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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

"My Life Is In Your Hands, Mr. President"; Weinstein Begs For His Life; Facebook Courts Investors; What's It Worth?; Search For Missing Mom and Daughters; Austerity Backlash; Prince Harry Honored In Washington; Manhunt for Tennessee Suspect; Army Skype Death Mystery; Fugitives Arrested In Arizona; No Nukes In Japan

Aired May 07, 2012 - 05:59   ET

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

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN HOST: Good morning to you, and welcome to EARLY START. I'm Ashleigh Banfield.

ZORAIDA SAMBOLIN, CNN HOST: It's really nice to have you with us this morning. I'm Zoraida Sambolin. We are bringing you the news from "A" to "Z." It is 6:00 a.m. here in the east, so let's get started for you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SAMBOLIN (voice-over): We are following breaking news. New video surfaces of an American hostage kidnapped by al Qaeda in Pakistan. Warren Weinstein (ph) is begging President Obama to agree to a list of kidnaper demands or he says he will be killed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Look, I am vice president of the United States of America. The president sets the policy. I am --

BANFIELD (voice-over): Vice President Joe Biden is hinting that the White House view of same-sex marriage could actually be evolving. All of this has key vote comes in the matter in a battle ground state.

SAMBOLIN: Selling social media. Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg, hits the road to impress investors ahead of his company's highly anticipated initial public offering.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

BANFIELD (on-camera): And we begin with breaking news this morning. American hostage, Warren Weinstein, is alive. Al Qaeda releasing a chilling video of the 70-year-old Maryland man begging President Obama to agree to his kidnappers' demand or else he'll be killed.

Weinstein was abducted last August in Pakistan. Here is part of the video that the militants just posted online.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'd like to talk to President Obama and ask and beg him that he please accept and respond to the demands of the Mujahadin, and if you accept the demands, I live. If you don't accept the demands, then I die.

It is important that you accept the demands and act quickly and don't delay. There will be no benefit in delay. It will make things more difficult for me. But it is very important that you act quickly. And I'm now waiting for your response.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: CNN foreign affairs reporter, Elise Labott joining us live from Washington with more on this story. Elise, not that we expect the White House necessarily to make a comment about this, but do we have any reaction?

ELISE LABOTT, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS REPORTER: Not yet, Ashleigh. If you remember, Mr. Weinstein was kidnapped in August and in December, the al Qaeda claimed responsibility. So the U.S. has been saying, since then that it's working with the Pakistanis will have the lead on the investigation.

But right now, this video just released overnight, no one commenting yet. Basically, at the same time, I mean, basically the question is, is the U.S. going to be releasing ceding to the demands and I don't think, Ashleigh, you are going to the White House coming out and saying that it's going to negotiate with al Qaeda.

You know, basically, the U.S. has a no negotiation policy when it comes to anybody or any American who is kidnapped and certainly with terrorists and some of these demands that the U.S. is talking about is releasing all al Qaeda and Taliban prisoners, stopping airstrikes in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia.

And these are things that the U.S. has set as a U.S. national security imperative so I think what the White House is going to be saying later today and the State Department certainly is that they are working with the Pakistanis to try and find Mr. Weinstein, but that the U.S. doesn't negotiate with terrorists.

BANFIELD: And that's always been the standard operating procedure and to see a list of demands that essentially is a complete recapitulation in everything that the country stands for on the warrior on terror.

It just seems a bit ridiculous I have to say on the part of the hostage takers, but do we have any idea what we are seeing is legitimate. I didn't see a newspaper with a date on it. I didn't see a by line that would indicate that Mr. Weinstein is alive today?

LABOTT: Well, certainly we don't know. This proof of life as they say, we don't usually -- it comes with a date or a newspaper as we say, and we don't know when this video was taken. At the same time presumably if al Qaeda was looking for the U.S. to make good on some of these demands then they would want to keep him alive. He is saying that he was treated well.

In fact, there has been a lot of concern about Mr. Weinstein's health, because he has a lot of medical problems, and he says in the video that he is being treated well. He is getting the medicine.

And if he is being used as a chip by al Qaeda certainly they want to keep him alive. Now if you remember way back many years ago when Daniel Pearl, the journalist from the "Wall Street Journal" was kidnapped by al Qaeda, they weren't necessarily making these type of demands.

And they killed him pretty -- pretty quickly. So I have to believe that based on what we've seen so far, we think that Mr. Weinstein is still alive. Of course, what's going to happen in the next few days when the U.S. comes out and says we are not going to negotiate with terrorists, we have to see what Mr. Weinstein's fate is going to be.

Well, I think the U.S. is going to be working with the Pakistanis, working in the tribal areas where Pakistan has a lot of contacts and perhaps get him released that way -- Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: All right, Elise Labott, we certainly -- our hearts go out the family of Mr. Weinstein. No matter what, it is good and bad news all around. Elise, thank you -- Zoraida.

SAMBOLIN: It is 3 minutes past the hour here.

From Wall Street to Main Street everyone seems to be buzzing about Facebook finally going public next Friday. And this morning, the company is kicking off its road show.

That is when Facebook's top management meet with the potential big buyers. Now that the price range for the social media company is between $28 and $35 a share and giving Facebook a value of up to $98 billion.

BANFIELD: Wow.

SAMBOLIN: And now, here is a portion of founder, Mark Zuckerberg's message to investors.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK ZUCKERBERG,CEO, FACEBOOK: I grew up with the Internet and I had, when I was in middle school I was using search engines like Google and Yahoo and I just thought that they were the most amazing thing, right.

It was this complete symbol of the aging in which we live where now you have access to all of this information. The thing that seemed like was missing is always just people.

Even from the early on when we were building this thing for one school, there was a concept of what it could turn into it. We were not sure that we were the ones who would do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAMBOLIN: Well, they did. Facebook has 901 million users and in just about every country as well, but is this really the next Apple or the next Google? Christine Romans is joining us now live. That is what we are talking about, right?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: If we knew the answer to that question, we'd all be rich, right? Look, this is what happens. They are on the road show right now. So the company is going out to the big investors and that not us.

That's the big investors, the investment banks, the mutual funds and the hedge funds, the big money and saying, this is why you should buy our stock and make a deal with them to buy big chunks of their stock.

Then the day it goes public, it will go public under the ticker symbol, FB on the Nasdaq, all of those big investors who buy in will get the IPO price is, and the rest of us, the little guys, you and I of the world, we would buy on the market after it presumably many people think goes up.

So the big money gets the IPO price, and the little guy gets the seconds on the market.

SAMBOLIN: Well, you know, that is a big question, because everybody wants to know, can I get in on this? I was reading a New York magazine, a little article here.

The Facebook likes to call itself the people's company and they actually are making an effort to be accessible to the everyman as they call them, and that they are actually going to offer to brokerage firms like E-Trade that serve the everyman and that's we are going to paying $28 to $35 a share.

ROMANS: Yes, I think like a quarter of the shares will be available for the little guy. It will be interesting to see how that works and there are a lot of people who really want -- I mean, the buzz around this is amazing, but you look at sort of the oracle of Omaha, Warren Buffett is not buying it.

Charlie Munger says I do not get it, and I will not bet against it, but I won't buy it. So it is pretty interesting some of the big investors who are going to sit back and are going to watch to see what happens, because yes, Google went up, yes, Apple went up over a period of years and years.

SAMBOLIN: That is what we are talking about, because people say, if it is a next Apple, I want to get in early.

ROMANS: If you want to buy Apple, you should buy Apple, and if you want Facebook, you should buy Facebook. And a lot of you are asking this, how do I buy it? And you don't have a brokerage account. You have to remember --

SAMBOLIN: Here is an opportunity.

SAMBOLIN: Here's an opportunity to learn about the company, and we will learn more and more about it, because now that it is public, we able to see more of its books and find out more about how it makes money.

My cautionary tale on IPOs is always individual investors can get hurt on IPOs because they are rushing in after the hype and they don't really know what they're getting into.

If you don't even balance your 401(k), but you are trying to put $5,000 into Facebook stock, I would say balance your 401(k) first and think about Facebook after two weeks.

SAMBOLIN: Yes, and my last question to you very quickly, is this going to change the way we use Facebook at all or?

ROMANS: I don't think it is. I mean, I think there could be more pressure from shareholders about privacy issues. And so people who own a little piece of Facebook will be able to pressure the company a little bit more about what they would like to see on those fronts. I think it will not change what you see or how you use Facebook in the very near term.

SAMBOLIN: Yes, I know that was kind of Warren Buffett's thought, it is something I'm not too keen on that.

ROMANS: I don't know if it will be the stock will be higher in five years, so I won't buy it.

SAMBOLIN: All right, Christine, thank you very much. Ashleigh, back to you.

BANFIELD: All right, thanks, ladies.

Investigators remain tight lipped this morning about the discovery of two bodies in Mississippi. They were found at the home of a man suspected of kidnapping a Tennessee woman and her three daughters.

Joanne Bain and three girls ages 8, 12, and 14 were last seen on April 27th. An amber alert has been issued for the missing girl. The FBI says 35-year-old Adam Christopher Mayes is armed and dangerous.

Investigators believe he have likely cut his hair and may also have changed the appearance of the mother and her daughters. A little later on, on EARLY START, we are going to speak to the FBI agent in charge of the investigation into their disappearance. We'll hear from Memphis Division Special Agent Aaron T. Ford coming up at 6:30 Eastern. France and Greece in turmoil this morning and that could certainly have an effect on us here moving our markets on the opening bell rings in less than an hour from now.

France has a brand new president. He is Socialist Francois Holland and he defeated Nicholas Sarkozy in a runoff election. His victory are rejection of tough new austerity measures that could signal a change in the way France deals with the eurozone debt crisis.

Voters in Greece also wearing of austerity and cuts they've dealt to set back to the country's ruling new Democracy Party in yesterday's election with no party even coming close to a majority. Right now, it looks like a new coalition government will have to be formed in Greece again.

The uncertainty as investigators heading for cover overseas, markets in France and Germany down sharply overnight and it looks like right here in the U.S., the markets may just follow suit.

Take a look at your arrows. Dow and Nasdaq and S&P 500 futures all pointing lower this morning suggesting a possible sell-off at the opening bell. So keep your eyes and ears tuned.

Big honors tonight in Washington for Britain's Prince Harry. The prince will receive an award for distinguished humanitarian leadership from the Atlanta Council.

Prince Harry who has served with British forces in Afghanistan is being honored with his work for war veterans and current members of the military.

The vice president of the United States telling a national television audience he is quote, "comfortable with same-sex marriage." Up next, why that is making some of his colleagues in the White House a little bit uncomfortable. We will explain that.

Also ahead on EARLY START, the Russians say yes to Vladimir Putin. The violent reaction in the streets of Moscow to the leaders return to the presidency. We are going take you inside in just a moment. You are watching EARLY START.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: Just six months to go before the presidential election. Can you feel it? The race for the White House is shaping up to be quite a battle and not sure about a barn burner, but definitely a battle.

Look at some brand new political George Washington University poll numbers released in just the last hour. Mitt Romney is leading President Obama by a single point among likely voters that's 48 percent to 47 percent.

And that is a statistical tie because look at the margin of error. You can see it plus or minus 3.1 point. The vice president is stirring things ups this weekend too because listen to these comments that Joe Biden said about same-sex marriage on the Sunday morning talk show circuit.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: The president sets the policy. I am absolutely comfortable with the fact that men marrying men, women marrying women, and heterosexual men and women are entitled to the exact same rights, all the civil rights and all the civil liberties and quite frankly, I don't see much of a distinction.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Certainly, giving props the "Meet the Press" because it is not the circuit he was on, but you know what those comments are making the circuit that's for sure.

CNN's political editor Paul Steinhauser is live in Washington, D.C.

So, it's a big deal hearing the vice president say that. And we've got primaries tomorrow in Indiana, West Virginia and North Carolina. It's kind of hard to believe those primaries are still going on now that we have the presumptive Rominee. I like to give credit to the "Daily Show," where it's due.

But talk to me about the ballot initiative particularly that's getting a lot of attention with regards to same sex marriage because the vice president just brought up.

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: He did. And here's the controversy, you know, the president said he's comfortable with civil unions, though he says his position on same-sex marriages is evolving, the White House putting out a statement quickly after the Biden comments, saying that the president and the vice president are on the same page, that same sex couples should have the same rights and projections as all Americans.

You mentioned that referendum, yes, Amendment One in North Carolina, Tuesday, they vote on it. And here's the deal, listen, already in North Carolina, same sex marriages were illegal, but this will go further. This will also prevent any future civil unions or domestic partnerships. That's part of the controversy, Ashleigh. That's why you've seen high profile on both sides coming out.

If it passes, it may actually help the president in a state he won four years ago, a battleground state he would have a tough time winning again because it may wake up the left, those who favor same sex-unions -- Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: Well, that is maybe on the menu of all of the campaigning this week, maybe not. But what do both of these leaders plan to do with President Obama and Mitt Romney for campaigning this week?

STEINHAUSER: Well, Mitt Romney, guess where's going to be? Ohio. That's where the president was on Saturday. I was at the kickoff rally. Romney has got a Cleveland today. Ohio, of course, a battleground.

And he goes to Michigan, another state he would like to carry. That's on Tuesday. And then on Saturday, he's got a speech on Liberty University, that's the evangelical school founded by the late Jerry Falwell. We'll see if he's trying to reach out to social conservatives.

As for the president, well, he's got a big thing on Thursday. He's going to be hanging out with George Clooney, not so bad. At Clooney's place out in L.A. It's a fundraiser, could raise up to $10 million for the president's re-election bid.

And take a listen to this, a brand new ad out just this hour from the president's campaign.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: 2008, an economic meltdown.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The worst financial collapse since the Great Depression.

ANNOUNCER: Four-point-four million jobs lost.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: American workers were laid off in numbers not seen in over three decades.

ANNOUNCER: America's economy --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEINAHUSER: This ad of course is touting that the Obama administration inherited bad economic times, and that he's moving the country forward. That's the theme from the Obama re-election team here in this ad, Ashleigh. You're going to see it in a bunch of battleground states. Of course, where else, starting this week.

BANFIELD: And, Paul, I heard that on Thursday, you were busy and you needed somebody to fill in on you covering the Clooney thing?

(CROSSTALK)

STEINHAUSER: I won't be there. Are you going to be there?

BANFIELD: I can fill in on for you that.

STEINHAUSER: OK. I appreciate that.

BANFIELD: Nice to see you this morning. Thanks.

ZORAIDA SAMBOLIN, CNN ANCHOR: It is 17 minutes past the hour. Let's get you up to date. Here is Christine Romans.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, again, ladies.

Al Qaeda releasing a video of U.S. hostage Warren Weinstein begging President Obama to agree to his kidnappers' demands or he'll be killed. He's a 70-year-old development consultant was abducted last August in Pakistan,.

Russia's Vladimir Putin is sworn in as president, but not everyone is happy about it.

A demonstration in Moscow against perceived fraud in the election turned violent Sunday. Police clashed to its protesters who tried to split off from the approved venue and march to Kremlin. Hundreds of people were arrested, dozens were injured.

NASCAR newcomer Danica Patrick got some payback after being squeezed out during the final moments of Saturday's nationwide series race at Talladega. She is in number 7 car and got behind Sam Hornish, Jr., the 12 car, and put him into the wall. This is was during the cool-down lap.

It looks like she got away with it. NASCAR says it won't be punishing Patrick or Hornish.

After being paralyzed from the neck down in a 2007 bike accident, 52-year-old Mark Steven of Chicago continuing remarkable recovery with across country bike ride. He is peddling across the country using a recumbent trike. This is day 23 of his journey, began last month in San Diego.

He has covered more than 800 miles now, ladies, all of the way to Texas.

BANFIELD: Unbelievable.

ROMANS: Keep rolling.

BANFIELD: That video makes you feel good on a Monday, doesn't it? Thank you, Christine.

Nineteen minutes past 6:00 in the morning on the East Coast. And coming up on EARLY START: regime change and this time we're talking Europe. Why that matters to you. Why it could spell financial trouble for you.

You are watching EARLY START.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have my hands in many hives and I run the New York City Beekeepers Association and I help run Bees Without Borders. I am a paid consultant by restaurants and hotels. I have my own private hives from which I extract and bottle honey. And sell at Union Square.

You need to kiss a beekeeper. That is what you need to do.

I sleep from time to time.

My name is Andrew Corte (ph), and I'm a beekeeper.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SAMBOLIN: Fiction perhaps that Ms. Christine Romans is making.

BANFIELD Twenty-three minutes now past 6:00 on the East Coast.

We're minding your business this morning. The U.S. markets closing down sharply on Friday after a disappointing jobs report came out.

SAMBOLIN: I heard mariachis and I didn't notice.

BANFIELD: Cinco de Mayo.

SAMBOLIN: I know. Fantastic.

And the Dow lost 1.25 percent, and the NASDAQ down 2.25 and the S&P 500 down more than 1.50 percent.

BANFIELD: Christine is talking about the elections in France and Greece and strange results, not necessarily unexpected, but it's shaking things up.

ROMANS: A rejection of austerity, a rejection of the fact that the people in the countries are going to have to tighten up their belt to make up for the fact that the country has spent too much money, right? So, this rejection for austerity, you have a socialist president now in France and Sarko the American, the friendly and big, big debt-crisis guru Nicolas Sarkozy is out.

In Greece, you have all of the people thrown out who were orchestrating a big bailout with the European central bank.

So, all of this uncertainty is reverberating throughout the markets. If there's a big problem with another European country, with new leadership in these two countries, will they quickly be able to ring the fences in the country and stop the problem? Maybe not.

So, very close watching futures this morning in the U.S. And, you know, I'll tell you that stock futures are down 1.5 percent, which isn't so bad considering that Europe has been thrown into turmoil by all of this. So, it bears watching. You got the dollar up. You got oil down. That's good for you. Oil down and watching these markets very, very closely here.

SAMBOLIN: And that is what we were talking about a while ago because you thought not a huge sell-off?

ROMANS: I don't -- well, I will watch very closely to see what happens, but right now a half percent down for U.S. stocks is not as bad as you saw in other parts of the world. You had Asian stocks sold off, European stocks sold off. We'll watch closely what the American stocks do.

I believe American banks are healthier in general than the European banks. The U.S. is growing 2 percent here, and the U.S. unemployment 8.1 percent is not as bad other parts of the Europe. And when you look at the European unemployment rates Greece is almost 22 percent, Spain, 24 percent. Look at those numbers. Germany though 5.6 percent.

So this is all about unemployment, people feeling bad about things in Europe, and throwing out the incumbents.

BANFIELD: Twenty-one percent in Greece.

ROMANS: Oh, my. In Spain, the youth unemployment is 51 percent. The young people are the future of the country and half are out of work. And in our country, 20 percent are not in the labor market.

BANFIELD: It does make you wonder, what do those voters want? If the austerity is not working, they don't like it, what exactly --

ROMANS: They want the economy to grow. They want the economy to grow.

SAMBOLIN: All right. What is the one thing you need to know about your money today?

ROMANS: One thing that you need to know is that gas prices are going down and oil is $97 a barrel right now. The trend is your friend on Wall Street in oil prices and gas prices, and you're going to feel it. You can only fill-up half a tank if you want, because it will be cheaper gh a couple of days.

SAMBOLIN: Big hooray! Thank you, Christine.

BANFIELD: It means going to the gas station all of the time.

ROMANS: You know, when oil prices go down, no one starts blaming -- you know, when gas prices go up, it is a political story and it's his fault or it's her fault, and when they go down, people just like, whew.

BANFIELD: And maybe President Obama will start milking that, too, because the Republicans were going to milk it beforehand.

ROMANS: Yes, but with only 115,000 jobs created last month.

BANFIELD: Good point.

ROMANS: There you go.

BANFIELD: Thank you.

SAMBOLIN: Twenty-six minutes past the hour.

And still to come on EARLY START: silent treatment, and the investigators are keeping silent on the mother and three daughters reported missing a week ago. We have more on that when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Ashleigh Banfield.

And here's what's happening at half past the hour.

Al Qaeda releasing video of 70-year-old American hostage Warren Weinstein pleading with President Obama to agree to the kidnappers' demands or he'll be killed he says. Weinstein was abducted last August in Pakistan.

And also, Vice President Biden is stirring things up, saying that he is comfortable with same-sex marriage, saying this on "Meet the Press," too. The White House is scrambling to point that that's not necessarily President Obama's position on this issue. He opposes legalizing gay marriage but says that his views are evolving no matter what the vice president says about that.

And also, Facebook is getting some fever-building, shall we say. The social networking finally going public one week from Friday. This morning, the company is kicking off the road show with Facebook's top management team set to meet all of the potential investors out there, and we are talking a lot of money -- Zoraida.

SAMBOLIN: Thank you, Ashleigh.

Two bodies were found this weekend at the residence of a man believed responsible for the disappearance of a mother and her three children. Now, the FBI is asking for your help. They are offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of this man, Adam Mayes, who is described armed and dangerous.

Thirty-one-year-old Jo Ann Bain, along with her 14-year-old Adrienne, 12-year-old Alexandra and 8-year-old Kyliyah have been missing since April 27th. According to the AMBER Alert, Mayes recently cut his hair and may have done the same to the children as well.

Officials have yet to identify those two bodies over the weekend at the home where Mayes was reportedly staying.

And joining us now by phone from Memphis, Tennessee, is Aaron T. Ford, special agent in charge of the FBI's Memphis division.

Agent Ford, thank you for joining us this morning. What is very latest on this investigation?

AARON T. FORD, FBI SPECIAL AGENT (via telephone): The search is still ongoing. Unfortunately, we don't have any new information at this time, but we have been working day and night with our other federal and state and local law enforcement partners in the search for the victims in this matter and also Adam Mayes.

SAMBOLIN: Now, we know that the two bodies were found in a Mississippi house late Friday, is that Mayes house? And has there any progress in identifying the bodies?

FORD: That is a residence that he was known to reside at. As far as the bodies, we are awaiting for confirmation on that, on the bodies from the medical examiner hopefully some time today.

SAMBOLIN: Has the father been unable to do that?

FORD: Well, yes. At this time, the bodies were removed from Mississippi and brought back to Memphis, so the father has not been able to identify the bodies at this time.

SAMBOLIN: Agent Ford, what led you to search that house?

FORD: We searched that house based on information that we gathered during the investigation. Mayes, as I said earlier, lived from time to time in Mississippi, and so we had good information that led us to that area.

SAMBOLIN: And was there anything specifically that led you there that you can tell us?

FORD: No, not at this time. Just know that we are working with the local law enforcement partners there, and with this whole group effort that we are undertaking with this investigation, it leads to a lot of information that is coming.

I want to continue to encourage the public to call into the tip line. And you know, as in many cases like this, a lot of the tips are not really relevant, but all we need is one good relevant tip to leads us to the finding the victims in this matter.

SAMBOLIN: Well, I want to play something for you. Mayes' landlord, Mary Patterson, spoke to our Memphis affiliate, and said Mayes often had the Bain girls over to his home, and actually believed that one of the daughters was his. So, we could listen to this, and then maybe you can explain it to me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLP)

MARY PATTERSON, ADAM MAYES LANDLORD: He thought one was, but that is all they said, that he thought that one was, but as far as actually knowing for sure he did.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAMBOLIN: Agent Ford, do you know anything about that and the relationship that he had with her?

FORD: No. I don't have any information on that, but what I can say about Adam Mayes and his relationship of the family is that he was in a position of trust with the family. He was considered a family friend. So that information that you just played doesn't surprise me at all.

SAMBOLIN: So does it surprise you -- that there are some people who think that maybe she went against her will. Was there something that was happening, some tension or anything that you can tell us between the two families?

FORD: We don't have any information that there was tension between the two families but what I can tell you is Adam Mayes is charged with kidnapping, so we don't take the position that she went willingly with him.

SAMBOLIN: And what is the husband saying right now about the relationship? Anything at all that you can share with us?

FORD: What I can share is that they considered Mayes a family friend and a in a position of trust with the family.

SAMBOLIN: And do you know if Jo Ann Bain and her daughters left voluntarily with Mayes?

FORD: No, we don't know have the exact information as to what happened from the house, and again, Mayes is charged with kidnapping, and so that is an indication to us that she did not leave willingly with us.

SAMBOLIN: When do you believe you will have an ID from the bodies?

FORD: We are hoping to hear from the medical examiner from Memphis later today.

SAMBOLIN: OK. Agent Ford, thank you so much for joining us this morning and we appreciate it -- special agent in charge of the FBI's Memphis division.

BANFIELD: Thirty-six minutes now past 6:00 on the East Coast.

And after George Lindsay, who was best known for as Goober on three classic TV shows has died. Lindsay passed away Sunday in Nashville. He was 83 years old. You might remember, he portrayed the good natured but not so bright gas station attendant named Goober Pyle, and he did so on the "Andy Griffith Show," "Mayberry RFD" and also "Hee Haw."

Lindsay also had movie roles, appearing in "Cannonball II" and "Take This Job and Shove It." And he voiced characters several animated Walt Disney features, including the "Aristocats" and "Robin Hood" as well.

An embarrassing security snafu for organizers of this summer's London Olympics. The "Sun" newspaper says they smuggled a fake bomb into the complex being built there.

And here's how it all went down: a construction worker alerted the newspaper saying he was searched once a day, as he entered each morning, but then not searched at all for the rest of the day. So, the newspaper decided to give him a fake device, and he drove right past security guards with that device right on into the site. So there's that.

Are you looking for a little bit of peace? You can move to New England, because according to the Institute of Economics and Peace, the most peaceful state of the Union is the sate of Maine. It has the lowest crime in the country and fewest police per capita as well. Vermont and New Hampshire finishing in second and third place in the most peaceful category.

And according to the study, Louisiana is the least peaceful state in the country, with the highest murder rate, incarceration rate and also highest police rate per capita.

Rounding out Tennessee and Nevada for those top three the ones that you don't want to be in -- Nevada and Tennessee.

SAMBOLIN: Thirty-eight minutes past the hour.

The U.S. military working to solve a disturbing mystery. An army captain drops dead while chatting with his wife on Skype. We're going to tell you what she says she saw. That is in a live report coming up.

But first a quick check of the weather today with Mr. Rob Marciano.

Good morning to you.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, guys.

The late June-like heat continued yesterday with much of the record-breaking temperatures across much of the South. Yazoo, Mississippi, 94 degrees, and Jonesboro, Arkansas, seeing 94 as well. So, that certainly make you sweat it up.

This slow-moving system will bring some with it some cold air behind it, but ahead of it some rainfall and threat of severe weather from about Toledo, Ohio, all the way down to parts of Arkansas. That's your red zone there. Again, behind it, cool enough for snow in the higher elevations west of Denver, 20 degrees below average there, and 50 for the high and 65 in Chicago with rainfall, and 63 mostly dry in New York.

That is a quick check on the weather. EARLY START is coming right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: Welcome back to EARLY START. It is 6:42 on the East Coast.

A U.S. Army captain dropped dead while chatting with his wife on Skype. But how this happened is a real mystery at this point. Captain Bruce Clark was stationed in Afghanistan and he was just chatting with his wife last Monday over the country. And suddenly, he seemed to be knocked forward as she described. Officials having yet determined what caused his death, but his widow is now revealing what we saw in that session.

And our Barbara Starr is live at the Pentagon with the details.

This is very strange story, Barbara.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Strange, Ashleigh, and you know, we don't often use the word unprecedented but I think this one is, all troop deaths so tragic for the family.

But this one we just haven't seen before. Bruce Clark was talking to his wife last week from Afghanistan on Skype when he apparently fell dead. All of this is under investigation by the military. But let's get right to the statement that his widow Susan has put out.

And she says, "Captain Clark was suddenly knocked forward. The closet behind him had a bullet hole in it. The other individuals including the members of the military who rushed to the home of Captain Clark's wife also saw the hole and agreed it was a bullet hole. The Skype link continued for two hours as Captain Clark's family and friends stayed tied in theater worked feverishly to send help."

The statement goes on and talks about two hours of phone by Mrs. Clark, military personnel arriving in the room finally where he was and could not revive him.

Right now, Ashleigh, the preliminary investigations shows no bullet hole in the body, no bullets fired in that room. That is the preliminary investigation. But all of this is scrutinized and medical tests and toxicology and that sort of thing done by the military coroner and they hope to come up with some answers for the Clark family.

BANFIELD: And, Barbara, one of the troubling details of this is that the captain's wife seemed to witness this, and then left there sort of live on Skype to desperately find some solution and just started making phone calls and watched everything play out after that?

STARR: Very tragic. But by all accounts, Ashleigh, that's exactly what happened. He was serving in an area in southern Afghanistan, a place called Tarin Kowt, that is fairly remote and it is not easy perhaps for civilians from the United States to make commercial phone calls into Afghanistan.

So, by all accounts, it took this long period of time to get to the right people by phone to make the phone calls to figure out how to get help to him. But again, all of this, I can't emphasize enough, first reports, and it all remains under investigation, remains to be determined really what did happen here -- Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: Just a bizarre story, and our hearts go out to the Clark family and every other service member who's lost their lives.

STARR: Absolutely.

BANFIELD: Barbara Starr, thanks very much from the Pentagon this morning.

STARR: Sure.

BANFIELD: Zoraida, back to you.

SAMBOLIN: Soledad O'Brien joins us now with a look at what is head on "STARTING POINT." Good morning.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN HOST: Hey, Zoraida, good morning. Nice to have you back and feeling better this morning on "Starting Point." We'll give you more information about the desperate plea from that American hostage to President Obama. His name is Warren Weinstein, begging for his life on videotape. It's just been released by al Qaeda.

Also, markets overseas plunging. Voters in Greece and France rejecting austerity measures, triggering political turmoil that could spill over into U.S. markets in less than three hours. We'll update you on what's happening there.

And today's "Get Real," spending a chill down the spine of college football fans everywhere by some people are proposing the ban (ph) right now.

And straight from Graceland, what would have been Elvis Presley's 77th birthday. Some rare artifacts that belonged to the king, himself, will be right here in the CNN studios.

Watch our show as well on our live blog at CNN.com/StartingPoint or join us on Twitter at StartingPTCNN. We'll see you right at the top of the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SAMBOLIN: Welcome back. Forty-nine minutes past the hour. Let's get you up to date. Here's Christine Romans.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Zoraida and Ashleigh.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS (voice-over): Al Qaeda is releasing a video of 70-year- old American hostage, Warren Weinstein, pleading with President Obama to agree to his kidnappers' demands or else he'll be killed. Weinstein was abducted last August in Pakistan. Back in December, al Qaeda demanded all U.S. air strikes in Afghanistan and Pakistan end and all Taliban and al Qaeda prisoners be released around the world in exchange for Weinstein's safe return.

Two police officers in California are due in court today. They're charged in the death of a schizophrenic homeless man in the town of Fullerton. The incident sparked outrage and protests and investigation into whether city officials tried to cover up facts in that case.

Two high profile fugitives finally caught after being on the run for 12 years. U.S. Marshals have arrested Nelson and Janet Hallihan (ph). They've admitted to running a Ponzi scheme, scamming family, friends out of millions of dollars in a Ponzi scheme in a tanning business scam.

The TV show, "America's Most Wanted," aired their story on Friday. Viewers called in tips. Arrest was made the very next day. The couple pleaded guilty to numerous charges including fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy.

For the first time in four decades, Japan is operating without any nuclear power. Japan's sole remaining nuclear reactor shutdown over the weekend for regular maintenance. In the wake of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, Japanese reactors have not been allowed back on once they come offline.

"The Avengers" have conquered America's setting a box office record in the process. The new superhero mash-up featured Captain American, Ironman, Thor, and The Hulk, brought in $243 million in its opening weekend. That easily surpasses the $168 million opening weekend of the last "Harry Potter" film, the previous record holder.

Remember, you can watch CNN live online while you're at work. Just go to CNN.com/live -- Ladies.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BANFIELD: $200 million.

ROMANS (on-camera): Big money. Big money.

BANFIELD: Yes. Even in your standards of that business reporting, right? Christine, thank you.

Fifty-one minutes now past the hour, and there were someone on the court who should not have been on the court in the Pepsi Center last night. You had the Denver Nuggets, you had the L.A. Lakers, and then, that woman. What is this about? You'll find out in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SAMBOLIN: Fifty-five minutes past the hour. The steamy new novel "Fifty Shades of Grey" is just too hot for some libraries in Florida. It's being pulled from shelves in Brevard County. Administrators called it mommy porn and say it doesn't meet selection criteria. The naughty (ph) novel detailed a sexual affair between a young woman and a billionaire businessman.

The "50 Shades" books have, so far, sold more than three million copies. I asked on Facebook and Twitter, have you read it? And Annie writes, "I am honestly embarrassed to go buy it. Our bookstore is so small, and I know everyone. I'm waiting for a friend to finish hers." BANFIELD: I don't get it. I mean, have you ever read a Ken Follett (ph) book? They're full of all sorts of steam, and you know, sizzle and fizzle.

SAMBOLIN: The response has been 100 percent loving it.

BANFIELD: Still, banning books, I don't like to hear that.

A strange scene at Sunday's Lakers and Nuggets game, someone who shouldn't have been there was a female fan. Look at the bottom of your screen. What was she going to do? Sure. She looked like she was -- look, I said earlier, in our prior hour that she looks loaded. She does look loaded, but the police didn't think she was, in fact. They arrested her immediately.

They charged her with trespassing, and apparently, she's got a history of causing problems at games and NBA games, too. Allegedly, she's been banned from the Pepsi Center in the past for stalking one of the former nuggets' players, Kenyon Martin.

Again, they said she didn't appear intoxicated, but that she was definitely disoriented, and then, apparently, they said they called her mom. Her mom came to pick her up. But at first blush, when you stagger on to the court, you drop something and then just kind of wander into center court, yes.

SAMBOLIN: During the game.

BANFIELD: I think a lot of people, during the game, probably had the same reaction I did that she looked loaded, but again, police said they didn't think she was.

SAMBOLIN: Wow. All right. We have a new segment that we are launching today with Christine Romans about the best advice from the people that she interviews. Christine, you've interviewed some pretty fascinating people. I can't wait to hear.

ROMANS: And then, I asked them what's the best advice you ever received and then you can take that advice and go to work with that. I sat down recently with Van Jones, former White House advisor, asked that simple question. What's the best nugget of advice you ever got?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VAN JONES, CO-FOUNDER, REBUILD THE DREAM: Listen, when you get there, you're going to see, there are two kinds of smart people. There are smart people that take very simple things that make them sound very complicated so they can enrich themselves, and there are people who take very complicated things and make them sound simple to empower other people. I want you to be that kind of smart kid when you come back home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: That was the advice he got from his father when he went to Yale. Make it simple. Don't make it sound smart because that's just not smart. Isn't that interesting?

BANFIELD: I love that.

ROMANS: So, you know, conservatives hate this guy. Conservatives are like, why are you listening to Van Jones? I'm not talking about politics here, I'm just talking about that little piece of advice, folks. Something you can think about to that.

BANFIELD: Isn't that also called the K.I.S. principle, keep it simple, stupid.

ROMANS: Oh, yes.

BANFIELD: There you go.

SAMBOLIN: Hey, Christine, I have a question for you. What's the best advice you ever got?

ROMANS: Best advice I ever got was you have two ears and one mouth, act appropriately.

(LAUGHTER)

BANFIELD: Is that your grandmother?

ROMANS: Yes.

BANFIELD: From Iowa.

ROMANS: Yes. Listen twice and talk once.

(LAUGHTER)

BANFIELD: I think we should do this everyday.

ROMANS: Yes. Let's do it.

BANFIELD: Very wise. A nugget from Christine and her friends. All right. Christine, thanks so much.

That is the news from "A" to "Z." We are flat out of time. I'm Ashleigh Banfield.

SAMBOLIN: And I'm Zoraida Sambolin. "STARTING POINT" with Soledad O'Brien starts right now.