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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Exclusive: Castro Brothers Speak!; Mother's Day Parade Shooting; Leila Fowler's Brother Arrested; IRS Targets Tea Party
Aired May 13, 2013 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ZORAIDA SAMBOLIN, CNN ANCHOR: The monster is a goner. A CNN exclusive. Ariel Castro's brothers speak out for the very first time. What it was like to be implicated in the rape and kidnappings of three women. And behind-the-scenes of their time behind bars with their brother, as well.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Multiple gunmen open fire at a Mother's Day parade. This morning, the manhunt is under way.
SAMBOLIN: Shocking new developments in the case of the 8-year-old girl found stabbed to death in her California home. Why police have arrested her 12-year-old brother.
BERMAN: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to EARLY START. A big, big morning here. I'm John Berman.
SAMBOLIN: And I'm Zoraida Sambolin. It is Monday, May 13th. It is 5:00 a.m. in the East.
Up first here, dramatic new video of the moment Cleveland police rushed into Ariel Castro's home, ending a decade of torture and abuse for three women in captivity. The cell phone footage was taken by two eyewitnesses right down the street just seconds after Amanda Berry had escaped. You'll see it start to finish in just a moment.
Also new this morning, a CNN exclusive.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Do you worry now that people will always suspect that you actually did have a role?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAMBOLIN: Straight ahead, Martin Savidge's exclusive interview with Onil and Pedro Castro, the brothers of kidnapping suspect Ariel Castro. A lot going on this morning.
First, let's go live to Susan Candiotti. She's in Cleveland.
And, Susan, the two young women who shot the video of police rushing into Castro's home actually thought that they were in trouble. Could you explain that? SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Well, picture this. They happened to be driving down the street when they noticed some police flashing lights behind them. And so, they pulled over and thought uh-oh, what did we do wrong? And then they looked in front of them, and saw everything unfolding.
Look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CANDIOTTI: And where did you see her, Amanda and her little girl?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Coming down the street.
CANDIOTTI: And then everything unfolded right here?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
CANDIOTTI (voice-over): These two women happened to turn on to Ariel Castro's street and found themselves smack in the middle of an amazing escape to freedom.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Amanda walking down the street with a cop. And right when the cop asked her, "Who are you?" she passed us and said Amanda Berry.
CANDIOTTI (on camera): When you heard the name Amanda Berry and you knew exactly --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Me and her looked at each other and we had goose bumps and then we pulled up our hoodie and like, you know --
CANDIOTTI: Goose bumps.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It hit us quick.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When she said Amanda Berry, I saw it in her eyes and I knew it was really her. She had tears coming down her face.
CANDIOTTI (voice-over): Jasmina (ph) pulled out her cell phone and rolled video as police ran to Ariel Castro's house looking for other victims. Then her phone ran out of power.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Shaking real, real, real hard like she was cold. And they took them to the ambulance.
CANDIOTTI: They watched Gina DeJesus, Michelle Knight, Amanda Berry, and her daughter taken away by ambulance.
On Mother's Day, special prayers of thanksgiving at Holy Family Catholic Church for the women's freedom.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Amanda Berry, Michelle Knight, Georgina DeJesus.
(APPLAUSE) CANDIOTTI: The crisis management team stepped in to represent the women at no charge, pleading for privacy, but passing along the victims' thanks.
From Amanda.
JIM WOOLEY, ATTORNEY FOR CLEVELAND VICTIMS: I am so happy to be home with my family.
CANDIOTTI: From Gina.
WOOLEY: I want to thank everyone for all your prayers.
CANDIOTTI: From Michelle.
WOOLEY: I am healthy, happy, and safe. And will reach out to family, friends and supporters in good time.
CANDIOTTI: Castro's home now finally boarded up, sealed as evidence. A city councilman allowed to stand in the backyard, overcome by what the women endured for a decade.
BRIAN CUMMINS, CLEVELAND CITY COUNCIL: You can't help but feel like, you know, the presence of -- of this enormity of -- of the event. I mean, it's unbelievable.
CANDIOTTI (on camera): What did you picture in your mind's eye of what those women went through as you stood back there?
CUMMINS: It's just horrors. Absolute horrors.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CANDIOTTI: And there's that house behind me, just three houses down, with a big high fence in front of it, and steel barricades. And yet, people still come from the area to stop and stare and take pictures. They just can't get enough of it.
SAMBOLIN: They can't believe it, either. Right? It's so difficult to believe and comprehend that that was just happening right there in their neighborhood.
So what are the next level steps for Castro?
CANDIOTTI: Well, he is sitting alone in a jail cell, isolated from other people, remains under suicide prevention. And he is sitting around waiting for what is expected next, and that will be surely a grand jury indictment any time now. Now, the sheriff tells me that he has had at least two visitors last Friday, a couple of lawyers came in to visit him. Not known whether he has hired them.
SAMBOLIN: And, Susan, we were just listening to that crisis intervention team who is providing all of their assistance pro bono. They're saying that they're advising the victims to kind of take their time. Are we expecting that we're going to hear from them at all? CANDIOTTI: Oh, not at all. As you heard them say, they really want their privacy. And besides that, they have to get through possibly a criminal case here. Possibly even a trial. And so, they will not be talking, according to their counselors here, until all that is done with.
SAMBOLIN: Happy to hear that, actually. Susan Candiotti, reporting live for us. Thank you.
BERMAN: Now, the interview you will see only on CNN. Pedro and Onil Castro speaking publicly for the first time about their brother Ariel, the 10 years of torture he allegedly inflicted on his victims, and the impact this madness has had on all of them.
Here's Martin Savidge with a CNN exclusive.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SAVIDGE: What is your brother to you now?
ONIL CASTRO, BROTHER OF ARIEL CASTRO: Monster, hateful, I hope he rots in that jail. I don't even want them to take his life like that. I want him to suffer in that jail, to the last extent. I don't care if they even feed him. What he has done to my life and my family's.
PEDRO CASTRO, BROTHER OF ARIEL CASTRO: I feel the same way.
SAVIDGE: To the both of you now he no longer exists?
P. CASTRO: Right.
O. CASTRO: Yes.
SAVIDGE: He is gone?
O. CASTRO: He is goner.
SAVIDGE: Almost as if he were dead?
P. CASTRO: Yes.
O. CASTRO: Monster is a goner. I'm glad that he left the door unlocked or whatever he did. Whether he did it on purpose, maybe he wanted to get caught. Maybe time was up. Maybe he was inside too much he wanted to get caught.
But if he did it that way, he shouldn't have went mama's house and pick me up and put me in a car if he know that was going to happen.
SAVIDGE: If you could talk to Gina, you could talk to Amanda, and in a way you are, I guess, what would you say?
P. CASTRO: I would -- I would tell her -- I would tell them that I'm sorry that you had to go through this. That I was -- I was thinking about these girls being missing, and I'm just grateful that they're home, and you know, out of that horrible house, and I just -- I just tell them that I'm sorry for what Ariel done, because see -- not much -- it's -- Felix, I know him for long time, and when I find out that Ariel had Gina, I just -- I just broke -- I just broke down, because, it's shocking. Ariel, we know this guy for a long time, Felix.
SAVIDGE: This is Gina's father.
P. CASTRO: Yes, Felix. Felix DeJesus, and you got his daughter? And you go -- you go around like it's nothing, you even went to the vigils? You had posters? You give his momma a hug? And you got his daughter captive?
SAVIDGE: Onil, the same thing? I mean, if you --
O. CASTRO: The same thing. I just want also the families to get the justice to the fullest extent, and I don't want Ariel to see anything like that happen to anybody in this world. This has torn my heart apart. This has killed me. I am a walking corpse right now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BERMAN: Listen to them, listen to their story. You're going to want to stay with CNN this morning. The entire interview with Pedro and Onil Castro airs at 7:00 a.m. Eastern Time on "STARTING POINT." including the final words that Ariel Castro said to each of these brothers in jail.
SAMBOLIN: You know what's really sad about this is that those two families, that the DeJesus family and the Castro family grew up together. These are people who know each other really well, and to see how conflicted they are, and how remorseful they are, the Castro family, about what happened. They're struggling. You know.
BERMAN: See the disbelief right there.
SAMBOLIN: Yes. Incredible. I can't wait to hear more of that interview.
It is nine minutes past the hour. Developing this morning, an all-out manhunt for three suspects who police say opened fire on people marching in a Mother's Day parade in New Orleans on Sunday.
Nineteen people were wounded, including two children. CNN has just obtained video of the actual shooting. Listen to this.
(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)
SAMBOLIN: Some of the people at the parade said the situation was pure chaos.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everybody started running, and running and running, and we weren't sure what's going on. And they're shooting.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just opened my door today and two guys just collapse right down on my steps, you know? And me and my daughter did the best thing we can to revive them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAMBOLIN: Meantime, the mayor of New Orleans says they'll hunt down those that are responsible.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MITCH LANDRIEU, NEW ORLEANS MAYOR: We have mothers that were shot, sisters that were shot. We have little children that were shot. These kinds of incidents are not going to go unanswered. We're going to be very, very aggressive. There were hundreds of people out there today. So somebody knows who did this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAMBOLIN: And coming up in the next hour of "EARLY START," a live report from New Orleans.
BERMAN: Even more going on this morning, new developments in the murder of 8-year-old California girl Leila Fowler. Her 12-year-old brother arrested for allegedly murdering his sister.
Their stepmother Crystal Walters posted a brief message on Facebook saying this, "Thank you to those who are standing by us in this devastating time for our family. And thank you for respecting our privacy during this time. We need a little space. Happy Mother's Day to all."
SAMBIOLIN: Wow.
BERMAN: CNN's Dan Simon is live in Valley Springs, California, following this story.
Good morning, Dan.
DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John.
For two weeks, this community was on the lookout for a killer, someone who randomly barged into a home and stabbed and murdered an 8-year-old little girl. At least that's what the community thought. Now, according to the sheriff, it wasn't random at all.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SIMON (voice-over): In the days after her killing, an emotional candle light vigil to remember 8-year-old Leila Fowler, known for her bubbly personality.
AMY WASSELWANDER, PRINCIPAL, JENNY LIND ELEMENTARY SCHOOL: Leila was beautiful and strong, she was kind, I remembered that Leila liked purple.
SIMON: Leila's family among the mourners, seen here was her 12-year- old brother, the one who had told police that an intruder stabbed his sister while they were home alone, and their parents were at a Little League Baseball game. A story authorities now say was a lie.
GARY KUNTZ, CALAVERAS COUNTY SHERIFF: At 5:10 p.m., detectives arrested Leila's 12-year-old brother at the Valley Springs substation and -- on charges of homicide. These types of cases require a certain amount of time, and it was our commitment to make sure that we did a thorough job as possible.
SIMON: The family remained visible throughout the investigation. Leila's mother spoke about the closeness between her son and daughter.
CRYSTAL WALTERS, LEILAS' FOWLER'S MOTHER: He never like pushed her around, like big brothers and sisters do. He never like was ever -- I never seen him mean to her.
SIMON: In the immediate aftermath of the killing two weeks ago, his usually serene northern California community of 7,500 went into a near frenzy, as nervous residents believed a killer was at large, and wondered whether there would be more victims.
PATRICIA CAMPBELL, RESTAURANT OWNER: I've lived here 33 years. I've never seen anything like this happen. We've had bad things happen in our community, but never like this to a little child.
SIMON: Patricia Campbell owns a popular diner in town. She and everyone else we talked to her were shocked at the turn of events.
CAMPBELL: It's bad enough to lose one of your own children. I can't imagine losing one, too, by the hand of one of my own. I couldn't imagine that.
HENRY KING, VALLEY SPRINGS RESIDENT: It was surprising, but I kind of had a feeling that it might be him, you know? A lot of people don't want to look at it that way, you know, but it seems like family, you got to look at the family first, for me.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SIMON: Well, authorities are not releasing the 12-year-old's name because he is a minor.
John, the main question today is why? What would motivate a 12-year- old brother to do this, and what ultimately made authorities suspicious? We know DNA and other evidence was taken from the home. But it's not clear yet what ties the 12-year-old to the crime -- John.
BERMAN: Dan Simon for us in California this morning. Appreciate it, Dan.
A Good Samaritan extremely critical condition this morning after getting attacked by a group of teenagers while trying to break up a fight. Police in Huntington Beach, California, say between five and 10 teens used their skateboards as weapons going after the 25-year-old man Saturday at a local skate park. The victim tried to flee into a nearby Laundromat but the group followed him and continued attacking.
The 14-year-old suspects are now under arrest charged with attempted murder. Police say even more arrests could be coming soon.
SAMBOLIN: Nevada inmate 1027820 is due in court today in Las Vegas. You know him as O.J. Simpson. He'll ask the judge to throw out his 2008 conviction for sports memorabilia heist at gunpoint and order a new trial.
Simpson claims his former attorney botched his case. He's currently serving a nine to 33-year prison sentence. Experts say this is a legal equivalent of a Hail Mary pass.
BERMAN: I cannot remember a time when there was not drama surrounding O.J. Simpson. This will go on forever.
SAMBOLIN: All right. Coming up, new outrage as details emerge about how the IRS specifically targeted Tea Party groups. The latest in this developing story coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BERMAN: Welcome back, everyone.
Outrage is growing this morning as new details emerge about how the IRS specifically targeted Tea Party groups. On Friday, the IRS admitted it made mistakes over the last few years while trying to process requests from groups seeking tax-exempt status.
CNN's Dan Lothian has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(CHANTING)
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Tea Party and other conservative groups that rose to power early in the president's first term were unfairly targeted for special scrutiny by the IRS. And some agency officials knew as early as June 2011, according to an IRS audit that sources tell CNN is expected to be released this week.
SEN. SUSAN COLLINS (R), MAINE: This is truly outrageous. And it contributes to the profound distrust that the American people have in government.
REP. MIKE ROGERS (R), MICHIGAN: I don't care if you're a conservative, a liberal, a Democrat or a Republican, this should send a chill up your spine.
LOTHIAN: The audit will show IRS agents singled out groups, some with "Tea Party" or "patriot" in their names, that had applied for tax- exempt status. Despite protests by these groups, the IRS had previously denied any unfair targeting.
DOUG SHULMAN, IRS COMISSIONER: There's absolutely no targeting. This is the kind of back-and-forth that happens when people apply.
LOTHIAN: The IRS now says its, quote, "senior leadership was not aware" of the special scrutiny at the time of that hearing. But with the results of the audit about to become public, the agency now says officials were just trying to deal with the large influx of new tax- exempt requests. Quote, "Mistakes were made initially but they were in no way due to any political or partisan rationale. We fixed the situation last year."
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney says the president expects swift and appropriate steps to address any misconduct if it is found.
JAY CARNEY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: What we know about this is of concern. And we certainly find the actions taken as reported to be inappropriate. And we would fully expect the investigation to be thorough, and for corrections to be made, in a case like this.
LOTHIAN: Dan Lothian, CNN, the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SAMBOLIN: Our thanks to Dan.
And coming up, the market is hot!
BERMAN: Hot.
SAMBOLIN: What a rally on Wall Street. But is it too late to buy stocks like Apple? We're minding your business, coming up next.
BERMAN: Hot.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SAMBOLIN: Welcome back. Twenty-three minutes past the hour with minding your business this morning.
And what a rally on Wall Street, 18 record highs this year for the Dow. The S&P 500 trading above 1,600.
BERMAN: You know what I would call this market?
SAMBOLIN: What?
BERMAN: I would call it hot. I would call it hot.
(LAUGHTER)
SAMBOLIN: We want to sing, feeling hot hot hot, right?
BERMAN: Apparently we did.
Where do we go from here and is it too late to get in? Christine Romans in song hopefully has the details.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: The little market that could, you know? I mean, again and again you've seen records this year. An amazing year. Look at the gains only five months into 2013, the major averages are up 13 percent to 15 percent, the Dow leading the way. To compare, the Dow rose 7 percent all of last year.
Driving this rally, you know, positive economic data. Housing is recovering. Layoffs are slowing. People are finding money and spending it.
There's also nowhere else to put your money, because the Fed is keeping interest rates so low, returns on bonds and interest-bearing accounts, negligible. You're not getting money for saving, right? So the market is rewarding people who are taking risk, and analysts say it's not too late to get in.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LIZ MILLER, PRESIDENT, SUMMIT PLACE FINANCIAL ADVISORS: The way we've seen some of the industrial names lag really to me is a buying opportunity, because I think we will have economic growth, and these more sensitive companies have plenty of opportunity to get stronger.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Alcoa, Caterpillar, Apple, people are buying into these companies because they think shares are undervalued. So, you're seeing a lot of this sort of value play among investors. Apple's down 15 percent this year.
TD Ameritrade say new buyers see that opportunity and are rushing in. More of its clients, TD Ameritrade's clients than ever before own that stock. Not because it's beaten down, because Apple is now going to pay $100 billion to shareholders over the next few years. So, some action in Apple.
Overall, analysts said equities look cheaper today than in past rallies based on how earnings look compared with stocks. But many people are now 42 percent own stocks in this country, the lowest on record.
Stock ownership has been falling since 2007. Why? People are nervous you guys after the recession. They got slammed. They don't trust the stock market.
They haven't been or they can't afford it quite frankly. They don't have extra money to be investing. Also, the economy isn't adding enough jobs to significantly bring down unemployment that's still a problem.
And this is an interesting detail about 19 percent of all new jobs since the end of the recession have been temporary jobs. So, it shows you, you still have the job market is still kind of holding back things overall.
BERMAN: Not the kind of uncertainty you need.
ROMANS: Right. BERMAN: All right. Twenty-six minutes after the hour right now.
Coming up on EARLY START, more of CNN's exclusive interview with Ariel Castro's brothers. Why they say he is a monster.
SAMBOLIN: And Prince Harry continues his U.S. tour with a stop to help war veterans. Details ahead.
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