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Look at Threat of Kidnappings Just Across Texas Border in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico

Aired February 01, 2005 - 13:31   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: Taking a look at stories now in the news. There's a claim that a U.S. soldier has been kidnapped in Iraq. militant group has posted a photograph on a Web site of a man it says is a U.S. soldier. So far, no confirmation from the U.S. military. We'll bring you more details as we get them.
Confession from a killer. A South Carolina teen admits in court to fatally shooting his grandparents. But attorneys for Christopher Pittman say that he was driven to kill them by the antidepressant Zoloft. We'll go live to the courthouse in just about thirty minutes.

The family of an American man taken hostage in Iraq is enlisting the help of the Reverend Jesse Jackson. Roy Hallmus, kidnapped three months ago, was seen on a videotape last week pleading for his life. Jackson says he hopes to use his role as a religious leader to help secure the Hallmus' release, if he is still alive.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Slipping across the Mexican border to shop or sightsee used to be no big deal. Not any more. Last week, the U.S. issued a travel warning to Mexico, due to an alarming number of Americans who have gone missing along the border, specifically in Nuevo Laredo, across the border from Laredo, Texas.

CNN's Drew Griffin has the chilling story of one family caught up in this crimewave.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL SLEMAKER, STEPFATHER: No, is that the correct time?

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the past four months, William Slemaker, says he's made this crossing more than 100 times, crossing the international border into the narrow streets of Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, searching for a daughter who has not called, not come home, not been seen since September.

B. SLEMAKER: You see, I cruised up and down all these streets looking for Yvette's car.

GRIFFIN: Slemaker's step-daughter is 28-years-old. In the early morning of September 17th, she and her friend, Brenda Cisneros were on their way home from a concert and night on the town in Neuvo laredo. It was Brenda's birthday. At 4:00 a.m., still on the Mexican side but just four blocks from the border they called a friend.

B. SLEMAKER: And the call she got was from this intersection right here.

GRIFFIN: The young women made the call to ask their friend to meet them for breakfast on the American side. Somewhere within these four short blocks, Yvette Martinez, and Brenda Cisneros vanished.

B. SLEMAKER: I can see the American flag. Yes. She was not far at all. It's very unfortunate that she didn't make it from such a close distance.

GRIFFIN (on camera): You must have stood here many a time and thought, what -- what happened?

B. SLEMAKER: What happened.

GRIFFIN: In the five minutes it would take.

B. SLEMAKER: I stood there, parked my car there, stood at that intersection looking and wondering to myself where could she be. Trying and praying, hoping she could contact me and let me know, to get a feel of what to do.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): Bill Slemaker and his wife, Maria, no longer know what to do. Days have turned into weeks and now months.

(on camera): The last phone call that she made, that you know she made, was so close to the border, it must have be absolutely frustrating to have heard that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. To know that she was so close and didn't make it.

GRIFFIN: She probably could have seen the border. Certainly the lights.

B. SLEMAKER: Oh, yes.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): Bill and Maria are not alone. People are being kidnapped, killed or simply disappearing at an alarming rate. In past years, the number of Americans kidnapped in this border town averaged three or four a year. But just since August, 27 Americans have been kidnapped or have gone missing and police are quick to say those are only the reported cases. Nuevo Laredo, just a walk across the bridge from Laredo, Texas, is being described, by U.S. police officials, as lawless.

PATRICK PATTERSON, FBI: I would call it epidemic.

GRIFFIN: Patrick Patterson is the special FBI agent in charge.

PATTERSON: They're kidnapped. They're held for ransoms. We even express kidnappings, what we call express kidnappings, when the individual is grabbed on the other side of the border, held in the trunk of the car for 24 hours while they deplete the bank account with a credit card. This has all the time. Many times goes unreported to local law enforcement, state law enforcement or federal law enforcement. GRIFFIN: And according to Patterson, the kidnapping is out of control. Yvette Martinez and Brenda Cisneros are just two of the missing caught up in a violent Mexican border town says Patterson where drug cartels are battling for turf. What's worse according to Patterson and others Mexican police seem stand on the sidelines.

PATTERSON: That's why we're having an epidemic problem, because there is very little being done to resolve the problem on that side of the border. And that's what really has to be done.

GRIFFIN: At first the Slemakers say even American police weren't that concerned. But Maria knew her daughter, knew she would have come home. And knew the border police would be able to tell if her daughter's car made the crossing back.

MARIA SLEMAKER, MOTHER: I said, let me go and check the car because we have the system here when you go...

B. SLEMAKER: Into Mexico.

M. SLEMAKER: ... into Mexico, I mean, they captured your license plates.

B. SLEMAKER: Your license plate. They register your plates.

M. SLEMAKER: So then I we went over there and asked if the car returned. And then he said, no, the car never returned into the United States.

GRIFFIN: How did you feel then?

M. SLEMAKER: Wow, I almost collapsed there. I was thinking, you know, the worst.

GRIFFIN: No longer able to sit by and wait for Mexican police, Bill and Maria have joined forces with other families. The Gonzales', searching for two sons missing since December. Pablo Cisneros want to find his daughter, Brenda. The family of Sergio Cabara (ph), already know their son is dead, they want the killers caught. They have focused their frustrations, creating a Web site and are printing posters asking for anyone who knows anything to call.

B. SLEMAKER: God forbid that she's dead, we want her body anyway. We want her body. We want to give her a proper burial. We want to close this. We hope that's not the case. But if she's alive, we want her. We want her in any way. We want her back. This is one of the streets I've traveled looking for her car.

GRIFFIN: The fact is, say U.S. authorities, if these families want their children back, they will most likely have to go into Mexico and find them themselves. Two months ago, Bill Slemaker came as close as he may ever come when this train conductor turned detective found the car he was looking for.

B. SLEMAKER: That's it. That's the car right there. That's Yvette's car. Oh, my God! Oh, my God! (END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: So what happened to Yvette Martinez? The mystery deepens in part two of the story. We'll have it when we return. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: In Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, the kidnapping of American citizens has become an epidemic. And one family searching for their missing daughter has learned that they are very much on their own.

Here again is CNN's Drew Griffin.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GRIFFIN: The crossing at Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, and Laredo, Texas, is the busiest inland port on the U.S. southern border. Forty percent of all U.S.-Mexico trade passes right through here. But the heavy traffic has attracted something else: drug cartels that are in a heated battle for control of this town and the drugs that flow north.

MICHAEL YODER, U.S. CONSUL: We're always living on the edge of violence here. That's part of the border.

GRIFFIN: Michael Yoder is the U.S. consul in Nuevo Laredo. For the past year he has watched the drug cartels fight it out. Yoder warns anyone traveling to Nuevo Laredo, if you are American, you may be a target. And if you're kidnapped here, don't rely on the U.S. or anyone else to find you.

YODER: We're in Mexico. And solving a crime that occurs in Mexico is up to the Mexican authorities. And we have this problem, that local police and state police are often out equipped, the narco traffickers, the criminals here have better guns, they have more money.

GRIFFIN: And money, the FBI says, has corrupted many police to look the other way.

Daniel Pena is Nuevo Laredo's new mayor. He's in charge of the police. He insists his city is safe.

DANIEL PENA, NUEVO LAREDO MAYOR (through translator): Yes, Nuevo Laredo is safe. And we're taking charge to guarantee that tranquility and peace.

GRIFFIN: But when the camera was turned off, he added that he believes most if not all people kidnapped are likely involved in drugs. The U.S. consul says that may have been true in the past but now insists the innocent civilians are the targets.

To the Slemakers, who know their daughter, knew she was just going to a concert, the Mexican government's lack of action has added to their pain. MARIA SLEMAKER, MOTHER: Night after night, thinking where is she? where is her friend. It's not only them. Now, where is the other people, too?

BILL SLEMAKER, FATHER: There are so many missing.

M. SLEMAKER: So many missing persons.

GRIFFIN: Without help from the police, Bill Slemaker has spent endless days and nights trying to track down his daughter himself. He spent a month searching for her car. He finally found it in a place that made him very angry: a storage yard used by local police.

Walking through here, you'll find dozens of other cars with U.S. license plates just like Yvette's. Bill says he has asked how Yvette's car got here, who brought it and when. But no one can tell him. It has never been dusted for fingerprints or searched for evidence in any investigation.

B. SLEMAKER, FATHER: I hope she comes home. I hope she comes home.

GRIFFIN: Are you afraid, Bill, I hate to say it, that this is all you'll ever find of your daughter?

B. SLEMAKER: I am afraid, yes.

GRIFFIN: And that you'll never know what happened.

B. SLEMAKER: God Almighty, I hope we find her. I hope we find her. Oh, my.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Not knowing -- ever knowing what happened to your daughter. I keep thinking, what about the Mexican police? What the investigate process. I mean, why isn't this handled like it would be handled here?

GRIFFIN: It's a separate country and it is handled differently in Mexico. Two things are happening. Number one, people who go missing and then come back, kidnapped, aren't reporting themselves to the Mexican police because they're afraid of the drug trafficking, they're afraid of the violence. They also distrust the Mexican police.

But even in the case when the police are notified, like Bill Slemaker's case, they seem to be doing absolutely nothing. And what we were told by the U.S. council and by the FBI is American citizens are on their own. And this right here is about as much as they can do. Bring awareness to the situation and hopefully pressure the local authorities in these Mexican border towns to do something.

PHILLIPS: So as you talked to the FBI -- and you specifically talked to this one FBI agent -- what about the drug trafficking? And how involved is the whole cartel with the kidnappings and the bribes that take place and the, you know, police force and allegations about bribery there.

GRIFFIN: The FBI - Pat Patterson said look, if this is a lawless town, and it's hard to know if the drug traffickers are indeed, involved in the kidnappings or if this is just a spin-off cottage industry of people who would like to be in the drug business or perhaps want to be in the criminal business and see this as a fine opportunity to jump in, make a few bucks, steal a credit card or two or a couple of cars while they're waiting for the next drug shipment. So it's hard to tell, because of course the FBI and the U.S. authorities cannot move around in Mexico to find out.

PHILLIPS: Drew Griffin with your investigation. Thank you so much.

Well, straight ahead, next on LIVE FROM, we're going to check in with Dr. Sanjay Gupta's "New You Revolution" buddies and find out how the gang is doing with their new lifestyle plans.

And too close for comfort? She says his lips are quote, "soft like a baby's" -- a woman gets to have a little kiss with Tony Blair there. We'll explain how it happened. We kiss and tell right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Nice picture, Sanjay. Well, it's the third week of the "New You Revolution" where we're helping five people break bad, unhealthy habits. CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta takes a look at what progress the participants are making.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: All of our participants do seem to be headed in the right direction and are seeing some early results. Today, we want to take a closer look at how well our runner, Harald Fricker, has been doing so far.

GUPTA (voice over): Harald has been doing a lot of running, and he's lost at least 10 pounds already.

(on camera): We're doing all these sprints here. What's next for you? Are you going back to Colorado?

HARALD FRICKER, "NEW YOU" PARTICIPANT" Oh, yes.

GUPTA: What are you going to do out there?

FRICKER: Well, we're going to do a little snowshoeing.

GUPTA (voice over): He's addicted to running under any conditions.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're not going out for your normal 100-mile snowshoe, Harald. We're going out for maybe 100 seconds.

GUPTA: Can his trainer stop him from doing too much? FRICKER: He got mad at me the other day when I spent five extra minutes on one of the machines.

GUPTA: Harald has to learn more is not always better.

FRICKER: I used to be able to do knuckle push-ups by the hundreds.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was, I was, all right?

FRICKER: All, I'm just giving you the...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right here, right now, Harald.

FRICKER: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And we want to work smarter, not harder.

GUPTA: And that it's a variety of exercises that will fuel his metabolism and help bring down his weight. Harald still thinks he's that young, fit runner from the '90s, who ran with other super athletes like Mike Closer (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's good to see you. Out for a snowshoe?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm trying to get him moving.

GUPTA: If Harald wants to be like Mike, he needs to do one more thing: Get more sleep, something he's still not doing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I love my sleep. I sleep eight hours a night.

FRICKER: You do?

GUPTA: Studies have shown that lack of sleep can lead to weight gain. Harald has been working on curbing his food cravings.

FRICKER: Can I have any of these? Not a Kit Kat, Three Musketeers, Milky Way, all of that's out? What about Pop Tarts?

GUPTA: When he's about to slip, his trainer is just a call away.

(on camera): Minor setbacks and some real results are what our other participants have experienced as well. Here's their weekly check-up.

THELKA FISCHER, "NEW YOU" PARTICIPANT: It is 8:30, and I am in the office. And I'm going to go sit and do a little more work.

GUPTA (voice over): So, Thekla is still working late and skipping meals and discovered another cause of her late-night eating habit: being separated from her husband.

FISCHER: I end up eating late with him or maybe having more to eat because it's a time where we bond. GUPTA: But she's made it to yoga three times in the past week.

FISCHER: That's definitely more than I was doing before.

LEIGH ANN RAYNOR, "NEW YOU" PARTICIPANT: It seems like everyone's enjoying this but me.

GUPTA: Actually, Leigh Ann is enjoying breaking her bad habits and is exercising regularly.

RAYNOR: I've lost, like, four and a half pounds.

GUPTA: She's thrilled because she's now able to walk two miles on the treadmill. And Leigh Ann is listening to her body just as the doctor ordered. She tried an aerobics class at her church, but it proved too much for a sore knee.

RAYNOR: Oh, no, we're not.

GUPTA: So, she'll continue to do what works best: cardio rehab and walking.

This week, Jonathan has something to celebrate in addition to his birthday.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Superstar!

JONATHAN KARP, "NEW YOU" PARTICIPANT: I went to scratch my back, and I was like, ooh. It's like something I'm totally not used to.

GUPTA: Keeping track of his nail-biting is paying off.

KARP: I'm starting to see some white spots on my nails in certain spots. This nail looks really good.

GUPTA: He's armed with a nail file to smooth out his gnawing urges. And although fighting stress from work is no piece of cake, he's on his way.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, for the "New You Revolution."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Next week, Dr. Sanjay Gupta checks in on our grandmother, Sandra Garth (ph).

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What's inside the "New You" refrigerator?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: She stocked her fridge with healthy food and she's working out every day, even with her grandson. We'll see how she's staying motivated. That's next Tuesday right here on LIVE FROM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: All right, Britain's prime minister, Tony Blair, well, he got kissed. He got kissed by a loyal subject, you might say. In Manchester, England, let's go to the videotape, shall we? Take a look, there's the prime minister glad-handing with people. I want you to note here for just a moment, all right, let's take a pause here for just a moment.

Take a look at this woman here if you would. That is Jean Peterson. It looks like she's wearing a sheepskin (ph) coat, blue jeans. And I will have you note in her hand, she appears to have a cell phone from which she is taking numerous pictures of her -- someone who apparently she appreciates and idolizes quite a bit.

Now keep watching the right-hand part of your screen as the prime minister makes his way into the Griksky (ph) household to have a little tea and discuss the state of all developments. Right part of your screen, keep watching, keep watching, keep watching. Prime minister glad-handing. There are certain things universal about politician everywhere, aren't there?

Now right-hand part of your screen. Freeze it right now. Excellent work. Check it out, getting some pictures, sending them to her pals. "Look how close I am to the prime minister," she's saying on her telephone.

Now in he goes to the Griksky. We can roll the tape. And this is where the video camera gets a little razzed from us today because he didn't roll when the big event happened. But there was an AP photographer there who caught our picture of the day. Take a look at it. There it is. The prime minister getting the big kiss from Jean. And I want you to note the cheekbones there. He appears to be smiling.

Apparently it was a kiss which Jean Patterson said was quite nice that his lips are as soft as a baby's backside. Can we say that on family television? I think we can. Back with more in just a moment. Checking the markets right now? Let's check the markets. After the break. I thought we said, go to the break, we're going to the break. Let's go to the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

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Aired February 1, 2005 - 13:31   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Taking a look at stories now in the news. There's a claim that a U.S. soldier has been kidnapped in Iraq. militant group has posted a photograph on a Web site of a man it says is a U.S. soldier. So far, no confirmation from the U.S. military. We'll bring you more details as we get them.
Confession from a killer. A South Carolina teen admits in court to fatally shooting his grandparents. But attorneys for Christopher Pittman say that he was driven to kill them by the antidepressant Zoloft. We'll go live to the courthouse in just about thirty minutes.

The family of an American man taken hostage in Iraq is enlisting the help of the Reverend Jesse Jackson. Roy Hallmus, kidnapped three months ago, was seen on a videotape last week pleading for his life. Jackson says he hopes to use his role as a religious leader to help secure the Hallmus' release, if he is still alive.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Slipping across the Mexican border to shop or sightsee used to be no big deal. Not any more. Last week, the U.S. issued a travel warning to Mexico, due to an alarming number of Americans who have gone missing along the border, specifically in Nuevo Laredo, across the border from Laredo, Texas.

CNN's Drew Griffin has the chilling story of one family caught up in this crimewave.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL SLEMAKER, STEPFATHER: No, is that the correct time?

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the past four months, William Slemaker, says he's made this crossing more than 100 times, crossing the international border into the narrow streets of Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, searching for a daughter who has not called, not come home, not been seen since September.

B. SLEMAKER: You see, I cruised up and down all these streets looking for Yvette's car.

GRIFFIN: Slemaker's step-daughter is 28-years-old. In the early morning of September 17th, she and her friend, Brenda Cisneros were on their way home from a concert and night on the town in Neuvo laredo. It was Brenda's birthday. At 4:00 a.m., still on the Mexican side but just four blocks from the border they called a friend.

B. SLEMAKER: And the call she got was from this intersection right here.

GRIFFIN: The young women made the call to ask their friend to meet them for breakfast on the American side. Somewhere within these four short blocks, Yvette Martinez, and Brenda Cisneros vanished.

B. SLEMAKER: I can see the American flag. Yes. She was not far at all. It's very unfortunate that she didn't make it from such a close distance.

GRIFFIN (on camera): You must have stood here many a time and thought, what -- what happened?

B. SLEMAKER: What happened.

GRIFFIN: In the five minutes it would take.

B. SLEMAKER: I stood there, parked my car there, stood at that intersection looking and wondering to myself where could she be. Trying and praying, hoping she could contact me and let me know, to get a feel of what to do.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): Bill Slemaker and his wife, Maria, no longer know what to do. Days have turned into weeks and now months.

(on camera): The last phone call that she made, that you know she made, was so close to the border, it must have be absolutely frustrating to have heard that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. To know that she was so close and didn't make it.

GRIFFIN: She probably could have seen the border. Certainly the lights.

B. SLEMAKER: Oh, yes.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): Bill and Maria are not alone. People are being kidnapped, killed or simply disappearing at an alarming rate. In past years, the number of Americans kidnapped in this border town averaged three or four a year. But just since August, 27 Americans have been kidnapped or have gone missing and police are quick to say those are only the reported cases. Nuevo Laredo, just a walk across the bridge from Laredo, Texas, is being described, by U.S. police officials, as lawless.

PATRICK PATTERSON, FBI: I would call it epidemic.

GRIFFIN: Patrick Patterson is the special FBI agent in charge.

PATTERSON: They're kidnapped. They're held for ransoms. We even express kidnappings, what we call express kidnappings, when the individual is grabbed on the other side of the border, held in the trunk of the car for 24 hours while they deplete the bank account with a credit card. This has all the time. Many times goes unreported to local law enforcement, state law enforcement or federal law enforcement. GRIFFIN: And according to Patterson, the kidnapping is out of control. Yvette Martinez and Brenda Cisneros are just two of the missing caught up in a violent Mexican border town says Patterson where drug cartels are battling for turf. What's worse according to Patterson and others Mexican police seem stand on the sidelines.

PATTERSON: That's why we're having an epidemic problem, because there is very little being done to resolve the problem on that side of the border. And that's what really has to be done.

GRIFFIN: At first the Slemakers say even American police weren't that concerned. But Maria knew her daughter, knew she would have come home. And knew the border police would be able to tell if her daughter's car made the crossing back.

MARIA SLEMAKER, MOTHER: I said, let me go and check the car because we have the system here when you go...

B. SLEMAKER: Into Mexico.

M. SLEMAKER: ... into Mexico, I mean, they captured your license plates.

B. SLEMAKER: Your license plate. They register your plates.

M. SLEMAKER: So then I we went over there and asked if the car returned. And then he said, no, the car never returned into the United States.

GRIFFIN: How did you feel then?

M. SLEMAKER: Wow, I almost collapsed there. I was thinking, you know, the worst.

GRIFFIN: No longer able to sit by and wait for Mexican police, Bill and Maria have joined forces with other families. The Gonzales', searching for two sons missing since December. Pablo Cisneros want to find his daughter, Brenda. The family of Sergio Cabara (ph), already know their son is dead, they want the killers caught. They have focused their frustrations, creating a Web site and are printing posters asking for anyone who knows anything to call.

B. SLEMAKER: God forbid that she's dead, we want her body anyway. We want her body. We want to give her a proper burial. We want to close this. We hope that's not the case. But if she's alive, we want her. We want her in any way. We want her back. This is one of the streets I've traveled looking for her car.

GRIFFIN: The fact is, say U.S. authorities, if these families want their children back, they will most likely have to go into Mexico and find them themselves. Two months ago, Bill Slemaker came as close as he may ever come when this train conductor turned detective found the car he was looking for.

B. SLEMAKER: That's it. That's the car right there. That's Yvette's car. Oh, my God! Oh, my God! (END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: So what happened to Yvette Martinez? The mystery deepens in part two of the story. We'll have it when we return. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: In Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, the kidnapping of American citizens has become an epidemic. And one family searching for their missing daughter has learned that they are very much on their own.

Here again is CNN's Drew Griffin.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GRIFFIN: The crossing at Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, and Laredo, Texas, is the busiest inland port on the U.S. southern border. Forty percent of all U.S.-Mexico trade passes right through here. But the heavy traffic has attracted something else: drug cartels that are in a heated battle for control of this town and the drugs that flow north.

MICHAEL YODER, U.S. CONSUL: We're always living on the edge of violence here. That's part of the border.

GRIFFIN: Michael Yoder is the U.S. consul in Nuevo Laredo. For the past year he has watched the drug cartels fight it out. Yoder warns anyone traveling to Nuevo Laredo, if you are American, you may be a target. And if you're kidnapped here, don't rely on the U.S. or anyone else to find you.

YODER: We're in Mexico. And solving a crime that occurs in Mexico is up to the Mexican authorities. And we have this problem, that local police and state police are often out equipped, the narco traffickers, the criminals here have better guns, they have more money.

GRIFFIN: And money, the FBI says, has corrupted many police to look the other way.

Daniel Pena is Nuevo Laredo's new mayor. He's in charge of the police. He insists his city is safe.

DANIEL PENA, NUEVO LAREDO MAYOR (through translator): Yes, Nuevo Laredo is safe. And we're taking charge to guarantee that tranquility and peace.

GRIFFIN: But when the camera was turned off, he added that he believes most if not all people kidnapped are likely involved in drugs. The U.S. consul says that may have been true in the past but now insists the innocent civilians are the targets.

To the Slemakers, who know their daughter, knew she was just going to a concert, the Mexican government's lack of action has added to their pain. MARIA SLEMAKER, MOTHER: Night after night, thinking where is she? where is her friend. It's not only them. Now, where is the other people, too?

BILL SLEMAKER, FATHER: There are so many missing.

M. SLEMAKER: So many missing persons.

GRIFFIN: Without help from the police, Bill Slemaker has spent endless days and nights trying to track down his daughter himself. He spent a month searching for her car. He finally found it in a place that made him very angry: a storage yard used by local police.

Walking through here, you'll find dozens of other cars with U.S. license plates just like Yvette's. Bill says he has asked how Yvette's car got here, who brought it and when. But no one can tell him. It has never been dusted for fingerprints or searched for evidence in any investigation.

B. SLEMAKER, FATHER: I hope she comes home. I hope she comes home.

GRIFFIN: Are you afraid, Bill, I hate to say it, that this is all you'll ever find of your daughter?

B. SLEMAKER: I am afraid, yes.

GRIFFIN: And that you'll never know what happened.

B. SLEMAKER: God Almighty, I hope we find her. I hope we find her. Oh, my.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Not knowing -- ever knowing what happened to your daughter. I keep thinking, what about the Mexican police? What the investigate process. I mean, why isn't this handled like it would be handled here?

GRIFFIN: It's a separate country and it is handled differently in Mexico. Two things are happening. Number one, people who go missing and then come back, kidnapped, aren't reporting themselves to the Mexican police because they're afraid of the drug trafficking, they're afraid of the violence. They also distrust the Mexican police.

But even in the case when the police are notified, like Bill Slemaker's case, they seem to be doing absolutely nothing. And what we were told by the U.S. council and by the FBI is American citizens are on their own. And this right here is about as much as they can do. Bring awareness to the situation and hopefully pressure the local authorities in these Mexican border towns to do something.

PHILLIPS: So as you talked to the FBI -- and you specifically talked to this one FBI agent -- what about the drug trafficking? And how involved is the whole cartel with the kidnappings and the bribes that take place and the, you know, police force and allegations about bribery there.

GRIFFIN: The FBI - Pat Patterson said look, if this is a lawless town, and it's hard to know if the drug traffickers are indeed, involved in the kidnappings or if this is just a spin-off cottage industry of people who would like to be in the drug business or perhaps want to be in the criminal business and see this as a fine opportunity to jump in, make a few bucks, steal a credit card or two or a couple of cars while they're waiting for the next drug shipment. So it's hard to tell, because of course the FBI and the U.S. authorities cannot move around in Mexico to find out.

PHILLIPS: Drew Griffin with your investigation. Thank you so much.

Well, straight ahead, next on LIVE FROM, we're going to check in with Dr. Sanjay Gupta's "New You Revolution" buddies and find out how the gang is doing with their new lifestyle plans.

And too close for comfort? She says his lips are quote, "soft like a baby's" -- a woman gets to have a little kiss with Tony Blair there. We'll explain how it happened. We kiss and tell right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Nice picture, Sanjay. Well, it's the third week of the "New You Revolution" where we're helping five people break bad, unhealthy habits. CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta takes a look at what progress the participants are making.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: All of our participants do seem to be headed in the right direction and are seeing some early results. Today, we want to take a closer look at how well our runner, Harald Fricker, has been doing so far.

GUPTA (voice over): Harald has been doing a lot of running, and he's lost at least 10 pounds already.

(on camera): We're doing all these sprints here. What's next for you? Are you going back to Colorado?

HARALD FRICKER, "NEW YOU" PARTICIPANT" Oh, yes.

GUPTA: What are you going to do out there?

FRICKER: Well, we're going to do a little snowshoeing.

GUPTA (voice over): He's addicted to running under any conditions.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're not going out for your normal 100-mile snowshoe, Harald. We're going out for maybe 100 seconds.

GUPTA: Can his trainer stop him from doing too much? FRICKER: He got mad at me the other day when I spent five extra minutes on one of the machines.

GUPTA: Harald has to learn more is not always better.

FRICKER: I used to be able to do knuckle push-ups by the hundreds.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was, I was, all right?

FRICKER: All, I'm just giving you the...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right here, right now, Harald.

FRICKER: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And we want to work smarter, not harder.

GUPTA: And that it's a variety of exercises that will fuel his metabolism and help bring down his weight. Harald still thinks he's that young, fit runner from the '90s, who ran with other super athletes like Mike Closer (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's good to see you. Out for a snowshoe?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm trying to get him moving.

GUPTA: If Harald wants to be like Mike, he needs to do one more thing: Get more sleep, something he's still not doing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I love my sleep. I sleep eight hours a night.

FRICKER: You do?

GUPTA: Studies have shown that lack of sleep can lead to weight gain. Harald has been working on curbing his food cravings.

FRICKER: Can I have any of these? Not a Kit Kat, Three Musketeers, Milky Way, all of that's out? What about Pop Tarts?

GUPTA: When he's about to slip, his trainer is just a call away.

(on camera): Minor setbacks and some real results are what our other participants have experienced as well. Here's their weekly check-up.

THELKA FISCHER, "NEW YOU" PARTICIPANT: It is 8:30, and I am in the office. And I'm going to go sit and do a little more work.

GUPTA (voice over): So, Thekla is still working late and skipping meals and discovered another cause of her late-night eating habit: being separated from her husband.

FISCHER: I end up eating late with him or maybe having more to eat because it's a time where we bond. GUPTA: But she's made it to yoga three times in the past week.

FISCHER: That's definitely more than I was doing before.

LEIGH ANN RAYNOR, "NEW YOU" PARTICIPANT: It seems like everyone's enjoying this but me.

GUPTA: Actually, Leigh Ann is enjoying breaking her bad habits and is exercising regularly.

RAYNOR: I've lost, like, four and a half pounds.

GUPTA: She's thrilled because she's now able to walk two miles on the treadmill. And Leigh Ann is listening to her body just as the doctor ordered. She tried an aerobics class at her church, but it proved too much for a sore knee.

RAYNOR: Oh, no, we're not.

GUPTA: So, she'll continue to do what works best: cardio rehab and walking.

This week, Jonathan has something to celebrate in addition to his birthday.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Superstar!

JONATHAN KARP, "NEW YOU" PARTICIPANT: I went to scratch my back, and I was like, ooh. It's like something I'm totally not used to.

GUPTA: Keeping track of his nail-biting is paying off.

KARP: I'm starting to see some white spots on my nails in certain spots. This nail looks really good.

GUPTA: He's armed with a nail file to smooth out his gnawing urges. And although fighting stress from work is no piece of cake, he's on his way.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, for the "New You Revolution."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Next week, Dr. Sanjay Gupta checks in on our grandmother, Sandra Garth (ph).

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What's inside the "New You" refrigerator?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: She stocked her fridge with healthy food and she's working out every day, even with her grandson. We'll see how she's staying motivated. That's next Tuesday right here on LIVE FROM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: All right, Britain's prime minister, Tony Blair, well, he got kissed. He got kissed by a loyal subject, you might say. In Manchester, England, let's go to the videotape, shall we? Take a look, there's the prime minister glad-handing with people. I want you to note here for just a moment, all right, let's take a pause here for just a moment.

Take a look at this woman here if you would. That is Jean Peterson. It looks like she's wearing a sheepskin (ph) coat, blue jeans. And I will have you note in her hand, she appears to have a cell phone from which she is taking numerous pictures of her -- someone who apparently she appreciates and idolizes quite a bit.

Now keep watching the right-hand part of your screen as the prime minister makes his way into the Griksky (ph) household to have a little tea and discuss the state of all developments. Right part of your screen, keep watching, keep watching, keep watching. Prime minister glad-handing. There are certain things universal about politician everywhere, aren't there?

Now right-hand part of your screen. Freeze it right now. Excellent work. Check it out, getting some pictures, sending them to her pals. "Look how close I am to the prime minister," she's saying on her telephone.

Now in he goes to the Griksky. We can roll the tape. And this is where the video camera gets a little razzed from us today because he didn't roll when the big event happened. But there was an AP photographer there who caught our picture of the day. Take a look at it. There it is. The prime minister getting the big kiss from Jean. And I want you to note the cheekbones there. He appears to be smiling.

Apparently it was a kiss which Jean Patterson said was quite nice that his lips are as soft as a baby's backside. Can we say that on family television? I think we can. Back with more in just a moment. Checking the markets right now? Let's check the markets. After the break. I thought we said, go to the break, we're going to the break. Let's go to the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

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