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First Presidential Primary Just Days Away; Woman Vanished; Serial Killer Targets Homeless Men
Aired January 07, 2012 - 22:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DON LEMON, ANCHOR, CNN NEWSROOM: On your mark, the first presidential primary just days away. Six Republicans standing for now. There's a debate first that could change all that.
Vanished: a missing woman, her abandoned car found, still running, but no sign of her -- her parents' heartfelt plea to me.
A serial killer who murders by stabbing. You won't believe who he's targeting. A former FBI profiler and crime show consultant takes us inside the investigation.
Politics and beer? Believe it or not, there is a connection, and it could decide who wins in New Hampshire.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stella Artois and I'm voting for Romney.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sam Adams Winter Lager and I'm voting for Jon Huntsman.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: And exclusive, the Queen of Soul, the legendary Aretha Franklin on her plans to remarry.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARETHA FRANKLIN, SINGER: Well, I want to get married now, I need someone to take care of me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: That and more right here, right now on CNN.
Hello, everyone, I'm Don Lemon, thank you so much for joining us here in the CNN Newsroom. I want you to imagine this, a stranger showing up out of nowhere and taking your child, and the court makes you stand by and just let it happen.
That's exactly how a South Carolina couple feels after losing custody of the 2-year-old girl they adopted and raised from birth. They're in a nasty battle with her biological father, who turned up and took her away with the full blessing a judge. CNN's George Howell explains why the federal law is on his side -- George.
GEORGE HOWELL, CNN REPORTER: Don, this story has generated a lot of responses from our viewers, some outraged by what has happened to the Capobianco family. Others concerned about 2-year-old Veronica, who, at this point is caught up in a custody tug-of-war.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HOWELL (voice-over): Veronica, a toddler, adopted and raised by the couple she's known since birth, taken from them by a court order on New Year's Eve and turned over to the Native American biological father she has never met. A family torn apart by a law designed to keep Indian families together.
The parents are Matt and Melanie Capobianco.
MELANIE CAPOBIANCO, ADOPTIVE MOTHER: Matt said when we had to do the transfer, it was like he was failing her as a father, to send her off with people that she didn't know, what she must think of us.
HOWELL (voice-over): The Capobiancos say it was an open adoption. Veronica's biological mother was in full agreement. But when Veronica was four months old, the biological father, Dusten Brown, filed suit to get her back. Brown's attorney says he claimed he had been tricked into signing papers agreeing to give up his daughter.
Brown won full custody of his daughter under a law called the Indian Welfare Act of 1978. The law was designed to keep Indian children and their families together. CNN legal analyst Avery Freedman says, in this case, the law was misused.
CNN LEGAL ANALYST AVERY FREEDMAN: It's a wonderful law which seeks to preserve the integrity of families of Native Americans, but it cannot be used as a bludgeon to destroy the integrity of an existing family.
HOWELL (voice-over): The assistant attorney general for the Cherokee Nation says the law is clear.
CHRISSI ROSS NIMMO, ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL, CHEROKEE NATION: Some of the protections provided by the Indian Child Welfare Act, there's a placement preference, if children are removed by the state or if they're placed in private adoption placement. The first preference is for a family member.
HOWELL (voice-over): But in cases like this, what about the child?
MATT CAPOBIANCO, ADOPTIVE FATHER: I mean, everybody keeps saying, you know, how bad they feel for us. But, I mean, she's a 2- year-old girl that got shoved in a truck and driven to Oklahoma with strangers.
HOWELL (voice-over): The Capobiancos thought the transfer would happen on New Year's Day, but it happened on New Year's Eve, a lot sooner than they were prepared for. They've gotten to speak with Veronica once, a day after she was taken away.
M. CAPOBIANCO: She said, "Hi, Mommy, hi, Daddy," she sounded really excited to hear us, and she said, "I love you, I love you." And no more time (ph).
HOWELL (voice-over): Their daughter starting the new year with an entirely new family, the only family Veronica has ever known starting the year without her.
HOWELL: Dusten Brown's attorney released a statement saying that the Indian Child Welfare Act was not used as a loophole, and that he would have won custody regardless in South Carolina. At this point, the family plans to appeal to the South Carolina Supreme Court, and that case could be heard later in the summer -- Don.
LEMON: All right, George, thank you very much for that. We really appreciate it.
We're learning new information this evening about a missing Atlanta woman, who vanished just a day after Christmas. Her name is Stacey Nicole English. Her car was found abandoned with the engine still running, but there's no sign of the 36-year old.
I spoke with her parents, and they tell me that they have just learned that there was a 911 call about her car three hours after she was last seen. Also police say they want to requestion a man who was visiting English for the holidays. And I asked Stacey's parents what they know about him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: There was someone with her that last night, who's in St. Louis now. I don't know if it was someone she was dating, but it was a friend, and they get into an argument and he left?
KEVIN JAMISON, ENGLISH'S STEPFATHER: By his admission -- and we're only hearing one side -- she asked him to leave. Argument, dispute, whatever it was, we don't know ,because we hear one side.
LEMON: And he -- that was here in Atlanta and now he is back in St. Louis.
JAMISON: That's correct. And so now there -- this new timeline has come forth. Someone had to see something.
LEMON: Do you know this young man? Have you guys -- did she ever talk about him? Had you ever met him.
CINDY JAMISON, ENGLISH'S MOTHER: Well, she talked to me about him on Christmas Eve, because while I was talking to her, I know that he came in, and she said that he was coming into the house and she says, "Oh, he's a friend of mine and it's not real serious." But they had been dating, is my understanding.
LEMON: If it's someone she had been dating and friendly with, did you try reaching out to him? Is he available to talk to you? Did you -- have you spoken to him?
C. JAMISON: Yes, personally, we called a few days after -- the first contact to him was made by the APD. And then a few days later, my husband and I just picked up the phone and called him and said, "Hey, have you heard anything from her? Have you reached out to call her?" And he said, no to both questions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: So investigators are not calling that man a person of interest. And according to a police report, the man told investigators that English was acting out of character during his stay. He says he left after English began asking him if he was Satan and told to go home.
We have a CNN exclusive for you now. The family of a toddler missing in Maine is speaking out. Twenty-one-year-old (sic) Ayla Reynolds vanished from her home three weeks ago. Officials have police have launched a criminal investigation. Ayla's paternal grandmother told CNN, family members had nothing to do with her disappearance.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PHOEBE DIPIETRO, PATERNAL GRANDMOTHER: It is a very creepy feeling to think that somebody had been casing your house, that they had been watching the family's activities. I would give everything I own if we could have her back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Well, police say the DiPietros have fully cooperated in the investigation.
Well, time is real short, real short, and the pressure is high tonight in New Hampshire, just a few days until the nation's first presidential primary. CNN political reporter Shannon Travis joins me now from Manchester, all smiles.
There he is. Even though he's working night and day, working day and night, as Michael Jackson said.
So listen, Shannon, there are two debates between now and the primary. One of them is going on now. Does it still look like Mitt Romney's race to lose here?
CNN POLITICAL REPORTER SHANNON TRAVIS: I mean, look, Mitt Romney has -- is basically trying to solidify his lead here in New Hampshire. And part of the purpose of this debate, the other one that you just mentioned, is only just a few hours away.
The part of the purpose of the debate, Don, is for all of these candidates to make their last-ditch effort to voters in this first-in- the-nation primary here in New Hampshire.
You know, Mitt Romney, he's been the frontrunner, he's basically lived in the state for the past few months. Jon Huntsman has staked much of his candidacy here as well. But the others, Rick Santorum, he's got that fresh burst of steam now coming out of the Iowa caucuses, you know, only eight votes behind Mitt Romney.
Ron Paul, he's been doing pretty well here in the polls. So there's a battle for number one, for Mitt Romney to keep his lead, but there's also the battle for number two, who will emerge as pretty much the anti-Romney candidate -- Don.
LEMON: And that's why even though Romney is taking most of the flack as a frontrunner, but his challengers, they're going after each other, because they're thinking if I'm not going to be number one, at least I want to be number two or close to it.
TRAVIS: That's right, because the general thinking is, hey, you know what? You probably won't be able stop Mitt Romney here in New Hampshire, but maybe you can decrease his margin of victory here. I mean, we want to be careful that we're not handing him a victory, but he does hold a sizable lead in all the polls that we're looking at.
So as you just said, in this debate tonight, and in the campaigning we have seen recently, you have seen Ron Paul go after Rick Santorum, he's had this new ad that's going to be airing in South Carolina, called "Betrayal," calling him a not-so-true conservative.
You see Jon Huntsman going after some of the people. You see Rick Perry, after his reassessment period, jumping into the fray. So there is this pitched race for the number two spot. And then going on from here, straight into South Carolina, Don.
LEMON: Wow, look at you, with all of those reporters. It looks like you're in a very busy call center. That's kind of what it is. Thank you --
TRAVIS: It's multitasking.
(LAUGHTER)
LEMON: Thank you, sir, appreciate it.
And make sure you stay with the best political team on television for a complete coverage of the New Hampshire primary. Make sure you join Wolf Blitzer, Erin Burnett, Anderson Cooper, Candy Crowley, John King for live coverage Tuesday night, 7:00 Eastern, right here on CNN.
And while we're on the subject of politics, what does taste in beer have to do with picking presidents? Later in the show, we'll take you back to New Hampshire for that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm voting for Ron Paul.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a Milly's Tavern Pumpkin Ale and I'm voting for Newt Gingrich. Yeah! Go Newt!
LEMON: Boy, didn't that look good on a Saturday night? Well, before that, not this.
And look at these images. This is a Coast Guard cutter and a Russian tanker plowing through waters in Alaska on an emergency mission. And we'll tell you where they are going and why it's being called historic. Back after a very quick break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Going to take you around the world now for some big international stories.
Anti-government protesters in Damascus are the latest victims of Syria's relentless crackdown. This video appears to show plainclothing -- plainclothes security forces attacking demonstrators. And you can clearly see people being clubbed, beaten and kicked. Some are thrown inside a white van and driven away.
As always, we must warn you that CNN can't independently confirm the authenticity of this particular video.
Iran says its new nuclear power plant is just weeks away from operating at full capacity. Tehran also claims it has shown its new Iranian-made centrifuges to a representative of the International Atomic Energy Agency. The Iranians deny Western claims that they are developing a nuclear program for military purposes.
As Kenya's war against Somali militants heats up, Britain is warning its citizens in Kenya against terror threats. U.K. officials say Al-Shabaab militants are in the final stages of plotting the new attack. Britain believes the militants could target places in Kenya, like hotels, shopping centers and beaches.
Now Kenya sent troops inside Somalia in October to battle militants after a series of cross-border attacks.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is set to meet with Qatar's foreign minister Wednesday. They're meeting because the Taliban is preparing to open a political office in Qatar. Analysts agree this could be a breakthrough in ending the war in Afghanistan.
But the Taliban demands that may be more than Washington will accept. Those include freeing inmates at Guantanamo Bay and removing the Taliban from official terror lists.
A cargo ship which ran aground off the coast of New Zealand has broken in two pieces. Look at that. High seas are battering the vessel named Rena, and severe weather is expected for the next several days.
The ship is spilling cargo containers into the ocean, and officials are worried about the threat of spilled oil to wildlife near the ship. Salvage crews are working to unload as much cargo and oil as possible.
An Alaskan town is running low on fuel, and right now, a U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker is cutting a path for a Russian fuel tanker to Nome, Alaska. A week ago, the police department ran out of diesel. Gas pumps could run dry in a month.
November bad weather stopped the town's much needed fuel delivery. If all goes well, though, they expect these ships will arrive in a few days, and Mayor Denise Michaels is on the phone for us right now. She's in Nome.
Mayor, what exactly is the fuel on that tanker?
NOME MAYOR DENISE MICHAELS: I just want to make -- there's some misinformation going out there, so I want to just clarify.
LEMON: Go ahead, yes.
MICHAELS: After the 2011 Bering Sea storm, Bonanza Fuel and Delta came to us and told us that after consulting with Crowley, they looked at their inventory and their -- the historical use and said by March, which is in the middle of winter for us, the Iditarod is running then, that we would run out of unleaded and low-grade diesel.
LEMON: Right. So you're saying it's March instead of February, as we had been saying? Is that what you're -- is that what you're saying (inaudible)?
MICHAELS: Well, and I -- and I still need updated information from both vendors. We have had four back-to-back snowstorms and this below-zero weather snap for almost two weeks now ,and so there is more the use of the low-grade diesel for heavy equipment to clear snow.
And there's no issue with our Nome-owned power plant and Nome utilities. We're -- we have enough fuel, diesel fuel for the power plant to run.
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: Yes, but you're -- this is critical to you, you do need this -- you do need this ship, particular ship to get through to help out there. So, listen, I have to ask you, how did that initial shipment get blocked? What happened?
MICHAELS: You know, there's -- that information is still being worked out by Bonanza Fuel. The issue for us, yes, right now, it's not an emergency, but come March, we would have a serious issue because the first barge -- fuel barge can't get here until June, until the ice is cleared.
LEMON: All right. Mayor, thank you, we appreciate it. Good luck, OK? Thanks for joining us.
MICHAELS: OK. Thank you.
LEMON: All right.
Is President Obama's presidency a monarchy? Well, wait until you hear what a long-time Chicago insider has to say about it, coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: President Obama says he is tired of the gridlock so he is going it alone.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: When Congress refuses to act, and as a result hurts our economy and puts our people at risk, then I have an obligation as president to do what I can without them.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: But it is that stated goal, along with this week's recess appointments and other extensions of his executive powers, that have critics accusing him of acting like a monarch. And they point to his Chicago background as one inspiration for power politics, as they call it.
So I asked long-time Chicago political writer, John Kass, is Obama acting like a monarch? You want to watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN KASS, "CHICAGO TRIBUNE" COLUMNIST: He's not acting like a monarch. We don't have monarchs in Chicago, we have bosses. This is -- we have -- you know this.
LEMON: Yes.
KASS: You were here, you know what -- you know what politics is all about, this is the epicenter of politics and that's -- here's where it's played.
LEMON: And so --
(CROSSTALK)
KASS: It's all about leverage.
LEMON: Go ahead, it's all about leverage, but -- and this is a criticism that he is playing Chicago-style politics, he's taken a chapter from the Mayor Daley book, where he can do whatever he wants with these recess appointments. He can do this, he can do that, and he doesn't really need to get anyone's approval?
KASS: First of all, you know, I -- let's give the president some credit here. He doesn't -- he shouldn't have to run his appointment list past Sally Quinn or some -- you know, Georgetown matron. It really doesn't matter what they think. He's from Chicago, he's going to put people around him that are his people that he trusts.
So all that is nonsense, right, that part of the criticism. The myth of Barack Obama was -- and you know the difference between the man and the myth. The myth was sold by David Axelrod, who is Rich Daley's mouthpiece.
And he sold it to the media, to the national media, that Barack Obama was transcending politics, as if he was floating in some plastic bubble, across the United States with a wand like Glinda the good witch.
You know, I'll transcend here, I'll transcend there. But reality, OK, reality is that he's from Chicago and we have bosses and they take control and they do what they want. And that's the reality.
LEMON: You --
KASS: That's not transcending politics, that is -- that is playing politics.
LEMON: You know it better than anyone else, because as you were talking about -- I'm sure people say, oh, the guy's from Chicago, he's -- you know, of course he's going to be in love with what --
KASS: Right, he's --
LEMON: (Inaudible). And you're very critical of Mayor Daley. You're very critical of politicians, and you -- has you have said here, and in your columns, you're very critical of the president and you call it like you see it.
(CROSSTALK)
KASS: Listen, I like -- I like President Obama personally, right, but I cannot -- see, I wear -- in Chicago, a few of us, we wear the tinfoil hats. So when Dave -- that they don't wear in "The Washington Post" and "The New York Times," I don't think.
They should get them. Because if you wear them, then when David Axelrod starts sending his, you know, his channeling, you can kind of keep your mind clear when you're writing your column.
And basically politics is politics, no matter where it's played. In Chicago, it's kind of a little bit more -- as you know, because you were here and you covered it. It's -- there's a little bit more honesty to it in the sense that it's all about the money and about the power.
And it's not about transcending, it's not about hope and change and all that nonsense. It's about breaking people to your will and getting what you want done.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: The president's spokesman, when asked about the monarch criticism, said the president wants to work with Congress, but that gridlock is not an excuse for inaction. My thanks again to John Kass for his insight on that.
A Tennessee man is accused of opening fire on his family in a hospital. That and more of our top stories up next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Let's get you up to speed on your headlines right now. A Tennessee man is accused of gunning down his estranged wife and mother-in-law inside a North Georgia hospital. According to our affiliate, WCBC, James Benson was asked to leave the waiting room hospital after he got into an argument.
Police say he went to his car, returned with a gun, killing the two women. The women were visiting a family member in the hospital's intensive care unit. Benson drove to the police department and turned himself in immediately after that shooting.
A Connecticut paramedic is charged with raping a patient in the back of an ambulance while on the way to a hospital. The woman says 49-year-old Mark Powell assaulted her while she was unconscious and strapped to a stretcher. The 22-year-old woman had fallen and suffered a concussion at a holiday party.
The police chief called it outrageous and horrifying conduct.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHIEF THOMAS WYDRA, HAMDEN, CONNECTICUT POLICE: Obviously it's shocking. No member of the public should or would expect to be sexually assaulted during a ride in an ambulance.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: I should tell you that Powell is free on $25,000 bond.
A new head coach has been named to lead the troubled Penn State football program. Bill O'Brien, the current New England Patriots offensive coordinator, will try to fill the shoes of Joe Paterno. In November, Penn State fired Paterno in the fallout of a child sex abuse scandal involving his former defensive coordinator, Jerry Sandusky.
Next, a manhunt for a serial killer in California who's been stabbing homeless men. (Inaudible) FBI profiler and crime show consultant Jim Clemente joins me to talk about this case.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: This one certainly is a mystery, the FBI has joined the investigation into three killings in southern California since the middle of December. Police say it appears to be the work of a serial killer. All of the victims have at least one thing in common. They were homeless. Here's CNN's Casey Wian.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIM PALMER, ORANGE COUNTY RESCUE MISSION: Thank you for this meal. I ask for your hand of protection in this area.
CASEY WIAN, CNN REPORTER (voice-over): A prayer for protection for thousands of homeless in Orange County, California, particularly meaningful now. Police say they're being targeted by a serial killer.
PALMER: We're handing out sort of an emergency guide and kit we put together specifically because we realize these homeless men are being targeted by a murderer. We have a flash card on a lanyard that's set up so they can see what they're doing and then, of course, you know, in case of an emergency, you know, get some attention or hopefully scare away the perpetrator.
WIAN (voice-over): That perpetrator was caught on surveillance tape at one of the murder scenes, a shadowy figure in a dark hooded sweatshirt.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's a coward that attacks people that sleep alone.
WIAN (voice-over): This camera recorded video of the first murder actually taking place. But police are releasing only a handful of still images.
WIAN: This is where that surveillance tape shows the killer standing the night of December 20th, when the first murder occurred at this suburban strip mall in the city of Placentia. Even today, a memorial to the victim, James McGillivray is still here.
Some of the notes, reading , "He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their maker." And this one simply, "Jim, we know you're at peace with Mom."
Eight days after McGillivray was stabbed to death, the body of Lloyd Middaugh was found in Anaheim. Two days later, Paulus Smit was killed outside a library in Yorba Linda.
SGT. BOB DUNN, ANAHEIM POLICE: We believe it's a serial murderer. That's because the proximity in time that these murders occurred, the fact that all of the victims were middle-aged male homeless. They were all stabbed multiple times. And geographically they were quite close to each other.
WIAN (voice-over): The murder scenes form points of a nearly equilateral triangle, with a radius of less than three miles. Three local police agencies, the Orange County sheriff and the FBI are investigating the killings, and looking for the driver of this white early 2000s model Toyota Corolla.
Police are recommending the county's homeless spend the night in shelters, which are beginning to run short of beds -- Casey Wian, CNN, Orange County, California.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Why would someone commit murders like this? We're going to talk about it. To answer that, we turn now to Jim Clemente. He's a retired FBI supervisory special agent and an advisor and writer to the television show "Criminal Minds," and he joins us from Los Angeles.
Hey, Jim, doing OK?
JIM CLEMENTE, FORMER FBI AGENT: Yes, how you doing, Don?
LEMON: OK. Before we talk about -- before we go into this person who's doing this, first of all, tell us how would you go about profiling this killer?
CLEMENTE: Well, we always start with victimology, we look at why he's picking particular people at a particular time at a particular place, and the first thing you're going to look at, you're going to learn from that victim or those victims, what he desires, what's important to him, why is he killing will all come from those choices that he makes.
LEMON: OK. All right. So then what do you think -- what would be driving someone to do this, especially and targeting homeless people?
CLEMENTE: Well, the first thing it could be is that these may be the easiest victims to get access to. They're available, they're vulnerable. Or it could be that these men represent someone that he has issues with. I don't think he has issues with these particular individuals, it's just that they represent somebody that he has an issue with.
LEMON: It's -- could it be a homeless person?
CLEMENTE: It could be, certainly, but I think -- you know, there was a photograph of him and the police have, I'm sure, better images of him. But he could be homeless, but he could -- he probably lives in a regular situation. Somebody lives next door to him.
Somebody may live with him, and they may have noticed that he's been absent at certain times when he should have been there, these unexplained absences or changes in his behavior around the times of the murders. I think somebody out there knows him and can help the police catch him.
LEMON: Well, that's a good point because many times people don't realize that the person who's doing horrific crimes are right in their midst, and there's certain behavior that you wouldn't think about unless someone points it out.
CLEMENTE: Right. Well, I mean, people think that anybody who does this is going to be a monster in their entire life. But actually they're fairly normal, many times, in their regular life. And it's just in their offending behavior that they become extremely violent.
LEMON: yes.
CLEMENTE: This guy is stabbing multiple times, he probably has issues of violence in his life.
LEMON: Yes. Do you think that they're -- usually I hear that they're aware of media coverage and some of them crave it, and they watch, because they like to be in the spotlight? CLEMENTE: Yes, some offenders do, yes. And this guy is attacking a number of people in a very short period of time. He has generated a lot of news, and I'm sure that he's paying attention to it.
LEMON: The police say, listen, that you -- they should stay in a shelter, homeless people, and that's how they should protect themselves. Is there anything beyond that that they can do?
CLEMENTE: Well, they can look out for one another, because these people, although they don't live together, they should group, they should congregate. And they should sleep in shifts. If they are in, you know, sort of remote areas, and I think that will help protect them from, you know, this lone attacker.
LEMON: Jim Clemente, much appreciated. Thank you, sir.
CLEMENTE: Thank you very much, Don. Take care.
LEMON: Coming up, a hybrid shark, a rocket crashing to Earth and this mysterious plane, now being seen for the first time in 70 years. Look at that. How did it get there? And how did anybody find it? Your "Saturday Night Mysteries" is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: All right, I want you to check this out. It is from a CNN viewer, iReporter Robert Niles says he shot this in Orange, California, with his Christmas gift, which was a pocket video camera. This is so cool, scientists call this swarm intelligence. Swarm intelligence.
Flying in unison, the choice to go up or down, right or left, isn't made by any one bird. They just go the way everybody else is going, which makes you wonder if any of them --
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It's got to be one lead bird, right?
LEMON: You stole my joke. It makes you wonder if any of them have political aspirations in the future. Ah -- ba dum bum.
JERAS: (Inaudible). Go right, go left, straight down the middle.
LEMON: It's time for "Saturday Night Mysteries" with Jacqui Jeras. Didn't we have -- we don't have any little thing for you? It's just --
JERAS: Next week we'll have it. (Inaudible) opening --
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: -- excited about it, yes.
JERAS: I know. (Inaudible) have something to look forward to for next week.
LEMON: OK, Jacqui, (inaudible). A 70-year-old piece of World War II history has been discovered on the ocean floor. Tell us about it.
JERAS: Yes, this is really exciting. It's actually a really rare find, Don. It's a World War Ii Helldiver. And there's really only one of these things that's in operation at this time, and about a handful of them across the U.S. in all. So to find something like this is very rare.
It's on the ocean floor, about four miles off the coast of Florida near Jupiter, but it's upside down, so nobody knows if there are perhaps remains inside of it. Nobody knows if maybe there's still some ammunition on board of this. So it's now the property of the Navy. They're going to go in, they're going to investigate.
If it is a grave, they're likely going to leave it where it is. And if not, there have been several museums that said they would like to bring it up and restore it and eventually put it on display. But either way -- either way you look at it, it's certainly a neat part of history. And potentially a family could find out what happened to one of their loved ones.
LEMON: (Inaudible) they might raise it. It's beautiful. Sometimes I don't like to -- I just like to leave things as they are.
JERAS: Kind of leave them? Yes.
LEMON: Yes, yes, cool. OK. And it's kind of a water theme tonight, because there are reports tonight of a freak of nature. Tell us about this hybrid shark.
JERAS: This one scares me. Right? I mean, a hybrid shark is a scary thing to me, because if you get like one of those little fast ones and then you get great white teeth to go with it, right, you know you're in real trouble. But that's just my personal issue.
But this one is kind of cool. It's very interesting. It's being hailed as the world's first evidence of interspecies breeding among sharks. Though the researchers at the University of Queensland have identified 57 of these, and this is off the coast of Australia.
And it's two different genetic compositions, the Australian black tip shark and the common black tip shark. And while it sounds kind of similar, one of them is smaller and lives in warmer water. The other one is bigger and lives in cooler water.
And so researchers are trying to figure out how the heck these two things got together, and right now the theory is that potentially climate change, global warming. So the warmer water is in places it didn't used to be, so the sharks are going into different territories. They're meeting up with each other, and there you go -- hybrid sharks.
LEMON: That's where you don't want, a bigger, faster, stronger -- no. JERAS: Yes, and they say this could be evidence that there are other hybrid species out there of sharks (inaudible), too, so --
LEMON: So is the sky really falling, this next mystery?
JERAS: Well, we've already had two of them, right, (inaudible) you are, and then all (inaudible), both of which landed in the ocean, but spacecraft, yes, it could happen again, falling to the earth. This one, you probably have already heard about this, right? Have you heard about the Russian spacecraft (inaudible)?
LEMON: Yes.
JERAS: Yes, it's been out there and they have been trying to make connection with this thing for the past couple of weeks. Finally they say, OK, we give up, we can't make any connection here anymore. This is eventually going to fall and make its way to the Earth.
So what happened is that the rocket boosters never went off so it didn't got up towards the Mars moon where it's supposed to go. And so now they say that this is going to crash into the Earth, when and where, of course, still somewhat of a mystery.
The best estimate at this time is sometime between January 14th and the 17th, most likely on the 15th. And this could be anywhere between England and the southern tip of South America.
LEMON: So we're out of the woods?
JERAS: So we don't know where, but more likely over the ocean.
LEMON: (Inaudible). We don't know. Chicken Little.
JERAS: Yes, not to worry about it. Here we go again. Happens a lot.
LEMON: The sky is falling, the sky is falling. Remember that little story?
JERAS: I remember it well.
LEMON: That's so weird. I'm loopy. I must have been in on that beer.
JERAS: Well, it's 11 o'clock.
(LAUGHTER)
JERAS: Past my bedtime.
LEMON: We're talking about beer and politics and --
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: Yes. All right.
JERAS: Beer drinkers like Mitt Romney or something? Is that the deal?
LEMON: Thank you, Mystery Woman. Yes, that's (inaudible).
JERAS: (Inaudible).
LEMON: See you.
JERAS: Sure.
LEMON: Coming up next, a CNN exclusive, the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, sits down with Soledad O'Brien to talk about getting married again, among other things. So, first, here's (inaudible) with a preview of tomorrow's stories on CNN Newsroom.
Hey, Fred.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN REPORTER: Join me tomorrow at 5:00 Eastern time, breaking away from traditional New Year's resolutions. Edit your life, from your closet to Facebook, how to identify what weighed you down in 2011 and start anew in a non-traditional way in 2012. Join me at 5:00 pm Eastern Sunday.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Aretha Franklin, Queen of Soul -- some people call her Ree Ree -- recently announced she's going to be a bride. She sat down with CNN's Soledad O'Brien to talk about her beau and some ups and downs with her weight loss.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN REPORTER: So your boyfriend.
FRANKLIN: My man.
O'BRIEN: Your man?
FRANKLIN: I don't have a boyfriend.
O'BRIEN: Your man?
FRANKLIN: Yes.
O'BRIEN: Is somebody who's been in your life a long time.
FRANKLIN: Yes.
O'BRIEN: Why get married now?
FRANKLIN: Well, why not get married now? I need someone to take care of me, help take care of me.
O'BRIEN: You don't feel taken care of?
FRANKLIN: Well, not as good as I could be. I take fabulous care of myself, let's just put that on record. But it wouldn't hurt. O'BRIEN: So tell me a little bit about the weight, because you look great.
FRANKLIN: Thank you.
O'BRIEN: Last I heard you lost 85 pounds.
FRANKLIN: I did, from where I was, but I put 15 or 20 of those pounds back on, and I'm working to get them back off now. But you know --
O'BRIEN: What do you do to get them off?
FRANKLIN: It's an up and down thing. But I'll tell you something, when I dropped the sugar out of the beverages, my iced tea, lemonade, the pounds started coming off.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: All right. You can find out what else Aretha Franklin has to say Monday morning on "STARTING POINT" with Soledad O'Brien. It begins 7:00 am Eastern time.
I want you to listen for this now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm drinking Stella Artois and I'm voting for Romney.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm drinking a Sam Adams Winter Lager, and I'm voting for Jon Huntsman.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm drinking a Blue Point --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: And you're all making me really jealous right now, how some voters in New Hampshire are picking presidents. That's straight ahead. But first this, it is time to begin our annual search for CNN Heroes, honoring everyday people who are changing the world.
You can nominate someone special at cnnheroes.com, and give them a chance to expand their work helping others, and also give them the recognition they so deserve. Here's CNN's Anderson Cooper to show you how to do it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON COOPER, HOST, AC360: Tonight we gather to honor the best that humanity has to offer.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you join us, we'll be unstoppable.
COOPER: CNN Heroes is looking for everyday people who are changing the world. How do we find these everyday people? Well, with your help. You can nominate someone right now at cnnheroes.com.
Maybe your hero is defending the planet by protecting the environment --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There are people who live here, and I run it.
COOPER: -- or helping people overcome obstacles --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There will be no man left behind as long as we are this nation.
COOPER: -- or finding a unique approach to solving a problem. Whatever their cause, nominating a CNN Hero is easy. First go to cnnheroes.com. Then click nominate. We ask for some basic information about you and your nominee. Then tell us what makes your hero extraordinary.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who like the pasta?
GROUP: Me!
COOPER: How are they changing lives for the better?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're doing a great job.
COOPER: It's really important to write from your heart because it's your words that will make your hero's story stand out. A couple of tips, please don't nominate yourself; it's against the rules. It's not necessary to nominate someone over and over. We read each and every nomination, really, we do. And be selective. Those honored as CNN Heroes are truly dedicating their lives to serving others.
After you have told us about your hero, click submit. It's that simple and that worthwhile. So nominate someone deserving today.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you so much for this (inaudible), this incredible honor. This has been the greatest night of my life.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Now these are the kinds of political stories everybody likes. Presidential candidates and big media outlets spend a lot of money trying to figure out what the voters are thinking.
This is not one of those polls. This one is a lot simpler and definitely a whole lot of fun. CNN's Jarrett Bellini hit the bars in Manchester to get a cold, fresh taste of the New Hampshire primary.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm drinking Shipyard Pumpkin Head and I'm voting for Mitt Romney.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm drinking Shipyard Applehead Ale and I'm voting for Mitt Romney.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm drinking Harpoon IPA -- drum roll, please -- Ron Paul.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm drinking Stella Artois and I'm voting for Romney.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm drinking Smuttynose and I'm voting for Mitt Romney.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm drinking Bud Light and I'm going for Newt Gingrich.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm drinking Dos Equis, and I'm voting for Newt Gingrich.
JARRETT BELLINI, CNN REPORTER: Do you think he drinks Dos Equis?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's one of the most interesting people I know, so probably, yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm drinking a Coors Light and I'm voting for Governor Romney.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm drinking a Guinness and I'm voting for Romney.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm drinking a Long Trail and I'm voting for Mitt Romney.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm drinking a Samuel Adams Cherry Chocolate Bock and I'm voting for Ron Paul.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm drinking a Scrimshaw Pilsner, and I'm voting for Mitt Romney.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm drinking a Sam Adams Winter Lager, and I'm voting for Jon Huntsman.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm drinking a Blue Point Hoptical Illusion and I'm voting for Ron Paul.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a Milly's Tavern Pumpkin Ale and I'm voting for Newt Gingrich. Yeah! Go Newt!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm at Julian's Manchester. I'm drinking Coors Light and voting for Mitt Romney.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm drinking a Pabst Blue Ribbon and I'm voting for Ron Paul.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm drinking a Bud Light, playing pool and I'm voting for Mitt Romney.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm drinking a Coors Light and I'm voting for Mitt Romney.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm drinking Shipyard Applehead and I'm voting for Ron Paul. (END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: I'm so mad at you right now, Jarrett, because you got me wanting -- I want to run out of here and go get my Stella right now and just down it. So he's -- there you are live there. What do you think about the results? It looks like, I mean Romney was the clear winner there.
BELLINI: Yes, he was definitely the clear winner, I mean, he -- I think it was, he had 11 beer votes and the next runner up was Ron Paul who had five. And it will be interesting to see on Tuesday if -- how close it is, because if it is pretty close, we can just scrap this whole spending lots of money on polling, just send me out barhopping.
LEMON: Once again, say, you know, there's reporter involvement, we like reporter involvement, the viewer does, people who sign our paychecks do as well. So you had to get involved, right?
BELLINI: Well, now, let's not -- let's focus on the data. Let's not focus on whether or not I was you know, having beers or whether or not I danced on top of the bar, these things are -- really, they don't matter in the end.
LEMON: Oh, yes, you're just saying that. You're just saying that. But I do understand, though, that you ran into a few characters along the way, so tell us about them.
BELLINI: Yes, I mean the people in the bars, they were having fun and I kind of noticed a couple of trends that the later it went into the night, the Romney voters started to drink more of the domestic, I don't know, lager beers that aren't very good.
So I'm thinking they might actually be smart, because my dad always said, the only -- the first couple of beers have to be good, and after that, you can drink the bad beers, because it all starts to taste the same. So by that point in the night -- and it was late -- I think they had moved on to the bad stuff.
LEMON: OK, so, you talked -- didn't you talk to a comedian?
BELLINI: Yes, yes. There's a -- he's not really local. He's kind of local. He's from Maine. His name is Bob Marley and so he grabbed me down here in New Hampshire. We went around town and messed with people. It's -- yes, it's (inaudible). His parents did not know that there was an actual Bob Marley singer, so check him out.
LEMON: Come on.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BOB MARLEY, COMEDIAN: Any suggestions for any wines for the candidates?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, we have a few, Michele Bachmann just dropped out, so we do have a wine that kind of starts out strong and then fades away to nothing. MARLEY: Everybody always says, why does everybody in New England drink so much? Well, why don't you come up in the 101/2 month winter, and we'll explain to you why we drink so much. Why do we drink? The only people in New England that don't drink anymore are the ones that have been told to stop drinking by the court of law. Look at us, I'm only 18 years old.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(LAUGHTER)
LEMON: Listen, (inaudible) --
BELLINI: That's Bob Marley. He's wicked funny.
LEMON: He's wicked funny. I got to tell you, it's absolutely true. If you lived in a coal town -- I lived in Chicago. That's all -- we drank a lot of beer in the winter, because, I mean, who wants to be outside, right?
BELLINI: I know. In Atlanta, the weather, I hear, is really nice right now. It's freezing out here, which actually they're saying it's not that bad out here right now. But nevertheless, there's a lot of good drinkers in this town. And they have really good craft beers. I think most of them are from Vermont, but, you know, Bob explained it, it's cold here. People have to do something.
LEMON: Yes. Hey, listen, we only have a couple seconds here. How long did it take you to do that? Did you go around for a couple of days or did you do it all in one fell swoop, one day?
BELLINI: I started at 3:00 in the afternoon and I finished a little after midnight. I was working on another project and it was starting to fail miserably. So I emailed my boss, and I said, I'm going rogue. And I didn't tell him that I was going barhopping.
LEMON: We got to get out of here, but, listen, it's funny, because your name is a drink, Bellini.
See? There you go.
BELLINI: That's right, it's a peach schnapps and something.
LEMON: Only you would know that. Thank you.
Thanks for watching, everyone, good night.
