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Al-Jazeera Airs New Video of Jill Carroll; Mexican Citizen Arrested in Border Tunnel Case; New Film about Boarding School in Kenya

Aired January 30, 2006 - 15:30   ET

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

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, an update now on a harrowing case of alleged child abuse we told you about last week. You may remember 58-year-old Jack Wiley and a woman companion Glenna Marshall were arrested in south Alabama after a Georgia woman saw Wiley with a 3- year-old girl sensing something was wrong, and she called police.
Wiley is now charged with sexually abusing the girl and teenage boy. In an exclusive jail yard interview, Wiley told CNN the child's genital scarring was caused by spider bites not sexual abuse.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JACK WILEY, SUSPECT: I'm worse than Charles Manson right now as far as the country's concerned, but if I could get two doctors that would -- and a good attorney, not some backwoods high school dropout public defender, I believe I can win my story.

Now, if they want to send me to prison for, you know, killing the president or something, I don't care, but they are not going to do it this way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Wiley's companion told investigators she's the 3-year- old's mother and has admitted there was sexual contact between Wiley and the child.

Now, if you have any information about this case, please call the Conecuh County Alabama Sheriff's Department. Here's the number, 1- 866-337-8890.

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Police are also hunting for clues in the killing of a mother and her baby in a quiet suburb of Boston. And they are not just canvassing the neighborhood either. This small town mystery is making headlines as far away as England, as CNN's Jason Carroll first reported for "PAULA ZAHN NOW."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): They were, it seemed, a portrait of a happy family. Neil Entwistle and his wife, Rachel's web site chronicled each special occasion, their trips, the baptism of their baby girl, Lillian, the comfortable life they all shared in this home in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, about an hour west of Boston. They had planned a dinner party last Saturday night, but when the guests arrived no one answered.

(on-camera): Rachel's mother, who lives not far away, became suspicious and called police. Police came here to the house, and once inside they say they didn't see anything suspicious. Entwistle's friends came back the next day on Sunday, and once they were inside, they say they didn't see anything wrong either.

(voice over): But when police went back later that night, they found the bodies of Rachel, 27, and Lillian, just 9 months old, under the covers in the master bedroom, the same bedroom police and Entwistle's friends had checked before. Both had been shot.

MARTHA COAKLEY, DISTRICT ATTORNEY: Police just said that we do not believe this was random. There was no sign of a forced entry or any sign of burglary.

CARROLL: Missing from the scene 27-year-old Neil Entwistle. Police say he left for England within 48 hours of the murders. Investigators say he's not a suspect, but do say they have a, quote, "high level of interest in him."

Now, news reports say Entwistle has agreed to come back to the United States.

(on-camera): Are there any plans to contact him again?

(voice over): Margaret Kirk, a spokeswoman for police in Nottinghamshire, a county north of London where Entwistle grew up, says police there have been in contact with him for the past several days. They offered to drive him to the U.S. Embassy in London to speak with authorities.

MARGARET KIRK, SPOKESMAN FOR POLICE IN NOTTINGHAMSHIRE COUNTY: We have actually driven him down there, and I think we still are in contact with him in that sense.

CARROLL (on-camera): You have no idea if he'll be speaking with detectives from the U.S.?

KIRK: You know, I'm not really to ask what it is he's going to do down there. Just that, you know, wherever he's going, he gets there safely.

CARROLL (voice over): Detectives from the Hopkinton Police Department left Wednesday night for England. Their case has drawn media attention...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Tonight detectives are on the trail of Neil Entwistle.

CARROLL: ...on two continents.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A new twist in the murder of... CARROLL: Newspapers trying to find any leads about what happened to this seemingly happy family. Neighbors who knew them don't have a clue. They told us the couple met while attending York University in England.

Entwistle's mother was described as overjoyed when her son announced he was marrying the American girl from Massachusetts.

PAULINE MOORE, NEIGHBOR: I can remember talking about when they got married and how excited she was.

CARROLL: But police are investigating Entwistle's business ventures. The online auction site eBay says he failed to deliver a number of items he sold on the site. He also ran what authorities say may have been a pyramid scheme linked to Internet pornography, an operation investigators have shut down.

Still, no motive, no suspects. For now, there's at least one man police still want to talk to.

Jason Carroll, CNN, Hopkinton, Massachusetts.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: An arrest in the case of the largest and most sophisticated tunnel ever found across the U.S. Mexican border. A Mexican man is said to be arraigned this afternoon on charges of conspiracy to import a controlled substance.

The tunnel runs from a warehouse in Tijuana to a warehouse in San Diego. Two tons of marijuana were found inside. U.S. authorities say the suspect is connected to the U.S. warehouse. Tijuana to San Diego, it is a trip across the U.S. Mexican border one way or another.

CNN's Anderson Cooper got an exclusive tour of the largest cross- border tunnel ever found. You'll see what he saw on prime time tonight, but he joins us by the phone now with a preview.

Anderson, good to talk to you. Give us a sense, I don't want you to give it away, all of it away, obviously, but I understand there was electricity in there, lighting, ventilation and a pump to remove water. What did you see?

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, Tony, it is fascinating. It's the kind of thing, you know, you kind of see in drug movies, but it's basically you go to this industrial warehouse in San Diego, very close to the border.

You go inside it. It's this enormous warehouse, thousands and thousands of square feet, and you go back to this tiny little office. And there's a hole in the ground three feet by three feet.

It's got a ladder going in it, you climb down in and low and behold there is this tunnel, some 2,400 feet. It's the size of eight football fields. Seven of the football fields under the United States. One football field under Tijuana. And I mean it is not the most sophisticated tunnel they have ever found, but it is certainly up there. I mean there is electricity throughout the tunnel. There is lighting. There are electrical plugs for them to use drilling machines. There are pumps for waters.

It is an extraordinary accomplishment. And to think that they were doing this-- I mean, this investigation has been going--that we know of--for at least two years. So it's not clear even when this tunnel was finished, when it was completed and how many drugs have been brought across the United States through it.

HARRIS: Well, we talk about--the point of the story is all the marijuana that was found inside the tunnel. But, you know, you can also imagine that it was being used for illegal immigration as well.

COOPER: Yes, well more--immigration customs enforcement agents believe it is most likely to have been not only for marijuana but also cocaine or any other drugs that a drug cartel, you know, may have wanted to use it for.

It is less likely to have been involved in people smuggling. And the reason for that really is, frankly, there is more money in drugs. The amount of money that they must have invested to build this tunnel they wouldn't want a huge number of people moving back and forth through it.

Obviously, the more people who travel through it the greater risk of exposure. So they think drugs are the primary focus. But, again, there is just no telling how many drugs came through there.

HARRIS: Anderson, thanks for the time.

COOPER: My pleasure.

HARRIS: Appreciate it.

You can go inside the U.S. Mexico tunnel on CNN's "ANDERSON COOPER 360." It's a CNN exclusive tonight at 10:00 Eastern.

NGUYEN: We are going to switch gears now. How do you help inner city boys get ahead? How about sending them thousands of miles from home?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's OK. It's all right. I'm going to be OK. And you're going to be OK. OK?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Wow. From the mean streets of Baltimore to rural Kenya, their journey is traced in a documentary getting Oscar buzz. We'll talk with the filmmakers. Where are they? We'll see them in a second as LIVE FROM continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: We want to take you live to London now, where Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is meeting with members of the Middle East peace-brokering quartet. Let's take a listen.

QUESTION: And investigate how much, how long would you give them?

CONDOLEEZZA RICE, SECRETARY OF STATE: I think that the international community and the quartet here today has been quite clear, that we have deep concern for the Palestinian people and for their well-being. That we are mindful of their needs. We have noted, we are particularly mindful of the humanitarian needs and everyone wants to see those needs met.

Those who have been elected by the Palestinian people have an obligation, and that obligation is to speak to the aspirations of the Palestinian people for a better life and for a peaceful life. Now, that peaceful life can -- the quartet has reiterated -- be achieved only through a two-state solution that recognizes the right of Israel to exist, that is a commitment to nonviolence, that undertakes the obligations of the road map.

And I should just mention that there are a set of obligations that have been taken by Palestinian leaders for over more than a decade, and those obligations are noted here. It is incumbent now on all to -- to insist that any future Palestinian government will indeed live up to those obligations, and that is what we have done here today.

NGUYEN: And you've been listening to Secretary of State Condoleezza rice speaking in London today. At issue what to do with Hamas now that it's won the Palestinian elections. At this meeting, once it concludes, the members of the quartet will issue a statement on exactly what is going to be done with Hamas, whether they are going to isolate it both politically or financially, if that is the best policy.

You can watch this in its entirety as it's going on right now. All you have to do is go to CNN.com/pipeline, and you can watch it there. Tony.

HARRIS: Thanks, Betty. Take 20 at-risk middle school students from a poor area of Baltimore, and send them on life-changing adventure in the wilderness of Kenya, will they get homesick?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I miss everybody. I miss girls.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's something better than the cat, the hedgehog. See?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would like you to see me some gum, some soda, some chips, and some candy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tell everybody I say hi. Tell the church, I love them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Some kids want to go home already. I'm one of them. But I'm not going to cry about it, Ma, because I'm brave to do this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: These boys have no television, no full-time electricity. They have strict, but gentle, discipline. Outside the classroom, they don't witness drug sales or gang violence. They do see giraffes, and zebras and other wild animals. At the end of the two-year program the chances of them being accepted to Baltimore's most competitive high schools are far greater than if they stayed at home.

Four of the students are featured in this new documentary, "The Boys of Baraka." Joining us in New York are the directors, Heidi Ewing and Rachel Brady, tomorrow they learn whether the "Boys of Baraka" gets nominated for an Academy Award. Ladies, good to talk to you.

Let's read the laundry list here. Best Documentary, Atlanta Film Festival. Best Documentary, Georgia Film Festival, eight wins in pretty big deal film festivals. What do you think about your chances of getting an Oscar nod?

RACHEL GRADY, DIRECTOR, "BOYS OF BARAKA": It's a long shot. It's a really amazing year for documentaries, so, just to be in the running with the 15 is a complement. We'll see. We find out with the rest of the world at 8:30 East Coast time tomorrow.

HARRIS: Put a little more meat on that Heidi. What do you think about your chances?

HEIDI EWING, DIRECTOR, "THE BOYS OF BARAKA": You know what, I think there -- I feel there are four slots taken and there is one slot for the rest of us and we're all fighting it out, and several films that are small films that have struggled to get out there like our own, and there's a lot of great movies and I don't know. I really couldn't tell you. We're hoping to get it, like, of course, we are. But we'll see.

HARRIS: Rachel, how long did it take you to get the film project up and running and complete?

GRADY: About four years. We started filming about four years ago. We filmed for almost three years. And then we edited for an entire year. So, these things take a long time.

HARRIS: How do you -- Heidi, how do you sell a concept like this?

EWING: Well, I mean, at the beginning, the film was, for us, we were just curious about whether the school would work. But selling it, I guess, just showing it to audiences. The audiences sold the film for us, and the distributor came in after they saw how people were responding to it, which is in a very, very strong way. So actually, the audiences sold this film for us.

HARRIS: Rachel, tell us about this school. I understand it's now closed. What happened?

GRADY: Well, the year that we were filming ended up being the last year that it was in working order, and it was closed down because of -- well, it was closed down -- how would you say?

HARRIS: I'm sensing something here. Why was it closed, Heidi?

EWING: The official reason the school was closed down was because of security concerns on the campus in Kenya. There had been a terrorist attack against an Israeli jetliner, so the school was closed for that reason. But as the parents expressed in the film, it does feel like the kids were less safe on the streets of inner-city Baltimore than they were in rural Kenya. That's the trepidation why we describe it as such, but it was officially because of security concerns.

HARRIS: Rachel, describe this film. It seems to work on a couple of different levels. The classic fish out of water, take the kids from inner-city Baltimore and take them to Kenya, but it also seems to work as a social experiment.

GRADY: Absolutely. That's what we thought of it as right from the beginning. We were just curious to see what would happen if you took kids that had never left their neighborhoods and brought them 10,000 miles away, how would it affect them, how would it change them, and how would it affect them when they came home.

HARRIS: Rachel, can I cut in for just a second? We've got some breaking news that we want to bring to the audience watching. Betty, and we'll come right back to you.

NGUYEN: This just in to CNN, Tony. We have learned that al- Jazeera has just run what they are calling new video of American Jill Carroll. This is not part of that video. We are vetting that video to make sure it's clear to air. These are pictures of Jill Carroll that we have.

But in that video, that CNN is vetting, it appears that the woman on there, who they say is Jill Carroll, appears to be distraught. Here's some background on Jill Carroll, she is a freelance journalist for the Christian Science Monitor, she was abducted on January 7th and so far there has been no word on her fate, so that's why this is so important.

Again, al-Jazeera is airing what they are calling new video of American journalist Jill Carroll. CNN has not decided to show that just yet. We are looking at the video, we are vetting the video and we'll air it just as soon as possible. But one more time, on that video, the women who is said to be Jill Carroll, appears to be very distraught. So we'll bring you the latest on that as soon as we can. Tony? HARRIS: OK, just enough time to say thank you, and congratulations on the achievement of Heidi and Rachel. We wish you all the best and we certainly have our fingers crossed that you get that nomination tomorrow. We apologize, events have just kind of overtaken our time here. But the best of luck to you. And come on and talk to us when you get the nomination.

EWING: Thanks for having us. Thank you very much. And it opens nationwide in the next month.

HARRIS: All right ladies, congratulations.

NGUYEN: Yes, it looks like a really neat movie, Tony.

Well she once said because of Mozart, it's all over after the age of seven. But for anyone who's ever picked up a pen, playwright Wendy Wasserstein set a pretty high bar for herself. Among her many awards, a Tony and a Pulitzer for her 1989 play "The Heidi Chronicles."

Her other works include "The Sisters Rosensweig," "Old Money," and many others. Wendy died today in New York of cancer. She was just 55-years-old.

Talk about your close calls. A California family had an unusual wake-up call today as an SUV came flying through their house. Yes, LIVE FROM gets them here, right after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: We're continuing to follow this developing story, as we have learned today that Al-Jazeera has new video of what they say is Jill Carroll, the American freelance journalist in Iraq who was kidnapped on January 7th.

Now, this is not the video. This is -- these are some pictures that we have of Jill Carroll. It is not the new video that Al-Jazeera has. CNN is vetting that video, and we will air it just as soon as it clears.

But, once again, we have learned that Al-Jazeera has new video of American journalist Jill Carroll, who was kidnapped in Iraq on January 7th. There's been no word of her fate so far.

But what we know about that video, that Al-Jazeera has in their hands, is that she does -- this woman on there, who they say is Jill Carroll, does appear to be distraught. Again, CNN is looking at that video and we will air it just as soon as possible.

HARRIS: And I can tell you, Betty, that the international desk here at CNN is working feverishly on it.

NGUYEN: Yes, you can hear them in the background.

HARRIS: Yes, right now. Dramatic pictures of a titanic crash. Take a look at this. This SUV went through a house on Titan Court in San Gabriel, California, and slammed into the fence in the backyard. The driver suffered cuts and bruises. Luckily everyone in the house was asleep upstairs and escaped unhurt. No word on how the driver lost control.

You are just minutes away from THE SITUATION ROOM and Wolf Blitzer. More LIVE FROM right after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: We're still following this developing story of Jill Carroll. Take a look at this. This is a frame from video that Al- Jazeera has received. New video of what they say is Jill Carroll. You can tell the person in this frame does appear to be very distraught.

As you recall, Jill Carroll was abducted in Iraq on January 7th. She's a freelance journalist for the "Christian Science Monitor." We'll continue to follow this story and air that video in its entirety once vetted by CNN.

HARRIS: That's a disturbing development.

Let's get you to the New York Stock Exchange now and Allan Chernoff, just ahead of the closing bell. Hi, Allan.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

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