot be fixed as long as it's running. DHS needs to be dismantled. It's not working.

BALDWIN: Look, I'm sorry for the loss of Khalil, but we will continue staying on DHS and we'll see if something went wrong, what went wrong and if and how it can be fixed.

I appreciate it. I appreciate your honesty coming on here. And I do want to just remind you. They're charged with murder. One Philadelphia social worker has been removed from active duty. And all of the cases handled by her and her supervisor are being reviewed.

A search is on now for this new Russian passenger jet, just like this one. It was carrying at least 45 people when it disappeared shortly after takeoff in Indonesia.

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BALDWIN: A search is on right now for this missing Russian airliner. This plane that's carrying at least 45 people when it took off today from Jakarta, Indonesia, some 21 minutes later, it just vanished from radar.

I want to bring in CNN's Phil Black live in Moscow. And Phil, I know teams are on the ground. They're searching for this aircraft. But at this point, they have no idea where this thing is.

PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They don't. And they don't know what's happened to it either. This is a Russian-made aircraft on a demonstration flight out of Jakarta.

It was only supposed to be in the air about 30 minutes or so. But 21 minutes into the flight, it dropped off radar and stopped answering radio calls. There are some differing reports of just how many people were onboard.

We think somewhere between 45 and 50. The crew was Russian. Most of the passengers were Indonesian. They did launch an initial search to try to find it from the air.

But that had to be called off because of low light and poor weather. But they hope to resume that at first light in just a few hours -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Phil Black, I appreciate it. Want to sneak a quick break in. We are getting possible news that we could have some, dare I say, some clarification on President Obama's stance on gay marriage.

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