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Paula Zahn Now
Milwaukee Man Beaten Senseless By Mob of Young People; Adultery Just a Mouse Click Away?
Aired December 29, 2005 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you, Ali.
And good evening, everybody. Thanks for joining us.
Tonight, fear grips an American neighborhood, after a crime that sent shockwaves across the country.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Outside the law, a father of 12 beaten senseless by a mob of young people.
SHAVONTA JOHNSON, SON OF VICTIM: What could have really made somebody this mad to do something like this that to an old man?
COLLINS: And witnesses too terrified to talk to police.
TOM BARRETT, MAYOR OF MILWAUKEE: We need the citizens to help solve this crime.
COLLINS: Tonight, an outrage that is making national headlines.
The "Eye Opener" -- Web of deceit. Would you believe adultery is just a mouse click away? Hundreds of thousands of married men and women log on to this Web site for cheaters.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was already into having affairs.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It fills in our needs and our wants. We have great communication. Everything is -- just -- everything's just great.
COLLINS: Whose idea was this? Tonight, you will meet him.
And mysteries of the mind -- what makes this otherwise normal teenager suddenly lapse into a deep, deep sleep?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you remember the last time you woke up?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just want to sleep.
COLLINS: Asleep for hours, even days.
LOERRY HALLER, MOTHER: He's going through so much agony right now. He has been sleeping for 10 days.
COLLINS: Tonight, the baffling disorder that casts a spell over its victims.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: We begin with a vicious mob attack that nearly killed an innocent man.
Tonight, police in Milwaukee are looking for as many as 15 suspects between the ages of 16 and 23. Police say they dragged the man out of his car and beat him into a coma. This is not the first mob attack in Milwaukee -- in fact, far from it. Some people there are now living in fear of neighborhood gangs who are outside the law.
Here is Keith Oppenheim.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It happened Monday night on this residential Milwaukee street. Police say a 50- year-old man driving in his car honked his horn at a group of about 15 young people standing in the middle of the road.
Instead of letting him through, they jumped on the car, pulled him out, and attacked him, many striking blows to his head. This is what the victim, Samuel McClain, looked like before the beating. This is what he looked like after it.
DR. KAREN BRASEL, FROEDTERT HOSPITAL: His level of head injury when he came in puts him in a category that's defined as coma.
OPPENHEIM: The attack provoked an outcry from the victim's family...
SHAVONTA JOHNSON, SON OF VICTIM: What could have really made somebody this mad to do something like this to an old man, you know? Especially for them to continue to do what they did, you know, it just wasn't right.
OPPENHEIM: ... and from neighbors.
EDDIE JOHNSON, NEIGHBOR: To me, the police should break that up, should not let them stand in groups like that.
OPPENHEIM: Authorities clearly recognize this case as representative of a greater problem in Milwaukee, the latest in a series of mob beatings over the past few years.
(on camera): In 2004, there were four group attacks in just four weeks. One man died. In 2002, another man died when he was bludgeoned to death by a gang. For Milwaukee City leaders, stopping these attacks is as much about image as it is about law and order.
TOM BARRETT, MAYOR OF MILWAUKEE: We need the citizens to help solve this crime.
OPPENHEIM: Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett pleaded with residents who have information to come forward. So have the police, who are struggling to get eyewitness accounts.
ANNE SCHWARTZ, SPOKESWOMAN, MILWAUKEE POLICE DEPARTMENT: We are very disturbed when we see no-snitching shirts, talking about, don't talk to the police. We need people to talk to the police.
OPPENHEIM: But there's a reason why residents are reluctant. They're afraid. One who spoke on the condition I wouldn't show her face or use her name explained the mob mentality.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They will just stand there, when you have to wait until they get done talking to whomever they're talking to in the car, and then they will let you go.
OPPENHEIM (on camera): And, so, this is their power, that they won't let you through?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's right.
OPPENHEIM: And, if you honk at them, then what?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Then you're in trouble. You got to suffer the consequences.
OPPENHEIM (voice-over): On the block where the attack on Samuel McClain occurred, many homes have "no loitering" signs, but neighbors tell us loitering is a huge problem. Gangs of kids routinely block access.
Tyrone Dumas, a civic activist in Milwaukee, says, for some lost youth, turf is the only power they feel they have.
TYRONE DUMAS, MILWAUKEE PUBLIC SCHOOLS: Whether it be a drug territory or a gang, there's people who believe that, and they -- somehow, they have got this aura of that this -- we may not have anything. The whole rest of the world may exclude us, but, in this place, you can't exclude us. We own this. This is ours.
OPPENHEIM: And that poses the challenge for police. How can they get the cooperation of the public to solve a crime, and how can they restore safety to a neighborhood, when the inhabitants live in fear of a young mob that claims to own the streets?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
OPPENHEIM: Milwaukee City officials say they are trying to pass a state law that would increase sentences for mob attack-related crimes. In the meantime, Milwaukee police say they don't have any suspects that -- arrested at this point, and they seem to be having some trouble breaking a wall of silence in the neighborhood.
Now, as for Samuel McClain, Heidi, he is improving in the hospital, but he does face the likelihood of surgery. And it's not clear how he will do, in terms of the neurological damage, long term.
COLLINS: Wow. He just -- he just looks awful.
Keith, let me ask you. We keep hearing the word mob in this story. Are -- are we really talking about gangs, organized gangs?
OPPENHEIM: We're not talking about organized crime in the way that we might think of it, but in this sort of loosely-formed gang on the street, they do seem to be able to do some of the things that organized gangs can do, namely, that they're able to intimidate people in their neighborhood not to talk.
COLLINS: Boy, that's what it sounds like.
All right, Keith Oppenheim, thank you.
We want to check on a developing story now. Once again, it has been a bad day for wildfires. All afternoon, we have been watching some incredible pictures of grass fires that are literally racing across Oklahoma -- these pictures from the farm and ranch country in Oklahoma city, or near Oklahoma City, we should say.
And the fast-spreading flames have panicked horses and cattle, almost trapping some of them. You can see them running across the grass there. We have seen the flames destroy a number of homes and barns this afternoon, too. The rings and lines of flames show up especially well, now that night has fallen.
You can see how many fires are burning and how close they are to homes. But the trouble is not just in Oklahoma. This afternoon, the governor of Texas asked President Bush to declare Callahan County a disaster area. Grass fires killed two people there in the past few days and destroyed at least 80 homes.
Chad Myers is our severe weather expert.
And, Chad, we just want to know, any relief in sight? We have got the New Year's weekend coming up.
MYERS: Sunday looks really ugly.
The winds there could gust to 30 to 35, again, a lot like what we had on Tuesday. To put it all in perspective, that fire was actually east of Oklahoma City, east of the Broadway Extension, between Oklahoma City and Jones. And it was about three miles long and about a mile wide. So, we're not talking about the entire state or even a county of Oklahoma being on fire.
But there are a number of fires still in Seminole County, another down in Marietta in Oklahoma, and a couple off to the east of there as well, and the winds are only going to get stronger tonight, as a cold front goes by. They will die off tomorrow, and they will be back up as we look into the weekend.
And you ask, now, how can this occur? Well, because we have had three storms hit the West Coast. Here's the third one right now, already hitting there. That storm that came through on Tuesday is now in the east. It's raining in Boston, New York City. Here's the one that made the wind today. There's another one that will make wind for Sunday. They are lined up like planes into La Guardia, and it is just going to be one ugly night after another, as the storms come in for San Francisco. Look at, though, some of the mudslide video, what is this, Colfax, California. This is -- this is going to happen all weekend long here, as we're expecting eight more inches of rain on top of very saturated ground -- Heidi.
COLLINS: It's just nasty.
MYERS: Thank you.
COLLINS: All right, Chad Myers, thank you.
MYERS: You're welcome.
COLLINS: Next, a strange and disturbing mystery. Police get missing-person calls all the time, but did they do enough to find this man's son?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLEMENT OJINNAKA, FATHER OF ACCIDENT VICTIM: Maybe one day, somebody will stand up and say, look, I made a mistake. I wouldn't like this to happen to any other family.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: A family says they were left to solve a disappearance almost on their own. What went wrong?
And, later, do you know what your spouse is doing with that new computer you just got for Christmas? Well, if they're checking out this Web site, you might have a problem. It's for people who want to cheat.
Later, have you ever been mean to the waiter when you eat out? Well, what might they be doing to get revenge? We will tell you after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Tonight, there's growing controversy over one of the strangest incidence we have come across. Imagine a family's grief when their teenaged son disappeared on his way home one day. His wrecked van was found along one of the nation's busiest highways, and yet police found no trace of him.
But, days later, the family was in for a devastating shock, as Jason Carroll reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Whenever Arinze Ojinnaka's family members think of his death, they wonder if the 19- year-old's life could have been saved, if police and emergency crews had done a better job of trying to find him. CLEMENT OJINNAKA, FATHER OF ACCIDENT VICTIM: Angry, disappointed, and that's why we are -- as I'm speaking to you, I'm -- I still want to know the truth of the matter.
CARROLL: Ojinnaka's father has been searching for the truth ever since he filed a missing-persons report on his son last Wednesday night with the Irvington, New Jersey, Police Department.
Earlier that same morning, Arinze, a UPS package handler, clocked out from work, but never made it home. That's because Ojinnaka's van crashed near the Newark Airport within a half-an-hour of leaving. It appears his blue Chevy scraped the side of this roadway. The accident report clearly states the conclusion: The driver fled scene.
OJINNAKA: They were negligent. They were negligent.
CARROLL: Why negligent? Ojinnaka says, for five days, he drove streets searching for his son, trying to retrace his steps, trying to prove his son hadn't fled, but was really missing.
He says police gave him several imprecise locations where the accident happened, but once he got the correct location, he says it took him just seconds to find his son.
(on camera): Where exactly did you find him?
OJINNAKA: About...
CARROLL: All they had to do was look over, basically. They didn't even have to go down there.
OJINNAKA: Exactly. They didn't have to go.
CARROLL (voice-over): Ojinnaka says finding his son's body was something he will never forget.
OJINNAKA: Horrible. It was horrible, the worst sight I have ever seen.
CARROLL: Newark EMS, police and fire had all responded to the initial report of the crash. None would speak to us about what happened. In a statement, Newark's police department says, the department "will conduct a thorough review of the incident in an effort to determine whether police personnel at the scene acted properly."
Ojinnaka's has also been critical of the Irvington Police Department, who they filed a missing person's report with, for not doing more as well.
(on camera): Who would you say dropped ball here?
MICHAEL CHASE, IRVINGTON, NEW JERSEY, POLICE CHIEF: I wouldn't do a Monday-morning quarterback. I only deal with Irvington. And my concern is what was done and what should have been done, is to verify that what was done and should have been done was done. CARROLL (voice-over): Ojinnaka's family says more needs to be done.
OJINNAKA: And maybe, one day, somebody will stand up and say, look, I made a mistake; I believe I will be fine.
CARROLL: He is still waiting.
Jason Carroll, CNN, Irvington, New Jersey.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Let's go ahead and get a check of some of the other stories that we're following tonight from Erica Hill at Headline News.
Hi, Erica.
ERICA HILL, HEADLINE NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Heidi.
We start off tonight in Iraq, where there's been a chain of violence today. A suicide bomber blew up the main gate of the Interior Ministry in Baghdad, killing three policemen and a civilian. In eastern Baghdad, a U.S. soldier was killed by a roadside bomb and 14 others died in an attack south of the Iraqi capital.
Former Army Private Lynndie England was badly burned in a prison kitchen accident. That's according to her mother. England is serving three years in a California brig for abusing detainees at Abu Ghraib. In a Reuters interview, her mother says she is in severe pain. And she also accuses prison officials of poor medical treatment.
A warning to Congress today from the treasury secretary -- John Snow says government debt will exceed the $8.1 trillion limit in February. And Snow suggests Congress raise the ceiling now to preserve the government's ability to borrow.
And an update for you on a story we have been following -- William Ginglen, the bank robber who was turned in by his sons, was sentenced to 40 years in prison today in Springfield, Illinois. He led a double life until his sons recognized him on surveillance video. The case devastated the Illinois family.
And, on a much more upbeat note, the Big Apple going to salute the Big Easy this New Year's Eve. When the ball comes down for the new year, the guests of honor will include famed New Orleans jazz trumpeter Wynton Marsalis and New Yorkers who helped out during the disastrous flood after Hurricane Katrina.
And, of course, Heidi, Anderson Cooper will be there for you when 2006 is born. Should be a good night.
COLLINS: Yes, and we will be watching.
(CROSSTALK)
COLLINS: All right. Erica Hill, thank you. So, have you ever accused your teenagers of sleeping their lives away? Well, believe it or not, some of them can't help it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HALLER: This is day 10. So, he has been sleeping for 10 days.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Asleep for 10 days, how is that possible? We will alert you to a truly mysterious sleep disorder.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Ted Rowlands in Northern California. And this is Honey (ph). And Lassie has nothing on this little puppy. You won't believe what she did to save her owner's life. We will have the story coming up next on PAULA ZAHN NOW.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Tonight, after a long day of running around and getting things done, we are all looking forward to a good night's sleep. In fact, most of us just can't get enough of it. Three-quarters of us have trouble sleeping, according to the National Sleep Foundation.
But you're about to meet a teenager whose life is a nonstop battle against sleep.
Here's Kareen Wynter now, looking into one of the mysteries of the mind.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KAREEN WYNTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He's only 15 years old, but he's in a race against time. Eric (ph) Haller seizes every moment on the basketball court and at home with friends. Simple things other people take for granted are precious to Eric (ph). He knows it's just a matter of time before he loses control.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm pretty freaked out about that.
WYNTER: Before he has to sleep again.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's pretty stressful. Sometimes, it's depressing.
WYNTER: This vibrant, outgoing teenager slips into an altered state, in which he sleeps, and sleeps, and sleeps, sometimes for up to 20 hours at a time, day after day, buried beneath a blanket, getting up only to use the bathroom or for a quick bite.
Eric's (ph) biggest fear was getting sick and missing Christmas, just like last year. And, this year, it happened again. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you remember the last time you woke up?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. I just want to sleep.
WYNTER: Most medical researchers have never heard of this rare disorder. It's called Kleine-Levin syndrome. And it's a mystery. No one yet has found the cause. It's marked by episodes of excessive sleep, combative and childlike behavior. Each episode can last for weeks, even months, with patients literally sleeping their lives away. Eric (ph) has missed school, holidays, a large part of his childhood.
Loerry Haller says her son usually falls into an episode twice a month. His sleeping spells can last a week or longer.
LOERRY HALLER, MOTHER: He's going through so much agony right now, and -- in this little hell right now that he's in.
WYNTER: Loerry's life is also on hold.
HALLER: Our life stops, because Eric's (ph) life changes drastically. He cries, and asks, mom, when am I going to be better?
WYNTER: It's 8:00 at night, day nine. Eric (ph) has slept 18 hours today. The next morning, he wakes up, briefly, to use the bathroom.
HALLER: This is day 10, so he has been sleeping for 10 days.
WYNTER: But Eric (ph) goes right back to bed. A few hours go by. Loerry is concerned. Watch what happens when she tries to wake him up in the middle of the afternoon.
HALLER: Aren't you hungry now? You haven't eaten in a long time.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. Get out.
HALLER: Eric (ph), do you feel like maybe you're coming out of it?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. I just said get the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) out.
WYNTER: It wasn't always like this. Loerry says her son began to get sick in the sixth grade. She took him to specialists and psychologists, who invariably told her Eric (ph) was either depressed or on drugs, or even faking his condition. It took two frustrating years until one doctor finally reached a diagnosis, Dr. David Palton. He stumbled on the answer in a 20-year-old textbook.
DAVID PALTON, PSYCHOLOGIST: It talked about a case of a 17-year- old young lady who would go to sleep for -- for a couple of weeks at a time, and talked about her regression in personality. And then, you know, I knew that that was something close to what I was seeing in Eric (ph). WYNTER (on camera): Kleine-Levin syndrome. Finally, the Hallers had a name for Eric's (ph) problem. There are only 500 documented cases worldwide, but this new knowledge was a mixed blessing.
PALTON: Both had a big sigh of relief. It was -- it was bittersweet. It was good and bad news, of course.
WYNTER (voice-over): Dr. Palton says there has been almost no research into KLS. No one has come up with a cure. Each case is different. If they're awakened, some patients might try to stay up in a confused, foggy state. But they quickly go back to sleep.
DR. EMMANUEL MIGNOT, STANFORD UNIVERSITY: There's actually even a few cases where people have died of suffocating from eating and overeating during these episodes.
WYNTER: Dr. Emmanuel doctor is a researcher at Stanford University's Sleep Disorder Clinic.
MIGNOT: We are finding that there's probably a genetic factor that's important in predisposing to Kleine-Levin syndrome.
WYNTER: Dr. Mignot says researchers are still far from a cure. Until then, patients like Eric (ph) Haller will live as much of their lives as they can, in those precious moments of reality, before they have to sleep again.
Kareen Wynter, CNN, Placentia, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: And one more thing. Kleine-Levin syndrome first appears during adolescence, and mostly in boys.
Well, can you believe this? We found a Web site that's especially for husbands and wives who want to cheat. Who would set up something like that?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DARREN MORGENSTERN, ASHLEY MADISON FOUNDER: We don't think it's sleazy at all. I mean, Ashley Madison is, you know, not about porn. Ashley Madison is not an adult site. Ashley Madison is mature-themed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: And who is Ashley Madison, anyway? Do you buy that answer? What is this site? Would you or your spouse dare to go for a visit?
Plus, a little later, this is incredible. How did a young man actually lose more than 300 pounds?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Now a story that has a lot of people talking and a lot of people feeling outraged. It's about an Internet site set up especially for people who want to cheat on their spouse.
In a moment, we will speak with the man who came up with the idea and find out how things have been going since we first told you about this in the summer.
For now, though, here's Sean Callebs with tonight's "Eye Opener."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, the park shouldn't be too much further.
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's pretty common these days. A couple meets online, and it blossoms into a passionate physical relationship. These two are married, just not to each other. They hooked up through ashleymadison.com.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was already into having affairs anyway, and I thought, well, this would be an easier access for me.
CALLEBS: It's a dating site for people who want to cheat. The company credo, when monogamy becomes monotony. We agreed to distort our couples' images and alter their voices. The last thing anyone wants is an irate spouse lashing out.
(on camera): Does your husband know you're doing this?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Absolutely not, no. Absolutely not.
CALLEBS: What would he think?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I know the consequences, what will happen.
CALLEBS: She predicts a bitter and contentious divorce, and children are involved. So why the risk? Why sneak around two or three times a week for a few stolen hours, when each could lose so much?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everything just -- between the two of us, it just -- it fills in our needs and our wants. We have great communication. Everything is -- just everything's just great.
CALLEBS: The obvious question -- why not get divorced? these two say, although in a way it defies logic, that they are happily married, but that this gives them a sense of excitement they cannot find at home.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm not concerned about getting caught. I know that I won't get caught. I won't get caught. I'm wise about it.
CALLEBS: The company fired up three years ago and works like any other dating site. Pay money, about $100, and begin surfing. Ashley Madison says it doesn't even know the name of their subscribers. It got off to a solid start but took off when the founder Darren Morgenstern was pasted on the cover of a national Canadian magazine that crowned him the king of infidelity.
MORGENSTERN: We don't think it's sleazy at all. Ashley Madison is, you know, not about porn. Ashley Madison is not an adult site. Ashley Madison is mature themed.
CALLEBS: Morgenstern has dabbled in a number of businesses, but nothing as successful as this. He makes no apologies for getting wealthy this way. His Toronto-based company became profitable in six months and now boasts 480,000 customers. It doubles in size every year, and could bring in $10 million this year.
(on camera): The company says nearly half of its clientele are people who live in the United States. Ashley Madison believes its exponential growth will continue. The company founder says he believes there's no shortage of husbands and wives in the U.S. willing to cheat on their spouses.
MORGENSTERN: It's recession-proof. It can always be here as long as people are willing to stray. And people have strayed from the beginning of time.
SUSAN HEITLER, PH.D., CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST: I had images of Adam and Eve and a snake as I read the come-on, the seductive quotes that invites people to come in and take a look.
CALLEBS (voice-over): Psychologist Susan Heitler has spent 30 years counseling troubled married couples. She says, it's true, more than 50 percent of married people will cheat but they usually only cheat once.
HEITLER: Most people who have affairs slip in inadvertently, naively into relationships.
CALLEBS: Heitler says nearly four out of five marriages rocked by infidelity do survive. However, Heitler says this company could ruin many lives. But the king of infidelity believes those lives would likely be ruined anyway.
MORGENSTERN: We probably have all been buying into a shoddy bill of goods, in that monogamy is, indeed, a failed experiment and that we have a really hard time staying loyal to our partners.
CALLEBS: Morgenstern is a father and says he's happily married, and will never cheat on his wife, Marissa. As for Marissa, she supports him completely.
MARISSA MORGENSTERN, DARREN'S WIFE: I always tell Darren I'm his cheerleader. So while he's out there, I'm here cheering him on.
CALLEBS: There are concerns with a Web site like this -- violence, stalkers, and especially the potential for blackmail.
MORGENSTERN: You've got to assume anybody that you meet on the Internet is probably not telling the truth.
CALLEBS: Our unfaithful couple, for example, each had met other people through Ashley Madison, and she has even counseled some men warning not to reveal too much. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've been involved with a couple of men from high profile places who I know everything and anything about them, where they live, what they do. As far as blackmail goes? It would be the wrong thing to do. But they leave themselves vulnerable.
CALLEBS: After today's brief encounter, our couple goes back home to their respective spouses. Morgenstern says there's nothing immoral in what he's doing. He's just making it easier for couples to do what they want.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: That was Sean Callebs reporting. And joining me now, the man who came up with the idea for a dating Web site for cheaters, Darren Morgenstern. Darren, last time we talked to you, I believe it was in August, we found out a little bit about this business. How have things been going since then?
MORGENSTERN: Things have been going quite well. We've always had an upward spiral, quarter-to-quarter, and we're anticipating growth next year into the U.K., as well as private labeling, an Ashley Madison-branded online casino.
COLLINS: And you say that you are not promoting cheating by setting up a Web site like this, but what about the couples who let's say, are maybe a little bit unhappy in their marriage, but they wouldn't normally think about cheating until they found a Web site like yours?
MORGENSTERN: I think if a couple normally wouldn't feel like cheating, they're still not going to cheat. Couples run into problems all the time and people have their challenges.
It's those that are really pre-disposed to cheating, you know, who feel they're missing something in the relationship, that are affairs waiting to happen, those are the ones that are going to cheat. And for those people, they'd find their way and if their way is to Ashley Madison, where they can start safely and anonymously, then we know that that's the affair that was waiting to happen and those people are there for a reason.
COLLINS: And you don't see anything wrong with this at all? You're kind of proud of the idea that you came up with, right?
MORGENSTERN: I think as a marketer you always want to be able to fill a need in the marketplace. You want to be able to speak to the needs of people listening. And no, there's nothing wrong with making a profit.
COLLINS: Let me ask you this. You are happily married?
MORGENSTERN: Yep.
COLLINS: How would you feel in your wife used your Web site?
MORGENSTERN: If my wife cheated on me, whether it was on our Web site, whether it was at the office place, or with the next-door neighbor, then I'm going to have to not only, you know, examine our relationship, I'm going to have to also take some responsibility, some ownership myself. Because there would have been a breakdown in the marriage, in our communication, something was wrong for her to be able to or to want to actually look outside our relationship.
COLLINS: Your service has been in business now for quite awhile. Have you ever had anybody come to you and say, "Jeez, you know, I really regret going to that Web site." Think about people who maybe their marriages have not survived after cheating?
MORGENSTERN: We have people that do approach us, and the grass always can look greener on the other side. People do have change of hearts and they feel they want to go back to their doting wives and loving families. And for those people we commend them, good for them.
If anything, you should use Ashley Madison as a last resort, not as a first opportunity. You should get counseling if you're having problems in your relationship. And for those that want to leave our Web site and make their marriage work, then I really think that they should.
COLLINS: What are your clients supposed to do when they get tired of cheating? I mean, is there another step, something else to do?
MORGENSTERN: I don't know if people actually get tired of cheating. I think that people go through cycles. And from time to time, you know, may feel that they need something more in their relationship.
They might look outside their relationship, you know, at the time being. But the average affair usually lasts anywhere from three-to- nine months. And what usually ends an affair, actually, is the cost. It's very expensive to maintain an affair.
COLLINS: Well, I don't know Darren. If I had an opinion, I might say something, but I'm a journalist, I don't have an opinion, right? Darren Morgenstern, we appreciate your time tonight.
MORGENSTERN: Thank you, happy holidays.
COLLINS: So do you need some inspiration to lose all of the extra pounds you put on over the holidays? Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: How much do you weigh now?
TERRY HENRY, ACADEMY OF THE SIERRAS STUDENT: I weigh 252 pounds now.
TUCHMAN: And two-thirds of you is gone.
HENRY: Yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: So, how much did he weigh before? And how did he take it off? Stay tuned for that.
And if that story doesn't inspire you to eat less, wait until you see what some waiters do to get revenge on rotten customers.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: All right, so who isn't planning to take off a few pounds after the holidays? It's probably on your mild. And if you need some encouragement, you're about to get it big time. We found a young man who lost so much weight, you've really got to see him to believe it. And you'll be amazed at how he did it. Here's Gary Tuchman with his incredible story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TUCHMAN: Terry Henry weighed almost 11 pounds when he was born. Fifteen years later, he was one of the heaviest teenagers in the world, just shy of 600 pounds. Hard to believe this is the same guy.
(on camera): How much do you weigh now?
HENRY: I weigh 252 pounds now.
TUCHMAN: I mean, two thirds of you is gone.
HENRY: Yeah.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He has to make it look like a complete book.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): Terry, who is from Texas, goes to the world's only boarding school for obese and overweight teenagers.
HENRY: Make it like King Kong.
TUCHMAN: We met him a half year ago when we visited the Academy of the Sierras in Reedley, California, for the first time. At that point, he was 85 pounds heavier than now.
(on camera): How are you able to even know how much you weighed? The scales don't go that high.
HENRY: I got on a cattle scale.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): His life had been debilitating. But his 18 months at the school have not. He has learned to enjoy academics. He's been taught to exercise properly.
HENRY: Can you give me some onions and put some sauce on it?
TUCHMAN: And he's now dedicated to eating healthy foods. Most importantly, he's been taught how to change his lifestyle and his mental outlook. It's all led to a total loss of 339 pounds, much to the delight of the school's clinical director. MOLLY CARMEL, CLINICAL DIRECTOR, ACADEMY OF THE SIERRAS: I think it's probably in my career, one of the most of the most amazing things that I'll ever see happen.
TUCHMAN: Terry hopes to lose another 50 pounds, a good part of which will come from necessary body tuck surgery for his loose skin.
HENRY: The other day I woke up, and I'm like feeling around and I'm like I feel like a hip bone. I'm like, whose hip bone is that?
TUCHMAN (on camera): Terry's weight loss coincides with many gains. A gain of confidence and self esteem, a gain of knowledge about how to stay healthy and a gain of a girlfriend. Liz Steven, an academy student who has lost 80 pounds is the first serious girlfriend Terry's ever had.
How does that make you feel, going through all this, losing all this weight, changing your appearance, changing the type of person you are, and now having a serious girlfriend?
HENRY: Makes me feel like I'm living a lie.
TUCHMAN: But a good lie?
HENRY: Yeah. It's a real good lie.
TUCHMAN: And this is an especially good day. Because while his classmates jog along the grape fields in the San Joaquin Valley, Terry's mother has arrived for a visit.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Didn't I tell you that there was always a really awesome person living inside there?
TUCHMAN: So she can be there for his graduation.
CARMEL: We're all really proud of you. And I think I speak for everybody when we're glad you're going, but you're going to be genuinely missed and we love you very much.
TUCHMAN: Terry is given the opportunity to say some final words to the other 70 students, who look at him with a little envy and a lot of hopefulness.
HENRY: I came here a low self esteem, superly (ph) morbidly obese, angry, delusional teenager, barely making it through life. Being here has been one of the hardest things I have ever done and my success here has been one of my greatest accomplishments.
I was one of the biggest people in the world. Not many people live older than their 20s who are as big as I was. People thought that even the idea of me losing this much weight was so absurd, it was fallacy. I proved them wrong, though.
TUCHMAN: He paid tribute to his new girlfriend.
HENRY: You have let me overcome my fears about relationships and taught me to love again.
TUCHMAN: And then, gave his final words as an Academy of the Sierras student.
HENRY: The secret to success is never give up. Believe in yourself. And you will move mountains.
TUCHMAN: Terry Henry will resume his education at a regular boarding school in New Hampshire. His new life is now underway, hundreds of pounds lighter, infinitely happier. Gary Tuchman, CNN, Reedley, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: I love that story. One more thing to tell you, too, the Academy of the Sierras has been so successful it's opening a second campus on the East Coast. Tuition is steep, $5,500 a month, but some scholarships will be available.
Well "LARRY KING LIVE" coming up in just a few minutes. Larry, who are you going to have with you tonight?
LARRY KING, CNN ANCHOR: Three leading forensic physicians, one of the more difficult areas of the physical sciences. Those doctors who examine crime scenes and do autopsies and look at bodies. Why they do what they do and how they do what they do.
We'll also have a prominent criminal defense attorney and a prominent former federal prosecutor. Forensics, that's the topic. We'll look at some of the major cases of the year, immediately following the lovely and talented H.C.
COLLINS: All right, L.K., we appreciate it. We'll be watching you. See you at 9:00.
Next, if you were in really big trouble, what would your dog do to help?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL BOSCH, RESCUED BY DOG: It's like I had my guardian angel with me all the time and I didn't even know it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Is your dog a guardian angel? Just wait until you hear what this little dog did for her master.
And does your waiter know something you don't? If you're ever rude or cheap, you need to see what's coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COLLINS: And now a remarkable story from California about a man and his best friend. First, the man saved the dog by adopting her from a shelter. He really had no idea though that very soon the dog would return that favor. Here's Ted Rowlands.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): While recovering in a Northern California hospital, Michael Bosch had a very special visitor who he says saved his life.
BOSCH: Hi, honey. Hello, honey.
ROWLANDS: Honey, a five-month-old Cocker Spaniel was with Michael when he plunged 50 feet down his own hillside driveway in an SUV.
BOSCH: When we got into soft soil, it just sort of tipped and I knew I was in trouble.
ROWLANDS: The SUV hit a tree. Michael and Honey were trapped, pinned inside, hanging upside down in a remote area on private land where Michael lives.
BOSCH: I sort of went through my mind, who is going to find me on 70 acres?
ROWLANDS: Michael, who suffered a heart attack in August, said his heart was racing. He says he took a nitroglycerin pill to calm himself down. Then, he saw a hole in a smashed window big enough for Honey to get through.
BOSCH: I saw the opening. And I said, Honey, you've got to go home. And I pushed her out there and scurried her up the hill.
ROWLANDS: Michael then waited, hoping he could stay alive until someone could find him.
BOSCH: My only hope was that dog.
ROWLANDS: Six hours later, now evening, a quarter mile, away Robin Allen came home from work and found Honey in her driveway.
ROBIN ALLEN, NEIGHBOR: She wanted to get my attention. There's no question about that.
ROWLANDS: Robin had never seen Honey, but the phone number on Honey's tag was Michael's, so she drove the puppy home. When she opened her car door, she could hear Michael yelling.
ALLEN: And then I realized he was yelling help.
ROWLANDS: Robin ran into Michael's house and called 911.
DISPATCHER: 911, medical emergency.
ALLEN: Our tenant seems to have driven over the side of the road, and I think he's pinned under a car.
DISPATCHER: What part of his body is trapped under the car?
ALLEN: I don't know. He seems to need the jaws of life and a chainsaw to get out. He's been down there since 11 o'clock, but he's...
DISPATCHER: ... he's been down since 11 o'clock?
ALLEN: But he's speaking to me.
ROWLANDS: It took rescue crews 45 minutes to get Michael out of the SUV and pull him up the hillside. With major injuries to his chest and legs, Michael was rushed to a waiting medical helicopter.
What may be the most amazing part of this story is that Michael only adopted Honey two weeks ago before the accident from this Northern California pet shelter. He had been coming here looking for the right dog for more than a year and immediately spotted Honey two days after she arrived.
CAROL WILLIAMS-SKAGGS, MARIN CO. HUMANE SOCIETY: I think she was just meant to be his. I think that she worked her way here for that reason. It's a match made in heaven
BOSCH: You are such a good girl. Yes you are.
ROWLANDS: Michael has almost fully recovered from five broken ribs and a leg injury. Honey, who went to work with Michael before the accident, now spends every minute with him.
BOSCH: The first day, I didn't take her to the office with me when I first went back to work. And I got a lot of comments like, "Where's Honey?" They didn't want to see me, they wanted to see the dog.
ROWLANDS: Honey's story has received so much attention, that Michael has received cards and phone calls from across the country, including one from Honey's original owner, who lives in Tennessee. She told him that Honey's original name was Angel.
BOSCH: When I heard that, it just really took me back. It was like I had my guardian angel with me all the time and I didn't even know it. It amazes me how instinctive animals can be, and really how intelligent they are, that we don't really realize, even for a puppy.
Honey, sit. Sit. She really is an angel, but we call her honey.
ROWLANDS: Ted Rowlands, CNN, San Rafael, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: And according to Save a Pet, an organization that tries to find people to adopt pets, over seven million unwanted dogs and cats are put to sleep each year. So Honey was very lucky, just like her owner.
Well now that Christmas has come and gone, it's OK to be naughty again, right? Well, maybe not to your waiter.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I actually watched the waiter drop their steak on the floor and step on it and then put it back in the box and take it back to the table and hand it to them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Oh, that's sick. What else could your waiter be doing to get revenge? You probably won't believe it.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Anyone who has ever waited tables for a living knows that some people can be obnoxious, demanding, and most importantly, less than generous with tips. Well now waiters have a special place to vent. Here's Jeanne Moos.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Ever wonder what the smiling wait staff is really thinking?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So when I come back, and they're like, "We need more bread, please," you don't need any more bread than that.
MOOS: Pardon the pan, excuse the strainer, we're hiding the identity of waiters ready to dish the dirt on what can happen when the customer isn't nice.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I actually watched the waiter drop their steak on the floor and then put it back in the box and take it back to the table and hand it to them.
MOOS: Like in the movie "Birdcage," these days you can read all about bad behavior and sweet revenge on Web sites like Bitter Waitress, Stained Apron, Waiter Rant and Shameless Restaurants.
Speaking of shameless, don't ever provoke a lactating waitress, and don't shake up the bartender.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You can put Visine in somebody's drink and give them terrible diarrhea, too. One drop of Visine in somebody's drink will send them to the bathroom for the rest of the night.
MOOS: And talk about crappy, Bitter Waitress lists bad tippers by name. And entry about Omarosa from "The Apprentice" asks, "Is this woman even human," for allegedly tipping 15 cents.
J. Lo supposedly complained, "Waiter, this water's too cold. Make it warmer."
And then there's the war story about someone leaving $2 and a coupon for cranberry juice.
No wonder Bitter Waitress sells shirts plastered with the preferred tip.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's also the verbal tip. That's my favorite, when at the end of the meal, you get the, I loved you, it was wonderful.
MOOS: Praise but a lousy tip.
New York City servers point out that without tips they only make three bucks an hour.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The way that people in Israel have to go into the army, I think that everybody in America should have to waitress.
MOOS: But even Jack Nicholson's restaurant run-in...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You want me to hold the chicken, huh?
JACK NICHOLSON, ACTOR: I want to you hold it between your knees.
MOOS: ... doesn't compare with a Sizzler waiter who got in a fight with an Atkins dieter who wanted to substitute vegetables for potatoes. The server followed the family home and covered their house in toilet paper, syrup, flour, you name it.
(on camera) Are there things that people ask for that really get on your nerves?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think every waiter in the world hates people who order tea.
MOOS (voice-over): For a cheapo beverage, you have to get a saucer, a teabag, a teapot, pour scalding water, get lemon, milk, more sweetener.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They open it up and they wrinkle it into those little balls, and they stuff it back into the sugar caddy, like that's going to be OK.
MOOS: Got tea, get your waitress teed off. Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: And there's this, Jeanne says she hasn't felt comfortable ordering tea at a restaurant ever since she filed this report, completely understandable.
Well that's all for tonight. Tomorrow though, some of the provocative stories we've run this year. Why would anyone want medical advice from a man who isn't even a doctor but has been convicted of fraud? Well, would you believe, his book is a best seller? That's tomorrow.
For now though, "LARRY KING LIVE" starts right now.
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