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Six Suspicious Letters Found Near Super Bowl; Super Bowl Ad Spotlights Growing Trend; Body Parts In Bags Believed To Be White Man

Aired January 31, 2014 - 14:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to the CNN Compound. We are all working inside the CNN Express. When you see us on TV, this is where we are looking high above down on Times Square. What is the Super Bowl Boulevard really about? Let's find out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: We are in the middle of Times Square. A lot of people consider this, you know, the cross roads of the world. This place is Super Bowl Boulevard this weekend. The huge signs over there under the big Super Bowl 48 sign and over here near the police department obviously security is a priority this weekend.

You can really feel the excitement out here and you can also and I discovered be either a Bronco or a Seahawk. I always wanted to know what I look like as a football player. Obviously being perfectly jacketed. We have to give love to the Broncos fans. Yes! New York's finest. Good luck this weekend. That was awesome. Thank you so much. Yes, another.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: That was a little bit of what's happening behind Super Bowl Boulevard, but on a much more serious note a short time ago, there was a fear of a possible suspicious powder or substance being sent to hotels near the Super Bowl. Police are investigating now as we speak. The latest according to police, this was found at five different hotels near East Rutherford, New Jersey and also one here in Midtown Manhattan at the office of former mayor, Rudy Giuliani, talking to the East Rutherford mayor just a moment ago. He told me that one of the testings came up cornstarch.

So Don Lemon, let's begin there. My colleague is talking security to this mayor and incredibly frustrating. They have to take this stuff off of the grounds and test it there. If it's cornstarch, you have to take everything seriously here. That's a waste of money and resources.

DON LEMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. You can never be too careful. It is a waste of money. One hundred law enforcement agencies. Let me show you the camera, camera, camera. There is a camera right here and a camera there. There is a command center for police officers there. It's well secured. See how secure the area is. From 34th to 47th Street, probably the most secure area in the country right now same thing with Metlife Stadium. At least 4,000 officers are going to use on Sunday to secure the stadium, 13.5 scare mile area that they are going to be securing. It's pretty well secured, but if they have this manpower going as you said to --

BALDWIN: Running off at these different hotels with cornstarch.

LEMON: Fracture some of it. Listen, it's not just people with the presence here, but the reason is it is very important here. We are being watched every second. This morning I couldn't find my bag. I thought it was a fan and they said go ahead I know you work for CNN. It was a security officer who looks like a fan walking around.

BALDWIN: They are invisible.

LEMON: You have no idea. They may be helping you up on your thing as you are going to be a Seahawk or a Bronco. You never know, but again --

BALDWIN: With the stadium specifically, I know we are sitting here and there is a lot of security here. There are always a lot of cameras 365 during the year. Specifically it's the stadium. I know it's tough. They need to get in the game and it takes a long, long time. Here come Sunday. It's going to take a while.

LEMON: It's going to take a while and when you have a game in cold weather, it adds another layer. There so many layers. People come in and they have the coats and we have to check every pocket. Everyone will be bundled up. They are concerned about that. They think you carry something in your coat. If you go to the game and you don't need a coat.

You have to have that to get to the stadium. Mass transit has another level of security and another check point. You can't bring bags and purses and all of that. I would imagine they would say five hotels and one supposedly sent to the former mayor. Let's hope, knock on wood it will be cornstarch and that's it.

BALDWIN: Come back next hour, we will talk about something lighter. Bruno Mars.

LEMON: We thought we had a sighting earlier today. It was someone who just looked like him.

BALDWIN: Thank you very much. What is the secret? We all watch the game for the game, not the ads.

LEMON: Or the halftime show.

BALDWIN: Or the halftime show. Think about the ads. What do you think about the secret success formula?

LEMON: It's like a secret source, a little something extra.

BALDWIN: We will talk about that next. LEMON: You're nuts. You're crazy.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Welcome back. I'm Brooke Baldwin here live in the excitement at Super Bowl Boulevard here in Times Square. Listen, even if you don't like football, you probably like the Super Bowl music and the parties and of course, the commercials, right? One commercial in particular is putting the spotlight on a growing trend in America. Here is Miguel Marquez.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Yes, Governor, your ping pong theme, Budlight commercial teaser was a surprise. More surprising, ping pong is huge and seems to be getting huger. World leaders play and even royals. Across America, bars and venues are dedicated to ping pong springing up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have seen a lot opening up.

MARQUEZ: These are ping pong table tennis fanatics.

SANDESH AWALE, TABLE TENNIS PRO: You have to keep working your mind really fast.

MARQUEZ: They are ping at spin, now a worldwide chain of hipster ping pong clubs.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I made a mistake.

MARQUEZ: Lee who once played for the South Korea national team is a table tennis ambassador in leather and high heels.

(on camera): You are making ping pong glamorous, yes?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think so. I make ping pong trendy and fun.

MARQUEZ (voice-over): She also makes it look ridiculously fashionable. The public face of spin, one of the founders strangely enough is the actress, Susan Sarandon.

SUSAN SARANDON, ACTRESS: It's kind of equalizing the playing field that little girls can beat muscle bound guys.

MARQUEZ: Another quality, Sarandon plays a table tennis guru in a film called "Ping Pong Summer." Her choice as the director is obvious.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who won an Oscar and owns a ping pong club.

MARQUEZ: On the big screen and the small screen and everywhere in between. Miguel Marquez, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE) BALDWIN: I love the leather outfit. Who knew? No time to rest watching the Super Bowl and the action on the field is not quite appeal to you, the ads usually do. You know why. The standards are high. Most people watch this particular game than any other event with the Oscars and the Grammys and the World Series. Here is just a sampling of what 43 advertisers are paying up to $4.5 million a spot.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Take off your pants, Greek boy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You heard the man. Take those pants off. That's going to stain.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't leave me alone with him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tim Teebow here. I can save these puppies and I can tour the world. You might want to hold on to those donuts.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Robert Tuchman joining me, sports marketer and Peter Shankman, branding consultant. Guys, welcome. It's so fun. I love talking about this. If they are forking out $4.5 million for 30 seconds, Robert, why release the ad ahead of time?

ROBERT TUCHMAN, SPORTS MARKETER: They look back to years ago, you never saw any snippets, but the companies realize is if you release them months in advance, you get more media attention. You get the buzz going and the reason they do that, they can leverage the commercial the entire year especially for $4.5 million.

BALDWIN: You get the buzz talking about it and the bang for the buck.

PETER SHANKMAN, BRANDING AND SOCIAL MEDIA CONSULTANT: The bang for the buck has changed. That's the ad we have been talking about. They want to see it real and live. You can talk about that. Ads aired on you tube that were never intended to be in the Super Bowl.

BALDWIN: Let's get to that. There is one brand that they couldn't fork over the dough to play during the Super Bowl. It's incredibly popular. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was excited to make a commercial, but it turns out they don't have the money or permission. You can't even say the word.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: You don't even hear her say Super Bowl. It's the bleeping. Why do this? It's incredibly popular.

SHANKMAN: It is. The Go Daddy trends and say we are not getting that for centuries. Come watch it, anyone in the country that was never -- you any to Go Daddy. Others realize we are not going to spend the money and maybe not as big, but for three months earlier and later, we still get it.

BALDWIN: Can you talk about Uncle Joey and Jesse, "Full House" fame. Roll the clip. Oh, no clip. I just wanted to say the game. The point is it was for a yogurt. Why do you think that so resonates? What's the secret? Is it nostalgic?

TUCHMAN: Totally. Look at the people who are watching the game. How old are they? They grew up with full house. When you look at that, you bring it back and it reminds you stuff like that when you do that, it resonates with the people who are watching.

BALDWIN: What are you looking forward to seeing?

SHANKMAN: I want to have the one that you always go and watch and one commercial everyone is talking about on Monday. I want to see something that didn't get the hype. What's it going to be?

BALDWIN: The Clydesdales?

SHANKMAN: That always gets me, but the llama. I don't know knows what that's all about. He is walking a llama into an elevator.

BALDWIN: Awesome. Let's talk Monday, the post-game. Thank you, guys. Thank you very much. Coming up here on CNN, we are talking about Amanda Knox. She said no way she is going to run and going to hide and she is not going back to Italy. She has been convicted of murder again. Remember she was convicted, acquitted and convicted again.

Plus, an incredibly disturbing investigation out of Michigan. Have you heard about this? Bags of body parts found along a snowy highway, we will have the latest on the investigation as far as who police think they may belong to.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Welcome back. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Live here in Times Square, but I want to take you to Michigan for this next story because it's not quite clear how a victim there died, but how he was left. That has launched this disturbing investigation. Sheriff's investigators found bags full of body parts and they now believe the remains belong to one man in particular.

Some people spotted the bag along rural road in St. Claire County, which is just about an hour's drive northeast of Detroit. CNN's Ted Rowlands joins me now with this one and so Ted, we know that there is an autopsy scheduled for today. Has that happened yet?

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We believe it's going on right now, Brooke. The hope is that autopsy will shed light on this victim here. There was a call that came in yesterday around 4:30. The report was that somebody was fly dumping or dumping trash along the side of the road. When investigators came out to check it out, that's when they found body parts in several different garbage baggs. Some of the body parts included a head and a torso and initially they couldn't identify the sex now. As you said they believe it is a single male man who was disposed of after his body parts were separated into the trash bags. Then this morning they got another call about a piece of trash in a bag outside of an off-ramp nearby. They reported in that bag they found clothing that was charred and some paperwork that was related to the case, but no more body parts.

They are hoping that with the information they have with the paperwork and the clothing and now this autopsy, they will be able to piece this together. At this point they do not have a victim identified.

BALDWIN: So incredibly gruesome. All these parts belonging to this one individual and it shows investigators are looking for a woman?

ROWLANDS: Yes, the initial caller that saw the person dumping trash said that the person doing that was a middle aged heavy set woman. They said she was driving a Chevy blazer-type vehicle, 1990s and light gray. They are zeroing in on that information as well. Hoping someone from the public could help them out to identify the person who was dumping this trash or dumping these body parts.

BALDWIN: Right, Ted Rowlands, thank you. Coming up here, Amanda Knox said she will run, she will hide. There is no way she is going back to Italy. After being convicted of murder, again, will she have a choice?

When a woman is elected president, Laura Bush, is giving some advice to the first gentlemen. It involves his appearance. That's next here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: If there is anyone who knows what it's like to be under constant scrutiny, it is Laura Bush, former first lady, Laura Bush. Did you hear what she thinks should happen when the day comes that the president's spouse is a man. I want you to watch what she said about the role of the first gentlemen when she talked to C-Span.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mrs. Bush, you talked about the first lady seeming glamorous, et cetera. Are we too obsessed with your hair and makeup and clothes?

LAURA BUSH, FORMER FIRST LADY: Yes, for sure. But I don't think we can get around it. Maybe when we finally have a first gentleman and maybe we should be that way about the first gentlemen also. Critique the way they look all the time, their choice of tie or their hairstyle or whatever, maybe their weight.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's your advice for the first gentleman?

BUSH: Stand back and be quiet. I don't know. It will be interesting when it finally happens what the first gentleman will do. I hope they will take on men's health perhaps. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Stand back and be quiet, she says. Mrs. Bush also said a first gentleman might be less likely to stop working when his spouse is elect and that could set a precedent for future first ladies to continue their career in the White House.

Now let's take a look at some of the hottest stories in a flash. We call it rapid fire. Roll it.

First up here to Wall Street where the markets are not doing so great, down about 78 points as we were about an hour away from the closing bell, not too far away from here. Showing concerns about corporate earnings reports and that could be why we are seeing markets in the red. After stocks, this served as a reality check.

Passengers on board the Caribbean Princess cruise liner back in the U.S. and heading home after officials reported an outbreak of norovirus. Vacationers arrived in Houston this morning. More than 160 passengers to be precise reported feeling ill. Approximately five had active symptoms of the gastrointestinal illness. The ship is being sanitized, which the CDC overseeing that process.

Siena Miller began testifying today in London to infamous tabloid phone hacking trial. The key piece of evidence, this voicemail that she left for actor, Daniel Perez telling him she loved him even though she was dating actor, Jude Law. Prosecutors using that message to try to prove that former "News of the World" reporters did indeed hacked into several celebrity phone lines with the editor's blessing.

And here we go, Toronto Mayor Rob Ford gained a reputation for being caught awkward positions, but this looks like he is enjoying it. You know Rob Ford. He is the leader of the fourth largest metropolis and ended up smoking crack. The man on the left according to "Toronto Sun" reporting he is a fellow lawmaker. Tickling is what's going on. He told his son he was not tickling, but it was football moves with him. Apparently, it's not tickling.

And we continue on hour two. Great to be with you here live at the cross roads of the world in Times Square.