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Police Searching for Clues in Missing Girl Case; Lasers to Protect D.C. Airspace; Suspicious Air Travelers Detained After Disturbance; Parrot Cries Wolf

Aired April 15, 2005 - 15:00   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.


MILES O'BRIEN, CO-HOST: Heated exchanges in the Michael Jackson trial. The mother of Jackson's accuser is being cross-examined by the defense, which is trying to raise questions about her credibility. At one point, the judge chastised both Jackson's lawyer for unprofessional conduct, and the witness for giving long meandering answers.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CO-HOST: First this hour, the search for a missing Florida girl. The older brother of 13-year-old Sarah Lunde is telling police that a man now known to be a sex offender paid an unexpected visit shortly after Sarah disappeared. As a result, searchers today are keeping an eye out for beer bottles.

CNN's Susan Candiotti is puts the pieces of the story together. She's standing by in Ruskin, Florida -- Susan.

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, you heard it correctly. Beer bottles is what search teams is -- were told to start looking for earlier today. Specifically Bud and Bud Light beer bottles and to look for them around Sarah Lunde's home. Now if found, they're told to carefully set them aside.

Police are not saying so yet publicly, yet we do know this. Sarah came home from a church outing on Saturday night. Her mom was away for the weekend with friends, say police. In the wee hours of Sunday morning, Sarah's brother says he came home and later had an encounter with a man he says his mother used to date, David Onstott.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDREW LUNDE, SARAH LUNDE'S BROTHER: I came home and I noticed that the porch light was off and the door was wide open. I walked inside, and no one was home, and then me and my friend laid down to go to sleep. And I seen a beer bottle on the corner table, and at 5 a.m. in the morning, a guy name David knocked on the door. He asked where my mom was at, and I told him she was out for the weekend. And he took one step in the house and picked the beer bottle up and left.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And where did you see your sister?

LUNDE: Last time I seen she was at the house, laying down in bed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CANDIOTTI: So it appears that's the connection.

Police say David Onstott is not a suspect. In the words of the sheriff, "He has our attention." Now Onstott is a sex offender. He is being held in jail on unrelated charges, and he's also wanted on a DUI charge out of Michigan. There is an extradition hearing set about that for next Tuesday. But it seems fairly certain he won't be going anywhere until this investigation is over.

Back to you, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Susan Candiotti, thank you.

O'BRIEN: A scheduled hearing postponed today for the unnamed teenaged baseball player who allegedly took a bat to another boy and killed him. It happened Tuesday at a Pony League park in Palmdale, California, after the suspect's team suffered its first loss of the season.

In an interview today the parents of victim Jeremy Rourke say they've known the alleged attacker for years, never considered him violent. Witnesses say Rourke was struck in the shin and then the head after a post game taunting incident.

O'BRIEN: In suburban Atlanta, a teenage girl reveals today to a judge how she and a friend murdered the girl's grandparents. Last August Carl and Sarah Collier were stabbed to death at their home in the town of Riverdale.

Seventeen hours later police arrested the granddaughter, Holly Harvey, age 15, and her 16-year-old friend Sandy Ketchum. Under terms of a plea agreement, Harvey described to the judge how she took the life of her grandmother.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JUDGE PASCHAL ENGLISH, FAYETTE COUNTY SUPERIOR COURT: So you thought about hiding the knife, is that right?

HOLLY HARVEY, PLEADED GUILTY TO MURDERING GRANDPARENTS: No. No, sir.

ENGLISH: You closed your eyes and you stabbed them. Do you know where you stabbed them?

HARVEY: In the back.

ENGLISH: Do you know how many times you stabbed them?

HARVEY: Maybe three times.

ENGLISH: All in the back? When you stabbed them in the back, what happened the first time?

HARVEY: She made -- she screamed.

ENGLISH: And did she scream? HARVEY: Yes, sir.

ENGLISH: And then what happened?

HARVEY: My grandfather turned around, and he had the phone in his hand, and I had pulled the cord out of wall. Then he ran and grabbed a knife, and I thought he was going to stab me. But I took the knife from my grandpa. And I closed my eyes, and I just started stabbing my grandpa real fast.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well, after the hearings for Harvey and her admitted partner in murder, police arrested construction worker Calvin Lawson in connection with this case. Lawson allegedly gave the girls crack cocaine and marijuana, which they smoked before the stabbings. Authorities say that's grounds for a charge of murder. The two girls are headed to prison.

O'BRIEN: Amid tight security, a final farewell tonight to Europe's longest serving monarch, Prince Rainier of Monaco. Royalty and dignitaries around the world joined the family for today's funeral service, French President Jacques Chirac, King Juan Carlos of Spain and Britain's Prince Andrew among them. Prince Rainier, who ruled Monaco for 56 years, died nine days ago. He'll be buried next to his wife, the late Princess Grace.

PHILLIPS: Electing a new pope: the final preparations are under way at the Vatican for Monday's papal conclave. Today workers extended a chimney pipe on the roof of the Sistine chapel. It's the only way the cardinals can alert the outside world how their closed door secret balloting is going. Black smoke marks an inconclusive vote; white smoke signals the election of a new pope.

Join us tonight as CNN goes inside the conclave. That's on "NEWSNIGHT WITH AARON BROWN," 10 p.m. Eastern Time.

Well, today's early morning fire at a Paris hotel is being called one of the city's worst blazes in years. Half of the 20 people that were killed were children. Some people jumped from windows to try and escape the flames. Dozens of people were injured.

The hotel housed mostly African immigrants placed there by the government. The manslaughter investigation has been ordered, although officials say there's no sign that the fire was anything but accidental.

O'BRIEN: Dramatic pictures there.

Securing sensitive airspace with the help of lasers. There you see it. Find out how that red and green flashing light there is used to guard the nation's capital from erstwhile pilots.

And liftoff! A Russian launch signals a shift change up in space. We'll tell you about that. And does this bird look like a woman in trouble to you? If it does, you got some problems with your TV set, I think. Certainly sounded like one to police, though. The case of the cry for help, a little later on LIVE FROM.

ANNOUNCER: You're watching LIVE FROM on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Plenty of stuff hurtling around the planet in orbit these days. This NASA unmanned DART spacecraft launched just a little while ago. DART stands for Demonstration of Autonomous Rendezvous Technology.

The Pegasus rocket carrying DART dropped from the belly of an L- 1011, as you see, went on its way to a rendezvous with a retired Pentagon satellite. No help from humans on this deal. This could help NASA on future missions to the moon and beyond. Astronauts are quaking at their boots at the thought.

And predawn hours of Kazakhstan, this time some people on board, a Soyuz rocket on its way to the International Space Station, three travelers on board, two of whom will replace the current crew of the ISS. They plan to dock on Sunday, tag up and then the new -- the old crew comes back with the third guy who just was up there for the 10- day stint with them.

So it goes in space.

PHILLIPS: A "CNN Security Watch" focuses on the airspace over Washington, D.C., restricted since 9/11. Soon a laser warning system will alert pilots who wander into that airspace.

Jeanne Meserve of CNN's America bureau has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Piercing through the night sky over the nation's capital, a distinctive pattern of lights, lasers, a signal to pilots that they have penetrated the restricted airspace over the nation's capitol.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's so many high-value targets in this area, it's the center of our government. We need to do everything we can to protect it.

MESERVE: About twice a day, pilots stray into the large restricted area over the region. If they can't be raised by radio, fighter jets are scrambled to drop warning flares, at a cost of about $30,000 per incident. The laser visual warning system, due to become operational in mid-May, provides a cheaper and safer way, officials say, to signal a pilot.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If he starts talking, turns away from downtown D.C., we know he's complying. He does not have hostile intent. We might be able to hold those fighters on the ground. MESERVE: Pilots are being briefed because there is nothing like the laser warning system anywhere else in the world. Among the pilots' concerns, will they see the lasers day and night? Yes, officials say, except in low visibility conditions.

And will the lasers hurt their eyes? Melissa Rudinger has seen the system from the air.

MELISSA RUDINGER, AIRCRAFT OWNERS AND PILOTS ASSOCIATION: It's not going to hurt your eyes. My experience was that it was just a bright light on the ground.

MESERVE: The lasers are scattered throughout the capital region, and officials say they can illuminate a plane anywhere in the restricted zone without the light being visible to any other aircraft. It is an additional strand in the web of protection around the capital.

For CNN's bureau, Jeanne Meserve, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Little bit of news coming in to CNN right now. We have reports that a Northwest Airlink commuter airplane en route from Detroit to New York's John F. Kennedy Airport had a little incident on board. Two passengers attempted to make their way into the cockpit, or at least asked to enter the cockpit.

Joining us on the line right now is Philip Reed, who is a spokesman for that airline.

Mr. Reed, can you hear me OK?

PHILIP REED, SPOKESMAN, NORTHWEST AIRLINES: Yes, I can.

O'BRIEN: All right. Tell me exactly when was going on and when this happened.

REED: What we understand is flight 3741 from Detroit to JFK, about 20 minutes into -- excuse me, about 20 minutes outside of JFK, one gentleman asked the flight attendant how much time was remaining in the flight. She responded to him. And his traveling companion asked if he could view the cockpit. He was told that was not allowed.

Further into the flight, just several minutes outside of landing, as the flight attendant took her jump seat, this gentleman continued to stand up repeatedly, despite commands from the flight attendant to sit.

After several times, she informed the cockpit, who in following proper procedures, contacted JFK, and the authorities met the aircraft.

O'BRIEN: All right. So the plane landed without any further incident. Can you describe these individuals? Do you have any names? Anything along those lines? REED: I cannot, I'm sorry.

O'BRIEN: OK, and was there anything said beyond that, that would lead to you believe this was for -- some sort of terroristic attempt?

REED: There was not. Other than the fact -- to my knowledge, there was not. Other than the fact that one gentleman asked to view the cockpit, was told no. There was little communication between the two parties after that, with the exception of the one way communication by the flight attendant.

O'BRIEN: What sort of airplane flies that route?

REED: It's a Canada Air regional jet.

O'BRIEN: Canada Air regional jet, which has about how many passengers on board?

REED: It has 50 -- it has a capacity of 50 and was carrying 50 passengers today.

O'BRIEN: It was full? OK. And did -- did they ultimately comply with flight attendant requests to be seated for landing?

REED: Ultimately, they were seated during the landing period, but only after several, we count seven attempts.

O'BRIEN: OK, and did the passengers become involved in that or was this left to the flight attendants?

REED: They did not. It was very close to landing, and the passengers did not become involved.

O'BRIEN: All right. And have you had a chance to talk to passengers? Was there a high level of concern? Panic on board the airplane as a result of all this?

REED: The information back from the flight attendant indicates that there was -- that there was no panic on board the aircraft, that the aircraft landed safely and taxied to the gate without incident, and the police boarded the aircraft immediately.

O'BRIEN: And those two are being held by authorities right now. Do they face charges, do you know?

REED: I -- I couldn't speculate on that.

O'BRIEN: All right. Philip Reed is a spokesperson for Northwest Airlink. Just to button it up for you, Flight 3741, Detroit metro to New York John F. Kennedy airport, Canada Air regional jet, 50 capacity, 50 on board, two passengers acting very oddly indeed, requesting to get into the cockpit. Obviously, the response from the flight attendant and the crew was no to that. Ultimately, that plane landed without any problems -- further problems on board, and the two are in custody right now.

PHILLIPS: All right, you can depend on us, of course, for all your security news, day and night.

O'BRIEN: Absolutely.

PHILLIPS: Now, on to a less serious issue. I guess it could be a serious issue, depending on if you're the bird or the person breaking in.

O'BRIEN: Yes. Depends on which side of the feathers you're on. A parrot leads police on a wild, well, goose chase, I guess, or parrot chase.

PHILLIPS: And that led us to this man, Mr. Pet Keeping Marc Marrone. Now I believe that's Darwin and Harry that we're going to meet. You're going to meet them momentarily to get the word on the birds. Yes, his feathered friends. You're going to meet them momentarily. They'll help us get the word on the bird. Thanks, Marc.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: All right. We've all heard the cautionary tale of the boy who cried wolf. But in South Philly, some law enforcement feathers were ruffled by a bit of a different cry for help.

O'BRIEN: In South Philly, it's the cheese steak that cried -- no, no. This is not about cheese steaks. Home owners there are left with a busted door, and their beaks are a little out of joint about the incident. They say their loved one has been falsely accused.

Vernon Odom with our Philly affiliate WPVI cracks the case wide open.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VERNON ODOM, WPVI REPORTER (voice-over): As Louise Jordan and her son Johnny walked to school Tuesday morning, they heard a frantic scream from inside this house on Titan Street. It sounded like a woman in distress.

LOUISE JORDAN, CALLED POLICE: I was walking by and somebody hollered, "Help, help, please," so of course, I knocked on, like, three people's doors before anybody answered. And they finally answered, and they called the cops.

JOHNNY JORDAN, LOUISE JORDAN'S SON: Help, help me. Help me.

ODOM (on camera): And it sounded like a human being, a person saying it?

J. JORDAN: Yes, a girl. An older woman.

ODOM (voice-over): Louise got someone to call police, who eventually broke down the door. They entered, looking for trouble. Instead they found only Willow, a large parrot, home alone, but safe and sound.

Vince Russian and his daughter came home to find their door kicked in but Willow still calm and police with a logical explanation. But he assured Willow, from her regular perch by the door, never used the SOS the Jordans think they heard.

VINCE RUSSIAN, PARROT'S OWNER: He has this weird sound that he makes when he screams, this scream that he has, but otherwise, no. He says nothing more than "hello," and once in a blue moon, "Juanita."

ODOM: Police say the decision to take Willow's door down is not part of a be more aggressive policy put in place about two infamous cases where police turned and walked away, only to find out later that women living alone had been murdered. The warnings signs in those cases, they say, were not so clear cut.

WILLIAM COLARULO, POLICE SPOKESMAN: Any department in the country would tell if you they get a call of a person screaming and there's a witness saying they're hearing someone -- hearing someone yelling for help, you go in and make an immediate entry.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well, the burning question remains, who's Juanita? Willow, clearly no stool pigeon, isn't telling.

And now a tongue in beak report on the joys and challenges of parrot parenthood. For that we turn to the host of TV's "Pet Keeping," Marc Marrone, and his fine feathered friends, Harry and Darwin, getting a little taste of his shirt there.

First rule, don't think of these pets as bird brains, right, Marc?

MARC MARRONE, HOST, "PET KEEPING": No, everyone thinks that birds are not the brightest animals on the planet. But birds actually have cognitive skills on par with chimpanzees and dolphins.

PHILLIPS: Wow.

MARRONE: They're smarter than dogs. People don't think that they are, though, because they won't do what we tell them do, sort of like a cat. And that's only because birds do what works best for them. Sometime their needs sort of supersede ours.

PHILLIPS: So what do you think of this story out of Philly with this bird that was saying, "Help me, help me," and they thought it was a woman in distress?

MARRONE: Well, it's nice that people got involved. You know, the bird in question, Willow, is a Yellow Nape Amazon. Darwin is an African Gray Parrot and Harry here is a Scarlet Macaw. And the Amazon parrots have very shrill feminine voices. So I can very much see.

Don't forget, Willow is in the house, all right? We had a closed door.

PHILLIPS: Right. MARRONE: And people on the street, so I can very much understand that she might have interpreted those calls to sound just like a woman in distress.

PHILLIPS: Well, do you have any stories like that with -- with Darwin or Harry?

MARRONE: Gee, yes, there's so many of them, especially -- actually the funniest story I have is a bird that we board all the time in our store. The owner's name is Laura, and the bird says "Laura" constantly every 10 seconds all day long.

And when we're boarding that bird, and it rings through the entire store, "Laura, Laura, Laura," so we all -- by the end of the week, we're all saying, "Laura, Laura, Laura," because parrots tend to repeat it like that.

PHILLIPS: You're dreaming about Laura.

MARRONE: My own birds talk very, very well. But for a bird to talk...

PARROT: Hello.

MARRONE: Hello. A bird will talk to get attention. See, many birds will only talk when no one is in the room. And that's because as soon as they say something, someone will run back into the room. They do what works best for them.

PHILLIPS: But you can't get them to say anything on cue right now.

MARRONE: Well, no, birds -- we've all seen birds in -- on television shows and in zoos and in bird parks that are saying things on cue. But those birds are professionally trained using positive reinforcement to do so.

My own birds are just my pets, and I like to let them act like my pets. And I don't try and prompt them or, you know, interfere in the behavior in any way, shape, or form.

PHILLIPS: Well, does Harry or does Darwin have any special skills?

MARRONE: Harry's special skill is annoying me. He likes to take my glasses off on the air, and he likes to chew up my shirts. And Harry has been with me since I was 16 years old. And I'm 46 now. So I figured he's paid his dues and he can basically abuse me in any way, shape, or form that he wants to. And he's very good at it.

PHILLIPS: Yes, he is. The art of stealing glasses. I love it. So Darwin -- Darwin is a little more well-behaved.

MARRONE: Darwin is well-behaved when he wants to be, but he can still be kind of interesting. And Darwin is interesting, because he chose me. I was doing a television show 12 years ago about African Gray Parrots, and Darwin just came out of a bunch of baby birds and came onto my finger and looked at the camera. He wants to give me a kiss now. And looked at the camera and said, "Gee, this is a nice thing to do." And he's been on television with me ever since.

PHILLIPS: I love it.

MARRONE: And no one would buy him, because he's missing three toes.

PHILLIPS: Hey, Marc, Harry is getting to the microphone there. All right. Unfortunately, we've got to -- we've got to wrap this up. But you want to give a plug on the show here? When can we tune in and see you?

MARRONE: Well, our show is called "Pet Keeping with Marc Marrone." And it's on all over the United States. You can find out where it's on in your area by going to our web site, at PetKeeping.com. You see pictures of Harry and Darwin, and when you see me on TV, you'll see me with my pets, and I'm just telling how to live happily with your pets.

PHILLIPS: I love it. All right. Marc, Darwin, Harry.

O'BRIEN: He's biting him.

PHILLIPS: He's a little upset he didn't get a lot of airtime.

O'BRIEN: A parrot hickey.

PHILLIPS: Ooh. Aw, too bad we couldn't get him to talk. All right, Marc. Thank you so much.

MARRONE: You're very welcome.

PHILLIPS: OK.

O'BRIEN: Well, those are fascinating birds, amazing. Amazing.

All right. Candy Crowley, they say in show business you should never follow an animal act. Well, here you go. Here you go.

CANDY CROWLEY, HOST, "INSIDE POLITICS": I just want to thank you all so very much for that.

O'BRIEN: Any old time.

CROWLEY: See you later.

O'BRIEN: See you.

CROWLEY: What, you may wonder, does religion have to do with the fight over President Bush's judicial nominees? Plenty, apparently, now that Bill Frist is joining forces with Christian conservatives on this issue and doing it on TV. We'll have the story and the controversy. And wrap your brain around this on the IRS deadline day. We're told the tax code is seven times longer than the Bible. So what is President Bush doing about that? Find out when "INSIDE POLITICS" begins in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Hello. I'm Miles O'Brien, checking stories now in the news.

A trash collector is charged with fatally stabbing former fashion writer Christa Worthington. Christopher McCowen pleaded not guilty and has been ordered held without bail. Worthington's 2002 murder inspired a book and turned the national spotlight on her quiet Cape Cod town.

Shackled and heavily guarded, Brian Nichols returns to the Atlanta courthouse where he's accused of a deadly shooting rampage. One attorney describes security for today's hearing as incredible. Nichols is accused of overpowering a guard and then shooting a judge, a deputy, a court reporter and a federal agent on March 11.

And a defense lawyer engages in some verbal sparring with the mother of Michael Jackson's accuser. Her cross-examination began today on a contentious note. At one point, the woman faced the jury directly and said Attorney Thomas Mesereau was wrong. The jury has already -- the judge, I should say -- has already admonished them both.

And now, INSIDE POLITICS, today with Candy Crowley, in for Judy Woodruff.

END

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Aired April 15, 2005 - 15:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CO-HOST: Heated exchanges in the Michael Jackson trial. The mother of Jackson's accuser is being cross-examined by the defense, which is trying to raise questions about her credibility. At one point, the judge chastised both Jackson's lawyer for unprofessional conduct, and the witness for giving long meandering answers.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CO-HOST: First this hour, the search for a missing Florida girl. The older brother of 13-year-old Sarah Lunde is telling police that a man now known to be a sex offender paid an unexpected visit shortly after Sarah disappeared. As a result, searchers today are keeping an eye out for beer bottles.

CNN's Susan Candiotti is puts the pieces of the story together. She's standing by in Ruskin, Florida -- Susan.

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, you heard it correctly. Beer bottles is what search teams is -- were told to start looking for earlier today. Specifically Bud and Bud Light beer bottles and to look for them around Sarah Lunde's home. Now if found, they're told to carefully set them aside.

Police are not saying so yet publicly, yet we do know this. Sarah came home from a church outing on Saturday night. Her mom was away for the weekend with friends, say police. In the wee hours of Sunday morning, Sarah's brother says he came home and later had an encounter with a man he says his mother used to date, David Onstott.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDREW LUNDE, SARAH LUNDE'S BROTHER: I came home and I noticed that the porch light was off and the door was wide open. I walked inside, and no one was home, and then me and my friend laid down to go to sleep. And I seen a beer bottle on the corner table, and at 5 a.m. in the morning, a guy name David knocked on the door. He asked where my mom was at, and I told him she was out for the weekend. And he took one step in the house and picked the beer bottle up and left.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And where did you see your sister?

LUNDE: Last time I seen she was at the house, laying down in bed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CANDIOTTI: So it appears that's the connection.

Police say David Onstott is not a suspect. In the words of the sheriff, "He has our attention." Now Onstott is a sex offender. He is being held in jail on unrelated charges, and he's also wanted on a DUI charge out of Michigan. There is an extradition hearing set about that for next Tuesday. But it seems fairly certain he won't be going anywhere until this investigation is over.

Back to you, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Susan Candiotti, thank you.

O'BRIEN: A scheduled hearing postponed today for the unnamed teenaged baseball player who allegedly took a bat to another boy and killed him. It happened Tuesday at a Pony League park in Palmdale, California, after the suspect's team suffered its first loss of the season.

In an interview today the parents of victim Jeremy Rourke say they've known the alleged attacker for years, never considered him violent. Witnesses say Rourke was struck in the shin and then the head after a post game taunting incident.

O'BRIEN: In suburban Atlanta, a teenage girl reveals today to a judge how she and a friend murdered the girl's grandparents. Last August Carl and Sarah Collier were stabbed to death at their home in the town of Riverdale.

Seventeen hours later police arrested the granddaughter, Holly Harvey, age 15, and her 16-year-old friend Sandy Ketchum. Under terms of a plea agreement, Harvey described to the judge how she took the life of her grandmother.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JUDGE PASCHAL ENGLISH, FAYETTE COUNTY SUPERIOR COURT: So you thought about hiding the knife, is that right?

HOLLY HARVEY, PLEADED GUILTY TO MURDERING GRANDPARENTS: No. No, sir.

ENGLISH: You closed your eyes and you stabbed them. Do you know where you stabbed them?

HARVEY: In the back.

ENGLISH: Do you know how many times you stabbed them?

HARVEY: Maybe three times.

ENGLISH: All in the back? When you stabbed them in the back, what happened the first time?

HARVEY: She made -- she screamed.

ENGLISH: And did she scream? HARVEY: Yes, sir.

ENGLISH: And then what happened?

HARVEY: My grandfather turned around, and he had the phone in his hand, and I had pulled the cord out of wall. Then he ran and grabbed a knife, and I thought he was going to stab me. But I took the knife from my grandpa. And I closed my eyes, and I just started stabbing my grandpa real fast.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well, after the hearings for Harvey and her admitted partner in murder, police arrested construction worker Calvin Lawson in connection with this case. Lawson allegedly gave the girls crack cocaine and marijuana, which they smoked before the stabbings. Authorities say that's grounds for a charge of murder. The two girls are headed to prison.

O'BRIEN: Amid tight security, a final farewell tonight to Europe's longest serving monarch, Prince Rainier of Monaco. Royalty and dignitaries around the world joined the family for today's funeral service, French President Jacques Chirac, King Juan Carlos of Spain and Britain's Prince Andrew among them. Prince Rainier, who ruled Monaco for 56 years, died nine days ago. He'll be buried next to his wife, the late Princess Grace.

PHILLIPS: Electing a new pope: the final preparations are under way at the Vatican for Monday's papal conclave. Today workers extended a chimney pipe on the roof of the Sistine chapel. It's the only way the cardinals can alert the outside world how their closed door secret balloting is going. Black smoke marks an inconclusive vote; white smoke signals the election of a new pope.

Join us tonight as CNN goes inside the conclave. That's on "NEWSNIGHT WITH AARON BROWN," 10 p.m. Eastern Time.

Well, today's early morning fire at a Paris hotel is being called one of the city's worst blazes in years. Half of the 20 people that were killed were children. Some people jumped from windows to try and escape the flames. Dozens of people were injured.

The hotel housed mostly African immigrants placed there by the government. The manslaughter investigation has been ordered, although officials say there's no sign that the fire was anything but accidental.

O'BRIEN: Dramatic pictures there.

Securing sensitive airspace with the help of lasers. There you see it. Find out how that red and green flashing light there is used to guard the nation's capital from erstwhile pilots.

And liftoff! A Russian launch signals a shift change up in space. We'll tell you about that. And does this bird look like a woman in trouble to you? If it does, you got some problems with your TV set, I think. Certainly sounded like one to police, though. The case of the cry for help, a little later on LIVE FROM.

ANNOUNCER: You're watching LIVE FROM on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Plenty of stuff hurtling around the planet in orbit these days. This NASA unmanned DART spacecraft launched just a little while ago. DART stands for Demonstration of Autonomous Rendezvous Technology.

The Pegasus rocket carrying DART dropped from the belly of an L- 1011, as you see, went on its way to a rendezvous with a retired Pentagon satellite. No help from humans on this deal. This could help NASA on future missions to the moon and beyond. Astronauts are quaking at their boots at the thought.

And predawn hours of Kazakhstan, this time some people on board, a Soyuz rocket on its way to the International Space Station, three travelers on board, two of whom will replace the current crew of the ISS. They plan to dock on Sunday, tag up and then the new -- the old crew comes back with the third guy who just was up there for the 10- day stint with them.

So it goes in space.

PHILLIPS: A "CNN Security Watch" focuses on the airspace over Washington, D.C., restricted since 9/11. Soon a laser warning system will alert pilots who wander into that airspace.

Jeanne Meserve of CNN's America bureau has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Piercing through the night sky over the nation's capital, a distinctive pattern of lights, lasers, a signal to pilots that they have penetrated the restricted airspace over the nation's capitol.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's so many high-value targets in this area, it's the center of our government. We need to do everything we can to protect it.

MESERVE: About twice a day, pilots stray into the large restricted area over the region. If they can't be raised by radio, fighter jets are scrambled to drop warning flares, at a cost of about $30,000 per incident. The laser visual warning system, due to become operational in mid-May, provides a cheaper and safer way, officials say, to signal a pilot.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If he starts talking, turns away from downtown D.C., we know he's complying. He does not have hostile intent. We might be able to hold those fighters on the ground. MESERVE: Pilots are being briefed because there is nothing like the laser warning system anywhere else in the world. Among the pilots' concerns, will they see the lasers day and night? Yes, officials say, except in low visibility conditions.

And will the lasers hurt their eyes? Melissa Rudinger has seen the system from the air.

MELISSA RUDINGER, AIRCRAFT OWNERS AND PILOTS ASSOCIATION: It's not going to hurt your eyes. My experience was that it was just a bright light on the ground.

MESERVE: The lasers are scattered throughout the capital region, and officials say they can illuminate a plane anywhere in the restricted zone without the light being visible to any other aircraft. It is an additional strand in the web of protection around the capital.

For CNN's bureau, Jeanne Meserve, Washington.

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O'BRIEN: Little bit of news coming in to CNN right now. We have reports that a Northwest Airlink commuter airplane en route from Detroit to New York's John F. Kennedy Airport had a little incident on board. Two passengers attempted to make their way into the cockpit, or at least asked to enter the cockpit.

Joining us on the line right now is Philip Reed, who is a spokesman for that airline.

Mr. Reed, can you hear me OK?

PHILIP REED, SPOKESMAN, NORTHWEST AIRLINES: Yes, I can.

O'BRIEN: All right. Tell me exactly when was going on and when this happened.

REED: What we understand is flight 3741 from Detroit to JFK, about 20 minutes into -- excuse me, about 20 minutes outside of JFK, one gentleman asked the flight attendant how much time was remaining in the flight. She responded to him. And his traveling companion asked if he could view the cockpit. He was told that was not allowed.

Further into the flight, just several minutes outside of landing, as the flight attendant took her jump seat, this gentleman continued to stand up repeatedly, despite commands from the flight attendant to sit.

After several times, she informed the cockpit, who in following proper procedures, contacted JFK, and the authorities met the aircraft.

O'BRIEN: All right. So the plane landed without any further incident. Can you describe these individuals? Do you have any names? Anything along those lines? REED: I cannot, I'm sorry.

O'BRIEN: OK, and was there anything said beyond that, that would lead to you believe this was for -- some sort of terroristic attempt?

REED: There was not. Other than the fact -- to my knowledge, there was not. Other than the fact that one gentleman asked to view the cockpit, was told no. There was little communication between the two parties after that, with the exception of the one way communication by the flight attendant.

O'BRIEN: What sort of airplane flies that route?

REED: It's a Canada Air regional jet.

O'BRIEN: Canada Air regional jet, which has about how many passengers on board?

REED: It has 50 -- it has a capacity of 50 and was carrying 50 passengers today.

O'BRIEN: It was full? OK. And did -- did they ultimately comply with flight attendant requests to be seated for landing?

REED: Ultimately, they were seated during the landing period, but only after several, we count seven attempts.

O'BRIEN: OK, and did the passengers become involved in that or was this left to the flight attendants?

REED: They did not. It was very close to landing, and the passengers did not become involved.

O'BRIEN: All right. And have you had a chance to talk to passengers? Was there a high level of concern? Panic on board the airplane as a result of all this?

REED: The information back from the flight attendant indicates that there was -- that there was no panic on board the aircraft, that the aircraft landed safely and taxied to the gate without incident, and the police boarded the aircraft immediately.

O'BRIEN: And those two are being held by authorities right now. Do they face charges, do you know?

REED: I -- I couldn't speculate on that.

O'BRIEN: All right. Philip Reed is a spokesperson for Northwest Airlink. Just to button it up for you, Flight 3741, Detroit metro to New York John F. Kennedy airport, Canada Air regional jet, 50 capacity, 50 on board, two passengers acting very oddly indeed, requesting to get into the cockpit. Obviously, the response from the flight attendant and the crew was no to that. Ultimately, that plane landed without any problems -- further problems on board, and the two are in custody right now.

PHILLIPS: All right, you can depend on us, of course, for all your security news, day and night.

O'BRIEN: Absolutely.

PHILLIPS: Now, on to a less serious issue. I guess it could be a serious issue, depending on if you're the bird or the person breaking in.

O'BRIEN: Yes. Depends on which side of the feathers you're on. A parrot leads police on a wild, well, goose chase, I guess, or parrot chase.

PHILLIPS: And that led us to this man, Mr. Pet Keeping Marc Marrone. Now I believe that's Darwin and Harry that we're going to meet. You're going to meet them momentarily to get the word on the birds. Yes, his feathered friends. You're going to meet them momentarily. They'll help us get the word on the bird. Thanks, Marc.

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PHILLIPS: All right. We've all heard the cautionary tale of the boy who cried wolf. But in South Philly, some law enforcement feathers were ruffled by a bit of a different cry for help.

O'BRIEN: In South Philly, it's the cheese steak that cried -- no, no. This is not about cheese steaks. Home owners there are left with a busted door, and their beaks are a little out of joint about the incident. They say their loved one has been falsely accused.

Vernon Odom with our Philly affiliate WPVI cracks the case wide open.

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VERNON ODOM, WPVI REPORTER (voice-over): As Louise Jordan and her son Johnny walked to school Tuesday morning, they heard a frantic scream from inside this house on Titan Street. It sounded like a woman in distress.

LOUISE JORDAN, CALLED POLICE: I was walking by and somebody hollered, "Help, help, please," so of course, I knocked on, like, three people's doors before anybody answered. And they finally answered, and they called the cops.

JOHNNY JORDAN, LOUISE JORDAN'S SON: Help, help me. Help me.

ODOM (on camera): And it sounded like a human being, a person saying it?

J. JORDAN: Yes, a girl. An older woman.

ODOM (voice-over): Louise got someone to call police, who eventually broke down the door. They entered, looking for trouble. Instead they found only Willow, a large parrot, home alone, but safe and sound.

Vince Russian and his daughter came home to find their door kicked in but Willow still calm and police with a logical explanation. But he assured Willow, from her regular perch by the door, never used the SOS the Jordans think they heard.

VINCE RUSSIAN, PARROT'S OWNER: He has this weird sound that he makes when he screams, this scream that he has, but otherwise, no. He says nothing more than "hello," and once in a blue moon, "Juanita."

ODOM: Police say the decision to take Willow's door down is not part of a be more aggressive policy put in place about two infamous cases where police turned and walked away, only to find out later that women living alone had been murdered. The warnings signs in those cases, they say, were not so clear cut.

WILLIAM COLARULO, POLICE SPOKESMAN: Any department in the country would tell if you they get a call of a person screaming and there's a witness saying they're hearing someone -- hearing someone yelling for help, you go in and make an immediate entry.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well, the burning question remains, who's Juanita? Willow, clearly no stool pigeon, isn't telling.

And now a tongue in beak report on the joys and challenges of parrot parenthood. For that we turn to the host of TV's "Pet Keeping," Marc Marrone, and his fine feathered friends, Harry and Darwin, getting a little taste of his shirt there.

First rule, don't think of these pets as bird brains, right, Marc?

MARC MARRONE, HOST, "PET KEEPING": No, everyone thinks that birds are not the brightest animals on the planet. But birds actually have cognitive skills on par with chimpanzees and dolphins.

PHILLIPS: Wow.

MARRONE: They're smarter than dogs. People don't think that they are, though, because they won't do what we tell them do, sort of like a cat. And that's only because birds do what works best for them. Sometime their needs sort of supersede ours.

PHILLIPS: So what do you think of this story out of Philly with this bird that was saying, "Help me, help me," and they thought it was a woman in distress?

MARRONE: Well, it's nice that people got involved. You know, the bird in question, Willow, is a Yellow Nape Amazon. Darwin is an African Gray Parrot and Harry here is a Scarlet Macaw. And the Amazon parrots have very shrill feminine voices. So I can very much see.

Don't forget, Willow is in the house, all right? We had a closed door.

PHILLIPS: Right. MARRONE: And people on the street, so I can very much understand that she might have interpreted those calls to sound just like a woman in distress.

PHILLIPS: Well, do you have any stories like that with -- with Darwin or Harry?

MARRONE: Gee, yes, there's so many of them, especially -- actually the funniest story I have is a bird that we board all the time in our store. The owner's name is Laura, and the bird says "Laura" constantly every 10 seconds all day long.

And when we're boarding that bird, and it rings through the entire store, "Laura, Laura, Laura," so we all -- by the end of the week, we're all saying, "Laura, Laura, Laura," because parrots tend to repeat it like that.

PHILLIPS: You're dreaming about Laura.

MARRONE: My own birds talk very, very well. But for a bird to talk...

PARROT: Hello.

MARRONE: Hello. A bird will talk to get attention. See, many birds will only talk when no one is in the room. And that's because as soon as they say something, someone will run back into the room. They do what works best for them.

PHILLIPS: But you can't get them to say anything on cue right now.

MARRONE: Well, no, birds -- we've all seen birds in -- on television shows and in zoos and in bird parks that are saying things on cue. But those birds are professionally trained using positive reinforcement to do so.

My own birds are just my pets, and I like to let them act like my pets. And I don't try and prompt them or, you know, interfere in the behavior in any way, shape, or form.

PHILLIPS: Well, does Harry or does Darwin have any special skills?

MARRONE: Harry's special skill is annoying me. He likes to take my glasses off on the air, and he likes to chew up my shirts. And Harry has been with me since I was 16 years old. And I'm 46 now. So I figured he's paid his dues and he can basically abuse me in any way, shape, or form that he wants to. And he's very good at it.

PHILLIPS: Yes, he is. The art of stealing glasses. I love it. So Darwin -- Darwin is a little more well-behaved.

MARRONE: Darwin is well-behaved when he wants to be, but he can still be kind of interesting. And Darwin is interesting, because he chose me. I was doing a television show 12 years ago about African Gray Parrots, and Darwin just came out of a bunch of baby birds and came onto my finger and looked at the camera. He wants to give me a kiss now. And looked at the camera and said, "Gee, this is a nice thing to do." And he's been on television with me ever since.

PHILLIPS: I love it.

MARRONE: And no one would buy him, because he's missing three toes.

PHILLIPS: Hey, Marc, Harry is getting to the microphone there. All right. Unfortunately, we've got to -- we've got to wrap this up. But you want to give a plug on the show here? When can we tune in and see you?

MARRONE: Well, our show is called "Pet Keeping with Marc Marrone." And it's on all over the United States. You can find out where it's on in your area by going to our web site, at PetKeeping.com. You see pictures of Harry and Darwin, and when you see me on TV, you'll see me with my pets, and I'm just telling how to live happily with your pets.

PHILLIPS: I love it. All right. Marc, Darwin, Harry.

O'BRIEN: He's biting him.

PHILLIPS: He's a little upset he didn't get a lot of airtime.

O'BRIEN: A parrot hickey.

PHILLIPS: Ooh. Aw, too bad we couldn't get him to talk. All right, Marc. Thank you so much.

MARRONE: You're very welcome.

PHILLIPS: OK.

O'BRIEN: Well, those are fascinating birds, amazing. Amazing.

All right. Candy Crowley, they say in show business you should never follow an animal act. Well, here you go. Here you go.

CANDY CROWLEY, HOST, "INSIDE POLITICS": I just want to thank you all so very much for that.

O'BRIEN: Any old time.

CROWLEY: See you later.

O'BRIEN: See you.

CROWLEY: What, you may wonder, does religion have to do with the fight over President Bush's judicial nominees? Plenty, apparently, now that Bill Frist is joining forces with Christian conservatives on this issue and doing it on TV. We'll have the story and the controversy. And wrap your brain around this on the IRS deadline day. We're told the tax code is seven times longer than the Bible. So what is President Bush doing about that? Find out when "INSIDE POLITICS" begins in just a moment.

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O'BRIEN: Hello. I'm Miles O'Brien, checking stories now in the news.

A trash collector is charged with fatally stabbing former fashion writer Christa Worthington. Christopher McCowen pleaded not guilty and has been ordered held without bail. Worthington's 2002 murder inspired a book and turned the national spotlight on her quiet Cape Cod town.

Shackled and heavily guarded, Brian Nichols returns to the Atlanta courthouse where he's accused of a deadly shooting rampage. One attorney describes security for today's hearing as incredible. Nichols is accused of overpowering a guard and then shooting a judge, a deputy, a court reporter and a federal agent on March 11.

And a defense lawyer engages in some verbal sparring with the mother of Michael Jackson's accuser. Her cross-examination began today on a contentious note. At one point, the woman faced the jury directly and said Attorney Thomas Mesereau was wrong. The jury has already -- the judge, I should say -- has already admonished them both.

And now, INSIDE POLITICS, today with Candy Crowley, in for Judy Woodruff.

END

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