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Zimmerman Released on Bail; Virginia's Creigh Deeds Stabbed, Son Shot; Google Removes Image of Dead Son; Couple Marry in Airport

Aired November 19, 2013 - 15:30   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Bottom of the hour. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

Want to talk about a name you know, George Zimmerman. The Florida watch volunteer became a household name after shooting 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. A jury acquitted him of those murder charges in July of this year. But flash forward to today, a different story, different courtroom for this 30-year-old, once again in Florida.

He's facing assault charges after his girlfriend told police Zimmerman pointed a shotgun in her face. His bail not too long ago set at $9,000. Part of the condition here, according to this judge, he is not allowed to leave the state of Florida. He cannot have any contact with his accuser, possess any weapons.

Family members say this girlfriend, Samantha Scheibe, has known George Zimmerman for some 11 years. The two have been living together for the past couple of months.

But let's talk to Nancy Grace.

Nancy Grace, I want to know, what caught your attention? You were watching that arraignment today. He may be released tomorrow morning on that $9,000 bond. What caught your attention?

NANCY GRACE, HLN HOST, "NANCY GRACE": Hello. I just got you in my ear.

We're talking about George Zimmerman, stunningly, Zimmerman back in court. Well, all you need to know is, he did it again. This time -- you know, Zimmerman is in court this time because his girlfriend, his live-in girlfriend claims he pulled a long gun, a shotgun on her, and held it right in her face, not only that, physically pushing her out the door.

Interesting about this, I have been comparing notes. He had a similar blowup with his wife. Or I think they're still in the process of divorce right now.

BALDWIN: Right, estranged wife.

GRACE: Yes, when they were talking about a divorce and they were arguing over belongings then as well. If you will recall, that was just in September, just a couple months ago, when police were called about that. And, suddenly, somehow, it all quietly disappeared. We haven't heard a whole lot more about that incident since it happened. There are other incidents, other domestic disturbances, as they call euphemistically them, with other women throughout the past and a brush with a police officer in a bar.

So this is not his first incident with police.

BALDWIN: So, I hear you. I'm wondering what you think of this.

One camp could say the 911 call he made as he had barricaded himself, put the furniture against the wall -- one camp could say this was very savvy of him to pick the up phone, call 911 and make sure he gets his story out

Number two, maybe it's smart, maybe it was self-aware. What do you make of what he did?

GRACY: I'm a little thrown off by self-aware. What do you mean maybe self-aware? That he knows he's going to get in a lot of trouble for pulling a long gun on his girlfriend? That's pretty self-aware.

BALDWIN: That's thinking like 10 steps down the road, is it not?

GRACE: It shows a certain familiarity with how to work the system. That's just what the girlfriend says. If you listen to what she's saying, she's saying he knows how to work the system.

Remember, every time he's had a domestic disturbance, if the wife or girlfriend takes out a TPO, temporary protective order, he takes one out, too. If she calls 911, he calls 911, too.

It becomes a war of words because they're both claiming the same thing. This time, she doesn't have a gun. He does. Same thing.

It's my understanding it's another Kel-Tec weapon, the same kind he used when he shot Trayvon Martin. That time a jury let him go.

I just don't know how many brushes with the law he can have and not end up in jail.

BALDWIN: But that's the thing. With this file that's getting thicker, the judge has to take all of that -- does the judge take that into consideration here?

GRACE: The judge hearing this matter swears he's making a decision based on this alone.

I can tell you having been up on judge's benches many times, but of course, I was reading upside down, they've got every defendant's rap sheet in front of them.

They, and a jury, is not to make their decision of guilt or innocence based on someone's history, as they should not.

But this judge knows about his history. Come on. You and I know about his history. Of course, the judge knows it.

BALDWIN: I know. I hear you, Nancy Grace. Thank you very much for coming on.

Make sure you watch Nancy's show on our sister network, HLN. She'll have much more on this story at 8:00 p.m. Eastern.

Nancy, thank you very much.

Let's switch gears and talk about the president of the United States. Here he is, live pictures, President Obama speaking at a CEO council. This is organized by "The Wall Street Journal."

So just moments ago, he talked about the troubled rollout of ObamaCare. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: -- the shutdown and the threat of default, I think, not only did some significant damage to the economy at a time when we didn't need self-inflicted wounds.

But it also spoke to some larger problems we've seen here in Washington and the sense of dysfunction and the seeming incapacity of both parties in Congress to work together to advance an agenda that's going to help us grow.

With respect to the Affordable Care Act, I think people are legitimately concerned because we have a major problem with health care in this country, 41 million people without health insurance.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Make sure you watch Jake Tapper on "THE LEAD" in 30 minutes. He's going to tackle much more of the president's comments.

I want to take you straight to Charlottesville, Virginia, state police commenting on the status of State Senator Creigh Deeds and his deceased son, Gus.

(NEWS CONFERENCE JOINED IN PROGRESS)

CORINNE GELLER, VIRGINIA STATE POLICE: The cousin was driving along the highway there, stopped, picked up Senator Deeds, and drove him to his residence, where rescue responded to that residence and attended to the senator.

Senator Deeds was then transported by ambulance to a nearby relative's farm where Carillion Life Guard 12, which is out of Rock Bridge County. was able to land and then transport the injured senator to the University of Virginia Medical Center in Charlottesville for treatment.

The senator is still at the hospital at this time. I just received an update about 40 minutes ago, and he is listed in fair condition. His son, Gus Deeds, was found inside the residence, suffering from life-threatening injuries associated with a gunshot wound, and despite the troopers' and first-responders' efforts, he did die at the scene.

His remains were transported later today to the office of the medical examiner in Roanoke for autopsy and examination.

The investigation is still ongoing. We still have investigators at the scene, the residence there in Bath County. They will remain there for a couple more hours as they continue to push forward with this investigation.

Obviously, the motive and the absolute circumstances surrounding what led up to it the altercation is still very much the focus of this investigation, and we'll continue with the assistance of the Bath County sheriffs office.

I'd also like to mention the Deeds family has asked us to pass along their request to honor their privacy during this difficult time. They do not want to be contacted by any media, as you can imagine.

They're having to deal with a great -- they've got a lot to deal with right now, and we ask that you abide by the family's request.

At this time, I will take some questions.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you tell us whether or not there was an altercation? You've not said at this point, one, whether the gunshot wound was self-inflicted, and two, specifically if Gus stabbed Senator Deeds. Can you be specific on those points (inaudible)?

GELLER: As I said, we're still piecing together the exact -- at this time, we're still piecing together the exact circumstances that led up to the altercation and then followed afterwards.

But based on the evidence we have right now, we are looking into this as an attempted murder and suicide.

Now, this is not an absolute determination because it's still very much an ongoing investigation, but we are looking at that at this point.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you tell us about the mental evaluation that he had on Monday, Gus, the mental evaluation that he had on Monday.

GELLER: Well, Andy (ph), as you probably know, state law prohibits any kind of confirmation or denial of a TDO or any kind of mental health issues in Virginia.

So we can neither confirm nor deny at this time.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you know what kind of weapon was used to stab Senator Deeds?

GELLER: No, a weapon has been recovered at the scene, but we're not releasing what type at this point. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have the police ever been to this residence before (inaudible)?

GELLER: Honestly, I don't know. I haven't had a chance to touch base with the sheriff, who probably would have received the 911 calls.

If you dial 911, it goes directly to the sheriffs office, who did receive the initial 911 call about this incident. And they requested our response to the scene.

So, I don't know if they've been called to that residence before or not.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A small detail, when you say torso, do you mean chest?

GELLER: Yes, the upper torso. I can't give anymore specifics about the injuries due to HIPAA.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Was he shot before or after the senator left the house?

GELLER: We're not commenting on that exact sequence because, again, we're just a matter of hours into this and we're still piecing together the exact sequence of events.

And then we'll hopefully have more information later on as we're able to piece together that evidence.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You said earlier Deeds was communicating with investigators. Has he been communicating throughout the day more or less?

GELLER: I know this morning he was able to talk with our investigators. He was able to, you know, provide some statements and so forth, but anything else, I just don't know.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you tell us who did make the 911 call?

GELLER: Actually, I've been trying to piece that together and get in touch. As you can imagine, our investigators are busy at this point. I haven't been able to contact them and so forth.

They're looking into it. They have that information. But I just don't have it right now to release.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There was anyone else in the house?

GELLER: No, there was no one else in the residence at the time of the altercation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are there any other suspects?

GELLER: No.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible) already been said that Gus was taken there yesterday for a mental evaluation on an emergency order and was released after four hours. Apparently there were no psychiatric meds.

He's on the record saying that. Can you confirm that?

GELLER: No, state law prohibits us from acknowledging any kind of emergency detention order or temporary detention order.

It prohibits us. It's considered confidential. Therefore, we can neither confirm nor deny.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is he in violation of law by having stated that publicly?

GELLER: I have no idea.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Was it sheer luck he (inaudible)?

GELLER: Honestly, I don't know if it was or not.

From what I understand, I've talked to our first sergeant and folks at the scene. The residence is roughly 75 yards by the way the crow flies, so to speak, from Route 42.

You can't really see the residence from the roadway, so it is -- and, again, it's a hill. He came down a hill. And that's where he was spotted by the cousin who lives on a nearby farm.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What was the name of the cousin?

GELLER: I don't know. I don't have that information. We wouldn't release that anyway.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is there anything that leads you to believe this was -- you say you're looking at it as a possible attempted murder.

GELLER: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is there anything that leads you to believe this was planned or that this attempted murder sort of came out of that altercation?

GELLER: Those are the very same questions that our investigators are looking into and trying to piece together based on the evidence they're collecting today at the scene.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why are you not releasing what he was stabbed with? What's the purpose of not saying what that weapon was?

GELLER: I just forgot to ask the investigators for the most part.

We've had a lot of information I've been trying to piece together today to provide you with the latest information, and really, the concentration is piecing together what happened here.

So I just actually don't have that information.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Corinne, do you know, is Senator Deeds aware of what happened to his son?

GELLER: I don't know. I haven't been to the hospital. I don't know what kind of conversations that have taken place between him and his family or our investigators and so forth. I've not been privy to those conversations.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have there been any previous incidents similar to this or calls for police services at the home?

GELLER: I think I answered that a few minutes ago. I don't know. That's something that you may have to contact the sheriffs office about. I don't know.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who lives at 26 Vineyard Drive?

GELLER: That is his -- that's Senator Creigh's residence. And he lived there with his wife -- with his current wife and his son.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So is it fair for us to assume he went out to the read, the cousin came along, they went together back to his house --

GELLER: No, they went to the cousin's house. Yes, they went back to the cousin's house, and that's where rescue responded.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You said only the son, now deceased, and his current wife reside there, although, no one other than he and the son were there.

GELLER: Right, correct. Yes, the -- Senator Deeds, his current wife and their Gus resided at that residence, 26 Vineyard Drive in Millboro.

But at the time of the altercation, only Senator Deeds and his son were at the residence.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At this point, are criminal charges going to come about? (Inaudible)?

GELLER: It's still an ongoing investigation. We're looking into this and kind of leaning towards it being an attempted murder/suicide.

But at this time, you know, it's not concrete. We still have a lot of questions. We're waiting for a lot of evidence to come back from the lab.

And, of course, we're still awaiting autopsy and examination from the medical examiner's office.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you identify the firearm used in the incident and whether or not it belonged to Senator Deeds?

GELLER: We have recovered a firearm, but we're not releasing the caliber or make or model of the weapon at this time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you know whether it belonged to Senator Deeds?

GELLER: No, we're not commenting on that either.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you looking at (inaudible)?

GELLER: We're looking into a lot of possibilities. I'm really not going to get into more about specifics about motive or the circumstances surrounding it.

I'm just going to take a couple more questions.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How old was Gus?

GELLER: Oh, 24. I'm sorry, 24-years-old. And Senator Deeds is 55.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The timeline, you mentioned exactly when you believe the gunfire happened in relation to when the stabbing took place?

GELLER: That's all still being determined as well. Basically, there's a lot of forensic evidence that has to be collected from the scene, ballistics evidence that has to be analyzed and tested through the state lab.

So there's still a lot of work to be done to make exactly a timeline of when and how things actually occurred.

(END OF NEWS CONFERENCE COVERAGE)

BALDWIN: OK, so the Q&A here is winding down.

You've been listening to Corinne Geller. She's with the Virginia state police, and she was just updating members of the media there in Charlottesville, Virginia.

First up, on the condition of Senator Creigh Deeds, it's been raised to fair condition at the hospital after suffering multiple stab wounds early this morning in his own home in a rural area of Virginia.

Really, the headline out of that news conference is the fact that we now have police on record saying that they're investigating or leaning toward looking at this event involving his -- Creigh Deeds' 24-year- old son Gus as attempted murder and suicide.

But the big question, why? Why did this happen? And what were the events that led up to it?

And what about Gus Deeds' mental state? As we've been reporting he went to this mental health -- this hospital in Bath County yesterday, and according to "Richmond Times Dispatch," was turned away because there were not enough beds.

We'll continue to cover this story, of course, for you here on CNN. Quick break. Back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Now to a story where the Internet and one family's privacy clash in really just a grisly way.

Google is making this never-before and maybe never again move, really unprecedented. It's replacing some of its map images.

For the last four years, the body of this 14-year-old California boy has been online in a Google Map photograph. Police are still looking for Kevin Barrera's killer.

In the last week, the father of this boy found out the photo had been out there for the whole world to see.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSE BARRERA, FATHER OF SLAIN TEENAGER: When I see this image, it's still like it happened yesterday, really fresh, you know. That bring me back to a lot of memories.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: This is the screen shot. The red line is the railroad track, and CNN, of course, choosing not to zoom in on the image, which is still online, but not long, according to Google.

Vice president of Google Maps said this, released a statement. "Our hearts go out to the family of this young boy.

"Google has never accelerated the replacement of updated satellite imagery from our maps before.

"Given the circumstances, we wanted to make an exception in this case."

Doug Goss is a tech writer for CNN Digital. You have been in touch with Google. This father finds out his son's body is out there for everyone to see.

What did Google tell you?

DOUG GROSS, CNN DIGITAL TECH WRITER: It's one of those situations where Google has so much -- they're taking these images from their satellites and street view car. It was one of those wrong place, wrong time things.

It looks like the police are there. It looks like the body -- certainly the father thinks it's the body, exactly what you just read.

Google said, look, we do not do this, but our hearts go out. They're saying it's going to take about eight days to get the satellite imagery replaced.

BALDWIN: My thought was why not take it away today?

GROSS: I guess the street view images they shoot with the cars that some people may have seen going by. They can blur those or pull those down pretty quick. Google doesn't give too much inside information about how they do things. And, obviously, we're talking about satellite and out of space. So we're talking about getting a satellite in place to replace that image.

And then we're talking about getting that image out to different Web browsers, to different mobile platforms, so it takes a while to both get the image and disseminate it to all the places on the Web.

BALDWIN: The father was just tipped off, saw it, and contacted Google. At least Google is responding in this unprecedented move.

GROSS: They responded quickly, yes.

BALDWIN: Doug Gross, thank you very much.

GROSS: Thank you so much.

BALDWIN: Appreciate it.

Coming up, an unforgettable wedding at, of all places, an airport. The bride and groom will be joining me, live. Do not miss this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: You know on this show we love these reunions between service members and their loved ones, so, so special.

But there's one that took place late Monday night. This is a category unto its own. Take a look at this video. This is Madison and Dylan. They are getting hitched in, of all places, the Reno-Tahoe International Airport, moments after Dylan returned home.

So now Mr. and Mrs. Ruffer join me live from Reno. Hi, you two. Congratulations.

MADISON RUFFER, MARRIED LAST NIGHT AT AIRPORT: Hi. Thank you.

DYLAN RUFFER, MARRIED LAST NIGHT AT AIRPORT: Thank you.

BALDWIN: So you know, does someone like to fly a lot? Why an airport, Madison?

M. RUFFER: Well, the whole idea came up, it was actually a joke at first. Dylan had asked me what I was going to be wearing when he stepped off the plane.

And my dad was joking around and saying I could be wearing my wedding dress, and it was all just a joke at first.

And then I e-mailed the airport and it kind of just went off from there.

But as far as liking flying a lot or anything, we don't really have any soft spot for the airport.

Now we do, but no, not before.

BALDWIN: Now you do, forever and ever.

Dylan, I understand you were away. Where were you, Syria and here you are coming back and immediately you see this lovely lady and how long between getting off the plane and the actual "I do"?

D. RUFFER: Probably about half an hour. I had to change in my uniform and they had to set it all up so I could walk down the stairs.

BALDWIN: So you could walk down the stairs and see your lovely lady in the beautiful white dress.

I understand, Madison, a lot of this was taken care of. As you mention, the airport really helped you guys put this whole thing together, right?

M. RUFFER: Yes. Definitely. We wouldn't have been able to do it if it weren't for them. They got so many donations from the community and from businesses.

It was amazing. Really, pretty much everything was donated to us, the arch, the food, deejay, photographer, flowers. It was amazing.

BALDWIN: So a huge party. I saw the crowds are amazing at the airport. Dylan, I hear you have to go back overseas in a couple days. Where are you headed and when are you coming back home to the missus?

D. RUFFER: About six days, I go back to Virginia and I'll be back for Christmas, hopefully.

BALDWIN: OK. At least Virginia isn't too far away. I thought you had to go a little farther.

Mr. and Mrs. Madison and Dylan Ruffer, thanks. Best to all of you.

Dylan, thank you so much for what you're doing for this country. We appreciate you very much.

D. RUFFER: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Thank you.

And we will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: We are seconds away from the Closing Bell, quick check of the markets here.

Dow Jones, there we go, still below that 16,000 mark -- there's that closing bell -- which we hit yesterday. Little flat today. We'll keep an eye on that. You can always go to CNNMoney.com.

Thank you so much for being with me here today. I'm Brooke Baldwin at the CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta. Now to Jake Tapper, "THE LEAD" starts now.