Finally, DNA Testing to Begin; Transsexuals Work To Raise Awareness
COOPER: Welcome back to 360. Sophia Choi from "Headline News," joins us with the latest stories we're following tonight. Hi Sophia.</s>SOPHIA CHOI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Anderson. The militant Palestinian group, Islamic Jihad, is claiming responsibility for a suicide bombing in northern Israel that killed at least five people and wounded dozens of others. It happened outside a shopping mall. That was the target of another suicide bombing back in July. In Florida, a hearing that could have put Lionel Tate back in prison was postponed after the teenager sent a letter to the judge, threatening to kill himself. Tate was just 13 when he was convicted of killing a 6-year old girl. Hew as sentenced to life, but last year an appeals court threw out that conviction. Now 18, Tate is accused of violating his probation. A competency hearing has been set for December 19. And a new study shows that coffee and tea might reduce the risk of serious liver damage in people who drank too much alcohol, are overweight, or have had too much iron in their blood. In the study, those who drank more than two cups of coffee or tea developed chronic liver disease at half the rate of those who drank less than one cup each day. And her catwalk days are now over. Model Tyra Banks has taken her final cruise down the runway. The 32-year old is retiring from modeling, she says because she wants to go out on top. She also has two television shows to keep her pretty busy these days -- Anderson.</s>COOPER: Ah, yes, well, what can you do? Sophia, thanks very much. I didn't know what to say about that story. Tonight, the word out in New Orleans is finally -- as in finally after weeks and in some cases months, DNA testing is set to begin on hundreds of unidentified victims of Katrina. Now we've been reporting on this night after night. The finger pointing, the red tape, the family members demanding answers in "Keeping them Honest." Today, after all that, a spokesman for the State Police said the funding is there, the contracts have been signed and several companies will get started with the DNA testing immediately. That's what they said -- immediately. We will be watching. Two hundred and sixty-three bodies remain unidentified. Examiners say they have good leads on about 140 of them. We've been watching this all unfold with Lynda Hymel, who lost her brother, Darrell, in the storm. Finally, Darrell was identified over the weekend. Even that turned out to be more of an ordeal than it should have been. Ms. Hymel is with us again in New Orleans. Lynda, thanks for joining us. You got the call the yesterday afternoon that identified your brother. Where did they find him?</s>LYNDA HYMEL, BORTHER'S BODY IDENTIFIED: Dr. Cataldi called me around 3:00 o'clock. It's a strange situation. They found my brother floating in Lake Pontchartrain, which is right outside of Highway 11. A team called Highway 11 Rescue people picked him up, brought him to a morgue in Slidell. Had no idea there was a morgue in Slidell. Then they brought him to a morgue in St. Tammany Parrish. Then, on November the 18th, they brought him to St. Gabriel. So all this time, we were thinking he was in St. Gabriel, and he was not. And Dr. Cataldi called me and said he started working on Darrell's case November 19, which is what two -- maybe three weeks ago. And he called me right after our last airing, which was November 30, and promised me -- he called me at work and said I promise, I will help you find your brother. I saw you on CNN. And I thanked him. And he called yesterday, it was Sunday, and he said --</s>COOPER: Well, that is nice that he called personally. When will you be able -- have you received Darrell's body yet?</s>HYMEL: No. Those arrangements have to be made with a funeral home of our choice, which we will have an appointment tomorrow morning at 9:00. They pick up Darrell and they will arrange everything.</s>COOPER: You know, if --</s>HYMEL: You know, the ironic part was, he was not identified by DNA. He was identified by his dental record, by seven dentists today.</s>COOPER: And those are dental records that you provided them quite a while back.</s>HYMEL: That's right.</s>COOPER: So that's nice that that finally --</s>HYMEL: Yes, when I first went.</s>COOPER: Yes. That finally bore some fruit. You know, there are still so many families out there --</s>HYMEL: Yes, when I first went.</s>COOPER: Still so many families out there. And I know you have had resolution on this, but you still feel for those families, don't you?</s>HYMEL: Absolutely, because I have to say one thing to everybody out there that has loved ones that are still missing: Don't give up. Press in and call people. Don't stop the phone calls because if you think they're at St. Gabriel, who knows, they could be in St. Tammany Parish, St. Charles Parish, Slidell. You know, we did not know that these other morgues were even in operation as far as Katrina was concerned. We thought all Katrina, you know, victims were sent to St. Gabriel, and that wasn't the case.</s>COOPER: Well, Lynda,</s>I -- HYMEL: And I just want to thank Dr. Cataldi and you, Anderson, thank you, very much.</s>COOPER: Well, you know, I'm glad you have resolution. Our hearts go out to all the others who haven't. And, you know, some people at the coroner's office, I think were upset -- the last week we kept kind of focusing on not only your case, but on all the other cases, and this is not to attack people who are working around the clock, you know, doing God only knows how difficult work it is, you know, identifying these victims, but, you know, it's -- what outraged us this week and last week is that it's taken so long just to get DNA testing begun. And that's not the people working in the morgues, that's the bureaucrats above them.</s>HYMEL: That's right.</s>COOPER: So, Lynda, I appreciate you joining us and I'm glad you got some resolution.</s>HYMEL: Thank you so much.</s>COOPER: All right, you take care now.</s>HYMEL: Thank you.</s>COOPER: We should know, we asked the Governor Kathleen Blanco to come on the program and explain why it's taken so long to initiate DNA testing. She again declined. We've been asking now all week last week. We'll try again tomorrow. We're here for two hours every night, you know, we're not going anywhere, yet. Eight days after her surgeon made history, a first look at the world's first famous transplant. Our Senior Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta gives us his read on what this pictures shows and what it might say about the patient's prognosis. Also ahead, he was raised as a girl and only learned the shocking truth decades later, when medical records revealed the secret he had shaped his life. Across America and around the world, this is 360.