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Paula Zahn Now

Keeping Your Identity Safe; Border Insecurity; Joel Osteen Profile

Aired June 07, 2005 - 20:00   ET

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

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


PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening, everyone. Thank you all for being with us tonight.
Right now, somewhere in cyberspace, a thief is hard at work trying to steal and sell your most personal information.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN (voice-over): Your secrets for sale.

DAN CLEMENTS, CARD COPS: We have a first name, last name. We even have her Social Security number, mother's maiden name.

ZAHN: We take you behind the scenes of a virtual black market.

CLEMENTS: They're trading credit cards and identities.

ZAHN: An insider's account of the people who are after your money.

CLEMENTS: They're real. They're doing this right now.

ZAHN: Tonight, stolen identity and how to avoid the keyboard con artists.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN: The news that the Social Security numbers of close to four million Citigroup customers have been lost is the latest and biggest reminder yet of how helpless we are when we hand over our personal information.

Citigroup says the numbers stored on tape vanished during shipment last month. Now, while we don't know exactly what happened to those numbers, we do know that there is a booming trade in stolen information. According to the Federal Trade Commission, 10 million people a year -- that's about 27,000 people a day, 19 every minute -- are the victims of identity theft. It's happening all the time.

Technology correspondent Daniel Sieberg takes us into the back rooms of cyberspace, where the hot commodity is a stolen identity.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A lot of stolen personal data end up here, in underground chat rooms, virtual black markets, where thieves buy, sell and barter personal information in underground chat rooms. It's real-time identity theft, happening all day, every day, right under our noses.

CLEMENTS: And these people in the chat room, they're usually in Europe and they're trading credit cards and identities. They're swapping out different types of wares and tools, so they can commit crimes. But they're real. They're doing this right now.

SIEBERG: Dan Clements of CardCops.com is fly on the wall in these members-only chat rooms, making his money by reporting stolen information back to merchants and consumers.

CLEMENTS: This is what they call a gold profile. This is all the information on this lady. We have her e-mail address, eBay account, PayPal account.

SIEBERG: After getting inside the shady network, Clements sets up a phone call with one of its members who knew he would be speaking to CNN and that the conversation would be recorded.

(on camera): Is he out there, like a lot of these other identity thieves, buying and selling some of this information or is he just watching and sort of learning what's going on?

CLEMENTS: He says he's watching and learning what's going on. So, he wants to contribute the information, which we'll gladly take if we can check out. But we don't trust him.

SIEBERG: This is Dan.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dan, hey.

SIEBERG: Hey, how are you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey.

SIEBERG (voice-over): Clements warms up our caller, whom we call Nick. We don't know his real name or exactly where he, but Nick says he's seven hours ahead of East Coast time.

(on camera): Talk to me a little bit about what motivates some of these guys in these chat rooms. Why are they doing this?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These people think that this is their job. Like, they wake up in the morning. All they see is the computer and desk in front of themselves. They got different jobs and different levels over there. There are like spammers, cashers, hackers.

CLEMENTS: Spammers use fraudulent e-mail to fleece victims for financial gain. Cashers liquidate accounts and split the proceeds with accomplishes. Hackers, for gain or for sport, look for ways to compromise computer systems. They all make money.

(on camera): They're making $1,000, $2,000 $5,000 a day in some of these chat rooms?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ten thousand.

SIEBERG: Ten thousand a day?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Twenty thousand.

SIEBERG: Do these guys ever feel guilty about what they do?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, if they would have felt guilty about it, they would have stopped doing that.

SIEBERG: It seems very low risk then. They're not worried about the authorities coming after them?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because money -- because it has always been laundered, you know, like it goes from place to place to place to place. And people know what they're doing, because they're exerts and pros over there. Like, a few countries don't protect, like, they don't have something called Internet laws.

SIEBERG (voice-over): And experts tell us overseas is where many of these people operate.

(on camera): Do you ever worry about your own personal information out there? Do you ever worry that you're going to be a victim?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.

SIEBERG: Why?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because I know how they get it and I know how to get away from that.

SIEBERG: How do you? What would you say to somebody to protect themselves, in a sense?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Be careful on whatever you get on your e- mails, whether you're getting a message from PayPal or any of your banks, just delete it.

SIEBERG (voice-over): Nick is referring to e-mail scams, known throughout the industry as phishing, e-mail that appear to be from a legit company, like eBay or PayPal, asking people to update their personal data. The messages are sent out in huge quantities.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Daily, 10 million or 20 million e-mails have been spammed. Out of that, at least two million or three million people give out their information through the e-mail.

SIEBERG (on camera): And they might give overall of their personal information, because the e-mail looks legitimate?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But it's all fake.

SIEBERG (voice-over): Curiously, Nick says he now wants to inform people when he finds their info in these chat rooms, similar to the work Clements himself does.

(on camera): So, when you called these people to tell them that their credit card was in a chat room, had their bank called them yet?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.

SIEBERG: No. So, it's before the bank even calls the consumer?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

SIEBERG: Oh, that's amazing. And how do they react when you call them?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Like I said, they're shocked. They're like, how? I give them some tips sometimes. And they are very thankful for that.

SIEBERG (voice-over): Perhaps it's guilt or his conscience driving this member of an otherwise unscrupulous online identity theft community.

But in an anonymous virtual world, outside the jurisdiction of law enforcement, where thousands of dollars are just a discrete mouse click away, do-gooders are few and far between.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN: And joining us now, Daniel Sieberg and Dan Clements from Atlanta tonight.

So, Daniel, if you can so easily get into these chat rooms, one would assume law enforcement could. Why aren't they shutting these chat rooms down?

SIEBERG: Well, that's a great question and probably on the minds of a lot of people who watched this piece.

The short answer -- and none of these answer are going to be very satisfying for people -- but law enforcement is very limited in its resources. A lot of these chat rooms are international. They're global, in a sense. And they're virtual. There are no doors to kick in or to bust in. They pop up and down very quickly and make it very hard for law enforcement to track them down.

ZAHN: All right. You and Dan are in a chat room right now. What's going on in it?

SIEBERG: Yes. We can show you a couple of things that are absolutely starting.

First of all, we're going to show you a profile of somebody that is in here. We obviously have to be very careful with what we show people, because this is live. We want to protect people's identity. What you can see here is a complete profile of somebody, their home address, credit card numbers, all kinds of things.

And, Dan, what is this person hoping to do with this information?

CLEMENTS: Well, in this particular room right now, they're checking the validity of the credit card and the credit card limit. And they're doing that with an actual merchant account that is loaded in this room.

SIEBERG: So, once they got that information, though, would they go and basically steal that person's identity?

CLEMENTS: They would. They're actually going to try and take all of the credit off of this credit card and then move on to identity theft.

ZAHN: And how long would it take to get that kind of information together?

SIEBERG: It wouldn't take very long at all. I mean, basically, once the information is stolen or hacked into, that information appears in these chat rooms within minutes.

And it is then, basically, stolen from that person. And, Paula, we can show you one other quick example here. Within the last few minute, Dan was actually approached by somebody in one of these chat rooms to basically give over credit card numbers, to buy and sell them.

Dan, why would he be doing that? What's he looking for exactly? There's even a price value here.

CLEMENTS: Yes. This hacker is offering me $1,000 if I will give him a declined credit card that has a mother's maiden name, a Social Security and date of birth. I'm not sure what he wants to do with it, but he's offering me $1,000.

SIEBERG: And it's just an amazing example, Paula. This is happening all day long, all night long. In fact, right about now is pretty much prime time for these guys, being that a lot of them are overseas.

ZAHN: As quickly as you can, Daniel Sieberg, give people advice on what happens if they think they're actually a victim of identity theft already.

SIEBERG: Absolutely. I mean, a lot of people might be a little paranoid and scared.

The first thing you want to do is to look at your credit profile on a regular basis. You can put what is called a fraud alert on your account. You can do that by calling one of the major three credit reporting agencies. That will basically let you know. Whenever any credit issuer tries to open an account in your name, they will contact you.

Important point, though, Paula, it only lasts 90 days when you get it. So, you need to keep up with it. And send a letter if you want to request it for longer than that. The bottom line, though, here, as I think Dan would agree, don't do nothing. You need to do something, because we're all affected by this.

ZAHN: We hear you loud and clear tonight.

Dan and Daniel, thank you both. Appreciate it.

Coming up next, a missing girl, a grieving mother and after 15 long years, a good deed that's helped a cold case heat up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ZAHN: On the Caribbean island of Aruba, police still trying to solve the mysterious disappearance of Alabama teenager Natalee Holloway. She disappeared last week while on a high school graduation trip with 100 of her classmates; 500 volunteers have been searching for her and two hotel guards are being held in the case. So far, there are no clues about what happened to her.

But the sad truth is that many missing person cases go unsolved for many years. Near Boston, that's the story of one teenage girl who vanished back in 1989. But long after police moved on, a group of volunteers is now determined to close the case.

Here is Dan Lothian.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN BOSTON BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): There was no Amber Alert, no Internet site tracking missing children and no competitive cable news coverage when 16-year-old Jennifer Fay, a blonde-haired, blue-eyed teen born on Christmas Day, vanished 15-and- a-half years ago.

DOTTIE MACLEAN, MOTHER OF JENNIFER: And that was Mother's Day, my last Mother's Day, '89.

LOTHIAN: It's been a long and painful wait for her grieving mother.

MACLEAN: This is just -- no one should have to go through this every day, not knowing. I'm sorry. It's hard.

LOTHIAN: Jennifer, a high school sophomore from Brockton, Massachusetts, had often baby-sat her younger brother and sister. She was close to her family. But, like some teens do, she had gotten mixed up with the wrong crowd. Police thought Jennifer had run away. She had done it before. Her mother was unconvinced.

MACLEAN: Never would take off and not call. Just -- it wasn't in her character.

LOTHIAN: The case grew cold. Interest faded, until four months ago.

ROBERT CAREY, PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR: As a father of three small children, I couldn't imagine what it's like going to bed at night not knowing where my kids are. And that's definitely an answer that I would like to help provide for the family.

LOTHIAN: So, Robert Carey, one of four private investigators...

CAREY: I would like to see a better itinerary.

LOTHIAN: Led by Phil White.

PHIL WHITE, PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR: If it was the case breaker, yes.

LOTHIAN: Brought in a legal researcher to try and do what a lone police investigation could not, solve the case. They all have separate successful practices, but came together after their Private Detectives Association was approached for help. They are working for free, so far, putting in a total of 2,000 hours.

CHARLES CASTRO, PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR: This was a prime opportunity to give back something to the community.

MACLEAN This meant the world to me, to know that they're going to help me find her.

LOTHIAN (on camera): The private investigators have gone back to square one to try and uncover new clues, warming up this cold case by retracing Jennifer Fay's last known steps.

(voice-over): She was walking to this convenience store near her home with a male friend after leaving a party earlier in the evening. It was November 14, 1989.

P. WHITE: Her friend left her on the way to the convenience store. And she proceeded on by herself. From that point on, Jennifer disappeared.

MACLEAN: I knew. I knew that something had happened to her.

LOTHIAN: But what had happened? To answer that question, the group of P.I.s has identified 200 people to be interviewed. They've checked out Jennifer's friends and the people who were around when she disappeared.

MICHELLE LITTLEFIELD, ATTORNEY: It gives us a good feel for who these people are to know their criminal histories.

LOTHIAN: And they believe that they have an advantage over police detectives when it comes to gaining trust.

P. WHITE: The police are an authority figure. We do not carry badges and, for the most part, don't carry guns. So, we're not a threat to all these witnesses who, some have criminal backgrounds.

LOTHIAN: People on their list have been talking.

JOSEPH WHITE, PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR: We take every piece of information that is given to us by everyone. Then we will sift through that information and decide what is valuable and what is not. LOTHIAN: Information from the interviews recently led the investigators, accompanied by dozens of volunteers and law enforcement officers, to three sites not far from where Jennifer was last seen. As her mother and sister waited nearby, cadaver dogs were used to search a field in a wooded area.

Divers were brought in to search the bottom of the pond. Just about every inch of these suspect areas charted on the map was covered in two days. Then something caught their attention.

P. WHITE: We have identified two spots of interest, two places of interest. We are going to come back in probably three weeks and redo these.

LOTHIAN: The private investigators say this kind of volunteer effort is needed to help solve the thousands of missing children cases nationwide. They hope it becomes a model for others. But, for now, the focus is on helping Jennifer's mother get answers.

(on camera): Are you going to solve this case?

J. WHITE: I believe we will. That's what we do.

LOTHIAN (voice-over): Jennifer's family will keep trying too.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're willing to do whatever we can just to find her. It's just been too long now.

LOTHIAN: A family waiting and hoping, as they have for more than 15 years.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN: And that was Dan Lothian reporting. And the investigators are now saying, if they do find something that breaks this case, they will actually hand it over to police to take it on from there. The family is hoping for some kind of big break here.

Still to come, a suspicious looking man shows up at the border with a small arsenal of weapons. Find out what happened after he got in the U.S.

And, a little bit later on, we'll get religion with a smiling face, an upbeat message, and, believe it or not, no politics.

First, though, just about 18 minutes past the hour. Time for Erica Hill at HEADLINE NEWS to update some of the other top stories tonight -- hi, Erica.

ERICA HILL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Paula.

Hollywood has lost one of its great stars, mourning tonight. Actress Anne Bancroft has died of cancer. Now, probably best known for her role as Mrs. Robinson in the 1967 film "The Graduate," but her career, of course, was not only about that movie. Bancroft won an Oscar for playing Helen Keller's teacher in the 1962 film "The Miracle Worker."

She was also a veteran of the Broadway stage. She was married to director and comedian Mel Brooks. Anne Bancroft was 73.

Three suicide car bombs exploded at Iraqi army checkpoints north of Baghdad today; 14 people were killed, Now, all this happening as U.S. and Iraqi troops continue door-to-door raids, blasting open gates and rounding up dozens of suspects in the town of Tal Afar, near the Syrian border. The military says one American soldier and three insurgents died.

President Bush meeting with British Prime Minister Tony Blair today in Washington. Again, both denied allegations that the U.S. was determined to go to war with Iraq a year before the invasion. The president said nothing could be further from the truth. He did pledge to work with Blair on forgiving debt to poor African nations.

Fans kept their vigil today, but the jury in the Michael Jackson trial called it quits after six hours of deliberation. They will begin day four tomorrow. Jackson is facing 10 felony charges.

And General Motors saying it will eliminate 25,000 factory jobs in the United States by the end of 2008. That's almost a fifth of its factory work force, GM hoping to save some $2.5 billion a year with that move. And

General Motors is tonight's "Market Mover." For that, we turn to Valerie Morris.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VALERIE MORRIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The setbacks keep on rolling in at General Motors. The auto giant is struggling with huge losses, weak sales and a major recall. GM says more than two million of its vehicles may have safety defects mostly involving problems with seat belts.

The company posted a $1.1 billion loss in the first quarter, pushing its stock price to its lowest level in more than a decade. Rising health care costs and sluggish sales are to blame. Still, General Motors remains the world's largest automaker, with brands including Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Pontiac, Saab and Saturn.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HILL: And just a quick note for you, the Dow up 16 points today.

And that's the latest from Headline News at this hour -- Paula, back to you.

ZAHN: Thanks, Erica. See you in about a half-hour or so, if you all are counting.

And here is your chance to vote for the person of the day. The nominees, British Prime Minister Tony Blair for putting Africa on the top of his agenda with President Bush, leading to $674 million in new aid, the New York Fire Department for rolling out a new system to save firefighters stuck in burning buildings, and searchers in Aruba still hunting for Natalee Holloway more than a week after her disappearance from that island. Vote at CNN.com/Paula. I'll let you know who wins a little bit later on in the hour.

Stick around, though, for a story that is very hard to believe. Find out what immigration officers learned after they allowed this young man into the U.S., even though he showed up at the border with weapons, brass knuckles and what appeared to be a bloody chain saw.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WYCLEF JEAN, MUSICIAN: Happy birthday to CNN

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN: On the CNN "Security Watch" tonight, this question. At a time when the U.S. is trying to tighten its borders, how could a man carrying a pile of weapons, including a sword and a chain saw stained with what appeared to be blood, be allowed into this country?

Homeland Security correspondent Jeanne Meserve traveled to our northern border for some answers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The place where the St. Croix River slices between Canada and the U.S. has its share of unusual characters, but the man who showed up at the quiet border crossing at Calais, Maine, on April 25, 22-year-old Gregory Despres, was more than unusual.

Eddie Young was also trying to enter the U.S. that day.

EDDIE YOUNG, CROSSED BORDER: He was quite the funny-looking person. His eyes were wide opened. His hair was all wet, and the mohawk, and the hair came down in the center of his face.

MESERVE: Even more unusual, what he was carrying. Court records show he had a homemade sword engraved with his name and a swastika; a hatchet; a knife; two homemade brass knuckles; pepper spray; zip cuffs; a flak jacket; and a small chain saw, spotted with what authorities say appeared to be blood.

YOUNG: The America border patrol had the swords out and doing -- you know, swinging them around. The chain saw got picked up and it was going, you know -- they looked things all over. They were, you know, putting the bass knuckles on, stuff like that.

MESERVE: Despres had dual Canadian and American citizenship. A police report says Despres told border officials he was the sergeant in the Marine Corps, had a helicopter waiting for him and worked for the president. (on camera): U.S. Customs and Border Protection held him here in Calais, Maine, for two hours. They ran his name against criminal databases, talked to law enforcement on both sides of the border. Having found no outstanding warrants and having determined that he was a U.S. citizen, they let him into the country.

(voice-over): Customs and Border Protection would not talk on camera, but a spokeswoman tells CNN: "There was nothing that we could hold him for. And being a U.S. citizen we couldn't force him to go back to Canada or anything like that."

MESERVE: Agents did confiscate his weapons.

(on camera): But just one day after Gregory Despres crossed into the U.S., a horrific discovery at this small house in Minto, New Brunswick: two bodies.

(voice-over): The victims -- Veronica DeCarry, known as Verna, and her common law husband, Fred Fulton, a well-known local musician.

MICHAEL RICHARDSON, FRED FULTON'S NEPHEW: He played everything. He would play everything and he was a big Chet Atkins fan, so he loved his music, and...

MESERVE: Didn't I say -- hear he was called the Chet Atkins...

RICHARDSON: The Chet Atkins of Minto.

MESERVE: Gregory Despres lived in this small shed on the property next door to Fulton's home. It has been dismantled in the weeks since the murders. Denny Petitpas lives down the street.

DANNY PETITPAS, VICTIM'S NEIGHBOR: I knew the young fellow was strange. I mean, he would get mad go into his shed or in his camper and smash things and scream.

MESERVE: For two years, neighbors say, Despres escalated a feud with Fulton over a property line, a drainage ditch, and other issues.

PETITPAS: He wouldn't met you halfway. He just -- if you had a problem with what he was doing, well, you was going to have a bigger problem with what he's going to do next.

MESERVE: After one confrontation, Despres was convicted of assaulting Fulton's grandson with a knife. Just hours before he was to be sentenced, the murders occurred. Sargent Gary Cameron of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

SGT. GARY CAMERON, ROYAL CANADIAN MOUNTED POLICE: And it was a very bloody scene, and it was very traumatic.

MESERVE: An RCMP report alleges that Despres kicked down a kitchen door and made his way to the bedroom where he stabbed Verna DeCarry and Fred Fulton several times. Fulton tried to barricade himself in the bathroom, but after a struggle, he was decapitated, his severed head left in a pillowcase next to his body. PETITPAS: The investigator that was investigating this from Toronto, he said, you guys don't really know how lucky you are, because once he had done what he had done there, he had nothing to lose. He could have cleaned the whole neighborhood.

MESERVE: Instead, authorities alleged Despres took Fulton's car and abandoned it near the U.S. border. Right after the bodies were discovered, the Mounties and FBI put out lookouts for Despres, who they now realized had crossed the border.

Depres' Massachusetts driver's license number led to a marina in Mattapoisett, near Cape Cod, where he had once lived in an old cabin cruiser. Suspecting he might come back, Mattapoisett police made up wanted posters. Late on the day the bodies were discovered Officer Andrew Murray was distributing those posters.

OFC. ANDREW MURRAY, MATTAPOISETT POLICE DEPARTMENT: Right around this corner up here, I observed a subject walking matching the physical description of the subject we were looking for.

Right around this corner up here, I observed a subject walking, matching the physical description of the suspect we were looking for.

MESERVE: Murray came back to question the young man through the window of his cruiser.

MURRAY: His poster was face-up on the passenger seat. At that time I reached over, flipped it over so he wouldn't recognize his own picture.

MESERVE: The young man identified himself as Gregory Despres from Canada. Murray pretended he didn't know Despres was wanted and pulled into a parking lot to wait for backup.

MURRAY: We handcuffed him right here. He was laying down, prone down, face down on the ground.

MESERVE: Despres was wearing a flak jacket.

MURRAY: He had a light brownish, reddish stain on his flak jacket which would be consistent with blood -- dried blood.

MESERVE (on camera): How did he explain that?

MURRAY: He just said it was from him skinning dear.

MESERVE (voice-over): Underneath Despres' clothing, a 10-inch swastika tattoo on his back. Despres told police he was on a secret mission with the Marines and was wanted for murder in Russia, but now he is charged with two counts of murder in Canada. He is not yet represented by counsel there and his family declined comment.

(on camera): Some people are dumbfounded that in this post-9/11 world of heightened security where even a traveling grandmother could be subjected to extra scrutiny, someone like Despres, with his odd demeanor and appearance and cache of weapons, crossed this border so easily.

(voice-over): But a former customs and border protection lawyer said the agency had no alternative. No crime had been discovered. And Despres, a U.S. citizen, had a right to enter his country.

STUART SEIDEL, FORMER CUSTOMS ATTORNEY: We still have a country of laws. We still have a Constitution. And I think what they did here was appropriate.

MESERVE: Though extradition proceedings are under way, it is unclear how long it will take for Despres to cross back to Canada to face the music.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN: Jeanne Meserve reporting for us tonight. Despres' extradition hearing is scheduled for sometime next month.

In just a minute, a young preacher and his gospel of success.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOEL OSTEEN, TELEVANGELIST: And you will see promotions, bonuses, that you will open up doors that no man can shut.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN: Coming up next, Joel Osteen's world of mega churches and mega millions.

And little bit later on, we'll keep it short, Jeanne Moos attends an awards ceremony where there's a five-word limit on acceptance speeches.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ZAHN: So I'd like for you to take a look at some of these numbers: 86 percent of Americans say religion is important in their lives. That's according to a recent Associated Press-Ipsos poll, I-P- S-O-S, poll of 10 countries. And 37 percent of Americans say religious leaders should try to influence government decisions. That's more than in any of the other nine nations in the survey. So it might be surprising to learn that the top televangelist in America keeps politics out of the pulpit. Here is Judy Woodruff with tonight's "PEOPLE IN THE NEWS" profile.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOEL OSTEEN: This is my Bible. I am what it says I am. I have what it says I have. I can do what it says I can do.

JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He's the new age preacher who brandishes his Bible as the ultimate self-help book with God as every man's personal financial adviser.

JOEL OSTEEN: We just think that this year will be a year of your unprecedented favor, that we will see promotions, bonuses, that you will open up doors that no man can shut.

WOODRUFF: A simple, straightforward message that has turned this unassuming Texas pastor into America's number one rated televangelist with millions of fans worldwide.

From the pulpit of Houston's non-denominational Lakewood Church, before the largest and one of the most racially diverse congregations in the country, Joel Osteen preaches a user-friendly gospel of prosperity and optimism.

JOEL OSTEEN: And if you believe him, shout amen. Amen! Amen!

WOODRUFF: Lakewood Ministries is a family business. There's Joel's mother, Dodie.

DODIE OSTEEN, JOEL'S MOTHER: Did you know people will deceive you, they will fail you, but Jesus never will.

WOODRUFF: His brother, Paul.

His glamorous wife, Victoria, who has become nearly as big a celebrity as her husband.

VICTORIA OSTEEN, JOEL'S WIFE: So if you need a little boost in the area of joy today, open your heart.

WOODRUFF: Looming large over the sanctuary, the shadow of the late televangelist, John Osteen...

JOHN OSTEEN, TELEVANGELIST: Ha, ha, devil!

WOODRUFF: ... who, in 1959, founded Lakewood in an old abandoned feed store. Forty years later, when he was too sick to preach himself, John Osteen asked his son to take over. But Joel, a shy college dropout, hesitated. More comfortable behind the camera than in front of it, he wasn't sure his place was at the pulpit. But ultimately he answered the call.

This was the first sermon he ever preached.

JOEL OSTEEN: If I'm really bad and you don't enjoy it when you walk out of here, you can say, you know, that boy has nowhere to go but up.

(LAUGHTER)

WOODRUFF: He was so nervous, he wore his father's shoes.

JOEL OSTEEN: I did. I wore it for the first year that I spoke, that whole year of 1999. And I don't really know why I did it, I just did it. It just felt right.

WOODRUFF: In that first year, he says Lakewood's membership exploded, booming from 6,000 to 20,000. Today it hovers around 30,000. Friday night in Sunrise, Florida. Deep inside a cavernous arena, Joel Osteen prepares to morph into a spiritual rock star. He spends a little quiet time alone, prayer time with the family.

JOEL OSTEEN: Father, I pray a special anointing on Joel. I pray, father, that it would be easy for him to minister.

WOODRUFF: Then it's time to face another sellout crowd.

Danillo and Marie Claveria and their friends, Don and Joanne Jones drove three hours to see Osteen. That afternoon, they are among the more than 600 fans lining up to get him to sign his best selling book "Your Best Life Now."

DANILLO CLAVERIA, FAN: His messages are down to earth instead of being Biblical or scriptural, they're more of daily activities that you do.

VICTORIA OSTEEN: How are you?

JOANNE JONES, FAN: Good. And you?

VICTORIA OSTEEN: Good.

WOODRUFF: A heady day for Joanne Jones, meeting the Osteens, worshipping among the thousands, emotions spilling out.

JONES: Very blessed. Very blessed that God allows me to be part of him, just very touched tonight. He's human and he's just so blessed and inspired by the lord.

WOODRUFF: And there's a practical side to the Osteen family message. Joel's sister, Lisa, spread that word in Florida.

LISA COMES, JOEL'S SISTER: ... that you would open up doors for them to have well-paying jobs with full benefits, father, in the name of Jesus.

WOODRUFF: Osteen says the lord speaks to anyone who is willing to listen.

JOEL OSTEEN: We don't have to make hearing from God and staying in his will some super spiritual or even some difficult thing. We have just got to learn to follow our heart.

WOODRUFF: But critics say it's all just cotton candy Christianity: tasty, but little substance. There's no fire and brimstone at Lakewood, no talk of sinners or Satan, no talk of politics, abortion, gay marriage.

JOEL OSTEEN: I don't know if i want to go there, you know. I mean, I just -- you know, I'm for the -- I don't even know where to go. I haven't really addressed it much.

WOODRUFF: Nothing at Lakewood that's not upbeat. And that's just how Joel Osteen likes it. JOEL OSTEEN: So many negative things pulling us down. There's so many reasons to get discouraged and just to get caught in the routine of life. You have got to realize that you know what, there are good things in store. God has got a great plan for each one of us.

WOODRUFF: Joel Osteen is a rich man. With his books selling so well, the church says he's foregoing his $174,000 salary. In all, Lakewood reports bringing in $48 million last year. And Osteen is using that money to make the biggest church in the land even bigger.

JOEL OSTEEN: This is going to be the 16,000 seats.

WOODRUFF: The church is moving into Houston's Compaq Center. The Houston Rockets played here, the Rolling Stones too. And, before long, Joel Osteen expects to fill all 16,000 seats four times a week.

JOEL OSTEEN: I think that one day that we could have a congregation at our new facility of 100,000 people.

We're on the winning side, like we're singing about.

WOODRUFF: Big dreams for the smiling preacher whose optimism knows no bounds.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN: Judy Woodruff reporting for us tonight. Reverend Osteen hopes to move his ministry to the Compaq Center late next month.

So if brevity is the spice of life, our Jeanne Moos has found the spiciest award ceremony you have ever seen. We're going to take you there shortly.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ZAHN: We really want you to stay with us for some familiar winners, some familiar Web sites and five-word acceptance speeches and the most unusual awards ceremony. First, though, time to look at the day's top stories. Here is Erica Hill at HEADLINE NEWS.

HILL: Thanks, Paula. There is a more hopeful attitude from North Korea tonight. It says it's willing to keep talking about its nuclear programs with the U.S. and five other nations, but the Koreans refuse to set a firm date. Now China is expected to host the next round of talks possibly in a few weeks.

Unrest continues in La Paz, the capital of Bolivia, where the police and military responded with tear gas and clubs after miners, Indians, and peasants set a blockage to protest free market reform. Bolivia's president has offered to resign.

A Catholic rebellion is brewing over women in the priesthood. Nine American and Canadian women plan to be ordained next month in Canada, a direct challenge to Pope Benedict's refusal to change Vatican policy. Two years ago, members of the same group ordained women in Germany and were excommunicated by then Cardinal Ratzinger.

Florida Representative Katherine Harris says she will run for the U.S. Senate next year. Harris took a pass on running in the last election with fears her candidacy might stir up Democratic voters (INAUDIBLE) her role in the disputed 2000 presidential election recount in Florida.

And speaking of Florida, plenty of stormy nights like this last hurricane season there, and, sure enough, some Florida hospitals say there has been a bit of a baby boom. Nine months after mother nature turned out the lights, as one woman put it, you've got lots of time at home and lots of candlelight. We can all do the math on that one.

That's the latest from HEADLINE NEWS, Paula, back to you.

ZAHN: A little computation there, thanks, Erica. A word -- a few words from the winners.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This will bring thousands on eBay.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Only this and nothing more?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. I'll keep this short.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN: Oh, I like it. If only the Oscars could be that way. Coming up next, Jeanne Moos has the long and short of the Webby Awards.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ZAHN: Gorgeous night in New York City tonight. Oscars, Emmys, Grammys, Tonys, the big award shows all have one thing in common, endless acceptance speeches. So we can all be glad the people who run the Webbys, the awards for Web sites, have found a way to keep those speeches short.

Here's Jeanne Moos.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): What looks like a slinky and requires a five-word acceptance speech?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Only this and nothing more?

MOOS: Count 'em, five words.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. I'll keep this short.

MOOS: The end. That's it at the Webby Awards, the Oscars of the Web. Blame it on the Webby's founder.

TIFFANY SHLAIN, FOUNDER, WEBBY AWARDS: Who can stand the long speeches? I mean, five words, they're little haikus.

MOOS: One guy who was allowed to exceed the five-word limit was the emcee, Rob Corddry from "The Daily Show."

ROB CORDDRY, WEBBY AWARDS EMCEE: I should win Webby for number of times Googling oneself.

MOOS: At this year's Webbys, winners ranged from the CIA's employment Web site, to Al Gore, to the humor Web site, rathergood.com.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) kittens kick your (EXPLETIVE DELETED)!

MOOS: Winners seemed hard pressed to put together five words that did include a swear word.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We beat the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) muppets.

MOOS: A few winners, such as Pfizer, in a pharmaceuticals category, used their five words to say something sweet.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Side effects include extreme gratitude.

MOOS: But most, like dogster.com, went for humor.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's do it doggy style.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not bad for Canadians, eh?

MOOS: Not bad for Bell Canada Enterprise's Web site. The awards ceremony attracted the creme de la creme of Internet celebs, for instance, the jibjab guys who did the famous election parodies. And Craig Newmark from Craig's List, the online classifieds, was on hand to pick up person of the year.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I wouldn't take me seriously.

MOOS: Folk were talking in subconscious five-word sound bites even when they weren't on the podium.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A lot of pressure.

MOOS: And talk about counting words, a Web site called WordCount won a Webby. It ranks the most commonly used words, such as "the."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would just like to say...

MOOS: WordCount's speech ended where others begin. Some spent their five words on themselves.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look at my hair, man.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you like my dress?

MOOS: And who but a winner from the travel category would say... UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Love your country, leave it.

MOOS: They saved the biggest names for last. Vinton Cerf, scientists credited with being one of the fathers of the Internet had these five words.

VINTON CERF, INTERNET "FOUNDING FATHER": We all invented the Internet.

MOOS: As he introduced Al Gore, and we all know what Al Gore once said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM MARCH 1999)

AL GORE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The United States and Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MOOS (on camera): Set the record straight, was it accurate?

CERF: Yes, it was.

MOOS: Al Gore was awarded the Webby's Lifetime Achievement Award, get your fingers ready to count his words.

GORE: Please don't recount this vote.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN: He did it under -- or in five and in four words. That was Jeanne Moos.

Coming up next, and this will take more than five words, the "Person of the Day," will it be British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who is pushing President Bush for more aid to Africa, the New York Fire Department for rolling out a new system to save firefighters trapped in burning buildings, or the government workers in Aruba who volunteered to search for the missing American teenager? Go to cnn.com/paula.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ZAHN: Now it's time for who our "Person of the Day" is. Is it Tony Blair for his push for more aid for Africa, the New York City Fire Department for issuing new escape equipment to firefighters to save them from burning buildings, or searchers in Aruba still looking for Natalee Holloway? The winner with 66 percent of the vote, the searchers in Aruba.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN (voice-over): They donated half a day to help a stranger. Monday, about 500 of Aruba's government employees used their free afternoon not to relax, but to join the search for Natalee Holloway. The Alabama teenager came to the Caribbean island to celebrate her high school graduation, but vanished more than a week ago.

Some of the searchers picked through the thorns and brush on the island's southeast tip. Others walked along the roadsides. The painstaking work may have paid off. A senior police official says the search turned up two items of interest, a pair of women's sunglasses and a man's bloody shirt with the emblem of a local security firm.

Two security guards were arrested Sunday morning. Their attorney says they've been formally accused of homicide and kidnapping. He adds his clients categorically deny any involvement in Natalee Holloway's disappearance.

Her family, though, hasn't given up hope. Despite their anxiety, they're also grateful.

PAUL REYNOLDS, NATALEE HOLLOWAY'S UNCLE: There are hundreds of searchers, busloads of people involved. The police are searching, the military, helicopters, four wheelers, an amazing outpouring of support.

ZAHN: Putting a face, at least 500 faces, on the idea of community involvement, you picked these volunteers as the "People of the Day."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN: And Natalee Holloway's family is very grateful for that kind of help. We want to thank you all for being with us tonight.

Please stay tuned for Aaron Brown at 10:00. He has a special with some important information about identity theft and what you can do to protect yourself from becoming a victim.

In the meantime, though, "LARRY KING LIVE" is up next. He joins you in exactly four-and-a-half seconds.

Thanks again for joining us tonight, be back same time, same place tomorrow.

END

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com


Aired June 7, 2005 - 20:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening, everyone. Thank you all for being with us tonight.
Right now, somewhere in cyberspace, a thief is hard at work trying to steal and sell your most personal information.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN (voice-over): Your secrets for sale.

DAN CLEMENTS, CARD COPS: We have a first name, last name. We even have her Social Security number, mother's maiden name.

ZAHN: We take you behind the scenes of a virtual black market.

CLEMENTS: They're trading credit cards and identities.

ZAHN: An insider's account of the people who are after your money.

CLEMENTS: They're real. They're doing this right now.

ZAHN: Tonight, stolen identity and how to avoid the keyboard con artists.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN: The news that the Social Security numbers of close to four million Citigroup customers have been lost is the latest and biggest reminder yet of how helpless we are when we hand over our personal information.

Citigroup says the numbers stored on tape vanished during shipment last month. Now, while we don't know exactly what happened to those numbers, we do know that there is a booming trade in stolen information. According to the Federal Trade Commission, 10 million people a year -- that's about 27,000 people a day, 19 every minute -- are the victims of identity theft. It's happening all the time.

Technology correspondent Daniel Sieberg takes us into the back rooms of cyberspace, where the hot commodity is a stolen identity.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A lot of stolen personal data end up here, in underground chat rooms, virtual black markets, where thieves buy, sell and barter personal information in underground chat rooms. It's real-time identity theft, happening all day, every day, right under our noses.

CLEMENTS: And these people in the chat room, they're usually in Europe and they're trading credit cards and identities. They're swapping out different types of wares and tools, so they can commit crimes. But they're real. They're doing this right now.

SIEBERG: Dan Clements of CardCops.com is fly on the wall in these members-only chat rooms, making his money by reporting stolen information back to merchants and consumers.

CLEMENTS: This is what they call a gold profile. This is all the information on this lady. We have her e-mail address, eBay account, PayPal account.

SIEBERG: After getting inside the shady network, Clements sets up a phone call with one of its members who knew he would be speaking to CNN and that the conversation would be recorded.

(on camera): Is he out there, like a lot of these other identity thieves, buying and selling some of this information or is he just watching and sort of learning what's going on?

CLEMENTS: He says he's watching and learning what's going on. So, he wants to contribute the information, which we'll gladly take if we can check out. But we don't trust him.

SIEBERG: This is Dan.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dan, hey.

SIEBERG: Hey, how are you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey.

SIEBERG (voice-over): Clements warms up our caller, whom we call Nick. We don't know his real name or exactly where he, but Nick says he's seven hours ahead of East Coast time.

(on camera): Talk to me a little bit about what motivates some of these guys in these chat rooms. Why are they doing this?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These people think that this is their job. Like, they wake up in the morning. All they see is the computer and desk in front of themselves. They got different jobs and different levels over there. There are like spammers, cashers, hackers.

CLEMENTS: Spammers use fraudulent e-mail to fleece victims for financial gain. Cashers liquidate accounts and split the proceeds with accomplishes. Hackers, for gain or for sport, look for ways to compromise computer systems. They all make money.

(on camera): They're making $1,000, $2,000 $5,000 a day in some of these chat rooms?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ten thousand.

SIEBERG: Ten thousand a day?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Twenty thousand.

SIEBERG: Do these guys ever feel guilty about what they do?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, if they would have felt guilty about it, they would have stopped doing that.

SIEBERG: It seems very low risk then. They're not worried about the authorities coming after them?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because money -- because it has always been laundered, you know, like it goes from place to place to place to place. And people know what they're doing, because they're exerts and pros over there. Like, a few countries don't protect, like, they don't have something called Internet laws.

SIEBERG (voice-over): And experts tell us overseas is where many of these people operate.

(on camera): Do you ever worry about your own personal information out there? Do you ever worry that you're going to be a victim?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.

SIEBERG: Why?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because I know how they get it and I know how to get away from that.

SIEBERG: How do you? What would you say to somebody to protect themselves, in a sense?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Be careful on whatever you get on your e- mails, whether you're getting a message from PayPal or any of your banks, just delete it.

SIEBERG (voice-over): Nick is referring to e-mail scams, known throughout the industry as phishing, e-mail that appear to be from a legit company, like eBay or PayPal, asking people to update their personal data. The messages are sent out in huge quantities.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Daily, 10 million or 20 million e-mails have been spammed. Out of that, at least two million or three million people give out their information through the e-mail.

SIEBERG (on camera): And they might give overall of their personal information, because the e-mail looks legitimate?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But it's all fake.

SIEBERG (voice-over): Curiously, Nick says he now wants to inform people when he finds their info in these chat rooms, similar to the work Clements himself does.

(on camera): So, when you called these people to tell them that their credit card was in a chat room, had their bank called them yet?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.

SIEBERG: No. So, it's before the bank even calls the consumer?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

SIEBERG: Oh, that's amazing. And how do they react when you call them?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Like I said, they're shocked. They're like, how? I give them some tips sometimes. And they are very thankful for that.

SIEBERG (voice-over): Perhaps it's guilt or his conscience driving this member of an otherwise unscrupulous online identity theft community.

But in an anonymous virtual world, outside the jurisdiction of law enforcement, where thousands of dollars are just a discrete mouse click away, do-gooders are few and far between.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN: And joining us now, Daniel Sieberg and Dan Clements from Atlanta tonight.

So, Daniel, if you can so easily get into these chat rooms, one would assume law enforcement could. Why aren't they shutting these chat rooms down?

SIEBERG: Well, that's a great question and probably on the minds of a lot of people who watched this piece.

The short answer -- and none of these answer are going to be very satisfying for people -- but law enforcement is very limited in its resources. A lot of these chat rooms are international. They're global, in a sense. And they're virtual. There are no doors to kick in or to bust in. They pop up and down very quickly and make it very hard for law enforcement to track them down.

ZAHN: All right. You and Dan are in a chat room right now. What's going on in it?

SIEBERG: Yes. We can show you a couple of things that are absolutely starting.

First of all, we're going to show you a profile of somebody that is in here. We obviously have to be very careful with what we show people, because this is live. We want to protect people's identity. What you can see here is a complete profile of somebody, their home address, credit card numbers, all kinds of things.

And, Dan, what is this person hoping to do with this information?

CLEMENTS: Well, in this particular room right now, they're checking the validity of the credit card and the credit card limit. And they're doing that with an actual merchant account that is loaded in this room.

SIEBERG: So, once they got that information, though, would they go and basically steal that person's identity?

CLEMENTS: They would. They're actually going to try and take all of the credit off of this credit card and then move on to identity theft.

ZAHN: And how long would it take to get that kind of information together?

SIEBERG: It wouldn't take very long at all. I mean, basically, once the information is stolen or hacked into, that information appears in these chat rooms within minutes.

And it is then, basically, stolen from that person. And, Paula, we can show you one other quick example here. Within the last few minute, Dan was actually approached by somebody in one of these chat rooms to basically give over credit card numbers, to buy and sell them.

Dan, why would he be doing that? What's he looking for exactly? There's even a price value here.

CLEMENTS: Yes. This hacker is offering me $1,000 if I will give him a declined credit card that has a mother's maiden name, a Social Security and date of birth. I'm not sure what he wants to do with it, but he's offering me $1,000.

SIEBERG: And it's just an amazing example, Paula. This is happening all day long, all night long. In fact, right about now is pretty much prime time for these guys, being that a lot of them are overseas.

ZAHN: As quickly as you can, Daniel Sieberg, give people advice on what happens if they think they're actually a victim of identity theft already.

SIEBERG: Absolutely. I mean, a lot of people might be a little paranoid and scared.

The first thing you want to do is to look at your credit profile on a regular basis. You can put what is called a fraud alert on your account. You can do that by calling one of the major three credit reporting agencies. That will basically let you know. Whenever any credit issuer tries to open an account in your name, they will contact you.

Important point, though, Paula, it only lasts 90 days when you get it. So, you need to keep up with it. And send a letter if you want to request it for longer than that. The bottom line, though, here, as I think Dan would agree, don't do nothing. You need to do something, because we're all affected by this.

ZAHN: We hear you loud and clear tonight.

Dan and Daniel, thank you both. Appreciate it.

Coming up next, a missing girl, a grieving mother and after 15 long years, a good deed that's helped a cold case heat up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ZAHN: On the Caribbean island of Aruba, police still trying to solve the mysterious disappearance of Alabama teenager Natalee Holloway. She disappeared last week while on a high school graduation trip with 100 of her classmates; 500 volunteers have been searching for her and two hotel guards are being held in the case. So far, there are no clues about what happened to her.

But the sad truth is that many missing person cases go unsolved for many years. Near Boston, that's the story of one teenage girl who vanished back in 1989. But long after police moved on, a group of volunteers is now determined to close the case.

Here is Dan Lothian.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN BOSTON BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): There was no Amber Alert, no Internet site tracking missing children and no competitive cable news coverage when 16-year-old Jennifer Fay, a blonde-haired, blue-eyed teen born on Christmas Day, vanished 15-and- a-half years ago.

DOTTIE MACLEAN, MOTHER OF JENNIFER: And that was Mother's Day, my last Mother's Day, '89.

LOTHIAN: It's been a long and painful wait for her grieving mother.

MACLEAN: This is just -- no one should have to go through this every day, not knowing. I'm sorry. It's hard.

LOTHIAN: Jennifer, a high school sophomore from Brockton, Massachusetts, had often baby-sat her younger brother and sister. She was close to her family. But, like some teens do, she had gotten mixed up with the wrong crowd. Police thought Jennifer had run away. She had done it before. Her mother was unconvinced.

MACLEAN: Never would take off and not call. Just -- it wasn't in her character.

LOTHIAN: The case grew cold. Interest faded, until four months ago.

ROBERT CAREY, PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR: As a father of three small children, I couldn't imagine what it's like going to bed at night not knowing where my kids are. And that's definitely an answer that I would like to help provide for the family.

LOTHIAN: So, Robert Carey, one of four private investigators...

CAREY: I would like to see a better itinerary.

LOTHIAN: Led by Phil White.

PHIL WHITE, PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR: If it was the case breaker, yes.

LOTHIAN: Brought in a legal researcher to try and do what a lone police investigation could not, solve the case. They all have separate successful practices, but came together after their Private Detectives Association was approached for help. They are working for free, so far, putting in a total of 2,000 hours.

CHARLES CASTRO, PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR: This was a prime opportunity to give back something to the community.

MACLEAN This meant the world to me, to know that they're going to help me find her.

LOTHIAN (on camera): The private investigators have gone back to square one to try and uncover new clues, warming up this cold case by retracing Jennifer Fay's last known steps.

(voice-over): She was walking to this convenience store near her home with a male friend after leaving a party earlier in the evening. It was November 14, 1989.

P. WHITE: Her friend left her on the way to the convenience store. And she proceeded on by herself. From that point on, Jennifer disappeared.

MACLEAN: I knew. I knew that something had happened to her.

LOTHIAN: But what had happened? To answer that question, the group of P.I.s has identified 200 people to be interviewed. They've checked out Jennifer's friends and the people who were around when she disappeared.

MICHELLE LITTLEFIELD, ATTORNEY: It gives us a good feel for who these people are to know their criminal histories.

LOTHIAN: And they believe that they have an advantage over police detectives when it comes to gaining trust.

P. WHITE: The police are an authority figure. We do not carry badges and, for the most part, don't carry guns. So, we're not a threat to all these witnesses who, some have criminal backgrounds.

LOTHIAN: People on their list have been talking.

JOSEPH WHITE, PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR: We take every piece of information that is given to us by everyone. Then we will sift through that information and decide what is valuable and what is not. LOTHIAN: Information from the interviews recently led the investigators, accompanied by dozens of volunteers and law enforcement officers, to three sites not far from where Jennifer was last seen. As her mother and sister waited nearby, cadaver dogs were used to search a field in a wooded area.

Divers were brought in to search the bottom of the pond. Just about every inch of these suspect areas charted on the map was covered in two days. Then something caught their attention.

P. WHITE: We have identified two spots of interest, two places of interest. We are going to come back in probably three weeks and redo these.

LOTHIAN: The private investigators say this kind of volunteer effort is needed to help solve the thousands of missing children cases nationwide. They hope it becomes a model for others. But, for now, the focus is on helping Jennifer's mother get answers.

(on camera): Are you going to solve this case?

J. WHITE: I believe we will. That's what we do.

LOTHIAN (voice-over): Jennifer's family will keep trying too.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're willing to do whatever we can just to find her. It's just been too long now.

LOTHIAN: A family waiting and hoping, as they have for more than 15 years.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN: And that was Dan Lothian reporting. And the investigators are now saying, if they do find something that breaks this case, they will actually hand it over to police to take it on from there. The family is hoping for some kind of big break here.

Still to come, a suspicious looking man shows up at the border with a small arsenal of weapons. Find out what happened after he got in the U.S.

And, a little bit later on, we'll get religion with a smiling face, an upbeat message, and, believe it or not, no politics.

First, though, just about 18 minutes past the hour. Time for Erica Hill at HEADLINE NEWS to update some of the other top stories tonight -- hi, Erica.

ERICA HILL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Paula.

Hollywood has lost one of its great stars, mourning tonight. Actress Anne Bancroft has died of cancer. Now, probably best known for her role as Mrs. Robinson in the 1967 film "The Graduate," but her career, of course, was not only about that movie. Bancroft won an Oscar for playing Helen Keller's teacher in the 1962 film "The Miracle Worker."

She was also a veteran of the Broadway stage. She was married to director and comedian Mel Brooks. Anne Bancroft was 73.

Three suicide car bombs exploded at Iraqi army checkpoints north of Baghdad today; 14 people were killed, Now, all this happening as U.S. and Iraqi troops continue door-to-door raids, blasting open gates and rounding up dozens of suspects in the town of Tal Afar, near the Syrian border. The military says one American soldier and three insurgents died.

President Bush meeting with British Prime Minister Tony Blair today in Washington. Again, both denied allegations that the U.S. was determined to go to war with Iraq a year before the invasion. The president said nothing could be further from the truth. He did pledge to work with Blair on forgiving debt to poor African nations.

Fans kept their vigil today, but the jury in the Michael Jackson trial called it quits after six hours of deliberation. They will begin day four tomorrow. Jackson is facing 10 felony charges.

And General Motors saying it will eliminate 25,000 factory jobs in the United States by the end of 2008. That's almost a fifth of its factory work force, GM hoping to save some $2.5 billion a year with that move. And

General Motors is tonight's "Market Mover." For that, we turn to Valerie Morris.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VALERIE MORRIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The setbacks keep on rolling in at General Motors. The auto giant is struggling with huge losses, weak sales and a major recall. GM says more than two million of its vehicles may have safety defects mostly involving problems with seat belts.

The company posted a $1.1 billion loss in the first quarter, pushing its stock price to its lowest level in more than a decade. Rising health care costs and sluggish sales are to blame. Still, General Motors remains the world's largest automaker, with brands including Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Pontiac, Saab and Saturn.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HILL: And just a quick note for you, the Dow up 16 points today.

And that's the latest from Headline News at this hour -- Paula, back to you.

ZAHN: Thanks, Erica. See you in about a half-hour or so, if you all are counting.

And here is your chance to vote for the person of the day. The nominees, British Prime Minister Tony Blair for putting Africa on the top of his agenda with President Bush, leading to $674 million in new aid, the New York Fire Department for rolling out a new system to save firefighters stuck in burning buildings, and searchers in Aruba still hunting for Natalee Holloway more than a week after her disappearance from that island. Vote at CNN.com/Paula. I'll let you know who wins a little bit later on in the hour.

Stick around, though, for a story that is very hard to believe. Find out what immigration officers learned after they allowed this young man into the U.S., even though he showed up at the border with weapons, brass knuckles and what appeared to be a bloody chain saw.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WYCLEF JEAN, MUSICIAN: Happy birthday to CNN

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN: On the CNN "Security Watch" tonight, this question. At a time when the U.S. is trying to tighten its borders, how could a man carrying a pile of weapons, including a sword and a chain saw stained with what appeared to be blood, be allowed into this country?

Homeland Security correspondent Jeanne Meserve traveled to our northern border for some answers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The place where the St. Croix River slices between Canada and the U.S. has its share of unusual characters, but the man who showed up at the quiet border crossing at Calais, Maine, on April 25, 22-year-old Gregory Despres, was more than unusual.

Eddie Young was also trying to enter the U.S. that day.

EDDIE YOUNG, CROSSED BORDER: He was quite the funny-looking person. His eyes were wide opened. His hair was all wet, and the mohawk, and the hair came down in the center of his face.

MESERVE: Even more unusual, what he was carrying. Court records show he had a homemade sword engraved with his name and a swastika; a hatchet; a knife; two homemade brass knuckles; pepper spray; zip cuffs; a flak jacket; and a small chain saw, spotted with what authorities say appeared to be blood.

YOUNG: The America border patrol had the swords out and doing -- you know, swinging them around. The chain saw got picked up and it was going, you know -- they looked things all over. They were, you know, putting the bass knuckles on, stuff like that.

MESERVE: Despres had dual Canadian and American citizenship. A police report says Despres told border officials he was the sergeant in the Marine Corps, had a helicopter waiting for him and worked for the president. (on camera): U.S. Customs and Border Protection held him here in Calais, Maine, for two hours. They ran his name against criminal databases, talked to law enforcement on both sides of the border. Having found no outstanding warrants and having determined that he was a U.S. citizen, they let him into the country.

(voice-over): Customs and Border Protection would not talk on camera, but a spokeswoman tells CNN: "There was nothing that we could hold him for. And being a U.S. citizen we couldn't force him to go back to Canada or anything like that."

MESERVE: Agents did confiscate his weapons.

(on camera): But just one day after Gregory Despres crossed into the U.S., a horrific discovery at this small house in Minto, New Brunswick: two bodies.

(voice-over): The victims -- Veronica DeCarry, known as Verna, and her common law husband, Fred Fulton, a well-known local musician.

MICHAEL RICHARDSON, FRED FULTON'S NEPHEW: He played everything. He would play everything and he was a big Chet Atkins fan, so he loved his music, and...

MESERVE: Didn't I say -- hear he was called the Chet Atkins...

RICHARDSON: The Chet Atkins of Minto.

MESERVE: Gregory Despres lived in this small shed on the property next door to Fulton's home. It has been dismantled in the weeks since the murders. Denny Petitpas lives down the street.

DANNY PETITPAS, VICTIM'S NEIGHBOR: I knew the young fellow was strange. I mean, he would get mad go into his shed or in his camper and smash things and scream.

MESERVE: For two years, neighbors say, Despres escalated a feud with Fulton over a property line, a drainage ditch, and other issues.

PETITPAS: He wouldn't met you halfway. He just -- if you had a problem with what he was doing, well, you was going to have a bigger problem with what he's going to do next.

MESERVE: After one confrontation, Despres was convicted of assaulting Fulton's grandson with a knife. Just hours before he was to be sentenced, the murders occurred. Sargent Gary Cameron of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

SGT. GARY CAMERON, ROYAL CANADIAN MOUNTED POLICE: And it was a very bloody scene, and it was very traumatic.

MESERVE: An RCMP report alleges that Despres kicked down a kitchen door and made his way to the bedroom where he stabbed Verna DeCarry and Fred Fulton several times. Fulton tried to barricade himself in the bathroom, but after a struggle, he was decapitated, his severed head left in a pillowcase next to his body. PETITPAS: The investigator that was investigating this from Toronto, he said, you guys don't really know how lucky you are, because once he had done what he had done there, he had nothing to lose. He could have cleaned the whole neighborhood.

MESERVE: Instead, authorities alleged Despres took Fulton's car and abandoned it near the U.S. border. Right after the bodies were discovered, the Mounties and FBI put out lookouts for Despres, who they now realized had crossed the border.

Depres' Massachusetts driver's license number led to a marina in Mattapoisett, near Cape Cod, where he had once lived in an old cabin cruiser. Suspecting he might come back, Mattapoisett police made up wanted posters. Late on the day the bodies were discovered Officer Andrew Murray was distributing those posters.

OFC. ANDREW MURRAY, MATTAPOISETT POLICE DEPARTMENT: Right around this corner up here, I observed a subject walking matching the physical description of the subject we were looking for.

Right around this corner up here, I observed a subject walking, matching the physical description of the suspect we were looking for.

MESERVE: Murray came back to question the young man through the window of his cruiser.

MURRAY: His poster was face-up on the passenger seat. At that time I reached over, flipped it over so he wouldn't recognize his own picture.

MESERVE: The young man identified himself as Gregory Despres from Canada. Murray pretended he didn't know Despres was wanted and pulled into a parking lot to wait for backup.

MURRAY: We handcuffed him right here. He was laying down, prone down, face down on the ground.

MESERVE: Despres was wearing a flak jacket.

MURRAY: He had a light brownish, reddish stain on his flak jacket which would be consistent with blood -- dried blood.

MESERVE (on camera): How did he explain that?

MURRAY: He just said it was from him skinning dear.

MESERVE (voice-over): Underneath Despres' clothing, a 10-inch swastika tattoo on his back. Despres told police he was on a secret mission with the Marines and was wanted for murder in Russia, but now he is charged with two counts of murder in Canada. He is not yet represented by counsel there and his family declined comment.

(on camera): Some people are dumbfounded that in this post-9/11 world of heightened security where even a traveling grandmother could be subjected to extra scrutiny, someone like Despres, with his odd demeanor and appearance and cache of weapons, crossed this border so easily.

(voice-over): But a former customs and border protection lawyer said the agency had no alternative. No crime had been discovered. And Despres, a U.S. citizen, had a right to enter his country.

STUART SEIDEL, FORMER CUSTOMS ATTORNEY: We still have a country of laws. We still have a Constitution. And I think what they did here was appropriate.

MESERVE: Though extradition proceedings are under way, it is unclear how long it will take for Despres to cross back to Canada to face the music.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN: Jeanne Meserve reporting for us tonight. Despres' extradition hearing is scheduled for sometime next month.

In just a minute, a young preacher and his gospel of success.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOEL OSTEEN, TELEVANGELIST: And you will see promotions, bonuses, that you will open up doors that no man can shut.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN: Coming up next, Joel Osteen's world of mega churches and mega millions.

And little bit later on, we'll keep it short, Jeanne Moos attends an awards ceremony where there's a five-word limit on acceptance speeches.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ZAHN: So I'd like for you to take a look at some of these numbers: 86 percent of Americans say religion is important in their lives. That's according to a recent Associated Press-Ipsos poll, I-P- S-O-S, poll of 10 countries. And 37 percent of Americans say religious leaders should try to influence government decisions. That's more than in any of the other nine nations in the survey. So it might be surprising to learn that the top televangelist in America keeps politics out of the pulpit. Here is Judy Woodruff with tonight's "PEOPLE IN THE NEWS" profile.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOEL OSTEEN: This is my Bible. I am what it says I am. I have what it says I have. I can do what it says I can do.

JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He's the new age preacher who brandishes his Bible as the ultimate self-help book with God as every man's personal financial adviser.

JOEL OSTEEN: We just think that this year will be a year of your unprecedented favor, that we will see promotions, bonuses, that you will open up doors that no man can shut.

WOODRUFF: A simple, straightforward message that has turned this unassuming Texas pastor into America's number one rated televangelist with millions of fans worldwide.

From the pulpit of Houston's non-denominational Lakewood Church, before the largest and one of the most racially diverse congregations in the country, Joel Osteen preaches a user-friendly gospel of prosperity and optimism.

JOEL OSTEEN: And if you believe him, shout amen. Amen! Amen!

WOODRUFF: Lakewood Ministries is a family business. There's Joel's mother, Dodie.

DODIE OSTEEN, JOEL'S MOTHER: Did you know people will deceive you, they will fail you, but Jesus never will.

WOODRUFF: His brother, Paul.

His glamorous wife, Victoria, who has become nearly as big a celebrity as her husband.

VICTORIA OSTEEN, JOEL'S WIFE: So if you need a little boost in the area of joy today, open your heart.

WOODRUFF: Looming large over the sanctuary, the shadow of the late televangelist, John Osteen...

JOHN OSTEEN, TELEVANGELIST: Ha, ha, devil!

WOODRUFF: ... who, in 1959, founded Lakewood in an old abandoned feed store. Forty years later, when he was too sick to preach himself, John Osteen asked his son to take over. But Joel, a shy college dropout, hesitated. More comfortable behind the camera than in front of it, he wasn't sure his place was at the pulpit. But ultimately he answered the call.

This was the first sermon he ever preached.

JOEL OSTEEN: If I'm really bad and you don't enjoy it when you walk out of here, you can say, you know, that boy has nowhere to go but up.

(LAUGHTER)

WOODRUFF: He was so nervous, he wore his father's shoes.

JOEL OSTEEN: I did. I wore it for the first year that I spoke, that whole year of 1999. And I don't really know why I did it, I just did it. It just felt right.

WOODRUFF: In that first year, he says Lakewood's membership exploded, booming from 6,000 to 20,000. Today it hovers around 30,000. Friday night in Sunrise, Florida. Deep inside a cavernous arena, Joel Osteen prepares to morph into a spiritual rock star. He spends a little quiet time alone, prayer time with the family.

JOEL OSTEEN: Father, I pray a special anointing on Joel. I pray, father, that it would be easy for him to minister.

WOODRUFF: Then it's time to face another sellout crowd.

Danillo and Marie Claveria and their friends, Don and Joanne Jones drove three hours to see Osteen. That afternoon, they are among the more than 600 fans lining up to get him to sign his best selling book "Your Best Life Now."

DANILLO CLAVERIA, FAN: His messages are down to earth instead of being Biblical or scriptural, they're more of daily activities that you do.

VICTORIA OSTEEN: How are you?

JOANNE JONES, FAN: Good. And you?

VICTORIA OSTEEN: Good.

WOODRUFF: A heady day for Joanne Jones, meeting the Osteens, worshipping among the thousands, emotions spilling out.

JONES: Very blessed. Very blessed that God allows me to be part of him, just very touched tonight. He's human and he's just so blessed and inspired by the lord.

WOODRUFF: And there's a practical side to the Osteen family message. Joel's sister, Lisa, spread that word in Florida.

LISA COMES, JOEL'S SISTER: ... that you would open up doors for them to have well-paying jobs with full benefits, father, in the name of Jesus.

WOODRUFF: Osteen says the lord speaks to anyone who is willing to listen.

JOEL OSTEEN: We don't have to make hearing from God and staying in his will some super spiritual or even some difficult thing. We have just got to learn to follow our heart.

WOODRUFF: But critics say it's all just cotton candy Christianity: tasty, but little substance. There's no fire and brimstone at Lakewood, no talk of sinners or Satan, no talk of politics, abortion, gay marriage.

JOEL OSTEEN: I don't know if i want to go there, you know. I mean, I just -- you know, I'm for the -- I don't even know where to go. I haven't really addressed it much.

WOODRUFF: Nothing at Lakewood that's not upbeat. And that's just how Joel Osteen likes it. JOEL OSTEEN: So many negative things pulling us down. There's so many reasons to get discouraged and just to get caught in the routine of life. You have got to realize that you know what, there are good things in store. God has got a great plan for each one of us.

WOODRUFF: Joel Osteen is a rich man. With his books selling so well, the church says he's foregoing his $174,000 salary. In all, Lakewood reports bringing in $48 million last year. And Osteen is using that money to make the biggest church in the land even bigger.

JOEL OSTEEN: This is going to be the 16,000 seats.

WOODRUFF: The church is moving into Houston's Compaq Center. The Houston Rockets played here, the Rolling Stones too. And, before long, Joel Osteen expects to fill all 16,000 seats four times a week.

JOEL OSTEEN: I think that one day that we could have a congregation at our new facility of 100,000 people.

We're on the winning side, like we're singing about.

WOODRUFF: Big dreams for the smiling preacher whose optimism knows no bounds.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN: Judy Woodruff reporting for us tonight. Reverend Osteen hopes to move his ministry to the Compaq Center late next month.

So if brevity is the spice of life, our Jeanne Moos has found the spiciest award ceremony you have ever seen. We're going to take you there shortly.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ZAHN: We really want you to stay with us for some familiar winners, some familiar Web sites and five-word acceptance speeches and the most unusual awards ceremony. First, though, time to look at the day's top stories. Here is Erica Hill at HEADLINE NEWS.

HILL: Thanks, Paula. There is a more hopeful attitude from North Korea tonight. It says it's willing to keep talking about its nuclear programs with the U.S. and five other nations, but the Koreans refuse to set a firm date. Now China is expected to host the next round of talks possibly in a few weeks.

Unrest continues in La Paz, the capital of Bolivia, where the police and military responded with tear gas and clubs after miners, Indians, and peasants set a blockage to protest free market reform. Bolivia's president has offered to resign.

A Catholic rebellion is brewing over women in the priesthood. Nine American and Canadian women plan to be ordained next month in Canada, a direct challenge to Pope Benedict's refusal to change Vatican policy. Two years ago, members of the same group ordained women in Germany and were excommunicated by then Cardinal Ratzinger.

Florida Representative Katherine Harris says she will run for the U.S. Senate next year. Harris took a pass on running in the last election with fears her candidacy might stir up Democratic voters (INAUDIBLE) her role in the disputed 2000 presidential election recount in Florida.

And speaking of Florida, plenty of stormy nights like this last hurricane season there, and, sure enough, some Florida hospitals say there has been a bit of a baby boom. Nine months after mother nature turned out the lights, as one woman put it, you've got lots of time at home and lots of candlelight. We can all do the math on that one.

That's the latest from HEADLINE NEWS, Paula, back to you.

ZAHN: A little computation there, thanks, Erica. A word -- a few words from the winners.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This will bring thousands on eBay.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Only this and nothing more?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. I'll keep this short.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN: Oh, I like it. If only the Oscars could be that way. Coming up next, Jeanne Moos has the long and short of the Webby Awards.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ZAHN: Gorgeous night in New York City tonight. Oscars, Emmys, Grammys, Tonys, the big award shows all have one thing in common, endless acceptance speeches. So we can all be glad the people who run the Webbys, the awards for Web sites, have found a way to keep those speeches short.

Here's Jeanne Moos.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): What looks like a slinky and requires a five-word acceptance speech?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Only this and nothing more?

MOOS: Count 'em, five words.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. I'll keep this short.

MOOS: The end. That's it at the Webby Awards, the Oscars of the Web. Blame it on the Webby's founder.

TIFFANY SHLAIN, FOUNDER, WEBBY AWARDS: Who can stand the long speeches? I mean, five words, they're little haikus.

MOOS: One guy who was allowed to exceed the five-word limit was the emcee, Rob Corddry from "The Daily Show."

ROB CORDDRY, WEBBY AWARDS EMCEE: I should win Webby for number of times Googling oneself.

MOOS: At this year's Webbys, winners ranged from the CIA's employment Web site, to Al Gore, to the humor Web site, rathergood.com.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) kittens kick your (EXPLETIVE DELETED)!

MOOS: Winners seemed hard pressed to put together five words that did include a swear word.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We beat the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) muppets.

MOOS: A few winners, such as Pfizer, in a pharmaceuticals category, used their five words to say something sweet.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Side effects include extreme gratitude.

MOOS: But most, like dogster.com, went for humor.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's do it doggy style.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not bad for Canadians, eh?

MOOS: Not bad for Bell Canada Enterprise's Web site. The awards ceremony attracted the creme de la creme of Internet celebs, for instance, the jibjab guys who did the famous election parodies. And Craig Newmark from Craig's List, the online classifieds, was on hand to pick up person of the year.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I wouldn't take me seriously.

MOOS: Folk were talking in subconscious five-word sound bites even when they weren't on the podium.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A lot of pressure.

MOOS: And talk about counting words, a Web site called WordCount won a Webby. It ranks the most commonly used words, such as "the."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would just like to say...

MOOS: WordCount's speech ended where others begin. Some spent their five words on themselves.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look at my hair, man.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you like my dress?

MOOS: And who but a winner from the travel category would say... UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Love your country, leave it.

MOOS: They saved the biggest names for last. Vinton Cerf, scientists credited with being one of the fathers of the Internet had these five words.

VINTON CERF, INTERNET "FOUNDING FATHER": We all invented the Internet.

MOOS: As he introduced Al Gore, and we all know what Al Gore once said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM MARCH 1999)

AL GORE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The United States and Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MOOS (on camera): Set the record straight, was it accurate?

CERF: Yes, it was.

MOOS: Al Gore was awarded the Webby's Lifetime Achievement Award, get your fingers ready to count his words.

GORE: Please don't recount this vote.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN: He did it under -- or in five and in four words. That was Jeanne Moos.

Coming up next, and this will take more than five words, the "Person of the Day," will it be British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who is pushing President Bush for more aid to Africa, the New York Fire Department for rolling out a new system to save firefighters trapped in burning buildings, or the government workers in Aruba who volunteered to search for the missing American teenager? Go to cnn.com/paula.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ZAHN: Now it's time for who our "Person of the Day" is. Is it Tony Blair for his push for more aid for Africa, the New York City Fire Department for issuing new escape equipment to firefighters to save them from burning buildings, or searchers in Aruba still looking for Natalee Holloway? The winner with 66 percent of the vote, the searchers in Aruba.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN (voice-over): They donated half a day to help a stranger. Monday, about 500 of Aruba's government employees used their free afternoon not to relax, but to join the search for Natalee Holloway. The Alabama teenager came to the Caribbean island to celebrate her high school graduation, but vanished more than a week ago.

Some of the searchers picked through the thorns and brush on the island's southeast tip. Others walked along the roadsides. The painstaking work may have paid off. A senior police official says the search turned up two items of interest, a pair of women's sunglasses and a man's bloody shirt with the emblem of a local security firm.

Two security guards were arrested Sunday morning. Their attorney says they've been formally accused of homicide and kidnapping. He adds his clients categorically deny any involvement in Natalee Holloway's disappearance.

Her family, though, hasn't given up hope. Despite their anxiety, they're also grateful.

PAUL REYNOLDS, NATALEE HOLLOWAY'S UNCLE: There are hundreds of searchers, busloads of people involved. The police are searching, the military, helicopters, four wheelers, an amazing outpouring of support.

ZAHN: Putting a face, at least 500 faces, on the idea of community involvement, you picked these volunteers as the "People of the Day."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN: And Natalee Holloway's family is very grateful for that kind of help. We want to thank you all for being with us tonight.

Please stay tuned for Aaron Brown at 10:00. He has a special with some important information about identity theft and what you can do to protect yourself from becoming a victim.

In the meantime, though, "LARRY KING LIVE" is up next. He joins you in exactly four-and-a-half seconds.

Thanks again for joining us tonight, be back same time, same place tomorrow.

END

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