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Two Teens Arrested On Terrorism Intent Charges; Pope Francis Calls For End To Violence And Oppression Around The World; Kenyan Authorities Works To Identify Last Week's Al-Sbabab Attack On Campus; Badgers Vs. Blue Devils For National Championship; Families, Witnesses Reflect On The Tragedy; American Killed In Yemen Fighting; Columbia Report On Botched "Rolling Stone" Story; Feds: Pesticide Suspected In Family's Illness. Aired 2-3p ET

Aired April 5, 2015 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:22] FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Happening right now in the NEWSROOM, teenaged terror suspects, a 14-year-old and 16-year-old arrested. Police telling CNN they were preparing for an act of terrorism.

And the story behind "Rolling Stone" magazine's horrifying report of a gang rape at the University of Virginia. Well tonight, the Columbia graduate school journalism released its explanation about floss in the magazine's reporting and how it went wrong.

Plus, a family apparently poisoned by pesticides while on vacation in the U.S. Virgin Islands. What is the chemical they were exposed to and how did it happen?

NEWSROOM starts now.

All right, thanks so much for joining me. Happy Easter! I'm Fredericka Whitfield.

Two teens have been arrested on charges they were preparing to commit an act of terrorism. British police first arrested a 14-year-old boy on Thursday after, quote, "examining some electronic devices." The next day officials raided another home in northern England and arrested a 16-year-old girl on related charges. Police aren't releasing other details just yet, but both suspects have been released on bail and have a hearing set for May 28th.

I want to bring Tom Fuentes. He is a CNN law enforcement analyst and former assistant director of the FBI. He is joining us now from Washington. Good to see you.

I mean, to these suspects, they're getting younger. We're talking about 14 and 16 years old here. How do you suppose they are being influenced to allegedly commit an act of terror or be part of my plan?

TOM FUENTES, FORMER FBI ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR: Well, I think, and Fredricka, this you know, all we can do is to speculate at this point. The British are so close hold as to how the investigation was initiated and typically they're much more closed mouths about their investigation than we tend to be here in the United States. We give more information, especially when they make the court appearance on what led to the investigation, why it was open, generally what was found during the course of it. But, you know, in this case, you know, they're not usually making arrests of kids 14 years old and the girl 16 in this case. So it's pretty unusual and they must have had some pretty specific information they were basing it on to make actual arrests in the case. WHITFIELD: Right. And you wonder what kind of information that might

be. We do understand the boy was charged with suspicion of preparing for an act of terrorism, the girl on suspicion at engaging in conduct in preparation of terrorist acts. Again, this is Great Britain. But in your view, what do you suppose was the kind of evidence that investigators had in order to make arrests?

FUENTES: Well, I think it would have started with probably social media, as we have seen with so many of these cases even, you know, around the world, including in England. And so, possibly they were communicating with other friends or classmates or other, you know, family acquaintances that they intended to do something and the police were trying to get in the middle of it, to try to track their emails and their social media and see if there was anything more to this than just idle chatter or bragging on the part of these kids. And there must have been more specific information or possibly information that one or both would have access to a weapon or weapons where they could, you know, shoot a police officer. We have had British police officers attacked with machetes in the last year and a half. So it doesn't necessarily require explosives or firearms, but it must have been something a little more aggressive than just talk.

WHITFIELD: And you know, the counterterrorism agencies in Great Britain have been challenged for a very long time with trying to weed out potential terrorists or at least investigate many suspicions, how do you suppose they are even greater tasked with challenges today?

FUENTES: Well, they said the same thing that our authorities have said, and the Canadians and the Australians, and pretty much the French as we saw in the "Charlie Hebdo" attack I that the authorities are just, you know, trying to play catch up with the thousands of messages that go out over jihadi sites and the postings and videos, all of the things that are going on out there and just trying to track down how many people in all of these countries are being influenced by that. And we know that it's thousands that have gone, joined ISIS, they have made the trip or engaged in terrorism in their own country without leaving town and this is something the, you know, the FBI here in this country and MI5 and the other terrorism task forces in Great Britain, you know, facing the same issues, that it's just hard to keep track of all these people that start talking about supporting jihad.

[14:05:06] WHITFIELD: And then Tom, when we look at the map, you know, you see these two arrests, the 14-year-old and the 16-year-old, the arrest taking place in different community, is it your suspicion that these young kids were acting alone or do you expect that there will be other arrests to take place that maybe supporting these allegations that they are now facing?

FUENTES: They normally, you know, the authorities try to round up everybody and not just arrest a couple of people, which might cause the others to flee. So I would think in this case, before they take a case down as we do here in the U.S., you want to know that you pretty much identified everybody that might be involved in the plot, unless somebody is going forward or leaving the country immediately and you have to move. But it sounds in this case like they might have been confident that they had everybody. And there may have been some related cases of British subjects who have tried to go to Syria and the British have said that those are not related to the arrest of these two kids.

WHITFIELD: So Tom, is all this coincidental to you? We are talking about these two arrests there in Great Britain, just a few days ago, two arrests of women New York, one arrest in Philadelphia of a woman. Purely co-incidental or do you suppose that there's increased activity and it just so happens that counter terrorism task forces are able to make these arrests nearly simultaneously?

FUENTES: Yes. There's so much increased activity, that when they think the time is right to take a case down on a case by case basis, they take them down, and there is just amazed these cases that it does become coincidental that you might have two or three cases in one week and then maybe go a couple without one. But you know, there is a lot to consider when you are running one of these investigations which I have done, you know, of when you take the case down. You want to make sure that you have everybody available to be arrested. And there's nobody out there that you have missed in this case that could still carry on an act or they're not fleeing the country or they're not actually carrying out the violence so.

So you know, you want to acquire as much evidence as possible to prove your case and to show it's not entrapment or it wasn't just an aspirational plot on their part. But, you know, going into operational, but that's the judgment of the executives of all these cases all over the world that run these cases of when do you take it down, when do you have enough?

And, you know, when you have young kids like this, do you just dismiss it? You know, we have gang members in this country 14-year-olds. They have gun people down on the streets all the time. So the mere youth of the people involve is no guarantee that they aren't going to be able to pull off something terrible.

WHITFIELD: Right. All right,

Tom Fuentes, thanks so much from Washington. Very disturbing, but thank you very much for your information.

FUENTES: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right, this Easter Sunday, Pope Francis is calling for an end to violence and oppression across the world, from Kenya to Iran. Thousands of faithful Christians packed into St. Peter's square to here the Pope's annual Easter message. The pontiff expressed a deep concern about the recent bloodshed in Kenya and in Iraq.

Senior international correspondent Ben Wedeman is in Rome with details. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's supposed to be a holiday occasion when Christians marked the resurrection of Jesus. But the weather in St. Peter's square was cool and rainy. The spirit of Easter this year marred by violence, most recently in Kenya where militants from the Somali Islamist group al-Shabab slaughtered almost 150 mostly Christian students at a Garissa University.

Pope Francis marking this third Easter as pontiff, pray for peace in Kenya, in Iraq, in Syria, in the holy land, in Libya, in Yemen, in Nigeria and Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo and then Ukraine.

POPE FRANCIS (through translator): We ask peace of (INAUDIBLE) for beloved Syria and Iraq that the roar of arms may cease and that peaceful relations may be restored among the various groups which make up those beloved countries. May the international community not stand by before the immense humanitarian tragedy unfolding in these countries and the drama of the numerous refugees.

WEDEMAN: Clearly, his mind occupied by war and rumors of war the world over. He did however end his Easter address on a slightly lighter note, asking all those present to pray for him and wishing one and all a good Easter lunch.

Ben Wedeman, CNN, Rome.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[14:09:58] WHITFIELD: And Kenyan officials are identifying the man they say planned last week's bloody al-Shabab's terror attack on that college campus that killed more than 147 people, most of them students. Authorities are offering a $250,000 reward for the alleged mastermind, Mohammad Mahamood.

Meanwhile, Kenya police have identified one of the suspected attackers as the son of a government official. CNN's Christian Purefoy, joins me now from Garissa, Kenya.

So what more do we know about this connection to the Kenyan government?

CHRISTIAN PUREFOY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well it does on the face of it seem like quite a remarkable connection, Fred. But the father of this man, (INAUDIBLE), who has been identified as one of the terrorists that went into that university, he said he hasn't -- the father said he hasn't seen his son since 2013 after he shortly left university. He said he informed the authorities that his son had gone missing and then he basically given up. So he says, you know, that sort of government connection if you like, you know, seems to stop short there.

But then, there is this new details of this mastermind that the interior ministry of Kenya has given out information on, as you said, Mohammad Mahmood. Now, he is basically since to be in-charge of that sort of border reach and along Somalia and charge of external attacks into Kenyan territory. He was responsible, for example, for the bus attack that killed 28 people in 2013. And it was a similar modus operandi, the attackers, the terrorists stopped the bus and separated the Christians from Muslims and then killed the Christians.

Just one thing, it has to remember, when we talk about these people as master minds, we can't forget that they're going in to these places and just simply using the cruelest, simplest means to skill -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: And Christian, why is it so difficult to find this Mohammad Mahamood?

PUREFOY: Well, Kenya is based in Somalia, but troops in Somalia with his regional partners and perhaps the most importantly they're partnering with the U.S. in drone strikes and there are regular drone strikes on specific targets in Somalia. So you know, and this has just going process for many years now. These leaders are often tracked down and killed but it really is just a waste land out there, the it's bad lands of Kenya, its dessert and bush and really nothing else out these. So trying to track these guy who become, you know, very good at hiding themselves is very difficult.

WHITFIELD: All right. Christian Purefoy, thank you so much from Garissa, Kenya.

Alright, back here at home, and then there were just two, a wild night of March madness as the championship game is now set. Andy Scholes is now in Indianapolis. Andy, do you get any fleet?

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fred. Kentucky's dreams of an undefeated season are now over and one of their players said after the game, in the postgame press conference drawing a lot of criticism this morning. We'll tell you what he said after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:16:21] WHITFIELD: Yes, Duke fans have a day to rest now before the Blue Devils play again, this time for the national championships tomorrow night. It's almost like a broken record. They're always there. Well, yesterday's final four game wasn't even close, at least (INAUDIBLE).

Number one, Duke dominating number seven Michigan state. The Blue Devils were up by 11 points in halftime and the Spartans just couldn't get themselves back in the game. Duke eventually beating the Michigan state, 81-61.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYING)

WHITFIELD: Just many Wisconsin fans might be waking up just about now to catch this report, some celebrating all night after the badgers' stunning wing over the University of Kentucky, remember they were undefeated, the perfect team, the final score, 71-64.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYING) WHITFIELD: And, boy, this is Lexington, Kentucky, police describing Wildcat fans as rowdy and at time hostile. Well, disappointing fans set fire in the streets and police had to break up a few fights. In fact, they were about 31 arrests, mostly alcohol related and disorderly conduct.

Alright, let's go to CNN's Andy Scholes who is still there in Indianapolis.

A little bit of a surprise in one camp, they are really not so much in the other. I'm talking about Duke. They seems to always dominate. But anyway, we are still going for now, on to the championship. So let's talk about how it all unfolded.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Fred. You just showed that video from Lexington, Kentucky. There were a lot of disappointed Kentucky fans leaving (INAUDIBLE) stadium here last night. They weren't setting anything on fire, but definitely disappointed that their dream of an undefeated season is now over.

But what game this was. It felt much more like a finals than a semi- finals. Wisconsin and Kentucky, they went back and forth all night, and Wisconsin's star player, Frank Kamisky, he had an awesome night. He is the college player of the year and he proved it again last night in this one, 20 points, 11 rebounds. And when the badgers needed a big shot in this game, Sam (INAUDIBLE) came through once again. He hit a big three-pointer with under two minutes to go to give Wisconsin the lead for good. As you said, they went on to win this one, 71-64. Kentucky's Roster, just full of NBA draft, they were stunned in this one as were their fans.

And after the game, CNN's Rachel Nichols, she spoke with Kentucky coach, John Calipari, about their first loss in the season.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RACHEL NICHOLS, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: It's been basically a year since you guys lost a game, what were those kids like in the locker room postgame?

JOHN CALIPARI, KENTUCKY COACH: They knew they let something slip away, you know I mean? Here's the thing, up four, our team has always finished those off, and we just didn't execute down the stretch and I put that on me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: And with Duke beating Michigan state handily, the stage is now set for tomorrow night. It's going to be Badgers versus Blue Devils for the national championship. And you're going to have to stay up late for this one, tipoff isn't until 9:18 eastern. That will be on CBS. And Fred, you know a lot of people, you know, are refilling out their brackets and looking at them again once at this time of the year. You know, (INAUDIBLE) Kentucky to win. That is not end up of happening. But yet, Duke or Wisconsin, you're in good shape. WHITFIELD: OK. Hey, well big disappointment for Kentucky, but maybe

an even bigger disappointment now is the guard Andrew Harrison now having to apologize for some words that were just completely inappropriate, non-sportsmanlike. What's happened and what's happening now?

SCHOLES: Yes. You know, Kentucky's players were clearly frustrated after their first loss of the season last night. You know, the Harrison twins, they didn't even shake hands with the Wisconsin players after the game. And in the postgame press conference, Andrew Harrison was one of the players that was available to the media. Well, a reporter was asking Carl Anthony Towns a question about Wisconsin star player Frank Kamisky. And while the reporter, just after he finished asking the question about Kaminsky, Harrison, with his hands over his mouth, uttered explosive that n-word, apparently directed at Kamisky. And the mic in front of him picked up the audio. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[14:20:27] UNIDENTIFIED MALE REPORTER: George of "USA Today," this is for Carl, wonder if you talk about Kamisky and what makes him so difficult to (bleep) and what if anything is unique about defending him, the things he does.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Carl.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Now, Harrison realized what had happened and he took to twitter early this morning to apologize. This is what he tweeted out, first I want to apologize for my poor choice of words using jets toward a player I respect and know. When I realized how this could be perceived, I immediately called Big Frank to apologize and let him know I didn't mean any disrespect. We had a good conversation and I wish him good luck in the championship game.

Now, Fred, Kentucky said they're still evaluating the situation. They haven't commented on it yet, but there might not be anything they can do and the Harrisons might be headed to the NBA and will never have to play another college game.

WHITFIELD: All right, well, just a lot of people really disappointed at that kind of behavior.

Alright, Andy Scholes, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

All right, still ahead, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu telling CNN why he doesn't think the deal with Iran is a good one? So what does he want instead?

Sunlen Serfaty is in Washington -- Sunlen.

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Strong words from the Prime Minister, Fred. He wants more sanctions, more pressure put on Iran. He wants the Congress to step away from this deal, block it and hold out for a better one. All the latest coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:25:32] WHITFIELD: While the Obama administration and the Iranian president are hailing the proposed international deal on Iran's nuclear program, the White House is still finding one of its biggest detractors is also one of its biggest allies, Israel.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is putting on a (INAUDIBLE) hoping to kill deal.

CNN's Sunlen Serfaty is at the White House for us.

So Sunlen, what is Netanyahu doing and saying mow?

SERFATY: Well, Fred, he's been very vocal in his opposition to this bill and he's even reaching out directly to members of Congress. He revealed this today that he believes he has spoken to about two-thirds of Congress directly about this opposition to this deal. Now, the White House, they anticipated this. And they are engage in their own counter strategy, aggressive selling job on Capitol Hill, but also to world leaders as well.

Now, President Obama and Netanyahu spoke on the phone Thursday night. They spoke on the phone according to Netanyahu for over an hour discussing the details of this deal. They have had a well documented tense relationship in the past. But the prime minister told CNN's Jim Acosta today that his opposition to the bill - to this deal has little to do with that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: I think it's not a question of personal trust. Of course we have a mutual respectful relationship and I always respect both the presidency of the United States and this president of the United States.

But as the prime minister of the one and only Jewish state, when I see a country, a terrorist regime committed to our destruction, and not only to our destruction, having a path, a clear path to the bomb, it's my obligation to speak out as I am now and as I'll do in any forum.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SERFATY: And there are many in Congress who are skeptical of this bill - this deal. They still, they believe that it does do enough to roll back Iran's nuclear program. But Senator Dianne Feinstein, a Democratic senator from California, she had some blunt words for the prime minister this morning. She said that she believes the prime minister is doing more harm than good.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN (D), CALIFORNIA: Well, I think he said what he has had to say. And to be candid with you, this can backfire on him. And I wish that he would contain himself because he has put out no real alternative in his speech, the Congress, no real alternative, since then no real alternative.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SERFATY: And Congress is back from recess in about a week and there's a whole series of bills just lined up and waiting for President Obama to challenge him over the details of this frame work deal.

Fred, the White House has a lot of convincing to do.

WHITFIELD: All right. Sunlen Serfaty, thanks so much from the White House.

Investigators have collected all of the main evidence from the crash site of the Germanwings airliner. A private security company has not guarding the site to protect it from intruders. It has been gut wrenching for the victim's families and for the villagers who live near the remote crash scene.

CNN's Karl Penhaul has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This should have been the view from the window seat high in the sky. Instead, it may have been their last look at life.

I saw the plane heading down along the valley, and I said, my God, it's going to hit the mountain. I ducked my head, but it seemed to veer left. And after that, I saw the smoke, he says.

The people are weary of outsiders in the villages, but slowly this shepherd (INAUDIBLE) tells me what's troubling him.

It's terrible. You can't imagine something like that. One day it will come back to haunt me and give me nightmares, he says.

Those first aerial images showed the flight 9525 went down less than a minute away in stretchers who most inaccessible ravine. Investigators had warned us to stay away.

Still a little while before dawn, but we are going toward a trail head. The aim is to try to hike into the crash site. I thought the families deserved to see where their loved ones lay. There's a little bit of frost this morning. And now the sun's coming down, certainly no sign of snow just yet.

Getting up here is hanging on to tree roots and grass. I can see why they have to fly anything out with that crash site by helicopter.

Few people live up here.

[14:30:00] Few sign posts point the way. It's taken hours to hike in, but we finally found the spot. It's down there in that steep sided of valley they are doing the saddest job of all. (voice-over): From my vantage point above the crash site, it seemed

recovery crews were clinging on by their fingertips, so steep the sides of that windblown gully, so lonely those travelers lying now in plastic shrouds.

For more than a week, rescuers refuse to bound to nature, risking their own lives, treating the dead like they were their own family. I have lost friends and mountaineers in the past. Our code is never to leave anybody in the mountains, he says.

At a simple marble memorial close by, the living came to weep for the dead. The village mayor vows he'll cherish them and never forget. We have a duty to look after their memories, we must share the pain of the families, he says.

This young woman named Mashid felt read to share a few thoughts of her big brother, Milad, who was an Iranian soccer journalist aboard that flight.

MASHID ESLAMI, SISTER OF VICTIM, MILAD ESLAMI: We have gone into the sky where your soul will go, but it took 8 minutes to know.

PENHAUL: Lufthansa's boss, Carsten Spohr, came to lay a wreath.

CARSTEN SPOHR, LUFTHANSA CEO: There's not a single hour where we don't think of this terrible accident.

PENHAUL: He's already admitted the co-pilot on that flight first reported mental health issues to Lufthansa back in 2009.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Spohr, can you tell us why you didn't stop a man with psychological issues flying your plane?

PENHAUL: If Spohr wasn't giving any answers, at least I hope he heard the question on everybody's lips.

(on camera): Mr. Spohr, did you know your co-pilot had psychological issues?

(voice-over): Families may never really find out why, but just perhaps they can discover peace amid these mountain meadows and crystal streams or draw solace from a sister who desperately misses her brother.

ESLAMI: But for us, we just can't calm ourselves down with this picture that he's now the king of the Alps.

PENHAUL: There, up where her imagination flies, they're all kings of the Alps. Karl Penhaul, CNN, Le Vernet, France.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: And still ahead, new details emerging about the first American killed in the latest chaos in Yemen. Plus we asked our poison expert about the chemical pesticide so strong it apparently gave family seizures and put some of them in a coma after it was used near their luxury vacation villa.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:36:25]

WHITFIELD: The latest fighting in Yemen has now claimed the life of an American citizen for the first time. Jamal Al-Labani, apparently left the U.S. for Yemen two months ago. The country has descended into heavy sectarian fighting that has claimed more than 500 lives in the last two weeks alone.

The Red Cross has called for a ceasefire so those wounded in the fighting can get medical help. Nick Valencia has more on the American killed. What do we know about the circumstances of him being there and how he was killed?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, according to his family, Fred, he left to try to bring back his wife, his pregnant wife and the 2 1/2-year-old daughter that he had. He just had secured a U.S. passport for her, but in the three weeks before his death, he realized that things were worsening in that country.

He had voiced concerns to his family and calls back home. In fact his cousin tells me just two days before Jamal Al-Labani died, his plan was to cross the border into Oman, take a flight to Egypt and leave, he just never made it.

About 5 p.m. on his way back from the mosque, he had just prayed there, he was hit with shrapnel from a mortar strike and he died just minutes later.

WHITFIELD: And now what about the State Department, apparently you've spoken to people there about Americans that are in Yemen, how to get them out. What are the answers?

VALENCIA: So right now, the U.S. State Department says they have no plans to evacuate U.S. citizens. I spoke to an official earlier and they did release a statement to us, which read in part, "We encourage all U.S. citizens to shelter in a secure location until they are able to depart safely.

U.S. citizens wishing to depart should do so via commercial transportation options when they are available." So advocates in the Yemeni American community, this is really a point of contention for them that the U.S. is not doing enough to evacuate U.S. citizens.

And when I spoke to Jamal Labani's cousin by phone, he said that this was one of his concerns as well.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MOHAMMAED ALAZZANI, COUSIN WAS KILLED IN YEMEN (via telephone): They don't know the risk. They will hear the news and looking at it, a month ago, a few months ago, it wasn't as bad as it is today, it has reached and it got really bad then.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VALENCIA: So the Council on American-Islamic Relations is also helping they say those Yemeni Americans, U.S. citizens still trapped in the country, they say the U.S. State Department can do more to help.

WHITFIELD: There was probably a feeling that there weren't that many Americans there given that the U.S. embassy evacuated U.S. personnel and troops within the past month, but now come to find out, there is a significant number of American Yemeni?

VALENCIA: According to CARE, at least 150 families they say it could be in the thousands, according to CARE. They started a web site to try to help people still stuck in Yemen, stuckinyemen.com. They say since Wednesday they have received 150 messages from individuals who they say are still stuck in Yemen right now.

WHITFIELD: All right, keep us posted. Nick Valencia, thanks so much. Appreciate it. Next on the rundown, the story behind "Rolling Stone" magazine's horrifying report of gang rape at the University of Virginia, well, tonight, the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism releases its explanation about flaws in the magazine's reporting and what went wrong.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:43:11]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Most people come to South Florida to enjoy the sun and the surf, but right now, it's all about business for some of the world's top tennis players. The Miami open is often described as tennis's fifth major and it features a star studded lineup.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All the best players are playing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The heat and humidity provide as big of a challenge as the hard court.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I spent a lot of time here. I'm very used to the conditions here in Miami.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Serena Williams and Carla Suarez Navarro will meet in the women's final. Serena is no stranger to the key Biscayne spotlight. She's looking to win her eighth title at the tournament this weekend.

But don't count out Suarez Navarro, the 12th ranked player in the world. With competition this hot, there's little time to bask in their glory as they vie for the title in Miami.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Tonight, the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism is releasing its investigation into what went wrong in a "Rolling Stone" article about an alleged gang rape on the UVA campus. That article came out in November 2014, and in it, "Rolling Stone" published an account from a University of Virginia freshman named Jackie who says she was raped by fraternity members.

The details were graphic, vivid and horrific. In the story, "Rolling Stone" pointed it's finger at UVA for not doing enough to protect students like Jackie. Jackie and the magazine were immediately praised for sharing this story. But then the details about Jackie's account of her assault did not hold up to scrutiny. CNN's Sara Ganim has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARA GANIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The "Rolling Stone" story shocked both the campus at UVA and the nation, seven men accused of attacking a young woman over several hours, an alleged gang rape during a fraternity party. But along with the outrage, there was suspicion. Details began to emerge about the night the woman named Jackie says she was raped.

[14:45:10] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it was pretty clear in the "Rolling Stone" piece, that it was almost too perfect of a story.

GANIM: Jackie's friends, Alex Stock and Ryan Duffin, say they were with her the night of the alleged attack in September 2012. What they remember is very different from what Jackie told Rolling Stone.

(on camera): The article says that she was beaten, hit in the face, that she was barefoot, that she was bloodied, and that her face was obviously beaten, is that true?

RYAN DUFFIN, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA STUDENT: No. I didn't notice anything sort of physical injuries, I didn't notice a lack of shoes, I didn't really notice anything.

GANIM (voice-over): There were other discrepancies about where she met her rapist, where they went on their date and in the most strange date, Jackie had asked her friends to text with her date and the pictures and text messages he purportedly sent later appeared to be fake.

ALEX STOCK, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA STUDENT: There was a very chance whoever I was texting was Jackie. There is a definite possibility.

GANIM: As the story began to fall apart, "Rolling Stone" admitted they never contacted the men Jackie had accused and they also admitted that Alex and Ryan were never interviewed by the writer of the story even though they were quoted in the article.

"Rolling Stone" said it had taken Jackie's word and failed to fact check much of her story. That's left towering questions about what's really and what's not.

Last month, the Charlottesville police said their investigation found no evidence that Jackie was raped in a way that the story portrays, but they were clear not to accuse Jackie of lying, leaving open the possibility that something bad might have happened to her, perhaps somewhere else.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Her lips were quivering.

GANIM: Her friends tell us they believe it's possible they'll never know exactly what happened to Jackie.

DUFFIN: I still think it's impossible to believe that she would have been acting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GANIM: Now Fred, when all these details begin to emerge that really called into question the facts in the "Rolling Stone" story, "Rolling Stone" reached out to the Columbia Journalism Review and asked them to essentially fact check and then rewrite this story the correct way and that's what we expect to read tonight.

So what we can see from this report, Fred, is likely not just what the Columbia Journalism journalists found from their interviews, but kind of the anatomy of the story, how it went so wrong in "Rolling Stone's" newsroom, from their editors to their reporters to their fact checkers, how all this bad information ended up in a story that was featured so prominently on a national level.

WHITFIELD: So Sara, why did "Rolling Stone" feel it needed Columbia University to review their material and their reporting when "Rolling Stone" did come out with an apology, questioning the facts of the story and even rebuking the reporting of their reporter.

GANIM: Their apology, Fred, was really, kind of like the first -- it was the first thing that they said, but it didn't give us an explanation of how this all happened. So what they said was, look, it appears that some of this was wrong.

And they did mention a few details that they believe they got wrong. But we didn't get a full picture. We still don't have a full picture yet of how this happened, how do you get from an interview, because in the world of journalism how it works.

I may go out and get a story, I bring it back to an editor who is going to fact check it, who's going to ask me questions, how did they get to the point that there was so much of the story that was incorrect and that so much of the story was reported that way.

And that's what we see from the Columbia Journalism Review, an anatomy of how this went so badly. I think that, you know, to rely on them, I don't the public could have accepted them.

You know, saying, here's the correct story. They already got it wrong once. So we know that. So this is a second agency, a very prestigious group of journalists who are going to take a second look and who are going to tell us what they think happened.

WHITFIELD: All right, keep us posted. Thank you so much, Sara Ganim. All right, still ahead, we asked a poison expert about a chemical pesticide so strong that it apparently gave a family seizures and put some in a coma all because it was used near their luxury vacation villa. More on that straight ahead.

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WHITFIELD: Two teenaged boys are in a coma and their father is unable to speak or move after being exposed to a pesticide while on vacation. They are now back in the U.S. being treated at various hospitals. But paramedics in the U.S. Virgin Islands actually found the family of four at their rented villa last month.

And the resort says the unit below them was fumigated two days before to the illness was reported. And the EPA says a strong pesticide called methyl bromide maybe to blame.

So we wanted to understand, what is the methyl bromide and under what circumstances would it be used as an insecticide whether it be at a resort or anywhere in the U.S.?

Joining me right now is Georgia Poison Center Director Gaylord Lopez. Good to see you. So the family's lawyer is comparing this substance to a sarin nerve gas, it shouldn't be used, we know it's banned in any indoor use in the United States. Why and under what circumstances would this kind of chemical be used?

GAYLORD LOPEZ, DIRECTOR, GEORGIA POISON CENTER: There probably were pests, termites, there could be a whole host of reasons, but indoors, in a living, in a dwelling area, not the place where you should put this very powerful tasteless, odorless and colorless, it's a dangerous kind of poison.

WHITFIELD: So this family couldn't have known because it's odorless. It's tasteless. They were in their room, but the unit below this chemical had been used and apparently it's a fairly reputable company that administered it.

We know that Terminex actually released a statement yesterday saying that they were thinking about the family throughout. But could it have been -- does your instinct say it could have been a mistake that this chemical was used? That somebody that was using it didn't even know what they were using?

[14:55:09] LOPEZ: Yes, hopefully that comes into play, but here's the thing, chemically we know that this particular chemical is three times heavier than air, so in unventilated, poorly ventilated areas, this is going to stick around. So it doesn't surprise that it took a little while for the symptoms to occur.

In fact, I bet you those patients had very mild symptoms to start off with and two days later, full blown out issues such as seizure activity and loss of coordination. WHITFIELD: The father apparently inside the unit was found unresponsive, then they knew something was very wrong with all of the family members, so this story makes you start thinking about everywhere you go from checking into a hotel or making arrangements at a fancy villa.

What questions do you need to ask about a chemical that's odorless, that's tasteless? How do we protect ourselves, because this makes you start thinking about your own vacation planning?

LOPEZ: Sure, anytime we go on these vacations, maybe we should ask when was the last time this place was cleaned down, what cleaners were used, what pesticides were involved?

WHITFIELD: It's an odd question. You wouldn't ordinarily do that.

LOPEZ: But you don't want to be a statistic like these particular folks are and victims because you're talking about severe effects, these effects can be long-term and for some of these folks, we're really worried about things that may happen down the road like neurologic issues.

WHITFIELD: In fact one of the young boys, apparently brain damage has been reported.

LOPEZ: Very tragic and folks like people in the poison center world, because I know one of our colleagues likely was involved in this, they were there to tell the doctors what they needed to do, what they needed to look out for, what poisons needed to be at the top of the list to look out for. This is what is critical about being able to talk to someone and consult with someone who might know more about these kinds of poisons.

WHITFIELD: Very alarming stuff. Gaylord Lopez, thank you so much. Appreciate you coming. Appreciate it.

All right, we have so much more straight ahead in the NEWSROOM right after this.

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