Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Saturday Morning News
How Can Police Find White Van?
Aired October 19, 2002 - 07:05 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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: You know, if you sit back and imagine how hard it would be to find the right white box-type truck or the right white van, because you know how many there are in this area? Fifty-one thousand. We sent CNN's Beth Nissan out with New Jersey to police to find out just how police track down such a nondescript vehicle.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BETH NISSAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): How do law enforcement agencies search for a vehicle of a particular description, say a white Astrovan or Ford Econoline van?
They patrol streets and highways looking for vehicles that match the description. They sift calls from people who think they've spotted it. Police know from long experience the value of vehicle clues in solving crimes, robberies, rapes, homicides.
DET. STEPHEN JONES, NEW JERSEY STATE POLICE: In many cases, that's the most important clue that we have. Vehicle information will get us closer than any other evidence in terms of narrowing a suspect down.
NISSAN: The New Jersey State Police maintain a database of information on 23.6 million vehicles registered or once registered in the state, a database almost identical to the ones maintained in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C.
How does the search work?
SGT. CHARLIE MAKATURA, NEW JERSEY STATE POLICE: The first thing we do is, we get as many descriptors as possible, that being the year range that we're looking for, the color, the make, the type of vehicle.
NISSAN: This morning, they are searching for a white Honda Civic.
MAKATURA: When we run it against the database, the first thing we're looking for is, we're looking for the make of Honda. The year criteria, we weren't specific, we said, Give us all years. We came out with 1.1 million records that matched the make of the Honda, specifically the Honda.
NISSAN: That vast number is pared down by entering a VIN, or vehicle identification number code specific to the Honda Civic.
MAKATURA: We went down to 254,000.
NISSAN: In this case, they have a partial license plate. They believe it starts with the letters S-V-M. That greatly narrows the search.
MAKATURA: By paring it down from first make, to year, to vehicle registration number, we're able to come up with 54 records. That listed all colors.
NISSAN: Investigators are careful not to make their color search too narrow. People write in a broad spectrum of color descriptions on their vehicle registration forms.
MAKATURA: Whatever they deem the color to be, the person may register it with that color, and it could be something as far off as pewter.
NISSAN: The computer culls from its list of Honda Civics those that are white -- and silver, cream, beige, even yellow.
MAKATURA: We came up with 14 Hondas that were either white or silver or that could be construed as being white.
NISSAN: The names and addresses of the registered owners of those 14 cars go to the investigating detective.
MAKATURA: And now it just revolves around his police work, to go out and track down these individuals.
NISSAN: Individuals who might be the suspect, might know the suspect, or might lead to the suspect.
Beth Nissan, CNN, Trenton, New Jersey.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KATHLEEN KENNEDY, CNN ANCHOR: Now, as you know, the latest Washington-area sniper shooting took place on Monday night. The lull since that shooting is the longest, as Carol just said, since this attack started.
Joining us to discuss the status of the investigation is CNN security analyst Kelly McCann.
Kelly, thanks for coming on the show today.
KELLY MCCANN, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: Hi, Kathleen.
KENNEDY: All right. The latest information is a shell casing found in a rental truck. Is this going to lead us to a killer?
MCCANN: Well, there's a couple interesting things here that don't just jump out. If you drill down and you think about it, when a shell casing ejects from a rifle, it ejects in an arc, and that arc, depending on the weapon, can be forward and right, it can be laterally, and it can be to the rear and right, if the ejection port's on the right-hand side.
If that casing is inside the truck, or was found inside the truck, that begs the question, did it go in there when the shooter triggered the weapon, or was it hand-gathered and then placed in the vehicle? Which then might give more evidence as far as fingerprinting goes, et cetera.
So that could be very, very critical. I mean, it could also talk to, is he shooting from inside the vehicle, or is he getting out of the vehicle and shooting next to the vehicle?
So there's some interesting things going on. As we said yesterday, the police obviously have known more than they've let out, so interesting stuff.
KENNEDY: All right. Kelly, give us a sense, then, of what investigators, the team of investigators that have been sent to the rental company, what are they going to be doing? What are they going to be looking at?
MCCANN: Well, because it's a rental vehicle, trace evidence is going to be a little bit confusing to try to discern. I mean, there's been so many occupants in that cab that it's difficult to discern hair fiber, all of that kind of thing.
But undoubtedly what they're going to do is look at the rental records. They're going to match that up with identification. They're going to take a look at the round, obviously, and run it through the ballistics checks, see what kind of imprint the firing pin made, et cetera.
They're obviously going to dust it for fingerprints and see, if they've got other fingerprints, if they match up.
They'll look at the state and also, like, on the flooring, different kinds of mud debris, different kinds of grass, twigs, et cetera, that might be consistent with other areas he could have shot from.
So undoubtedly they're going through that thing with a fine- toothed comb.
KENNEDY: We've heard so much about this white van, and people on the lookout for white vans, and 51,000 of them in the D.C. area alone. Is it realistic, though, to think that this killer is driving around in the same car day after day?
MCCANN: Well, no one said this was going to be easy, you know, and, I mean, the thing is, is, that the police have an arduous job in front of them. Is it reasonable to think that he didn't switch vehicles? Who knows? You know, I mean, the bottom line is, is, there's been a lot of conjecture, but if you stick to the facts, we know that some eyewitnesses have placed those vehicles at the scene of the shooting, you know, vehicles like that, and that's what we know.
What we don't know is, were there two people? Did one get into a car and go in an opposite direction? Did they use the vehicle just for transportation and shoot from a, you know, an isolated location? Many, many unanswered questions.
So it is an onerous task, but, you know, they will get to the bottom of it.
KENNEDY: And now we're seeing the longest lull since October 2. We had two consecutive Fridays where there was a shooting, and now nothing. What do you make of that?
MCCANN: Well, all the profilers who have shrunk-wrapped this guy have said that, you know, he had a voracious appetite for, you know, what he was doing. Suddenly that stopped, which kind of signifies a change in condition around him.
Now, what that change is, who knows? Could it be a change in mental condition? Could it be a change in -- was he arrested for some other offense, and is he incarcerated? Did he get hurt? Is he in the hospital? Did he die? I mean, some change must have occurred, emotionally or physically or something, to create the situation.
And I'm sure people are busily looking into that.
KENNEDY: And finally this week, an al Qaeda suspect that's being held in Belgium gave investigators some information about that he saw some sniper training going on, and that could this be the work of a terrorist, political terrorist?
MCCANN: Well, in the hundreds of tapes that are out there, you know, that the al Qaeda took of themselves, they trained themselves in the whole gamut of combat-related activity, one, you know, task which is sniping. So that's not especially interesting.
Now, to make the jump that they're training to do it with senators on golf courses, et cetera, is, and here's why. In order to engage somebody like that, you'd have to know where they play golf, when they play golf. I mean, I don't know that, and I'm sure you don't know. I mean, that's just up to the personal whim of a person who wants to go and play golf.
So again, it goes to surveillance. Those senators would have to be surveilled to determine a pattern, to determine a time and place predictability. And so that lies in -- that -- there's your vulnerability. If they're doing surveillance detection, we'll pick them up there.
So it's a stretch, but suffice to say al Qaeda do know -- they do know how to snipe, sure.
KENNEDY: All right. We'll leave it there for now, security analyst Kelly McCann. And we'll check in with you a bit later, so stay right there.
MCCANN: Thanks, Kathleen.
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 - 07:05 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: You know, if you sit back and imagine how hard it would be to find the right white box-type truck or the right white van, because you know how many there are in this area? Fifty-one thousand. We sent CNN's Beth Nissan out with New Jersey to police to find out just how police track down such a nondescript vehicle.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BETH NISSAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): How do law enforcement agencies search for a vehicle of a particular description, say a white Astrovan or Ford Econoline van?
They patrol streets and highways looking for vehicles that match the description. They sift calls from people who think they've spotted it. Police know from long experience the value of vehicle clues in solving crimes, robberies, rapes, homicides.
DET. STEPHEN JONES, NEW JERSEY STATE POLICE: In many cases, that's the most important clue that we have. Vehicle information will get us closer than any other evidence in terms of narrowing a suspect down.
NISSAN: The New Jersey State Police maintain a database of information on 23.6 million vehicles registered or once registered in the state, a database almost identical to the ones maintained in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C.
How does the search work?
SGT. CHARLIE MAKATURA, NEW JERSEY STATE POLICE: The first thing we do is, we get as many descriptors as possible, that being the year range that we're looking for, the color, the make, the type of vehicle.
NISSAN: This morning, they are searching for a white Honda Civic.
MAKATURA: When we run it against the database, the first thing we're looking for is, we're looking for the make of Honda. The year criteria, we weren't specific, we said, Give us all years. We came out with 1.1 million records that matched the make of the Honda, specifically the Honda.
NISSAN: That vast number is pared down by entering a VIN, or vehicle identification number code specific to the Honda Civic.
MAKATURA: We went down to 254,000.
NISSAN: In this case, they have a partial license plate. They believe it starts with the letters S-V-M. That greatly narrows the search.
MAKATURA: By paring it down from first make, to year, to vehicle registration number, we're able to come up with 54 records. That listed all colors.
NISSAN: Investigators are careful not to make their color search too narrow. People write in a broad spectrum of color descriptions on their vehicle registration forms.
MAKATURA: Whatever they deem the color to be, the person may register it with that color, and it could be something as far off as pewter.
NISSAN: The computer culls from its list of Honda Civics those that are white -- and silver, cream, beige, even yellow.
MAKATURA: We came up with 14 Hondas that were either white or silver or that could be construed as being white.
NISSAN: The names and addresses of the registered owners of those 14 cars go to the investigating detective.
MAKATURA: And now it just revolves around his police work, to go out and track down these individuals.
NISSAN: Individuals who might be the suspect, might know the suspect, or might lead to the suspect.
Beth Nissan, CNN, Trenton, New Jersey.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KATHLEEN KENNEDY, CNN ANCHOR: Now, as you know, the latest Washington-area sniper shooting took place on Monday night. The lull since that shooting is the longest, as Carol just said, since this attack started.
Joining us to discuss the status of the investigation is CNN security analyst Kelly McCann.
Kelly, thanks for coming on the show today.
KELLY MCCANN, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: Hi, Kathleen.
KENNEDY: All right. The latest information is a shell casing found in a rental truck. Is this going to lead us to a killer?
MCCANN: Well, there's a couple interesting things here that don't just jump out. If you drill down and you think about it, when a shell casing ejects from a rifle, it ejects in an arc, and that arc, depending on the weapon, can be forward and right, it can be laterally, and it can be to the rear and right, if the ejection port's on the right-hand side.
If that casing is inside the truck, or was found inside the truck, that begs the question, did it go in there when the shooter triggered the weapon, or was it hand-gathered and then placed in the vehicle? Which then might give more evidence as far as fingerprinting goes, et cetera.
So that could be very, very critical. I mean, it could also talk to, is he shooting from inside the vehicle, or is he getting out of the vehicle and shooting next to the vehicle?
So there's some interesting things going on. As we said yesterday, the police obviously have known more than they've let out, so interesting stuff.
KENNEDY: All right. Kelly, give us a sense, then, of what investigators, the team of investigators that have been sent to the rental company, what are they going to be doing? What are they going to be looking at?
MCCANN: Well, because it's a rental vehicle, trace evidence is going to be a little bit confusing to try to discern. I mean, there's been so many occupants in that cab that it's difficult to discern hair fiber, all of that kind of thing.
But undoubtedly what they're going to do is look at the rental records. They're going to match that up with identification. They're going to take a look at the round, obviously, and run it through the ballistics checks, see what kind of imprint the firing pin made, et cetera.
They're obviously going to dust it for fingerprints and see, if they've got other fingerprints, if they match up.
They'll look at the state and also, like, on the flooring, different kinds of mud debris, different kinds of grass, twigs, et cetera, that might be consistent with other areas he could have shot from.
So undoubtedly they're going through that thing with a fine- toothed comb.
KENNEDY: We've heard so much about this white van, and people on the lookout for white vans, and 51,000 of them in the D.C. area alone. Is it realistic, though, to think that this killer is driving around in the same car day after day?
MCCANN: Well, no one said this was going to be easy, you know, and, I mean, the thing is, is, that the police have an arduous job in front of them. Is it reasonable to think that he didn't switch vehicles? Who knows? You know, I mean, the bottom line is, is, there's been a lot of conjecture, but if you stick to the facts, we know that some eyewitnesses have placed those vehicles at the scene of the shooting, you know, vehicles like that, and that's what we know.
What we don't know is, were there two people? Did one get into a car and go in an opposite direction? Did they use the vehicle just for transportation and shoot from a, you know, an isolated location? Many, many unanswered questions.
So it is an onerous task, but, you know, they will get to the bottom of it.
KENNEDY: And now we're seeing the longest lull since October 2. We had two consecutive Fridays where there was a shooting, and now nothing. What do you make of that?
MCCANN: Well, all the profilers who have shrunk-wrapped this guy have said that, you know, he had a voracious appetite for, you know, what he was doing. Suddenly that stopped, which kind of signifies a change in condition around him.
Now, what that change is, who knows? Could it be a change in mental condition? Could it be a change in -- was he arrested for some other offense, and is he incarcerated? Did he get hurt? Is he in the hospital? Did he die? I mean, some change must have occurred, emotionally or physically or something, to create the situation.
And I'm sure people are busily looking into that.
KENNEDY: And finally this week, an al Qaeda suspect that's being held in Belgium gave investigators some information about that he saw some sniper training going on, and that could this be the work of a terrorist, political terrorist?
MCCANN: Well, in the hundreds of tapes that are out there, you know, that the al Qaeda took of themselves, they trained themselves in the whole gamut of combat-related activity, one, you know, task which is sniping. So that's not especially interesting.
Now, to make the jump that they're training to do it with senators on golf courses, et cetera, is, and here's why. In order to engage somebody like that, you'd have to know where they play golf, when they play golf. I mean, I don't know that, and I'm sure you don't know. I mean, that's just up to the personal whim of a person who wants to go and play golf.
So again, it goes to surveillance. Those senators would have to be surveilled to determine a pattern, to determine a time and place predictability. And so that lies in -- that -- there's your vulnerability. If they're doing surveillance detection, we'll pick them up there.
So it's a stretch, but suffice to say al Qaeda do know -- they do know how to snipe, sure.
KENNEDY: All right. We'll leave it there for now, security analyst Kelly McCann. And we'll check in with you a bit later, so stay right there.
MCCANN: Thanks, Kathleen.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
