Remains of Missing Florida Girl Found
COLLINS: More now on the missing Florida girl whose body is now believed to have been found in a Georgia landfill. Reporter Casey Black from affiliate WJXT is joining us now live. She's been following this story closely and is standing outside of the girl's elementary school in Orange Park, Florida. Casey, I understand that the principal made a statement this morning.</s>CASEY BLACK, WJXT-TV CORRESPONDENT: Yes, she did. She essentially said, Heidi, that she's absolutely heartbroken by what happened. And who wouldn't be? They're investigating right now the Clay County sheriffs the murder of a 7-year-old little girl. She said this morning that a lot of parents are choosing to keep their children out of school today just as a safety precaution until they have an opportunity to find out who may be responsible. We heard from her just a moment ago. And here's what she had to say.</s>LYNDA BRAXTON, PRINCIPAL, GROVE PARK ELEMENTARY: We're just extremely heartbroken with the outcome of this incident. We, like everyone else, certainly hope that they find the culprit and that what I would personally like to see the media do is be more involved in promoting safety and in watching these elements in our society that are a threat not only it our child but to yours. No kid is safe.</s>BLACK: Let's talk about the investigation right now and where it stands. There's an active crime scene going on as we speak at a landfill in Folkston, Georgia. Investigators are literally sifting through tons and tons of debris to try to find a shred of evidence that may be able to shed some light onto what happened. The sheriff saying this morning they're very fortunate that they were able to find this body relatively in a short amount of time meaning that there might be DNA evidence that's on that body that may help them figure out who is responsible and he also credited one of his detectives saying it was his not so much hunch. But it was his decision to go ahead and pre-emptively check the garbage in Orange Park, Florida, and check where that went and to which landfill it went to and that is one of the key parts of this case. For now, live in Orange Park , Florida. Casey Black, Channel 4 or I should say CNN for you guys.</s>COLLINS: That's right. Casey, there are a lot of questions, and I'm just wondering what you're hearing from directly where you are in the community on this. And I'm sure you're well aware the sheriff also mentioned this morning and actually yesterday that they were going in a direction of doing several interviews of sexual offenders in the area. We had an opportunity to put a map on the screen earlier today on this show showing how many live in this area. There you see it again in this five square mile radius within the home of the little girl. There are something like, and this is according to authorities there, 161 offenders. Now, are people in that community talking about that? What are you hearing?</s>BLACK: Yes. I've had an opportunity, Heidi, to talk to a parent who brought her child to school this morning. She walked that child all of the way from her house to the school, and she says she's going to be here to pick up that child when school is over today. Investigators say that they have tried to interview as many of those sexual offenders as possible. At the point when I talked to them this morning, they interviewed more than 70, but they are still planning to interview many more and they haven't been able to get in contact with all of them yet. That is a key part of the investigation seeing where they were if they know any information about it. But as far as the community is concerned, a lot of people are on edge. And the sheriff said at best. He said right now there's a child killer on the loose and until they have resolution to this case, everyone should stay very vigilant -- Heidi.</s>COLLINS: And also I'm wondering, Casey, do parents or people in the community, were they aware about this number of sexual offenders in the area? Are they just now, you know, getting this information upon this horrible tragedy that's happened?</s>BLACK: Well, there's a web site that you can go to. Florida Department of Law Enforcement. And you can go ahead and look and see what registered sex offenders are in your area but you know, when you think about it, do you really do that on a daily basis? You know, it's not one of those things - these people in this community really thought would hit home or happen to them. I probably can guarantee they're going to be a lot more vigilant now and they're probably going to be checking out that web site. There was also - very quickly, a report of a child that was not an abduction but there was a child that was almost abducted and it was a while ago about 10 days. They investigated that. Found out that it was nothing. But when that happened, nobody in the community knew at that point in time that that had happened. So a lot of people are saying you had this alleged abduction. This girl was walking home from school and somebody tried to pick her up. We should have known 10 days ago about this and they were saying that yes, that's something that we should have released to the media a long time ago.</s>COLLINS: Yes. Very interesting. All right. Well, again. No conclusions here by way of finding a suspect but we do know, as you mentioned, Casey, the direction that they're going in and the interviewing that's taking place of these different sexual offenders. There's 161 in that five square mile radius surrounding her home. We sure do appreciate it. Casey, coming to us from the area right in front of the little girl's school there, Grove Park Elementary. Thanks so much. Now to an update on the swine flu. Clinics around the country that have the vaccine that we've told you about are actually swamped. Take a look at some of these lines. People lined up for hours at a clinic in Montgomery County, Maryland, yesterday. But only 1,200 doses of the vaccine were actually available. Only 200 doses were the injectable kind given to high risk groups like pregnant women. Meanwhile, the number of students who are getting sick is way up from around 2,200 on Monday to more than 65,000 yesterday. Now, it's not confirmed if all of them have swine flu but education officials say they have closed 198 public schools across 15 states as a precaution. That includes schools like St. Charles East High in Illinois. Administrators there have canceled classes through tomorrow plus all extra curricular activities including the football game. Fears over spreading H1N1 flu forcing some hospitals to crack down on visitors now. Just this week, Cedars Sinai in Los Angeles put out the no children allowed sign. As CNN Ted Rowland's reports, no one under age 18 is allowed to visit.</s>TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Five-year-old Jack and his 8- year-old brother, Michael, are waiting with grandma on the front steps of Cedars Sinai Hospital while the rest of the family visit their aunt, who just gave birth to a baby boy. H1N1 cases in Los Angeles County have shot up over the past two weeks. Many hospitals including Cedars are restricting children's visits as a precaution.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And I think that's a good idea. It's best for everyone.</s>ROWLANDS: Inside the hospital there are plenty of anti-bacterial stations and reminders for people to wash their hands. The reason children aren't allowed according to the Dr. Rekha Murthy is simple. The evidence shows that with this virus they're the most vulnerable group, meaning the odds are higher that they'll either get it here or spread it here.</s>DR. REKHA MURTHY, CEDARS SINAI MEDICAL CENTER: We are experiencing an epidemic that appears to be actually escalating in our community and hospitals have to respond to that escalation until we know that its going to peak and reduce.</s>ROWLANDS: Hospitals around the country have instituted similar visitation restrictions. The new policy at Cedars went into effect Monday. Security guards turning away children at hospital entrances.</s>JOHN SAIZA, HOSPITAL SECURITY: Hardly any problems at all. I think maybe 90 percent of everybody who has come is very understandable of what's going on.</s>ROWLANDS: Jack and Michael's new cousin is scheduled to come home at the end of the week. Cedars and other hospital say that they're hope that children will be welcomed back soon. Ted Rowlands, CNN, Los Angeles.</s>COLLINS: For the love of the game. A little boy who lost his leg isn't letting it keep him from playing football. And being an inspiration to his teammates at the same time.