Kevin harvick, a nascar underdog, who, after 14 seasons, finally claimed a championship in 2014. The victory was a Long Time Coming for the sprint cup veteran, but his 2001 debut happened faster t expected. The last lap of that years daytona 500 claimed the life of superstar Dale Earnhardt. In the what i can of the tragedy, Richard Childress racing put harvick in the drivers seat ahead of schedule. What do you recall from watching that crash . Yeah. You know, we were at home just watching the race, watched it to the end. Watched the crash, turned it off and left the house. Anything abnormal or any harder crash than youve ever seen before. So i dont remember what we were doing that day, but we turned the race off and left. The next thing you know your phone is blowing up. Obviously, at that point we knew that something was wrong. There was a lot of things that happened in a really short amount of time when dale died. At that point, it was really just about trying to keep the company afloat and survive and not just have the eti down. I had only been there for a year, and you come into a situation, and youre like, youve got to do what you got to do. Talk about a life changing period. Not only do you get sprint cup ride, you take over for Dale Earnhardt and get married. So i ran my first race at rockingham. We finally get home and get on the plane and get to vegas and it was really almost a blessing and richard and a lot of people to get their minds off of everything for a little while. So we flew out and had the wedding. I think she ran down the aisle as fast she could run. Went out and ran the cup race on sunday and got my first top ten. I think we finished 14th the first race and 7th or 8th at las vegas. We go to atlanta the next week and win the first race and was so many things going on at that particular time, that i honestly couldnt sit here and tell you probably anything that happened on that particular weekend. It was a big moment for me to win my first race, but that was almost nonexistent with everything that was going on, just for the fact that, you know, it was a really, really big moment for rcr to continue forward and know there was still life in the team to be able to healing process to move forward. Drivers generally who havent won a championship by their ninth year typically never do, and you end up winning one in your 14th season. The most stressful part of the championship season and the run to homestead would be what . Oh, man. You know, i would say that the most intense moment of the whole thing was probably still homestead, just for the fact , everything you thought you needed to do all year. Youve had the success and here you are, youve got one race, and thats all that matters for the championship. How does being champion change things . I think the first thing it changes is, you never have to answer the questions of, is this the year . Is this the year youre going to make it happen . Why cant you make it happen . And you never have to have that you never have to have that little voice in the back of your head. Championship. We went through a pressure packed a season as you can, and for confidence, you know, for myself and the team. Theres Nothing Better for confidence than all the situations we went through and not having to answer those championship questions anymore, you know you can doing it, its just a matter of having to put it all together. This is like for real. Here we go. How did we do . I dont think we did very well. I think we better stick to our alex paen coming next, nearly lifeless. The young animal is malnourished and injured. Can this baby be saved . This is. [captioning made possible by thanks for joining us. Im alex paen. Every day, ordinary people go through extraordinary efforts to save animals in trouble. This story is a great example. In the heart of africa, near the town of selebiphikwe in central botswana, a baby elephant is found abandoned in a dry riverbed. A local resident coaxes the animal to her nearby property, where it collapses exhausted, injured, and malnourished. Woman i pick up his trunk, and i see hes very hungry. I can see in his mouth. I put my finger in his mouth, and alex she gives the baby pachyderm milk and calls a local chapter of the wildcare africa trust, a wellknown Animal Rescue organization. Its quickly determined that this baby needs Urgent Medical attention. It has bruises and is extremely lethargic. More milk is fed to the elephant, as rescuers determine what to do nt. No one knows why this baby was left alone or what happened to its mother, or for that matter, what happened to the herd. But right now, for these rescuers, the most important thing is to keep this baby alive. They nickname their patient ollie and continue to treat and feed the animal. Man right. You understand. You want a drink or you dont want a drink . Want a drink or you dont want a drink . Alex but will this sickly baby survive the night . Man we gave him injection, with me now . Alex ollie cant stay here. He needs a more proper rehabilitation facility if he is to have any chance at all to live. So ollie is driven to nearby south africato a rehab center close to the capital city of pretoria, run by wildcare and supported by ifaw, the International Fund for animal welfare. Ifaw man you cant just simply we have a responsibility if were managing these species, to manage them in the entirety, and part of that is to look after orphans. And were not aware of what happened to the mother, so. You know, some people might argue its a natural process, but with not knowing what has happened, it might be a manmade situation, and then in that case weve got to take responsibility for our actions. Alex the goal is to make ollie stronger so he can possibly be moved later to a new home at will grow up and learn from a herd of adults and ultimately be released back into the wild. But thats still a big if and certainly a long ways off. Karen trendler of wildcare says ollie is in bad shape. Karen trendler hes got a whole lot of really bad scars on him physically. He had head trauma when he was picked up. Hed obviously been knocked quite badly on the head. And emotionally, i mean, you can imagine a little animal like lose his mum, to lose his herd. So he is feeling that at the moment. Hes desperate for a herd. Hes desperate for contact. Hes probably about 120 kilograms at the moment. Which is quite low for a 3monthold elephant. Hes only 95 centimeters in height, which is very, very tiny. We think, in fact, he was probably a low birthweight baby as well. Having compared him to photographs of other elephants, hes exceptionally small. Alex karen is a worldrenowned wildlife rehabilitator, and wildcare looks after some 250 animals here. She watches over ollie like a mother over her child, something this babys real mother apparently didnt do, leaving him with a critical medical disadvantage. Karen ollie was a newborn when we found him, all the size and various symptoms that showed that he was actually newborn. We presume he hasnt had colostrum eithwh system has been compromised. So hes very susceptible to infection. The milk that we give him is not exactly the same. We get as close as we can to the mothers milk, but its not the same. And all of that compromises him. And on top of that, youve also got an animal who has a very high intelligence, and the stress plays a very big role in it. A rhino is food motivated. As long as hes getting food, hes ok. An elephant is not food motivated at all. If hes stressed, he just wont eat. Things that are hassling him, he wont eat. Alex for karen, building ollies strength and getting him well for his possible journey to an elephant orphanage is a top priority. But itll require more than human intervention. Karen youre being naughty. Tickle. Tickle you. Hes still critical. We could still lose him. And healthwise, hes not very strong. For me, the worst thing become a tame, maladjusted, or trained animal. We really want to see him go back into the wild and be part of a herd and be an elephant. Alex experts say baby elephants are difficult to rehabilitate. Theyre part of a social group, a herd animal, and besides feeding, the most important goal is to get them back into a herd, to give them social contact again. Thats where tunza, a baby rhino, comes in. Friends, and theres a noticeable difference in ollies attitude. Karen ollie was so desperate for company, and so was tunza when he came in, that we took a chance and put the two together. And i think at this age, any company is good company. Someone to sleep up against, someone to push around and play with. They have a lovely relationship, these two. Alex but karen says dont let ollies soft nature fool you. Karen people always think that elephant are these really sort of lovely, sweet, gentle things. Theyre actually not. They what they want to do. They sulk a lot. And theyre quite high maintenance. You know, i think they really sort of philosophize about things and get very upset about things. Theyre not simple souls. Ollie, in particular, he sulks a lot if you dont do what he wants to do when he wants it done. Hell go and stand in the corner and totally ignore you until he decides that now its time to be friends again. If the bottle isnt exactly his time thinking about things and really being sad about whats happened. Not a simple soul. A very complex little boy. Alex nevertheless, ollie is progressing day after day, gaining strength and learning new things, all in preparation for a journey to a new, more permanent home. Karen its been incredible to watch him develop. I mean, hes still very much ay. He had no coordination in his trunk whatsoever. He wasnt really aware of what was going on around him. And hes now become very, very curious, very inquisitive. He has to examine and feel everything. And every day hes getting more and more coordination in the trunk. He hasnt quite got it right yet to scoop water to put it into his mouth. He can scoop it, and then by the time hes got it into his mouth, its all fallen over. But he practices for hours and hours every day doing that. Alex but karen knows, after it may be difficult to break the bond theyve developed with each other. Karen i think its going to be very tough for him. I think there is a bond, and i think its going to be quite traumatic for for him. If hes handraised here as a single elephant like this, with all the emotional trauma, hes going to become a dangerous animal. Hes going to be a problem animal. Hell be totally maladjusted. Alex our amazing story a used car, truck, suv. Thats smart. Truecar can help. Its great for finding a new car, but you already knew that. Its also great for finding the perfect used car. Youll see what a fair price is, and you can connect with a truecar certified dealer. So, no matter what youre looking for. This is truecar. . Alex we now continue with our amazing Animal Rescue story. Karen i think elephant are still fairly endangered. In certain regions, theyre very common and theyre considered a problem because there are too many, but i think overall the elephant is still very important as s that we can save and we can learn from contributes overall to the longterm conservation of the species and a better understanding of the species. Alex Karen Trendler of wildcare has been ollies principal care provider since the young abandoned elephant arrived here malnourished and injured, after being found wandering alone in botswana. Now, after some tender loving care by humans and a rhino companion named tunza, ollies spirits have been the improvement to his health. Its now time for ollie to move on to a new home, a place where he can be with other elephants and learn the ways of his species. Wildcare has teamed up with ifaw, the International Fund for animal welfare, to arrange a flight to kenya for ollie, where he will be placed in the David SheldrickWildlife Trust, the only baby elephant orphanage in the world. Jason bellleask we need to get this little animal back into a tightlyknit social structure, elephant famil go out there and lead a happy Little Elephant life. Alex but getting ollie there is no easy task. Karen it has been such a logistical nightmare. There have been so many Different Things that weve had to have in place to get him up to nairobi. Coastal air, which is an aircraft company, have agreed to donate the flight for us. Weve had to have a special crate built. Weve had to get import and export permits and veterinary permits. And to try and get everything coordinated gets onto the aircraft everything is ok. And to make sure that when we get there, Everything Else is ready and waiting for him. Its been quite a logistical nightmare. Were just giving him a very low dose of zephrone, which is quite a safe tranquilizer, just to take the edge off, and to stop him panicking and make sure hes ok when we load him at the airport. Weve had to design a crate that he has some movement in but prevents him moving around too much inside the plane, because its a small aircraft. And weve designed the crate in such a way that we can have Constant Contact with him throughout the journey, that we can still feed him. And were probably going to have him on a drip all the way up as well, so that if he needs tranquilization, if his condition deteriorates, weve got a drip running, were in a position just to attend to him immediately. And the crate design has taken all that into we feel very strongly about ollie going back into the wild. We really would not like to see himfirstly, we dont want to see him become a trained elephant or a captive elephant. And secondly, to rear an elephant like this on his own, without the family structure, without the social bonds and the discipline of being in a family group, he could very well become a problem animal, and might well, at some stage, have to be shot when hes older. That is how serious the situation is with rearing an elephant on their own. We have a whole box of toys and things to distract him. The crate has been designed in such a way we can actually be in with him if we have to. Man fly safely, ok . Alex arriving at the Sheldrick Wildlife orphanage, ollie gets introduced to his new friends and family. The David SheldrickWildlife Trust was established in 1977 in memory of the famed naturalist and founding warden of kenyas giant Tsavo East National park, kenyas largest wildlife refuge. Its now run by his widow, dr. Daphne sheldrick, who lovingly devotes her life to saving pachyderms. Dr. Daphne sheldrick elephants are very fragile in infancy, and infancy lasts 2 years. So you can never be sure that an elephants going to survive until its past its second birthday. But since weve managed to raise now 54 through this little nursery, some of them from the day they were born, im quite sure he has a very good chance. Of those 54, the oldest are now sort of 18 years old. One of now 16, whos had 2 wildborn calves and brought them back to show the keepers, the human family. And our bulls that are now independent and with the wild herds, visit the orphans regularly. They keep in touch with both their human family and the other elephants. And in fact, the other day we had a wonderful story when 2 wild matriarchs abducted one of our youngsters from our group and took it off. And several days are now independent and with the wild herds, came back escorting this little calf, handed it back to our matriarch and the keepers, turned around, and off they went again. So the matriarch mustve sent a message, an email, to her friends, demanded them go fetch my baby. And they did. Alex ollie is adjusting well to his new environment, and that trendler, of wildcare, who helped ollie during those rough patches in his young life. Karen i think when i saw how he reacted this morning to the keepers and to the other elephant, it made all of those logistical nightmares absolutely worth it. He was a little bit leery of the other elephant. I dont think he remembered what elephant were, but the response has been unbelievable and its convinced us that to do this was the right thing for him. Daphne when he becomes an adult, hell be romping around with his wild friends in Tsavo National park, just like all our others do. Alex visit our website, animalrescuetv. Com to learn more about other alex and now, this Animal Rescue safety tip. . Keep your pets happy, healthy, and fit with this Animal Rescue safety tip . Alex dogs cant tell you if some part of their body hurts, so its up to a responsible pet owner to be observant. If your aggressive, the problem could be a strained muscle, a bone fracture, or even a toothache. If your pet has slowed down, refuses to eat, or is overly snippy, check with your veterinarian to see if your dog is in need of pain relief, and inquire about traditional as well as alternative treatments. . Thats your Animal Rescue safety tip . Alex Animal Rescue returns closed captioning sponsored alex time now to honor this episodes Animal Rescue heroes. . Because they care because they care by reaching out and bringing comfort to all creatures everywhere because they care because they care because they care many more are Living Strong because they care oh oh to one family we belong because they care alex time now to check our Animal Rescue mail bag. . Animal rescue mail bag . Alex emma from denver, colorado, writes. Michelle from mason city, iowa, tells us. And anita from los angeles . Animal rescue mail bag . Alex and thats this edition of Animal Rescue. Thanks for watching. Join us next time as we showcase those caring individuals who help the various creatures in the animal kingdom. Im alex paen. Alex on the next Animal Rescue, amazing rescues and extraordinary efforts. Watch compassionate individuals help animals in trouble. Learn about different critters and the dedicated people who care for them. Plus, animal safety tips, and information on how to better care for your lovable pet. All this and much, much more, next time [captioning made possible by telco productions, inc. ] alex follow us on facebook finally, the time of reckoning. 17 years after brian laird carried his wife kathryns lifeless body from a bay in the bighorn river, he went on trial, charged with her murder. But it was a difficult circumstantial case. For veteran prosecutors chad parker and oly olsson. So what did you want the jury to know when you went into court . To show in this case is that she didnt put herself in the water, right . And whoever put her in the water killed her. I think if we could get that across to them, the fact that brian laird did it would fall out of those facts as well. Remember that timeline agent teling put together . Thats how they laid out their case. For example, 3 00 to 4 00 p. M. , kathryns last day alive, an ugly moment of domestic discord in the lairds yard was overheard by a new witness, teling found. Visiting nearby. What did you observe of . Hes saying, you bitch, you burn the my [ mute ] cookies. He got ahold of her and took the bag and was smacking her with the bag on the side of her head and kind of smooshed the cookies on the side of her face. Then late that night, another fight overheard. Here, finally, was the crucial link supplied by those boaters for the prosecution, eric anderson. What did you hear . It was you [ mute ] bitch. How many times was that said . It was repeated. What was the word you heard from the woman . The word no. The word no. And how many times was that said . Over, repeatedly. When he looked out the window, he said, he saw a white vehicle driving away. I saw a large driver. Concluded it was a male. Okay. And then this from kathleen anderson. It was fighting between a man and a woman. Very foul language. What did you hear coming from the female voice . Just no, no, no the females voice was more crying. When i came out, it stopped. Like tapering off . No, it just stopped. She saw the white truck too, she said, driving slowly past their camper. Is that the vehicle that you saw . It looks like it. Remember, brian laird claimed kathryn drove away in the white truck after their argument. But the ander sons testimony gave lie to that story. I just saw that it was a male driving the vehicle. And who did you understand that to be . Mr. Laird. At that moment the state contended kathryn lay near death, out of sight, inside the truck. The story, the andersons story, was the backbone of the states case. If the jury doubted them their case was lost. Was there a worry or possibility that the story had become amplified . They had no motive to amplify the story. They had no connection to these people whatsoever. The state had to prove this was even a homicide. Cause of death was still examiners had died. What he found was related by the original fbi agent. Dr. Mueller pointed to multiple areas of hemorrhaged blood in the muscles of kathryns neck. And said, this is troubling. Bruises, suspicious bruises, darkening her wrist, arm and thigh on a young woman making plans to leave her husband. According to her mother, mary knew little. She had called to let me know what was her demeanor . She was upset. How upset . Crying. Yes, kathryn was very upset, said her brother thomas. What state was she in when she called . Very distraught, crying. Thomas, an optometrist, identified an expensive pair of glasses hed made kathryn as a birthday present, glasses found nowhere near her body. Without glasses or contacts. Meaning, said thomas, she couldnt have seen well enough to walk on her own to the water. Where were the glasses . They were in the white car. She cannot see a thing without her glasses. Wasnt wearing contacts. So unless Kathryn Laird went on a blind nature hike, half naked along a craggy shoreline, there was no way on earth she could have gotten down there unless brian laird put her there. Said her sister sherry, brian startled the family with his plans. Brian had asked for her to be cremated quickly. I begged him to let the family have her. But was that all, suspicious though it was, enough to convict . Maybe. And maybe not. So they called him. A botanist. This was a csi of a different sort. Inside the front there was three cheat grass, one cheat grass in the back. This expert in native grasses and weeds identified bits of two kinds of plants found ground into kathryns sweat pants. Okay. This is a needle and thread. Which meant, he showed the jury, that she must have been grew to where her body went into the water. And the way it ended up in her pants led to the conclusion that she was dragged down there. Finally, prosecutors gave jurors a chance to hear from brian himself. Sort of. They recalled the original fbi agent to read into the record what brian had said under oath to the missouri bar examiners. What brian said in missouri contradicted everything the jury at any time during the relationship with your wife kathryn did you have any anger outbursts . Any anger control issues of any kind . None. Was there any physical confrontations between you and she . Never. So that was the prosecutions case. Brian killed kathryn. The jury should dispense justice. What were asking you to do is to give justice to Kathryn Laird and to give justice to her killer, brian laird, and find him guilty of deliberate but, surprise surprise. As the jury was about to hear, maybe this wasnt murder at all. Coming up a doctors dramatic testimony. Ms. Laird clearly died of freshwater drowning. I found no evidence that indicated that ms. Laird died at the hands of another. What does that mean for the case against brian laird . The state of montana had made a solid and much delayed case that brian laird killed his wife. So what could Defense Attorneys matthew wald and sandy selby possibly do to counter that . Well, as it turned out, a lot. The evidence will not show proof that any witness saw brian laird physically harm kathryn that night. Any witness who heard more than the verbal argument that brian had already admitted to. Any evidence of incapacitating injury to kathryn prior to her drowning. Why, they asked, did it take the state so long to come up with a case at all . And why did those witnesses never come forward until the fbi finally tracked them down . That fishing guide who said he you never reached out to agent jackson from the fbi to say, hey, ive got some information about brian laird chasing his wife. I had no clue that the fbi was involved. I thought it was just a drowning at that point. And the states star witness who supposedly heard such a deadly argument . Well, although his wife thought brian laird might have been the man they saw driving away later that night, he had no idea who was at the wheel. Further description of this individual that you say you saw driving this white vehicle . I have no more to add. As for the terrible row he supposedly heard between brian and kathryn you never thought that it was necessary to pick up the telephone and call the cops, did you, to intervene in any way . I did not have any interest in calling anytime. Because there was a domestic it wasnt my concern. But didnt the neighbors know full well that kathryns family was asking around, desperately, for that very information . Do you remember seeing any posters, seeking any information regarding ms. Lairds death . Yes. Did you ever make contact with this person seeking this information . No. Did you provide the information that they were requesting to anybody . No. As for the states limited forensic evidence provided by the botanist, that man had no way of knowing, said the defense, whether those particular grasses were even growing there all those years ago. You cant tell the jury that you know how exactly those grasses were distributed in 1999, can you . No. The defense called only one was. Dr. Thomas bennett. One of the two medical examiners who autopsied kathryn. The other had since died. Ive probably performed over 12,000 forensic autopsies in my career. And, imagine this. After reconsidering his original report, in which the cause of kathryns death was ruled undetermined, he could now say for certain it was not a homicide. Did you see any forensic in my opinion, i did not see any injuries that i would opine were the result of an assault. I did not feel she was assaulted. Those bruises hed noted in his own autopsy . He now realized there was a very simple explanation. There is no indication that she was alive when any of those bruises occurred. Embalming. So how did she die . The doctors answer was a torpedo into the belly of the prosecutions case. Well, in my opinion ms. Laird clearly died of freshwater drowning. I found no evidence, forensic evidence, that indicated that ms. Laird died at the hands of another. Brian laird didnt murder kathryn, because it wasnt a murder at all. So said the doctor. Kathryns family was floored. I was very upset. I thought at that point wed probably lost the case. Yeah. I was pretty much distraught. In his closing, defense attorney wald drilled in the message. So the state ended their case after showing you nothing. And we provide the one guy that actually did the autopsy the second time and had knowledge on the case. That doctor could not find, to a certainty, that death was caused by criminal means. The jury retired to deliberate. They were out for five hours when word came, a verdict had been reached. Please give the verdict to the bailiff. I was shaking like i have never done in my life. My brother had one hand, i had my other hand with my mom and actually john teling was holding it, too, our fbi agent. In the charge of deliberate homicide, guilty. Guilty. All i remember was i was listening for that one word. And i heard it. What happened to you then . All of us started crying. Hugging each other. It was wonderful. It was a it was a feeling that justice had been served. Fairness, finally. They could at least have an inner peace, knowing they add not long after the verdict, kathryns brother thomas died of a heart attack. A broken heart . And then last month kathryns three months after the trial, kathryns surviving family was back in the courthouse. It was judgment day for brian laird. Her sister spoke. I couldnt pick up the phone and share life with my sister. We were best friends. The meaning of sorrow. She was beautiful and happy. He took it all away. He didnt have to do that. He could have let her come home and have her life. Mr. Laird . And then a pall over the courtroom as the judge turned to brian laird. Do you wish to make a statement . Yes, your honor. I did not do this, your honor. I loved her and miss her more than anyone could ever know. Thank you. The judge delivered his sentence. You are committed to the custody of the Montana State prison for a term of 100 years, none of which is suspended. An impassive brian laird was manacled and led away. Even if justice was done, for the survivors it never ends. Its kind of anticlimactic. Youve waited 17 years for this. Hes guilty. Its done. I still dont have my sister back. I wonder if theres something in our brains that in spite of ourselves we have to have a fantasy that if we can get justice, somehow shell come walking back into the room. That would be amazing, wouldnt it . I wish. Worked. Thats all for this edition now. Im lester holt. Thanks for joining us. This sunday, president elect Trumps Administration begins to take shape. General mike flynn, senator Jeff Sessions, congressman mike loyalists all as donald trump turns his Campaign Rhetoric into a governing reality. Ill talk to his incoming chief of staff reince priebus. Also, do democrats in Congress Work with trump or fight him . On issues where our values are at stake, where the president goes in a divisive direction, well go against him with everything weve got. My interview with the new Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer and with senator bernie voters who went for obama and then trump. Well, maybe its the fact that i believe that Hillary Clinton was a criminal. I talk to voters who turned blue states red about what they expect now from the president. Joining me are tom friedman, columnist for the new york times. Kathleen parker, columnist for the washington post. Neera tanden, president of the center for american progress. Robert costa of the washington post. Welcome to sunday. Good sunday morning. President elect trump spent the weekend at his bedminster, new jersey, club, meeting with possible members of his administration including one time rival and critic mitt romney who is reportedly being considered for secretary of state, as well as michelle rhee, a democrat who ran the School System in washington, d. C. Could be the next education secretary. Thing clear with his choices for National Security post its that hes not yet tacking to the middle as many conservatives perhaps feared or liberals hope. For National Security advisor general mike flynn who says militant islam poses an existential threat to the united states. Attorney general Jeff Sessions of alabama, tireless opponent of illegal immigration and someone accused of making racially incensensitive remarks that derailed a previous hearing for a federal judgeship in the 80s and for cia representative mike pompeo of kansas, tough critic on Hillary Clinton for benghazi. Hes gotten praise from both. The team represents security over civil liberties, loyalists over moderates. Republican senators were largely supportive of the choices and democrats for the most part, particularly for Jeff Sessions, sharply opposed. Joining me from Donald Trumps club in bedminster, president elect trumps incoming