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American Morning
Murder Mystery in Connecticut; Precious Words
Aired April 05, 2006 - 09:32 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, ANCHOR: For nearly three months, we have told you the story of captured reporter Jill Carroll, and the focus has been on her plight. But now that she is free and reunited with her family, there is another family we need to tell you about. The family who lost a loved one on the day Carroll's hostage ordeal began.
Nic Robertson was there when Jill checked in, an emotional moment you will see only on CNN.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In Amman, Jordan, an emotional reunion by phone.
FAYROUZ ENWIYA, TRANSLATOR'S WIFE: I can't! I can't!
ROBERTSON: For the first time since her relief, Jill Carroll calls the wife of her translator. He was shot dead when Carroll was kidnapped.
F. ENWIYA: What did he say? what did he say?
ROBERTSON: Desperate for any detail of how her husband, Allen Enwiya, died, she asked again in Arabic, what did he say? What were his last words?
And through the tears, the words Jill Carroll must have been dying to hear.
F. ENWIYA: I'm so happy for you, Jill.
ROBERTSON: From Allen Enwiya's father, too, forgiveness.
RAYMOND ENWIYA, TRANSLATOR'S FATHER: She said I'm sorry, I was the cause. I said, no, it's not your fault.
ROBERTSON: Jill Carroll and Allen Emwiya had become an inseparable double act, teaming up translator and reporter almost three years ago, when thugs forced Enwiya to close his music store.
Together, ducking the dangers of Baghdad, doing journalism under the radar, with no real security, relying on their wits. Carroll had become a regular visitor at the Enwiya home. She was the reporter with whom he chose to work.
R. ENWIYA: Jill wouldn't go with anybody but Allen.
ROBERTSON (on camera): She liked him a lot?
R. ENWIYA: She loved him, not like.
ROBERTSON: Really? Why was that?
R. ENWIYA: They were just like brother and sister.
ROBERTSON: She was important to her husband.
F. ENWIYA (through translator): She used to tell his friends, the day that anything happened to Jill, like what happened to her, naturally he would never allow himself to leave her.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): On the morning he was murdered, Enwiya helped get his 5-year-old daughter, Maryanne (ph), ready for school, said goodbye to his wife, a 1-year-old son, Martin, before meeting Jill.
Two hours later, his wife learned of his death on Al-Jazeera.
F. ENWIYA (through translator): So I went to the neighbor, and they took me to the Al Hariya (ph) police station. And from afar, a found a pickup with Allan sprawled in the pickup. So I ran to it. I realized that he was -- I need to see him off. I kissed him around the eye, and told him, bye-bye, Allan.
ROBERTSON: She learned nothing more until Jill Carroll filled in the gaps.
R. ENWIYA: When they stopped the car Allan and the driver opened the door. After that she heard two shots behind her. And she knew after that Allan was shot.
ROBERTSON: And Allan could have run away, but he didn't?
R. ENWIYA: He didn't leave her. He stayed with her. That's what caused his death.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): For Allen Enwiya's family, the details from Jill Carroll confirmed what in their hearts what they already knew. The son, husband and father died a hero.
Nic Robertson, CNN, Amman, Jordan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
M. O'BRIEN: Nic's report first aired on "ANDERSON COOPER 360." You can catch it weeknights 10:00 Eastern -- Soledad.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: A murder mystery in Connecticut to tell you about. First, one brother poisoned with a toxic milkshake which was whipped up by his own wife. Now two-and-a-half years police in one of Connecticut's wealthiest communities are investigating another brother's violent death.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) S. O'BRIEN: Police in Greenwich, Connecticut have been combing the estate of Andrew Kissel for clues to his murder. Kissel's body was discovered on Monday morning by workers from a moving company. Police say his hands and feet were bound, and he had been stabbed several times.
CHIEF JAMES WALTERS, GREENWICH, CONNECTICUT POLICE: The manner and the way in which this was carried out gives us a level of comfort in stating that it was Mr. Kissel was the intended victim.
S. O'BRIEN: Andrew Kissel was 46 years old. His life in the middle of a meltdown. He was schedule scheduled to plead guilty this week in federal court to real estate fraud charges. He faced a separate criminal indictment in New York, along with fraud-related civil suits, and his wife was divorcing him.
The movers were there to clear him out of the Greenwich mansion he shared with his wife and two children.
Kissel's death comes on the heels of another family tragedy. One that also made headlines. In a case known as the "Milkshake Murder," Kissel's brother Robert, an investor banker, was murdered in Hong Kong in November of 2003. Robert Kissel's wife was convicted of drugging her husband with a milkshake laced with sedatives, then beating him to death. She's now serving a life sentence.
In the upscale Connecticut community where Andrew Kissel lived, his murder is the talk of the town.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm surprised, yes. We don't get a lot murders that happen here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So close to home.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And very tragic. He has beautiful kids.
S. O'BRIEN: Police in Greenwich say Kissel's death is not a reason for other residents to fear for their safety.
WALTERS: This was not a random act, that we do believe that Mr. Kissel was the intentional target of this assault, and that there is not someone out there in the community who may be randomly selecting residences to break into.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
S. O'BRIEN: Andrew Kissel was wearing an electronic ankle monitor, all part of the charges against him. Federal authorities have now joined in the investigation of the case.
(WEATHER REPORT)
M. O'BRIEN: Tonight on "PAULA ZAHN NOW," an exclusive interview with Rosie O'Donnell. Very personal, very revealing. Rosie talks candidly about life as a gay parent and about a very tough conversation she had with her oldest son. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROSIE O'DONNELL: We were in the Bahamas, and he came over to me and he said, you know, mom, some people think it's bad that there's two mommies, and I said I know. He said, I think I'm one of those people. He was five years old.
ZAHN: And mom said?
O'DONNELL: And I said, really? Why do you think that?
ZAHN: He said because I think it's good to have a mom and dad.
O'DONNELL: I said, it is good to have a mom and dad. A mom and a dad is a great family. Dads are very important. You're going to be a dad one day.
But in this family, you have a mommy who wants another mommy. So in order for you to have a daddy, you would have to not have me as a mommy. And he sat and he thought, it took like about a minute.
ZAHN: You worried he was going to trade you in?
O'DONNELL: Well, I didn't know. You know, he was five, and I was doing my best. There's no book on this. And he looked up and said, well, I guess I'll just keep you, then.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
M. O'BRIEN: Much more of Paula's candid conversation with Rosie tonight at 8:00 Eastern on "PAULA ZAHN NOW." More on coming out, Rosie's family and her next adventure.
Sure will be an interesting interview.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MARKET REPORT)
M. O'BRIEN: "CNN LIVE TODAY" is coming up next. Daryn Kagan has more for us on what lies ahead.
Hello, Daryn.
KAGAN: Hey, Miles.
This actually a story that Soledad should be very interesting in. One mom, two sets, not one, but two sets of identical twins.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're kidding me? I should say, no, I'm sorry. You're having quadruplets. I laid back down and I just started crying.
(END VIDEO CLIP) KAGAN: Yes, count them up -- one two, three, four. Mom and dad have a real big chore.
And do you smell the bacon? The 2006 pig book is out this one, filled with Washington pork. Here's one for you, your tax dollars at work flushed down a waterless urinal. Every home needs to have one, of course. We'll get to that.
M. O'BRIEN: You have a full range of stories lying ahead, Daryn, definitely. Thank you much. We'll be tuned in for that.
More of AMERICAN MORNING still to come.
Ahead, in "AM Pop," Everybody loves "Ray Romano," and he joins us in studio to talk up his new road trip documentary, "95 Miles to Go." It's a story of a comedian, his best friend and the intern who caught it all on camera. Ray Romano, ahead an AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
M. O'BRIEN: In this morning's "A.M. Pop," everybody loved him as Raymond. Now Ray Romano's comedy roots are showing in a new documentary film, titled "95 Miles to Go." It follows Ray on a stand- up tour through the South, from Miami all the way through Atlanta, on the road with his old roommate and an intern with a DV camera. That's it. That's all you got.
RAY ROMANO, "95 MILES TO GO": That's it. It's bare bones. Bare bones.
M. O'BRIEN: It's bare bones. It's life on the road, and it's all about you.
ROMANO: Wow. That doesn't sound so good.
M. O'BRIEN: No, no no. It's actually fascinating. Tell me, what -- how did you get the idea?
ROMANO: Well, it was during every hiatus of "Raymond," I would -- you know, we had two months or so where we had some free time. I would do a stand-up tour, a little small stand-up tour. Like seven days. And my friend, opening act, Tom Caltabiano, would come with me. He was a writer on Raymond also. Longtime friend. And this year he said, let's film it. I don't want to film it. I work so hard on the show. I just want to kick back, stand-up, play golf. He said, oh, it would be fun on film. And I said no. And here we are. So it's really against my will that I'm doing this whole thing.
M. O'BRIEN: Kicking and screaming. And yet, you -- what I saw there was -- very quickly, the camera became invisible to you. Because, really it captures you on the road and some of your foibles, quite frankly. You don't like to fly, for example.
ROMANO: Yes, we drove. M. O'BRIEN: You're kind of fussy about what shirt you're wearing, that kind of stuff.
ROMANO: I'm neurotic.
M. O'BRIEN: Neurotic is the word, yes.
ROMANO: It shows all the neurotic-ness that I have, and it's not pretty. But it was just a kid -- we took a film student who was an intern at "Raymond" and he needed his green card. So we put him in the back seat. And he had a camera. We had two cameras duct taped to the dashboard, and we drove from city to city and we did stand-up in each city. And yes, after a while, you just -- the cameras become invisible. And me and my buddy, we're good friends, so we're like a bickering couple on the road. I'm the man.
M. O'BRIEN: Well, here, let's watch a brief clip.
ROMANO: Oh, boy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANO (singing): We've got to keep on walkin'. We've got to walk on
(speaking): That's the song I was singing, man!
(singing): Ah, ah-ah-ah, ah, ah, my feet are hurtin' mighty bad! We got to walk on!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
M. O'BRIEN: Are you really that annoying in the car?
ROMANO: You know, every time I see that, it's the same thing -- I go, God, I'm annoying. Are people going to laugh at this or hate me?
M. O'BRIEN: As far as doing stand-up, what I saw a little bit in there, is, you know, you got a little nervous before you go on. There's a little tension there.
ROMANO: Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: Even as -- you're a proven success in front of crowds. You still get that kind of --- those butterflies before you go on?
ROMANO: Yes, yes, because it's a different kind of nervousness. It's not like the nervous I had in the beginning, or my first time on "The Tonight Show" or whatever, where I'm numb, I'm practically numb. But there's a nervous energy, because people now are coming to see you and they're paying $100 a ticket. And I'm, you know -- I have a low self-esteem anyway, but who's -- they're getting dressed up and paying $100 to see me? So, you got deliver. It's a little less pressure because they're fans of yours already. It's not going into a stand-up nightclub and it's strangers looking at you, and they just pay their cover charge, and they're like who's this guy making me laugh? But that has also its advantages, too, because there's such a rewarding feeling of winning over strangers. You know, so, it's a give and take. But the nervous energy is good. I mean, I like it. But once you get up there and it's working, you know, my pulse rate goes down, you know. Stand-up, I feel the most comfortable when I'm doing stand-up.
M. O'BRIEN: This...
ROMANO: I had it take an Ativan for.
M. O'BRIEN: Ray Romano, actor, comedian and now documentary filmmaker.
ROMANO: Oh, boy.
M. O'BRIEN: Add that to your resume. The movie opening in two theaters, all across the county! "95 Miles to Go." Check it out if you can find it.
ROMANO: I could drive you there, guys.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
M. O'BRIEN: It's got to be out there somewhere.
S. O'BRIEN: Oh, yes, he's funny. He's very funny.
M. O'BRIEN: He is, yes.
S. O'BRIEN: Ahead this morning, and coming up at the top the hour, a teacher charged with having sex with a student. Yes, we're talking about another case. This one's in Delaware.
Plus, Massachusetts gets ready to roll out an ambitious plan for health insurance for just about everybody. We'll take a look at that plan just ahead.
And there's more AMERICAN MORNING ahead, too, right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: Tomorrow on AMERICAN MORNING, part two of our "A.M. Tax Guide." Are you getting all that you're entitled to? We're going to tell you about some deductions that you might be missing. A look at that tomorrow right here on AMERICAN MORNING.
M. O'BRIEN: You know, I want all that I'm entitled to, and just a little more.
S. O'BRIEN: It's that little more part that gets people in trouble. M. O'BRIEN: Yes. Yes. No -- if you're listening, IRS, that's not true. It's always a little less.
S. O'BRIEN: A little less!
M. O'BRIEN: Scale it back, yes.
S. O'BRIEN: It's true. All right. That's tomorrow. That's it for us this morning. Let's get right to Daryn Kagan. She's standing by at the CNN center and she's going to take you through the next couple hours on "CNN LIVE TODAY."
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