Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Saturday

Christian Science Monitor Reads Statement from Jill Carroll at Press Conference; Former Iraq Hostage Roy Hallums Describes his Ordeal;

Aired April 01, 2006 - 16:00   ET

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

RICHARD BERGENHEIM, CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR: I'm so happy to be free. And I'm looking forward to spending a lot of time with my family. I want to express my deep appreciation to all the people who worked so long and hard for my release. I'm humbled by the sympathy and support expressed by so many people during my kidnapping. In the past few days, the U.S. military and officials have been extremely generous and I am grateful for their help.
Throughout this ordeal, many U.S. agencies have committed themselves to bringing me safely home. My colleagues at the Christian Science Monitor have worked ceasessly to secure my release and worked with security consultants to do so. Many other news organizations, both inside and outside of Iraq, as well as many officials from Iraq and other countries, worked hard to bring about my freedom. So many people around the world spoke out on my behalf. Thank you. Thank all of you.

During my last night of captivity, my captors forced me to participate in a propaganda video. They told me I would be released if I cooperated. I was living in a threatening environment, under their control and I wanted to go home alive. So I agreed. Things that I was forced to say while captive are now being taken by some as an accurate reflection of my personal views. They are not. The people who kidnapped me and murdered Allan Enwiyah are criminals at best. They robbed Allan of his life and devastated his family. They put me, my family and friends, all those around the world who have prayed so fervently for my release through a horrific experience.

I was and remain deeply angry with the people who did this. I also gave a TV interview to the Iraqi Islamic Party shortly after my release. The party had promised me the interview would never be broadcast or aired on television. And they broke their word. At any rate, fearing retribution for my captors, I did not speak freely. Out of fear, I said I wasn't threatened. In fact, I was threatened many times. Also, at least two false statements about me have been widely aired. One, that I refused to travel and cooperate with U.S. military. And two, that I refused to discuss my captivity with U.S. officials. Again, neither statement is true.

I want to be judged as a journalist, not as a hostage. I remain as committed as ever to fairness and accuracy to discovering the truth and so I will not engage in Polemics but let me be clear, I apore all who kidnap and murder civilians. And my captors are clearly guilty of both crimes. Now, I ask for the time to heal. This has been a taxing 12 weeks for me and for my family. Please, allow us some quiet time alone together. Jill Carroll.

And "The Monitor" wants to add its gratitude to everyone who is helping Jill return home. You know she's on her way. In addition, we want to thank again all those in the Iraqi press who have been tireless in their campaign for Jill's release. We wish to thank the politicians, sheiks and clerics in Iraq, Jordan, Egypt and other countries who have spoken out as well. And we need to thank all the citizens of Iraq, regular people like you and me who continue to speak out strongly as well. We're in debt to far too many people to thank them all. Jill will be home soon. As she writes, it is a time for healing. Let the healing begin. Thank you all.

Question: -- Jill feels right now physically?

BERGENHEIM: I have not heard personally anything to that affect.

QUESTION: Have you spoken to her?

BERGENHEIM: I have not spoken to her personally. No I have not.

QUESTION: How about her family? How's her family holding up?

BERGENHEIM: I believe, well, how do you think? Her family is just absolutely rejoicing and obviously they're frustrated by the delay in being able to get together. But they're doing very, very, very well.

QUESTION: Will they come to Boston? Will her family come here?

BERGENHEIM: Yes, I believe they are here.

QUESTION: When will Jill speak?

BERGENHEIM: I have no idea. As she says that she's hoping to have some privacy. That she feels a time for heal as you heard in her statement. She hopes that that will be permitted by the press and that they can have some time alone. Certainly as soon as she's ready to speak, she or we will let everyone know.

QUESTION: How long did she say? Any idea?

BERGENHEIM: Not the remotest.

QUESTION: What is Jill's relationship now with the paper? You hired her?

BERGENHEIM: Yes, we hired Jill about a week after she was kidnapped. We wanted to make sure that she would have sufficient financial means, all the provisions and benefits that come with being hired. And I will also add, there's a 30 day clause, so if she doesn't want to be hired she can be let out right away. But her parents had power of attorney to sign that contract.

QUESTION: And there's been a lot of conjecture now that you're saying that she's an employee. One would assume that as an employee you would have an insurance policy to cover your employees in case something like this were to happen. Can you tell us whether any insurance money was paid in order for Jill to be released?

BERGENHEIM: Have you heard me speak to this topic before?

QUESTION: Well I don't know.

BERGENHEIM: I have said absolutely totally unequivocably no. My vocabulary isn't large enough to expand on that. But again neither we, nor Jill's family our government nor anyone we know of negotiated on her behalf, paid anything on her behalf. We simply do not know the facts that surround why she happened to be released at that time. That's God's honest truth. I thank you all for coming out on a Saturday afternoon.

QUESTION: One more question sir, can you tell us when she is departing from Frankfurt and when you expect her to arrive back here?

BERGENHEIM: I believe if you listen to the local newscast that she's expected here sometime tomorrow.

QUESTION: But I mean according to your information, not according to local newscast, since you are her employer?

BERGENHEIM: Since I am her employer I will repeat what I said, the local newscast indicates that she will be here tomorrow.

QUESTION: Will she be made available if she wants to speak tomorrow?

BERGENHEIM: We have no control over Jill. Whatever Jill wishes to do, we will support and facilitate any way that we can.

QUESTION: Do you plan any public event on her behalf tomorrow?

BERGENHEIM: No.

QUESTION: But if she decides she wants to speak, you would organize something?

BERGENHEIM: Well, of course. Okay, thank you, everyone.

QUESTION: Thank you.

SOPHIA CHOI, CNN ANCHOR: And you've been listening to Richard Bergenheim from the "Christian Science Monitor" speaking with reporters after releasing a statement from former Iraq hostage Jill Carroll. She's asked for some time for healing after her 82 days in captivity. Let's go over some of her statement here.

She says, "During my last night in captivity, my captors forced me to participate in a propaganda video. They told me they would let me go if I cooperated. I was living in a threatening environment under their control and wanted to go home alive. I agreed. She also said things that I was forced to say while captive are now being taken by some as an accurate reflection of my personal views. They are not. The people who kidnapped me and murdered Allan Enwiyah are criminals at best. They robbed Allan of his life and devastated his family. It could mean my family and my friends and all those around the world who have prayed so fervently for my release through a horrific experience. I was and remain deeply angry with the people who did this."

She goes on to say - "I also gave a TV interview to the Iraqi Islamic Party shortly after my release and the party had promised me that the interview would never be aired on television and broke their word. At any rate, fearing retribution from my captors, I did not speak freely. Out of fear, I said I wasn't threatened. In fact I was threatened many times."

Again, those statements from a news conference just moments ago from the "Christian Science Monitor." And we're going to try to get some reaction from Allan Chernoff, CNN's Allan Chernoff who was there for the news conference in just a few minutes.

Also in just a few minutes, we will talk with the father of an American hostage in Iraq who did not make it out alive. Nicholas Berg was captured and behead by Islamic militants in 2004 and now his father Michael Berg is taking a stand and running for congress. We'll talk to him.

Well, most of us can only imagine the terror that Jill Carroll must have lived through, for former American hostage Roy Hallums, the feelings are really all too real. He was rescued last September after being held hostage in Iraq for some 311 days and only now is his life beginning to return to normal. Here's CNN's Randi Kaye.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: For Roy Hallums it may remain a mystery forever. He may never learn all the secrets. Who kidnapped him? Held him for 10 months and why? This is how most of us learned about Hallum's role in the horrible story.

ROY HALLUMS, FORMER IRAQ HOSTAGE: My name is Roy Hallums, I'm an American national. Please help me in this situation.

KAYE: It was two years ago, three weeks before Thanksgiving. Hallums at his computer working as a contractor in Iraq was snatched and grabbed. Four masked gunmen burst in heavily armed. Any resistance, they said, they'd kill him. Were you scared?

HALLUMS: Oh yes, certainly. Because I mean I had seen the videos before of other people who had been kidnapped and what had happened to them and I thought, you know, am I going to live the rest of the day? Or is this it?

KAYE: They blindfolded Hallums, drove him to a dark, filthy, underground cell. We now know it was in one of the most dangerous areas of Baghdad, known as the triangle of death. And for three months, it was if Roy Hallums had simply vanished. For those who love him, it was unimaginably painful. Where was he? What had happened? But there was nothing. His captors remained silent until this last January.

HALLUMS: I'm please asking for help because I've -- my life is in danger because it's been proved that I work for American forces. They said that they wanted me to be emotional and look upset in the video and so they said to make me look that way and to help me, they were going to beat me before the video.

KAYE: And did they?

HALLUMS: And they did. So, yeah, you know, it wasn't a good experience to do that, you know.

KAYE: Now Roy Hallums is home in Memphis, Tennessee. He invited us here to share the secrets of months as a hostage and the amazing story of his rescue. The fear, the isolation, the abuse. Beatings and torture, Hallums can't barely bring himself to talk about today. Hallums passed the time underground by planning travel adventures in his mind.

HALLUMS: It would take me one day or two days to plan a trip. And then I would start another one. Because when you stop, then you start having all these negative thoughts.

KAYE: He slept on a concrete slab, always blindfolded, and bound with this plastic hand cuff. Hallums spent much of his time lying down in the four-foot deep hole. They gave him small amounts of cheese and goat meat. Whatever hope he had came from the fact they hadn't killed him yet.

What did you go through not knowing what they might do to you or what might happen to you?

HALLUMS: The first month it was the most difficult because every thing, every movement you don't know what might happen. And you're still thinking that, well, you know they could do away with me anytime. You sort of become numb after a while. I mean, you worry about your life every second of every day and it just -- you know, starts to wear you out.

KAYE: The hostage takers only watched cartoons on their satellite TV. He heard no news. No word of his family. No way to know they were working so hard to find him. That they'd set up a website. And had made public pleas on both Al Jazeera Network and CNN.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When he mentioned that you know, about his life, them ending his life, I don't know, we're all just devastated. Please President Bush he needs your help.

KAYE: Hallums kept track of the days in his head. He knew weeks had turned into months. He listened as his captors poured fresh concrete over his hole to seal it. Hallums thought for sure he would die here.

HALLUMS: After six months, I was starting to question how long was this going to go on. You know, are they going to keep me a year or two years? There was no way to know. I just know, okay, I've been here six months. There's no end in sight.

KAYE: Then by pure luck, coalition forces interviewing an Iraqi prisoner were told where Hallums was being held. He will never forget the pounding at the door, freedom was not far away.

HALLUMS: Because I thought, well, maybe somebody's here to rescue me, but you know, it's been 311 days. That would be too good to be true. It can't possibly be what it is. But they kept pounding on the door. Finally the door fell down and a soldier comes in, he's got his fatigues on everything and he says, are you Roy? And I said, yes. And he said, come on, we're getting of here.

KAYE: Did you hug him.

HALLUMS: Yes. Definitely. Definitely.

KAYE: By the time he was rescued, September of last year, Hallums had lost 38 pounds. He's gained much of the weight back, but more importantly, he's gained his freedom. Still today, never too far away, this patch given to Hallums by the soldier, then a stranger, today a friend who pulled him out of the darkness, the hole that had become his private hell. Randi Kaye, CNN, Memphis.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHOI: Another American hostage Nicholas Berg did not make it out of Iraq alive. Next, we will talk with his father who's now taking a stand by running for congress. He's up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHOI: A father's anguish, his son was one of the first American civilians beheaded by terrorists in Iraq. Now Michael Berg is taking a stand, he's running for congress. It certainly will be an uphill battle. So why is he doing it and why now? Michael Berg joins us from Wilmington, Delaware. Mr. Berg thank you so much for joining us.

MICHAEL BERG, (I) DELAWARE CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: Thank you for having me on.

CHOI: I want to begin by getting your reaction first of all to Jill Carroll's release and her statement released just moments ago.

BERG: Well, I'm so happy for her and for her family that she was released, that she was unharmed. As far as her statements were concerned, it's kind of hard to know which ones are correct. The ones she said a couple of days ago or the ones she was saying today.

CHOI: Understood. I'm thankful that you gave me that reaction though but let's go but let's go on and talk about your running for congress. Why are you doing it?

BERG: Well, it's kind of a natural extension of working for peace that I was doing -- that I've been doing since my son was killed, and since long before my son was killed. Unfortunately most of what I did from the time Nick was killed until last fall was to protest and dissent and I'm running for congress to try to work within the system to bring about the changes that I want to see brought about, mostly ending the war and enacting programs of social progress and being responsible for what we're doing to the environment.

CHOI: This is really interesting because you and your son really shared very different political views. In fact Nick was pro Bush, he was pro war. So how do you think he would feel about your calls for the immediate withdrawal of troops? And what do you think he would think about your running for office?

BERG: Well, I know what Nick would think about it because one day before he went to Iraq when I came home from an anti-war rally in Washington, D.C., he said to me, "Dad, you know, we disagree on this war, but I really admire and respect you for standing up for what you think is right." So I think he'd be fine with my continued protest of the war even if he continued to support it. And I think he'd be very fine with my running for congress. It's standing up for what I think is right and it's doing it within the system.

CHOI: You know you got a lot of attention when you said your son Nick did for the sins of George Bush and Donald Rumsfeld. By running for office are you trying to maybe find some political resolution in his death?

BERG: I don't know if it's a revolution or not. But it certainly is a change. I think the American people will change, I think they're tired of not having a choice between democrats and republicans, who say the same thing. Don't end the war. Escalate the war, that seems to be the choice that they give. I'm giving a real choice, let's end the war. Let's start working on domestic programs that we need, like single payer health care for everyone, like rebuilding education, social security and the infrastructure of this country. And let's start being responsible about the way we're treating this planet.

CHOI: You know, Mike Castle, the popular incumbent, is currently serving a record seventh term as Delaware's lone member in the House of Representatives. So, you know I think it's pretty safe to say that this is going to be an uphill battle for you. What do you really hope to achieve then?

BERG: Well I really hope to achieve the seat in congress. I'm in this to win. I think that Mr. Casell has two choices. Either he can stand by the president and fall with him because the president's popularity rating is the opposite of what Mr. Casell's was in his last election. Or he can -- he can come over to the side of reason and call for an end of the war and call for responsibility to the citizens and the planet. In either case, I win.

CHOI: Michael Berg, thank you very much for joining us. And we wish you luck on your run for congress.

BERG: Thank you.

CHOI: All right. Well, what images would you see if illegal immigrants took photos of their journeys? Well, they did and we've got the photos. You'll see them next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHOI: Well it hasn't been picture postcard whether in Hawaii for weeks and the deluge continues on the islands. Take a look at these pictures from CNN affiliate KOHN. Heavy rains have flooded streams and roads in Awahu. But bad weather certainly isn't limited to the Aloha state. CNN's Galen Crader has more now from the weather center. Dalen, what's happening?

(WEATHER REPORT)

CHOI: Galen, thanks. And you know what? You're going to want to pay attention because it's a view you've probably never seen before. The view from both sides of the immigration debate and coming up photos from the immigrants trying to cross the border and the men trying to stop them. And then a special Ted Rowlands report on a famous Vegas heist.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Because it was a Friday and Circus Circus was one of the cruise's first stops, the armored truck was packed with more than $3 million in cash. When Scott Stewart and his partner came out of the casino, the truck, the money, and Heather Tallchief were gone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHOI: Where did she go? And where did the money go? The whole story coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHOI: And here are the latest stories now in the news. That's former hostage Jill Carroll stepping onto the tarmac at Germany's Ramstein Air Base 14 hours ago. This hour officials at The Christian Science Monitor in Boston released a statement from Carroll, who says she was threatened by her captors and forced to make claims seen on videotape.

Today civil rights activist Jesse Jackson joined the hundreds who were protesting New Orleans' upcoming mayoral election. Some minority group are concerned about diluted voting power with thousands of city residents living elsewhere after Hurricane Katrina.

We're still awaiting to hear the latest regarding an American military helicopter that went down today in Iraq. Now according to a military statement, the chopper crashed southwest of Baghdad while it was on patrol.

And there's a new complement to the international space station with today's arrival of Russia's Soyuz capsule. Besides a new Russian and American crew on board, the station also welcomed Brazil's first astronaut.

Immigrant outcries on the streets of New York. Today thousands of demonstrators protest proposed changes to immigration laws. It's part of the growing debate over just what to do about undocumented workers. On Capitol Hill, lawmakers are wrestling with get tough proposals.

Demonstrators marched over the Brooklyn Bridge protesting some of those measures. One would make it a crime for anyone to knowingly help illegal immigrants stay in the U.S. Other legislation could force massive demonstrations or jail time for illegal workers.

Well, we've all seen the images. Illegal immigrants climbing border fences or being arrested in lonely spots along the way. Some enterprising filmmakers wanted to get a better picture ordeal and they gave out hundreds of disposable cameras. Those images are now part the Border Film Project. And Victoria Criado and Rudy Adler are two the producers in New York. They join me now. Thanks so much for joining me.

Victoria, let me start with you. How did you guys come up with this idea?

VICTORIA CRIADO, THE BORDER FILM PROJECT: Well, immigration is such an important topic and we had started filming through various parts of the border. When we got to this one town, we met a family. And we started joking around about, well, we wanted to give them something before they would take their journey. And we joked around about giving them our camera, and to that joke kind of became, wow. It would be amazing if we could get the actual people on the ground to document their own journey.

CHOI: Yes, it's such an interesting idea. Rudy, I'm interested to know, how did you get the migrants and the minutemen to mail those cameras back to you.

RUDY ADLER, THE BORDER FILM PROJECT: Well, we distributed the cameras in self-addressed stamped envelopes. And so, we gave them the packages, and we told them -- we told the migrants that when they got to the United States to stick them in one the U.S. mailboxes in which we showed them pictures of. For the minutemen it was easier. They just went to their local post office and returned the cameras to us.

CHOI: But didn't you give them some sort of incentive? I mean they have a lot on their minds. Why would they go about doing this.

ADLER: We did. We gave them an economic incentive. We gave the migrants a Wal-Mart gift card and after a lot of trial and error about how to allow the migrants to participate in this project, it turned out to be the best because it allowed them to stay anonymous. The gift card went in the package. They held onto the gift card, and when we received the camera back, we looked up the corresponding number and we put a donation on their card.

CHOI: All right, so so far you've got about 1500 pictures back and some of them are pretty gruesome like pictures of blisters on migrant's feet. Is that a pretty common problem?

CRIADO: Yes. It's actually one of the more interesting pictures that we have because most people don't realize that one the number one causes of death for a migrant crossing in the desert is blisters. They get to a point where they can't walk and when you're in 120 degree desert heat that is deadly.

CHOI: You know, we saw pictures of people traveling alone, but we also saw pictures of others coming in groups. And I think we have one of those pictures now. But despite the difficulties, we also see some humor in other pictures that you got. Like, one called The Rest Area. Talk a little bit about that.

ADLER: The Rest Area photo was from the New Mexico border. It was from minutemen camp. The beauty of this project is we get to see a reality that we won't be able to witness ourselves and obviously this is a joke that they have somewhere on the side of the highway. But you know, it's so interesting to see the range of photos we get back. It's great to see from their perspective what's happening along the border.

CHOI: What struck you about the pictures you got back from the minutemen?

CRIADO: Well, it was interesting because a lot of what you hear in the media about the minutemen paints them within a certain caricature, but the beauty of this project is you actually get to see a human side and you get to see them tell their own story. We have one picture that's just very poignant. It's of a minuteman volunteer. He framed the shot so perfectly. It looks as if he was a professional photographer and there's the blue sky in the background with the cowboy hat and it's just so telling of them as a group.

CHOI: While you set out to show the two opposite sides of the immigration issue, you actually found a similarity among them. What was that?

ADLER: Yes, you know, at the end of the day, we want to stress that both sides have different issues. But at the end of the day, they can both agree that they're documenting a situation that shouldn't be happening. I think anyone that's been to the border will tell you the system's broken and needs to be fixed.

CHOI: Well, it has been an interesting project. And we all benefit from it. Victoria Criado and Rudy Adler thank you so much. And I want to gear people toward your Web site if they want to learn more about it www.borderfilmproject.com. Thanks again.

Well, coming up next hour, the impact that immigration reform could have on companies in the U.S. We're going to hear from one man who says he'd be out of business if he could not rely on immigrant workers.

And be sure to join Lou Dobbs tonight for a Broken Borders SPECIAL REPORT from Mexico. He's going to tell you everything you need to know about illegal immigration and border security and how they impact you. That's 6:00 p.m. eastern, 3:00 pacific right here on CNN.

All right, think it's impossible to rob from a Las Vegas casino? One woman is in custody, but her accomplice isn't and neither is the money. That story when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) CHOI: It was a gutsy crime and you know what? She almost got away with it, but after more than a decade in hiding, a woman involved in a notorious Las Vegas armored car heist got tired of being on the run. She was sentenced this week to five years in prison. But as CNN's Ted Rowlands tells us, this story with all the twists and turns of a pulp fiction novel isn't over yet.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On the morning of October 1, 1993, an armored truck pulled into the Circus Circus Casino on the Las Vegas Strip.

SCOTT STEWART, FORMER CIRCUS CIRCUS CASINO SECURITY GUARD: Being that it was a Friday, it was a normal busy day for us, because we had to get all the casinos ready for...

ROWLANDS: Scott Stewart was one of two guards from the truck that went into the casino to fill ATM machines with cash for weekend gamblers. The driver of the truck, 21-year-old Heather Tallchief, stayed behind.

STEWART: She was supposed to pick us up at that other exit there, so we could continue our route.

ROWLANDS: Because it was a Friday and Circus Circus was one of the crew's first stops, the armored truck was packed with more than $3 million in cash. When Scott Stewart and his partner came out of the casino, the truck, the money, and Heather Tallchief were gone.

STEWART: Everything kind of swarms through your mind at that point. You know, was -- was she in an accident? Is she hurt? Is she OK? Did the vehicle get taken from her? Did she take the vehicle?

ROWLANDS: Tallchief had no criminal record. She had worked for the company for about a month. At first, there was concern for her safety. But that concern soon turned to suspicion.

JOSEPH DUSHEK, FBI SPECIAL AGENT: We knew it was going to be big and we knew that there would be a lot involved in trying to locate her.

ROWLANDS: FBI special agent Joseph Dushek was assigned to the case. He says, almost immediately, agents had casino surveillance video showing Heather Tallchief driving away on her own.

As law enforcement launched an all-out search, the story of a 21- year-old woman and a $3.1 million heist immediately captured the attention of Las Vegas.

ED KOCH, REPORTER, "THE LAS VEGAS SUN": There were people actually rooting for her, hoping that -- hoping that she got away and, somehow, made a life for herself elsewhere.

ROWLANDS: But agents didn't think Tallchief was in it alone. And, a few days after the heist, they got a break. The armored truck turned up in a garage. Investigators found fingerprints identifying Tallchief's partner.

DUSHEK: Sure enough, found out that the fingerprints belonged to a Roberto Ignacio Solis. He had a long record. He was very violent, prone to violence, had a lot of convictions.

ROWLANDS: Roberto Solis had been involved in an armed robbery before. In fact, he served more than 20 years in a California prison for killing an armored truck guard. This time, investigators say Solis and Tallchief had pulled off an elaborate heist. Weeks before stealing the money, they started a fake armored car repair business, calling it Steel Reinforcement Services.

They told people in the area to expect armored trucks to go in and out of the garage. So, when Tallchief pulled up driving the truck full of cash, nobody was suspicious.

DUSHEK: And there is their first customer. They just pulled in to get the armored truck reinforced.

ROWLANDS: Agents say it took less than two hours for Solis and Tallchief to take most of the money out of the truck and get out of town. Witnesses say the couple disguised themselves. Tallchief acted like a sick older woman in a wheelchair. Solis pretended to be a doctor.

They drove a rental car to the airport and flew in a private jet to Denver.

DUSHEK: They had rented the jet months in advance. When they landed, the pilot told us, said, hey, it is a miracle. Look, she got up and walked out of the wheelchair to the limousine waiting for them.

ROWLANDS: Agents were able to track Solis and Tallchief to Miami, but never found them. Meanwhile, as weeks went by, speculation in Vegas was growing.

KOCH: People were more surprised than anything. Simply put, you didn't rob casinos. You didn't rob armored cars at casinos. You just didn't do it, because you didn't want, for lack of a better word, the agents of the casinos to find you, because, if they found you first, and you got the money, no one would ever see you again.

ROWLANDS (on camera): But, after Miami, the trail went cold. There was no sign of Tallchief, Solis, or the money, until, out of the blue, 12 years after the heist, Heather Tallchief came back to Las Vegas.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For those of you who haven't met her yet, this is Heather Tallchief.

ROWLANDS (voice-over): Here she was, after all this time, at a news conference. Heather Tallchief, now 33 years old, was turning herself in. She would tell investigators how she and Solis got away with one of the biggest heists in Las Vegas history.

Tallchief says she was a pawn brainwashed by Roberto Solis. HEATHER TALLCHIEF, DEFENDANT: What he told me was: Today, I want you to -- I want you to follow these orders and to listen well. Carry these plans out without fail.

And then he gave me instructions for how to drive the vehicle, step by step, street -- street by street, to a predestined garage.

ROWLANDS: In a written statement filed in federal court, Heather Tallchief details her version of the story, including, how ,at age 21, she met Solis, then 47, in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco.

She described Solis as a charismatic businessman, who started by reading her tarot cards, but quickly pulled her into what she describes as a world of Satanic worship. It included painting their bodies as part of a ritualistic sexual routine.

ROBERT AXELROD, ATTORNEY FOR HEATHER TALLCHIEF: He practiced a cultish, Druid, crazy sort of form of religion involving sexual magic, that she allowed him to convince her was the way to greater enlightenment.

ROWLANDS: Tallchief says -- quote -- "I worshipped him and believed everything he said."

She says, before going to Vegas, they went to Mexico, where Solis had plastic surgery. While there, she says he introduced her to peyote and books on devil worship, saying -- quote -- "He directed me to make a hooded magician's cape for him and a plain cape for myself. We wore these frequently."

Then, she says, they went to Vegas, where she says Solis urged her to get a job as an armored car driver. She says -- quote -- "I suppose that I should have suspected that he had some illegal motive in this, but I did not."

DUSHEK: She didn't even have a driver's license and didn't know how to shoot. So, she had to go to a local firearms range and learn how to shoot, and actually learn how to drive.

AXELROD: She was so much under the influence of Roberto Solis, who was an incredible criminal con man.

ROWLANDS: Tallchief says, after the heist, they did go to Miami, but then moved on to the Cayman Islands for a few months, before getting themselves to Amsterdam.

In the statement, she says -- quote -- "Not long after Solis and I ran away, I decided to leave him and turn myself in."

Why didn't she?

AXELROD: Really, two things. One, he told her that, if the authorities ever saw her or identified her, that they would shoot to kill, and that she was the only suspect, not him. She had never seen any news about this, and she believed him. And she found that she was pregnant.

ROWLANDS: Pregnant with Solis' child, a boy they named Dylan (ph).

Two months after the birth, Tallchief says, one night, she fled with their child and about $1,000 in cash. She says she never saw Solis again. For several years, Tallchief says she worked as a prostitute, which is legal in Amsterdam. Eventually, she took a job cleaning rooms in this hotel, while raising her son.

AXELROD: Her son has always known that there was a secret. He has always known that he had to behave in a certain way, that he had to live a low profile.

ROWLANDS: Tallchief says she turned herself in to give her son, Dylan, an honest life.

AXELROD: He would have had to have lived a false identity with her for the rest of his life.

ROWLANDS: While she's in jail, Dylan is being cared for by a man Tallchief says has taken on the role of father and husband.

KOCH: It has a elements -- of -- a movie. And now you have got the final scene of it, of her turning herself in. And, well, there is one more piece of the puzzle left to this movie, is where -- is the money and where is -- where is her accomplice?

ROWLANDS: Tallchief says she has no idea, and neither does FBI Agent Joseph Dushek, who is now retired, but says he hasn't stopped looking, even taking this wanted flyer of Solis with him on vacations.

DUSHEK: I have been to Mexico a few times. You never know what you might see, or you might get a tip. Out of all of the cases I have, this was the one I wanted to see solved the most.

ROWLANDS: Heather Tallchief says, after she's released from prison, she plans to finish raising her son and reconnect with the family she left behind while on the run.

Meanwhile, the hunt is still on for Roberto Solis, the man who, so far, has gotten away with one of the largest heists in Las Vegas history.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHOI: Still waiting for the ending. Meantime, with time already served and good behavior, Heather Tallchief could be out of prison by the end of 2009. Coming up...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: They've done it. They've done it. The Patriots are going to the Final Four.

(END VIDEO CLIP) CHOI: And so is sports reporter Larry Smith back with his report on the Cinderella team right after this quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHOI: If you love underdogs, then you're probably pulling for George Mason in the NCAA Final Four in basketball. The Patriots tip- off against Florida in just a little more than an hour. But coming out of the Colonial Athletic Conference, they are the great unknown to many, right? Well, CNN's Larry Smith has patriotic preview of George Mason U. hoops.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: Brown on the run. Brown trying to get to the glass. Pushed off. Three ball from Brown, is no good. They've done it. They've done it. They've done it. The Patriots are going to the Final Four.

LARRY SMITH, CNN SPORTS REPORTER (voice-over): As the final buzzer sounded and a collective, I can't believe it, rang out across the country, George Mason university earned more than a Final Four appearance with their win over top-seed Connecticut, they gain a bandwagon of fans.

TONY SKINN, GEORGE MASON SENIOR GUARD: You just hear like hear every 10 minutes now on the radio on the TV, somebody saying something about George Mason. It's a great feeling to hear that people are aware of what we're doing.

JIM LARRANGA, GEORGE MASON HEAD COACH: We're not doing this just for ourselves and our own personal gratification. We're doing it for the love of the game and the people who follow college basketball who like to see the underdog knock off the favorite.

SMITH: By now everyone knows about the George Mason Patriots but not many know about George Mason the patriot. A close friend of George Washington's, Mason helped draft the Constitution. But refused to sign it, in part because it did not yet contain the Bill of Rights and it opposed the immediate abolition of slavery.

LARRANGA: Probably a lot people who attend George Mason don't know what a contribution he's made to our country.

LAMAR BUTLER, GEORGE MASON SENIOR GUARD: I plead The Fifth. I plead The Fifth. I know who he is but I Plead the Fifth. Tony knows, though.

SKINN: He didn't want to sign something because he was trying to abolish --

I don't know. But look, if you asked Lamar that question last week, he did say George Mason was the president and I told him he wasn't. So I knew that much.

SMITH: With the spotlight now fully overhead, can the Patriots continue their surprising run despite all the distractions?

LARRANGA: What distractions? This is what we live for. If you're asking a kid, where would you like to be during the course of your basketball season, he's going it say, oh want to make it to the Final Four. I have told the players over and over again I will have more fun in the NCAA tournament than any other head coach and I want you guys to have more fun than any other team. I think we've reached that goal several times.

SMITH: Larry Smith, CNN, Indianapolis.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHOI: Good luck to all of them. Carol Lin continues our look at the immigration debate with a personal success story. You'll meet a man who went from being an illegal immigrant to living the American dream. And don't forget a special "CNN PRESENTS: The Last Days of Pope John Paul II." That's today and again tomorrow at 7:00 p.m. eastern.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

UNIDENTIFIED CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jill Carroll finally speaks her mind. The truth from the journalist who will finally be back in the United States tomorrow.

UNIDENTIFIED CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thousands of immigrants march across the Brooklyn Bridge to make it clear that they just want a fair shot at the American dream.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Ouch. Oh man. That hurts.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: That's our Randi Kaye going through the shocking therapy one program says is the key to helping troubled teens. Hello and welcome to CNN Live Saturday.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com