[Soledad O'brien, Cnn Anchor:] New pictures of a 13-year-old girl missing now in Florida. Police found clues this morning. Have they found them in the search for Sarah Lunde? A huge drug bust millions of dollars of illegally Ecstasy apparently coming into the U.S. with a military escort. And a shocking story. Boys having fun at a baseball game until one of them went blind with rage. Now the families torn apart, on this
[American Morning. Announcer:] From the CNN broadcast center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Soledad O'Brien and Bill Hemmer.
[Bill Hemmer, Cnn Anchor:] Good morning, everyone. 8:00 here in New York. Good to have you along with us today and good morning to you again.
[O'brien:] And likewise.
[Hemmer:] This tough story out of Iraq that broke yesterday. An American businessman held hostage now. His family in northern Indiana very quiet about all this. He has children and a wife there. Not like other families who have been put in this same terrible situation. We'll get a report in a moment. LaPorte, Indiana is his home town and we'll tell you what's different about this case. Wow!
[O'brien:] Also this morning in the Michael Jackson trial, now testimony of unidentified primers and accounts of Jackson's strange behavior on an airplane. The testimony said he licked a boy's head.
[Jack Cafferty, Cnn Correspondent:] What, he just...
[O'brien:] It's actually been said before in this trial.
[Hemmer:] Yes. That's exactly right.
[O'brien:] This is not the first time. We've got the very latest.
[Cafferty:] He should go to prison for that, licked a kid's head on an airplane? If he goes to prison, is that guy going to go with him and hold the little umbrella over his head?
[O'brien:] I don't know. Maybe if he's convicted of something. But I doubt it.
[Cafferty:] They'll be able to spot him in the yard. Hey, there's Mike. Coming up in "The Cafferty File," Massachusetts' same sex marriage does not apply to everyone. There are exceptions. For $100, you can trace your origins all the way back to the first humans 60,000 years ago. And a face only a mother can love, but not very much.
[Hemmer:] I think you know where you're going with that. Thank you, Jack.
[Cafferty:] Well, they did a study about good looking kids versus ugly kids. It's all that.
[Hemmer:] Thank you. Let's get to the headlines top of the hour. Here's Carol Costello across town in our, well, we call it the New York bureau, but it's actually an enormous building Carol, good morning.
[Carol Costello, Cnn Anchor:] Yes. It's a very big building. And I'll be down there soon.
[Hemmer:] All right.
[Costello:] Thank you, Bill. Good morning to all of you. Dozens of Iraqi casualties in southern Baghdad. Sources say twin car bombs went off, sending smoke and debris flying. The blasts apparently targeting an Iraqi police convoy. At least 11 were killed and there are reports al Qaeda is claiming responsibility for this attack. Two National Guardsmen are being held without bond, accused of importing millions of dollars worth of the drug Ecstasy. Captain Franklin Rodriguez and Sergeant John Fong appeared Wednesday in a federal court in New York. If convicted, each faces a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison and $2 million in fines. CNN's Deborah Feyerick has more details on this case later this hour. U.S. law makers are hoping to work out a compromise that will allow them to permanently repeal a tax on inherited property. The House approved the measure on Wednesday. President Bush had called the elimination of the estate tax "a matter of basic fairness." Critics say it could cut as much as $290 billion from government revenue during the next decade. Andy Serwer will have more just ahead. And silicon breast implants could be back on the market very soon. In a surprise move, federal health advisers are recommending that one company could sell its silicon implants, but only under specific conditions. The move comes one day after the panel rejected a similar bid from another company. The FDA still has to make its final decision, and, of course, we'll keep up posted. Back to you.
[O'brien:] Kind of a surprise move there, wasn't it, Carol? All right, thanks for that.
[Costello:] It was weird.
[O'brien:] Appreciate the update.
[Costello:] Sure.
[O'brien:] An American businessman has turned up in an Iraqi insurgent hostage video. Jeffrey Ake is shown pleading for the U.S. government to save his life. Keith Oppenheim is in Ake's hometown of LaPorte, Indiana this morning.
[Keith Oppenheim, Cnn Correspondent:] Good morning, Soledad. I'm standing in front of the home of Jeffrey Ake, LaPorte, Indiana. It's a beautiful morning here, but clearly a very anxious one for Jeffrey Ake's family. This family is getting tremendous support from the community here, a community which deeply believes that Jeff Ake went to Iraq to make a contribution, to do some good. And they feel it is terribly wrong that his life should be threatened.
[Oppenheim:] In LaPorte, Indiana, if you go to the Chamber of Commerce, there are photos of Jeffrey Ake. He is the picture of a confident looking businessman, the entrepreneur shaking hands. What a contrast to these pictures released to the Al Jazeera Network. The video shows a man identified as Jeffrey Ake surrounded by gunmen, holding his passport, driver's license and a family photo.
[John Diedrich, Family Friend:] These people are just totally animals. They're, you know, they're unreasonable. Jeff has a nice wife, a beautiful wife, children.
[Oppenheim:] Jeffrey Ake's wife Liliania and other relatives are at home here in LaPorte. Outside, there is an American flag hanging on the garage, a yellow ribbon around a tree. Inside, a close-knit group of friends and family do the only thing they can, wait, appearing as shadows against the windows, avoiding any contact with the media.
[Chief David Gariepy, Laporte Police:] They're following the advice of the FBI. And they've requested that they not be contacted by the press.
[Oppenheim:] People in LaPorte who know Jeffrey Ake say he is a creative entrepreneur. He is the president of a small company, Equipment Express, that develops systems for packaging liquid products. Since 2003, Ake had been selling equipment to the Iraqis for making bottled water and cooking oil.
[Mayor Leigh Morris, Laporte, Indiana:] He has the potential to be so helpful to the Iraqi people, to make that a more positive situation. And so people who are who don't want that to happen, who want things to continue to be bad and get worse, I presume he would be a logical target, which maybe makes it all the more tragic.
[Oppenheim:] Indeed, the possibly outcome of this hostage situation is overwhelming for many in LaPorte. [on camera]: The idea that he could die, is that something that you just don't want to allow yourself to think about?
[Michael Feitz, Greater Laporte Chamber Of Commerce:] Exactly. I'm not going to think anything like that. I'm going to think positive and our community is going to think positive and we're going to, through positive thinking, we're going to bring him back, I hope.
[Oppenheim:] They just want him home, alive and back with his friends and family.
[Morris:] We have hope and we have faith. And I believe that somehow Jeff Ake will be spared.
[Oppenheim:] Tomorrow night in LaPorte, members of the community here will gather to honor Jeffrey Ake, to express their hopes for his safe return. There will be a candlelight vigil sponsored by the local Rotary Club and the Greater LaPorte Chamber of Communicate. Jeffrey Ake was members of both organizations Soledad, back to you.
[O'brien:] Keith Oppenheim, who is Ake's hometown of LaPorte, Indiana for us this morning. Keith, thanks. And, of course, our best wishes go out to the family, as well, obviously Bill.
[Hemmer:] Indeed, they do. Ruskin, Florida live now, Hillsborough County. The sheriff there is David Gee, now speaking about the disappearance of 13-year-old Sarah Lunde. Let's listen to the spokesperson there now.
[Capt. Craig Lattimer, Hillsborough County, Florida:] Some dogs that will be utilized in different areas today. Team Adam is on site. We are consulting with them, listening to their advice. We also are continuing to receive tips from the community, and that's very important and we appreciate that. We've had numerous tips come in overnight and we encourage residents that have any information in reference to the disappearance to please contract the Hillsborough County Sheriff's office. We will again have aviation and marine units out here today. Our mounted units will also be out. We are continuing the search process. We're expanding our search a little bit. We're also going back over some other areas that we've searched before just to double check and make sure. We'd like to encourage the residents in the community, as Sheriff Gee has done several times, we'd like to encourage the residents, the landowners out here, to check their property. They know their property better than anyone else. Check the outbuildings, barns, any sign of Sarah we certainly would like to know about. We distributed over 1,000 fliers, as the sheriff told you yesterday. We've got these printed in both English and Spanish. There's a large Hispanic community down here. We distributed over 1,000 of the fliers yesterday. I'll take questions relative to the search and the ongoing efforts at this time.
[Question:] Captain, can you refresh our memory about can you...
[Lattimer:] Go ahead.
[Question:] Can you please refresh our memory about why you are so certain that this is a missing child as opposed to a runaway child?
[Lattimer:] We said, as we said previously, this is very much out of her character to be gone for this length of time and the circumstances. So we continue to be hopeful, as Kelly May, her mother does, for the safe return of Sarah.
[Question:] Can you say whether anything was missing of hers from the house
[Lattimer:] I'm not going to comment on any of the investigative facets at this time. The sheriff will take care of that. I'm sorry? As we continue to search areas, we'll jump to the next area. So I can't really give you a, you know it's not in miles, that's for sure.
[Question:] OK.
[Lattimer:] It's in acres.
[Question:] Captain, what about
[Lattimer:] Yes, we're going to research some areas, and that's why we've got the scent dogs and the different dogs out here. And we're going to research some areas that we've looked at before. You know, we want to check and double check. We don't want to miss anything, that's for sure.
[Question:] And there was a scent of her?
[Lattimer:] We had some scent dogs out here, yes. You know, they were indicating that there were some scents.
[Hemmer:] That's Captain Craig Lattimer with the police down there in Hillsborough County. Not a whole lot of new information coming out of that briefing right now. Here's what we can tell you. We talked to the sheriff last hour here on AMERICAN MORNING. Sarah Lunde is age 13. She was last seen Saturday night at her home. Her brother reported her missing about early Sunday morning. There is some question, too, about whether or not this is a runaway case or whether she was abducted in the past, and you may have heard CNN's Susan Candiotti ask the question about the runaway situation. She has disappeared before from home, but never for this period of time. There's also this question today being reported in the "Tampa Tribune." David Onstott is age 36. He is now behind bars. He is a convicted sex offender. However, he is now behind bars for not registering in the State of Florida. When we asked the sheriff about whether or not he showed up at the home on Sunday morning, he would only say that he has our attention. And to quote the sheriff: "I don't want to characterize him at all at this point, other than to say that we are pursuing that lead." The parents apparently, the father has been out of touch with the family for the past 10 years. The mother was out of town at the time. So this is a mystery for Sarah Lunde, age 13, missing now in the State of Florida. More on this when we get it Soledad.
[O'brien:] It's 10 after the hour and time to take a look at the weather this morning. Chad Myers is at the CNN Center. He's got the latest for us hey, Chad, good morning.
[Chad Myers, Cnn Meteorologist:] Good morning, Soledad.
[Hemmer:] In a moment here, the mother of Michael Jackson's accuser is on the stand. Some say her testimony was bizarre. Why one expert in court yesterday says that could actually make her more believable. We'll talk about that.
[O'brien:] Also, a congressman under fire says he's sorry. But it's not for the ethics scandal he's wrapped up in. We'll explain.
[Hemmer:] Also, the national pastime back in the national capital. Washington finally getting ready for a much awaited home opener. That's a bit later this hour here on AMERICAN MORNING.