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New Day Saturday

Obama Picks Attorney General Nominee; Obama Nearly Doubling U.S. Troops in Iraq; Working on the Front Lines against Ebola; Mexico Gang Confesses to Killing Students; Abduction Suspect's Criminal Past; U.S. Doubling Troop Levels In Iraq; Car Attacks Trigger Clashes In Jerusalem; Suspect Charged In McStay Killings

Aired November 08, 2014 - 08:00   ET

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

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you. Lots more news to tell you about this morning.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: Next hour of NEW DAY is going to start right now. The U.S. is about to double the number of troops in Iraq, 1,500 more are headed there. Is this mission creep?

PAUL: And new tension in Israel after violent clashes erupts on the streets of Jerusalem.

SAVIDGE: This morning, President Obama set to nominate his choice for the next attorney general to replace Eric Holder.

PAUL: Plus monster storm targeting Alaska bringing an arctic blast across much of the nation as well.

It's 8:00 on the dot. If you haven't peeked out the window or opened the door I hope this is not what you're seeing, certainly yet. But we're so glad to have your company here. I'm Christi Paul.

SAVIDGE: I'm Martin Savidge in for Victor Blackwell. As you just heard, we are at the top of the hour. Iraqi and Kurdish forces battling ISIS are about to get a big boost from the U.S., up to 1,500 more American forces will be deployed to Iraq where vast regions of that country are now under control of militants.

But the White House and the Pentagon insist American forces won't be going into combat. CNN chief national security correspondent, Jim Sciutto, is following developments for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Iraqi forces in battle against ISIS, encouraged by recent Iraqi successes against the terrorist group, including the retaking of a key border crossing with Syria.

Now the president is authorizing another 1,500 troops, doubling the number of U.S. forces on the ground. The orders will put them closer to the frontlines adding two operation's centers in more volatile areas beyond Baghdad and Erbil. And in several more sites around the country to train Iraqi and Kurdish brigades. Their role is not changing, advice, assist and train, but it is a major expansion of U.S. boots on the ground.

REAR ADMIRAL JOHN KIRBY, PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: There's no intent to put the trainers out in the field with these units once they're trained.

SCIUTTO: To finance the expansion, the president is asking Congress for nearly $6 billion to support the fight against ISIS including $1.5 billion to train and equip Iraqi and Kurdish forces.

The president was briefed on the Pentagon's request ahead of his meeting today with congressional leaders.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: We got to make sure that our efforts against ISIL are properly funded. That will be an opportunity for Secretary of Defense Hagel to brief us on the progress in our progress against ISIL.

SCIUTTO: To date the cost of the air campaign against ISIS has already totaled more than $700 million, the price tag of more than 800 airstrikes and more than 2,000 bombs and rockets. Top Republicans still not ready to sign a check sight unseen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They said they were going to make a proposal. We'll have appropriations look at it and we'll see.

SCIUTTO: Jim Sciutto, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SAVIDGE: All right. That was Jim Sciutto, thank you very much. Let's bring in our CNN senior international correspondent, Arwa Damon. She is live this morning from Turkey. Arwa, what are you hearing on the ground about this decision to send more U.S. troops into Iraq?

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, on the one hand they most certainly are going to be needed on the battlefield. It's clear that whatever troops have been in country up until now, whatever effort has been under way with the airstrikes.

And the advisory role that those current troops have been undertaking has not been sufficient to allow the Iraqi security forces, the Kurdish forces, to make the types of gains that would really bring about the demise of ISIS and loosen it is ever strengthening grip on power.

On the other hand, there are key issues that need to be addressed here if this strategy is going to have real genuine long term success, and that is going to be addressing the grievances of Iraq's Sunni population.

In all of this, it's going to be key and this is something that President Obama, the coalition and its allies have been pressuring Iraq's new government to do, but bring in those Sunni tribes, especially in areas like Anbar, like Mosul.

Where it is by and large the Sunni tribes who are if not fighting alongside ISIS, at least allowing ISIS to operate from their territories, and this goes back to Iraq's history that have to be taken into consideration.

Back in the day, the Sunni tribes played a key role when they turned against al Qaeda and were fighting alongside their former enemy, the U.S., in terms of bringing about the defeat of al Qaeda and other extremist organizations. They then felt disenchanted, abandoned, alienated and targeted, in fact, by the then government of Shia Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki.

Of course, the dynamics in Baghdad have a new government that is in place, but it's going to be critical at this stage that this government really reach out to those tribes and bring them on board because unless those Sunni tribes are on board in this effort.

At this stage, it's not going to necessarily matter how many U.S. troops are on the ground if those core grievances are not addressed.

PAUL: OK, Arwa Damon, we so appreciate it. Thank you.

SAVIDGE: All right, now let's bring in Douglas Olivant. He is a senior national security fellow with the New America Foundation. And first let me ask you this, why do you think that this increase is happening at this particular time? I presume it's because those troops already there have said, we need more help.

DOUGLAS OLIVANT, SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY FELLOW, NEW AMERICA FOUNDATION: Right. We just got the U.S. Division Headquarters that was sent over to provide a permanent command and control presence for the next year or so. They just got themselves set and ready.

I suspect they are the ones that then sent this request. They assessed the situation and told CENTCOM and the Pentagon we need another 1,000 or 1,500 more troops to provide the training that we need to get the Iraqis and the Kurdish forces ready to take the fight to ISIS.

SAVIDGE: We know that the president has repeatedly insisted that these U.S. forces will not be involved in combat. In fact, let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The notion that the United States should be putting boots on the ground, I think would be a profound mistake. These American forces will not have a combat mission. We will not get dragged into another ground war in Iraq.

The American forces that have been deployed to Iraq do not and will not have a combat mission. I won't commit our troops to fighting another ground war in Iraq or in Syria.

SAVIDGE: And as anyone knows, who has been on a battlefield, and I can tell you myself, it's a very dynamic place, and it is possible that those troops could be caught in combat -- correct?

OLIVANT: Very unlikely. I think the president's plan and as Admiral Kirby also made claim these troops are going to stay on their bases. Now could they find themselves having to defend from behind that base, perhaps, but they are not going out into the field where their real risk of being killed or captured by the Islamic State or ISIS.

SAVIDGE: But ISIS has shown a propensity to attack bases. It isn't the fact that they stay outside the wire.

OLIVANT: No. I mean, it's Iraq, it's a dangerous place. People can get killed. But they are not going to be out -- there is a risk of them being killed, but I don't think there is going to be any risk of them being captured let's say and showing up in orange jump suit in execution video. They will be safe with their colleagues, with other Americans, under American control, inside these relatively secure military bases.

SAVIDGE: Much has been made about the role of these could be former air controllers helping to call in airstrikes that are being done by any number of nations. Do you think that's their primary role or what else would they do?

OLIVANT: Well, I think that's been very much ruled out, to be effective forward air controller, you have to be without the forces you are supporting. We're not going to do that at least not yet so. We're going to accept that air power from Americans, from our allies, is going to be suboptimal.

It's not going to be as effective as if we had these controllers out there bringing in, in a pinpoint type of way. It will be less effective. That seems to be a trade-off we're willing to accept at this point at least.

SAVIDGE: All right, we'll see. Douglas Olivant, thank you very much for joining us.

OLIVANT: Thank you. Good morning.

PAUL: Tensions are boiling over in the Middle East after a series of deadly car attacks. Now one of the region's most holy cities is on edge.

SAVIDGE: And we're watching that monster storm threatening Alaska. Could it end up being the biggest storm ever?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SAVIDGE: This morning tensions are erupting in Northern Israel after a young Palestinian man was shot dead by police. We're going to warn you that the video you are about to see is very graphic. You may want to have a moment either turn down the audio or get the kids out of the room.

But here we go, you see the man there approaching the police car. He then starts banging on the roof. Officials say he was threatening them with a knife and that's what one officer stepped out and shot him. The 22-year-old died later at the hospital.

The region has been on edge all week after a series of violent attacks like this one, when a Palestinian driver plowed his van into a group of Israeli border guards at a Jerusalem tram stop.

CNN senior international correspondent, Nic Robertson is now live in Jerusalem. Nic, how are things this morning there?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, there has been a protest already this morning in the village in the north of Israel where this incident took place. There is a protest scheduled to be under way right at this minute. About 50 Palestinian youths according to the police gathered earlier in the day and burned tires.

Police say they are investigating this incident. It doesn't seem to be immediately linked to the current tensions here at the moment about the right to pray, the temple sanctuary as it's known to Muslims. What happened here according to police, there was a domestic incident in the night. Police were called out to that.

This man then approached the police car, attacked the police car, a policeman got out. According to the police account, they say that the police fired a warning shot then shot the man. You can see four police officers in the video eventually picking him up, putting him into their vehicle, taking him away to hospital.

That's where he subsequently died. Certainly at the moment given the current tensions here, the fact that this incident was caught on videotape, the fact that the Israeli police shoot this man who was at best armed with a knife, from what we understand at the moment, certainly has the potential to inflame tensions.

At the moment, the protests waited for this isolated as far as we know to this one particular town in Northern Israel where the incident took place in the early hours of this morning -- Martin.

SAVIDGE: I was in Jerusalem earlier this year, this issue of what's has been going on at Temple Mount Noble Sanctuary explain that so people understand why this is creating the violence it has.

ROBERTSON: What we're seeing over recent weeks and months is an increased push by right wing Jews to have the right to pray on the Temple Mount, the noble sanctuary, this is an area where there's the dome on the rock, the mosque, these are -- this is the third holiest site for Muslims.

They have the right to pray there in the mosque. Christians, Jews have the right to visit but not pray. Right wing Jews are pushing for the right to get access. One rabbi was shot and seriously wounded about a week and a half ago, his family says yesterday it's beginning to recover and is communicating with them.

But this has led to an escalation intentions and outbreak of trouble around the mosque, the Jordanian king has recalled his ambassador from Tel Aviv. There have been high level talks about this. But it's left this very tense situation into which a Palestinian driver belonging to Hamas drove his vehicle on Wednesday after one incident at the mosque, nearby drove his vehicle into some Israeli border guards, killing two people.

SAVIDGE: It's an extremely passionate place for a number of faiths. Nic Robertson, thanks very much.

PAUL: I want to look at your "Morning Read" and get meteorologist, Jennifer Gray, in on this. She is monitoring this monster storm that could be bigger than Hurricane Sandy. But it could impact the weather over a huge chunk of our country here.

JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Large part of the country. Exactly right. It's gone down in the record books as the strongest storm ever in the Bering Sea, and if the pressure lowers a little bit more it could surpass Superstorm Sandy. This could become the biggest non- tropical storm ever, so we are watching for that.

This was Super Typhoon Nuri. It did pass offshore off luckily off the coast of Japan, and you can see the remnants kind of reorganizing and now becoming the monster storm in the Bering sea.

We're talking about wave heights of 40 and 50 feet, right around the Aleutian Islands and we are also talking about hurricane force winds, winds of greater than 74 miles per hour.

So, as this storm continues to push to the east, it's actually going to cause a huge kink in the jet stream, a large cold front is going to dip down and that is going to create very cold temperatures especially for our northern most states.

This is going to impact as we go into the beginning part of next week. We could see highs in the upper 20s, in Minneapolis, not even reaching freezing. Barely reaching freezing in Chicago.

Losing a little punch by the time it makes it to the northeast with temperatures in the 40s by Wednesday and Thursday so northern sections going to have the biggest impact of temperatures well below freezing for a couple of days.

PAUL: All right. Jennifer Gray, thank you so much.

SAVIDGE: The former Navy SEAL, who claims that he killed Osama Bin Laden facing criticism for breaking the Navy SEAL Code of Silence. Robert O'Neill has previously revealed details on the mission to "Esquire" magazine.

He also spoke out to freelance journalist, Alex Quade, a former CNN correspondent. In exclusive audio that aired on CNN last night, O'Neill said he is not concerned about the criticism over his decision. He says what is most important is that Bin Laden is dead. You can go to cnn.com to hear that interview.

PAUL: Talk about business news, employers added 214,000 new jobs in October and the unemployment rate fell to 5.8. It's been six years since the jobless rate has been this low. However, there is a down side. Wages for American workers are still stagnant.

SAVIDGE: In sports, former University of North Carolina football player is suing the school for not giving him the education he was promised so he says. Mike Macadue says counselors steered him toward fake classes so he could stay eligible for football. He lost his eligibility in 2011 when he was accused of cheating.

PAUL: He was supposed to be a family friend. Now he's accused of being a cold killer. Four years after a California family of four disappeared police say they solved the case. You're going to hear from the suspect in his own words.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: It's 22 minutes past the hour right now. This morning, there is a major break in the case of the McStay family. You might remember them, they disappeared four years ago. Police are calling this man, you'll see, there he is, a cold and callous killer.

Charles Merritt is his name. He's accused of killing all four members of the family. Police found the remains of Joseph McStay, his wife and their two small boys last year in shallow graves in the Mojave Desert. I want to bring in CNN's national reporter, Nick Valencia, on this. What have you learned about it?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN NATIONAL REPORTER: So sad to look at the family, there were two boys, 4 and 3 years old. Their life ended so soon. We know that they poured over 4,000 pages of documents, 200 interviews, 60 search warrants and they've narrowed down their search to this prime suspect, Merritt.

Now over the years, he had been considered a prime suspect just because he told police he was the last person to see them. He even started talking to the media within the last year giving CNN's Randi Kaye an exclusive TV interview. She asked him about the case earlier this year. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHASE MERRITT: The standard questions, you know, just do I know anything about them disappearing. Did I have anything to do with it? Just the standard questions probably they asked everybody.

RANDI KAYE, CNN INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: As far as you know, you were the last person or at least one of the last people to see him, right.

MERRITT: Yes. When he left nobody else, although, I think somebody, there was another person or two that he talked to, I'm not sure.

KAYE: But you were the last person he saw.

MERRITT: I'm definitely the last person he saw.

(END VIDEO CLIP) VALENCIA: Then Merritt went on to say that Joseph McStay was not -- didn't have enemies, that no one really would have a reason to do this. We now know that police are considering him the prime suspect. At one point he took a polygraph test. We don't know the results, but Randi Kaye asked him about that.

And he said, he doesn't know the results, but law enforcement never contacted him after that polygraph test. So he assumed it was -- that he was in the clear.

PAUL: It was interesting to say I am definitely the last person he saw. How would you know that?

VALENCIA: It's chilling. For Randi to have sat down with somebody who police are alleging lied to her. Now he's being charged with both four counts of murder and perhaps on the death penalty.

PAUL: Any indication into what led them to him in the end?

VALENCIA: Yes, police were asked about that at a press conference yesterday. We don't know the details that led them to Merritt, but they believe they have the right guy.

PAUL: It will be interesting to see what comes out of this. Nick Valencia, thank you so much. Appreciate it -- Martin.

VALENCIA: From Good Will Hunting to Aladdin to Good Morning Vietnam. Just didn't matter, the part, Robin Williams always knew how to make us laugh. Nearly three months now after his death, his official autopsy results have been revealed. We'll have that.

Plus, President Obama will announce Loretta Lynch as his pick for attorney general this morning. So who is she?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: The time is 8:28, just to make sure that you are on time this morning. I'm Christi Paul.

SAVIDGE: Welcome back. I'm Martin Savidge in for Victor Blackwell. Here are the five things you need to know to start your NEW DAY. Number one, a fourth victim shot during last month's rampage in Washington State at a high school has died.

The 15-year-old Andrew Fryberg has been hospitalized since that October 24 shooting. He was the cousin and close friend of the shooter. His death brings the total number of fatalities from that shooting to five including the gunman who shot himself. One victim survived and was released from the hospital last week.

PAUL: Number two, autopsy results confirm comedian, Robin Williams, died of suicide. The 63-year-old was discovered inside in his home back in August. Officials say drugs were not involved here. According to his widow, Williams was sober, but he was battling depression, anxiety and early stages of Parkinson's disease at the time of his death. SAVIDGE: Number three, another challenge to the Affordable Care Act is headed for a Supreme Court showdown. This latest lawsuit targets the federal subsidies that helps millions of Americans buy health insurance. The challenge focuses on whether the subsidy should be available to all Americans who qualify or only those who purchase insurance through state-established exchanges.

PAUL: Number four, in England, British Police say they have disrupted an Islamic terror plot. According to a statement from London's Metropolitan Police four men were arrested in and around London on Thursday night on suspicion of Islamist-related terrorism offenses. Scotland Yard confirms to CNN that the four men, who are between 19 and 27 years old, are still in custody.

SAVIDGE: Number five, Dr. Ben Carson is a rising star for conservatives. He's been flirting with the media about running for president and he may be a step closer. Fox News says it won't allow him on the air as a paid contributor. Carson says Fox wants him to remain independent if he becomes a candidate.

PAUL: Well in a few hours from now President Obama is expected to officially nominate Loretta Lynch as the next attorney general. CNN's Evan Perez was the first to report this news yesterday and I just want to give you a little about what we do know about her.

She is a U.S. attorney in New York, this is a job that she's held twice. If confirmed, Loretta Lynch would be the second woman and the second African-American to serve as the nation's top prosecutor.

CNN's Sara Ganim is live from New York. So Sara, what else do we know about her?

SARA GANIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes good morning, Martin and Christi. What we know -- we know friends and colleagues have been reacting to this news saying that she is really much more of a work horse than she ever was a show horse.

CNN's own Jeff Toobin actually said yesterday that she's not even really that well known here in New York but she has been solidly building -- or quietly building a very solid and good reputation in Washington. We also know that she has southern roots. She was raised in Greensboro, North Carolina then she went to Harvard and then Harvard Law School. And she served two terms here under two different presidents here as assistant U.S. attorney in the eastern district of New York -- under President Clinton, and then under President Obama where she currently serves.

Now we spoke to one of the prosecutors who actually works for her here when she served under President Clinton. Take a listen to what that woman has to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JULIE MYERS WOOD, CEO, GUIDEPOINT SOLUTIONS: But I think that coming from Brooklyn that's one of the best offices in the country. It's one of the offices that handles some of the most sophisticated cases as well as a huge number of the high volume cases. So she's really seen it all being in Brooklyn.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GANIM: She also has a strong civil rights background and prosecuting civil rights cases which could really come in handy now with the very relevant as we -- as that office continues to take on high profile cases like potentially the one in Ferguson, Missouri.

Another interesting thing, if she's nominated and approved she would be following in the footsteps of Attorney General Eric Holder who had backed off of federal prosecutions of low level narcotics cases, such as marijuana type cases and it would be very interesting to see if she follows in those footsteps and she has prosecuted many of those types of cases here in Brooklyn.

PAUL: Yes well you mentioned it. She has to be confirmed as well. Do we expect that to be a tough battle?

GANIM: Well you know, Jeff Toobin said yesterday something interesting. She's been relatively scandal-free. We talked about her low profile. When she was nominated in 2010 she was overwhelmingly approved but that's a little bit different when you're being approved as an assistant U.S. attorney versus the United States Attorney General.

And so, it remains to be seen whether or not some of her most recent cases are brought up. She did most recently started the prosecution of a Republican Congressman Michael Grimm here in New York and he accused that prosecution of being a partisan attack. So whether or not that comes up remains to be seen -- Martin and Christi.

PAUL: Sara Ganim, so good to see you this morning. Thank you.

Now again, President Obama will announce his nomination for Attorney General formally in just a couple of hours, we'll have that live for you from Washington right here.

MARTIN: And the President is said to be sending some 1,500 U.S. troops to Iraq. They will be there to help train Iraqis and Kurdish forces as they fight off ISIS.

Erin McPike is in Washington. And Erin let me ask you this. Combat, that comes up. You send troops that way, is it possible they could end up in combat roles?

ERIN MCPIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Martin, that question does keep coming up. But President Obama has said consistently that American troops are not going there for that purpose.

And Admiral John Kirby, the Pentagon spokesman yesterday was addressing this on "The Situation Room" and he said once again American troops are going specifically for training purposes. They will not be there for combat roles. And he was asked about mission creep and he said -- this always comes up as an issue but again, there will not be mission creep and again, we've always, always planned that more Americans will go for training roles -- Martin. SAVIDGE: This is almost double, though the number already there. How

much is all of this going to cost?

MCPIKE: So far the White House is saying about $5 billion. That's what they plan to ask Congress for -- $1.6 billion specifically for the training purposes, but $5 billion overall. And President Obama will be asking Congress, he wants Congress to address this in the lame duck session over the next two months -- Martin.

SAVIDGE: And another thing I haven't heard answered, how long will the troops stay in Iraq?

MCPIKE: In all of these cases it's about a year, but they are not putting an end point on this. There is supposed to be a big mission, a big offensive beginning in the spring, so it could be another year or so. But what we have heard from the White House is that they expect this to go on for a couple of years and into the next president's term -- Martin.

SAVIDGE: And lastly, we know the Republicans now hold both the House and the Senate. What are they saying about these additional troops and the money spent?

MCPIKE: Well as you may remember, Republicans have been pushing President Obama on this, they have been saying that more Americans need to go over to the region and that America is not doing enough at this point. Now, Republicans do want to be on the record, they do want to have votes on this but Republicans are very supportive of this mission.

SAVIDGE: Erin McPike joining us from the White House. Thanks very much.

MCPIKE: Of course.

PAUL: 43 college students disappeared in Mexico, obviously their families want to know what is going on. Well Mexican officials say they were kidnapped and they have been killed. Who took them? Why? We have details for you next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These volunteers are preparing for a daunting task. Soon they'll travel from the United States to West Africa to work on the front lines in the fight against Ebola.

DR. PATRICIA GRIFFIN, DIRECTOR, CDC TRAINING CAMP: We have a mock Ebola treatment unit. We're training clinicians, who are going to deploy to West Africa to treat patients there, how to protect themselves.

CUOMO: They learn skills like putting on and removing protective equipment, drawing blood and disposing of hazardous waste. DR. PHUOC LE, VOLUNTEER: Every detail could mean a matter of life or death to you or the people that work around you.

CUOMO: Dr. Phuoc Le is planning to take the skills he learns on this training course in Alabama and help medical teams in Liberia improve their protocols and hopefully limit infection.

LE: All of the infections of health care workers and the deaths of health care workers, most of them were probably preventable if they had sufficient staffing, the equipment that we have here, space, supplies.

GRIFFIN: We're teaching them how the virus is transmitted so that they know how to protect themselves so that they feel safe taking care of patients.

CUOMO: The training helps, but the volunteers still face a formidable foe.

LE: Whoever tells you that they're not anxious about going to Liberia and working in an Ebola unit is delusional. It's just a sense of solidarity and wanting to, you know, be there for our non-profit partners who don't have a choice but to stay and work and contribute.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SAVIDGE: If you want to learn more about how you can help in the fight against ebola visit CNN.com/impact.

PAUL: Well, families in Mexico calling for justice as you can imagine, after 43 college students disappeared back in September. Well, now the Mexican government is saying they have all been murdered. And three suspected gang members have confessed to killing them and burning their bodies. However, the families aren't buying that story.

CNN's senior Latin American affairs editor, Rafael Romo has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN SENIOR LATIN AMERICAN AFFAIRS EDITOR (voice-over): Badly burned human remains, teeth and bone fragments, a gruesome discovery in a river located in southern Mexico.

The Mexican attorney general says authorities are dealing with a massive homicide. The victims, he said, could be 43 students who disappeared in late September in the city of Iguala. The students from a rural teachers college in the town Ayotzinapa are in their late teens or early 20s.

On order of the city's mayor the top official said Friday, police abducted the students and turned them over to a gang; the gang which allegedly has deep ties to the mayor, reportedly killed the students and burned their bodies before throwing the remains in a river. Identifying the bodies Murillo said, will be a huge challenge. Murillo said the remains are so badly burned that obtaining reliable DNA samples to identify the victims will be extremely difficult. As a result, he said, officials have not been able to determine for certain that those are the students' remains.

(on camera): The Mexican attorney general said so far 74 suspects have been arrested and police are looking for at least ten more. This investigation he said, it's still wide open and no effort will be spared to punish those responsible.

(voice over): Among those arrested are the Iguala mayor and his wife. Authorities suspect he ordered the students stopped because they would disrupt an event led by his wife.

The Mexican president promised with justice. "The findings presented outrage and offend all of Mexican society. With firm determination the government will continue the efforts for a full accounting of the incident. The capture of those who ordered it isn't enough. We will arrest everyone who participated in these abominable crimes."

But the parents of the missing told CNN en Espanol they don't trust the government's investigation. "To publish that kind of news without any scientific proof is highly irresponsible," the parents said by phone. The Mexican government said DNA samples will be sent to a university in Austria in an effort to identify the remains.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL: Rafael joining us now live from Mexico City. Good to see you, Rafael. We heard there from Mexico's president and he has claimed so often the last year that Mexico has become safer on his watch. I'm wondering how people are reacting to this.

ROMO: Christi, we have to look at the larger problem here and that is the fact that this case happened because two towns in the state of Guerrero were infiltrated by criminal organizations. And let me explain that to you. They were so much in power that they were essentially in control of the police departments and that's the reason why these students were stopped by police officers and handed over to a criminal gang.

Critics of the government here say that is not an isolated case. There's infiltration of criminal organizations at the local and state level in different parts of Mexico. And that's a big, big challenge for Mexico right now -- Christi.

PAUL: All right. Rafael Romo, we so appreciate the report. Thank you.

SAVIDGE: Now that he's been caught and his alleged 22-year-old victim was found alive some are wondering why a suspect with a long rap sheet was free to walk the streets in the first place.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There was a man in my home. And he took my five-year-old daughter -- my daughter outside and my husband ran out there and got him from her.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

SAVIDGE: Wow, can you imagine that -- a chilling 911 call from parents who saved their daughter from an alleged kidnapper. The suspect Troy Morley had broken into the family's home early in the morning according to authorities and almost abducted their five-year- old. But the stepfather thankfully caught the suspect in the front yard. Morley fled but the cops later arrested him a few blocks away.

PAUL: Thank goodness.

All right Martin. You know a lot of people are wondering this morning why a man accused of violent abductions of two women was on the streets in the first place. We're talking about 37-year-old Delvin Barnes. He is suspected of abducting a woman off the street in Philadelphia. I know you remember this video because it helped catch him.

But a month prior to that investigators say he hit a teen with a shovel -- that happened in Virginia. He then shoved her into a trunk, both of these women survived. But since Barnes' arrest on Wednesday we have learned so much more about his criminal history.

Let's talk about this with criminal profiler, Pat Brown. Pat -- so glad that you're with us -- I just want to get this background in. Barnes apparently served eight years in prison for a brutal attack back in 2005 on his estranged wife and her family. So when these recent alleged attacks happened he was under community supervision in Virginia. What does that say to you about the system?

PAT BROWN, CRIMINAL PROFILER: Well, first of all we don't take rape seriously enough. Once a rapist, always a rapist -- and that's what we don't understand. These are psychopaths who will commit the crime again if they have the ability and the opportunity. So we can't just let them out of prison once they've done something like this. They should be in there for life.

We don't do that. We let them out and then we say ok, we'll keep an eye on him. Really? Unless you have them locked up you cannot keep an eye on somebody 24/7. If you did you might be watching them for a year and it will be boring because they will just go to the video store and come home and go to work and come home. You know, you're not going to see anything. Until one day they decide to do it.

And so you can't supervise them 24 hours a day outside of prison. They are going to eventually attack at some point in time and we can't let them out there.

PAUL: Yes. Pat, based on what we know do you believe that these two most recent abductions, do you believe that he intended to kill them?

BROWN: Oh, absolutely. This guy is a serial killer. We don't know if he's done anything else. If he's killed any women up until that, no, they point to these two women being abducted we don't know that yet because we don't have the information. I'm sure they are going to investigate to see if he is connected to more crimes.

But he clearly was intending to kill the 16-year-old that he hit over the head with a shovel because he was actually digging a grave for her. He told her "You're going in this grave" and she bolted. She managed to find a moment where she ran and saved her life. And I'm sure that with the next girl that he kidnapped he was surely not going to let her go once she knew where he lived and knew his car, his face. That girl was going to be killed as well if he had the opportunity.

PAUL: You know, with somebody that has this kind of criminal history, and violent history, would he be prone now that he's in custody, to talk? To fess up that there might be other victims?

BROWN: He might if it gives him a field trip some place, if it buys him some kind of fun, you know. If he enjoys telling stories or if he is going to get some kind of deal, maybe from the prosecutor -- he might do that. He's already -- he knows he's cooked. He knows he's going to go to prison for the rest of his life at this point. So he might play some games with them. And we see that happening with the last serial killer caught in Indiana. He'll start saying ok, I got all of these bodies all over the place. Well, if you keep telling them that you can keep getting field trips and you can keep getting, you know, journalists to come and visit you and yes, have all kinds of fun.

So yes, I would think he might well do that if it's true we don't know until he gives us some exact information we can prove it.

PAUL: So when we look at, you know, what his defense might be, I have to assume he is going to claim some sort of mental dysfunction. What do you say?

BROWN: He could try that. But usually serial killers are -- attempted serial killers don't get the insanity plea because they plan very carefully. They know what they are doing and this is obviously -- we see this in this particular case, we see him planning these crimes and carrying them out very methodically.

Now, he's sloppy which is why he got caught, thank God, but you know, there's no question he is not insane. He is psychopathic.

PAUL: Very good point. All right. Pat Brown, we so appreciate your insight today. Thank you.

BROWN: Thanks.

PAUL: Martin.

SAVIDGE: Get your winter coat out of the back of the closet because you're going to need it. A big arctic blast is on the way. We'll go to CNN Weather Center and find out just how cold it's going to get and where -- next.

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M1: You don't hear this often because they usually don't warn you. But there is an earthquake warning in northern Nevada after a swarm of hundreds of earthquakes that has been shaking up the area the past few months or so. The tremors have intensified in the last few days and experts say it increases the probability that a larger earthquake may occur. The activity is being monitored closely by seismologists and I imagine a lot of people in Nevada.

PAUL: You know what; the mercury is going to plunge next week. An arctic blast is edging toward us. CNN's Jennifer Gray is in the Weather Center. All right where's the epicenter here? What's happening?

JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: The epicenter, yes. You are exactly right. We are going to see temperatures really fall as we get into next week. We've been talking about this storm, this monster storm that was once super typhoon Nuri. It's not tropical anymore but it is a monster storm.

It's now gone in the record books as the strongest storm in the Bering Sea. The Aleutian Islands getting 40 and 50 foot waves around there -- also right around that center is also getting about 100-mile-an- hour winds. So this is a very powerful storm.

It's going to cause a huge kink in the jet stream, a large cold front is going to come through and it's going to bring very, very cold temperatures. Look at this. Minneapolis, not even getting above freezing as we go through the week; these are high temperatures in the 20s. Also seeing temperatures stay right around freezing on Wednesday in Chicago, not getting above that.

It's going to lose a little bit of its punch as it heads to the South so we're not going to see quite as chilly temperatures in the South as well as the Northeast. Temperatures will stay in the 50s and then drop down into the 40s by the time we get to Thursday.

One other thing to note, it's not going to be a huge snowmaker. What we're going to be looking at is this swath of snow right here, very thin line. We could see quite a bit right outside of Minneapolis, up to a foot, around 6 to 9 in portions of the Dakotas. But if there's any little wobble in this line with the forecast, you see Chicago just on the south side, so that's why we have to be on the lookout in case there are some adjustments to the forecast. Right now it looks like it's not going to a huge snowmaker at all.

We're starting out with temperatures around 42 in Atlanta, 39 in New York. Of course we're going to see those temperatures warm up a little bit throughout day, guys. It's going to be pretty comfortable especially across the south this weekend.

PAUL: All right. We'll take it while we can. Jennifer Gray, thank you so much.

GRAY: Thanks.

SAVIDGE: That's it for us. We will see you back here at 10:00 Eastern in the "CNN NEWSROOM".

PAUL: That's right we'll see you then. Don't go anywhere though "SMERCONISH" is starting for you right now.