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CNN Larry King Live

Interview With John Walsh, the Bish Family

Aired June 27, 2006 - 21:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN WALSH, "AMERICA'S MOST WANTED" HOST: I know the unbearable pain parents feel when their children are suddenly snatched from their lives.

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LARRY KING, CNN HOST: Tonight, John Walsh of "America's Most Wanted." When his young son was abducted and murdered he became a relentless fighter against evil helping catch hundreds of fugitives.

Plus, the family of Molly Bish, abducted six years ago today, her remains found three years later, her murder still unsolved.

It's all next on LARRY KING LIVE.

Good evening and welcome to another edition of LARRY KING LIVE. We thank John Roberts for sitting in last night.

We'll talk first with John Walsh and then meet the family of the late Molly Bish. John joins us from Syracuse, New York. First up, let's talk about Patsy Ramsey. She died this past weekend. The murder of her daughter JonBenet never solved. What do you make of that whole story John?

WALSH: Well, I have my own opinion of this story, Larry, and I think my opinion that the police work was terrible in this case that they cast the shadow of suspicion on the Ramseys from the beginning and didn't do any outside investigation was backed up by a jury in Colorado several years ago that cost taxpayers of Colorado millions of dollars.

And they came up with a conclusion that they thought the Ramseys had nothing to do with it that many, many clues were overlooked and that it was a very nightmare investigation from day one.

And I think it's horrible that Patsy Ramsey had to go to her grave not knowing what happened to her daughter but worst of all for the Ramsey family to have in her obituary saying that the Ramseys were suspects in their own daughter's murder. I think it's really a terribly sad case.

KING: She'll be buried this Thursday. She guested on this program a few times. Watch this clip, John, from one of those times.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Well living with this, Patsy, you know the truth. Well you don't know who did it but you know you didn't.

PATSY RAMSEY: I did not do it.

KING: And you know you didn't.

JOHN RAMSEY: That's the one thing we know with absolute certainty as a fact in this case is that we did not kill our daughter.

P. RAMSEY: And there was someone in our home that night who did kill our daughter and we're going to find that person.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: John Walsh, was she or he or both logical suspects?

WALSH: Well certainly in any disappearance of a child the parents are investigated. They're looked at very closely. Reve and I were polygraphed for hours when Adam went missing but the police didn't look at anybody from the outside. I think it was really shoddy police work.

There's lots of great detectives out there and good cops but I think that that grand jury in Colorado came up with a conclusion that there were footprints by her window, that there were all kinds of clues that were missed and my heart goes out to the Ramseys.

John Ramsey actually lost a daughter in his first marriage to a drunk driver. You can imagine the nightmare that this man is going through right now with the loss of his wife and the murder of his beautiful daughter going unsolved probably to his grave. You know what you see on TV that everybody gets justice and the bad guy is caught is not usually the case. And my heart goes out to this family tonight.

KING: We have an e-mail for you on our website. The tenth anniversary of JonBenet's killing will be in December. Mary Lingnau of Whitby, Ontario asks: "Do you think the case will ever be solved?"

WALSH: I don't think the case will ever be solved because of the poor police work in the beginning. Vital clues were lost. Time was lost. I don't think that all the sex offenders in the area were investigated. Back then lots of sex offenders didn't have to register, so I think that so many crucial mistakes were made in this case.

Unless there was an incredible clue or somebody came forward, had the guts to come forward and say somebody has talked about this case to me, I don't think this case will be ever solved. I don't think this little girl will ever get justice and that's a sad thing in so many of these cases.

KING: Let's move to some other areas. You were last on this program in April pushing for passage of a new national sex offender law. What's the status?

WALSH: Well, just before we went to air, Larry, I talked to Bill Frist who is the chairman of the United States Senate and he sent out a letter today to Arlen Specter, who is the chairman of the Senate Judiciary and to James Sensenbrenner, one of the original writers of this piece of legislation with Mark Foley from South Florida, a member of the House that two versions have passed.

The Senate version has passed and the House version has passed and they're very, very different. I mean I think most Americans think that once a bill is passed the House and Senate that they'll work out their differences and the president will sign it.

Well, Reve and I were in the White House about ten days ago and Mrs. Bush said "My husband wants to sign this bill on the anniversary of your son's death." The 25th anniversary of Adam's murder is July 27th and this is the target that the House and Senate have set.

And this is what Bill Frist wrote in a letter that went out today. He says, "The Senate and the House have passed both bills addressing this issue. It is time to bridge any remaining differences and finish the job. We should not allow extraneous issues to delay the bill." And that's what's happening right now. I was in Joe Biden's office -- pardon me?

KING: Go ahead. What's the differences?

WALSH: Well, the differences are that the Senate version is very different than the House. The House has mandatory collection of DNA of every convicted sex offender.

And, Larry, you and I talked about this. This would solve thousands, maybe tens of thousands of unsolved rapes and sexual molestation of children. It would make the fact that if you don't register or comply -- there's about 550,000 convicted sex offenders in the country right now, 150,000 have disappeared, fallen through the cracks.

This bill would say if you don't comply you will be in violation of a federal law and that the local cops who are well intended but usually don't have the resources that a federal cop, like the FBI or the U.S. Marshals who have said that they will put on 500 additional marshals to hunt these guys down, put them with a fugitive task force in all parts of the country. The House version has all this in it. The Senate version doesn't. So they have to come to some agreement.

In Joe Biden's office a couple weeks ago his mother called up and said, "Joe, I expect you to get this done. The American public expects you to get this done." And I'm asking everybody tonight to write your two U.S. Senators, write your Congressmen.

It is not done, Larry, and this Congress may end and everybody go out to campaign in the fall and this bill may not be passed. We may not have a national sex offender registry. It would be a tragedy.

KING: John, do we know why there are so many sexual predators? Are there more today than 20 years ago?

WALSH: I don't think there are more today. I think that the media has done a good job of bringing these people to light. They've always been hiding under the rocks. I mean we all know about the 10,000 Catholic priests that the papal report talked about molesting children over the last 20 years.

I think that it's always been a pretty well kept secret. People were uncomfortable talking about it. And now we're seeing that these people are all over the place that are 550,000 of them convicted. That's just the ones we know about.

And look at what's come to light about the Internet recently. All the different people that are using the Internet to sit in their homes and try to lure our children out of the house to go to the mall or someplace to have sex with them.

I don't think there's more. I think maybe they're more dangerous. I think they go to more extremes. A lot of them want to hurt children and kill children so they won't be caught but there's certainly a lot of them out there and I think this media attention to it is incredible. It's about time.

KING: The thing we don't know is why someone is a predator, right?

WALSH: Well, you and I have talked about this. You have two beautiful little boys and you said that you would absolutely die of a broken heart if someone molested them and why can't we figure out why these people do this?

Well, you know, we should study them. We should take parts of their brains. We should see if it's genetic. But we know one thing that every pedophile and every psychiatrist will tell you that these people are incurable. They'll admit it themselves.

We don't put them in prison long enough. We have all these terrible cases, like Tiffany Souers in South Carolina, this beautiful girl who was murdered by a repeat offender. He was a registered sex offender in South Carolina, Tennessee and Florida.

He was in total parole violation. And when he was caught he said, "I'm a sick animal. I can't stop. I've been all over the United States hurting these women. I can't stop."

Should we study him, absolutely, but we should pass this national child safety act so at least we have the right to know that when a creep like that Jerry Inman, this guy that's alleged to have killed Tiffany Souers is in parole violation.

Larry, he's bragging about the fact that he not only killed her that he went to other states and raped other women and nobody was looking for him. It's a real travesty. We should study these creeps but at least we should know where they are.

KING: We'll take a break and come back with more with John Walsh. And then we'll meet the family, another tragic case, of the late Molly Bish. John Walsh is with us.

You're watching LARRY KING LIVE.

By the way, Star Jones announced today that she will leave the program "The View." She will make her first live appearance to discuss it this Thursday night on this program. We'll be right back.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WALSH (voice-over): After the escape, police say Phillips went right back to what's kept him in and out of jail for most of his life, stealing cars and breaking into houses.

But on the night of June 10th, cops say Phillips did something he'd never done before. That night, troopers pulled over a suspicious car. When they approached the driver jumped out with a gun and opened fire.

Phillips is a survivalist and might be hiding out in the back woods of upstate New York or Pennsylvania. If you've seen Ralph "Bucky" Phillips call our hotline.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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WALSH (voice-over): What changed Patty's (ph) life was a tragedy. On October 22nd, 1989 her 11-year-old son Jacob went out for a bike ride with his brother and a friend. A masked man with a gun stopped the boys. He told them to lie face down in a ditch.

The man then released Jacob's brother and his friend Aaron (ph). He told them to run into the woods and not look back. The boys did as they were told. When they arrived at Jacob's house they thought Jacob would be there too but he never arrived.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: John Walsh is our guest. We'll discuss that later.

(BREAKING NEWS)

But this just in, John, from Huntsville, Texas, the railroad killer Angel Maturino Resendiz has been executed. The execution occurred just moments ago. He was condemned over the 1998 slaying of Dr. Claudia Benton at her Houston home.

About 100 people stood on the street and the sidewalk outside the prison, some protesting it, some encouraging it. And there you see some file photos of what is now the late railroad killer.

What's the story from your bailiwick?

WALSH: This guy was a horrible guy, Larry. This is the guy that was called the hobo railroad serial killer. He served time in 17 different jails and prisons in the United States. He was an illegal immigrant from Mexico who picked fruit and murdered Americans.

He went back and forth capriciously back and forth across the border. After his fourth murder he was caught by immigration, was held in an immigration cell in Texas and taken back to Mexico and released, didn't even know that he was on the FBI's ten most wanted.

This is the lack of exchange of law enforcement agencies. He came back and killed four more people. This guy is the poster boy for stricter immigration and no matter what anybody says about immigration I think that the 12 million illegal immigrants that are in the United States should just come forward, register, have a chance to become American citizens but prove that they're not wanted by law enforcement illegal aliens. This guy was a horrible guy that killed eight innocent Americans.

KING: Are you happy he was executed?

WALSH: If you talk to these families, Larry, you would know that at this point they've gotten some justice. I'm not a great proponent of the death penalty. I know that people could be put on death row that were innocent. I'm a great advocate for DNA testing.

But there was no question. This guy confessed to these murders. As a matter of fact, one of his relatives turned him in to the "America's Most Wanted" hotline. But these families have gotten justice.

He raped and murdered women and beat an elderly couple to death with a hammer. He just -- he's in another place. He's in another world being held accountable for his actions.

KING: The FBI's preliminary crime statistics for 2005, last year, indicates an increase in violent crime, first time since 2001, are you surprised?

WALSH: No, I'm not surprised. I know that, you know, they made a big to do about crime going down two and three or four percent over the last few years but the last director of the FBI, Louie Freeh, said "Well wait a second. Let's look at this realistically. Crime went up hundreds of percentage points in the last 20 years."

We're still at about 20,000 homicides in this country. I think all of it is unacceptable. I think we should be ashamed that we are the most violent industrialized society on this planet that with all the resources we have we shouldn't put up with 40 million crime victims over 20,000 homicides. It's unacceptable.

I think Americans have got to say "This has got to stop. We don't need to live this way. We have too many good people in this country and too many resources to put up with this level of violence."

KING: We're with John Walsh. When we come back we'll meet the family of the late Molly Bish, an incredible story that John Walsh has been on top of for a long time. Don't go away. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WALSH (voice-over): Remember this guy? A police car dash cam caught Richard McNair talking his way past an unsuspecting cop just hours after he escaped from a federal lockup in Pollack, Louisiana on April 5th.

Because he's so dangerous the U.S. Marshals have put this cold- blooded killer on their 15 most wanted list. We got to help them get him back behind bars before someone else becomes his victim.

So, if you've seen Richard McNair, call our hotline.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WALSH (voice-over): And now an urgent alert from Warren, Massachusetts. A frantic search is underway here for a missing girl, beautiful 16-year-old lifeguard Molly Bish.

Molly works here at Comins Pond, a small public beach in the small New England town. On June 27th, her mom dropped Molly off at the beach around 10:00 a.m. and a half hour later Molly was gone. Molly's mom told police about a suspicious-looking man she had seen loitering in the beach parking lot the day before.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Welcome back.

Tonight, with the help of John Walsh and the family of a victim, we'll take a look at an unsolved missing person case that started long before many other high profile kidnappings.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KING (voice-over): Before the headline-grabbing cases of Chandra Levy, Elizabeth Smart or Natalee Holloway, there was the disappearance of Molly Bish. Six years ago today the 16-year-old vanished from her lifeguard job at Comins Pond in Warren, Massachusetts. Her disappearance ignited the most extensive manhunt in the state's history.

John Walsh and "America's Most Wanted" brought her case to national attention. Nearly three years after she went missing, Molly Bish's remains were found just a few miles from Comins Pond.

The investigation into this heartbreaking case continues. Who took Molly and exactly what happened to her are still unknown.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KING: John Walsh of course remains with us. And joining us in Watertown, Massachusetts are John Bish, the father of the late Molly Bish, there's the whole family, Magi Bish, the mother of Molly; Heather Bish, Molly Bish's oldest sister; and John Bish, Jr., Molly Bish's older brother.

John, has anything new been uncovered by the police there as to solving who did this?

JOHN BISH, FATHER OF MOLLY BISH: The district attorney's office today released a video of Molly about ten minutes before reporting for work with her mom, picking up some water and soda and treats for her lunch for the day.

It depicts Molly prepared for work, involved with her mom and it gives us a good picture of the timeline. It's about ten minutes of 10:00. About six minutes of 10:00 she picks up a police radio and the keys to obtain the equipment from her post as a lifeguard.

And now the state police would tell you that perhaps two minutes after 10:00 she's gone from the pond. It is an extremely narrow window. We still are concerned with trying to determine who may have gotten to her. Molly was a very public victim and the question before us still is who might have known of her vulnerability there as a lifeguard?

KING: Magi, has there been at all during the course of this any suspects?

MAGI BISH, MOTHER OF MOLLY BISH: Unfortunately we have too many suspects. What had happened is that there was, which we often hear, no one had responded in a timely fashion. The police did not call me until about three hours into the disappearance.

Once they called me I said "This is not anything that Molly had ever done, ever left a job. She was never truant from school. She played three sports. She never missed practices. She took the lifeguard training all winter long. This has never been anything she'd ever done, nothing."

So I said I'd be there immediately and I, myself, went to the pond. I beckoned anyone. I was screaming for her, looking for her, and the unbelievable part was all of her belongings, her shoes, her backpack, the first aid kit, all these things were left on the beach.

And I had to go to the police station and say to them "Please get the chief. Please get the assistant chief and call my husband immediately who is a probation officer who works with them at the local courthouse."

And by me making that notice that's when the action started and that's when -- at first they weren't sure what had happened, you know, and until that evening did the state police come into the -- the CPAC unit come into effect and the state police took over the case.

KING: "America's Most Wanted" was on top of this from the get- go. I'll bring John back in, in a moment. But, Heather, where was Molly's body discovered? HEATHER BISH, SISTER OF MOLLY BISH: It was found on a roadside about five miles from the pond. It was still about the Warren/Palmer line very high up in the woods, very steep, brushy area, rocky, very difficult for someone to climb up there, especially with a 5'7", 130- pound girl.

KING: John Bish, Jr., what was the cause of her death?

JOHN BISH, JR., BROTHER OF MOLLY BISH: We do not know the cause of her death right now. As you know, we know that just her remains were found. It was three years later. So, it's still under investigation of what happened.

KING: You mean they have a body but what did the autopsy show John?

JOHN BISH: Well, we had -- we recovered really 26 bones of Molly. She was returned to us literally bone by bone. During her period of disappearance that was three years we were always realistic about her peril but we were always hopeful. Bringing her home, as I say bone by bone, we were very, very unprepared for this.

They were not able to determine the cause of death. Her bathing suit was found by a hunter and her remains, the bones were scattered by animals. The cause of death is simply not known.

KING: During the missing part, John Walsh, did you get any leads?

WALSH: Well, we got lots of leads but none of them bore any fruit until they arrested this guy John Regan (ph) in Saratoga Springs, New York, for trying to abduct a teenager. And when they got this car they found that he had all kinds of burglary tools. He had duct tape. He had a hangman's noose in the car and that he was convicted of raping a teenage girl way back in 1993 I believe. And that, you know, I wish we had a sex offender registry back then that we would know about this guy.

KING: But was he a suspect? Was he a suspect in the Bish killing?

WALSH: He is a suspect.

JOHN BISH: Well he's a suspect. He's someone that I'm very concerned about because the area that he was arrested in Saratoga Springs is about 90 miles from our home. He is from Waterbury, Connecticut, which is about 90 miles from Saratoga Springs.

But he worked as a roofing material salesperson and we know that he traveled to our area. He has been traced to nearby Sturbridge and, as John Walsh has always pointed out, these individuals move about a lot more than we imagined him to.

It's the police, the state police and the district attorney think that it's a local individual that was involved with Molly but my question is who? Mr. Regan emerges as someone of great concern to me because of the similarity of the victim in this attempted abduction.

KING: Where, John Walsh, is he now, Mr. Regan?

WALSH: He's in Saratoga Springs, New York and I wish that these different agencies would really, really take the gloves off and look into this guy's whereabouts. He traveled all over those areas.

And, for example, the Coeur d'Alene murders in Idaho this last past summer with little Shasta Groene, the police were looking at individuals in an area when it was a sexual predator that was roaming the country, Joseph Duncan.

These guys know no boundaries. They know no county lines. They roam repeatedly across this country. And this guy was making sales trips in that area and he has a long history of this and was trying to kidnap a teenager who looked very much like Molly in Saratoga Springs.

I wish these police agencies would get really busy and find out where this guy was, spend the money and the time and check those resources and either eliminate him or charge him.

KING: We'll take a break and be back with more with the Bish family and with John Walsh.

Don't forget Thursday night Star Jones, her first appearance since announcing today that she's leaving the ABC morning program "The View." Don't go away.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WALSH (voice-over): Late last month a hunter walking in these woods, not far from where Molly was last seen, stumbled upon a partially buried blue bathing suit, similar to the one Molly wore the day she went missing.

As police searched through the woods there were more discoveries, human bones. In all, searchers found almost two dozen bones and several teeth. The remains went to a lab for DNA analysis. The results came back early this week and the Bish family got the worst possible news.

JOHN CONTE, DISTRICT ATTORNEY: We were able to completely identify the remains as those of Molly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: Magi Bish, how do you live with this?

M. BISH: It's very difficult, Larry. I want to thank you so much for having us today. Today particularly is a very tough day. Today would have been the anniversary, six years. As you can see, there's only four of us, and it's very hard for me still to this day. I wake up every morning thinking of her, and my last prayer at night is with her. I have her pajamas on my bedpost, so I can still remember how she smells.

You try your best -- a victim, to be a victim is something I never ever dreamt or imagined. But we've been blessed. We have our faith. We have had immense goodness and love. John Walsh has been extremely wonderful to us. He's helped us fight this battle. We know we have to fight this evil, that this does exist. It is a war here in America that people don't realize is going on, that we have to fight this. These bad guys are not going away.

KING: John, why is it important? Seriously, for the Bishes to find out who did this. I mean, they can have -- you might call it closure, it doesn't bring her back.

WALSH: I don't like it when people throw that word around so much, closure. It's more about justice. It's justice for Molly. I think this wonderful, loving, caring family that works so closely with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, they're out there trying to make people aware all the time.

I think it's justice for them. They want to make sure that whoever killed Molly isn't out there killing again. And these guys don't stop. They don't stop with one abduction and one murder. They stop when you catch them and you execute them like Resendez-Ramirez was executed hours ago. And my hat's off to the courage of the Bishops (sic), of the Bishes. All the Bishes want is justice for Molly and to stop the guy that killed her from killing somebody else again.

KING: Heather, do you fear for yourself?

H. BISH: Absolutely. I have a 6-year-old daughter, and she sleeps in my bed still because I am afraid of having her sleep in her own bed, and I fear the day that she'll want her independence. I look a lot like Molly. I don't know who did this. I don't know why. I don't know how this could have happened. And I'm terrified.

KING: John Bish Jr., tell us a little bit about Molly. What kind of girl was she? What did she aspire to do?

JOHN BISH JR.: She was a fun-loving girl. She loved life.

H. BISH: She wanted to be like her brother.

JOHN BISH JR.: She wanted to work with kids. She wanted to be a teacher. She played sports, as I played sports, soccer, basketball, baseball. I was a lifeguard as well at the pond for three previous years. So we had a lot in common. I mean, she was my best friend and my sister. So.

KING: John Bish, do you think that authorities may have lost some valuable time here and clues in the case by not immediately treating it as an abduction?

JOHN BISH: Yes. Unfortunately, you know, no one thought that Molly would face any peril working as a lifeguard at Comins Pond in Warren, Massachusetts if left alone even for a short period of time. But any child that's missing, the police need to respond. In this case she's actually an employee of the town, and in effect a first responder and she's not at her post. We just wish there had been some sort of alarm sounded, and we may have had some different results.

We're struggling now with issues of evidence, the pond, the area where she worked was not preserved as a crime scene. Visitors were able to walk about and touch the equipment, and if there was any evidence of struggle that was obliterated. So valuable time was lost.

And John Walsh has spoken about this all the time, how it's critically important for the police to respond immediately. And he has been at training sessions about instructing the police on how to be -- what the first responders should do.

KING: John, it's awfully hard for you, isn't it? Because you deal with so many cases like this really nice family.

WALSH: Oh, absolutely. I mean, just look at tonight. We have never gotten justice for Adam. Jacob Wetterling was taken at gunpoint, that little boy you showed earlier. His abductor and probably murderer is still at large. Look at the Bishops (sic) -- Bishes. It crosses all socioeconomic lines, and nobody really is safe.

And I say to police out there that are watching, and I'm the No. 1 supporter of law enforcement, don't arbitrarily sign the death warrant of a child by deciding at that moment that child's a runaway. You need to take every case individually and every case seriously because so many times a child is not a runaway, and certainly Molly Bish didn't run away.

KING: We're going to spend a couple more minutes with the Bishes and John Walsh and then John will be with us for the remainder of the program. And we'll be right back on this edition of LARRY KING LIVE, don't go away.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WALSH: We've still got a lot of work to do. We've got to find the monster who committed this horrible crime.

M. BISH: The depth of our sadness no family should have to endure. No one wants to bring a child home bone by bone.

JOHN BISH: The person who placed her at peril will be bound also by the Massachusetts state police. I'm confident of that.

WALSH: This sketch could be the best lead police have. It's of a man Molly's mother says she saw lurking around the pond the day her daughter disappeared.

M. BISH: I really don't have a name for you, but I know who you are. And if you don't come to us, we're going to look for you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: John Bish, tell us about this -- your family's support of the EZ-ID license plate. A measure called Molly's law is pending in Massachusetts. What is it all about?

JOHN BISH: Well, it's an endeavor to change the general issue license plates to a symbol letter numbered system. We know that it takes three electronic signs for anyone to absorb all the information that is on those signs when there is an Amber Alert, the license plate being amongst the most difficult thing to remember. And the EZ-ID program is designed to change that, so that we would be able to more easily, readily identify a license plate by its symbol, which is a soccer ball, a baseball, a letter, and a number.

KING: Magi, I know you've kept in touch, Natalee Holloway and others, with people who were in similar circumstances to yourself. Why?

M. BISH: Well, I think especially when we're first becoming a victim, you feel so alone, you feel so different. You don't know where you fit in. And once you do, your heart wrenches for those who cross over and become like you, because you know so well how difficult this journey will be.

There's no turning back. You don't stop, you know -- yesterday, we had Molly's vigil, and all I could say was the hole in my heart has grown deeper. You know, I wish -- you know, people talk of closure. You know, I had a psychologist once say that, you know, we often think that people do these things because it's psychological, you can't stop, you've got to keep searching, you've got to keep trying to get the answers, but it's really biological. We are mammals. We are animals. We need to protect our young, just like the mother bear. And we need to reach out to one another, because that's the only way we can really do this. We have to do it together. It's too difficult to do it alone.

KING: Heather, do you follow other stories similar to yours when they're in the papers or they're on John Walsh's show?

H. BISH: I do. Absolutely. I can recognize the pain that the families are going through. I think it's unfortunate that siblings do not receive the same support that parents do. The National Center has Team Hope, which provides wonderful support to parents. But the siblings are left sort of in this state of -- you know, your parents are kind of lost in a way, you know, you've lost your sibling, and your family is fractured.

And there truly isn't a network that you could call upon to, you know, ask questions.

John and I initially, when we would meet parents of other missing children, would ask, well, how are your kids doing? And you know, we're lucky that we were older, but I fear for the children who are teenagers, who are younger and don't have that support. KING: Why do you think that is, John, Jr.? Siblings get a short shrift.

JOHN BISH JR.: We're trying to figure that out right now. I think parents are the ones who are more adult and have more connections to the adult world and what's going on naturally, I think.

H. BISH: I think to that, siblings, John, I've found have different relationships. They're not all like we had when we were younger. We went to each other's soccer games and horseback riding shows, and did a lot together. We played together. You know, I don't think that all siblings get along this way. And I don't know that that relationship is honored as much as the parent.

KING: But your loss is equal.

H. BISH: Oh, it's a hole. I can't tell you the loneliness -- loneliness is the only word that I could explain, not having my sister. I truly feel like I lost part of myself.

KING: Thank you all. Thanks to the John Bish family. John Bish, Magi Bish, Heather Bish and John Bish Jr. All I can hope for you is that you find peace.

M. BISH: And we thank you from the bottom of our hearts for having us, Larry and John. Very, very much. Thank you.

KING: We'll be right back with John Walsh.

Let's check in with John Roberts. He's sitting in for Anderson Cooper tonight. He'll host "AC 360" in Washington. John, what's up?

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, Larry, thanks for entrusting me with the microphone last night. A real pleasure, by the way.

KING: You were great.

ROBERTS: I appreciate it. Hey, the big news in Washington today, that flag burning amendment failed to pass by just a single vote. Got 66 of the 67 required votes.

But what was it all about? Was it all about politics? Who were the winners and losers and who might benefit from it, who might get hurt by it? We'll take a look at that.

And also, Republicans in the White House taking aim at "The New York Times" over that story about following bank accounts potentially of terrorists overseas. Could "The New York Times" really be charged with a crime? We'll look into all that tonight on "360" -- Larry.

KING: Thanks, John. We'll look forward to it. That's at the top of the hour, 10:00 Eastern, 7:00 Pacific.

We'll be back with John Walsh right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WALSH: In 1995, Colleen's 5-year-old daughter Morgan disappeared while playing in this ball field.

COLLEEN NICK, MORGAN'S MOTHER: If I could go back to the night before Morgan was abducted and you told me that I couldn't change the abduction, I mean, some of the things that I would have done differently, I would have told her a thousand times how much I loved her.

WALSH: Just last month, a lead in Morgan Nick's case shed new light. But with or without new leads, Colleen vows she'll never give up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: John Walsh from "America's Most Wanted" remains with us. John, we have an e-mail question from Jim Murley of Loxahatchee, Florida, who wants some advice. He asks, "what do you feel is the best way to protect your children in today's world?" Some suggestions in place we should be doing.

WALSH: Well, I absolutely think that parents should not assume it can't happen to them. I think people all over the country say, oh, it couldn't happen to me. Doesn't matter whether you live in Beverly Hills. Bill Cosby's son was murdered for a car and lived in Beverly Hills. And I think people have to talk to their kids. They have to open the lines of communication with your children.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has a toll-free number, 1800-THELOSS. They have all kinds of free information. Cox Communications has an incredible Web site, cox.com/takecharge. It gives you all kinds of free information about how to deal with your children over the Internet.

I say parents have got to get involved, and get involved and get that bill passed. Get that National Child Safety Act passed. That's important. Get involved.

KING: You host a public service announcement for which Cox Communications has donated broadcast time about keeping kids safe online. What's it about?

WALSH: Well, Cox Communications is one member of the media that I think realizes you have to give back, that kids are really, really vulnerable online. We've got about one in five kids are solicited over the Internet, sexual solicitations.

We have about 15, 16 percent of kids who have gone out and met someone they don't even know. They admit it, that they've gone out and met somebody they don't know somewhere that they don't know, that they've met over the Internet. You know, it used to be we always talked about that predator that was out there trying to lure your kids into their car out on the street. That still happens. But now the predator is in your living room. And Cox Communications has done a great job. They've donated $1 million worth of PSAs to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. And I really think all the media should get involved. Just like CNN did during Katrina, Larry. You know that CNN helped the national center put 5,000 missing kids back together with their families after Katrina, something that CNN should be applauded for.

KING: "America's Most Wanted" is following the hunt for this unknown killer in Sunday's shooting at the Silver Nugget Casino in Vegas. What do we know?

WALSH: Well, we know that there's a suspect. There's some great video out there, and we're hoping to try to get this guy on Saturday night's show. But it's really chilling when you watch this guy right in the middle of the casino shoot a man and a woman right there.

There's the video right there. Started with an argument and there he pulls his gun and shoots somebody and kills them and shoots a woman. So we're hoping that somebody will come forward. Now I want to say one thing. And I've learned it over the 18 years I've been doing this show. Somebody knows who that creep is and somebody knows what he did. And you can call 1-800-CRIME-TV like people have done 889 times and turn this lowlife in. And I guarantee you can remain anonymous. But this creep will be caught.

KING: It was what, apparently an argument?

WALSH: Yes, an argument. People standing around there know who this guy is. I mean, a slap. Look at him, just cold-bloodedly pulls out that gun, and he's shooting two people, killed a guy and shot a woman. And I'm telling you, there's probably five or 10 people that are maybe watching your show tonight that know exactly who this guy is, and please have the guts to turn him in before he kills somebody else.

KING: We'll be back with some more moments with John Walsh, one of our favorite folk, right after these words.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: We're back with John Walsh. Last week, John, an exclusive interview, Robert Mueller, the director of the FBI, was on this program. And we asked him about you, watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT MUELLER, DIRECTOR, FBI: Persons on the 10 most wanted list, it will be shown on television and we'll pick up somebody within a matter of days and it will come from leads somebody has seen on television. It's like "America's Most Wanted", which I believe does a tremendous service as well. The American public, to find persons that are trying to hide, the American public is our best, best partner.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: John Walsh, did they resist it at first?

WALSH: No. Actually, the FBI was the biggest supporters of "America's Most Wanted". They were the one police agency that came forward in the beginning. In 1988 Director Sessions came and had a press conference before the show aired and said, "We support John Walsh and America's Most Wanted."

We've since caught 15 guys off the FBI's 10 most wanted. And Director Mueller has been a great director. He put five agents over at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in their innocent images program, and last year they caught over 1,025 pedophiles in the Internet because of that one unit.

So the partnership with these different agencies is important. We've had a great partnership with the FBI. And Director Mueller has got a lot on his plate with terrorism, but he puts kids right at the top of his list. And that's a good thing.

KING: Are you worried about homegrown terrorism?

WALSH: Oh, absolutely. I mean, I think that people discount the Lackawanna 7 that were up in Buffalo that belonged to that mosque that were homegrown terrorists that were planning to blow up things here in America.

Look at those terrorists in London that blew up the train last year in London. Those were all homegrown terrorists. Those weren't al Qaeda members who crossed the border. I really think we have to be diligent and realize that it does -- they don't have to come from Pakistan and Afghanistan or be trained in Somalia by Osama bin Laden. They can be learning how to be terrorists here in the United States. It's something we have to take deadly seriously.

KING: What keeps you going?

WALSH: You know, I really believe that -- my wife has said to me many times over the years, we have to constantly refocus on the fact that Adam was the victim. The Bishes focus on the fact that Molly Bish was the victim. You can't sit back and feel sorry for yourself.

I think you have to step up to the plate and try to make a difference, to fight back. And I've always said it to you many, many times, when you asked me that question before personally off the air. I said we wanted to make sure that Adam didn't die in vain. And I see the worst of society, but on Saturday nights I see the best of society.

I see people step up to the plate, have the courage to make that call and say, "I want to see that scum-bag turned in." Not take the law into their own hands, just try to help law enforcement, make a difference.

KING: Do you think of Adam every day?

WALSH: Absolutely. This will be the 25th anniversary of Adam's murder. And I cannot not look at our children and think, "You know, there should be an older brother here, there should be a 31-year-old big brother that they look up to."

So he's the motivation. You know, you're not supposed to bury your children. And Adam was a very special little boy. And I think he just drives us and we think about him every day. He's an inspiration. Actually, I think we were lucky to have him. We were actually very lucky to have that beautiful boy.

KING: I don't know how you do it.

WALSH: You've got to fight back. You've got to fight back.

KING: Yes. You're going to get that bill passed? You've only got 30 seconds. You expect it to finally come together? Maybe on Adam's anniversary?

WALSH: The only was is -- our president said he would sign it. Chairman Frist has been a champion. Orrin Hatch, Arlen Specter, Joe Biden, Chairman Sensenbrenner, Mark Foley. They're all champions for children.

But Larry, it's the American public who has to send that message. Call your two U.S. senators and your member of the House of Representatives, say "I absolutely will not accept it if you don't get a National Child Safety Act passed this year." It's this close to being passed. It would be a travesty if it doesn't get passed.

KING: John, I salute you. Thanks very much.

WALSH: Thanks for having me, Larry.

KING: John Walsh, the host of "America's Most Wanted."

Don't forget, Thursday night we have an exclusive. Star Jones announced today that she is leaving "The View." She will make her first appearance since that announcement on this program Thursday night live and we will include your phone calls.

Right now, let's head to Washington. Anderson Cooper is off tonight, John Roberts will be hosting "A.C. 360" and John, what's ahead?

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