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Syrian Village Massacre Confirmed; Pope's Butler Arrested; Tsunami Debris in Alaska; Etan Patz Suspect Charged; 85 People Dead in Syrian Village
Aired May 26, 2012 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ALINA CHO, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, everybody. Glad you're with us. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Alina Cho, in tonight for Don Lemon.
We begin with the case of Etan Patz. That's a 6-year-old boy who disappeared from a New York street corner 33 years ago this week. A man named Pedro Hernandez has been charged with second degree murder in the case but that's not the end of it. In fact, investigators are in the unusual position of trying to prove that Hernandez did what he said he did.
Our Susan Candiotti has been tracking the case for us.
Susan, there are so many people, and I was surprised by this, who confess to crimes they don't commit for one reason or another. So with no physical evidence in this case and no motive, at least no stated one, why did police believe they had their man finally after all this time?
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good question.
Police insist, though, that his three and a half hour long videotaped confession was very credible and they are also convinced by family members that they spoke with as well as others who said that Pedro Hernandez also confessed to him.
But, look, in the past people have indeed admitted to crimes that they didn't commit. I covered the case of JonBenet Ramsey when a man by the name of John Mark Karr said that he killed that little girl. And at the time, police sources told me absolutely this man is very credible. Well, in the end, his story fell apart. So sometimes that does happen.
CHO: And remember, and I think we should remind our viewers, there was another man who actually confessed to this crime and actually was found in civil court to be responsible. There was a $2 million fine, which he never paid, but nonetheless, it makes this case very complicated.
Now, I talked about that physical evidence. There's a big problem if there is no body. If it is indeed true that Etan Patz's body was thrown in the trash, you know, I was reading, one person said this renders the haystack too big and the needle probably gone for good -- meaning, they'll probably never find the body. So, having said that is it possible that police have some key information, or key evidence that they're not telling us about?
CANDIOTTI: Alina, it's entirely possible. We don't know exactly what Hernandez said to police during his alleged confession to them, when he made claims he lured the little boy into the basement of that convenience store when Hernandez himself was only 19 years old. Police might be holding something back. We don't know exactly what he said, so it's far to early to say whether this will really go to trial.
CHO: Yes, I think we need to remind people that at this juncture, the confession really is the beginning of what is now a new investigation into the case.
Now, what I found interesting is that Hernandez has no criminal record. His own attorney of course is raising a lot of questions now about his mental health given that he was at Bellevue Hospital. How does this complicate matters?
CANDIOTTI: Well, it certainly does. He was put on suicide watch on Friday at that hospital, and also his defense attorney acknowledged in court that his client has a long history of mental illness, that he is bipolar, is schizophrenic and suffers from hallucinations, and that is why a judge has ordered a full psychiatric evaluation to see whether Hernandez is competent to stand trial.
And also, as you indicated, there's that 2001 civil ruling that said that another man unrelated to this case is responsible for the death of Etan Patz. So, if this actually goes to trial, these are a lot of matters that could complicate this whole case for a jury that is trying to decide this man's guilt or innocence.
CHO: Absolutely right. All right. Susan Candiotti, watching it all for us from New York. Susan, thank you very much.
We're moving to Portland, Oregon, now, where police have not filed charges against a mother who they say abandoned her own three children in a shed. The kids were found on Thursday behind an abandoned home. An intense search for mom followed and sure enough police tracked her down but they've not arrested her. The kids all under the age of 3 are healthy, said to be doing well tonight. They are in protective custody, and they will be the focus of a custody hearing on Tuesday.
We have some breaking news to tell you about tonight. United Nations observers, unarmed and working in Syria, made a horrific discovery today.
The bodies of 85 people, civilian men, women and children. Witnesses say Syrian forces shelled the village of Houla and afterwards began killing dozens of people, entire families and many children. They called it a massacre.
A short time ago, I talked with CNN's Mohammed Jamjoom reporting from neighboring Lebanon. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MOHAMMED JAMJOOM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A Syrian opposition activist told us today that they are begging the international community for their help, for their intervention after this barbaric massacre -- that's what they're calling it that happened yesterday in the town of Houla, which is in the Homs province. They described intense shelling, mortars raining down on that town. And then as you mentioned, they said the pro-regime militias went in and started indiscriminately slaughtering men, women and children.
We've seen horrific, very gruesome, very disturbing videos today. We can't authenticate those videos. But certainly, what we've heard from opposition activists, corroborate what we've seen on these videos, women and children in blankets, on the floors for rooms in houses. We've seen horrible videos of children in which they appeared that their heads have been bashed and their lifeless bodies strewn across floors in these houses. It's just absolutely horrifying.
Now, we know now that those U.N. monitors that are in Syria, that some of them are in the town of Houla, that they are gathering information. We've seen video of one of them looking at some the bodies there.
And we heard a little earlier from General Robert Mood. He's the head of the Syrian mission in Syria, he spoke about that massacre. Here's more of what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAJ. GEN. ROBERT WOOD, U.N. OBSERVER MISSION COMMANDER: The death of 32 innocent children, also women and men, but in particular the children, that is unacceptable attack on the future and on the aspirations of the Syrian people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHO: That is Mohammed Jamjoom reporting from Lebanon. Top U.N. officials called the massacre a brutal violation of international law. British diplomats want an emergency session of the U.N. Security Council and a full account of what happened.
To Italy now. The butler did it. That's what Italian police believe happened after the pope's butler was arrested for allegedly leaking secret documents to the media. It's just an unbelievable story.
Listen to this: Pablo Gabriele is one of a few in the Pope Benedict's inner circle. The documents were leaked to an Italian journalist and appear in a book which is now a best seller.
Senior Vatican analyst John Allen says this is a huge embarrassment for the Vatican.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN ALLEN, SR. VATICAN ANALYST: The problem for the Vatican isn't so much the content of these documents. They've had fairly good luck knocking some of that down. The problem is these are all real highly confidential documents which apparently have been leaked by somebody who has the closest access possible to the right hand of the hope.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: Certainly something you don't see everyday. Gabriele has worked as the pope's butler since 2006 and he's worked as the pope's butler to 2006 and is one of only a few to have access to the pope's private desk.
Unofficial results were in for the first free presidential elections in Egypt's 5,000-year history. And it appears that Mohammed Morsi, on the left there, member of the Muslim Brotherhood and an Islamist, will be in a run-off against the man on the right. That's Ahmed Shafiq, a member of the old Mubarak regime. He was once prime minister. The results come from an Egyptian newspaper 60 percent of the vote said to be in.
Former President Jimmy carter has been in Cairo to observe the two-day election.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIMMY CARTER, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT (via telephone): I'm thinking it's been OK. The people and all of the opposition candidates seem to agree that the election has been orderly. And that the people's will has not been subverted by any outside forces.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: The official count is expected next week. The runoff by the way is scheduled for June 16th and 17th.
Well, it's official -- outer space will never be the same. An astronaut at the International Space Station has entered a spacecraft that was made by a private company, not the government.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MISSION CONTROL: This is mission control Houston, official hatch opening time for the SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft, 4:53 a.m. Central Time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: You're looking at history in the making. Astronaut Don Pettit entered Dragon. That's the name of the space capsule created by California company, SpaceX. By Pettit said it was, quote, "like a smell of a brand new car."
Dragon is delivering over 1,000 pounds of cargo over the next couple of days, in five days time. The capsule is supposed to fall into the Pacific Ocean over California and bring back used gear and trash.
A 9/11 widow known for advocating for victims of the tragedy has died. She is Sandy Dahl. She was the wife of Jason Dahl, who was a pilot on United flight 93, whose passengers it's believed, stop the plot the plane into the U.S. Capitol. Mrs. Dahl set up a scholarship fund in her husband's name, for student pilot. Sandy Dahl was just 52 years old.
The vice president bestows a unique title on this year's graduates of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.
And get a load of this, debris from last year's tsunami disaster now piling up on the shores of Alaska. It's creating a massive mess and raising fears of contamination. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHO: Thirteen minutes after the hour.
Vice President Joe Biden delivered the commencement address today at the U.S. military academy at West Point. Biden praised the cadets for their willingness to serve their country in this post-9/11 world.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Most of you were in elementary school on September 11th, 2001 when your nation was attacked -- old enough to remember, perhaps, but young enough that that tragic day need not have shaped your lives. But for so many of you, it did just that. As you and your immediate predecessors came of age, 2,800,000 were moved join our military.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: Biden said the 9/11 generation will go down in history as the finest this nation has ever produced.
While disagreements over politics are as American as baseball and apple pie, so what better place to talk about the 2012 presidential race than at a ball game.
That's exactly where our Ed Lavandera did. He went to a Minor League Game and talked to fans about whether the candidates are hitting home runs or striking out.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Welcome to the Cats. Thank you all for coming.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's opening night at LaGrave field, home of the Minor League Fort Worth Cats, the team that brought America's pastime to this park in 1888, Grover Cleveland was president. This is where young ball players come chasing Big League dreams and Big League castoffs try to hold on a last bit of baseball glory. It's a fitting place to talk about the hopes and dreams of Americans.
(NATIONAL ANTHEM)
LAVANDERA: And to talk politics, getting the pulse of voters about the 2012 presidential election. In the first inning, I find Michael Kelly.
And it's clear, when you come to a baseball game to talk politics, you're the most annoying fan in the stadium.
(on camera): We're six months away from the next presidential election.
(LAUGHTER)
LAVANDERA: Why does that make you laugh?
MICHAEL KELLY, TRUCK DRIVER-: You have to ruin my night.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): Kelly drives delivery trucks for a food vendor, he's on medical leave, worries about Social Security and health care issues the most, but doesn't think politicians can fix either.
KELLY: What's so united about United States? You've got the Republicans, you've got the Democrats. They're not working together. They're like those two wheels on the road, one's pulling this way, one's pulling that way. You never go get anywhere, pulling against each other. United we need to be.
LAVANDERA (on camera): Is that frustrating for a guy like you?
KELLY: Yes, yes.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): By the time we finished, the Cats are tied 2-2.
We stumble across Carmela Rowe and Roxana Olson in the third inning.
(on camera): Do you guys talk politics a lot?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Never.
LAVANDERA: Never.
(voice-over): Carmela is a hardcore Democrat, Roxana a Republican. And this is just about to get interesting.
(on camera): Are they talking about the things that you want to hear?
CARMELA ROWE, TEACHER: No. They're talking about stupid (EXPLETIVE DELETED) that doesn't matter to gets some votes. LAVANDERA (voice-over): Roxana agrees and says Obama is the worst violator, too focused on gay marriage.
ROXANA OLSON, REPUBLICAN VOTER: He's talking about gay marriage and he's a Christian. So, tell me about bending rules.
ROWE: And I'm gay.
OLSON: I'm your friend so I don't mind.
ROWE: Does that make me a non-Christian?
OLSON: I would break with my church before I break with you.
ROWE: Way to break up a friendship.
(LAUGHTER)
LAVANDERA: I feel like Dr. Phil. Now you have something to talk about for the next six innings.
(voice-over): The Fort Worth Cats are now up 4-2, and we're going to leave these friends alone.
In the top of the seventh, Bob Kempsell and his family are enjoying their night at the ballpark. He works in the energy industry and served in the navy, and he's not a fan of President Obama.
(on camera): Are you a Romney guy?
BOB KEMPSELL, NAVY VETERAN: I'm a conservative guy.
LAVANDERA: You're conservative?
KEMPSELL: Yes.
LAVANDERA: Do you like your choices?
KEMPSELL: I wish we were stronger but I like my choices.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): Bob says President Obama represents big government and out-of-control spending. But one question weighs on him the most.
(on camera): Do you think you were better off four years ago?
KEMPSELL: Absolutely.
LAVANDERA: You were?
KEMPSELL: Absolutely I was. And the big thing four years ago, I wasn't worried about tomorrow. I wasn't worried about me getting laid off.
LAVANDERA (on camera): As we hit the seventh inning stretch, the Cats are holding on to their lead and we found Craig Newmark and Jonniece Courtney, Craig leans libertarian, Jonniece teaches fifth grade social studies and has turned off by politicians.
(on camera): Do you feel like politicians are paying enough attention or have the right answers for education?
JONNIECE COURTNEY, TEACHER: No, because most politicians have never been in education. They just don't understand education.
LAVANDERA: So if it's Romney and Obama in November, who are you picking?
(LAUGHTER)
CRAIG NEWMARK, LIBERTARIAN VOTER: It's unfortunate there's only two, but --
COURTNEY: I'll go for Obama.
NEWMARK: I guess I would have to.
LAVANDERA: But you guys don't sound gang busters about that choice.
NEWMARK: No. Would it be nice to say that he's the lesser of two evils, you know? If you want to look at -- I guess it's sad, I guess the state of our politics is that you want to pick the person who will do the least amount of damage.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): In the bottom of the seventh, one of the Fort Worth Cats hits a three-run homer, to make it 10-2. And in a tradition you'll only find in Minor League baseball, users pass around hats and buckets collecting donations for the fledgling slugger. That's the kind of economic stimulus all these fans can agree on.
Ed Lavandera, CNN, Fort Worth, Texas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHO: Ed Lavandera will do just about anything to go to a ball game. Great story, Ed.
Well, coming up, he doesn't exactly spark the word fashionable. So, why is the head of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, on the cover of Italian "Vogue"?
And we want all of you to stay connected to CNN, even when you're on the go. So, grab your mobile phone, go to CNN.com/TV. If you're on a desktop or laptop, you can also watch CNN live.
We're back after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHO: All right. Something that really got my attention lately, the world's fashion bible -- we're talking about "Vogue" -- got very serious about world politics of its latest issue, and put a 67-year- old man where you would normally see a glamorous fashion model or celebrity. I'm talking about the Italian men's version of "Vogue" magazine.
On the May-June cover, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki- moon, many people thought it was a joke. I did at first and I wondered why he did it, so I asked him.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHO (voice-over): Lady Gaga, Uma Thurman, Nicole Kidman, Ban Ki- Moon?
Wait a minute. Is that the U.N. secretary general on the cover of Italian men's "Vogue"? It is.
BAN KI-MOON, U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL: As you can see me, I don't have much passion for fashion, but I have a passion for Africa.
CHO: Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has made Africa his number one priority, with the goal of saving 16 million lives by 2015. Italian men's "Vogue" devoted its entire May/June issue to rebranding Africa, which is how the UNSG landed on the cover. Inside, a lengthy interview and a full spread of photos, including ones with his wife and granddaughter, many of them taken at his home.
(on camera): The photo shoot was quite intense.
BAN: That's right.
CHO: Tell me what this was like.
BAN: You see, I'm not accustomed to this kind of a photo shoot, a little bit awkward.
CHO (voice-over): But in his words, important.
BAN: Magazines like "Vogue," they have great reaching power, global reaching power.
CHO (on camera): Were you happy with the photos?
BAN: Yes, I'm happy. I'm very much honored.
CHO (voice-over): Secretary General Ban is not the first dignitary to grace the cover of Italian men's "Vogue". Nelson Mandela and Al Gore have also posed for the pages.
Franca Sozzani is "Vogue Italia's" editor-in-chief.
Sozzani says the magazine is about much more than fashion. She interviewed the secretary general and admits she was nervous.
FRANCA SOZZANI, EDITOR IN CHIEF, VOGUE ITALIA: I really prepare myself. I couldn't come and just say hello, here is "Vogue", good quality, fantastic image, you be on the cover. It's so fantastic. It's a different approach.
CHO: Secretary General Ban said he'd do it again. That cast on his left hand, a soccer injury. Yes, he plays soccer, too.
He's on the road more than a week a month and is serving out his second and final five-year term.
(on camera): And then what?
BAN: Retirement.
CHO (voice-over): Who knows? He could have a future in fashion.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHO: You never know. Stranger things have happened.
So are we seeing a softer side of Ban Ki-moon? Maybe. His spokesman says a big reason he decided to do this is because there's a big conference in Rio next month on global advancement, and the secretary general thought this would be a great way to highlight what he hopes to accomplish in Africa.
As for that minor fracture on this left hand, well, I asked when he'd be back on the soccer field again and when I said, "in a month?" He said, well, maybe two.
Far from home -- debris from year's tsunami in Japan is washing ashore in Alaska and it's raising fears of contamination and radiation.
But first, the CDC says one in 10 children in the United States is diagnosed ADHD every year, and many times, teachers are actually the first to suggest there maybe a problem.
CNN education contributor Steve Perry weighs in.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STEVE PERRY, CNN EDUCATION CONTRIBUTOR: Parents, when a teacher comes to you and says that they think your child has ADD or ADHD, you must ask questions. For instance, ask questions about the child's behavior. What exactly is he or she doing that makes you feel this way? And make sure that they explain it to you in full.
Ask questions about the strategies that are being used in the classroom. What are you doing when he does this or when she does that? How do you respond? How does it relate to the rest of the class? Help me understand the age appropriateness for this behavior. Is it consistent with what a 5, 6, 7-year-old boy or girl do?
Then consult your pediatrician. Your pediatrician is only going to have the information that we the educators gave. So you have to be on top of this as a parent. You can't just allow what we say in the classroom and what an educated guess from a pediatrician says to determine what is going to happen with your child.
ADD and ADHD often come not just with a label, but with medication, and not every child responds really well to that. (END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHO: Half past the hour now. Time to get a look at the headlines. U.N. monitors now confirm that 85 people, 34 of them children were killed overnight in one Syrian village. Witnesses say they were killed by artillery fire and by soldiers who went house to house targeting entire families. We're told all of those children killed were under the age of 10.
A huge embarrassment for the Vatican. Pope Benedict's butler has been arrested for allegedly leaking secret Vatican documents to the media. His name is Paolo Gabriele and he's one of only a few in the Pope's inner circle. The documents were apparently leaked to an Italian journalist who now appear in a new book which has become a best seller. Gabriele is one of the handful to have access to the Pope's private desk.
For the first time ever a private space craft has linked up with the International Space Station. Astronauts at the space station have entered the Dragon, that's the name of the space capsule that was made by the private California company called SpaceX. Dragon is delivering 1,000 pounds of supplies over the next few days. The space craft was unmanned but of course the hope was to send astronauts along with supplies in the future.
Evacuations are in effect in parts of Colorado tonight because of a massive wild fire. It's one of the latest fires to spring up in the west this week. California, Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico all battling blazes tonight. Thousands upon thousands of acres have been scorched. Fire crews were up against gusty winds and extremely dry conditions.
Well, some people are already experiencing some dangerous weather this holiday weekend. We have a live look out of Jacksonville, Florida tonight. Look at that, it's been just a day at the beach for some surfers and swimmers there, but some tense moments in the surf today. Meteorologist Jacqui Jeras has a look at some of the dangers. A lot of people had to be rescued from the surf, didn't they?
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, they did. It's a hidden danger that's out there. Because it looks beautiful, you take a look at that picture, you think everything is hunky dory but we've got a subtropical system that's off the coast and that's creating some strong rip currents. Take a look at the video that we have for you. This is from our affiliate out of Jacksonville area and at lease 30 people were rescued off the coast of Georgia and we have more than a dozen others that were rescued off the Florida coast in the (INAUDIBLE) county and also up towards Jacksonville.
And that is going to be sticking with us through the weekend and it is kind of deceiving because the storm way out here is more than 200 miles away from the coast. The maximum winds are 45 miles per hour but they're far away from the coast as well so you won't be feeling the impacts until it starts to pick up some forward speed and we think we could see land fall this late tomorrow and into Monday. But it's going to slow down and make a curve back up to the right. So when we see things like that happen, it means that the rain is going to be very heavy. So can see anywhere between three and six inches of rainfall, and the heaviest (INAUDIBLE) from this storm especially in the northern Florida, in the southern Georgia, this part of the country actually really needs that rainfall. So it's not all terrible news. It's a relatively weak storm, so play it safe and you'll be OK this weekend. Just go to the pool instead of the water of the ocean.
We also have some severe thunderstorms that we're tracking across parts of the northeast. A severe thunderstorm watch which includes New York City and those storms are just pushing into Philadelphia as we speak. So be aware of that tonight. We've got delays of over an hour at Newark and Philadelphia as well because of those thunderstorms. And keep in mind that we'll see a few more storms tomorrow, but primarily the upper midwest will be our focus for wide spread organized severe storms from Minnesota down to the plain states and that will be your case through your Memorial Day as well.
We got a couple of threats out there, a lot of heat though across the east too, Alina. A lot of people looking for a little wet weather.
CHO: You know, I landed in Atlanta last night at about 9:30, it felt like 90 degrees outside.
JERAS: Weather you can wear we call it. So humid.
CHO: It's humid in New York, too. All right. Jacqui, thanks so much.
Well, it looks like Japan's earthquake and tsunami 14 months ago is making quite an impact on American shores. Environmentalist say debris from the catastrophe is now showing up in (INAUDIBLE) Alaska.
CNN's Casey Wian has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to cut - hopefully cut cross the middle of (INAUDIBLE) island to the outside on the gulf of the Alaska Coast and that's where a great deal of the tsunami debris has already come up.
CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Nearly 4,000 miles from Fukushima, Japan is (INAUDIBLE) island, Alaska, reachable only by helicopter or boat.
CHRIS PALLISTER, PRESIDENT, GULF OF ALASKA KEEPER: We're out here on a very remote wilderness, as much wilderness as anywhere in the United States and we're sitting in a landfill.
This shore is facing away from Japan actually, but the way the currents and the winds work, it swirls it around and dumps it in here.
The influx the tsunami debris really concerns us mostly because of the amount of Styrofoam that's coming with it and also the toxic chemicals that are coming. We think they're going to have a really detrimental impact on the environment out here, long term.
WIAN: Chris Pallister has been cleaning marine debris here for 15 years. Now that task is becoming next to impossible.
PALLISTER: This is a urethane spray and building foam and we just never got much of that before and now if you walk up and down this beach you will big chunks, (INAUDIBLE) down this beach. That came out of crushed building structures. I've seen pictures of story jars in Japan, huge yards, acres of these things stacked up before the tsunami, those yards are empty now and this is where they all are . I've never seen a big yellow one like this. Pretty big. Little bits of Styrofoam all up and down this beach. Billions of pieces of it. The other thing is, albatross and sea birds eat this stuff like crazy and it's killing the hell out of them. A big chunk of Styrofoam just brushed in here.
WIAN: Just on the first wave of tsunami debris to arrive on U.S. shores have found no abnormal levels of radiation. Still, much of it is toxic.
PALLISTER: I have know idea what was in this. Germicidal boat cleanser. That's not something you would want to dump in your herring or salmon spawning area.
This is going to take years to clean this mess up.
I think this is the leading edge of the tsunami debris without a doubt. It's all the lightweight item stuff that blew across the Pacific very quickly. I think we're looking at years of stuff, the heavier stuff coming progressively later.
WIAN (on camera): We're in a slightly less remote area of Alaska, near the fishing village of (INAUDIBLE) and near here across this channel of water, you can see some of the debris that we've collected very similar to what's on Montague Island. At this point no one knows for certain how this debris is going to get cleaned off these beaches, where it is going to go and who's going to pay for it. And most importantly, no one knows what else lurks out there in the Pacific that's heading this way.
Casey Wian, CNN, on the southeastern coast of Alaska.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHO: And then there's this. A rather personal item from Japan has washed up on the shores of British Columbia. Its owner was tracked down but he doesn't want it back. How it's being preserved, right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHO: All right. Right before the break we were showing you all of the debris from the Japan tsunami that's washing ashore along the northern west coast especially in Alaska. Included in that debris is a find that's just - well, jaw-dropping. Take a look at this. It's a Harley Davidson that washed ashore in British Columbia. After tracking the license plate, it turns out that the bike belonged to a man in Japan. Harley contacted the owner and he's now living in a shelter so he doesn't feel he could use the bike so he wants it to be preserved. Now that bike will head to the Harley Museum in Milwaukee as a memorial to all those who died in the tsunami disaster.
Well, they have made the ultimate sacrifice. Their loved one gave their lives for their country and now the families have to cope with the loss. So an annual camp aims to help those who are grieving. CNN's Athena Jones reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is the Good Grief Camp. Eleven year old Caleb lost his father Air Force Captain, (INAUDIBLE) Durham in a helicopter accident in Italy four and a half years ago. Caleb and his brother, Christian are joining 1,200 children, parents and other families of fallen service members as part of an event sponsored by the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors or TAPS.
The Durham family looks forward to it each year.
MEKA DURHAM, LOST HUSBAND IN 2007: I brought my kids five months after my husband died because I wanted them to know they were not the only kids who had lost a parent either mother or father in the military. And I wanted them to know that there's a place they could go where they can feel normal and where they feel like they don't have to always talk about what happened. We're all here for the same reason.
JONES: TAPS has been bringing survivors together on Memorial Day Weekend since 1994. With grief seminars for the adults and the day camp for the kids.
BONNIE CARROLL, TAPS PRESIDENT AND FOUNDER: Grief is not a mental illness. Grief is not a physical injury. Grief is a wound of the heart and the absolute most therapeutic comfort for someone who is grieving the loss of a loved one is to talk with another young widow who was pregnant at the time of the loss, a mom who is grieving the loss of her only child.
JONES (on camera): What does this weekend mean to you?
What does it mean to you?
CALEB DURHAM, LOST FATHER IN 2007: That even though your parent or your husband or wife died, you can still have fun. And that's I think that's what this camp is for.
JONES (voice-over): Caleb is paired with mentor Louis Iverson for the second year. Louis served in the Air Force.
SR. AIRMAN LOUIS IVERSON, U.S. AIR FORCE: Just because they've lost a loved one it doesn't mean that we, as a military group, has just forgotten about them.
JONES: They also spend time with other children who know what it's like to lose a parent or sibling. Caleb first met his friend, Hunter Youngblood (ph) here four years ago.
For families like the Durhams, this weekend is an important reminder, they're not alone.
MEKA DURHAM: Just having the sense of belonging when we're here, knowing that we don't have to always talk about our situation is understood here. But we can talk about it and we can laugh and we can smile. But at the same time you talk about them in the past tense and that's what makes it more painful.
JONES: Athena Jones, CNN, Arlington, Virginia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHO: A young girl learns the truth about her past and exactly how her father died. It was a horrible death. We're going to tell you why he was thrown out of a plane, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHO: Well, the words themselves are enough to give you the chills. Death flights. Throwing prisoners who are still alive from an airplane into the ocean. And as one woman just learned, it's how her father was killed. CNN's Rafael Romo has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RAFAEL ROMO, CNN SENIOR LATIN AMERICA AFFAIRS EDITOR (voice- over): It took more than three and a half decades, but Victoria Montenegro finally knows where the remains of her father are. And this has allowed her to finally find a painful part of her own family story. She was raised by a military couple, not knowing they weren't her biological family.
VICTORIA MONTENEGRO, DAUGHTER OF MISSING PARENTS (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): It took me several years to assimilate my new identity and find peace about my true background. The man who raised me had told me that my parents had died in a shootout that happened in a Buenos Aires neighborhood (INAUDIBLE) in 1976.
ROMO: Her father Roque Hernando Montenegro was 20 years old when he went missing. It was 1976. The so-called dirty war in Argentina was only beginning and liberals like her parents were the primary targets of the new military regime. With help from the Argentine team of forensic anthropology, Montenegro has learned that her father was held for several months by the military as a political prisoner.
MONTENEGRO (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): The only truth is the one I found out after the investigation conducted by the forensic team which confirmed that my parents were held captive for several months and that my father was the victim of the death flights. ROMO: The so-called death flights involve throwing political prisoners alive into the sea from military airplanes. Montenegro's body probably washed ashore on the Uruguayan coast. The remains were found in a nameless grave and DNA proved the connection to Victoria Montenegro.
CARLOS SOMLIGLIANA, ARGENTINE FORENSIC ANTHROPOLOGIST (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): It is true but unfortunately we won't be able to identify many people. Death flights were a perverse mechanism which was sadly very efficient in disappearing people. But like Victoria said, miracles do happen and there could be other miracles.
ROMO (on camera): Thousands upon thousands of people whose relatives went missing during the dirty war are still waiting for an answer. At least 13,000 people were killed or went missing during Argentina's dictatorship.
(voice-over): But only some 700 bodies have been found. An organization known as the Godmothers of Mayor Square has been working for decades to help children whose parents disappeared, learned the truth about their past. Montenegro was one of those children.
ESTELA DE CARLOTTO, GODMOTHERS OF MAYO SQUARE (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): She feels mixed emotions. On the one hand the sorrow of only being able to hug remains of her father. At least now she know where he is, but her mother is still missing.
ROMO: Victoria Montenegro says seeking the truth about her origins has been a slow and painful process, but she still hopes to learn one day what truly happened to her mother.
Rafael Romo, CNN, (INAUDIBLE).
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHO: Well, this is the kind every story we wish could bring you every day. A young girl who lost her hearing as an infant, breaks down and cries when she's finally able to hear again. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. You can cry. It's OK.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: Can you imagine? For Sammie Hicks, it was just overwhelming. We're going to bring you here story next.
And we want all of you viewers to stay connected to CNN even when you're on the go. So grab your mobile phone and go to cnn.com/tv. Or if you're on a desktop or a laptop, you can also watch CNN live.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHO: Well, imagine if you were deaf and suddenly able to hear again. That's exactly what happened to a 10-year-old girl. And you just won't believe her reaction. You have to see it to believe it. Sammie Hicks was born with a genetic mutation in her ears. Her hearing faded away when she was just a toddler. But recently she got a cochlear implant and the cameras were rolling at the exact moment she could hear.
Jason Whitely from our Dallas affiliate WFAA has her incredible story.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JASON WHITELY, REPORTER, WFAA (voice-over): It is a noisy world we live in.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because I'm taking it!
WHITELY: One Sammie Hicks is slowly getting used to hearing.
JEN HICKS, MOTHER: She doesn't want anything, anything to hold her back, which is great.
WHITELY: Sammie was born with a genetic mutation in her ears. Fitted with hearing aids at 19 months, then learned to read lips after what was left of her hearing finally faded.
SAMMIE HICKS, DEAF REGAINS HEARING: I hope they learn that just because you're different, you can't go and do it like most of the other deaf people.
WHITELY: That's one reason Sammie started a video diary. When insurance agreed to buy her a cochlear implant, a bionic ear of sorts. She wanted friends and family to understand her struggle firsthand.
SAMMIE HICKS: I'm excited for it. Still nervous.
WHITELY: Surgery was simple. What happened next, though, was heartbreaking. Watch Sammie jump when the audiologist activates the implant. Then the first thing she hears? Herself. Breathing.
SAMMIE HICKS: Hey, I sound -
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're hearing yourself better.
WHITELY: Exciting.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She's hearing herself breathing and I don't think she realize -
WHITELY: Yet emotional.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. You can cry. It's OK.
SAMMIE HICKS: I started to cry. Because it was overwhelming. I had no idea what the sounds were.
JEN HICKS: My heart just stopped. I just - it's - I can't really put it into words, what it felt like, watching her hear those little things that we never thought she'd be able to hear.
BRIAN HICKS, SAMMIE'S FATHER: I asked her why she cried. And she said, well, it was overwhelming. But the reason I really cried is because I can't believe all the stuff I was missing.
WHITELY: No one really knows what Sammie's life sounds like now.
SAMMIE HICKS: The teacher sounded like a robot. Like every voice does.
WHITELY: But it is louder than ever before.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ah.
WHITELY (on camera): Cochlear implants are not cheap. The device is about $27,000. But add surgery and therapy, and it can cost more than $120,000. Just to provide access to sound. Each patient will then progress differently with the devices.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is what she has. Inside of this portion of it --
WHITELY (voice-over): It does what her ears cannot.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Inside of your inner ear there are millions of little microscopic hairs that turn the nerves on and off in very simple form. And what a cochlear implant is trying to do is it's replacing those hairs.
SAMMIE HICKS: What kind of hearing -
WHITELY: Absorbing so many sounds now is exhausting for this 10- year-old. But already Sammie has adapted, improved her speech, and still adds to that video diary.
SAMMIE HICKS: It's not what I was expecting.
WHITELY: Hoping it helps others appreciate.
SAMMIE HICKS: That's all I have to say.
WHITELY: What so many take for granted.
SAMMIE HICKS: Bye-bye.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: What a great story. One of the biggest adjustments Sammie's parents have had to make, they say they now have to go to another room when they want to talk about her. Sammie's younger brother Jacob, by the way, is also hearing impaired. He just received his cochlear implant this month. And on June 7th doctors are going to turn it on.
A beautiful picture now that we want to show you from San Francisco. It's moving day for the "USS Iowa." It's getting a new home and a new career. I'll explain next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHO: A museum on the move that we want to tell you about. After bad weather delays last week, the "USS Iowa" is finally on its way from San Francisco to Southern California. The retired battleship will actually open later as a museum. The "Iowa" served in World War II, the Korean War, and even during the 1980s. Its trip down the California coast is expected to take about four days. What a gorgeous shot. The crowds came out for that.
Thanks for joining us, everyone. I'm Alina Cho at the CNN World headquarters in Atlanta. I will see you back here at 10:00 p.m. Eastern with a live interview with a woman who says she was fired for being too hot. That's at 10. "CNN PRESENTS" begins right now.
