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Rights Over Records; The 'Star Wars' Defense;

Aired February 25, 2005 - 14:00   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: Right now, Pope John Paul II recovering in this hospital. We've got the latest on his condition after a tracheotomy.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: A little girl last seen when her grandparents tucked her in. Now missing police ask for your help to help find her.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Open the door now! I'm taking it down!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right now!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Hot on the trail of fugitives. CNN's cameras go along with the men and women determined to find their suspect.

SIBILA VARGAS, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: And I'm Sibila Vargas, coming to you live from the Kodak Theater, where the Oscar countdown has begun. I'll give you more a little later on CNN's LIVE FROM.

HARRIS: And from the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Tony Harris, in for Miles O'Brien.

PHILLIPS: And I'm Kyra Phillips. This hour of CNN's LIVE FROM starts right now.

If anyone believes that no news is good news, it's the Vatican. And so we're told it will be Monday before another official update is issued on the world's most famous tracheotomy patient, who, according to today's update, is breathing well, eating well, resting relatively well with neither fever nor pneumonia.

In the meantime, many of the world's one billion Catholics are offering their Lenten prayers and fasting for a pope they can hardly imagine life without. This is New York Cardinal Edward Egan, one who will help choose the next pope and who could theoretically be a candidate himself.

And these are Mother Teresa's missionaries of charity in India. Mother Teresa died in 1997 and was beatified by John Paul II, her friend and admirer, in 2003. That's one step below a full-fledged sainthood, you know. And later in this hour of LIVE FROM, we're going to get a live report from Gemelli Polyclinic, the pope's hospital in Rome.

HARRIS: In Kansas, a legal tug-of-war heats up over abortion clinic records and who has the right to see them. On one side are clinics who say the records are confidential. On the other side is the state's attorney general. He says he needs the records for criminal investigations.

CNN's Jonathan Freed has more on a battle that has gone to the Kansas Supreme Court.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JONATHAN FREED, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Since last October, the Kansas attorney general has been trying to obtain the names and medical records of some 90 women and girls who had abortions in the state, as part of a criminal investigation, he says, into possible sex with minors, or illegal late-term abortions.

Two abortion clinics are fighting Attorney General Phil Kline in court, arguing that releasing a patient's complete medical records could violate constitutional guarantees of privacy. Kline insists he's just enforcing the law.

PHIL KLINE, KANSAS ATTORNEY GENERAL: And as the state's chief law enforcement official, it is my obligation to investigate child rape in order to protect Kansas children.

FREED: The effort to obtain the records had been kept secret until this week, when details came to light in a legal brief filed by attorneys for the clinics. State lawmakers are lining up on both sides.

PAUL DAVIS (D), KANSAS STATE SENATOR: I think there are more serious issues that the attorney general needs to be directing his attention to. And, you know, I think we need an attorney general, not an abortion general.

FREED: Others believe the end justifies the means, if it means uncovering any sex crimes committed against children.

PHILLIP JOURNEY (R), KANSAS STATE SENATOR: The state's interest outweighs the privacy interest when there's probable cause to believe a crime has been committed.

FREED: The Associated Press reports the medical records in question could reveal, among other things, the patient's name, medical history, details of her sex life, birth control practices, and psychological profile.

Jonathan Freed, CNN, Chicago.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: And there is much more on this story, including a debate on the issue coming up today on "INSIDE POLITICS." Stick around for that, 3:30 p.m. Eastern, 12:30 Pacific. PHILLIPS: So how does a 9-year-old girl disappear from her own bedroom in the middle of the night, leaving no signs of struggle, making no signs to rise her sleeping grandparents? Well, police on the gulf coast of Florida wish they could put that question to Jessica Marie Lunsford, last seen when her grandmother tucked her in around 10:00 p.m. Wednesday.

When her father came home around 6:00 a.m. Thursday, Jessica and apparently one of her dolls were gone. But no other clothes, shoes, money, anything was missing. Jessica's family is pleading for help.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUTH LUNSFORD, GRANDMOTHER: Whoever is out there that knows anything about Jessie, I'm her grandmother. And this is her grandfather and her daddy. We all live together in a very knit family. And if you know anything at all where she might be or who she communicated with, anything, please let the authorities know. We need her home and she needs us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Investigators say they consider that this is more than the standard missing person case, but there is no evidence of kidnapping either.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHERIFF JEFF DAWSY, CITRUS COUNTY: This doesn't fit her character, a young girl this age walking out with a nightgown, no shoes. Now, there is one bit of information. She did -- there is one doll that's missing.

I'm not going to tell you what it is, but there is one doll that was taken out of the room we have found since. We did not know that up until a little bit ago because of the emotional state of the family. Understand that we're not trying to keep anything, it's just the emotional state of the family.

And we keep going over and asking the questions, and that's the reason why we keep interviewing. So, with that, we have some little bit of additional information. What it means, we don't know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Jessica's mother has been out of the picture for years but finally was tracked down today in Ohio. Police say her father has an alibi and no one in the household is considered a suspect.

So let's put the original question to CNN law enforcement analyst Mike Brooks.

No alibi. Everyone still needs to be interviewed, though, the father, the grandfather, the grandmother.

MIKE BROOKS, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Them, anyone close to the family. It's still -- the things that bother me, Kyra, is what the sheriff said.

No shoes are missing, and this doll, which would -- as a former investigator, would to me -- would indicate it was someone she knew. The door was also unlocked.

The father came home at about quarter of 6:00 to go to work, he opened the door, he said it was unlocked. He heard her alarm going off, he went in, took a shower, came back. Her alarm was still going off. He went in her room, she was not there. Things just don't add up.

Now, the mother apparently has not had anything to do with her since she was about one year old. She lives in Ohio. The FBI is interviewing her right now, but we don't know if they're going to be able to glean anything from that investigation.

But the federal -- the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, FDLE, which has a great reputation as a -- for a law enforcement agency -- they're in Florida -- they're working with the Citrus County sheriff's office. They've brought in their CART team, the Child Abduction Response Team, from Tampa that specialize in child abductions, but there still is no evidence of an abduction.

PHILLIPS: And we've heard from the father and the grandmother. Have we heard from the grandfather?

BROOKS: We heard from the grandfather earlier today, again, pleading to anyone that knows anything to please let them know. But there were some rumors earlier.

During a press conference a question was asked of the sheriff that they were looking at her grandfather. He basically said they were not. But you can't count anything out. It sounds like it's someone they know, but there has been no Amber Alert issued either.

PHILLIPS: Why not? Why not an Amber Alert?

BROOKS: This does not fit the criteria of an Amber Alert. There has been no abduction, no proof, no solid proof of an abduction. There's no tag number, nothing at all.

Now, the search was hampered early on today because apparently it was very, very foggy. This part of Citrus County is fairly rural. It was very, very foggy, they could not get the helicopter up to use the infrared to search for her right after it was found she was missing. So, again, that hampered their efforts.

But there still -- but there's still a lot of leads to be covered. They said -- but they said they're not getting many calls because of the time that it happened. But law enforcement from each interview, they will generate leads and follow them up.

PHILLIPS: Now, this young girl, she was in class. She finished a cyber safety course, you said? So...

BROOKS: That's what they were talking about. Apparently, she did have access to the Internet. They took her computer because she did have access.

But the sheriff said she had just completed a child lures class, which is local class given apparently by the Citrus County sheriff's office that talks to kids about -- about Internet, if someone tries to lure you from the Internet. She just completed this class.

PHILLIPS: Mike Brooks, we'll follow it. Thanks so much.

BROOKS: You're welcome.

HARRIS: And news "Across America" now. We begin in Texas.

Dramatic scenes inside a courthouse in Tyler. People cowering while a man armed with an AK-47 ambushed his wife outside, killing her and sparking a gun battle that left another person dead and four others wounded. He was killed later by the police.

New details on the suicide death of journalist Hunter S. Thompson. His widow tells the "Aspen Daily News" the so-called gonzo journalist killed himself while the two were on the phone. Anita Thompson says he asked her to come home from the health club, but instead of saying goodbye, he set the phone down and shot himself.

And another deadline looming in the Terri Schiavo case. The court order that blocks her husband from ordering her feeding tube removed expires at 5:00 p.m. Eastern today. A judge is expected to issue another ruling that could determine her fate.

PHILLIPS: It's a tough job, but somebody's got to do it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police! Open the door! If you don't open the door, it's coming down!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Fugitive hunters on the trail. We're going to go along later on LIVE FROM.

And just ahead, on target. The Pentagon says a missile defense system passes a test. Will it be able to protect America from incoming missiles? We're going to talk about it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: A perfect hit. A short range ballistic missile launched from Hawaii is shot down by an experimental naval missile interceptor.

A Pentagon spokesperson says it's the fifth kill in six tries for the interceptor known as the Standard Missile 3. It was fired from the USS Lake Erie, a cruiser equipped with a sophisticated radar system and stationed 100 miles offshore. The interceptor missiles will be deployed on ships later this year.

Well, five out of six, that ain't so bad. More than an 80 percent success rate. So does that mean America is close to getting its so- called Star Wars defense? Let's bring in CNN security analyst Richard Falkarath from the Brookings Institution in Washington.

Now, Rich, before we continue, I don't think it's -- it's 2007 this is supposed to be launched, right?

RICHARD FALKENRATH, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: Right. If everything stays on track, I think they're planning on deploying this Sea-Based missile defense system in 2007.

PHILLIPS: OK, good. I just wanted to clear that up. We didn't make that -- that wasn't correct previously. All right, 2007.

Now, let's talk about this system. We've talked about the national missile defense system that protects the continent of North America, and that's on the ground, and that's what we saw, for example, during Operation Iraqi Freedom. What we saw today was the Sea-Based missile defense system. Let's talk about the advantages of this over the prior.

FALKENRATH: Well, the Sea-Based system is mobile. You can sail it anywhere you can sail a warship. And so it's pretty flexible.

We don't have to ask countries for permission to deploy it, and we can put it into hotspots pretty quickly. It's useful against short and intermediate range ballistic missiles. These are the most common kind. And it's useful mainly for protecting our forces and allies in various regional conflicts. It's a very important part of our overall missile defense effort.

PHILLIPS: Now, this would be mainly Mediterranean, correct? And that would be protecting what areas from what countries?

FALKENRATH: Well, once it's deployed, it can go anywhere you can sail a ship. So it could be in the Med, it could be in the Persian Gulf, it could be in the Sea of Japan, protecting Japan from North Korea.

Obviously the main threats we worry about are North Korea, Iran and a few other Middle Eastern states. And once this system is deployed, it in principle would allow us to protect anyone we wanted to, any ally and any base where we were deploying our forces.

PHILLIPS: All right. And we talk about perfect hit. It scored a hit today. Let's talk about exactly what exactly that means, the progress with regard to our security, or protecting these specific countries.

FALKENRATH: Well, before you can deploy a system, you need to test it. And you shouldn't deploy systems until they've been tested.

In this particular test, they fired something that was simulating a scud missile. That's the most common sort of missile. They fired it into the air from Hawaii, and this -- and the missile fired from the Aegis warship successfully intercepted it. It's a very hard thing to do. The two missiles close at about 15,000 miles per hour. So they're moving very fast, and the guidance has to be extremely precise. So it's a successful test, it's one step further towards the eventual goal of deploying the system.

PHILLIPS: Now, you pointed out -- or you made a good point about avoiding any kind of political issues. I even remember during Operation Iraqi Freedom from airspace to land, you do have to get a lot of permission from other countries on how you can, I guess, proceed with war plans. So with this system by sea, it sort of avoids all of that?

FALKENRATH: Exactly. It allows us to sail right up to the coastline that -- wherever we need to go, and we don't have to ask anyone's permission. And we also don't have to force governments who we're working with to make very difficult and awkward decisions to allow us to deploy the system. So that's useful.

The other -- we already fielded the Patriot short-range missile defense system. That's up and running. It works fairly well.

It was deployed, as you mentioned, in Iraqi Freedom. And so that is the Land-Base leg of our theater missile defense system. This is the Sea-Based leg.

PHILLIPS: And it's like you've got both things covered now. Why did Canada pull out?

FALKENRATH: Well, after Prime Minister Martin took over in Canada, he decided to try to reach out to the United States and to try to improve U.S.-Canadian relations, which had been very bad under former Prime Minister Chretien. And one of the things he offered to talk about as missile defense and whether Canada could participate in a more complete way with our national missile defense.

This is the long-range system that tries to defend North America. So the two governments started these conversations. U.S.-Canadian relations then became a little more difficult for Prime Minister Martin, and he elected to pull out of the talks that he a year ago asked for.

And mainly, he's doing it because it's no longer politically popular for him to be seen as working closely with the Bush administration. I think this is unfortunate, but it's not a major setback to the program. We don't, in fact, need the Canadians. It's too bad for them, but the program will continue anyway.

PHILLIPS: CNN security analyst Richard Falkenrath from the Brookings Institution there in Washington. Thanks, Rich.

FALKENRATH: Thank you, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Well, CNN is committed to providing the most reliable coverage of news that affects your security. Stay tuned to CNN for the latest information day and night. HARRIS: Preparing for Hollywood's biggest night. They're rolling out the red carpet, and we'll show you why the slate of nominees could make this year's Academy Awards one for the history books.

KATHLEEN HAYS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Kathleen Hays at the New York Stock Exchange. Should the public have known about the identity breach at ChoicePoint months before it was revealed? New information is raising some concerns about the timing. I'll tell you why coming up on LIVE FROM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: We want to take you back to a story we've been reporting on all day and give you a different view of it, a bit of context on it. We've told you throughout the day about the pictures out of a courtroom in Tyler, Texas.

This is a story where a man in a child support dispute with his ex-wife went into the courtroom, as you can see here, and opened fire. And he killed his ex-wife and then led police on a bit of a chase.

As you can se here, police, S.W.A.T. chasing this man down. And these are pictures, dashboard cam pictures from a police e cruiser from the Tyler Police Department. As can you see here, they're actually chasing the assailant in his truck. Now, you can see shots are being fired.

And Mike, as we look at this -- Mike Brooks, our law enforcement analyst, is with us as well.

Mike, what are we watching here?

BROOKS: Tony, we saw the chase. We know what happened at the courthouse.

HARRIS: Yes.

BROOKS: We know also that the person who was in the truck they were chasing, David Arroyo, had been shot out in front of the courthouse by a private citizen who had a gun and fired at him. But he had a bullet-resistant vest and flak jacket on.

HARRIS: OK.

BROOKS: Now, police -- he gets in his truck, police chase him. As we see here, as we get -- as the camera moves in a little closer, you see rounds start to come from inside the truck from what appears to me. Then you see Arroyo get out of the truck, get into a gun battle.

He shoots the police, he attempts to get back in. And then he drops to the ground.

HARRIS: Yes. And then he's hit.

BROOKS: He's hit. Now, police either had to hit him with a head shot, or they had some kind of weapon that actually was able to go through the vest...

(CROSSTALK)

HARRIS: And part of what we're seeing here -- and you can analyze this for us -- is that police acted absolutely appropriately, given what they were dealing with here with this man.

BROOKS: Absolutely. There are many chase policies around the country that say you can't chase because of certain reasons.

HARRIS: Yes.

BROOKS: But after you have a shooting like this and you have someone armed with a gun that could go and do more harm to the citizens, the police have to chase him. And they did the right thing this time. He did pull down, he was ready for a gun battle, he engaged the police in a gun battle, and this time the police had the upper hand.

HARRIS: All right. And let me just sort of set this up again just because I'm thinking we can do a little better than before.

BROOKS: Sure.

HARRIS: This man goes into court. And he is not going to let the legal system settle this dispute. He's going to take matters into his own hands.

So he goes in fully loaded. He's got the flak jacket on, bullet- proof vest on. He's got the AK-47.

BROOKS: Right.

HARRIS: And his intent is to kill.

BROOKS: That's exactly right.

HARRIS: OK.

BROOKS: And there were three people. He did kill one person.

HARRIS: Yes.

BROOKS: And a deputy sheriff was wounded in the gun battle outside the courthouse. All of the shootings took place outside the courthouse. Then he gets in his car...

HARRIS: OK.

BROOKS: ... and that's when we saw the chase. Tyler Police got behind him. It is some of the most dramatic police video of a chase that we'll probably see -- we've seen for quite sometime.

HARRIS: Yes. OK. So they quickly get a beat on him, they quickly figure out what he's driving.

BROOKS: Right.

HARRIS: And then we've got multiple units.

BROOKS: Absolutely.

HARRIS: Multiple units. And at one point, if we can get the pictures up again, there are police officers and cruisers on the opposite side of the street?

BROOKS: Right. Apparently, they knew exactly where he was going.

HARRIS: OK.

BROOKS: We saw from the video that they were not going to let this guy get back out in the public and do anymore harm that he had already done.

HARRIS: All right. And that's still the scene?

BROOKS: That's still the scene right before he got out of the truck.

HARRIS: OK. Mike, we appreciate it.

BROOKS: Thank you, Tony.

HARRIS: More of CNN's LIVE FROM right after this.

(WEATHER REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Turning now to the controversial security breach at ChoicePoint. Could the public have been informed about the compromised data earlier? New information raises questions about that.

HARRIS: Kathleen Hays has the latest live from the New York Stock Exchange.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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Aired February 25, 2005 - 14:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Right now, Pope John Paul II recovering in this hospital. We've got the latest on his condition after a tracheotomy.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: A little girl last seen when her grandparents tucked her in. Now missing police ask for your help to help find her.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Open the door now! I'm taking it down!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right now!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Hot on the trail of fugitives. CNN's cameras go along with the men and women determined to find their suspect.

SIBILA VARGAS, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: And I'm Sibila Vargas, coming to you live from the Kodak Theater, where the Oscar countdown has begun. I'll give you more a little later on CNN's LIVE FROM.

HARRIS: And from the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Tony Harris, in for Miles O'Brien.

PHILLIPS: And I'm Kyra Phillips. This hour of CNN's LIVE FROM starts right now.

If anyone believes that no news is good news, it's the Vatican. And so we're told it will be Monday before another official update is issued on the world's most famous tracheotomy patient, who, according to today's update, is breathing well, eating well, resting relatively well with neither fever nor pneumonia.

In the meantime, many of the world's one billion Catholics are offering their Lenten prayers and fasting for a pope they can hardly imagine life without. This is New York Cardinal Edward Egan, one who will help choose the next pope and who could theoretically be a candidate himself.

And these are Mother Teresa's missionaries of charity in India. Mother Teresa died in 1997 and was beatified by John Paul II, her friend and admirer, in 2003. That's one step below a full-fledged sainthood, you know. And later in this hour of LIVE FROM, we're going to get a live report from Gemelli Polyclinic, the pope's hospital in Rome.

HARRIS: In Kansas, a legal tug-of-war heats up over abortion clinic records and who has the right to see them. On one side are clinics who say the records are confidential. On the other side is the state's attorney general. He says he needs the records for criminal investigations.

CNN's Jonathan Freed has more on a battle that has gone to the Kansas Supreme Court.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JONATHAN FREED, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Since last October, the Kansas attorney general has been trying to obtain the names and medical records of some 90 women and girls who had abortions in the state, as part of a criminal investigation, he says, into possible sex with minors, or illegal late-term abortions.

Two abortion clinics are fighting Attorney General Phil Kline in court, arguing that releasing a patient's complete medical records could violate constitutional guarantees of privacy. Kline insists he's just enforcing the law.

PHIL KLINE, KANSAS ATTORNEY GENERAL: And as the state's chief law enforcement official, it is my obligation to investigate child rape in order to protect Kansas children.

FREED: The effort to obtain the records had been kept secret until this week, when details came to light in a legal brief filed by attorneys for the clinics. State lawmakers are lining up on both sides.

PAUL DAVIS (D), KANSAS STATE SENATOR: I think there are more serious issues that the attorney general needs to be directing his attention to. And, you know, I think we need an attorney general, not an abortion general.

FREED: Others believe the end justifies the means, if it means uncovering any sex crimes committed against children.

PHILLIP JOURNEY (R), KANSAS STATE SENATOR: The state's interest outweighs the privacy interest when there's probable cause to believe a crime has been committed.

FREED: The Associated Press reports the medical records in question could reveal, among other things, the patient's name, medical history, details of her sex life, birth control practices, and psychological profile.

Jonathan Freed, CNN, Chicago.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: And there is much more on this story, including a debate on the issue coming up today on "INSIDE POLITICS." Stick around for that, 3:30 p.m. Eastern, 12:30 Pacific. PHILLIPS: So how does a 9-year-old girl disappear from her own bedroom in the middle of the night, leaving no signs of struggle, making no signs to rise her sleeping grandparents? Well, police on the gulf coast of Florida wish they could put that question to Jessica Marie Lunsford, last seen when her grandmother tucked her in around 10:00 p.m. Wednesday.

When her father came home around 6:00 a.m. Thursday, Jessica and apparently one of her dolls were gone. But no other clothes, shoes, money, anything was missing. Jessica's family is pleading for help.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUTH LUNSFORD, GRANDMOTHER: Whoever is out there that knows anything about Jessie, I'm her grandmother. And this is her grandfather and her daddy. We all live together in a very knit family. And if you know anything at all where she might be or who she communicated with, anything, please let the authorities know. We need her home and she needs us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Investigators say they consider that this is more than the standard missing person case, but there is no evidence of kidnapping either.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHERIFF JEFF DAWSY, CITRUS COUNTY: This doesn't fit her character, a young girl this age walking out with a nightgown, no shoes. Now, there is one bit of information. She did -- there is one doll that's missing.

I'm not going to tell you what it is, but there is one doll that was taken out of the room we have found since. We did not know that up until a little bit ago because of the emotional state of the family. Understand that we're not trying to keep anything, it's just the emotional state of the family.

And we keep going over and asking the questions, and that's the reason why we keep interviewing. So, with that, we have some little bit of additional information. What it means, we don't know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Jessica's mother has been out of the picture for years but finally was tracked down today in Ohio. Police say her father has an alibi and no one in the household is considered a suspect.

So let's put the original question to CNN law enforcement analyst Mike Brooks.

No alibi. Everyone still needs to be interviewed, though, the father, the grandfather, the grandmother.

MIKE BROOKS, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Them, anyone close to the family. It's still -- the things that bother me, Kyra, is what the sheriff said.

No shoes are missing, and this doll, which would -- as a former investigator, would to me -- would indicate it was someone she knew. The door was also unlocked.

The father came home at about quarter of 6:00 to go to work, he opened the door, he said it was unlocked. He heard her alarm going off, he went in, took a shower, came back. Her alarm was still going off. He went in her room, she was not there. Things just don't add up.

Now, the mother apparently has not had anything to do with her since she was about one year old. She lives in Ohio. The FBI is interviewing her right now, but we don't know if they're going to be able to glean anything from that investigation.

But the federal -- the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, FDLE, which has a great reputation as a -- for a law enforcement agency -- they're in Florida -- they're working with the Citrus County sheriff's office. They've brought in their CART team, the Child Abduction Response Team, from Tampa that specialize in child abductions, but there still is no evidence of an abduction.

PHILLIPS: And we've heard from the father and the grandmother. Have we heard from the grandfather?

BROOKS: We heard from the grandfather earlier today, again, pleading to anyone that knows anything to please let them know. But there were some rumors earlier.

During a press conference a question was asked of the sheriff that they were looking at her grandfather. He basically said they were not. But you can't count anything out. It sounds like it's someone they know, but there has been no Amber Alert issued either.

PHILLIPS: Why not? Why not an Amber Alert?

BROOKS: This does not fit the criteria of an Amber Alert. There has been no abduction, no proof, no solid proof of an abduction. There's no tag number, nothing at all.

Now, the search was hampered early on today because apparently it was very, very foggy. This part of Citrus County is fairly rural. It was very, very foggy, they could not get the helicopter up to use the infrared to search for her right after it was found she was missing. So, again, that hampered their efforts.

But there still -- but there's still a lot of leads to be covered. They said -- but they said they're not getting many calls because of the time that it happened. But law enforcement from each interview, they will generate leads and follow them up.

PHILLIPS: Now, this young girl, she was in class. She finished a cyber safety course, you said? So...

BROOKS: That's what they were talking about. Apparently, she did have access to the Internet. They took her computer because she did have access.

But the sheriff said she had just completed a child lures class, which is local class given apparently by the Citrus County sheriff's office that talks to kids about -- about Internet, if someone tries to lure you from the Internet. She just completed this class.

PHILLIPS: Mike Brooks, we'll follow it. Thanks so much.

BROOKS: You're welcome.

HARRIS: And news "Across America" now. We begin in Texas.

Dramatic scenes inside a courthouse in Tyler. People cowering while a man armed with an AK-47 ambushed his wife outside, killing her and sparking a gun battle that left another person dead and four others wounded. He was killed later by the police.

New details on the suicide death of journalist Hunter S. Thompson. His widow tells the "Aspen Daily News" the so-called gonzo journalist killed himself while the two were on the phone. Anita Thompson says he asked her to come home from the health club, but instead of saying goodbye, he set the phone down and shot himself.

And another deadline looming in the Terri Schiavo case. The court order that blocks her husband from ordering her feeding tube removed expires at 5:00 p.m. Eastern today. A judge is expected to issue another ruling that could determine her fate.

PHILLIPS: It's a tough job, but somebody's got to do it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police! Open the door! If you don't open the door, it's coming down!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Fugitive hunters on the trail. We're going to go along later on LIVE FROM.

And just ahead, on target. The Pentagon says a missile defense system passes a test. Will it be able to protect America from incoming missiles? We're going to talk about it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: A perfect hit. A short range ballistic missile launched from Hawaii is shot down by an experimental naval missile interceptor.

A Pentagon spokesperson says it's the fifth kill in six tries for the interceptor known as the Standard Missile 3. It was fired from the USS Lake Erie, a cruiser equipped with a sophisticated radar system and stationed 100 miles offshore. The interceptor missiles will be deployed on ships later this year.

Well, five out of six, that ain't so bad. More than an 80 percent success rate. So does that mean America is close to getting its so- called Star Wars defense? Let's bring in CNN security analyst Richard Falkarath from the Brookings Institution in Washington.

Now, Rich, before we continue, I don't think it's -- it's 2007 this is supposed to be launched, right?

RICHARD FALKENRATH, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: Right. If everything stays on track, I think they're planning on deploying this Sea-Based missile defense system in 2007.

PHILLIPS: OK, good. I just wanted to clear that up. We didn't make that -- that wasn't correct previously. All right, 2007.

Now, let's talk about this system. We've talked about the national missile defense system that protects the continent of North America, and that's on the ground, and that's what we saw, for example, during Operation Iraqi Freedom. What we saw today was the Sea-Based missile defense system. Let's talk about the advantages of this over the prior.

FALKENRATH: Well, the Sea-Based system is mobile. You can sail it anywhere you can sail a warship. And so it's pretty flexible.

We don't have to ask countries for permission to deploy it, and we can put it into hotspots pretty quickly. It's useful against short and intermediate range ballistic missiles. These are the most common kind. And it's useful mainly for protecting our forces and allies in various regional conflicts. It's a very important part of our overall missile defense effort.

PHILLIPS: Now, this would be mainly Mediterranean, correct? And that would be protecting what areas from what countries?

FALKENRATH: Well, once it's deployed, it can go anywhere you can sail a ship. So it could be in the Med, it could be in the Persian Gulf, it could be in the Sea of Japan, protecting Japan from North Korea.

Obviously the main threats we worry about are North Korea, Iran and a few other Middle Eastern states. And once this system is deployed, it in principle would allow us to protect anyone we wanted to, any ally and any base where we were deploying our forces.

PHILLIPS: All right. And we talk about perfect hit. It scored a hit today. Let's talk about exactly what exactly that means, the progress with regard to our security, or protecting these specific countries.

FALKENRATH: Well, before you can deploy a system, you need to test it. And you shouldn't deploy systems until they've been tested.

In this particular test, they fired something that was simulating a scud missile. That's the most common sort of missile. They fired it into the air from Hawaii, and this -- and the missile fired from the Aegis warship successfully intercepted it. It's a very hard thing to do. The two missiles close at about 15,000 miles per hour. So they're moving very fast, and the guidance has to be extremely precise. So it's a successful test, it's one step further towards the eventual goal of deploying the system.

PHILLIPS: Now, you pointed out -- or you made a good point about avoiding any kind of political issues. I even remember during Operation Iraqi Freedom from airspace to land, you do have to get a lot of permission from other countries on how you can, I guess, proceed with war plans. So with this system by sea, it sort of avoids all of that?

FALKENRATH: Exactly. It allows us to sail right up to the coastline that -- wherever we need to go, and we don't have to ask anyone's permission. And we also don't have to force governments who we're working with to make very difficult and awkward decisions to allow us to deploy the system. So that's useful.

The other -- we already fielded the Patriot short-range missile defense system. That's up and running. It works fairly well.

It was deployed, as you mentioned, in Iraqi Freedom. And so that is the Land-Base leg of our theater missile defense system. This is the Sea-Based leg.

PHILLIPS: And it's like you've got both things covered now. Why did Canada pull out?

FALKENRATH: Well, after Prime Minister Martin took over in Canada, he decided to try to reach out to the United States and to try to improve U.S.-Canadian relations, which had been very bad under former Prime Minister Chretien. And one of the things he offered to talk about as missile defense and whether Canada could participate in a more complete way with our national missile defense.

This is the long-range system that tries to defend North America. So the two governments started these conversations. U.S.-Canadian relations then became a little more difficult for Prime Minister Martin, and he elected to pull out of the talks that he a year ago asked for.

And mainly, he's doing it because it's no longer politically popular for him to be seen as working closely with the Bush administration. I think this is unfortunate, but it's not a major setback to the program. We don't, in fact, need the Canadians. It's too bad for them, but the program will continue anyway.

PHILLIPS: CNN security analyst Richard Falkenrath from the Brookings Institution there in Washington. Thanks, Rich.

FALKENRATH: Thank you, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Well, CNN is committed to providing the most reliable coverage of news that affects your security. Stay tuned to CNN for the latest information day and night. HARRIS: Preparing for Hollywood's biggest night. They're rolling out the red carpet, and we'll show you why the slate of nominees could make this year's Academy Awards one for the history books.

KATHLEEN HAYS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Kathleen Hays at the New York Stock Exchange. Should the public have known about the identity breach at ChoicePoint months before it was revealed? New information is raising some concerns about the timing. I'll tell you why coming up on LIVE FROM.

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HARRIS: We want to take you back to a story we've been reporting on all day and give you a different view of it, a bit of context on it. We've told you throughout the day about the pictures out of a courtroom in Tyler, Texas.

This is a story where a man in a child support dispute with his ex-wife went into the courtroom, as you can see here, and opened fire. And he killed his ex-wife and then led police on a bit of a chase.

As you can se here, police, S.W.A.T. chasing this man down. And these are pictures, dashboard cam pictures from a police e cruiser from the Tyler Police Department. As can you see here, they're actually chasing the assailant in his truck. Now, you can see shots are being fired.

And Mike, as we look at this -- Mike Brooks, our law enforcement analyst, is with us as well.

Mike, what are we watching here?

BROOKS: Tony, we saw the chase. We know what happened at the courthouse.

HARRIS: Yes.

BROOKS: We know also that the person who was in the truck they were chasing, David Arroyo, had been shot out in front of the courthouse by a private citizen who had a gun and fired at him. But he had a bullet-resistant vest and flak jacket on.

HARRIS: OK.

BROOKS: Now, police -- he gets in his truck, police chase him. As we see here, as we get -- as the camera moves in a little closer, you see rounds start to come from inside the truck from what appears to me. Then you see Arroyo get out of the truck, get into a gun battle.

He shoots the police, he attempts to get back in. And then he drops to the ground.

HARRIS: Yes. And then he's hit.

BROOKS: He's hit. Now, police either had to hit him with a head shot, or they had some kind of weapon that actually was able to go through the vest...

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HARRIS: And part of what we're seeing here -- and you can analyze this for us -- is that police acted absolutely appropriately, given what they were dealing with here with this man.

BROOKS: Absolutely. There are many chase policies around the country that say you can't chase because of certain reasons.

HARRIS: Yes.

BROOKS: But after you have a shooting like this and you have someone armed with a gun that could go and do more harm to the citizens, the police have to chase him. And they did the right thing this time. He did pull down, he was ready for a gun battle, he engaged the police in a gun battle, and this time the police had the upper hand.

HARRIS: All right. And let me just sort of set this up again just because I'm thinking we can do a little better than before.

BROOKS: Sure.

HARRIS: This man goes into court. And he is not going to let the legal system settle this dispute. He's going to take matters into his own hands.

So he goes in fully loaded. He's got the flak jacket on, bullet- proof vest on. He's got the AK-47.

BROOKS: Right.

HARRIS: And his intent is to kill.

BROOKS: That's exactly right.

HARRIS: OK.

BROOKS: And there were three people. He did kill one person.

HARRIS: Yes.

BROOKS: And a deputy sheriff was wounded in the gun battle outside the courthouse. All of the shootings took place outside the courthouse. Then he gets in his car...

HARRIS: OK.

BROOKS: ... and that's when we saw the chase. Tyler Police got behind him. It is some of the most dramatic police video of a chase that we'll probably see -- we've seen for quite sometime.

HARRIS: Yes. OK. So they quickly get a beat on him, they quickly figure out what he's driving.

BROOKS: Right.

HARRIS: And then we've got multiple units.

BROOKS: Absolutely.

HARRIS: Multiple units. And at one point, if we can get the pictures up again, there are police officers and cruisers on the opposite side of the street?

BROOKS: Right. Apparently, they knew exactly where he was going.

HARRIS: OK.

BROOKS: We saw from the video that they were not going to let this guy get back out in the public and do anymore harm that he had already done.

HARRIS: All right. And that's still the scene?

BROOKS: That's still the scene right before he got out of the truck.

HARRIS: OK. Mike, we appreciate it.

BROOKS: Thank you, Tony.

HARRIS: More of CNN's LIVE FROM right after this.

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PHILLIPS: Turning now to the controversial security breach at ChoicePoint. Could the public have been informed about the compromised data earlier? New information raises questions about that.

HARRIS: Kathleen Hays has the latest live from the New York Stock Exchange.

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