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Interview With John Heer

Aired July 11, 2002 - 14:45   ET

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

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: The family feud between Ted Williams' children over what to do with his remains could wind up in court tomorrow. The baseball legend died last Friday. His eldest daughter says Williams wanted to be cremated, his ashes spread over the Florida Keys.

But her half-brother apparently has had the body shipped to a lab in Arizona to be frozen. A former caretaker for the batting champ says Williams thought that idea was nothing short of ridiculous.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRANK BROTHERS, WILLIAMS CARETAKER: I had just got done making Ted breakfast, and John Henry came up. And I was making him breakfast, and he brought up to his dad about, why don't, when you die, how about we'll freeze your body? You know, cryogenics. And Ted told him, he said, "Are you crazy?"

He says, "Well, Dad, we don't have to do your whole body. We can just cut your head off and do your head."

He said, "What are you, nuts?" Ted was adamant about it. He didn't want to be frozen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Joining us now from Cleveland, Ohio, is John Heer. He's the lawyer for Williams' daughter, Bobby Jo Ferrell. Well, the caretaker said it right there, "are you nuts?" I mean, is he nuts, John?

JOHN HEER, BOBBY JO FERRELL'S ATTY.: I can't say.

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIPS: You have to take the Fifth on that one.

HEER: Something like that.

PHILLIPS: Let's talk about the will. You've talked to the lawyers. What did Ted Williams say? What did he want to happen to his body once he died?

HEER: The lawyers for the estate made it clear to me that the will has a provision in it which envisions cremation. They have not provided us a copy of the will, so it's difficult for me to say exactly what it says. I'm sure that they're going to argue that it's open to some level of interpretation. But they did indicate that cremation was provided for.

PHILLIPS: So why isn't that happening?

HEER: That's what we want to know. That's what my client is very, very interested in at this point.

PHILLIPS: Well, Mrs. Ferrell, has she talked with her half- brother? Let me ask you this first, before we go there. Did -- how did he -- how did her half-brother even get to take the body and have it shipped off? Aren't they papers that have to be signed? A lot of legalities?

You have to look at the will. You can't hand over the body to someone.

HEER: Well, those are all very valid questions that we've been asking for almost a week now. We have really had to deal with a complete lack of information. And one of the reasons that we brought this to the media's attention on Friday night was because we knew that things were taking place that we couldn't stop. And we didn't even know what they were at the time.

We didn't learn that the body was taken to Arizona until sometime late on Saturday. Of course, it was already a done deal. It had been done on Friday. So, we want answers to all of those same questions.

PHILLIPS: So, the body is in Arizona now. What exactly is being done with it? And where exactly is it in Arizona?

HEER: The best information that we have is that the body was taken from the Ocala, Florida, airport directly to Scottsdale, Arizona, to the Alcor facility. It was accompanied, apparently, by a representative of Alcor.

We do not know anything beyond that. We do not know what has happened to body since then. And we're still waiting for the will to be filed.

PHILLIPS: Well, John, plain and simple before we go, I mean, you follow the orders of the person that has died. Otherwise, it's all about selfish actions, wouldn't you say?

HEER: Well, I can't say. We believe that Mr. Williams' intentions were very clear, very consistent, over years and years. It's been fully supported by everything we've heard, all of the evidence that we have come across, that he wanted to be cremated. And he wanted to have his ashes spread over the Florida Keys.

We hope that the executor of the estate, or the personal representative, as they're called in Florida, carries out those wishes. And we want it done, pronto.

PHILLIPS: John Heer, thank you, John.

HEER: Thank you.

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