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New Day Saturday
U.S. Pounds More ISIS Targets; ISIS Fights Kurds For Syrian City; Police: Fired Man Beheads Co-worker; Chelsea Clinton Gives Birth To Baby Girl; FBI: FAA Fire Suspect Sent Facebook Warning; Police: Ambush Planned For Years; War on Isis Continues; Search Continues for Hannah Graham; Nursing Student Successfully Treats Her Family from Ebola; Mothers Helping Mothers
Aired September 27, 2014 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JOE JOHNS, CNN GUEST ANCHOR: A horrific crime right in the heartland. An Oklahoma man accused of beheading his ex-co-worker. Now the FBI wants to know who is he? Why was he allegedly trying to convert to Islam? Is he an ISIS copycat?
CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: And the skies are busy this morning, a lot of passengers still stranded at airports from coast to coast after yesterday's traffic in Chicago. Today, we're learning new information for you about the man behind all of this.
JOHNS: And there's a new Clinton in the world this morning. Bill and Hillary now officially grandparents.
PAUL: Grandparenthood. Welcome, Joe Johns.
JOHNS: So good to be back in your fair town. I love it here.
PAUL: Thank you. Victor is celebrating his birthday. We're glad that all of you are. I'm Christi Paul.
JOHNS: And I'm Joe Johns in for Victor Blackwell. It's 6:00.
PAUL: Yes, we want to begin in the flash point in the battle against ISIS in Syria and Iraq specifically.
JOHNS: U.S. Central Command confirms there have been new airstrikes overnight. U.S. fighter jets have been searching out and striking so- called targets of opportunity.
PAUL: The fighter jets took off from the "USS George H.W. Bush" in the Persian Gulf and war planes are soon going to be coming from Britain, Belgium and Denmark to help in Iraq.
JOHNS: A firefight was caught on CNN cameras, ISIS militants battling Syrian Kurds near Syria's border with Turkey. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staffs says the best mix of ground forces to fight ISIS in the Iraqis with Kurds and Syrian moderate rebels.
But he told my colleague, Jim Sciutto, he's not ruling out U.S. boots on the ground if necessary.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: I'm not talking about a large presence, I'm talking about targeting airstrikes or advisers. Are those specific missions that you might ask the president for U.S. forces?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just stand by the statement. I will make a recommendation -- the president gave me a mission, destroy ISIL.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL: And we'll get the latest from the Syrian/Turkish border right now where Syrian Kurds have been battling ISIS fighters. CNN's Arwa Damon is on Turkey's side of the border. Arwa, so good to see you this morning. What is the situation like there right now?
ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, if you look at this landscape behind me, the Kurdish force, the YPG, have managed to make some advances there right now on the hilltop that ISIS used to control.
We're hearing a lot of small arms fire. We are hearing first a rapid machine gun fire. They actually drove a 50-caliber machine gun mounted on the back of that hilltop.
And there's been sporadic bursts of fairly intense gunfire. We believe ISIS fighters are right around the corner. We can't really see them from this vantage point, but that is where a lot of the sounds of the battles are taking place.
This is an incredibly strategic location. The Kurdish fighters do not want to lose this because if they lose this territory that means that ISIS at least from the west has a straight shot to the town of Kobani.
And that is the last town that is holding out in north western Syria after ISIS fighters barreled through this entire area, last Friday, sending some 200,000 people since then fleeing for their lives into neighboring Turkey.
A lot of Kurdish Turks have gone over to join the fighters, try to reinforce them at this stage. But some people we've been speaking to who are among the Kurdish fighting force in the town of Kobani said they need U.S. airstrikes, coalition air strikes at this stage.
Because they're not sure they can continue to hold these battle lines. How long they can continue to hold ISIS back because they are significantly outgunned. As we were saying they have 50-caliber machine guns on the other side.
They say ISIS is driving tanks and it has all of that heavy equipment, machinery, weaponry, sophisticated military equipment that they managed to capture from the battlefield in Iraq.
It's just one example on the ground of where these types of battles are taking place. As people in various different parts of Syria try to push ISIS back and out.
PAUL: All right, Arwa Damon, do take good care there where you are. And thank you so much for giving us a picture of what's happening there this morning. We appreciate it.
JOHNS: The FBI is trying to determine whether a beheading near Oklahoma City was an ISIS copycat attack. Police say this man Alton Nolen stormed into a food processing plant on Thursday then stabbed and beheaded the first person he saw.
PAUL: Which of course begs the question whether Nolen had links to radical extremism.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SGT. JEREMY LEWIS, MOORE, OKLAHOMA POLICE: He just tried to convert fellow employees into Islam. And it gets into more detailed things that are under investigation and in part the reason why the FBI is involved.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL: The police say Nolen used a knife from the food processing plant to carry out that attack as well.
JOHNS: This morning, he's in the hospital in stable condition. Police plan to question him once he comes out of sedation. CNN's Martin Savidge has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED CALLER: It sounds like he's running around out here. That's a gunshot.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Horror in Oklahoma. Police say a knife wielding man stormed the offices of Vaughn Foods killing the first person he saw, 54-year-old Colleen Hufford, first stabbing her and then cutting off her head.
LEWIS: He encountered the first victim and began assaulting her with a knife. He did kill Colleen and did sever her head.
SAVIDGE: According to police, the suspect then began attacking a second woman when he was shot and stopped by an armed company executive, Mark Vaughan, son of the company's founder, who was also a reserve sheriff's deputy. Officials credit his actions with preventing more deaths.
LEWIS: It could have gotten a lot worse. This guy definitely was not going to stop. He didn't stop until he was shot.
SAVIDGE: Initially, the attack was described as a workplace dispute. The 30-year-old Alton Nolen seen here in a mug shot from a previous arrest had just been fired by the company that day.
But the police investigation has turned up some red flags, causing some to wonder if there may be more to the attack. Authorities believed Nolen converted to Islam and tried to convince others at work to join him.
LEWIS: After conducting interviews with co-workers of Nolen, information was obtained that he recently tried -- started trying to convert some of his co-workers to the Muslim religion.
SAVIDGE: Recent calls by the Islamic State asking sympathizers to strike back inside nations. Now part of the coalition out to destroy the terrorist organization have law enforcement agencies across the country on alert looking for so-called lone wolf threats.
The FBI is now investigating the Oklahoma suspect's social media footprint, trying to determine if this vicious, deadly rage was inspired by Islamic extremism.
Meanwhile, in Moore, residents would rather focus on Mark Vaughan, the company exec who put his life on the line for his employees. He's been given a promotion from COO to H-E-R-O, hero. Martin Savidge, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JOHNS: Martin Savidge reporting, thanks for that.
PAUL: Four college students are dead after a semi-truck crashed into a school bus in Oklahoma. Now the names of the victims are going to be released a little bit later this morning. But officials say 11 people were taken to the hospital and that includes the truck driver.
The bus belongs to North Central Texas College. It was taking the women's softball team home after a game. Investigators say the semi swerved off the road, crossed the median, entered the south-bound lane and then slammed into that bus. So right now, they're trying discern whether the truck had been trying to brake.
JOHNS: Now for some baby news, Chelsea Clinton has given birth to a baby girl. She tweeted out this message to her followers, "Marc and I are full of love, awe and gratitude as we celebrate the birth of our daughter, Charlotte Clinton Mezvinsky." Proud parent and former President Bill Clinton re-tweeted her.
PAUL: Yes, earlier this week, in fact, Hillary Clinton even said she could not wait to find out about the joys of being a grandmother. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: I think that you have just a different perspective in part because of your time in life and all of that to enjoy a grandchild. I think being a grandparent, you just have that freedom, at least that's what I'm told and I'm anxious to find out.
(END VIDEO CLIP) PAUL: She's talking as if she knows, but today she actually knows. Chelsea Clinton and her husband, Marc Mezvinsky announced in April that they were expecting their first child, but they chose not to find out the gender of the baby in advance. We did the same thing.
JOHNS: Congratulations also to Margie Mezvinsky, a former TV reporter.
PAUL: That's right. We cannot forget the other grandparents hearing this definitely.
JOHNS: Passengers are still stranded after a fire at an air traffic control center grounded thousands of flights in Chicago, but the man accused of setting the fire said on Facebook just before the chaos started.
PAUL: And we do have some new developments to tell you about in the disappearance of Virginia college student, Hannah Graham. Stay close.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JOHNS: Welcome back to NEW DAY. Lots to tell you about today. Here's your "Morning Read."
PAUL: Yes, U.S. warplanes launched new airstrikes last night on ISIS targets in Syria. The attacks aimed at so-called targets of opportunity such as tanks and vehicles. In today's weekly address, President Obama touting U.S. leadership in the ISIS fight and the British parliament yesterday remember they voted to join coalition efforts in Iraq as well.
JOHNS: A suspect in the disappearance of a University of Virginia student is now back in that state. Jesse Matthew was taken into custody on Wednesday in Texas. Matthew is the last person seen on surveillance video with 18-year-old Hannah Graham before she vanished two weeks ago.
PAUL: In business news, regulators in Europe have handed Google guidelines to help the company bring its data collection and storage policies in line with E.U. law. This comes after Google started combing user data across its services including YouTube and Gmail without letting users opt out.
PAUL: In sports, the drought has ended in Kansas City, for the first time since 1985, the Royals are headed to the playoffs with a win last night over the White Sox. Kansas City secured at least a wildcard spot and into the longest active postseason drought among major North American sports teams.
PAUL: And your weekend forecast, CNN Severe Weather Center warning of severe thunderstorms, possible flash floods and tornados across the desert southwest. In the meantime, step outside if you can, this morning, if you're just waking up, it feels like fall.
There are summerlike temperatures that are still hanging around from the Great Plains to the northeast. But Jennifer Gray is going to walk us through more of that in just a bit.
JOHNS: Traffic at Chicago's O'Hare and Midway Airports are still snarled this morning, a day after an employee set a fire at an air traffic control center just outside the city.
PAUL: Yes, according to an FBI affidavit, 36-year-old Brian Howard sent a private message to a relative on Facebook just before starting that blaze. Here's what it read. "Take a hard look in the mirror, I have. And this is why I'm about to take out ZAU, that's the call sign for the control center and my life. So I'm going to smoke this blunt and move on, take care everyone," unquote.
JOHNS: The FBI has charged Howard with felony destruction of aircraft or aircraft facilities. Our Ted Rowlands is in Chicago. Good morning, Ted.
TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christi, Joe, good morning. The nightmare scenario that took place here in Chicago on Friday is still affecting passengers this weekend.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's kind of intensive.
ROWLANDS (voice-over): At 6:00 a.m., planes on the runway at O'Hare get word to stop moving.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have no --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Never a dull moment?
ROWLANDS: Over the next six hours traffic at Chicago's airport come to a virtual stop. Inside frustration, even some tears as thousands of passengers are stranded for hours.
BERNARD THOMPSON, FRUSTRATED PASSENGER: This is chaos mixed with outrage and that's not a good thing.
ROWLANDS: The cause, 36-year-old Brian Howard, a contract employee that was working at an air traffic control center, 40 miles outside of Chicago who allegedly intentionally set fire to the basement communications area. And also stabbed himself several times.
CHIEF GREG THOMAS, AURORA, ILLINOIS POLICE: And he used some type of accelerant. There was no explosion.
ROWLANDS: Firefighters pulled the bleeding man described as uncooperative to safety. He was later listed in stable condition as FBI led investigators tried to figure out his motives.
THOMAS: There's no indication of terrorists. There's no reason to believe that anyone else is involved at this time.
ROWLANDS: The effect of the center shutdown is clear on this flight tracker map, which shows a huge open hole above Chicago and Southern Wisconsin. By evening, more than 2,000 flights were either cancelled or significantly delayed, leaving thousands of passengers stranded.
LISA RIDOLLI, FRUSTRATED PASSENGER: Well, we're back in line and we're waiting probably another hour and a half to get rebooked, hopefully, to leave tomorrow, if we're lucky.
DOUG STERN, FRUSTRATED PASSENGER: One guy caused this all by trying to get his 15 minutes of fame. It just makes absolutely no sense.
ROWLANDS: Airlines are working as hard as they can to try to get any stranded passengers out either Saturday or Sunday. But some have been told that they likely won't get home or to their destination until Monday -- Christi, Joe.
PAUL: Ted Rowlands, thank you so much. Monday we feel for you if you're watching us from the airport right now.
JOHNS: One man, that's so remarkable, isn't it, can shut down air traffic all over the place.
PAUL: On that magnitude, yes.
JOHNS: Searching for a suspected police killer. Investigators say they're desperately trying to find who planned his ambush for years.
PAUL: Plus, a Florida jury could not agree whether a man committed second degree murder when he killed a teen over loud music. You remember this case. Another jury is now giving it a try. We'll give you an update.
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PAUL: All right, 21 minutes past the hour. Testimony is resuming in just a few hours at this point as a second jury hears the case against Michael Dunn in a so-called loud music murder trial actually in court on a Saturday here. So far, the jurors heard from several of the victim's friends thus far.
JOHNS: They testified about witnessing Dunn shooting and killing 17- year-old Jordan Davis nearly two years ago at a Florida gas station. In the first trial, Dunn testified he believed Davis had a gun, that's why he shot him. Police never recovered a weapon.
In February, a jury found Dunn guilty of second degree attempted murder. But they deadlocked on the second degree murder charge.
PAUL: Now, police also believe today they are closing in on Eric Frein. He's the fugitive survivalist, of course, accused of killing a Pennsylvania state police officer and shooting another in what was a bloody ambush.
JOHNS: Investigators said Frein had been planning the attack for years as well as his retreat into the rural Pennsylvania woods. CNN's Alexandra Field has the latest. Good morning, Alexandra.
ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, there, Christi and Joe. Up to 1,000 law enforcement officers are involved with the manhunt for Eric Matthew Frein. After two weeks they still say they are confident that he's in this area.
There is new evidence to suggest that he'd been planning for a confrontation with police for years. Police say they searched a hard drive and found that Frein had been doing research on everything from police manhunts to law enforcement technologies, to various survival skills.
Investigators say they have found some Frein belongings out here in the woods. On top of that some structures empty or abandoned have been tampered with. There have been a number of Frein sightings that have been reported. Right now, law enforcement officers say they believe that the suspect is trying to play some kind of game with them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LT. COL. GEORGE BIVENS, PENNSYLVANIA STATE POLICE: I suspect he wants to have a fight with the state police, but I think that involves hiding and running since that seems to be the way he operates. He will not come out and take a face-to-face confrontation. I expect that he'll be hiding and take a shot from some type of concealment as he done in the past.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FIELD: Frein has experimented with building explosives in the past. That's why every officer involved in the search has been warned to look out for possible booby traps. One source said that Frein first tracked this area after he used a cell phone to call his parents. The phone rang just once before Frein hung up according to that source -- Christi, Joe.
JOHNS: Alexandra Field, thanks for that.
PAUL: U.S. fighter jets taking aim at quote, "targets of opportunity," this time Syria. But ISIS militants are really tightening a grip on a strategic Syrian city.
JOHNS: And with the Ebola virus spreading in Liberia, hospitals are turning away infected patients. When one woman's family couldn't get treated she took action.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So this is it? You're done.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is how you took care of four people with Ebola?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is what happens when hospitals turn people away.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PAUL: So good to have you company here at the bottom of the hour now. I'm Christi Paul.
JOHNS: And I'm Joe Johns. Here are five things you need to know for your NEW DAY. Number one, it's a girl. Chelsea Clinton has given birth to Charlotte Clinton Mezvinsky. She tweeted out the good news to her followers. This is former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's first grandchild. Both have been saying they've been looking forward to the joys of being grandparents.
PAUL: Number two, later today, George Clooney and Amal Alamuddin are expected to say I do. They were whisked away in a speed boat to the luxurious hotel. He made a bet to Michelle Pfeiffer that he'd never get married again.
JOHNS: Number three, a former teacher has been resentenced for raping one of his high school students. Stacy Dean Rambolt who was initially given just a 31 days for his crime will now serve ten years for raping a freshman in his business class. The 14-year-old victim committed suicide before the case went to trial.
PAUL: And number four, mystery surrounding the absence of Korean leader, Kim Jong-Un this morning. He hasn't been seen in public for about three weeks. Some are speculating the 31-year-old is suffering from some sort of health problems according to his weight gain as well as a recent lymph that apparently was spotted in July.
But in a rare and I have to say very vague revelation about his health, North Korean state TV said the leader has been, quote, "suffering from discomfort." Whatever that means.
JOHNS: That's quite a mystery. Number five, U.S. fighter jets have been in the skies over Syria and Iraq taking aim at ISIS targets. In Syria, they've destroyed ISIS vehicles, a command mode, and a checkpoint. Meanwhile, ISIS militants are advancing on the Syrian cities. Syrian Kurds are trying to hold them off but they're running low on weapons and ammunition.
In today's weekly address, President Obama says America is leading the fight in the world to degrade and destroy ISIS. U.S. fighter jets have been pounding targets of opportunity in Syria overnight, but Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel warns airstrikes alone will not get the job done.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHUCK HAGEL, DEFENSE SECRETARY: No one is under any illusions, under any illusions that airstrikes alone will destroy ISIL. They are one element of our broader comprehensive campaign against ISISIL.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNS: Joining us now CNN military analyst Lieutenant Colonel Rick Francona, he's a retired U.S. Air Force intelligence officer. Also joining us, Will Geddes in London. He's a managing director of the International Corporate Protection.
What have we learned over the last weeks about trying to beat terrorists with airstrikes, Colonel Francona?
LT. COL. RICK FRANCONA, (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, as the secretary said, you can't rely on air to do this alone. But I think air has been effective in Iraq. And at least blunting the momentum that ISIS had. They were really on a roll coming down the river valleys and taking city after city after they had taken Mosul. The air has been able to kind of stop them in place. Now, we're relying on the Iraqi ground forces to turn them back. Unfortunately, that has not happened. A little bit of frustration among everybody, because the Iraqis have not been able to make any headway against ISIS. In Syria, the air has begun the degradation of ISIS. But, again, without people on the ground, you can only do so much.
JOHNS: Will, get us what happens after the bombs fall? The training of the so-called moderates are supposed to lead to boots on the ground. But how does the U.S. determine in the first place who is moderate and who is radical?
WILL GEDDES, MANAGING DIR., INTERNATIONAL CORPORATE PROTECTION: Well, this is a very good point. And certainly, one of the things that's been going on for some time has been the establishment of specific intelligence networks. And these networks are critical not only in terms of pointing or - like painting the actual targets, that the U.S. is trying to go and to focus in that, but also to determining who actually amongst the ground force, if you like, i.e., in terms of those working within the Kurdistan regions, but also the Iraqi regions who is actually loyal, what are the tribal elders doing, how supportive they are being, and whether there's any particular insurgent within those groups that could undermine certainly any ground effort that is progressed later down the line.
JOHNS: Which is a very, very good question. An iffy proposition, perhaps there. Now, Colonel Francona, the U.K. has joined the coalition in support of the fight against ISIS. But there was a fiery debate, listen to this, from the Member of Parliament George Galloway.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE GALLOWAY, BRITISH MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT: This will not be solved. Every matter will be made worse. Extremism will spread further and deeper around the world just like happened as a result of the last Iraq war. The people outside can see it, but the fools in here who draw a big salary and big expenses cannot or will not see it like the honorable lady with your asinine intervention.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNS: Colonel Francona, how likely is all of this to lead to more extremism?
FRANCONA: Well, we could see some recruitment spike up a little bit for ISIS. We saw it during the Gaza thing, people flock to ISIS. And ISIS has a real recruiting campaign, and they're very good at it. They've got these slick videos and so it resonates with a lot of people that are sitting on the fence. But I - I take a little objection with Galloway's contention that this will lead to further problems. We have to stop ISIS where they are. Then we can worry about it in the future. We just don't have time to let them roll over Syria and Iraq.
JOHNS: Speaking of recruitment, the coalition has recruited and expanded the UK, Belgium, Denmark have now agreed to join more than 50 nations in support of this fight against ISIS in Iraq. What do you think the impact of this will be, Will Geddes?
GEDDES: Well, I think, fundamentally, it's the mitigation of the risk by any one particular country. And certainly, the U.S. will take in the lead and the judge, if you like, against ISIS with the national airstrikes, but now that we've got a far stronger and wider coalition. And the critical part of that coalition is really with the Arab states. That is in terms of not allowing or enabling them to potentially finance even through the back door ISIS in their operations, but also with our own intelligence networks trying to intercept that recruitment process that the colonel was just talking about.
And the biggest issue that we have overall is that this is a world and a global issue. ISIS do not select one particular country that they're going after. They've made it quite vocal, that they're looking to target anywhere they possibly can. So, it is a universal and a global issue that has to be addressed here. And it can't be seen by just one particular country. Maybe the U.K. coming to the table a little later than others is only down to the fact that the inevitability of attacks coming to our shores by ISIS is unfortunately something that we have to prepare ourselves for.
JOHNS: And a lot of people are saying that, Will Geddes, ?olonel Francona, thank you so much. And you can go to CNN.com/ISIS to find out more about the terror group on our website.
PAUL: All right. So two weeks later there's still no sign of accomplished UVA student Hannah Graham.
JOHNS: Where is she? Now the prime suspect in her disappearance is waking up in jail. We'll bring you the latest on the case that has stunned the community of Charlottesville, Virginia.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JOHNS: It has been two weeks since UVA student Hannah Graham vanished from the tight knit community of Charlottesville, Virginia.
PAUL: Well, this morning, the prime suspect in her disappearance, this man, 32-year-old Jesse Matthew waking up in a Virginia jail. He was processed overnight.
JOHNS: Matthew has already been charged on suspicion of abduction and waived extradition in a Texas court earlier this week. CNN's Jean Casarez has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Emergency dispatch operators are working around the clock to field tips coming in to help find missing University of Virginia sophomore Hannah Graham.
TOM HANSON, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS CENTER: Folks that think they have actually maybe be possibly seen something, whether it be a description of a car, an individual, of those types of things, and - or a location.
CASAREZ: 2400 tips have come in so far since the 18-year-old disappeared two weeks ago.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All right. I will go ahead and add this to the information that you previously called in. And if someone needs to call you, they'll get in touch with you. Thank you.
CASAREZ: Friday, the dispatch center had unexpected visitors.
HANSON: Hannah's parents stopped by. They wanted to just let our folks know how much they appreciated the effort that they're putting in to help try to find their daughter.
CASAREZ: And while the calls come in, police admit they still have no idea where Graham is.
CHIEF TIMOTHY LONGO, CHARLOTTESVILLE POLICE: My understanding is that she was wearing black or dark-colored capri-type pants. Very close fitting and white shoes. Her iPhone, an iPhone 5s, I believe, had a pink case. So, if you're inspecting your property and you come across something that fits the description of those items, please do not touch them.
CASAREZ: And with Jesse Matthew, the suspect in her disappearance now in custody, all eyes are on finding Graham.
LONGO: You're a realtor that serves the greater (INAUDIBLE) region and you know that you're responsible for the sale of a piece of property that's vacant. We want to ask you to go back to that property and inspect it.
CASAREZ: Sabina Harvey is a local realtor who immediately took action.
SABRINA HARVEY, REALTOR: All of us have these vacant listings. And I don't have any farm properties, but still, there are some corners around here that someone could have something. So I came up and just looked around. You know, we're all just trying to find her.
CASAREZ: The search area is vast. The city of Charlottesville is ten square miles. And the county is slightly more than 740 square miles with a lot of farmland. While Hannah's friends have chosen to stay silent at this time, one of her dearest friends gave us this statement. "Hannah is one of the kindest people I've ever met. When you meet her, she touches your soul. She lives life to the fullest with passion. She dives into it with her whole heart. She will drop anything to help a friend." And now members of this community, people she's never met, are dropping everything to help her. Jean Casarez, CNN, Charlottesville, Virginia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PAUL: All right, Jean Casarez, thank you so much. We are going to have some other reports on this throughout the morning as well.
JOHNS: The Ebola outbreak in West Africa is not getting any better.
PAUL: Oh, my goodness. So many patients. So few hospitals. Some people now are trying to treat the disease at home. You will not believe this story.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Open travel to Boca Raton for a rear up close look at the Evert Tennis Academy. The operation is a family affair. (INAUDIBLE) and her brother John. John focuses on the technical side while Chris mentors the players.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's important to test now, it's a power game to go for winners, but maybe not at the expense of making too many enforced errors.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Many players live at the academy full time, when they aren't on the court or doing fitness drills, they are inside this classroom.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Every kid that is in our program gets an education. And every high school student that's graduated from the Evert Academy has gone to college.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And if there's one thing Chris Evert hopes young players can learn from her career it's best summed up in an article about her, which she remembers to this day.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The first line stays in my mind. It was, you know, she's not the fastest. She doesn't hit the hardest? She's not the strongest? So why am I number one? And I - that always left a big impact in my brain. Because I think I was very proud of that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JOHNS: This about 48 minutes past the hour. An American Ebola patient being treated in Nebraska is back home with his family. Dr. Rick Sacra had been declared free of the virus earlier this week and released from the hospital. He was brought back to the U.S. after being infected with Ebola in Liberia. PAUL: Now, doctors gave him an experimental drug and also a blood
transfusion from another Ebola survivor. Dr. Sacra says the people of West Africa are in desperate need of help to fight this deadly virus.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. RICK SACRA, EBOLA SURVIVOR: I would like to request a continued outpouring of prayer and practical help for the people of West Africa. Though my fight with Ebola is finished, unfortunately, it appears that West Africa's fight with Ebola is continuing to increase in intensity and severity.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL: And think about this, Dr. Sacra had been treating patients in an obstetrics clinic. He wasn't directly working with Ebola patients.
JOHNS: Right.
PAUL: When he was infected. So, let's talk about this - what's happening in West Africa as this Ebola crisis is getting worse. I mean hundreds of people are dying. And a lot of hospitals in Liberia aren't even expecting patients with the disease.
JOHNS: So, when a nursing student found she couldn't get the care her family needed, she decided to go ahead and treat them at her home. Elizabeth Cohen has an amazing story. Elizabeth, good morning.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christi, Joe, a young woman in rural Liberia faced with having to take care of her entire family with Ebola did so with great courage and inventiveness.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COHEN: Two months ago, Fatu Kekula's father got Ebola.
FATU KEKULA: He started to put on the symptom. The vomiting, the stooling. The fever.
COHEN: Three hospitals turned Fatu's father away. Fatu had little choice. She took her dad home to treat him herself. Within days three more people in the house got sick and Fatu, a 22-year-old nursing student had to become a one-woman Ebola hospital. KEKULA: I was treating him all by myself. No one around. All by
myself. All alone.
COHEN: Isolating her sick loved ones in separate rooms. Her mother, her father, her cousin Alfred and in there, her sister Vivian.
(on camera): So you were running all around the house taking care of them. KEKULA: Yes.
COHEN: They must have been so sick?
KEKULA: Yes. They were very sick? COHEN (voice over): Incredibly, Fatu didn't get sick. How she
managed that will astound you.
KEKULA: I develop my own protective gear. I bought black plastic bag. Plastic jacket. Glove, rimmed boot, long trousers, hair cover, mask to my nose, everything.
COHEN (on camera): So this is it, you're done?
KEKULA: Yes.
COHEN: This is how you took care of four people with Ebola?
KEKULA: Yes.
COHEN: This is what happens when hospitals turn people away, you became inventive?
KEKULA: Yes.
COHEN (voice over): Unfortunately, Fatu's cousin Alfred didn't pull through but Fatu saved her father, her sister and her mother from Ebola.
MOSES KEKULA, FATU'S FATHER: I'm very much proud of Fatu Kekula for a marvel work that she did. Through the power of almighty God.
COHEN (on camera): Do you owe your life to her?
VIVIAN KEKULA, FATU'S SISTER: More than my life. Because I can say even though god saved me, but she saved my life also.
COHEN (voice over): UNICEF heard about Fatu and was inspired by her. Now they're teaching her trash bag method to other people.
KEKULA: I'm proud of myself.
COHEN (on camera): You're quite a nurse.
COHEN: And you're not even officially a nurse yet.
KEKULA: No.
COHEN (voice over): Fatu's father is so proud of her, he says that one day she'll be a great giants of Liberia. But first, she needs to finish nursing school. Two problems there, one she needs a scholarship for her final year. Also, the nursing school has to reopen. All schools in Liberia have closed down because of Ebola. Christi, Joe?
PAUL: Elizabeth Cohen, thank you so much. That is some courage and heart right there.
JOHNS: It really is. And when you think about it, this Ebola crisis has at least opened the door to one thing. We now know that it's not a death sentence. PAUL: It's so true. Oh, my goodness. And that's the truth. Have
you heard about this one, a mother's heart just broke after she heard about another mom who had to give up her child just because she couldn't provide basic needs?
JOHNS: So she decided to do something about it. Up next, you'll meet our CNN hero.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JOHNS: A mother is helping other moms who know all too well how expensive a new baby can be.
PAUL: Don't we know it. This morning, you're going to meet Bridget Cutler. And why she decided to step up and provide help to new mothers who really, really need it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I love being a mom. It's the most rewarding thing I've ever experienced. On the flip side, the financial burden of having a child is just tremendous. So many people have such an abundance. And so many others strive to afford even the basics.
Who wants some water?
I remember reading an article. You know, it was about a mother who decided to give up her child for adoption because she couldn't stand to hear her crying from hunger.
And here's that one baby ..
I just thought that no mother should ever be faced with that choice. I started to collect excess baby gear. And that was when moms helping moms was born.
Boys' clothes are up to the right. Girls' clothes are to the left.
We have drives at our storage space. We'd like to come shopping days because they're essentially shopping, they are just not paying anything for it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is really cool.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They are awesome.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Every child deserves a fair start. And if what we're doing helps bridge the gap between people from different backgrounds even in a small way, then it's definitely worth the hard work.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JOHNS: On Thursday, Anderson Cooper will announce this year's top ten heroes and voting begins to choose the CNN hero of the year. That's Thursday morning on "NEW DAY" and CNN.com. Some flights have resumed in Chicago, that's after police say an
employee at a nearby air traffic control started a fire there, then he tried to commit suicide in the basement.
PAUL: What a nightmare, the facility had to be shut down, which triggered 1500 flight cancellations as well.
JOHNS: Jennifer Gray joining us. Jennifer, how are things looking this morning anyway?
JENNIFER GRAY, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, things are going to try to get back to normal, but you have to remember with flights grounded for so long yesterday today is going to be sort of a catch-up day, it was a ripple effect. You can see some planes already starting to enter and leave Chicago, still very early in the morning there, not even 6:00 in the morning, so you're not going to see a lot of activity, but things are going to start to pick up just a little bit, but keep in mind, be patient because we are already seeing delays and cancellations there because of what happened yesterday.
I want to touch on weather a little bit. We are going to see a slight risk of severe storms for today. This is for portions of Arizona. All the way into southern portions of Utah and so. Do be on the lookout for possibility of damaging winds and large hail. 24-hour rainfall totals. 4 to 12 inches. We have seen so much rain already in this area. So, flash flooding is a huge concern when you get any additional rainfall. However, we did receive some much needed rain in portions of California. We saw anywhere from four to six inches of rain yesterday in Napa. And if I could quickly go to that video, we had hail in Napa looked a little more like snow, but yet hail yesterday in Napa. And that rain was so, so needed, guys.
PAUL: Oh, my goodness. Napa, between the earthquake and now hail in September.
JOHNS: Too much.
PAUL: Yes.
JOHNS: All right.
PAUL: Hey, Jennifer, thank you so much.
We have a lot of news to tell you about this morning. A lot going on. And we're so grateful that you're with us.
JOHNS: The next hour of your "NEW DAY" starts right now.
PAUL: Edging toward the 7:00 hour here in the Northeast, I guess, we're in the Southeast. Good morning, everybody. I'm Christi Paul. And I'm clearly still trying to wake up on a Saturday morning.
JOHNS: Yeah, me, too. And it's all good. I'm Joe Johns in for Victor Blackwell.
