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Dismembered Bodies Of Four Men Found In Oklahoma River; Radiation Levels 22X Expected Amount Found At Elementary School; Alaska Fisherman Fear For The Future As Snow Crabs Disappear. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired October 18, 2022 - 9:30   ET

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

[09:30:00]

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BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN ANCHOR: Police in Oklahoma now say four men reported missing were the victims of brutal killings, shot to death, their bodies dismembered and then dumped into a river. Mark and Billy Chasteen along with Mike Sparks and Alex Stevens disappeared last week. Their remains were discovered several days later. CNN's Ed Lavandera joins us now. Really disturbing development, Ed. The police chief called this a very violent event out of the dozens of murders that he's investigated. What are officials saying about what could have led to this?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's unbelievable story these four men went missing more than a week ago on a Sunday morning. They had left a home, all four men riding their bicycles and then they weren't seen for days. And then parts of their bodies started turning up in a river 40 miles south of Tulsa.

Investigators say that they were able to track down through their cell phone records that the four men had been near a couple of salvage yards in this town south of Tulsa. And that's where they disappeared. And on Friday, they started discovering the bodies. Yesterday, the police chief said that they believe they have a witness who said they believe that these four men were plotting to commit some sort of crime. They don't know what the crime is but the police chief says they have reason to believe that this is part of some wider issue that was going on with the four men.

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CHIEF JOE PRENTICE: OKMULGEE, OKLAHOMA POLICE: Based on information obtained during the course of the investigation, we believe the man planned to commit some type of criminal act when they left the residence on West Sixth Street. That belief is based on information supplied by a witness who reports they were invited to go with the man to quote unquote, hit a lick big enough for all of them.

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LAVANDERA: So that's what investigators are dealing with. And to make matters even more mysterious investigators say they had spoken with the owner of the salvage yards, a man by the name of Joe Kennedy. They're not releasing his picture yet, they described him as a person of interest. They interviewed him on Friday. But investigators now say that that person Joe Kennedy is missing, they haven't heard him. They haven't heard from him since last Friday. And they're trying to reach him. So the mystery around these murders is really growing.

GOLODRYGA: So many twists and turns. I know you'll continue to cover this for us, Ed Lavandera. Thank you. Well, let's turn now to Missouri where families are furious, outraged and scared after an elementary school was found to have up to 22 times the expected exposure of radioactive material. The contamination stemming from nuclear waste dating back to the creation of the first atomic bomb in the 1940s. CNNs Adrienne Broaddus is there live in Florissant, Missouri.

Adrienne, I can understand these parents anger How could this even happen? What are officials saying about it?

ADRIENNE BROADDUS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, anger. That's one way to describe it, Bianna. A cocktail of emotions for parents who have children at Jana elementary school, but not just parents who have students attending that school. Folks who call this community, this neighborhood home in Florissant, Missouri.

We're about 25 miles outside of St. Louis. I want to start with the parents at the school. They are saying this radioactive contamination found inside of a school and outside near the play area is an unacceptable threat. They want it cleaned up immediately. And they're asking the federal government to step in and help. Listen to what one mom told us.

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ASHLEY BERNAUGH, PARENT: My - my level of concern is, I mean, it's almost at peak level. It's everything we thought and were concerned, could be true.

CHRISTEN COMMUSO, ADVOCATE: There are levels of radioactive elements on the playground and inside the school in the kitchen, the boiler room and the library.

BROADDUS: So some may be wondering, how did this happen? Here's the backstory. The school and the homes in this neighborhood sit near a waterway which is known as the Coldwater Creek.

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And according to the author of this recent independent study that came out, he says that waterway has been contaminated and I'm quoting his words here by leaking radioactive waste from disposal that began shortly after World War II and was never cleaned up. Now here's the deal.

Back in August, there was another test at the school, but this time, environmentalists went inside of the school and collected samples. Now, the most alarming thing from this report was the number or I would say the level of radioactive lead that was found in the kindergarten playground.

According to the report, those levels were more than 22 times the expected background. And as far as the basketball court where kids play, those levels were also high, more than 12 times the expected background. So as you can imagine, parents are furious. The district is speaking up, releasing a statement and those parents will have a chance to voice their concern tonight at the school board meeting, Bianna.

GOLODRYGA: We have no idea what the impact on this children's health can be as well. They had 80 years to clean this up. Adrienne Broaddus, thank you for bringing us the story. Well, still ahead, this stunning decline of snow crabs in Alaska canceling the annual harvest and catching biologists off guard. It's also endangering the livelihoods of fishermen. Our next guest is one of those facing that uncertain future.

We speak with the co-owner of the Silver Spray. That's up next.

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GOLODRYGA: This just into CNN. A small plane has crashed into a car dealership in Marietta, Ohio. CNN's Alexandra Field is following this for us. So Alexandra what - what do we know so far?

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Look at this point, no fatalities have been reported yet. It's unclear how many could be injured but we do know that the crash happened around seven o'clock this morning. Marietta, Ohio as you pointed out that's in southeastern Ohio just a few miles north of West Virginia. There you can see it the heavy plumes of smoke filling the air.

The airplane apparently bursting into flames after it crashed. A witness tells CNN that she heard the explosion came out. Then saw the flames. Police were asking people to stay away from that area this morning. We understand that the fire is out now. Investigators on the scene working to determine what happened. We don't know how many people may have been onboard the plane or the route that that plane was traveling.

The Ohio State Police are now leading the investigation. We are expecting updates later this morning. But again it seems the fire is out waiting for word on possible injuries at this point. Bianna.

GOLODRYGA: We'll continue to follow those updates throughout the day. Alexandra Field, thank you. For the first time ever Alaska has canceled the snow crab harvest. It's a devastating decision for 1000s of fishermen and their families who depend on the season for their livelihoods. Wildlife officials say billions of the crabs have disappeared from the cold waters of the Bering Sea and the actual numbers are indeed shocking.

The snow crab population shrank from about 8 billion in 2018 to 1 billion in 2021. Gabriel Prout joins me now he is a fisherman and Co- Owner of the fishing vessel Silver Spray. Gabriel, thank you so much for joining us. What is the lack of a crab season mean for you and your business right now?

GABRIEL PROUT, FISHERMAN & CO-OWNER, F/V SILVER SPRAY: Yes, thank you Bianna Good morning. It's really devastating, not just on my family and my brothers and my father, who I work along. He's been fishing in the Bering Sea for 45 years, but also the other some 60 vessels who harvest crab in the Bering Sea and in the seven crew that they employ and their family and their children. And then just ripple effects from there.

And, you know, to the communities and the processors who we deliver the crab to and the 1000s of employees and, and immigrants on work visas who they hire to provide for their families as well. So it's not just the crab industry, it'll have many ripple effects throughout the fishing industry in Alaska in general.

So it really is a far reaching effect that we're going to be seeing here from this complete surprise and collapse of the snow crab fishery.

GOLODRYGA: As you noted, the impact will be huge and devastating for so many families and businesses in Alaska and state officials say it could take two to three years to repopulate some of the crab species. Can you wait that long? What does that mean for you and your colleagues?

PROUT: Yes, thank you. Good question, Bianna. It is - the financial impact that this is going to have again on communities, processors, and the fishermen in general who own these vessels. The vessels are incredibly expensive to maintain. We have mortgage fees, insurance fees, not to mention very expensive maintenance fees just from sitting at the dock.

So it's going to be very difficult to try and weather the storm. You know, in 2016, 2017, 2018, we were coming off the largest recruitment event in the history of the snow crab fishery, which means there was a tremendous amount of small crab coming in. So people like myself, my brothers, all these second, third generation fishermen, the next generation wanting to get into this fishery bought into this stock, believing the forecast for it was good.

And then now you have the complete closure of it. We're really in a bad place right now to try and be making these payments for a fishery that doesn't exist right now.

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GOLODRYGA: Let me ask you as we read at the top, the snow crab population has been shrinking from 8 billion in 2018 to just 1 billion this year and last. Has - you're not prepared for that consequence? You keep talking about this taking you by surprise, but just looking at the numbers that appear that this was the direction that the industry was headed in?

PROUT: Yes, no, I don't necessarily think it was the direction. Again, the largest recruitment event in the history of the fishery 2016, 2017, 2018. And then it kind of paused in 2019. And then of course, COVID came along and 2020 and the Bering Sea trawl survey, which helps measure the crab out there, and the health of the stocks was not able to be completed.

So we really missed a very important survey year just due to the complications of COVID. And then when the survey was able to come back in 2021, we saw the devastating disappearance of the crab, what caused that we're not really sure, possibly a little bit due to warm waters, there are several theories going on in there.

There was a 90 percent decline that year and an additional 30 percent decline this year, warranting the complete closure of the fishery.

GOLODRYGA: Yes, two of the main theories appear to be what regulators are attributing to overfishing and scientists are attributing to climate change and global warming. What do you attribute it to?

PROUT: Yes, I think we are very, very well managed fishery. We are state managed, federally regulated. So I don't think the causes are due to overfishing at all, we can't go out and catch as much crap as we want. We're handcuffed by the state and the feds to tell us how much we can catch to help conservatively manage these stocks.

So I think it really is just - just a mystery as of right now to what happened to the snow crab, we're really again, in a bad financial situation, there's no program at all for fishermen across the country for rapid financial relief when situations like this happen that are the causes are unknown. So we're working closely with state and federal regulators to get some type of immediate financial relief appropriated to the state and to the fishing communities and the processors and the second, third generation fishermen, this is affecting that, they're not sure if they're going to be able to stay in business.

GOLODRYGA: Yes. And hopefully some of those officials are watching you live now as well, Gabriel and we're thinking of you and your family as you go through this difficult time. And as you noted, other colleagues as well and businesses and many immigrants that are in this industry in the state of Alaska. Gabriel Prout, thank you for your time. Best of luck.

PROUT: Thank you, Bianna.

GOLODRYGA: Well still ahead, how inflation is leading many people with diabetes to make a hard decision about insulin. Stay with us for more on this.

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GOLODRYGA: First on CNN, a new warning about the possibility of a recession. Fitch Ratings is now saying stubborn inflation in the Feds interest rate hikes will drive the U.S. economy into a mild 1990 style recession starting next spring. Here with me now is CNN's Matt Egan. So Matt, this is in line with what we heard from a survey from economists earlier this week as well. Give us a sense of how mild this could be.

MATT EGAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Bianna, you know, we have heard a lot of recession warnings lately. And I do think that when people hear the word recession, they immediately think of a full blown meltdown like the one in 2008 or 2020. Thankfully, that is not what Fitch is calling for here, they do see a more mild recession, much like the one that began in the summer of 1990.

Now, one way to measure how a severe recession is to look is to look at the impact on unemployment. And there was a huge spike in 2020. More than 11 percentage points in the unemployment rate. Another big and prolonged increase in the unemployment rate during the great recession. But Fitch sees a more gentle, subtle increase in the unemployment rate, much like the one in 1990.

Now, there's a few reasons for this kind of cautious optimism here from Fitch. One is that the economy's entering this period from a period of relative strength. I mean, the jobs market is historically strong. Also consumer finances are relatively solid, the housing market is slowing down, but it is not in any meltdown. And banks are of course, much stronger than they were in 2008.

The problem, of course, is inflation. Inflation is way too high, and that is forcing the Fed to slam the brakes on the economy. The concern Bianna, is that they're going to slow the economy so much that they cause a recession.

GOLODRYGA: Yes, it doesn't look like there's much room now for a soft landing as many had hoped for, for the economy. Matt Egan, thank you.

Well, a new report finds more than a million Americans with diabetes were forced to ration their insulin in the last year. CNN Medical Correspondent Dr. Tara Narula is here to break this all down. So this is a life or death situation that so many Americans are living with. What are the impacts of having to ration such valuable medicine?

DR. TARA NARULA, CNN MEDICAL CARE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, they can this can have real serious and life threatening complications if a diabetic does not have access or is not taking their insulin appropriately. So particularly with type one diabetics, this is like oxygen to them. And if they don't receive the appropriate amount of insulin, they can go into something called ketoacidosis where the cells shut down, the organs shut down and basically it can be deadly if it's not treated.

For Type Two diabetics, it can really lead to cardiovascular complications, blindness, kidney failure, amputation. So this is really important and the fact that 7 million Americans need insulin who are diabetic and this study showed 1.3 million Americans or 16 and a half percent of those with diabetes who take insulin or rationing in the past year. That's an astounding number of individuals and really setting us up not just for these personal consequences of morbidity and mortality, but really societal and economic impact for all the expenditures on hospitalizations and future treatment for people who have these complications for not taking their insulin.

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GOLODRYGA: Are we - are we starting to see these prices significantly start to decline at least?

NARULA: Yes, not necessarily. I think that, you know, Americans are still paying in many instances, several $100 to $1,000 per month for insulin. And that's just out of reach for many Americans. And I think we need to do a lot more, certainly there are steps that have been taken. But we've seen prices almost double or triple in the last 10 to 20 years. We know that our prices here are way higher than they are in other countries.

And when you think about the fact this is 100 year old drug that was given as a patent for $1, you know, the fact that we're in this position now is astounding.

GOLODRYGA: And we know it's something the Biden administration is trying to fight as well. Tara Narula, thank you so much. Really important topic.

Well, still ahead, we are live at the White House as President Biden plans to galvanize Democrats just three weeks ahead of the midterms, but is his message the one voters want to talk about?

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