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Police Searching for 39-Year-Old Ana Walshe; Iran Sentences Three More Protesters to Death; War Game Simulator Show a Chinese Invasion of Taiwan Would Fail. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired January 10, 2023 - 04:30   ET

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

[04:30:00]

BIANCA NOBILO, CNN ANCHOR: Just ahead, a Massachusetts man pleads not guilty to misleading police as they looked for his missing wife. What he searched for on the internet that has prosecutors alarmed.

Plus, more anti-government protesters are sentenced to death in Iran. And the country's supreme leader is calling the demonstrations acts of treason. A live report coming up next.

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NOBILO: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Bianca Nobilo. And if you are just joining us, let me bring you up to date with our top stories this hour.

California is being hit with a triple threat of heavy rain, flooding, mudslides as a storm slams much of the state. Nearly 34 million people across the state are under a flood watch and the storm is now heading south towards Los Angeles.

And the National Archives says it has obtained less than a dozen classified documents from President Biden's attorneys. The documents were handed in as soon as they were discovered. Republicans and Donald Trump are slamming the Justice Department, but unlike Trump, Mr. Biden is not under investigation for obstruction.

Police in Massachusetts are searching for a 39-year-old mother of three missing since New Year's Day. Anna Walsh lived with her family near Boston and her husband has now plead the not guilty to misleading police about his activities since her disappearance. Investigators are digging through trash at a transfer station about an hour from her home. And prosecutors are presenting some damning evidence. CNN's Randi Kaye has more.

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WILLIAM P. QUIGLEY, CHIEF OF POLICE, COHASSET POLICE DEPARTMENT: Well, it's not normal that she's missing. So, you know, we automatically feel that she's in danger by the mere fact that she's missing.

RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR/CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): 39-year-old Ana Walshe hasn't been seen, since New Year's Day. That's when Police say a family member told them she left for Boston's Logan Airport, by 5 a.m. bound for D.C., where she works in real estate.

QUIGLEY: The cell phone has been off, since around the 1st of the year. Detectives are working the electronic forensics. Debit cards or your credit cards and none of these things have been active since the 1st of the year.

KAYE (voice-over): Police say both her husband and her employer, reported her missing on Wednesday, January 4th. They say there is no record of her on a flight to D.C. on any airline. And it's unclear if she ever took a rideshare. Searches of the woods and surrounding areas near their home turned up nothing.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She would not by her own choice go a day without speaking to her husband or children, like that's a very out of character.

KAYE (voice-over): Days after her disappearance, a bizarre twist. Police now say her husband, who they thought had been cooperating, misled investigators. Two law enforcement sources, briefed on the investigation, tell CNN's John Miller that investigators discovered Brian Walshe did internet searches who looking for how to dispose of a 115-pound woman's body and how to dismember a body. That knowledge led Police to get a search warrant for the family's home, which culminated in Brian Walshe's arrest yesterday for allegedly misleading investigators.

At his arraignment in court this morning, he pleaded not guilty. But prosecutors shared disturbing details about evidence they say Police found during the search of the couple's home.

LYNN BELAND, PROSECUTOR: During that time, they found blood in the basement. Blood was found in the basement area, as well as a knife, which also contained some blood.

KAYE (voice-over): Prosecutors also listed cleaning supplies Brian Walshe allegedly bought in the hours after his wife's disappearance.

BELAND: He's on surveillance at that time purchasing about $450 worth of cleaning supplies. That would include mops, bucket, tarps, Tyveks, drop cloths, as well as various kinds of tape.

KAYE (voice-over): According to court documents, Brian Walshe had said he was running errands for his mother on the afternoon of January 1st.

But court documents obtained by CNN, show on January 7th investigators reviewed surveillance video from the two stores he said he'd visited for his mom. Police say they did not see him on the video and found no evidence he went to those stores.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Brian, what do you want the public, to know about this case?

KAYE (voice-over): His whereabouts that day are important given that's the day his wife disappeared. Court documents show investigators later discovered surveillance video of him at a Home Depot in Rockland, Massachusetts wearing a black surgical mask, blue surgical gloves and making a cash purchase.

Court records show investigators believe Brian Walshe tried to mislead investigators and purposely gave them false information, so they would travel far away in an attempt to corroborate his story.

Randi Kaye, CNN.

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NOBILO: In Newport, Virginia, a vigil has been held for a teacher shot in her classroom by a 6-year-old boy as we learn new details about the investigation. Police say that they're looking into whether there will be any charges against the parents. The police chief says that the firearm used in the shooting had been legally purchased by the boy's mother.

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CHIEF STEVE DREW, NEWPORT NEWS, VIRGINIA POLICE: We determined that the firearm was in the residence where they lived and the child had obtained that firearm, praised it in his backpack and brought it to school. He was brought to school by his mother later that morning. The 6-year-old child brought to school, like we said there, and he was determined. We wanted to know about that firearm. That was one of things that we did in our press conference, that was one of the questions I had. Where did the firearm come from? The firearm was legally purchased by the child's mother out of York County.

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NOBILO: The police chief also said that the teacher Abby Zwerner was shot in the chest through her hand and is now in stable condition. He said Zwerner had made sure all of her students made it out of the classroom just after the shooting.

In Washington state the Seattle Public School District is suing the parent companies of major social media sites alleging they're harming students mental health. The suit impact sites like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat and YouTube. The school system says that the platforms are impeding the school's ability to fulfill their educational mission. The district says social media companies have exploited vulnerable brains of youth and they did it, according to the suit, to maximize how much time users spend on their platforms to boost profits.

Fisher-Price is re-announcing a recall of one of its baby sleepers after more infant deaths were reported.

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The company initially recalled Rock 'n Play in 2019 after 30 infant deaths were linked to the product. Now the customer product safety commission says about 70 more deaths have been reported since, eight of them apparently after the recall began.

What would happen if China invaded Taiwan? A Washington think tank ran the scenarios in a computer simulation and came back with some gruesome predictions after the break.

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NOBILO: U.S. diplomats are deeply concerned that Iranian authorities may imminently execute more Iranians tied to antigovernment protests. On Monday Iran sentenced three protesters to death on charges of, quote, wagging war against God, according to state media. This comes after two more men were executed by the regime on Saturday bringing the total number of known executions to four since the uprising started. As CNN's Jomana Karadsheh reports, the families of these men are devastated.

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JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A mother's heart wrenching final farewell for her son. The oppressor took you away from me, she cries at his grave. Now you're asleep here, she says.

This is the only goodbye Mohammad Mehdi Karami's family got, no final visit, no justice. The 21-year-old Kurdish-Iranian karate champion was executed by the Islamic Republic this weekend, along with Seyed Mohammad Hosseini, a volunteer children's coach. They were convicted of killing a member of Iran's Basij paramilitary force during a protest in November. Death sentences handed down after what rights groups say are sham trials based on forced confessions extracted under torture.

Karami's parents had taken the risk of speaking out in social media recordings, begging the state to spare their boy's life.

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KARAMI'S FATHER (through translation): They can convict him to two life sentences. 50 years of prison, just so I know he continues to breathe. I swear to God I don't know what to do. To whom should I complain? They're killing my innocent child. What should I do? Who should I talk to?

KARADSHEH (voice-over): The ruthless republic has shown no mercy. At least four young men hanged. Many others facing execution by a regime that appears to be using the death penalty to crush dissent.

Among them 19-year-old Mohammad Boroughani and 22-year-old Mohammad Ghobadlou, sentenced to death by this notorious judge, Abolqasem Salavati nicknamed the Judge of Death. Sanctioned by the U.S. in 2019 for harsh sentences he's issued, activists, journalists and political prisoners.

On Sunday night, a crowd gathered outside the prison where Ghobadlou and Boroughani are being held after activists reported their execution was imminent. Scenes of sheer bravery as the crowd chant against the regime and support Ghobadlou's mother, risking it all to try and save her son.

No one really knows how many protesters have been sentenced to death, more than 40 according to CNN count but the real number is believed to be higher. And this past week new sentences were reported by activists. Mansour Dehmordeh, a disabled member of the Baluch minority was sentenced to death. One of many arrested during these ongoing raging protests in the city of Zahedan.

Activists are urging the international community to do more than just condemn these executions, to try and save the defenseless on death row. To save their families from this unimaginable pain.

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KARADSHEH (on camera): And Bianca, we have seen the regime over the past more than 100 days all it's got, all the brutal tactics, the killings, shooting protesters, the beatings, arrests to try and suppress the protest movement and that didn't appear to be working. What it did was make people more determined to continue protesting and continue demanding an end to the Islamic Republic.

So, what we're seeing right now over the past four weeks or so, activists say is the regime appearing to be using the death penalty to try and spread fear and try and deter people from taking to the streets. And I could tell you, activists are very concerned, Bianca, that we are going to be seeing more death sentences and more executions in the coming days. That's why they're saying it is now up to the international community to try and do more to put pressure on the regime to try and stop these executions.

NOBILO: Jomana Karadsheh live in Istanbul for us. Thank you so much.

This just in. Satellite images taken over six Chinese cities show evidence of crowding at crematoriums in funeral homes, a result of surging deaths from COVID. Lines of vehicles can be seen waiting outside funeral homes and in one case a new parking area at a funeral home in the Beijing area. The images were taken between late December through early January. The World Health Organization and the U.S. have accused China of under representing the severity of the pandemic since it dismantled the former zero-COVID policy.

A Washington think tank is predicting a bloody battle with heavy casualties should China ever invade Taiwan. The Center for Strategic and International Studies have released new computer simulated war games. Now our Pentagon correspondent Oren Liebermann has the details.

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OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Taiwan is perhaps the most sensitive flashpoint between the U.S. and China. Some experts warning that Beijing's use of force to claim what it sees as its rightful territory is drawing closer. Chairman Xi Jinping has made it a priority for Beijing, which hasn't ruled out the use of force, a decision that could cause thousands of lives for China, Taiwan and America. A war game from the Center for Strategic and International Studies begins with a Chinese missile barrage against Taiwan's military in 2026, destroying much of its air force and navy, followed by an amphibious invasion across the Taiwan Strait. Taiwanese forces fight back using advanced U.S. weaponry, Patriot missiles for air defense, anti-ship missiles and torpedoes for sea defense, and its ground forces to defend the beach.

MARK CANCIAN, CSIS WAR GAME REPORT CO-AUTHOR: Whatever the Taiwanese are going to fight the war with, they have to have that when the war begins.

LIEBERMANN (voice-over): In every scenario, China landed forces on Taiwan. But only in the most pessimistic cases does Beijing avoid defeat. But victory for the U.S. and Taiwan comes at a great cost.

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The war game assesses that the U.S. loses 10 to 20 combat ships, including two aircraft carriers and 200 to 400 military aircraft. In three weeks of fighting, the U.S. suffers more than 3,000 troops killed in action. That's about half of what the U.S. suffered in Iraq and Afghanistan over two decades. America's global position is damaged for years.

China loses 90 percent of its amphibious fleet in 52 major surface warships and its air force loses more than 160 combat aircraft. Crucial to this outcome is the stockpile of precision-guided munitions. Taiwan would need more U.S. supplied Harpoon anti-ship missiles, which maybe in short supply because these missiles have been sent to Ukraine. The U.S. needs its own long-range anti-ship missiles and this supply is one of the big risks.

CANCIAN: It runs out within typically the first couple of days. And when that runs out, then the United States has to use shorter range munitions. Those can be effective but it increases losses and increases risk.

LIEBERMANN (voice-over): China has the world's largest navy with about 340 ships and submarines compared to nearly 300 for the U.S. China's army has one million active-duty service members and it is the third largest air force in the world. A top U.S. general says the key to avoiding conflict is deterrence.

GEN. MARK MILLEY, CHAIRMAN, U.S. JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: As long as we remain number one, then we will deter the war that people worry about, a great power war between China and the United States.

LIEBERMANN: Crucially this war game doesn't ask the question of, what would happen to make China decide to use military force to invade Taiwan? That remains an open question.

But it is a crucial one to understanding the situation, especially given the West's reaction to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, sanctions that have crippled Russia's economy. Would China run the same risks given its own imports and exports, given its industrial economic power or would it use those powers to try to control Taiwan without using its military? And that is a critical question.

Oren Liebermann, CNN, at the Pentagon.

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NOBILO: Just ahead, the second time is twice as sweet. The champions of college football. Reaction to the Georgia Bulldog's dominant win over TCU.

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NOBILO: The Georgia Bulldogs are celebrating their second college football championship in its many years. Head coach Kirby Smart hoisted the trophy after a dominant 65-7 win over Texas Christian University. Georgia quarterback Stetson Bennett opened the scoring with this touchdown run. He would go on to run for another and pass for four touchdowns. Bennett was selected as the game's MVP.

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KIRBY SMART, GEORGIA BULLDOGS HEAD COACH: We wanted our kids to play without fear. And all year I told them, I said, we ain't getting hunted, guys. We doing the hunting. And hunting season is over. We've only got one more chance to hunt and we hunted tonight.

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NOBILO: Thousands of Georgia fans celebrated in the streets of Athens. The Bulldogs are the first team to win back-to-back national titles since Alabama did it back in 2011 and 2012.

And that doesn't here on CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Bianca Nobilo in London. "EARLY START" is coming up for you next.

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