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Woman Killed by Stingray Attack; Midwest Copes with Floods; Child Porn Investigation Leads to 21 Arrests; Oil Prices Drop for Second Day

Aired March 20, 2008 - 13:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Well, the first day of spring brings flooding of historic proportions as the mess in the Midwest deepens. At least 13 people have died in heavy storms, and several more are missing.
President Bush is declaring flood-stricken Missouri a major disaster area. The rain has now ended for now, but -- but -- many more rivers and creeks are still expected to overflow. People are rushing to get out of the way, but some are stranded or hindered by washed-out roads and highways.

Boy, it is a mess.

Hello, everyone. I'm Don Lemon, live in the CNN world headquarters here in Atlanta.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Brianna Keilar, in today for Kyra Phillips. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

We've got a sad story unfolding in Florida that we want to tell you about first up here. We're hearing from authorities there that a family was out on a boat off the shore of Marathon, Florida, when this stingray right here jumped out of the water into this boat and struck a woman and killed her.

According to Monroe County sheriff's office there, this woman had severe injuries to her face. This ray is being described as a large spotted eagle ray. It's about 75 pounds.

And we're also learning that this is a 55-year-old Michigan woman, again, who was just sun bathing on her boat. She was pronounced dead at a local hospital. Officials there calling this a freak accident.

We're going to be talking shortly here with the Coast Guard, and we'll bring that to you as soon as we can.

LEMON: Absolutely. Well, the calendar may say it's the first day of spring, but parts of the country are still bracing for snow. CNN's severe weather expert, Mr. Chad Myers, tracking that for us, plus all the flooding we've been telling you about. And we've seen those horrific pictures, Chad.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. You know, I would take snow at this point over rain, because at least it takes a while for snow to melt, and it doesn't just go right into the rivers.

But look at some of numbers, Don. Cape Girardeau, Missouri, starting on Monday, 12 inches of rain. In Mountain Home, Arkansas, 12 inches of rain, as well. And there's just nowhere for this rain to go. It's certainly going to be running off.

And this is a map. I've overlaid kind of a Missouri Department of Transportation map over one of our Google maps here. And every little square that you see across -- this is Missouri. Here's Kansas. Here's Nebraska. Every square is a closed road.

I just kind of highlighted one of them: State Route 80 here in Mississippi County, road closed due to flooding. And there's hundreds of reports across the state there of roads that are closed because of flooding.

Now yesterday was a pretty decent day. Yesterday, we didn't get a lot of flooding. It rained in some spots. And about two inches of rain was the biggest number that I could find anywhere across the country.

The difference today is how much it's drying out. And it really is looking pretty good today. Airports are doing fairly well. Yesterday they were terrible. Day before, Dallas was backed up forever. A little bit of wind in New York, in La Guardia, in New York and Teterboro. But other than that, we're pretty much -- we're on the good side of what we could have been and what probably what should have been.

The sunshine is out in many areas, but the flooding is done. The flooding is going to be running downhill. A lot of people are still going to get flooding, because you are downhill from where the rain was. You are still going to see that water come up, even though, if you were right where the rain fell, your rain totals are high, but at least your water is now coming down.

Let's look at the radar estimates for the next 24 hours, now into 48 hours, of where the rain -- or up here, of course, in the north, is where the snow is going to fall, so not much. Not going to see anything else. A couple of good days to dry out, but they're going to need more than a couple days to dry out in some spots, Don.

LEMON: Oh, yes. You're right about that. OK, Chad, we'll check back with you throughout the day. Thank you, sir.

MYERS: You're welcome.

KEILAR: In Ohio, the skies are clear, and that means so is the danger. CNN's Sean Callebs in this south Lebanon, where the Little Miami River has already crested.

Hi there, Sean.

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Brianna. That's the good news. If you look behind me, at this 300-acre soybean field, this is what it looks like after a river runs through it. The Little Miami backed up here after getting about five inches of rain in a 24-hour period, swamping this area.

But engineering worked exactly the way it's supposed to. What happened is this field drained, it went down in the culvert here, and then the water pouring under this road.

But look at what the road looks like right now. All this debris that is right here. This road's been closed for the last day or so. But you know what? There are people who are ignoring the "road closed" sign. They're driving through here. They're risking life; they're risking limb.

And joining us now to talk about this, Frank Young, who is the emergency management -- emergency management director for Warren County, Ohio.

You've done this 32 years. Tell me what it was like in the last 24 hours. You had some very scary moments. You had to save a lot of people, including one guy driving a tanker tried to make it through the flood?

FRANK YOUNG, EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT DIRECTOR, WARREN COUNTY, OHIO: That's correct, down on the other -- other end of the roadway down there. We've had about 12 water rescues. The signs are out, the roads have closed. People continue to ignore it and go through it, risking their lives, but risking lives of the first responders that have to come and get them out.

CALLEBS: Now, today they're trying to dry out homes. A couple dozen houses here in the town of South Lebanon got flooded, but also bridge inspectors are also out. Because where we're standing, I guess a big concern, the water running underneath, scouring out, and these things could collapse?

YOUNG: That's correct. That's what we need to look at today, as well. And we'll probably be doing this for the next several days.

CALLEBS: You've been doing this a long time. People in the Ohio Valley know these rivers are going to jump their banks. The Little Miami there in the distance. How bad is this? And it could have been a lot worse.

YOUNG: Well, the prediction on this river was to go to 28 feet. It went to 24. So we got lucky, in a way. This is kind of -- if you take the history of the river over 100 years, the 24-foots are the more common that we get here.

But I can't stress to people enough, you know, stay out of the running water. They live here. They know it. They know what's going to happen. Don't go into it.

CALLEBS: Frank, thanks very much for joining us here. And good job over the past couple days. I know you haven't had much sleep. YOUNG: Oh, it's the thing (ph).

CALLEBS: The bad thing is, Brianna, for people who live further downstream, all this water, it's been an extremely wet month here in the Midwest, record snowfall just a couple of weeks ago. There's nowhere for this to go. The ground is saturated. So the Miami is going to dump into other tributaries. So all those people who had to endure flooding, perhaps, over the last 24, 48 hours, more could be on the way -- Brianna.

KEILAR: All right. That's definitely unfortunate there. We know you're keeping an eye on it. Sean Callebs there for us in South Lebanon, Ohio.

Want to get you back to another story that we're following out of the Florida Keys. A family was on a boat -- this was offshore of Marathon, Florida -- when a stingray jumped out of the water -- you see it right there. It jumped into this boat, and it struck a woman in her face. And from this, or from some relation to this, at this point unclear whether she hit her head or because of maybe a puncture wound, but she was pronounced dead at a local hospital.

Want to get you now to Jorge Pino. He is with Florida Fish and Wildlife, who is heading up the investigation there. He's on his way to the scene.

Mr. Pino, can you hear me?

JORGE PINO, FLORIDA FISH AND WILDLIFE: Yes, I can.

KEILAR: So what else can you tell us about this?

PINO: Well, I can tell you it's a very unfortunate situation. Our thoughts and our prayers are with the family at this point.

But basically, what you described is actually exactly what occurred. There was a family that was enjoying a beautiful day out here in the Keys, and the stingray actually jumped out of the water and collided with either the vessel or the victim herself, causing her to die.

We have our investigators that are on the scene right now, trying to make that determination, to see if it was -- her death occurred as a direct result of the collision with the ray (ph) or whether it was -- she panicked while she was in the boat and she fell backwards when the ray actually ended up in the boat. So we're looking at -- into those few incidents to try to determine exactly what occurred.

KEILAR: So we've heard from Monroe County Sheriff's Office that this woman had severe injuries to her face. Is that -- can you confirm that?

PINO: I cannot confirm that. I would imagine that, if she collided with a ray, then, yes, she would definitely have those kind of injuries. I'm on my way down to the scene to try to get more detail as to what occurred, but at this point I don't have that information.

KEILAR: I know at this point the ray is being described as a large spotted eagle ray. We can see in these pictures here, when you compare this ray to an official here, perhaps the Coast Guard. I'm not exactly sure. Could be fish and wildlife, a man there. This is a very large animal, estimated to be about 75 pounds, and reading, it says that this is a species capable of leaping completely out of the water when pursued. But this has to be a very unusual occurrence. Right?

PINO: Oh, it's extremely unusual. I mean, the chances of this occurring are so remote that, I mean, most of us are completely astonished that this happened. I mean, we have seen them, and I have seen them personally while I'm driving in the South Florida waterways, in the ocean in the South Florida, to see the ray actually jump out of the water. And I've seen that myself.

But to actually see or know of a collision with a ray is extremely unusual, and it's something that doesn't happen very often.

KEILAR: What can you tell us about this woman, about this family that was out on this boat?

PINO: I can tell you that she's a 55-year-old female. I believe that she was with her husband and some kids at the time of the incident. But I don't have any more information other than that. I'm hoping to get it as quickly as I can.

KEILAR: What's the next step here?

PINO: Well, the next step is, you know, comfort the family as best as we can. But as far as an investigative mode, our investigators want to just try to pinpoint the exact cause of death to see if -- if -- we know for sure that her death was related to this ray. What we don't know is whether it was as a result of a collision or it was a result of her just panicking and falling back and hitting her head, or a combination of both. So that is our next step, is trying to determine exactly why this happened.

KEILAR: And who exactly will determine the circumstances of her death? Whether it was a head injury or, say, some sort of wound?

PINO: Our investigators will obviously do their investigation, but the medical examiner's office will have to conduct an autopsy. And the combination of the autopsy and the physical evidence on board the vessel, and the witness statements that we have received, is how we'll be able to make that determination.

KEILAR: All right, Jorge Pino with Florida Fish and Wildlife, thanks so much for talking with us.

A very sad story, again, coming out of the Florida Keys. A family, just on a boat, having a day out there on the water, when a stingray jumped into this boat and struck, it appears, a woman who we're hearing from Florida Fish and Wildlife was a mom and a wife, out there with her husband and her kids, and she has now been pronounced dead. Again, this investigation is ongoing. As we learn more, we will bring it to you.

LEMON: Just a sad story all the way around. And who would have thought the chances of that?

KEILAR: Sure.

LEMON: We're going to continue to follow that story, of course, throughout the day in the CNN NEWSROOM.

We also have some other developing news. We've been talking about the weather. Man, it's creating havoc across much of the Midwest. President Bush declaring flood-stricken Missouri a major disaster area. At least 13 people have died, most of those people in Missouri.

Joining us now on the phone is the lieutenant governor of Missouri, Peter Kinder.

I'm told you just toured the area. What did you see, sir?

PETER KINDER, LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR OF MISSOURI: I am actually in a -- in a highway patrol car on a driving tour of Poplar Bluff, Missouri. And devastating flooding. I grew up along the Mississippi River in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. That has 13 inches of rain this week. But I've not seen such a devastating flood event over such a wide part of Missouri in many, many years.

LEMON: I was speaking yesterday to one of the sheriffs, one of the police officers, I believe, near St. Joseph's, Missouri, if I'm not mistaken, and they were talking about -- we were talking about the 1993 flood, what we call the great flood in the Midwest. How is this comparatively?

KINDER: Well, this is comparatively very severe, very devastating because of its widespread nature. Usually, when you have flash flooding, it's because of relatively localized rain. We have flash flooding over hundreds and hundreds of miles, almost from border to border across southern Missouri.

Seventy counties and the city of St. Louis are now officially declared disaster areas. Seven fatalities as of this morning. Just in the last 15 minutes, we've received a report on a levee break down by the Arkansas line that has stranded 100 people. The water patrol and the U.S. Coast Guard are on their way to rescue those people in boats.

LEMON: Oh, my goodness.

KINDER: The Black River in Poplar Bluff crested at 1:00 a.m. today, but we're not out. We're still in a world of hurt.

LEMON: Oh, my goodness. You said the levee broke near Arkansas and people are stranded?

KINDER: It is -- it is not a main U.S. Corps of Engineers -- U.S. Army Corps of Engineers levee along the river. It is a -- it is an agricultural levee down on the Missouri -- near the Missouri- Arkansas line, and it did strand 100 people who will be rescued here in the next few minutes.

LEMON: Oh, my goodness. OK.

And just to real quickly, you were saying there are seven fatalities just as of this morning. Do you expect the death toll -- and sadly, I have to ask you this -- to go up? Is this going to increase the death toll that we've been reporting here?

KINDER: We are hopeful that we have topped out with a death total of seven and that there will be no more, but I certainly can't guarantee that. There were -- there were desperate rescues being executed in the wee hours of this morning right before the crest came down the Black River in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, which is a few miles north of the Arkansas line.

LEMON: What kind of words can you offer for the people of Missouri and throughout the Midwest, Lieutenant Governor?

KINDER: Well, I want to offer my thanks to the heroic emergency responders, disaster relief personnel who in this one county alone, Butler County, Missouri, number over 500 people who have gotten very little sleep since Monday morning as they've responded to their neighbors in need.

We've had an enormous outpouring of help. We will need more help, though. To give you one example, the good folks at Anheuser- Busch have sent a truckload of fresh water to the town of Piedmont, Missouri, which needs fresh water, because they will be without drinking water for weeks.

LEMON: OK. Our hearts certainly go out with -- go out to you and the people there. And we thank you very much for calling into the CNN NEWSROOM. If you get any new information, especially about that levee breaking, Lieutenant Governor, please let us know. Lieutenant governor of Missouri, Peter Kinder, thank you.

KINDER: Thank you so much.

KEILAR: A high school student, a forklift driver, an auto salesman and a computer tech, an assortment of folks, and they're all among those charged in a child porn probe in Florida.

Fredricka -- Fredricka Whitfield's got more now from the breaking news desk.

What can you tell us, Fred?

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Well, Brianna, you imagine just one home and 80,000 images, still images, of child pornography. That's what was uncovered in this investigation, which began back in October of '07 and just wrapped up in February.

But now we understand that this extensive investigation in Florida, particularly zeroing in on Polk County there, has netted the arrest of these people that you're seeing right here, 21 people. Two are still at large, however. So the search is still under way for them. But they are all charged with possession, as well as promotion.

Now the children photographed, which we understand that there are, in all, 100,000 images, because there were other homes that were involved, too, in Polk County, where images were seized. And 500 videos of children as young as 1-month-old, Brianna. And the average age of the children who were captured in these images, 7 to 9. Ages 7 and ages 9 are the average ages of the kids who were in these images.

However, it's unclear exactly whether there was ever any contact between the children in these pornographic images and any potential suspects. So again, 21 people who are arrested, all charged with possession of the child pornography material, as well as the efforts of promoting them -- Brianna.

KEILAR: That is appalling. I mean, I don't even know what to say. You know, you just shake your head.

WHITFIELD: Oh, I know. I don't think anybody can understand it.

KEILAR: All right. Fredricka Whitfield, thanks for that.

LEMON: Well, you might find this hard to believe, but oil prices are heading down. Does that mean more money in your pocket? We'll find out from our Ali Velshi.

And women at war. They fight in Iraq, then come home to their families. But the stress, it doesn't end there. We'll hear one woman's story.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: If you wondered how high gas prices would have to go before people cut back on their driving, well, we may have an answer for you. U.S. gasoline consumption is down 1 percent compared with last year. And that is very unusual. It normally rises 1.5 percent per year.

One expert says in the current weak economy, $3.25 a gallon appears to be the breaking point. AAA says the current national average price for regular unleaded gasoline, just over $3.27 a gallon.

LEMON: And reduced demand for gas appears to be moving the oil markets, where prices are down sharply again today.

CNN's senior business correspondent, Ali Velshi, has that for us.

Hi, Ali.

ALI VELSHI, CNN SENIOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon. My vest. I was looking for that vest, by the way.

LEMON: I knew you were going to do that. I knew it.

KEILAR: Whimsy (ph) day! LEMON: You're not the only one -- dueling vests here. You're not the only one who can wear a vest on the air, my friend.

VELSHI: Yes. You look good in it.

LEMON: I've been wanting to wear it since I got here.

VELSHI: Yes. If I see you with an oil barrel then I'm going to get worried.

LEMON: Hang on. Hang on a minute. Oh, no. I don't have it here. I'll have to get it. It's in my office.

VELSHI: Let me tell you, they're not worth as much as they used to be, at least if there's oil in it. I mean, look at this. This is...

LEMON: Yes.

VELSHI: What a day it's come to, when I'm telling you that this is interesting news that we're down to -- and this is moving pretty fast -- but about $100.80 for a barrel of oil.

Oil lost, like 4 bucks yesterday and another 4 bucks today. It's due to a couple things.

One is the U.S. dollar has been gaining a little bit of strength in the last day or so, ever since the Fed cut interest rates. That's actually the opposite of what it would typically be doing. I wouldn't worry too much about that. I think you're going to see the dollar come down again.

And then the other thing that Brianna just mentioned, with oil at $3.30, almost $3.27, people are perhaps cutting back a little bit.

CNN and Opinion Research Corporation did a poll, and we asked people, you know, whether the high price of gasoline is causing financial hardship. Here's what it said: 42 -- I'm sorry, 72 percent of Americans said, yes, that the high price of gasoline is causing financial hardship. Only 28 percent said no.

And then we asked how likely it is that oil will go -- gasoline will get up to $4 a gallon. Three twenty-seven is where we're at, but there are some states where it's already above $4. Seventy-two percent said very likely, 20 percent said somewhat, and 8 percent said not likely.

Experts we've spoken to have said expect it by Memorial Day, $3.50. Maybe even $3.75. And our polling did show, and we've always sort of thought, that in that $3.00 to $3.50-a-gallon range, Don, is where people start to actually pare back.

We do know there's been a decrease in consumption of gasoline in the last year. So you know, people will have to make choices. If they're living close to the edge and that's costing them more, something's got to change. LEMON: Something's got to -- got to start changing their habits. And we've been hearing a lot about that, Ali.

VELSHI: And I like the way you're changing your habits.

LEMON: And you know, I've been wanting -- I've been wanting it since we got here. We got a new boss, and he said it was OK.

VELSHI: It looks good.

LEMON: And also I'm going to the barber shop today, so look out. And I haven't worn my reading glasses on the air yet, so...

VELSHI: You know what I always miss, Don? I think most of us guys miss it, but I miss the opportunity to talk to one of my colleagues and say, "Hey, can I borrow one of your" something?

LEMON: Yes.

VELSHI: So you and I, we're in the game now.

LEMON: Yes. That and neckties. And remember, Ali, a vest is like an all-day hug.

Thanks, Ali Velshi.

KEILAR: First came the surge. Now talk of a pause. This is Pentagon speak about troops coming home from Iraq. We'll explain.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: All right. Take a look at these. Man. Live pictures from Jefferson County, Missouri. Parts of that you're looking at, there's supposed to be water there, but most of it there's not supposed to be water there. That's because of the deluge of rain and flooding that's going on in Jefferson County, Missouri, and really all over the Midwest.

Just so you know, we got off the phone just a short time ago with the lieutenant governor of Missouri. He's saying near the Arkansas border they are trying to rescue at least 100 people there, he said.

Seven counties have been named a disaster area. Of course, President Bush declaring flood-stricken Missouri a major disaster areas.

And at least, last count -- and we fear that these numbers may go up; we hope they don't -- at least 13 people have died in heavy storms, and several more are still missing.

It is a mess in the Midwest. And there's possibly a rescue going on. If you look right there in the center of your screen, as soon as we get around this tree, it appears to be a rescue boat at a home.

And we don't have control of these pictures. We appreciate our affiliate there, KSDK, which is located in St. Louis. Their chopper facilitating these pictures for us, these live pictures.

But we've been watching much -- many scenes like this, many rescue scenes going on all across the Midwest where this -- the rain just -- I mean, just totally came in and wiped out the place. We heard the lieutenant governor saying he has never seen this much flooding in such a wide swath of the state and of the Midwest.

So that's what's going on there. And we're continuing to follow this. As a matter of fact, our Chad Myers on top of it all, watching it from the CNN severe weather center. We'll check in with him in just a bit.

KEILAR: When you think of the troubles in the housing market, boarded-up homes in bad neighborhoods may come to mind, but actually wealthier neighborhoods with bigger homes are also caught up in the mess.

Stephanie Elam is at the New York Stock Exchange to explain why.

Hi there, Stephanie. So why?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Brianna, it's one of those things, right, where you go, let's see, these are people making a good living, earning more than $100,000. So how could they possibly have a hard time paying their mortgage? I mean, that's a lot of money in most parts of the country.

But it is, in fact, true. The upper middle class is not immune to the housing woes. Whether they bought a bigger home than they could afford, or perhaps they refinanced their home so they could get some cash out of it, these people are also playing a role in the mortgage meltdown.

In fact, the number of delinquencies for people with jumbo mortgages of more than $417,000 is actually going up. An economist at Moodys.com -- at Moody.com says foreclosures for people with jumbos could actually hit 8 percent, Brianna.

KEILAR: And it -- it really makes you wonder why. Is it just that well-off folks are also getting in over their head?

ELAM: Sure. I mean, it doesn't matter how much money you make. You can still actually take on more than you can handle or bite off more than you can chew. And that would be the case here, it seems.

Whether it's more home than they could afford or maybe falling into the same trap as many others by taking out adjustable-rate mortgages that are resetting at much higher levels. And you know, some of these people probably could have afforded better mortgages but still got stuck in that situation here.

But no need to just focus on the doom and gloom, since I do have a ray of good news for you today, Brianna. Oil prices. They are sliding for a second day in a row, briefly dipping below $100 a barrel. Right now barely above $100 a barrel. Yesterday's drop was nearly $5. It was the biggest in 17 years as the dollar strengthens a bit. The lower oil prices are sending stocks higher. And we could see some extra volatility this afternoon as futures contracts begin to expire.

And also, don't forget, we're heading into a three-day Easter weekend. Tomorrow is Good Friday, so the markets in the U.S. will, in fact, be closed.

So, coming on our look at earnings here, we have some new from FedEx. They said that they've had some limited growth ahead, maybe an issue because the shipper sees oil prices and weak demand factoring in. FedEx is considered an economic bell weather because a slow down in shipments is a sign that the economy as a whole is slowing down.

So, the Dow right now, up 134 points, 12,233, up more than one percent. NASDAQ up 19 at 2,229. So, the seesaw continues at this hour.

Coming up, the next victim of the credit crunch. It could be unsuspecting college students. I'll tell you why in the next hour of NEWSROOM. It all makes me very happy, Brianna, that college is in my rearview mirror.

KEILAR: Yes, I agree, and college loans for that matter.

ELAM: All behind us now.

KEILAR: All right, Stephanie Elam. Thanks very much.

ELAM: Thanks, Brianna.

LEMON: And here's something that people are hoping is behind them, but sadly it is not right now. We are talking about the flooding in the Midwest. We're going to follow story.

Also a story coming out of Florida, really a developing story. A women there on vacation -- imagine this. You are on vacation, you're hanging out with your family on a boat, and then a stingray jumps in. Sadly, she lost her life. But there's new details in that case. We're going to bring to you right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Also, she fought in Iraq, then came home to be a mom, but the war is far from over. Combat stress and the female soldier. There's so much to learn here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: A woman in Florida died today after a stingray jumped out of the water and into the boat where she was apparently sun bathing. This was a Michigan family on a boat off of the Florida Keys when this happened, that stingray jumping out of the water. According to the Monroe County Sheriff's Office.

This woman had severe injuries to her face, but we heard from Jorge Pino, with Florida Fish and Wildlife that it's still unclear exactly how this woman died, if she died from the results of the stingray impacting her head. Perhaps a barb piercing her, or if she fell backward, hitting her head.

Let's listen to more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: So what else can you tell us about this?

PINO: Well, I can tell you, it's a very unfortunate situation. Our thoughts and our prayers are with the family at this point. But basically what you described is actually exactly what occurred. There was a family that was enjoying a beautiful day out here in the Keys, and the stingray actually jumped out of the water and collided with either the vessel or the victim herself causing her to die.

We have our investigators that are on the scene right now, trying to make that determination to see if it was her -- her death occurred as a direct result of a collision with the stingray or whether she panicked while she was in the boat and she fell backwards when the ray actually ended up in the boat. So we're looking into those few incidents to try to determine exactly what occurred.

KEILAR: So we've heard from Monroe County sheriff's office that this woman had severe injuries to her face. Can you confirm that?

PINO: I cannot confirm that. I would imagine that if she collided with a ray, then, yes, she would definitely have those kind of injuries. I'm on my way down to the scene to try to get more detail as to what occurred, but at this point I don't have that information.

KEILAR: I know at this point the ray is being described as a large spotted eagle ray. We can see in these pictures here when you compare this ray to an official here, perhaps the coast guard -- I'm not exactly sure, could be Fish and Wildlife, the man there -- this is a very large animal, estimated to be about 75 pounds. And reading, it says that this is a species capable of leaping completely out of the water when pursued. But this has to be a very unusual occurrence.

PINO: Oh, it's extremely unusual. I mean, the chances of this occurring are so remote, that, I mean, Most of us are completely astonished that this happened. I mean, we have seen them and I have seen them personally while I'm driving in the South Florida waterways, in the oceans in South Florida, to see the ray actually jump out of the water. And I've seen that myself. But to actually see a -- or know of a collision with a ray is extremely unusual, and it's something that doesn't happen very often.

KEILAR: What can you tell us about this woman, about this family that was out on this boat?

PINO: I can tell you that she's 55-year-old female. I believe that she was with her husband and some kids at the time of the incident. But I don't have any more information other than that. I'm hoping to get it as quickly as I can.

KEILAR: What's the next step here? PINO: Well, the next step is are comfort the family as best as we can. But as far as an investigative mode, our investigators want to just try to pinpoint the exact cause of death, to see if -- we know for sure that her death was related to this ray. What we don't know is whether it was as a result of the collision or was a result of her just panicking and falling back and hitting her head, or a combination of both. So that is our next step, trying to determine exactly why this happened.

KEILAR: And who exactly will determine the circumstances of her death, whether it was a head injury or, say, some sort of wound?

PINO: Well, our investigators will obviously do their investigation, but the medical examiner's office will have to conduct an autopsy. And the combination of the autopsy and the physical evidence on board the vessel, and the witness statements that we have received is how we'll be able to make that determination.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: That was Jorge Pino from the Florida Fish and Wildlife, speaking to our Brianna Keilar just moments ago.

There's something about women in uniform, women in combat. That's a big distinction. In five years of war in Iraq, more American women have deployed to the combat zone than all the wars of past century combined. Battle stress is a complicated matter, and women veterans have some unique issues.

CNN's Randi Kaye reports.

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RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On the playground, she feels safe, close to her children, far from the nightmares and the crowds that terrify her. I first interviewed Keri Christensen in November, 2006. She was part of history then, among the first group of women in the history of the United States classified as combat veterans. But like her male counterparts, Iraq haunted her. She was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, PTSD.

And last fall, she hit rock bottom, thoughts of suicide.

KERI CHRISTENSEN, SUFFERS FROM PTSD: I ended up calling 911 and I ended up getting hospitalized for a couple of days.

KAYE (on camera): What does rock bottom feel like?

CHRISTENSEN: Very dark, lonely place.

KAYE (voice-over): In 2006, the Veterans Administration diagnosed nearly 3,800 women with PTSD. Keri meets with a counselor weekly and attends group therapy.

(on camera): What is this here?

CHRISTENSEN: This is for the sleep disturbance, PTSD. And this is for my nightmares.

KAYE (voice-over): A member of the National Guard, Keri transported tanks in Iraq. She was shot at and nearly a victim of a roadside bomb. The convoy in front of hers blew up.

CHRISTENSEN: You just have this fear, like, oh my God, I still have to drive through there. Am I going to make it?

KAYE: That fear is still with her. She drives no more than two miles from home.

CHRISTENSEN: When I get outside of my familiar safe territory, I start to feel a little overwhelmed. It gets foggy.

KAYE: Kerry says she's also dealing with trauma from sexual harassment in Iraq. The military tells CNN Keri's complaint has no merit. The V.A. reports between 2002 and 2007, nearly 22 percent of women veterans had experienced military sexual trauma, or MST, which includes sexual harassment and assault.

Darrah Westrup counsels women veterans. The numbers are even worse, she says. Many are afraid to report their problems.

DR. DARRAH WESTRUP, NATL. WOMEN'S TRAUMA RECOVERY PROGRAM: The same individuals that attacked you are those that will be protecting you or that you'll be fighting alongside the next day.

KAYE: Keri was reassigned after an injury to a job which included preparing coffins.

CHRISTENSEN: You know, war is war, and there's going to be death. But you just never really know how it's going to hit you until you physically see it.

KAYE (on camera): Keri has made some improvement. She no longer has imaginary conversations with her husband, and her sleeping habits are much better. When we saw her last, she was only sleeping about four hours a night because of the nightmares. Now she's averaging about six.

So do you have hope that one day you will be able to return to the woman you were before you left for war?

CHRISTENSEN: I don't think we'll ever be the same. I think that you can learn to cope with it.

KAYE (voice-over): A new class of women learning to live with hidden scars while a country tries to figure out how to heal them.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: And Keri is learning to get past what she calls her "stuck point," it's where she can't go any farther where she feels like she's losing control, her self-esteem drops. It's just so sad because before the war, Keri tells me she was outgoing, she loved to be around people, she was actually very laid back. And now, she's full of this guilt for leaving her girls behind and not coming back the woman she was. And also, she's terrified of practically everything, even if she's a passenger in the car with her husband. If he drives over anything, even a garbage bag or maybe just a piece of trash in the road, she holds her breath. It is just a terrible way, Don, for anyone to live.

LEMON: Yes, Randi, it all just starts to come back to her just like she was in a war zone. I have to ask you this, though. All these reports about military sexual trauma are concerning, but not something we've heard so much about.

KAYE: That's right and that's because so many more women are serving now than before. About 11 percent actually of the military in Iraq and Afghanistan is women, about 180,000 troops or so. And there could be so many more out there who have been assaulted because they're afraid to come forward, actually. There also could be many more with the PTSD, the stress disorder.

The experts we talked with say some women may not even know they have it, they just know they don't feel right. And also, PTSD can actually show up months after these women return. So all of a sudden, maybe three months later or so, they're feeling lousy and they may or may not get help and they may never recover.

LEMON: All right, thank you very much for that. Randi Kaye, of course, a frequent contributor to our "360" which airs weeknights at 10:00 p.m. Eastern only here on CNN. Thanks again, Randi.

KAYE: Thanks, Don.

KEILAR: First came the surge, now talk of a pause. It's Pentagon speak about troops coming home from Iraq. We'll explain.

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KEILAR: A year ago they surged. Now, U.S. troops are gradually being drawn down in Iraq. So what happens next? Straight to the Pentagon and Barbara Starr.

So, what is going on here, Barbara?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, like you say, Brianna, they called it first a surge, now comes what they call the pause. In fact, General David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq spent a couple of hours this morning briefing Defense Secretary Robert Gates about what his next plans are because of course, General Petreaus comes to Washington in early April to testify before Congress.

Now, General Petreaus is holding his cards very close to his vest, but what we do know is things are headed towards a recommendation for a pause, if you will. Come July when the last of the so-called surge brigades return back to their home bases, they will take a time-out. They'll let the dust settle, maybe four, six weeks, maybe a bit longer, and see where things stand according to sources that we have spoken to.

General Petreaus is not yet ready to put any firm timetable on it. But when he comes to Washington, he will say that he needs that extra time in July to take a time-out and see where things stand.

But one thing is very clear. What the army wants -- and they say they are ready to recommend to the president -- is that those very grueling 15-month tours of duty now be reduced back to 12. They think they can now manage it. And that's going to be a big relief to those soldiers that are spending so many months on the ground in Iraq.

So, what happens next? They brief Secretary Gates today. General Petreaus, by all accounts, will brief the president on Monday. And next Wednesday, the president will be here in the Pentagon to hear from the joint chiefs about their recommendations. So, the way ahead in Iraq all moving forward, at least here at the Pentagon -- Brianna.

KEILAR: And perhaps some good news in all of that for military families. Barbara Starr for us at the Pentagon, thanks.

STARR: Sure.

LEMON: It is a diagnosis everybody fears, everybody fears this diagnosis, a loved one has Alzheimer's. Where do you turn for help? Well, that's the subject of today's "Empowered Patient" report.

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LEMON: It is a very real fear for millions of families. Experts say one in eight members of the baby boom generation will face Alzheimer's disease. Well, how can families cope with that? Our medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is here with today's "Empowered Patient" report.

And Elizabeth, any tips for finding a good -- finding good care for someone who's been diagnosed with Alzheimer's?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: We do have some good tips. And it is so important because this is a very difficult position that more and more families are going to find themselves in, whether it's Alzheimer's disease or something else that mom and dad need care and you want to keep them at home as long as you can. How do you go about doing it?

And our call-in (ph) today, actually we talk about the Nee (ph) family in Massachusetts. Mary Nee (ph), you see here sitting back there on the couch. She has Alzheimer's, and her husband who's next to her in the striped shirt, he took care of her 24/7.

But Mr. Nee sadly died last month of cancer, and she was left with nobody. Her children are all raising their own families and they work. And one of her daughters in tears one night, in the middle of night just went to Google. That's what she did.

LEMON: Wow. COHEN: She just went to Google, she put in Alzheimer's disease care, home care, and she actually came up with a site that linked her to somebody who she could hire. And she just put in her zip code, she went to visit the site that came up with, ElderCarelink. And in five days, she had someone in her mother's house to give her care.

Now, there are several other sites like this where you just put in your zip code and they tell you the home health care agencies that in your area and you can link up with them.

LEMON: You got to be careful, you got to check them out.

COHEN: Of course, of course.

LEMON: Yes, always, always check them out.

COHEN: That's so important, so important.

LEMON: OK, so it seems to be a pretty good tool in this instance, the Internet. Other ways that the Internet can help you?

COHEN: That's right, there are other -- it'll help you find care and it will also help you figure out, as you said, how to check them out.

LEMON: Oh, OK.

COHEN: Because that's so important. So, if you go on CNN.com/health you'll see these two tips and many more. One of them is that there are plenty of places on the Internet that will give you hiring tips. How do you do a background check?

LEMON: Right.

COHEN: Most people have never had to do a background check. Well, you can find that on the Internet. And also, you can hook up with geriatric care managers, and those are people who are professionals, often social workers, who not only will help you find home care, but will help you find a nutritionist, help you find a doctor, help you find everything that you need for your aging relative.

LEMON: You can do your homework, all of it right there.

COHEN: Right, it's amazing what the Internet has in this area.

LEMON: Thank you, Elizabeth.

COHEN: Thanks.

LEMON: And for all the listings of these Web sites and other information for care givers, go to CNN.com/health.

KEILAR: An Ohio woman sees a message from God in her cod. Now, she's hoping for a bite on eBay. Her frozen fish tale straight ahead.

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KEILAR: Good cod, holy mackerel, or just another fish tale? An Ohio woman thinks she's seen an Easter sign from above in a bag of fish sticks. A bunch froze together and then when she dumped them into a pan, she says they landed in a way that looked like the crosses at Jesus' crucifixion. Now, she's hoping to net some cash on eBay, but last we checked, no bites and the auction ends today.

LEMON: Holy ...

KEILAR: Mackerel.

LEMON: Well Brianna, as freak accidents go, this one is off the charts. A 75-pound stingray leaps out of the water, into the Florida Keys, in the Florida Keys, and apparently kills a woman who is on a boat. Experts are astonished by this.

KEILAR: Nothing rare about Midwestern floods, unfortunately, and they, too, can kill. We are hearing 250 communities in a dozen states are under threat from heavy rain, melting snow or both.

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