Authorities consider how to open anthrax letter

By Susan Candiotti
CNN Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The latest known anthrax letter may not be opened for a few more days even though it was discovered about a week and a half ago, sources said Monday.

The letter, mailed to Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, may be opened "toward the end of the week, " said one source. FBI, military and civilian scientists are trying to devise the best way to handle the anthrax inside because "we only have a finite amount and want to preserve what we have as best we can," said one source.

"I think that the law enforcement people want to be really careful about opening it, one, so they don't kill somebody, but secondly, so they're able to retain the evidence that might be there," Leahy said in an interview Sunday with NBC. "This may be one of the better clues that we have, and I'm in no hurry for them to get it opened if it will help them get more clues."

The letter, under examination at a U.S. Army laboratory in Fort Detrick, Maryland, is the latest in a string of anthrax-contaminated mailings. Other tainted letters have been received by Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, NBC News and the New York Post.

The letter addressed to Leahy was postmarked from Trenton, New Jersey, on October 9 -- the same day the Daschle letter was mailed from that city. The NBC letter was postmarked from Trenton on September 18.

The handwriting on the envelopes of the letters sent to Daschle, Leahy and NBC News is similar, leading investigators to believe they came from the same person or persons.

18 cases, five fatalities

Eighteen people have contracted anthrax infections, and five of them have died. Investigators believe those letters -- possibly others -- are responsible for the infections, though links have been hard to establish in some cases.

The latest anthrax victim, Ottilie Lundgren, 94, was buried Saturday in the small Connecticut town where she lived.

Tests showed that the anthrax that killed her was indistinguishable from the anthrax in the other cases, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A widow, she had no apparent connection to the U.S. Postal Service, government offices or media outlets that have received or processed anthrax-laden letters.

Officials said they have checked more than 50 relatives and friends who had contact with Lundgren in recent days but have found no clues. Their search has included testing the cars in which friends gave her rides and tests of trick-or-treaters who went to her home on Halloween.

Lundgren's infection is more mysterious because she lived alone in rural Connecticut, had a limited schedule and didn't travel much.

Investigators are trying to reconstruct the last weeks of Lundgren's life to determine how she was infected.

Among scenarios under investigation is that she might have been infected through contaminated mail. But Lundgren's home and about two weeks' worth of mail found inside have tested negative for anthrax, as did tests on a post office and postal distribution center that handled her mail.

Only one other victim of inhalation anthrax -- Kathy Nguyen, a New York City hospital worker who died October 31 -- had a similar apparent lack of connection to the letters. FBI agents working on the Lundgren case are also comparing notes with agents investigating Nguyen's death to see if there might be any links between the two.