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American Morning

Interview With Don Clark

Aired September 05, 2003 - 09:15   ET

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

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


SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's talk a little about these clues. Don Clark is a former FBI investigator that and he us from Houston, Texas this morning. Good morning. Nice to see you, Mr. Clark. Thanks for joining us.
DON CLARK, FORMER FBI INVESTIGATOR: Thank you. Good to see you.

O'BRIEN: Thank you very much. Give me a sense of what your theory is? You've heard the latest from Mike Brooks. What was going on here, if you had to guess?

CLARK: You know, Soledad, every time I think I've seen it all I see something else. And many people are probably a little bit baffled as to what's going on.

Usually with someone of the educational level that we've heard about Mr. Wells, that you don't expect this type of sophisticated activity to be coming from this type of person. But you can't rule out the possibility that the person was capable of doing something like this.

Also, even in my many years I spent in New York, I've had people tell me that they've got a bomb, and they've held a briefcase to themselves, but I've never seen the one with the bomb around the neck like this which was imported, from my research, from South America.

So all of these different twists are going to have the FBI and police looking for several different theories to try to solve this one.

O'BRIEN: You talk a little bit about the sophistication of Brian wells and some folks say think is a sophisticated bomb. And other people said, well, you know, that's the kind of information that maybe you could get off the Internet. His friends said he didn't have access to the Internet. This A kind of guy who lived very simply, did not have access to a computer.

Tell me the direction the FBI is going now in this investigation because seems every day we hear another weird element and weird angle to this story.

CLARK: Well you know, Soledad, I think what they're really going to have to do is to really pin down and find out exactly what he did have access to and what activities that he was involved in.

I understand that he was a pretty reclusive individual, stayed alone, to himself. And sometimes you don't know what's really going on. But a lot of times this information is accessible to -- from the Internet. And it also is accessible from certain literary type of materials one could get and figure out.

And just because person does have a high degree of schooling education, they may certainly be capable of putting something like this together.

O'BRIEN: His friends and family members have said, there's no reason why he would rob a bank. This is a guy, they say, who wasn't all that interested in money. You say friends and family often don't have a clue in cases like this.

CLARK: Well, I think the clues in the investigation are going to really point out if -- what the reason was. And that's what the investigators have to go.

Soledad, they've got to start at the scene, which I know that they are because that's where they're going to be able to get clues and leads to really determine what the motive was behind someone pulling off this type of attack.

But I've got to tell you that it is possible that this person did plan this, and they have to look at that theory as well as the possibility of someone else working with him.

O'BRIEN: I want to ask you one quick final question. There were two notes. One for the teller, apparently, and another, a set of instructions for Wells, sort of detailing how he should rob the bank, I suppose.

Outside of doing a handwriting analysis on these notes what else will investigators get from these notes?

CLARK: Well, you're right. The handwriting analysis is first. And then they've got to go through the behavioral science and the profiling-type people. And that's where these people are so important because they will be able to pick out some clues in that that will give them lead information as to where they can look for who helped put this together and perhaps the type of personality that would put such thing together.

O'BRIEN: So many questions still. Don Clark, thanks for joining us this morning. Appreciate your insight into what is a baffling case. We're no further along than when we started last week. Appreciate your time.

CLARK: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired September 5, 2003 - 09:15   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's talk a little about these clues. Don Clark is a former FBI investigator that and he us from Houston, Texas this morning. Good morning. Nice to see you, Mr. Clark. Thanks for joining us.
DON CLARK, FORMER FBI INVESTIGATOR: Thank you. Good to see you.

O'BRIEN: Thank you very much. Give me a sense of what your theory is? You've heard the latest from Mike Brooks. What was going on here, if you had to guess?

CLARK: You know, Soledad, every time I think I've seen it all I see something else. And many people are probably a little bit baffled as to what's going on.

Usually with someone of the educational level that we've heard about Mr. Wells, that you don't expect this type of sophisticated activity to be coming from this type of person. But you can't rule out the possibility that the person was capable of doing something like this.

Also, even in my many years I spent in New York, I've had people tell me that they've got a bomb, and they've held a briefcase to themselves, but I've never seen the one with the bomb around the neck like this which was imported, from my research, from South America.

So all of these different twists are going to have the FBI and police looking for several different theories to try to solve this one.

O'BRIEN: You talk a little bit about the sophistication of Brian wells and some folks say think is a sophisticated bomb. And other people said, well, you know, that's the kind of information that maybe you could get off the Internet. His friends said he didn't have access to the Internet. This A kind of guy who lived very simply, did not have access to a computer.

Tell me the direction the FBI is going now in this investigation because seems every day we hear another weird element and weird angle to this story.

CLARK: Well you know, Soledad, I think what they're really going to have to do is to really pin down and find out exactly what he did have access to and what activities that he was involved in.

I understand that he was a pretty reclusive individual, stayed alone, to himself. And sometimes you don't know what's really going on. But a lot of times this information is accessible to -- from the Internet. And it also is accessible from certain literary type of materials one could get and figure out.

And just because person does have a high degree of schooling education, they may certainly be capable of putting something like this together.

O'BRIEN: His friends and family members have said, there's no reason why he would rob a bank. This is a guy, they say, who wasn't all that interested in money. You say friends and family often don't have a clue in cases like this.

CLARK: Well, I think the clues in the investigation are going to really point out if -- what the reason was. And that's what the investigators have to go.

Soledad, they've got to start at the scene, which I know that they are because that's where they're going to be able to get clues and leads to really determine what the motive was behind someone pulling off this type of attack.

But I've got to tell you that it is possible that this person did plan this, and they have to look at that theory as well as the possibility of someone else working with him.

O'BRIEN: I want to ask you one quick final question. There were two notes. One for the teller, apparently, and another, a set of instructions for Wells, sort of detailing how he should rob the bank, I suppose.

Outside of doing a handwriting analysis on these notes what else will investigators get from these notes?

CLARK: Well, you're right. The handwriting analysis is first. And then they've got to go through the behavioral science and the profiling-type people. And that's where these people are so important because they will be able to pick out some clues in that that will give them lead information as to where they can look for who helped put this together and perhaps the type of personality that would put such thing together.

O'BRIEN: So many questions still. Don Clark, thanks for joining us this morning. Appreciate your insight into what is a baffling case. We're no further along than when we started last week. Appreciate your time.

CLARK: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com