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CNN Saturday Morning News

Shell Casing Found in White Rental Truck

Aired October 19, 2002 - 08:03   ET

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

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


MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Could a truck in a rental agency in Virginia yield a critical clue in the search for the serial sniper? We may find out today.
KATHLEEN KENNEDY, CNN ANCHOR: And with the very latest, we go to our Carol Costello, standing by live in Montgomery County, Virginia -- what is the latest, Carol?

CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: Well, the latest is what I reported last hour. We really don't have much new information. But let me tell you what I do know. I have Ed Lavandera here with me to help out. And you haven't heard much more information either, because, frankly, police aren't saying much.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the latest development came out kind of late toward the, late yesterday. So a lot of this takes a little while for the ball to get roiling here.

COSTELLO: Yes. Apparently an employee at a car rental place near Dulles Airport around 3:30 in the afternoon was cleaning out the truck and he found a shell casing. And it was a white box type truck. So he put two and two together and said hey, maybe I'd better call police. And he did.

So police came out, they took the truck away and they're combing it for evidence. And I think the shell casing is at the ATF labs here in Rockville.

LAVANDERA: We would probably deduce that, but I don't even think they're sharing that much information with us, well. So they'll do all those tests like they have in the cases before this. And quite frankly, the information on the ballistics has been coming back relatively quickly, I think a sign of just how intensive this investigation is.

COSTELLO: Yes, I was just thinking about that, because wouldn't you know immediately if that shell casing came from a .223 bullet or a .222 bullet?

LAVANDERA: I think if you work in those war lords, you probably know that. But I think you have to go through all the hoops and do those tests.

COSTELLO: And they're being very careful about all information they release, of course, because, well, for obvious reasons. They don't want to give people false hope. And speaking of false hope, let's talk about this Matthew Dowdy, the 37-year-old man from Falls Church who was charged officially yesterday with giving false information to police.

LAVANDERA: And, you know, I think people here are still trying to figure out how this could have happened, why it happened. I was at that shooting scene on Monday night and, you know, quite frankly I think it has to bother a lot of these investigators. Because the feeling there on the ground that night was that they were, a lot of those investigators were leaving the scene with hopes that -- they were all talking amongst each other that, hey, I think we've really got some good witnesses this time and that perhaps this would be some sort of break and start getting this headed in the right direction.

COSTELLO: Now, this guy allegedly lied about some pretty big time stuff. He claimed that he saw the sniper, that he saw a weapon, that he saw an Astro van that was cream colored and police actually put out a description of that cream colored Astro van. And that's what made them so upset, because it really misled the public. And they really want the correct information coming in.

We're seeing a picture now of Matthew Dowdy on the air.

LAVANDERA: And I think it struck a lot of fear into people, because the description that he gave was that he was underneath that parking lot that night. And, of course, these shootings, everything we've talked about is that this actually, these previous shootings had happened at a much greater distance. So when we were out there, we were all trying to figure out where this shooter could have been at that time and we didn't know if he was on Route 50 there or across the street at the school parking lot.

But when the description came out that he was actually underneath that parking lot, that's much, that was a much more disturbing picture, I think, for a lot of people.

COSTELLO: Oh, yes. And actually Matthew Dowdy was supposedly inside the Home Depot when the FBI analyst was shot. He didn't see one single thing. What do we know about Matthew Dowdy? We know that he's been in jail before for minor offenses. Do we know anything else about him?

LAVANDERA: No, perhaps...

COSTELLO: He lives with his mom, I know that.

LAVANDERA: I know some CNN reporters who have been hearing throughout the week that perhaps it was either the fame, the 15 minutes of fame, or, you know, obviously there's reward money in this case and perhaps that might drive people to say things that they shouldn't necessarily be saying. But...

COSTELLO: Well, we do know that Matthew Dowdy is in jail right now. He appeared before a magistrate yesterday. They denied him bail. He's facing a second class misdemeanor. And if he's convicted of this he could spend, oh, about six months in jail and be fined $1,000. SO we'll see what happens.

You know, the good thing, Miles and Kathleen, is that the Army 10 miler is going on as planned today. It's a big race here in Washington, D.C. It's the last big race before the Marine Corps Marathon. It starts at the Pentagon, but of course there are many things different about the race this year. Added security, you bet. Every runner that comes through has to pass through a security gate. You're not allowed to bring any backpacks with you and there will be increased security along the route.

But the race, actually, the starting gun just went off about 10 minutes ago. So good luck runners.

O'BRIEN: All right, Carol and Ed, we appreciate it.

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







Aired October 19, 2002 - 08:03   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Could a truck in a rental agency in Virginia yield a critical clue in the search for the serial sniper? We may find out today.
KATHLEEN KENNEDY, CNN ANCHOR: And with the very latest, we go to our Carol Costello, standing by live in Montgomery County, Virginia -- what is the latest, Carol?

CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: Well, the latest is what I reported last hour. We really don't have much new information. But let me tell you what I do know. I have Ed Lavandera here with me to help out. And you haven't heard much more information either, because, frankly, police aren't saying much.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the latest development came out kind of late toward the, late yesterday. So a lot of this takes a little while for the ball to get roiling here.

COSTELLO: Yes. Apparently an employee at a car rental place near Dulles Airport around 3:30 in the afternoon was cleaning out the truck and he found a shell casing. And it was a white box type truck. So he put two and two together and said hey, maybe I'd better call police. And he did.

So police came out, they took the truck away and they're combing it for evidence. And I think the shell casing is at the ATF labs here in Rockville.

LAVANDERA: We would probably deduce that, but I don't even think they're sharing that much information with us, well. So they'll do all those tests like they have in the cases before this. And quite frankly, the information on the ballistics has been coming back relatively quickly, I think a sign of just how intensive this investigation is.

COSTELLO: Yes, I was just thinking about that, because wouldn't you know immediately if that shell casing came from a .223 bullet or a .222 bullet?

LAVANDERA: I think if you work in those war lords, you probably know that. But I think you have to go through all the hoops and do those tests.

COSTELLO: And they're being very careful about all information they release, of course, because, well, for obvious reasons. They don't want to give people false hope. And speaking of false hope, let's talk about this Matthew Dowdy, the 37-year-old man from Falls Church who was charged officially yesterday with giving false information to police.

LAVANDERA: And, you know, I think people here are still trying to figure out how this could have happened, why it happened. I was at that shooting scene on Monday night and, you know, quite frankly I think it has to bother a lot of these investigators. Because the feeling there on the ground that night was that they were, a lot of those investigators were leaving the scene with hopes that -- they were all talking amongst each other that, hey, I think we've really got some good witnesses this time and that perhaps this would be some sort of break and start getting this headed in the right direction.

COSTELLO: Now, this guy allegedly lied about some pretty big time stuff. He claimed that he saw the sniper, that he saw a weapon, that he saw an Astro van that was cream colored and police actually put out a description of that cream colored Astro van. And that's what made them so upset, because it really misled the public. And they really want the correct information coming in.

We're seeing a picture now of Matthew Dowdy on the air.

LAVANDERA: And I think it struck a lot of fear into people, because the description that he gave was that he was underneath that parking lot that night. And, of course, these shootings, everything we've talked about is that this actually, these previous shootings had happened at a much greater distance. So when we were out there, we were all trying to figure out where this shooter could have been at that time and we didn't know if he was on Route 50 there or across the street at the school parking lot.

But when the description came out that he was actually underneath that parking lot, that's much, that was a much more disturbing picture, I think, for a lot of people.

COSTELLO: Oh, yes. And actually Matthew Dowdy was supposedly inside the Home Depot when the FBI analyst was shot. He didn't see one single thing. What do we know about Matthew Dowdy? We know that he's been in jail before for minor offenses. Do we know anything else about him?

LAVANDERA: No, perhaps...

COSTELLO: He lives with his mom, I know that.

LAVANDERA: I know some CNN reporters who have been hearing throughout the week that perhaps it was either the fame, the 15 minutes of fame, or, you know, obviously there's reward money in this case and perhaps that might drive people to say things that they shouldn't necessarily be saying. But...

COSTELLO: Well, we do know that Matthew Dowdy is in jail right now. He appeared before a magistrate yesterday. They denied him bail. He's facing a second class misdemeanor. And if he's convicted of this he could spend, oh, about six months in jail and be fined $1,000. SO we'll see what happens.

You know, the good thing, Miles and Kathleen, is that the Army 10 miler is going on as planned today. It's a big race here in Washington, D.C. It's the last big race before the Marine Corps Marathon. It starts at the Pentagon, but of course there are many things different about the race this year. Added security, you bet. Every runner that comes through has to pass through a security gate. You're not allowed to bring any backpacks with you and there will be increased security along the route.

But the race, actually, the starting gun just went off about 10 minutes ago. So good luck runners.

O'BRIEN: All right, Carol and Ed, we appreciate it.

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