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Tsarnaev Family Has Chechen Ties; Carjacking Victim Recounts Ordeal; Dzhokhar Tsarnaev Transferred to Prison; Vapor Wake Dogs Smell Bombs

Aired April 26, 2013 - 13:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Nick Paton Walsh joins me now from southern Russia.

Another big development, Nick, today, was that the parents of the Tsarnaev brothers, they've left their home. A, do we know why? And do we know where they've gone?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I think the key reason was privacy really. They had an awful lot of attention not only from media but also investigators. And of course, there is the slipping health of Anzor, the father. He was supposed to travel today or maybe tomorrow to the United States. I understand, for the moment, his health has deteriorated and that trip will subsequently be delayed. They've left Dagestan, as she told me, and gone to another part of Russia. She didn't want to disclose where. Clearly, getting to the United States for them a priority. They just, at this point, seem to constantly find obstacles preventing them from doing that -- Anderson?

COOPER: Have they both been interviewed by Russian and American authorities? And is there cooperation between Russians and Americans?

WALSH: It's clear they're both being interrogated at length by both the FBI and FSB. She wouldn't speak much about that investigation. But I did ask about this radical family friend called Misha, who seems to have helped her and her older son towards devout Islam.

In terms of Russian-American cooperation, there's quite a lot of noise yesterday on the Hill, suggesting maybe the Russians hadn't been as "forthcoming as they could be," quote, about persons of interest.

And as foreign affairs points out, it's not really fashionable to defend -- Russians do appear on three occasions to have made quite direct warnings to the United States about Tamerlan and, according to reports last night, about the mother as well.

I think we'll see a diplomatic spat as both try to not accept blame for dropping the ball. But at the end of the day, if the Russians come forward with an amount of it does provide fuel to American claims they could have provided that earlier -- Anderson?

COOPER: Yes.

Nick Payton Walsh in Russia, appreciate it. As we told you at the top of the hour, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is now in prison. We'll tell you new details about what the prison is equipped to do to treat his injuries.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: 90 minutes of terror, that's what a Boston man says he went through after being carjacked by the bombing suspects. He gave his account exclusively here the other day. The 26-year-old Chinese entrepreneur, who wants to be identified only by his American nickname, Danny, detailed his experience, as I said, exclusively to "Boston Globe."

The reporter, Eric Moskowitz, describes one critical moment of the ride. He says, and I quote, "They stopped in Watertown Center so Dzhokhar could withdraw money from the Bank of America ATM using Danny's card. Danny, shivering from fear but claiming to be cold asked for his jacket. Guarded by just brother, Danny wondered if this was his chance. But he saw around him only locked store fronts. A police car drove by, lights off."

Danny would get another chance to escape after enduring a seemingly endless ride through Boston. Listen to the writer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERIC MOSKOWITZ, REPORTER, BOSTON GLOBE: They drive around for 90 minutes constantly threatening him, and Danny's just trying to think, how do I stay alive. I don't want to say the wrong thing.

At one point, he gets a text message from his roommate in Chinese, saying where are you, how come you haven't come home. And Tamerlan takes an English-to-Chinese app, texts back, I'm sick, not coming home tonight, I'm with a friend. That seems weird to Danny's roommate. There's another text and then a call. They don't answer. There's silence in Danny's car. They call again. Tamerlan says, you answer, if you say a word in Chinese -- because he knows he's speaking in Chinese, he might rat them out -- I'll kill you, and don't be stupid. So Danny says, answering to someone, talking to him in Mandarin, in English, I'm sick, I'm with a friend, I'm sorry, I've got to go.

He's just trying to think, where can I get out, when is my moment. Lucky for Danny, the car was running low on gas, they that had to stop at a gas station. Double stroke of luck, it wouldn't accept the card. The younger brother has to go in to pay with cash. That leaves Danny alone with Tamerlan. Think about, Tamerlan's been on the run all day. He's killed an MIT police officer five hours earlier. He puts his guard down for a second, puts the gun in the driver-side pocket of Danny's SUV and he's got both hands fiddling with the GPS, and Danny realizes, if I'm going to get out, now is the chance. I've got to unbuckle the seat belt, open the door, and go in one swift motion.

(END VIDEO CLIP) COOPER: That's exactly what he did. Danny ran to a nearby gas station where a 911 call was made. His iPhone and his car satellite system eventually helped police track down the stolen vehicle in Watertown. That's when the shootout began.

He spent almost a week in the same hospital as some of the people he's accused of wounding. But now, as he mentioned, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is in a prison medical center about 40 miles away.

I want to bring in our senior medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen.

You've done some checking on this facility at the prison. What are the capabilities that they have?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, there are medical facilities in prisons all over the country, but there are only six facilities like this one. We're talking several hundred inmate patients, six physicians on staff, 60 doctors -- I mean 60 nurses rather, 24-hour care. So this hospital can do quite a bit.

But let's talk a bit about what it can't do. It can't do big surgeries. When you look online, they do not have an accredited intensive care unit. And I think that says something about Tsarnaev's condition. When he was released, as far as we know, he was in fair condition, so they obviously felt comfortable sending him to a facility that wasn't as sophisticated as the Beth Israel, but still could give some level of care.

COOPER: Right.

Elizabeth, appreciate the update on it. Thank you very much.

There's a lot going on throughout the day today. Much more coverage from Boston ahead.

We're also going to get a look at some of the other stories that are making headlines today, including why the fertilizer plant in Texas did not tell federal agencies that it had extremely hazardous chemicals on site.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Welcome back. We have much more from the Boston bombings investigation in a moment. But there's other news to tell you about right now.

Federal officials say they never knew that 270 tons of highly explosive ammonium nitrate. 14 people died when the plant caught fire and exploded. Still no word on exactly what caused the initial fire and the blast. Authorities say they don't know how much ammonia nitrate was there because all records burned up in that fire.

Take a look at Russia, not far from Moscow, a fire broke out at this psychiatric hospital overnight. 41 people were inside the building at the time. 38 of them have died. The fire is out now. Russia's official news agency is reporting the fire may have started after an electrical short, but they are still investigating.

We have some remarkable news from Bangladesh also, where a building collapse has killed more than 300 people. Stunning. Rescuers have found at least 50 more people alive in the rubble. That's in addition to 70 who were pulled out earlier, many of them in critical condition. It's going to take hours to dig out those huddled in what used to be the third floor of the garment factory. Hundreds more could still be buried inside. Along with growing anger in Bangladesh, protesters demanding safer working conditions in the garment industry in Bangladesh and want the factory owners arrested. We'll continue to follow that story.

The government reports the economy grew at an annual rate of 2.5 percent in the first quarter. That is an improvement. If you recall, the economy just about stalled in the fourth quarter last year, growing an anemic 0.04 percent and the GDP, or gross domestic product, reading the value of the goods and services the country produces.

Anthony Bourdain wants to blow out every misconception you might have about Colombia. That's where he heads for this weekend's "Parts Unknown." Here's Bourdain with good advice if you're going to follow him there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTHONY BOURDAIN, HOST, ANTHONY BOURDAIN, PARTS UNKNOWN: Should you come here? Yes, because it's beautiful. Yes, because the people are nice. Yes, because the food is awesome. This is a country with mountains, jungles, beaches, with a lot of good stuff.

What do you need to know? Don't talk politics here. Issues of the day that seem newsworthy to you might well be something that has impacted the person you're talking to in a very painful and personal way. Best to leave it alone.

But more importantly, people are welcoming and open to outsiders and interested in them and what they've been up to.

There are a lot of things you'll see here you may not fully understand but you'll become aware of. That will echo other places that you go.

You come to Colombia and you understand or you begin to understand how the world outside, outside of the United States, how the world, in general, works.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Amazing country to visit. You don't want to miss this all new "Anthony Bourdain Parts Unknown," Sunday night, 9:00 eastern right here on CNN.

Well, they're the ultimate bomb-sniffing dogs. They can stop an attack before it happens by smelling the vapors of explosive materials.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They're training starts early, even as early as these puppies, which are just about three weeks old. At this time, they're held a lot and socialized and then, by the time their formal training starts when they're about a year old, they're used to people and loud noises and they don't get spooked so easily.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Well, imagine how things might have different if someone or something was able to detect the bombs before they went off at the Boston Marathon. Researchers at Auburn University are training bomb- sniffing dogs that can detect bomb vapors from far away. The dogs are already used at some airports and on trains.

Randi Kaye shows us how these dogs are being trained.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE (voice-over): Imagine if the Boston bombing suspects had left a trail, a trail of vapors in the air that smelled like a bomb --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Up.

KAYE: -- vapors that only a specially trained dog could detect.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stay. Stay. Stay.

KAYE: A dog like these, now being trained at Auburn University. Researchers here call them vapor wake dogs.

(on camera): The point of a vapor wake dog is to detect the vapor of the bomb, if you will, before it's actually placed somewhere it might explode.

DR. JAMES FLOYD, AUBURN UNIVERSITY: That's exactly correct. Your standard bomb dog, your explosive detector dog is primed on looking at an object, a backpack that's placed somewhere. A vapor wake dog's ability is to detect the odor coming off of that backpack on the back of someone as they carry it.

KAYE: Amazing.

FLOYD: And to follow that plume of vapor.

KAYE (voice-over): Auburn University professor, Jim Floyd, says vapor wake they can follow a plume or bomb vapor, stretching several football fields. A skill so unique, the university hopes to patent it.

This video from the university shows a vapor weight dog in action. Once he catches the odor in the air, he never lets up.

We did our own experiment at this Alabama mall with the help of Auburn's K-9 handlers. They give the man in the red shirt a knapsack loaded with explosives inside a pressure cooker, just like the bombers in Boston. Watch as the dog catches a whiff. And just like he's trained to do, when the suspect stops, the dog stops too, then sits down, alerting his handler to the bad guy.

In a crowded mall or on a city street, this technique is crucial. These dogs can potentially stop a would-be bomber before it is too late.

(on camera): You think if you had a vapor wake dog in Boston, they might have detected the suspects before they were able to place those backpacks down?

FLOYD: Had one of our dogs been in place on that corner, with those two guys walking there with those backpacks, I think they would have alerted them.

KAYE: Their training starts early, even as early as these puppies, which are just about three weeks old. At this time, they're held a lot and socialized and then, by the time their formal training starts when they're about a year old, they're used to people and loud noises and don't get spooked so easily.

(voice-over): Auburn has its own breeding program for bomb-sniffing dogs. They rarely use shepherds and traditional breeds but lean more on labradors and spaniels.

Paul Hammonds, whose company, IK9s, is working with Auburn to train and deploy vapor wake dogs, explains why.

PAUL HAMMOND, IK9S: We need a dog that fits into the public profile, and the public is just going to walk past, ignore, as if it was a domestic pet.

KAYE: The bomb dogs are being used in airport, on Amtrak trains, and by police departments, too.

(on camera): What is it about a dog's nose, as compared to ours, that they are able to pick up something like that?

HAMMOND: Well, the dog's olfactory system is actually 220 scent cells compared to humans scent cells, so that gives you a real comparison. We might be able to smell a woman's perfume walking by, the dog will not only smell the perfume, but the clothes, the material she's wearing, the shower gel she washed with that morning.

KAYE (voice-over): In addition to vapor wake training, these dogs are able to detect explosives in the traditional way.

Paul shows us by hiding explosives in the tire well of this car.

HAMMOND: Good job.

The dog, you know, thought he was looking for explosives, he probably wouldn't do it.

KAYE: What may be a game to these dogs could mean the difference between life and death to the rest of us.

HAMMOND: Good job, my man.

KAYE: Randi Kaye, CNN, Anniston, Alabama.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: As I said last night, another reason why dogs are amazing.

We have been reporting a lot on the people that have amputations in the wake of the bombings. If there is anyone that can relate, it is a Marine sergeant named Gabe Martinez. He lost both legs after stepping on an IED in Afghanistan.

Listen to what he's telling the victims in this tragedy.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: So, Gabe, you lost both your legs in an IED incident in March, Afghanistan, Thanksgiving, 2010.

GABE MARTINEZ, U.S. MARINE WOUNDED BY IED: Yes, sir.

TAPPER: What are they feeling now that you felt at that time?

MARTINEZ: Their mind is filled with questions. It is starting anywhere, ranging from, what am I going to do now, is my life over, or am I ever going to be independent again or am I just going to be dependent on somebody taking care of me the rest of my life? And I went through that plethora of questions when I was in the hospital. I had my ups and downs. Happy one day, sad the next. It is just, right now, they're just kind of discovering who they are now. And it is going to be an ongoing process that will take some time, but every one of them will pull through.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: I was talking to a couple of veteran amputees earlier this week and they were saying, Brooke, it is one thing to overcome the initial couple of hurdles, but you never know out of the blue one day, it is depression that was really tough for them to work through. What could you tell mom and daughter?

MARTINEZ: Just tell them that those are the days you dig deep. Those are the days that you accept who you are, look in that mirror and see I have no legs and I got to accept that and, you know, I told them all that that these legs are a badge of honor for me and should be for them. They really did lose their legs in this country, and everybody is here to support them, not only in Boston, but the whole world. And so that's just the days you got to dig deep and just accept who you are and do good things.

TAPPER: The advances in prosthetics are so amazing. A lot of people don't know this, but I wrote a book about Afghanistan, and I came to know a lot of soldiers, Army, sorry, not Marines. And they -- a lot of them lost legs, and are still in the service, still abroad, still serving in Afghanistan. It is amazing what this generation of prosthetics allows someone like you to do if you set your mind to it. MARTINEZ: Absolutely. That's one thing that I tell all the patients I saw, whatever your passion was, you're going to be able to get back to it. You're going to get new passions, I promise you. I told them that there is a whole spectrum of componentry for different prosthesis that will get you back in action, whether it is doing hair or running a marathon. You'll be able to do it.

BALDWIN: The technology, even here, just being here in Boston, somebody was telling me they're working in a lab across the river in Cambridge on a bionic ankle. So the technology is incredible.

Before we let you go, though, talk about hurdles and overcoming them, we were talking before you came on, you're hoping to be in Rio for the Olympics.

MARTINEZ: I am. I'm a Paralympics hopeful for track and field. And that's just a -- with the support that I've had through organizations like Semper Fi Fund and Americans, in general, I've been digging deep, like I said, and pushing forward. So hopefully, in 2016, I'll be in Rio.

TAPPER: What is the farthest you've run on these new legs?

MARTINEZ: I've done just on my own day to day running between 5 and 10 miles. But that's --

(LAUGHTER)

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: That better than you, Tapper?

TAPPER: Definitely more than me, and probably most of our viewers.

(LAUGHTER)

MARTINEZ: For right now, my body is conditioned for short distance, fast paced, so --

TAPPER: That's what you want to do? Short distance?

MARTINEZ: And I'll be sucking wind at two miles.

(LAUGHTER)

TAPPER: We'll be rooting for you.

BALDWIN: We will.

TAPPER: And we know you're going to make it, too. We know you'll be there.

MARTINEZ: I hope so.

TAPPER: Thank you very much.

BALDWIN: Thank you.

TAPPER: And it's really an honor to meet you.

MARTINEZ: Thank you for having me.

BALDWIN: Wow.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: We'll definitely be rooting for him.

Boston loves its sports teams, especially now. We have seen the pride and emotion at Fenway at recent games as fans pay tribute to the bombing victims and first responders. Since the terror attacks, sports have helped the city recover and return to a sense of normalcy. Tonight, the Celtics play their first home game since the marathon. They could use a lift from the fans. They trail the New York Knicks 2-0 in the NBA playoffs.

Coming up tonight on CNN, we're going to follow the trail of terror from the Boston suburbs to the war-torn Caucasus. What influenced the two suspected bombers? We're trying to piece together as much as we know, put it together in one report, "Boston Bombings, The Trail of Terror." That's tonight at 10:00 p.m. eastern.

That's it for me. Thanks very much for watching. I'll be back on "A.C. 360" at 9:00 eastern.

Brooke Baldwin and Jake Tapper continue straight ahead.

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