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Facebook IPO; Mississippi Killings Linked; Another Kennedy Tragedy; Flesh-Eating Bacteria; Closing Arguments in John Edwards Trial; Fire Consumes Home in Arizona; Ron Thomas Discusses Beating Death of Son, Thomas Kelly; Whitehouse.gov Adds Twist to Presidential Bios

Aired May 17, 2012 - 11:00   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, ANCHOR, "CNN NEWSROOM": And hello, everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips. It's 11:00 on the East Coast, 8:00 out West.

We begin with a crucial piece to a terrifying puzzle. Investigators now have evidence linking two recent killing on Mississippi highways, killings that we've heard may be the work of someone posing as a police officer.

Our colleague Martin Savidge joins me with more information. What have you learned at this point?

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kyra. We've always felt that these cases were linked, these two different shootings, even though they were separated by over fifty-some miles and separated by three days.

Now, they've got proof positive, a ballistics match, which means that the gun that was used in one shooting was the same gun that was used in the second shooting. So that is key for the investigation.

The other thing now, we understand that Mississippi authorities are reaching out to both the FBI and the ATF asking to use profilers. That would seem to indicate they don't have a lot to go on, that they're looking to get some sort of insight into what's going on in the mind-set of whoever's carrying this out.

And remember, the theory is and it's only a theory at this point, that it's someone who is acting as a police officer pulling these people over in the middle of the night.

PHILLIPS: So tell me about the search for this guy, everyone that's involved at this point. Do we know how far that search has been spread out?

SAVIDGE: Right. Well, the search is going on, especially in that area of Northern Mississippi. They have beefed up patrols. They have beefed up, not only in that county, but in all the counties in the surrounding area.

However, here is the hampering thing. There are no witnesses to this event, so it's not like you have an identification of a suspect. You don't know what vehicle to be looking for and, again, they are working on a theory.

Just remember how this all went down. A week ago Tuesday, it was 2:30 in the morning when 74-year-old Tom Schlender's driving from Nebraska on his way down to Florida to pick up his young grandson from college. He is somehow pulled to the side of the road, shot multiple times. His wallet is missing.

Three days later, then you've got a 48-year-old local woman by the name of Lori Anne Carswell. She is shot once in the head, found just outside of her vehicle, again at the side of the road. It's the vehicles at the side of the road that is the common theme that has authorities worried.

PHILLIPS: Quickly, do we know if anyone was stolen out of her car, a purse, a wallet?

SAVIDGE: We are hearing nothing was taken. And that is troubling because it would indicate perhaps whoever is doing it is doing it for the thrill of the kill and not for robbery.

PHILLIPS: All right, Martin Savidge, thanks so much.

Well, the curse of Camelot, another Kennedy found dead and, according to "The New York Times," it was suicide. CNN is still working to confirm that, but "The Times" reports that police found 52-year-old Mary Kennedy's body hanging in a barn on the family's New York compound.

Mary was the wife of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Although the couple had filed for divorce in 2010.

They have four children and Mary Kennedy's death now joins the long list of tragedies that has plagued the family since the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

Alina Cho is joining me from New York, following the story. What do we know about the autopsy results at this point, Alina?

ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, good morning. We just got off the phony with the Westchester County medical examiner's office and they told us the autopsy on Mary Kennedy's body is underway right now. It should be complete very soon and we could actually find out a cause of death as early as today.

Now, you talked about this theory of suicide. CNN, as you mentioned, is aggressively, actively pursuing that theory, that Mary Kennedy committed suicide. We have not yet been able to confirm it.

But we can tell you that "The New York Times" is reporting and they are citing two unnamed sources that Mary Kennedy's body was found hanging in a barn in the back of the house, that she did leave a suicide note, and that authorities when they arrived actually tried to cut her down and revive her, but, obviously, Kyra, they were unsuccessful.

PHILLIPS: So what do we know about how she was feeling with regard to the fact that they had filed for divorce. It's been a while. But there's talk she was concerned about financial problems, that she was suffering from depression. Do we know if this was related to her problems with drugs and alcohol?

CHO: That's right. Remember this all started in about 2010, May, to be exact. By all accounts, her depression took a turn for the worse back then. That is when her husband, Robert Kennedy, Jr., filed for divorce.

Now, remember, he's the nephew of President John F. Kennedy. A day after that filing, police were apparently called to their home after what was described as a domestic incident and Robert Kennedy told police at that time, Kyra, that his wife was intoxicated.

You mentioned that the couple had four children together, all of them under the age of 18 years old. The divorce, we should tell you, too, was never finalized, so, at the time of her death, Robert and Mary Kennedy were still officially married.

PHILLIPS: Alina Cho working that story out of New York. Alina, thanks.

And the Kennedy family has released this statement, quote, :"We deeply regret the death of our beloved sister, Mary, whose radiant and creative spirit will be sorely missed by those who loved her. Our heart goes out to her children who she loved without reservation."

We'll bring you the results of the autopsy as soon as they become available.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: If you're heading out the door you can continue watching CNN from your mobile phone or heading to work, you can watch live from your desktop. All you have to do is go to CNN.com/TV.

Flesh-eating bacteria, the rare but horrifying infection has made big headlines lately and it all began after the flesh-decaying disease began ravaging Aimee Copeland, a graduate student from Georgia. It took her left leg, part of her abdomen and her dad says her fingers appear mummified and black as charcoal now.

But he also says Aimee is proving to be amazingly resilient.

Now, as we continue to follow Aimee's case, we're getting new details of another case of this flesh-eating bacteria. This time attacking a new mom who just gave birth to her twins a few days ago.

Just a short time later, Lana Kuykendall was rushed to a hospital in Greenville, South Carolina, where she found out the flesh-eating bacteria had somehow infected her left leg, rapidly killing her muscles.

Senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is here. And, apparently, Elizabeth, she's a paramedic, right? So she knew something wasn't right. ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: She and her husband were incredible, empowered patients and I can't emphasize enough how important that is in these situations. For example, Aimee Copeland's father was just amazing and it appears that he really saved her life.

But let's talk about Lana Kuykendall for a second here. What happened here is that she gave birth on May 7th and then, four days later, she and her husband noticed a bruise on the back of her leg.

Now, instead of just sort of saying, oh, whatever, people get bruises, they kept an eye on it and her husband told CNN it was growing so quickly, getting bigger so quickly, you could actually watch it get bigger. They knew that was quick.

Again, she's a paramedic, so she has quite a bit of medical knowledge. They got to the hospital and very quickly they diagnosed necrotizing fasciitis, which is the scientific name for flesh-eating bacteria.

PHILLIPS: Do we have any idea how she got it?

COHEN: You know what, we don't know exactly, but here is what we do know. Doctors tell us that when you have what's called blunt trauma, in other words, let's say you hit the back of your leg, however that happens, and you get that bruising.

If you have strep A bacteria in your body, which many of us do -- it's very common -- the bacteria can sense that there is sort of a blood feast and it can go to that blood and get into the bloodstream and that may be what happened here.

So, in Aimee Copeland's case, you had a gash that the bacteria entered into. In this case, there doesn't appear to have been a gash. It was a bruise and the blood that resulted from the bruise became a magnet for this bacteria which then may have gotten into her bloodstream. That may be what happened here. We just don't know, though.

PHILLIPS: Why don't we talk about what someone can do about this, the various signs? Because, you know, a number of these symptoms are very vague.

COHEN: They are, so let's go over the symptoms and let's talk about how they're vague, but how you can be an empowered patient and try to discern the dangerous from the every-day.

First of all, disproportionate pain. If you have a bruise or cut, of course, it will hurt, but if it hurts like crazy, more than something like that has ever hurt you before or if it's not just in that area but is reaching across a wider area, that is something to pay attention to.

If it's accompanied by fever and weakness, if it's accompanied by swelling or any kind of black markings on your skin, pay attention to that. There's more signs and symptoms on CNN.com/empoweredpatient.

But, Kyra, the bottom line here is, if something is weird for you or weird for your family member, pay attention and do something about it.

I'll tell you a story. Our daughter when she was two had this little cut on her arm and my husband noticed that it was getting bigger quickly. We put her down for a nap and the cut was bigger, the wound was bigger when she woke up from her nap, two hours later. It grew in two hours.

And he said we're getting her to the pediatrician. It was a Sunday afternoon. We had to get the pediatrician to meet us. But you know what, it really was serious and she required several different antibiotics to treat it.

PHILLIPS: When we talk about these two cases, Elizabeth, how common is this? Is this just totally odd that we're seeing two of these cases within a week or so?

COHEN: I think what's odd is that we're hearing about it, Kyra. This actually happens and we just don't hear about it. It just so happens we're hearing about these two.

Nobody knows exactly how many cases of flesh-eating bacteria we have in this country. Some put it in the hundreds. Some put in the low thousands. But the bottom line here is that it does happen. Usually a cut or a bruise is nothing, but keep an eye out for those signs.

PHILLIPS: All right, Elizabeth Cohen, thanks so much.

And the doctors who her husband says treated his wife have not responded to requests for comments, by the way.

Meanwhile Lana's husband says that their newborn twins, Abigail and Ian, are doing well and they're being cared for by family and friends.

You can read more about tips and flesh-eating bacteria at CNN.com\empoweredpatient. There's more information on what you can do to take control of your healthcare.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Investor pandemonium. You know exactly what I'm talking about. Facebook shares hitting the market tomorrow, so should you get in on the action or not?

Well, like any married couple who argues about money, so do our money gurus, Ali Velshi and Christine Romans. For the record, guys, I was talking to my banker for about 35 minutes yesterday.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Really?

PHILLIPS: Come on, this is huge, all right?

ROMANS: It's going to be no surprise to you that Ali's the accelerator, I'm the brakes.

PHILLIPS: I was just going to say he talked me out of it. He said, let it settle. Let's re-evaluate. ROMANS: Smart man.

PHILLIPS: OK, then let's start with you, Christine.

ALI VELSHI, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: No, no, no. We know what she's going to say. She's going to give you all sorts of reasons why not to buy this stock, but let me just describe one thing to both of you, Kyra.

Remember in the day when you used to get those disks, those AOL disks in the mail and you'd get them at supermarkets, and everyone was telling you to get AOL, and it was download service, and you had this portal.

Maybe you had Netscape. Maybe you had AOL. Yahoo was around back then, CompuServe. But life was all about this portal, this thing that gave you weather and traffic and business and sports, things you couldn't get elsewhere.

Then the Internet went through a transformation and it became all about search, right? Yahoo still does that, but Google is really the big player. It's all about you ask a question, you get an answer.

Facebook wants to undertake the second transformation of the Internet. It wants to now say, you are having your friends and your contact and those you trust curating the way the Internet works.

Maybe they'll get it right. Maybe they won't. But if they do, that will make Facebook the most powerful force in all of Internet history which is why I think that makes it a good reason to buy.

ROMANS: So while Ali is having hearts, Cupids and arrows for Facebook at the moment, I'm going to tell you that Facebook and IPOs are risky, in general. The reason why any investor can't just go and buy a share of Facebook on the IPO is because they are reserved for sophisticated investors because they are risky.

We're going to now start to learn a lot more about this company. And look, it's got an amazing, amazing role in society, right? Nine- hundred-million users around the world, but we need to see more and this is why I'm with your banker who said, wait a month until it settles out.

Maybe it will be higher in a year, but maybe it will go up and then it will go down when all of the early investors get out and then it goes up again.

VELSHI: Move along with your reasons why people shouldn't buy the stock, so I can get back to why we should.

ROMANS: Advertising. Just G.M. this week said, we're not going to pay $10 million a year in traditional ads for G.M. because we're not seeing people clicking through and actually buying cars.

Also, a lot of people are using Facebook on mobile phones. How are they going to make money on ads on mobile phones? How are they going to keep making money on ads when we're changing how we use all of our ...

PHILLIPS: Answer that, Ali Velshi.

VELSHI: Forget about Facebook. Forget about whether it's DuPont or G.M. or anything else. You know why you buy a stock? You buy a stock so you can sell it for more than you paid.

If you think that in a year or two years or three years that ticker symbol "FB" is going to be able to be sold for more money than you can buy it for on Friday, then buy it.

It is the second transformation of the Internet and you can sell it for more than you can buy it, if you believe those two things. If you don't, then don't do it. But if you believe those two things, buy it

ROMANS: The person that you're buying the stock from is selling the stock and that person was in there first and got it at a lower price, so maybe you're helping make them a little richer.

VELSHI: And you can find some sucker down the road to sell the stock to, as well.

PHILLIPS: OK, you know, this -- Apple, let's think about how we all wish we would have bought into Apple. But they kept making devices. It's still making devices, right? So look how well it's doing.

OK, because a lot of people are ...

ROMANS: In the beginning, though, Apple almost went out of business.

VELSHI: This goes to Christine's point.

ROMANS: Apple went sideways for a long time and it wasn't until Steve Jobs came back. I mean, Apple, when it first went public, it wasn't a sure bet. Google might be a better analogy.

VELSHI: Google plays back into my camp. That thing came out in the '70s on day one. It closed at $100 and a whole bunch of us were sitting around saying, that's overvalued. What is it now? $500, $600? That's more the comparison.

But you've got to believe that it's this crazy innovation, like Apple had, like Google had, and like Mark Zuckerberg has.

If you don't believe that, you know what you should do? Go to one of those sites where you can buy one share certificate and they'll mail it to you and you can put it on your wall and that's how you commemorate history. Don't get into stock trading business.

ROMANS: I want to say one last thing, Kyra. I know all these people who don't even know the log-in to their 401(k) who are trying to figure out how to buy Facebook shares.

And I'm like, what do you have in your 401(k)? I don't know. I don't even know the log-in, but I want to get Facebook. Can you just look at your 401(k) and make sure that you're investing the maximum and you know how you're balanced because that's going to be the sure bet.

The sure bet is making sure that your whole investment scheme is right.

VELSHI: Once again, she's right.

PHILLIPS: He gave you a little bit.

VELSHI: Christine is right. She is smarter than me.

ROMANS: Well, once again, Christine is right.

PHILLIPS: We'll re-evaluate where we stand about a year from now, who is rich and who is broke. Thanks, guys.

ROMANS: There you go.

VELSHI: All right.

PHILLIPS: Facebook shares scheduled to hit the NASDAQ exchange tomorrow, probably a few hours after the market opens at 9:30 Eastern.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Closing arguments happening right now in the John Edwards corruption trial. The jury begins deliberations tomorrow. Our Joe Johns is on it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, closing arguments today in the John Edwards campaign finance trial here in Greensboro, North Carolina. Each side gets two hours to present their final arguments to the jury.

The prosecution goes first followed by the defense, then the prosecution gets the last word, because it has the burden of proving each and every element of the six-count indictment against John Edwards.

The wrap-up of this trial was a bit of a surprise for how fast it came. The defense suggested it might throw in the kitchen sink at the end, John Edwards, Rielle Hunter, his former mistress.

In the end, they didn't even call Edwards' daughter, Cate, to the stand. Legal observers here have said the defense might have decided they are better off leaving well enough alone after giving the jury a simple and clear position on the legal issues at play in the case.

For example, that the hush money in the Edwards case wasn't intended to be a campaign contribution and that somebody else got the money, not John Edwards.

The jury is expected to start its deliberations in the Edwards case on Friday morning.

Kyra?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Joe Johns, thanks so much.

If John Edwards is found guilty on all charges, he could face up to 30 years in prison.

As journalists we strive every day to bring you the untold stories about our communities, nation and world and we couldn't do it without CNN iReporters. We want to honor you, the viewers who gave us extraordinary reporting to share around the world.

We want you to decide who deserves this year's Community Choice award. So just log-on to CNNiReportAwards.com and vote. Here are nominees for original reporting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just a small digger.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The other guy, run, run, run.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because it's Ground Zero. I mean, we're remembering everyone who passed away on September 11th and it's really unfortunate and we're just remembering them.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: If you're leaving the house right now, just a reminder. You can continue watching CNN from your mobile phone. You can also watch CNN live from your desktop. Go to CNN.com/TV.

What started as a house fire on Sunday has now consumed four homes and more than 5,000 acres in the Bradshaw Mountains of Arizona. The one- time mining community of Crown King is a ghost town as firefighters try to hold the flames back until the wind shifts, maybe, if they're lucky.

Reporter Tess Rafols joining us from affiliate KTVK.

Tess, is this fire anywhere close to being contained at this hour?

TESS RAFOLS, CORRESPONDENT, KTVK: Right now, Kyra, it's still only 5 percent contained. That's where it was yesterday. The big concern today is winds are calm right now but in the next couple of hours, in through tomorrow, we're expecting red-flag wind conditions. It is going to be a tough battle for these firefighters.

PHILLIPS: Tell us more about Crown King. We understand the power is out, right?

RAFOLS: Exactly. Power finally went out to the entire community last night. About 350 people had already evacuated. A few holdouts left. They finally left town last night when the message was "get out now or you are stuck here." Obviously, the good news is everybody did get out of town. It is completely shut down. Big concern, those flames inching closer. The closest flames an eighth of a mile away from the homes on the outskirts of Crown King.

PHILLIPS: So far anybody hurt or killed, Tess?

RAFOLS: So far the good news, this has not taken any lives. Four firefighters have been hurt in this battle. We're in Arizona, about an hour north of Phoenix. It's very dry. It's very warm. Most of those firefighters suffering dehydration and exhaustion. They have to be careful of those elements as well.

PHILLIPS: Tess, thanks so much.

Elsewhere in Arizona three other fire are keeping firefighters busy and wildfire season just getting started.

If you live in Texas and get a suspicious looking envelope, don't open it. The feds looking for a man who mails envelopes containing white powder and a message. They say, so far, the powder has been harmless. The FBI and Postal Inspection Services Office offering $150,000 reward for any information.

Vermont is taking a stance on fracking, becoming the first state to ban the controversial practice that extracts natural gas or oil from rock. Vermont's governor said he signed the bill preventing fracking because it contaminates ground water. He hopes other states will take his lead. It's suspected of causing mild earthquakes as well but, at the same time, has unleashed a boom in energy production across the country. Supporters say it helps reduce the country's dependence on oil imports.

This is a story that will tear at your heart, about a child with two identities. A Guatemalan woman said she will take her legal fight to get her daughter back all the way to a Missouri court. The U.S. State Department is refusing to get involved. She said she was kidnapped in 2006 and sold to an adoption agency. The girl, who now is seven, lives with a family in Missouri where she goes by the name of Karen. Her birth mom, Loyda Rodriquez, said every since she located the little girl that she's not going to give up the fight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LOYDA RODRIGUEZ, BIOLOGICAL MOTHER (through translation): I'm going to give her all my love, which I haven't been able to do during this time when she wasn't with me. I'm going to do everything possible so she learns to love little by little because I know she doesn't remember me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: A Guatemalan judge has ruled in the birth mom's favor but the State Department says a treaty dealing with abducted children wasn't in effect when this case began. We'll follow it.

The John Travolta sex suit has come to abrupt halt with the second man who alleged Travolta groped him withdrawing the charges. John Doe Two fired his lawyer who says he has no idea why his client withdrew the lawsuit. This happened after the first accuser dropped out yesterday.

She's funny, beautiful, charming and apparently ageless. Betty white is 90 and still going strong. She's had audiences laughing for years. This time around, she was the target of the jokes. Funnymen roasted Betty at the Fryers Club, taking digs at her career. Of course, Betty loved it. Don't think, at the age of 90, she's slowing down. When asked what's the one thing she wants to do that she hasn't, she didn't miss a beat.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BETTY WHITE, ACTRESS: I usually answer that question with Robert Redford. No, I think I've been lucky enough to do just about -- so much that if I start complaining about anything under the sun, throw me out of the business.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: For months now we've been following the beating death of Kelly Thomas and the two cops who will now stand trial. This morning, deeper questions that go beyond the actual crime. We're going to talk about mental health. Kelly was schizophrenic and homeless. If you've been following this heart-wrenching story, you've probably seen the video of Kelly being repeatedly beaten and tased by Fullerton police.

I have to warn you, once again, what you're about to see is extremely disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KELLY THOMAS, BEATEN BY POLICE: Dad!

UNIDENTIFIED POLICE OFFICER: I don't want to talk these off.

UNIDENTIFIED POLICE OFFICER: Going to fight.

UNIDENTIFIED POLICE OFFICER: Relax. Relax.

KELLY THOMAS: Daddy, daddy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: As you just heard, you could hear Kelly pleading for his dad. Those would be among his last words because Kelly died five days later. Now, that video and Kelly's story have thrust the issue of mental health right into the spotlight, an issue that Kelly's dad, Ron Thomas, has turned into a personal crusade. Ron is joining us from Orange County, California.

Ron, thanks so much for joining me this morning.

RON THOMAS, FATHER OF KELLY THOMAS: Thank you, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: You know, we play that video because it's extremely compelling evidence. I can't even imagine what it's like for you, the dad, to have to hear it again and again. But as a former deputy, what does it reveal to you?

THOMAS: My first thoughts were, I was totally betrayed by law enforcement. It also revealed to me that the city of Fullerton, upper echelon in the police department, but also city council, mayor, city council, had no control over those officers, none at all.

PHILLIPS: You have actually trained deputies on how to respond to someone like your son. What did you see that obviously these police officers had not -- they just didn't have knowledge of when it came to dealing with somebody with mental illness?

THOMAS: Yes, I have. I've taught many different agencies in law enforcement, including Marines going off to war, how to do certain techniques. But the arrest control techniques, primarily these officers didn't use any of them. They were just fumbling around trying to beat him into submission. They didn't use any proper techniques at all starting with the basic one, calling in a team of mental illness professionals, who Fullerton uses quite often. They should have called him in. They knew Kelly. They knew about mental illness. If they thought it was a problem -- which Ramos did, and he told Kelly so -- they should have called in the mental health professionals. They did everything wrong. The only tools they used were tools of force -- batons, knees, elbows, tasers. They didn't use the most important tools of all, that is the mental health professionals available to them.

PHILLIPS: Let's talk about that for a second. There is such a stigma when it comes to mental illness. I know you still receive heart- wrenching e-mails, letters about where were you -- Dad, why weren't you helping him out? Would you please explain to those that don't understand mental illness what it's like to have a child dealing with this and how much you can do, and it's still -- it's not so easy. It's extremely challenging.

THOMAS: It's very challenging. I worked with Kelly in his mental illness for 15 years. It's all day, all night. It's literally like taking care of an infant. When he's on his meds -- when he was on his meds, he was fine. We could carry on conversations, he could function, it was great. That was also a problem because he'd want to get on with his life. Who wants to live in board and care, in dad's house? They want to get out and do something. He would hold down some jobs. Once he would wander, because he wanted to get on with his life, he would get off his meds, schizophrenia would set in again. It's a vicious cycle.

For those that say where were you, they have no idea what I'd been through with Kelly and the trails and tribulations of dealing with somebody, working with someone with a mental illness such as his. It's a tremendous amount of work and effort. But you can tell certainly, by Kelly's last words, the relationship that we had. We were very, very close.

PHILLIPS: And he was calling for you. You were that one person he desperately wanted to come to his rescue. THOMAS: Absolutely.

PHILLIPS: You've addressed what you want to see members of law enforcement do, and that's better training on how to deal with someone who has a mental illness, to recognize it, to know how to handle a situation like that. What is your message to parents who -- and I have very good friends dealing with this, family members dealing with this. What is your message to someone who doesn't know what to do if they have a child struggling with this, and they won't take me medication, and they won't listen to mom or dad. You feel very helpless.

THOMAS: One of the best tools I had was get conservatorship. Your child has to consent to this. You need conservatorship. They no longer have a say in their treatment. That allowed me to do things with Kelly he didn't want to do. I had to get him in lockup facilities when I would find him in a park. He was so bad, and his health would be going down. I took him, put him in lockup facilities. He'd get better, back on meds, and he'd come home with me. They need to be so proactive. It's not easy. It's not easy at all. It takes an awful lot of work and effort, getting to psychiatrist, doctors visits, those kinds of things, get involved in organizations like NAMI, N-A-M-I. They can help you. They have resources.

With Kelly, I didn't know about any of these. I was handed a pamphlet by Orange County mental health way back when. It was basically, good luck. Didn't have a clue how to deal with it and I had to learn along the way. But today, there's a lot of help out there. So please do the research, get your loved ones the help they need. Never give up. It's not their fault. It's a mental disease. They can't help the way they act.

PHILLIPS: Ron Thomas, thanks for joining me today. We will stay close to this story and continue to follow all the rulings. Thank you so much.

THOMAS: Thank you, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: You bet.

A judge did rule just last week that there was enough evidence to bring the two officers charged with Kelly's death to trial. So their next court hearing is scheduled for May 22nd. We will definitely continue to follow this story and bring you all the details.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Who owns history? Not an easy question when politics are involved. Just ask CNN contributors Dana Loesch and Maria Cardona.

Ladies, whitehouse.gov grabbed our attention. Why? It appears biography of some presidents have been updated with a little twist. Just how similar is Obama to various presidents. Let's get straight to the bios, shall we? This is what we're talking about. If you go to the web site, you see a list of all the presidents on the left-hand side, almost all the presidents. You've got Franklin Roosevelt. It has his bio, things he did, things that may be controversial in your eyes. Then on the bottom, it says, on August 13th, President Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act. Today, the Obama administration continues to protect seniors and ensure it will be there for future generations.

"Fair Game" fact check. What do you think of the new additions to the bios? Maria?

MARIA CARDONA, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: I think they are totally fair. It's so interesting to me this has caused outrage in the conservative Twitterer and blogosphere. I wrote about faux anger on the GOP and conservatives and this exactly makes my point. I don't understand what they are so angry about. It's not like the White House went in and actually altered historical biography of presidents. It's on the White House web site. The White House web site is there to promote the president's policies, to educate what it is the president is doing for the American people. It's funny that conservatives are accusing Obama of wanting to distract from his record, what about this distraction? I don't blame them for not wanting to talk about Romney's failed record at Bain and as a governor in trying to create jobs. I guess this is politics as usual.

PHILLIPS: "Fair Game," Dana?

DANA LOESCH, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Speaking of Bain, decisions made by the top bungler, Republicans wouldn't have a problem with this if it was accurate, truthful. That's generous with how I'm describing it. For instance, Social Security is broke. It's been broke a long time. It's like that scene in "Dumber and Dumber," when you have Lloyd in the hotel room and they open the suitcase and it's full of IOUs, and he's like, look, this one is for $250,000.

(LAUGHTER)

You might want to keep this one. That's exactly what Social Security is like. It's broke. So to say this president is continuing that is a little disingenuous because they policies --

(CROSSTALK)

PHILLIPS: Let me ask you about Ronald Reagan. If you go to the web site, you can bring up Ronald Reagan and look at his flashy bio. And then you go down a little farther and it says, in a June 28th, 1985, speech, Reagan called for a fair tax code, one where a multi- millionaire did not have a lower tax rate than his secretary. Today, President Obama is calling for the same with the Buffett Rule.

"Fair Game," Maria?

CARDONA: Absolutely it is. And also what's interesting to me about this one is, if the Ronald Reagan of the '80s were running in the primary this season, he would be kicked out as a raging liberal. And I think that this is exactly the point.

PHILLIPS: Oh, my. CARDONA: And to point out that a lot of the policies that Republican presidents that are now darlings are exactly the same policies President Obama is trying to promote. Guess what? President Obama is President Obama, so the conservatives in the GOP can't agree with a thing he puts forward regardless of the fact that it has been either something that presidents in the past have promoted or that it has been policies that the GOP historically have promoted. So, again, faux anger at its best. And this is why Americans are so frustrated with Washington.

PHILLIPS: Dana, does Obama deserve a little amendment at the bottom of Reagan's bio?

LOESCH: I think you need to take it off. Again, it's completely inaccurate. If anyone thinks Ronald Reagan was for the Buffett Rule as Barack Obama is, then they don't know Ronald Reagan on economics. Here is a big difference. Barack Obama is talking about complicating the tax code and raising taxes whereas Ronald Reagan, in that 1985 speech, this is what they don't tell you on the White House website. He actually said, quote, "We should have flatter and lower taxes because that's going to inspire Americans to have confidence in the future." That's completely antithetical to what Barack Obama is talking about with the Buffett Rule. Barack Obama is talking about closing loopholes to offset -- not to offset lower taxation but to give him more money to invest in companies like Solyndra. Ronald Reagan talked about closing loopholes so people could keep more of their money. Also, Barack Obama wants to raise tacks on capital gains and dividends, the very things small businesses use to hire workers and pay for necessities. It's a business killer. That's not what Ronald Reagan stood for. And Barack Obama should remove it.

PHILLIPS: All right, Ladies --

(CROSSTALK)

CARDONA: Ronald Reagan raised taxes 16 times. You're right, it's not accurate. And Obama certainly has lowered taxes --

(CROSSTALK)

LOESCH: He was against socialized health care. He was against gutting Medicare and all the things Barack Obama is for. We could go on and on.

(CROSSTALK)

CARDONA: You can go to the web site.

(CROSSTALK)

LOESCH: It's not Reaganomics though.

(LAUGHTER)

Ronald Reagan wanted to un-complicate the tax code.

CARDONA: And Republicans are the ones that wanted --

PHILLIPS: Ladies --

(CROSSTALK)

CARDONA: The individual mandate in health care.

PHILLIPS: I love it.

CARDONA: There you go.

PHILLIPS: I guess we could talk about every president.

(CROSSTALK)

PHILLIPS: Next time, we'll go to the whole web site.

As I let you go --

(LAUGHTER)

-- we have to bring up the parity that Republicans are doing because of the web site. This is funny. You have to see their comeback. Obama with Einstein and Bill Gates in the early days of Microsoft.

Do we have that image? Oh, we were supposed to have that image. Gosh darn it. All right, guys, never mind.

(CROSSTALK)

PHILLIPS: I guess you're going to have to go online and see it. We'll have to go see it.

CARDONA: Exactly.

PHILLIPS: Thank you, Ladies. That's "Fair Game."

CARDONA: Thank you.

LOESCH: Thank you, Kyra.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: OK. This just into CNN. We're learning that the official cause of the death of Mary Kennedy, the wife of Robert Kennedy Jr, who was found dead yesterday -- apparently, the Westchester County medical examiner has completed the autopsy, ruled that she died from asphyxiation due to hanging. And as you know, "The New York Times" has been reporting that she died by suicide in the barn, there on the family compound. Now we are learning, according to the autopsy report coming to us now, they have declared her death asphyxiation by hanging. We will continue to cover the story.

Paul Rusconi is a single dad in California will never take that fact for granted. He has just come through a huge nightmare that started almost a year ago, his own relatives accusing him of molesting his twin daughters. Their evidence? A bath-time photograph that he believes never would have been questioned if he were straight.

Reporter David Begno of CNN affiliate, KTLA, has the exclusive.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RUSCONI, FATHER ACCUSED OF MOLESTING DAUGHTERS: I cried.

DAVID BEGNO, CORRESPONDENT, KTLA: Paul Rusconi got the phone call he has been waiting 11 months to get.

RUSCONI: It's just a relief. Pressure valve, I think was released that I didn't even know existed.

BEGNO: The cloud of suspicion that's been hanging over him since his arrest in June of 2011 has been nothing less than a living hell.

RUSCONI: It's just nice not to have that looming over your head. When people Google your name, they'll find other things.

BEGNO: Of there is a Google headline to be made, it is sweet vindication.

RUSCONI: Initially, these family members said I had raped my children.

BEGNO: The accusers were distant relatives, the nanny who took care of his two twin daughters and her husband. Together, they accused him of rape based upon photos this acclaimed artist who shot everyone from political figures to celebrities took of himself with his daughters in a bathtub.

RUSCONI: I was just enraged that these people actually could do this.

BEGNO: Paul believes his situation as a single father made him vulnerable to the suspicions of others.

RUSCONI: I think gave them a lot of leeway to say that I shouldn't be taking pictures of naked kids in the bath, regardless of them being my own or not.

BEGNO: Rusconi believes the malicious accusations may have been motivated by the fact that he is gay.

RUSCONI: They called me a social deviant and a pervert, and that all stemming from my sexuality.

BEGNO: The day he was arrested his two daughters, Blaze and Zela, who he had with the help of an egg donor and surrogate, were taken from him and given to the accusers.

RUSCONI: They were given the children.

BEGNO: The accusers convinced authorities they were the best caretakers for the girls. But that did not last long. Within six months after a rape kit came back negative and prosecutors seemed unconvinced by the allegation, Paul got his girls back. UNIDENTIFIED GIRL: Daddy!

RUSCONI: What do you have? Hi.

UNIDENTIFIED GIRL: Hi, daddy.

BEGNO: I don't have to tell you how much these little girls love their dad.

RUSCONI: I think this has made me a better parent. My circle is much tighter. The people who I let into my life is much tighter. And I intend on keeping it that way.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: And that was David Begno from KTLA in Los Angeles. Paul says he can't talk about his lawsuit against his accusers, but that aside, he feels justice has been served.

Thanks for watching, everyone. You can continue the conversation with me on Twitter, @KyraCNN, and on Facebook.

CNN NEWSROOM continues now with Suzanne Malveaux.