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Erin Burnett Outfront

Mental Illness Likely A Factor In Fort Hood Shooting; Awaiting News Conference On Flight 370

Aired April 03, 2014 - 19:00   ET

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

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: Next, breaking news, new details about the Fort Hood shooter. A history of mental health problems and could the entire tragedy been avoided.

We are standing by for a press conference from Australian officials searching for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.

Plus Malaysian authorities briefing passengers' families. Why did officials refuse to even confirm whether the plane crashed or actually landed? Let's go OUTFRONT.

Good evening, everyone. I'm Erin Burnett. OUTFRONT tonight, we are following two major breaking news stories tonight. First, new information about the gunman behind the deadly Fort Hood shooting and we are standing by for an important press conference by Australian officials on the search for missing Flight 370.

I want to begin though with Army officials now saying it was most likely mental illness that caused Specialist Ivan Lopez to open fire last night. The 34-year-old Iraq war veteran killed three soldiers and then turned the gun on himself and took his own life after a military police officer approached him. Sixteen people were also wounded.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. GEN. MARK MILLEY, COMMANDER, FORT HOOD: We have very strong evidence that he had a medical history that indicates unstable psychiatric or psychological condition. Gone through all the records to ensure that that is, in fact, correct. We believe that to be a fundamental, underlying cause.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: Authorities, though, say they are still unclear on what specific incident actually triggered the shooting, but as for the wounding victims, six have been released from the hospital. Authorities say there are no indications that Lopez targeted anyone specifically. So what caused him, a soldier, who had been awarded the Army commendation medal, the achievement medal, the good conduct medal and other awards to commit murder so horrifically?

Miguel Marquez has been talking to neighbors and friends at Fort Hood today and begins our coverage tonight OUTFRONT. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The hours leading up to Specialist Ivan Lopez's deadly rampage gave no hint of what was to come.

(on camera): You see him coming down the stairs and he says goodbye and that's the last you saw of him hours before the attack?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

MARQUEZ (voice-over): Iesha Bradley says Lopez moved into his off- base apartment building about a month ago. He, his wife, and young daughter were friendly, approachable and in every way, she says, normal.

(on camera): You said hello to him. You've talked to him?

IESHA BRADLEY, NEIGHBOR: Yesterday.

MARQUEZ: What did he seem like?

BRADLEY: He seemed pretty fine, happy. He didn't seem like, you know, the type that would do what he did.

MARQUEZ: At 12:30, just minutes later, Lopez paid the rent, added his wife's name to the lease and left. Still, no sign of trouble. Command Sergeant Major Nelson Bigas worked closely with Lopez for more than a month and a half.

SGT. MAJOR NELSON BIGAS, PUERTO RICO NATIONAL GUARD: He was one of my best soldier in the organization and he has the dynamic leadership especially Lopez was an outstanding soldier with great initiative. He show a great leadership and a very, very great military discipline.

MARQUEZ: Lopez spent nine years in the Puerto Rico National Guard and one year with an observer force in Egypt, Sinai desert in 2011. He served four months driving trucks in Iraq. He went on to Fort Bliss near El Paso and in February, he transitioned here to Fort Hood.

JOHN MCHUGH, ARMY SECRETARY: He had a clean record in terms of his behavioral, no outstanding bad marks for any kind of major misbehaviors that we are yet aware of.

MARQUEZ: Yet, there were concerns lurking just beneath the surface. Lopez asked for help with PTSD, but had yet to be diagnosed with it.

MILLEY: We have very strong evidence that he had a medical history that indicates unstable psychiatric or psychological condition.

MARQUEZ: Lopez had been prescribed powerful antidepressants and sleep drug, Ambien. He was getting help.

MCHUGH: He was seen just last month by a psychiatrist. He was fully examined and as of this morning we had no indication on the record of that examination that there was any sign of likely violence either to himself or to others. No suicidal ideation.

MARQUEZ: Dr. Xavier Amador interviewed Major Nidal Hassan who killed 14 people here at Fort Hood in 2009. Mental health issues, he says, must be aggressively treated, particularly when antidepressants are given.

DR. XAVIER AMADOR, CLINICAL PSYCHIATRIST: You have to be very cautious and take care to be aware of which symptoms are improving more quickly than others. People's motivation comes back and their ability to sleep comes back and they feel more energy, but still feeling hopeless and suicidal.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARQUEZ: Now the other thing that we learned is that Mr. Lopez purchased his gun legally and properly at a gun store here in Killeen called "Guns Galore." It is also the same gun store where Nidal Hassan purchased his semi-automatic handgun for the killings here in 2009 and another man bought some gun powder and ammunition there, but never got to carry out a plan. He was trying to copycat that of Nidal Hassan -- Erin.

BURNETT: All right, thank you very much, Miguel. Miguel points out three different instances. Two in which the shooter was able to murder others and one he thwarted. This is all in the fifth time in five years that a military facility has been the target of a shooting in the United States. The second, of course, at Fort Hood with the horrific Nidal Hassan case.

Former military intelligence officer, Colonel Cedric Leighton is OUTFRONT. Colonel, you spent a lot of time on a lot of basis, but here's the question about Fort Hood. It is a huge base. It is one of the most important in the country and the world to the United States. It is the single biggest one-site employer in the state of Texas. Two mass shootings at the same base in five years. How could that happen?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RETIRED), FORMER MILITARY INTELLIGENCE OFFICER: Well, that's the big question, Erin, tonight. And it's a really tragic situation. This is a horrible situation where you have many people, of course, trying to find answers, but the key thing is the command climate. If the command climate isn't the right kind of command climate that people feel they can go to their supervisors and get answers to things and help with problems and things of that nature, that could be an issue in this case. I'm not saying it is in this one, but it's where I've looked at right now.

BURNETT: What about the whole issue of arms on the base. I know this is going to become a hot topic. The Defense Department says under almost no situation, soldiers are not allowed to carry personal weapons at these facilities. Here's the question, this guy then brought one in and the general in charge of Fort Hood he said at that press conference, you know what, everybody, it is not reasonable or practical to say that we can check every single person who comes on that base for a weapon.

Obviously they're in the state of Texas, a lot of people have weapons on them, personal weapons. So, if you are going to assume somebody can get a weapon on that base if they want to, shouldn't the soldiers on the base be armed to be able to fight back or no?

LEIGHTON: Well, it's certainly a reasonable question to ask. I would say that if they are armed with their official weapons, through your government, Army-issued side arms, then that would be one thing. Bringing personal weapons on base, that's a completely different issue in my mind and I don't think I would support that in this particular instance. But I do believe if they are allowed to carry their own side arms that are issued to them by the government, that would perhaps allow things to happen.

But you do have to look at mental stability, you do have to look at the possibility of suicidal ideations and all those kinds of things and it is a big question to ask before you actually take a step like that. But I would certainly consider using official weapons in this case.

BURNETT: All right, Colonel, thank you very much. We'll talk more about that in the moment. But the casualty count at Fort Hood yesterday would have been a lot higher if it weren't for one woman whose identity still remains a mystery. When you talk about this issue of having a weapon or not having a weapon, this was a woman who put her life on the line to save others yesterday. Brian Todd has more on the mystery woman who is a hero.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Ivan Lopez first opened fire in the Medical Brigade Building and then used his weapon again, shooting from a car. He then walked into a Transportation Battalion Building and fired, again, then moved into a parking lot. His destruction, while terrifying could have been so much worse, had it not been for one female MP.

MILLEY: She clearly performed her duty exceptionally well.

TODD: Officials at Fort Hood won't release the MP's name, saying she is germane to the investigation, but former soldiers at Fort Hood tell us she's likely with the 720th MP Battalion of the 89th MP Brigade. The base commander said she arrived in the parking lot 4 minutes after the first 911 call. He says Lopez approached her from 20 feet away, put his hands up and then reached under his jacket and pulled out his gun.

MILLEY: At which time, she saw that and interpreted that as a threat and then engaged him with small arms fire, at which time then the shooter did a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

PHILLIP CARTER, FORMER MP CAPTAIN, FORT HOOD: Most police officers would have stepped back and waited for backup but she stepped forward.

TODD: Philip Carter is a former MP captain at Fort Hood, was responsible for patrols on base. Carter believes she was a junior enlisted person patrolling by herself. She had gone through 18 weeks of training, Carter says, including a segment on a range called shoot, no shoot.

CARTER: You have to make a decision on the range as to whether to engage or not. They're designed to create that split-second impulse because that's all you have in this kind of situation.

TODD: In 2009, it was two civilian officers who stopped Nidal Hassan during his shooting rampage at Fort Hood. Kimberly Montley was wounded, both received several commendations.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is an honor I can't even explain.

TODD: Phillip Carter says the MP who stopped Lopez is probably inexperienced.

CARTER: So, imagine that you're a college student and you're in that sort of life and death situation and you're making the right call in a matter of seconds. It's incredible that she did what she did.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TODD: Phillip Carter says that MP will likely receive an Award for Valor and maybe cited for a promotion. Kimberly Montley on the other hand ended up losing her job as police officer at Fort Hood. She was a civilian officer and the contract that she and her colleagues had with the Army was not renewed -- Erin.

BURNETT: That's a shocking ending. All right, Brian Todd, thank you very much.

OUTFRONT next, the question that we all are asking at home and asking here, how could this have happened again at Fort Hood? The Texas attorney general is OUTFRONT next.

Plus we are standing by for a news conference about the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. Some have said there could be a significant operational announcements at that conference. The husband of a passenger on the missing jet tells me why he thinks investigators are hiding something.

And live pictures in Denton, Texas. Want to show you this as you can see in the distance the clouds against clouds. They have a tornado warning in effect. Tonight, possibly going to be a night for tornados and we're watching that story, as well. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BURNETT: Breaking news with new details tonight about the Fort Hood shooter. Three people killed, 16 other injured before the 34-year-old turned his gun on himself. Officials say Army Specialist Ivan Lopez had a history of psychiatric issues, which may have been a factor in the attack. In fact, we are just finding out that they were significant psychiatric issues, according to the general in command of the base at Fort Hood. In the shadow of the horrific Fort Hood shooting in 2009, many are asking how this possibly could have happened again.

Ed Lavandera covered the Nidal Hassan shooting extensively and his OUTFRONT.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For more than a decade, Fort Hood has carried the burden and anguish of wars on the other side of the world, but the violence of the battlefield has, once again, struck at home.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Shock and horror all over again.

LAVANDERA: Retired Colonel Kathy Platoni knows it all too well. In November 2009, she was at Fort Hood when Major Nidal Hassan unleashed a savage attack. Five of the 13 soldiers killed that day were part of her unit.

LT. COL. KATHY PLATONI, U.S. ARMY (RETIRED): I felt rage inside of me and tremendous sorrow and grief. It was surreal. How could this happen, again?

LAVANDERA: After the 2009 Fort Hood shooting, the Department of Defense issued a report calling for better emergency response and improving information sharing between military and government investigators.

JOHN MCHUGH, ARMY SECRETARY: We saw some of the benefits and gains made out of that Fort Hood, first Fort Hood experience. But something happened, something went wrong, and we need to know what that was and if we failed in some way against our current policies, we need to be honest with ourselves and with you and hold ourselves accountable.

LAVANDERA: After the Fort Hood shooting in 2009, the military's report said one of the biggest problems was the ability to identify internal threats that there's, quote, "insufficient knowledge" and awareness of the factors required to help identify and address individuals likely to commit violence. But the same problem exists today.

In 2011, 22-year-old Army Private Jason Abdo was arrested and charged with trying to detonate a bomb in a restaurant popular with Fort Hood soldiers. Platoni says the military needs more seasoned mental health professionals.

PLATONI: I think it's still a struggle for the military. We just don't have enough people to take care of the problem.

LAVANDERA (on camera): After more than a decade of war, mental health issues plagued the U.S. military. Here at Fort Hood alone in the last six years, 85 soldiers have committed suicide.

(voice-over): Fort Hood soldiers are often warned to avoid speaking with the news media, but one soldier did speak with CNN who described the stressful life at Fort Hood as a black hole.

UNIDENTIFIED SOLDIER: It can be miserable and, you know, we have a lot of people in behavioral health and nobody really understands how bad somebody's mental stability is or, you know, how hard it is to keep your sanity here being at Fort Hood.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAVANDERA: And, Erin, Colonel Platoni has a unique position. She's a clinical psychologist and an expert in PTSD. It is ironic that she was here in 2009 and one of the things that she warns about is that with the downsizing of the Army and that there are much fewer experts and clinicians and people who can help soldiers along the way, people who aren't experienced enough in the issues of PTSD to be able to offer and diagnose and spot the warning signs that need to be spotted to prevent tragedies like this -- Erin.

BURNETT: All right, thanks very much to Ed. Of course, you have a country pulling back for more and pulling back in a massive way from defense spending.

Joining me now is Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott. He is also a Republican gubernatorial candidate in Texas. And Mr. Attorney General, thank you very much for taking the time to be on the show. Look, it's the second mass shooting at Fort Hood in the past few years. Fort Hood, a name that people hear and they think now of these shootings. How could something like this have happened again?

GREG ABBOTT (R), TEXAS ATTORNEY GENERAL: Well, first of all, Erin, of course, our hearts go out to the families affected by this tragedy, but, for us, Fort Hood is more than a military base. These are our friends and this is our family and this is our community. Deeply connected there and this is something as a state we rally behind our troops but also Fort Hood. What we're doing as a state is a couple of things to help out these folks.

One is, of course, from the law enforcement side, the state of Texas is working side-by-side with the U.S. military with the federal government as well as the local officials. Erin, we have something else here in the state of Texas that works with these people on the ground. We have a service in my office, the Crime Victim Services that will provide services to the family members who were harmed, injured or killed in this tragedy.

BURNETT: So, let me ask you, though, because I'm trying to understand exactly how, how this could have happened. Again, how could it happen in this case? I was watching when the commander was talking at Fort Hood about this shooter and here's what he said about the situation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MILLEY: We have very strong evidence that he had a medical history that indicates unstable psychiatric or psychological condition. Going through all the records to ensure that that is, in fact, correct, but we believe that to be fundamental underlying causal factor.

BURNETT: Fundamental underlying causal factor, medical history unstable psychiatric condition. Should someone with this condition and this known history been able to buy a gun legally which Lopez did?

ABBOTT: Well, first of all, we need to recognize that this is something that's being handled first and foremost by the military.

BURNETT: Yes.

ABBOTT: It is highlighting something, though, that I think we all need to intensify or focus on. That is, as a nation, we need to do more to work to support the mental health of our veterans and of our active service members. This is something that will strengthen both the military and strengthen us as a country.

BURNETT: It's an interesting point. I know you're not directly answering my question, but let me use something Senator Harry Reid said today to hopefully get a more concise answer from you. He told reporters, couldn't we at least have background checks so a majority of them support that. So, I hope we can bring it back up. Is he right?

ABBOTT: Well, Erin, there are already in place certain restrictions on certain people who are unable to purchase guns. And if you actually look at the restrictions you're talking about, one of the flaws that we have in the current system is not that there is a need for restrictions, but, instead, that the restrictions in place are actually not being enforced. There is inadequate looking into our investigation of the current restrictions and enforcement of those restrictions. So, that's one path they could have gone down, but the main thing, though --

BURNETT: There is no restriction in place that would have prevented Ivan Lopez from buying a gun unless he was institutionalized for his mental issues. But clearly he had serious mental issues. There is no restriction in place that if you enforced it would have stopped him from getting a gun in Texas.

ABBOTT: Well, Erin, I'm sure that you're not suggesting that everyone in the country or everyone in the country who wants to purchase a gun goes through a mental background check. That would be far too intrusive. You get into the difficult area of where you draw the line and has to be someone with a proven instance of having some level of mental instability that would rise to the ability of allowing them to have a gun. In the United States of America, we are not going to require mental background checks on everyone who wants to purchase a gun.

BURNETT: And, final question. Gun rights, obviously, I know a big campaign issue for you and I hear your point of view here. Strong point of view and you campaigned with Ted Nugent and synonymous with this issue. I interviewed had him extensively after he called the president a subhuman mongrel. He's apologized for that. You eventually said you had no plans to campaign with Nugent, again. Have you changed your mind?

ABBOTT: Well, look, I think Ted was on your show or some other show, but I think he did come out and apologize. I think he was right to apologize. Of course, he used language that I would not use, that I think is wrong. And, so, I think that these he's done right by apologizing and we want to make sure that language like that is never involved in political discourse. BURNETT: All right, thank you very much. We appreciate your time. Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott joining us OUTFRONT tonight.

Still to come, we are still standing by for a news conference from officials searching for Flight 370. There could be something significant in terms of the search zone or how they're going to be looking, but there are some big developments tonight. We'll bring you that press conference live as soon as we get it.

Mixed messages from the Malaysian government to the families of the passengers. Why authorities now won't even confirm whether the plane crashed or actually landed.

More breaking news, you are looking at live pictures of Denton, Texas. We have been watching this cloud mass. Cloud on cloud there. Tornado warning in effect. This is going to be a very big situation possibly tonight as we are monitoring that situation. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BURNETT: Other breaking story we're following tonight the search for Malaysia Air Flight 370. We are standing by for a news conference from the man coordinating the search in the Indian Ocean. That news conference coincides with word that a British ship is honing in on a specific such area. How significant could that be?

As the sun rises, search crews are getting some additional high-tech help. The Australian vessel, the "Ocean Shield," reporting quite a bit on this has now arrived with a device that is supposed to locate pings from those flight data recorders, the so-called black boxes. The batteries on those devices are expected to run out in the next few days and they may have already run out. You really are on a race against time.

Kyung Lah is OUTFRONT live in Perth, Australia. Any word on what we can expect at this news conference tonight?

KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Erin, what I can tell you is that it will be held by Angus Houston. He is the man in charge of this entire operation. His first substantial news conference since he took control of this operation on Sunday. We know that the timing will be mid-day Australia time in the next four to five hours, but we don't know exactly what he is going to be telling reporters.

We are being told that this is going to be like a regular news briefing, but his very first to us. Whatever he does say, it will be important to the some 1,000 sailors at sea. Approximately 100 crew people up in the air. This has been a relentless search with hundreds of family members waiting for word around the world, and, Erin, it bears some importance that we should remind people, no debris has been found and in 2014, it is still possible for an airliner to comp completely vanish without a trace -- Erin.

BURNETT: Kyung, in terms of the search area, obviously, slightly shifted and I know you talk about this press conference is substantial and we'll find out why the sub is looking in a specific place. In pink on the screen, we have the new search area, 1,000 miles northwest of where you're standing right now. What are authorities saying about the conditions for today's search and, you know, we see all the different areas that used to be the search area? This new one seems smaller than prior ones. Do we read much into that?

LAH: No. It's basically moving every single day. Once they clear a certain area, it then shifts. They cleared that particular patch of the ocean and they're moving to another patch. As far as the conditions today at sea, we're getting quite good news in the weather front. We understand that there is going to be excellent visibility. The waves will be very low. So, there is a lot of hope as this new search day is beginning because the weather is so good -- Erin.

BURNETT: Thank you very much, Kyung Lah reporting live from Perth.

Still to come, the families of Flight 370 have now been briefed. And they said they're getting conflicting information from officials. In fact, they were told that officials are now not able to tell them whether the plane landed as opposed to crashed.

Plus, we're going to hear from the husband of one of the passengers. He talks about what was going through his mind when he boarded a plane just days after his wife vanished on 370.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If there's turbulence, do I truly believe that it's not actually an act of the pilot or somebody else?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BURNETT: Breaking news tonight: much of the central United States bracing for incredibly dangerous weather conditions over the next few hours. Tornado watches across much of the region.

CNN meteorologist and severe weather expert Chad Myers is in the weather center.

Chad, we've been looking at some pictures of Texas, but it looks really ominous.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, the pictures we're seeing are actually right from right here. And I'll get to where is, just a second, and then we'll go back to those pictures again. But Denton, Texas, back here. The storm moved through your area 30 minutes ago.

Let's move up toward Little Elm, right about there, and prosper, right about there and it continues to move off to the east, slightly to the north of east and let me tell you, this is what the pictures still look like with these low-hanging clouds. Not seeing any touch the ground, but there's still a potential here that there may be tornado damage, Erin, and we don't know it, because this is something we called wrapped in rain tornado -- a tornado in such the middle of such a heavy rain shaft -- now we lost the picture -- such a heavy rain shaft that you may not ever be able to see it.

There's also another round of severe weather headed towards St. Louis. There are tornado watch boxes all literally all the way from St. Louis all the way back down to Dallas tonight and this is an area right through here, even points to the east, maybe even to Memphis late, late tonight and overnight where your 3:00 in the morning, you might not hear the sirens. This is the night to have your NOAA weather radio turned on and working for your county, Erin.

BURNETT: Thank you very much, Chad. We always think of these things heading into the middle of the night, when people are asleep.

Breaking news in the search for missing Malaysian Search Flight 370, we are standing by for a news conference in Perth, Australia, on the search operation. At this hour, as many as 14 planes and nine ships heading out to resume the hunt right now looking in the pink area. They looked in all the gray ones and every day, they just try to shift it a little bit to try to look for something new because as we want to emphasize, not a single piece of debris has been found.

Today, though, you're going to have a sub searching underground in a specific area. We're hoping to get some more information on that during this press conference. It's been 27 days since that plane disappeared. So far, nothing. No physical evidence of any sort on the families of the 239 families onboard spend each day waiting for an answer on what happened to their loved ones.

Nic Robertson is OUTFRONT in Kuala Lumpur.

Nic, you know, Malaysian officials had another briefing for families of Flight 370 passengers today. And we now hear officials wouldn't even confirm whether or not the plane crashed.

What's going on?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, one of the family members, a cousin of one of the people lost on the plane said that three hours it was very painful to sit through it. They didn't get the kind of information and clarity that they're hoping for. They really wanted to know and understand what happened to their loved ones and they keep holding on to some hope that the plane may have come down safely somewhere.

So, of course, they were listening for that and this is what they told us -- that in this whole three-hour briefing, the officials really couldn't say to them clearly whether or not the plane crashed or came down safely some place. This, of course, for them, hugely difficult.

I was at a memorial service last night and there was a man there who lost his wife. She worked at a technology company here in Malaysia. He didn't even bother going to that briefing. For many people, they just don't see the government giving them the answers that they want to hear and this just makes the whole process so much more painful, Erin.

BURNETT: All right. Nic reporting live from Kuala Lumpur.

I want to bring in now, Richard Quest, Miles O'Brien and Jeff Wise.

Pretty amazing when you hear what Nic just said, that at that press conference, Miles, they were saying, they are not confirming whether this plane crashed or could have landed safely.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: You know, this investigation, it's hard for us to say how the investigation is going and Richard and I have differed on our perception of that. We could all agree the communication is horrible. It's just horrible, to the families, to the public, inconsistent. They have walked things back which are of great importance and to lay this kind of false hope before these families is, I think, really a horrible thing to do.

I look at those pictures of these people going through this. It's torture. It's torture.

RICHARD QUEST, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: I'd like to know a little bit more about the wording that was used. I'm not discounting what they said.

But bear in mind, the Malaysian prime minister says flight MH370 ended in the south Indian Ocean. And everybody jumps all over him because he's effectively said it's crashed.

BURNETT: He did say there were no survivors.

QUEST: He said it's sad and regrettable and everybody says, you know, he didn't use the crash word but he effectively did say it crashed.

I am guessing at this briefing, I wasn't there, I don't know, but I guess they avoided using the crash word and by inference it has given somebody something to run with.

BURNETT: OK, it's possible. I mean, but --

QUEST: But I think your point on both (ph) well.

BURNETT: But it raises the question, Jeff, of the other things that have come out in recent briefings that have caused people to ask questions, 17 countries confirmed that this plane did not land and it is not in their air space, their country. Indonesia has not said anything.

JEFF WISE, AVIATION JOURNALIST, SLATE.COM: Right. Is that information or is that just an absence of information? You know, it's the kind of riddle and puzzle that we have instead of information in this case.

BURNETT: And what about the fact that we were just talking about this in the commercial break before, but I think a lot of viewers, again, this could be an issue of translation, but also an important thing possibly, when they say the last known position of the plane was, quote-unquote, "northward", after we spent a month looking in the southern Indian Ocean. What does this mean?

QUEST: Well, we're not sure where this has come from. But there seems to be a view, that's at the moment of extremists, the plane had turned north. I have not heard this officially from any of the press statements, but it is out there.

O'BRIEN: And how would they know? I suppose this Doppler information that they've used to sass out this --

BURNETT: But let me just ask you all a question. I don't understand, physically, if you can't tell me where the plane went down how can you say it is pinging northward in the last few moments of its flight.

WISE: Erin, that could be interpreted to me when it was last seen on Malaysian military radar, possibly Thai military radar, it was heading on this zigzag course towards the end of an island. That indeed is true, it was heading to the northwest before it disappeared, then we don't know if it turns north or south. But, you know --

O'BRIEN: But it depends on how you define last contact. That is the key word.

(CROSSTALK)

BURNETT: Yes.

QUEST: Look, imagine this table is, you know, the south Indian Ocean. We've got this box where they are searching. Now, first of all, we don't know it's the right box.

BURNETT: No.

QUEST: We don't know for certain it is, but we have to go with what they got because that's all we got. And now, we don't know because they're moving the box around a bit.

We don't know are they moving around a bit because they've searched it so thoroughly that they could be so certain that there's nothing in that box or is this the -- still, they're doing the best they can.

BURNETT: In the context, again, this is a big question when you talk about how crash landing, would there be debris all over the surface that would give you an exhaustive if this plane glided and landed on the ocean surface and then some?

O'BRIEN: It depends. It depends on how -- now, if it is an Air France scenario and I'm talking about Air France 447 in 2009. What happened in that case is they got very slow, nose high, did sort of a flat spin into the ocean and, as a result, kind of wobbling their way down and belly smack created a tremendous amount of wreckage on the surface, including an entire vertical stabilizer, the tail, which happened to be carbon fiber so it floated and that helped them identify the crash scene. If you wanted to make the plane disappear, you could, there's two ways to go. You could go for the ditching scenario. Kind of lands intact and sinks, Sully style. In the ocean with the swells, it's not the Hudson River. It's a difficult thing to do.

BURNETT: Hard to land, but right.

O'BRIEN: The other way to do it, nose in really fast and just go straight down and straight in.

QUEST: In those scenarios, we were talking about this, in those scenarios, the wings would come off, probably, but they have the engines on them and even if the engines come off because of the weight, the thing that go (INAUDIBLE), but the fuselage could sink virtually intact.

BURNETT: Bottom line here, though, there's reason the word wanted. This is (INAUDIBLE).

WISE: Well, I think -- if you look at -- we don't know what happened at this point. We only have these 13 pings or seven pings. What we do know the most about, its path when it deviated from its course to China and did its famous left turn and zigzag pattern and seems to be following airways and flown in a very deliberate way.

BURNETT: Right. Which, of course, is what investigators have said at this point. They used the word deliberate and used the word criminal.

Still to come, news continues to break. We're standing by for the press conference promised by the officials heading the search for Flight 370.

But I also spoke with the husband of one of the passengers and here's why he's saying this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think that there are people who know a lot more than what's being shared.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BURNETT: Breaking news in the search for Flight 370. Standing by for that news conference with the man leading the search. It's going to be significant. His first main news conference here. Officials are saying the press conference is about the operation and we have new pictures that are just in this moment of the search.

You can see the searchers lowering an autonomous underwater vehicle into the Indian Ocean. That's what you're seeing there with that crane. It looks like a jib in television there, but lowering that torpedo-shaped thing into the water and a pictured of the towed pinger locater. That is what scans for the sound of the locater beacon, which is attached to the plane's flight data recorder.

Usually, they don't put that in the water unless they know where the wreckage is, but now, with this race against time with a couple days left before those batteries may lose power and go dark forever, they are trying everything.

For the families of those missing, these pieces of technology are the hope they have that could shed light on what happened to their loved ones. Earlier, I spoke to a K.S. Narendran. His wife Chandrika Sharma was onboard Flight 370 on her way to a conference in Mongolia for the U.N. to help people who work in the fish industry.

I started by asking Naren what his life has been like over the past 27 days.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KILAPANDAL SANTHANAM NARENDRAN, HUSBAND OF MH-370 PASSENGER CHANDRIKA SHARMA: Life has come to pretty much a stand still. A lot of time spent with family and friends who were similarly very, very anxious and deeply concerned, both for me, my daughter, my mother who stays with me. And so, it's essentially a time of agonizing wait. It's been a time of thinking through what life might be if we do get to know that she will not ever come back.

BURNETT: And Naren, you have, obviously, chosen to stay in India because your family is there and because your friends are there. Not to go to Perth or Kuala Lumpur. Obviously, because of that you have not been at the briefings with investigators. Have you been -- have you been getting the information that you need? Have you been getting the information before we've been getting the information, for example?

NARENDRAN: There's, again, the answer is no. I get to hear about what's being shared primarily through the press conference that's put out through news channels such as yours and then followed up by a mail which basically upends the press statement.

BURNETT: It's amazing that you're hearing from the press. I mean, obviously, the situation is unprecedented, but it would seem to many watching, I think maybe shocked that's how you answer that question. I mean, the inspector general in Malaysia said and I'll quote him, "At the end of the investigations, we may not even know the real cause. We may not even know the reason for this incident."

Obviously there's no debris. What do you think happened, Naren?

NARENDRAN: OK, I have -- my thinking goes like this. I think eventually we will know. I think there are people who know a lot more than what's being shared. My concern is that if we don't really get to the bottom of it, we cannot really be certain that we are safe and that we are secure every time we board a flight. And to me, that's a fairly scary prospect.

I've just don done one trip to Delhi and back to drop my daughter at college. The thought crossed my mind. Is it OK to board a flight? Is it safe? Do I trust the pilot, do I trust the ground control, do I trust the crew?

I mean, there's just too many questions that prop up. I mean, if there's turbulence, do I truly believe that it's not actually an act of the pilot or somebody else and that it's really weather?

BURNETT: And, Naren, I mean, obviously, you know, you're talking with us, so calmly. And I know you've thought through it. And you have your moments of incredible darkness, I know. But do you believe that it's possible here that there still could be some kind of a miracle, that you could see Chandrika again?

And I know part of me says, oh, gosh, it's even right to ask that question. But I know there's probably a part of you that has that hope, too.

NARENDRAN: I wrote some time ago and I still believe -- I don't believe in miracles. And I'm also of the view that to me, to hope is actually quite a wasteful thing to do. I think what I am really interested in is to know the truth.

BURNETT: And, Naren, if there was one thing you wanted the world to know about your wife -- I mean, she was obviously someone who wanted to change the world. She was going to a conference in Mongolia to help people in need who worked in the fishing industry for the U.N. What would you want people to know about her?

NARENDRAN: I'd like people to know that she was a very warm, caring, fun-loving person who had a tremendous zest for life. I'd like the world to know that she was a very loving mother who truly and deeply cared for her mother as well, who really loved her brothers, and who meant enormous good for anybody she came in contact with.

BURNETT: Naren, before we go, there is anything else you would want our viewers to know?

NARENDRAN: I do believe that this is an issue, that this is an event that is so unprecedented. And I think that it is so significant that it can never be allowed to get off the screens, get off the radar and get away from the attention of people.

And I think people like you, your channel, and many other channels, the media at large, have played a significant role in making sure that the government is accountable, that the airline is accountable, that every organization that has a part to play in this industry is held accountable. I hope you'll continue to keep the focus.

BURNETT: All right. Naren, thank you very much.

NARENDRAN: Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BURNETT: Jeanne Moos is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BURNETT: Captain Crunch, Lucky Charms and Trix, after this segment you'll never look at the cereal aisle the same way again. Jeanne Moos has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It has come to this. We are analyzing the body language of cereal boxes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is your breakfast making eyes at you?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are your kids being stalked at the grocery store?

MOOS: We've got our eyes on your eyes, Captain Crunch. You too, sugar bear. We see you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Peering right into their soul.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Making you cocoa for cocoa puffs.

MOOS: A Cornell University study found that adult cereals are placed on higher shelves. Kid cereals on lower ones as if from down there, the characters are trying to establish eye contacts with kids.

ANER TAL, RESEARCHER, CORNELL FOOD AND BRAND LAB: The eyes are deflected at a downward angle about 9.6 degrees. What are you looking at your silly rabbit? The study found that characters on adult cereals look straight ahead, meeting adult gazes.

MOOS (on camera): Don't look at me that way. You're all cereal offenders, especially you, Tony.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're great!

Great. You I'll never be able to walk down a cereal aisle again without feeling eyes on me.

(voice-over): The study's authors say it's known that direct eye contact between humans encourages trust. But would that hold true for direct eye contact with cereal box characters?

Sixty-three participants, really we're not making this up, were shown the rabbit from Trix -- either with his eyes down or looking straight at the viewer. The feeling of connection to the brand was 28 percent higher when the rabbit looked straight at the test subject.

UNIDENTIFIED ID: Silly rabbit. Trix are for kids!

MOOS: But come on. Does all this alleged eye contact really smack of deliberation?

TAL: I don't think this is necessarily a deliberate manipulative strategy.

MOOS: They might be looking down at the bowl of cereal. Kellogg's, the maker of frosted flakes told CNN, we do not intentionally position our characters on packages." At the least at the deli, you won't have a million eyes drilling holes in you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, what's the point of the study?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wasting time. Let's just study something else. I just left the doctor. Study this rash I got going on. That's what they should study.

(LAUGHTER)

MOOS (on camera): See you later.

(voice-over): Ever the leprechaun from Lucky Charms is rolling his eyes over this one.

Unless our eyes are playing tricks.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: See you guys.

MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BURNETT: The rash guy is disturbing. I have to say, it you're marketing those really sugary cereals and marketing them at kids they should be looking down at the kid. That's just smart marketing.

Thanks for watching.

Anderson is next.