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American Morning

King Fahd Laid to Rest; Laptop Found in Case of Missing Pennsylvania Prosecutor; Utah Girl Fights Off Kidnapper

Aired August 02, 2005 - 09:30   ET

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

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Just about half past the hour on this AMERICAN MORNING. An intriguing new clue has been found in the case of a Pennsylvania prosecutor who vanished last spring without a trace.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: This laptop computer has now been fished out of the Susquehanna River. It happened over the weekend. It belonged to the D.A. Ray Gricar. We're going to talk about the discovery, and then really talk more about this baffling case with the police chief who's now investigating it. They don't know what happened to this guy. 59 years old, goes out for a walk and disappears.

M. O'BRIEN: And have they been able to recover some data from the laptop?

S. O'BRIEN: Well, they got the laptop, but not the hard drive.

M. O'BRIEN: I see.

S. O'BRIEN: As you know., that means you've got a laptop with not a whole heck of a lot of information. But we'll talk about maybe what headway they're making in the case this morning.

First, though, another check of the stories that are making news with Carol Costello. Good morning.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Good morning to all of you.

"Now in the News," this news just into CNN. More American troops have come under fire in Iraq. The U.S. military telling us at least six Marines were killed in action in Haditha. That's in Western Iraq. That apparently -- that attack apparently took place Monday, but we're just learning about it now. A seventh U.S. marine died in a separate attack northwest of Baghdad.

Discovery astronauts Steve Robinson is downplaying tomorrow's unprecedented spacewalk somewhat. He's compares it to, quote, watching grass grow, which I guess means it will take a long time. Robinson will try to repair some damage to the shuttle's exterior while in orbit. And that's a first for NASA. There's some concern the material could overheat during re-entry.

In about two hours, President Bush is set to sign the Central American Free Trade Agreement, or CAFTA. The bill lifts trade barriers with six countries. The deal was narrowly approved in Congress last week. After the signing, the president will head to his Texas ranch for some R & R. CNN will have live coverage of the singing ceremony. That will come your way at 11:25 Eastern.

And President Bush's controversial pick for U.N. ambassador is spending his first full day on the job. John Bolton will meet with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan later this morning. Annan said he's looking forward to working with Bolton. President Bush appointed Bolton on Monday, bypassing Democrats who had blocked a vote.

Back to you.

M. O'BRIEN: Thank you very much, Carol. Appreciate that.

We've been watching the ceremonies in Saudi Arabia this morning. King Fahd laid to rest. The monarch buried moments ago in an unmarked grave at a cemetery in Old Riyadh.

Nic Robertson is on the phone, joining us from the cemetery, as you look at some live pictures. Nic, the ceremony of all of this is not what you would normally expect from a passed monarch.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miles, it isn't, and neither is the graveyard. It's very plain, very ordinary. We were told that the funeral, the prayers in the mosque and the burial of the gravesite some three or four miles away, would be very quick and short. And it took about an hour and 20 minutes from there, or perhaps a little less, the beginning of the prayers at the mosque until he was buried.

We saw at the gravesite, and you can still at the gravesite, still people -- still people, perhaps, not very close family members, but still within the inner circle here, still coming up and wanting to throw a handful of soil on the grave and help complete the funeral process.

But the senior dignitaries, the new king, King Abdullah, the crown prince, Crown Prince Sultan, have all left. Many of the other senior dignitaries have all left this service. As we were told, over very, very quickly and very simple -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Nic, as we look at the royal family there, and we consider the fact that first of all, Crown Prince, now King Abdullah, has been running the country for quite some time. There is no immediate succession issue, but there's got to be a lot of talk after all about -- because, after all, King Abdullah is himself an octogenarian -- about who is next? What is the talk there?

ROBERTSON: Well, who -- if you ask a Saudi, they would tell you who next, it would be Crown Prince Sultan, also relatively elderly. The succession here is from brother to brother to brother to brother, and necessarily, that means they're increasingly elderly kings.

The subject people here won't talk about -- and I swear I tried to talk to one official about this a little earlier today -- is what happens, when does it pass to next generation? And he said to me, that's a taboo subject. We just don't talk about it. That will come up in the due course of time, he said. And this is a man I've known some time, lived in London, lived in the United States, as well. He said that will be in the hands of God and we hope that it happens at the right time, but it's in the hands of God. We don't bring up that sort of issue.

But, of course, it is on people's minds, when are they going to get a younger king. When will that king perhaps bring some of the changes that many of the younger generation really feel that need to come. But nobody, it seems, certainly publicly, wants to broach that subject -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Nic Robertson in Riyadh. Thank you -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Authorities in Pennsylvania have a new clue in the case of a missing prosecutor who vanished in April without a trace. Investigators are hoping the new evidence can help explain his mysterious disappearance.

A laptop computer belonging to missing Pennsylvania prosecutor Ray Gricar was pulled from the Susquehanna River on Saturday by two fishermen. The computer was found under a bridge, right near the spot where Gricar's car was abandoned more than three months ago. The 59- year-old Gricar's was last seen on April 15th. He told his girlfriend that day he was going for a drive and never returned.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KATHY FORNICOLA, RAY GRICAR'S GIRLFRIEND: I love you very much, and I miss you. I want for you to come home. Please call us. We will wait for as long as we need to.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

S. O'BRIEN: Authorities still have few clues about his disappearance. They haven't ruled out foul play. There's speculation he may have committed suicide, just as his brother did almost a decade earlier. But there also have been a reported number of sightings of Gricar. Authorities regard only one as credible, in Michigan, back in June.

The Center County D.A. was set to retire in December. Police say there's no indication that his disappearance is related to any of his cases. As for the discovery of Gricar's laptop, the computer's hard drive is missing. Police say it's unlikely to yield any real clues, making it another piece in a case that remains a real puzzle for investigators and those who are closest to the missing prosecutor.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FORNICOLA: I still don't know which way to think. Just because he found the laptop, that's good. But it doesn't tell us anything.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

S. O'BRIEN: Duane Dixon is the police chief in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania. Joins us from State College, Pennsylvania. Nice to see you, sir. Thanks for your time. It doesn't tell you anything yet. Is there is a chance, in fact, that laptop will ever be able to yield some clues in your investigation?

CHIEF DUANE DIXON, BELLEFONTE, PA. POLICE: At this point, without the hard drive, we don't believe we're going to get anything relative to the investigation. But the search is continuing for the hard drive for the computer down in the Susquehanna River.

S. O'BRIEN: Does the discovery of this laptop change the focus of your investigation? Do you get the sense that the hard drive is in the water somewhere or do you think it's been removed and taken away?

DIXON: At this point, we're not totally sure. It's just another piece of the puzzle that, really, took us nowhere. It still keeps up open to everything, possibility, in this investigation, whether he took off on his own or whether there's foul play involved even a possible suicide situation.

S. O'BRIEN: That river and that particular area has been searched many, many, many times, in the more than three months now that he's been missing. Is it your sense that, in fact, that laptop was chucked in there recently? Can you tell by the condition of the laptop?

DIXON: No. We can't tell for sure how long it's been in the water. It appears to have been in there a while. The divers are not sure if they searched the area in question where it was located the first time and they were in a knot. But, of course, the water at that time was deeper and the clarity of the water wasn't that good either.

S. O'BRIEN: This is a guy who was a prosecutor for 20 years. Have you -- I mean, obviously, you've been going through past cases to see if there's any indication of anything that might be sticking out. Any sign of a past case that might be linked to his disappearance?

DIXON: We've been talking to his co-workers. We can't find any specific case right now that has anything to do with his disappearance. He filed no complaints, no stalking of his house, no harassing phone calls or anything. At this time, we have no connection with any cases relative to his disappearance.

S. O'BRIEN: A new clue, but doesn't really seem to lead to whole heck of a lot. What do you think, in your gut, happened to him?

DIXON: At this point, I'm still trying to keep a real open mind. I don't have a strong gut feeling. Personally, I don't believe he's no longer with us. At this point, I'm hoping for the best. But it's been so long, and with the reports that we're receiving, I still believe he's probably not with us anymore. Now, whether it's foul play or suicide, I'm not totally sure yet.

S. O'BRIEN: How about that sighting in Michigan that was deemed to have some kind of value?

DIXON: The sighting up in Michigan was a retired Detroit police officer. He's about 100 percent sure it was Mr. Gricar. But we have no videotape of the situation up there, we have no credit card receipts, no transactions on his financial accounts. So I can't say for sure myself whether it's 100 percent, whether it's him or not up in Detroit.

S. O'BRIEN: A tip, but another tip that kinds of leads nowhere. Duane Dixon is a Bellefonte police chief. Thanks for talking with us about your investigation.

DIXON: Well, thank you.

S. O'BRIEN: Miles?

M. O'BRIEN: Voters at the polls in Southern Ohio right now. They're choosing a Congressman in the special election there. The Republican candidate supports President Bush on Iraq. The Democrat opposes him. That would be a disadvantage to the Democrat.

But as Bruce Morton reports, this candidate has some experience that is hard to argue with.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL HACKETT (D), CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: Hi, ma'am, how are you? Paul Hackett.

BRUCE MORTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Paul Hackett, ex- Marine, Democrat, running for Congress in Ohio's 2nd District, which has elected Republicans to Congress for more than 30 years and gave George Bush 74 percent of its vote last November.

If Hackett wins, he'd be the first Iraq War veteran elected, three lost House elections in 2004, and Iraq is what he talks about. He served seven months there in 2003, saw a duty in Falluja, and thinks the United States isn't winning the peace.

HACKETT: Whoa, whoa, whoa! You told us a year-and-a-half ago, mission accomplished. It's a hell of a lot worse there today.

MORTON: Hackett opposed the invasion, but says the problem now is training Iraqi forces to replace the Americans.

HACKETT: Defeating the insurgency is a component of training the Iraqi security forces. We are doing a miserable job as an administration, as a political administration, of supporting the troops on the ground and giving them the leeway and the nuts and bolts to do that job.

MORTON: Vietnam vet Max Cleland is among the Democrats to campaign for Hackett, whose comments, I don't like the S.O.B. that lives in the White House, but I'd put my life on the line for him, has angered some Republicans. Still, this Vietnam vet who voted for Bush is having second thoughts.

JAY PURDY, FMR. U.S. MARINE (VIETNAM): I think the plan, it's appearing to me, that it's kind of make it up as we go. And I don't know that that's a good plan for a military action. You know, I'm not a strategist.

MORTON: But Jean Schmidt, the Republican candidate, thinks that's a minority view.

JEAN SCHMIDT (R), CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: The voters continue to believe in the president, believe in his message, and stand with him, as I do.

HACKETT: I think the question that the American people want answered is: Can we win this? And is our government being honest with us and being realistic on what it's going to take to win this?

MORTON: Hackett thinks the administration isn't doing what needs to be done in Iraq, and nationally many Americans agree. A recent CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll shows 53 percent think Americans won't win the war. But in Ohio's very Republican 2nd District, ex-Marine Paul Hackett faces a steep uphill climb.

Bruce Morton, CNN, reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

M. O'BRIEN: Bob Hortman used to hold that congressional seat. He was appointed U.S. trade representative by President Bush.

(WEATHER REPORT)

S. O'BRIEN: Still to come on the program -- thank you, Chad -- we are "Minding Your Business." Andy tells us why the Chinese business invasion could be coming to an end.

And then a little later, we'll hear from a courageous 12-year-old girl who's got the story of how she fought off a would-be kidnapper. There she is right there. We'll talk to live -- tape ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Chinese invasion, which we told you so much about. Is my mike on? OK. Testing, One, two. Testing, check, one-two. Andy Serwer, why don't you just start talking, because I know your mike is working.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: My mike working.

A couple things to talk about this morning. First of all, we want to talk about the GM plan, employee discounts for everyone. We want to update you as to what's going on here. Earlier we said that the plan expired yesterday. Now it seems maybe not. GM is expected to announce this afternoon that it is extending the plan through Labor Day. That would be through September 5th. They kind of didn't do that right, if you ask me, but that's just my personal opinion. They announced discounts for the '06s. They never talked about extending the discount plan.

M. O'BRIEN: You know, you've given a lot of advice to Detroit today.

SERWER: I have, and I sure hope they're listening.

M. O'BRIEN: Build good cars people want to buy, you'll make money.

SERWER: Communicate clearly. That's also very important.

M. O'BRIEN: Automobile consultant, Andy Serwer.

SERWER: Yes, thank you very much.

Let's tack about the markets this morning. Stocks trading up at this hour on Wall Street. Up 33, a nice bit of a rally. Oil cooling down as the temperature is rising across the United States, as Chad has been telling you all morning.

The Chinese invasion that Miles has been talking about, this is a fascinating story. You remember a couple weeks ago we told you about a Chinese oil company CNOOC that was looking to buy Unocal, the American oil line that raised a political firestorm in Washington. Questions raised as to whether this Chinese company should own such a large American oil company, particularly since the Chinese company was controlled by the Chinese government.

Well, now it seems that the company CNOOC is backing off. It is officially abandoning the bid for Unocal this morning, which I find to be somewhat surprising, and this will clear the way for a deal between Unocal and Chevron, which had been in the works before CNOOC entered the picture. I guess the political pressure brought to bear here, Miles, really did work and CNOOC just said, it wasn't worth the trouble, and we're pulling out.

M. O'BRIEN: And they said you're not going to get any CNOOC-y from us and gout out of here, right? That was it.

SERWER: I just knew you were going there. I was hoping you weren't.

M. O'BRIEN: But I did, yes.

Soledad, take it way.

S. O'BRIEN: Hope springs eternal, doesn't it? And yet still sometimes...

(CROSSTALK)

S. O'BRIEN: "CNN LIVE" is ahead this morning.

Hey, Daryn, good morning to you. What you working on?

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We are coming to your home, Soledad.

At the top of the hour, are we safe at home? More security cameras, new security checks and ever-longer lines. How much privacy are you willing to give up to order to a promise, but not a guarantee that you'll be safer?

Plus, we have already seen several hurricanes this year. Now things could get even worse. We'll explain why later on "CNN LIVE TODAY." A new prediction, Soledad: They're expecting so many storms they might run out of names. What do you do when you go through the whole alphabet?

S. O'BRIEN: Well, just start again, I guess, with the letter 'a,' right? All right, Daryn, we look forward to it.

KAGAN: Actually, no, but we'll tell you.

S. O'BRIEN: You don't? Really?

KAGAN: There's a different answer, and we will you.

S. O'BRIEN: You go to numbers?

KAGAN: stay tuned.

That's a tease. All right, Daryn, thanks. We'll see you at the top of the hour.

Still to come this morning, one of the bravest young girls you're ever going to meet. She's going to tell us how she managed to escape from a would-be kidnapper, up next on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: A 12-year-old girl until Utah was able to fight off a man who was trying to kidnap her. I spoke with little Mickenzie Smith, her brother Kaidan and their mom Laurie, and Mickenzie said she became suspicious of the man after he struck up a conversation with her and her brother.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICKENZIE SMITH, FOUGHT ATTACKER: I just had this feeling inside that something wasn't right. And so I -- I mean I tried to leave, but he wouldn't let me and it just kept getting worse and worse.

S. O'BRIEN: He grabbed you, didn't he?

M. SMITH: Uh-huh.

S. O'BRIEN: And he tried to throw you in the car?

M. SMITH: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: What did you do?

M. SMITH: He had opened the back two doors of his four door truck and his door. And he had left those open. And he took me and he tried to throw me into the truck. And so I put my feet on the sides of the door.

S. O'BRIEN: You started fighting already?

M. SMITH: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: We want to get back to that in a moment, because at this moment, your brother takes off and he runs for help.

Kaidan, where did you go? How far did you have to run?

KAIDAN SMITH, SISTER FOUGHT ATTACKER: I only had to run like 80 feet.

S. O'BRIEN: Not too far.

K. SMITH: No.

S. O'BRIEN: And what were you doing? Were you screaming for help?

K. SMITH: No, I was just running as fast as I could.

S. O'BRIEN: You got to a house and you pounded on the door.

What happened?

K. SMITH: I didn't pound on the door.

S. O'BRIEN: What did you do?

K. SMITH: I just went up on the porch and he saw a cloud of dust and he saw me. And the guy didn't hear any of this, because he had his hearing aids. And I ran up to the side and I saw my sister running back.

S. O'BRIEN: OK. So by the time you went for help, your sister was already starting to get free.

That brings us back to Mickenzie.

Mom, we'll get to you in a moment, because we've got to unravel this story.

Mickenzie, he actually -- even though you were able to kind of slam the car door shut and keep yourself from being thrown in the first time, he eventually was able to toss you in the back.

M. SMITH: Yes. He took me (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...

S. O'BRIEN: This is the part that surprises me to no end. Instead of sitting there -- and you must have been terrified -- you start hitting him.

M. SMITH: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: What was going through your mind? What were you thinking about?

M. SMITH: I was thinking about my family and the thought that I would never see them again was really scary.

S. O'BRIEN: Were you terrified?

M. SMITH: I was terrified. And just, I was -- I just had to get out. I knew.

S. O'BRIEN: He had locked the -- I guess he had child locks and he kind of locked you in.

M. SMITH: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: Were you hitting him on the head? Were you hitting him while he was driving?

M. SMITH: Yes. While he was driving, I hid -- tried to open the doors and they wouldn't budge. And I started pounding on the windows. And I was screaming and crying. And I turned to him and started yelling in his ear and pounding on his head and on his arm and his shoulder.

S. O'BRIEN: What was he doing?

M. SMITH: He just sat there and drove.

S. O'BRIEN: So eventually he stopped?

M. SMITH: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: And what happened?

M. SMITH: He told me to get out and I told him to open my door and he told me that I would have to get out -- to crawl over him and open the door and hop out his side. So that's what I did.

S. O'BRIEN: And then you ran for home?

M. SMITH: Yes. I ran to the house that Kaidan had gone to.

S. O'BRIEN: Laurie, you know, I guess in a way you hear this story. It must break your heart. And I mean I can see your tears are coming welling up in your eyes, but also, I mean, thank god she's sitting here and she's fine, because often we do these stories and they have a much different ending.

LAURIE SMITH, DAUGHTER FOUGHT ATTACKER: Right.

S. O'BRIEN: Had you had a discussion as a family about what to do in a case like this?

L. SMITH: We had talked earlier. The Elizabeth Smart case has brought a lot of attention to our state and that's really close to home to us. So we had talked a little bit about stranger danger, what to do. And we had told them you should kick, you should scream, yell "You're not my mom!," "You're not my dad!," do whatever you can.

We also have a family password so that if someone was to come pick them up, say, your parents have been hurt, I need to take you to them, we have a family password.

S. O'BRIEN: You had sort of walked through it, which must be tough to do.

So when you hear, at the end of the day, and we should mention there's a suspect in custody. She did, and Kaidan also, did everything exactly right and you hear her tell this story, you know, relate what's got to be horrible to hear, I mean you must be feeling pretty proud of your little girl.

L. SMITH: We're proud of them both that they did all that they could to avoid that situation and that they didn't give in to him.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

S. O'BRIEN: Pretty incredible story. A short break. We'll be back in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: We are out of time.

M. O'BRIEN: So let's go.

S. O'BRIEN: So let's go.

M. O'BRIEN: Daryn Kagan is at CNN Center with more ahead. Hello, Daryn.

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