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CNN Live Sunday

Interview With Catharine Skipp

Aired June 08, 2003 - 16:33   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.


FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Serial bombing suspect Eric Rudolph is being surprisingly forthcoming about his time as a fugitive. Or at least that's being reported that way. Rudolph says the solitude of the woods got to him. He says, quoting here, "he had not been with a woman in so long even the bears started looking good." Go figure.
More details are in the latest issue of "Newsweek" magazine. Catharine Skipp with "Newsweek" joins us by phone from Asheville, North Carolina. And Catharine, a whole lot is being reported about how he survived in the woods, everything from creating his own campsite, hanging meat, even going after salamanders. What's the version that you're getting there in Asheville?

CATHARINE SKIPP, NEWSWEEK: Well, according to people that had cleaned up the winter site, which is definitely the larger of the two, he had stolen really large trash cans from the town of Andrews and had them hung up in trees with grains and wheat in them, corn, soybean, and then other food stuffs he tied up in garbage bags and buried them in the ground with chicken wire, and then rocks on top of that with barbed wire so the animals wouldn't pull them off.

WHITFIELD: And a lot, Catharine, that's being reported about his experience in the woods is based on his conversations with one of the first officers to come into contact with him. You know, do you believe, and do a lot of people believe all that is being said, given that his physical appearance was quite the antithesis of the kind of story that he's telling about survival?

SKIPP: Well, it really depends on who you talk to. If you talk to people from around Topton and Nantahala where he grew up and fished and hiked, they all believe he could do it. If you talk to other people, even local law enforcement, you know, they have a problem with it. He didn't have a tan line, and the back of his hair had a razor cut, including shave cuts, which people tend to think that would be pretty difficult to do on your own.

WHITFIELD: Yes, well, let's talk about some of the other things that he claims to be expressing to people about the kind of cravings he had while out there and just dealing with being alone. The mere solitude was kind of really getting to him, wasn't it?

SKIPP: Well, I think that's probably why he had the summer camp and the winter camp. The summer camp was closer into town, but actually sort of not where people would really go hiking, whereas the winter camp was much more, you know, in the realm of fall hunting and spring and summer berry picking. So he probably -- he said he'd seen people drive by, the road about half a mile under that winter site. And at the summer site he's actually quite close to the town. So he could hear people, see people driving by.

WHITFIELD: So he saw people driving by, he heard the voices. Then why in the world could these dozen of federal and Georgia state investigators overlook him if he was in a site that was so close to civilization?

SKIPP: Well, one man said that the feds couldn't track a gut- shot buffalo in a foot of snow.

WHITFIELD: Oh, boy. So a real insult, then, from a lot of the local people who just think that the feds and the state authorities were going about it the wrong way?

SKIPP: Yes. A lot of the locals, you know, were sort of rooting him on even though they didn't agree with what he'd done. But you know, the federal government (UNINTELLIGIBLE) a lot of times, they felt a little, you know, pushed over or, you know, made to look like they were a bunch of hicks. And so they're all real proud of their own officer being able to find what the federal government couldn't find.

WHITFIELD: That's interesting. So a lot of the local people are very proud, especially the fact that few wanted to take up the offer of this $1 million reward, even though many folks say they had direct contact with him but they didn't want to reveal exactly what they knew about him or where he was?

SKIPP: Well, yes. I guess that's the big question, is who knew what and when.

WHITFIELD: OK. All right, Catharine Skipp of "Newsweek." Thanks very much for joining us from Asheville, North Carolina.

SKIPP: My pleasure.

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 June 8, 2003 - 16:33   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Serial bombing suspect Eric Rudolph is being surprisingly forthcoming about his time as a fugitive. Or at least that's being reported that way. Rudolph says the solitude of the woods got to him. He says, quoting here, "he had not been with a woman in so long even the bears started looking good." Go figure.
More details are in the latest issue of "Newsweek" magazine. Catharine Skipp with "Newsweek" joins us by phone from Asheville, North Carolina. And Catharine, a whole lot is being reported about how he survived in the woods, everything from creating his own campsite, hanging meat, even going after salamanders. What's the version that you're getting there in Asheville?

CATHARINE SKIPP, NEWSWEEK: Well, according to people that had cleaned up the winter site, which is definitely the larger of the two, he had stolen really large trash cans from the town of Andrews and had them hung up in trees with grains and wheat in them, corn, soybean, and then other food stuffs he tied up in garbage bags and buried them in the ground with chicken wire, and then rocks on top of that with barbed wire so the animals wouldn't pull them off.

WHITFIELD: And a lot, Catharine, that's being reported about his experience in the woods is based on his conversations with one of the first officers to come into contact with him. You know, do you believe, and do a lot of people believe all that is being said, given that his physical appearance was quite the antithesis of the kind of story that he's telling about survival?

SKIPP: Well, it really depends on who you talk to. If you talk to people from around Topton and Nantahala where he grew up and fished and hiked, they all believe he could do it. If you talk to other people, even local law enforcement, you know, they have a problem with it. He didn't have a tan line, and the back of his hair had a razor cut, including shave cuts, which people tend to think that would be pretty difficult to do on your own.

WHITFIELD: Yes, well, let's talk about some of the other things that he claims to be expressing to people about the kind of cravings he had while out there and just dealing with being alone. The mere solitude was kind of really getting to him, wasn't it?

SKIPP: Well, I think that's probably why he had the summer camp and the winter camp. The summer camp was closer into town, but actually sort of not where people would really go hiking, whereas the winter camp was much more, you know, in the realm of fall hunting and spring and summer berry picking. So he probably -- he said he'd seen people drive by, the road about half a mile under that winter site. And at the summer site he's actually quite close to the town. So he could hear people, see people driving by.

WHITFIELD: So he saw people driving by, he heard the voices. Then why in the world could these dozen of federal and Georgia state investigators overlook him if he was in a site that was so close to civilization?

SKIPP: Well, one man said that the feds couldn't track a gut- shot buffalo in a foot of snow.

WHITFIELD: Oh, boy. So a real insult, then, from a lot of the local people who just think that the feds and the state authorities were going about it the wrong way?

SKIPP: Yes. A lot of the locals, you know, were sort of rooting him on even though they didn't agree with what he'd done. But you know, the federal government (UNINTELLIGIBLE) a lot of times, they felt a little, you know, pushed over or, you know, made to look like they were a bunch of hicks. And so they're all real proud of their own officer being able to find what the federal government couldn't find.

WHITFIELD: That's interesting. So a lot of the local people are very proud, especially the fact that few wanted to take up the offer of this $1 million reward, even though many folks say they had direct contact with him but they didn't want to reveal exactly what they knew about him or where he was?

SKIPP: Well, yes. I guess that's the big question, is who knew what and when.

WHITFIELD: OK. All right, Catharine Skipp of "Newsweek." Thanks very much for joining us from Asheville, North Carolina.

SKIPP: My pleasure.

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