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CNN NEWSROOM

Two Scares at LAX; John Kerry in Geneva; Youth Sign-up for Obamacare Low; Murdered Family Case Still Unsolved; FSU Quarterback Faces Rape Charge; Former Accuser Convicted of Murder; Charles Manson Getting Married?; Women Found Held Captive in London Home; Massachusetts High School Cancels Football Season; Teen Collects Gifts for Sick Kids

Aired November 23, 2013 - 13:00   ET

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


KAREN MAGINNIS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hello. I am meteorologist Karen McGinnis. You are watching a developing situation weather wise across the South Central United States. For Dallas, it looks like we could see a rain snow mix. A developing storm system with a winter weather advisory expected there. The storm system is going to gradually make its way across the South Central U.S. so Dallas is in that warning area. Rain covers the southeast, but as we go through time, then it becomes trickier to forecast.

We could see development of a nor'easter or we could see some of that snow make its way towards coastal sections of the northeast and New England. Either way, it is fairly blustery, cold air in place. Look for snowfall across interior sections of the northeast. What about the forecast? We go into the next several days. Look at this. For New York today, should be in the 40s. But as we go through the next couple of days, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, we'll be right around that freezing mark coming up for Sunday afternoon.

There are lake-effect snows, so driving wise you'll have some difficulties there. Could see some reduced visibility and treacherous road conditions.

Now I looked at all the weather conditions and temperatures across North Dakota because Fargo is at five degrees. That is the warmest spot that we have in the state of North Dakota. Minneapolis reporting 16 degrees right now. And these are not wind chill factors. And Chicago, 24 degrees, 19 degrees in Omaha. So you can see some of that air is gradually making its way towards the south.

So that is the set up for the chance of that icing situation across the Dallas metroplex. More than likely you'll see that materialize along some of those western suburbs. Right now it's mostly light rainfall, but we'll start to see some snowfall picking up across the pan handles of Oklahoma and Texas.

We'll have more coming up in just a little bit.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello again, everyone. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. Here are the top stories we're following for you in the CNN NEWSROOM. Police officers storm Los Angeles International Airport, guns drawn and passengers hit the ground. Hear what triggered the scare.

And London Police are canvassing a neighborhood where three women were allegedly held captive for three decades. We'll tell you what they're hoping to find.

Plus new developments in the rape investigation involving a Heisman Trophy hopeful and a fellow student. The results of DNA tests coming up.

We begin with two frightening incidents at Los Angeles International Airport. They happened almost simultaneously, one at Terminal 4, the other at Terminal 5. At Terminal 4, an apparent prank call to police last night caused this chaotic scene. Authorities say it all began when the caller reported a gunman at the airport and that prompted this response from police.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everyone on the ground.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody get down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Police evacuated the terminal but didn't find anything suspicious, and gave the all clear almost at the same time.

At Terminal 5, an SUV crashed, triggering a panic reaction from passengers inside.

CNN's Paul Vercammen has more.

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Last night, absolute panic here at LAX. What happened, this driver of what was a minivan collided with some parked cars, some other cars that hit a parking structure here. Someone mistook the sounds of the collision for gunfire. And as you also pointed out, there's what police are determining they think was a prank call to another terminal saying there was a man with a gun inside.

Well, police came rushing into both terminals, guns drawn, and basically you can imagine the passengers here absolutely scared out of their minds as this went on. Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The first I knew of it is when I was in the ladies restroom and the security guard told us to come and hide in the baby's room because there was lots of yelling and screaming outside.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was in the security line and they -- all of a sudden the security people were shouting andale, andale, and -- get move, just get, get, and everybody just went running.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VERCAMMEN: This was exactly three weeks after the fatal shooting of a TSA officer here which caused so many problems. So yesterday -- last evening 4600 people were impacted with flight delays or landings. Then you had the ripple effect, the roads in and around LAX absolutely jammed.

Many people worried and fearing that here we go all over again. But in the end it turned out to be nothing but a false alarm. That driver of the minivan that crashed said to be in good condition at a local hospital -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thank you so much, Paul Vercammen there at LAX.

All right. Overseas, talks on Iran's nuclear program appear to be moving closer to a deal. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met with Iran's foreign minister for about an hour today after arriving in Switzerland early this morning. And it sounds like there's going to be some sort of deal, if there's going to be a deal that today would be the day.

Jim Sciutto is live for us right now in Geneva.

So, Jim, are people very hopeful just because the secretary of state is there in Geneva?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, they're not giving many details. They don't want -- they're doing a lot of expectations management at this point. What we know is they're still talking. The top diplomats from the permanent five members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany, that of course includes the U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.

They're now meeting for a second time since that key meeting you mentioned between John Kerry and the Iranian foreign minister. And you can picture them in a room going over the final bullet points of a proposed agreement. And can they reach that last mile, in effect? The Iranian deputy foreign minister said a short time ago that he believes they're about 90 percent there but that last 10 percent, as we know, could be some of the most difficult issues.

Because as they meet out these talks they start with the issues, really, they have the most agreement on and then move to the more difficult ones. So they still have some issues to settle here and I think that's what they're working on now.

WHITFIELD: And what is potentially next if there is something like 11 hours left in the day of potential talks today, if no deal is reached, where does it go from here?

SCIUTTO: Well, it's a big question. And it's 7:00 here already so they could be going into the early morning hours. The last time, two weeks ago, when they had a session that broke up, they didn't break up until 2:00 in the morning. What would happen next? Listen, it would be a come down for both sides to get this close and not be able to reach agreement. Of course they could fail to reach agreement today or tomorrow, then say listen, we've got a couple more things to work through, we'll come back in another couple weeks. That would be a PR issue, something difficult, considering how expectations have been raised.

It's hard to say, really. I doubt that if a deal is not reached in the next 24 hours that they would say the talks are off, but it would be a difficult one to come back from. So, you know, that's one reason why they're working hard. They know that their window for a deal like this, both in Iran, back in the U.S. and Europe, is limited. They want to take advantage of these limited window if they can come to an agreement on the most difficult issues.

WHITFIELD: All right. Jim Sciutto, keep us posted there from Geneva. Thank you.

Back here stateside, a high school football team cancels the rest of its games because of one word. The season ending slur that brought the FBI to a small town.

But first, chilling new details in the murder of a Massachusetts teacher. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: We have an update on that shocking killing of a Danvers, Massachusetts, teacher last month. A previously sealed affidavit was released at a court hearing revealing chilling new details about the crime and the suspects including a note found next to Colleen Ritzer's body that said, quote, "I hate you all," end quote.

Fourteen-year-old Philip Chism has been indicted on charges of murder, aggravated rape, and armed robbery. He will be arraigned on December 4th.

An eighth student at Princeton University is now being treated for meningitis. Investigators are testing to see if she has the same rare bacterial strain found in seven other cases at the school. Princeton officials say they are planning to provide students with a vaccine. The vaccine has been approved in Europe but not in the U.S.

And people signing up for Obamacare will have a little more time when to do so. The Obama administration is now extending its deadline by one week, giving Americans until December 23rd to sign up in order to have health coverage starting in January. But people will have to make their first premium payment on or before December 31st to make sure that they are insured.

Meanwhile, not many young people are signing up for Obamacare, particularly via the federal sign up Web site, healthcare.gov.

Out Tom Foreman breaks down those numbers for us.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: One of the things we've known all along about Obamacare is you have to have enough young people sign up to make it work. Young, healthy people who will pay more into the system than they will take out and right now in the few states where we have data on that, the numbers aren't looking particularly good. California, 23 percent of the people signing up now and a big surge of sign-ups there are in that category of young and healthy.

Washington state, same thing. Kentucky, one of the best rated states right now in terms of having their state program work, only 19 percent young and healthy signing up. Connecticut also 19 percent, and Maryland, 27 percent.

It's just a sampling right now but it matters because this number is so important. You have to have about seven million -- at least this is the projection by Congressional Budget Office by next March for this thing to be working properly. Right now, only 3 percent of that number has been achieved.

That's not necessarily a big worry because they expected it to be slow at first, then pick up momentum later on. But this question of who is signing up is a bigger, more important matter. The target is out of the 100 percent, 38 percent have to be young and healthy. 38 percent. And right now, the early data has it at 21.6 percent fitting into that category.

As this number grows, this number has to grow and get closer to that target because if they don't hit that target, then the math starts getting into trouble, according to the Congressional Budget Office, and that could put the whole program into a bit of a tailspin.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much, Tom Foreman.

All right. A California family of four murdered, their bodies found in shallow graves. The mysteries swirling around their the deaths and their disappearance next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Police in southern California are still trying to solve a baffling murder case, a family of four found dead in the desert.

Did the family try to flee to Mexico and who would want them dead?

CNN's Randi Kaye picks up the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the California desert just north of Victorville, a gruesome discovery by a motorcycle rider. Two shallow graves. Inside, two adults and two small children. After noticing human bones in the dirt, the rider calls the San Bernardino County sheriff.

(On camera): The Sheriff's Department is stumped. Who is this family and why would anyone murder them, including their two small children? And why bury them here in the middle of the California desert? An investigator with the Coroner's Office reaches out to the Justice Department, asking them to check for any records of any missing family of four. It isn't long before the Justice Department tells investigators here to look at the McStay family case.

(Voice-over): This is Joseph McStay. His wife Summer and their two little boys, Gianni and Joseph Jr. Nearly four years ago, February 4th, 2010, they vanished from their home in Victorville, California, north of San Diego. Fifteen days after the McStays disappear, investigators enter their home for the first time. There are no signs of forced entry. And nothing seems to be missing, that is except the McStay family.

(On camera): Inside, investigators find a puzzling scene. Bowls of popcorn in front of the television, eggs on the counter along with a banana. Outside, another surprise. The McStays' dogs tied up in the yard.

Did the family leave on their own in a hurry thinking they'd be back? Or was it something more sinister? Did someone they know and perhaps trust force them to leave?

Do you believe there's any possibility that that home and the scene inside that home was staged?

JAN CALDWELL, SAN DIEGO SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT: That's one theory, and of course we've looked at that. We don't see anything like that. We don't have any hard evidence to indicate that, but we keep that in the back of our minds.

KAYE (voice-over): Adding to the mystery? It appears the family had no plans to run away. Summer McStay was making plans for her sister to visit and the couple had just spent $4,000 on brand new flooring in their home. Investigators don't find any unusual withdrawals or deposits in their bank accounts either.

(On camera): A neighbor's security camera captures the family's Isuzu Trooper driving away from the McStay's home at 7:47 p.m. the night they disappeared. Four days later, it is towed from the parking lot of a strip mall here at the San Isidro border crossing, just about an hour's drive south of the family's home.

(Voice-over): The vehicle offers few clues. The only fingerprints on it match the McStays. So why park at the border? Had the family run off to Mexico?

On surveillance video from the border crossing, investigators are shocked to find what appears to be a family of four, matching the McStays' description, crossing into Mexico the very same day their vehicle was towed.

That video is just another piece of the puzzle. Another addition to this massive case file which holds tips from Indiana to Burbank to Baja, California. A waiter in Mexico says he served them dinner. A bartender is sure they ordered cocktails. Nothing checks out. CALDWELL: That's certainly part of this huge puzzle. What happened here? Was that part staged? Did they actually cross into Mexico? We still think that there's a strong possibility that they did. When did they come back? Were they under duress? I mean, these are all questions that we want to find out.

KAYE: And now after nearly four years the answers may be closer than ever. Within days of finding the remains in the desert graves, they are identified as Joseph and Summer McStay and their two little boys. Investigators say they were murdered but it is unclear how, nor do they know who killed them.

Mike McStay came to see his brother's shallow grave for the first time.

MIKE MCSTAY, JOSEPH MCSTAY'S BROTHER: You see how this is kind of sunken down? Gives you a little cover from the road. Someone had to know the area, had to know you needed a four-wheel drive.

KAYE: This man wrote a book about the McStay case. He's long doubted drug cartels are to blame.

RICK BAKER, AUTHOR, "THE GOOD-BYES": Cartel hit doesn't work this way, the graves were only two feet deep. Joseph and Summer were in one grave, very shallow grave, only 50 feet off the main road. A cartel kills an entire family, they'll bury them, they'll never be found. So this was amateurish.

KAYE: Mike McStay just wants to know who did it and he wants them to pay.

MCSTAY: You guys are cowards and all of America is coming after you, we're going to find you. And we're going to prosecute you. And I am going to be there every step of the way and I am going to be there when it's -- when you meet your fate.

KAYE: Randi Kaye, CNN, Victorville, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: A troubling investigation.

All right. And new developments in the rape investigation involving a Heisman Trophy hopeful and a fellow student. We're on the scene next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: In just a few hours, Florida State University takes on Idaho. And if all eyes weren't already on FSU's star quarterback Jameis Winston today he is under scrutiny for something far more serious. He's facing allegations of raping a student.

Our Nick Valencia is in Tallahassee outside the stadium.

So, Nick, Winston's accuser released a new statement today and what did it say? NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, according to state attorney, part of what's complicating the facts in this case is almost the daily back-and-forth between the two sides. The attorney for the alleged victim, Patricia Carroll, saying yesterday that in part this was not consensual, this was rape.

She was responding to statements made just a few days ago by the attorney of Jameis Winston, who said that despite DNA of his client being found on the alleged victim's clothing, that that does not change their defense. All along from day one they have claimed, they say, that this was a consensual encounter between the two -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: And so how might this impact the team as well as this player, this star quarterback?

VALENCIA: Well, this has certainly been a distraction here locally, but you wouldn't be able to tell by how Jameis Winston has responded to this. There's been a couple of games since this alleged incident came to light. And in those games he's played very well, he seemed to be loose and comfortable.

The Florida State Seminoles are still in the hunt for the national title as well and Jameis Winston is still considered the frontrunner for the Heisman Trophy, although some sports fans, Fred, they may argue that even if he is innocent and he did not have anything to do with this alleged rape that it's ruined his reputation and perhaps may have cost him already the Heisman Trophy -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: And what's the latest in the investigation in terms of what might be next?

VALENCIA: So yesterday I met with the state attorney in this jurisdiction, and he said that they're not at the stage of whether or not they will or will not bring charges forward. They still are in the very preliminary stage of the investigation. He says they have a lot of work to do. So, you know, we've spoken to a lot of people here locally, Fred, and a lot of students, the majority of which we've spoken to say that they have the back of Jameis Winston.

They say that this is peculiar timing for the victim to have come forward, nearly a year after this alleged incident took place, in December, 2012. There are of course some fans who are questioning the integrity of the quarterback, but the majority of the people here at Florida State in Tallahassee, they're standing by their quarterback and they want to see him get through this -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Nick Valencia, thank you so much.

Let's talk more about this case with Wendy Murphy, a former prosecutor who is now a law professor at New England Law Boston and a CNN legal analyst and defense attorney Mark Geragos.

Good to see both of you.

MARK GERAGOS, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Hi, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, so, Wendy, you know, you first.

WENDY MURPHY, FORMER PROSECUTOR: Good to be here.

WHITFIELD: So Winston's lawyer says the sex was consensual. His client's DNA was found on the clothing of the woman, but what will it take? We heard from Nick who said investigators still have a whole lot more work to do. What do they need, what will it take before there are actually charges that may come or no charges that are brought?

MURPHY: Well, you know, people do say things about this case being complicated and it takes time to figure it out and so forth. I just don't agree with that premise.

WHITFIELD: Why not?

MURPHY: Because when something happens between two people and they know what happened, you can easily proceed with a case if you interview the witnesses and you believe that you can prove the crime beyond a reasonable doubt based on their statements. So I think that why this case might be a little more complicated in terms of requiring a bit more of an investigation before charges are filed, if at all, is that it's been so long.

I mean, this crime happened almost a year ago. The police knew about it right away. It was reported right away. And, you know, there were things about the lawyer on behalf of Winston being in contact with the police early on when he was reportedly at least a person of interest, and the victim's side didn't even know about that, and then what was it that took all this time before somebody said hey, can we have a DNA swab to do some sample testing on the victim's clothing?

I think the delays, including the possibility that the timing here is unfair to this guy, the delays in this case I think are the responsibility of the prosecutor to make an assessment, not only did a crime occur, but is there -- is there another agenda here on either side that caused this case to become so present now at this interesting moment in time when he's up for a Heisman, for example.

Was the victim behind it or is this motivated by perhaps tension between the police and the district attorney's office? There seems to be a fight there as well about whether there should have been charges earlier in this case. Remains to be seen.

WHITFIELD: So, Mark, how do you see a complaint filed a year ago, but there have been several delays and now we are at this juncture of this case. What does it tell you about handling of the case, what's missing, what's really at the core of all of the delays or perhaps even lack of evidence?

GERAGOS: Well, I think what you probably got, and it's -- we don't -- it hasn't been leaked out yet as everything else seems to be in this case -- is that probably the police took it to the state's attorney, the state's attorney probably said go do further investigation. We don't think we have enough. Then it kind of languishes. And that happens all the time where the police have something else that is more pressing, they go to that.

The timing, and I would echo Wendy here. The timing is extremely suspicious. All of a sudden you're here, they're in the hunt for the BCS, and then all -- and he is, you know, one of the top, if not the top candidate for a Heisman. And all of a sudden it reignites, as if there's some kind of -- she's lawyered up. And, you know, why does she have a lawyer? You know, the cynic in me would say it's because they think potentially there's going to be some money to be had and what better time to bring these charges or reignite them than right before something that's going to -- that he might be able to cash in on.

WHITFIELD: Wow. Incredible case with lots of implications. Meantime, let's move on to another case that really just crossed moments ago. We are talking about something that happened seven years ago, did happen or didn't happen.

Seven years ago, a rape allegation turning the Duke University lacrosse team and the community for that matter upside down. Three team members were accused of raping a woman that was hired as a stripper at a party. The athletes were arrested, but charges later dropped, even the head coach, you know, lost his job.

Well, now fast forward the woman who falsely accused the three Duke University lacrosse players of rape was now recently convicted of second-degree murder in the stabbing deaths of her boyfriend, that conviction happening Friday. That according to our affiliate WRAL.

Thirty-four-year-old Crystal Mangum said that she stabbed her boyfriend in self-defense, but an attorney said evidence didn't support her claim. So now Mangum was sentenced to between 14 and 18 years in jail for the killing of her boyfriend.

So, Mark, let me bring you into this. Difficult to know whether we should even compare these two cases, but now given this conviction, does it make you, does it make anyone think differently or perceive differently now about that case seven years ago involving the Lacrosse team?

GERAGOS: Well, you know, I'm -- it's interesting that I'm on with Wendy today because Wendy and I have sparred back and forth about this woman and -- and that whole prosecution. I thought at the time that that prosecution was not only ill advised but that prosecutor and we were vindicated to some degree was -- ended up being disbarred. Now you have a woman, and, you know, somebody had remarked to me this morning, karma is a bitch.

You've got a situation where, you know, she had at least arguably a decent defense in this case, but has absolutely no credibility. I mean, she's tried for -- she's tried for a crime where her credibility is at issue and she -- you know, anybody who knows her or knows of her knows that she has absolutely no credibility. So it's an amazing, amazing turn of events.

WHITFIELD: It really is. And, Wendy, I mean, now we're talking about a conviction, very serious crime, and this turnaround of events. But just as Mark underscored, you have the disbarring, you had people whose lives changed forever, arrests, charges dropped, firings, a lot transpired in seven years.

MURPHY: Yes. I can't believe it's been seven years.

(LAUGHTER)

WHITFIELD: I can't either.

MURPHY: Wow. You know, here's the interesting thing. I mean, again, Mark and I have debated I don't know how many cases, and one of the arguments Mark always makes that I usually take the other side on is if a person has had a bad history, they had a tough time in life, they've lied, including, you know, Michael Jackson, for example, five, I think five prior allegations of child sex abuse, and Mark kept saying against my argument you can't let prior bad acts in to prove or disprove someone's credibility in this case. That's unfair prejudice.

Well, you know, whatever the issue was seven years ago, she was entitled to a fair trial without being judged for whatever things she's done wrong in her life, whether she was a hooker, a stripper --

WHITFIELD: Yes. But some people were judging her --

MURPHY: Whether she lied about rape or not.

WHITFIELD: People were judging her because she was a stripper and hired for this party. They're --

(CROSSTALK)

GERAGOS: That's exactly right.

MURPHY: They were. They were.

GERAGOS: Exactly right.

MURPHY: But I'm just saying she's entitled to a fair trial in this case and we shouldn't be talking about what happened seven years ago. It's not relevant and it is prejudicial.

GERAGOS: You know what, Wendy?

MURPHY: Mark usually makes that argument.

GERAGOS: I was going to say save that tape because the next time that Wendy is on here and she's arguing about somebody's prior bad acts, I want to replay that.

(LAUGHTER)

WHITFIELD: OK. We'll save it, we'll put a little Post-It on it, and then we'll be able to rewind.

Thanks so much, Mark Geragos, Wendy Murphy, good to see both of you. Appreciate that. MURPHY: You bet.

WHITFIELD: All right. Three women held captive for 30 years behind walls. And we're now learning new information about their ordeal. That is coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Police in south London are doing everything they can to uncover more evidence in a horrifying case of possibly people being held against their will. They're going house to house in the neighborhood where police say three women were held captive for more than 30 years.

Atika Shubert joins us live now from London.

So, Atika, what are investigators hoping to find?

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, this is the area they have been going house to house. You can see some of the policemen there right behind me. It's where police believe the three women were held captive for years. But why and how is what they're still trying to understand.

We do have some more details from police on the two suspects in particular. A 67-year-old man and a 67-year-old woman, one from Tanzania, the other from India. And they apparently met two -- the two older victims in this case in the 1960s, and apparently had a shared political ideology. They formed some sort of collective, but how it went from being a collective to having these women suddenly being under the complete control allegedly of this couple is what police are trying to understand.

They have also told the press that they now have the birth certificate of the youngest victim, a 30-year-old woman. But that's the only record they have of her. And they believe that she was effectively born into servitude -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: And so, Atika, do they know the 30-year-old who was born into servitude? Was it birthed by any of the women who were in the house there or how did she get there?

SHUBERT: They're not saying yet. That is something that they're looking at, whether it's possible that the 57-year-old Irish woman, for example, could be the mother, could the men who -- the suspect in the couple, could be the father? We don't know yet. Police aren't giving us the details. They're saying they're trying to untangle the relationship here, but also trying to figure out why there was so much psychological control over the three women that absolutely terrorized by the -- by the suspects and deeply traumatized.

WHITFIELD: All right. A very confusing case. Atika Shubert, thank you so much. Let us know when you have new developments on it.

All right. North Korea meantime has confirmed to Swedish diplomats that it is detaining an American citizen. The family of 85-year-old Korean War veteran Merrill Newman says the country has been holding him since October 26th. His wife is pleading for his release, saying he only had enough heart medicine for the 10-day tour that he was on. North Korea has not said why they're holding Newman.

Is Charles Manson really getting married? A 25-year-old woman named Star says she loves the 79-year-old convicted murderer. The former cult leader is serving a life sentence for masterminding a 1969 killing spree in California.

Here is Ted Rowlands.

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fred, it sounds crazy, a 25-year-old marrying any 79-year-old, let alone Charles Manson, but that looks like is going to happen -- it is going to happen. This young lady, her name is Star, Charles Manson gave her that name when she came out to California to be close to him. She's from the Midwest, left her home, and went to live in Corcoran, California, where the Corcoran State Prison is, where Manson is housed.

She, for the first year, worked at McDonald's, now she sells artwork. She's known him now for eight years in total and has lived out there in excess of five years, and I had the opportunity to meet her when she was 21 years old a few years ago, about four years ago. And the obvious first question I had for her, why Charles Manson.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STAR, FRIEND OF CHARLES MANSON: Charlie is all about ATWA, which is air, trees, water, animals. And he's been talking about it for over 40 years. And none of the TV shows have ever picked that up, I don't know why.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROWLANDS: Star says she was first attracted to Charles Manson because of his views on the environment, and then and only after some time passed that she realize who he was in totality and says it doesn't bother her, she's met him obviously many times and bottom line is she loves him. The state of California will facilitate a marriage for any prisoner who wants to get married. The person marrying the prisoner has to pay all of the costs.

And in Charles Manson's case, there will be no conjugal visits between Charles Manson and Star, if they indeed do get married -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, Ted Rowlands, thank you so much for that.

All right. One word cancelled the season for a high school football team and brings the FBI to a small town, that's coming up next. But first, the Philippines is the location for the current season of CBS's "Survivor." "Survivor" host Jeff Probst has shot four seasons in the Philippines and he talks about how typhoon Haiyan is truly impacting his world.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JEFF PROBST, HOST, "SURVIVOR": I've spent over the last two years, eight months in the Philippines. And while we didn't shoot in that exact area, there is such a sense of community in that country because it's an island -- it's an island community.

They don't have much to begin with. It was not uncommon when we would go through the villages to see people in a tin shack with wood on the side and maybe a fire burning inside and a clothesline with a few shirts on it. That was their daily life. And you wouldn't know anything was not OK because everybody have this joy in their hearts.

But when you take that very little bit they have away, and you combine it with all of this disaster, now you have just a major catastrophe. And rebuilding that is going to be enormous.

"Survivor" has always been connected to the communities we go to. So we even have our own internal stuff that we're doing with the doctors we've worked with there, who are on -- you know, on the ground and we're helping support them.

You can't help but feel simultaneously helpless and on the other hand grateful that you're safe because this could hit us. It could hit anybody.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: If you would like to help, log on to CNN.com/impact.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: A Massachusetts high school is cancelling the rest of its football season after someone spray painted a racist comment on a player's home. The slur read "Knights Don't Need It," the N word.

Joining me now, ESPN senior writer and CNN commentator L.Z. Granderson.

All right, do you think canceling the season was the right move?

L.Z. GRANDERSON, CNN COMMENTATOR: Given that the superintendent first asked for someone to step forward and say that they committed that particular crime, and no one stepped forward, then, yes. I think cancelling the season was the only move that you could make. He certainly couldn't go and pretend as if nothing happened.

WHITFIELD: And what about pressure coming from, say, the other players, or perhaps the one player? Apparently there's just one African-American on the team whose home was defaced in that manner?

GRANDERSON: Well, you know, you look at the demographics of the town and I, you know, took (INAUDIBLE) over at the U.S. Census, and you're looking at a town that's over 97 percent white, which is even significantly higher than Massachusetts, which I think the state itself is 86 percent white. So you're looking at an area that's very, very isolated. And when you think about the fact that you have this family move into this town, probably was already, you know, sticking out anyway.

It's very unfortunate that this young man, that this family had to deal with this and that he's feeling traumatized. And as -- you know, I saw reports that, you know, they're looking to transfer him to a different school. And that's very, very unfortunate.

WHITFIELD: And, you know, there's a message being sent, clearly, to the team, to the entire student body, about zero tolerance.

Why does this seem rather unusual when you have so many instances, you know, kind of that dot the map, there may be a particular student or a group of students that might be singled out, but in this case, this school, they decided that everyone is going to suffer, that we have a zero tolerance, you know, approach to a problem like this?

GRANDERSON: I think is sends a very strong message to not just to the students but to the community. Because you have to remember, you know -- and I hate being judgmental like this is a parent judging another parent, but these kids didn't come up with this notion of racism on their own. You know, you've got to think somehow, some way, they've learned it from their environment and their parents are the ones (INAUDIBLE) that environment.

And so this is a message to the community at large. That we will not tolerate this. That the world is getting small. Technology is forcing us to become smaller and that we have to figure out a way to be able to embrace those who are different than us.

I was at a university recently, a Dominican university outside of Chicago here, and we talked about embracing players, athletes, on your team who's different than you, whether it's your faith, whether it's your race. And the things that they're doing there is that they're having these open conversations. So what I would encourage for that district to do is not to allow the punishment to be the teachable moment, because a lot of people do not learn strictly from the punishment but to go a step further and have these kind of conversations and education so that you don't have these kind of ugly circumstances happening again.

WHITFIELD: And perhaps other schools, school districts, other student bodies are also --

GRANDERSON: Absolutely.

WHITFIELD: -- listening and hearing situations like this and perhaps learning a lesson as well.

L.Z. Granderson, always good to see you. Thanks so much.

GRANDERSON: Hey, thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Alex Rodriguez, well, he's appealing his 211- game suspension from Major League Baseball, which accuses him of using performance-enhancing drugs but did he hurt his own case after storming out of that hearing? We'll look at what's in store for the baseball star in our 3:00 hour. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Coming up next on CNN, "YOUR MONEY." Chief business correspondent Christine Romans has a preview.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fredricka.

Christiane Amanpour called the massacre in Newtown, Connecticut, quote, "a biblical slaughter of the innocents." One year later, she's going to join me to see what if anything has changed in America's gun culture.

An all-new "YOUR MONEY" comes your way in a moment -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks so much, Christine. All that and more in just a few minutes.

And a 14-year-old girl with a rare brain condition will have to spend Christmas in the hospital, but she's not letting that dampen her holiday spirit. She, her family and her cheerleading squad have collected more than 1,000 toys to give to the other children who will be in that same hospital with her.

Jake Burns of our affiliate WTVR in Virginia has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's something else that my --

JAKE BURNS, WTVR REPORTER: The nerves build and build for Savannah Day before each cheer competition.

SAVANNAH DAY, WILL HAVE BRAIN SURGERY NEXT MONTH: It gets your nerves up definitely.

BURNS: She's focused on the here and now at the Richmond Coliseum, but lingering along, what's going to happen next month in Cincinnati.

DAY: Well, we're on the way to cheer practice and my mom told me that I would have to have brain surgery a few days before Christmas, and I would be in the hospital until the day after Christmas.

MICHELLE DAY, MOTHER: (INAUDIBLE) malformation. It's basically where the brain has actually grown down into the spinal canal and it's actually blocking the spinal fluid from going in and out of the brain.

BURNS: At her final cheer competition before surgery, Savannah is doing more than cheering.

S. DAY: I just think about the toy drive and all that helps me get through it.

BURNS: These toys her family collected Sunday will be added to a growing pile in Savannah's basement. Her family has collected more than 1500 toys since they found out about the surgery.

S. DAY: Crazy. Like a toy factory.

BURNS: And they'll give them all to the more than 500 kids who'll spend Christmas with them in the Cincinnati Children's Hospital.

M. DAY: It's going to be, I think, amazing, and I think it's going to be very rewarding. I think Savannah's going to go into surgery on such a high note.

BURNS: The high note is Sunday. Savannah's final performance before the surgery.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You came out to support one of your cheerleaders, Savannah, right?

BURNS: After the routine, you could see what it meant to Savannah.

M. DAY: You know, she smiles every day. There's been very few tears shed at our house.

BURNS: For a 14-year-old who thinks of others at one of her toughest moments.

S. DAY: Leave it all out on the mat.

BURNS: This moment will help her push through to December.

Jake Burns, CBS 6 News.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: She's inspiring so many. All the best to her over the holiday season, especially, and everybody else who's in the hospital with her.

All right. Coming up at 2:30, with the latest on that knockout game, you heard about it, right? The latest details on teens sucker punching unsuspecting victims. Police describing it as a possible hate crime.

And it's getting down to the wire in Switzerland. We'll have more on the Iran nuke talks today, and we're staying on top of that developing story, also.

Jackie Kennedy's pink suit she wore at the day JFK's assassination, but where is it now? Details straight ahead.

But first, "YOUR MONEY" starts right now.