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CNN NEWSROOM

Cleveland Kidnapper in Jail; Texts from Boston Bomber Unreported; NASA Emergency Repair a Success

Aired May 11, 2013 - 16:00   ET

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


ALLISON KOSIK, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Alison Kosik. Here are the top stories we are following.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KOSIK (voice-over): FBI investigators are in Cleveland, sealing up a home next door to the one where three women were allegedly held captive, beaten and tortured. And the man who helped one of the women flee opens up about the harrowing escape.

Russia knew about sinister texts from Boston bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev, but it didn't tell the U.S. Details coming up.

And NASA astronauts spent hours outside of the space station today. They had to fix an ammonia leak. NASA called it an emergency but said the crew was not in any danger.

A man suspected of living a double secret life for more than a decade is spending his first weekend under 24/7 watch in a nine by nine foot jail cell. This as FBI investigators press forward for their search for clues on Cleveland's Seymour Street.

CNN national correspondent Susan Candiotti is there live. Susan what's all the activity going on there today?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT That's right, Allison. And if you take a look over my shoulder here you can see that the white house, three houses down, that's the house where the alleged kidnapping took place and where these three women were held hostage for 10 long years. So that is the scene that is currently the house that's being boarded up and secured as a crime scene.

But not only that house. The authorities have also boarded up the two homes on this side of it that were vacant already. Boarding that up as well so that there are no trespasses involved. Again, they want to keep this entire area preserved as a crime scene and then build a fence around it so they can open the street up again for the people who live here so that they can get their lives back to normal. Allison.

KOSIK: Susan, one of the victims, Michelle Knight. She's refusing any contact with her family. Are police saying anything about this at this point?

CANDIOTTI: Well, authorities aren't talking about her whereabouts. I can tell you that a source close to the investigation tells us that Michelle is someplace where she wanted to be, that she is in a very secure place and that she's very comfortable where she is.

No, her family members have tried to reach out to her, but so far have had no luck in reaching her. Apparently she doesn't want to speak with them. That seems to be the case. However, what happens to the man accused of this crime, Castro, is another matter all together. For example, the next legal step for him, we are expecting a grand jury to be seated and to consider a myriad of charges against him that could be coming in the coming week or possibly longer.

Alison.

KOSIK: Susan Candiotti in Ohio. Thank you.

Ominous texts from Boston bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev to his mother. Russia had them but it didn't tell the U.S.. Paula Newton joins us live now up in Boston. Paula, what did these texts say?

PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, allegedly, according to the "Wall Street Journal" who first reported them and confirmed to CNN by one law enforcement official, the nature of these texts had to do with Tamerlan Tsarnaev's desire to engage with extremists, with militants on the ground in Russia. And that fact that his mother knew about this.

Now the controversy begins, Allison, when we talk about whether or not the United States had that information. The U.S. said they did not have that information. At least one lawmaker, Mike Rogers, is a Republican, and also the chair of the House intelligence committee is saying, "Look, if we had had that information we would have tailed Tamerlan Tsarnaev and maybe we could have prevented the Boston bombings."

So I think what is annoying many in Washington and some here in Boston is they are wondering, did we fail on that intelligence? Did we not have the information that we needed from the Russians? That's why these bombings were allowed to happen. But you know, even coming back to all this, Allison, we had other U.S. officials saying, "Look, if we had information like that we may not have given the details to the Russians themselves either. Only because we would want to protect our sources."

So at this point, it's very hard, Allison, to put together the picture of exactly what intelligence was missed and whether it would have made a difference.

KOSIK: OK. Now we know that Tamerlan Tsarnaev was buried this week in a Muslim cemetery in Doswell, Virginia. What's been the reaction where you are? And in Virginia?

NEWTON: Well, where he was, certainly in Cambridge, and I spoke to people in Cambridge yesterday, just outside of Boston and said, "Look, we are relieved he's not buried here." You know, one woman who I talked to said my husband has been buried at Cambridge Cemetery. I'm really thankful he's not here." Having said that that kind of left this rural Virginia community really they said they were caught off guard. That they didn't want him buried there either and that they had no say in it. I want you to listen now to an official from Caroline County in Virginia.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FLOYD THOMAS, CAROLINE COUNTY, VIRGINIA BOARD OF SUPERVISORS: This was a horrific act. This was a terrible crime. We don't want the county to be remembered as the resting place of the remains for someone who committed a terrible crime.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: But I think at this point, and the official said this themselves, it's not something that can be undone. What happened, Allison, was an interfaith coalition from that community came together to say, "Look, everyone deserves a burial. And they help (INAUDIBLE) Tsarni, who is the uncle of Tamerlan Tsarnaev and he decided to take them up on the only grave plot, really that was offered in the United States to be able to bury Tamerlan Tsarnaev.

People here in Boston again having mixed feelings. You know, Allison, many feel it was just an unwanted, unneeded distraction to a city still trying to get on with normal life, and really heal and recover. Allison.

KOSIK: OK. Paula Newton, thank you.

Now to Texas where the attorney for Bryce Reed said his client has no connection to that fertilizer plant explosion. Reed is in federal custody for having bomb-making materials. Reed was one of the first emergency workers on the scene. His attorney tells CNN his client will plead not guilty Wednesday. There's still no word what caused the blast in West Texas, last month. That blast killed 14 people.

Space station astronauts took on a big project today. They spent hours repairing an ammonia leak that was impacting the space station's cooling system. John Zarrella is covering this for us in Miami and you've been on top of the story from the very beginning, haven't you?

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Allison, it was over 48 hours ago when astronauts and cosmonauts on board the International Space Station noticed white flakes coming out of the portion of the station. It was quickly determined that it was ammonia, coolant that was flowing away from the station. That's not good. So NASA very quickly put together an emergency EVA where two astronauts today made their way outside the space station to the area where there is a pump, a cooling pump.

NASA thought perhaps that pump was leaking. So the plan was for the astronauts to go out there, eyeball it, see if they could see more flakes coming off. They couldn't when they got there. They pulled the pump, replaced it with a new pump. Put that pump in and lo and behold, no more leaking of ammonia. So NASA is hopeful that they have solved the problem. In fact, the astronauts made short work of the process. They were about an hour ahead of their timeline. And Chris Cassidy and Tom Marshburn went back inside the space station pretty quickly today. Got the job done. NASA is keeping their fingers crossed that, in fact, they found and fixed the problem. Alison?

KOSIK: OK. John Zarrella in Miami. Thank you.

They were kidnapped, abused and locked away for years. So what's the impact on the three women in Cleveland who are now safe from physical harm?

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NANCY RUIZ, GINA DEJESUS' MOTHER: My first reaction as I saw my daughter, the only thing I did was grab her and hug her. I didn't want to let go. Until this moment for me I still feel it is a dream.

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KOSIK: And that's the mother of kidnapped victim Gina DeJesus. She's still finding it hard to believe the ordeal her daughter and two other women - Amanda Berry and Michelle Knight - went through.

I want to bring in the Dr. Lolly McDavid, she's the medical director of Child Advocacy and Protection at Rainbow Babies Children's Hospital. It's part of university hospital's Case Medical Center in Cleveland.

Doctor, Michelle Knight, we know that she's in seclusion. She's choosing to have no contact with her family right now. The other women - they are back at home. I mean where do they begin? How do these women recover from this ordeal?

DR. LOLLY MCDAVID, MEDICAL DIRECTOR, CHILD ADVOCACY AND PROTECTION: Well, all of them - all three of them are going to need a lot of help and a lot of therapy, a lot of working on whatever they have been through. Especially this six-year-old child who, as far as we know, has never played with another child. May not have ever had a book read to her. Has basically been living in a cave. But all four of them are essentially a family. They have all been together. I would hope they will do some of their therapy in the beginning with them as a group. Because they need to debrief together. They need to be able to tell their story together first. Then they can work on it individually. Then the most important thing is going to be, too, that their families get into therapy and help because everyone thinks that love is going to conquer all. Love does not conquer all.

KOSIK: We understand that Gina was joking with her family when she came home saying she was OK. But are they really OK or is it something, you know, that may not hit them until later? MCDAVID: Gina was a 14-year-old, I believe, when she left home that day. She's walking back into that house as a woman. There are a lot of what we call tasks of adolescence that she probably hasn't done. Learning the independence, learning that your body is changing, learning that you have to take responsibility for your own actions. Just think about all of the things that teenage girls go through - making the wrong friends, finding the right friends, figuring out what they are going to do next in their lives. She hasn't done any of that. So while she may look to them the same, she is very different.

KOSIK: Do they have any chance of getting back to a normal life? Maybe years later after the trial is over and the media isn't surrounding their home? Can they ever really get back to normal? Can they find peace in their lives?

MCDAVID: I don't know that we have anything to compare this to. We have had people who have been abducted. We have had the Jaycee Duggards, we've had the Elizabeth Smarts. But we haven't had, at least that we know of, three women with a child who have been held together like this for such a long period of time.

Remember, Michelle Knight was missing for 12 years. So those are 12 years out of their lives. When everything else has been moving along, everybody else has been doing something differently. We know what happens with people who have been held in military confinement. They usually do not come back to being what they could have been at the time.

KOSIK: OK. Dr. Lolly McDavid, thank you very much.

It's difficult to believe that in 2013 millions of girls around the world struggle to get an education. We are looking at the personal stories of young women around the globe leading up to the June airing of the CNN film "Girl Rising."

We start in Sierra Leone. The country was once called Athens of West Africa. But today it is trying to recover from more than a decade of civil war and regain its place as a great seed of learning. Fredricka Whitfield shows us a new generation of girls speaking out to make that happen.

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SARA: My name is Sara.

I love reading. I love writing stories.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sara is a natural storyteller. But the young woman with the Tinkerbell backpack doesn't write fairy tales.

SARA: They opened the school at the village and the girl wanted to go to the school, but her parents said only the boys are supposed to go.

WHITFIELD: It is the story of war-torn Sierra Leone where poverty, forced marriage and violence have kept many women from getting an education. Women like her mother.

SARA: She can't read and she can't write. But I can read and I can write. That makes a big difference between me and her.

WHITFIELD: Sara went to live with her aunt who is a teacher so she could go to school.

SARA: She's educated. She wants me to be like her.

WHITFIELD: She's part of a project called Girls Making Media. Sara is speaking up because she wants a different ending for herself and other girls.

SARA: I report on gender discrimination against girls in Sierra Leone. If you do that through radio, I think people deep in the village will hear something about it. My dream is for me to become a superstar of Sierra Leone.

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KOSIK: Sara is in secondary school. She wants to go to college and become a lawyer. CNN Films "Girl Rising" premieres Sunday, June 16 at 9:00 p.m. Eastern time.

Prince Harry - he is in Colorado for the warrior games. You will see what he's doing and also meet one of the veterans who is taking part in the events.

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KOSIK: Look at this. Imagine seeing this in your backyard. A powerful storm dropped baseball-sized hail on homes in Texas. Our affiliate KSAT in San Antonio shot this video of her backyard. The storm also ripped down trees, knocked out power in some places as well.

Prince Harry is in Colorado today attending the warrior games. The event features wounded veterans in athletic competition. Veterans like Charles Walker if the British Army who is a double below the knee amputee. World correspondent Max Foster is live in Colorado Springs and has Charlie Walker standing right next to him.

Max, let's begin with Prince Harry though. Why did he choose to attend this event?

MAX FOSTER, CNN ROYAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's an interesting decision. This is the most important part of the whole tour for Prince Harry. He cares deeply about the warrior games as he talked today about bringing it to the UK. He wants to encourage this interest in wounded war heroes as sees them. He's a serving officer himself. He could easily be injured in war. So that's probably in the back of his mind. Today we saw him for the first time really having some fun. There was a sitting volleyball game. And he's throwing himself in. Charlie is the - you're the coach of the British team?

CHARLIE WALKER, WARRIOR GAMES COACH & ATHLETE: Yes.

FOSTER: How did Harry do? We look at the pictures. You see him rolling around quite a lot.

WALKER: He has got some skills. We have an exhibition match with (INAUDIBLE) Charlie which is part of the opening ceremony. So we can make use of him.

FOSTER: What did he talk about when he was talking to you about these warrior games? He just takes them seriously, doesn't he?

WALKER: He thinks it's a fantastic opportunity for guys to get out, compete. Most of the guys are fiercely competitive, will to win at anything. It's JUST a chance to get the lads together again. He is one of the boys.

FOSTER: And what sort of impact does it have him being here? Obviously he brings so much media with him. He's also a soldier. So you sort of get him as well.

WALKER: Obviously the publicity is fantastic. Spreads the word. Nobody has forgotten. He asked a lot of questions. He's genuinely interested in how things are doing, how the case progressing, are you getting everything you need. He's fantastic.

FOSTER: On the stage behind us, he sort of lit the flame, didn't he? To start this ceremony off. And the games start in earnest tomorrow. What are you looking forward to?

WALKER: Obviously sitting volleyball. We start that tomorrow at the end of the day. I'm also competing in swimming at the end of the week.

FOSTER: And you lost your legs how?

WALKER: It was kind of ironic. I was training in bomb disposal. I contracted meningitis. It was quite an ironic injury.

FOSTER: You lost your legs because of meningitis and not from bomb disposal.

WALKER: Yes.

FOSTER: What's it like to have the camaraderie of these games? Because obviously it's tough, you leave a job you love and you're injured. Does this sort of help this someway?

WALKER: definitely. You have the physical side. Guys getting back from injury, getting back to fitness. It helps that way, emotionally, you know, the guys, some of them quite down. Having all the guys together really helps. As well as just being in a group of guys who are all injured in some way. Really brings everyone together.

FOSTER: First time you met Prince Harry, what did you make of him?

WALKER: So down to earth. He's a nice bloke. Wants to get stuck in, make sure the guys are all right.

FOSTER: More soldier than prince, would you say?

WALKER: When he talks to us, definitely. Yes.

FOSTER: (INAUDIBLE) Thank you very much. (INAUDIBLE) Charlie.

Alison, you know, Prince Harry feels most comfortable when he's in the military. So that why's you see him sort of relaxing in these environments.

KOSIK: What other stops, Max, is he going to be making in the U.S.?

FOSTER: Well, he's going to be heading to New York. Sort of a foundation fund-raiser. That's his charity. You will see big names going to a glamorous event there. Also playing a baseball match. Here, he was about to get involved in another volleyball game.

He does like to throw himself in, Allison. That's what's great about him on these tours because he still has fun. He's not doing just the formal line-ups and all of that. Also he's going to go to an area in New Jersey affected by Hurricane Sandy. So that's going to be a poignant moment for obviously Americans. This is him really representing the UK and showing sympathy for what Americans went through in that particular area of the country.

KOSIK: OK. Max Foster, thank you so much.

In the five days since three missing women were found in Cleveland the man who helped rescue them has gotten a lot of attention this week but Charles Ramsey says he's not the real hero. Find out why.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are ultimately putting students into hard situations. Students have watched babies die in hospitals. And done wonderful things to keep other babies alive.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Twenty million low birth weight and premature babies are born every year around the world. The challenge posed to us was build a baby incubator that cost less than one percent the cost of a traditional incubator which is $20,000 in the U.S.. So what the Embrace Team came up in the class is this product. It's an infant warmer. Looks like a little sleeping bag for the baby.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So it turns out one of every four people in the world doesn't have access to reliable electricity. These are solar- powered lanterns. Basically you charge them in the sun during the day. Turn them on at night and you get light.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think to see their designs and products coming to life before their eyes induces these students to pour their heart and soul into it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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KOSIK: The latest interview from Charles Ramsey is trending now on CNN. He's the man who helped rescue the three Cleveland kidnapping victims. Ramsey spoke with Rock Newman, radio host and former boxing promoter on the We Act Radio in Washington, D.C..

CNN was exclusively invited to join them at the radio station. Ramsey described the moments after he helped Amanda Berry and her six-year- old daughter get out of the suspect's Ariel Castro's home.

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CHARLES RAMSEY, HELPED RESCUE MISSING WOMEN: She didn't even call 911 or say, forget it. Just take me to the police station. Remember, we have cars on the street. We didn't have to call nobody. She was free. All she had to do was get in a car. Take this girl to the police. She stuck around for the police to get there to tell them, go in there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So Amanda Berry is a hero.

RAMSEY: That's the damn celebrity, not me. I just played my position.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my god. Oh, my god. What a story.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSIK: What a story indeed. DNA tests confirmed that Castro is the father of Amanda Berry's six-year-old daughter.

That will do it for me. CNN "Newsroom" continues at the top of the hour with Don Lemon. But first, "Escape from Captivity in Cleveland." How we can all protect children from predators. "SANJAY GUPTA, M.D." starts right now.