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American Morning

Results of Connecticut Anthrax Victim Autopsy Not Known

Aired November 23, 2001 - 09:19   ET

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

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Now, the latest incidence of anthrax has investigators going through a rural Connecticut home this morning, inch by inch. But so far, they have found no rational explanation or anything to explain how a 94-year-old shut-in, really -- Ottilie Lundgren, we're talking about here -- and explain how she died of inhalation anthrax in this small town of Oxford.

Michael Okwu joins us now. He is there in Connecticut. He's got an update for us -- hello, Michael.

MICHAEL OKWU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Leon. It is a very quiet morning here in small town, America, but it really belies the level of concern here. Residents of Oxford, Connecticut are waking up and starting their day, a day after Thanksgiving, with very, very many questions, but very few answers, about the death of 94-year-old Ottilie Lundgren.

Now, funeral services are scheduled for tomorrow, but we are hoping to hear about some news today.

Now, yesterday police blocked off access to Lundgren's remote house here in a wooded section of Oxford, as investigators conducted a grid search, or an inch-by-inch inspection, of her home. Results of tests taken on samples from the house are expected possibly today, and certainly within the next 24 hours. And investigators are also taking a very close look around the neighborhoods, specifically the beauty salon and the church that she frequented.

Results on an autopsy are not yet known. Examiners are taking special interest, of course, in Lundgren's air passages. They are obviously trying to determine just how much anthrax she was exposed to. Investigators believe, of course, that she may have been the victim of cross-contamination in the mail.

A mail distribution center in Wallingford, and a post office in Seymour, Connecticut, not far from us here in Oxford, were tested on Wednesday. And those results are expected today.

In the meantime, Leon, postal workers at both of those facilities, some 1,200 of them, have been given the option to begin a 10-day course of Cipro, and we understand that a majority of them are doing just that as a precaution.

And an interesting postscript, when you call the telephone of the personal mail carrier who delivered mail to Lundgren's home, his voice gets on the answering machine and offers his condolences to Lundgren and to her family, and indicates that he is feeling just fine himself, and is, himself, on Cipro -- Leon.

HARRIS: Boy, that's interesting. Thanks, Michael. You've had some pretty somber duty from the sound of it, and we sure do appreciate it -- have a good one. We'll talk to you later on.

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