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Police Believe Slayings Of Idaho Students Were "Targeted Attack"; Accused Gunman Denied Bond In Court Appearance; NASA Launches Uncrewed Artemis I To The Moon; Thanksgiving Dinner Will Cost 20% More This Year. Aired 2:30-3p ET
Aired November 16, 2022 - 14:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[14:33:56]
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: The father of one of the four college students murdered in Idaho says there's a lack of information from police, and he's demanding more details.
In a newly released statement, Jim Chapin, the father of Ethan Chapin, says, quote:
"The silence further compounds our family's agony after our son's murder. For Ethan and his three dear friends, slain in Moscow, Idaho, all of our families, I urge officials to speak the truth, share what they know, find the assailant, and protect the greater community," end quote.
Ethan's mother also spoke about her son.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STACY CHAPIN, MOTHER OF VICTIM ETHAN CHAPIN: There's not drugs involved. There's not some weird love triangle. Ethan just stayed the night at his girlfriend's house and there were other girls living in the home.
We have two other kids who are very impacted by this. They need to be lifted up and cared for.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAMEROTA: Investigators say an edged weapon was used in the killing. They haven't been more specific about what that means.
Local and state police are getting help from the FBI but say they do not believe there's any threat to the public.
[14:35:03]
Joining us now from Moscow, Idaho, is Daniel Ramirez, a senior at the University of Idaho and digital director of the "Argonaut," which is a student newspaper.
Daniel, thank you so much for being here.
This is so disturbing and so mysterious. How can police say that these four were homicides, yet there's no threat or danger to the community?
DANIEL RAMIREZ, SENIOR, UNIVERSITY OF IDAHO & DIGITAL DIRECTOR, "ARGONAUT": We're trying to clear it up on our end as well. The police say there's no threat. There was a shelter-in-place given on Sunday given to Students at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday. But it was lifted a couple of hours later saying there's no threat to the community.
And then it takes them two days to announce that, hey, there's a sharp-edged weapon and there's still no threat and no suspect in custody yet.
CAMEROTA: It doesn't make any sense. Furthermore, they also apparently said -- I read in one report, this was a crime of passion, but not a murder/suicide.
What does that mean?
RAMIREZ: It's something that's interesting as well. When we heard it, we were trying to figure out wait meant, too. "The New York Times" was the only person or organization that has said a crime of passion.
The mayor of Moscow, a couple of hours later, he retracted the statement, saying he spoke out of context.
They still have it up on their Web site, four University of Idaho students killed in a crime of passion. Ethan's mother had to come out and say there's nothing there.
CAMEROTA: Have you made any headway with the local police? What do they say to you when you're trying to do your reporting?
RAMIREZ: Most of the con text we've had is either with the campus officer or Anthony, who's the PIO for the case right now.
Most of the questions that we've had, their responsibility has been that's part of the investigation, I cannot comment at the time.
Most of it has actually been from our evidence that we've gathered is on social media. So Twitter, Yik Yak, and Facebook.
CAMEROTA: And what have you learned from those sources?
RAMIREZ: I would say, you get with the first social media platform, we learn there were four victims before the police were -- came out and confirmed it five hours later. It's for students, but they knew it was for others.
CAMEROTA: Daniel, we heard there are students packing up and leaving campus. What's the vibe on campus right now?
RAMIREZ: It's strange, I'll say that. You know, people are packing up. Myself and my editor-in-chief, we were there at the scene. There were neighbors packing up their computers, putting their luggage in their cars, getting ready to leave.
Our news editor, she's a part of the sororities and all of them have been leaving. People are scared.
CAMEROTA: I mean, do the police owe the families more information? They obviously owe the school community more information.
And so can you just tell us about the relationship between these students? Two were boyfriend and girlfriend. Do you know the relationship with the rest?
RAMIREZ: I do not, no. Most of us, the reporters on the staff, had a very vague connection with them, so we didn't know them personally.
CAMEROTA: Well, Daniel, good luck trying to find more information. We are, too. Obviously, as I said, the community deserves that. Please let us know if you find out anything.
Thank you very much for your time.
RAMIREZ: Thank you.
CAMEROTA: There's a 6:30 p.m. presser tonight. Let's hope they provide more information because it's too mysterious.
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: It's really bizarre, this far out, there aren't more answers to these questions, but they say there's no threat to the student body. Hopefully, we get more answers.
Let's turn now to the man charged in the shooting spree that killed three university football players on Sunday. He appeared in court on Sunday. Christopher Jones is his name. He was ordered held without bond.
CAMEROTA: CNN's Joe Johns joins us from Charlottesville, Virginia.
What's next, Joe?
JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Well, the court set no bond, which is not unusual in a case like this. But we did get a little more detail about what happened aboard that bus.
When the shooting started on Sunday night, the county prosecutor said witnesses indicated that the shooter appeared to be singling out certain individuals. And also that one of the football players was shot while he was sleeping.
[14:40:02]
Now, Chris Jones did not have to enter a plea today, but he did answer several questions asked by the judge responsibly. Do you have a job? Do you want to hire your own attorney? Answered yes to both of those questions.
One of the people aboard the bus told our affiliate, KYW, what she saw when it off jumped off. Listen. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RYAN LYNCH, WITNESSED SHOOTING ON CLASS FIELD TRIP: Chris got up and pushed Lavel. And after he pushed him, he was like, you guys are always messing with me. He said something weird like that. But it was very bizarre because they didn't talk to him the whole trip.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNS: We also heard a little more about the defendant's criminal record. Not only does he have a concealed weapons charge from last year, but he also got locked up for reckless driving, as well as another charge involving a hit and run.
Back to you.
BLACKWELL: Joe Johns for us in Charlottesville. Thank you, Joe.
CAMEROTA: The third time's the charm for Artemis I after two scrubbed launches. NASA takes its first big step for putting astronauts on the moon. And we're going to take a closer look at the mission, next.
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[14:45:55]
ANNOUNCER: Three, two, one, boosters and ignition. And lift-off of Artemis 1. We rise together, back to the moon and beyond.
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BLACKWELL: Long-awaited journey back to the moon finally underway now.
CAMEROTA: Artemis 1 shooting through the night sky above the Kennedy Space Center. There's no crew on board. It's a 25-day trip that will hopefully lay the groundwork for a return trip to the moon later this decade.
Joining us now is our favorite University of Rochester Astro physics professor, Adam Frank.
Professor, thanks for being here.
I know this is your Super Bowl and super exciting, but what is this mission? What's the purpose of this?
ADAM FRANK, PHYSICS PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER & AUTHOR: Yes, well, first of all, I have to say this went better than the Taylor Swift ticket launch. I couldn't miss that dig.
(LAUGHTER)
FRANK: But really, you know, people think this is going back to the moon, but it's not. It's actually about going beyond the moon. What makes the -- it's not just the Artemis 1 launch. It's the whole
Artemis program that NASA has put together, which is so ambitious.
And it entails developing these new kinds of rockets and crew capsule, but then having an orbiting space station around the moon, kind of a gas station, waypoint, laboratory.
And then SpaceX is going to be part of this. And they're going to be developing the big rocket that will land astronauts on the moon and be able to go back and forth at will. And the big thing is getting a moon base.
All of this is to lay down the infrastructure. Think about the roads and the gas stations and all the things that go to having a regular transport system that can actually take us beyond the moon and to the rest of the solar system.
BLACKWELL: I read you got a little choked up when you started looking over the Artemis program.
This is really an exciting time for NASA though. They've got Artemis 1. There was the probe that was crashed into the asteroid. Of course, we're seeing these great pictures from the James Webb telescope. Great times.
FRANK: Yes, and I think people need to really understand. Sometimes you hear that phrase "Make America Great." You think what really makes a country great?
What will we be remembered for, for a thousand years from now after every politician's name has been forgotten?
And it's this because what we're really doing here is we're setting -- we're establishing the baseline that really over the long term is going to be something that really is the future of humanity.
Dealing with climate change, moving out into the solar system, mining asteroids, having a real human presence.
If you look 200, 300 years if now, which people think is a long time, but it's a blink of an eye in this industry, this is the future. NASA just opened that up.
They talk about Generation Artemis. For the next 10, 20 years, when it comes to human space flight, NASA is going to really be pushing the boundaries of this.
CAMEROTA: Professor Frank, thank you as always for helping us understand the full richer content here. Great to get your take on it.
[14:49:15]
BLACKWELL: All right, get ready to pay a lot more for your Thanksgiving meal. A new report breaks down the prices next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) CAMEROTA: Inflation is on the Thanksgiving menu this year.
BLACKWELL: CNN's Vanessa Yurkevich joins us now.
How much more is dinner going to cost?
VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS & POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Well, according to the American Farm Bureau, this year's Thanksgiving dinner, 20 percent more than last year.
This is a survey that the Farm Bureau does every single year. And they look at about 12 menu items and they try to price it out for a party of 10.
What they found was, last year, it was $53.51 for that party of 10. This year, jumping 20 percent to about $64.
And some of the menu items that saw the highest price spikes, stuffing, my personal favorite, up 69 percent. Pie crusts, whipped cream, up 20 percent.
And Turkey, the centerpiece of Thanksgiving, that's up 21 percent. So a 16-pound Turkey costing $28.96.
And this is because of inflation. Americans have been seeing high food prices for a long time now.
But the Farm Bureau also saying it's because of supply chain issues with the war in Ukraine because farmers were having higher prices on fertilizer and crops, higher prices on feed for animals.
And also the avian flu this year was particularly bad. The U.S. lost millions of birds to this deadly disease and that pushed costs up as well.
CAMEROTA: Are there any cost savings this year?
YURKEVICH: Yes. Of all the menu items that the American Farm Bureau tracks, one saw cost savings. Any guesses, guys?
[14:55:03]
BLACKWELL: I'm hoping --
CAMEROTA: Cranberry sauce.
BLACKWELL: Cranberry sauce. That's the one I love. Is it?
CAMEROTA: Did you just get that?
BLACKWELL: It is good.
YURKEVICH: You guys are smart. You know your food.
BLACKWELL: My favorite. YURKEVICH: You know your food because that dropped by 14 percent this year. And that is because farmers produced 4 percent more. So there was more on the market and people were able to pay a little bit less.
Also good to know that this survey was done at the end of October. So we're seeing now, according to the Department of Agriculture, Turkey prices are starting to come down a little bit, 14 percent just this week.
So that price, $64 for a meal for 10 people, may come down a little bit in the next couple of weeks. Just got to look for your best deals in the supermarket.
CAMEROTA: So that's your favorite part of the meal?
BLACKWELL: Yes. And I like the cheapest cranberry sauce. None of the fresh, whole cranberries.
(CROSSTALK)
BLACKWELL: Give me the can, the jelly.
(CROSSTALK)
BLACKWELL: Yes, the can indentations on it. You slice it.
CAMEROTA: Wow.
BLACKWELL: That's the good kind.
(LAUGHTER)
CAMEROTA: That's telling.
BLACKWELL: It's really good.
CAMEROTA: Vanessa, thank you very much.
YURKEVICH: Thank you, guys.
BLACKWELL: Thank you.
CAMEROTA: All right, so Elon Musk is giving Twitter employees an ultimatum. Commit to, quote, "extremely hardcore Twitter" or get out. That's ahead.
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