reporter: after garza vanished mele s apartment appeared to be thoroughly cleaned with bleach and patches of carpet were cut out from the floor. but their suspect, the son of a retired new york city transit officer, has refused to cooperate with investigators. important to note the police investigation is not yet complete. authorities are right now trying to determine an actual cause of laura garza s death. as for michael mele, his attorney did not respond to our calls but did speak to the associated press saying we certainly hope her family can move on with the grieving process, adding the nypd indicated michael mele from the beginning was a person of interest to the exclusion of all others having such tunnel vision, he said, in any case, is not the most effective way to investigate crimes. tamron? thank you. schools hiring collection agencies to deal with parents who have not paid their child s lunch bills. school collection agencies. necessary move or crossing the line? dad, h
relieve e relieved. there are no words to describe how we feel right now. reporter: police say this man, 24-year-old michael mele, convicted sex offender behind bars for unrelated charges, was the last person seen with garza. he s not charged with anything relative to this particular investigation. michael mele is still a suspect in the disappearance of laura garza. reporter: since garza vanished nearly a dozen women have come forward in new york, new jersey and connecticut accusing mele of lewd acts in shopping malls and parking lots. among his first known victims, maclaine, who spoke to nbc news exclusively after garza s disappearance. i can replay it in my memory vividly. i started walking a little bit fa faster. he was right on my back. i could hear him breathing. as soon as he put his hands on me i knew i was in a lot of trouble. my only real thought was, oh, my god, what if i die right now. what if i m raped and killed.
reporter: since he vanished, more than a dozen women have come forward in new york, new jersey and connecticut, accusing mele of lewd acts. among his first known victims, adriana mcclain. i can replay it vividly. i started walking faster and he was at my back. i could hear him breathing. as soon as he put his hands on me, i knew i was in a lot of trouble. my thought was, what if i die right now. what if i m raped and killed. reporter: after garza vanished, police say his apartment appeared to be cleaned with bleach. but the suspect has refused to cooperate with investigators. the police investigation is not yet complete. they tell nbc they are working to determine the exact cause of garza s death. as for michael mele, his
a federal jury in tennessee is deliberating as we speak here. the case against a former college student accused of hacking into sarah palin s e-mail account. 22-year-old david kernell did not testify. his client made some, quote, stupid decisions but had no criminal attent. palin and her daughter bristol testified during this trial and said what kernell did invaded their privacy and disrupted their personal lives during the presidential campaign when she was the vice presidential candidate. kernell is charged with identity theft. he could be sentenced to up if to 50 years in prison. these just massive tornadoes that blew through mississippi over the weekend left three young boys without their mother. i don t know if you ve heard this story yet. as a tornado approached yazoo, 30-year-old nicky bradshaw covered her boys with a mattress and laid on top of it to protect them. she was found dead but her sons were found alive. wh their mobile home was thrown 100 yards. the boys w
next-generation iphone. he says he s already returned the phone to apple, so what exactly are police investigating today, tuesday, april 27th, 2010. captions paid for by nbc-universal television and welcome to today on this tuesday morning. i m meredith vieira. i m matt lauer. you get the feeling these former and current executives at goldman sachs are waking up today and probably aren t thinking this should be fun. this is going to be a rather contentious hearing. you re right. goldman is facing allegations that it made billions at the expense of clients using methods that capitalized on the housing meltdown. today s testimony comes a week after the securities and exchange commission filed a civil fraud case against the wall street giant. much more on that in a moment. also, talking about new concerns at the site of that sunken oil rig off the coast of louisiana. crews are using robot submarines to try to stop the well from leaking oil into the gulf. this mor