[Martin Savidge, Host:] Crackdown: bloodied by a wave of attacks, U.S. forces move to root out resistance in Iraq.
[Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary Of Defense:] It will not be over anytime soon.
[Savidge:] Are they in too deep? A Middle East milestone, but a cease fire gets off to a shaky start. Turmoil in a college town. A basketball player banished. Why police fear foul play. Bill bears down on the Gulf Coast and southeast is bracing for a bruising.
[Announcer:] CNN live this hour WOLF BLITZER REPORTS, live from the nation's capital, with correspondents from around the world. WOLF BLITZER REPORTS, start right now.
[Savidge:] It's Monday, June 30, 2003. Hello from the CNN center in Atlanta. I'm Martin Savidge reporting. Wolf Blitzer is off. We are tracking two developing stories right now. Police in Texas are speaking out about a college basketball player, Patrick Dennehy, missing more than two weeks. Foul play now suspected. Plus, tropical storm Bill hitting the Gulf Coast right now with gail force winds, buckets of rain and even reports of tornadoes. We'll get a live look at the dangerous storm and find out where it is heading next. But first up, the search for a missing Baylor basketball player. Police in Waco, Texas, aren't saying why, but they believe Patrick Dennehy may have been murder. It's a case that has stunned the community. At 6'10" 230 pounds, the center for Balyor University basketball team would be easy to spot. For almost three weeks, though, there has been no sign of Patrick Dennehy. One haunting clue leading police to suspect the worst, Dennehy SUV found abandoned last Thursday in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The license plates gone. Dennehy's girlfriend says she had contact with him the last day anyone saw him, June 11.
[Jessica De La Rosa, Dennehy's Girlfriend:] It was just a typical conversation in the evening, just typical, how we were doing. He told me he missed me, he needed to go and he'd talk to me the next day.
[Savidge:] Dennehy, transferred to Baylor last year form the University of New Mexico, following in the footsteps of coach Dave Bliss.
[Dave Bliss, Baylor Basketball Coach:] Right now the team and the university and all the members of the Baylor family and myself are in tremendous disbelief about the recent events.
[Savidge:] But there have been signs of trouble. One exchange near the end of last season during a game, raised eyebrows.
[Mark Smith, Albuquerque Journal:] Patrick got into a verbal confrontation with one of the teammates, then it escalated when another teammate got involved. There was some chest shoving. They went to the bench during a time-out, fingerprinting both ways. Dennehy eventually stormed off the court after pushing another teammate and kicking a chair over. He left the game and never came back.
[Savidge:] Dennehy later transferred to Baylor after being kicked off the New Mexico team for disciplinary reasons. Now police in Waco say his Baylor teammates are listed as potential suspects. A story in Saturday's Waco Tribune Herald, said police are investigating reports that Dennehy was threatened by a teammate. And that he had an argument with at least one teammate recently. At Baylor, a campus in confusion.
[Unidentified Male:] There is so much talk that's going on, and it's hard to I try and tune it out because they don't know any more than anybody else knows. I think when there is that uncertainty, people want to come to conclusion their mind which creates a lot of this dialogue. And I still don't believe it's any of the players on the team. I just can't imagine that from knowing them like I do.
[Savidge:] The FBI is now involved in the case. All right, now let's bring you up to the very second on this investigation. Police in Waco, Texas, have been talking about the latest. Let's listen in to what they've been saying.
[Unidentified Male:] ... still being done today. Having said that, we would caution everybody not to assume that a person or person that we have spoken to is deemed a suspect. If information is obtained from these interviews that positively identify the person or persons as a suspect, we would not release that until a warrant was obtained. This is done so that the investigation will not be jeopardized. The case is still currently classified as a missing person's case but because of the information being receive in regard to Mr. Dennehy's disappearance issue this case has been investigated, as if he were a victim of a homicide. The Waco police department has contacted the local office of the FBI in regard to this case so that we may access the resources that the bureau has to offer. As information becomes available our department will release what we can without hindering the information. I thank you very much. With that I will turn it back over to Officer Anderson.
[Savidge:] And without a doubt we are going to continue to follow this disappearance throughout the remainder of the hour. The other developing story, the storm named Bill, it's call calling card that is includes 10 inches of rain, driving rain and possibly multiple tornadoes. It's making landfall this afternoon across the Gulf Coast, but the effects are being felt all over the South and it looks like the effects will be lingering for a while, making for a soggy 4th of July for many. Jacqui Jeras is in the CNN weather center tracking the storm right now. Jacqui, where do things stand?
[Jacqui Jeras, Cnn Meteorologist:] Well, Martin it has made landfall, approximately 3:30 this afternoon, Eastern time. Tropical storm Bill did make landfall, but we're still seeing some of the worst effects of the storm system at this time with some strong gusty winds and also some very, very heavy rainfall. We have reports of flooding across much of Southeastern Louisiana, and extending in some spots, isolated, all the way over to Atlanta, Georgia. So the rainfall amounts are going to be very, very heavy. The winds will not be as big of an impact, but still expecting to see gusts as this diminishes, now that it's over land between 30 and 40 miles per hour into the afternoon and evening hours. We do have that threat of isolated tornadoes. We've had about three of them already into the afternoon hours, and these two watch boxes are going to be expiring here, and a new one will be replacing them and will be extended into the evening. So all across the panhandle of Florida into lower parts of Louisiana, along that Lower Mississippi River Valley, we will have that tornadic threat to go along with it, the stronger thunderstorms. Travel is going to be very hazardous. If you come across roads that have water on them, do not drive through it. You want to find an alternate route. It's going to be tough along I-10 also along I-20 and across I-65 into the afternoon. OK, this is the latest on tropical storm Bill. We want to give you the statistics and these are brand new as of the top of the hour. Made landfall announced now it's 30 miles east of Morgan City, packing winds still at 60 per hour, but that is going to be dropping pretty rapidly over the next couple of hours. Tropical storm warnings remain in effect from intracoastal over to Pascagoula, Mississippi. Our next advisory will be coming in at 8:00 Eastern time. So we are going to have an update then for you. And I do expect this could possibly be downgraded at this time. So what happens now that it's made landfall? Well it will continue to weaken. But rain is going to be a problem for some time to come. As it's pushing along into a northeasterly pattern and should be moving over west central parts of Mississippi. About midnight for tonight it will continue riding off to the east and eventually make its way toward the Carolinas by the end of the week. And Marty, we're going to have to keep our eye on this one into the holiday weekend. It's still quite a ways away, but the potential is out there for this to move back over open waters into the Atlantic Ocean. So could affect your holiday forecast. We'll keep you up to date.
[Savidge:] Jacqui Jeras, thanks very much. From looking at the maps to looking first hand the storm named Bill. We want to tell you about one of our correspondents that is standing by, Rob Low of CNN affiliate WGNO. He is in Golden Meadow, Louisiana. We understand weather could play into his report, but go ahead and tell us about the latest on the situation there.
[Rob Low, Wgno Correspondent:] Marty, I think you jinxed me because, it was starting to get better. Now it's started to rain and get windy again. As you mentioned, I'm just south of Golden Meadow. What you see behind me is the police road block. On the other side of those cop cars is the town of Golden Meadow. I'm on the side where cars are not allowed to pass through. The only road to Grand Isle is flooded, that is Highway 1 which has been sinking for a number of years and it's a real issue today. We drove down Highway 1 earlier today, it was two feet in some spots. We found a truck with four men that were completely stranded. We called the deputy to try to get them out. Throughout the region we're told 5 to 10 inches of rain is possible, that more tornadoes are possible. Apparently one tornado did touch down in the town of Reserve, that's about 45 minutes northwest of New Orleans. Destroyed a high school gym, injured four people in a trailer park. New Orleans, we have been told, has been spared the brunt of this storm. Some thunderstorms, some isolated street flooding. But most of the real weather definitely to the south. There have been no mandatory evacuations, but some voluntary evacuations along Grand Isle, which again is right on the Gulf of Mexico. The fishing town of Lafitte and south Lafitte Parish which again is near the Gulf of Mexico. Much of it under water today. Especially not so much because of the rain, but of the storm surge and the south wind that's just blowing the bayous in the Gulf right into the roads. That's the latest from here just south of Golden Meadow. Back to you Marty.
[Savidge:] Rob Low of our affiliate WGNO, thanks very much for the update. A different sort of problem, a wildfire evacuation order is over for 2,500 relieved residents of Southern California. A vehicle caught fire yesterday afternoon on a freeway near Lebec, south east of Bakersfield, setting off a blaze that threatened hundreds of homes. 350 firefighters brought it under control. Authorities today allowed the evacuees to return home and reopened Interstate 5. U.S. troops storm across Iraq.
[Nic Robertson, Cnn Senior International Correspondent:] Operation Sidewinder is all about the coalition imposing its will. And like Operations Desert Scorpion and Peninsula Strike recently, it's designed to show that despite casualties, U.S. troops intend to remain in Iraq.
[Savidge:] A massive sweep under way right now. Is it enough, though, to keep the peace? Also, big spill for the little prince. How Harry ended up on his bottom. And multimillion-dollar day. The big push to stay in the White House. First today's "News Quiz." Who has raised and spent more money than any other presidential candidate in history? Bill Clinton, Ross Perot, George W. Bush, Ronald Reagan? The answer coming up.