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Police: Missing California Family "Taken Against Their Will"; Police: Two More Shootings Linked To Five Stockton Killings; Walker Denies Abortion Report, Faces Attacks From Own Son; Report: Elon Musk To Proceed With Twitter Deal; Markets Soar As Job Openings Plunge By One-Plus-Million In August; Report Finds Systemic Abuse, Misconduct In Women's Soccer. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired October 04, 2022 - 13:30   ET

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

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[13:32:05]

ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: I want to take you to California now, where a family is missing, including that 8-month-old little girl. Officials say someone took this family against their will, and now the hunt is on.

CNN's Stephanie Elam is on this story.

Stephanie, walk us through this. Who is this family and how were they just taken?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Ana, it's just very bizarre, the set of events we have right now.

What we know is this family was taken -- and let me actually show you more pictures of this really cute family here. Starting off with Aroohi Dheri. That's the 8-month-old daughter that you see there.

And those are her parents that you see, Jasleen Kaur and Jasdeep Singh. As well as the baby's uncle, Amandeep Singh, as well.

What we understand, according to the sheriff's department, that they were at a business in central valley, California, in a town called Merced, that they were there.

Right now, though, authorities say they do not have a motive, they do not have any requests for ransom, but they do believe that they were taken against their will.

In fact, take a listen to what the sheriff had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VERN WARNKE, SHERIFF, MERCED COUNTY, CA, SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT: So far we have no idea why the kidnapping. We have no motivation behind it. We just know they are gone.

We've got evidence to case that the individuals involved in this destroyed evidence in an attempt to cover their tracks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ELAM: So some questions there.

They do have a suspect now that they're saying is armed and dangerous. They're describing the suspect as a light-complexioned male with a shaved head.

There you see an image of him that they've delivered out to everyone to keep their eyes out. But they're saying, don't approach him, stay away.

But keep in mind, this family has been missing now since Sunday. So they say they're working around the clock to see if they can get any answers and find out where this missing family is -- Ana?

CABRERA: OK, Stephanie Elam, thank you.

Fears of a serial killer in California, different part of the state, are also growing right now as authorities reveal a string of recent killings in Stockton, apparently, began much earlier than anyone realized.

Police say the shooting of a woman in April of last year is now connected to five more recent killings in that city. And a second shooting that same month in Oakland, about 70 miles away, is also linked.

So CNN security correspondent, Josh Campbell, has been on this one for us.

We've also learned, Josh, that in one of these new cases that are linked, the victim survived. That's got to be potentially really helpful to investigators.

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: It is. And this is the key development. So far, we're talking about six deceased victims. But we also learned overnight from police that there was a seventh victim who was shot and then survived. Of course, authorities will want to be interviewing her.

As of this point, they are not prepared to call this a serial killer because they don't know if they're talking about one person or a group of people.

But of course, being able to interview that woman is key to determine, did she have some kind of interaction with one person or a group of people before that shot was fired?

[13:35:02]

Again, a key development there. That's certainly something investigators are look at.

CABRERA: So, Josh, these two new cases happened more than a year ago. One of the victims, as you point out, is a woman. The others are men.

So why are police convinced the cases are connected to these more recent five?

CAMPBELL: Well, they're saying they're connected but they're not giving their rationale. They're holding that close to the vest.

But I can tell you in covering so many of these shootings what this often comes down to is ballistic analysis. It's come so far over the last two decades.

And if you think about a gun when it is fired, there are actually two key aspects there that investigators look at. There's the bullet that actually travels down the bullet of a pistol or a rifle. That leaves markings that are unique to that weapon.

So if analysts are able to look at the actual bullet fragments they can connect those incidents to the same type of weapon.

The same is the case with the so-called ammunition casing that's ejected out the side of the weapon. Those are unique printings that are left on that metal device that's left behind. Authorities can look at that in order to try to piece that together.

And then finally, we've seen in so many of these cases as well that sometimes shooters bring their own evidence to the crime scene, leaving behind DNA fiber, hair fibers as well.

That is all key in order to try to determine not only who's responsible but, if you take shootings that have been unsolved, they might be able to say that, yes, we are talking about the same weapon, the same shooter.

CABRERA: Josh Campbell, thank you.

CAMPBELL: Thank you.

CABRERA: Major CEOs predict the economy's future. And spoiler alert here, it's not good. What they're saying and how they're preparing.

Plus, Herschel Walker says a report that he paid for an abortion years ago is a flat-out lie. But the Georgia Senate nominee's troubles don't stop there. Now his own son is attacking him on Twitter.

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[13:41:40]

CABRERA: Shock waves in a crucial Senate race today. Georgia Republican candidate, Herschel Walker, is denying a report that he once reimbursed a girlfriend for an abortion.

Now, Walker is a hardline abortion opponent. He is denying the allegation in the, quote, "strongest possible terms." Walker says it's a lie. But the "Daily Beast" says it has the receipts. Literally.

CNN's Eva McKend joins us.

Eva, it's been deny, deny, deny from Walker. Lay out the details of this allegation.

EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS REPORTER: Ana, here's what the "Daily Beast" is reporting. They corroborated the woman's account of Walker paying for her abortion by reviewing a medical receipt from the abortion clinic as well as a note card Walker allegedly sent the woman at the time.

The tabloid additionally reports they reviewed a bank deposit receipt that included Walker's signature handwriting.

Here's why all of this matters. Because Walker is an anti-choice hardliner who even resists terminating a pregnancy in instances of rape, incest, and life of the mother.

He is facing a steady drumbeat of stories that cast doubt on his credibility, but this story also suggests hypocrisy.

But here's how Walker is defending himself.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HERSCHEL WALKER, (R), U.S. SENATE CANDIDATE FOR GEORGIA: It is a flat- out lie. And now you know how important this seat is. This seat is important, they'll do anything to win this seat, lie.

Because they want to make it about anything else except what the true problems we have in this country is. That's inflation, the border wide open, crime. They don't want to talk about that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCKEND: Now, if all that wasn't enough, shortly after the story was published Walker's son, Christian, an outspoken conservative activist, took to Twitter to attack his father and leveled a series of accusations against him, essentially characterizing him as a liar.

He continued today to call out his father. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTIAN WALKER, SON OF HERSCHEL WALKER: Lie after lie after lie. The abortion part drops yesterday. It's literally his handwriting in the card. They say they have receipts, whatever. He gets on Twitter and he lies about it.

OK, I'm done. Done! Everything has been a lie.

Don't lie on my mom. Don't lie on me. Don't lie on the lives you've destroyed and act like you're some moral family man.

You all should care about that, conservatives.

(END VIDEO CLIP) MCKEND: Now, I should note CNN has not independently verified the allegations reported by the "Daily Beast."

CABRERA: Eva, how's this going to factor into the upcoming Senate race then?

MCKEND: Key question. The campaign is internally acknowledging this as a setback. It's possible that, like the former President Donald Trump, Walker has an ability to survive all this among his core supporters.

Walker is popular in the state of Georgia among conservatives. Moderates and Independents are the ones to watch.

And the Republican establishment is also rallying around him, Ana, dismissing the story and the ensuing fallout as a distraction.

But this race is incredibly close and it could determine the balance of power in the Senate.

CABRERA: Eva McKend, thank you for your reporting.

Turning now to a bombshell in the business world. Mega billionaire, Elon Musk, has done an about face and reportedly is going to move forward with his plan to buy Twitter.

CNN's Matt Egan is here.

Matt, fill us in.

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Well, Ana, only Elon Musk could deliver a shocking twist in this soap opera.

[13:45:00]

Twitter shares up 13 percent as we speak on reports that Elon Musk has decided to completely reverse himself and give in and actually go ahead and buy Twitter at the originally proposed $54.20.

This is very surprising because all signs were pointing to the fact that Elon and Twitter were going to head to court in just under two weeks to try to battle this out.

I think the problem, though, is that Elon Musk could see the writing on the wall, that he wasn't going to necessarily win this court battle. He decided -- it appears he's decided to maybe try to end it on his own terms.

The back and forth in this soap opera has been dizzying. It was exactly six months ago that Musk disclosed he had a big stake in Twitter.

He decided to join Twitter's board. Then he reversed himself, decided not to. Offered to buy Twitter back in April. Twitter reluctantly agreed to sell to Musk. Then Musk backed out, ostensibly because he was concerned about bots.

Maybe he got cold feet here. Twitter then went and said they're going to sue Elon to try to force him to complete this.

And maybe today Musk is perhaps moving towards trying to close this deal. It's incredible.

Now, if this gets confirmed and if Elon Musk doesn't change his mind again, then I think the conversation would shift to, what does a Twitter owned by Elon Musk look like?

He wants to remove some of the guardrails around free speech. What does that mean for misinformation? I don't know. That's where the debate will go next.

CABRERA: OK, twist, turn, up, down, it's been a roller coaster ride.

But we've also seen a bit of that with the stock market today.

EGAN: We have.

CABRERA: It's soaring. However, part of the reason why is a new report that says job openings in America have dropped dramatically.

That seems like it would be good news. But help us understand -- or I guess it would be bad news that job openings are dropping. But for some reason, investors see it as good news?

EGAN: Right. That's because the jobs market has been really hot. Way too hot. It's actually been fueling inflation.

And the biggest concern is that there's been an unbelievable number of job openings. There's been a worker shortage.

Look at this. Before COVID, 7.1 million job openings. That was considered normal. Then we had the worker shortage during COVID. It's peaked at 11.9 million.

We learned that in August the number of job openings came down by over a million to 10.1 million. This shows the job market is still tight but may be moving in the right direction.

The hope on Wall Street is that maybe this means that the Fed can stop slamming the brakes on the economy by dramatically raising interest rates. And so this has given some optimism to investors.

But we do have to point out that, despite the fact the Dow is up 650 points right now, markets are still deeply in the red on the year. And so this is just giving back, just gaining back a slight portion of the recent losses.

CABRERA: OK. And then we've got OPEC in a big meeting tomorrow. Oil, gas prices will be at play there. So we'll talk about that soon. Lots to cover.

Matt, thanks for staying on top of it all for us.

A new report reveals systemic emotional and sexual abuse toward players in the National Women's Soccer League. What happens next? (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:52:25]

CABRERA: An investigation into the National Women's Soccer League has revealed systemic sexual and emotional abuse toward its players.

The independent report says, "In well over 200 interviews, we heard report after report of relentless degrading tirades, manipulation that was about power, not improving performance, and retaliation against those who attempted to come forward."

"Even more disturbing were the stories of sexual misconduct. Players described a pattern of sexually charged comments, unwanted sexual advances and sexual touching, and coercive sexual intercourse."

In one example, a coach called a player to show her a video of a game but instead showed her pornography. Again, that's just one example.

Bottom line here, the investigation found the league failed to provide a safe environment for its players.

Meg Linehan is senior writer for "The Athletic" and the host of "Full- Time with Meg Linehan."

Thanks for joining us.

Meg, you've been covering this story since the beginning. It was your reporting that shone a light on a lot of this. What's your first reaction?

MEG LINEHAN, SENIOR WRITER, "THE ATHLETIC" & HOST, "FULL-TIME WITH MEG LINEHAN": Really, the big reaction is this extends so far. It's really a problem across women's soccer, across women's sports but also at multiple levels.

They point heavily towards youth soccer, that those behaviors are normalized there. That to me is one of the most concerning things out of this report.

CABRERA: There are disturbing details about coaches using their positions to coerce players into sex. But this report also says team owners and executives knew about these allegations.

What happens to them?

LINEHAN: That's really the big question coming out of this. Because ultimately, Sally Yates, in this report, can only make recommendation.

There's a second investigation still ongoing being run by the league and the players association, and that's still happening.

And I think we're going to have to wait for that investigation to be complete, potentially, before we actually see any potential disciplinary action with owners or other administrators.

CABRERA: What are you hearing from players after this report dropped?

LINEHAN: I don't know if any of them are surprised. I think seeing so much of the detail at length is really a lot, just, I think for everyone in this space. But I don't know if they are necessarily surprised.

But seeing this in, you know, a 300-plus page document feels maybe a little more real than it did even a few months ago.

[13:55:00]

CABRERA: Do you anticipate any changes taking place soon?

LINEHAN: I think we've already seen changes in the league. There have been changes in ownership.

I mean, shortly after my story published in September of last year, within a few days, former head coach, Paul Riley, was out at North Carolina Courage.

The commissioner of the league resigned. The general counsel of the league was ousted. So we have seen some changes.

But I think there will have to be major policy changes ahead both at the U.S. soccer level, at the end of the sell level, and potentially across other levels of the sport.

But we still don't know what those might actually look like.

CABRERA: Total change in culture, it sounds like, needs to take place.

Meg Linehan, thank you so much for joining us.

And thank you at home for being here. That does it for us today. I'll see you tomorrow, same time, same place. Until then, join me on Twitter, @AnaCabrera.

The news continues right after this.

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