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Natalee Holloway Disappearance Case Examined; Flooding Coninues in Texas; One Small City Outside of Sacramento Passed an Ordinance Regarding Beverages Served to Children; Four Combat Veterans Attempt Mountain Climb to Honor Fallen Soldiers. Aired 3:30-4pm ET

Aired May 29, 2015 - 15:30   ET

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


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[15:30:13] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN HOST: And now the number seven. Seven people have died in this powerful flash flooding in Houston, Texas. Authorities confirmed they found the body of a man yesterday who had been listed initially as missing.

Also, a new line of storms is rattling north Texas. A very familiar scene is starting to emerge here. Life-threatening floods submerge parts of the Dallas area overnight. This morning, this police officer had to be rescued from his own squad car. Look at that. And the highways, just terrible traffic jams. The roads flooded to the point where rows of cars were just stopped, unable to go anywhere.

CNN's Dan Simon is in the town of highlands with more on the preps for more rain this weekend.

Dan Simon, where are you standing, sir?

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, hi, Brooke. We're in an area called the Banana bend. This is a residential street basically under water. The only way you can get around is by boat. You know, this has been the wettest month on record for the state of Texas. And it's about to get even wetter.

Right now, the rain has stopped falling, but it's supposed to pick up again tomorrow and rain throughout the whole weekend. And that is just going to be a disaster for neighborhoods just like this one. I can tell you that the homes at least where we are, they're OK. That's because they're elevated. They're used to flooding in this area. But some of the other subdivision around here could see more flooding.

We're also seeing additional problems in the town of Wharton, Texas. That's southwest of here. And the mayor has just ordered a mandatory evacuation for 300 homes. That's going to affect about a thousand residents. That's a town of about 9,000 people. And those people are being told to go.

And with this rain, you're going to see more problems in that town of Wimberley. We've been talking about that town all week, where we saw so much misery with all those people who died. That's going to complicate matters there as folks are still continuing to search for bodies. There are still eight people missing in those flood waters. And so, when rain comes, that's really going to complicate matters as they look for some of those victims. But here we are in this town of highlands. And they just can't believe that more rain is coming -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Just talking to Chad Myers, yes, even if it's just a couple inches, I know it doesn't seem like a lot, but on top of what you're standing on, it's a huge, huge deal. We'll be there through the weekend.

Dan Simon in highlands, Texas. Thank you so much.

Let's go to California. One small city just outside of Sacramento has just passed an ordinance that involves milk.

CNN political commentator S.E. Cupp joins me with her outrage of the week.

Milk, S.E., what's the deal?

S.E. CUP, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, well, Brooke, this week a small city outside of Sacramento, California, just became the first in the country to mandate that restaurants serving kids' meals offer them only milk or water. Now, as ridiculous mandates go, this is one for the books. By a 5-0 vote, the Davis city council in all their infinite wisdom passed an ordinance that establishes fines for restaurants that instead offer kids soda or juice. Fines as much as $500. Now, of course, crafty parents who know that they live in America are still allowed to ask for and purchase soda or juice.

So if you're thinking this law does exactly precisely nothing and solves a whopping zero problem, you're right. But that's not even the outrageous part. It's that prior to voting, the city council asked for feedback from the community on the proposal. They received no emails, no calls, not one person attended a public meeting for it.

So it is truly chilling to think that an arbitrary restriction on what a private business can say to its customers raises no red flags or piques anyone's interest in Davis. Now, laws like this are why people make fun of California. But they also prove in Davis' case that you get the government you deserve -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: But here's how I would counter that a little bit. And listen, you're the parent between the two of us. And I think it should be up to parents whether they want to have their kid drinking milk or honey or coke, right? But when you look at this particular part in this one county of California, obesity rates for kids, it's like more than a quarter of the population, which is a lot. So shouldn't we give props just a little bit to the county and what they're doing?

CUPP: You know, kids need to grow up learning how to make choices -- choices between right and wrong, choices between good foods and bad foods. And removing options doesn't teach kids how to make choices. When you and I go to the supermarket, Brooke, if the only options were spinach and whole grains, we'd all look and feel great. But that's not real life. Real life is having to choose between the Cheetos, the ice cream, and the spinach. So I don't think this is teaching anyone a valuable lesson. I think it's making the Davis city council feel very good about themselves for doing nothing.

[15:35:09] BALDWIN: Can you imagine, though, because you point out like on the menu, you can, you can, if you're a parent, you can get your kids, you know, a soda. So I imagine the parents who are buying the sprites or the coca-colas for the kids are like hanging their heads low, right --

CUPP: In shame.

BALDWIN: Right, in shame, shamefully getting the sodas. Don't you think? Wouldn't you?

CUPP: Yes. But isn't it up to a parent if they want to maybe reward their child once a week with a fruit juice at their local fast food restaurant? And shouldn't they have to do that without the shame from the cashier at McDonald's, you know, scowling back at them? It's just -- it's absurd. It's nanny statism. And again, it just makes these people feel like they've actually accomplished something when actually it solved no problems.

BALDWIN: You're the parent here. You're the mom. I'm going to listen to you on this one. Thinking of the shame of buying when you pass a grocery store of ice cream, I like to hold my head up when I can.

S.E. Cupp, thank you so much, my friend. Outrage of the week. We will see you next week.

CUPP: Sounds good.

BALDWIN: Coming up next here on CNN, a possible new witness in the case of Natalee Holloway says he knows where she is buried, and he saw what happened. Martin Savidge sat down with him. What he revealed to Martin, we'll share that with you coming up next.

Also, this group of veterans wounded during their service for this country took on this pretty awesome challenge. They tried to climb to the highest point in the United States. Two of them will join me straight ahead. Do not miss this.

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[15:40:05] BALDWIN: Anthony Bourdain, he is going to what he calls the greatest state in the country this week. Here's a preview.

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ANTHONY BOURDAIN, CNN HOST, PARTS UNKNOWN: As some of you may or may not know, I was born in New York City. But immediately after my birth, I was whisked off to what would become my happy home for 17, 18 years. That would be New Jersey. Now, as a long-time resident of New York, I happen to think New York is the greatest city in the world. But if you're asking me what is the greatest state in the union, the greatest state of all 50 stat states -- it's New Jersey. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Wish you could have heard Jay over here. Don't miss a new episode of "PARTS UNKNOWN" Sunday night 9:00 p.m. eastern here on CNN. We'll be right back.

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[15:42:] BALDWIN: The disappearance of Natalee Holloway is arguably one of the greatest mysteries in recent years, not to mention incredibly painful for her parents. Now add a shocking revelation. The man says he saw the Alabama teenager right before she died in Aruba and that he saw Joran Van Der Sloot bury her body at a construction site.

CNN's Martin Savidge spoke with this man and the Aruban prosecutor who says he is not buying it.

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MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Jurren de Jong says he's something the Natalee Holloway case has never had, an eyewitness.

You were the last person to see Natalee Holloway alive.

JURREN DE JONG, CLAIMS HE WITNESSED HOLLOWAY'S MURDER: Yes.

SAVIDGE: So where have you been? Because it's been ten years.

Actually, de Jong isn't new. He's been speaking out for years. In 2008, he even called Natalee's father and said --

DAVE HOLLOWAY, NATALEE HOLLOWAY'S FATHER: She's on land, and I know where her body is hidden. And my initial thought was, oh, this is another crazy.

SAVIDGE: He's gone to the police numerous times, even given a sworn statement. What happened?

DE JONG: Nothing.

SAVIDGE: Here's his version. On the night Natalee Holloway vanished, De Jong says he was doing something illegal at a construction site. He won't say what. But around 2:00 a.m., he says he sees a young man who later he identifies as Joran Van Der Sloot, chasing a young woman into the site.

DE JONG: I thought first in a playful way like I'm going to get you.

SAVIDGE: He says the couple disappeared into a small section of construction.

DE JONG: After five minutes, he came out with her in his arms.

SAVIDGE: And it was what he saw the man do that told De Jong the woman was dead. DE JONG: He literally slammed her. Then you don't start hiding this

person in a crawl space.

SAVIDGE: Joran Van Der Sloot is serving time in prison for the murder of a young woman in Peru. He has never been charged in the Natalee Holloway case. Now De Jong's testimony seems to practically solve the mystery of what happened to Natalee. And nearly ten years after she disappeared, authorities have finally gotten around to investigating it.

ERIC OLTHOF, ARUBAN PROSECUTOR: I don't know whether he's lying. I can only say that his statement can't be true.

SAVIDGE: That construction site in 2005 is now a 12-story vacation property owned by Marriott. And the prosecutor says Marriott informed him at the time Natalee vanished, there was no construction.

[15:45:00] OLTHOF: Because when there's no construction, Natalee Holloway can't be buried in the crawl space under the foundation.

SAVIDGE: That certainly seems true. But Dave Holloway believes Marriott may be possibly wrong about those construction dates. Holloway led a number of searches for his daughter on Aruba, and he remembers the place.

HOLLOWAY: I was there on June 1st, and there was definitely construction in that area. June 1st, 2005.

SAVIDGE: And this Google earth view from June 2005, a short time after Natalee vanished, appears to show a construction site and the fuzzy shapes of structures. We asked Marriott for clarification, but in a statement, the company made no mention of the building, saying only, as we have done all along, we cooperate fully with authorities whenever they are conducting an official investigation.

HOLLOWAY: What he's describing in his story matches what's physically there at the time. So I'm thinking, this could be something. It's something that really needs to be looked at closely.

SAVIDGE: Holloway wants a search, but authorities say that's not going to happen.

OLTHOF: It's useless to search there with a cadaver dog or drilling or whatever. One thing will be sure, she's not lying there. She can't be lying there.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Let's go to Martin now live in Aruba.

And so my question is this. Why is this prosecutor, Martin, so resistant to searching at that hotel?

SAVIDGE: Well, he claims it's because he's taken that testimony coming from the witness who you saw we interviewed and matched it up against the Natalee Holloway file. Remember, this prosecutor wasn't here ten years ago when all of this first happened. That file is huge. But in it he says he's found some discrepancies that seem to point out that whatever this witness is really saying can't be fully true.

But the question is, look, it isn't going to be that difficult, we're told, to sort of investigate this lead. Why not just investigate it and check it off the list? And that way everybody is satisfied in some way. He won't do that. Tonight when we have part three, we're going to ask him, why not? And the answer is pretty surprising -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: We'll be watching your full report tonight, 8:00 eastern, "AC 360" only here on CNN.

Martin Savidge in Aruba, thank you very much.

Coming up next, a couple of guys I've been excited to talk to, group of veterans on pretty intense Memorial Day mission climbed to the top of Mt. McKinley. Why did they do it? The emotional story straight ahead.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What we succeed in was showing everybody what Memorial Day means to us.

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[15:52:18] BALDWIN: As budgets shrink and schools across the country, art programs first, they are usually the first to go. But today's CNN Hero has made his mission to add art back into kids' lives in New York.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Art has a power to let children discover who they are. Every child needs to have space for them to create.

When I moved to New York City, I noticed that, access to art education was lacking. I decided with need to be the ones to put paintbrushes in the hands of kids. We opened our classes in public libraries that are near the schools that need us most.

You look like you're on a roll. What's going on?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm drawing a box.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our got is not to create artists but to let kids discover themselves. I use art as an escape. I do look forward to coming here every week. On most occasions I persuade them to let us stay longer.

See where you can take it, right?

After we bring art into their lives they become more confident. The changes are quite remarkable.

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BALDWIN: To nominate a hero making a difference in your community please, go to CNNheroes.com.

Speaking of heroes, four combat veterans taking on the ultimate Memorial Day mission trekking to the highest point in America, Mt. McKinley in Alaska, to honor those who paid the ultimate sacrifice for our country. In tow, flags they drawn (ph) with more than 300 names of fallen troops. But as conditions worsen near the summit of this mountain, the group had to turn around. Their expedition leader and former Navy Seal, Josh, taped this emotional video.

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JOSH JESPERSON, FORMER NAVY SEAL: We're afraid to get avalanched on, so Brian and I decided we didn't want to add anymore names to the flag. And today's our last day because our teammate is sick. We got to evac her tonight or tomorrow and we did our best. We failed on getting all the names to the top of the mountain, but what we succeeded in was showing everybody what Memorial Day means to us. Everyone that supported us, all the names everybody submitted, got them as high as we could and we're going to fly those flags.

[15:55:07] BALDWIN: Josh Jesperson and Nick Colgin join me from Alaska.

So first, just to both of you guys who are on the phone with me from far away, just thank you so much for jumping on the phone. We started this week talking about the significance of Memorial Day and I really wanted to end it with you two. So just thank you so much for joining me. Thank you for your service.

And Josh, let me just begin with you there sort of getting choked up. You know, we were talking to one of your buddies who referred to a pretty stoic dude. So to see you get emotional like that and know you climbed as high as you did, tell me what that meant to you.

JESPERSON (via phone): I mean, it meant a lot to me. You know, all four of us collectively, we had about 30 names on the flag. I know about 12 guys on the flag, and it was absolutely huge for us to carry those flags as high as we could, and the decision to turn around in the moment, it's so natural and it's what needed to be done. But when you turn around and you realize that's as high as you got, you started thinking it would have been really great to get them higher. But it's what we had to do. And I think we made a good decision, and we got the flags as high as we could. And it was just huge for all of us, and we're so grateful for all the name submissions.

BALDWIN: And by the way, when we are saying, even though you turned around you made it up to, what, 18,000?

JESPERSON: Yes. We made it to 18,000 feet.

BALDWIN: Well, I'd say that's not small potatoes, by the way. And Nick, I know we were talking briefly in commercial -- we are

talking briefly in commercial break, and you told me you broke a rib. So, a, how are you doing? And, b, you know, you have definitely suffered some war wounds coming home, working through all of this. I understand, you know, when you got home you had a tough time talking, walking without a cane. How are you climbing a mountain?

NICK COLGIN, FORMER NAVY SEAL (via phone): Exactly. It's -- been quite a journey of adversity since coming home from Afghanistan having served 15 months overseas as a medic. I returned home. Couldn't spell my own name, couldn't walk without a cane, could barely speak of a rocket grenade hit off my humvee. It took a lot of work, but even a novelist has a metaphor for life, and kind of gave me my life back. And having the motivation to climb the mountain with over 300 names of fallen service members that died from back all the way to World War II is really motivating. I broke my rib about day five. I want to say, every step I took, I nearly out of breath, but it feels like a stabbing pain in your lung but you just keep taking one step further for those men and women that we're carrying the load for.

BALDWIN: I mean, I hear you on climbing mountains and as metaphors for life. I climb a mountain a couple months ago, but I would say my life is hardly accomplished compared to you two. But you guys both are talking about, you know, you didn't quite summit, so what does this mean? Is there a redo? Is there another trip in the future?

COLGIN: Yes, absolutely. I mean, I think this whole trip we were kind of wondering if we continue this mission Memorial Day journey, and we were wondering, you know, what the next objective would be next year, and since we didn't summit this year, I think Denali is the objective next year again. And next year we're going it try our hardest again, and hopefully get to the top.

JESPERSON: And then, just to tap off on that, it's -- these men and women paid the ultimate sacrifice or the ultimate check for our freedom, and it's unfortunate they only get one day of the year to be honored officially. So our kind of stance is, why can't Memorial Day be every month, if not every day? We should be remembering these fallen service members as much as we can. They're the cornerstone of America, as you know, Brooke, and we wouldn't be here without them. So we're just looking for ways to honor, remember those that gave their life, battle buddies that serves to our left and right anyway we can.

BALDWIN: I think it is incredibly beautiful and before I let you go, I have got 30 more seconds, we're looking at pictures of all of you with these flags with these names. Tell me again who these names are, why these people are so, so special to you, Josh?

JESPERSON: Well, one flag you see there's two large flags. One flag has all the Navy SEALs on it that have died since 9/11 in training and in combat. And that flag was huge for me. I know quite a few guys on that flag. I had a friend of mine make the flag up for me, and he told me after that that it was one of the hardest things he's ever done, because he knows even more people on that flag than I do. BALDWIN: It is so absolutely beautiful. It is so absolutely

beautiful, Josh Jesperson and Nick Colgin. I have got to go. But listen, let's talk again when you do this net year, shall we? Thank you both so much.

I'm Brooke Baldwin.