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CNN Live Today

Four Weeks Into Natalee Holloway Case; 'Daily Dose'

Aired June 29, 2005 - 11:30   ET

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

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Political trouble may be brewing for Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. A new poll finds most Californians, 57 percent, would not be inclined to give him a second term. Voters appear unhappy that Schwarzenegger is supporting several controversial ballot measures.
And architects unveil their new design for the Freedom Tower, which will rise at New York's Ground Zero. The building will be moved farther from the street and feature contain a massive concrete base.

And now there's a whole new way to get your news on the Web. Just log on to our Web site, click on "watch" to check out the most popular stories. It's free video under your command, now at CNN.com.

To Aruba now, which is getting more help from the Netherlands in the search for missing teenager Natalee Holloway. She disappeared more than four weeks ago. The Netherlands is sending more marines to help in the search, at the request of Aruba's prime minister. Three young men are in custody, but no one has been charged and there has been no sign of Holloway.

CNN's Karl Penhaul retraces what police think they do know about the case.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): According to the attorney for one of the men, all said in recent statements, this is the spot where Joran van der Sloot and Natalee got out of the car and headed off alone. By then it was 1:50 a.m. It would have been a night like tonight. A warm, tropical breeze is blowing out onto the ocean.

It's been 28 days of full lunar cycle since Natalee vanished. The moon above me now would have been exactly the same that night. It's bright enough to cast my shadow on the sand.

(voice-over): It could have been romantic if something had not gone terribly wrong. Even at 3:00 a.m., there are a few couples and late night revelers still around. Exactly what happened, we still don't know.

Investigators say they've checked cell phone and Internet records from that night. Based on those records, Satish Kalpoe's attorney, David Kock, says Joran van der Sloot phoned Deepak Kalpoe between 2:30 and 2:40. DAVID KOCK, SATISH KALPOE'S ATTORNEY: The story of Deepak is that Joran just said I'm walking home. I was on the beach with the girl, but she asleep, didn't want to get up. So I said, forget it, I'm walking home. He said that, we know.

PENHAUL (on camera): I'm walking the same route Joran van der Sloot would have taken that night if this version of his story is true. I set off from the beach about 20 minutes ago. As you can see, there are stores and banks and some of them have closed circuit security cameras.

(voice-over): Prosecutors have said security camera footage has been checked, but they declined to say if the tapes from these businesses were reviewed and if there's any sign of van der Sloot. Based on records, Kock says Joran van der Sloot send a text message to Deepak Kalpoe after the 2:40 a.m. phone call.

KOCK: About 40 minutes later, 45 minutes later, there's an SMS message from Yoran to Deepak again, saying, I got home, you know, thanks for waiting.

PENHAUL (on camera): I'm taking a shortcut on this dirt track. Seemed to have woken up some of the local dogs. It's taken me about 36 minutes to walk from the beach right up to Joran van der Sloot's front gate. It's likely that by the time he arrived most of the neighbors were asleep as they seem to be now. From what we know, there are no eyewitnesses who saw him reach home.

Assuming Joran van der Sloot did walk and text messaged Deepak Kalpoe as soon as he arrived, it would make it about 3:20 a.m.

(voice-over): According to the Kock, Internet records show Deepak Kalpoe was web-surfing when the message came through. Kock says his client Satish was asleep. His mother, Nadira Ramirez, backs that up.

NADIRA RAMIREZ, SATISH KALPOE'S MOTHER: I just opened the door silently. I peak. I saw Deepak's room closed. I peak. I saw the car and I went back to back.

PENHAUL: Van der Sloot's attorney, Antonio Carlo, declined to talk to us for this report, but Kock has seen van der Sloot's statements to investors and says he's changed his story several times since his arrest, claiming first Deepak Kalpoe picked him up from the beach after he left Natalee, then saying it was Satish Kalpoe. In another version of the story, Joran van der Sloot said he walked home.

KOCK: There have been other points, but those important issues, you see that those are four different stories.

PENHAUL: Authorities say they're making headway, but Kock believes they're still a long way from cracking the case.

KOCK: We got a good picture of where the girl was and where she was last dropped. But what happened afterwards, they do not know. PENHAUL: What is certain is that all three young men, at least initially, cooked up a lie to cover their tracks once they realized Natalee was missing. What's still far from clear is whether they played a role in her disappearance.

Karl Penaul, CNN, Palm Beach, Aruba.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: In other news around the world, this morning in Canada, conservatives are saying they will fight to stop gay marriage in their country. This after Canada's House of Commons passed a bill that would legalize gay marriage. The bill would give same-sex couples the same legal rights as heterosexual couples. The bill could pass Canada's Senate in a few days.

In the Middle East, three people are hurt after a clash between Jewish settlers and Palestinians. In the incident, both sides threw stones, apparently upset over earlier arrests at an illegal Gaza outpost. In just over six weeks, Israel plans to evacuate Jewish settlements and the Israeli troops who guard them from Gaza and parts of the West Bank.

And U2 frontman Bono is missing some clothes. Not in that picture. Don't look too closely. He wants them back. The band is suing their former stylist, Lola Cashman. U2 claims Cashman is trying to cash in on U2 memorabilia by auctioning them off. Among the items she obtained while working for U2 in the 1980s, a Stetson cowboy hat, pants, and earrings. The former stylist says the items were given to her.

And a cautionary tale for teens and their parents. A girl received chilling online message from a friend. If it was just a prank, authorities are not laughing. It's a story you'll see only here on CNN.

KAGAN: And an unexpected and disturbing trend from soldiers returning home from war. CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta takes a look at this new type of trauma, straight ahead.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTINA PARK, CNN.COM CORRESPONDENT: Can you even imagine life without the Internet? Well, the next time you shoot off an e-mail at Google or log on to CNN.com, here's who you should thank. Before former vice president Al Gore called himself the father of the Internet, there was J.R.R. Licklider, a psychologist who was the driving force behind the Defense Department's investigation of computers as communication devices.

While you're online, check out the folks who dreamed this impossible dream. We'll also take you through the glory days of the dot-com boom and the history of the dot-com bust. See the carnage as we remember fallen dot-com companies like pets.com, Cosmo and Web Van. We also look at how the Internet changed the world on a global scale, from Europe to Asia, and gave birth to technologies like instant- messaging, MP3s, file-swapping, wifi, and yes, broadband.

CNN.com/online shows you what it was like before a period became the dot in dot-com, before you had to lick a stamp to send a note and when spam was just a canned pink pork product instead of that junk e- mail that hits your inbox. CNN.com welcomes you to a brave new world -- wide web, that is.

I'm Christina Park reporting from the dot-com desk. See you online.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: All right, Parents. You're going to to want to pay attention to this next story. In it, a 14-year-old gets a frightening message on the Internet. It was a direct threat that many would die, including her. But was it real?

Our Kelly Wallace has the story. You're going to only see it right here on CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was like any other night, 14-year-old Anna instant messaging with her friends in Arlington, Virginia, when all of a sudden, she received a series of messages that startled her.

ANNA, RECEIVED INSTANT MESSAGE THREAT: I was really scared because I didn't know who it was, and I've gotten like pranks played on me before.

WALLACE: Her mother Felicia showed us a transcript of the messages. The anonymous sender says of Anna's Yorktown high school, "YHS is going to be very different tomorrow, Anna. Tons of chaos. The bodies to be found, the flesh to be seen, the blood to be discovered, the bones to be matched. Well, I'm just telling you this because I'm saving you for my last murder."

Anna says she tried to find out who it was, not intending to tell her mom, but Felicia overheard her talking with friends.

FELICIA, ANNA'S MOTHER: This is the area that concerned me.

WALLACE: She thought about Columbine and the recent school shooting on an Indian reservation in Minnesota. After spending an hour on the phone with computer companies trying unsuccessfully to learn the identity of the sender, Felicia says she called the police.

FELICIA: And pretty much in my heart I knew it was probably a prank, but I didn't want to take that risk, not when you're talking about people's lives.

WALLACE: The next day, shortly after classes began, police evacuated Yorktown and that, Anna said, prompted a confession from a friend of hers who then turned himself in.

ANNA: He was like shaking. He was really scared ad in shock.

WALLACE: The 15-year-old, a popular boy at Yorktown, was placed in juvenile detention for two weeks, facing a felony charge. That outraged some in the community.

More than 300 students signed an online petition calling for leniency, including Anna. However, some targeted Anna and her mom.

Said one, "The parents of that girl had so many options. They could have talked to their daughter. Instead, they acted impulsively and called the police and the FBI." Anna said the criticism online and at school was tough.

ANNA: And then the next day when I came to school, like, people were just really mean and, like, yelling at me, like, "You're just doing this for attention."

WALLACE: Richard Trodden, Arlington's chief prosecutor, said the family and his attorneys did not overreact.

RICHARD TRODDEN, ARLINGTON COUNTY COMMONWEALTH'S ATTORNEY: When I was a kid, I was told you don't pull the fire box. And I think that youngsters have to know that about IM. You don't threaten bodily harm or crimes of violence on a school through IMs.

WALLACE: Six weeks later, the online prank and the serious controversy it unleashed remain painful for Felicia and Anna. They've since moved from Arlington. All that happened here playing a role in their decision to leave.

FELICIA: We need to as parents, and teenagers and kids, we need to realize it's not ratting on people. First of all, people shouldn't be doing that. And secondly, if you report it, it's your moral obligation, your civic responsibility to protect other people when you can.

Kelly Wallace, CNN, Arlington, Virginia

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Last night, Kelly got a statement from the boy's parents through their attorney. They say, quote, "Our son's instant message to his friend was an act of poor judgment intended as a joke. He never meant to harm anyone. He had no idea that his action would have the consequences that it did."

The parents go on to say, "We also hope that other young people will learn that irresponsible use of the computer, even as a prank, can have severe life-changing consequences."

As for the boy, he pleaded guilty to one felony charge of sending a threatening message. Part of the deal includes performing 100 hours of community service, and we're told it was the boy's idea that 10 of those hours be spent talking to other teens about dangers of playing pranks on the Internet.

There's still more to come this hour. First, though, here's a preview of what's coming up in the noon hour of "YOUR WORLD TODAY."

JIM CLANCY, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Jim Clancy.

ZAIN VERJEE, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Zain Verjee. Coming up at the top of the hour...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The only way our enemies can succeed is if we forget the lessons of September 11th.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VERJEE: A presidential pep talk treads familiar and controversial ground.

CLANCY: And waiting for answers in the crash of a U.S. military helicopter in Afghanistan.

VERJEE: And Israeli versus Israeli in Gaza. Extremists protesters hurl rocks and insults at IDF troops. All that and more just ahead here on CNN international.

CLANCY: "YOUR WORLD TODAY." Join us.

KAGAN: And now to our medical news. Doctors in Connecticut says a woman has been successfully taken off an artificial heart pump. The woman suffered from a viral heart infection and was waiting for an emergency transplant. But after the artificial heart was implanted, her own heart became stronger, and is now back to normal. The case is believed to be a first in the U.S. It raises hopes of using artificial hearts as a temporary treatment.

And more news of our "Daily Dose" of health news, the sometimes silent wounds of war. The use of bombs and mortars by insurgents in Iraq has led to a rise in traumatic brain injuries among U.S. troops.

Details now from our senior medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Every war has a signature injury. For Sergeant David Emme, this was it. It came on November 19th when his truck set off an explosive device.

SGT. DAVID EMME, BRAIN INJURY PATIENT: Yeah, I didn't see a blast or anything. The next thing I know, is I wake up and my head hurts. I had two teeth that were blown out. I basically didn't have an eardrum in my left ear.

GUPTA: And a brain that had been rattled back and forth in his helmet: A traumatic brain injury. As things stand today, over two-thirds of the soldiers injured in the blast in Iraq suffer from a traumatic brain injury. Simply, it has become the signature of this war.

DR. DEBORAH WARDEN, DEFENSE & VETERANS BRAIN INJURY CENTER: If I think about my head, if you think about even in a car accident, my head going forward, hitting the ground or the windshield.

GUPTA: Dr. Deborah Warden has seen firsthand the impact, and she knows this war is different.

The Vietnam War became known for spinal cord injuries, limb amputations and Agent Orange poisonings. The first Gulf War inflicted the controversial syndrome of the same name. But this time it is landmines, mortar attacks and rocket-propelled grenades. They create blasts that literally rock the brain, similar to a high-impact car accident. The skull moves forward, impacts a hard surface, and then stops suddenly. The brain goes back and forth, and then begins to swell.

EMME: It bruised my brain. And what ended up happening is, my brain swelled up twice to size of a normal brain. They took a big hunk of my skull out.

GUPTA: The operation saved his life. And he looks pretty normal today, but the signature of a traumatic brain injury may be subtle.

EMME: It was like somebody speaking a foreign language. You know, and they had to keep on repeatedly tell me the same stuff, because, you know, due to the brain injury, I had a hard time comprehending or talking or verbalizing a lot of stuff.

GUPTA: In mild cases, a traumatic brain injury may be a mild headache or occasional dizziness. More severe cases can involve complete memory loss, personality changes, or even persistent vegetative state.

Unlike an obviously severed limb, traumatic brain injuries are difficult to diagnose, but make no mistake, they are increasingly common. Doctors at Walter Reed say they have seen more than twice the number of brain injury patients than limb amputees returning from Iraq. And today, all patients returning with a war wound are automatically screened for a traumatized brain.

When Sergeant Emme was screened, his doctors saw clear changes in his personality, such as anger and hostility, leading to violence.

EMME: A lot of times, what they call this is -- they call this the silent wound, or the silent injury. I'm not Sergeant David Emme that I used to be.

GUPTA: A silent signature of war. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE) And for your daily dose of health news online, log on to our Web site. You'll find the latest medical stories, special reports and a health library. The address is CNN.com/health. We're going to check in on weather and business new coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

(WEATHER REPORT)

KAGAN: Well, it is part of the U.S. you probably have never visited, perhaps never even heard of. We're talking about a few islands just off the coast of the continental U.S. Great white sharks live there undisturbed. We're going to talk to a woman who has been here. She was so fascinated by it, she's written a book about it.

He has a message he wants world leaders to hear loud and clear, and he's organized one of the largest rock concerts in history to get their attention. Bob Geldolf joins me live tomorrow on CNN's LIVE TODAY.

But that's going to do it for today. I'm Daryn Kagan. International news is next. Stay tuned for YOUR WORLD TODAY with Jim Clancy and Zain Verjee. They'll be with you at the top of the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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