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Fugitive Couple Captured; Love Behind Bars; Arkansas School Shooter Goes Free Today

Aired August 11, 2005 - 11:00   ET

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

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Here's a look at what's happening "Now in the News."
There is anger in Arkansas this morning. One of the gunmen in the deadly Jonesboro school shootings goes free today. Mitchell Johnson and another student killed four classmates and a teacher at their middle school seven years ago. We'll explain why Johnson is being released with a clean record just ahead.

A fugitive inmate and his wife are in custody this morning after they were captured at an Ohio motel. George and Jennifer Hyatte face first-degree murder charges in Tennessee. She's accused of killing a prison guard to help them escape. A tip from a cab driver led police to the couple.

A radical Muslim cleric from Britain was detained in Lebanon today, according to an Army general. Sheikh Omar Bakri Mohammed says the British government was partly to blame for the deadly July 7 transit attacks. He's being questioned about his presence in Lebanon and his relationship with fundamentalists.

The former number two executive at WorldCom faces sentencing today. Scott Sullivan was WorldCom's chief financial officer. He pleaded guilty in the company's $11 billion accounting fraud. Sullivan was a key witness against former WorldCom CEO Bernie Ebbers.

Good morning. Welcome back to CNN LIVE TODAY.

Checking the time around the world, 10:00 a.m. in Jonesboro, Arkansas; 4:00 p.m. in London; and 7:00 p.m. in Baghdad.

From CNN Center in Atlanta, good morning. I'm Daryn Kagan.

Up first this hour, what started with a deadly ambush ends with a peaceful surrender. An escaped prisoner and his wife wanted in the fatal shooting of a prison guard are in custody this morning. Police were hot on the trail of George and Jennifer Hyatte after they left a motel in Erlanger, Kentucky, yesterday.

They caught up with them in Columbus, Ohio, last night. That, by the way, is almost 400 miles away from Kingston, Tennessee, where the manhunt began.

A U.S. marshal phoned the Hyatte's motel room in Columbus and told them they were surrounded. They gave up without a struggle. The cab driver who led police to the couple says he didn't realize who the couple were until later.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE WAGERS, TAXICAB DRIVER: I was at home playing video games when a friend of mine, Rob, called me and said, "Hey, they found that van next to where you picked them people up from them escaped people in Tennessee. You need to call the police." And, I mean, I immediately dropped the video game and called the police.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: We're going to have more with cab driver Mike Wagers in just a minute.

But first, let's go back to where it all started with the daring and deadly escape.

National Correspondent Bob Franken joins me live now from Kingston, Tennessee.

Bob, good morning.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

And you can bet it's not going to be a cab ride back that nearly 400 miles to Kingston, Tennessee. We don't know the specific details of the extradition. We know, of course, there will be one.

We're not going to know the specific details. The type of movement like this, with the caliber of alleged criminal we're talking about, is going to be done with a fair degree of secrecy, particularly in this case, where it was an escape that was a deadly one from here that caused this all to happen in the first place.

We do know that Jennifer Hyatte is out of the hospital now. And so she will be starting the process of extradition.

The charges will be first-degree murder here. It was pointed out by one of the attorneys in this area that there hasn't been a capital crime execution for this county for many, many years, like 40 years. But this one is obviously going to be one where the authorities are going to be trying for that.

There's still an ongoing investigation. The key question, were there accomplices? Questions like how was Jennifer Hyatte able to move the two cars into place that were used allegedly by her in this endeavor?

So there's so many questions, so many legal issues. But the first one is going to be returning them back to this location and to Tennessee to face justice over this crime -- Daryn.

KAGAN: You know, one thing that the cab driver didn't know, Mike Wagers, if there was a reward that was leading to the capture of these two.

FRANKEN: Well, we've heard nothing about a reward. I guess the first question is, does he get to keep his $200?

KAGAN: I think he does. It was cash. Completed the ride. There you go.

FRANKEN: I guess so.

KAGAN: Yes.

FRANKEN: I guess so.

KAGAN: Bob Franken. Live from Tennessee. Thank you.

Well, that cab driver whose tip led police to the couple is speaking this morning. Mike Wagers talked with reporters just in the last hour. You saw it live here on CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WAGERS: It was really shocking, because I actually usually kind of stay up on the news, and just I can't believe I got caught off guard like this, because, you know, I watch the news and sports every morning so I can find out what's going on. And I just totally missed this one.

The only thing that was really noticeable was when I asked them, you know, why they wound up taking a cab. They said they were involved in the accident that happened there underneath the 275 overpass the day before that had traffic all screwed up for so long, and they were with Amway, and they were doing some things up in Columbus with a conference.

And, you know, I honestly can say, I didn't really believe that, but I had been paid for the trip. So when I -- you know, they gave me no cause for suspicion other than, you know, the Amway thing didn't really stick. But there were no outward signs of anybody or any one of -- you know, either one of them doing anything that made me feel nervous beyond a normal cab trip.

I didn't recognize any injuries like that then, but when the trip was completely done and they were getting out to go to their hotel room, she was favoring one side. And I asked her, you know, "Oh, what happened?" And she said she got banged around in a car wreck a little bit.

So, that -- I mean, that -- without hesitating. So, I mean, she pretty much had thought about what she'd say.

The last (ph) part is really overwhelmingly, because I honestly -- I -- you know, I was just being a cab driver at the time. Now I've got all this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: All that. Plus, you'll hear more from Mike Wagers. He's going to appear on Anderson's show tonight at 7:00 p.m. Eastern. So let's look at this prison romance that brought George and Jennifer Hyatte together. It's not as rare as you might think. CNN's Adaora Udoji takes a look at love and marriage behind bars.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

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 San Francisco 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 RAMIREZ, RICHARD RAMIREZ' WIFE: I am ecstatically happy today and very, 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 Erikkson. He is 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.

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 systems, 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-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 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. Carole Boone sent letters. They married and had a son before his execution.

These kind of stories people remember, of women chasing men who committed terrible crimes, and many simply don't understand.

Adaora Udoji, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: More news for you now. A school shooter is being released from federal prison in Memphis today. He is a free man on his 21st birthday.

Mitchell Johnson was 13 when he and Andrew Golden opened fire at an Arkansas middle school. Four students and a teacher were killed on that day in 1998.

Investigators say the boys planned the attacks for weeks. One pulled a fire alarm to lure everyone outside the building and into the line of fire.

Arkansas law at that time allowed a juvenile court to send the boys to a detention facility until age 18. Federal gun charges kept Johnson locked up three more additional years until today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHERIFF JACK MCCANN, CRAIGHEAD COUNTY, ARKANSAS: I remember everything about it. What bothered me the most is that neither of these shooters have ever explained why that happened.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: The sheriff later told CNN that Johnson should not return to his hometown because of what might happen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MCCANN: There could 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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: Mitchell Johnson's mother says her son has no plans to return to Jonesboro, Arkansas. He says he wants to be a minister and plans to enroll in college or a seminary. Well, Mr. Johnson is not the only school shooter to have 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 is what we found.

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 school.

Almost eight years later, Luke Woodham remains in a maximum security Mississippi State prison, tried and convicted as an adult. He is serving three back-to-back life sentences, plus 140 years for his crimes.

In 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, five were 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. The judge in that case, though, 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.

It is the debate that could define the future of democracy in Iraq, the role of women in the new Iraq. Will they be better or worse off than under the Saddam Hussein regime?

Plus, the Reverend Billy Graham may have completed his last crusade, but his sermons have been put in a book for all of us to read. The forward to the book written by his daughter, Ann Graham Lotz. I'll speak with her just a little bit later in the show about her father and his lifetime crusade to bring hope to millions.

And New York City has some of the best restaurants in the world, but would their food be as tasty without the fat? That story is ahead in our "Daily Dose" segment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: World news now.

Ten people who police say are linked to the London bomb suspects are getting time in court today. A white police minibus brought some of the defendants to court. Others appeared by video hookup.

A judge has ordered Haroon Rashid Aswat to stay in jail until early September. Aswat was deported to Britain Sunday from Zambia. Sources say he's been tied to the July 7 bombers, but investigators' interest in him regarding those attacks has seemed to wane.

Aswat also is wanted in the U.S. Prosecutors claim he was sent to Oregon by radical British cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri to set up a terrorist training camp.

And Hamdi Issac's wife and sister-in-law appeared before a London judge today. The women are charged with failing to tell police about Issac's plans or whereabouts. He currently is jailed in Rome in connection with the July 21 attacks.

And there's this from London today: British authorities have detained 10 foreign nationals. They'll be deported, suspected of being a national security threat.

Salman Rushdie is calling for Muslims to liberalize Islam. The author writes in "The London Times" that a broader interpretation of the Koran may lead to better relations with non-Muslims. And he argues modernizing Islam would help combat jihadists' ideologies.

Rushdie goes on to say, "If the Koran" -- this is a quote here "If the Koran was seen as a historical document, then it would be legitimate to reinterpret it to suit the new conditions of successive new ages. Laws made in the 7th century could finally give way to the needs of the 21st."

He also writes, "The Islamic reformation has to begin here, with an acceptance that all ideas, even sacred ones, must adapt to altered realities."

Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini ordered Muslims to kill Rushdie in 1989. He said Rushdie's book "The Satanic Verses" insulted Islam. That order was lifted in 1998.

Eighteen minutes past the hour now. The order came from the Pentagon. NORAD will no longer use American Indian references when it names its exercises.

For instance, the exercise known as "Almalgam Warrior" will now be called "Almalgam Phantom." A spokesman for the defense command says it wants to avoid offending Native-Americans. So far the ban doesn't apply to the rest of the military.

In our news from overseas this morning, officials from the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency have adopted a resolution aimed at diffusing the standoff with Iran over its nuclear program. The text of the statement has not been released yet, but EU leaders are trying to get Iran to suspend its nuclear activities. Iran resumed its uranium conversion program this week. The country says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. But the U.S. believes Iran may try to make nuclear weapons.

A haze emergency has been declared in Malaysia. Look at these pictures.

Smoke from forest fires in Indonesia has drifted into Kuala Lumpur, carrying dangerous fumes. Malaysia's prime minister has asked mosques to pray for rain to wash away the haze. Schools, government offices and businesses have been ordered to close. The haze is being called Malaysia's worst environmental crisis in eight years.

Starving in the skies. A striking airline catering staff has forced British Airways to cancel flights out of London's Heathrow Airport.

Feuding between the caterer and staff left passengers with only three in-flight options: coffee, tea or water. Nearly 50 British Airways flights took off food lists. Four flights were canceled. Food vouchers refunded, and rebookings were offered to passengers before they took off.

A meeting at the ranch. President Bush meets with his top people on defense and diplomacy today. Iraq is expected to be a key item on that agenda.

Plus, the role of women in Iraq. Are they in danger of losing basic liberties? A closer look just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Some developing stories to bring you up to date on.

First, at Pembroke Pines, Florida, this is about 20 miles northwest of Miami, a rape suspect is on the loose. And the manhunt goes on in Pembroke Pines.

Police are searching the area. You can see there's dogs. They're also searching on foot, using bicycles and cars. We're also getting word that in this area of Pembroke Pines a number of schools have been put on lockdown as the search goes on for the rape suspect in that area.

Also, out of the world of business, getting word out of New York City that Scott Sullivan, the former executive of WorldCom, has been sentenced now for his part in the fraud of that company. Scott Sullivan receiving a five-year prison sentence, three-year suspended sentence. He received a lighter sentence because he did cooperate with the government in building their case against former CEO Bernie Ebbers, who was sentenced earlier to 25 years in prison.

Let's check in on the weather right now. Rob Marciano has that for us.

(WEATHER REPORT) KAGAN: It is summit time at the Bush ranch in Crawford, Texas. That's where there are no foreign leaders invited, just his own heavy hitters. President Bush, what he's up to today, just ahead.

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KAGAN: I'm Daryn Kagan. Let's take a look at what's happening "Now in the News."

A cab driver helps end a massive manhunt for a pair of fugitives wanted in the killing of a guard in Tennessee. George and Jennifer Hyatte surrendered overnight at a motel in Columbus, Ohio. He is due to appear in federal court today. They both face extradition to Tennessee.

Seven years after the crime, Mitchell Johnson is 21 years old and he is going free. Johnson is one of the two boys who killed four students and a teacher during a 1998 shooting spree in Jonesboro, Arkansas. He was convicted as a minor, and under the law at that time could only be held until his 21st birthday. He'll have no criminal record related to the killings.

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