Return to Transcripts main page
American Morning
New Pictures of 13-Year-Old Girl Missing in Florida; A Huge Drug Bust
Aired April 14, 2005 - 08:00 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: New pictures of a 13-year-old girl missing now in Florida. Police found clues this morning. Have they found them in the search for Sarah Lunde?
A huge drug bust -- millions of dollars of illegally Ecstasy apparently coming into the U.S. with a military escort.
And a shocking story. Boys having fun at a baseball game until one of them went blind with rage. Now the families torn apart, on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN broadcast center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Soledad O'Brien and Bill Hemmer.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone.
8:00 here in New York.
Good to have you along with us today and good morning to you again.
O'BRIEN: And likewise.
HEMMER: This tough story out of Iraq that broke yesterday. An American businessman held hostage now. His family in northern Indiana very quiet about all this. He has children and a wife there. Not like other families who have been put in this same terrible situation. We'll get a report in a moment. LaPorte, Indiana is his home town and we'll tell you what's different about this case.
Wow!
O'BRIEN: Also this morning in the Michael Jackson trial, now testimony of unidentified primers and accounts of Jackson's strange behavior on an airplane. The testimony said he licked a boy's head.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What, he just...
O'BRIEN: It's actually been said before in this trial.
HEMMER: Yes. That's exactly right.
O'BRIEN: This is not the first time. We've got the very latest.
CAFFERTY: He should go to prison for that, licked a kid's head on an airplane? If he goes to prison, is that guy going to go with him and hold the little umbrella over his head?
O'BRIEN: I don't know. Maybe if he's convicted of something. But I doubt it.
CAFFERTY: They'll be able to spot him in the yard. Hey, there's Mike.
Coming up in "The Cafferty File," Massachusetts' same sex marriage does not apply to everyone. There are exceptions.
For $100, you can trace your origins all the way back to the first humans 60,000 years ago.
And a face only a mother can love, but not very much.
HEMMER: I think you know where you're going with that.
Thank you, Jack.
CAFFERTY: Well, they did a study about good looking kids versus ugly kids. It's all that.
HEMMER: Thank you.
Let's get to the headlines top of the hour.
Here's Carol Costello across town in our, well, we call it the New York bureau, but it's actually an enormous building -- Carol, good morning.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. It's a very big building. And I'll be down there soon.
HEMMER: All right.
COSTELLO: Thank you, Bill.
Good morning to all of you.
Dozens of Iraqi casualties in southern Baghdad. Sources say twin car bombs went off, sending smoke and debris flying. The blasts apparently targeting an Iraqi police convoy. At least 11 were killed and there are reports al Qaeda is claiming responsibility for this attack.
Two National Guardsmen are being held without bond, accused of importing millions of dollars worth of the drug Ecstasy. Captain Franklin Rodriguez and Sergeant John Fong appeared Wednesday in a federal court in New York. If convicted, each faces a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison and $2 million in fines. CNN's Deborah Feyerick has more details on this case later this hour.
U.S. law makers are hoping to work out a compromise that will allow them to permanently repeal a tax on inherited property. The House approved the measure on Wednesday. President Bush had called the elimination of the estate tax "a matter of basic fairness." Critics say it could cut as much as $290 billion from government revenue during the next decade. Andy Serwer will have more just ahead.
And silicon breast implants could be back on the market very soon. In a surprise move, federal health advisers are recommending that one company could sell its silicon implants, but only under specific conditions. The move comes one day after the panel rejected a similar bid from another company. The FDA still has to make its final decision, and, of course, we'll keep up posted.
Back to you.
O'BRIEN: Kind of a surprise move there, wasn't it, Carol?
All right, thanks for that.
COSTELLO: It was weird.
O'BRIEN: Appreciate the update.
COSTELLO: Sure.
O'BRIEN: An American businessman has turned up in an Iraqi insurgent hostage video. Jeffrey Ake is shown pleading for the U.S. government to save his life.
Keith Oppenheim is in Ake's hometown of LaPorte, Indiana this morning.
KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
I'm standing in front of the home of Jeffrey Ake, LaPorte, Indiana. It's a beautiful morning here, but clearly a very anxious one for Jeffrey Ake's family.
This family is getting tremendous support from the community here, a community which deeply believes that Jeff Ake went to Iraq to make a contribution, to do some good. And they feel it is terribly wrong that his life should be threatened.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
OPPENHEIM (voice-over): In LaPorte, Indiana, if you go to the Chamber of Commerce, there are photos of Jeffrey Ake. He is the picture of a confident looking businessman, the entrepreneur shaking hands. What a contrast to these pictures released to the Al Jazeera Network. The video shows a man identified as Jeffrey Ake surrounded by gunmen, holding his passport, driver's license and a family photo.
JOHN DIEDRICH, FAMILY FRIEND: These people are just totally animals. They're, you know, they're unreasonable. Jeff has a nice wife, a beautiful wife, children.
OPPENHEIM: Jeffrey Ake's wife Liliania and other relatives are at home here in LaPorte. Outside, there is an American flag hanging on the garage, a yellow ribbon around a tree. Inside, a close-knit group of friends and family do the only thing they can, wait, appearing as shadows against the windows, avoiding any contact with the media.
CHIEF DAVID GARIEPY, LAPORTE POLICE: They're following the advice of the FBI. And they've requested that they not be contacted by the press.
OPPENHEIM: People in LaPorte who know Jeffrey Ake say he is a creative entrepreneur. He is the president of a small company, Equipment Express, that develops systems for packaging liquid products. Since 2003, Ake had been selling equipment to the Iraqis for making bottled water and cooking oil. MAYOR LEIGH MORRIS, LAPORTE, INDIANA: He has the potential to be so helpful to the Iraqi people, to make that a more positive situation. And so people who are -- who don't want that to happen, who want things to continue to be bad and get worse, I presume he would be a logical target, which maybe makes it all the more tragic.
OPPENHEIM: Indeed, the possibly outcome of this hostage situation is overwhelming for many in LaPorte.
(on camera): The idea that he could die, is that something that you just don't want to allow yourself to think about?
MICHAEL FEITZ, GREATER LAPORTE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE: Exactly. I'm not going to think anything like that. I'm going to think positive and our community is going to think positive and we're going to, through positive thinking, we're going to bring him back, I hope.
OPPENHEIM: They just want him home, alive and back with his friends and family.
MORRIS: We have hope and we have faith. And I believe that somehow Jeff Ake will be spared.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
OPPENHEIM: Tomorrow night in LaPorte, members of the community here will gather to honor Jeffrey Ake, to express their hopes for his safe return. There will be a candlelight vigil sponsored by the local Rotary Club and the Greater LaPorte Chamber of Communicate. Jeffrey Ake was members of both organizations -- Soledad, back to you.
O'BRIEN: Keith Oppenheim, who is Ake's hometown of LaPorte, Indiana for us this morning.
Keith, thanks.
And, of course, our best wishes go out to the family, as well, obviously -- Bill.
HEMMER: Indeed, they do.
Ruskin, Florida live now, Hillsborough County. The sheriff there is David Gee, now speaking about the disappearance of 13-year-old Sarah Lunde. Let's listen to the spokesperson there now.
CAPT. CRAIG LATTIMER, HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, FLORIDA: Some dogs that will be utilized in different areas today. Team Adam is on site. We are consulting with them, listening to their advice. We also are continuing to receive tips from the community, and that's very important and we appreciate that. We've had numerous tips come in overnight and we encourage residents that have any information in reference to the disappearance to please contract the Hillsborough County Sheriff's office.
We will again have aviation and marine units out here today. Our mounted units will also be out. We are continuing the search process. We're expanding our search a little bit. We're also going back over some other areas that we've searched before just to double check and make sure.
We'd like to encourage the residents in the community, as Sheriff Gee has done several times, we'd like to encourage the residents, the landowners out here, to check their property. They know their property better than anyone else. Check the outbuildings, barns, any sign of Sarah we certainly would like to know about.
We distributed over 1,000 fliers, as the sheriff told you yesterday. We've got these printed in both English and Spanish. There's a large Hispanic community down here. We distributed over 1,000 of the fliers yesterday.
I'll take questions relative to the search and the ongoing efforts at this time.
QUESTION: Captain, can you refresh our memory about -- can you...
LATTIMER: Go ahead.
QUESTION: Can you please refresh our memory about why you are so certain that this is a missing child as opposed to a runaway child?
LATTIMER: We said, as we said previously, this is very much out of her character to be gone for this length of time and the circumstances. So we continue to be hopeful, as Kelly May, her mother does, for the safe return of Sarah.
QUESTION: Can you say whether anything was missing of hers from the house (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...
LATTIMER: I'm not going to comment on any of the investigative facets at this time. The sheriff will take care of that.
QUESTION: (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
LATTIMER: I'm sorry?
QUESTION: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)? LATTIMER: As we continue to search areas, we'll jump to the next area. So I can't really give you a, you know -- it's not in miles, that's for sure.
QUESTION: OK.
LATTIMER: It's in acres.
QUESTION: Captain, what about (UNINTELLIGIBLE)? Can you go back to that (UNINTELLIGIBLE)? What will you be doing in that area?
LATTIMER: Yes, we're going to research some areas, and that's why we've got the scent dogs and the different dogs out here. And we're going to research some areas that we've looked at before. You know, we want to check and double check. We don't want to miss anything, that's for sure.
QUESTION: And there was a scent of her?
LATTIMER: We had some scent dogs out here, yes. You know, they were indicating that there were some scents.
HEMMER: That's Captain Craig Lattimer with the police down there in Hillsborough County.
Not a whole lot of new information coming out of that briefing right now.
Here's what we can tell you.
We talked to the sheriff last hour here on AMERICAN MORNING. Sarah Lunde is age 13. She was last seen Saturday night at her home. Her brother reported her missing about early Sunday morning. There is some question, too, about whether or not this is a runaway case or whether she was abducted in the past, and you may have heard CNN's Susan Candiotti ask the question about the runaway situation. She has disappeared before from home, but never for this period of time.
There's also this question today being reported in the "Tampa Tribune." David Onstott is age 36. He is now behind bars. He is a convicted sex offender. However, he is now behind bars for not registering in the State of Florida. When we asked the sheriff about whether or not he showed up at the home on Sunday morning, he would only say that he has our attention. And to quote the sheriff: "I don't want to characterize him at all at this point, other than to say that we are pursuing that lead."
The parents apparently, the father has been out of touch with the family for the past 10 years. The mother was out of town at the time. So this is a mystery for Sarah Lunde, age 13, missing now in the State of Florida.
More on this when we get it -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: It's 10 after the hour and time to take a look at the weather this morning. Chad Myers is at the CNN Center.
He's got the latest for us -- hey, Chad, good morning.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Soledad.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HEMMER: In a moment here, the mother of Michael Jackson's accuser is on the stand. Some say her testimony was bizarre. Why one expert in court yesterday says that could actually make her more believable. We'll talk about that.
O'BRIEN: Also, a congressman under fire says he's sorry. But it's not for the ethics scandal he's wrapped up in. We'll explain.
HEMMER: Also, the national pastime back in the national capital. Washington finally getting ready for a much awaited home opener. That's a bit later this hour here on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: The mother of Michael Jackson's accuser expected back on the witness stand today. Yesterday, she broke down in tears in front of the jurors and made some strong accusations against Jackson.
Criminal defense attorney Anne Bremner sat through that testimony in California.
She's back in Seattle this morning.
Anne, good morning there.
ANNE BREMNER, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Good morning.
HEMMER: You think part of her testimony was effective.
Which part?
BREMNER: Well, I, what she described was so incredible it was credible, particularly when she talked about being threatened by killers, that if she didn't help with the rebuttal video to support Jackson after this controversial documentary, that there would be some kind of death threats against her, well, there were some tapes to back that up from one of his agents, one of his co-conspirators, who is unindicted.
And then she also talked about different things in terms of surveillance of her family and other threats. And surveillance tapes were found in a search warrant at Michael Jackson's, one of his agent's offices.
So it was, it was amazingly strange testimony about a netherworld at Neverland, but it was credible because it was corroborated and incredible, in a way.
HEMMER: All right, let's tick through a number of these items here. And we've got a lot to go through here.
BREMNER: Right.
HEMMER: You mentioned this killer aspect here. Apparently she has said friends of Michael Jackson said we'll protect you from the killers. She points to Jackson on the stand and says you know what, they ended up being the killers.
BREMNER: Yes, that...
HEMMER: How did he respond to that?
BREMNER: Well, you know, he doesn't respond in court. It's rare that he responds at all. I did see some reaction between Michael Jackson and the accuser's mother, because, of course, she is the mainstay witness for the prosecution and for the defense. You know, the defense has made her a centerpiece, put her on trial. They're saying she's on trial, not Michael Jackson.
But his responses, just a little interaction in terms of watching her and reacting.
HEMMER: Because some of the reports we're getting is that he was more animated yesterday than he is normally in court.
BREMNER: He was. He was.
HEMMER: At one time, she's crying, wailing, it describes here, according to the "L.A. Times." "Don't judge me," she said. "Please don't judge me."
BREMNER: Oh, yes...
HEMMER: With regard to what?
BREMNER: That was with regard to an incident on a private airplane when they had all gone to Florida together, when Michael Jackson and his agents were trying to get her to cooperate in this supportive rebuttal video. She said she saw Michael Jackson licking her son's head. And then she said I didn't know if I imagined it or I really saw it, it was so bizarre. And she looked at the jury and begged, "Don't judge me. Please don't judge me," as if saying, you know, as a mother, I'm not responsible for this, I didn't know what was going to happen, I didn't know what was going to happen. I didn't know what he was doing.
HEMMER: Hang on a second.
We've heard this before, about licking a child's head.
Is that the forehead? Is that on top of the head? What is this?
BREMNER: Yes, it's almost like a cat, you know? Licking a head, it was all over the head and it went on for some time, as she described it.
HEMMER: Why didn't she take her kid away?
BREMNER: Why didn't she?
HEMMER: Yes.
BREMNER: Well -- and I think, you know, when you hear from all the mothers in this case, including the mother of the '93 accuser, I think they all look back and everyone wants to say to them, what were you thinking? Why didn't you take your child away? But what they say was I trusted Michael Jackson. And, you know, even his ex-wife, Lisa Marie Presley, said Michael Jackson is anyone you want him to be.
HEMMER: All right, there's two more questions here.
She took the fifth at one point.
BREMNER: She did.
HEMMER: Regarding what?
BREMNER: She took the fifth regarding perjury and welfare fraud. That was a surprise, I think, to all the parties and it is...
HEMMER: Does that hurt her credibility, then, Anne?
BREMNER: It does. And what was unusual here is the defense asked to strike her testimony, because they couldn't adequately cross- examine her. The judge denied that, but as a remedy, he told the jury that she was taking the fifth with respect to perjury and fraud.
HEMMER: All right, one more thing here.
Thomas Mesereau, the attorney for Michael Jackson, allowed her to talk and talk and talk with few interruptions.
What was the strategy there? Is he waiting for a later time, cross-examination?
BREMNER: Exactly. And in his own mind, he may believe that by virtue of her talking and talking and talking, she may end up hanging herself in some way, because it may hurt her credibility. He's objected very few times and he's one that objects often. And his objections are sustained throughout the trial.
HEMMER: Yes. Well, we're told by some that she may be on the stand for a week or more. We know she's back today, so we'll see.
Thanks, Anne.
Anne Bremner, the attorney, in Seattle this morning.
BREMNER: Thank you.
HEMMER: Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Well, an apology from House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. DeLay made amends for what he said the day that Terri Schiavo died. After weeks of legal wrangling over whether to remove Schiavo's feeding tube, DeLay said: "The time will come for the men responsible for this to answer for their behavior."
Well, in his apology on Wednesday, DeLay said this: "I said something in an inartful way and I apologize for it. I'm sorry I said it that way and I shouldn't have said it."
DeLay has also been under scrutiny over allegations that he took trips that were paid for by lobbyists.
After a 13-year ban, an FDA panel recommends putting silicon implants back on the market. We are "Paging Dr. Gupta" to learn the reasons behind this surprising turnaround. That story is up next on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: It happens every spring -- baseball begins anew. But it's been three decades since the nation's capital played host to the national pastime.
As CNN's Bob Franken tells us, that's about to change.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They're already playing on the road. But tonight, the Washington Nationals play their first home game in the warm embrace of the same stadium the Washington Senators left when they were moved to Texas in 1971.
DON PLAVNICK, LONGTIME SENATORS FAN: The team has merely been on a 34-year road trip. They've finally come home to play now.
FRANKEN: Coming home to long suffering fans like Don Plavnick, who was at that bitter last game when the Washington Senators lost to the New York Yankees, forfeited because an angry crowd stormed into the field before the final out.
Plavnick still has his scorecard from that game.
PLAVNICK: Before that last pitch could be thrown, one more up, we would have had a victory. And it was never to be. They stormed down into the field and started taking everything that wasn't bolted down and everything that was.
FRANKEN: The Nationals were the Expos, removed from Montreal just like the old Senators were twice removed, once to become the Minnesota Twins and once the Texas Rangers.
And guess which former executive of the Rangers will throw out the first pitch? None other than President George W. Bush, of course.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can't call yourself the national pastime and not be in the nation's capital. I believe in the symbolic importance of having baseball in this city. FRANKEN: This is where presidents are supposed to throw out the first pitch. They've done it at 45 Washington home openers, starting with William Howard Taft, 95 years ago today. Ninety-five years of on again, off again, mostly losing baseball in Washington. But there were heroes. Frank Howard with his awesome home runs. The legendary Ted Williams was the manager in the Senators' last seasons. And, of course, pitcher Walter Johnson, who retired in 1927, but is still considered by many to be the best ever.
Opening night is a big deal in today's status conscious Washington. The stands will be filled with every VIP who could score a ticket and the true fans, who have waited so long.
(on camera): How do you think you're going to feel?
STEVE BERNSTEIN, NATIONALS FAN: Like a kid. I'll probably cry. I expect to.
FRANKEN: You expect to cry, huh? BERNSTEIN: I hope that doesn't sound too corny for an old man.
FRANKEN (voice-over): A lot of the old diehard fans will be crying. And as the song goes, they will root, root, root for the home team, again.
Bob Franken, CNN, Washington, home of the Nationals.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
O'BRIEN: And in tonight's home opener, the Nationals play the Arizona Diamondbacks.
HEMMER: That's kind of cool, huh, history coming back to the capital?
O'BRIEN: Yes, that's nice.
Can you imagine the drama behind trying to score seats to that?
HEMMER: Sure.
O'BRIEN: It's all about the politics.
HEMMER: Of course.
O'BRIEN: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) that all.
CAFFERTY: None of the people who live down there will ever be able to go to the game...
O'BRIEN: Right.
CAFFERTY: ... assuming they start winning.
O'BRIEN: Right.
CAFFERTY: If they don't win, the politicians will be nowhere to be found.
HEMMER: There are more lobbyists in that state than politicians, too.
CAFFERTY: Yes. Sure.
HEMMER: What's happening?
CAFFERTY: It's America. That's the way it works.
HEMMER: Yes.
CAFFERTY: English -- we're having a little fun with this, actually, here this morning. English is now the official language of West Virginia. State legislators inadvertently passed an amendment over the weekend quietly inserted into the bill on a totally different subject and when they voted to pass it, bingo, English was it.
Congress has debated the idea of English as an official language ever since 1981, but nothing has ever happened on a national level.
The this morning is should the rest of the country follow West Virginia's lead and make English the official language?
Dave in Rochester, New York: "I completely agree with you regarding the issue of having students in school learn English. I emigrated to this country from China in 1991, at the age of eight. Today, people can't even tell I'm an immigrant. If I can do it, so can all the other immigrants. Why should others receive special treatment? This is America. We speak English. They should quit crying discrimination and just learn it."
Peter in Rhode Island: "States are the wrong place for official languages. This is a national question. What if the other states opt for languages other than English? What happens then?"
Meggan in Wisconsin writes: "Great idea. Let's expect the illegal immigrants to learn English in between their busy schedule of working 60 or 70 hours a week for $4 an hour in some job that no American would ever want. What a lazy bunch they are."
And Larry in Fort Lauderdale, Florida: "My grandparents were immigrants and I had a hard time trying to get them to teach me Slovak -- they were from Czechoslovakia -- because they were so proud of the fact that they learned English. They did not expect everyone else to learn Slovak in order to accommodate them."
That's all I have at this time.
HEMMER: There are more...
O'BRIEN: I'm curious...
HEMMER: Go ahead.
O'BRIEN: No, go ahead. HEMMER: Ladies first. Come on.
O'BRIEN: I'd be curious to know, though, would she prefer that her grandparents had someone who could translate the Slovak if they got to an emergency situation? If they were in a hospital, they ran in, and English isn't their first language. I mean it's not about replacing the English language with Slovak. It's about saying that there's an option. If you're more comfortable speaking Spanish or Chinese, hit this button on your phone and you could have, if it's important information, you could get it in your own language. That's what I think the issue is.
Yes...
CAFFERTY: And...
O'BRIEN: Go ahead, Mr. Hemmer.
HEMMER: I was just going to say that Hispanics, what, they outnumber blacks in America today, right?
CAFFERTY: I don't know.
HEMMER: So when it comes to speaking Spanish and a bilingual nation and all, this is going to go for years right now because that sector of the population just continues to grow.
O'BRIEN: That's true.
CAFFERTY: I'm...
HEMMER: But you said they sneaked it into the legislation?
O'BRIEN: They did.
HEMMER: How do you sneak this into legislation?
CAFFERTY: Oh, come on, there are bills that pass in Washington every day that nobody has ever read, has no idea what's in them. That's...
O'BRIEN: But they basically didn't have a clue what was in it. They got a summation of it from somebody else.
HEMMER: So, then, the question is does this catch fire? So you see other states following their lead?
CAFFERTY: I'm really sorry I brought it up. I wish we'd have continued the...
O'BRIEN: Was that an apology? I'm sorry.
CAFFERTY: No, no...
HEMMER: Mucho gracias.
CAFFERTY: Oh, no.
O'BRIEN: Yes, it was. Yes, it was.
CAFFERTY: Not on your best day.
O'BRIEN: I accept it, Jack. I accept your apology. It's OK. Thank you very much.
CAFFERTY: Dream on.
O'BRIEN: Moving on, a huge drug bust could turn into a big embarrassment for the U.S. military. How authorities say millions of dollars worth of Ecstasy were smuggled into the country. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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 April 14, 2005 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: New pictures of a 13-year-old girl missing now in Florida. Police found clues this morning. Have they found them in the search for Sarah Lunde?
A huge drug bust -- millions of dollars of illegally Ecstasy apparently coming into the U.S. with a military escort.
And a shocking story. Boys having fun at a baseball game until one of them went blind with rage. Now the families torn apart, on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN broadcast center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Soledad O'Brien and Bill Hemmer.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone.
8:00 here in New York.
Good to have you along with us today and good morning to you again.
O'BRIEN: And likewise.
HEMMER: This tough story out of Iraq that broke yesterday. An American businessman held hostage now. His family in northern Indiana very quiet about all this. He has children and a wife there. Not like other families who have been put in this same terrible situation. We'll get a report in a moment. LaPorte, Indiana is his home town and we'll tell you what's different about this case.
Wow!
O'BRIEN: Also this morning in the Michael Jackson trial, now testimony of unidentified primers and accounts of Jackson's strange behavior on an airplane. The testimony said he licked a boy's head.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What, he just...
O'BRIEN: It's actually been said before in this trial.
HEMMER: Yes. That's exactly right.
O'BRIEN: This is not the first time. We've got the very latest.
CAFFERTY: He should go to prison for that, licked a kid's head on an airplane? If he goes to prison, is that guy going to go with him and hold the little umbrella over his head?
O'BRIEN: I don't know. Maybe if he's convicted of something. But I doubt it.
CAFFERTY: They'll be able to spot him in the yard. Hey, there's Mike.
Coming up in "The Cafferty File," Massachusetts' same sex marriage does not apply to everyone. There are exceptions.
For $100, you can trace your origins all the way back to the first humans 60,000 years ago.
And a face only a mother can love, but not very much.
HEMMER: I think you know where you're going with that.
Thank you, Jack.
CAFFERTY: Well, they did a study about good looking kids versus ugly kids. It's all that.
HEMMER: Thank you.
Let's get to the headlines top of the hour.
Here's Carol Costello across town in our, well, we call it the New York bureau, but it's actually an enormous building -- Carol, good morning.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. It's a very big building. And I'll be down there soon.
HEMMER: All right.
COSTELLO: Thank you, Bill.
Good morning to all of you.
Dozens of Iraqi casualties in southern Baghdad. Sources say twin car bombs went off, sending smoke and debris flying. The blasts apparently targeting an Iraqi police convoy. At least 11 were killed and there are reports al Qaeda is claiming responsibility for this attack.
Two National Guardsmen are being held without bond, accused of importing millions of dollars worth of the drug Ecstasy. Captain Franklin Rodriguez and Sergeant John Fong appeared Wednesday in a federal court in New York. If convicted, each faces a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison and $2 million in fines. CNN's Deborah Feyerick has more details on this case later this hour.
U.S. law makers are hoping to work out a compromise that will allow them to permanently repeal a tax on inherited property. The House approved the measure on Wednesday. President Bush had called the elimination of the estate tax "a matter of basic fairness." Critics say it could cut as much as $290 billion from government revenue during the next decade. Andy Serwer will have more just ahead.
And silicon breast implants could be back on the market very soon. In a surprise move, federal health advisers are recommending that one company could sell its silicon implants, but only under specific conditions. The move comes one day after the panel rejected a similar bid from another company. The FDA still has to make its final decision, and, of course, we'll keep up posted.
Back to you.
O'BRIEN: Kind of a surprise move there, wasn't it, Carol?
All right, thanks for that.
COSTELLO: It was weird.
O'BRIEN: Appreciate the update.
COSTELLO: Sure.
O'BRIEN: An American businessman has turned up in an Iraqi insurgent hostage video. Jeffrey Ake is shown pleading for the U.S. government to save his life.
Keith Oppenheim is in Ake's hometown of LaPorte, Indiana this morning.
KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
I'm standing in front of the home of Jeffrey Ake, LaPorte, Indiana. It's a beautiful morning here, but clearly a very anxious one for Jeffrey Ake's family.
This family is getting tremendous support from the community here, a community which deeply believes that Jeff Ake went to Iraq to make a contribution, to do some good. And they feel it is terribly wrong that his life should be threatened.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
OPPENHEIM (voice-over): In LaPorte, Indiana, if you go to the Chamber of Commerce, there are photos of Jeffrey Ake. He is the picture of a confident looking businessman, the entrepreneur shaking hands. What a contrast to these pictures released to the Al Jazeera Network. The video shows a man identified as Jeffrey Ake surrounded by gunmen, holding his passport, driver's license and a family photo.
JOHN DIEDRICH, FAMILY FRIEND: These people are just totally animals. They're, you know, they're unreasonable. Jeff has a nice wife, a beautiful wife, children.
OPPENHEIM: Jeffrey Ake's wife Liliania and other relatives are at home here in LaPorte. Outside, there is an American flag hanging on the garage, a yellow ribbon around a tree. Inside, a close-knit group of friends and family do the only thing they can, wait, appearing as shadows against the windows, avoiding any contact with the media.
CHIEF DAVID GARIEPY, LAPORTE POLICE: They're following the advice of the FBI. And they've requested that they not be contacted by the press.
OPPENHEIM: People in LaPorte who know Jeffrey Ake say he is a creative entrepreneur. He is the president of a small company, Equipment Express, that develops systems for packaging liquid products. Since 2003, Ake had been selling equipment to the Iraqis for making bottled water and cooking oil. MAYOR LEIGH MORRIS, LAPORTE, INDIANA: He has the potential to be so helpful to the Iraqi people, to make that a more positive situation. And so people who are -- who don't want that to happen, who want things to continue to be bad and get worse, I presume he would be a logical target, which maybe makes it all the more tragic.
OPPENHEIM: Indeed, the possibly outcome of this hostage situation is overwhelming for many in LaPorte.
(on camera): The idea that he could die, is that something that you just don't want to allow yourself to think about?
MICHAEL FEITZ, GREATER LAPORTE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE: Exactly. I'm not going to think anything like that. I'm going to think positive and our community is going to think positive and we're going to, through positive thinking, we're going to bring him back, I hope.
OPPENHEIM: They just want him home, alive and back with his friends and family.
MORRIS: We have hope and we have faith. And I believe that somehow Jeff Ake will be spared.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
OPPENHEIM: Tomorrow night in LaPorte, members of the community here will gather to honor Jeffrey Ake, to express their hopes for his safe return. There will be a candlelight vigil sponsored by the local Rotary Club and the Greater LaPorte Chamber of Communicate. Jeffrey Ake was members of both organizations -- Soledad, back to you.
O'BRIEN: Keith Oppenheim, who is Ake's hometown of LaPorte, Indiana for us this morning.
Keith, thanks.
And, of course, our best wishes go out to the family, as well, obviously -- Bill.
HEMMER: Indeed, they do.
Ruskin, Florida live now, Hillsborough County. The sheriff there is David Gee, now speaking about the disappearance of 13-year-old Sarah Lunde. Let's listen to the spokesperson there now.
CAPT. CRAIG LATTIMER, HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, FLORIDA: Some dogs that will be utilized in different areas today. Team Adam is on site. We are consulting with them, listening to their advice. We also are continuing to receive tips from the community, and that's very important and we appreciate that. We've had numerous tips come in overnight and we encourage residents that have any information in reference to the disappearance to please contract the Hillsborough County Sheriff's office.
We will again have aviation and marine units out here today. Our mounted units will also be out. We are continuing the search process. We're expanding our search a little bit. We're also going back over some other areas that we've searched before just to double check and make sure.
We'd like to encourage the residents in the community, as Sheriff Gee has done several times, we'd like to encourage the residents, the landowners out here, to check their property. They know their property better than anyone else. Check the outbuildings, barns, any sign of Sarah we certainly would like to know about.
We distributed over 1,000 fliers, as the sheriff told you yesterday. We've got these printed in both English and Spanish. There's a large Hispanic community down here. We distributed over 1,000 of the fliers yesterday.
I'll take questions relative to the search and the ongoing efforts at this time.
QUESTION: Captain, can you refresh our memory about -- can you...
LATTIMER: Go ahead.
QUESTION: Can you please refresh our memory about why you are so certain that this is a missing child as opposed to a runaway child?
LATTIMER: We said, as we said previously, this is very much out of her character to be gone for this length of time and the circumstances. So we continue to be hopeful, as Kelly May, her mother does, for the safe return of Sarah.
QUESTION: Can you say whether anything was missing of hers from the house (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...
LATTIMER: I'm not going to comment on any of the investigative facets at this time. The sheriff will take care of that.
QUESTION: (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
LATTIMER: I'm sorry?
QUESTION: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)? LATTIMER: As we continue to search areas, we'll jump to the next area. So I can't really give you a, you know -- it's not in miles, that's for sure.
QUESTION: OK.
LATTIMER: It's in acres.
QUESTION: Captain, what about (UNINTELLIGIBLE)? Can you go back to that (UNINTELLIGIBLE)? What will you be doing in that area?
LATTIMER: Yes, we're going to research some areas, and that's why we've got the scent dogs and the different dogs out here. And we're going to research some areas that we've looked at before. You know, we want to check and double check. We don't want to miss anything, that's for sure.
QUESTION: And there was a scent of her?
LATTIMER: We had some scent dogs out here, yes. You know, they were indicating that there were some scents.
HEMMER: That's Captain Craig Lattimer with the police down there in Hillsborough County.
Not a whole lot of new information coming out of that briefing right now.
Here's what we can tell you.
We talked to the sheriff last hour here on AMERICAN MORNING. Sarah Lunde is age 13. She was last seen Saturday night at her home. Her brother reported her missing about early Sunday morning. There is some question, too, about whether or not this is a runaway case or whether she was abducted in the past, and you may have heard CNN's Susan Candiotti ask the question about the runaway situation. She has disappeared before from home, but never for this period of time.
There's also this question today being reported in the "Tampa Tribune." David Onstott is age 36. He is now behind bars. He is a convicted sex offender. However, he is now behind bars for not registering in the State of Florida. When we asked the sheriff about whether or not he showed up at the home on Sunday morning, he would only say that he has our attention. And to quote the sheriff: "I don't want to characterize him at all at this point, other than to say that we are pursuing that lead."
The parents apparently, the father has been out of touch with the family for the past 10 years. The mother was out of town at the time. So this is a mystery for Sarah Lunde, age 13, missing now in the State of Florida.
More on this when we get it -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: It's 10 after the hour and time to take a look at the weather this morning. Chad Myers is at the CNN Center.
He's got the latest for us -- hey, Chad, good morning.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Soledad.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HEMMER: In a moment here, the mother of Michael Jackson's accuser is on the stand. Some say her testimony was bizarre. Why one expert in court yesterday says that could actually make her more believable. We'll talk about that.
O'BRIEN: Also, a congressman under fire says he's sorry. But it's not for the ethics scandal he's wrapped up in. We'll explain.
HEMMER: Also, the national pastime back in the national capital. Washington finally getting ready for a much awaited home opener. That's a bit later this hour here on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: The mother of Michael Jackson's accuser expected back on the witness stand today. Yesterday, she broke down in tears in front of the jurors and made some strong accusations against Jackson.
Criminal defense attorney Anne Bremner sat through that testimony in California.
She's back in Seattle this morning.
Anne, good morning there.
ANNE BREMNER, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Good morning.
HEMMER: You think part of her testimony was effective.
Which part?
BREMNER: Well, I, what she described was so incredible it was credible, particularly when she talked about being threatened by killers, that if she didn't help with the rebuttal video to support Jackson after this controversial documentary, that there would be some kind of death threats against her, well, there were some tapes to back that up from one of his agents, one of his co-conspirators, who is unindicted.
And then she also talked about different things in terms of surveillance of her family and other threats. And surveillance tapes were found in a search warrant at Michael Jackson's, one of his agent's offices.
So it was, it was amazingly strange testimony about a netherworld at Neverland, but it was credible because it was corroborated and incredible, in a way.
HEMMER: All right, let's tick through a number of these items here. And we've got a lot to go through here.
BREMNER: Right.
HEMMER: You mentioned this killer aspect here. Apparently she has said friends of Michael Jackson said we'll protect you from the killers. She points to Jackson on the stand and says you know what, they ended up being the killers.
BREMNER: Yes, that...
HEMMER: How did he respond to that?
BREMNER: Well, you know, he doesn't respond in court. It's rare that he responds at all. I did see some reaction between Michael Jackson and the accuser's mother, because, of course, she is the mainstay witness for the prosecution and for the defense. You know, the defense has made her a centerpiece, put her on trial. They're saying she's on trial, not Michael Jackson.
But his responses, just a little interaction in terms of watching her and reacting.
HEMMER: Because some of the reports we're getting is that he was more animated yesterday than he is normally in court.
BREMNER: He was. He was.
HEMMER: At one time, she's crying, wailing, it describes here, according to the "L.A. Times." "Don't judge me," she said. "Please don't judge me."
BREMNER: Oh, yes...
HEMMER: With regard to what?
BREMNER: That was with regard to an incident on a private airplane when they had all gone to Florida together, when Michael Jackson and his agents were trying to get her to cooperate in this supportive rebuttal video. She said she saw Michael Jackson licking her son's head. And then she said I didn't know if I imagined it or I really saw it, it was so bizarre. And she looked at the jury and begged, "Don't judge me. Please don't judge me," as if saying, you know, as a mother, I'm not responsible for this, I didn't know what was going to happen, I didn't know what was going to happen. I didn't know what he was doing.
HEMMER: Hang on a second.
We've heard this before, about licking a child's head.
Is that the forehead? Is that on top of the head? What is this?
BREMNER: Yes, it's almost like a cat, you know? Licking a head, it was all over the head and it went on for some time, as she described it.
HEMMER: Why didn't she take her kid away?
BREMNER: Why didn't she?
HEMMER: Yes.
BREMNER: Well -- and I think, you know, when you hear from all the mothers in this case, including the mother of the '93 accuser, I think they all look back and everyone wants to say to them, what were you thinking? Why didn't you take your child away? But what they say was I trusted Michael Jackson. And, you know, even his ex-wife, Lisa Marie Presley, said Michael Jackson is anyone you want him to be.
HEMMER: All right, there's two more questions here.
She took the fifth at one point.
BREMNER: She did.
HEMMER: Regarding what?
BREMNER: She took the fifth regarding perjury and welfare fraud. That was a surprise, I think, to all the parties and it is...
HEMMER: Does that hurt her credibility, then, Anne?
BREMNER: It does. And what was unusual here is the defense asked to strike her testimony, because they couldn't adequately cross- examine her. The judge denied that, but as a remedy, he told the jury that she was taking the fifth with respect to perjury and fraud.
HEMMER: All right, one more thing here.
Thomas Mesereau, the attorney for Michael Jackson, allowed her to talk and talk and talk with few interruptions.
What was the strategy there? Is he waiting for a later time, cross-examination?
BREMNER: Exactly. And in his own mind, he may believe that by virtue of her talking and talking and talking, she may end up hanging herself in some way, because it may hurt her credibility. He's objected very few times and he's one that objects often. And his objections are sustained throughout the trial.
HEMMER: Yes. Well, we're told by some that she may be on the stand for a week or more. We know she's back today, so we'll see.
Thanks, Anne.
Anne Bremner, the attorney, in Seattle this morning.
BREMNER: Thank you.
HEMMER: Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Well, an apology from House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. DeLay made amends for what he said the day that Terri Schiavo died. After weeks of legal wrangling over whether to remove Schiavo's feeding tube, DeLay said: "The time will come for the men responsible for this to answer for their behavior."
Well, in his apology on Wednesday, DeLay said this: "I said something in an inartful way and I apologize for it. I'm sorry I said it that way and I shouldn't have said it."
DeLay has also been under scrutiny over allegations that he took trips that were paid for by lobbyists.
After a 13-year ban, an FDA panel recommends putting silicon implants back on the market. We are "Paging Dr. Gupta" to learn the reasons behind this surprising turnaround. That story is up next on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: It happens every spring -- baseball begins anew. But it's been three decades since the nation's capital played host to the national pastime.
As CNN's Bob Franken tells us, that's about to change.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They're already playing on the road. But tonight, the Washington Nationals play their first home game in the warm embrace of the same stadium the Washington Senators left when they were moved to Texas in 1971.
DON PLAVNICK, LONGTIME SENATORS FAN: The team has merely been on a 34-year road trip. They've finally come home to play now.
FRANKEN: Coming home to long suffering fans like Don Plavnick, who was at that bitter last game when the Washington Senators lost to the New York Yankees, forfeited because an angry crowd stormed into the field before the final out.
Plavnick still has his scorecard from that game.
PLAVNICK: Before that last pitch could be thrown, one more up, we would have had a victory. And it was never to be. They stormed down into the field and started taking everything that wasn't bolted down and everything that was.
FRANKEN: The Nationals were the Expos, removed from Montreal just like the old Senators were twice removed, once to become the Minnesota Twins and once the Texas Rangers.
And guess which former executive of the Rangers will throw out the first pitch? None other than President George W. Bush, of course.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can't call yourself the national pastime and not be in the nation's capital. I believe in the symbolic importance of having baseball in this city. FRANKEN: This is where presidents are supposed to throw out the first pitch. They've done it at 45 Washington home openers, starting with William Howard Taft, 95 years ago today. Ninety-five years of on again, off again, mostly losing baseball in Washington. But there were heroes. Frank Howard with his awesome home runs. The legendary Ted Williams was the manager in the Senators' last seasons. And, of course, pitcher Walter Johnson, who retired in 1927, but is still considered by many to be the best ever.
Opening night is a big deal in today's status conscious Washington. The stands will be filled with every VIP who could score a ticket and the true fans, who have waited so long.
(on camera): How do you think you're going to feel?
STEVE BERNSTEIN, NATIONALS FAN: Like a kid. I'll probably cry. I expect to.
FRANKEN: You expect to cry, huh? BERNSTEIN: I hope that doesn't sound too corny for an old man.
FRANKEN (voice-over): A lot of the old diehard fans will be crying. And as the song goes, they will root, root, root for the home team, again.
Bob Franken, CNN, Washington, home of the Nationals.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
O'BRIEN: And in tonight's home opener, the Nationals play the Arizona Diamondbacks.
HEMMER: That's kind of cool, huh, history coming back to the capital?
O'BRIEN: Yes, that's nice.
Can you imagine the drama behind trying to score seats to that?
HEMMER: Sure.
O'BRIEN: It's all about the politics.
HEMMER: Of course.
O'BRIEN: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) that all.
CAFFERTY: None of the people who live down there will ever be able to go to the game...
O'BRIEN: Right.
CAFFERTY: ... assuming they start winning.
O'BRIEN: Right.
CAFFERTY: If they don't win, the politicians will be nowhere to be found.
HEMMER: There are more lobbyists in that state than politicians, too.
CAFFERTY: Yes. Sure.
HEMMER: What's happening?
CAFFERTY: It's America. That's the way it works.
HEMMER: Yes.
CAFFERTY: English -- we're having a little fun with this, actually, here this morning. English is now the official language of West Virginia. State legislators inadvertently passed an amendment over the weekend quietly inserted into the bill on a totally different subject and when they voted to pass it, bingo, English was it.
Congress has debated the idea of English as an official language ever since 1981, but nothing has ever happened on a national level.
The this morning is should the rest of the country follow West Virginia's lead and make English the official language?
Dave in Rochester, New York: "I completely agree with you regarding the issue of having students in school learn English. I emigrated to this country from China in 1991, at the age of eight. Today, people can't even tell I'm an immigrant. If I can do it, so can all the other immigrants. Why should others receive special treatment? This is America. We speak English. They should quit crying discrimination and just learn it."
Peter in Rhode Island: "States are the wrong place for official languages. This is a national question. What if the other states opt for languages other than English? What happens then?"
Meggan in Wisconsin writes: "Great idea. Let's expect the illegal immigrants to learn English in between their busy schedule of working 60 or 70 hours a week for $4 an hour in some job that no American would ever want. What a lazy bunch they are."
And Larry in Fort Lauderdale, Florida: "My grandparents were immigrants and I had a hard time trying to get them to teach me Slovak -- they were from Czechoslovakia -- because they were so proud of the fact that they learned English. They did not expect everyone else to learn Slovak in order to accommodate them."
That's all I have at this time.
HEMMER: There are more...
O'BRIEN: I'm curious...
HEMMER: Go ahead.
O'BRIEN: No, go ahead. HEMMER: Ladies first. Come on.
O'BRIEN: I'd be curious to know, though, would she prefer that her grandparents had someone who could translate the Slovak if they got to an emergency situation? If they were in a hospital, they ran in, and English isn't their first language. I mean it's not about replacing the English language with Slovak. It's about saying that there's an option. If you're more comfortable speaking Spanish or Chinese, hit this button on your phone and you could have, if it's important information, you could get it in your own language. That's what I think the issue is.
Yes...
CAFFERTY: And...
O'BRIEN: Go ahead, Mr. Hemmer.
HEMMER: I was just going to say that Hispanics, what, they outnumber blacks in America today, right?
CAFFERTY: I don't know.
HEMMER: So when it comes to speaking Spanish and a bilingual nation and all, this is going to go for years right now because that sector of the population just continues to grow.
O'BRIEN: That's true.
CAFFERTY: I'm...
HEMMER: But you said they sneaked it into the legislation?
O'BRIEN: They did.
HEMMER: How do you sneak this into legislation?
CAFFERTY: Oh, come on, there are bills that pass in Washington every day that nobody has ever read, has no idea what's in them. That's...
O'BRIEN: But they basically didn't have a clue what was in it. They got a summation of it from somebody else.
HEMMER: So, then, the question is does this catch fire? So you see other states following their lead?
CAFFERTY: I'm really sorry I brought it up. I wish we'd have continued the...
O'BRIEN: Was that an apology? I'm sorry.
CAFFERTY: No, no...
HEMMER: Mucho gracias.
CAFFERTY: Oh, no.
O'BRIEN: Yes, it was. Yes, it was.
CAFFERTY: Not on your best day.
O'BRIEN: I accept it, Jack. I accept your apology. It's OK. Thank you very much.
CAFFERTY: Dream on.
O'BRIEN: Moving on, a huge drug bust could turn into a big embarrassment for the U.S. military. How authorities say millions of dollars worth of Ecstasy were smuggled into the country. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
