>> larry: thank you both. thank you both very much. >> thank you for having us. >> larry: samantha geimer and her attorney. john lennon would be 70 years old saturday if he lived. ringo starr and more will be here tomorrow night. right now here's anderson cooper. thanks, larry. thanks for watching, everyone. tonight how campaign ad makers create phony public opinion using paid actors instead of, well, real people. we'll show you what's fake in a bunch of political commercials this season and hear how one talent agency said they wanted actors who looked like hicks. is that how they think of voters in their state? also tonight, crime and punishment, it's being called the murder on pirate lake. tiffany hartley says she watched drug bandits gun down her

husband, i'll talk with tiffany one-on-one tonight. and phoebe prince 15 years old when she hanged herself, allegedly bullied relentlessly, six classmates now facing charges. the question tonight, are those charges warranted? new details tonight that raise new questions. we begin keeping them honest with politicians trying to play you for a chump. i know that's frankly nothing new, but tonight we've got a great example of just how fake some of these campaign ads are. exhibit a. >> obama's messing things up. >> spending money we don't have. stimulus, obama care. >> and joe manchin supported it all. >> joe's not bad as governor, but when he's with obama. >> he turns into washington joe. >> and washington joe does whatever obama wants. >> we better keep joe manchin here in. >> out of washington. >> the only way we'll stop obama. >> that's put out by the national republican senatorial

committee. ordinary people in the diner. or so it would seem. as you look at these three people, listen to a memo from the talent agency, that's right, talent agency, that found these three. quote, we're going for a hickey, blue collar look. john deere hats, not new, preferably beat up, and trucker look. the people he wants to appeal too. we should stress this memo is not from the candidate himself but shows the attitude of some of the people at the talent agency who worked behind the scenes. these actors are getting paid $400 a day according to the casting memo. you might recognize the ordinary guy in the middle, damian, working here as an extra on "saturday night live." we saw his video where he describes himself as an actor, filmmaker, broadcaster and host. oh, and here he is also on "who wants to be a millionaire."

by the way, he says on his site that he's got no comment about the west virginia ad but he is still available for work. he has a quote, says let's move on now, and produce together. which actually kind of sounds like a political slogan. let's go back to the ad, the west virginia diner they're talking in? turns out it's not in west virginia, it's in philadelphia, pennsylvania. as for the ad the republicans say they pulled it but it is still running. the republican candidate is now distancing himself from the ad but it's far from the only such example out there. this one, take a look at this ad from ohio, features a blue collar worker saying democratic candidate ted strickland, you'd think they could find a real supporter, instead they hired an actor, chip redden. this ad attacking harry reid in nevada, stock characters who actually are.

here they are in a campaign ad for david vitter. exact same people. before you get too outraged, you should know democrats do it too, using bicycle us real people, all the same kind of trickery. so do special interest groups. remember harry and louise, the fictional couple in the fight over health care reform? first they were against it, and then a decade later, when someone else was paying them, they were for it. the question is, why all the spoon feeding? there is a real version of the truth. and we're all living it. let's talk about it now with former communications director anita done and ed rollins as well. does everybody just do this? is it all kind of fake? >> some of it is. i wouldn't say everything. the best commercials are head on. a candidate, if you have a good candidate who can articulate a message, delivering his own message is the most powerful part of it. >> you've run a lot of campaigns, why hire actors? why not just have real people? >> it's important to know this wasn't done by the campaign, this was done by the national

republican senate committee, they're running campaigns all over the place, and the campaign itself can't say yea or ney or whatever you. that's one of the sat pard part they use these actors because it's easier to do than go to west virginia, you're running 20 campaigns. the key thing here is you -- you're trying to tap into an emotion. when you get down into the closing weeks of a campaign, you're really trying to make people vote against something as opposed to vote for something, and that's the unfortunate part of the business. >> anita, people see new actors are involved, but it just seems cynical if they're casting around for, you know, hicky, blue collar people. >> it does. you would like to think that one of the first rules of advertising would be, if you're going to make an ad with real people in it, you want to find real pile first as opposed to casting actors in t i think the ad from ohio and the ad from west virginia, though, illustrate something that's really important, which is, you know, if you try to get too cute, these ads can really backfire on you. in west virginia, for example,

you know, the ad really underscores a key thing they're using against the republican senate candidate, which is that he actually isn't from west virginia, that he's from florida, he's from colorado, that he's a wealthy individual out of touch with real west virginians. what better way to illustrate that than the fact they have fake west virginians, hicky, if you will, cast in an ad to attack the democrat. and in ohio, the fact they found somebody who isn't really a steelworker but plays one on tv, to -- and using the word "us," he's done that to us in here, it violates advertising resumules. >> republicans do, it democrats do it, no one has a lock, the special interest groups do it. >> no, but these are egregious. >> i would agree. >> yes. >> the thing is they're spending so much money on advertising. there's going to be $4.5 billion

spent, and so you know, it's -- every campaign is not capable of putting together the proper campaign. >> what do you think about now all these -- because of the supreme court ruling, these groups able to basically get unlimited donations and no one really knows where the donors are from? >> i can tell you, when i'm running a campaign, i want to control my message. i don't want to do anything the candidate is uncomfortable with. outside groups put anything on the air and confuse the electorate. the electorate assumes these commercials are done by you and sometimes it's a detriment. here is a campaign running along very well, jim dornin, doing a great job of a come from behind campaign and now they're basically distracted by this story for the next day or two until they get the thing off the air. >> anita, should americans be concerned they're not going to be able to know who's donating money and who's behind these campaigns on all sides? >> they absolutely should be concerned. disclosure is one of the keys to our campaign finance system. and disclosure has always been one of the cleanest ways of people knowing exactly who's

funding campaigns and why they're funding them. now in this year, egregiously you have the campaigns whose voices are actually getting shouted out and drowned out by these outside interests that, yes, they don't control them, but voters don't discriminate or make a difference between the ads. and the reality is candidates have lost control of their campaigns in a lost these places, as ed said, when you're running a campaign, do you want to control your message. you want to be able to -- you're accountable for what goes on the air, so you want to be have some confidence that what's on the air is reflecting your views and campaign strategy. that has changed dramatically, particularly in this year where some states the actual candidates' advertising is being outspend two or three to one by outside interest. >> it's at least making some actors employed and giving them jobs, but it would be nice to see real people. >> unfortunately it ends november second. or fortunately.

>> and then it starts again. ed rollins, anita dunn, thanks very much. >> what do you think? should real people be in these ads? join us on 360.com. were they wrong in august that 75% of the oil was already gone? remember that? see what a presidential panel says about it today and how far the white house is responding. local officials also coming for criticism. we'll talk about it all in plaquemines parish. and later our week-long series in bullying continues with a very sad and much more complicated case than a lot of people realized early on, phoebe prince bullied to death, but also bullied others in ireland. the case of six kids who authorities say tormented her. but then autoblog.com calls your interior lexus quiet. and automobile magazine goes comparing you to a cadillac. ♪ so much for the new kid fitting in

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harsh criticism how the white house handled the gulf oil spill, a preliminary report from the president's own bipartisan commission says the administration kept the american people in the dark for weeks about how much oil was gushing out of that broken well of bp's. the report actually was four working papers in all, two weeks after the blast that killed 11 workers, the white house office of management and budget turned down a noaa request to make

public the worst case of the spill. the white house tonight says there was absolutely no cover-up, they say noaa's report wasn't even on the flow rate and thad allen talking about this as early as may second. robert gibbs weighed in. >> did they know about the worst case scenario, did noaa or omb know about the worst case estimates? >> the worst case scenario was being discussed on national television. in fact, on cnn at that very time that our worst case scenario was 100,000 barrels of oil leaking a day. we know that wasn't happening. we know that the response was robust and ensuring that every step possible was taken to protect the coastline and prevent more damage from being done. >> the report also faults the response itself on the federal

and local level. we'll talk about it all with plaquemin plaquemines parish president. they're mentioning may second, he may have done that early on and maybe a couple comments on tv. but correct me if i'm wrong, the administration and bp were using the estimate and then 5,000-barrel a day estimate for weeks, long after independent scientists came forward with a lot higher estimates. >> absolutely. there was never an agreement on the higher rate, and as we, of course we didn't have the preparation we needed anyway from bp early on when that oil came ashore. but those rates were never discussed, that were disclosed. and you know, it's sad. we're sitting here wanting to believe in our federal government, wanting to believe, you know, we're counting on noaa and all the monitoring they're supposed to be doing out there, and as we hear things like this, who are we to believe? >> yeah.

well, on the other questions raised now, on august 4th, the white house energy adviser came out and said 75 of the oil was already gone, that it's disappeared. and a lot of people were like, just shocked by that. today press secretary gibbs said maybe she misspoke. the report's critical of that statement, and just last week an independent scientist from florida state university said maybe as much as 50% of the oil is still out there, basically down on the bottom. do you have any confidence that we really know how much oil is still out there? >> well, i don't think we want to know. honestly. our crew's picked up 13,000 gallons of oil and about 8,000 backs of oily waste last week. they pulled us off the water for another inspection. it's obvious, you know, today that we're going to step down our jackup boats. the only crews out there finding oil. the contract workers from bp, i've got to believe that between the coast guard and bp, they don't want to find anything. they want this to be over.

and we're still out there picking up oil. and as we've said, anlderson frrks the very beginning, we're fighting more with bp and the coast guard. here we are again to leave assets in place to fight this oil. there's no written operational plan. the only plan they give us is a transition plan, and they keep wanting us to sign off on this no visible oil, when we continue to pick up oil. i don't understand it. it's mind boggling to me. >> so they're asking you to sign off saying you're not seeing oil but you're saying you're still seeing oil? >> they continue to want us to go from step two to step three meaning they can pull out any assets they want in the transition plan, that we signed a month or so ago, to leave assets in place through hurricane season. and every day they're ratcheting down, pulling stuff out, and in this thick document they say it gives them the right to do that, when there's no oil on the surface. but our crews, the local fishermen, are the only ones picking up oil. somehow their crews seem not to see anything.

it still blows my mind that they've got all these people out there on the pay roll, not finding any oil, but the local fishermen, that they keep trying to downsize, keep finding oil. >> let me ask you, this report in addition being critical of the white house, they're also critical of local officials, including yourself. they write, quote, he deplored the lack of available boom and that directions went out to keep the parishes happy, in quotes, which resulted in operational decisions that may have been politically motivated, they go on to say it was a serious distraction that took time away from the responders' ability to focus on the spill. they're saying local officials like yourself were calling for more boom. the white house said keep the parish officials happy, and they were basically deploying boom in places that it didn't need to go to and it was useless and may be causing more damage in more places. do you buy that? >> they're damn liars and we

never got the first order of ocean boom. the boom they were putting three miles off the island kept washing up every night. we told them from day one it was useless but they put it out there as a dog and pony show. the ocean boom we asked for, that our coast guard got, that we told was in charge, that he said order the boom for me, never got our first foot of boom. so that's an absolute lie. that's a dog and pony show. and as we always said, bp and the coast guard are putting their story together to best defend their actions. and once again, we're sitting here tonight, still can't tell you, anderson, who's in charge. still don't know. >> how much water around plaquemines parish are fishable? are the oyster beds open? what's going on? >> a lot of fresh water killed those beds, we're getting back to where we'll hopefully have a harvest of some oysters this year. there's a lot of fishing grounds open, but there's a lot of unanswered questions.

we've had massive fish kills. yes, it's oxygen depletion, but is that caused by the oil? because in the areas where the fish kills are, we have a lot of oil. the oil is surrounded with the dead fish. and it doesn't seem to be getting help from the federal government to test these areas. only the local wildlife and fishery is testing these areas. >> billy, appreciate it, you've just been re-elected president of plaquemines parish. christine o'donnell gave a rare interview to jim acosta. she said the tax cuts would pay for themselves, her appearance took center stage tonight on "parker/spitzer." here's a sample. >> i think the left in the media are making a huge mistake, streakil strategically and christine o'donnell is the greatest decoy. sharron agele is now beating harry reid, nicky haley is going

to be the governor of south carolina, suzanne in a martinez is up in new mexico by eight. these mama grizzlies, these women candidates who are attractive and tough and smart and able are going to win from coast to coast and christine o'donnell may surprise some people and win, too. >> there's no question -- >> that may be so. >> there's no question, though, that when people gang up on an individual like christine o'donnell it has the opposite effect. there's a lot of sympathy for her. >> the last poll showed her doing quite badly behind coons, the democratic candidate. so she may be a casualty, but i think ralph may well be right about the trend, that she is a representative of. >> see more great conversation tomorrow night, "parker/spitzer" 8:00 p.m. eastern. up next, you know the story of this girl, allegedly bullied to death in massachusetts. she was from ireland. six classmates now facing charges. the question tonight, are those charges warranted? new details in the case that raise some serious new

questions. we'll talk about it ahead. and later, murder on pirate lake. an american couple jet skiing on the lake along the mexican/u.s. border. only one of them return alive from the trip. what happened? tiffany hartley joins us to talk about what happened to her husband allegedly at the hand of mexican bandits. it's our crime and punishment segment tonight. ♪ [ heather ] businesses need a reliable financial partner. one who can stay in sync with their moves. my job at ge capital is to get bobcat all the financial and business support they need.

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well, all this week we've been taking an in depth look at bullying. with the internet and cell phones, kids have told us there's no escape. we have new developments in the case that shocked the country, 18-year-old tyler clementi committed suicide after his college roommate streamed video of him kissing a man in his dorm room. it's not just kids who are gay or perceived to be gay getting bullied, kids are bullied for all sorts of reasons. 15-year-old phoebe prince became a target because the boy she dated at her school. phoebe moved to massachusetts from ireland and five months later she committed suicide after prosecutors say she was relentlessly bullied by classmates. since then new information has emerged about her medical problem

problems. >> reporter: she had the face of an angel but behind those eyes it turns out phoebe prince had demons. >> i think phoebe had a complicated mental health history. it's still a sad story, just a different, much more complicated sad story. >> reporter: the story broke back in january. >> investigating an apparent suicide. >> reporter: when this newcomer from ireland who moved to the u.s. for a fresh start hanged herself in the stairwell of her south hadley, massachusetts, home. then two months later, the bombshell. >> it appears that phoebe's death on january 14th followed a torturerous day for her. >> reporter: the district attorney took the unprecedented move of criminally charging six of prince's classmates, accusing them of bullying her so relentlessly, prosecutors say it became intollerable for her and she committed suicide. all six have pleaded not guilty. townspeople pointed fingers at the kids, at school administrators. >> what you're doing is wrong.

>> reporter: but until now, few have looked into phoebe prince's past. emily basilon is a senior writer for slate.com, the only reporter to see hundreds of secret grand jury documents related to the case before they were sealed. >> narrative had emerges of a pack of mean kids who had really tormented phoebe prince for months. and that reality doesn't match. >> reporter: the truth is much more complicated. >> it's much more complicated. exactly. >> reporter: according to the indictments, prince was bullied because she was seen as a boyfriend stealer. getting involved with the two male defendants who already had girlfriends. that's just part of the story. what's now emerging according to those court documents is that phoebe prince for years suffered from depression, that she repeatedly cut herself, was taking anti-depressants and even tried to kill herself on another occasion, and was hospitalized, just two months before she died. what's more, basilon says,

prince who has become a poster child for bullying, may have been a bully herself. >> phoebe started at a boarding school in ireland when she was in seventh grade and that fall she became friends with another girl. but sometimes that spring their friendship soured. and phoebe was part of a group of girls who really made this other girl's life quite miserable. >> reporter: by all accounts, a big reason prince moved to south hadley. her aunt tells cnn she went to school officials and asked them to watch over her niece and to help her get in with the right group of kids. but did that happen? >> they knew, they looked the other way. they attempted to sweep it under the rug. what they're doing is just hiding the problems, they're just hiding the failures. >> reporter: keeping them honest, we went back to south hadley high school, where on this night the school held one of its anti-bullying task force meetings. after repeated calls to the district that went unanswered, we tracked down super inten dant

gus sayer. nice to see you. how are you? >> okay. >> reporter: a lot of people who are saying, had school officials acted sooner, phoebe prince might still be alive today, and what do you say to them? >> well, i don't think that's true. i mean, school officials acted promptly when they first learned about the -- about bullying that was taking place that was reported to us by phoebe on january, i think it was january 7th. and we acted immediately at that point. >> reporter: but what has changed in the past months at south hadley? >> the programs. we've greatly enhanced the programs. >> reporter: he says bullying prevention programs have been implemented at the elementary and middle school levels. but not yet at the high school. what has happened at south hadley high is this. >> in front of each of the buildings in the school is a very large sign called respect. >> it's mind boggling that with a tragedy in this school that it hasn't been taken more

seriously. >> reporter: susan smith, whose son nick was a pallbearer at prince's funeral is among those calling for the principal and super inten dant to resign. we spoke to principal dan smith six months ago. this is all he would tell us. >> we are working through and revising our procedures and policies and so forth, yes. >> reporter: six months later, little has changed. >> do you have a second just to answer a question? not even a question? about the students? as for those charges in prince's death, the so-called south hadley six, all six have been suspended indefinitely until the case is resolved. for the family of phoebe prince, there may be no resolution. but prince's father tells basilon, he will ask the court for leniency if the defendants do something they've never done. simply apologize. alina cho, cnn, south hadley, massachusetts.

>> phoebe prince's story is a complicated case and raises tough questions. we want to bring in our panel, larry hackett with "people" magazine. we've been partnering with "people," also sunny hostin, legal contributor for "in session" and rachel simmons, author of "odd girl out." the article about the phoebe prince case, you really look at the impact on the entire town of south hadley. >> it's an incredible story. the town has not recovered and may never recover. it's a story where it's very ambiguous. the kids are trying to come back to school. there's an account where one of the kids comes to the home coming football game and everyone's glad to see him, but in fact we discover all the kids are out of school, some of them are getting threatened. the kids are asking their teachers, why do people hate us? i go on to the blogs and see they're making us feel like we're some kind of hate town. so it's their incredible mixed feelings about it. the school is very tense. they're trying to incorporate

new programs. but there was basically a lock down at the school, so people are really on edge, and they're groping with how to deal with this. >> it's also that fine line between what is bad behavior and what is actual criminal behavior. there's plenty of people in the town who think these kids should not have done this to phoebe prince, but do they deserve to actually go to jail for this? and it's a complex question. rachel, you know, some of the people are painting the six accused of bullying phoebe as many just as much victims right now as she was, though obviously in a different way. where is that line between bad behavior and criminal behavior? >> i think it's really unfortunate that we've had to make examples of these kids. and i think one of the reasons the law is stepping in is because the schools and the families weren't able to control these kids. and what we really need is not to make an example out of south hadley but to turn the discussion to schools and families. >> and sunny, in terms of the case that the defense is making, i mean, how -- the idea that phoebe had been on

anti-depressants for a while, that she may have had a suicide attempt in the past and she maybe when she was back in ireland even bullied somebody else. >> you know, i think that's going to be important in this case. >> you think the defense will bring that in? >> i do think they're going to bring that in. and i think it's important because some have been charged with civil rights violations ending in injury, bodily injury. so that causal link has to be made. if this defense can prove, perhaps, you know, she was bullied, but she wasn't bullied to death, they're going to have to bring that up. and i think it will be relevant. >> there are bullying laws in massachusetts, but these defendants weren't brought up on those charges. >> that's right. my understanding is the bullying laws have been strengthened because of this case. and at the time bullying wasn't necessarily a crime. so they weren't charged with, let's say, bullying her to death, but they were charged with civil rights violation. and it's -- i've read the paperwork, and it's sort of creative. but i think it's going to be a difficult case to prove in terms of the civil rights violation ending in the bodily injury.

it's going to be tough. >> but whether or not somebody is depressed does not make them more or less of a candidate for bullying. we live in a country where we give kids different learning plans for different learning abilities. we can't have one anti-bullying policy for the strongest kids. >> that's absolutely true. >> there are different kinds of kids and they're going to experience bullying in different ways. we have to protect all of them. >> it's interesting, too, because to me the information phoebe prince had suffered from depression, had taken medication for it, maybe attempted suicide, maybe bullied in prior years in ireland, to me it doesn't really necessarily talk to this case what happened to her, it talks to the complexity of this issue. in that, you know, some kids who get bullied turn around and bully others. there are no necessarily saints, no one is all evil or all a saint, it's a complex thing, especially when you're a kid. >> it's extremely complex and i think it's a phenomenon, in that bullying is different today, anderson. before you got bullied by the schoolhouse bully, and everybody got into a fight in the

schoolyard and those are the people that knew about it. now with social media, everyone knows about it, and so the kid that's being bullied is almost put on an island by herself and left there. and that's a different type of bullying. people have to understand that. >> rachel, are we just paying more attention -- do you think this is actually getting worse? clearly with online component, social media, there's that element which has never really existed before, and that's obviously worse. but overall, do you think bullying is being worse or is it being covered more? >> i think it's a combination of both. we've decided as a culture that this is no longer rite of passage, this is no longer kids being kids. technology, it's changed everything, and frankly if you look at reality television programming, the media has really changed. we see a lot of humiliation and bullying sold to kids as a form of entertainment and i do think that ultimately will affect behavior. >> the judge in the case against the six young people said he can decide in the sentencing phase whether they'll be sentenced as

adults or kids. what goes into that decision? >> it's going to be up to the judge. i think he will take into consideration all of the facts of the case, the individual actions in the case, and also their ages. i think it will be a combination of facts. and that is really specific to this case because of the way it was charged. but that's something everyone is really looking at. will these kids go to adult prison. and i think that's something that we should all be concerned about. >> sunny hos tin, rachel simmons as well, larry, the issue of "people" magazines is on stands now. appreciate it. tomorrow on bullying, no escape, a town hall meeting. you'll hear from former bullies about why they did it, what made them stop. we gathered groups of kids and adults, parents, educators, crystal bowersox joins us, as does dr. phil. >> the scars that are left from verbal and emotional abuse run deeper and last longer than even

physical abuse. somebody burns your psychological skin. that can last the rest of your life. >> you no longer do bully people. but at the time you did, why do you think did you it. >> i thought taking somebody else's power would just add on to mine. >> the kids don't want to come forward because they don't want to snitch. i think what happens is the kids will report if they have confidence in the adults in their community. >> it gets better. i'm living proof, and a lot of people have been bullied and celebrity types and public figures. it's okay. there's a light at the end of the tunnel. >> a light at the end of the tunnel. that was crystal bowersox, a special town hall done in partnership with "people" magazine and cartoon network. i hope you join us for that. tiffany hartley says her husband was killed on a lake that stradles the u.s./mexican border. some authorities privately raising concerns, questions, so will she take a lie detector test?

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crime and punishment tonight, a plea to a mexican drug cartel from a sheriff in south texas, return the body of david hartley. that's assuming of course they have it. hartley's wife, tiffany, whom

we'll speak to, claims they were jet skiing last week on the mexican side of falcon lake which stradles the border when they were attacked by gunman. tiffany says david was shot in the back of the head, fell into the water, and his body is yet to be found. she made it back to shore. we sent gary tuchman to look into the case. >> reporter: we have an armada of armed protecters as we head out for a short voyage on what may be north america's most dangerous lake. this is the sheriff of zapata county, texas. are you 100% convinced she's telling the truth. >> 99.9%, yes. >> reporter: so 99.9%. >> yes. >> reporter: would you be willing to have her take a polygraph test just to be 100% sure? >> i can't force her to do it. >> reporter: would you like her to do it. >> if she wants to do it on her own, sure. >> reporter: she said about suggestions by some she's not telling the whole truth -- >> i know what i know. i know what i saw, and i can

just tell you what i know. unfortunately he's not here to, you know david's not here to verify, yeah, we were chased and we were shot at. and so it is hard to be judged. >> reporter: what's the main reason you think that the story is 100% true? >> i look at its is what is there to indicate that it's not true. >> reporter: there's no jet ski, no body, but you're saying blood was found on a life preserve sner. >> yes, we're working to get it analyzed. >> reporter: the fact is, public officials we've talked to in this county who don't want to go on camera are doubting it, also the state police commander on the mexican state across the border also publicly doubting it. it's a tragedy. it's also quite the puzzle. >> we're living yards away from actual war in a country. in a foreign country.

>> reporter: and it's you're feeling the mexican half of this lake is not under any authority controls, the cartels are controlling them? >> not just my feeling, sir, it's reality. it's controlled by the mexican drug cartels. >> reporter: more than 80,000 acres, some of the best bass fishing in north america. but on the other side of this border marker where mexico begins is now a no man's land. do the people know who come out on this water that this is the border marker? do boaters generally know? >> yes. boaters that fish in this lake -- >> reporter: is there any chance she didn't know she was in mexico? >> no, she has said she knew they were in mexico. >> reporter: why would she do that? >> she is saying the threats were in april and may and thought the threats were over with. >> reporter: the waters were barren while we were there. the threat is certainly not over with. gary tuchman, cnn, zapata, texas. >> just a few hours ago i spoke to tiffany hartley. tiffany, first of all, i want to say how sorry i am for your

loss. i can't imagine how hard this time must be for you. how are you holding up? >> it's tough. it's tough. i think like i've said before, i think i'm just in action mode right now and survival mode. i haven't really had a whole lot of time to just sit and, you know, reflect on everything in a grieving way. i've just been so busy, obviously, with meeting with all of guys. >> how confident are you that authorities are going to be able to find your husband, to be able to bring him home? >> i'm pretty confident. i'm standing in my faith and believing that we are going to get him back, and we are going to be able to honor him in the way that he would want to be. >> have you been in touch with mexican authorities? i mean, are they searching for him? >> we did have a meeting, and they ensured us that they were going to do everything that they could until they exhausted all

their resources. we were enkoornlged when we left that meeting. we believed that they were heartfelt and that they were sincere about finding david, and that they're going to do what they're supposed to, and we're going to hold them to it. >> there obviously as you know have been several incidents on this lake over the years involving bandities or pirates or members of the drug cartels and authorities issued a warning. did you and your husband discuss the dangers before going out into mexican waters? >> we knew that there had been pirates there. we didn't realize they were still -- you know, it had been very active in the last couple months. we hadn't heard anything. we did discuss, you know, that was a possibility. we didn't really discuss too much about what would happen or what we would do, we just figured, you know -- we would run and outrun them. our jet skis are fast, they go up to 70, 75 miles an hour, but you just can't outrun the

bullets, unfortunately. >> how quickly did they start shooting and what happened then? >> once we started going the opposite direction of what they were doing, it wasn't very long after once we started -- they realized we were running away from them that they had started shooting. >> and when did you realize something had happened to your husband? >> after i had seen two shots go over me and they landed in the water, instantly when i saw those i looked back to look at david and that's when i saw -- i saw him fly over his jet ski and into the water. >> and you went back to try to see if he was okay? >> of course. of course, yeah. >> and what happened? >> once i got back to him, i flipped my jet ski around to the right, went back to him, jumped off my jet ski instantly once i got up to him and went and

turned him over and that's when i had seen that he had been shot in the head. >> obviously you know some people have raised doubts about your account of what happened, although they don't really have any evidence or they just say that since the body hasn't been found and there's a lack of evidence. you say you were taking pictures on the lake. did you take any pictures that would support, you know, what happened? >> no, i don't have the camera. david was the photographer. that's what he did. he always made sure he had a good picture. he liked taking the pictures, and i'd rather him take them because he was better than i was, so he kept the camera on the jet ski. >> we heard a sheriff say that if you wanted to take a polygraph test to back up the story that he'd support that. is that something you'd want to do? >> possibly, but i don't really think i need to, because i know my story and i know what i --

you know, what the story is. but if, you know, that's what the authorities think i need to do, then that might be an option. >> what do you want people to know about david, tiffany? >> i wish they would have realized -- seen how much he loved life, how much he loved me. he was a wonderful man. a loving husband, and i miss him terribly. >> tiffany, i appreciate you being on and i'm sorry for all you're going through. i wish you strength in the days ahead. >> thank you very much. >> well, up next the river of toxic sludge. have you seen this stuff in hungary? it's unbelievable. see where it could be threatening right now. plus a major development in the effort to rescue those trapped miners in chile. [ j. weissman ] it was 1975.

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following a number of other stories right now, let's get an update with randi kaye. >> reporter: anderson, one of the bores in chile is expected to break through saturday, it will then be two to ten days before the miners can be rescued. that's because engineers must determine if the shaft is stable on its own or should be encased with steel tubing to prevent collapse, which would take a week.

that massive chemical spill in hungary has reached one of europe's maenlgker rivers, a fl of toxic sludge. hundreds were forced from their homes. president obama will not sign a bill that would make it easier for courts and banks to speed up home foreclosures, the administration is concerned the bill will make it harder for homeowners to question the validity of foreclosure documents and challenge foreclosure proceedings. and new york city wants to stop recipients of food stamps from using those funds to buy sodas and other sugary drinks. the move, anderson, is designed to cut down on obesity and diseases like diabetes. >> tonight's shot, bristol palin's music video debut. those are words i never really thought i would say. she wasn't the first, we showed you this video co-starring her baby's daddy, levi johnston, i'm

using one of those maury povich terms, baby's daddy, bristol palin told "people" magazine the video was -- that was another sentence i never thought i'd actually say, levi johnston's act being abilities, bristol palin said the video was the last straw that johnston lied about the purpose of the trip to california, during which time he shot the video, which bristol saw as mocking her family. >> i can't keep up with this. >> now bristol is showcasing her own acting skills in a video for an alaskan rock band called -- wait for it -- static cycle. >> oh, my. ♪ 1,000 hours pushing overtime ♪

>> the song is called "inside this world of mine." i don't need to tell you that, randi kaye. this is from etonline. bristle has a cameo role as mother nature. i did not realize that, which would explain the fur coat and hat. >> and the rose. it's sort of creepy. from what i understand -- >> is that a rosen cased -- >> it's a rose. this is filmed in what they call an ice hotel. >> one of those ice hotels. i've heard about those. >> i guess her eyelashes and her eyebrows also had been -- had ice crystals on them. >> it's difficult being an actor. i'm telling you this, i've heard it time and time again. >> i didn't see canoodling in that one. >> it was more icy. but, you know, maybe next video. i don't know. >> yes. >> randi, a lot more at top of the hour. we'll expose campaign ads that pretend to have real people in them, but they're using actors instead and you should hear what they think behind the scenes

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tonight, how campaign ad makers create phony public opinion using paid actors instead of, well, real people. we'll show you what's fake in a bunch of political commercials this season and hear how one talent agency said they wanted actors who looked like hicks. is that how they think of voters in their state? also tonight, crime and punishment, it's being called the murder on pirate lake. tiffany hartley says she watched drug bandits gun down her husband, i'll talk with tiffany one-on-one tonight. and phoebe prince 15 years old when she hanged herself, allegedly bullied relentlessly, six classmates now facing charges. the question tonight, are those

charges warranted? new details tonight that raise new questions. we begin keeping them honest with politicians trying to play you for a chump. i know that's frankly nothing new, but tonight we've got a great example of just how fake some of these campaign ads are. exhibit a. >> obama's messing things up. >> spending money we don't have. stimulus, obama care. >> and joe manchin supported it all. >> joe's not bad as governor, but when he's with obama. >> he turns into washington joe. >> and washington joe does whatever obama wants. >> we better keep joe manchin right here in west virginia. >> away from washington. >> the only way we'll stop obama. >> that's put out by the national republican senatorial committee. targeting west virginia governor joe manchin running to succeed the robert byrd. as you look at these three people, listen to a memo from the talent agency, that's right,

talent agency, that found these three. quote, we're going for a hickey, blue collar look. john deere hats, not new, preferably beat up, and trucker hats. a hicky blue collar look? probably not the term a politician should be using to describe the people of his state. the people he wants to appeal too. we should stress this memo is not from the candidate himself but shows the attitude of some of the people at the talent agency who worked behind the scenes on this campaign. these actors are getting paid $400 a day according to the casting memo. you might recognize the ordinary guy in the middle, damian, we found him here working as an extra in a sketch on "saturday night live". we saw his video where he describes himself as an actor, filmmaker, broadcaster and host. oh, and here he is also on "who wants to be a millionaire." by the way, he says on his site that he's got no comment about the west virginia ad but he is still available for work. he has a quote, says let's move

on now, and produce together. which actually kind of sounds like a political slogan. let's go back to the ad, the west virginia diner they're talking in? turns out it's not in morgantown, or charleston, west virginia, it's in philadelphia, pennsylvania. as for the ad the republicans say they pulled it but it is still running. the republican candidate is now distancing himself from the ad but it's far from the only such example out there. this one, take a look at this ad from ohio, features a blue collar worker saying democratic candidate ted strickland, you'd think they could find a real supporter, instead they hired an actor, chip redden. take a look at this ad attacking harry reid, a trio of supposed illegal immigrants, here they are again in a campaign ad for david vitter. maybe they have forged papers and will travel. before you get too outraged, you should know democrats do it too, using bogus real people, casting

ads like sunday matinees, all the same kind of trickery. so do special interest groups. remember harry and louise, the fictional couple in the fight over health care reform? first they were against it, and then a decade later, when someone else was paying them, they were for it. the question is, why all the spoon feeding? there is a real version of the truth. and we're all living it. let's talk about it now with former communications director anita dunn and gop strategist ed rollins as well. does everybody just do this? is it all kind of fake? >> some of it is. i wouldn't say everything. the best commercials are head on. a candidate, if you ve a good candidate who can articulate a message, delivering his own message is the most powerful part of it. >> you've run a lot of campaigns, why hire actors? why not just have real people? >> it's important to know this wasn't done by the campaign, this was done by the national republican senate committee, they're running campaigns all over the place, and the campaign itself can't say yea or ney or what have you. that's one of the sad parts,

of the election laws today, they use these actors because it's easier to do than go to west virginia, you're running 20 campaigns. the key thing here is you -- you're trying to tap into an emotion. when you get down into the closing weeks of a campaign, you're really trying to make people vote against something as opposed to vote for something, and that's the unfortunate part of the business. >> anita, people see new actors are involved, but it just seems cynical if they're casting around for, you know, hicky, blue collar-looking people. >> it does. you would like to think that one of the first rules of advertising would be, if you're going to make an ad with real people in it, you want to find real people first as opposed to casting actors in it. i think the ad from ohio and the ad from west virginia, though, illustrate something that's really important, which is, you know, if you try to get too cute, these ads can really backfire on you. in west virginia, for example, you know, the ad really underscores a key thing they're using against the republican senate candidate, which is that he actually isn't from west

virginia, that he's from florida, he's from colorado, that he's a wealthy individual out of touch with real west virginians. what better way to illustrate that than the fact they have fake west virginians, hicky, if you will, cast in an ad to attack the democrat. and in ohio, the fact they found somebody who isn't really a steelworker but plays one on tv, to -- and using the word "us," he's done this to us in here, it violates advertising rules. >> republicans do it, democrats do it, no one has a lock, the special interest groups do it. >> no, but these are egregious. >> i would agree. >> yes. >> the thing is they're spending so much money on advertising. there's going to be $4.5 billion spent, and so you know, it's -- every campaign is not capable of putting together the proper campaign. >> what do you think about now all these -- because of the supreme court ruling, these groups able to basically get

unlimited donations and no one really knows where the donors are from? >> i can tell you, when i'm running a campaign, i want to control my message. i don't want to do anything the candidate is uncomfortable with. you basically can have outside groups come in and put anything on the air and confuse the electorate. the electorate assumes these commercials are done by you and sometimes it's a detriment. here is a campaign running along very well, jim dornin, doing a great job of a come from behind campaign and now they're basically distracted by this story for the next day or two until they get the thing off the air. >> anita, should americans be concerned they're not going to be able to know who's donating money and who's behind these campaigns on all sides? >> they absolutely should be concerned. disclosure is one of the keys to our campaign finance system. and disclosure has always been one of the cleanest ways of people knowing exactly who's funding campaigns and why they're funding them. now in this year, egregiously you have the campaigns whose voices are actually getting

shouted out and drowned out by these outside interests that, yes, they don't control them, but voters don't discriminate or make a difference between the ads. and the reality is candidates have lost control of their campaigns in a lot of these places, as ed said, when you're running a campaign, you do want to control your message. you want to be able to -- you're accountable for what goes on the air, so you want to have some confidence that what's on the air is reflecting your views and campaign strategy. that has changed dramatically, particularly in this year where some states the actual candidates' advertising is being outspend two or three to one by outside interest. >> it's at least making some actors employed and giving them jobs, but it would be nice to see real people. >> unfortunately it ends november second. or fortunately. >> and then it starts again. ed rollins, anita dunn, thanks very much. >> let us know what you think. should real people be in these ads? join us on 360.com.

did the white house cover up the severity of the gulf oil spill and were they wrong in august when they said 75% of the oil was already gone? remember that? see what a presidential panel says about it today and how far the white house is responding. local officials also coming for criticism. we'll talk about it all in plaquemines parish. and later our week-long series in bullying continues with a very sad and much more complicated case than a lot of people realized early on, phoebe prince bullied to death, but also bullied others in ireland. the case of six kids who authorities say tormented her. w♪ ♪ where'd you learn to do that so well. ♪ the new cadillac srx. the cadillac of crossovers. cadillac. the new standard of the world.

harsh criticism how the white house handled the gulf oil spill and sharp pushback today

from the white house. a preliminary report from the president's own bipartisan commission says the administration kept the american people in the dark for weeks about how much oil was gushing out of that broken well of bp's. the report actually was four working papers in all, two weeks after the blast that killed 11 workers, the white house office of management and budget turned down a noaa request to make public its worst case models for the spill. in fact the administration stuck to absurdly low flow rates for more than a month. the white house says tonight there was absolutely no cover up. they say noaa's report wasn't even on the flow rate and officials like that'd allen were talking about a spill of 100,000 as early as may. robert gibbs weighed in. >> did they know about the worst case scenario, did noaa or omb know about the worst case estimates? >> the worst case scenario was being discussed on national television.

in fact, on cnn at that very time that our worst case scenario was 100,000 barrels of oil leaking a day. we know that wasn't happening. we know that the response was robust and ensuring that every step possible was taken to protect the coastline and prevent more damage from being done. >> the report also faults the response itself on the federal and local level. we'll talk about it all with plaquemines parish president. it's interesting, the white house is basically saying that thad allen mentioned the worst case scenario of 100,000 barrels on may 2nd and he may have done that early on in a couple comments on tv. but correct me if i'm wrong, the administration and bp were using that 1,000-barrel a day and then the 5,000-barrel a day estimate for weeks, long after independent scientists came forward with a lot higher estimates. >> absolutely. there was never an agreement on the higher rate, and as we, of course we didn't have the

preparation we needed anyway from bp early on when that oil came ashore. but those rates were never discussed, that were disclosed. and you know, it's sad. we're sitting here wanting to believe in our federal government, wanting to believe, you know, we're counting on noaa and all the monitoring they're supposed to be doing out there, and as we hear things like this, who are we to believe? >> yeah. well, on the other questions raised now, on august 4th, the white house energy adviser came out and said 75% of the oil was already gone, that it's disappeared. and a lot of people were like, just shocked by that. today press secretary gibbs said maybe she misspoke. the report's critical of that statement, and just last week an independent scientist from florida state university said maybe as much as 50% of the oil is still out there, basically down on the bottom. do you have any confidence that we really know how much oil is still out there? >> well, i don't think we want to know. honestly. our crew's picked up 13,000

gallons of oil and about 8,000 bags of oily waste last week. they pulled us off the water for another inspection. it's obvious, you know, today that we're going to step down our jackup boats. the only crews out there finding oil. the contract workers from bp, i've got to believe that between the coast guard and bp, they don't want to find anything. they want this to be over. and we're still out there picking up oil. and as we've said, anderson, from the very beginning, we're fighting more with bp and the coast guard. here we are again to leave assets in place to fight this oil. there's no written operational plan. the only plan they give us is a transition plan, and they keep wanting us to sign off on this no visible oil, when we continue to pick up oil. i don't understand it. it's mind boggling to me. >> so they're asking you to sign off saying you're not seeing oil but you're saying you're still seeing oil? >> they continue to want us to go from step two to step three

which means they can pull out any assets they want in the transition plan, that we signed a month or so ago, to leave assets in place through hurricane season. and every day they're ratcheting down, pulling stuff out, and in this thick document they say it gives them the right to do that, when there's no oil on the surface. but our crews, the local fishermen, are the only ones picking up oil. somehow their crews seem not to see anything. it still blows my mind that they've got all these people out there on the pay roll, not finding any oil, but the local fishermen, that they keep trying to downsize, keep finding oil. >> let me ask you, this report in addition being critical of the white house, they're also critical of local officials, including yourself. in a section of called the boom wars, quote, he deplored the lack of available boom and that directions went out to keep the parishes happy, in quotes, which resulted in operational

decisions that may have been politically motivated, they go on to say it was a serious distraction that took time away from the responders' ability to focus on the spill. they're saying local officials like yourself were calling for more boom. the white house said keep the parish officials happy, and they were basically deploying boom in places that it didn't need to go to and it was useless and may be causing more damage in more places. do you buy that? >> they're damn liars and we never got the first order of ocean boom. the boom they were putting three miles off the island kept washing up every night. we told them from day one it was useless but they put it out there as a dog and pony show. the ocean boom we asked for, that our coast guard got, that we told was in charge, that he said order the boom for me, never got our first foot of boom. so that's an absolute lie. that's a dog and pony show. and as we always said, bp and the coast guard are putting their story together to best defend their actions. and once again, we're sitting here tonight, still can't tell

you, anderson, who's in charge. still don't know. >> how much water around plaquemines parish are fishable? are the oyster beds open? what's going on? >> the oyster beds, a lot of the fresh water killed those beds. we're getting back to where we'll hopefully have a harvest of some oysters this year. there's a lot of fishing grounds open, but there's a lot of unanswered questions. we've had massive fish kills. yes, it's oxygen depletion, but is that caused by the oil? because in the areas where the fish kills are, we have a lot of oil. the oil is surrounded with the dead fish. and it doesn't seem to be getting help from the federal government to test these areas. only the local wildlife and fishery is assisting us in testing these areas. >> billy, appreciate it, you've just been re-elected president of plaquemines parish. we'll talk to you again. take care. >> thank you. christine o'donnell gave a rare interview to jim acosta. who asked her how she squared massive tax cuts which she supports with cutting the

deficits. she said the tax cuts would pay for themselves, her appearance took center stage tonight on "parker/spitzer." here's a sample. >> i think the left in the media are making a huge mistake, strategically and christine o'donnell is the greatest decoy. in american politics. while they're firing all their artillery at her, sharron angle is now beating harry reid, nikki haley is going to be the governor of south carolina, susana martinez is up in new mexico by eight. these mama grizzlies, these women candidates who are attractive and tough and smart and able are going to win from coast to coast and christine o'donnell may surprise some people and win, too. >> there's no question -- >> that may be so. >> there's no question, though, that when people gang up on an individual like christine o'donnell it has the opposite effect. there's a lot of sympathy for her. >> the last poll showed her doing quite badly behind coons, the democratic candidate. so she may be a casualty, but i think ralph may well be right

about the trend, that she is a representative of. >> see more great conversation tomorrow night, "parker/spitzer" 8:00 p.m. eastern. up next, phoebe prince, you know the story of this girl, allegedly bullied to death in massachusetts. she was from ireland. six classmates now facing charges. the question tonight, are those charges warranted? new details in the case that raise some serious new questions. we'll talk about it ahead. and later, murder on pirate lake. that's what they're calling it. an american couple jet skiing on the lake along the mexican/u.s. border. only one of them return alive from the trip. what happened? tiffany hartley joins us to talk about the death of her husband allegedly at the hand of mexican bandits. "than you. "10 airbags... daytime running lamps... "onstar automatic crash response. "in case ya didn't see it, that's probably why "msn autos called the cruze "the class of its class right now. that seems pretty clear, doesn't it?"

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well, all this week we've been taking an in depth look at bullying. with the internet and cell phones, kids have told us it feels like there's no escape. we have new developments in the case that shocked the country,

18-year-old tyler clementi committed suicide after his college roommate spied on him ablgedly with a web cam and streamed live video of him kissing a man in his dorm room. it's not just kids who are gay or perceived to be gay getting bullied, kids are bullied for all sorts of reasons. 15-year-old phoebe prince became a target because the boy she dated at her school. phoebe moved to massachusetts from ireland and five months later she committed suicide after prosecutors say she was relentlessly bullied by classmates. since then new information has emerged about her medical problems. information that could be used by the defense in the upcoming trials. alina cho has the latest. >> reporter: she had the face of an angel but behind those eyes it turns out phoebe prince had demons. >> i think phoebe had a complicated mental health history. it's still a sad story, just a

different, much more complicated sad story. >> reporter: the story broke back in january. >> investigating an apparent suicide. >> reporter: when this newcomer from ireland who moved to the u.s. for a fresh start hanged herself in the stairwell of her south hadley, massachusetts, home. then two months later, the bombshell. >> it appears that phoebe's death on january 14th followed a torturerous day for her. >> reporter: the district attorney took the unprecedented move of criminally charging six of prince's classmates, accusing them of bullying her so relentlessly, prosecutors say it became intoleable for her and she committed suicide. all six have pleaded not guilty. townspeople pointed fingers at the kids, at school administrators. >> what you're doing is wrong. >> reporter: but until now, few have looked into phoebe prince's past. emily basilon is a senior writer for slate.com, the only reporter to see hundreds of secret grand jury documents related to the

case before they were sealed. >> narrative had emerged of a pack of mean kids who had really tormented phoebe prince for months. and that reality doesn't match. >> reporter: the truth is much more complicated. >> it's much more complicated. exactly. >> reporter: according to the indictments, prince was bullied because she was seen as a boyfriend stealer. getting involved with the two male defendants who already had girlfriends. that's just part of the story. what's now emerging according to those court documents is that phoebe prince for years suffered from depression, that she repeatedly cut herself, was taking anti-depressants and even tried to kill herself on another occasion, and was hospitalized, just two months before she died. what's more, basilon says, prince who has become a poster child for bullying, may have been a bully herself. >> phoebe started at a boarding school in ireland when she was in seventh grade and that fall she became friends with another

girl. but sometime that spring their friendship soured. and phoebe was part of a group of girls who really made this other girl's life quite miserable. >> reporter: by all accounts, a big reason prince moved to south hadley. her aunt tells cnn she went to school officials and asked them to watch over her niece and to help her get in with the right group of kids. but did that happen? >> they knew, they looked the other way. they attempted to sweep it under the rug. what they're doing is just hiding the problems, they're just hiding the failures. >> reporter: keeping them honest, we went back to south hadley high school, where on this night the school held one of its anti-bullying task force meetings. after repeated calls to the district that went unanswered, we tracked down superintendant gus sayer. nice to see you. how are you? >> okay. >> reporter: a lot of people who are saying, had school officials acted sooner, phoebe prince might still be alive today, and

what do you say to them? >> well, i don't think that's true. i mean, school officials acted promptly when they first learned about the -- about bullying that was taking place that was reported to us by phoebe on january, i think it was january 7th. and we acted immediately at that point. >> reporter: but what has changed in the past months at south hadley? >> the programs. we've greatly enhanced the programs. >> reporter: he says bullying prevention programs have been implemented at the elementary and middle school levels. but not yet at the high school. what has happened at south hadley high is this. >> in front of each of the buildings in the school is a very large sign called respect. >> it's mind boggling that with a tragedy in this school that it hasn't been taken more seriously. >> reporter: susan smith, whose son nick was a pallbearer at prince's funeral is among those calling for the principal and superintendant to resign. we spoke to principal dan smith

six months ago. this is all he would tell us. >> we are working through and revising our procedures and policies and so forth, yes. >> reporter: six months later, little has changed. >> do you have a second just to answer a question? not even a question? about the students? as for those charged in prince's death, the so-called south hadley six, all six have been suspended indefinitely until the case is resolved. for the family of phoebe prince, there may be no resolution. but prince's father tells basilon, he will ask the court for leniency if the defendants do something they've never done. simply apologize. alina cho, cnn, south hadley, massachusetts. >> phoebe prince's story is a complicated case and raises tough questions. we want to bring in our panel, larry hackett with "people" magazine. we've been partnering with "people," also sunny hostin, legal contributor for "in

session" and rachel simmons, author of "odd girl out." larry, in "people" this week you're focusing on bullying. the article about the phoebe prince case, you really look at the impact on the entire town of south hadley. >> it's an incredible story. the town has not recovered and may never recover. it's a story where it's very ambiguous. the kids are trying to come back to school. there's an account where one of accused kids comes to the homecoming football game and everyone's glad to see him, but in fact we discover all the kids are out of school, some of them are getting threatened. the kids are asking their teachers, why do people hate us? i go on to the blogs and see they're making us feel like we're some kind of hate town. so it's their incredible mixed feelings about it. the school is very tense. they're trying to incorporate new programs. but an argument broke out one day and there was a lockdown at the school. so people are really on edge and they're groping with how to deal with this. >> it's also that fine line between what is bad behavior and what is actual criminal

behavior. there's plenty of people in the town who think these kids should not have done this to phoebe prince, but do they deserve to actually go to jail for this? and it's a complex question. rachel, you know, some of the people are painting the six accused of bullying phoebe as being just as much victims as she was, though obviously in a different way. where is that line between bad behavior and criminal behavior? >> i think it's really unfortunate that we've had to make examples of these kids. and i think one of the reasons the law is stepping in is because the schools and the families weren't able to control these kids. and what we really need is not to make an example out of south hadley but to turn the discussion to schools and families. >> and sunny, in terms of the case that the defense is making, i mean, how -- the idea that phoebe had been on anti-depressants for a while, that she may have had a suicide attempt in the past and she maybe when she was back in ireland even bullied somebody else. >> you know, i think that's going to be important in this case. >> you think the defense will bring that in?

>> i do think they're going to bring that in. and i think it's important because some have been charged with civil rights violations ending in injury, bodily injury. so that causal link has to be made. if this defense can prove, perhaps, you know, she was bullied, but she wasn't bullied to death, they're going to have to bring that up. and i think it will be relevant. >> there are bullying laws in massachusetts, but these defendants weren't brought up on those charges. >> that's right. my understanding is the bullying laws have been strengthened because of this case. and at the time bullying wasn't necessarily a crime. so they weren't charged with, let's say, bullying her to death, but they were charged with civil rights violation. and it's -- i've read the paperwork, and it's sort of creative. but i think it's going to be a difficult case to prove in terms of the civil rights violation ending in the bodily injury. it's going to be tough. >> but whether or not somebody is depressed does not make them more or less of a candidate for bullying. we live in a country where we give kids different learning plans for different learning abilities. we can't have one anti-bullying

policy for the strongest kids. >> that's absolutely true. >> there are different kinds of kids and they're going to experience bullying in different ways. we have to protect all of them. >> it's interesting, too, because to me the information phoebe prince had suffered from depression, had taken medication for it, maybe attempted suicide, maybe bullied in prior years in ireland, to me it doesn't really necessarily talk to this case what happened to her, it talks to the complexity of this issue. in that, you know, some kids who get bullied turn around and bully others. there are no necessarily saints, no one is all evil or all a saint, it's a complex thing, especially when you're a kid. >> it's extremely complex and i think it's a phenomenon, in that bullying is different today, anderson. before you got bullied by the schoolhouse bully, and everybody got into a fight in the schoolyard and those are the people that knew about it. now with social media, everyone knows about it, and so the kid that's being bullied is almost put on an island by herself and left there. and that's a different type of

bullying. people have to understand that. >> rachel, are we just paying more attention -- do you think this is actually getting worse? clearly with online component, social media, there's that element which has never really existed before, and that's obviously worse. but overall, do you think bullying is getting worse or is it being covered more? >> i think it's a combination of both. we've decided as a culture that this is no longer rite of passage, this is no longer kids being kids. technology, it's changed everything, and frankly if you look at reality television programming, the media has really changed. we see a lot of humiliation and bullying sold to kids as a form of entertainment and i do think that ultimately will affect behavior. >> the judge in the case against the six young people said he can decide in the sentencing phase whether they'll be sentenced as adults or kids. what goes into that decision? >> it's going to be up to the judge. i think he will take into consideration all of the facts of the case, the individual actions in the case, and also their ages.

i think it will be a combination of facts. and that is really specific to this case because of the way it was charged. but that's something everyone is really looking at. will these kids go to adult prison. and i think that's something that we should all be concerned about. >> sunny hostin and rachel simmons as well, larry, the issue of "people" magazine is on news stands now. appreciate it. tomorrow on bullying, no escape, a town hall meeting. you'll hear from former bullies about why they did it, what made them stop. we gathered groups of kids and adults, parents, educators, crystal bowersox joins us, as does dr. phil. >> the scars that are left from verbal and emotional abuse run deeper and last longer than even physical abuse. somebody bur your psychological skin. that can last the rest of your life. >> you no longer do bully people. but at the time you did, why do

you think you did it? >> i thought taking somebody else's power would just add on to mine. >> the kids don't want to come forward because they don't want to snitch. i think what happens is the kids will report if they have confidence in the adults in their community. >> it gets better. i'm living proof, and a lot of people have been bullied and celebrity types and public figures. it's okay. there's a light at the end of the tunnel. >> a light at the end of the tunnel. that was crystal bowersox, a special town hall done in partnership with "people" magazine and cartoon network. tomorrow on "360." i hope you join us for that. tiffany hartley says her husband was killed on a lake that straddles the u.s./mexican border. she says she barely escaped with her life. they were both on jet skis. some authorities privately raising concerns, questions, so will she take a lie detector test? we'll ask her. and in chile, rescuers may break through to the trapped miners this weekend, though they won't be coming up right away. maybe next week. details ahead. ♪

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later today, she'll help an accident victim in kansas. how can one nurse be in all these places? through the nurses she taught in this place. johnson & johnson knows, behind every nurse who touches a life... there's a nurse educator... who first touched them. ♪ you're a nurse ♪ you make a difference crime and punishment tonight, a plea to a mexican drug cartel from a sheriff in south texas, return the body of david hartley. that's assuming of course they have it. hartley's wife, tiffany, whom we'll speak to, claims they were jet skiing last week on the mexican side of falcon lake which straddles the border when they were attacked by gunmen.

tiffany says david was shot in the back of the head, fell into the water, and his body is yet to be found. she made it back to shore. first we sent gary tuchman to zapata, texas, to look into the case. >> reporter: we have an armada of armed protecters as we head out for a short voyage on what may be north america's most dangerous lake. this is the sheriff of zapata county, texas. are you 100% convinced she's telling the truth. >> we can never be 100% convinced. 99.9%, yes. >> reporter: so 99.9%. >> yes. >> reporter: would you be willing to have her take a polygraph test just to be 100% sure? >> i can't force her to do it. >> reporter: would you like her to do it. >> if she wants to do it on her own, sure. >> reporter: this is what she said at a news conference about suggestions by some she's not telling the whole truth. >> i know what i know. i know what i saw, and i can just tell you what i know. unfortunately he's not here to,

you know david's not here to verify, yeah, we were chased and we were shot at. and so it is hard to be judged. >> reporter: what's the main reason you think that the story is 100% true? >> i look at what is there to indicate that it's not true? >> reporter: there's no jet ski, no body, but you're saying blood was found on a life preserver? >> yes, we're working to get it analyzed. >> reporter: the fact is, public officials we've talked to in this county who don't want to go on camera are doubting it, also the state police commander on the mexican state across the border also publicly doubting it. it's a tragedy. it's also quite the puzzle. >> we're living yards away from actual war in a country. in a foreign country. >> reporter: and it's your feeling the mexican half of this lake is not under any authority controls, the cartels are

controlling them? >> not just my feeling, sir, it's reality. it's controlled by the mexican drug cartels. >> reporter: the lake is huge. more than 80,000 acres. some of the best bass fishing in north america. but on the other side of this border marker where mexico begins is now a no man's land. do the people know who come out on this water that this is the border marker? do boaters generally know? >> yes. boaters that fish in this lake -- >> reporter: is there any chance she didn't know she was in mexico? >> no, she has said she knew they were in mexico. >> rorter: why would she do that? >> she is saying the threats were in april and may and thought the threats were over with. >> reporter: the waters were barren while we were there. the threat is certainly not over with. gary tuchman, cnn, zapata, texas. >> just a few hours ago i spoke to tiffany hartley. tiffany, first of all, i want to say how sorry i am for your loss. i can't imagine how hard this time must be for you. how are you holding up? >> it's tough. it's tough.

i think like i've said before, i think i'm just in action mode right now and survival mode. i haven't really had a whole lot of time to just sit and, you know, reflect on everything in a grieving way. i've just been so busy, obviously, with meeting with all you guys. >> how confident are you that authorities are going to be able to find your husband, to be able to bring him home? >> i'm pretty confident. i'm standing in my faith and believing that we are going to get him back, and we are going to be able to honor him in the way that he would want to be. >> have you been in touch with mexican authorities? i mean, are they searching for him? >> we did have a meeting, and they ensured us that they were going to do everything that they could until they exhausted all their resources. we were encouraged when we left that meeting. we believed that they were heartfelt and that they were

sincere about finding david, and that they're going to do what they're supposed to, and we're going to hold them to it. >> there obviously as you know have been several incidents on this lake over the years involving bandits or pirates or members of the drug cartels and authorities issued a warning. did you and your husband discuss the dangers before going out into mexican waters? >> we knew that there had been pirates there. we didn't realize they were still -- you know, it had been very active in the last couple months. we hadn't heard anything. we did discuss, you know, that was a possibility. we didn't really discuss too much about what would happen or what we would do, we just figured, you know -- we would run and outrun them. our jet skis are fast, they go up to 70, 75 miles an hour, but you just can't outrun the bullets, unfortunately. >> how quickly did they start shooting and what happened then?

>> once we started going the opposite direction of what they were doing, it wasn't very long after once we started -- they realized we were running away from them that they had started shooting. >> and when did you realize something had happened to your husband? >> after i had seen two shots go over me and they landed in the water, instantly when i saw those i looked back to look at david and that's when i saw -- i saw him fly over his jet ski and into the water. >> and you went back to try to see if he was okay? >> of course. of course, yeah. >> and what happened? >> once i got back to him, i flipped my jet ski around to the right, went back to him, jumped off my jet ski instantly once i got up to him and went and turned him over and that's when i had seen that he had been shot in the head. >> obviously you know some

people have raised doubts about your account of what happened, although they don't really have any evidence or they just say that since the body hasn't been found and there's a lack of evidence. you say you were taking pictures on the lake. did you take any pictures that would support, you know, what happened? >> no, i don't have the camera. david was the photographer. that's what he did. he always made sure he had a good picture. he liked taking the pictures, and i'd rather him take them because he was better than i was, so he kept the camera on the jet ski. >> we heard a sheriff say that if you wanted to take a polygraph test to back up the story that he'd support that. is that something you'd want to do? >> possibly, but i don't really think i need to, because i know my story and i know what i -- you know, what the story is. but if, you know, that's what the authorities think i need to do, then that might be an option.

>> what do you want people to know about david, tiffany? >> i wish they would have realized -- seen how much he loved life, how much he loved me. he was a wonderful man. a loving husband, and i miss him terribly. >> tiffany, i appreciate you being on and i'm sorry for all you're going through. i wish you strength in the days ahead. >> thank you very much. >> well, up next the river of toxic sludge. have you seen this stuff in hungary? it's unbelievable. it's spreading. see where it could be threatening right now. plus a major development in the effort to rescue those trapped miners in chile. and some good news ahead. pearblossom highway? it's just outside of lancaster. sure, i can download directions for you now. we got it. thank you very much! onstar ready. call home. hi, daddy! i'm on my way. send to car and...done! you have one saved destination: dillon beach. would you like those directions now? yes, i would. go north on route 1. check it out.

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following a number of other stories right now, let's get an update with randi kaye. >> reporter: anderson, one of drills boring toward the 33 trapped miners in chile is expected to break through saturday. it will then be two to ten days before the miners can be rescued. that's because engineers must determine if the shaft is stable on its own or should be encased with steel tubing to prevent collapse, which would take a week. that massive chemical spill in hungary has reached one of europe's major rivers, it burst monday, releasing a flood of toxic sludge into the hungarian country side. four people were killed, hundreds forced from their homes. president obama will not sign a bill that would make it easier for courts and banks to speed up home foreclosures, the administration is concerned the

bill will make it harder for homeowners to question the validity of foreclosure documents and challenge foreclosure proceedings. and new york city wants to stop recipients of food stamps from using those funds to buy sodas and other sugary drinks. the move, anderson, is designed to cut down on obesity and diseases like diabetes. we'll be right back. [ female announcer ] join yoplait in our commitment to fight breast cancer.

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