[Tony Harris, Cnn Anchor:] You're with CNN. You're informed. Good morning, everyone. I'm Tony Harris.
[Heidi Collins, Cnn Anchor:] And I'm Heidi Collins. Developments keep coming in to the NEWSROOM on this Friday, October 27th. In fact, here's what's on the rundown now. On the front lines in California. Firefighters battle a raging wildfire. Now there is talk of murder charges.
[Harris:] In Florida, new developments in the case of a slain family found along a turnpike. We'll hear from the sheriff momentarily.
[Collins:] And looking for single females to get them to the polls. Are they the key to this election? We're bringing it to you from the NEWSROOM right now.
[Harris:] And let's get you to West Palm Beach, Florida, now. The news conference with new information on the Florida turnpike killing is under way.
[Sheriff Ken Mascara, St. Lucie County, Florida:] ... as a possible random act of violence on a family traveling on the Florida turnpike, our investigation quickly led us believe this was a deliberate act of premeditated murder on the Escobedo family for drugs, money or both. St. Lucie County sheriff's detectives traveled to Texas and confirmed that the victim, Jose Luis Escobedo, had a brother, Jose Manuel Manuel Escobedo, who was involved in a significant heroin and cocaine distribution organization. With the strong likelihood of drug involvement as a possible motive in the murders, we asked for assistance from the Drug Enforcement Administration, commonly referred to as the DEA. Within 24 hour of the murders the DEA became involved in our investigation. That investigation has resulted in the execution of a search warrant at about 8:00 p.m. on Wednesday, October 25th, in the 6400 block of Garden Court, within the Brier Bay development in Palm Beach County. Because it is a sealed search warrant, I cannot reveal the nature of the evidence recovered in that search. However, I can tell you that our investigators are reviewing evidence to determine any possible connection of that evidence to the Escobedo murders. As a result of the evidence obtained in that search warrant, four individuals were arrested. They are to my right, to my left, your left, Lillana Lopez. Her criminal history includes three felony charges, two misdemeanor charges, the most recent May 10th, 2006, in which she was arrested for cocaine trafficking. To my left, your right, Daniel Troya's. Criminal history includes eight felony arrests, two misdemeanor arrests, most recently charges of escape, burglary, and drug charges. The next one is Danny Viella. Past criminal history includes 10 felony arrests, four misdemeanor arrests, most recently July 14th. Charges include the sale and delivery of cocaine. And last, Ricardo Sanchez, past criminal history includes six felony arrests, 11 misdemeanor arrests. Again, charges including cocaine trafficking, cocaine possession, as well as weapons possessions. The St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office now considers these four individuals people of interest in the Escobedo murder investigation. I cannot express enough my appreciation to Sheriff Rick Bradshaw and many members of the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office who have assisted us in all phases of the investigation, including the execution of the search warrant and subsequent recovery of evidence at the victims' home. I also want to express my sincere appreciation to Port St. Lucie Chief of Police John Skinner and the members of the Port St. Lucie Police Department who have assisted us in our investigation. Also assisting is the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Federal Bureau of Tobacco and Firearms, Florida Department of Law Enforcement, U.S. Marshal Services, the 19th and 15th judicial circuit state attorney's office for their dedication, support, personnel and resources in this ongoing investigation. Finally, I want to thank the public for their outpouring of support and information. We have made progress but we need more information. That is why again I'm here to ask the public for help with any information they might have concerning these subjects in custody, as well as any connection these subjects have to the Escobedo family. We also need your help in locating one additional person of interest, and his photo is listed on the end. Last night the van registered to him that we had as a vehicle of interest was recovered and is currently being processed. I ask that anybody with information to call our sheriff's tip line which is still activated at 772-462-3230, the Palm Beach Crime Stoppers number at 1- 800-458-8477, or the Treasure Coast Crime Stoppers number at 1-800- 273-8477. And that's it. Thank you.
[Collins:] All right. So there you have the new information coming in to us from that news conference out in West Palm Beach there. Still asking for the public's help in this murders of the Escobedo's family, the mother, the father, and the two small boys. They have told us, as you may have heard, apparently that the brother of the father, Escobedo, Jose Manuel Escobedo, apparently was involved in a significant heroin and cocaine distribution organization. The DEA became involved in this case just 24 hours after the murders. So now there is a search warrant, but it's sealed, so therefore they cannot reveal any of the evidence. What we do know in the new information today is that because of that evidence, four people have been arrested. They are still looking for a fifth who is apparently the owner or the licensed owner of a red van that they believe to be connected to these murders. We want to get to Susan Candiotti, who is standing by live in West Palm Beach to tell us more Susan.
[Susan Candiotti, Cnn National Correspondent:] Heidi, this is the first time that authorities have indicated that they are working with three possible motives: drugs, money, or both. So this is something that has been long suspected but never spoken out loud by authorities, sort of the 800-pound gorilla in the room when they were talking about the possible motive involved in this case, the nearly inexplicable murder, so gruesome, of this family of four. Their bodies shot execution-style on the side of the Florida turnpike just two weeks ago. We have also known for some time that the younger brother of Mr. Escobedo, who was murdered, the younger brother has been a fugitive for several months now. He was to report to a work camp, a federal work camp in Louisiana several months back but did not. He had been convicted of a drug conspiracy charge, cocaine charge, sometime ago and was sentenced to 10 years, but wound up eventually at a work camp. Again, never showed up there. This is a fugitive that they have been looking, as they have been looking to talk to a number of people over the course of this investigation friends, associates, relatives, and now we learn that that search warrant that was executed at an address in West Palm Beach has led them to certain evidence they will not yet describe, they consider to be significant to this case. One of the pieces of information we learned, again, is a little more clarification on that van. They put out the photograph of it last night. I believe that that van is connected to one of the addresses of these four people a 1999 red Dodge Conversion van that they would like to fine, as well as its registered owner, Michael Najalis, who is from Lake Worth, Florida Heidi.
[Collins:] Susan, interesting as well, we heard the list of charges and felony charges all four of these people that are in custody right now had. They have been in trouble before.
[Candiotti:] They have. A number of them on drug charges, these four people that they listed, one woman and three men. They are in custody, were picked up earlier in the week, and were released, as we understand it, and are being held at this time on those unrelated federal drug charges. Again, police at this time being very careful to label them only as people of interest to the case so far.
[Collins:] That's right. People of interest. All right. Quickly, I just want to give this phone number if I could, too. They are still asking for the public's help in that fifth suspect that could be connected to this murder. That number, 772-462- 3230. We'll try to get it up for you in case you may know anything.
[Harris:] And we want to quickly get you to a developing story out of the Pentagon. Barbara Starr is there. And Barbara, U.S. military expressing concerns about a new terror threat in the Middle East?
[Barbara Starr, Cnn Pentagon Correspondent:] Exactly, Tony. The U.S. Navy has just issued a statement from Bahrain, the U.S. 5th Fleet headquarters, saying that they are very aware at this hour of reporting of an al Qaeda threat against oil terminal facilities in Saudi Arabia and other threats against Western interests in Saudi Arabia. All of this began earlier today when a Royal Navy a U.K. Royal Navy office in Dubai put out a statement warning commercial shipping transit in the Gulf. Now the U.S. Navy saying, "We support the recommendation that commercial mariners be especially vigilant while transiting the Gulf." What we are learning is that U.S. Navy warships, British navy warships, as well as ships, military warships from other countries in the region, are patrolling the Persian Gulf this morning, especially some of the approaches, we are told, the seaborne approaches to the Rostinura oil terminal, some of the largest oil terminals in the world operated by Saudi Arabia. What sources are telling us is that in the last couple of weeks, there have been a series of reports, intelligence reports about potential threats against Western interests in Saudi Arabia. They're not really sure how to take this because what they tell us, of course, is there is a consistent flow of reporting about potential al Qaeda threats against Saudi Arabia, against oil facilities. This goes on, unfortunately, fairly routinely. But whatever has happened in the last couple of weeks, it clearly has caught the interest of the maritime world. So now these warships are staying in international waters, they are patrolling out there, keeping an eye on things. And the Saudi government also is very aware, nobody's getting overly excited yet, but there's a lot of caution, a lot of eyes watching. And, of course, one of most interesting things we will watch, I believe, will be to see what happens to oil prices, whether the futures market reacts to this threat and whether there's any spike in oil prices in the coming hours as this information becomes more broadly known.
[Harris:] Great. OK. Barbara Starr for us at the Pentagon. Barbara, thank you.
[Starr:] Sure.
[Collins:] Back to that raging wildfire in southern California. This time yesterday we told you it had burned 800 acres. Now it has tripled, 24,000 acres at best guest, and four firefighters trapped in its path were killed. Investigators say the arsonist could be charged with murder. That's right, arson, that is what they suspect in that blaze you're looking at live from our affiliate KTLA out of California. Joining us now by phone is Patrick Chandler. He is a spokesman for the Riverside County Fire Department. Patrick, how do things look to you and the fire crews out there battling this thing at this very moment?
[Patrick Chandler, Spokesman, Riverside County Fire Dept:] Well, so far at this moment, 23,500 acres have been burned, and it's about five percent contained right now. There were 10 structures destroyed, homes were actually destroyed due to this fire. There's been high winds, and firefighters have been having to deal with really steep and inaccessible terrain.
[Collins:] Boy, that's a tough one, that's for sure. When you talk about these 10 homes, we know that people have evacuated from the area. How many more structures roughly are in jeopardy?
[Chandler:] Well, earlier we had reports that about 500 homes were threatened, as well as about three commercial properties.
[Collins:] Wow. What are they going to be able to do today, Patrick? Is it too windy to fly the aircraft to dump the slurry? Are you going to be able to do that, do you think, throughout the course of the day?
[Chandler:] Well, so far today I haven't got any reports that our people will not be able to use their aircraft. So, you know, information's still coming right now. But I haven't heard any gotten any reports that we wouldn't be able to use the aircraft today.
[Collins:] All right. Patrick Chandler, we appreciate your update on this. Once again, from the Riverside County Fire Department. Thank you.
[Harris:] And we're just moments away from getting a piece of tape of a meeting earlier this morning between President Bush and NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer. The two expected to talk about the increased role of NATO, that stepped-up role of NATO forces in Afghanistan taking on the Taliban militias there. We understand the two men did take a couple of questions first on Iran, but the president is going to be talking about comments from Vice President Cheney on the controversial interrogation technique known as waterboarding. Let's take a look.
[George W. Bush, President Of The United States:] I'm proud to welcome the secretary general of NATO here to the Oval Office. We've just had a fascinating discussion. First, Mr. Secretary General, you've been a very strong leader. As a matter of fact, you've made NATO a values-based organization that is capable of dealing with the true threats of the 21st century. I appreciate your leadership. I particularly appreciate the fact that you have led the 26 nations of NATO into Afghanistan to help this young democracy. You know what I know: that the real challenge for the future is to help people of moderation and young democracies succeed in the face of threats and attacks by radicals and extremists who do not share our ideology, have, kind of, a dark vision of the world. I appreciate the fact that you're reaching out to global partners, nations which share our values but have not been considered necessarily considered a part of NATO. I want to thank your view of making sure NATO continues to provide the opportunity for other nations to join NATO. I'm looking forward to Riga. The Riga summit is a time for us to celebrate the great successes of this partnership, Mr. Secretary General. And I will be there reminding our partners that we have a lot of work to be done in the noble cause of peace. So welcome.
[Jaap De Hoop Scheffer, Nato Secretary General:] Mr. President, thank you very much. And thank you for giving me your time. I can echo your words. NATO is delivering security in the 21st century. And that means defending values, and that means defending values not only in Europe, but far away from NATO's traditional area. And the case in point, of course, is Afghanistan, where there was a regime which was grossly violating human rights, no women's rights, public executions. There we are trying to assist the Afghan government to establish democracy, to establish human rights, to establish those values. And let me say that when in those actions of NATO, of those brave NATO soldiers, civilians are killed, as happened two days ago, that's always a tragedy. That's a tragedy. But let me convince you to look at the broader picture. They are against democracy. Girls did not go to school when the Taliban was running Afghanistan. Now they go to school. Now there is a president. Now there is a government. Civilian victims are a tragedy, but we are there in favor of democracy. They are there to destroy democracy and they are there to destroy our values. Mr. President, I'm looking forward to the Riga summit, where we will see a 21st-century NATO delivering security in many, many places of the world, with 50,000 soldiers, including many Americans, on three continents. That is the challenge. But I can tell you that NATO is up to the challenge. NATO is delivering security. And NATO will continue to do this, indeed, with its present, but also with global partners. Because terrorism, proliferation, failed states and failing states are global threats we have to face and to counter on a global scale. Mr. President, once again, thank you very much for being here.
[Bush:] Yes, sir. Now, I'll answer a couple of questions this morning.
[Question:] What does it say to you that Iran is doubling its enrichment capacity?
[Bush:] It says to me that we must double our effort to work with the international community to persuade the Iranians that there is only isolation from the world if they continue working forward on such a program. And I've read the speculation about that's what they may be doing. But whether they've doubled it or not, the idea of Iran having a nuclear weapon is unacceptable. And it's unacceptable for the United States and it's unacceptable to nations we're working with in the United Nations to send a common message.
[Question:] Sir, do you agree with [inaudible] when it comes to interrogating terror suspects?
[Bush:] This country doesn't torture. We're not going to torture. We will interrogate people we pick up off the battlefield to determine whether or not they've got information that'd be helpful to protect the country.
[Question:  Bush:] I understand people here in Washington have already determined the outcome of the election. As I said in my press conference the other day you know, I've seen it before where people start measuring the drapes in their new offices before the vote has been counted. In other words, they're taking the people's vote for granted. This election is going to be determined by how our candidates run locally. And I believe if they continue to emphasize the big issues keeping taxes low and protecting the American people we'll win. And so we'll see how the outcome comes. I know there's a lot of speculation here in Washington, D.C., and there's a lot of fascination about the listening to these pundits and people who are giving their opinions. All I can tell you is what I see. I see enthusiasm amongst Republicans. I see candidates who are saying, "Vote for me. I will work to make sure America doesn't get attacked again." And I'm seeing candidates saying, "I understand that if we run up your taxes like the Democrats do, it's going to hurt this economy, and so we'll keep your taxes low." Thank you all very much.
[George W. Bush, President Of The United States:] I'm proud to welcome secretary-general of NATO here to the Oval Office. We just had a fascinating discussion.
[Bush:] And I'm seeing candidates saying, "I understand that if we run up your taxes like the Democrats do it's going to hurt this economy, and so we'll keep your taxes low." Thank you all very much.
[Harris:] And there you have it. The president and the NATO secretary-general, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, at a meeting from earlier this morning and then at the end of that taking questions from reporters. NATO and the 26 nations of NATO, as you heard, providing security in hotspots around the world, including Afghanistan right now. Those nations coming together for a meeting, the NATO summit, in the coming weeks in Latvia. The president taking a couple of questions, one of which was on comments made by Vice President Dick Cheney on the radio this morning. And the conversation was about waterboarding. We've been able to get our we do have the sound. I was about to read the transcript of the comments, but you heard the president say that the United States does not condone torture. Here are the comments from Vice President Dick Cheney on a radio program this morning.
[Unidentified Male:] Terrorist interrogations in that debate is another example. And I have had people call and say, you know, "Please let the vice president know that if it takes dunking a terrorist in water, we're all for it if it saves American lives." I mean, again, this debate seems a little silly given the threat, would you agree?
[Richard Cheney, Vice President Of The United States:] I do agree. And I think the terrorist threat, for example, is with respect to our ability to interrogate high-value detainees like Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, that's been a very important tool that we've had to be able to secure the nation. Khalid Shaikh Mohammed provided us with enormously valuable information about how many there are, about how they plan, about what their training processes are and so forth. We've learned a lot. We need to be able to continue that. The Congress recently voted on this question of the military commissions and our authority to continue the interrogation program. It passed both houses, fortunately. The president signed in into law. But the fact is, 177 Democrats in the House or excuse me, 162 Democrats in the House voted against it. And 32 out of 44 senators, Democratic senators, voted against it. We wouldn't have that authority today if they were in charge. That's a very important issue in this campaign, are we going to allow the executive branch to have the authority, granted and authorized by the Congress, to be able to continue to collect the intelligence we need to defend the nation?
[Unidentified Male:] Would you agree a dunk water is a no-brainer if it can save lives?
[Cheney:] Well, it's a no brainier for me, but I for a while there I was criticized as being the vice president for torture. We don't torture. That's not what we're involved in. We live up to our obligations in international treaties that we're party to and so forth. But the fact is, you can have a fairly robust interrogation program without torture, and we need to able to do that. And thanks to the leadership of the president now and the action of the Congress, we have that authority and we are able to continue the program.
[Harris:] And once again, those are comments from the vice president on WDAY radio, not this morning, but on Tuesday, talking about the controversial interrogation technique known as waterboarding.
[Collins:] Our Jamie McIntyre is embedded with NATO forces in Afghanistan this week. He is joining us now via broadband from Kabul. And Jamie, just as we finish up that meeting, showing it to our viewers, President Bush and the secretary-general, what are your thoughts as you stand and you look around at what you see from Afghanistan?
[Jamie Mcintyre, Cnn Sr. Pentagon Correspondent:] Well, last two days I've been following around a top NATO commander, General James Jones. He has been on an inspection tour here. He has his own concerns about how the mission is going in Afghanistan, although he remains consistently optimistic that over the long run, NATO is going to succeed. And one of the things you find as you travel across the country is that, while there's no argument that there's intense fighting go on in the south and the Taliban has been resurgent to a point that's been somewhat surprising to NATO initially, you can go to other parts of the country and see amazing signs of success, including here in the capital, Kabul. Today we visited some of the provisional reconstruction teams they're called, the areas where they're trying to deliver, you know, basically basic improvements in quality of life to people in Afghanistan in an attempt to bring them toward the Karzai government and away from the influence of the Taliban. And in Jalalabad, in eastern Afghanistan, where we went today, U.S. troops have an amazing rapport with the community there. We were able to walk outside the base into the community, talk to a lot of the children who gather around. It was a very safe area. We never felt threatened, there haven't been any attacks there in some time. A peaceful part of Afghanistan. And that's the model that NATO needs to spread across the country if they're going to have success. General Jones is convinced that militarily they can't win in Afghanistan, they can own beat the Taliban back. But in order to really win the people over they've good got to deliver goods and services. And that's one of the reasons he's brought a lot of experts with them on this trip to try to find ways to accelerate that and attack the other big problem, the drug problem. He brought the drug enforcement administrator from the United States here to come up with new ideas on how to get that on a faster track as well. So, the impression you get traveling around Afghanistan is well, the first impression you get is it's not Iraq. There are many areas that are safe and easy to get around, and where American and NATO troops are welcome. And the other one is, there's a huge way that they have to go if they're going to bring this country all under one central government Heidi.
[Collins:] And Jamie, it certainly sounds like General Jones and the secretary-general, NATO secretary-general, are on the same page. We have heard the NATO secretary-general say before that there is not just a military component here, it is also civic and developmental.
[Mcintyre:] Yes. In fact, that's really it's really the more important part in some ways, because the military piece is just really an application of power. But after that, it really is the political end. And the other thing that I would just say is that NATO is on the hook here. They have signed up for this mission and they really have no option but to see it through and to try to bring some success out of this, no matter how long it takes. And by the way, it's going to take longer than General Jones is going to have, because he's going to be stepping down after a long, distinguished military career, in just about five or six weeks as a supreme NATO commander. So he won't be around to see this, but it's some people say there's a window of about six months, others say perhaps even shorter. But there's a real recognition this is a critical point where they've got to deliver those real improvements to the Afghan people or risk losing them back to the Taliban.
[Collins:] Particularly in the south, as you mentioned. All right. Jamie McIntyre, live from Afghanistan. Thank you, Jamie.
[Harris:] Getting personal about politics.
[Unidentified Female:] You want me to tell you about the first time I did it? I think the best time is in the fall. I like to do it in the morning. When was it? What year? It's kind of personal. I told everybody. I had such a big mouth about it.
[Harris:] What are we teasing here? Move over soccer moms? So- called Sex and the City voters oh, I get it are turning heads this election. The story in the
[Newsroom. Collins:] Not acting. Michael K. Fox responds to criticism of his appearance in political ads. We'll have that in the NEWSROOM as well. Stick around, everybody.