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Murder Mystery; Tom DeLay Turns Himself In; Hurricane Wilma Update

Aired October 20, 2005 - 13:59   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, there's word of a major development today in a high-profile case, the murder of Pamela Vitale. Vitale was the wife of Daniel Horowitz, a prominent California attorney and frequent legal commentator.
CNN's Ted Rowlands joins us live with the story with more -- Ted.

RED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, we are awaiting a news conference here in Martinez, California. We expect that in the next few minutes authorities will confirm for everybody that a 16-year-old boy has been arrested in this case. We have through a law enforcement source close to the case been reporting for the last couple of hours that a 16-year-old boy is in custody. And they believe that this young man and only this young man is responsible for the death of Pamela Vitale.

She was found dead on Saturday evening by her husband, Daniel Horowitz, who, as you mentioned, is a defense attorney in the San Francisco Bay area and a frequent guest on many national and local television shows, commenting on different cases that have been going on. Horowitz and a number of other people were questioned in this case.

Authorities have spent the better part of the last four days combing the 12-acre estate where Horowitz and his wife lived. They lived in a mobile home, a double-wide trailer right next to a construction site of their dream home. And they were in the process of finishing -- the process of finishing this 7,000-foot dream home.

The net effect of that is that it was a construction zone, and it was easily accessed. Even though it was a private road and a private area, the code to the security gate was actually written on the security gate so the construction workers could come and go.

It made it difficult for investigators. They talked to dozens and dozens of people over the last four days. And now their investigation has led them to a 16-year-old boy whose residence is in the same vicinity, just less than a mile away from the Horowitz estate. He is in custody, and we expect that to be confirmed within the next few minutes -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, Ted. So as we wait for this live news conference, are we going to find out more about this suspect? Are we going to find out possibly more about his background, the relationship, if, indeed, there was an existing one with Daniel Horowitz, his wife and the 16-year-old? What more are we going to know about this young man?

ROWLANDS: It's tough to say. This agency has kept a lot of things very close to the vest, what they are going to divulge. What we have learned independently is that this individual lives very near the Horowitz estate, basically down a little hill, a private drive, less -- I'd say about a quarter of a mile away from where Daniel Horowitz lived and where Pamela Vitale was found dead.

We know that he is 16. We also know through neighbors that he was a frequent -- you know, he was entrenched in this neighborhood. People know who he is. We have his identity, and we're not reporting it because he is a minor, of course. And until the authorities report his name, we most likely will not.

But we do know a little bit about him. We're hoping to find out more in terms of the relationship. Did Pamela Vitale know this young man well enough to open up her door and say yes, and welcome into the home, or did he have to force his way in? We just don't know that yet. Hopefully we'll get more information about that relationship as the day progresses.

PHILLIPS: All right. Ted Rowlands. We'll wait for that news conference. We'll take it and we'll talk to you again. Thank you so much.

As we stand by, we're talking hurricane.

Bigger, weaker, slower, already a killer, still a monster threat to a half dozen countries. It's Hurricane Wilma, still looming off Yucatan peninsula with top winds of 145 miles an hour, down from 175 this time yesterday, when it briefly set a record for Atlantic storms.

Now, Wilma's now a Category 4, but forecasters warn it could re- intensify before it darts across the southern Gulf of Mexico and loses steam en route to Florida. Cuba is one of those countries in the crosshairs, and 250,000 people are boarding up or moving out or both.

Hurricane and tropical storm warnings are in effect in Honduras, where as much as eight inches of rain is expected and where the land is still soaked from Hurricane Stan, which cause devastating mudslides in Guatemala.

Now, the Florida Keys have pushed back by 24 hours the mandatory evacuations that were due to start today. And many are making good use of that extra time. That's just what the governor wants to see.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. JEB BUSH (R), FLORIDA: Well, 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 to have in our state to focus on this 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...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: We'll get back to talking about the hurricane in just a minute, but we want to take you now live to Martinez, California, where that news conference is beginning with regard to that 16-year- old suspect in the murder of Daniel Horowitz' wife, Pamela Vitale.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

JIMMY LEE, CONTRA COSTA COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPT.: ... of the investigation.

Last night, sheriff's office investigators served two search warrants. One in the city of Walnut Creek, and the other in the city of Lafayette. As a result of the search warrants, investigators started focusing on a 16-year-old male. He is a resident of Lafayette. We cannot and will not identify him.

At 10:00 p.m. last night, the 16-year-old was arrested for murder in connection with the killing of Pamela Vitale. He was booked at juvenile hall, where he remains. We are still trying to establish the exact motive.

The arrest was a culmination of five days of almost nonstop work by numerous sheriff's office personnel, which include homicide investigators, our investigation division, search and rescue personnel. We've also had our crime lab involved and, of course, the Lafayette Police Department.

Although we have a suspect in custody, the investigation is still going on, much more work still needs to be done. As I speak right now, we are still interviewing people, our crime lab is hard at work. We're analyzing evidence and waiting for test results to come back.

We have received numerous tips through our tip line, more than dozens -- I should say dozens of tips have come into our tip line. If anyone has any information about this case, you're asked to call us at 1-866-846-3592.

To repeat the key points, a 16-year-old male juvenile has been arrested for murder in connection with the killing of Pamela Vitale. The investigation is ongoing, much more work needs to be done. If anyone has any information about the case, please call us at 866-846- 3592.

On a production note, we're not planning any further press conferences or briefings or press releases. If we have anything to announce, we'll let you know. We're also not planning any one-on-one interviews or talk shows.

Thank you for your time.

PHILLIPS: You've just been listening to Jimmy Lee with the Contra Costa Sheriff's Department, just giving a brief statement there. We're going to bring our Ted Rowlands back in.

Ted, we didn't really learn much. A 16-year-old male in custody, not identifying that 16-year-old male. But he did extend out a little bit and talked about two search warrants, not just one in Lafayette, but Walnut Creek.

Does that mean that maybe there is another suspect out there? Or this could have been just where the 16-year-old was going back and forth?

ROWLANDS: Well, according to our source, the 16-year-old is the only suspect. The Walnut Creek address where the other search warrant was served may have been the home of a friend.

According to the "San Francisco Chronicle," this individual was with a friend and staying at a friend's house. And that may be the address.

Walnut Creek is a town which is very close to Lafayette. They're adjacent both in the east bay of the San Francisco Bay area, across the bay from San Francisco. And that may be where that other search warrant was served.

But according to our source, the 16-year-old acted alone in the murder of Pamela Vitale, or at least that is what investigators believe. And they believe they have enough evidence, obviously, to arrest him. And he is now in custody.

PHILLIPS: All right. Ted Rowlands, live there from Martinez, California. We'll continue to check in with you.

Meanwhile, as we follow this story, we're getting news in, developing news on in another story.

Representative Tom DeLay, we were telling you earlier on today, was expected to turn himself in after being ordered to do so on behalf of Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office following the issuance of an arrest warrant for him on Wednesday. We are now being told that the representative has turned himself in.

As you know, DeLay has been accused, or he accused, rather, that Austin prosecutor Ronnie Earle of the Travis County district attorney of launching a partisan vendetta against him. And he had been showing that frustration, coming out, of course, with public statements airing out, basically, this tense relationship that the two have had.

Ronnie Earle coming forward and talking about allegations of money laundering on behalf of Tom DeLay. And as the case continued to build up, you'll remember we talked about back on September 28 that a grand jury indicted DeLay and associates of his in a conspiracy charge on allegations that they steered about $190,000 in corporate donations to state legislative candidates back in 2002.

That's what Ronnie Earle has been talking about, sort of had this back and forth. Now we are being told that Tom DeLay has turned himself in on an arrest warrant.

As we get more information we'll bring it to you.

Now let's get back to Hurricane -- not Katrina -- Hurricane Wilma. And it's not Hurricane Bonnie. She's our meteorologist. Bonnie Schneider watching Wilma from the weather center upstairs.

Bonnie, it's hard to keep all these names straight.

BONNIE SCHNEIDER, CNN METEOROLOGIST: And this is the last one, Kyra, unless we go to the Greek alphabet. Let's hope we don't have to do that. The last one on the list, Wilma.

We have the latest advisory for you, the latest update that just came in. Of note is this one is still a Category 4. Wilma's maximum winds are at 145 miles per hour. What's changed, though, is the movement.

Right now it's to the northwest, near five miles per hour. And if that sounds slower to you than what it was earlier, you're right.

The storm has slowed down. This is very bad news for the Yucatan peninsula. We are expecting a direct hit for the Yucatan, anywhere from Tulum, up north, toward Cancun, further south, and towards Cozumel as well.

We're going to be seeing just torrential downpours of rain because this storm is likely to sit around in this area near the Yucatan Channel for a couple of days, dumping very, very heavy rain. And when it comes into the area -- we were talking earlier about that eye wall replacement cycle -- it looks like the hurricane is undergoing that right now -- the storm may even intensify once again to a Category 5 as it gets close to the Yucatan, possibly making landfall. If not, then certainly skirting the coastal area, enough to bring some torrential downpours of rain, wind, and possibly flooding, as well.

Eventually this storm is expected to turn and weaken a bit. It will come into the Gulf of Mexico, certainly a warm environment for hurricanes to grow. But luckily, in this case, this late in the season we're going to see some wind shear that will hopefully weaken the storm a bit.

Still a major hurricane, though, even by Sunday.

The timestamps have changed a bit. And as we get closer looking ahead towards the weekend, we can expect landfall it looks like the latter part of the weekend, Sunday into Monday. This storm possibly could weaken to a Category 2, or maybe even a Category 1 before it makes landfall. It's a little too early to say.

When you're talking about forecasting intensity of hurricanes, that's where you have a really big margin of error. And speaking of the margin of error, don't forget, this is the cone of uncertainty, and it shows the storm could stretch anywhere in this vicinity. So we'll be watching it closely for the state of Florida. And one other note, Kyra. Right now, as we speak, a Hurricane Hunter reconnaissance aircraft is flying directly into Wilma, in and out about three or four times. We'll have some data on that throughout the afternoon.

And of course Chad Miers will have the latest reports on that this evening as well.

PHILLIPS: Bonnie, thanks so much.

SCHNEIDER: Sure.

PHILLIPS: Well, straight ahead, preparing for Hurricane Wilma. It's heading for Florida, and FEMA's acting director will brief reporters about what's being done to get ready. We're going to have that.

Also ahead, the man of action in the days after Hurricane Katrina. Hailed as a hero by Gulf Coast residents, Toby Keith's highest ranking fan, Lieutenant General Russel Honore large and in charge right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: U.S. Congressman Tom DeLay has turned himself in at the Harris County Sheriff's Bonding Office in Richmond, Texas. We told you that just moments ago as soon as we found out.

Sean Callebs is there to tell us more of how it all went down -- Sean.

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, actually, we are in Fort Bend County, which is just about 30 miles outside of Houston. Harris County -- Houston is actually in Harris County.

Where we are, this is Tom DeLay's home district. This is where DeLay and his attorney, Dick DeGuerin, called the county sheriff here yesterday. The sheriff's name, Milton Wright (ph).

They had a discussion on the phone at least once yesterday, trying to work out some kind of agreement where DeLay could turn himself in here. And that was the undering that Wright (ph) had been working on all day. In fact, he came out and spoke with us, oh, I'd say about two hours ago, saying that he had not heard from DeGuerin today, he had called his office and he said, please let me know when you're going to come down here, and if you're not going to come down here, let me know, as well.

Well, he got a call about five minutes ago from DeLay's attorney. And at that point that's when the sheriff here found out that DeLay had indeed turned himself in at Harris County.

Now, one -- the reasons that he could have done this was to avoid simply the crush of media that has gathered outside the Fort Bend County courthouse. We have been out here since before dawn. There are probably close to two dozens, perhaps even three dozen journalists out here who have been covering every entrance of this courthouse throughout the day.

Now, this is something that has been ongoing for some time. And the fact that it got to the point where the former House majority leader had to turn himself in after an arrest warrant was issued, a lot of observers are saying that that really shows the degree of animosity that has built up between DeLay and the prosecutor who brought these charges, Kyra.

So, very clear -- we're not clear exactly why he chose Harris County, but certainly one of the reasons people believe here is just to avoid the fact walking into the courthouse and getting the mug shot out early today. And also the fact that he was fingerprinted. But no doubt we'll have those pictures to you sometime very soon.

PHILLIPS: All right. Sean Callebs. Thank you so much. We'll continue to follow up on that story.

Meanwhile, we have been talking about a FEMA official who rode out Hurricane Katrina all morning. He says that he alerted officials in Washington of a catastrophe gripping New Orleans but couldn't get reaction. The testimony of Michael Bahamonde directly contradicts that of a former FEMA director, Michael Brown, who says that he wasn't aware of how bad things were until the days after Katrina.

Well, in an appearance today before the Senate Homeland Security Committee, Bahamonde said that he spoke directly with Brown by telephone after the first levee broke on day one.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL BAHAMONDE, REGIONAL FEMA DIRECTOR: And I told him that there was going to be a critical need to get commodities into the city, and that you weren't going to be able to do it by ground transportation, and that the situation was only going to get worse because the levee that I had witnessed myself, as you can see there, was just pouring water into the city. And there was no sign that that was going to stop any time soon.

SEN. SUSAN COLLINS (R), MAINE: And what was his response?

BAHAMONDE: He didn't ask me any questions. All he said was, "Thank you. I'm now going to call the White House."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, as you know, Brown stepped down from FEMA amid a storm of controversy over the government's slow response. He has said that most of the blame should rest with local officials in Louisiana.

Well, I'll tell you where blame doesn't lie, and that's with the straight-shooting, take charge John Wayne dude who never got stuck on stupid. He was exactly what the Gulf Coast needed right after Hurricane Katrina.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. GEN. RUSSEL HONORE, U.S. ARMY: Don't get stuck on stupid, reporters.

The storm had a damn vote, and the water is there. You can't vote that water out of the city of New Orleans.

That's BS. I will take that on behalf of every first responder down there as BS.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: That's right. We'll never forget General Russel Honore's one-liners. But we'll remember what he did for the hurricane victims even more.

When President Bush assigned this Louisiana-born general to command Joint Task Force Katrina, Honore knew this would be one of the most difficult missions in his career. But he was ready. And he became an overnight hero.

General Honore tells me he is tired of all this media attention, but that's what he gets for not playing politics and speaking his mind.

I had to promise him that this would be the last time that I would ask him for an interview, but I might have to break that promise if he keeps continue to do his job so well.

General, good to see you.

HONORE: Good afternoon.

PHILLIPS: Am I in trouble?

HONORE: Not yet.

PHILLIPS: Not yet. Excellent. So far we're off to a great start.

Do you miss the region?

HONORE: Well, that was quite a mission. And it was quite an undertaking to represent the men and women in the Department of Defense and the great team of people in Louisiana. And from across the country they came to try and help the disaster victims and to save lives and to get them to a place where they were safe and secure.

And I'm glad we're at a point of recovery now where they're moving those American citizens to shelter. And that is still a lot to be done, and they still need a lot of love and attention as we get those families transitioned from shelters into temporary homes -- over.

PHILLIPS: Well, you talk about love and attention. And, you know, that is one really amazing thing about you. You spent a lot of time with the people. You spent a lot of time talking with them and reassuring them, not only carrying on your duties as a soldier, but you were a true friend to a lot of these people. What are you going to remember the most? As you come home now and you get back with 1st Army here in Atlanta and move on to your other mission, what do you think touched you the most about the people and about what you dealt with there?

HONORE: Well, every person you saw that had capability and had responsibility for doing the search and recovery put the entire heart and mind into it. The passion to help take care of fellow Americans was something that I will always remember. And people coming from all over the country just to help and do what they could, and the pride that they showed to try to help fellow Americans.

And then to those who were being rescued, our fellow citizens, the appreciation they had for being rescued from this terrible storm.

PHILLIPS: Now, I know I gave you a hard time about the one- liners and the things that we remember that you said while you were there. But you don't play politics. And what you see is what you get with General Honore.

Where does that come from? I mean, I know your father was a Creole farmer, very down to earth. You had 12 people in your family. Who told you, Russel, remember your roots and don't ever play the game?

HONORE: Well, it's part of our Army values that we're going to accomplish the mission, we're going to take care of our battle buddy, our soldiers. And we'll leave no comrade on the battlefield.

And leaving no comrade on the battlefield could be an American citizen, or it could be a relative. That's our warrior ethos. That's where we live. And 34 years of training in the Army taught me that, as well as working on a joint team with all our battle (INAUDIBLE) from the Department of Defense.

PHILLIPS: How did you deal with all the bureaucracy when you had to? Did you just say, look, I'm a trained soldier, I know how to handle this, you need to trust me? I know how to get things to the right people?

HONORE: Well, sometimes that would be an admirable way to describe that.

PHILLIPS: With a few strong words here and there?

HONORE: Find a few willing listeners and get a flow started, get something started, get it moving. Don't confuse a plan with execution. Don't confuse activity with progress. And focused on taking care of people, first saving lives.

And if it was moving from point A to point B, let's see something move it. And if it wasn't, speak louder and more often. And stay there. And most times, it starts to happen.

PHILLIPS: Now, after the break, we're going to talk about what you're doing now on a very serious note. But as we, I guess, are get getting a little personal here, I've had the pleasure of talking with your amazing wife. And I asked her, you know, we saw this tough soldier in the field, but yet I know he is also a very passionate person.

And she said, "Yes, that's right. The Army, his wife, his kids and his brand new grandbaby are what mean everything to him."

HONORE: Right.

PHILLIPS: And I just happened to get this shot of you and little James Russel right here. Hopefully we have it ready to go. There it is.

Tell us about little James Russel, this little guy that's taking on your namesake.

HONORE: Yes, he's an amazing little guy. He's doubled in size. He was born a couple of weeks before the storm. And we're very proud of him and his parents, James and Stephanie (ph) (INAUDIBLE). And we look forward to help raising him -- over.

PHILLIPS: Well, there's another picture that we got, too. And your wife said, "Look at that. He's already got the stern look just like his grandfather."

HONORE: Wow.

PHILLIPS: You know, that's kind of scary, sir.

HONORE: Yes, it is.

PHILLIPS: Do you think he'll be a general?

HONORE: I don't think he's going to fall far from the tree. We'll see.

PHILLIPS: Something else that's important to you, you knew Louisiana well because you were born in Lakeland, Louisiana.

HONORE: Yes.

PHILLIPS: Lived on a farm. You still carry on that gardening, is what I understand.

HONORE: Absolutely. Absolutely.

PHILLIPS: So tell me about your garden. And Beverly sent me a couple pictures from here, too. Tell me what you're working on here.

HONORE: Wow, you did some intel. Well, right now I picked some sweet potatoes yesterday.

PHILLIPS: Really?

HONORE: Yes. And I'll plant my fall garden a little late. But I hope to put some onions and garlic in, in the next week. PHILLIPS: And what are these? And you'll have to forgive me, because I've...

HONORE: Those are cantaloupe.

PHILLIPS: That's cantaloupe. Are they ready?

HONORE: No. In that case the chipmunks ate most of them. Chipmunks, three. I would get one. But it was fun raising them.

PHILLIPS: I get those chipmunks in my attic. You think you might be able to help me out?

HONORE: No, ma'am.

PHILLIPS: OK.

Well, it's such a pleasure to have you with us. We're going to take a quick break. All right?

HONORE: All right.

PHILLIPS: And we're going to talk about your mission straight ahead in Iraq and training 9,000 soldiers, correct?

HONORE: In training right now, 9,000.

PHILLIPS: All right.

We'll take a quick break. More of Russel Honore right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: And we're following Wilma's every move. Bonnie Schneider in the weather center, tracking the storm for us.

And we also are awaiting a briefing from FEMA. Acting director David Paulison expected to step to the mics and let us know more about preparations, what FEMA is preparing to do for this hurricane.

Meanwhile, a man who knows hurricanes all too well, Lieutenant General Russel Honore, joining us once again, back, of course, from the region.

What do you think? You think we're ready for this next hurricane?

HONORE: I think so. Based on what we know...

PHILLIPS: We learned a lot of lessons, didn't we?

HONORE: Everybody did. And the most important lesson by the American people, to be prepared individually. And they have got a good public message working, and the news media is doing a great job of covering it. So people ought to have awareness. PHILLIPS: Well, speaking of being prepared and having awareness, now you've come back to Atlanta, but you're in charge of 9,000 troops. A lot of othings on your plate.

Where do we begin?

HONORE: Well, right now we have about 58,000 troops in combat we've trained since last year in Iraq and Afghanistan. We train and mobilize soldiers for combat to build competent, confident and disciplined warriors.

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