Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus Homecoming
SWEENEY: Just moments from now we are expecting a verdict in a trial that has gripped America. Jodi Arias is accused of killing her former boyfriend Travis Alexander. Prosecutors say she stabbed Alexander 27 times, slit his throat and shot him in the head in 2008. But defense attorneys claimed all along that Arias was a victim of abuse who acted in self defense. A few days ago, CNN's Ted Rowlands talked to some of those who followed the Arizona trial to find out why they just couldn't stop watching.</s>TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Trelynda Kerr, a direct mail production manager in Washington, D.C. is hooked on the Jodi Arias trial.</s>TRELYNDA KERR, ARIAS TRIAL WATCHER: I'm addicted, I get home and I immediately turn my TV on, I turn my computer on.</s>ROWLANDS: Thousands of people around the country are watching this trial. Some are even showing up at the courthouse in Phoenix, like Kimberly McDonald who says she passed on a trip to Hawaii to see Arias in person.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I asked if he could instead take a road trip and come down here and get a ticket into the courtroom.</s>ROWLANDS: Marilyn Landis from Akron, Ohio dragged her husband into the courthouse from his baseball sprint training trip.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I watch it every day starting at 5:00 all night long.</s>ROWLANDS: Why do they watch?</s>KERR: I think it's just the manner of death. It's the whole toxic relationship between the two. It's the whole Mormon faith.</s>ROWLANDS: And of course, there's of course the graphic testimony.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's somebody that you cannot stay away from sexually, right?</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.</s>ROWLANDS: Nude photos, even phone sex.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No one would ever believe that they would record all these tapes sexually and the pictures.</s>KERR: It is graphic and quite frankly I tweeted about that, I said I needed to take a shower after I heard some of it.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You've got some new information just in. What do you got?</s>ROWLANDS: Ratings are way up for CNN's sister network HLN, which is not only carrying the trial gavel to gavel, but providing near constant analysis going so far as building this replica of the bathroom where Travis Alexander was killed.</s>JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL, HOST, HLN'S "JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL": It's sex. It's the attractiveness of the defendant. It's the salaciousness of the testimony. This case has it all.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Orenthal James Simpson, not guilty of the crime of murder.</s>ROWLANDS: This, of course, isn't the first trial to draw high ratings. There were three O.J. Simpson trials, Michael Jackson, Scott Peterson and most recently Casey Anthony.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is a real good one. Casey Anthony did not have this.</s>ROWLANDS: Casey Anthony did have a dramatic ending, being found not guilty which sent some trial watchers into his hysterics. The verdict in this case is expected at some point later this month, when it does come, thousands, make that hundreds of thousands of people, like Trelynda Kerr will be tuning in to find out what happens. Ted Rowlands, CNN, Phoenix, Arizona.</s>SWEENEY: Tuning in to watch that verdict which we're expecting in the Arias case in just about 10 minutes or less from now. We'll bring it to you, of course. But staying in the United States, there are scenes of jubilation in Ohio. Two of the three women rescued from a decade of captivity finally came home. Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus returned to their families as well as cheering crowds. Meanwhile, police are readying charges against the men accused of holding them captive. And we're expecting new details this very hour from the authorities. So let's cross over now to Cleveland where Poppy Harlow joins us by phone. This is a very fast moving story, Poppy, but first of all let's talk about this homecoming.</s>POPPY HARLOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Fionnuala. An amazing homecoming, a wonderful moment for the DeJesus family, for Amanda Berry's family, both of those girls disappeared about 10 years ago are now back with their families in their homes. We saw both of those homecomings unfold over the last few hours this afternoon here in Cleveland. I'll tell you first about Amanda Berry who returned to her sister's house today where they have been waiting 10 long years for her. Cheers and jubilation outside. Lots of excitement. People -- neighbors, friends, media surrounding the house, waiting to see this homecoming. We did not hear from Amanda Berry, she did not make a statement. But we did hear from her sister Beth who spoke -- Beth Turano (ph) spoke with the media very briefly about her sister Amanda. Listen.</s>RUIZ: There are not enough words to say or express the joy that we feel for the return of our family member Gina. And now Amanda Berry, the daughter and Michelle Knight, who is our family also.</s>HARLOW: My apologies, you just heard from Sandra Ruiz who is the aunt of Gina DeJesus, the other young woman who returned home today after disappearing nine years ago. That was her aunt speaking in a press conference outside of the family home welcoming their daughter back. Again here the homecoming for Gina came just about an hour after the homecoming for Amanda. You can hear people chanting Gina, Gina, Gina, surrounding this home where Gina grew up, where her family told me they never gave up hope of finding her. Her aunt spoke as you just heard. Her mother, Nancy and her father Felix also spoke to the press for the first time since their daughter was discovered. The mother Nancy saying I want everybody to know that the three of them, the three girls, are doing great. The father saying I never gave up hope, also calling on neighbors to help to keep an eye out for children in this area, in this neighborhood to always be aware of what's going on around them. And the father, Felix, also speaking about faith and saying that he spoke with his (inaudible) about not giving up in god and not, you know, knowing all of the miracles that he says god can bring. This is certainly a miracle for this family and also for Amanda Berry's family -- Fionnuala.</s>SWEENEY: Indeed, no question about that. Poppy Harlow in Cleveland, Ohio. Thanks for that update. The latest world headlines just ahead. Plus, under attack, those were among the last words of the U.S. ambassador to Libya before he was killed in last year's Benghazi assault. Now U.S. lawmakers are hearing all about it today. We'll take you live to Washington. And then the Syrian army deals a blow to jihadists linked with al Qaeda. And, it's the end of an era for the Red Devils, coming up more analysis on the retirement of Alex Ferguson.