0 decided they were going to start with dogs. remember you can always follow us on twitter. tweet the show. love to hear from you. that's it for me. thanks very much for watching. i'm wolf blitzer in washington. "erin burnett outfront" starts right now. outfront next an al qaeda conference call. that crucial terrorist intercept that prompted the united states to close 22 embassies and have terror alerts around the world was a conference call. the man making that claim out front tonight. cleveland's house of horrors comes down. one of ariel castro's victims at the demolition. and never before heard tapes. you will hear them here for the first time tonight. let's go outfront. good evening i'm erin burnett. house of horrors gone. a demolition crew today levelled the cleveland home where three young women were held captive for a decade. michele knight who has become the most vocal of castro's three victims was there. she took a final look. martin, what was the seen like today? >> reporter: it was incredible. i think in a lot of ways i anticipated some of it but definitely not all of it. there was cheering, crying, church bells ringing, bull dozerers, demolishing and then michele knight in front of it all. take a look at what happened. 32-year-old michele knight showed up exactly where no one thought she would be, outside the home in which she was a prisoner for 11 years. with the beaming smile and bright yellow balloons she used the demolition to bring attention to the plight of missing children. >> nobody was there for me when i was missing. and i want the people out there to know including the mothers that they can have strength. they can have hope. and their child will come back. they will. just have the love in god and you'll see they'll come back. >> reporter: knight has become the most outspoken. the only one to appear in person at ariel castro's sentencing delivering a powerful unforgettable verbal blow. >> i spent 11 years in hell. now your hell is just beginning. >> reporter: knight seems to embrace her new role hoping to become a motivational speaker. >> i feel very liberated that people think of me as a hero and a role model and i would love to continue being that. >> reporter: then came the moment the entire street had waited for as the aunt of one of the girls kidnapped was given the seat of honor behind the controls of the giant excavater and given the first destructive blow. for watching neighbors the nightmare on their street is finally over. >> i'm glad they're doing what they are doing. >> reporter: google maps actually beat cleveland to the punch by removing the image of the home from the satellite view literally wiping it from the face of the earth. a few hours later wrecking finished doing the very same thing for real. and the so-called house of horror is no more. >> satisfying just to watch that. do you know what is going to go there once the last debris is cleared? what replaces it? >> there is a lot of debate as to what will happen. right now there are a couple of ideas. keep in mind there are two other abandoned homes next door that will be knocked down. others suggest maybe a playground for the children. either way michele knight would like to see an angel, a way to symbolize hope. >> just kept such great faith. that you can, martin. now our second story out front, an al qaeda conference call, when i say the words conference call we are talking about 20 al qaeda operatives. according to a report in the daily beast, quote, the usual intercept that prompted the closure of embassies in 22 countries was a conference call between al qaeda senior leaders and representatives of several affiliates throughout the region. there is the claim. if this is true it will be a major change in how the terror network communicates. not everyone thinks this report adds up. i want to bring up eli who wrote the article. cnn hasn't confirmed the story. the information runs counter to what many believe is how al qaeda has communicated. bin laden shunning using a phone. how did the conference call work from your reporting? was it a traditional call? >> i should classify we left some details out of that piece at the request of our sources. i would say it is not a telephone conference call in that sense. it was a kind of remote conference where people are in. it is something like a teleconference. there are some details i want to leave at that point at the request of our sources. what really prompted this was the reports of the intercept between the head of the al qaeda branch in yemen. it turns out that intercept was actually a board meeting for al qaeda and representatives or leaders of its vast affiliates from north africa to southwest asia. and this is actually something that al qaeda has done from time to time for a few years now. it is true that al qaeda prefers carriers and bin laden famously had carriers using with thumb drives. this is also another kind of capability. it is very important for how the senior leadership now in pakistan can exercise control of the larger organization. >> an organization that has totally changed that used to be a core group in pakistan, afghanistan and is now a lot of other places. i know there is only so specific you can get. just to make sure i understand characterizing. this is some sort of a skype-like technology or a technology, perhaps, eli that is only available now that people have and al qaeda operatives assumebly have, smart phones that work in the middle of the desert? that kind of thing? >> yeah, without going into detail i would stress that al qaeda is very aware of american intercept capabilities and aware of the fact that they are watched very closely. i would just say that there are ways that you can have people meet virtually, so to speak, that you can in some cases cover your tracks and i would leave it there. >> let me ask you about that, then. cover your tracks and the issue of whether the u.s. government can pick it up goes right to the heart of what the u.s. government is trying to justify. if we are monitoring calls that that is okay with the nsa. you say three unnamed u.s. officials. as you know you come under criticism today. intelligence and national security reporter for the "l.a. times" say those officials want to help the nsa. since when have they started disclosi disclosing intercepts. >> first of all, i like him very much. he is a great reporter. i these were not authorized disclosures. they were following the report that reported the intercept. when you are dealing with intelligence bureaucracies there are these leaks and the press you know we all sort of cover things. and this, i think, our story was really prompted more by the initial disclosure and trying to get more resolution ont that. i would also add another important point here. the nsa programs that have become so controversial have nothing to do with any kind of intercepts and capabilities that would be in this particular case. i think they are two very distinct things. it is a testament i think to the capabilities of the u.s. intelligence community but i don't think this is any bearing on the particular controversial programs. >> thank you very much. pretty incredible reporting there. and obviously eli lake has been proven right many, many times. still to come the man who shot and killed 13 people wants the death penalty. he is representing himself but he still has lawyers around him. you heard of snakes on a plane. now sharks on a subway. it happened today. a massive man hunt underway in california. a murder suspect on the run with a 16-year-old girl as his hostage. and a shocking crash video, we are going to show it to you. mine was earned in djibouti, africa. 2004.