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Taxi Driver Key to Fugitives' Arrest; School Shooter Released; Heathrow Airport Stymied by Strike; Police Track Florida Rape Suspect
Aired August 11, 2005 - 13:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE WAGERS, CAB DRIVER: I mean, to them I was just a friendly cab driver, because I'm the chit-chatty type.
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KYRA PHILLIPS, HOST: A tip from a taxi driver. Now a couple accused of a daring and deadly escape are behind bars. We expect a live news conference this hour.
RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Richard Quest, live at Heathrow Airport in London. Chaos as the world's busiest airport grinds to a halt. B.A.'s suspended check in.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You just relax. You just relax.
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PHILLIPS: The grizzly man, a new film about the man who lived and died with the bears.
From the CNN center in Atlanta, I'm Kyra Phillips. CNN's LIVE FROM starts right now.
Homicidal ambush one day, peaceful surrender the next as a high profile manhunt ends. What's next for George and Jennifer Lynn Hyatte are federal court appearances in Ohio then extradition to Tennessee where the 36 hours of infamy began.
It ended at a low rent Columbus hotel, where the couple traveled by cab from northern Kentucky, having dumped the bloodstained minivan in which they'd fled Tennessee. It was a 115-mile, $200 cab drive after which the driver, on a friend's suggestion, called the cops. They did the rest. The Hyattes gave up.
Mike Wagers told his story to reporters.
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WAGERS: We pretty much drove straight through the whole way. No stops.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did they chit-chat at all? WAGERS: We chit-chatted about a lot of different things, and none of it was really important. None of it was, you know, had anything to do. I asked them where they were from, and they said they were from Virginia. And I don't know how true any of that is, but I mean, other than the Amway business, you know, everything else seemed legitimate to me. I feel kind of funny being involved in it, you know, not having a clue.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: CNN's Bob Franken picks up the story from the scene of the courthouse shootout early Tuesday in Kingston, Tennessee. Bob, what more do you know?
BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's going to be the scene, also, of the return of one or both of the defendants. We're expecting that news conference from the sheriff, as you pointed out. It will be his responsibility to set the parameters for everything from release of information to security. You can imagine that there's going to be very little release of information and very heavy security.
Now, the legal process is just beginning in Ohio. We have the first evidence of that on new mug shots that are taken of both George Hyatte and, in particular, Jennifer Hyatte. You'll notice that it shows her with her dyed black hair.
She was just released from the hospital today after suffering what were apparently wounds in the escape attempt and the gunfire that followed. Now, of course, she'll be returned. But those are the mug shots showing what's going on.
Meanwhile, the investigation is anything but over. There is a tremendous interest in determining whether there has been any accomplice or accomplices involved in this, a variety of things, Kyra, that are pointing investigators to want to know more.
PHILLIPS: Bob, quick question for you: according to the Department of Corrections, they are saying there was no physical contact between these two. Their mail, their phone calls were monitored since they'd been married. So the question, how'd they pull this off?
FRANKEN: Well, that is one of the things that is really stoking the interest and the possibility that there were other parties involved or at least one other party. There had been no visitation rights under these circumstances. There had not been a visitation. There had been no real direct contact. So that is one of the things.
Another factor, what about the placement of the two cars? How could Jennifer -- Jennifer do this, allegedly do this, in any case, without some help? These are questions that are really occupying now the authorities. They have said since the very beginning that they're very interested in the possibility that somebody else might have been involved.
PHILLIPS: All right. Bob Franken, we'll continue to check in with you. Thank you so much.
Well, turning 21 is a milestone for anybody, but for Mitchell Johnson, it's a key to a jail cell. Less than seven and a half years after Johnson and a young friend opened fire on students and teachers at Westside Middle School in Jonesboro, Arkansas, Johnson goes free today with no criminal record.
That rampage of March '98 killed four students and a teacher and wounded 10 others. Both young shooters were tried and convicted as juveniles. As a free man, Johnson may choose to live somewhere else.
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SHERIFF JACK MCCANN, CRAIGHEAD COUNTY, ARKANSAS: There can be anything happen from just minor harassment to something very serious could happen if he stays here. We could not guarantee his safety if he moved back to Jonesboro.
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PHILLIPS: Mitchell Johnson is not the only school shooter to become an adult behind bars. We thought we'd do a quick check to see what happened to some of the other notorious teen gunmen and whether they, too, might eventually be released. Here's what we found.
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PHILLIPS (voice-over): On October 1, 1997, 16-year-old Luke Woodham opened fire on classmates at Pearl High School in Mississippi, killing two and wounding seven others. Police discovered later he had stabbed his mother to death before coming to the school.
Almost eight years later, Luke Woodham remains in a maximum security Mississippi state prison. Tried and convicted as an adult, Woodham is serving three back-to-back life sentences plus 140 years for his crimes.
December 1997 in Paducah, Kentucky, 14-year-old Michael Carneal pulled out a handgun at a morning prayer circle. When he stopped shooting, three of his fellow students were killed and five wounded. Carneal pleaded guilty but mentally ill when he was tried as an adult. He is serving a life sentence, but he will be eligible for parole in 17 years.
On May 20, 1998, in Springfield, Oregon, 15-year-old Kip Kinkel killed his parents, then went to school the next day, where he killed two classmates and wounded more than 20 others before being tackled by fellow students. He had been suspended for bringing a gun to school just days before.
Kinkel entered into a plea bargain where he accepted 25 years for the murders, but the judge in that case added 40 months for each attempted murder, finally sentencing Kinkel to almost 112 years without parole.
The Oregon Supreme Court let that sentence stand, refusing to hear an appeal from Kinkel's attorneys in 2002.
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PHILLIPS: Extremists, yes, but a terrorist? A Syrian born cleric who's lived in Britain for 20 years is being held in Beirut, Lebanon, today, where he traveled over the weekend, reportedly to visit his mother. Sheikh Omar Bakri Mohammed may have been a candidate for deportation from the U.K. in light of his admittedly extreme positions, but he insists he's neither a danger nor an instigator. Lebanon wants to know more about Bakri's plans there.
Deported from Zambia, wanted in America, held at least another month in Britain. Haroon Rashid Aswat, a British national, is suspected of plotting to build a terror training camp in Oregon. At a brief court appearance today in London, he was ordered held until another hearing, September 8. His extradition possible sometime later.
While we're on London, one of the world's busiest airports is anything but after a food worker strike that prompted a sympathy walkout, leading to a virtual stand down of British Airways.
CNN's Richard Quest is in the heart of all that chaos at Heathrow.
What else, Richard?
QUEST: Well, it couldn't be much worse. Height of the holiday season and for the third year running, B.A. has been hit by some form of unofficial industrial action.
B.A. is the largest, dominant carrier, if you like, here at Heathrow Airport, and Heathrow Airport is the world's busiest international airport with planes and flights, literally dozens of flights every day, especially from the United States, planes from the U.S. tending to leave in the late afternoon, early evening to arrive at Heathrow tomorrow morning.
So, Kyra, for anybody who is planning to come to Britain tomorrow on B.A. and is leaving tonight, there's going to be serious, serious problems, indeed.
Steve Ashton is with me now. Steve is one of those passengers who was hoping to leave Heathrow. You're going to where today?
STEVE ASHTON, PASSENGER: Well, probably nowhere, to be perfectly honest. But we were due to go to Nairobi, fly on from Nairobi somewhere else. We've got a number of connecting flights and I don't know what we're going to do.
QUEST: What have you been told?
ASHTON: Absolutely nothing. Just that we can't go into the building. There's hundreds of people are waiting outside, people arriving, a steady stream of cars arriving minute by minute, and we're told nothing, left completely in the dark. QUEST: I can tell you that short haul flights have been canceled. Probably most long haul flights will be canceled tonight. Where are you going to sleep?
ASHTON: You haven't got a spare room in your house, have you? Absolutely no idea. If that's the case, we're going to have to sleep -- either get another flight so we can join the hundreds of people all clamoring for hotel rooms. Who knows?
QUEST: All right, Steve. Many thanks. Good luck in your quest to find somewhere this evening.
The point to bear in mind about this, Kyra, as with all airport crises, there are thousands of people across the airport. Put it this way: you've got several thousand in the check-in. You've got thousands more in the departure lounge. You've got thousands at the gate and you've got thousands starting to build up from British Airways planes that have landed where they can't get off.
This is going to be nothing short of chaos for hours to come and, frankly, is going to last well into tomorrow.
The message Kyra, if you're flying to Britain to London's Heathrow Airport on British Airways tonight -- and it's really only B.A. American, United, the other two carriers that come into Heathrow won't have problems, but B.A. from the states, deep problems indeed.
PHILLIPS: And real quickly, Richard. We had heard this might have affected security, but that is not the case, right?
QUEST: No, this is entirely industrial action. The catering workers are on strike. The baggage loaders have gone on strike in sympathy. You can't get your food and, more importantly, they won't load the planes. And of course, you can't have your passengers going without their suitcases.
PHILLIPS: All right. Richard Quest, live from Heathrow Airport. Thank you so much.
And straight ahead we still are awaiting that press conference on that couple that was captured last night after being on the run for hours. We're expecting a news conference. We'll take you as soon as we have it. More LIVE FROM right after this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS (voice-over): Next on LIVE FROM, will narrowing menu choices also narrow your waistline? New York City restaurants just say no to trans-fats.
Later on LIVE FROM, looking for love with serial killers?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think he's cute.
PHILLIPS: Why some women can't stay away from bad boys behind bars. Also ahead, did Jesus Christ walk down these steps? An archaeologist's find may change how some scholars interpret the Bible.
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PHILLIPS: And this just in to CNN. We are being told that tomorrow 10 a.m. in Columbus, Ohio, an extradition hearing is expected for that couple we've been telling you about, the escaped Tennessee prison inmate and his wife, George and Jennifer Hyatte. Once again, tomorrow morning, 10 a.m. Eastern Time. Extradition hearing in Columbus, Ohio. We are waiting for a news conference also. We're going to bring that to you live as soon as it happens.
Meanwhile, a rape suspect on the loose. Area schools in lockdown. It's happening right now in Pembroke Pines, Florida, where authorities at this point are searching by air and by land. Reporter Dave Kartunen with our affiliate WSVN is on the scene -- Dave.
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DAVE KARTUNEN, WSVN CORRESPONDENT: Police here in Pembroke Pines continue to work this scene off of Pembroke Pines -- Pines Boulevard here at 180th Avenue. They had a diver in the water looking for evidence and a police spokesperson says that that diver did find some evidence. However, they will not tell us what that evidence is.
This all happened just before 9 on a busy commute here on Pines Boulevard when a woman stepped off of a Broward bus, was followed by a man who then took her behind these shrubs here behind me, and raped her.
They are looking for him. There has been a dragnet in place. Five schools have been locked down. They have gotten a picture from that Broward Transit bus, but they have not released the picture of that suspect yet.
They are looking for a black male, 22 years old, six feet tall with a slim build, a thin mustache, wearing a gray shirt and jeans. Any information, you're urged to call Broward Crimestoppers, 944-493- TIPS.
That's the latest live in Pembroke Pines. Dave Kartunen, 7 News.
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PHILLIPS: All right, Dave. Thank you so much.
And we are getting word now that those schools have now been reopened. That lockdown is now off.
News now across America, buried with full military honors, topping our news across America, an Iraqi pilot becomes the first from his country laid to arrest among many of America's heroes. Captain Ali Abbas and four U.S. Air Force Special Ops airmen died when their plane crashed in May. The remains, which could not be separated, buried today at Arlington in one coffin, five names on that gravestone.
Road closed due to giant crater. All this caused with a big road loaded with more than 35,000 pounds of explosives overturned and caught fire. At least 19 people were hurt, including the driver. No word when that road might reopen.
Off the menu. New York City wants restaurant chiefs to cook without trans-fats. That means dumping many margarines and frying oils, of course. Experts say it will be heart smarter and healthier for all.
Well, the fight for life. Normally we think of doctors as healers, right, not necessarily patients? Well, today our senior medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, brings us the very personal fight waged by one cancer doctor. Here's the story.
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DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Ten years ago, Dr. Martin Raber (was on one side in the war on cancer, as chief of physicians at M.D. Anderson.
DR. MARTIN RABER, ONCOLOGIST: I was arguably at the top of my game. I was physician chief of M.D. Anderson. I was doing a lot of very interesting studies in oncology.
GUPTA (on camera): You were on this upward trajectory like a rocket, it sounds like, here at M.D. Anderson.
M. RABER: I was doing well.
GUPTA: You were doing well.
M. RABER: I was doing well.
GUPTA (voice-over): Then cancer almost killed him. Dr. Raber had lymphoma, a rare cancer of the blood. His prognosis, poor. At home, four children and a frightened wife.
DR. ADELE RABER, WIFE OF CANCER SURVIVOR: It was very scary, because of course, his disease did not have a cure rate. There was a lot of fear in how am I going to make this all work out? How are we going to take care of the kids and take care of Marty?
M. RABER: I can remember being on gurneys a lot, particularly when I was really ill. Your time is spent in waiting rooms. Your time is spent with clerks.
And I took Interferon for two years, which is not a drug that I would particularly wish on people.
And I reoriented my career away from patient care. I had big time doctor/patient confusion. I couldn't decide if I was a patient or the doctor. You know, I didn't practice medicine for about four or five years. And I was really sick. I was on the sofa for a year.
GUPTA: His recovery took five years, and when he came back to work...
M. RABER: Hi, Erin, how are you? Good to see you.
GUPTA: ... it was for the patients.
M. RABER: Tell me how you're feeling. How's your pain?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's probably about a two or something.
M. RABER: I interacted differently with the patients. I had a different sense than the other physicians with me about where the patient was and about what that patient need to hear.
I don't think I have to tell a patient every time I see them, "Hey, you know you're going to die of this disease soon," but I have to tell them once, and I have to have that discussion. We have to lock eye contact, and I have to know that they got it on some level.
GUPTA (on camera): How important is it for you as a doctor to give a patient a few more months of life?
M. RABER: It's always the same question: at what price? One of my patients a couple of months ago said to me, "Dr. Raber, you're just trying to buy time for me."
I said, "Of course, that's what I do for a living; I buy time for people."
GUPTA: Would it be fair to say that we've done a lot towards improving the quality of life that's left, and not as much towards the quantity?
M. RABER: Looking at the population as a whole, at the big numbers, that's probably true.
Lots of small victories, but we haven't worn the war. And for the people who enjoy the small victories, like me and my illness, it's really great.
But for the vast majority of patients who die of their disease, not a whole lot has changed. When you treat cancer all day, you know, you win a lot; you lose a lot and you're humbled by the disease.
GUPTA (voice-over): While cancer robs its victims, Dr. Raber found it can also give something back.
M. RABER: After you've had serious illness, you think about life a lot differently, and you appreciate life a lot more. And in many ways life is better.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Cancer is the No. 1 killer of Americans under 85 years old. This Sunday at 8 p.m. Eastern, Dr. Sanjay Gupta takes you to the front lines of the war on cancer: "CNN PRESENTS: TAMING THE BEST, INSIDE THE WAR ON CANCER."
Straight ahead, nominee under attack. An abortion rights group releases a new ad against Supreme Court nominee John Roberts, but do they have their facts straight?
And the true story of a life gone wild, a new film about a man who was killed by the grizzlies he loved.
ANNOUNCER: You're watching LIVE FROM on CNN, the most trusted name in news.
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PHILLIPS: Well, it's a story we've been following all day. And right now we're monitoring a news conference that's going to be happening any moment out of Tennessee. We're talking about the capture of a fugitive husband and his wife in Ohio, he a career criminal serving a long sentence, she a divorced mother and one-time nurse, now accused of murder.
How'd they end up together? CNN's Adaora Udoji has the story.
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ADAORA UDOJI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They are killers, like Scott Peterson, serial murders and pedophiles like John Wayne Gacy, but women still flock to them.
Richard Ramirez terrorized the greater Los Angeles area in the '80s, torturing and murdering 13 people. In prison, though, he was nicknamed the Death Row Romeo?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just wanted to see what he looked like. I think he's cute.
UDOJI: Why? Because women fought over him. In 1996, freelance journalist Doreen Lioy married him in a San Quentin Prison waiting room.
DOREEN LIOY RAMIREZ, WIFE OF RICHARD RAMIREZ: I'm ecstatically happy today and very proud to have married Richard and to be his wife.
UDOJI: Lyle Menendez, convicted of brutally murdering his wealthy parents in Los Angeles, got a letter from former model Anna Eriksson. He's in prison for life. She married him anyway and reportedly divorced him after finding out he was writing to another woman.
How could anyone choose a convicted felon who's committed such heinous crimes?
SANDRA BROWN, AUTHOR: Women have had a long fascination with bad boys, but the problem is that pathological men that are that dangerous and that pathological by nature, do not change. UDOJI: Still, prison romances blossom all the time, say California prison officials. And today the Internet has made those connections easier with web sites like PrisonPenPals.com.
Because most inmates get out of prison, relationships to look forward to can be a good thing, those officials say.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For better or for worse...
UDOJI: Author Asha Bendele met her husband, a convicted murderer, while taking a class working in prison. They married five years later, nearly 15 years after his crime.
ASHA BENDELE, AUTHOR, "A PRISONER'S WIFE": The person I met, the value system, the things I saw him do in the facility, the way other people spoke about him said to me whoever he was as a boy of, you know, 17 and a half, he's not now.
UDOJI: She says the stories are complicated. Often the women knew the men before they were in prison, have seen another side of them, though she doesn't doubt some women suffer from a classic rescue syndrome and seek out men they don't know to try and reform them.
Also, psychologists say those men can be charming. Ted Bundy, a law student, had many fooled until he confessed to bludgeoning to death more than 30 women and girls. Carol Moon (ph) sent letters. They married and had a son before his execution.
These kinds of stories people remember, of women chasing men who have committed terrible crimes. And many simply don't understand.
Adaora Udoji, CNN, New York.
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