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Paula Zahn Now
Grand Jury Hands Down Indictments in Duke Rape Investigation; Horror in Oklahoma; Secrets of a Pastor's Wife
Aired April 17, 2006 - 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.
We have got some incredible stories for you tonight, a surprising legal bombshell dropped just hours ago in the rape investigation that has snared athletes at the prestigious Duke University. I will be talking with an attorney for one of the players and Reverend Jesse Jackson, who is also now involved in the case.
Plus, the very latest revelations in the gruesome murder of a 10- year-old Oklahoma girl. The accused killer is a neighbor with an ominous and chilling diary on the Internet for all to see.
And, tonight, as a Tennessee pastor's wife sits in jail, accused of killing her husband, we will have a surprising look at the tremendous stress that goes along with being a pastor's wife.
But, first, here's what's happening at this moment.
Just minutes ago, power was restored to Texas residents. Earlier today, millions of Texans were dealing with rolling blackouts. Unseasonably hot temperatures, at times, above 100 degrees, caused a spike in electricity use. That, in turn, forced the agency that runs the Texas electricity grid to declare an emergency and order blackouts around the state. At one time, 80 percent of all Texans were affected by the rolling blackouts.
A CNN crew ran for safety today in Ramadi, Iraq, as insurgents launched an attack on the governor's compound. U.S. Marines and Iraqi forces repelled the rocket, mortar, and arms fire. A suicide car bomb also exploded. One Marine was wounded in that attack.
A bus plunged off a winding road into a ravine near Veracruz, Mexico, today, killing at least 60 people, injuring two others. Police say failing brakes caused that tragedy.
More than seven months after Hurricane Katrina, searchers have found yet another victim. The body was discovered in the ruins of a New Orleans home that was about to be demolished.
Now we go "Outside the Law" tonight for tonight's top story, a major development in the explosive rape investigation at Duke University. Today, a grand jury handed down sealed indictments believed to be against two members of the university's lacrosse team.
An exotic dancer claimed she was raped by athletes who hired her to perform at a party last month. No one has been arrested yet, but that could change soon.
Jason Carroll has been on the story all day long. He has just filed this report for tonight's "Outside the Law."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The moment that Duke University and the city of Durham have been waiting for -- a grand jury assembles to consider indictments against one or more members of the Duke University lacrosse team for rape. The 18 members of the grand jury heard evidence from the prosecution.
And, according to a source close to the case, the racially mixed group submitted two sealed indictments against two players accused of sexually assaulting a young woman, a student from a nearby university, who was hired as an exotic dancer for a party. Sealed indictments are not public record, so, the names of anyone charged in those indictments would not be revealed, not even by the judge here in this courtroom.
The district attorney would not confirm whether any indictments were issued, sealed or otherwise, saying he was feeling the effects of such a high-profile case.
MICHAEL NIFONG, DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA, DISTRICT ATTORNEY: It would be nice if you could figure out a way to give me back my anonymity. But I don't imagine you're going to be able to figure out how to do that.
CARROLL: Defense attorneys tell CNN, the uncertainty surrounding who the district attorney is targeting is weighing heavily on the players. As a precaution, some players spent this past weekend preparing to be taken into custody.
They gathered character witnesses and their passports, just in case they would be needed for a bail hearing. Defense attorneys also tell CNN, they informed the district attorney, any player indicted would be willing to turn himself in. But, they say, the DA turned their offer down, saying he was -- quote -- "not interested."
The players' attorneys became so frustrated, some even considered having 46 members of the Duke lacrosse team show up here, at the Durham County Courthouse, to show that none of them are hiding from authorities. Duke University issued a statement, saying -- quote -- "We are aware that the district attorney made a presentation to the grand jury today, but we have no knowledge about the contents of his presentation. Until we have greater clarity, it would inappropriate to comment further."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CARROLL: And, so, what's the next likely move in all this? That will come in the form of arrests. We're told that could happen, Paula, within the next 24 hours.
ZAHN: Let's go back, Jason, to talk about the sealed indictments. Why did the DA want them sealed?
CARROLL: Well, there could be a number of reasons for that. The main reason, we're hearing, is, it has to do with risk of flight. Oftentimes, a prosecutor will do this if he feels as though the person that they're going after is going to skip town.
And, if the indictment is sealed, the person they're going after doesn't know that they're coming after them, until they're knocking at their front door, theoretically. But I just also want to point out that the defense attorneys have maintained all along, look, these guys aren't trying to hide from anyone. They're willing to face the prosecutors and the district attorney. They stand by their claim that nothing happened at that house that night -- Paula.
ZAHN: Jason Carroll, thanks so much. Appreciate it.
Just a bit earlier on, I spoke with Joe Cheshire, the attorney representing one of the Duke lacrosse players.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ZAHN: Mr. Cheshire, thank you so much for joining us tonight.
CNN has learned that two of the sealed indictments are, in fact, against lacrosse players at Duke. Do you represent either one of those men?
JOSEPH CHESHIRE, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: My understanding is that I do not, which I am -- I'm very pleased to say.
ZAHN: And when you say your understanding of that is that you don't represent either one, what do you mean?
CHESHIRE: Well, I have been told who the indictments are against. I'm -- I'm not at liberty to mention those names. And, of course, the fact that I have been told that did not come directly from the prosecutor or any member of the grand jury or any member of -- of those staff. So, it's not a guaranty that it's the case. But I'm -- I'm pretty sure it is.
ZAHN: What can you tell us about those two men?
CHESHIRE: Well, they were two of the young men that were at the party. And, from what I understand it, the likelihood that these two men, with the facts that I understand, could have committed the crimes that this young woman has said that they committed, it would be almost impossible.
And I -- I think you will find some very interesting things out about the time line of these particular two individuals that will make it even stronger to show you and the public and everyone that no -- no rape happened in that house that night, which I'm absolutely convinced is the truth.
ZAHN: When you say it's impossible that that rape might have happened, are you suggesting that the DA is making up something here? CHESHIRE: I'm not saying -- well, you know, you can indict a ham sandwich in North Carolina, Paula. There's no record of what goes on in a grand jury. There's -- there's no tape recording, no court reporter. There are no rules of evidence. Two sides are not put on.
The only thing that happens is, a police officer goes in, in front of the grand jury and says, these are the facts. They're not always the true facts. And grand jurors indict 99.9 percent of the time. So, the fact that they have a grand -- a grand jury indictment means absolutely nothing in the process here.
And I'm not saying at all that the prosecutor is making anything up. The prosecutor has said he believes this accuser. Well, that's his right, to believe the accuser. But the facts, as I understand them -- and we have worked in this case very hard and very long. And we know much about this young lady. We know much about the timeline. And, as I have said all along, as all the other lawyers and all the boys have said, no rape happened in that house.
ZAHN: When...
CHESHIRE: No sexual assault happened in that house.
ZAHN: How, then, sir, do you explain the woman's injuries...
CHESHIRE: Well, I can show -- there are pictures.
ZAHN: ... particularly some of the internal injuries?
CHESHIRE: Paula, well, first of all, let me say this for a living -- let me say this about what this woman does for a living.
Anybody that knows what she does for a living and the reality of what she does for a living knows that she could have received those injuries any time before 12:00 that evening. Now, as -- as this trial goes on, we will be able to discover exactly where she is. But the fact that she may have had sex with somebody after 6:00 or before 6:00 would mean, if she went to the hospital, they would show that she had -- quote -- "injuries," which is a word I don't like, but a medical condition, or things in her body, consistent with the fact that she may have had sex with somebody.
That does not prove that she...
ZAHN: Are you talking about consensual sex with somebody else, or do you think she was attacked by...
CHESHIRE: Oh, I -- I -- I...
ZAHN: ... some man not on the lacrosse team?
CHESHIRE: I don't think she was raped at all. I -- I don't think there's any evidence that she was raped at all.
ZAHN: I want to know why you think this woman, who you claim to know an awful lot about, would have made up this story... CHESHIRE: Oh, I -- I -- I...
ZAHN: ... and turned her life upside down.
CHESHIRE: I'm -- I'm not -- I'm not going to -- and turned her life upside down? How about the life of this entire community? How about the life of all these boys? How about the life of the university? How about the life of the racial relations in the city of Durham?
ZAHN: Well, what's in it for her?
CHESHIRE: I mean, I'm really -- I -- I have to tell you the truth.
Well, I mean, I could give you all kind of things that are in it for -- for her. I -- I don't know exactly what was in her that night, but she was clearly under the influence of something very strong when she got to the party.
ZAHN: Mr. Cheshire, you said you and your team know an awful lot about this woman, about her background, and this story will not stand up in court. What do you mean by that? What do you know?
CHESHIRE: Well, I'm -- I'm not going to say or share what we know about her. Obviously, we have done a lot of work on her.
And, when someone makes an accusation, that accusation has to stand up to the actual physical facts of what happened. First of all, hers will not stand up to the actual physical facts.
Secondly, you pointed out that they need to have no motivation to lie. I believe that the lawyers in this case will be able to show, on cross-examination and on the presentation of evidence, that she did have a motive to lie.
ZAHN: So, you can't clarify for us tonight what you think that motivation is, based on the research you have done in her background?
CHESHIRE: No.
And -- and I wouldn't do that. It would be wrong for me to do that at this point in time. We haven't tried to try this case in the public opinion. We have just said that these boys are not guilty, in response to what the prosecutor has done. But those things will come out in court. And, when the public sees her cross-examination, and sees her answers, and finds out about that motivation, it will prove what we have been saying all along. And that is that no rape happened in that house.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ZAHN: Obviously, that was defense attorney Joe Cheshire.
But the -- the DA would not be proceeding with this case if he didn't believe that this alleged victim had been raped. There has been a lot of talk about the DNA evidence not being linked to any of the players. The DA has said repeatedly he has other evidence that will prove that this young woman was raped.
When we come back, a familiar face also steps into the Duke rape case, the Reverend Jesse Jackson. Why is he offering to help? And what does he plan to do?
Also, the suspect in the tragic killing of a little 10-year-old girl in Oklahoma appears in court today. Now it's a death-penalty case.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What drove Mary Winkler, the seemingly perfect wife of a preacher, to allegedly kill her husband? We spoke to the wives of other pastors. And the answer might just surprise you.
I'm Deborah Feyerick in Rome, Georgia. And that's coming up on PAULA ZAHN NOW.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZAHN: Now, more than 19 million of you went to our Web site today.
Our countdown of the top 10 stories on CNN.com starts with reports that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie -- yes, the good-looking ones -- well, they're going to have their babies in the African nation of Namibia. And a local government official there says the couple told him they are considering an African name for their child.
Number nine -- an elementary school principal who tried to keep her students from joining walkouts from last month's immigration rallies in Los Angeles is now coming under fire for imposing a lockdown that was so strict, students couldn't even go to the bathroom -- numbers eight and seven up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ZAHN: Well, the question tonight is, how is the secretary of defense defending himself after a half-dozen ex-generals have told him to quit? We will find out a little bit later on.
And, as we wait for the news on the sealed indictments handed down in the Duke rape investigation, the Reverend Jesse Jackson is now stepping into the case. He has offered to pay the college tuition of the woman who accuses Duke lacrosse players of raping her.
And I spoke with him just a little bit earlier on.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ZAHN: Reverend Jackson joins me now.
Always good to see you. You see the issue of race involved in this case. The -- the idea that white men hire black women to strip for them is -- quote -- "That fantasy is as old as slave masters impregnating young slave girls."
Are you saying this alleged victim was raped because she was black?
REVEREND JESSE JACKSON, FOUNDER, RAINBOW/PUSH COALITION: There's a race/sex/class intrigue in the situation.
And the idea of white males fantasizing about black women is -- is quite old, quite -- and quite ugly, and now quite illegal. And that's why we really want the truth to be told. We want justice served. And we want the law to serve as a -- as a deterrent.
ZAHN: But, Reverend Jackson, one of the attorneys representing the captain of the lacrosse team says that, in saying what you're saying tonight, you're pandering to race. You're race-baiting, because there's no evidence that any of these players specifically asked for a black stripper.
JACKSON: Well, that's what they got and that's what they paid for.
You know, it's -- it's -- it's alarming to me, astonishing, really, after 254 years of legal slavery, 100 years of legal Jim Crow. I grew up in that system. I knew what that system -- what it means. They -- they knew what they got.
And we know that they were watching this naked woman, who is a -- an exotic cancer, a former person in the Navy, a mother of two, who exposed her body to make money, to take care of her children and go to college. So, she's not just a stripper, but, really, a person, who they are now about to diminish into a non-person. That's why she's afraid. She's in hiding now.
And these guys were out of control. Of the 47, 15 in this past year have been arrested for everything from disorderly conduct to public urination.
ZAHN: But the alleged victim has a criminal history as well. Do you believe everything this alleged victim has said.
JACKSON: No, I do -- I -- I...
ZAHN: Do you think she's telling the truth?
JACKSON: I do not know her.
But what I -- at these parties, you -- there are these sexual arousal dimensions there, the drinking dimensions. And, so, I don't know what all happened.
Suffice it to say, she left there with injury and went to the hospital. And the nurses and doctors said, at the hospital, that they suspected she had been assaulted in some way. And that has been the strongest evidence so far, were the marks on -- on her body.
ZAHN: No one doubts your generosity in wanting to send this young woman through schools. But didn't she have options? Couldn't she have been a bus driver? Couldn't she have been a waitress? Weren't there other ways to make a living?
JACKSON: I don't know.
I know there are -- today, too many young women are -- are engaging now in stripping, in exotic dancing, to pay their way through college. I'm inclined to put the weight on the -- for the able young men, and not the woman, who is maybe the victim of a poverty of her mind, of her emotions.
She needs help. And people of -- of character ought to try to help this woman and -- and see that there is -- the truth is known. We don't want to indict any -- any person who is innocent. We need to know the truth, and we need to use the law as a deterrent from this happening again anywhere.
ZAHN: Reverend Jesse Jackson, always good to see you. Thanks for dropping by tonight.
JACKSON: Thank you.
ZAHN: Appreciate it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ZAHN: And, when we come back, a little 10-year-old girl brutally murdered in Oklahoma. What happened today when the suspect appeared in court?
A little bit later on, a surprising look inside the high-pressure lives of preachers' wives, as a Tennessee minister's wife sits in jail, charged in his killing.
Before that, number eight on our CNN.com countdown -- a suicide bomber blew himself up at a restaurant today in Tel Aviv, killing nine people. The Palestinian group Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack. The State Department says two Americans were wounded in the explosion, one of them critically.
Number seven -- Jane Fonda says she would like to speak out more against U.S. involvement in Iraq, but she fears that her activities against the Vietnam War have left her with -- quote -- "too much baggage."
We will have numbers six and five on our list right out of this break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ZAHN: We have the very latest unfolding details on the horror in Oklahoma, the murder of 10-year-old Jamie Rose Bolin. Tonight, one of her neighbors is in jail, officially charged with her murder. And we have learned a whole lot more about what his life was as a loner and his most violent, lurid fantasies posted on the Internet, for all the world to see -- also today, a very emotional moment, as Jamie's grieving family confronted reports.
Ed Lavandera is in Purcell, Oklahoma. He has the latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) Let's string him up. Let's string him up. Let's string him up. Baby killer!
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Armed with a lasso and a bucket, this man expressed his anger just outside the courtroom where Kevin Ray Underwood was making his first court appearance.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It could have been one of my kids. Let's string him up! String him up! Hang him!
LAVANDERA: Tension was running high in this small Oklahoma town, as prosecutors revealed the horrifying details of how 10-year-old Jamie Rose Bolin was murdered, and promised to seek the death penalty for the accused killer.
The target of this anger was a 26-year-old man, who has described himself as troubled. In a brief court appearance, Kevin Ray Underwood was shackled around the waist and wrists and around his ankles. The judge entered a not-guilty plea on his behalf and appointed defense attorneys.
Jamie Rose Bolin's relatives said, seeing Underwood made them sick.
LINDA CHILES, AUNT OF JAMIE ROSE BOLIN: My stomach started to turn. I went numb. I just -- I -- I wanted to look at him. I didn't want to look at him. I wanted to see if he was sad. I wanted to see if he was proud. I -- I just -- I wanted a lot of things.
LAVANDERA: Underwood sat emotionless, a hollow look on his face. Internet diaries written by Underwood paint a picture of a man who struggled with depression and isolation. The online blogs date back several years.
In them, Underwood writes that he is single, bored, and lonely. In 2004 he wrote: "My fantasies are getting weirder and weirder, dangerously weird. If people knew the kind of things I have been thinking about, I would probably be locked away."
And, in perhaps the most chilling entry, he writes, "If you were a cannibal, what would you wear to dinner?"
Underwood's family did not appear at the court hearing, but the Purcell police chief says, they had a tearful meeting on Easter Sunday at the jail. DAVID TOMPKINS, PURCELL, OKLAHOMA, POLICE CHIEF: The father and the mother got to speak with Kevin yesterday for about 20, 25 minutes. It seemed to help them out, the family out, a lot. Both of them were emotional to each other, you know, from what I could see.
LAVANDERA: Jamie Rose Bolin's family says, they hold no ill will toward Kevin Underwood's family. In the meantime, the man accused of committing this small town's most gruesome and heinous murder is on suicide watch, while he sits in a cell, all by himself.
Ed Lavandera, CNN, Purcell, Oklahoma.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ZAHN: So, what are we to make of the bizarre fantasies in Kevin Underwood's blog?
Joining me now from Baltimore, Dr. Fred Berlin, an expert on sexual disorders.
Sir, we just saw a fraction of what's in those blogs. And, if you -- if you read them in greater detail, they make you absolutely sick. I -- I know you haven't evaluated this man. But what you have seen in these blogs so far would indicate to you just what about his mental condition?
DR. FRED BERLIN, JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY: Well, the behavior of people such as this is often driven by the recurrent presence of abnormal sexual fantasies and urges.
And, certainly, what I have heard about this individual suggests that, in his case, that was very, very likely.
ZAHN: What would have triggered him to act out on these really awful fantasies?
BERLIN: Well, we -- we don't know what causes people to have such fantasies in the first place. Various conditions, depression, boredom, can enhance the intensity of these fantasies or wear down a person's resolve to resist acting upon them.
But the point is that there are sexually-disordered individuals out there. And one of the tragedies in this whole sad situation is that we, as a society, do not try to reach out before the fact to such people, and then, generally, simply have to pick up the pieces -- pieces after the damage has been done.
ZAHN: But, Dr. Berlin, you have to concede, in this case, this is a guy that blended in pretty well. People who knew him and worked with him said, he happened to be boring, and he was quiet. He seemed to be trustworthy. There weren't any overt warning signs of a man in deep trouble here.
BERLIN: Which is why I'm making the point. And I don't mean to seem, in any way, insensitive to the -- the suffering of the family, but why I'm making the point that we as a society have to reach out. These -- these behaviors aren't a reflection of the visible aspects of a person's character, their temperament, their personality. Often, they're much more a reflection of the privacy of their abnormal sexual preoccupations. Unless we indicate to such people that we want to assist them before they begin to act on such preoccupations, we can do very little to try to prevent, which is the main goal, I think, that most of us would have in mind.
ZAHN: And, finally -- got 10 seconds left -- what do you think he thought his blogs would provoke? Was it a cry for help?
BERLIN: Oh, I -- I don't know. He needs to be...
(CROSSTALK)
ZAHN: Or was he showing off?
BERLIN: He needs to be held personally accountable. And I -- I can't presume to know his motives.
I can tell you, there are sexually troubled and confused people out there who do want help. And I would hope, speaking now as a physician, that, as a society, we are going to try to reach some of them before the fact, rather than waiting until this kind of a tragedy occurs once again.
ZAHN: Dr. Fred Berlin, thank you so much for your insights tonight. Appreciate it.
BERLIN: Thank you.
ZAHN: We have got a lot more for you ahead tonight.
As a Tennessee preacher's wife sits in jail, accused of killing him, we will have a revealing look at the surprising high-pressure lives a minister's wife lead.
Also ahead, a father's journey to be reunited with the daughter who vanished 13 years ago -- what happened when they finally met today?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SENIOR MILITARY AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: I'm Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon, where Donald Rumsfeld's press machine is rallying troops for what has become the battle of the retired generals.
I will have all the latest, as PAULA ZAHN NOW continues.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZAHN: First, number six in our CNN.com countdown.
Talk about trading up. Kyle MacDonald used the web to barter a paper clip for a house. He started out by offering it on the craigslist for something bigger and better. Ten trades later, he has now got a lease on an apartment in Phoenix -- pretty good guy there.
Number five -- new developments in the Natalee Holloway case. Authorities in Aruba arrested a new suspect yesterday. You might remember that Holloway vanished nearly a year ago while on a high school trip to Aruba.
"LARRY KING LIVE" will have more on this at 9:00 p.m. Eastern.
And I have will have number four on our list right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ZAHN: Ahead in this half hour, what's the secretary of defense doing to fight back against the ex-generals who want him out?
Also, we're going to show you what happened today when this father finally met the daughter who vanished 13 years ago.
And then at the top of the hour, "LARRY KING LIVE" takes on the Natalee Holloway's case. He'll talk with the missing woman's father about the arrest just made in the case.
Now, on to our "Eye Opener," the secret lives of preachers' wives. Tonight Mary Winkler sits in a Tennessee jail waiting for a grand jury to charge her with a shocking crime that all the country watched unfold, the murder of her minister husband last month. An unusual case of course. But the life of a minister's wife can be incredibly stressful. Imagine giving your all to help others while keeping your own family problems and emotions always in check and out of sight. Deborah Feyerick talked with some of the pastors' wives for tonight's "Eye Opener."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When Christy Slade heard about the pastor's wife in Tennessee accused of killing her husband, her first thought was this --
CHRISTY SLADE, PASTOR'S WIFE: What was it that was so bad that she thought the only way to stop this misery was to pull a gun on her husband?
FEYERICK: Christy Slade never met Mary Winkler, but she's also a minister's wife, juggling full-time volunteer work with the church, with a job and family. She knows what it's like to be surrounded by people, yet feel totally alone, putting on a happy face to hide the pain of a far from perfect marriage.
SLADE: I felt like I was in the bottom of the hole and I could scream and I could claw but I couldn't get out of that hole.
FEYERICK: And so Christy, a young mother raising three small kids, did what minister's wives often do. She threw herself even deeper into her church, giving more time, more energy, more everything so everyone watching would think she was the perfect pastor's wife.
(on camera): Why couldn't you reach out to anybody?
SLADE: I think pride was a big thing. Embarrassed. I couldn't let people know that I was falling apart on the inside. And if -- I didn't want it to be a reflection of my husband or his ministry. I didn't want them to think less of him just because we were having a hard time.
FEYERICK (voice over): Christy and Donny married 14 years ago when they were still in college. Their first son was born nine months later. Soon after, Donny pursued the ministry, focusing on families and children. And while they're used to the pace now, back then, neither Donny nor Christy imagined how all-consuming it would be, with Christy expected to dutifully pitch in for free, always putting her own needs last.
(ON CAMERA): So you were trying to protect him on some levels by sacrificing yourself?
SLADE: I mean, yes. He -- there's -- people will look at me, but they won't look at me like they look at him.
FEYERICK: It must be extremely difficult for these women to find their core, their own identity, when everybody else around them is identifying who they should be.
BOBBIE KERN, THERAPIST: And that's exactly right, because they lose who they are.
FEYERICK (voice-over): Bobbie Kern is a licensed therapist whose practice is rooted in Christianity, the Bible and the Gospel. By her count, she has treated nearly 300 ministers' wives from around the country.
(on camera): What do ministers' wives often do? They don't deal with their problems directly. They tend to --
KERN: Stuff it. Every time there's an issue, it just goes down more and more and more. Eventually, if you can think of a volcano, you know, the lava continues to build in but then eventually, it explodes.
FEYERICK (voice-over): Christy and Donny had a tough time because he was giving too much to the church.
DONNY SLADE, PASTOR: When I would get home, I had given so much, that I didn't have anything to give to her.
FEYERICK: And because he spent more time at church than home, he admits growing emotionally close to a woman there, not realizing how much it hurt Christy.
D. SLADE: Because she didn't know how to verbalize what she was feeling. Or if she did verbalize it, I didn't necessarily catch it. I might think, oh, she'll get over it.
FEYERICK: Kern says as with the most difficult marriages, the problems might be the same. The husbands might be cheating or be addicted to porn. They might be physically or emotionally abusive. While that might be hard for any wife, for a minister's wife, the pain could be made greater by the fact her husband is put on a pedestal by church members.
FEYERICK (on camera): The pastor has a public and private face and its the wife sees both. Sometimes she can't reconcile the public person with the private person.
KERN: She knows everything. So she's looking at this gentleman and going, I don't get it. Something's not right. We're a godly family. But, yet, we're not living godly principles.
FEYERICK (voice-over): No one knows what the breaking point was for Mary Winkler or what drove her to shoot her husband as police allege. But for Christy Slade, the breaking point came two years ago when her beautiful, popular sister killed herself after struggling with depression.
Christy did something her sister was unable to do. She actually reached out for help.
SLADE: At that moment I learned I have to be authentic, no matter what the cost is. What you see is what you get. I'm sorry if you don't like it.
FEYERICK: Christy joined a group founded by Nancy Burgess, a minister in her own right, who reaches out to pastors' wives.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you, precious father, for this time we can get together and just be girlfriends together and just support one another.
FEYERICK: Here, away from the microscope of the church, they can talk about anything, including how much they matter.
NANCY BURGESS: You can basically make or break a man, I believe that, because if Mom ain't happy, ain't nobody happy. And when I say that to pastors, they all laugh, because they know if their wife is not happy and she's not doing well, they will not do well. The ministry will not do well.
FEYERICK: Christy and Donny Slade are now happier than ever. They just started their own church in Rome, Georgia, and the issues that once clouded their lives no longer hover as much as they used to.
(on camera): And so the future now for you guys?
SLADE: It's good. It looks a lot different
FEYERICK: Different because Christy has found her own voice. And her husband, the minister, is listening.
Deborah Feyerick, CNN, Rome, Georgia.
(END VIDEOTAPE) ZAHN: But there is a revealing finding in one poll of women married to preachers. A surprising 88 percent say they've suffered periods of depression.
Still ahead tonight, six ex-generals have slammed him. Now Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is fighting back himself. What does he have to say for himself now?
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ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A father and daughter reunited after 13 years apart. But the reunion does not go as planned. I'm Allan Chernoff in Wilmington, Delaware, and I will have that story coming ahead on PAULA ZAHN NOW.
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ZAHN: Now we move on to number four in our CNN.com countdown. It happened to be a story we covered earlier on tonight. Near Oklahoma City, Kevin Underwood was today charged with the gruesome murder of his 10-year-old neighbor, Jamie Rose Bolin. Court documents say he confessed to the crime. The judge entered a plea of not guilty for Underwood. We are going to have numbers three and two when we come back.
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ZAHN: So what do you do if you're the boss and a bunch of your ex-employees start trashing you in the papers and on television. Well, if your name is Donald Rumsfeld, you just don't sit there and take it. And over the past couple of weeks a half dozen former generals have called for his resignation. But now Rumsfeld is fighting back and fighting back hard.
Here is senior Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre.
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JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Under fire from a half dozen recently retired U.S. commanders for his handling of the war in Iraq, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is rallying a quick reaction force of two, three and four star retired officers in an attempt to outrank and outflank his critics. His strategy includes radio appearances like this one on the Rush Limbaugh show.
DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: This, too, will pass. The sharper the criticism comes sometimes the sharper the defense comes from people who don't agree with the critics.
MCINTYRE: And some of those Rumsfeld defenders are getting ammunition from the Pentagon press office in the form of bullet points aimed at refuting the criticism that Rumsfeld ignores the advice of his top brass. Senior military leaders have been involved to an unprecedented degree in every decision-making process, says the talking points e-mailed to retired generals and military analysts Friday. The single page memo cites 110 meetings Rumsfeld had with his military chiefs last year and 163 meetings with commanders and another 29 meetings with the chiefs and 45 with the commanders so far this year. It's no coincidence that those exact figures and the verbatim text showed up today in a "Wall Street Journal" opinion piece entitled, "In Defense of Donald Rumsfeld," signed by four long retired generals who blasted Rumsfeld's detractors.
Some may feel he's been unfair, arrogant and autocratic, they wrote. But argued those sentiments and feelings are irrelevant as long as Rumsfeld retains the confidence of the commander in chief. The piece concludes, "so let's all berate into a bag and get on with winning the global war against radical Islam."
One of CNN's military analysts retired Brigadier General David Grange says he thinks the dispute is less about tactics and more about tact or Rumsfeld's notorious lack thereof.
GEN. DAVID GRANGE (RET.), MILITARY ANALYST: I think a lot of it, they don't like the secretary's management style. And it is a bit gruff I think at times, from what I have heard. And I think that's the biggest problem. I think it would be inappropriate right now, just for -- to accomplish the mission that this country has taken on with the war in Iraq, to have Secretary Rumsfeld step down.
MCINTYRE (on-camera): Rumsfeld is planning to meet tomorrow afternoon with TV military analysts and other opinion-makers to make the case that Iraq is on track. The press office insists it's nothing unusual but says the meeting was quickly arranged once a cancellation opened up a hole in Rumsfeld's usually busy schedule.
Jamie McIntyre, CNN, the Pentagon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ZAHN: And Pentagon officials insist that Rumsfeld shows absolutely no signs that he has any plans to voluntarily step down.
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ZAHN: Still ahead tonight, a remarkable story about a father and the daughter he hasn't seen in 13 years. What happened today when they finally met?
And then at the top of the hour, the arrest in the Natalee Holloway disappearance. That is Larry King's focus tonight. He'll be talking with the missing woman's father.
Now number three in our CNN.com countdown. The White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten starts his first week on the job with a warning to senior aides about more personnel shakeups in the Bush administration.
Number two, the trial of a Wisconsin man accused of killing his wife with poison in 1998. The judge is now considering whether her letters about her husband's alleged plot to kill her can be used as evidence in his trial. Stay with us. The top story in our countdown right out of the break.
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ZAHN: You're about to meet a father whose daughter has been missing for 13 years. Carl Dodd finally found 17-year-old Marilyn Byrd last week. She happened to be living with her mother in Wilmington, Delaware. Well, today he went to see his daughter expecting a joyful reunion.
Allan Chernoff was also there to take a look at what happened.
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CHERNOFF (voice-over): It was obvious from the start of the day that the reunion might be difficult. Police tried to get 17-year-old Marilyn Byrd to meet the father she had not seen in 13 years. No answer at her grandmother's front door. None at the back. Then finally, communication through a window.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is everybody in there OK?
CHERNOFF: But Marilyn refused to leave the home, the same home where her mother, Mary Jane, was arrested last week on a charge of parental kidnapping. In other words, for hiding Marilyn from her father since the age of 4.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're not in trouble, ma'am.
CHERNOFF: After more than two hours of negotiation, Marilyn, accompanied by her grandmother, finally agreed to meet her father. Out of public view at police headquarters, Carl Dodd had the reunion he'd dreamed about for years.
CARL DODD, MARILYN'S FATHER: It didn't go as planned. You know, I think there's still a lot of hurt within her heart. But we got a lot of work to do.
CHERNOFF: Dodd had been hoping some of the love he says he has for his daughter would be returned. Instead, there was a cold response from Marilyn, who had grown up hearing her mother criticize the father she barely remembered, who never married her mother.
DODD: I told her, I'm here to love you as a father and wouldn't do anything to hurt you.
CHERNOFF: The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children helped police and U.S. marshals find Marilyn by using computer imaging to illustrate how she might have aged since she was 4 years old.
GLENN MILLER, NATIONAL CENTER FOR MISSING AND EXPLOITED CHILDREN: It boils down to a lot of photo manipulation, combined with art skills and some science.
CHERNOFF: Dodd says the image of Marilyn was highly accurate.
DODD: This was at my mother's house. CHERNOFF: Dodd also showed Marilyn pictures from her early childhood, but it did little to warm up the relationship. Dodd says Marilyn refused to come home with him.
(on camera): Now after hunting for his daughter for 13 years, Carl Dodd faces a new challenge -- building a loving relationship with her.
DODD: I'm disappointed, because I did want to take her back to Maryland with me. But at the same time, I can't be selfish, because, you know, she's been with her mother for 13 years, and I guess that's where she wants to stay, with her grandmother right now. So I've got to accept that.
CHERNOFF: After 13 years of wondering where his daughter might be, Carl Dodd now has found her. He says at least he's opened up a line of communication. He hopes to see Marilyn again next week.
Allan Chernoff, CNN, Wilmington, Delaware.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ZAHN: And Marilyn Byrd's mother has been ordered to a halfway house pending trial on those kidnapping charges.
Ahead at the top of the hour on "LARRY KING LIVE," Larry speaks with Natalee Holloway's father on the arrest made this weekend in the disappearance of his daughter in Aruba.
Right now, though, on to number one in our cnn.com countdown. Police say a Canadian man shot and killed two sex offenders whose names were listed on Maine's sex offender registry. Authorities say the gunman later committed suicide in Boston, just as police were about to arrest him. We'll be right back.
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ZAHN: And it's a beautiful spring night out there on Columbus Circle. That's about a couple hundred yards from the front door of this building of ours, and CNN wasn't around 100 years ago, but if it had been, this would have been the big news. Tomorrow is the 100th anniversary of the great San Francisco quake. It registered 7.8 on the Richter scale. Fires from broken gas pipes erupted all over the city, leveling thousands of buildings. It would take some nine years to rebuild the city by the bay.
That wraps it up for all of us here tonight. Thanks for being -- so much for being with us. "LARRY KING LIVE" starts in just about 15 seconds from now, but we'll be back same time, same place tomorrow night and we hope you join us then. Have a great night.
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