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No Suspect Named by Police Five-Plus Weeks After Idaho Students Killed; Taliban Suspend University Education for Women in Afghanistan; Elon Musk Says He'll Resign as Twitter CEO Once He Finds Successor. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired December 21, 2022 - 10:30   ET

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

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[10:30:00]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: More than a month now since the brutal killings of four University of Idaho students, police still have not named a suspect or revealed, frankly, any breakthroughs in the case. The attorney for the family of the victim, Kaylee Goncalves, is now questioning whether the police in Moscow, Idaho, are, quote, the right people to be leading this investigation.

The chief of police is defending his department's work so far.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF JAMES FRY, MOSCOW, IDAHO POLICE: What I want people to know is this is a Moscow Police Department investigation. We're utilizing the resources of the FBI and state police, but we pick the investigators. My command team oversees this. We have 94 years of experience between us. And we're going to continue to work this case. We're going to continue to work it to the completion.

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SCIUTTO: The strongest lead, at least in public, so far, seems to be that police think the occupant or occupants of a white 2011 to 2013 Hyundai Elantra, like the one you're seeing there, could have information police need. One such car was spotted near the students' residence early in the morning of November 13th when the killings took place.

Joining me is Kaylee's father, Steve Goncalves, also and the family's attorney, Shanon Gray. Gentlemen, thanks so much for taking the time this morning.

ST EVE GONCALVES, FATHER OF MURDERED IDAHO STUDENT KAYLEE GONCALVES: Thank you.

SHANON GRAY, ATTORNEY REPRESENTING FAMMILY OF KAYLEE GONCALVES: Thank you.

SCIUTTO: Steve, I want to begin with you, because Christmas is four days away. I cannot imagine facing that holiday having lost of my own daughter. How are you guys doing?

GONCALVES: We're struggling. And we have a lot of people around us there, are there for us and helping us, giving us some support. So, we'll make it through. We have to.

SCIUTTO: Well, we're thinking about you here, too. We talk about that every day. On to the investigation, if I can. You've mentioned that the FBI has now added some officers to the investigation.

[10:35:01]

Does that give you confidence or hope perhaps of some progress going forward here?

GONCALVES: It does. And going into the holidays, we want to take time away -- we don't want to be on the circuit. We just want to just relax and knowing that those officers are there, and they're the best of the best, it's definitely comforting.

SCIUTTO: Now, Shanon Gray, a lawyer for the family here, you've questioned the leadership of the Moscow police specifically. Does the addition of FBI officers give you more confidence in this investigation?

GRAY: Well, maybe they're listening to what we're saying. So, maybe they're starting to bring in people who are a little bit more qualified and are able to further the investigation from where it's gone right now. So --

SCIUTTO: Okay. I want to zero in on a couple details that have become of importance in recent days, Steve. Has the family learned anything more about why police are interested in this white Hyundai Elantra, and have they led on to you, Steve, whether they consider the person inside this vehicle a potential witness or even perhaps a person of interest?

GONCALVES: They haven't given us those kinds of details. They showed a clip of where that camera was, so you can kind of get a good idea what the street that it was filming. It would be suspicious, I would believe, for a vehicle just to be rolling around at 3:00 in the morning. So, I think that they have a good reason to talk to that individual and see what was going on during that time.

SCIUTTO: Have they shared with you any progress, either the FBI or Moscow police, in recent days, any progress in finding that vehicle or the person or persons inside it, Steve?

GONCALVES: They have eliminated some vehicles. The community has reached out and probably flooded them with every white car that resembles one of these Hyundais. So, I appreciate that. And if I had one, I would taking a picture of my car and sending it in and get my name off the list because they're going to go right down it.

SCIUTTO: Yes. And they did that with a vehicle, similar description that had been found in Oregon, I believe, eliminated that had one there. There's been some public discussion of an attendant at a gas station nearby who may have seen a similar vehicle. Have police made any progress with information provided by that person?

GONCALVES: Not to my knowledge, sir.

SCIUTTO: Okay. Now, your daughter has been doing her own work throughout this, in terms of encouraging people -- Olivia, encouraging people to give in ring camera video, any video they may have. And she's the one, I should note, for folks watching right now, who found video that verified when they got home that night. I wonder, has any of the videos she's been looking up turned up any sightings of this white Hyundai?

GONCALVES: Not to my knowledge that they shared with me, but, yes, you're, in fact, right, she was the one who found the food truck and helped them find more some more information about the driver as well.

SCIUTTO: Yes. Another question, and this has been a frequent topic, the question of a stalker. And I know in some of your interviews so far, whether a daughter had a stalker, whether that's material to this investigation, you have expressed doubts about that. But we did notice that the police, the Idaho police in the December 15th press release, said they are at least still looking into this possibility. And I wonder, have you learned anything that still holds this up as a possibility or eliminates it, in your view, the idea of a stalker?

GONCALVES: I think we're going to need to do like an interview with them to break down all the different scenarios that could have possibly been related to somebody following my daughter. We haven't got to that point yet, but we expect them to.

So, we're not positive of any dedicated stalker, but there were some incidents that they have looked into and they've cleared up, but I don't know if they have looked at all the incidences that we know of.

SCIUTTO: So you're saying the incidence they've looked to so far that might involve a stalker, they've cleared so far?

GONCALVES: Yes.

SCIUTTO: Perhaps if I could, before we go, ask both of you, Steve and Shanon, given the frustrations here and the timeline and five weeks without a lot of public progress, right, at least that we're aware of, Steve, have you learned anything that's given you new hope that they're making progress or at least they're getting closer?

GONCALVES: I'm glad that they're reaching out and they're asking the community to look for this car. I didn't think it was in the town anymore. So, they can only work in that county. So, sometimes you have got to reach out.

SCIUTTO: And, Shanon, how about from your perspective, either the Moscow police or who have expressed your doubts about or the FBI in any communications, as a lawyer representing the family, have you learned anything recently that gives you confidence that there's been some progress?

[10:40:10]

GRAY: Well, I think Steve and I both, the family, feel like the community is going to solve this crime. And I think the more that they ask the community to help and reach out to them, I think the better the investigation will move forward up. And that's why some of our questions in the past have been not reaching out to the community, I think, soon enough. So, hopefully, moving forward, they'll be able to get the resources that they need and move forward and solve this crime. So --

SCIUTTO: Steve, finally, do you believe they will find your daughter's killer?

GONCALVES: Yes, I have to. I have to. I couldn't sleep if I thought -- I'm trying to do everything in my power to help them. We're trying to collaborate with them.

Another thing I wanted to say, because people reached out to me is please don't dox these people. Please don't -- a lot of people's names that get mentioned, don't go after, don't take pictures of their homes. We don't want that. We're not after that at all.

SCIUTTO: Well, that's good to hear. Steve, listen, first of all, Shanon, thanks for joining us, but, Steve, particular to you, your wife, Kristi, your daughter, Olivia, your whole family, we're thinking of you, and we do hope that you find justice and soon.

GONCALVES: Thank you.

SCIUTTO: And we'll be right back.

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[10:45:00]

SCIUTTO: In the latest brutal crackdown on the rights of women in Afghanistan, the Taliban have now suspended university education for all female students in Afghanistan. We're now getting video of a daring protest against this move there, this after U.S. special envoy for Afghanistan, for Afghan women, said this week the Taliban are, quote, reverting to extreme policies of the 1990s. They've already banned girls from secondary schools.

CNN International Reporter Nada Bashir joins me now live from London. And girls being allowed to go to school, grade school, secondary school, university, was one of the most positive things in my visits there that Afghan women and men, frankly, welcomed. Now, they're seeing that all drawn back. Tell us the significance of this and what you're hearing.

NADA BASHIR, CNN INTERNATIONAL REPORTER: Absolutely, Jim. This is a huge blow to the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan, of course, a huge blow to that hard-fought won right for an education, won after 20 years, really, of struggles by women of girls fighting for their right of that education.

Look, after the last few months, we have seen the Taliban rolling back this fundamental rights of women and girls despite making international commitments to maintain those essential freedoms as we saw in March, as you laid out there, rights of education for secondary school students and middle school, high school students being revoked from young girls, being told on the day that they had expected to return to school, that they would not be allowed to return to their education.

Now, of course, another step in the wrong direction, women, young girls attending university, being told that they are now banned indefinitely with immediate effect who are taking part in their university course. And, of course, we have seen people taking to the streets now. We've seen male students protesting, freezing their exams, in a show of solidarity with those women and girls, of course.

But, of course, we have seen international condemnation as well. We heard just yesterday from the U.S. State Department condemning this latest news, State Department Spokesperson Ned price describing this as a step in the wrong direction. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NED PRICE, SPOKESPERSON, STATE DEPARTMENT: The Taliban have permanently sentenced Afghan women to a darker and more barren future without opportunity. No country can thrive when half of its population is arbitrarily held back.

Education is an internationally recognized human right and it is essential to Afghanistan's economic growth and its stability.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASHIR: The concern now, Jim, is that while the Taliban becomes even more isolated from the international community, particularly in light of this latest edict, we could see the Taliban rolling back even further rights for women and girls, and indeed the Afghan population in general.

SCIUTTO: And the population suffers. Nada Bashir, thanks so much.

Well, Twitter users weighed in and now Elon Musk says that he will leave his post of CEO of company, but he says something must happen before he steps down. We'll tell you what that is, coming up.

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[10:50:00]

SCIUTTO: All right. If his latest statement is to be believed, the CEO of Twitter, Elon Musk, is now searching for a replacement. The billionaire tweeted that he will resign as soon as he finds a successor. The job requirement, as he put it in tweet announcing this, is, quote, one foolish enough to take the job, exclamation point. CNN Senior Media Reporter Oliver Darci joins me now. And, Oliver, I know at least one name has been floated publicly. Do we know who he's interested in having this job and who might be interested in it themselves?

OLIVER DARCI, CNN SENIOR MEDIA REPORTER: I can't imagine, Jim, who would want this job. I mean, you're reporting to Elon Musk, who has proven to be just this extremely erratic figure, as the head of Twitter. He's tweeted a number of things that have raised eyebrows, to say the least. So, you're reporting to him and then you're also inheriting this company in absolute turmoil. Remember that Elon Musk laid off a good portion of the staff, and then there was that staff exodus, and there has been a number of other things have just thrown this company into chaos. The advertisers have been alienated.

Twitter was never really an insanely profitable company before Elon Musk came over, and so you can imagine now with the advertisers alienated, and Musk saying there's been a massive revenue drop and the company is on a fast track to bankruptcy, like who is going to want to inherit this company and lead it. I think Musk is actually pretty right, who is foolish enough to want to be head of Twitter right now.

SCIUTTO: Let's see where those stock options might be valued too given everything.

[10:55:01]

Oliver Darci, thanks so much.

DARCI: Thank you.

SCIUTTO: And thanks so much to all of you for joining us. I'm Jim Sciutto.

At This Hour with Kate Bolduan begins after a quick break.

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