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CNN Sunday Morning
Kidnapping Case Update; Severe Weather in Midwest; Oscar Nomination; Worst Movies
Aired February 25, 2007 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Check it out, live pictures right now from Manatee County, Florida, where we are awaiting a news conference at any moment on a break in the teen kidnapping case there. You see a sketch of the suspect there in the lower left hand corner of your screen. The Manatee County Sheriff's Department has issued an arrest warrant for a suspect. We're going to learn a lot more about this person coming up during this news conference. Now police earlier told CNN that the suspect has not been publicly named. That will probably change. Now, they've been sorting through a lot of aliases and we're going to bring you this conference, as mentioned, live just as soon as it begins.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BOBBI THOMAS, TORNADO SURVIVOR: Lord, all I want you to do is save us today, because it's in your hands!
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: In Dumas, Arkansas, they are looking for the lost. One day after a major winter storm spawned several tornados, searchers this morning going door to door looking for people unaccounted for. No deaths have been reported just yet, but dozens of people are injured.
(WEATHER REPORT)
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: A deadly suicide bombing outside a college campus in Baghdad this morning kills dozens of people, many of them were students at a business college in the Iraqi capital. More than 50 other people were injured in that blast.
A disabled Indonesian ferry capsized today with investigators and journalists aboard. One person was killed. Three people now missing. They were trying to get a better look at the burned-out ferry, which was the scene of a massive fire Thursday that killed 42 people.
Back in the air and heading home. Vice President Dick Cheney's plane left Singapore a few hours ago, on his way home from Australia. Air Force Two stopped in Singapore for a scheduled refueling, but U.S. officials also say a minor electrical glitch was also fixed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who in their right mind would send 360 tons of cash into a war zone? But that's exactly what our government did. (END OF VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Some of that cash is now missing. Coming up on CNN SUNDAY MORNING, questions about just what happened to $12 billion in cash sent to Iraq.
NGUYEN: Also, 11 hours and counting until they start opening the big envelopes at the Oscars. But, this hour, we're talking with the directors of best picture nominee, "Little Miss Sunshine."
And we are turning the tables a bit with this morning's e-mail question -- what is the worst, not the best, but the worst movie you have ever seen? It's a good one. We are getting some really great responses in. Takes you back. It is Sunday, February 25th. Good morning, everybody, from the CNN Center here in Atlanta. I'm Betty Nguyen.
HOLMES: And I'm T.J. Holmes, thank you so much for starting your Sunday right here with us.
NGUYEN: And again, we are awaiting that news conference at any moment on a break in the case of a Florida teenager being kidnapped at a bus stop on Friday. The Manatee County Sheriff's Department has issued an arrest warrant for a suspect. We will learn much more about this person when we bring you that news conference live as soon as it begins.
HOLMES: While we keep an eye on that, we need to tell you about the winter wallop that's hitting across much of the central U.S. Icy highways caused a 35 car pile-up or smash up if you will on interstate 70 near Denver, Colorado. According to police, drivers say they had already slowed to a crawl, but once the brake lights came on, there was no stopping the chain reaction. Also, in Chicago, some pretty upset folks. Cars were damaged by a city Snowplow. The plow was clearing a street, which was a good thing. The bad thing is, the heavy snow and ice that was being tossed hit a number of windshields with enough force to smash them in. Winter roared across the Midwest with this ice storm in Iowa. The freezing rain accumulated on limbs and power lines. And of course things then began to pop. Utility companies say it could be days before power is restored to some 135,000 customers.
The biggest impact the storm had was in Dumas, Arkansas. Authorities now believe two tornados ripped through the town, no fatalities have been reported but a number of people are injured and a number of people are missing. And that's where we're going to head now to our Sean Callebs who is live in Dumas with the latest for us. Good morning to you again Sean.
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning T.J. You can easily believe that two tornados ripped through this area after driving through, looking at the widespread devastation, we're here in a parking lot that houses a couple of stores. Just look over to my right, you can see some of the aluminum blown off the roofs of some stores, simply just wrapped around the light pole here in this parking lot. Now behind me in this store, yesterday when the tornados hit, nice Saturday afternoon, people were doing some shopping. You can imagine the terror, the fear those people went through as this building began to crumble. Well, one person who was in there recounts that harrowing story.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BOBBI THOMAS, SURVIVED TORNADO: They closed the door, but when the door closed, the wind opened it back up. Then we began to go away from the front, and one of the employees said, let's hit the stock room. I said, no, we are not going to the stock room. We're going to hit the floor right here. So we all got on the floor. When we got on the floor, Irene hit the floor, I hit the floor, Darryn, a lot of us hit the floor. And then I said, lord -- all of the debris was falling on us, the iron, the tin, the racks, the clothes racks, everything was falling on us. I said, lord, all I want you to do is save us today because it's in your hands!
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
CALLEBS: Now, we know that 28 people were injured in the tornados yesterday. At least three of those people critically injured. No fatalities that anyone knows of at this point. If you look behind me, you can see there are some National Guards troops going through this facility. They were scheduled to resume the search of this area because they had to be called off yesterday at darkness. They were unable to determine if they were able to go through all of the areas. We know that they used some thermal devices looking in some of these structures yesterday, found nothing. But the randomness of the way this violent storm blew through is kind of fascinating. If you look what it did to that building over there, simply shredding it, but here right at our feet, this very light, delicate Christmas decoration simply unscathed. Another Humvee just pulled up here right now with some of these troops trying to figure out which ways they're going to go in and look for people.
The storm blew through right over my shoulder this way, came through the southwestern area of this city. It lasted not terribly long, but, unlike the horrific tornado in central Florida recently where that damage there, even though there were a number of people killed, was limited to a small area. This is much more widespread. The main drag going through this area, highway 65, has been closed throughout the evening. It reopened recently. We had a chance to go up and down that road over the last hour, and there are either National Guard troops or law enforcement officers basically at every corner doing what they can to keep looters out. T.J. looting was a brig problem yesterday, but they controlled it after a short period of time with a number of law enforcement officers, emergency personnel they have in here now. T.J.?
HOLMES: All right Sean Callebs, certainly hate to hear that about the looting. Thank you so much and we -- my home state there of Arkansas, worked there several years. It always seems like those little towns get wiped out a lot of times.
NGUYEN: They sure do. And it is so very random. One place -- a home will be there and it's just fine. The one next to it can just be demolished.
(WEATHER REPORT)
NGUYEN: Vice President Dick Cheney is heading home from Australia at this hour after what is being called a minor mechanical problem on board Air Force Two. More now from CNN White House correspondent Ed Henry. How minor are we talking? They were on the ground for a little while.
ED HENRY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, good morning Betty. You know the bottom line is that everybody is safe and sound now, but it was a minor electrical problem that basically shut down the power outlets on Air Force Two shortly after they left Australia on the vice presidential trip. Everybody is safe and sound though, some of the Vice President's staff, there were some journalists traveling as well. But I can tell you there was a fair bit of anxiety last night Eastern Time as reports started coming out starting on Sky News that the plane had been diverted from Australia to Singapore because of this problem. Now, that was fuelled in part by the fact that the Australian Prime Minister John Howard had put out a statement that was partly erroneous saying it was diverted to Singapore because of this problem.
But Vice President Cheney's spokeswoman, Lee Ann McBride, she is traveling with the vice president, she had put out a statement saying Singapore quote, "Was the scheduled, preplanned refuel stop. We were not diverted." She added that despite the electrical problem, the vice president was in, had communications the entire time. The bottom line -- the really only effect was those cabin electrical outlets as I mentioned were out, the galley was out, so they could not have a full meal, instead it was just cheese and crackers. They also could not have an in-flight movie. But what's funny is that Mark Silva of "The Chicago Tribune" is a pool reporter on this flight, he put out a pool report saying that one of the films had been pulled by a censor anyway, "Idiocracy," because apparently it had sexually inappropriate content. So they weren't going to be able to watch this movie even if they had electric. Sort of a comic end to what was a few scary moments there, but as it turned out, really a minor problem. Betty?
NGUYEN: I tell you, Ed Henry gets all the scoop.
HENRY: I'm just trying to tell you the whole thing. I haven't seen this movie yet, but apparently it's a little risque, that's all.
NGUYEN: Ok, and cheese and crackers? Hey, that's a long flight with just cheese and crackers. Thank you Ed.
HOLMES: Thank you.
I want to remind you we are keeping an eye on this picture in Manatee County, Florida. We're expecting a news conference at any moment from sheriff's department officials there to get an update on a suspect who they say they have found in the abduction of a 13-year-old boy who was taken at a school bus stop at gunpoint. Those details, we're keeping an eye on this press conference. We'll bring it to you live when it happens, stay here. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Let's take you to Manatee County right now, you see this news conference is about to happen any moment with the sheriff there as we learn more about this abduction case and the suspect that they may have found. Let's listen in.
SHERIFF CHARLIE WELLS, MANATEE COUNTY, FL: Detective Dennis Valoan, Rick McClain, detective behind me Colonel Brad Stubey. Let me just say, before I get started here, that these are some hard-working, tired deputies. These detectives have been at it since about 8:00 to 9:00 yesterday morning, and it's been nonstop. We've developed leads throughout the day from yesterday that took us all the way through last night up until 5:15 this morning when we finally executed a search warrant on a residence that we'll tell you about. Yesterday we started out, out at Kibble Ranch -- what's the name of that farm? Fogner Farm, excuse me, it's been a long day. But Fogner Farm and so that's where we started developing these leads. We interviewed several witnesses out there. We needed translators on many of those interviews, but we -- it was well worth the effort. As a result of those interviews, we started developing information that we were able to use in developing probable cause for a search warrant that we served on a house at 3719 17th Street Court East. And along with our S.W.A.T. team, we served that search warrant at 5:15 this a.m. So an additional search warrant that we served that Lieutenant Schear will fill you in on in a moment.
But as a result of all of this, we were able to develop probable cause to obtain an arrest warrant on Vicente Ignacio Beltran Morena. And we'll be giving you additional information on him as we're able to. This man abducted Clay Moore, we are sure of it. He -- we've been led to believe -- I guess our orientation over the years, in recent years, is that abductions are either of sexual connotations or parental. This was an absolute kidnapping for ransom. We have been able to positively conclude that this was an out and out kidnapping and that the person wanted money in exchange for Clay Moore. As I said, it's been an awful lot of good police work, great interviews, great work on the part of our detectives. Our range deputies contributed to this because of the relationships that they have cultivated over the years out at East County, and they were very, very helpful in our interviewers yesterday, getting people that would volunteer to come to us and give us information. As a result of that, that's how this case was built. I'd like Lieutenant Schear to kind of give you an update on the search warrants and how we built those and how those were executed this morning.
LT. TODD SCHEAR, MANATEE CO. SHERIFF'S DEPT.: Thank you, sheriff. First I just want to say if I misspeak, I apologize, it's been a long night. Myself and the two detectives behind me they got four or five more additional hours in it than I have. But as the sheriff said, we did get probable cause for a search warrant at that residence. Had probable cause to believe that the vehicle we were looking for was in there. At 5:15 when we did execute that search warrant, we came across other evidence there which led us to get another search warrant in that residence and some of the stuff that Clay Moore was able to relay to us matched with some of the stuff, evidence, that was throughout the house. So that's where we stand with those two search warrants. This is the vehicle that was used in the abduction.
QUESTION: What type of vehicle is that?
SCHEAR: It's a Ford Ranger.
QUESTION: Where do you believe the suspect to be right now?
SCHEAR: We believe he's out of the state. That's all we'll say right now.
QUESTION: Obviously, you guys have identified other law enforcement agencies around surrounding (INAUDIBLE).
SCHEAR: We have contacted other law enforcement agencies, correct.
QUESTION: Why do you believe it was a ransom situation?
SCHEAR: We've got a ransom note. We recovered a ransom note.
QUESTION: Can you tell us anything about what the note says? Was it a real detailed note?
WELLS: It is detailed. What we have -- I don't believe that right now our investigation is obviously continuing. We have a lot more work to do. We want to make sure that he was the -- he's the lone suspect. Want to make sure that no other parties were involved in this. So in order to continue this investigation and protect the integrity of the investigation, then we have to protect some of the information that we learned. The ransom note is at least a ransom note that was prepared to be given to someone, or it was a practice ransom note. But it -- we have fitted it to this case, and it absolutely pertains to the motive for the abduction of Clay Moore.
QUESTION: Are we talking about a large sum of money?
WELLS: It did ask for money.
QUESTION: Where did you find the note?
WELLS: We found it during our investigation and I'll just leave that there for now. We'll talk about that as we continue the investigation.
QUESTION: Does Mr. Morena have a prior record?
WELLS: You know, I don't know. We've been dealing with that throughout the night and I don't want to speculate because there are some aliases that have been a little confusing for us to sort out. So I won't speculate just yet.
QUESTION: What about this boy -- I mean, it's a middle class community. Why this child? What about this child made him think he was going to get all kinds of money? WELLS: Yeah, we asked ourselves that question ever since this occurred. If in fact it was for ransom. I can't for the life of me figure that out. I think it was a random act, that this kid provided an opportunity for him. It was easy to abduct him. He takes him out, ties him up, holds him, thinks he has held him for ransom and obviously, what threw everything into a spin is when the kid escaped.
QUESTION: There had been -- you don't believe that there was any great preplanning? He just grabbed a kid from an area that he obviously saw as a successful area?
WELLS: Well there's no evidence that -- we don't have evidence that there was a lot of preplanning. We do have evidence that it was planned.
QUESTION: Do we have a picture of the suspect? Do we know how old he is?
WELLS: We will not be, for investigative purposes -- we hope to be able to -- we do have a photograph, and we hope to be able to deliver that to you sometime today. But for -- you just have to kind of read between the lines. But for investigative purposes, that photograph will not be released for some time, but maybe later on today.
QUESTION: -- ransom notes these days.
WELLS: I talked about that with Colonel Stubey and Dave Bristaw, we've all been around a long time. I don't remember reading one pertaining to a Manatee County case. Dave seems to think that maybe there was one years ago, but I just don't recall having seen a ransom note other than on television shows like all of us have seen.
QUESTION: Can you elaborate on other leads that led to the arrest warrant?
WELLS: Well, there were just -- these leads were developed, first of all, we had a lot of tips, we had a lot of information that came in. But these leads were developed by the hard work of these guys right here. I said through -- yesterday -- I sat through those interviews, I know what they went through. I know how painstaking this was. It was just darn good police work. So, you know, one witness led to another. We asked questions and interviewed one witness, we would get information as to where we could possibly talk to another witness. And it was just building. We climbed the ladder until finally we were able to identify a suspect. So it was -- it took virtually all day yesterday in the interview process. Then, taking all of that information and sorting it out and deciphering it and then building the probable cause for the search warrant and then the search warrant, of course, along with that came a companion arrest warrant.
QUESTION: What more can you tell us about Morena? He was obviously familiar with that farm area. Did he work out there?
WELLS: He is a former employee. QUESTION: Was Clay aware this was a ransom situation? What did he know?
WELLS: I don't think Clay necessarily knew that this was a ransom situation? Clay gave us -- Clay was just at the wrong place at the wrong time. But Clay, I'll tell you what Clay did, he was extremely helpful and observant during that short time that he was with this suspect, and he gave us valuable information. And he was right on the money with the information that he gave us. So for a 13 year old kid, he was extremely courageous, and he provided us with valuable, valuable information as to how to solve this case.
QUESTION: Have you shown Clay a picture of who you believe to be the suspect?
WELLS: I can't comment on that. But you know obviously, our investigative techniques include such as that.
QUESTION: Sheriff is there a possibility that Morena may have descended to the United States illegally?
WELLS: There's always that possibility.
QUESTION: Was he on his way back to get Clay when Clay shook free? Where did this guy go in the interim?
WELLS: We -- keep in mind there are always some questions that will never be answered. Or unless you are able to -- were able to apprehend him, which I'm confident that we will be able to do, then you hopefully can get information from them. But you can't always answer every question. We've answered a lot of them in the last 24 hours.
QUESTION: Do you think he intended to hurt Clay at some point?
WELLS: Yeah, one other point and then I'll come back. Remind me of your question. Clay -- the composite we gave you, what a fabulous match. What a job he did with that. That was incredible. I think you'll see that yourself in the future. I'm sorry, sir.
QUESTION: Do you think he intended to do harm to Clay? Did you find any evidence of something he might have -- a gun or anything like that?
WELLS: Well we know he had a gun. Now, it's hard to read his mind as to what he intended to do and I don't want to speculate. But he did do damage to Clay. He took him against his will and he tied him up in the woods and left him there. So whether he intended to go back and free him is doubtful. So I think Clay made his own luck there.
QUESTION: Sheriff, do you have his first and last name, do you have a picture of him. Have you tried contacting the family of this suspect?
WELLS: Oh we've been all over. There's been -- since -- I've lost track of time here, to tell you the truth. But since 2:00 or 3:00 this morning, we've been all over this.
QUESTION: Is Mr. Morena married? Does he have children of his own?
WELLS: I don't think he's married. I think he does have children.
QUESTION: What did he do on the farm?
WELLS: He was a picker.
QUESTION: When did he work there?
WELLS: Up until about three years ago.
QUESTION: Did you think he's left the country or just the state?
WELLS: I don't know. I hope he's still in a place where we can apprehend him and I hope that the United States, American law enforcement some place, will be able to help us with this. Maybe even locally we may be able to apprehend him. So I just don't know.
QUESTION: Did the family have any connections with the farm?
WELLS: Yes. Yes, they do.
QUESTION: What connection?
WELLS: Just relatives that have worked there over the years.
QUESTION: Any idea why he was a former employee? Did he get fired?
WELLS: No. I think he just -- you know, he was what was referred to as a contract picker. You know, that's not -- they're, you know -- I guess he wanted to move on vocationally to better jobs. He did that to the best I know. He went on to an aluminum job as an aluminum contractor, screen enclosures and those kind of things. Yes.
QUESTION: Will the deputies be leaving the area to go out and search for him now, I believe you're relying on other agencies around the country?
WELLS: Well Lieutenant Schear and some of their other people, Sergeant Benjamin, have been -- we've been working -- you know, keep in mind the FBI joined us, you know, hour one in this case. And Florida Department of Law Enforcement has also assisted so we've been working with them and they continue to work with us. Lieutenant Schear will be coordinating those efforts, along Sergeant Benjamin and we'll continue working with all state agencies that would have an interest in this or some involvement.
QUESTION: Is there a prior record that you know of?
WELLS: That's there a little bit of question about that. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's a good question. We're sifting through a lot of records and mountains worth of paperwork. I can say his name is -- the name the sheriff gave you has been interchanged about nine to 10 times I think we're up to. So it's a matter of narrowing him down specifically and checking the criminal histories and actually pinpointing it back down to the suspect.
QUESTION: Did he have aliases you mean or what?
SCHEARS: AKAs, other names he could have used. We're just shifting through the mountain worth of paperwork to try to get more specifics.
QUESTION: Sheriff, do you believe the vehicle was in the garage since --
WELLS: I don't know that. I mean there's a good possibility. I don't know that to be a fact. That's where we found it. You know, so it could have been there from -- from at least -- what day was that -- Friday.
QUESTION: Was the note written in English or Spanish?
WELLS: English.
QUESTION: Was there anyone living at the house?
WELLS: No one was there at all when we searched the house early this morning. And no one -- we've had the house under surveillance since 4:00 p.m. yesterday afternoon.
QUESTION: Is the house in his name or a rental?
WELLS: I don't know. I think it's a rental, but I can't tell you for sure about that right now.
QUESTION: He's been currently working for an aluminum contractor or he had his own --
WELLS: No he's been, our information is he's working with an aluminum contractor.
QUESTION: Did you find the weapon he had to take Clay with?
WELLS: I don't know that. But if I did, I don't think I would comment on it yet, ok.
QUESTION: A lot of us hit the neighborhood yesterday, the community is obviously shaken up at this event. What would you tell those folks that are watching right now?
WELLS: I would tell them that their sheriff's office has worked harder than they ever could imagine to try to relieve them of any fears that they may have and that they've had some dedicated detectives, dedicated deputies that care about them and have proven that over the past several hours. They've gone without sleep, McClain is asleep right now.
QUESTION: What was the biggest break that led you to the suspect?
WELLS: You know, it's really -- do you want to comment on that?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you have done any of this without Clay?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It would have been difficult. We went through so many tips, I don't know which was the biggest one.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We had -- I mean, hundreds of tips were coming in. We worked them all night last night, all day today and I think Clay was crucial. We interviewed him a couple of times. I got to sit down one-on-one with him and he gave us, I think, some crucial leads. Probably the biggest did come from Faulkner Farm. It's a pretty tight community out there, so we got a lot of our good tips from that area.
QUESTION: Former coworkers of his?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah, people around the farm area.
QUESTION: Did they see him the day that this all occurred?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm sorry?
QUESTION: Did they see him the day it all occurred, the employees of the farm?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah. Some did, yes. Yes, absolutely. That was how we developed our information.
QUESTION: And they saw the boy also?
WELLS: Well, they saw, you know -- at least one -- at least one possibly recognized the individual. But yes, they did see them.
QUESTION: Did they see, like, Ray was saying, did they see the boy? Did they see Clay Moore?
WELLS: You know, not specifically. They did not state that. So we don't know if the boy was visible in the truck at that time. We don't know. What I mean by that is tinted windows and those kind of things could have prevented them from seeing him.
QUESTION: We've had so many of these cases in the last couple of year and none of them have ended like this. I mean, you talked about darn good police work. But I mean, in all your years, how proud of you are your detectives? The fact that it's been 48 hours, let alone the ending, how much you've accomplished...
WELLS: I just can't say -- I cannot even describe to you how committed these people are, how devoted, how dedicated. You know, I sit there throughout the night, downtown in our (INAUDIBLE) office as they were discussing this case, I continue to be so impressed with how they toss things around, how they work through information and arrive at a decision, how careful they are to do things correctly, how they put me in my place when I say something stupid, and how -- just how great all of them are and how attended they are to their duty.
They really wanted to solve this case. And I'll tell you, I think the catalyst, obviously, what brings everybody together so close, is the love for kids. So, when somebody -- I think when somebody injures a child we have an obligation to join forces as much as we possibly can and bring that person to justice and that's what happened here, and our work isn't over. We've just got the arrest warrant. We've got the evidence. But we want him.
QUESTION: Do you think you will ever get him?
WELLS: I hope so. I do believe that we will. I think that there are ways that we can -- that we can persuade. And so, yes, I think we do have a sporting chance to bring him back to Manatee County and have him stand trial for this crime.
QUESTION: Again, sheriff, you kind of hit on this a little earlier, but why can't we see the picture of the suspect? Maybe that can help you guys find him quicker.
WELLS: Well, what I would like to -- I mean, we have some more investigation -- we have some more investigative issues that we have to take care of and I hope to be able to take care of those first thing this morning and so I would just ask you to be patient with me and, you know, if you could just try to read between the lines a little bit with that, but we want you to have the photograph. Understand that. And we want to get it to you, you know, as soon as we can. But right now, we just have a few investigative things that we have to do, and these are techniques we have to protect.
QUESTION: You mentioned how helpful it was to take Clay back to the farm? Could you elaborate on the details of the leads he provided to you guys?
WELLS: Some that Clay provided?
QUESTION: Yes. When you took him back yesterday.
WELLS: Yes. These guys talked to him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When we talked to Clay, obviously, we backtracked from where the incident occurred to -- where he was picked up to the actual crime scene. We backtracked that, we just kind of talked the whole way. I think made him a little at ease and he started -- he gave us quite a few details on that trip. He was, obviously, more calm today than right after the incident.
We were also able, with the timeframe he gave us, with the timeframe that it took us to drive out to the crime scene, some other crucial peaces of evidence we got with times. Just some of the techniques we used to gather the timeframe. Clay was dead on with that. It would provide a lot more detail today of people that he's seen and people on the way out to the crime scene on his way out to the crime scene and that helped us tremendously.
WELLS: So bottom line is -- this man kidnapped the wrong kid because this is an observant kid and he was courageous and he had great recall. And he's a good witness. He's a great witness.
QUESTION: You mentioned he might be out of the country. Do you know his nationality?
WELLS: I know he is Hispanic, specifically, Mexican.
QUESTION: If he is he an illegal immigrant, how difficult will it be to hunt him down?
WELLS: I don't -- I don't know for a fact, I guess, as we speak that he's undocumented or illegal. However, we still have procedures and methods available to us to track immigrants down if they do return, for example, to Mexico. And we have the cooperation of other agencies, other jurisdictions, that they do work with us on cases. So, I don't it's I don't see that as being a lost cause if that indeed is a fact.
QUESTION: Is there any indication as to how long the suspect was (INAUDIBLE)?
WELLS: Well, let me see. I guess the best way to say this is, I believe, based on what I've seen in this case, that it was his intention, the suspect's intention, to leave Clay Moore tied in the woods until he got his money.
QUESTION: Through what means was he expecting to extract this money?
WELLS: That's part of the ransom note that we'll share with you a little bit in the future. But, I need to hold some of this, you know, a little close to my vest. I can't just stand up here and totally spill our guts on the investigation because there are times when you need that information in interviews and interrogations to be able to corroborate confessions and admissions and things like that.
QUESTION: When you read that ransom note, though...
WELLS: I was shocked. I was shocked. And I think every one of us that read that -- I can't even describe it. I don't think, like I said earlier, I don't believe I've ever read a real one before. And to see that and to see that spelled out and written out, yeah, it was shocking.
QUESTION: Was it going to be delivered to you or the parents or who? How was he intending to do that?
WELLS: I think to the parents is where it was intended to go. I don't know if it made it to them. I doubt if it did, but that's where it was intended to go. I'm sorry...
QUESTION: Was the note found in the car or in the house?
WELLS: We found it in the search and -- I'm sorry?
QUESTION: How much money was he asking for?
WELLS: I haven't said that yet, have I? No, you guys are good. You guys are good, but that's one of the things that we'll release to you maybe a little bit later. But right now, I need to hold some of these things so we can interview other witnesses and maybe even suspects in this case.
QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE) more than 100 million?
WELLS: Bigger than a breadbox.
QUESTION: Was it just the fact that there was a note? It sounds like something in the note or the way it was written. What was it that shocked you?
WELLS: I'll tell you honestly, just reading a ransom note -- I've been in police work for 41 years. I've never read a ransom note. I've seen them on television, just like you have, but I don't know how many police officers have read them. We were talking hear, none of us have. And you just don't hear of that happening that often and so when you actually see it, it's kind of breathtaking. I think it would be to you, too, if you actually saw one.
QUESTION: Were there any threats -- any kind of threats?
WELLS: Yes. Yes. Threats. Yeah.
QUESTION: Outside of, obviously, the harm in (INAUDIBLE) grabbing him and tying him up, did he injure Clay in any other way?
WELLS: Clay, I think, escaped all this remarkably with very few scrapes and, you know just from -- most of that I think from either from the, you know, the actual binding -- bounding of him or the vegetation going in and out where he was. I really don't know what to attribute it to, but it was very minor.
And by the way, I called -- I've called the family this morning about 7:30, 7:45 and I shared the news with them and they were very happy and relieved to get the information. Yesterday afternoon, or yesterday sometime, maybe yesterday morning, was the first time I had the opportunity to meet Clay and that was when the detectives brought him out East and he's a remarkable young man. He's a well-mannered kid. He's a smart kid, good-looking kid. And so, I mean, it was a pleasure for me to be able to meet him and congratulate him for, you know, getting out of that situation. So, it was a -- that was a good day for me.
QUESTION: The suspect wasn't after Mariana -- I mean, wasn't after Clay specifically?
WELLS: We do not have any reason to believe that he knew that, for example, that Clay Moore was there and that he was going to pick up Clay Moore, we just think it was by chance it happened to be Clay. QUESTION: We haven't heard for sure from the Manatee County Sheriff's Office, we are hearing (INAUDIBLE) he was tied up to a tree. Can you give us a little bit more of a description of how he was tied up? We're hearing different reports.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was basically -- his hands were bound to a tree we aren't going to discuss with what, and his feet were also bound it a tree.
QUESTION: We were hearing that his sock was put in his mouth, over duck tape. Was that also an indication?
WELLS: Well, I think you got that from the family, yesterday. And well, let me just -- see, I'm not so much -- I was kind of worried about that yesterday, but things turned out well and so that information doesn't bother me as much today as it did yesterday. But I think we still won't speculate too much further than just what the detective told you there.
QUESTION: Did Clay tell you how he escaped?
WELLS: Yes, he did tell us.
QUESTION: Are you able to tell us how he did that?
WELLS: Yeah. Sure. You can tell.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He actually had a safety pin with him and he was able to use that to assist himself and, obviously, he was using his teeth and his own hands. He was very creative. I mean, he sat down and he told me -- he talked to us about it. It was pretty ingenious for a 13-year-old, kind of MacGyver like.
WELLS: OK. So, we'll be -- I don't know exactly if we'll do any more briefings. Most of it will be done through Dave Brista, but we'll hopefully get you more information as the day passes and we're able to do our tasks, photographs and things like that. We'll try to get them to you. Thank you.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: So you've been listening to Sheriff Charlie Wells talk about the suspect that they believe that they have at least named and have a sketch of in the kidnapping case of 13-year-old Clay Moore who was taken from a bus stop Friday morning. We've learned a little bit more about the suspect, although we don't have a picture just yet. We do have the sketch there in the right-hand corner of your screen.
We know there's an arrest warrant for Vicente Ignacio Beltran Marino and he's believed to be out of state. But the sheriff did say this man abducted Clay Moore, we are sure of it. We also learned some interesting news about the intentions of this man. We have learned from the sheriff that this was a kidnapping for ransom situation and that they indeed recovered a ransom note. Not sure exactly if that was in the vehicle that was recovered or at the home of Mr. Marino. But, we understand from the sheriff that the intention was to leave Clay Moore tied in the woods until the suspect got the ransom money. We hope to learn a whole lot more about Vicente Ignacio Beltran Marino, but at this point he is still on the loose. They believe that he is out of state, but investigators indeed are working to find him. And as soon as we get an actual photograph and some more information on this, of course, we will bring it to you live right hear on CNN.
We are also following many other stores out there. It's been just a disastrous day in the weather department, storms and tornados to tell you about. That is coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
T.J. HOLMES, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: Breaking news in the Florida kidnap case -- police have now named a suspect and said that crime appears to have been a kidnap for ransom scheme.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WELLS: Abducted Clay Moore, we are sure of it. He -- we've been led to believe, I guess, our orientation over the years, in recent years, is that abductions are either of sexual connotations or parental, this was an absolute kidnapping for ransom.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: There's still much more information to sort through on this case. CNN will stay on this story throughout the day, bring you the latest developments as soon as we get them here.
Meanwhile, a deadly suicide bombing outside a college campus in Baghdad this morning kills at least 40 people, many of them were students at a business college in the Iraqi capital. More than 50 other people were injured in that blast.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BOBBI THOMAS, TORNADO EYEWITNESS: Lord, all I want you to do is save us today because it's in your hands!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: And in Arkansas, looking for the lost. One day after a major winter storm spawned several tornados, searchers this morning going door to door looking for people not accounted for. No deaths have been reported, but dozens of people are injured.
And who knew they had so many implosions over a weekend, Betty? Earlier this morning, this shell of a building brought down by the federal government. Nothing ever really became of the Intel building in Austin, Texas. It was started back in September of 2000, but tough economic times halted the construction there. The space will now be used for a new federal courthouse.
Well, Reynolds Wolf said it was going to be a busy day yesterday and let me tell you it was, a lot of people facing devastation picking up the pieces. REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yeah, no question about it. Things are going to be better today, though, no question about that, as well. Which is certainly great, that's going to bring smiles to people's faces in Minneapolis. They're sick of the snowfall.
(WEATHER REPORT)
NGUYEN: Thank you, Reynolds.
WOLF: You bet.
NGUYEN: Well, it is the little movie that became a big surprise in Hollywood.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dad? I want you in the car first.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I know. We know.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right. Here we go.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Have you seen it yet? Well, coming up on CNN SUNDAY MORNING chat with the directors of the unexpected hit and Oscar nominee "Little Miss Sunshine".
HOLMES: Plus, our reverse Oscar e-mail of the day -- what's the worst movie you've ever seen? By all means, send those to uses at weekend@cnn.com. He'd love to hear. You might send this one in. Here's some clips now. You remember this movie. "Dukes of Hazard." This is the video, at least, for it, I think the video was maybe better than the movie, but she was dressed like this for much of the movie and I think that might help the movie do well, but that is the worst movie I have seen in quite some time. I loved the show, though, but the movie was just...
NGUYEN: The movie just didn't do it for you.
HOLMES: Even that was -- yeah, it was just terrible.
NGUYEN: But did you sit through all of it?
HOLMES: I think so. I did sit through all of it.
NGUYEN: See, I couldn't even get that far with "Miami Vice." That's what's on my list. "Miami Vice," I couldn't even tell you what happened. I went through about 15 minutes of it and thought, oh, no. I am not sitting through another 45, not even that.
HOLMES: Jamie Foxx.
NGUYEN: I know, you would have thought, you know, Colin Farrell, Jamie Foxx, this was going to be a hit and the TV series was so great, so there was a lot of anticipation, a lot of expectation. Didn't fly with me, I didn't think it was so good.
So, but what are your worst movies out there? I know you have an opinion on many of them. Send them in, we're getting some great responses. We'll read some of those replies a little bit later.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Remember when Olive was here last month, she was runner up in the regional Little Miss Sunshine? Well, they just called right now and said that the girl who won had to forfeit her crown. I don't know why, something about diet pills, but anyway, now she has a place in the state contest in Redondo Beach!
(SCREAM)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh my gosh, I won, I won, I won, I won!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: The Hollywood gold rush is on and the little girl looked like she just won an Oscar. The Oscars are, of course, tonight and "Little Miss Sunshine," one of five movies up for best picture, but it's not your typical Hollywood success story. It was made on a shoestring budget by a husband and wife directing team. And Hard to believe, this is their first movie. That's a heck of a way to start out a career. Brooke Anderson talked to the couple about their success.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BROOKE ANDERSON, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Have you come down from the clouds yet? Are you still floating?
JONATHAN DAYTON, CO-DIRECTOR, "LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE": It's been surreal. I mean, really, from Sundance on, you know, we had no idea that any of this would ever -- you would never allow yourself to wish for these things because you'd only be disappointed, so...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dad, I want you in the car first.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I know. We know.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right. Here we go. Everybody push!
DAYTON: It was a labor of love from everyone's point of view, and, you know, you can give great salaries and pay millions of dollars to people, but there's nothing like everyone coming together for something that they really believe in. And I think that all of us believed in the film that this could be and everyone showed up ready to work and worked incredibly hard. And I think that they fed off one another. It was almost like a great band where you have people, you know, just happy to be playing opposite one another.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Grandpa? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't want to be a loser.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're not a loser. Where'd you get the idea you were a loser?
DAYTON: I think we love these characters and we loved that this film was about something, you know. It was about the way that we allow ourselves to be judged by others. It's about how, in our country in particular, we're really divided up into winners and losers. I think we all feel...
VALERIE FARIS, CO-DIRECTOR, "LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE": And our need to be, like, No.1, you know.
DAYTON: We all feel those pressures and so, yes, it was a comedy and yes it was a family film, but it felt like these were issues that we all struggle with and now here they are in a film so that you could laugh, but hopefully you could walk out of the theater feeling a little more connected to the things that we all suffer through.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where's Olive?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can't slow down! I can't!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Come on, Olive.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on sweetie, jump!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: And "Little Miss Sunshine" was a big winner last night at the Spirit Awards honoring independent film and won Best Picture. And Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris were named the Best Directors and CNN live from the red carpet tonight from the Academy Awards. Don't miss the special, Hollywood's Gold Rush, that's tonight at 7:00 Eastern, right here on CNN.
NGUYEN: But this morning we've been asking your thoughts on this e-mail question: What is your worst, not the best, but the worst movie you've ever seen? And the envelope, please? All right, we don't have envelopes, we just a list here.
HOLMES: We should.
NGUYEN: We should. And I'm going to tell you some of the ones that got the most votes. There you go, "Plan Nine from Outer Space." I have not seen it.
HOLMES: Never heard of it.
NGUYEN: It looks really wonderful, just looking at this poster, right? HOLMES: Fine film, I'm sure.
NGUYEN: On top of that, there is "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes," remember that movie? A lot of people didn't like it. This is kind of surprising because a lot of people love this movie, "Borat."
HOLMES: Come on!
NGUYEN: Apparently a lot of viewers put it on their worst list.
HOLMES: Didn't like his humor, apparently, and a lot of people called it -- think it was pretty vulgar. Now, this, come on now! "Talladega Nights?" What's going on, folks? So yes, this was on that got...
NGUYEN: The prayer scene? That's hilarious.
HOLMES: That is hilarious, but a lot of folks didn't like that. We got multiple votes and then some of the others, "Glitter," "Gili" (ph), "Waterworld," "Magnolia," and "The Blair Witch Project."
NGUYEN: Yeah, I might agree on a few of those.
HOLMES: Yeah, on a couple. But, moving on now, Florida circuit court becomes a circus court as Anna Nicole Smith saga entered a second week. Straight ahead on RELIABLE SOURCES, Howard Kurtz takes a closer look at the media coverage from this week's weird hearings.
NGUYEN: Then at noon, journalist Seymour Hersh has an explosive new article about the possibilities of the U.S. going to war with Iran. He'll tell Wolf Blitzer all about it on LATE EDITION.
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