Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Turkey Mine Disaster; MERS Virus Spreads; Zodiac Killer; Bounce House Swept Away; Turkey Mine Explosion

Aired May 14, 2014 - 14:00   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Wolf, thank you so much.

Hi there. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

And we begin this hour with just this heartbreaking wait on what could become the deadliest mining accident in all of Turkey's history.

(VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: That woman is crying is this, enough for the life of me, let this mine take my life, too. Enough is enough, she says. She is part of this mob of mourners and desperate loved ones gather there at this coal mine in Soma, Turkey. It's about a seven hour drive, you can see on the map here, southwest -- northwest of Istanbul. At this hour, the death toll, 245. One hundred and twenty miners may still be alive and all eyes are on what rescuers bring up from deep under ground.

Blankets, too often here, covering the dead on stretchers, but there have been moments of jubilation as well. At least 88 miners have made it out, some even walking out of this mine on their own. Really it's a miracle considering what happened two-thirds of a mile deep into this mine. A transformer blew and ignited a fire Tuesday that's been slowing down the rescue today.

Let's take you straight to (INAUDIBLE) Soma, Turkey, to CNN's Ivan Watson.

And, Ivan, you know, by the number, there are more lifeless bodies being pulled out of this mine than survivors. But when is the last time that there were cheers at that mine?

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, I've been here probably 12 hours and haven't heard any real cheers at all. And the mood is quite grim down near the mouth of the coal mine behind me where one coal miner that I talked to, he said he has buried four of his friends today and he said it was his duty to stand there and to receive other friends that would be coming out. And he told me he has no hope of seeing any of them come out alive. That it's far too late for that.

And I've watched a procession of lifeless bodies carried out on stretchers either in body bags or covered with blankets by rescue workers to waiting ambulances, where they're then rushed off. The scene there is quite grim. Some of the rescue workers I've talked to, they've said, well, you know, there could be a chance if people, when the fire broke out, got to one of the emergency safe rooms, managed to shut the doors and create a seal, keep the poisonous gases out and get on tanks of oxygen and gas masks in time, there could be people alive. But we haven't heard of any communication with any miners alive at this point now, more than 24 hours after the fire broke out.

So it's a very tragic and sad scene. And as you drive around this province of western Turkey, flags are at half-mast. In the town of Soma, the road in the main street was lined with hundreds of people as well as lots of security barriers and police protecting the hospital there. The real sense of a major disaster that has hit this part of Turkey.

Brooke.

BALDWIN: As those rescue crews, Ivan, and the families are, of course, holding out hope that some of those miners do get to those emergency chambers that you describe, can you just tell me some of the things that the rescuers are doing? For example, they're pumping oxygen into this mine site, are they not?

WATSON: We are told by authorities that they're pumping some air in. And we see kind of smoke puffing out from what seems to be another entrance to the mine at another place. Now, I talked to a couple of the rescue volunteers who had been working overnight down there. They had retrieved the bodies of six miners they said. They said that the heat was pretty terrible. The air was also, you know, quite poisonous, dense smoke. They could only operate down there wearing gas masks and oxygen tanks.

And the distances that they're having to travel, they're saying that it takes like 45 minutes to get down to the mine shafts where these hundreds of coal miners were working. And the conditions are so rough that they're (ph) going to have to come in and out for breaks.

This fire erupted, Brooke, at a time when reportedly the coal mine was going through a shift. There were many hundreds more workers there than normal and that is perhaps part of why this has been so, so, so deadly. And to top it all off, you had a government official here, a locally elected lawmaker, who just on April 29th had put in a motion in the local parliament asking for an investigation into the security standards at this mine and other coal mines around this very town. And can you believe it? The parliament voted that motion for an investigation down. So this is becoming a big topic of debate and controversy even as the bodies still keep coming out from underneath the mountain behind me.

Brooke.

BALDWIN: Awful. Ivan Watson, we'll stay in close contact with you, hoping for cheers in the coming hours instead of more bodies coming out of that mine in Soma, Turkey. Thank you, Ivan.

Let's talk about, too, today, this potentially deadly MERS virus. It has now spread to an 18th country. The Netherlands today is reporting a case of the virus that's emerged from the Middle East. In this country, as we've been reporting, two health care workers in Orlando, both exposed to a man confirmed to have MERS, both have tested negative even though both had flu-like symptoms. A number of people exposed to that man and to the second case of MERS in the state of Indiana are being kept in isolation. And the CDC is trying to find those people who were on that plane, who flew on May 2nd with the man currently in Orlando on a series of flights that originated in Saudi Arabia.

Our senior medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen, has been working this really since it first broke here in the states.

And so, you know, obviously, as we continue reporting this, and now that, you know, we're hearing about signs in U.S. airports just giving people a head's up if they're heading to the Middle East. How concern should we be now?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, Brooke, I would be concerned if my husband just came back from the Arabian peninsula and he had flu-like symptoms. I would be worried about him. I'd be worried about me. I'd be worried about our children because we're in such close contact. I would be concerned if any health care workers, you know, had taken care of him and weren't using precautions.

But I don't think this is something that many, many people need to be concerned about. If you are not a held care worker who's taken care of a MERS patient, if you don't have close contact with a MERS patient, which, of course, you know, most of us haven't --

BALDWIN: Right.

COHEN: This really isn't a grave concern.

Now, they are contacting people, as you said, who flew on these planes with this MERS patient because they said they want to just be sure. I mean these people spent many hours with this patient. They want to just be sure. In the Indiana case, there was no transmission on the plane. They're hoping that's the case also for the sick person in Florida.

BALDWIN: So I've heard you say, and you just reiterated it, you know, if you're a family member of this individual you should be frightened possibly. But if health officials are trying to track down these folks on (ph) these planes who might have come in contact, maybe just shared the air, I mean could it be as simple as that and then someone could be infected with this particular type of virus?

COHEN: You know, I asked that exact question of one of the senior CDC officials here and he said, look, the likelihood is very low that anyone got this on the plane. In fact, in Indiana, you have flights from, you know, a flight from London to Chicago. You know, that's hundreds of people on a plane together for hours with this MERS patient and nobody on that plane got sick.

BALDWIN: Good. COHEN: Now, at the CDC here behind me, there are people making phone calls as we speak for the Florida patient who was on a series of flights. Is it possible? Sure, it's possible. But the likelihood seems low. But, Brooke, this is a new virus with a very high mortality rate, 30 percent. They want to take every precaution they can.

BALDWIN: As they should be. Elizabeth Cohen at the CDC, thank you so much.

And just ahead here on CNN, a man searching for his biological father makes a disturbing discovery because he says his dad may be one of the most elusive serial killers in all of U.S. history, the infamous Zodiac killer. We'll talk to a woman who can relate to his story.

Plus, the race to recover what is being called the Mount Everest of ocean discoveries. Christopher Columbus's ship is now under attacked by looters. We're talking to the guy, the diver who found it.

And just a parent's nightmare. The terrifying moment a bounce house goes airborne, the kids inside falling out. Look at that! We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Welcome back. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

A man's soul searching journey to really just find himself ends up with a discovery that would shatter anyone's identity because his dad could be a serial killer. That is what the author of this book claims, saying the father who abandoned him as a four-week-old was the Zodiac killer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Got any hard suspects?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: About 90 an hour. I'm up to around 500.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You've got four crime scenes. Not a single, usable print. You can't think of this case.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Scenes from "Zodiac" here, just part of a string of films and books and articles on the five killings that terrified San Francisco from 1968 to 1969. The killer called himself Zodiac in letters to police and it is still an open case decades later.

So now, you see this man, Gary L. Stewart, a Louisiana business executive, says his biological father bears a mighty strong resemblance -- take a look for yourself -- to the sketches of the killer. Look at that.

Plus, Stewart could not ignore a letter puzzle from the killer that contained the letters "e," "v," "best" and "jr.," which could be the name of Stewart's dad, Earl Van Best Jr. And while there is certainly doubt the father is a serial killer, my next guest, she knows her father was one. Melissa Moore's dad was Keith Jesperson, the Happy Face Killer who admitted killing eight women back in the 90s. She wrote a book. It's called "Shattered Silence: The Untold Story of a Serial Killer's Daughter." And Melissa is good enough to join me right now from Dallas.

Mellissa, nice to see you. Welcome.

MELISSA MOORE, DAUGHTER OF "HAPPY FACE KILLER": Welcome. Thank you. Thank you for having me.

BALDWIN: Before we get to more specifics with this Zodiac killer story and this new book, I just want to focus on you. Tell me first just about the moment when you realized after your dad was caught and you realized, oh my God, my father is a serial killer.

MOORE: Right. It was my freshman year in high school. I was only 15 years old. And the news had broke in the media. I had no idea. I mean it was just shocking. My mom had called me in from -- in from the upstairs area of our house and called us in for a meeting and she relayed the news. And the next day I had to go to school like everything was normal, but it wasn't normal.

BALDWIN: No.

MOORE: Everybody else knew, you know. They had watched the news, too. So it was just --

BALDWIN: They knew it was your father?

MOORE: Yes. Yes.

BALDWIN: You say it was shocking, but I read in parts of your book you talk about how your father had dark tendencies.

MOORE: Right.

BALDWIN: Tell me what he would hang from the clothes line?

MOORE: Right. He would hang our -- well, my pets, for instance. It was -- in one case it was some kittens that I had found in the cellar that I was pretending -- I was just a little girl. I was six years old and I had found them and I was playing house with them and I was pretending I was the mom and I'd taken the little kittens outside and my dad had -- had hung them on the clothes line and was torturing them. And that was one really dark and horrible day for me.

BALDWIN: That is something you remember for the rest of your life.

MOORE: Right.

BALDWIN: And here you are, as a grown woman, you're a mother --

MOORE: Yes.

BALDWIN: And, you know, looking back, though, before we get to current day, really, your father, you know, sent letters with his own sort of signature, sort of like this Zodiac killer did, correct?

MOORE: Correct. It was a smiley face that he would put on the stalls of bathrooms, at truck stops and he would also send it to reporters, (INAUDIBLE). He would just put it wherever. He would leave it -- his mark wherever he could to taunt the police.

BALDWIN: And that sounds like one of the signs of a lot of these serial killers, they like to taunt.

MOORE: Right.

BALDWIN: It's almost like they want that fame or they want to get caught.

MOORE: Right.

BALDWIN: Let me play some sound because Gary Stewart, who authored this book, who's claiming the Zodiac killer is his father, he talked to CNN by phone earlier today. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GARY STEWART, AUTHOR CLAIMING DAD WAS ZODIAC KILLER (voice-over): I never set out to try to prove that my father was a criminal or a serial killer. Mine was truly a journey to find myself and my identity by finding the other half of me in my father.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So, Melissa, the biggest difference really between his story and yours, other than the fact that we don't know definitively whether his father was the Zodiac killer. But you, as you mentioned, you were a freshman in high school. He was, you know, he was abandoned when he was four weeks old. He's a grown man now, as he's coming into this possible knowledge. How has that --

MOORE: Right.

BALDWIN: Do you think it's better to be younger, better to be older, it doesn't matter?

MOORE: Well, as I have come forward with my story, I've had the -- I guess the privilege of meeting other family members that are children and adults and spouses of serial killers. And it's a small club. It's not a fun club. So for Gary to possibly be a part of this not fun club to be in, it's a discovery of identity that you have to shift. You have to separate yourself from the criminal. There isn't a genetic --

BALDWIN: You are not that person.

MOORE: Yes, you're not that person. And that took me a long, long time as a child to develop into that. I mean you can just even look at, when kids, you know, when they see their parents get a divorce and they blame themselves, like did I do something wrong to make my parents get a divorce --

BALDWIN: Oh.

MOORE: I mean you take that and you could just put it in the context of murder, of serial murder. I mean, then you just amp it up. I mean that's what happened in my case. So I got to see that, not just for myself, but in multiple cases across the nation and even international cases to be the same place.

BALDWIN: Sure.

MOORE: Yes.

BALDWIN: Having other people to relate to.

MOORE: So --

BALDWIN: Right. And we'll follow --

MOORE: Right. Right.

BALDWIN: We'll follow this story to see if, you know --

MOORE: Yes.

BALDWIN: If Gary's father really is, in fact, the Zodiac killer or not. But, Melissa Moore, thank you so much. We just wanted to have you on to share your story.

MOORE: Oh, thank you.

BALDWIN: And, again, your book, "Shattered Silence: The Untold Story of a Serial Killer's Daughter." Thank you.

Coming up, is this sunken ship off of Haiti the long lost remains of a ship sailed by Christopher Columbus himself? Our next guest says yes. He is the one who found it. I cannot wait to talk to this man.

Also ahead, parents look on in absolute horror as this inflatable bounce house is swept off the ground during a powerful wind storm. We'll tell you what happened to the children inside. Yes, there were kids inside, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: I mean this is just hard to believe this can happen. This kiddie bounce house gets blown by a strong guest of wind, flies away. You have two children inside, a five year old and a six year old and thank goodness they're OK. Don Lemon reports on what happened to this bounce house of horror.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DON LEMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Look at this terrifying photo. That blue dot soaring high is an inflatable balloon house. Neighbors say a guest of wind blew the bouncing castle in upstate New York right off the front yard. Three children playing inside were sent flying two stories into the sky, soaring over a stretch of trees and this apartment complex.

TAYLOR SEYMOUR, WITNESS: The first little boy came out, landed in the middle of the road right there, and then the other little boy came down, hit his head off the back of my car right there, and then he landed on the ground.

LEMON: A 10-year-old girl escaping with only scrapes. The two boys still hospitalized, one reportedly suffering two broken arms and the other a serious head injury.

JESSICA MILLER, WITNESS: His face and whole front of his body was covered in blood.

LEMON: This isn't the first time the birthday party favorites have been sent airborne. Back in 2011, a heavy gust of wind blew this inflatable slide like a tumbleweed, flying across a Long Island soccer field and landing on a crowd below, injuring 13.

That same year, in Tucson, Arizona, wind whipped this bouncy castle up in the air at a fifth grade graduation party, wrapping it around a light pole. Horrified neighbors of this accident say the castle was assembled correctly and staked into the ground.

STEPHANIE HANSEN, NEIGHBOR: The parents were out there, too. And I mean anything that could have been done wrong wasn't. Everything was done properly.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Oh, Don Lemon, thank you.

Just ahead, Donald Sterling launched the attack. Now Magic Johnson has responded, saying the Clippers owner's rant was beyond personal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAGIC JOHNSON, FORMER NBA PLAYER: He's a man who's upset and he's reaching. He's reaching. He's trying to find something that he can grab on to, to help him save his team. And it's not going to happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: And the Biebs, he's back. Justin Bieber and another brush with the law. This time accusations of attempted robbery. The details, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)