. >> the name of the witness is april whalen. >> reporter: april whalen. a repeat offender who back in 2009 was held for five days with casey anthony in the same dorm at the county jail. and april's life story sounds an awful like casey's defense. >> her child died in a swimming pool and was found by the child's grandfather. >> reporter: april's family wasn't interested in answering our questions. but april herself may have to answer to prosecutors. they plan to ask her about what, if anything, she shared with casey or other inmates. the jail told abc news, there are no jail records, investigations, or reports that indicate any contact between anthony and whalen occurred. but whalen's parents have a different story. telling abc news, the two did talk. describing their conversations as, quote, stupid stuff. nothing in particular. >> hi. >> reporter: while plenty of video showed her talking to her parents, she's forbidden to talking to other inmates. so, if casey did hear whalen's story, how did it happen? >> miss whalen was in an adjacent cell. >> reporter:

whalen lost her young son back in 2007. the 18-month-old accidentally drowned in the family pool. >>> south carolina lawmakers passing a new immigration bill that requires police check a suspect's immigration status. it also penalizes businesses that knowingly hire illegal immigrants. governor nikki haley is expected to sign that bill into law. >>> one lucky gambler in pittsburgh, pa, winning $25,000 on a slot machine that should have only paid out $12. because of that error he was allowed to keep the money. the casino was also fined because the machine was not properly tested or certified. >>> you're caught up on the day's headlines. a quick break. "american morning" is back after this. pittsburgh, pa, winning $25,000 "american morning" is back after >>> welcome back. you know actor kevin kline from the many roles he's played on stage, screen and television. in his real life he is devoted to finding a cure for diabetes, a disease which has touched his own family. >> later today he will be testifying at a senate hearing alo

today is the first we've heard during the trial about this woman, april whalen whose child apparently died in a swimming pool. i spoke with dr. michael hunter, forensic pathologist and chief medical examiner in panama city, florida. >> as we heard from gary, this woman april whalen in the same jail as casey for a brief period of time had a very similar story to hers about her own son drowning in the family pool being found by his grandfather. what more do we know about this? do we know if there really was a link between her and casey? >> no. and that's what prosecutors are investigating right now. they said today in court outside of the presence of the jury that a citizen had actually called the orange county sheriff's department to report this, that an april whalen an inmate back in 2009 a couple cells done from casey anthony, that in 2007 on christmas day her little son that was close in age to caylee actually drowned in the family swimming pool about 2:20 in the afternoon. the child had disappeared for 20 minutes. the whole family was out trying to find her little son. and it was t

attorney william whalen was appointed to defend harvey. whalen thought he was dealing with a single mercy killing. but rumors of other murders began to circulate. >> i went to the justice center and sat down with donald. and i said have you killed more than one person? and i fully expected him to say no. and he answered yes. i asked him to tell me how many people he killed. he said i can't. i got irritated with him and said i just told you, you have to be honest with me. and he said you don't understand. i can only estimate. i told him to, in his mind, pick a number that he knew it could not possibly go beyond. he said 70. we talked for 45 minutes more. and i could never tell you what we talked about. i mean, my mind, all i could see was a red neon sign blinking the number 70. >> whalen offered the prosecutor's office a deal, a full confession of all harvey's murders in exchange for taking the death penalty off the table. the gamble succeeded and harvey began to detail his 17-year killing spree. prosecutors were stunned by what they heard.

today is the first we've actually heard during the trial about this woman, april whalen, the woman whose child apparently died in a pool. i talked with jean kazarez and dr. michael hunter forensic pathologist and chief medical examiner in panama city, florida. >> jean, as we heard from gary, this woman april whalen in the same jail as casey for a brief period of time had a very similar story to hers about her own son drowning in the family pool, being found by his grandfather. what more do we know about this? do we know if there really was a link between her and casey? >> no. and that's what prosecutors are investigating right now. they said today in court outside of the presence of the jury that a citizen had actually called the orange county sheriff's department to report this, that an april whalen who was an inmate back in 2009 and she was a couple cells down from casey anthony, that in 2007 on christmas day her little son that was close in age to caylee actually drowned in the family swimming pool about 2:20 in the afternoon. the child disappeared for 20 minutes. the whole family was

. >> the name of the witness is april whalen. apparently her child died in a swimming pool and was found by the child's grandfather who immediately administered cpr and called 911. >> sunny halston is on the case. april whalen was in the cell next to casey anthony for a short time. is there an indication that the two women spoke? >> well, not at this time. we have heard from allen moore. he's the public information officer for the jail. he has indicated that there are no records or reports that indicate that there was any contact between casey anthony and april whalen, but that from june 4th to june 8th of 2009 they did share the same dorm within the jail. and their rooms or their cell, rather, were right next to each other. at this point we don't know that there is indication that they spoke to each other. in fact, april whalen said she never spoke to casey anthony, but she did speak to other people in the jail about the circumstances. the prosecution is continuing its investigation to determine whether or not casey anthony some

whalen's tragedy on christmas day 2007 bears some striking similarities to anthony's defense. >> her child died in a swimming pool and was found by the child's grandfather. >> reporter: so if the prosecution is suggesting that casey anthony might have actually stolen her defense from a fellow inmate, might they actually call april whalen as a witness? we should soon have an idea of when casey anthony could learn her fate. the judge asked the defense to let him know by friday how many more witnesses they plan to call. t.j. winick, abc news, new york. >>> and in north dakota, a swollen river is climbing over levees as the city of minot braces for its worst flood ever. more than 10,000 people had to scramble to leave town after evacuation orders were pushed up by five hours yesterday. thousands of homes and businesses are expected to be flooded in the next week. >>> it was also an afternoon of deadly storms in southern new jersey after an apparent tornado touched down. take a look at this. one man was killed when a tree fell on his car as he was driving. falling trees and also a hailsto

. >> 21-month-old sidney whalen still wears compression gloves on her hands nearly a year after getting third-degree burns from the glass fireplace in her parents' san francisco home. >> we had no idea the fireplace can get 500 degrees and it takes is 150 degrees to cause a third-degree burn. sidney's 3 1/2-year-old brother had turned on the gas fireplace with a remote that afternoon. the sitter had no idea and hours later neither did her parents. the flame was too low to see. her mom was in the kitchen and heard her crying. >> i saw her and she had both hands on the fireplace there, and at first i thought why is she crying? because the fireplace has not been on in months and it's july. and then i thought, oh, my god. the valor came with a booklet all in french and no other warning labels. >> i pulled her hands away and her entire hands were brown. i started screaming. >> sidney had surgery that night at san francisco memorial hospital burn unit and a skin graft surgery two weeks later. the reconstructive surgeon said parents can't be too careful about checking their surroundings. >> i

. >> 21-month-old sidney whalen still wears compression gloves on her hands nearly a year after getting third-degree burns from the glass fireplace in her parents' san francisco home. >> we had no idea the fireplace can get 500 degrees and it takes 150 degrees to cause a third-degree burn. >> her 3 1/2-year-old brother turned on the gas fireplace with a remote that afternoon. the sitter had no idea and hours later neither did her parents. the flame was too low to see. her mom was in the kitchen and heard her crying. >> i saw her and she had both hands on the fireplace there, and at first i thought why is she crying? because the fireplace has not been on in months and it's july. and then i thought oh, my god. the valor came with a booklet all in french and no other warning labels. >> i pulled her hands away and her entire hands were brown. i started screaming. >> sidney had surgery that night at san francisco memorial hospital burn unit and a skin graft surgery two weeks later. the reconstructive surgeon said parents can't be too careful about checking their surroundings. >> i had a chil

meantime, april whalen is still being investigated by the state attorney's office. she said, according to the state attorney's office, that she did not tell her story directly to casey anthony but, of course, the prosecutors would still like to know whether that's where she got the idea for this defense. of course, her defense says this is not something they concocted, it is the real story. >> kerry sanders, thanks. >>> up next, best-selling author and, later, cooking up wly pig in t and, later, cooking up wly pig in t ay'sod kitchen. [ wave hing ] and, later, cooking up wly pig in t ay'sod kitchen. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] and just like that, it's here. a new chance for all of us: people, companies, communities to face the challenges yesterday left behind and the ones tomorrow will bring. prudential. bring your challenges. and more. if you replace 3 tablespoons of sugar a day with splenda® you'll save 100 calories a day. that could help you lose up to 10 pounds in a year. that's how splenda® is sweet...and more. helping strengthen our bones. caltrate delivers 1

whalen has proven that itt cannot be trusted in the united states shoulund take the necesss measures to stifle the powers and ensure regional security. we must do so in a tangibleo manner as not to further empowered chavez. national security threat posed by venezuela is complex. the we must implement theot appropriate measures to protect the people of venezuela andld lk promote u.s. interests. i would like to thank our witnesses and look forward to the testimony.now reco thank you. e f >> thank you.min th we now recognize the chairman of the foreign affairs subcommittee on the middle east -- asia. >> thank you.. chairman. i wanted thank my two fellowwo chairman for putting together this important hearing.nd i know the chairman back in thee ere staff hasph been trying to hold this hearine for some time and have met with considerable resistance from the administration.e fo i commend my colleagues for hist persistence. as chairman of the middle east a and south phases of community i and the other folks on theos committee frugally confront thel threats posed by iran in global terrorist n