time now for cnn tonight. the stories you could be talking about tomorrow. it could be a wet one, a wet fourth of july along the east coast. the first tropical storm of the season named arthur has formed off eastern florida and could return in strength when it hits the outer banks in north carolina. tomorrow the storm is expected to hit northeast, bringing showers as far as new york and boston. sorry about that. i'm don lemon. thanks for watching. ac 360 starts right now. good evening, everyone. john berman here in for anderson, and breaking news tonight. late word on tropical storm arthur, gaining strength for a run from florida to maine. also tonight, what the folks here did to make it harder for you to find out about their first class junkets. just when you thought congressional approval ratings couldn't drop any lower.

plus, one of america's least reliable friends going into the iraq war resurfaces. and just like then, he wants to run the country. the question tonight, is ahmed chalabi doing this administration what he did to the last? we do begin, though, with the breaking news, tropical storm arthur, the first of the season, predicted to become the first hurricane of the season too. and the path it is on could send it straight into sandy territory, right up the eastern seaboard. seconds ago, the national hurricane center released an update on the storm and where it's headed. let's get down to atlanta and chad myers crunching the numbers for us. chad, so how big is this, archer? and where is it going? >> earlier today, it was nothing. it was 35 miles per hour. now the hurricane center's latest forecast says by the fourth of july, around 2:00, a 90 miles per hour still category 1. but on the border of that. there is the storm. much more menacing this hour, john, than we've had over the rest of the day.

although the radar is not that impressive, that's because the radar doesn't go that far. satellite looks down. radar looks out. by the time the radar gets there, a lot of the rainfall is actually on the other side, can't see it. but there is some of these showers are all the way to tampa and sarasota, one of the outer bands. now we'll get many, many more outer bands as the storm moves to the north. the biggest threat with this storm will be the rip currents. all the way up the east coast, as the wind pushes the waves on shore. the water is going to pile up at the beach. and it's going to run away from the beach, and you don't want to be in that water when it runs away. day by day, thursday, tomorrow afternoon, 2:00, even with thursday afternoon, we start to move this thing up. so wednesday, thursday, and then finally into friday, right through nagshead, and that right there is a 90 miles per hour storm. if you can wait, wait a day, and wait for it to get here. saturday and sunday, it's long gone. it's in halifax.

it's in atlanta, canada. people are going to get impatient and want to get to their beach vacation. i'm saying don't do it you. can't get in the water anyway. the tidal current, the riptides here will take you away at 30 to 45 miles per hour. i know they say swim away from them. i was caught in one rip current. i tell you what, it's tough. you don't think about that. all you want to do is get back to shore. the water comes over the sandbars, comes right to where you are. you're playing in this water. and then the rip current breaks through the sand babasandbar. please, please, please wear a life jacket. it's going to be that dangerous in the water this week. john? >> good advice. all up and down the east coast for the next couple days. chad myers, thank you so much. >> you're welcome. now keeping them honest. how lawmakers in washington quietly, very quietly acted to make keeping them honest a whole lot harder. ordinarily, our elected representatives turned nearly everything they do into a press release or photo op.

but not this time. no one wants their fingerprints on this one, a move that so to speak sheds darkness, not light on those overseas fact finding trips that lawmakers seem to love. the kind that take them to exotic places with big money interest groups picking up the tab. more from pamela brown. >> reporter: members of congress have had the travel bug for years, visiting places like the old city in jerusalem to get a sense of the age old problems there. in fact, israel, france, turkey, and ireland rank among the most popular destinations for lawmakers, who are traveling there for free because private sponsors pick up the tab, totalling millions of dollars each year. it used to be each member of congress must reveal who paid their tab on their personal financial disclosure forms. one of the most high profile forms lawmakers must file. now that requirement has changed. >> it's clearly been done to allow members to escape accountability for lavish trips.

whenever a member of congress takes an expensive trip, watchdog groups and their constituents ask questions why did they need to take this trip? and if they don't have to reveal this trip on their financial disclosure forms, people won't know about it. >> reporter: buried on page 35 in the house ethic committees guidelines provided to congress members states the change, meaning the gift of travel regardless of its dollar value and paid for by a private source does not need to be reported. the unpublicized change went unnoticed until a report were the national journal spotted it. a chairman of the house transparency caucus said that's part of the problem. >> i only know what i read in the newspapers. i did not know this had taken place. >> reporter: now congress members must disclose all their travel records to the clerk's office instead. the house ethics committee says the information is still easily accessible, and the change streamlines the process. congressman quigley disagrees. >> a wise supreme court justice

said sunshine is the best disinfectant. it doesn't hurt us to be duplicative. i think it helps us at a time when trust in congress is at an all-time low to be as open and accountable as we possibly can be. >> reporter: the trips in question are financed by private nonprofit groups, usually billed as fact finding missions. house democratic leader nancy pelosi is speaking out about the change in a statement, asking the house ethics committee to reverse course. while the committee's aim was to simplify the disclosure process, congress must always move in the direction of more disclosure, not less, she says. and in a statement, the ethics committee tells cnn that it continues to enforce the requirement that all house members and staff who wish to accept privately sponsored travel must continue to receive prior approval and file details paperwork about any such trip within 15 days. neither of those requirements have been changed or diluted in any way. and john, the committee is committed to effective and

efficient public disclosure according to the ethics committee in this statement that it provided to cnn. >> you know, pamela, we always complain about the lack of bipartisanship in washington. i suppose if there is good news here, it's a bipartisan shrouding of disclosure and fact finding here by the ethics committee. explain to our viewers who this committee is. we have the names and the pictures right now. we're going to put them up on the screen right now. this is a rare committee because it works differently than the others in congress. >> that's absolutely right, john. so there are ten members of the house ethics committee. and it is the only standing committee that is split eventually among republicans and democrats. now we don't know how each member voted in this case because those votes are kept secret, but we do know there has to a majority for a vote to pass. and that means members of both parties would have had to have signed off on this requirement change. john? >> as i said, a bipartisan shrouding going on here. pamela brown, thank you so much. i want to bring in peter schweizer, the president of the government accountability institute. he joins me live right now. peter, you're an expert in this

type of thing. how concerning is this move, this change in the dead of night to you? >> well, it's just another example of how congress is operating. you talked about it. you've got this bipartisan shrouding. is one of the few areas that we seem to get both political parties to cooperate on. that is limiting the access that people have to information on who is trying to influence them, who is giving them favors. but the second problem is this notion that the emphasis is entirely on their own convenience 689 the rational that they're giving for changes this disclosure requirement is it's more convenient for them. now, we don't want them to do unnecessary paperwork. but john, when was the last time they tried to make government forms for us more convenient? to me, it's just an example of congress being detached from the very real concern that people have about ethics in washington. >> to be clear, as you are saying, they still have to disclose this type of information. they just have to disclose it in

fewer places. one place rather than two. and for reporter, it's not the place that we usually look for this information. so it is harder to get, isn't that the issue here? >> that's exactly right. you have to really know where to look for it. in other words, you have to go to the house ethics website. you can search for it. but what it does really, john, it depersonalized it. look, the reason people are sponsoring trips for powerful members of congress on certain committees is they want to influence them. they want access. they want time with them. they want to give them a nice trip, because they're hoping they will curry favor. if that's not on their personal financial disclosure form, but it's instead on this sort of database on this website that you've got to know about to find, it depersonalizes it. and for voters who are interested in understanding what perks or favors are being done for members of congress, it really makes it difficult to find. and if we're going to have self-governance in this country, we need to have voters that can access that kind of information easily. >> and knowing is all voters

really want here. because there are legitimate reasons to go on trips like this. congress people can work together, which is always a good thing. they can learn more about the issues they're covering, which is always a good thing. the flip side of that, though, is when you get these jack abramoff situations. everyone always remembers him, the lobbyist who was eventually indicted, served time in prison for among other things bribing public officials. that the concern here? >> i think it's a combination of things. certainly you have special interests, whether they're corporations, labor unions, trade associations that will funnel money to, say, a nonprofit organization, which is the legitimate entity that can sponsor a trip like this. that they can interest them. but i think it's not just sort of the extreme cases like the abramoff case. this is sort of the currency of how washington works. that is members of congress, i think it's human nature, are going to feel more beholden to somebody who has given their family or themselves a nice trip to, say, europe or asia.

it's just the nature of the way human beings operate. and especially if they get more facetime with them. so it's part of the influence industry. we're all realistic and recognize that it takes place. but it's got to be disclosed, and it's got to be accessible in an easy way where voters and reporters can find it. >> peter schweizer, maybe they will change this decision. they do have that chance. appreciate you being with us. quick reminder. make sure you set your dvr whenever you can. watch "ac 360" whenever you like. just ahead for us, ahmed chalabi, wound telephone most disgraced, widely discredited figures in the gulf war. he bamboozled washington once. now he is trying to become iraq's prime minister. as you will soon sooep see, some in washington think that won't be so bad. and later, more breaking news. the fight over immigration spilling out into the streets of one small town. protesters block buses carrying undocumented immigrants. we'll tell you where it happened and what happened next.

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so here is a saying for you. fool me once, shame on you. fool me twice, welcome to washington. welcome to america's long-standing bipartisan trouble distinguishing global friend from foe from out and out con artists. whether it's south vietnamese despots, pakistani dictator, vladimir putin's soul, wherever that is. american presidents, democrat and republican have embraced them all only to regret it later. the bush administration launched the iraq war in part on bogus intelligence from one ahmed chalabi, who wanted to be prime minister of iraq. he still does. and now many believe he is conning washington again. here is brian todd. >> reporter: he had president

bush's ear, was a guest at the state of the union address. he relentlessly campaigned for america to throw saddam hussein out. under the premise that iraq had the world's deadliest weapons. >> i believe that they will find iraq weapons of mass destruction. speaking to many of the scientists involved in the programs. they confirm the manufacture of the weapons. >> reporter: ahmed chalabi's pronouncements and the information he fed to bush officials influenced the u.s. decision to invade. and the information was spectacularly bogus. now chalabi is being talked about as a serious contender to replace nuri al maliki as iraq's prime minister, the very idea brings back bad memories for some american observers. >> this is a crazy world. and i can't really believe this is a good leader for iraq. on every single issue, he was either dishonest, self-promoting, or, you know, vengeful towards his previous

enemies. i just saw nothing good in the man. >> reporter: chalabi had american military and political leaders believing the iraq war would be a cakewalk. later he was accused of tipping the iranians off to american intelligence secrets and effectively banned from the u.s. embassy in baghdad. he denied the claims. before the war, chalabi was convicted and sentenced in a massive bank fraud case in jordan and escaped to london. the questions about chalabi's credibility are serious enough. but in this contorted political climate in iraq, there are also serious concerns over how effective he would be as prime minister. during the war, chalabi, who is shia, headed up the effort to push top sunni leaders out of their jobs. but despite that, a spokesman for muqtada al sadr told us sad err's followers, a key block believe chal lab south bay a viable candidate who can work with sunnis and unite the government. james jefford former u.s. ambassador likes chalabi, calls him courageous. and says in the current spiral

of violence, there aren't great alternatives. >> iraq is disintegrating before our eyes. this is a total emergency situation. the only way out of this thing, and is only limited chance of that is for iraq to find a replacement to prime minister maliki. if he is the lowest common denominator, let it be. let's give this guy a chance. >> reporter: how does the obama administration feel about chalabi becoming iraq's next leader? it's not the role of the u.s. to support any candidate. our efforts to get ahmed chal will be by himself to comment for the story were not successful. brian todd, cnn, washington. >> you heard brian there, keeping track of chalabi who spent decades in and out of the shadows is no easy job. aaron roston has done it most. he has authored perhaps the big on mr. chalabi chalabi, the man who pushed america to war, the extraordinary life, adventures and obsessions of ahmed chalabi. aaron, i got to say. i was there for the invasion

when u.s. troops were looking for weapons of mass destruction. i was there when u.s. forces with there on a raid on his home because they no longer trusted the guy. now ten years later he is in the mix to be prime minister? it's dumbfounding. >> he is an astonishing fellow. he has drive that most people can't even fathom. >> it seems like he is not particularly well liked or trusted in the u.s. anymore. he is not particularly well liked or trusted in iraq. so how it is that he's got one seat. his party's got one seat in the parliament, and it's his. how is he positioning himself to perhaps be the next prime minister? >> well, i don't think the -- the u.s. is almost irrelevant right now. in this process that they're using to choose the prime minister. virtually everybody, except for nuri al maliki wants to replace nuri al maliki. there is this wide consensus

that they need to change prime ministers there. but he won the most votes. he won the plurality of votes. chalabi has positioned himself the way he always did by this brilliant, brilliant horse trading he does. he is able to form these alliances with people he once fought with, with former enemies. and he has brought them into his camp. he really has -- it's astonishing to me too. i wasn't prepared to believe it. but i now do. he has convinced some sunni leaders that he is a consensus candidate, and that he has overcome his previous antipathy and he has convinced the kurds to support him, some kurds to support him. so his truck will be can he build up enough seats in parliament to support him as prime minister? and then, of course, is the issue you dealt with and the peace. would he make any difference? could he be a leader? is anything he said believable and all that. >> you know, aaron, a lot of times with ahmed chalabi, you worry a lot of the spin or

stories about him are coming from him. is he spinning this notion that he is a viable candidate? you just said you duly believe it could happen. >> i'm not saying he is a great candidate. but he is doing a good job at gathering support, even from some sunni leaders. we wrote in buzzfeed, he has got some sunni support. limited sunni support. but some people believe he is some sort of consensus candidate. now, he has no constituents on the streets of iraq. when there have been votes, when this have been elections where there is a popular vote, he has won less than 1% of the popular vote. so he somehow -- but he's got the support of the sadrists. we all remember muqtada al sadr. we has the sort of other shiite clerics and some limited support from sunnis. so it's odd to be somebody looking at this political process in iraq and judging it from here.

but there are some who believe he is one of the very few credible candidates because there are so few. it's almost as if who else could it be? >> perhaps the least bad option in politics that often wins. >> right. >> aaron roston, great to have you with us. as always, you can fooinds find out more about this on cnn.com. i encourage you to take a look. next for us, another part of that region erupting. israel launching dozens of airstrikes, pledging to make hamas pay. hamas issuing warnings of its own. the question now, how far will each side go. and later, what we're learning tonight about the mother of that toddler who was left to die in a hot car. that and what we expect to learn from the father's court hearing. that's coming up. ♪

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tensions extremely high between israel and hamas tonight with more air strikes overnight in gaza amid increasing calls for revenge after three israeli teenagers were found dead. hamas has denied it is behind the abductions. still, air strikes have been stepped up. the israeli military saying it is responding to rockets being fired from gaza. funerals for three teens were held today. prime minister benjamin netanyahu is promising the teenagers' deaths will be avenged, that the people involved in their kidnapping/murder will bear the consequences. their bodies were found yesterday nearly three weeks after they were abducted hitchhiking home from school in the west bank. ben weeden joins me tonight from

hebron. ben, what's the late itself tonight on troop movements? >> well, it seems to be a fairly quiet night so far. there are israeli operations in various parts of the west bank, but in fact nothing out of the ordinary. there have been no air strikes so far this evening according to the israeli military, however, there is a security cabinet meeting ongoing by my account, it's now going more than five hours and 15 minutes. before that meeting, we heard the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu saying israel is sort of following three lines of action. at the moment, they are pursuing the kidnapper, the killers of those three teenagers. they're drucracking down on the infrastructure of hamas in the west bank. until that security cabinet meeting concludes, we probably won't have a clear idea of what

israel's next step, john. >> what is the goal of the next step against hamas? is it merely to avenge the deaths of these three teenagers? it is to split hamas from the palestinian in the west bank or is it to destabilize the hamas regime in gaza? >> well, prime minister netanyahu has made it clear from the beginning of this drama on the 12th of june that the operation in the west bank was aimed at two things. finding the teenagers, punishing their captors, and cracking down on hamas, which he has made clear he holds completely responsible. as far as gaza is concerned, the question is what will israel do next. let's keep in mind, john, that in late 2008-early 2009, israel conducted a three-week offensive against hamas in gaza and in november 2012, a shorter offensive against hamas in gaza.

but gaza remains in control, and some israeli officials are beginning to say perhaps hamas cannot be budged from gaza. and the worry is if you were to remove hamas, who takes its place. >> ben weeden on the west bank tonight, stay safe and we appreciate it. back home we do have some breaking news to tell you about. a standoff in southern california over immigration. protesters blocking three buses carrying undocumented families heading for an immigration processing facility, forcing the bus to back off. stephanie elam is there. she joins us now. stephanie, give us a sense of what exactly happened there today, and the bus is filled with these people. where are they now? >> reporter: right, john. it was an interesting scene to watch play out here. early in the morning there were protesters already lined up on the street outside of this facility, which is usually held here to house people who are smugglers or caught on the nearby interstate. but they changed it over to process these 140 undocumented

migrants who were coming in actually from texas and flown this morning here to the san diego area and then bussed out here to murrieta, california. these protesters lined the streets with signs saying no illegals, send them back, impeach obama, all these kind of signs. and when the three buss with these migrants were approaching the facility, they crowded in the street and it became a very heated yelling match as some people who were supporting the people on the buses saying this is a humanitarian issue as they are fleeing what is going on in those countries and violence there, and others saying we don't need any more people here taking our jobs. this is something i actually heard. right now we know the buses went back. they backed down the street eventually when they saw they weren't going get through. they took them to another facility in chula vista, about an hour and a half away from here as well. we understand they are being fed there. but more than likely, they believe they will likely make their way back here. the question is, and what we don't know is when they're going to come back, john. >> all right. this is of course the backdrop for the discussion orsulak of discussion on immigration reform in washington.

stephanie elam, thank you so much for that. appreciate it. there is a lot more happening tonight. susan hendricks has a 360 bulletin. susan? >> john, a federal judge has ruled kentucky's ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional. gay and lesbian couples won't be able to tie the knot just yet. first an appeals court will rule on the matter since the state plans to fight that decision. and the deadly ebola virus is surging in west africa. the world health organization now reporting 759 cases, including 469 deaths in guinea, sierra leone and also liberia. the director of operations for doctors without borders is warning the epidemic is out of control. a strange scene at wimbledon. serena williams appeared disoriented and had trouble playing in a doubles match with her sister venus. the five-time wimbledon champ withdrew from the competition due to a viral illness. and in case you didn't see, the u.s. is out of the world cup after losing to belgium, 2-1. but if you looked at the

highlights, you would think the u.s. ran away with it. it truly was amazing. and you're going to talk to chris cuomo who is there in brazil. i'm excited to get a firsthand account of what he saw there. >> belgium, belgium. >> how dare they! >> susan hendricks, thank you so much. i appreciate it. coming up, a story that has really captivated the nation. will a father stay in jail for allegedly murdering his son by leaving the son in a hot car? a judge in georgia will decide this week. meanwhile, we're learning more about both parties. also ahead, an entire family vanishes, only to be found later in slal low graves in the desert. the lingering questions years after they disappeared. what really happened to the mcstays? a cnn special report with randi kaye, coming up. p of the services your vehicle needs. so prepare your car for any road trip by taking it to an expert ford technician. because no matter your destination good maintenance helps you save at the pump.

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a hearing later this week will decide whether there is enough evidence to keep man in jail, a man charged with murder in the death of his 22-month-old son. justin harris left his son cooper in a hot car for seven hours while he went to work. he has pleaded not guilty. martin savidge joins me now from marietta, georgia, with the latest. martin, i know you continue to look into both of the parents. what more have you learned tonight about cooper's mother? >> yeah, leana harris. this came up as a revelation that she made to authorities that she too had been stofng internet the possibility of a child dying in a very hot car. it was when a father admitted that to authorities, jaws dropped given that's what happened. now that the mother has admitted the same thing, we went back to authorities to find out, well, does that mean she is under

investigation? and authorities pushed back and said no. it means she is part of the investigation, but not under investigation. by the way, she is a registered dietitian, and she is working currently for a kidney care company, a company that provides dialysis care to patients, john. >> the big day we're waiting for is thursday. a hearing on thursday. and that, martin, when we will probably learn new details of what the police investigators think happened. >> yeah. this is a day that everyone is looking at and believing it's going to be a real aha moment. it seems quite clear that just the evidence that has come forward so far saying a father has researched on the internet doesn't seem strong enough to hold him on the charges they've got, which is that he killed his son in some way deliberately. so what is going to come forward we expect is to be motive. it's going to look like a trial. there will be a judge. he'll be weighing the evidence. you'll have the lead investigator that will be taking

the stand. there will be the chance for the defense to cross examine. we expect they'll discuss the issue of bond. we don't know whether it will be granted. but i'm sure the defense will ask for it. one last thing as you point out, john, many people have said the prosecution feels this case is so strong, why are they doing this probable cause hearing why. not go right to a grand jury? one argument has been put forward that well, this has been a very public case. a lot of people feel the father is being improperly prosecuted. this way, early on, the county can put forward why they believe this was not an accident. a grand jury, of course, acts in secrecy when they indict. >> it will be interesting to see if those facts exist. all right, martin savidge in marietta, georgia. thank you so much. we appreciate it. now a 360 follow. a solemn memorial for family and friends of a young student in pennsylvania. a student who loved kayaking and

writing stories. that ran one year ago after abbey, just 14 years old committed suicide. her family says it was the actions of the administrators at her boarding school that pushed her over the edge. gary tuchman reports. >> reporter: abbey bartel loved where she went to school, a prestigious secondary school in a small town. a school with a $12 billion endowment, and a huge picturesque campus. but it wasn't just a school to her. it was a second home. julie bartels is her mother. >> i was very proud of her. she was doing -- she was honor role, she made student of the month, she was doing everything she was supposed to do and doing it well. >> reporter: in addition to her mom, the 14-year-old also had a father, stepmother, brothers, and a step-grandfather. but her father has had trouble with alcohol and the law, and medical records showed that as well as other family issues

contributed to abbey getting very depressed. the records indicate abby frequently thought about killing herself. and that became relevant, because the hershey school has a policy that students need to be free of serious emotional and behavioral problems. in the spring of 2013, the school said abby needed to be professionally treated at a mental health institution that does cork with the school in congress junction with students. >> they told me if i did not put her in the institution she would lose her enrollment. this was her goal. she wanted to be in this school. abby bartels had been going to school here since she was 4 years old. so she had spent most of her life at this boarding school. she was about to finish eighth grade. she was about to graduate from middle school. on june 5th, 16 days before her graduation day, a psychiatrist at the fillhaven institution discharged abby, claiming she

had made good progress but should receive after care. she did go back to school for two days, but had a relapse, and was then sent to a different pennsylvania institution. abby's family was told at the very least she would have to take a leave of absence for a year while she continued treatment. but she was released from that second institution two days before the graduation ceremony. she looked forward to at least being in the audience at her graduation and going to a graduation party to see her friends. she admitted them all. so she had made these cards for each of the girls who lived in her residence hall. but abby's mother was stunned when the school told her abby was not invited to either event. and julie bartel says the school told her security would keep them out if they tried to come. the milton hershey school told cnn we must balance the goal of keeping a child at the school with the absolute mandate to ensure the safety of all children entrusted to our care. in other words, the school believed abby could be a danger to other students. abby's stepmother told the

14-year-old the bad news. >> and i said the school does not want you to attend graduation because you've been in the hospital. >> reporter: abbie was devastated. her mother called the school. >> abbie has been through so much, been through so much. this would be devastating to her. i cannot believe you are doing this. i said are you a child care professional at all? i said what are you, a bunch of morons? >> reporter: the school did not budge. eight days after the graduation, she wasn't allowed to go to, abbie's step-grandfather was in the house and called abbie's name. he did not get a response. he walked up to her room and saw her in the closet. >> i said oh my god, abbie, what did you do? and i was kind of waiting for an answer. but i knew it wasn't going to come. >> reporter: abbie was dead. she had hanged herself on the clothing rod in her closet. >> i miss her. i wish she was still here.

>> reporter: abbie's family believes the hershey school made an inhumane decision by barring her from campus on a day she had looked forward to most of her life. >> they crushed her. they did. >> reporter: we wanted to find out why the school couldn't have allowed this child at the very least say goodbye to her friend she went to school with oover nine years. we looked over 400 pages of medical records after they received them from the school. they did indicate abbie received quality care by the school, and particularly from a school psychologist named dr. benjamin hurr. but they showed no concern that abbie could be dangerous to any other children. last april abbie acknowledged putting her arm around a house matt's neck after that housemate complained of aggressive behavior. it sounds like it could have been a serious incident, but the school's own psychologist downplayed it, writing we agreed that abbie is not a malicious girl and did not intend to harm her housemate. and there is more from dr. hur.

two days before the graduation, he declared abbie is an excellent student. abbie is a well-behaved student. so does this school stand by its decision not to allow abbie on campus on graduation day? >> my name is gary tuchman with cnn. >> reporter: during our visit, we were told the school administration did not want to talk on camera. but the chief public relations woman at the school sent us written statements which declare in part abbie made clear to us that she wanted to keep her struggles private, even if this were not the case, school policy and law require that we keep her medical records and details surrounding this tragic situation confidential. rick ferrad is one of the family's attorneys and a graduate of the school. >> it's almost as they went out of their way to be as mean-spirited about it as possible. >> i love her. and if she would have just given it some more time, that she would have got over what the

school denied her. >> in the name of the father, the son and the holy spirit. >> reporter: after abbie died, a funeral was held on the school grounds. and one of her house parents who lived in her small residence hall gave the eulogy. >> her smile conveyed her compassion. she cared for others in a way that i have not seen in many people. >> reporter: and this school, which did not permit abbie to go to the graduation did permit her to be buried in the hershey school section of the local cemetery. gary tuchman, cnn, hershey, pennsylvania. >> any way you cut it, a tragic loss for that family. coming up for us, four years after an entire family disappeared, investigators still trying to find out why. is this a missing persons mystery that turned into a murder mystery? and later, we're going to go to brazil, where the usa was knocked out of the world cup just a short time ago. belgium! ups is a global company, but most of our employees live in the same communities that we serve.

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tonight randi kaye has a special report that will air on cnn right after this program. it is a fascinating and heartbreaking look at the mystery of a missing family that turned into a murder mystery. the mcstay family was last seen alive more than four years ago. their remains were found just about eight months ago in shallow graves in the mojave desert. experts have not named any suspects in this case. for the man who lost a son, a daughter-in-law and two grandchildren, the questions are overwhelming. here is randi kaye with a preview of tonight's special. >> from day one, i just had this gut feeling that i was never going to see them again.

i just -- i just knew. something told me i wasn't going to see them again. >> four years ago, patrick mcstay lost everything he loved. power years ago, his son joseph, daughter-in-law summer, and their two little boy, 4-year-old gianni and 3-year-old joseph jr. vanished. >> i don't think they knew what was coming. i really don't. >> how did you find out that they had gone missing? >> friday i tried calling him. couldn't get him. sunday i tried calling him and i couldn't reach him. now i'm getting a little worried. >> worried since patrick says he rarely went a day without a phone call from his son. >> every time i talked to him, the last words out of my mouth, before we hang up the phone, "i love you, son." >> if he was in trouble and had the ability to reach out to you, do you think he would have

called you? don't you think he would have? >> absolutely. >> this case is unique. i've never seen anything like it. >> freelance investigative journalist stef watts has followed the case closely from the beginning. >> they just literally disappeared and nobody noticed for days. >> thursday, february 4th, 2010 began as an ordinary day in the mcstay home. >> that morning i spoke to joey on the phone. >> but he didn't let on anything was wrong many your last conversation? >> noer, nothing was wrong. everything is fine. >> he was planning on having a lunch meeting with a business associate around noon. so he had to quickly wrap up and get out of the house. >> summer spent the day caring for the kids, overseeing their home renovation. did they have any plans for that weekend? >> yeah. they had little joey's birthday party scheduled for that saturday. the 6th.

>> go! >> but little joey jr. never made it to his third birthday party. >> that is so sad to see the pictures of that family. a family of four killed. why do investigators think they left the house so suddenly? >> well, they're not really clear just yet to be honest with you. they know they left in a hurry there is absolutely no question about that. they left eggs sitting on the counter. they left bowls of popcorn right in front of the tv sets in front of the futon and their beloved dogs who they consider part of the family, they left them tied up in the backyard. they never would have done that unless they left so suddenly. here is the problem. the sheriff's department, the san diego sheriff's department, they didn't enter the home until 15 days after this family disappeared. they didn't get a warrant to go inside that home in all that time. and in that time, other people, other family members entered the home. joseph mcstay's mother went in there with her other son michael, and she cleaned the counters. she put away the eggs that were rotting and threw some of them out. she threw away the dirty diapers and wiped down the counters.

so who knows how much evidence was lost in all that time there. >> are so many leaves that may have been there. where do they think they might have gone at first? >> at first the san diego sheriff's department, which was the first to investigate this case thought for sure they went to mexico, and here is why. they took a look at their computer at home and they found searches for paperwork that you would need to get your children into mexico. they also found the family's izu trooper, which was the last car to leave their home the night they disappeared, they found that parked right near the mexico border. but this was the key. they got the security camera video from the border, and they saw a family of four that looked very similar to the mcstays. but even though some of the family members said joseph didn't walk like that, the kids didn't look like, that summer never wore her layer up, that was the wife in this case there was some question about whether or not it was really them. but the investigators in san diego really focused on the fact that it was. and patrick mcstay, the father who you saw in that piece, he said no way was it them. summer would have never taken her kids to mexico. she didn't like mexico. they left their surfboards at

home if they were going to the mexico. why would they have done that? meanwhile, the remains were found more than 100 miles north of their home, far north of the border. >> what an amazing story, a tragedy. randi kaye, thank you so much. next up tonight, the world cup heartbreaker for team usa. that is where it happens. that was the site of the heartbreak. we will take you to brazil when "306" continues. at humana, we believe if healthcare changes, if it becomes simpler... if frustration and paperwork decrease... if grandparents get to live at home instead of in a home... the gap begins to close. so let's simplify things. let's close the gap between people and care. ♪ let's close the gap between people and care. from safety... to fuel economy... to quality... today's chevrolet has it all. and it's a great time to buy.

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the u.s. world cup run is over. as we mentioned earlier, team usa lost 2-1 in a nail-biter against belgium. belgium. our own chris cuomo was in the stadium. chris joins us tonight from brazil. and, chris, this was an absolutely amazing game. a devastating game. but i get the sense that you, who were in the stadium, leave

without a heavy heart or heavy pec, in your case. >> that's exactly true, john berman. as you might notice, i have a 1 on my chest there are four reasons for the 1. that's the number of goals we scored. that sucks. it's also the number of unity. and i believe that the country is more together than ever. it's also representative of one nation, one team. and for me, that's the takeaway of the world cup, is that the u.s. soccer team has captured the hearts of the country, the way it never had before. and lastly, it is the number of tim howard. and as you well know, as a soccer fan, this was the stuff of history he did tonight. not just the number, 16 saves, and i think that's low. but how he did it. many of the shots were against men and were unguarded. he did it with hard shots. he did it in critical moments. he is the man. and i believe he is a personification of the team. he is big.

he is bold. he is strong, and he is about commitment, respect. >> he played out of his mind. and the key, as you mentioned, he just didn't give up. and the team didn't give up. they fell behind 2-0 in the overtime. and i think everyone in the world thought this game was over. it was cooked. then they came back and scored a goal. julian green, 20 years old, his first touch. he buries one in the net. they just would not quit. and that counts for something. >> i think it counts for a lot. i think the team should leave bitter because they could have won. yes, without thomas, it could have been 4-0 as well in regular time. but they missed opportunities. their big guys didn't show up in critical moments. so they should be bitter. and that's good, because that shows they felt they could have been in it. but i think the game off the field is way more important. sport is often metaphor, john. you talked about that brilliantly many times in the past. the impact on the folks at home there in the u.s., the watching, the thoughts about soccer, the

feelings about the culture much bigger than one game in the world cup as far as i'm concerned. >> it was. what a game it was. soccer here in the united states. i think this day, chris cuomo great to have you with us from brazil. really appreciate it. that does it for us. the cnn special report "buried secrets: who murdered the mcstay family" starts now. there is the house. >> there is the house. >> february 2010. a young family of four building their american dream vanishes from their home in suburban san diego. no signs of a struggle. >> they don't go anywhere without the double stroller. >> or any apparent plans to flee, gone without a trace. >> there is no way they left willingly. >> then nearly four years later,