here's abc's jim avila for our series "crime and punishment." >> reporter: under cover of darkness, the country's most notorious not guilty murder suspect vanished from sight. leaving yet another perplexing question in her wake. what on earth is she going to do with her life now? >> i'm sure she'll -- it seems like she's in some real danger right now and, again, i don't see police departments anywhere in the country running to help her. >> reporter: this pr expert, who's helped manage crises for sean p. diddy combs and pamela anderson says casey anthony is not your run of the mill pr hot potato. >> tracy morgan making anti-gay statement, well, that's one thing. britney spears on her drug binge, that's one thing. even charlie sheen is one thing. when you're talking about the murder of your own child, let's put your in a different hemisphere. >> reporter: unlike other controversial defendants like o.j. simpson and michael jackson, casey has no pre-existing support base. >> in order for there to be any sort of a comeback, there has to be somebody who's your cheering section. whether it's a

>> no, i did not. >> reporter: jim avila, abc news, orlando, florida. >>> investigators in massachusetts are trying to figure out how a body went undiscovered for more than two days in a public pool.'s body w from the fall river pool tuesday. it had been overlooked by lifeguards. health inspectors and other swimmers. a little boy that joseph was supposed to be watching said she went under and never surfaced again. >>> a passenger dozing on a red eye flight from seattle to alaska was awakened by something crawling on his arm. what he saw horrified him. >> i looked down and thought it was a little bug. i brushed it off. within seconds i felt it crawling on my hand again. i looked up, oh my god, it's a scorpion. >> ellis got stung but he's okay. the airline suspects the scorpion got on board during a stop in texas. they've offered him two round-trip tickets on another air alaska flight. hopefully it's been gone over, looking for bugs. >>> from the air to the coast of north carolina where a shark bit a 10-year-old girl playing near the shore. cassidy was knee-deep when the shark pulled her d

here's abc's jim avila. >> reporter: the phones are hot today at america's largest 401k manager -- >> how can i help you today -- >> reporter: -- vanguard in philadelphia. main street calling wall street to ask what a deadbeat government would mean to their future. >> by and large, the biggest question by far is, what should i do with my portfolio? should i get out? >> reporter: the s skes are high, and americans know it. from the stock exchange where prices fell again today. >> why are we even talking about a potential risk to the u.s. credit rating? this should not have happened. >> reporter: to our "world news" tell washington open mike, where steve hubbard of iowa sounded off. >> going to the edge of a cliff mighghbe exciting for some people, but it doesn't make sense from a way of running a country. >> reporter: even if washington avoids an actual default with a short-term solution, that could still be expensive, with credit agencies dowowrading america's aaa rating, costing banks and thenenveryone more to borrow. citibank warning its customers, "the kick the can down the road pa

thank you, jim avila. >>> and tonight, one of the world's busiest financial capitals is reeling from a deadly terror attack. three bombs, just minutes apart tore through the center of mum bye mumbai, during the evening rush hour, killing at least 21 people. it was the city's worst terror attack since the 2008 siege that left more than 160 dead. >>> and, the giant billionaire rupert murdoch is on a hotter hot seat tonight, and it's here in this coununy. congressman peter king, chairman of the committee on homeland security, says there are credible questions tonight about whether reporters at murdoch's tabloid papers tapped the phones of 9/11 victims, digging for details of their private anguish. king is asking the fbi to move in on murdoch's news corp, right here in the u.s. >>> and our consumer watchdog report tonight, tackles a sly scam on your phone bill. a new report about hidden fees costing consumers billions each year. it's called cramming. and today, we learned about the phone companies letting this happen. here's abc's linsey davis. >> reporter: as larry vido's phone bill gre

abc's jim avila is in orlando this morning. to you. >> reporter: good morning, dan. casey ananony may, in fact, have slept her last night here at orange county jail, in fact, as early as tomorrow at midnight or tonight at midnight, depending on how you look at it, she could be released. the exact details of her release are being kept a state secret, but one thing we do know from her lead attorney, jose baez, is that she will not be sleeping the next night at her parents' house. >> do you know what time she's getting out tomorrow? have you spoken with her recently? >> reporter: not much insight from defense attorney chaney mason as he made his first and perhaps last jail visit with casey anthony since her not guilty verdict on murder charges leaving several big questions about the most famous acquitted murder suspect since o.j. simpson. >> reporter: where will she go and what will she do? her defense team giving no clue, even to abc's barbara walters. >> where is she going to live? is she going to go back and live with them again

abc's jim avila is in orlando and has been following the developments throughout the night. quite a scene, jim. >> reporter: good morning, bianna. in fact, the sheriff's department wasted no time in showing casey anthony the door. she was eligible for release 12:01. by 12:10, she was free. her lead attorney telling abc news she's headed for counseling, not plastic surgery. >> casey anthony's first taste of freedom in nearly three years, tinged with unmistakable flavor of fear. a 12-second walk. $537 in her pocket and her trusted attorney by her side. she walked with purpose through blue doors of orange county jail, through the fluorescent lights without comment. staring straight ahead. no stops, only a whispered thank you to the heavily armed special response team that protected her as she emerged into another chaotic scene. a crowd of more than 100 behind plastic barricades came to watch. for the most part, jeer at her release. >> i wanted her to experience something that was amazing, something that was not supposed to happen. >> nothing like this has ever happened in orland

and abc's jim avila is in tonighghon what happens to you this week. >> reporter: the feinberg family sells bathroom fixtures in fort lauderdale, florida. hired two new employees this year. but their personal small business recovery is now frozen. the "help wanted" sign brought down as they wait to see if the unthinkable happens and the united states of america reaches official deadbeat status. >> we want to hire employees. we want to grow our business. we want to spend money on advertising. it's just difficult. >> reporter: in fact, the feinburgs were at a chamber of commerce meeting today, where they said two-thirds of america's small businesses have no plans to hire the coming year. >> everyone is scared. nobody is going to make a move. >> reporter: the dow dropped 150 points today on uncertainty alone. moody's is threatening to downgrade the u.s. credit rating before actual default which means this month, the average american could be hit hard for a second time in the decade. where's the initial damage? your 401k and stock portfolio. >> stock prices are going to fall. bond prices

and abc's jim avila starts us off. jim? >> reporter: diane, wall street is nervous, and it's even worse on main street. we heard today, the country is watching what their leaders are doing, and, frankly, many feel ashamed. america is in danger of deadbeat status. and americans are not having it. >> i think it's hugely embarrassing and a great black eye to the united states of america. >> the good of the country is being held hostage for the interests of a very few. >> reporter: abc news placed soap box cameras and signs with a simple message at locations across the country. a chance for americans to tell washington. >> america's interest is to have this situation solved. we don't want to have amerera shut down. we don't want to have an america that is no longer the leader in the global economy. >> partisanship should stop. i think that people have to stop saying it's a republican fault or democrat fault. >> whether you're far to the right or far to the left, it seems like it's the same shenanigans over and over again. they

here's abc's jim avila. >> reporter: 12 seconds to freedom. a few hurried steps from the jailhouse door, armed guards at the ready, trusted lawyer at her side. casey anthony had $537 in donations in her pocket. she moves toward a new life many had hoped would be taken from her. still photographer red huber recording it for all history. >> i thought that maybe she would show more emotion, but her and jose were very on a mission to go out. >> reporter: emerging to a freedom tainted by the bitter taste of public scorn. every move analyzed and inspected for signs of arrogance, defiance, or even remorse. >> she was walkiki straight out, jose baez to her right. i didn't see them interact with each other at all. just a beeline for the door. >> reporter: there was a whisper as she left, a small thank you to the special team armed with automatic weapons who escorted her to the idling suv outside. the crowd watching and judging the most infamous acquitted murder suspect since o.j. simpson. >> focus on caylee, not casey. >> reporter: helicopters trailing

and on the eve of her release, abc's jim avila on what could come next for the mother at the center of case. >> reportete casey anthony's lead attorney tells abc news, there are two places america's most infamous acquitted murder defendant is not heading. home to her estranged parents house. or to a rumor, to his native puerto rico. while security is the main, immediate concern, because of public outrage about the not guilty verdict, there are no plans for miss anthony to alter her appearance with plastic surgery. >> cayaye. caylee. caylee. >> reporter: anthony is eligible for release beginning at one minute past midnight tonight. and it's likely she will be spirited away in pre-dawn darkness. >> i'm disgusted. absolutely disgusted. >> reporter: protesters say they will be here all night to voice their objections, to the verdict and her release. guards will lead her t ta secret location away the grounds here. after that, she is on her own, despite what her attorneys say, have been seven serious death threats, including one e-mail, with a photo with a photoshopped bullet through her hea

but as abc's jim avila reports, casey anthony never took to the stand to defend herself. >> reporter:lee anthony peered from her orlando, florida, home and onto america's tv screens at age 2. grandma calling police for help. >> i c c't find my granddaughter. there's something wrong. >> reporter: her body, found in a swamp when she would have been 3. >> we recovered this human skull. >> reporter: and today, caylee would have been 5, as her mother casey stood before a judge, her national sensation of a murder trial coming to a close. the defense resting. all without the jury hearing first-hand testimony from the woman who from the beginning has been suspected of suffocating her toddler to death. >> you u uerstand that your decision to testify or not testify is solely your decision and your decision alone? >> yes, sir. >> and it is your decision not to testify? >> yes, sir. >> casey anthony didn't testify because she would have gotten absolutely skewered. >> reporter: for three years, casey anthony's every move has been watched. criticized f f partying while others searched for her daugh

abc's jim avila on that story again tonight. >> reporter: the market is telling washington it is losing faith. a steady erosion of stock prices, loudly warning a costly crash coululbe on the horizon. that would damage not just wall street but people like tom and betty, who live off social security, pension and their 401(k). money they plan to use for the next 30 years and are now worried is in jeopardy because of washington dysfunction. >> we average american seniors that are retired will have to cut back. >> reporter: some analysts are now warning that if you cannot stomach a substantial short-term loss, stocks are not for you today. >> this is tough medicine to hear, but you probably shouldn't have money in the stock market that you can't afford to lose more than 10%. >> reporter: so, where should nervous investors park their money? move away from volatile tech stocks or flashy startups. the sleep well stocks thad are blue chips, proctor & gamble, coca-cola and the like. >> you can get great bargains on conservative stocks right now. particularly in the backdrop with all this drama wi

and abc's jim avila tonight on the growing anger in america and anxiety. >> reporter: make no mistake. the nation's capitol is getting an earful on e-mail and e phone. this is what you get when you dial the white house. the masses telling washington, deadlock on the nation's debt is not acceptable. >> we're in the thousands here. the staff is besieged. >> reporter: calling the people they elected to congress. >> move away from the rigid position. >> reporter: -- and the senate. some pushing a specific agenda. >> i'll certainly pass it along to the senator. >> reporter: but most just wanting a solution. >> this is a mess. you guys have made a mess of everything. fix it. >> reporter: last night's primetime rhetorical duel between the democratic president and republican speaker of the house seemed to enflame americans. >> i called yesterday. i'll call again tomorrow. i'll call as many times as it takes. >> reporter: today, abc news heard from many, telling washington on our twitter and facebook pages, like this, from new jersey -- "e-mailed mine last night. demanded they begin acting lik

jim avila, thanks.e'll have our legal team, dan abrams and nancy grace standing by to weigh in. >> to politics now. a comment that shocked tv.hington and it was on live a well-known commentator used an off-color word when describing the president's attitude when addressing the press recently. abc's john berman has more on the word that crossed the line. >> reporter: in the caustic coarse world of cable you hear a lot these days, but no one has ever heard this. mark halperin, an editor for "time" magazine and respected analyst for msnbc, used a foururetter word for male anatomy. to describe the president. >> are we on the seven-second delay? i want to characterize how i thought the president behaved. >> let's see what happens. >> you fall down, i'm going to catch you. >> i thought he was kind of a [ bleep ] yesterday. >> oh, my god. delay that. delay that. what are you doing? >> i think the president -- >> i can't believe -- i was joking. don't do that. did we delay that? >> i hit it. i hope it worked. >

jim avila is in orlando with the very latest. good morning to you, jim. >> reporter: good morning, josh. as the caylee memorial grows, we're learning the first clues about where her mother might be just 36 hours after her release from jail. it's a secret even from her parents. she was welcomed to come home at least temporarily, but opted to fly out of town in the dead of night. abc news has learned that this single-engine prop plane which left orlando executive airport three hours after casey anthony's release is registered a wealthy california attorney. it may be a clue to her whereabouts or a diversion. the plane appears to have taken a route west. eventually landing at presscott at 3:00 in the morning. the only word from casey anthony was a cryptic text to her mother from her attorney's phone. >> she texted jose. was that casey on the plane? and we got, she's safe. nothing else. >> reporter: and still nothing when jose baez appeared on fox news overnight. >> is she or has she left florida. >> reporter: wherever she is, a memori

here's abc's jim avila. >> reporter: make no mistake.ion's capital is getting an earful on e-mail and the phone. this is whatatou get when you dial the white house. [ busy tone ] the masses telling washington deadlock on the nation's debt is not acceptable. >> we're in the thousands here >> reporter: calling the people they elected to congress -- >> move away from the rigid position. >> reporter: and the senate. some pushing a specific agenda -- >> i'll certainly pass that along to the senator. >> reporter: most just wanting a solution. >> you guys have made a mess of everything. fix it. >> reporter: the primetime rhetorical duel between the democratic president and the republican speaker of the house seem t to inflame americans. >> i called yesterday. i'll call again tomorrow. i'll call as many times as it takes. >> reporter: abc news heard from many telling washington on our twitter and facebook pages, like this from new jersey. e-mailed mine last night. demanded they begin acting like responsible adults instead of spoiled children. at

as abc's jim avila reports there are major concerns about anthony now profiting from her notoriety. >s new freedom could mean new riches. >> not guilty. >> reporter: telling the inside story of her daughter's death and her trial from the center of the storm. hitting the jackpot. turning her infamy into fortune. she's already been offered $1 million from an independent producer to tell that story. and that's just the first. >> between a combination of a book, maybe some sort of magazine article, tv interviews and other ways of telling this monster story that she has, she'll probably be able to wrestle out of this about $1 million. >> reporter: this would not be the only time notoriety transcends into wealth. after o.j. simpson's 1995 acquittal for murder he was given a $1 million publishing advance for his book "if i did it." a first-person account of how the former football star could have carried out the slayings of his ex-wife nicole brown simpson and ron goldman. amy fisher served six years in prison for the attempted murder of her lover's wife. since her parole in 1999, she's sold

jim avila, abc news. >> an island volcano in central indonesia released possible powerful eruption this morning. it rumbled back to life late last week. a series of blast have sent debris more than 11,000 feet into the air. more than 33,000 people live on the volcano's slopes. about 5,000 have been evacuated since the eruption begin. >> kind of gray and gloom any mi around the bay area. >> we have sunshine rite way out there in vacaville. it's going to could you remember way. we have changes coming in the seven-day outlook. it's 60 degrees in oakland. i'll be back with a look at warmer coming up. >> also barry zito returning to his hometown and to his old form getting rocked by the padres. we got highlights coming up in this morning's sports. >> closed captioning brought to you by mancini sleepworld. >>> a computer aboard the space shuttle atlantis that failed last week is giving a clean bill of health. they believe an unknown hardware glitch shut the computer down. computer number four will be reassigned a new rule. guidance and navigation and control functions will be driven by a diff

jim avila, abc news, new york. >>> the majority of americans say that the economy is in bad shape. 82%e job market in their hometowns is struggling. and that is near an all-time report. 54% say the economy has forced them to change their lifestyles. meanwhile, just 15% say they're actually managing to gethead financially. >>> and the extremist who has confessed to that massacre in norway is being held in solitary confinement. survivors are coming forward with details about their ordeal. panic-stricken teenaged campers desperately seeking safety did whatever they could to get away from the gunman disguised as a police officer. >> i saw that a police officer came out of the woods. and i thought for a second that we were safe. but that's when i saw his rifle and that he pointed it at the kids who still were at the shore. the kids too afraid to swim. then -- then he -- he executed them. while they were begging for their lives.s. >> police have adjusted the death toll fm 93 down to 76. and the father of the suspect is saying this morning he wishes his son had taken his own life. >>> a story

and as jim avila reports it could impact your savings. >> reporter: paul rollins and jan moran, retired, living off their 401(k) fund. and now concerned that it could take a second massive hit in four years. >> if we got hit the same way we did before, we would lose our house and we would be e oking for a rental apartment in very short order. >> reporter: like most families paul and jan's 401(k) and i.r.a. accounts are their biggest investment after their home. 60 million americans have a 401(k) type plan. $4.7 trillion worth, or about $74,000 per account. and with the threat from moody's to review america's credit rating, when should paul and jan and other small middle-class investors start to worry? abc news asked a dozen prominent financial analysts and all said, watch your portfolio carefully. but it's too early to make any move. >> not a better time than now to make sure that you are not overexposed to any one particular area that might get hit. >> reporter: but if there's no agreement as the august 2nd crunch time approaches, what triggers should you look for as a warning? the pro

here is jim avila in orlando. >>> not much insight from defense attorney as he made his first and lastt with casey anthony since her not guilty verdict leaving several big questions about the most famous acquitted murder suspect since o.j. simpson. where will she go? what will she do? her defense team giving no clue even to barbara walters. >> where is she going to live. >> i think it's unfortunately too soon to tell. we don't have all the answers yet. >> since her acquittal the only welcome guest in jail have been her attorney. she has refused to see her mother and her father seemed to widen a rift asking them to support a petition for caylee's lual lau not to report missing children. she party and lied about whereabouts for months after her daughter was last seen leaving perhaps only trusted attorney in casey's corner. a legal analyst is convinced that her legal advisors will personally guide them to safety and economic security and likely far away in the land of reality tv. >> where does she go, she goes to los angeles. you have enough celebrity even though the celebrity most of us

abc's jim avila reports how the debt standoff could reach all the way to your pocketbook or wallet. >the feinberg family sells bathroom fixtures in ft. lauderdale, florida. hired two new emplployees this year. their personal small business recovery is now frozen. the help wanted sign brought down. as they wait to see if the unthinkable happens. and the united states of america reaches official deadbeat status. >> we want to hire employees. we want to grow our business. we want to spend money doing advertising. it's just difficult. >> reporter: in factct, the feinbergs were at a chamber of commerce conference where two-thirds of the small businesses said they had no plans to hire in the coming yearar. >> everyone's scared. no one's going to make a move. >> reporter: the dow dropped 150 points on uncertainty alone. and moody's is threatening to downgrade america's s edit rating before actual default, which means this month the average american could be hit hard for a second time in the decade. where's the initial damage? your 401(k) and stock portfolio. >> stock prices are going to fall

everyone was waiting to see if the star witness would take the stand and abc's jim avila was there whenasey anthony finally spoke. good morning, jim. >> reporter: good morning, george. in every murder trial there is that steely moment of truth. for casey anthony it may have come with her opportunity to face the jury and tell them her story for the first time. would she take the chance to back up her defense claims that caylee anthony died not in her mother's hands but in a swimming pool accident? >> will the defendant be testifying. >> reporter: on the last day of casey anthony's defense, that was the big question. would she take the stand? the jury hear from perhaps the only person who knows what happened to her daughter. >> you understand that your decision to testify or not testify is solely your decision and your decision alone? >> yes, sir. >> reporter: but first one last critical witness for the defense. crystal holloway, the woman who claimed she had a brief affair with casey's father. >> was this an intimate relationship? >> yes. >> reporter: george anthony admits they were frie