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Iranian Nuclear Deal Close But Not Complete; Two Incidents At LAX Put Passengers On Edge; Teenagers Assaulting Strangers Without Provocation; Update On Colleen Ritzer's Death; Surveillance Video During Time Kendrick Johnson Died Released; Florida State's Jameis Winston Accused Of Rape

Aired November 23, 2013 - 18:00   ET

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

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Martin Savidge. The next hour of NEWSROOM begins right now.

You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. Good evening. I'm Martin Savidge. Nice to be with you.

Topping the news, an international deal that is so close, but not quite in reach. I'm talking Iran, and the intense diplomatic work being done now to head off the nuclear arms race in the Middle East. Secretary of State John Kerry, representing the United States, is in Geneva, Switzerland, right now along with negotiators in China, Europe, Russia and Iran. They have been meeting for days and tell us an agreement is very close, the closest it's ever been. But on one point, Iran will not budge. Stay there. We are going live to Geneva in a couple minutes.

And the timing of this story cannot be worse. Just in time for the busiest travel week of the year, a powerful weather system sweeping across the country. Rain, snow and powerful winds creating problems in a number of states. Icy roads in Oklahoma and Texas are causing major travel issues.

Meteorologist Karen Maginnis shows us what we can expect as the storm moves east.

KAREN MAGINNIS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Martin, it is very dangerous driving conditions along interstate 10 and Hudson county in Texas, also extending up to (INAUDIBLE), New Mexico because of ice and we are looking at snowy conditions.

So, they are saying watch out, especially in west Texas. And then, we start to see the Dallas Metroplex area being affected over the next 12 hours or so as well. So, potential travel as well as air delays is expected there. Right along the border between New Mexico and Arizona, snowy, especially across the higher elevations including the San Juan (INAUDIBLE) Mountains and into the panhandle of Texas and Oklahoma.

Area of low pressure still spinning out that moisture across Arizona, New Mexico. High wind watch out in Utah. And here we go. For Dallas, you will be right on the edge of that icy precipitation with rainfall expected along the gulf coast. And Monday and Tuesday, kind of critical time period as to what the track of that storm is going to be. Might it be a nor'easter in places like New York City and Boston expecting snowfall and gusty winds? Right now, it looks like interior sections of the northeast will be affected with snow and wind. It looks like a rain event along the coast, but that could change. That is the dynamics of the system that we are expecting.

New York, 32 for Sunday. That is the high. Heat temperatures are 10 to more than 20 degrees below where they should be for this time of year. We'll keep you updated, Martin.

Back to you.

SAVIDGE: Karen Maginnis, thank you very much.

If you are traveling, please be careful.

Two separate incidents at Los Angeles international airport put a lot of people on edge in the past 24 hours.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On the ground! Everybody get down!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE: This was not a drill. Police officers swarm one terminal full of travelers late last night. They were responding to a report of the man with a gun. Well, it appears to have been a prank phone call. No man and there was no gun.

But about at the same time, a woman crashed her car at another terminal and that caused a brief panic and some confusion. It's understandable if nerves are raw at LAX because a man with a rifle, if you remember, killed a TSA officer Geraldo Hernandez there three weeks ago. An autopsy report released yesterday said Hernandez was shot 12 times.

Two new articles are out today, "the Washington Post" and "New York Times." And they are pulling back the curtain of what happened in the days before the rollout of healthcare.gov.

CNN's Tory Dunnan as more.

TORY DUNNAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Martin, as you know, November 30th is the self-imposed deadline for the administration to have healthcare.gov working for most users. So, as the clock ticks towards that day, the blame game is continuing.

And actually there are new details emerging in both the "New York Times" and "Washington Post." Stay with me. This is a little complicated.

"The Times" described tensions between the Obama administration and the lead contractor, CGI, this just, months before the failed launch. With Sources saying, CGI told the administration that it was making impossible demands and administration officials insisting the October 1st launch was non-negotiable. Accusing CGI of missing deadlines and making excuses.

And here's the kicker. According to that report, the government agency's chief operating officer, Michelle Snyder, was telling her colleagues quote "if we could fire them, we would." The "Washington Post" article, on the other hand, goes into depth about what people thought would and wouldn't work just days before the launch. Saving then in the final pre-flight checklist, 41 of 91 separate functions that CGI was responsible for finishing by the launch were still not working.

So Martin, it seems like the finger pointing continues. But we have heard from both sides, CMS the agency overseeing healthcare.gov issues a response saying it was a complex project with a short time line. So, they prioritized where they considered to be the most essential functions with the idea that they would roll out the other items later, over time.

CGI has also responded saying what we understand are silence leaves us exposed to other's conclusions out of respect for CMS and other clients, we believe in honoring or commitments. There you have it -- Martin.

SAVIDGE: Tory Dunnan, thank you very much for the explanation.

We should point out that the fixing is still ongoing. Just this week, the Obama administration gave people an extra eight days to sign up if they want to be covered on January 1st. The deadline now, December 23rd.

And now to our top international story. It is the intense effort to make a deal with Iran. The deal is this. They put a stop to their nuclear program in exchange for global sanctions against Iran will ease to some degree.

There's plenty of details to work out and none of them are minor. Secretary of state John Kerry is right in the middle of the negotiations. He's in Geneva, Switzerland. Twice today, he met with the Iranian and European officials in this. But still, the outlook for an agreement is not clear.

It's after midnight in Geneva. CNN's Matthew Chance is also staying up late.

Matthew, John Kerry plans to leave Switzerland tomorrow, which of course, now is just hours away. Does that necessarily mean no deal?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I think it means, Martin, that this negotiation reached a critical stage. I man, that the announcement by the state department that John Kerry will be leaving tomorrow for London. He is going to be meeting there with his British counterpart, William Hague, to discuss Iran and Syria. He is also going to be meeting with the Libyan prime minister in London as well. It sets the deadline on these negotiations. They can't go on indefinitely. And I think, you know, it serves the purpose to sort of add pressure to the negotiations that have been taking place all throughout the day and throughout the past four days, in fact and which are continuing into the night.

We know that right now, John Kerry is at a meeting with his colleagues from the P-5 plus one, the other five security council plus Germany, discussing the differences they have at this late stage with the Iranians over this controversial nuclear deal that is being humanized (ph).

We are told by diplomats, the differences are narrow but there are still gaps between them. And that's why even at this late hour, after midnight here in Geneva, they still have not come out and said look, you know, we have a deal, there is something we can sign.

And so, there's still a degree of hope that something can be done, you know. But, there's also an understanding that at the last moment like this, they may not reach a deal.

SAVIDGE: The fact that they are still meeting tonight, obviously, gives us at least some hope.

When we spoke last, you were saying one of the issues sticking was the Iranians want specifically to maintain the right to enrich. Is that still something they are holding out for?

CHANCE: It seems to be, yes. We are not party to the actual detail of the negotiations that are taking place. But yes, this has been the Iranian line all along, that they are insisting for a formal recognition of their right to enrich uranium. That is something that for a long time now, the western powers, along with China and Russia have balked at because they don't think any country has that right. Iran says it's a right that is in shrine and then the nuclear now profanation treaty. The west disputes that saying that there is no such specific right is granted in the MPT.

But, you know, it's something they are discussing. The wording is something they have been looking at very closely. U.S. diplomats, a few days ago, said they believe they could navigate this issue in a final agreement. But, at the moment, they haven't been able to navigate it. And then there is the other issue as well, as the heavy water reactor, which also they haven't managed to navigate so far. It doesn't mean they are not going to, but you know, things are really, you know, reaching ahead here in Geneva.

SAVIDGE: Matthew Chance joining us, as he just said, from Geneva, Switzerland where they are pulling an all night there. We will see how it turns out. Thank you.

The case of three women in London allegedly held captive that is for more than 30 years has reignited a global conversation. In a moment, I'm going to talk with a woman who is leading a grassroots movement really to stop human trafficking attempts in the air.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SAVIDGE: Horrifying details around the case of three women allegedly held captive for more than 30 years in London. Police say their captivity was based on brainwashing and emotional abuse. But their case is far from the only instance of this in England. Authorities have rescued about 1200 men and women in England and Wales in the last two years. On whether it is on the ground or in the skies, the mission to stop human trafficking is the same.

Thelma Gutierrez reports on an initiative to teach airline workers to spot human trafficking on flights.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PETRA HENSLEY, TRAFFICKING SURVIVOR; Who are the victims?

THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Petra Hensley was from the Czech Republic.

HENSLEY: I was grabbed, almost chased and I was took, beaten, and raped by more men than I could count.

GUTIERREZ (VOICE-OVER): She said she was 16 when she was trafficked into the sex trade. Eight hundred thousand victims are trafficked across international borders each year. Many brought from far away countries literally flying under the radar into the United States.

SANDRA FIORINI, FLIGHT ATTENDANT: I was boarding a flight in London and these two young kids come over to me and say can you help us get this girl to Dulles airport? They said someone has handed her off to us and she's traveling from Mongolia and speaks no English.

GUTIERREZ (VOICE-OVER): Sandra Fiorini has been a flight attendant for 40 years. Nancy Rivard has 35 years of experience.

NANCY RIVARD, AIRLINE AMBASSADORS INTERNATIONAL: On a flight to Costa Rica from Miami and a man got on a flight with a little girl, 9-years- old. And again, he was in control of her and she seemed scared.

GUTIERREZ (VOICE-OVER): Over the years, they have seen things on flights that just didn't seem right. But back then, they say, few people knew much about human trafficking.

FIORINI: This young boy gets on and he has got a day old baby. The baby is still had the umbilical cord, no wife. He had two diapers in his pocket and one bottle. I ran off the plane. I called the police. And I said please come here. I'm sure this baby has been either kidnapped or stolen. Their response to me was we are not getting involved.

GUTIERREZ (VOICE-OVER): Fiorini says she and her colleagues in the airline industry are the first people to come into contact with victims of trafficking who are flying into the country. She also says they should be the first line of defense.

FIORINI: The only way that I can help is by alerting the flight attendants, training the flight attendants, telling them what's going on.

GUTIERREZ (VOICE-OVER): That's what Fiorini did. She partnered with a non-profit organization, Innocence At Risk. Along with Rivard, they created comprehensive training for flight attendants.

This week, airline workers are learning how to spot potential victims or traffickers, what behaviors to look for and what to do about it.

Wendy Hogue has been a flight attendant with a major airline for 36 years. She attended Nancy's training and learned how to deal with suspicious passengers.

WENDY HOGUE, FLIGHT ATTENDANT: To go up and just start having small talk. Is this your son? Where you going? Business or pleasure? And to just feel it, which is what flight attendants do.

GUTIERREZ (VOICE-OVER): Exactly why Sandra was determined to lead the charge.

FIORINI: When you know what is going to happen to them and you walk away, you are just as guilty as the guy that's selling them. I don't look away.

GUTIERREZ (VOICE-OVER): Thelma Gutierrez, CNN, San Francisco.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SAVIDGE: I want to bring in Nancy Rivard. You saw her there in that piece there. She is the founder of airline ambassadors international. It is an organization that raises awareness about human trafficking within the airline industry.

Congratulations. It's an excellent program, Ms. Rivard. Thank you for joining us.

Many times, you know, when I talk to people, and I have covered human trafficking here in this country and elsewhere for awhile. But especially in this country, it's one of those things that people just don't think of as happening here. How do you raise awareness to the public?

RIVARD: Yes, first of all, I want to applaud the London police who are able to rescue the three women who had been held, they think for 30 years.

What most people don't realize is human slavery is more prevalent than it has ever been in history. Last year, less than one percent of the victims were rescued and public education is critical. We stumbled upon the issue when we saved a girl in 2009 in Cambodia on one of our humanitarian missions. And we partnered with Innocence At Risk and went to Dominican Republic, talked about the issue. And amazingly, correctly identified trafficking on every airline we left on.

In one case, it led to the bust of an 82 child trafficking ring. Since that time, we have been working consistently with homeland security, with customs border protection to develop a training program for flight crew and the whole transportation industry on how to recognize and report human trafficking.

SAVIDGE: Yes. It was brought out in that piece, you know. You clearly are sort of people who get the first eyes on this. I'm wondering in the case of London, which we are talking about initially here, it centers, according to authorities on mental and emotional abuse. Is that common or something you see commonly in trafficking?

RIVARD: Absolutely. Victims are recruited for labor. You see, I just left Philippines, and 4,000 people are leaving per day for thinking that they are getting good jobs. Some of them may be in Qatar where at Qatar, where they are building a new stadium and being exploited. Many are going for domestic servitude or jobs as au pairs and many are sexily exploited.

In the United States alone, they say 200,000 children are forced into sexual slavery every year.

SAVIDGE: Let me ask you quick, before we run out of time. I saw the stories of what the individual airlines attendants did which was great. But it seems almost half hazard. What can the airlines do, do you think?

RIVARD: Well, they can do a lot. In fact, there's a congressional hearing coming up to have the airlines report on what they implemented about human trafficking awareness among their staff. Flight attendants again are the front line of defense. And we created a wallet card. All flight attendants have to carry a flashlight. This is a flashlight that can shine a light on human trafficking with a tip line number on the back. And the tips on what some of the indicators are.

We definitely need corporate and individual support to continue with our training at airports around the country. We just planned one in San Jose for January. And there's going to be a congressional summit here in Washington in February. So, I'm hoping you could come.

SAVIDGE: All right, Nancy, I'm sorry to cut you off. It is an excellent program. We do wish you well in that regard. And certainly, enlisting more airline attendants to take part. Thank you.

RIVARD: Thank you.

SAVIDGE: It's called a game. But what you will see and police say definitely it is a crime. It is called the knockout game. Unsuspecting people sucker punched as they walk down the street. And it is already had deadly consequences. The details are coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SAVIDGE: We want to follow up on a story we told you about earlier. Well, I will get to that in a moment.

Let me tell you about this one. Imagine walking down the sidewalk and get sucker punched by a stranger for no apparent reason. That is exactly what police agencies are now tracking and they are finding a disturbing pattern. Teenagers assaulting strangers without provocation.

CNN's Rosa Flores joins me now from New York.

And Rose, you know, I have seen these videos. It's astounding and staggering and it is just how callous they are. But, you know, one of the most recent cases happened right there in Brooklyn, correct?

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's absolutely right. And Martin, let's just say it bluntly, this is a sick game where teens just randomly sucker punch strangers with the goal of knocking them unconscious with a single blow.

Now, it is usually a dare. It has turned deadly. It's being shared on social media and it has caught the attention of law enforcement agencies from around the country.

Now, let me show you exactly what we are talking about. And folks, you are going to want to get close to your television screen to see this. And you will see, once we roll this video, black and white surveillance video. And if you look closely, time and time again, you see strangers punching another stranger on the street.

Similar reports filed in New York, Illinois, Missouri and Washington. One of the latest attacks happened on Friday in Brooklyn. Four people were questioned, 28-year-old Amrid Marage (ph) was charged with aggravated assault as a hate crime.

Now, why a hate crime you ask? Well, according to New York police, some of the cases are allegedly specifically directed at Jewish people. People in Brooklyn find it appalling.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is one city. And no one should set upon anybody based on any complex of their skin color or nationality and we denounce that.

DAVID GREENFIELD, NEW YORK CITY COUNCILMAN: I think if we allow this kind of behavior to continue, we are going to have chaos because the idea that youth attack someone for no reason on streets of New York city is something that is outrageous.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FLORES: Martin, as you might imagine, there's a lot of buzz about this on social media and You Tube. Law enforcement is tracking all the national trends. Now, here in New York city, police commissioner Ray Kelly beefed up patrols in an area of Brooklyn where at least seven knockout assaults have occurred including, hear this, an assault against 78-year-old woman. And he is worried about copy cats.

And Martin, I must add that I just did a quick search on You Tube and also on Twitter and the results are astounding and you can watch these videos and they are very, very dangerous.

SAVIDGE: Yes. Well, hopefully the people who are really watching it, the authorities and they can get the people who are responsible.

FLORES: Exactly.

SAVIDGE: CNN's Rosa Flores in New York, thank you very much.

Shocking details now are surfacing in the killing of a popular Massachusetts math teacher. Colleen Ritzer was found dead outside her school. That was in October.

CNN's Alexandra Field has the latest now on the investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The details are disturbing according to a previously sealed search warrant affidavit. Surveillance video shows Colleen Ritzer's 14-year-old student Phillip Chism following Ritzer into the bathroom, donning gloves and a sweatshirt with a hood up over his head. He's seen walking in and out of the bathroom several times. Almost 30 minutes later, he seemed leaving the same bathroom wearing a black face mask and pushing over slightly in bed.

Ritzer's body was later found in the woods behind the school next to a handwritten note that read I hate you all, according to the documents. Denver's police say Ritzer had been raped with an object. According to the affidavit, when Chism was picked up, he was found with a bloodstained box cutter, a pair of Ritzer's underwear and credit cards on his backpack.

The documents say as soon reported, Chism getting visibly upset the day before during a conversation where in which Ritzer started talking about Tennessee, a place Chism used to live with his parents before they split. Documents also say it was a stressful divorce. No motive is mentioned.

In a statement Ritzer's family says, we are devastated and heart broken by the details of the horrific circumstances surrounding the death of our beautiful daughter and sister, Colleen.

(on camera): Chism is charged with murder. He will be tried as an adult for that charge. Chism's attorney could not be reached for comment. He also faces additional charges as a youth offender for aggravated rape and armed robbery. His next court appearance is December 4th for an arraignment.

Alexandra Field, CNN New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SAVIDGE: Thanks, Alexandra.

For months, CNN has been looking into a mysterious death of Kendrick Johnson. Now, we are conducting our own forensic analysis after Johnson's family said that they are still not getting the answers they need from investigators.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SAVIDGE: For six months, CNN has been investigating the death of a teen found wrapped inside a gym mat. Investigators claimed the 17- year-old Kendrick Johnson's death was an accident saying that he suffocated after falling head first into the rolled up mat.

His family believes he was murdered. Hundreds of thousands of hours of surveillance video were recorded at Johnson's school. But the family said someone tampered with some of the images.

CNN had a certified forensic video analyst to take a look at the video to get answers.

Victor Blackwell investigates.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JACQUELYN JOHNSON, KENDRICK'S MOTHER: We are Kendrick Johnson. That's my child. And we are going fight until it's all over. That's all we ever asked for was the truth of what happened to Kendrick Johnson.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Jacquelyn Johnson and her husband, Kenneth, hope to find that truth in the hundreds of hours of surveillance video recorded the day sheriff's investigators say the 17-year-old died.

Look carefully. There he is in the white t-shirt and jeans carrying a yellow folder. The Johnson's now have this video as a result of the lawsuit. CNN filled its own motion to get access to all the video.

Investigators in Lowndes County, Georgia told the Johnson's and their attorneys that Kendrick climbed into a gym mat reaching for this shoe and that his death was an accident.

BENJAMIN CRUMP, JOHNSON'S ATTORNEY: They know their child did not climb into a wrestling mat, get stuck and die. Where is that video?

BLACKWELL (voice-over): The sheriff's office says that moment was not recorded. The Johnsons also questioned moments in the Surveillance video like this one. Kendrick is seen running inside the gym, and then another image appears showing other students. It jumps from one moment to another. The Johnson's attorney say they can't tell from the surveillance video what happened to Kendrick and when the other students entered.

CHEVENE KING, JOHNSON'S ATTORNEY: We don't have a time code with which to synchronize the events that are shown in the video.

CRUMP: Either the camera did this on their own or a human being interacted to make this camera do these things.

BLACKWELL (voice-over): An attorney for Lowndes County school tells CNN what we produced to the sheriff is a raw feed with no edits. The attorney for Lowndes County sheriff's office tell CNN my client confirmed that the video is not altered or edited by anyone within the Lowndes County sheriff's office.

CRUMP: We believe that somebody corrupted this video because it just does not make sense to us.

BLACKWELL (voice-over): So, who is right?

To find out, we took our copy of the video provided to CNN by the attorney for the sheriff's office to an expert.

(on camera): We brought the hard drive more than 2300 miles to Spokane, Washington to deliver it to the leading expert in forensic video analysis, Grant Fredericks. He's a former police officer, a consultant for the U.S. department of justice and contract instructor after the FBI academy in Quantico. We are here to get an answer. Has the surveillance footage been altered?

GRANT FREDERICKS, CERTIFIED FORENSIC VIDEO ANALYST: Those files are not original files. They are not something that an investigator should rely on for the truth of the video.

BLACKWELL (voice-over): CNN hired Frederick's company, Forensic Video Solutions to analyze the surveillance video.

(on camera): The first thing that the attorneys and the family were concerned about, they didn't see a time stamp, but you found one.

FREDERICKS: Yes.

BLACKWELL: How?

FREDERICKS: Well, the time stamp is in another stream of video. So, you have to be able to access it using special codex. So, you have to pretty know where to find it. But it's there. Once the time stamp is located, you can then begin to make sense of it and begin to track people.

BLACKWELL (voice-over): By piecing together the time codes, Frederick's team found more than 18 minutes of surveillance showing Kendrick on January 10th starting at 7:31 a.m. as he entered school, ending the last time he was seen alive, at 1:09 p.m. in the gym.

FREDERICKS: The motion video that we are looking at here and the fact that we get time periods when there's no motion is very common. So, I'm not really concerned about that part of it.

BLACKWELL (voice-over): But what about the blurred image, the only angle that shows the corner where Kendrick Johnson was found dead?

(on camera): The Johnson's and their attorneys believe that this was intentionally blurred to hide something. What does your expertise tell you?

FREDERICKS: Yes. This has not been intentionally blurred. This is likely the camera itself has probably been hit and the lens has been pushed out of focus for some reason. If you look very closely, you can see the defined lines that are inherent in digital video. Those lines are still intact. So, they have not been blurred, therefore, it was actually the lens that is blurred. The blurriness actually has defined lines. So, this is clearly just a blurred lens.

BLACKWELL (voice-over): Clarity about the blur, the time stamped revealed and an explanation for the jumpy video which made the Johnsons and their attorneys suspicious the video had been edited.

But, Fredericks has a bigger concern.

FREDERICKS: This video is not the best evidence. It's been changed and altered so that we are missing information and what we have been provided is not the best quality.

BLACKWELL (voice-over): Altered by copying, but also raising questions about whether everything was copied.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SAVIDGE: And in just a moment, Victor shows us what part of the video the certified forensic analyst found highly suspicious.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SAVIDGE: More now on CNN's investigation into the death of 17-year- old Kendrick Johnson.

CNN obtained hundreds of hours of surveillance video from around Johnson's school. We had an expert scoured that video. And as Victor Blackwell found out, it's not what's in the video that concerns him, it's what's not there that's worrisome.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL (voice-over): CNN has hired Grant Fredericks and his team at Forensic Video Solutions to analyze the hundreds of hours of surveillance video from Lowndes High School. Although, he does not believe the jumpy video is the result of editing, he says there are other major problems.

FREDERICKS: The files are not original files. They are not something that an investigator should rely on for the truth of the video. They have been altered in a number of ways primarily in its quality and likely in dropped information. Information loss. There are also a number of files that are corrupted because they have not been processed correctly and they are not playable.

So, I can't say why they were done that way, but they were not done correctly and they were not done thoroughly. So, we are missing information.

BLACKWELL (voice-over): Frederick says that is likely due to how investigators acquired the surveillance video.

FREDERICKS: Right now, what they have done is they have left it up to the school district to define what it is they want to provide the police. And I think that probably is a mistake. BLACKWELL (voice-over): According to Lowndes County sheriff's office incident reports, a detective watched a portion of the surveillance video the day Kendrick Johnson was found. Then he asked the school board's information technology worker for a copy of the surveillance video for the entire wing of the school with the old gym for the last 48 hours. Five days later, that IT worker provided a hard drive. And according to the incident report, the detective verified it contained the requested surveillance video.

FREDERICKS: The investigators responsibility is to acquire the entire digital video recording system and have their staff define what they want to obtain. You don't want somebody who might be party to the responsibility to make the decision as to what they provide the police.

BLACKWELL (voice-over): And after hours of analysis, Frederick's questions whether Lowndes Country schools provided all the surveillance video from the old gym to investigators.

FREDERICKS: There is a hole of time where none of the cameras provide any record that I have been provided.

BLACKWELL (voice-over): Fredericks has all the camera angles and all the video released by the Lowndes County sheriff's office.

FREDERICKS: There are four cameras in the gym that record motion from when the lights turn on in the morning until when the lights are turned off at night except for the area of interest.

BLACKWELL (voice-over): The moments before Kendrick Johnson enters the gym. Look what happens to the recordings from these four cameras in the gym. The time is recorded with the video.

The first camera captured images from the start of the day until 12:04 p.m., then nothing. It picks up again at 1:09 p.m. There's consistent surveillance from the second camera until 11:05 a.m., then stops and picks up more than two hours later at 1:15 p.m. The third camera also drops at 11:05 a.m. It picks up again at 1:16 p.m. And from the final camera, there's surveillance until 12:04 p.m. No recording for more than an hour. Then it picks up again at 1:09 p.m.

FREDERICKS: I would absolutely expect there to be some record of that activity and we don't have any here.

BLACKWELL (voice-over): Here is why Fredericks would have expected the motion activated system to record during that time. During that hour and five minutes, several students are seen walking into and out of the old gym from the surveillance camera just outside the gym door. We count seven male students. And three of them walk into the gym within three minutes prior to Kendrick Johnson walking in.

FREDERICKS: I can't tell you whether there was no information recorded on the system or whether somebody made an error and didn't capture it or whether somebody just didn't provide it.

BLACKWELL (voice-over): When surveillance resumes at 1:09, we see these few frames of Kendrick Johnson running in the gym. Here is that moment from all of the cameras in the gym, although, there's a record from only two cameras and the camera just outside the door. Notice the hall camera time stamp appears to be ten minutes behind and there is no confirmation either time matches the exact time of day. It is the last time his image is captured on video. For the next hour, there are multiple gaps in the video surveillance in the gym.

(on camera): And that is crucial. It's an important time.

FREDERICKS: Well, it really is the only option to answer the question of really what happened.

BLACKWELL (voice-over): And there's no video showing the initial discovery of a body in the gym. The next time we see Kendrick Johnson is the following day, when he was being wheeled out of the gym in a body bag.

(on camera): Do you believe it's a coincidence, that time period in the gym is missing?

FREDERICKS: Boy. Investigators are always suspicious and should be suspicious. And it's suspicious that that time period is not there. So, yes, I would be suspicious. And until I have the digital video system in my hand, until I can say where an investigator can say everything is intact, this is what's recorded, I would be still be highly suspicious of this.

BLACKWELL (voice-over): So, after fighting for months on the city street corner and in a county courthouse to get the surveillance video, Kendrick Johnson's parents still do not know who was in the gym before Kendrick ran in nor who, if anyone, was there or what happened in those moments after.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SAVIDGE: We continue to work this story. CNN sent lists of questions to the attorney for the Lowndes County sheriff's office and the attorneys for the Lowndes County schools. The attorney for the sheriff's office has not yet answered those questions. But we have received a response from the attorney from the school district, it's essentially no comment. However, the school's attorney has offered to make the original hard drive available to the court.

The Johnsons want an expert to make sure everything the school have was indeed given to the sheriff's office and then everything was given to them.

He's a Heisman trophy hopeful with a rape allegation hanging over his head. Florida state's Jameis Winston hit the field today as his accuser released a new statement.

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SAVIDGE: I don't know if you follow college football. But in case you don't, Florida State University is having a stellar season on the football field. But that winning streak could be in jeopardy with the team's star quarterback facing accusations of rape. What's more, the alleged victim is accusing police of trying to quash the case.

CNN's Nick Valencia has the details.

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NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Jameis Winston, arguably the most talked about college quarterback in the nation. Some of it for all the wrong reasons.

The 19-year-old has been linked to an allegation of sexual assault that occurred nearly a year ago. The allegation damaged the Heisman hopeful's reputation and turned the life of the alleged victim upside down.

Her attorney told CNN quote "she was in classes at FSU, exams were coming up. She had to leave school and come home because of this."

Winston's lawyer says his client did not sexually assault her. but he does acknowledge having consensual sex with here. And the lawyer confirms Winston's DNA was found on her clothing.

TOM JANSEN, JAMEIS WINSTON'S ATTORNEY: Word in Florida, you have DNA. Well, he must have done something wrong or our defense is shifting. I will tell you from day one, December of 2012, our defense has not changed whatsoever. This DNA result had no effect on it. It had no effect on the testimony of the eyewitnesses that were there.

VALENCIA (voice-over): But the victim's attorney completely denies the quarterback's claims. In a statement, she wrote, quote, "to be clear, the victim did not consent. This was a rape."

The case began in December, 2012, when the woman reported she had been sexually assaulted. A month later, she accused Winston of the alleged rape. But about two months later, police say, she changed her mind.

TOM COE, INTERIM POLICE CHIEF: In February of 2013, the case was classified as open, but inactive when the victim in the case broke off contact with TPD and her attorney indicated she did not want to move forward at that time. Let me iterate to you please, the case was never closed.

SAVIDGE: In a statement from the family of the alleged victim, an attorney met with police. The family say, quote, "the detective Angelo told the attorney that Tallahassee, he was a big football town and the victim needs to think long and hard before proceeding against him because she will be raked over the coals and her life will be made miserable."

Detective Angelo has not returned CNN's request for comment. But the Tallahassee police deny wrong doing.

The investigation grew more curious this week. Tallahassee's police chief at the time of the alleged incident tells CNN, he was never told by his detectives there was a sexual assault investigation against Winston while he was chief. He told CNN, quote, 'I would like to know why it didn't make it to me." Jones said athletes are never given preferential treatment by police. Florida State University told CNN, it cannot comment on an open investigation.

Nick Valencia, CNN, Tallahassee, Florida.

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SAVIDGE: And here is that follow up story I alluded to earlier. There's new information on the story of four bodies that were found buried in a California desert earlier this month. Investigators have identified the two children as Joseph and Jiana McStay. The two adults have already been confirmed through dental records as their parents. Joseph and Summer McStay. The family went missing in 2010 and the coroner officials have now declared all four deaths to be homicides.

It's not all gloom and doom. How about this? If you ever find a stranger's wallet, take it from this man, turn it in. Joel Hartman (ph) is homeless. He was hungry and he was looking for food in a dumpster in Atlanta yesterday when he came across a tourist's wallet. Hartman (ph) walked to four different hotels before discovering the owner was staying at the Omni hotel which is at CNN center here. For his good deed, the manager put Hartman (ph) up at the hotel through thanksgiving and the holiday. He will also treat him to room service and $500. A good deed.

And it's been a great year for Pope Francis. He gets rock star treatment just about everywhere he goes. We will show you what has made him so very popular and how it extends well beyond the catholic church.

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SAVIDGE: Another first, thanks to Pope Francis. He will put on display for the very first time the bones believed to be the remains of St. Peter. They will be revealed to the public tomorrow in a mass in St. Pert Square. The remains were found in the 1940s within the foundation of St. Peter's Basilica. They are normally kept in an urn housed in the private chapel of the Pope's own Vatican apartment.

And as Pope Francis gets ready to celebrate the holiday season, millions of people will listen to what he has to say. That includes more than just the devout.

As CNN's Chris Cuomo tells us, only eight months into his papacy, he is already wildly popular and even a little controversial.

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CHRIS CUOMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The cheers are so loud you'd think it's a rock star. And to many, he is. Pope Francis, the first pontiff from South America already beloved by the faithful for his humility and hands-on approach.

Just ten days on the job, he got down on bended flee to wash the feet of juvenile delinquents, one a Muslim. And this month he made headlines for his compassionate embrace of these disabled men. He didn't mind when this little boy upstaged him during a homily simply smiling, patting the boy's head, even accepting a kiss on the cross hanging around his neck.

Pope Francis is also making waves with hot button social issue, chastising the church for being too consumed with gay marriage, contraception and abortion, a cause for concern among some conservatives.

When asked about his thoughts on homosexuality, the Pope answered simply, who am I to judge? This month he announced he's asking Catholics in a poll to share their thoughts on the new modern family.

Pope Francis shunned the official papal apartments for more modest quarter, and gets around in a 1984 Renault. All to have more daily contact with ordinary people. He's a Pope that people can relate to, not just from the pews but on social media as well. A verified Vatican man with more than 10 million followers on twitter. He even appeared in a selfie.

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SAVIDGE: Yes. I think the first papal selfie.

Chris Cuomo, thanks very much.

The pope's past tomorrow marks the end of the catholic churches year of faith.

The next hour of "NEWSROOM" begins right now.