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Big Storm Threatens Thanksgiving Travel; Police Release Video of Killer's Confession; Judge Denies O.J. Simpson Request for Retrial; Actor Frankie Muniz Suffers Second Mini-Stroke; Mike Tyson Calls "Knockout Game" Stupid; Obama Pardons Turkey for Thanksgiving; Comet ISON Approaches Sun; Nurse Dies Defending Patients from Man with Knife

Aired November 27, 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.

So, you have the cold, you have the snow, the ice, the rain, the wind, not exactly the best mix of factors for one of the busiest travel days of the year.

But, despite all that, most places are looking OK, so far, I'm happy to tell you, here on this day before Thanksgiving. Airports, they are reported relatively few delays or cancellations. Millions of air travelers, they are getting in , they're getting out with -- getting on with their lives there, heading closer to the turkey.

Alina Machado has been keeping an eye on the airlines at the busiest airport there in Atlanta, Hartsfield-Jackson international.

I see the sun out, so that's a good thing. It's still a little windy. What's the status of those flights there in Atlanta?

ALINA MACHADO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Brooke, it's definitely a little windy, but as you mentioned, the weather here has cleared up substantially.

Earlier today, we did see some sleet. We know crews were out de-icing planes for much of the morning, but overall, things are looking really good here.

There is traffic. There is a lot -- there are a lot of people showing up here to catch flights, also people arriving here for the thanksgiving holiday.

A few delays, we have seen on flights headed to Pennsylvania, also flights headed to New Jersey, but overall, Brooke, things are really looking good here.

BALDWIN: I can hear the plane above you, so that's a good sign. Hopefully someone is heading home, getting a little closer.

Alina Machado, thanks to you. Stay warm.

Chad Myers, let's talk about so far looking pretty good. Not to be a negative Nancy, but I know it can't be great everywhere. CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, let's not jinx it, again, right, as well?

Philadelphia, your delay is down from two hours to an hour, 25 minutes. LaGuardia, JFK, somewhere between 35 and 50 minutes there, and Newark at 30 minutes.

Brooke, this is pretty good. I know we're having this great race, right? So you can go on to Google and click on traffic. That may help you out because between BWI, Baltimore, and also down to WDCA, Washington, D.C., there's a couple different paths. One's the BW Parkway. One's I-95.

So, if Brian is listening, don't take the BW Parkway, because it's a little bit show. We're down to 15-miles-per-hour right there, but 95, all greens.

So, there you go, Brian, just trying to give you a heads up because I know you're behind and I always root for the underdog, as we know.

There you go. There's the snow. New York City, you're almost there. We're getting snow into parts of Philadelphia, getting some tweets back here into Westchester County, seeing some snow coming in, Bucks County seeing snow, already changed over here into (inaudible), all the way back down almost to the Delaware water gap.

So the problem is, I guess, if we get to 4:00 or 5:00 tonight and we start to see some snow sticking on the ground, the roads can really slow down a bit.

But I think by that time, Brooke, I think people knew they had to get out early and often, and I think they're getting out there at least on time.

If you leave three hours early and you're delayed three hours -

BALDWIN: You're good to go.

MYERS: You'll get there on time, right?

BALDWIN: Yeah. Sure.

MYERS: There are the expected delays. Nothing now approaching the four-hour delay mark, so that's good news, because hat's where we thought some of the airports could be when the winds were gusting to 40.

Now winds are down, gusting only to 25. That's a little bit better.

BALDWIN: OK, so far, so relatively good. Chad Myers, we'll take it. Thank you very much.

Now to this, "On the Case" today, what we are about to see is quite disturbing, not strictly because you're about to hear a murder confession, but also because the teenage killer describes the crime, and it is a horrific crime. And he describes it so calmly. Take a look. That is confessed killer Austin Sigg, the video released this week. This was recorded 13 months ago, as Austin Sigg, then 17, described the abduction, assault, murder, and dismemberment of 10- year-old Jessica Ridgeway.

Jessica was just walking on along to school that day, and the way the teen killer describes it, he hadn't planned the murder at all. He just happened to see her.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AUSTIN SIGG, CONFESSED KILLER: I murdered Jessica Ridgeway. I was responsible for her abduction and her death.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So that's what you told your mom?

SIGG: Yes, and her first question was immediately to ask me if I hurt her or did anything to her.

And I didn't torture her or rape her or any of those things before I strangled her.

I just remember I wound up finding a place over in her neighborhood where I could park, where a car really wouldn't be noticed by anyone, just somewhere where all the fences were.

And while I was driving, I was just kind of looking. And I saw her, and I found a place to park. And I parked, and I waited.

And she walked by, I grabbed her. Made her change, and then when she came back out, I had her put all of her stuff away.

And then I asked her to turn away from me. And I used the zip ties and my hands to strangle her.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Austin Sigg was sentenced last week to serve life-plus-100 years. And were he ever to be paroled on the life sentence, he would still have to serve that 100 years.

A Nevada judge has denied O.J. Simpson's request for a new trial on that kidnapping and robbery charge that put him in prison nearly five years ago.

Simpson argued that his previous legal team did not represent him well, but the judge disagreed, saying he failed to prove his claim.

Simpson was initially sentenced to up to 33 years in prison. A parole board reduced that sentence earlier this year. Simpson still faces at least four more years behind bars.

Coming up, you have heard about these disturbing incidents of someone just randomly walking up to strangers on the street, punching them.

Coming up next, Mike Tyson is weighing in on this so-called "Knockout Game."

Plus, he's only 27-years-young, but "Malcolm in the Middle" star Frankie Muniz just suffered his second stroke in a year.

What could be causing them? What is his long-term prognosis? That's next. You're watching CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: A couple years ago, he was one of TV's hottest stars. You'll recognize him from "Malcolm in the Middle."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRANKIE MUNIZ, ACTOR, "MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE": My dad's company picnic is tomorrow. Lori Milberg (ph) is going to be there. I've kind of had a crush on her since third grade.

I haven't seen her since she moved across town last year. I've grown about four inches since then, but I can't just count on that.

If I do like 10,000 of these opportunities, I should have something to show by tomorrow.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Frankie Muniz is all grown up now and he's back in the spotlight after suffering a mini-stroke. This is his second one in just a year. He is just 27.

Senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen here with more on this. Let's just begin with, what is a mini stroke, first of all?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: A mini-stroke usually lasts for just a few minutes, and it doesn't cause any permanent damage, but it does make you more likely to get a real stroke later on.

BALDWIN: So then to hear Muniz is in his 20s, he's young. How rare is that?

COHEN: It's not quite as rare as you would think. When you look at the most common stroke, about 10 percent of those strokes are children.

And sometimes they know why. Sometimes they can say this person has a certain condition, but often they don't.

BALDWIN: Is he a smoker? Is he a drinker? Does that affect it?

COHEN: He says he's not a smoker and not a drinker. Sometimes, as doctors tell us, we just don't know. Some people are just unlucky, and it happens to them.

BALDWIN: If we're talking a mini-likelihood, especially in someone this young, it would be a full blown stroke? COHEN: There's no question it makes it more likely, but hopefully they'll be able to figure out the why and avoid a stroke in the future.

BALDWIN: Hopefully so, Elizabeth Cohen, thank you.

Another big headache for the president's signature law, small businesses looking to buy ObamaCare for their employees online won't be able to do so for another year.

That gives the administration even more time to fix the Web feature, but all of that said, businesses can still buy insurance through a broker and keep in mind, the White House is promising that the vast majority of users will be able to get a smooth experience on healthcare.gov by the end of this week.

And you know something is stupid when Mike Tyson says so, talking about what is being called this "Knockout Game."

You have seen the videos. Teenagers go up to complete strangers on the street, sucker punch them for zero reason.

Anyone can be a victim. A New York woman in her 70s was punched.

So was Phoebe Connelly, who encountered a group of teenagers while riding her bike in Washington, D.C.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PHOEBE CONNELLY, PUNCHED IN FACE BY TEENAGER: Just as I was passing through the group, one of the kids in the group biked off and cut me off, cut my path of direction off, and turned his bike so that he was going down the hill as I was going up it.

And as we passed, he reached out and punched me in the face, and said, "wapow," as he hit me in the face, and the whole group of kids laughed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Connelly is lucky. She wasn't seriously hurt.

But if anyone knows about punches, it's Mike Tyson. He throws them. He's been thrown by them.

Watch what "Iron Mike" told Piers Morgan about this "Knockout Game."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE TYSON, FORMER BOXER: It doesn't make any sense. It's a game to some people. I don't think it's cool. They're not hitting me. I saw one guy hit a woman, a girl, from behind.

PIERS MORGAN, CNN HOST, "PIERS MORGAN TONIGHT": When you grew up on the streets of Brooklyn, would you have ever done something like that? TYSON: If I'm on a robbing spree, when I was a young kid, I have done something like that, but this is just for fun. These guys, there's just no purpose in doing it.

I saw someone hit a woman. I would never hit a girl in the face. I just couldn't imagine. The only way I could imagine is that being my daughter, my wife.

MORGAN: Why do people do it, do you think?

TYSON: I have no idea. I don't have no idea. I just don't know. Maybe they're just evil. There's just some evil people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: You can watch the full interview with Mike Tyson tonight, 9:00 p.m. Eastern, on CNN.

Finish your turkey and stuffing early because something is happening tomorrow that is more than 4.5 billion years in the making.

Comet ISON formed and is headed to the sun, and my fellow space geeks, listen closely. You may actually be able to see it.

Chad Myers is up next with the details.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: White House ceremonies, they are typically full of pomp and circumstance, except for today.

President Obama, flanked by first daughters Sasha and Malia, pardoned two turkeys from Badger, Minnesota.

And he named one of them America's National Thanksgiving Turkey. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The office of the presidency, the most powerful position in the world, brings with it many awesome and solemn responsibilities. This is not one of them.

Eighty turkeys on John's farm competed for the chance to make it to the White House and stay off the Thanksgiving table. It was quite literally "The Hunger Games."

And then after weeks of vocal practice and prepping for the cameras, the two Tributes, Caramel and Popcorn, went head-to-head together for America's vote as top gobbler.

The competition was stiff, but we can officially declare that Popcorn is the winner, proving -- there you go -- proving that even a turkey with a funny name can find a place in politics.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BALDWIN: Holiday turkeys, such as Popcorn, have been presented to presidents going all the way back to Abraham Lincoln, but it was President Kennedy who was the first to spare one.

None received an official pardon until President George H.W. Bush uttered the word in 1989, trivia for you on your Thanksgiving eve.

Now to this, this is what I'm excited about. Beyond the turkey, eating it, I mean, have you heard about Comet ISON? It has been coming our way for a million years now. It is here.

This is time-lapse video from NASA, and tomorrow, while you're eating said turkey or whatever you so choose, it will fly perilously closely around the sun.

If it survives, it could be an awesome, awesome sight for us, Chad Myers -

MYERS: Yes.

BALDWIN: -- if it survives this close encounter with the sun.

MYERS: I know. And it had a coronal mass ejection whack it the other day, too.

BALDWIN: Darn that coronal mass ejection.

MYERS: I know. And blasted some dusts off of this thing.

It's about the size of a shopping center, and it's made of ice and junk and then it's flying around the sun. And it's going to get bright. And it could be very close.

It could be the coolest thing around Christmas if it survives, but it's ice going to the sun. You know, that's --

BALDWIN: Not a good mix.

MYERS: -- probably not the best thing you can do. You want to go around maybe Saturn. It's colder out there.

So it's going to go -- as it goes by tomorrow morning, wake up before sunrise, look to the east, you may be able to see it, as flares coming out of -- it kind of looks like that.

There's Comet ISON over there. That's what it looks like for space telescopes. It has to fly around the sun.

If it makes its way around the sun and survives and comes out the other side, all of a sudden in December, it's going to be really, really amazing.

As it comes out, we'll be able to see it at sunset, may be able to see it at sunrise, and it's going to be maybe the comet of the century.

But some others are saying, I don't think it's going to make it. It could be two or three breakups and it could be a dud.

BALDWIN: So, tomorrow before sunrise, a little something, but you know, fingers crossed, we could be seeing something pretty spectacular around Christmas.

MYERS: Right, tomorrow and the next couple days could be great, but after that, could just be stunning.

BALDWIN: Got it. Got it.

MYERS: We'll see.

BALDWIN: Chad, thank you very much.

And now this, a nurse is remembered as a hero today for her actions inside a Texas hospital.

Workers there say she gave up her own life to save patients when a man attacked with a knife.

Today, we are learning more about the victim and her heroic actions, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: A stepdad may have tried to stab two of his stepdaughters, but that's far from the worst implication facing this Arizona man.

Fernando Richter and his wife Sophia are accused of keeping the children captive in their home, to the point where the two younger girls say they had not seen their older sister for up to two years.

The Richters were in court this afternoon. The daughters, 12-, 13-, and 17-years-of-age.

According to those police reports, the girls allegedly were fed once a day and hadn't bathed in months.

Police say the younger girls escaped after their stepfather went after them with a knife. They ran to the neighbors house.

The neighbors didn't want to be identified when they spoke to our affiliate KTVK.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They said that their stepfather had a knife and that they just escaped from their bedroom and ran over here.

And they didn't have any shoes on, and they looked like they just had gotten out of bed. So we brought them inside, and that's when we called 911.

No child should have to experience what they experienced. And when they came to our home, I reassured them that they did the right thing by coming here and standing up for themselves. CHIEF ROBERTO VILLASENOR, TUCSON POLICE: When the girls saw each other last night, to the detectives, it appeared they had not seen each other for quite some time.

Comments to each other about the change in appearance and statements that they made, which gave indication that they had not seen each other for a substantial period of time, substantiated their story as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: As for the parents, they are facing kidnapping and child abuse charges. The stepfather has also been charged with one count of sex abuse.

Nurses, we love them, dedicate their lives to helping others. But one nurse in Texas was killed while protecting her patients.

When screams rang out at her hospital, Gail Sandidge went toward the chaos and lost her life. And now she's being called a hero.

CNN's John Zarrella is covering her story for us and joins me now. And, John, how did this attack begin?

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, you know, Brooke, this is just tragic no matter when it would have happened, but two days before Thanksgiving, yesterday?

Longview, Texas, it's about 100 miles east of Dallas, at the Good Shepherd Medical Center, a man comes running in to the surgical center.

He's carrying what witnesses said looked like, appeared to be, a hunting knife. He starts going after people that are patients, people that are visitors.

And Gail Sandidge, a nurse, hears what's going on. She runs toward the commotion. She tries to intervene, and she's stabbed, and a few hours later, she's pronounced dead.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE ALTMILLER, CEO, GOOD SHEPHERD HEALTH SYSTEMS: A seamstress, a Sunday school teacher of 2-year-olds, a huge Baylor fan, a mother, a grandmother, a healer, a trainer, a mentor, a nurturer, Gail Sandidge.

Nurses are protectors by nature, and Gail, she fit that profile. She was protecting her patients in act of courage today, and in so doing, she lost her life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZARRELLA: Four other people were injured in the attack. It appears all of them are going to be OK.

Police arrested Kyron Templeton just down the street from the hospital. He was arraigned yesterday afternoon, first-degree murder charges, as well as aggravated assault.

BALDWIN: John, do we have any idea why? Anything about a motive?

ZARRELLA: Police say absolutely not, although witnesses said while he was running through the hospital, he was yelling out, you're not going to kill my mother. And that's really all we have.

BALDWIN: Awful, awful. John Zarrella, thank you so much.

And we thank her. We thank nurses everywhere for what they do. Appreciate you very much today.

And that's just about it for me. Just a quick reminder to all of you. Hope you have a nice Thanksgiving.

And we'll be here tomorrow, so, of course, we hope you keep it locked on CNN.

And if you ever miss any kind of interview, you can go to CNN.com, and specific to this show, we invite you to go to CNN.com/Brooke.

That's it for me today. I'm Brooke Baldwin, coming from the CNN World Headquarters here in Atlanta.

Let's turn things over to my colleague John Berman, who, once again, is sitting in for Jake Tapper. "THE LEAD" starts right now.