http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1210/01/ijvm.01.htmlJANE VELEZ-MITCHELL
Kids Vanish After House Fire; Arnold`s Scandalous Secrets
Aired October 1, 2012 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL starts right now.
JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL, HOST: A desperate search for two kids who vanished after a house fire killed their beloved grandparents. What happened to these precious children? They`re only 9 and 7 years old. Did they die in the fire? Or were they kidnapped? We are uncovering the secrets now.
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VELEZ-MITCHELL (voice-over): Tonight, police say these two children may be in danger, and they need your help. A deadly fire killed their grandparents, and cops first thought this brother and sister died in the flames. But their remains are nowhere to be found. Are these children still alive? If so, who took them and why? Was this fire part of a secret plot to kidnap these kids? We`re investigating tonight.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Authorities in Tennessee spent yet another day looking for any sign of 9-year-old Chloie Leverette and her 7-year-old half-brother, Gage Daniel. The children were last seen playing in the neighborhood about three hours before the fire started.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wednesday, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation issued endangered child alerts for Chloie and Gage, but so far investigators have only been able to recover the bodies of their grandparents.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think something is very fishy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The more you find out the more questions you have.
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VELEZ-MITCHELL: Tonight a mysterious deadly house fire launches a desperate nationwide hunt for two precious Tennessee children. Cops say these kids are missing, and they could be in extreme danger.
Good evening. I`m Jane Velez-Mitchell.
Nine-year-old Chloie Leverette and her 7-year-old brother, Gage Daniel, were last seen just three hours before fire suddenly erupted at their grandparents` house where they lived. The kids were playing outside their grandparents` home. It was a farmhouse just 40 miles south of Nashville, Tennessee.
Did the kids really die in that fire? Or have they been abducted? At first cops believed the kids had died in the fire that killed their beloved grandma and grandpa. They can`t find, however, the little bodies of the children in the rubble, try as they might. Neighbors and family are now panicked over the unknown.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think something is very fishy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The more you find out the more questions have you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... simply to continue on until we find out what`s really happened to these children.
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VELEZ-MITCHELL: Investigators insist they don`t have any suspects in the children`s disappearance. Including the children`s parents. But as the investigation turns up more and more questions than answers, could a family secret be behind all of this?
Straight out to investigative reporter Jon Lieberman. Jon, what is the very latest?
JON LIEBERMAN, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER: Jane, there`s a lot going on at this time. Investigators are still combing through that debris, and they`re trying to figure out if one of three things happened.
No. 1, did these two children actually die in this fire? And let me tell you, Jane, this was a massive fast-moving fire. In fact, there were more than 20 propane tanks in the basement of this house, which made the fire that much hotter, which made it that much more explosive.
No. 2, did these two kids somehow get out, escape the fire, and then wander off? This is a very rural area. But so far there has been no sign of their bodies.
Or No. 3, is there foul play involved? Did someone abduct these children as part of a much larger plot? That`s very unlikely but because investigators haven`t been able to rule out the fact that they died in this fire, they issued the Amber Alert, as you said, and now they are looking for these two children.
Well, the key is was this fire accidental or was it arson? Investigators still can`t figure out what caused the fire. Listen to this.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I said it was not an intentional fire. But obviously there`s more to it than that.
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VELEZ-MITCHELL: Obviously there`s more to it than that. Forensic scientist Larry Kobilinsky, one of the top experts in the field. This fire described as intense and quickly collapsing the walls of the house.
Now, we just heard from Jon Lieberman. There were all these propane tanks in the basement of the house. Does this sound like arson? Could the children have been incinerated to the point where they can`t be identified even though cadaver dogs have been searching that rubble?
LARRY KOBILINSKY, FORENSIC SCIENTIST: The answer is no, Jane. If they died in that fire, they would find skeletal remains and massive charred tissue. There`s no way, if they died there, that they would not be found.
I think the answer to this big puzzle lies in two things. The autopsy of the grandparents because then we will know if they were alive when -- at the time that the fire started. The second thing is the crime scene itself to see if there is any indication of the presence of accelerants.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, these propane tanks, Jon Lieberman, I`ve got to go back to you for a second, Jon. This is news that you`ve uncovered. What the heck were they doing with all these propane tanks in the basement? Do we have an idea?
LIEBERMAN: Well, we`re not sure at this point. It looked like, though, according to investigators, that this was just, you know, they had things around, whether they were grilling with them, whether they were -- you know, these weren`t planted there. These were there in this very rural home.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Interesting. Well, you know, people do use propane tanks, as you said, to grill. But 20 of them? That`s kind of odd.
Cops say they`re looking at the family members, including the parents, and are asking a lot of questions, as they should. Listen to this.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Their mother has been spoken to. She does not have the children. There`s other family members that we are looking to speak with today. And we`re going to be speaking with her again, as well.
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VELEZ-MITCHELL: Now, Mike Brooks, HLN law-enforcement analyst, Chloie and Gage. The two beautiful, precious children, they share a mother, but they have separate fathers. Reports are that the mother and the little boy`s dad were investigated by Child Services for four years between 2006 and 2010. The exact reason has not been released.
To me the big question is why on earth were these two kids living with their grandparents and not their mom and one of the dads?
MIKE BROOKS, HLN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: They have been living with their grandparents, Jane, for about five years. And, you know, and that`s the question. But you know, Children and Family Services, they will not ever comment on what the investigation was that they were involved in, so we don`t know that.
But you know, Larry Kobilinsky, Dr. Kobilinsky, he`s absolutely right. If you notice the arson investigators, Jane, they`re there on the scene with sifters. So they`re taking every bit of the ashes that -- finding that and they`re going through with a sifter looking for anything at all. They thought they may have found a tooth, but that`s still not enough to say OK, these kids were in this fire. Could have been a tooth that was saved, you know, one of the kid`s tooth fell out. We don`t know.
But there`s no sign that the kids were in the fire. Now, investigators from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation with their interviews initially, everyone was saying, "Well, we saw the kids there about 6:30 p.m." The fire started at approximately 9:30 p.m., Jane. And that`s what led them to believe that the kids were in the house. But there`s no physical sign of them at all.
And even the forensic anthropologist from the University of Tennessee, the Body Farm, who have been there assisting have not found anything.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Stacey Honowitz, Florida prosecutor, what strikes me as very bizarre and suspicious is that not one child is missing but both of them. Which would lead me to suspect that the chance of coincidentally they both escaping or -- they both dying and be undetected that`s very, very remote statistically. Which leads me to believe that somebody has these children tonight on the lam.
STACEY HONOWITZ, FLORIDA PROSECUTOR: Yes. I mean, really, Jane, when they`re investigating the family, that`s going to the crux of what`s going on in this case. And whether or not this fire was accidental or intentional, these arson investigators have their work cut out for them because the two bodies of the children have not been found.
But I guarantee you that, once you delve into the history, why Children and Family was involved, why they were living with the grandparents, then we`re going to get more leads that maybe we`ll be able to determine whether, in fact, this is a kidnapping, if it was by a family mother, maybe not the mother directly, maybe she was with somebody.
So you know, there are so many unanswered questions but the investigation as to why those kids were there to begin with, I think is going to be a huge factor.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Let`s examine the timeline of the events. OK.
It started last Sunday. We are talking eight days ago. A week ago yesterday the kids were seen playing outside their grandparents` house at about 6:30 in the evening. Three hours later the house suddenly catches fire, and it burns with tremendous intensity. And the walls quickly collapse. They spend days searching the ashes for signs of these two little children, Chloie and Gage.
By Friday, just by the start of this past weekend, Tennessee officials said, "You know what? We`re issuing a statewide Amber Alert, declaring these kids missing."
So Mike Brooks, what do they do now? This is outside Nashville. We don`t know the identities of the mother and one of the fathers. One of the fathers has spoken. The father of the little boy has spoken to the media. But what do they do now to try to see who has these kids and where they are?
BROOKS: Well, they don`t know. That`s the problem. What they are going to do, so what they`re going to do, they`re going to put these kids - - pictures of these kids on bulletin boards, on you know, road sides. Everywhere they can with this Amber Alert. They went from endangered child alert to Amber Alert now, Jane. So -- and that will go out to a number of different states.
So I mean, right now, they really don`t know who is responsible for -- or who might have these kids. They also don`t know what the cause and the origin of the fire is. So -- they are going to remain there. Just to make sure because they also brought in the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, who is assisting TBI and the forensic anthropologist. They just don`t know.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: More on the other side.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don`t know what happened, but you grieve, you grieve. You grieve for those children that are not found.
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VELEZ-MITCHELL: Did precious 9-year-old Chloie and 7-year-old Gage, two wonderful children, die in a fire that also killed their grandparents? Or were they abducted? Are they somewhere right now being held against their will? Are they in danger?
Authorities have issued an Amber Alert, and they are scouring the nation, particularly Tennessee, for these children.
Larry Kobilinsky, one of the top forensic scientists, you have studied so many crime scenes, so many arson scenes. As they go through this, is this determination of whether or not it was arson or an accidental fire complicated by the fact that they, for some reason, happened to have 20 canisters of gas in their basement?
KOBILINSKY: Well, the fact that there`s propane tanks in a rural home is not a big surprise. And certainly, it would feed the fire.
But the thing is that the fire started from something. It was either accidental, starting from electrical or some other reason, or it was arson. You know, people commit arson to cover up other crimes. Like homicides, and in some instances even kidnapping. They -- they think that they will destroy all the evidence but they don`t. There`s going to be a body. There`s going to be bodies.
In this case, these bodies are there. They`re not cremated. Temperature is not high enough to destroy the skeleton. So you`re going to have bodies there. This could very well have been an arson. As far as whether there are accelerants...
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Wait a second. Let me ask you a follow-up question there. So what you`re saying is they`re going to do an autopsy on the charred remains of the two grandparents, 72 and 70, and see whether had they been shot before the fire? Right? What are they looking for?
KOBILINSKY: Absolutely right. Well, for one, they`re trying to find out if these people were alive when the fire was set. Is there some sign of soot in the airway? Things like that. Is there a bullet in the body or went through the body? Any kind of evidence like that will tell you whether there`s a criminal activity had been performed or not. You`ve got to find out why these grandparents died, and then you might have a better handle on what happened to the children.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, Jon Lieberman, investigative journalist, I found it very significant that the charred remains of the family dog were also found inside the grandparents` home, because that could be significant in the sense that nobody had a chance to escape. How could the kids have escaped the fire, if the family dog didn`t escape? It sounds suspicious to me.
LIEBERMAN: Well, and that`s the big question. Exactly. How did this dog -- you know, the dog got caught. Two grandparents got caught in this fire. So where are these two gorgeous children?
You know, and again, I say, there is still a chance that their remains are somewhere on this property. I mean, even the most seasoned investigators will tell you that sometimes it takes a week or so in order to sift through everything. So there is a chance there...
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes. I don`t buy it. I don`t buy it, Stacey Honowitz. I do not buy that these children are still there, remains in the fire. I think that they have been taken. I think that`s why an Amber Alert has been issued. I think that`s why the FBI is involved.
And I think that it all boils down to motive. Who had the motive to take these children and why?
Now, they were living with their grandparents. They were not living with their parents, the -- the -- mother is the mother of both them, but they have different fathers. To me, you`ve got to look at family. You`ve got to look at friends. You`ve got to look at school.
HONOWITZ: You`re 100 percent right. I mean, we can`t jump the gun off automatically and say it`s a definite kidnapping.
But all factors considered, especially what you just mentioned, you would have to say, it just seems very odd, like you said, that the grandparents and the dog wouldn`t make it out, and these two kids, who were living with grandparents, not parents, are nowhere to be found.
And it does take a long time to do this investigation, but certainly, the investigation into the Children and Family Services is going to play a key role. Were there court hearings? Were there custody issues? Were there a problem between the grandparents and the parents? This is all going the play a role.
Certainly, once this investigation is done, if they figure out that it was, you know, an intentional act and arson. So there`s so many factors that are going to play a role, and we`ll see what happens.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: And let me tell you something. You`re looking at the grandparents who perished. And neighbors told us, told our producer, that the kids were always with the grandparents. They were always. Any time you saw the grandparents, you saw the kids and vice versa. So it seems odd that the grandparents perish and the family dog perishes, but the two kids, well, their remains can`t be found. I think these kids are somewhere tonight, right now. We`re going to try to find them.
More on the other side.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I mean, I hope they are alive, but I don`t see how that would happen. You know, I really don`t.
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VELEZ-MITCHELL: But authorities believe these two precious children, 9-year-old Chloie and 7-year-old Gage, are alive, and they`ve issued an Amber Alert. Are they somewhere in Tennessee where their grandparents died in their farmhouse fire? Have they been abducted? And if so, by whom?
Let`s go straight out to Selin Darkalstanian, who is our producer, who just got off the phone with a woman who lives down the street from the crime scene, the scene of the fire where the grandparents perished.
What do you know, Selin? What is she telling you?
SELIN DARKALSTANIAN, PRODUCER (via phone): I just got off the phone with some of these neighbors, and this one neighbor tells me that Bubba, who is the grandpa, he is known as Bubba in this small community, where it seems like, from talking to everybody there, Jane, everybody knows everybody in this community. Bubba was always seen with his two grandkids. He was always walking around.
In fact, this fire happened on Sunday. And just on Saturday he was -- he was in the neighborhood with his grandson walking around. And they say he was very. very dedicated to his grand kids, that he had even told one of the neighbors that his goal is to be alive long enough to raise these kids and see them grow up. So he was very dedicated to these kids.
And these neighbors say that the second they saw the smoke from down the street they knew it was Bubba`s house, and they just figured that the kids would be at the house, because every time they see these grandparents, the grandparents are with the kids.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: And the kids...
DARKALSTANIAN: They assumed the kids would be in the house.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Everybody thought they seemed very well adjusted at school. Listen to the school principal of these children that are missing.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He`s a fun-loving little boy, could be a pistol sometimes. You know, she`s kind of like his little mama here at school.
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VELEZ-MITCHELL: Just got a couple of seconds. Mike Brooks, what do cops need to do to find out where these kids are?
BROOKS: They need to interview all family members. Again, I think a lot of it`s going to come down to the Department of Children and Family Services, what was behind that investigation.
And, again, it could come from a tip from the billboards with this Amber Alert with their pictures out there. Anybody see anything, contact the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes. And I say -- I say give everybody connected even remotely to these kids a lie detector test.
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