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Tracking Hurricane Wilma; Police Arrest 16-Year-Old in Connection With Killing of Pamela Vitale

Aired October 20, 2005 - 13:00   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Tracking Hurricane Wilma, Florida declares a state of emergency. We're your hurricane headquarters.
A break in the case. Police arrest a 16-year-old in connection with the killing of Pamela Vitale, the wife of TV legal analyst David Horowitz. We're on the developing story.

Breast cancer breakthrough, a treatment that's cutting relapse rates in half. An oncologist shares with us why cancer patients should be excited about the drug.

Live from B control at the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Kyra Phillips. CNN's LIVE FROM starts right now.

Better never than late, but wicked Wilma is still on track to wallop southwest Florida and the Keys, one day later than first expected. Wilma hasn't made much headway since this time yesterday, still on the doorstep of the Yucatan peninsula, currently a category 4. It's still expected to weaken quite a bit further as it zips across the gulf Mexico.

This is Honduras, where a hurricane warning is in effect. And this is Key West, where unpleasant reality has encroached upon fantasy fest. But some people may have messed the memo. We'll continue talking about this in a moment, but I want to take you straight to Jeb Bush, governor of Florida, holding a live news conference right now about preps for Hurricane Wilma.

GOV. JEB BUSH (R), FLORIDA: Hurricane Wilma remains a dangerous storm in the northwestern Caribbean Sea this afternoon. And our hearts and prayers go out to the folks in the Yucatan peninsula that may in fact be hit by a category 4 or 5 force storm. We've seen the impacts of that in our state, and they are devastating.

The timing of the landfall for our own state has changed, but not the track as of yet. Based on the latest official forecasts, Hurricane Wilma will make landfall in the Florida Keys or the Florida peninsula south of the I-4 corridor on Sunday afternoon or evening.

It's too early to specify how strong Wilma will be once it reaches our coast, but Floridians south of the I-4 corridor and in the keys should prepare for the possibility of a major hurricane making landfall late in the weekend. And to our friends and the folks living in southwest Florida, many, I'm sure, will compare this storm to Hurricane Charley and think, "Well, perhaps it may not be as strong a storm as Hurricane Charley, so therefore we don't have to worry about it as much."

You do. Every storm is different. Ben will talk a little bit about that, but the possibility of storm surge, which did not occur to the same extent with Hurricane Charley, is a real threat here. And people need to do what they have been doing in our state, for which I'm grateful, which is to heed the advice of local officials as we prepare for this storm.

I wish we had the technology to say exactly where a storm's going to go, exactly what will happen, before it hit. But as we know, we don't have the technology to determine where that will be. Hurricanes remain unpredictable, and we should not focus on this skinny black line that seems to draw everybody's attention on television. We should focus on the cone that you see as the storm approaches.

While we can never be certain of when or where a hurricane will land, we do know that each and every one of these storms are very dangerous. We've seen the devastation tropical storms even have had, and certainly hurricanes, can cause. I ask Floridians and the tourists that we're fortunate enough to have in our state to focus on the storm, not the line, but the whole storm itself, to make their decisions.

And there's ample time now for people to make decisions about what they will do in the next 72 hours. Today's message really is about individual preparedness. We need to take advantage of the time we have before a storm and so, today and tomorrow is a great time for people to pull out their family preparedness plan. And if they don't have one, they ought to go to Floridadisaster.org and download one and create a preparedness plan for your family.

Part of that means you need to have nonperishable food for 72 hours, to make sure you have fresh water, to make sure you have batteries, battery-powered radios and lighting so that you can survive what will happen after a storm. Part of it may mean that you need to prepare where you're going to be if you're in a low-lying area, in the coastal area.

It's possible in the next couple of days you're going to be asked to evacuate. You need to know where you're going to go. Shelters will be open. In fact, all the counties in southwest Florida and in southeast Florida now have pet shelters.

No longer can people use it as an excuse, "I'm not leaving because my dog's too important to me." We know how important your pets are. And everybody will have a chance to evacuate to a shelter. Or if you don't have to evacuate to a shelter go to a friend's house. This is the time to be planning for all of those things.

We also want to make sure that particularly our elderly population use these next two days to make sure you have ample medications. We have -- all of the pharmacies are open, obviously, and we want to make sure that you have your medications to be able to get through the storm.

Other steps Floridians can take is to make sure you have cash on hand. Make sure that you anchor down objects such as lawn furniture and other things around your house, to make sure you store valuables and personal papers in a water-proof container. Probably a good idea to actually -- something I never really did until after Hurricane Andrew, probably read your property insurance policy.

Schools in southwest Florida will be closed tomorrow. This is a time to prepare. And if you do that, then the first responders will be there by your side after storm comes through. And, trust me, we will be there.

As a prime example, to try to give you an example of what it is for individual preparedness, I had the chance to talk to the acting director of FEMA today, David Paulson. David's from south Florida. I said, "David, can we do anything for your home?" And he said, "I've sent my wife down to Davey to baton down the hatches." So if David Paulson and his family can prepare for their homes in southeast Florida, all of us can follow suit.

All resident should stay tuned to local emergency officials for specific information regarding the advisories that will be forthcoming and evacuations. Remember, evacuations are done at the local level. Currently, mandatory evacuations are under way for tourists, and voluntary evacuations are in effect in the Florida Keys.

There is an adequate supply of fuel for everyone. In fact, we have over 200 million gallons of fuel in our ports, which is a significantly high number. And the surveys we do for gasoline stations throughout the state show that there's ample supplies of fuel, and so you don't have to horde.

Please make sure you have ample supplies of gasoline, too. When you need to evacuate or shelter in place, you have enough fuel to get through this period. But don't horde, because there's more than adequate supplies.

As of last night, 2,400 National Guardsmen were put on alert. This gives our troops time to prepare their own families and homes for the storm before they're mobilized. We are prepared to mobilize up to 7,500 troops if needed. Thanks to the leadership of General Burnett and his colleagues, amongst the generals across the country, we have a great system in place.

The National Guard continues to do fantastic work. Through that EMAC agreement, we will have 18 Blackhawks and Chinooks from other states that are on standby to assist us, and they're prepared to be at Cecil Field in Jacksonville by Friday if needed.

FEMA is also here, for which we're really grateful. We appreciate the federal government is ready to stand by. I've spoken to Secretary Chertoff and to the director of FEMA this morning. And they are willing to offer us any support that they have.

Scott, wherever you are, we appreciate all the help that FEMA has given us to get ready. Yesterday, I had the chance to travel to Washington to explain to the members of Congress how our response system works. I told them that one of the reasons why Florida has been successful under a lot of adversity -- and trust me, these storms are chaotic.

A lot of people suffer because of them, notwithstanding our efforts to try to help. One of the reasons why we might do better than other places is because Florida is comprised of Floridians, people who understand how important it is to prepare for these storms. And without that personal commitment, without that culture of preparedness, the emergency responders that are gathered here, behind here and throughout the state, would have a more difficult job.

I am proud that Floridians understand how important it is to prepare, and I would urge them to, once again, for the umpteenth time in the last 13 1/2 months, to do what they have done to make us proud. With your permission, I'd like to say a few words in Spanish.

(SPEAKS IN SPANISH)

PHILLIPS: Florida Governor Jeb Bush, of course, preparing everybody, or telling everybody rather, to prepare for Wilma as it gets closer to the area there. Take advantage of the time, he says, from your insurance papers to your family plan. Meteorologist Bonnie Schneider also telling us that Wilma could strengthen again before it weakens again. She's in the weather center with more on its direct path -- Bonnie?

BONNIE SCHNEIDER, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, Kyra, there's a really good reason for why we're expecting the storm to possibly even get back up to category 5 strength. Right now, it's category 4 with maximum winds at 145 miles per hour. As I put this loop into motion, watch the eye. You'll see it kind of close, get really tight, and then in the more recent pictures, open up wide again.

And if you're wondering what this means, it could mean very well that the storm, because it's so powerful, is going through an eye wall replacement cycle. This happens in category 5 storms, we've seen it with Katrina, we saw it with other storms as well. And what happens is actually two eyewalls form because the storm is so strong, an inner one and an outer, that outer one I just showed you in the satellite loop.

Eventually, the inner eyewall collapses, leaving only the outer eye wall, which is what you saw. Eventually, the outer eyewall will tighten up, and as it tightens up, like we've been talking about the figure skater that brings their arms in to go faster and faster, the storm strengthens. And that's exactly what we think is happening right now with Wilma.

As it gets closer to the Yucatan peninsula, this storm is likely to become a category 5 and really damage the area for Cozumel, Cancun, and down through Chalum (ph). The question is, where will Wilma go next, and how will it affect Florida? Looking at the track, things have slowed down quite a bit. The movement right now with Wilma is to the west-northwest at 7 miles per hour.

Eventually, a right turn is expected towards Florida. But one good thing to note is, as the storm will interact with the Yucatan, come over slightly cooler waters of the Gulf of Mexico, we're comparing it now to the Western Caribbean Sea, but it's still pretty warm, but slightly cooler.

But more importantly, the wind shear that will occur over the weekend is likely to weaken Wilma just a little bit. It will still come in as a major storm, but most likely not as category 4 or a 5. So we're watching for the storm to make landfall sometime in the later part of the weekend or possibly even early next week on Monday.

This is a changing situation because our computer models have really been all over the place. They're starting to get a little bit more consensus, but as you can see here, and we zoom in closer, you'll see that eventually, the storm will work its way towards south Florida, and this is kind of a compilation of all the models.

The hurricane center takes all this information and puts it together into one forecast track for you. But just so you can see, this is what we're dealing with here. Quite a wide area, a cone of uncertainty -- Kyra?

PHILLIPS: All right, Bonnie, we'll continue to check in. Thanks so much. And you may recall, tourists in the Keys were ordered out yesterday, but mandatory evacuations of residents are now due to start tomorrow morning rather than today. CNN's Allan Chernoff is in Punta Gorda on the mainland, just north of Ft. Meyers.

What can you tell us, Allan?

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, You heard the governor refer to Hurricane Charley, that was back in August of 2004. And it pounded this town, Punta Gorda, and it's still recovering. Right behind me, you can even see that sign. That used to be a Holiday Inn. The Holiday Inn is entirely gone. All that remains is that damaged sign and a few parking spaces.

Just beyond, you see the yellow building. That's a condominium. They've been rebuilding for the past 14 months. Put $8 million into it, and this morning, the contractor had workers actually covering up dry wall with tarp, putting away cabinet doors, whole bunch of things that were going to go inside of those condos. And they are certainly hoping that Wilma stays away.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SUE HAYES, BELFOR USA: I've been here almost 15 months. I'm really concerned because I've put a lot of time and effort. I almost got this whole building here completely done on the inside. I mean, if it takes off and flies away, I've put all my time and effort in for nothing. So I'm hoping it goes by.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHERNOFF: Residents have been busy shopping, getting their bottled water, canned food, also gasoline. One person told me he waited online yesterday at a gas station for 45 minutes. So lots of people have been loading up not only their gas tanks but also fuel containers. The governor was urging people not to horde gasoline, but some of that certainly has been happening. The big question of course, "Should I stay? Should I go?" Lots of people have not yet made up their mind. A few folks a little while ago told me they still wanted to see, will that hurricane make the turn that all the forecasters have been predicting? They want to see the turn first, then they may leave -- Kyra?

PHILLIPS: Allan Chernoff, we'll talk to you again, thanks.

Later on LIVE FROM, a breast cancer treatment breakthrough.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I had to take the risk because there was still the chance that I could die.

PHILLIPS: A drug that keeps tumors from coming back. Who it helps and what it means for fighting cancer.

Also ahead, the man in the eye of the post-hurricane storm. Straight-shooting, straight-talking General Russel Honore joins me live.

And coming up, a generous boy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When I was still a baby, I was thinking I was going to get a German shepherd.

PHILLIPS: And the dream he was willing to give up to help hurricane victims finally comes true.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Back live in B control. Celebrity lawyer, sensational murder. Now a teenage suspect. As CNN first reported about an hour ago, police in the eastern suburb of San Francisco have made an arrest in Saturday's beating death of Pamela Vitale, wife of prominent attorney Daniel Horowitz. CNN's Ted Rowlands joins me now on the phone with the details -- Ted?

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, we're waiting a press conference which is supposed to start at 11:00 p.m. Pacific Time to fill in more details. But what we can tell you, according to a source close to this investigation, a law enforcement source, a 16-year-old boy has been taken into custody for the murder of Pamela Vitale.

This individual, we believe, is a neighbor, lived in that general area in Lafayette, California, and has been taken into custody. "The San Francisco Chronicle" this morning has reported that the boy has bruises on him consistent with a fight, and that the murder weapon may have been a piece of molding.

Keep in mind that Daniel Horowitz and his wife Pamela Vitale were in the middle of a construction job of a palatial estate in the town of Lafayette, California. And a piece of molding would have been easy to come by in that there were construction materials all around this area. This was a house that was being built and had been being built for a while. It's also allowed easy access to people. In fact, the gate had a code, but the code was written on a piece of paper so the construction workers could come and go.

Access to this area would have been easy, which made this investigation difficult. For last four days, investigators have been scouring this area and following up on hundreds of leads. And today, they are telling us that a 16-year-old boy has been taken into custody. They believe that this individual acted alone and is responsible for the death of Pamela Vitale.

PHILLIPS: Now, Ted, there was word out there that possibly a restraining order had been filed against a neighbor. Do we know if there was a restraining order already filed against this 16-year-old?

ROWLANDS: There was no restraining order filed against the 16- year-old, and it's unclear what the relationship, if any, between the 16-year-old and Daniel Horowitz and/or Pamela Vitale was. Whether this was an individual they knew, an individual that would have the confidence to come up to the house in terms of being let into the house, or if this was just a person that lived in the area and they had no idea who this kid is. We don't know the relationship between the family and this 16-year-old boy.

The restraining order you're referring to was for another neighbor that police talked to early on in the investigation. Somebody that, in the restraining order that was applied for, seemed to be a real threat to Daniel Horowitz and his wife. Police said that that individual was very cooperative and we now know that he had nothing to do with this. From the police mind, they believe that they have the right person in custody, a 16-year-old boy.

PHILLIPS: All right, Ted Rowlands in Martinez, California, thank you so much. And later in the hour, we're going to talk with Nancy Grace. As you know, Nancy has a show on Headline News here on CNN and also, is very good friends with Daniel Horowitz and knew his wife Pamela very well. She had an exclusive interview. We're going to talk with her more about the case.

Now, what did the top brass at FEMA know about Hurricane Katrina and when did they know it? Well, a FEMA rep who reached New Orleans before Katrina hit told a U.S. Senate panel today that he alerted higher-ups repeatedly, once the storm struck, that the situation was dire.

In response, says this field official, aides to former FEMA boss Michael Brown said, "Thanks for calling." That's not exactly how Brown recalls it, though. We get the back and forth now from CNN's Kathleen Koch in our Washington bureau -- Kathleen?

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, chilling testimony this morning from that man, the only FEMA official in the city of New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina struck. Marty Bahamonde told Senators about how he informed FEMA at 11:00 a.m. Monday that the levees were breaking, and about how despite that fact, all day, buses kept bringing more and more people to the Superdome instead of taking them out of the city while they could.

Bahamonde talked about how, despite his requests, a FEMA medical team didn't arrive there at the Superdome until Tuesday morning followed by a FEMA emergency response team later that afternoon. He also talked about the lengths he had to go to personally to find food to feed tens of thousands trapped inside the dome.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARTY BAHAMONDE, FEMA REGIONAL DIRECTOR: I specifically remember that I worked diligently with the person who was commanding the Coast Guard helicopters. And I specifically asked them, "Can you send a helicopter out to a location," where I had been told there were five trucks of food and water, but I had no idea if they were actually there. There was just a report that they were.

And I wanted the Coast Guard to fly out there to actually see and let me know that that's where some food was. The Coast Guard did fly out there, confirmed it, landed, cut open the trucks because there were no drivers left of those truck, they were just dropped at a location. And started to put food and water into their helicopter and deliver it to the Superdome. If that didn't happen, there wasn't going to be any food there Tuesday night.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOCH: Bahamonde sent an e-mail to FEMA Secretary Michael Brown Wednesday morning that week saying, quote, "Sir, I know that you know the situation is past critical. Here are some things you might not know. Hotels are kicking people out, thousands gathering in the streets with no food or water. Hundreds still being rescued from homes. The dying patients at the DMAT tent being medevaced. Estimates are many will die within hours."

His response, hours later, he was forwarded this e-mail from Brown's press secretary in Baton Rouge. Quote, "It's important that time is allowed for Mr. Brown to eat dinner. Given that Baton Rouge is getting back to normal, restaurants are getting busy. He needs much more than 20 or 30 minutes."

An exasperated Bahamonde responds, quote, "Just tell her that I just ate an MRE and went to the bathroom in the hallway of the Superdome, along with 30,000 other close friends, so I can understand her concern about busy restaurants." So, Kyra, Senators are trying to find out this morning why there was this massive disconnect, why apparently no one was willing or able to listen to the one man they put on the ground to be the agency's eyes and ears during the disaster.

PHILLIPS: It will be interesting to see if Michael Brown responds to those e-mails and this report. Kathleen Koch, thank you.

Well, who knew what and when, and did some White House chatter play part in the outing of a CIA agent? Suzanne Malveaux if at the White House with the latest on that story -- Suzanne? SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, as you know, of course, a lot of speculation and of course a lot of discussion, leaks, out of the CIA leak investigation. Now what we're learning today from sources familiar with Rove's testimony before the grand jury is simply that Karl Rove, as well as Scooter Libby, the vice president's chief of staff, did discuss the Joe Wilson-Valerie Plame story amongst themselves about what they were discussing with reporters.

The big question here, of course, is whether or not the prosecution is going to simply see this as discussions among officials, basically, the kind of talk that there is in Washington, gossip, if you will. Or if he sees this as some sort of plan or some sort of plot, some sort of conspiracy, for the two of them to try to out Valerie Plame, her covert CIA identity, and tried to get even or get back at Joe Wilson, her husband, the Bush critic.

All of this taking center stage today. At the same time, the backdrop, President Bush meeting with Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas. The two of them talking about the Middle East peace process. But of course, the big question, whether or not the CIA leak investigation and other troubles with the Bush administration is getting in the way or distracting the president from doing his job.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There's some background noise here, a lot of chatter, a lot of speculation and opining. But the American people expect me to do my job and I'm going to.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: And Kyra, of course, that is the line from the president, as well as administration officials, that they are not distracted. You talk to some White House, as well as Republican, insiders who say it's like the elephant in the room. Everyone is pretending it doesn't exist. There is not a lot of talk about it, but there is quite a bit of anxiety -- Kyra?

PHILLIPS: All right, Suzanne Malveaux, thanks so much.

Well, let's stay on the White House track of things, President Bush's choice for the Supreme Court. The Chief Justice Roberts' process was relatively smooth. Harriet Miers' nomination, well, not so much. Let's go to Kimberly Osias in Washington for the latest developments on that -- Kimberly?

KIMBERLY OSIAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, of course, this is a different nomination, a very different picture on Capitol Hill, 21 senators down so far, and Harriet Miers just finished meeting with Senator Kohl of Wisconsin. The two discussed, among other things, the controversial 1989 questionnaire when Miers was running for a position in the Dallas City Council where she checked that she would vote "yes" supporting an amendment banning abortion, except in specific cases where the mother's life is at stake.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. HERB KOHL (D), WISCONSIN: In terms of trying to get at where she might be on Roe v. Wade, and, you know, she made the point that it was at a different time, for a different purpose, that we should not read too much into that in terms of where she might be on the issue of privacy and a woman's right to choose.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

OSIAS: The White House in a bit of a defensive posture with regards to Miers. Earlier, the president staunchly defending his choice, embracing her fresh outlook to the high court.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

G. BUSH: Harriet will answer all the questions asked. But out of this will come a clear picture of a competent, strong, capable woman who shares the same judicial philosophy that I share.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

OSIAS: Senators Specter and Leahy calling for more comprehensive information in that lengthy questionnaire she turned in earlier this week, saying that that information she provided was simply inadequate. They sent Miers a three-page letter calling for more details. Areas of concerns, specifically, they want more detail about her temporary suspension from the D.C. Bar for failing to pay dues.

They also want to know about the organization Miers belongs to, what their objectives are, what they're all about, and a more complete list of cases that Miers litigated when she worked as a corporate lawyer in Texas. The committee is also calling for specifics about constitutional issues during Miers' tenure as White House general counsel.

The committee has asked for these more comprehensive answers by the 26th of October, hoping, of course, to move the confirmation process along. Those hearing are slated to start on the 7th of November with the goal of finishing by Thanksgiving. Judiciary Committee Chairman Specter, however, saying they will take whatever time is need, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, Kimberly Osias, thanks so much.

We're going to check in on the markets at the New York Stock Exchange right after a quick break. More LIVE FROM right after this.

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