a twist in the battle over michael jackson's kids. report of a secret custody deal between jackson's ex, debbie rowe and his mom, katherine. plus, a family says michael jackson's death was a conspiracy. a plot to steal his fortune. and a stunning murder investigation with multiple motives. a couple who adopted 12 kids with special needs shot and killed in their home. new today, three arrests and police say there could be more. you're a huge part of the show. good to be back. i love hearing from you. the number 1-877-tell-hln. you can e-mail us cnn.com/"prime news." your chance to be heard. controversy, opinion, your point of view. this is "prime news."

welcome. this is "prime news." i'm mike galanos. alarming new accusations coming from michael jackson's own sister saying he was murdered and his death was a conspiracy. two british papers quote la toya jackson as sayinging she believes a shadowy entourage gave her brother drugs that led to his tragic death and also this. this is big. abc news reporting jackson's ex-wife debbie rowe and his mom katherine are working behind closed doors on a secret custody deal. let's start with more first on the la toya jackson comment 0 british papers. brian todd has been following this angle. brian, what's the latest on this? spell out the details for us. >> it's not just la toya jackson making pretty controversial comments. some very prominent members of the jackson family including la toya are going very public with their belief his death had foul play involved in there, giving very controversial details. from a grieving family, more

detailed concerns about the private physician to michael jackson who was with him at the time of his death. in an interview with abc news, excerpted on "good morning america," joe jackson said he had heard that his son was given something to help him rest, that the doctor conrad murray had himself gone to sleep at some point. >> a long time before he started taking him to the hospital and you don't revive a person in a soft bed. the doctor left and they couldn't find him in three days or something. that's what made me believe something was wrong there. >> contacted by cnn, representatives for dr. murray's attorneys wouldn't comment on joe jakz jackson's remarks but referred to a statement issued by edward chernoff that said in part an dr. murray continues to be fully cooperative with the los angeles police department and the medical examiner's office. joe jackson had voiced suspicion previously in the days just

after michael's deaths to cnn's don lemon. >> yes, i am. i have a lot of concerns. >> what are your concerns about that? >> i can't get into that, but i don't like what happened. >> reporter: jackson's sister la toya is going further than her father telling two british newspapers she believes michael jackson was murdered. she told the daily mail" her brother was worth more than $1 billion and said "he was surrounded by people who didn't have his best interests at heart and he was worth more dead than alive." now la toya jackson never mentioned who she thought was behind his death. she implied to another newspaper that the family knows the result of the second private autopsy for michael jackson, the one that they ordered. and she says "i think everyone will be surprised when the results come out." she told that to another british newspaper. cnn has learned that she was paid for at least one of those interviews with the british

paper. the l.a. county corner aeshs office expect the toxicology results by next week. >> you spoke with the company promoting michael jackson's tour about another claim coming from the family. what is that all about? >> that's right. joe jackson told abc that michael jackson had told him he was only contracted to do ten shows in london. and that the producers kind of kept piling on the shows and that he joe jackson was worried about michael jackson's health. we contacted the aeg live, the ones producing this series of shows in london and an official from that company told us their original agreement with michael jackson was to do 31 shows. this official says they only announced the first ten shows per the agreement with michael jackson but that once the ten concerts were pretty much sold out and the successful ticket sales had taken place, they went back to michael's representatives and asked abouted adding on more shows. the aeg official said michael

jackson okay with doing 50 shows. their claim is jackson's remarks are very inaccurate here. >> brian, thanks for two big updates for us. brian todd, we appreciate it. good talking to you. let's continue the conversation. joining me now, we welcome back carlos dias from extra, janell snowden, host for vh1, and defense attorney mid win charles. the number 1-877-tell-hln tell hln. carlos, first off, let's talk about la toya. a lot of people going what credibility does la toya have. she was paid for this interview. your comments on that first off. >> yeah, i mean, i've read the interview. i want to pose this question. how is -- how is michael jackson worth more dead than he is alive? if he completes the 50 shows, we're talking, you know, half a billion dollars that people could make off of these shows. i don't understand how michael worth more dead than he is

alive, especially since they were only insured for 30 shows, weren't for the other 20 shows. they're losing money on the tickets sold out for 50. as far as michael being taxed as far as his body being taxed for it and it being too much for him to handle, if you're going to rehearse for two shows, it's the same as rehearsing for 50 shows. if you want to have this conversation and say yes, on the 45th show, he collapsed from exhausti exhaustion, i'd buy that argument but i don't buy the argument that this is a result of michael being overworked because you're rehearsing the same amount for 50 shows as you are for 30 and ten. >> what was the schedule? how many shows was he going to do per week? was it a taxing schedule? >> it wasn't like he was doing two shows a day. they broke it down to about two and a half shows a week. he wasn't doing shows daily. it was two and a half shows per week. >> guys, hang tight. carlos, midwin and janelle,

we'll talk a little bit more about joe jackson's claim, also a little bit more about this custody battle or custody agreement between debbie rowe and michael jackson's mom katherine. we'll take your phone calls. the number 1-877-tell-hln.

you're an important part of the show. love hearing what you think, love chatting with you over the phone. call in, the number 1-877-tell-hln. you can e-mail us, as well. cnn.com/primenews or he can tect us your thoughts to hlntv. just start your mess and with the word prime. we like to show your text messages throughout the show.

new revelations concerning about michael jackson, his sister la toya making comments to a couple of british tabloids saying she believes her brother was murdered. his death was a conspiracy. karen in missouri it, hi, your thoughts here? karen? >> caller: yes. >> go ahead. >> caller: good afternoon. my comment is why would la toya take money for making those accusations to an english tabloid when she hasn't said anything in any of the respectable magazines over here. >> great point, karen. let's throw that one to january snow done. what do you make of this? and to karen's point, why go to the british tabloids and why accept the money? we're talking about your brother's death here. >> it's also no secret they pay for the interview and it's not secret she's not had the most lucrative career. two years ago, she was on a show called "armed and dangerous" and

trained to be a police officer. she's volunteering as a deputy and made a couple other appearances on reality tv shows. those only pay so much. i can understand the skepticism why she would reeve money to report to the british newspaper. in this case, i think it was she had something to say. she wants answers and maybe they were the highest bidder. >> let's bring in midwin charles, an attorney. midwin, if you're a person who is around michael jackson the last few months of his life, do you need a lawyer at this point? >> absolutely. >> with terms like that, shadowy entourage being thrown around. >> only if you were a doctor giving him prescriptions for drugs that we know to be independent for him. there were plend i of people around the time around of his death around him such as cooks and nannies and nurses who there would be no kind of bad look on them at this point. but if you were a doctor, if you were someone administering any sort of medication to michael

jackson at the time of his death or right before his death, i would lawyer up immediately. >> carlos, do we know anything more about the folks around michael jackson? let's say in the last few weeks near the time of his death here? >> well, i can add to what midwin just said. if you're a doctor. i can also add if you're a dentist because we are now learning that reports that michael jackson was targeting dentists as well trying to score certain kinds of drugs like diprivan and other drugs he seemed to be hooked on. doctors and dentists you can add now. that's the thing. there are so many people that surrounded themselves around michael jackson and now those people are all being investigated what role they may have played in getting him the drugs that got him hooked and possibly killed him. >> january, anything to add to that, the people who were around michael jackson, who were they? >> i think it remains to be seen. it's certainly no secret that mike it will did surround

himself with a lot of people. some of them credible and some of them maybe not so much. he had a lot of enablers around him. he was a lonely man.who knows, maybe his only friends supplied him with the drug he thought he needed. >> one more before we go, midwin to you. there's talk of a custody deal being worked out between the biological mom of the oldest two kids and katherine jackson. what's debbie rowe's take here? we were under the impression she was out of the picture for the most part, that this is katherine and that's it. is it straight up biological mom still has a stake here? >> i don't think she has a chance in getting custody. what's at stake for her is money. that's what this was always about, what she entered into this deal or contract, whatever you want to call it with michael. what i think is happening with her talking to katherine about custody is they're probably trying to work something out. oftentimes family court judges

will ask the parties to kind of come together to the table and try to work something out so it doesn't become an ugly court battle. >> reportedly we're getting she wants more regular visits with the kids and they want to make sure that joe jackson could never possibly get custody of the three kids. eave got to run. carlos, midwin, january, good talking to you guys. i'm sure we'll talk with you again soon. now to this story. a florida couple brutally murdered in their home, the beloved parents to a dozen adopted kids. now three arrests and multiple motives. cops say this case reads like a movie script who would kill a couple who opens their homes to special needs kids? we're getting closer to the answer.

stunning new developments in the murder of a couple who adopted 12 kids with special

needs. this just in. police say the suspects were dressed as ninjas when they broke into the billings family home, shot and killed the mom and dad. you can see the surveillance video. there it is to the right. three people have been arrested, including the alleged mastermind. but police say stoix eight people were involved in all. they split up. it only took them less than ten minutes to get in and get out. here's more from that news conference. >> it leads me to believe that this was a very well-planned and methodical operation. as i've stated previously, the rapidity of this crime indicates that there was planning that went into this operation. >> still so many questions here. we'll take your calls, your questions. 1-877-tell-hln is the number. joining us to talk about it, david mattingly with cnn at the news conference. also with us hln law enforcement analyst mike brooks. david, give us all the details. what did we learn today? >> is that originally they had

three persons of interest they were looking for they thought might have entered this house. now they think six to eight people were involved in the attack on the house that left the couple murdered. they say that five people, they can tell, entered the house, three on one side, two on the other. a very crisp and clean type of operation. they worked very quickly from the time they went onto the property to the time they were off took about ten minutes. they were only inside the house about four minutes, i believe he said. yes, four minutes inside the house, suggesting that they had trained and had prepared quite a bit for their intrusion. now, one thing we are not hearing about is why this couple was murdered. we do know today that there is a possible motive involved here. one motive at least they're talking about is robbery. one of the reasons why they went into the home. they're not ruling out other possible motives as this goes down the road. right now, they've got three people in custody, arrested them over the weekend.

have a couple of persons of interest they're taubing to right now and looking for a couple of others. they actually release this had photo at this press conference today. this is one of the men. this was taken at a walmart in the panhandle a couple of weeks ago. this man here is one that was arrested over the weekend and charged with the murder of the couple and the home invasion. authorities want to know who these two men are. they believe they might be involved, associates of this man who might have been involved in this break-in this alleged robbery in the murders of this couple at their home. we're finding out today that the children in the home, some of them did encounter the intrudes when they came in. some of these children have provided some bit of information to investigators. but really, everyone just so absolutely stunned at what happened to this couple after they've opened their hearts and their lives, adopteding a dozen children with special needs over the years and all of them living very happily, we're told in,

that home. everyone very shocked, people who knew them say they were very nice, very doting on their children and woo do anything to keep them from being hurt. but again, no idea why this couple was shot, killed, murdered right there in their home while their children were in there with them. >> real quick on the kids, number one, none were hurt. is that right, david? and where are they now? >> none were physically hurt. this is a very tough experience for any of them to get through. i talked to a family member this morning. she says the children are being kept together and well cared for and are being cared for by family. they emphasize these children will not be split up. this was a family from the very beginning and it will remain a family. >> mike brooks, hln law enforcement analyst, we've got about a minute here. is that what you're seeing here? was this family pretty wealthy and you think this is all about

cash? >> that's what it sounds like. the sheriff said that is one motive. mike, if you look at this and how well plan this had was, one of these people had to have been in the house in the past. maybe they did some work for the family, knew the family did have money. apparently they were very wealthy to be able to take all these kids in. robbery is just one motive right now. as david said from that picture at the walmart, they believe they were going shopping for some of the clothing they wore during the robbery and looking at other videos throughout the community to see if some of the other merchants might have captured them before, during and right after the robbery. >> david, real quick, we've got ten seconds. we'll continue the conversation other side of the break. the number 1-877-tell-hln. still what baffles us as you see this family, why would someone kill two love people?

welcome back to "prime news" on hln. at the suburban philadelphia club that booted african-american kids from its school now wants to invite them back. the club says the pool was overcrowded. this was a safety issue, not racism. now the kids get the ok to return, get the invite to come back. does that make everything better? we want your thoughts on this, 1-877-tell-hln. we'll have that story for you in a minute. now this one is sick. a cemetery near chicago final resting place for tens of thousands now basically a crime scene. four former workers accused of digging up bodies, dumping them and then reselling the plots? new today, investigators have begunt task of inspecting more than 100,000 graves at burr oak

cemetery in alsip, illinois. so painful for family members. here's one woman share her pain in all this. >> and they went so far as to dismember the bodies, the bones, and put it somewhere else. it's like a serial killer to me. >> more than 7,000 people like her have written to police asking about their loved ones. i can't believe we're report ong this one. this would be going on today is what i'm trying to say. joining us, let's welcome back law enforcement analyst mike brooks. also with us, criminal defense attorney fred teasy. host of matt and perry in chicago. and tiffany robinson who lives down the street from the cemetery has family members buried there. tiffany, first off, how are you doing? this is such a nightmare. how are you living through this? >> it's very difficult. i have a lot of things going on. you know in my own personal

life, school, four kids, and just having to see this every single day that you pull out of your driveway, it's starting to really, really work with my mind a lot. >> tiffany, when did you find out about this? how did you find out? >> well, it's pretty funny that you asked me that. i'm not a television person. i'm usually online or getting the news updated some other kind of way, but i actually sat down on the bed last wednesday and i specifically remember it was 4:20, and channel 5, wmaq here in chicago, had a news brief that said bodies found at burr oak cemetery. so i only live like maybe 60 seconds away from the cemetery. i jumped up, got my clothes on and ran over to the cemetery and noticed a couple people standing outside. i got out of my car.

it started raining and i was asking them like, you guys know what's going on? they were like no, not really. but the owner of the dealership told me he seen people getting arrested. i said i was going to stick around and wait. well, the sheriff tom dart was having a press release and as soon as it was over, all the media came flying out and they started like to tell us what was going on. and asking us if we had family members there, and as soon as -- i mean, as soon as i heard the news release, my stomach had an instant separation, and i don't get feelings like that very often. so i did not have a good feeling you know, for one, one of the guys that they have in custody, you know, we know him personally. a lot of the family members knows this particular individual personally. so it really, you know, not only is sad for the fact that our loved ones have been disturbed but it's also very disturbing to

know that someone that watched me grow up has done this. >> wow. >> thousands of people that we know and that we don't know. >> tiffany, did you rush to the graveside of family members to see if anything had been disturbed, if there was any vandalism or anything like that? >> well, we always had a couple questions for the cemetery because the one, there was a tree in the section where my cousin was supposed to be laid to rest that was dug up. and they could never give us any specific reasons why they dug that particular tree up because my family actually was purchasing the plot adjacent to willie's plot for $750, and the cemetery was supposed to notify us to let us know if they were going to have to do anything, and we never got a single call. >> hmm. let's bring in matt mcgill, wbon in chicago. matt, viewers just getting into

the story, what are we talking about here? boil it down for us. they were accused of digging up grave sites so they could resell the plots. what was happening to these bodies here? >> some of the bodies they were dismembering, taking bones and throwing them to the side. you have people who rushed out to the cemetery who say they have been searching for loved ones. they have stumbled across bones of people who have been dismembered and tossed to the side. a storage facility they had a number of coffins that were dug up and in fact, late emmett till, a young man murdered in the 50s, his murder was a cat list of the civil rights movement, his casket was found in a storage facility there and inside the casket was a family of possums living. this story gets more and more gruesome. it is the worst nightmare of anyone who when they heard that name burr oak cemetery knew that they had a relative that was

buried out there. >> we're talking about 100,000 graves here. so multiply that by family members and loved ones who now have concerns. it's a nightmare on such large proportions. tiffany, before you go, when are you going to get some answers whether or not your family members' grave sites have been disturbed or not? >> know, like they told us, honestly last thursday that they would let us know in 24 hours and you know, i still haven't heard anything back, but you know, this is one thing that i do not want to put out there. >> yeah. >> i don't want people to give up because we need to stay persistent with this to make sure these people don't just get 30 years in jail. you're talking about loved ones, family members, people that you laid to rest. my cousin was a united states marine. you know? he was serving this country. he wasn't out there standing on the corners, he wasn't drinking

every day like one of the defendants that's in custody. he wasn't riding around in all these flashy cars. he was doing the right thing as an upstanding citizen. so it really makes me think, you know, about the people that have done this and how they have basically made us relive these moments and have to go through this pain and the horror of thinking for greed that they would do something like this. >> tiffany, thank you for sharing your story. we feel your passion and your pain. we wish you the best as you try fur a resolution here. we pray for your strength at this difficult time. tiffany mentioned what about the punishment? we'll talk to our attorney fred teasy about that and mike brooks about the daunting task of trying to identify thousands of people to make sure they're in their rightful place. call in with your thoughts, 1-877-tell-hln.

i came across bones. it was clear there were parts of skulls and parts of legs or arms. and they're just laying all in different places around here. there's piles that have been dumped here. >> unthinkable, bones of the dead, loved ones for so many in the chicago area just laying around a cemetery there. we'll take your calls, 1-877-tell-hln. a lot of people lined up. we'll rapid fire a couple

questions to our experts and get back to the calls. fred, a coup things. punishment for these people? 30 years, that's all? >> this is one of those cases, mike where the black letter law does not seem enough to punish these people for what they did. to dig up bones, it's bad enough to lose a loved one and have to bury them, but then to have salt rub into the wound and have the wound picked open by what they did, unfortunately the law doesn't -- isn't strong enough. >> what about recourse for the families here? is there any? class action lawsuits in the, would i know. >> absolutely. if it turns out that the owner of this cemetery wasn't paying attention and doing what he was supposed to do and watch over these four people, he'd better get his checkbook out and better take a last long good-bye look at his house because he's losing it all. >> matt mcgill in chicago, have we heard from the owners? >> we haven't heard anything

yet, not here in the chicago. the main person we're hearing from right now is the cook county sheriff tom dart. >> yeah. >> and this is really something that has endeared him to the african-american community because the cemetery primarily serves the african-american community. tom dart, his political as pir races may rise after this effort. because this is a big story leading into the 2010 election. i have a personal story about this cemetery. my cousin just died three weeks ago. i was at this cemetery. we buried my cousin there. before i came on the air with you, i called her and asked her who, did she pay? how did she go about getting plots there. she said she paid over the phone via credit card and said the information she has only lists a section it, doesn't list a plot at all. she called back after the story broke. they have no record of him being buried at that cemetery. >> sad to say. sorry for your loss, matt.

mike, real quick. the clock's running on us here. how do you go about identifying 100,000 people? how long does that take? >> they might never identify all the remains there. right now, i just got off phone with the fbi in chicago. they've got 20 agents out there along with cook county sheriff's office. they're clearing debris trying to put a chart together how they're going to tackle this. some of those agents, i can tell you, have experience from overseas working war crimes. they have experience on graves where the mass graves they don't know where the bodies come from but if they don't have old records, it's going to be very, very difficult who identify who was where at what time. >> bookkeeping is supposed to be horrible here. >> it really is. you heard what he said just recently. >> matt mcgill, thanks for your expertise there being in chicago. we're sorry for your loss. mikes, fred, appreciate it, as well.

coming up, philadelphia swim club gives the boot to dozens of kids, some say because of their skin color. now the club is apologizing. >> it's really unfortunate and we apologize deeply. we regret deeply that this had to happen. >> i accept anyone's apology but when you tell the truth. i want him to tell the truth. >> all right. so will the kids, will this daycare accept the apology? will they go back? what does the apology mean? we're going to talk to the parents of a child who went there and had a brutal experience. and we'll take are calls, 1-877-tell-hln.

welcome back. a suburban philadelphia swim club that kicked out dozens of african-american kids, booted them from the pool want the kids to come back after all the racial accusations. talk of a lawsuit.

will the kids return? correspondent richelle carey can get us up to speed on this. >> right now the valley club says it will try to work things out with the creative steps day camp, a club 20 miles north of philadelphia. a couple weeks ago, 65 kids from the day camp went to the pool. the kids say they heard racial remarks and saw white parents pull their kids out of the pool. then just days later the club revoked the camp's contract, gave them their money back. the club president had said the group changed the come plegz, exact words, changed the complexion and atmosphere at the pool. the state's human rights commission is now investigating, even the justice department might step in. the club says it was because of overcrowding, noise, safety, not racism. one parent has already filed a discrimination lawsuit. that's likely on hold now that the club has made its new offer and the camp's lawyer says the group is considering it.

so that's where we are right now. >> okay, richelle, thanks for the update. we want to know what's next? apology accepted? joining us to talk about it, fred tecce, former federal prosecutor. but on the phone, christine pemableton, her son was at the pool. she's not with us right now? we're getting her back in a second. okay. real, real quick, fred to you, then we'll talk to christine. what does the apology mean as this plays out? >> know what, mike, i'm not sure what it means. to invite these children back to this pool, part of the problem was that the members of the club made racial comments. and so unless you're going to invite them back and the members are going to turn out en massee and make these children feel welcome, as far as i'm concerned, a welcome back is an empty promise. i think it would be worse if those children went back and there was nobody there. what a horrible horrible message. i've read the complaint. there's a lawsuit going and and they're talking about that.

>> what do you have to prove here, fred? we're waiting to talk to one of the moms, christine. the club saying it's a safety issue. 65 kids show up. there's a shot of the pool. i guess there was pool overcrowding. that's one issue and how are you going to prove the racism here? that's got to be kind i've tough one to prove, isn't it? >> it always is. it's always difficult to prove racism on the facts in this case, i think it's almost a phone-in. the children heard racial epithets thrown at them and they were asked to leave. i think the comment from the club president originally that it changed the complexion, how do you put that toothpaste back in the bot? personally, i think what they said about safety was a pretext. there's evidence there were other large groups out there. i think it's an easy thing to prove. but proving it in a court of law is one thing. we've got a bunch of young inner city children subject to racism and discrimination that they

deserve the least. >> let's listen to one of the kids who was there. i believe his is marcus allen. and listen to him and what he went through as he was one of the children at the pool. let's give it a listen. >> you know, marcus, i see tears coming down your face. why does this make you cry? >> because it's kind of like sad that like people were still thinking like -- thinking like this. when i felt like it's over. >> it breaks your heart. >> just breaks my heart. >> because that brings it to life because we were talking about a number of kids and pool safety. but then to see a young child like that with tears coming down his eyes, believing that we were past that but yet we can only imagine what they heard. fred, real quick, we have a mom on the line. sylvia carvalho, are you with us? >> yes, i'm here. >> what did your child experience?

>> my child the experience that she had was that she was swimming in the pool and next thing you know the kids were moving away from her and she was asking a question -- herself why was she moving away? i mean why were the kids moving away from her? >> so children -- did she hear any insults being thrown her way? >> not at the moment. >> no. just that kids were moving away. and what, were parents pulling their kids out of the pool? is that what was going on here? >> yes. she was swimming, and the next thing you know the parents were going towards where the kids were and then the parents were coming and take them out of the pool. and she was -- >> okay. the apology's there, sylvia. would you let your daughter go back? >> no. not at all. not at all. >> sylvia, can you hang around with us? can you come back in a couple of minutes and we'll talk some more? >> what time? because right now i'm in the middle of a meeting. >> okay. we'll hope to have you back. you as well. stay with us.

battle over michael jackson's kids. there's a report of a secret custody deal between jackson's ex, debbie rowe, and miz mom, katherine. plus a family member says michael jackson's death was a conspiracy. a plot to steal his fortune. and a stunning murder investigation with multiple motives. hard to keep up. a couple who adopted 13 kids with special needs shot and killed in their own home. new today, three arrests, and police say there could be more. you're a huge part of the show. love hearing from you. good to be back. i want to hear from you. the phone, 1-877-tell-hln. e-mail us, cnn.com/primenews. or you can text us at hlntv. all you have to do is start your message with the word "prime." it's your chance to be heard. >> controversy, opinion, your

point of view. this is "prime news." welcome. this is hour number two of "prime news." i'm mike galanos. alarming new investigations coming now from michael jackson's own sister, saying he was murdered and his death was a conspiracy. two british papers quote latoya jackson as saying she believes a shadowy entourage gave her brother drugs and led to his tragic death. brian todd fills us in. brian todd with our sister network cnn. he's been following this. hope to hear from brian in just a moment. but joining us, jim moret, chief choernt "inside edition," also an attorney. also with us janel snowden, host for vh1. and also with us, defense attorney midwin charles. jim, let's start with you on this one. la toyia jackson, first off, a lot of people wonder about her credibility. we know she accepted -- or believe anyway, brian was reporting that she had accepted money for these interviews. what about that? what do you make of her claims here? >> well, i talked to a member of the family who says that this

interview did happen and she is not alone in the family in feeling this way. it's not as if she's being pushed to the side. also she's the one that signed the death certificate. she was there when michael jackson passed away. and i think in many ways in this instance at least she's speaking for the family. i'm not sure they really mean murder although she was very specific about saying murder. i think the investigation is looking more into involuntary manslaughter charges in giving certain medications. but she really seems to believe that he was killed. for his money. >> let's bring in janel snowden, host on vh1. people hear this. and the term shadowy entourage. do we know anything more about who was around michael jackson in the months, days before his death? >> i think we know michael always traveled with a hefty security detail. and i know that many of those members were people from the nation of islam in addition to whichever other private security

guards he hired. it's been reported that he's had many doctors at his disposal, one of them even living in the house with michael in a bedroom right next dor. there are mixed reports whether michael was found in his own bedroom dead or the bedroom of one of the doctors. i think it's of interest to report that latoya and the rest of the family have come together as a result of this investigation. if there's any silver lining in it, while this is not at all to underestimate the huge loss the entire world has suffered, i think the family has come together not only in the belief there's been foul play but also just in mourning. and i think it's also interesting to note that latoya mentions in the article that she will see to it that debbie rowe does not receive custody of the kids. she said she has some info on her and she will see to it that this does not happen. >> cnn has not confirmed that latoya gave that interview. but regardless, we do have questions about who was around michael jackson, whether or not

you use the term like shadowy entourage. let's bring in midwin charles, our attorney. midwin, you had mentioned it when we spoke before of obviously if you're a doctor and you're around michael jackson you need an attorney at this point i would think. same with anybody, though, right? there are so many questions around michael jackson. does everybody need to be lawyered up at this point? >> well, i think you need to be lawyered up. it was abundantly clear that you were doing something that was in violation of criminal law as well as ethical laws for whatever profession it was that you're in. one of the things that we're hearing is that these doctors were giving prescription medication for ailments that didn't match the drug. and so they were violating their ethical duty as a medical licensed professional. but i think you only really need to lawyer up if you were doing something of that nature. >> right. jim moret, get everybody up to speed, if you would, help us do that. what are we talking about here when we're talking about doctor shopping? and how many people could have been being used to get

medication to michael jackson? what do we know on that front? >> well, right now i know there are about five doctors that are being investigated. and this goes over years. the l.a. police chief made it very clear that they're looking at behavior over the past few years. this is not unlike the anna nicole smith case, where one year after anna nicole died there were charges brought alleging that medications were abused and overused. and i think that's what the lapd is looking at here. i think it's really two tracks. one is what killed michael jackson. and then the other is a much broader view of was there doctor shopping, were there aliases used, was there medication being given that wasn't called for, and was it being given in too large a quantity? so that's actually a separate investigation and would yield i think separate charges. >> okay. jim, let's stay on that track, that second one, when you talk about -- and you made the comparison to anna nicole smith. and in the end authorities in california thought, hey, we have enablers here that did wrong, and they were charged. we're going to be looking at the

same thing, right? possibly. >> you could very likely be looking at the same thing. absolutely. and again-w anna nicole it took months, and that's because there are a lot of records to go through. and it's okay. there's no hurry to file charges. you'd rather get them correct than just to file charges haphazardly. but i think that doctors who've been treating michael jackson, and i know cnn has reported that in '96 michael jackson traveled with an anesthesiologist who in his words, i believe, would bring hmm down at night and bring him up in the morning. these are unusual circumstances. and i think that -- i think that investigators are looking at this. you've got the state attorney general interested in this, the d.e.a. investigating, the lapd specifically for the death investigation, and then you have also potential civil claims being brought by the family. >> guys, we're going to take a quick break. much more on this, and we'll ask the question, toxicology report could come back as early as friday. what then?

could charges be filed friday afternoon? or how much longer could things take? call in with your thoughts. 1-877-tell-hln.

you're a huge part of the show. i love hearing from you, love talking to you about the topics that we do on a nightly basis. call in. the number 1-877-tell-hln. you can e-mail us as well, cnn.com/primenews. that's where you go. or you can text us, hlntv. that's the numbers 45688. start your message with the word "prime." then we like to show your text messages on the bottom of the screen throughout the show. continuing to talk about michael jackson. latest on the investigation. let's go to the phones. thomas in tennessee. thomas, your comment, question

here? >> caller: yes. first of all, i'd just like to say that my prayers go out to michael's kids and his family. to be honest with you, i wasn't really a big fan of his, but after seeing all these news broadcasts about this doctor from houston and these prescriptions and stuff, i had a family member that was very much addicted to painkillers and it's just astonishing that these doctors, he had like six or seven doctors that just went and paid like 100 bucks and you just walked in there and you'd get your prescription. you'd go to a pharmacy and there was nothing being done about it. hopefully, this will shed some light about it. >> i think you make a good point there. we all know. it can be very easy. and the results of this can be very tragic. thomas, thanks for the phone call. let's bring in attorney midwin charles. midwin, to our caller's point there, it is easy. how do you prove a crime in a case like -- whether it's michael jackson or anybody. when you start going back and

connecting the dots with someone who got drugs when they shouldn't have? >> what the other gentleman said. you start to look through and see what prescriptions were prescribed, what dosage, and for what, right? because when you prescribe medication as a doctor it ought to be prescribed for a specific ailment. and not just for recreation. not just for fun. and not just because someone asks for it. and what's important here is to remember that there are plenty of accounts of people who said that if you were not a yes man to michael jackson you were pushed away. so there's almost this sort of aura that the people who were around him were yes men and were willing to do whatever it was that michael asked whether it was good for him or not. >> jim moret, toxicology report, we could get one back as early as friday. okay, after that when you talk timeline of, you know, ferreting out who might have been responsible, who got him drugs, or for better or for worse, to your point, it's going take a while, isn't it? you have to be methodical in this and to get it right. >> you do have to -- you're

right. you want to make sure you file charges and they stick and you have the right person. it depends on if you can find diprivan, which was allegedly found at the home. that's this anesthesia that's only found in clinics and hospitals. if he died as a result of diprivan, then you've got a really strong case for manslaughter because you shouldn't have that under any circumstances. and if you can find that drug and the person who administered it, that person probably has a lot of problems to deal with and could be facing charges. the broader issue of abusing drugs over a longer period of time is not directly related necessarily to the cause of death. you want to see -- with anna nicole there was a cocktail of drugs. they want to see if there's a similar situation here. >> okay. got it. let's go to the phones. tammy in ohio. hi, tammy. your comment or question here? >> caller: hello? >> hey, tammy, go ahead. >> caller: yeah, my question is this. well, it's a comment and then a question.

all these statements and documents are surfacing now from 2004. now, could they possibly, because the police should have maybe made charges then, maybe he would still be alive. you know what i mean? could they possibly -- could the family possibly have charges now dating back from 2004 where they did not do their job? >> okay. midwin charles, can you go back that far, midwin? >> well, it depends. you're talking about -- if you're talking about civil liability, you can go back that far because oftentimes the standard in terms of statute of limitation is when you reasonably could have known. and going back i think to 2004 and even to now in terms of how detrimental this would have been, it seems as though you could go as far back as then. and with criminal allegations if it was ongoing you could also go ahead and file charges here. >> want to bring back janell snowden, one of the hosts of 1 vh1. janell, what do we know bay custody deal being worked out between michael's ex debbie rowe

and his mom michael jackson? >> we know the hearing has been pushed back a week and the family's attorney has stated that's something they've been hoping for because thar hoping to achieve an amicable resolution that not only the kids will benefit from but all of the family will as well. we know the family has obviously stated that they would love for katherine to remain the guardian, as michael stated he wanted her to be in the will. and there have also been reports that in a prior will, not sure which one is the most recent, michael had stated that he wanted his oldest sister remembrebbie to be named one of the guardians. it's interesting to see who gets custody and at what point. >> and reportedly other things in the works there, debbie rowe possibly having more visitation with the kids and making sure that joe jackson would under no circumstances get custody.

janell.

stunning new developments in the murder of a couple who adopted 12 kids with special

needs. this just in to us. police in escambia county, florida say the suspects were dressed as ninjas when they broke into the billings family home, shot and killed the mom and dad. you can see the surveillance video. i think we got it. there it is to the right. three people have been arrested, including the alleged mastermind. but police say six to eight people were involved in all. they split up. and it only took them less than ten minutes to get in and get out. here's more from that news conference. >> it leads me to believe that this was a very well-planned and methodical operation. and as i've stated previously, the rapidity of this crime indicates that, that there was planning that went into this operation. >> still so many questions here. we'll take your calls, your questions, 1-877-tell-hln's the number. joining us to talk about it, david mattingly with our sister network cnn at the news conference. talk to david in just a second. also with us, hln law enforcement analyst mike brooks. david, again, you were there. give us all the details. what did we learn today?

>> what we learned today is that originally they had three persons of interest they were looking for that they thought might have entered this house. now they think six to eight people were involved in the attack on the house that left the couple murdered. they say that five people they can tell entered the house, three on one side, two on the other, a very crisp and clean type of operation. they worked very quickly. from the time they went onto the property to the time they were off took about ten minutes. they were only inside the house about four minutes, i believe he said. yes, four minutes inside the house. suggesting that they had trained and had prepared quite a bit for this intrusion. now, one thing we are not hearing about is why this couple was murdered. we do know today that there is a possible motive involved here. one motive at least that they're talking about is robbery. one of the reasons why they went into the home. but they're not ruling out other possible motives as this investigation goes down the road. right now they've got three

people in custody. they arrested them over the weekend. they have a couple persons of interest that they're talking to right now. and they're looking for a couple of others. they actually released this photo at this press conference today. this is one of the men. this was taken at a walmart in the panhandle a couple of weeks ago. this man here is one that was arrested over the weekend and charged with the murder of the couple and the home invasion. authorities want to know who these two men are. they believe they might be involved, associates of this man who might have been involved in this break-in, in this alleged robbery, in the murders of this couple at their home. we're finding out today that the children in the home, some of them did encounter the intruders when they came in. some of these children have provided some bit of information to investigators. but really, everyone just so absolutely stunned at what happened to this couple after they've opened their hearts and their lives, adopting a dozen children with special needs over

the years, and all of them living very happily, we're told, in that home. everyone very shocked. people who knew them say that they were very nice, very outgoing, and very doting on their children that they would do anything to keep them from being hurt. but again, no idea why this couple was shot, killed, murdered right there in their home while their children were in there with them. >> before we continue on the investigation, real quick on the kids. number one, none were hurt, is that right, david in and where are they now? >> none were physically hurt, though this is a tough experience for any of them to get through. i talked with a family member this morning. she says the children are being kept together, they are cared for and they are being cared for by family. they emphasized these children will not be split up, this was a family from the very beginning and it will remain a family. >> let's bring in mike brooks, hln law enforcement analyst. we've got about a pminute here, then we'll take a break, get some calls in. is that what you're seeing here,

was this family pretty wealthy and do you think it's all about cash? >> that's what it sounds look. as david said, the sheriff said that is one motive they're taking a look at. but if you take a look at this, how methical, well planned it was, one of these people would have had to have been in the house in the past. maybe they did m work for the family, maybe they knew the family did have money. apparently they were very wealthy to be able to take all these kids in. but again, robbery is one motive right now. and as david said from that picture at the walmart they believe they were going shoepg for some of the clothing they wore during the robbery. and they're looking at other surveillance videos throughout the community to see if some of the other merchants might have captured them before, during, and right after the robbery. >> david, real quick -- we've got to run. we've got about ten seconds. we'll continue the conversation on the other side of the break, take your calls as well. the number 1-877-tell-hln. still what baffles us is you see this family. why would someone kill two loving --

welcome back to "prime news" on hln. the suburban philadelphia club that booted some african-american kids from its pool now wants to invite them back. the kids say they heard racial remarks. the club says the pool was overcrowded, this was a safety issue, not racism. well, now the kids get the okay to return, get the invite to come back. what does that mean? does that make everything better? want your calls, your thoughts on this. 1-877-tell-hln. i'll have that story for you in just a minute. now this. and this one is sick. a cemetery near chicago, final resting place for tens of thousands, now base khris a crime scene. four former workers are accused of digging up bodies, dumping them, and then reselling the plots? new today, investigators have begun the daunting tax of inspecting more than 100,000 graves at burr oak cemetery in

illinois. so painful for family members. here's one woman sharing her pain in all this. >> and they went so far as to dismember the bodies. that the bones and put it somewhere else. it's like a serial killer to me. >> more than 7,000 people like her have written to police, asking about their loved ones. i can't believe we're reporting on this one. but -- that this would be going on today-s what i'm trying to say. joining us let's welcome back law enforcement analyst mike brooks. fred tecce. matt mcgill host of matt and perry on wvon in chicago. and on the phone tiffany robinson who lives just down the street from the cemetery. she has family members buried there. tiffany, first off, how are you doing? this is just such a nightmare, but how are you living through this? >> caller: it's very difficult. i have a lot of things going on,

you know, in my own personal life, school, four kids, and just having to see this every single day that you pull out of your driveway, it's starting to really, really work with my mind a lot. >> tiffany, when did you find out about this? how did you find out? >> caller: wp, itell, it's pret funny you that ask me about that. i'm not a television person. i'm usually online or getting the news updated from other kind of way. but i actually sat down on the bed last wednesday, and i specifically remember it was 4:20, and channel 5, wmaq here in chicago, had a news brief that said bodies found at burr oak cemetery. so i only live like maybe 60 seconds away from the cemetery. so i jumped up, i got my clothes on, i ran over to the cemetery, and i noticed a couple people standing outside. so i got in my car. i mean, it started raining.

and i was asking, you know, them do you guys know what's going on in and they were like no, not really. but the owner of the dealership, he told me that he seen some people getting arested. so i said i was going to stick around and wait. well, the sheriff, tom dart, was having a press release, and as soon as it was over all the media came flying out and they started like to tell us what was going on and asking us if we had family members there. and as soon as -- i mean, as soon as i heard the news release, my stomach had an instant separation. and i don't get feelings like that very often. so i did not have a good feeling. you know, for one, one of the guys that they have in custody, you know, we know him personally. a lot of the family members knows this particular individual personally. so it really -- you know, not only is sad for the fact that our loved ones have been disturbed, but it's also very

disturbing to know that someone that watched me grow up has done this on thousands of people that we know and that we don't know. >> tiffany, did you rush to the grave site of family members to see if anything had been disturbed, if there's any vandalism or anything like that? >> well, we always had a couple questions for the cemetery because, for one, there was a tree in the section where my cousin was supposed to be laid to rest that was dug up. and they could never give us any specific reasons why they dug that particular tree up because my family actually was purchasing the plot adjacent to willie's plot for $750 and the cemetery was supposed to notify us to let us know if they were going to have to do anything, and we never got a single call. >> let's bring in matt mcgill, wvon in chicago. matt, for our viewers who are just getting wind of this story,

what are we talking about here, matt? boil it down for us. they were accused digging up grave sites so they could resell the plots. and what was happening to these bodies here? >> well, some of the bodies they were dismembering, taking the bones and throwing them to the side. you have people who rushed out to the cemetery, who said that they have been searching for their loved ones. they have stumbled across bones of people who have been dismembered and tossed to the side. you've had a storage facility out there where they had a number of coffins that were dug up. and in fact, late emmett till, who was a young man who was murdered in the '50s, his murder was a catalyst in the civil rights movement, his casket was found in a storage facility there, and inside the kags ket was a family of possums living. and this story gets more and more gruesome as we learn about it every day. and it really is the worst nightmare of anyone who when they heard that name burr oak cemetery knew they had a relative that was buried out

there. the story's just unbelievable. >> for everybody, we're talking about 100,000 graves here. multiply that by family members and loved ones who now have concerns. as matt just said, it's a nightmare on such large proportions. tiffany, before you go, when are you going to get some answers about whether or not your family members' grave sites have been disturbed or not? >> you know, mike, they told us honestly last thursday that they would let us know in a few hours, and i still haven't heard anything back. but this is one thing that i do want to put out there. i don't want people to give up because we need to stay persistent with this, make sure that these pie donpeople don't t get 30 years in jail. we're talking about loved ones, family members. my cousin was a united states marine. you know, he was serving this country. he wasn't out there standing on

the corner. he wasn't drinking every day, like one of the defendants that's in custody. he wasn't riding around in all these flashy cars. he was doing the right thing as an upstanding citizen. so it really makes me think, you know, about the people that have done this and how they have basically made us relive these moments and have to go through this pain and the horror of thinking for greed that they would do something like this. >> tiffany, thank you for sharing your story. we feel your position and your pain. we wish you the best as you try for a resolution here, but we pray for your strength at this difficult time. tiffany just mentioned, what about the punishment? we'll talk to our attorney fred tecce about that. we'll also talk to mike brooks about the daunting task of trying to identify thousands of people to make sure they're in their rightful place. call in with your thoughts. 1-877-tell-hln.

unthinkable. bones of the dead, loved ones, so many in the chicago area just laying around a cemetery there. we'll take your calls. 1-877-tell-hln. a lot of people lined up. so we'll rapid-fire a couple questions to our experts, and then we'll get back to the calls. fred tecce, our lawyer, a couple things. first off, punishment for these people, 30 years, that's all? >> you know what? this is one of those case, mike, where the black-letter law just does not seem enough to punish

these people for what they did. to dig up bones, it's bad enough to lose a loved one and have to bury them. but then to have salt rubbed into the wound and have the wound picked open by what these people did, you know, unfortunately, the law doesn't -- isn't strong enough. i mean, you -- >> fred, what about recourse for the families here? class action lawsuit's in the works, i know. >> absolutely. and i tell you what, if it turns out that the owner of this cemetery wasn't paying attention and wasn't doing what he was supposed to do and watch over these four people, then you know, what he'd better get his checkbook out and he'd better take a last long good-bye look at his house because he's losing it all. >> let's get in matt mcgill, wvon in chicago. matt-v we heard from the owners? what are they saying here? >> we haven't heard anything yet, not here in chicago. the main person that we're hearing from right now is cook county sheriff tom dart. and this is really something that has really endeared him to the african-american community because this cemetery primarily

serves the african-american community. now, tom dart, his political aspirations may rise after this effort because this is a big story and this is going to be a big story leading into the 2010 election. i have a personal story about this cemetery. my cousin just died three weeks ago. i was at this cemetery. we buried my cousin there. before i came on the air with you, i called her and asked her who did she pay? how did she go about getting the plot there? and she said she paid over the phone via credit card. she says the information that she has, though, only lists a section, it doesn't list a plot at all. she called back after this story broke. they have no record of him being buried there at that cemetery. i think you're going to hear more stories like that coming up. >> sad to say. that was three weeks ago. and by the way, sorry for your loss, matt. mike, real quick, the clock's really running ounce here. how do you go about identifying 100,000 people? how long does that take? >> it could take a long time. you know, mike, they might never identify all the remains that are there. right now i just got off the phone right before we went to air with the fbi in chicago.

they've got 20 agents from the evidence response team out there along with cook county sheriff's office 37 they're clearing debris, trying to put something, an organizational chart together on how they're going to go ahead and tackle this. but they're also, some of those agents, i can tell you, have experience from overseas working war crimes. so you know, they have experience on graves, mass graves, they don't know where the bodies come from. but going back through the old records-f they don't have any old records, mike, it's going to be very, very difficult to identify who was where at what time. >> bookkeeping's supposed to be just horrible here. ? and you heard what he just said. that's just recently. >> guys, we've got to leave it there. matt mcgill, thanks for your expertise being there in chicago. and again, sorry for your loss. hope to talk to you again soon as this unfolds. mike, fred, appreciate it as well. coming up, more on michael jackson. his sister latoya tells two british papers he was murdered, it was a conspiracy. bringing my colleague jane velez-mitchell in on this. also ashleigh banfield. we'll take your calls as well. 1-877-tell-hln's the number.

welcome back. latoya jackson, former "playboy" cover girl, and at one time she was on the outs with the jackson family. well, she tells two british newspapers, and i'm quoting here, she believes there was a plot to kill her brother michael. basically saying that there was somewhat of a mysterious group providing the drugs that killed him. also we're going to deal with this. abc news reporting that secret meetings are being held ahead of a court date to determine the fate of michael's children. the players in this, michael's ex, debbie rowe, and that michael jackson's mom, katherine. all right. let's bring in two guests. first off, my colleague jane velez-mitchell, host of "issues with jane velez-mitchell." that's coming up in less than 15 minutes. also with us, ashleigh banfield from "in session." all right, jane, i'll start with you on this. latoya laying it out there that there was a shadowy entourage

around michael. we don't doubt that. but she doesn't name names here, right? we really don't get into specifics about what she's talking about. >> yeah. and that's part of the problem, is that, a, she was paid for the interview reportedly and, b, she says i know who did it but she doesn't say who that person is or that group of individuals. so conspiracy theories are always very tricky and very creative as well. essentially, what she's saying is that there were people who were the puppetmaster and he became the puppet. and she's not the only one saying that. ian halperin, who is a well-respected journalist who's written a biography in excerpts published in the "new york post," makes the same claim. that michael jackson essentially had lost control over his own life. now, whether that was because he was so drugged up that he didn't know what was happening and other people had to pick up the slack and eventually they came to make decisions that may not have been in his best interest, we don't know. but there's a lot of stuff

coming to the surface. one of the things that ian halperin says is that grace rawamba, the nanny, this is his claim, not mine, i have no independent confirmation of this, originally brought nation of islam in to provide security, et cetera. and then he claims grace came to lament their increasing influence over michael jackson. i'm going to try to get to the bottom of that tonight on "issues" by talking to people very close to jackson who were there. i do know from my own personal observation that at a certain point of time nation of islam did have a lot of control over michael jackson. when i went to the big infamous summit at the beverly hills hotel leading up to his criminal trial, the nation of islam was providing security. when i went to neverland the day of his arraignment when he threw a party there, i had to go through nation of islam security before i was allowed in, and there were a lot of nation of islam guys there. so i don't know that's the significance of that but taz one thing it would be interesting to examine. >> ashleigh banfield with "in session." she's also hosting "showbiz tonight" right here on hln

coming your way at 11:00 p.m. eastern tonight. all right, ashleigh-n that article latoya basically says michael was isolated from the family-h no real friends. what do we know about michael jackson's relationship with his family? was he seeing any family members on the last days of his life? >> well, let me preface it this way. first, i wasn't there. but what people are saying, and you can take it all with a grain of salt, is he was just living a life whereby he was shutting out family members and by some accounts shutting out anybody who was trying to talk some sense to him. clearly, that's often the case when you have people who have addiction issues. they shut out anybody who dufrnlths help enable them to keep going with their addiction. if that was the case, those pieces sort of fall into place. but i have to take issue with the things that have been said in this interview. there is a massive difference between murder and manslaughter. and there is a massive difference between manslaughter and, say, a reckless homicide or a negligent homicide. i don't know that latoya jackson knows the difference between

these things. so for her to sort of go out and recklessly say these things is pretty damning because i'm not so things is pretty damning. i'm not sure there's not a conspiracy of people who wanted to get their hands on his money. think people have to tamp down what's being said. when you hear joe jackson go ahead and agree to these issues that there's foul play involved, i'm a bit suspect of his capacity to know if he understands what foul play means. everybody needs to take a deep breath and wait till the toxicologist tells us whether he even died of natural causes. >> ash sloleigashleigh, you mak points when you say she said there's a conspiracy. we're all trying to piece these together. these are people, according ii

la toya jackson, who didn't have his welfare at heart. i think it's extremely ironic that that the world conspiracy came up. that was the dominant word used in his trial, a very complex one. it ended up he was acquitted on all counts. >> let's bring back ashleigh here. real quick. about 30 seconds. how do we get through all this? we compare it to anna nicole smith who had enable aers around. >> fit comes back the toxicology report shows he died of an overdose, the investigation goes this way. was a doctor putting a needle in his arm, bringing him down and up. >> ashleigh, hold that thought. more coming up. stay with us. -d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-dd