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Amber Alert Search Expands to Oregon; Missing Teen's Father Talks to CNN; Judge: Hasan's Defense Team Must Continue; Attack on Robinson Statue Stirs Fury; Deadly Flooding in Missouri

Aired August 08, 2013 - 10:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: A lot of news for you this morning -- good morning, everyone. I'm Don Lemon, in for Carol today.

And this morning, a manhunt stretches along much of the coast as police intensify their manhunt for this man. His name is James Dimaggio. He is accused of killing a mother of two and then abducting at least one of those children. Sixteen-year-old Hannah Anderson hasn't been seen since Dimaggio's home was found burning with two bodies inside, one the teenager's mother, the other likely Hannah's 8- year-old brother, Ethan.

Just last hour, CNN's Chris Cuomo spoke with the father of those children and Chris joins us now. Chris, interesting, what did he say to you?

CHRIS CUOMO, ANCHOR, CNN'S "NEW DAY": I got to tell you, Don, this is tough. This is about as tough as it gets for this man, for him to find the strength to go on television, you know, as a father but really just as a human being, your heart goes out to him. He told me his entire story. This is the first at-length interview he's given and there's really no pride in that.

This is a story I really wish we didn't have to tell, but we do need to keep the word out there, Don, as you are aware. I mean, CNN has really been all over this story. Not every outlet has and it's starting catch on and that's good. It needs momentum because there is hope for rescue for his 16-year-old daughter Hannah.

Basically what Mr. Anderson tells you is the story of an extended family. This guy, DiMaggio, was family to him. He was a good friend. They've known each other since Hannah was like 1. He was part of their family. When he lost his job, Anderson did, in San Diego, had to go to Tennessee, this was one of the guys that he relied on to keep his family safe.

So they go to his cabin. They spent a ton of time together. He was supposed to help get his son to football. His son was just getting back into football. He talks his son, Ethan, his 8-year-old buddy. And Don, this was something -- this is the worst kind of crime that was committed by someone who was closest to this family. Take a listen to the interview yourself.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) CUOMO: All right, thank you very much for joining us. First of all, what's obvious here is that we feel for your pain and I'm very sorry to have to meet you this way. Hopefully by getting the word out, there we'll raise attention and keep people focused on finding DiMaggio. We are very sorry for your pain, Mr. Anderson.

BRETT ANDERSON, FATHER OF MISSING TEEN AND BOY: Thank you very much, I appreciate that.

CUOMO: Let's take a step back if we could. This story is confusing to a lot of people. Explain the relationship between your family, your kids, their mother and Mr. DiMaggio.

ANDERSON: Mr. DiMaggio came into our lives about six months before Hannah was born. He and I had a very close relationship over the years and we've done many, many things throughout the years together and he basically became like part of our family. He was always around and we always did stuff together as a family. Sometimes he took the kids camping, but we were just very good friends.

CUOMO: This is your buddy. You know him. Was there ever anything about him that you found suspicious? I know the easy answer is no because you wouldn't have had him around your family, but searching your history now, was there anything there?

ANDERSON: You know, I have come up blank. I have been through every scenario in my brain. There was nothing ever to show any indication of this. Everybody you could even talk to loved him. He would give you the shirt off his back, and he was there to help at any time you called and nothing ever like this indicated anything. I'm hearing different stories but, you know, nothing to me ever indicated anything like this.

CUOMO: So in piecing this back together, your kids and their mother going up to his cabin not unusual, happened all the time, can't read into it?

ANDERSON: That is correct. I can't say it happened all the time, but a lot of times he was down at our place and every once in a while the kids, even myself when I was in San Diego would go up there and stay the night and we'd ride a go cart or do whatever, you know. It was just like being like camping out because of his cabin.

CUOMO: Now, we have heard these rumors, as had you, that your 16- year-old daughter, Hannah, had become uncomfortable around him, that he had expressed a crush. We don't know the context. We don't know what really happened, but have you heard anything about that until now?

ANDERSON: I have not heard anything about that. If I had heard something about that or my wife had heard something about that, it would have been cut off.

CUOMO: No question about it?

ANDERSON: No question about it. CUOMO: So again, this is just a huge blank spot. When did you learn about this?

ANDERSON: I learned about this on the day of the fire. My cousin called me and said did you hear about Jim's house? And so I just Googled it and found, you know, the pictures and they said there was one body, which at that point, I thought was Jim. So I was very upset for Jim and then things just downward spiralled from there.

CUOMO: Tell me about your kids, Mr. Anderson. Tell me about Hannah. Tell me about Ethan.

ANDERSON: Give me a second.

CUOMO: I know this is difficult. I cannot imagine talking about my kids in this situation, but we want people to feel connected to what's at stake here and who may be lost. So please if you can, tell us about what made these kids so special to you?

ANDERSON: Ethan wore his heart on his sleeve. He would do anything for anybody, loved everybody. He was just my buddy. We spoke quite often since I've been in Nashville and he would tell me his daily routines. He was just getting back into football for a second year.

And Hannah was just a beautiful, beautiful girl, very good student, hundreds and hundreds of friends, and there is nothing bad to say about my kids. They never did anything to anybody. They were always wonderful. We were pretty tight even though I was a couple thousand miles away. I -- I don't know what to say. It's surreal to me right now.

CUOMO: When you found out that they found your wife in the house and that she's gone, could you believe it?

ANDERSON: No. I could not believe it. I can't fathom what happened in Jim's head, what happened. He obviously just lost it.

CUOMO: Tell us about her. Tell us about your wife.

ANDERSON: My wife and I, we had been together for many years. We have been married about the last 11 years. I have taken a job in Nashville. My job here in San Diego went under. And we still spoke on, you know, at least a couple times a week and were working things out. She was a very lovely lady, very friendly to everybody. She has good friends, loved by her family and she wouldn't hurt a fly, and for this to happen to her was just uncalled for.

COUMO: And this guy DiMaggio was one of the people you thought you could depend on in your absence to make sure that your wife and your kids were OK. Is that true?

ANDERSON: Absolutely. I spoke to him often and, you know, and he would help get my son to football practice on days that Hannah had dance or whatever and he was constantly there for me.

CUOMO: They are going through this very difficult forensic analysis of what happened inside the house. They know they found your wife there. There's another body they're trying to figure out. Is not knowing the most difficult part for you right now?

ANDERSON: I know that they're looking for DNA and everything but I wish -- I hope that's not my boy, but I have to kind of think that it is. That's kind of my mindset right now. So right now a lot of focus is on trying to get my daughter back alive.

COUMO: She's 16 years old, she smart, she's strong, but she is with an adult male. Do you have any idea where he would think he could go, what he would think he could do in a situation like this?

ANDERSON: I have no idea. He -- he's into camping. He could be anywhere. That's why people that are going out to different camp spots, please keep your eyes open, I don't care where it is. I just have no clue. Look I said, it's surreal to me. I can't imagine this even happening, just kind of taking it day by day and hoping for the best.

CUOMO: What is the hardest thing for you emotionally in this, dealing with having your wife, your daughter and your son all in some type of not being with you anymore? What's the hardest thing for you emotionally in dealing with all of this?

ANDERSON: I believe the hardest thing emotionally is still to come when I have to go and start cleaning out their apartments and rooms. But I have a lot of support here with me and we'll try to get through it.

CUOMO: We are here for you as well. We want to get the word out that everybody is looking for DiMaggio, that we're looking for Hannah and, yes, we have Ethan's face out there just in case. What do you want to say to this man if he is monitoring the news?

ANDERSON: Like I said before, you've taken everything, the damage is done, just let my daughter go. Let her go home safe and let her be with me and try to mend things from there.

ANDERSON: That's all that matters to you right now getting her back, right. What happens to him is secondary?

ANDERSON: That's correct.

CUOMO: Look, it must be impossible for you to stay strong like this. I give you all the respect in the world for coming on and talking about this, and keeping the fight up. I know to you it's the only thing we can do because all that matters to you in the world is missing right now. But anything we can do to help, we will, and we know that there's been a fund set up, yes?

ANDERSON: Yes, there has. I don't have a whole lot of information, but it's called the Anderson Family Memorial Fund and it's set up through Wells Fargo out of the Sparks, Nevada Wells Fargo. And it was done very quickly by a friend mine and some amazing people named Andrew Davis and Michelle St. Pierre. I can't thank them enough. We will try to get more information on you with how this works as time moves on.

CUOMO: What are you going to do with the fund?

ANDERSON: Well, I'm not a rich guy. I'm going to you, you know, most likely use whatever I can to help with any upcoming expenses and if there's anything left over, I will donate that to someone for exploited children.

CUOMO: That's very noble. Please know that as information develops or things you want to get out, we are a phone call away from you, OK?

ANDERSON: I appreciate that.

CUOMO: I am very sorry to meet you this way, but we will keep hope alive that Hannah can be found and that she is safe.

ANDERSON: Thank you very much.

CUOMO: Take care.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO: Tough situation, Don. I mean, we see them a lot, but for this man to have literally lost everything and feel that he wasn't there when they needed him, it's just a tough spot to be in. Hopefully, it's one of the opportunities where the media gets used for good and that the word is out there, the face of DiMaggio is out there, the face of Hannah is out there and this amber alert does what it's supposed to do and this man can be brought to justice and that Hannah's found safe.

LEMON: What do you say after that, Chris. You have kids. People aren't always who they present themselves to be in public. I always say that. This man is doing the best that he can. He lost his job and he thought this person could be there instead and help watch over his family.

CUOMO: Yes. You know, I do everything I can to avoid the cynicism that what we do for a living kind of brings with it. You know, we tell stories that are generally dark in nature, right? Most of what makes news winds up being troubling a lot. But he knew this guy for 15 years, he was his buddy, he was part of his family.

You just don't expect this to happen because it doesn't 99.5 times out of 100. But when it does, it has to cut more deeply. To have one moment to takes everybody who matters to you away is unfathomable, let alone to a parent because of the connection that's there.

So we'll do everything we can to get the word out, Don. I appreciate you showing the interview very much. You've been all over this story from the start and that's what we have to do when we do our job well.

LEMON: Chris, thank you very much. We'll have more on the story later this hour, including the frustrations many Californians felt after getting that amber alert very late at night. The question is did it do more harm than good? It's an interesting one. That's coming up at 10:30 here in the NEWSROOM. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK0

LEMON: Army Major Nidal Hasan gunned down dozens of people at Fort Hood, now he wants to be the next to die. Jarring accusation from a startling source, Hasan's own defense lawyers. They want off the case because they say Hasan himself wants to be executed. The judge just ruled on that motion. So we go now to CNN's Ed Lavandera covering the story for us. So Ed, what did the judge rule?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, simply the judge told these standby attorneys, there's three of them, that their motion has been denied. What this means is that they will have to continue working alongside Major Hasan. Major Hasan is acting as his own lead attorney so he's legal strategy, his decisions are his decisions and the judge in this case said those standby attorneys must continue to work alongside him.

Yesterday they had started to tell the judge that they believed that Major Hasan was working in concert with the prosecutors to ensure that he gets the death penalty, but the judge says that this disagreement is simply a disagreement over strategy and that Major Hasan has every constitutional right to determine how he wants to proceed since he is acting as his own attorney.

And that Major Hasan is capable to represent himself, that he has the constitutional right to do what he wants and this is nothing more than a disagreement over legal strategy and that simply isn't good enough for these standby attorneys to be removed or have their role modified in any kind of way.

So a hiccup in the road here, but now this trial continues, will keep on going down the road and prosecution witnesses will resume taking the stand here in just a little while.

LEMON: Any indication of how much longer we have? You said prosecution witnesses about to take the stand, how much longer we have left in the trial after this delay?

LAVANDERA: You know, it's interesting. I think it's a little bit hard to gauge just exactly how long this is going to take. It appears and we're not getting a lot of information as to what to expect from date to day, but it appears that prosecutors will essentially call as many witnesses and victims as possible to lay out a detail record of what happened in this massacre where 13 people were killed, more than 30 others wounded.

A lot of detail will be put into the record. So it's a question of just how long that will take. But I think one of the things that will shorten this is the very fast that if it goes the way it went the first day, Major Hasan has had very few questions of his own. It makes you wonder how many witnesses he will call when it's his turn to put on his defense. Some have speculated this could take several months, others are speculating it could just be a matter of weeks.

LEMON: Ed Lavandera, regardless we'll be following it with the developments on the Nidal Hasan case. Thank you very much for that.

We're going to turn now to a vile and cowardly attack on what has become an enduring and iconic moment. The stage, a baseball field more than 60 years ago, the act simple and earnest, a southern baseball ball player embraces the first black man to integrate Major League Baseball.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You playing ball or socializing?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Playing ball.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Play ball!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Playing ball.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Obviously that is from the movie "42," but that moment of Pee Wee Reese showing such simple and genuine solidarity with Jackie Robinson is immortalized in a monument outside the ball park on Brooklyn Cyclones. That's where a vandal struck defacing it with race slurs, scrolled across the base. The outrage has thundered across New York.

The "Daily News" is offering a $10,000 reward for the villain they call "racist scum." It may be hard to capture just how much this monument and this moment means to New Yorkers. So we are going to turn now to Ron Schweiger. He is a Brooklyn historian. Ron, thank you for joining us this morning. New Yorkers are calling this an insult, even a desecration today.

RON SCHWEIGER, BROOKLYN HISTORIAN: Absolutely. I happened to be there yesterday for the ball game. And on my way to the ball game, I heard on the car radio about the incident at the statue and the statue has been there for eight years untouched, except people touching the statue, children have their photographs taken by their parents at the statue. It's never been vandalized in eight years.

I was there in 2005 during the dedication when Rachel Robinson was there and Sharon Robinson, his daughter and his son was there. Pee Wee Reese's wife was there and Johnny Padres, who was the pitching hero for the Dodgers world championship in 1955. And Jackie was my favorite player when I was a kid. I'm old enough to have gone to Ebbetts Field and I met Jackie several times. If I hold up a photograph here, this is me with Rachel Robinson in 1997.

LEMON: Hold it a little higher. There you go.

SCHWEIGER: And I'm telling Rachel that after ball games the Dodger players would park their cars in a mobile gas station parking lot behind the score board on Bedford Avenue and the players after the game would come out and sign autographs. We have to pay for them then. And I'm telling her is that Jackie wouldn't leave until every kid either shook his hand or had an autograph. She nodded and said Jackie didn't want to disappoint the children. This next photograph was taken in 1955 on camera day at Ebbetts Field. You see a young boy with his camera and Jackie has his arm around David with the photograph. Go ahead.

LEMON: It just shows you the kind of guy. Listen, Jackie Robinson we know, Pee Wee Reese, two iconic men in baseball, two men to look up to in this day and age when we hear about characters -- people acting out of character with the doping and what have you. This really hits New Yorkers in the wrong place this week, doesn't it?

SCHWEIGER: No question about it.

LEMON: All of baseball really.

SCHWEIGER: The things that this person wrote at the base of the statue are so ridiculous. I mean, considering who Jackie was, what he represented, the racial harmony that the statue depicts with a southern white fellow from Kentucky, Pee Wee Reese and they became best of friends. There was a book published a number of years ago, mostly a children's book but adults can read it, too, called "Teammates."

It's about how they met. Their friendship, and in 1997, I invited Sharon Robinson to come to the public school where I was teaching and she came and we had a wonderful day with Sharon Robinson, brought all my photographs, my collection and it was just a great day. To see something like this happen today is just terrible. It really is.

LEMON: Absolutely. And obviously whoever did it, a knucklehead, to say the least.

SCHWEIGER: To say the least, yes.

LEMON: If we're going to call names here. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Let's check your top stories right now on CNN, a disturbing scene in China where a driver was thrown out of the window after a truck slammed into a tour bus full of people. The accident which took place on Friday was so powerful that passengers were ejected from their seats. Twenty three people were injured and the driver of the speeding truck was killed, but amazingly the driver of the bus survived.

I want to go now to Texas where a suspect now in custody after a shooting free spree left four dead and four others wounded. Authorities say the shooting began in the Dallas home of the suspect's ex-girlfriend, but he left when he discovered she was not there. He went to a second home in Desoto where he found her. He used an explosive device and fired additional shots. Police arrested the suspect when he ran out of ammunition.

And then weather now, roadways become rivers in Missouri. Heavy rains this week have triggered flooding across the south central part of that state. Indra Petersons is in New York for us. Indra, this has been a terrible summer as far as flooding goes.

INDRA PETERSONS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I mean, it literally has been one of these summers where the story instead of heat as much has been day after day of rain. I want to show some video again now out of Missouri. Imagine this, Don, there were rescues in a place called Hollister, Missouri, where an entire trailer park we're seeing rushing waters. People were literally on their roofs and hanging on to trees as rescuers went in to help them. About 15 people had to be rescued.

Also now today about three to seven inches of rain in Tennessee so we're now looking at swift water rescues in the Tennessee area. You can actually see a baby rescued there. This is from just this morning. Now I want to take you to the map and show you what really is going on here. We actually have this low in Canada and it's now slowly making its way across.

Look at the current radar out there, I mean, heavy rain in the exact same place. We're talking about Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, that rain is going to be with them even through Saturday. It's not like this is a thing of the past.

Moving forward, that cold front is swinging through the area so we're still going to be dealing with this heavy rain. The southern portion of the front has stalled. With that, we're going to be talking around 2 to 3 inches from some of the hot spots and up to the northeast now. We're talking about some thunderstorms and possibly causing some urban flooding in the area over the next couple of days as well, hard to believe.

LEMON: Yes, it is. And Indra will be watching it for us. Indra, thank you very much.

PETERSONS: Thank you.

LEMON: Just ahead in the NEWSROOM, did a late-night wake-up call do more harm than good? We are talking about the new statewide amber alert that has rattled some Californians.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)