2014 news: 05/27/14

Tuesday 27 May 2014

Empty Everest: Time to climb?

Cleonice Pacheco Weidlich, 50, was one of two climbers who decided not to leave Everest after a fatal avalanche in April. Weidlich eventually abandoned her summit attempt however, having used a helicopter to bypass the treacherous Khumbu Icefall, saying "I would only have climbed half of it."

Yaks leaving Base Camp transport the equipment of television crews. The avalanche on April 18 killed 16 Sherpas, the deadliest single event in Everest's history, and attracted much media attention.

Ake Lindstrom, an adventure operator from Tanzania, was supposed to climb Mount Everest but, like many other international climbers, after the tragedy he left base camp to climb another mountain in the Khumbu before heading home.

Everest Base Camp with the Khumbu Icefall in the background.

Jamie McGuinness, a veteran Everest operator, expressed surprise that climbers do not choose to climb Everest from the North Side, avoiding the treacherous Khumbu Icefall.

The Khumbu Icefall, where the tragedy occurred. It's considered one of the most dangerous parts of the South Col route, and takes hours to ascend.

The camps of different expeditions being dismantled. Base Camp is usually a vibrant village. People play golf on the ice, hike along the icefall river, make new friendships, play cards during the day, and attend parties at night.

Many expeditions left Everest to climb other mountains in the region, before heading home.

Everest Base Camp with the Khumbu Ice Fall in the background.

A porter gets ready to leave Everest Base Camp.

Near Everest Base Camp, an area is filled with memorial structures in honor of the climbers that have died on the mountains.

The Pyramid International Laboratory/Observatory high altitude scientific research center is located at 5,050 meters, at the base of the Nepali side of Everest. Since 1990, it has been offering the international scientific community a chance to study the environment, climate, human physiology and geology in a remote mountain protected area.

Cleonice Pacheco Weidlich refuses to abandon her Everest climb after 16 killed in mountain tragedy

Disaster prompted concerns over conditions on mountain and calls for an early end to climbing season

Some Sherpas complained over pay and a lack of respect for their traditions and towards those who died

Weidlich says her solo attempt on Lhotse peak had the backing of Sherpas who she says treated her well

(CNN) -- At Camp 3 of Mount Everest at an altitude of 7,200 meters, an American woman, 50-year-old Cleonice Pacheco Weidlich, sits in a solitary tent.

Outside, fierce winds of more than 50 knots are raging.

She waits.

Soon blizzard-bearing monsoon clouds will gather around Everest and bring an end to the climbing season on the high Himalayas.

It will also draw a shroud over one of the single deadliest tragedies the world's highest mountain has ever witnessed.

Before she can make begin her ascent, Weidlich must not only find a gap in the weather and a way over the avalanche, but also face down the growing controversies that erupted around continued activity on Everest in the wake of the disaster.

More than 300 international climbers abandoned their goal of reaching the mountain's summit after an April 18 avalanche in the mountain's treacherous Khumbu Icefall killed 16 Nepalese Sherpa mountaineers.

The immediate aftermath of the disaster brought confusion and anger to the mountain as arguments raged over whether climbing should continue, the money paid to Sherpas and compensation for the sacrifices made.

After avalanche, Nepal opens up unclimbed peaks

Ogwyn: 'I saw it come right over the top'

Domino effect

Sherpas halt Everest climbing season

Some Sherpas called an unofficial moratorium on further climbs, with one group even reportedly sabotaging equipment.

Climbing season dicey after avalanche

With safety in doubt, many international climbing companies decided to pull the plug, leading to a domino effect that also swept up the independent climbers who rely on shared resources.

"If 30% of your workforce walks away, it compromises your operational capabilities, given the difficulties of finding new porters, cooks, and guides in short time in the Khumbu," said one guide from a leading operator.

Many were resigned to the sudden end to the season.

"I feel very sad about the Sherpas," said Ake Lindstrom, an adventure operator from Tanzania.

"Everybody knows each other; it is a small community and their loss is very tangible. It takes a small amount of empathy to let go of one's frustration."

Weidlich, however, stayed.

Later she was joined by Wang Jing, a 41-year-old Chinese woman also determined to press ahead with an attempt on the summit.

Despite their determination in the face of calls for a halt to climbing, many Sherpas CNN Travel spoke to were not unhappy with their plans.

Instead, they voiced other concerns, including the disparity they perceive between local and international guide salaries, overcrowding on the mountain, a lack of respect to their mountain god and those who died.

There was also anger towards the Nepalese government over its response to the tragedy.

Among the Everest climbing community questions were raised about the safety prior to the deaths.

Some Sherpas said there had been too many on the mountain on the day of the disaster, with long lines forming as people traversed the ladders over crevasses.

Mourning in an Everest Sherpa village

'One mistake and you are done'

"It was so packed that for some, there was no place to hide when the ice started to fall," one said. "We never saw so many people on the icefall on one day."

One expert expressed strong concerns about renewed climbing.

The Pyramid high-altitude research center.

"The mountains are in constant movement, which is what makes the icefall dangerous," said Gian Piero Verza, of the Pyramid high-altitude research center, located at 5,050 meters on Everest.

"You have to consider that in two months of expeditions, some Sherpas spend an average of three hours daily on the icefall to carry their load. For some that is 200 hours in a very dangerous place."

Veteran expedition leader Jamie McGuinness, however, said he was surprised that more did not defy the exodus to take advantage of conditions similar to those when Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay first summited in 1953.

"Hard-core mountaineers would jump at the chance to have Everest and Lhotse all for themselves during the best climbing season," he says.

"But being there without backup is like being back in epic Hillary's time: one mistake and you are done."

Back at Camp 3, in her gale-battered tent, Weidlich is convinced she is doing the right thing by continuing with her plan to summit Lhotse, a peak connected to Everest's South Col.

She says she knows the family of one of the victims and when she visited them after the disaster was not met with hostility and was invited to stay for the funeral.

"I asked them if they felt it would be disrespectful if I continued with my climbing plan," she says. "They were concerned about my safety, but they never brought up the issue of respect."

Weidlich, who is on a personal mission to climb all 14 of the world's mountains over 8,000 meters, says the problem lies with assisted climbing.

"High mountains are dangerous, and climbing is all about the experience. You have to evaluate the risks. But Everest has become a completely different place: it is a showtime place. People come here to make silly records.

American climber recounts how Sherpa saved his life

Climbing in isolation

Weidlich eventually had to abandon her summit attempt.

"This is not real mountaineering. To me, if you cannot free climb a mountain and you need someone else to help you up or down, you don't belong on it."

Weidlich hits out at claims that Sherpas had forced people to abandon the mountain saying they had treated her well.

She also speaks of the excitement of climbing in isolation.

"I am very much looking forward to experiencing the mountain for what it is, without the crowds. It will be rewarding to be in contact with nature -- to hear the cracking of the ice and not the generators."

When at last the gales ease, it is finally time for Weidlich to face the mountain, but she is ultimately unable to reach her goal.

Because of the dangers on the Icefall, both Weidlich and Wang bypass it using helicopters -- a highly controversial move that could invalidate any claim to a successful climb.

Wang reaches the summit of Everest on May 23 along with five Sherpas.

Weidlich, however, decides to abandon her attempt on Lhotse because "that would be like claiming a whole mountain when I would only have climbed half of it."

Shortly afterward, the monsoon closes in for good, leaving Everest to brood alone over another season of triumphs for some and tragedies for others.

Andrea Oschetti is a Hong Kong-based freelance travel writer currently traveling through Bhutan and Nepal.

Abducted newborn found hours after Facebook post

Police released this photo of a woman dressed as a nurse walking into a maternity ward.

Police say a woman dressed as a nurse abducted a newborn from a hospital

Facebook post from police leads to a tip from a woman's former neighbor

Four friends saw the Facebook post, then drove to the woman's apartment

"Every click, every share made the difference," the baby's grateful mom says

(CNN) -- The woman wore a nurse's uniform when she walked into the maternity ward.

She left the hospital driving away in a red car with a sign that said "Baby on Board."

Police say there was a baby inside the Toyota Yaris the 21-year-old was driving Monday evening as she left the hospital in Trois-Rivières, Quebec.

But the little girl wasn't hers.

At the hospital, baby Victoria's parents were frantic.

Their child was only 16 hours old when she was abducted, mother Mélissa McMahon said in a Facebook post describing the ordeal.

"The worst case scenarios played out over and over in our heads," she wrote. "Unfortunately, the endings are not often happy, above all in this type of case."

But just a few hours after the baby went missing, authorities returned her to her parents.

Thanks to "four marvelous people," McMahon wrote, and "thanks to Facebook."

"It is the only reason that explains why Victoria is in my arms at this time," she said.

Amber Alert goes viral

Publicity about Victoria's disappearance started with an Amber Alert sent out by Quebec police.

In social media posts, messages from police described the vehicle and the woman driving it. The newborn, police said, was wrapped in a blue blanket.

It wasn't long before the alert and a photo went viral.

A group of four friends spotted it on Facebook when it they were hanging out on Monday night, Canadian media reported.

"We said, 'Why don't we go look for the car? It couldn't have gotten that far,'" Charlène Plante told Canadian public broadcaster CBC.

When police released a photo of a woman wearing scrubs in the hospital, Plante said she immediately recognized her former neighbor.

The friends drove to the woman's apartment, saw the car parked outside and the lights on inside.

Then, they called police. Officers were there within minutes, Plante said, kicking down the apartment door.

"After the baby was in the hands of the police, it was the best moment in my life," Melizanne Bergeron told Canada's CTV network. "We were crying."

On Facebook, she posted a video showing her tearful friends as a police officer appeared in the apartment building's stairwell, the baby safe in his arms.

Woman in custody

Quebec police spokeswoman Christine Coulombe wouldn't confirm details about how the baby was found, but she said police received tips from the public after publicizing the case on social media.

The woman was hospitalized for evaluation and was on 24-hour police watch, but she had not met yet with investigators Tuesday, Coulombe said.

In a statement, the hospital from where the baby was taken thanked police investigators and said a team of risk assessment experts would be analyzing the circumstances surrounding the incident and making recommendations about whether any changes are needed. Details from the police investigation will also be part of that analysis, the hospital said.

"At this time, it is difficult to discuss in more detail the situation without revealing specific elements that could harm the investigation and court proceedings," said the Center for Health and Social Services of Trois-Rivières said in a statement. "The establishment will therefore be reserved in public statements in the coming days."

As authorities continue investigating, the baby's mother says she has no doubt about how Victoria ended up in her arms again.

Alert hospital staff realized quickly that the baby had been taken, she said. Fellow patients at the hospital provided details about the woman and her vehicle. Security guards tracked down a photo of the woman with help from police. And investigators sent out the Amber Alert and image very quickly.

"The photo saved our daughter! In less than an hour, the photo was everywhere...You were more than thousands of people who shared the photo of this woman on social media. ... Know that it was this that saved her, our little Victoria. Every click, every share made the difference," McMahon wrote in a message thanking people for their support.

But along with her thank-you message, she also sent a word of caution to other mothers, saying that her experience with the woman dressed as a nurse should be a warning.

"Never allow yourself to be influenced by a uniform....I know that it can seem trivial, but if I had been more skeptical, all of this could have been avoided....Verify the badge of the nurse...ask questions...it is your child, don't let them out of your sight," she wrote. "I would not like anyone else to live this."

She did not describe further details about any interaction with the woman.

As for her baby, McMahon said "little Victoria wears her name well for this victory."

"To give life to our child is an incredible moment," she wrote, "but finding our child safe and sound is an indescribable feeling."

Her post had been shared more than 18,000 times on Facebook by Tuesday night.

President Obama details troop plans

NEW: White House official: cost of extended Afghanistan deployment $20 billion

President Obama announces planned troop numbers for Afghanistan

Republican leaders criticize what they call a fixed timetable

There are roughly 32,000 American forces in Afghanistan now

Washington (CNN) -- With combat operations in Afghanistan ending this year, President Barack Obama announced he plans for almost 10,000 American troops to remain in the country in 2015 if the Afghan government signs a security agreement.

"We will bring America's longest war to a responsible end," Obama said in the White House Rose Garden in detailing the strategy to have virtually all U.S. forces out of Afghanistan by the end of 2016 -- shortly before his presidency ends.

The announcement offered something to proponents and opponents of a continued U.S. military engagement there after more than 12 years of war -- the longest in American history.

Obama called for 9,800 U.S. troops to stay in Afghanistan after the end of 2014, along with some allied forces. The number would get cut roughly in half by the end of 2015, and a year later -- less than a month before Obama leaves the White House -- the U.S. military presence would scale down to what officials described as a "normal" embassy security contingent.

A senior administration official told CNN that after 2016, the number of U.S. service members in Afghanistan providing embassy security and engaging in cooperative security efforts with the host government and military would likely number about 1,000.

Currently, the United States has 32,000 troops there. Maintaining any forces beyond the end of 2014 -- when Washington and its NATO allies will formally halt combat operations -- depends on Afghanistan signing the security agreement rejected by outgoing President Hamid Karzai, Obama said Tuesday.

Two candidates facing each other in next month's run-off election to choose Karzai's successor have indicated they will sign the security pact, Obama said.

"It's time to turn the page on more than a decade in which so much of our foreign policy was focused on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq," he declared.

Three conservative Republicans who generally oppose any reduction in the U.S. military's global posture criticized Obama's announcement as "a monumental mistake and a triumph of politics over strategy."

"The President came into office wanting to end the wars he inherited. But wars do not end just because politicians say so," said a statement by Sens. John McCain of Arizona, Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.

Obama, however, said Americans have learned it was harder to end a war than to start one, adding that "we have to recognize Afghanistan will not be a perfect place, and it is not America's responsibility to make it one."

The role of U.S. troops in Afghanistan after this year will be aimed at "disrupting threats caused by al Qaeda, supporting Afghan security forces and giving the Afghan people the opportunity to succeed as they stand on their own," he said.

Tony Blinken, Obama's deputy national security adviser, told CNN that the United States will spend about $20 billion on the continued military presence in Afghanistan after 2014.

Asked if such a cost was worth it, Blinken replied: "We want to complete the job that we started." At the same time, he said "we can't be in an endless war posture."

In a call with journalists before Obama's announcement, senior administration officials said the intention was to show continued international support for Afghanistan as it transitions to its new elected government.

The successful first round of voting showed Afghanistan forces now were capable of providing security, the officials said.

The United States had as many as 100,000 forces in Afghanistan at one point. In all, more than 2,300 American troops have been killed in that war, launched in the weeks after the September 11, 2001, al Qaeda terror attacks on the United States.

Obama's announcement came the day before he delivers a foreign policy speech at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York.

On Tuesday, he indicated the shift in resources permitted by ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan would allow increase counter-terrorism assets in Africa and elsewhere.

Until now, Obama's administration has been reluctant to assign a number to American troop strength in Afghanistan once the combat mission ends.

House Republican leaders reacted to Obama's announcement with encouragement for a continuing mission, but skepticism over the rigid time line.

"I'm pleased the White House met the military's request for forces in Afghanistan. However, holding this mission to an arbitrary egg-timer doesn't make a lick of sense strategically," said Rep. Howard "Buck" McKeon, the California Republican who chairs the House Armed Services Committee.

House Speaker John Boehner, who has pushed for reaching a bilateral security agreement with Afghanistan to keep U.S. troops there, said he welcomed the plans for a continuing mission.

"It has been my long-standing position that input from our commanders about the conditions on the ground should dictate troop decisions, and not an arbitrary number from Washington," Boehner added in a statement.

Boehner: Don't repeat Iraq mistakes in Afghanistan

CNN's Jim Acosta and Kevin Liptak contributed to this report.

GOP's message to Michelle Obama

Donna Brazile says Republicans want to undo Michelle Obama's gains in healthy lunches

House bill would grant waivers, allow potatoes to be considered as "qualified" vegetable

Brazile: Frozen food, agribusiness want to whittle away at healthy lunch programs

Editor's note: Donna Brazile, a CNN contributor and a Democratic strategist, is vice chairwoman for voter registration and participation at the Democratic National Committee. She is a nationally syndicated columnist, an adjunct professor at Georgetown University and author of "Cooking With Grease: Stirring the Pots in America." She was manager for the Gore-Lieberman presidential campaign in 2000. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.

(CNN) -- It's been a long time. A very long time. But I cannot forget my first school lunch.

Call it free or call it charity, but it was a good meal that provided me, and so many others, with sustenance that made our school days more delightful. Our meals honored the traditions of the time -- red beans and rice with smoked sausage, bread and perhaps dessert. And of course every Friday we had fish sticks, potato salad or French fries.

We've come a long way since then. Today, most public school children get perfectly balanced meals. School chefs use food selected to provide maximum nutrition, food that will enhance a student's well-being and learning abilities. Their standards come from federal nutrition experts in the U.S. Department of Agriculture who survey what important foods are missing from children's diets.

More than 90% of the nation's schools follow these criteria. Come September, guidelines for healthier snacks will be added. Still, for all our efforts, the White House reports that, because of a poor diet, one-third of our children are on the path to diabetes.

Regulations implementing the nutritional guidelines must be legislated by Congress. As it considers the Agriculture Appropriations Bill, Congress -- especially House Republicans -- will have to decide if it represents the interests of our children or of special food lobbyists.

For example, the Maryland-based School Nutrition Association has sought, and received, congressional support to grant a one-year waiver from the standards to schools that can demonstrate six months of financial loss. The group represents 55,000 school lunch workers and nutritionists. But The Washington Post quoted a health professional who said the group reflects its funders, who are mostly frozen food and agribusiness interests.

Getting our children healthy lunches has had bipartisan origins. The healthy school lunch program was put forth during the George W. Bush years, and strengthened with the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act Michelle Obama saw successfully to adoption in 2010.

Mom pays off all school lunch debts

Man raises $1,200 to pay for school lunch

Mom: Teacher made my son eat from trash

Implementing USDA healthy lunch standards has met with some schools' resistance, according to the Government Accountability Office and the School Nutrition Association. But why? After all, a USDA study found only 0.15% of the schools surveyed said they were having difficulty complying with the healthy foods standards.

And the same study found that upward of 90% of the schools involved are successfully meeting the guidelines. That finding confirms another study done in 2012 by the Kids' Safe and Healthful Foods Project, "a collaboration between The Pew Charitable Trusts and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation that provides nonpartisan analysis and evidence-based recommendations" on food standards. It found 94% of school districts were on board to meeting the healthy food guidelines.

Jessica Donze Black, a nutritionist and director with Pew, told the press, "We are disappointed (with this waiver) that would weaken national nutrition standards for foods served in schools." Indeed, more than 100 child nutrition experts at national, state and local levels released a petition to Congress on May 19, requesting lawmakers fight, and end, the waiver to opt out of all the breakfast and lunch standards for schoolchildren.

We are beginning to reverse childhood obesity; it has fallen among preschoolers. But childhood obesity doubled during the past 30 years. Our progress is tiny but encouraging.

The proposed waiver appears to be an attempt to buy time so the frozen food industry and agribusinesses can worm their foods into the schools. The provision is opposed by hundreds of nonpartisan, nonprofit nutrition organizations and supported by just a handful of powerful junk food interests.

Congress appears willing to gamble with our children's health at the same time Olivier De Schutter, a U.N. health expert, declares that "unhealthy diets are greater threat to health than tobacco." Ironically, De Schutter calls for global regulation of salty, sugary foods, just when some members of Congress seem ready to abandon our own standards.

Providing our children with healthy food will reduce future health care costs. So why is this too being turned into a partisan dodge? Republicans in Congress have limited a pilot program that will test efficient ways to deliver foods during the summer only to children in rural low-income households. (This is not to be confused with the Summer Food Service Program, which will continue to deliver meals to urban and rural children alike.)

The excuse given by a House Agriculture spokeswoman is that rural children are scattered over wider areas and so "have some unique challenges." As if urban children going hungry don't face "unique challenges."

The House version of the Agriculture Appropriations Bill also seeks to add starchy, white potatoes to the list of "qualified vegetables" under the Women, Infants and Children, or WIC, supplemental feeding program for pregnant women and young children. This move comes after heavy lobbying by the white potato industry, which wants the prestige of qualifying for WIC and the marketing advantage that comes with it.

Congress should say no to the special interests, stop turning the well-being of our children into a partisan tool and focus on our children's health and their future.

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Veronika Weiss among 6 killed

NEW: University of California facilities will fly flags half-staff through Sunday

Victim Veronika Weiss reached out to "the kids who weren't the popular kids"

George Chen's mother: "We would die 100 times ... but we don't want our kids to get hurt"

A memorial ceremony honoring the six students killed will take place Tuesday afternoon

(CNN) -- As a California university mourns the deaths of six students, grieving parents are bracing to do the unimaginable -- bury their children.

A former stay-at-home dad who worked at home, Bob Weiss had an especially close relationship with his 19-year-old daughter, Veronika. He knew something was amiss Friday night when Veronika, who frequently checked in, didn't call her family.

So he tracked Veronika's cell phone online.

"We got on her iPhone and located it in the middle of the crime scene," Weiss said.

Jose Cardoso pays his respects Sunday, May 25, at a makeshift memorial at the IV Deli Mart, where part of a mass shooting took place, in Isla Vista, California. Elliot Rodger, 22, went on a rampage Friday night, May 23, near the University of California, Santa Barbara, stabbing three people to death at his apartment before shooting and killing three more in a nearby neighborhood, sheriff's officials said. Rodger also injured 13 others and died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, authorities said.

A man places flowers on the lawn of the Alpha Phi sorority house in Isla Vista on May 25. Two young women -- Katherine Cooper, 22, and Veronika Weiss, 19, -- were fatally shot outside the house Friday night.

Students gather for a candlelight vigil at the University of California, Santa Barbara, on Saturday, May 24.

Two students comfort each other during the candlelight vigil to honor the victims of Friday night's mass shooting in Isla Vista.

People gather at a park in Isla Vista for the May 24 vigil.

IV Deli Mart owner Michael Hassan, second from left, cleans up his store with employees May 24 as onlookers gather outside one of the shooting scenes. Student Christopher Martinez, 20, was getting a sandwich at the deli when he was fatally shot.

University of Santa Barbara, California, student Derrick Hayes gets emotional outside the IV Deli Mart on May 24 in Isla Vista.

A police officer inspects the gunman's car on May 24 after the killing spree in Isla Vista. The suspect, described as mentally disturbed and possibly bent on retribution, sprayed bullets from his car in a rampage called "premeditated mass murder," Santa Barbara County sheriff's deputies said.

A Santa Barbara County deputy sheriff walks along the street May 24 near a shooting scene in Isla Vista.

Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown speaks at a press conference regarding murder suspect Elliot Rodger on May 24. All the weapons used in Friday's rampage "were legally purchased" and registered to the suspect, Brown told reporters.

Flowers are placed in a bullet hole in the window of a delicatessen in Isla Vista on May 24.

Richard Martinez, father of victim Christopher Martinez, breaks down as he talks to media outside the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office. "Our family has a message for every parent out there: You don't think it will happen to your child until it does," the visibly emotional parent said.

An investigator speaks on a cell phone while examining the gunman's car.

A woman looks at the bullet holes on the window of the deli where part of the shooting spree took place in Isla Vista, California.

Flowers are left on the sidewalk of the IV Deli Mart in Isla Vista, California.

Two women comfort each other Saturday near the scene of a shooting. Seven people also were being treated in a hospital for gunshot wounds or traumatic injuries, a sheriff's office spokeswoman said.

A Santa Barbara County deputy sheriff checks out the black BMW sedan driven by the suspected shooter. The gunman died from a gunshot wound after his car crashed, police said. It was unclear whether the fatal head wound was self-inflicted or the result of a firefight with police.

The car of the alleged shooter at the crime scene Saturday. Isla Vista is the residential quarter for students mostly enrolled in UCSB and some in Santa Barbara City College. The community sits on beachfront bluffs just west of UCSB.

The crime scene in the aftermath of the shooting.

Broken glass at the shooting scene Saturday. Authorities said there were multiple crime scenes.

Fire trucks are parked outside an Isla Vista mart Friday night after the deadly rampage. The shootings occurred in a crowded area bustling with activity on Memorial Day weekend.

Deadly rampage in California college town

Photos: Deadly rampage in California town

Deadly shooting in California town

7 dead in California shootings

Witness: Suspect slowed car to shoot

The phone was moving, but no one was answering.

"We actually were looking at her phone while they were moving her body ... probably to take her to the morgue."

Veronika was one of six college students killed by Elliot Rodger, who was bent on killing beautiful women and popular men after years of self-described rejection and jealousy.

The irony, Weiss said, is that Veronika was exactly the kind of person who would want to help Rodger.

"She was kind. She was the person who would reach out to the kids who weren't the popular kids, some of the nerdy kids, some of the kids that were a little bit like this Rodger kid described himself as."

A day of mourning

A cloud of grief has covered the scenic community of Isla Vista since Rodger killed six students from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Thirteen other people were wounded.

The university declared Tuesday to be a formal day of mourning, with a memorial service set for 4 p.m. PT (7 p.m. ET). Classes were canceled.

The University of California system will keep flags lowered to half-staff through Sunday, said Janet Napolitano, the UC president.

"During this terrible time for our UC community, I ask that you join me in the belief that the process of healing and reflection we will go through in the coming days will draw us closer as a university community. Together, we will get through this," Napolitano said.

Counselors are available on campus for anyone needing support, the university said.

'We would die 100 times'

Kelly Wang and Johnny Chen can't understand why their son, George Chen, was stabbed to death by his roommate before the killer went on a shooting rampage. Wang said she would do anything to trade places with her son.

"We would die 100 times,1,000 times, but we don't want our kids to get hurt," Wang told CNN affiliate KABC, weeping.

"This shouldn't happen to any family. This should be the last one in the United States."

A long-planned rampage

The plot may have been years in the making, but the killer gave just minutes' notice before he rained terror across Isla Vista.

Authorities now know Rodger's killing spree began before he even left home.

The 22-year-old former Santa Barbara City College student fatally stabbed three young men in his own apartment -- Chen, 19, Cheng Yuan Hong, 20, and Weihan Wang, 20.

Chen and Hong were the attacker's roommates, and Wang was visiting.

A friend of Rodger's family said Rodger recently had a feud with his roommates, complaining to his landlord that they were too noisy and played lots of video games.

The assailant himself outlined his plan to kill two roommates in a 137-page manifesto.

"I'd even enjoy stabbing them both to death while they slept," Rodger wrote.

Cops investigate 'retribution' video

Shooter's childhood friend speaks out

The manifesto chronicles his life from birth all the way to his planned "Day of Retribution."

On Friday, minutes before he killed two young women in front of a sorority house and shot a young man at a nearby deli, Rodger e-mailed his writings to two dozen people -- including his parents and at least one of his therapists.

"My orchestration of the Day of Retribution is my attempt to do everything, in my power, to destroy everything I cannot have," Rodger wrote.

"All of those beautiful girls I've desired so much in my life, but can never have because they despise and loathe me, I will destroy."

But it wasn't just beautiful girls he wanted to kill.

"All of those popular people who live hedonistic lives of pleasure, I will destroy, because they never accepted me as one of them," Rodger wrote. "I will kill them all and make them suffer, just as they have made me suffer. It is only fair."

Rodger's mother, Lichin, saw the e-mailed manifesto at 9:17 p.m. Friday. She went to Rodger's YouTube page and saw a disturbing video in which her son talked about "slaughtering" women at a sorority house at the University of California at Santa Barbara, family friend Simon Astaire said.

His mother called her ex-husband and 911, and the parents left from Los Angeles to Santa Barbara, the family friend said. En route, they heard there was a shooting. They later learned out their son was the gunman.

Elliot Rodger was found dead after crashing his black BMW, a gunshot wound to his head.

Killer's parents frantically searched for son

Inside the gunman's head: Rejection, jealousy and a vow to kill 'beautiful girls'

The assailant had been seeing therapists

Rodger's history of mental health issues was no secret to his family, and the young man was seeing at least two therapists prior to his death.

He had been seeing therapists on and off since he was 8, Astaire said. When he went to high school in Van Nuys, California, he met with a therapist "pretty much every day," Astaire said.

Rodger's family contacted police after discovering social media posts about suicide and killing people, family spokesman and attorney Alan Shifman said.

Six policemen showed up at Rodger's home in Isla Vista on April 30, but they found nothing alarming. So they told Rodger to call his mother and they reassured her that he was OK, Astaire said.

Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown told reporters that at the time, deputies "determined he did not meet the criteria for an involuntary hold."

Brown said Rodger told deputies he was having troubles with his social life, but that he was not going to hurt himself or anyone else.

Victims remembered

Weiss and Katherine Cooper, 22, were members of the Delta Delta Delta sorority at UCSB.

"Katie will be remembered for her generous spirit and warm heart. Veronika will be remembered for her vibrant personality and enthusiasm for life," Delta Delta Delta President Phyllis Durbin Grissom wrote.

The sixth victim killed, Christopher Martinez, was getting a sandwich at a deli when he was shot. The 20-year-old UCSB student was known for his selflessness.

"Chris was just an amazing guy," Jeff Dolphin, Martinez's freshman-year roommate, told the Los Angeles Times.

"If I was going through something, he was always there for me. If I needed something, he was there. If I needed a textbook, if I was locked out of the room because I forgot my key, he would stop playing basketball or doing what he was doing to unlock the door so I didn't have to get charged. He was just a great guy."

Martinez's father, Richard Martinez, excoriated politicians and the National Rifle Association after his son's death. He told CNN that nothing has changed since the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings in 2012, when 20 children and six adults were killed.

"Have we learned nothing? These will continue until somebody does something. Where the hell is the leadership?" Richard Martinez asked.

"He's our only child. And he died on Friday. I'm 61 years old now. I'll never have another child. He's gone."

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CNN's Michael Martinez, Pamela Brown, Todd Leopold, Ashley Fantz, Greg Morrison, Alan Duke and Chelsea J. Carter contributed to this report.