Identifying WTC victims takes longer than planned

NEW YORK -- Forensic scientists trying to identify remains from the World Trade Center attack say the process is taking longer than expected, a published report said Saturday.

Robert Shaler, the director of forensic biology in New York City's medical examiner's office, told The New York Times he had expected an experimental genetic testing technique would begin to analyze much of the genetic materials from the site in June or July. But the results are now not expected until mid-December.

The city is working with several companies to try to tackle the task, which entails analyzing and identifying small amounts of genetic information extracted from bits of bone and tissue.

The work can be painstaking, and in some cases the DNA is too damaged to yield results. The intense heat and pressure inside the rubble pile caused much of the genetic material to decompose.

So far, scientists have identified remains from 1,439 people -- 51 percent of those who were killed.

Seven-year-old boy walks in snow to save family

GREELEY, Colo. -- Authorities say a 7-year-old boy may have saved his mother's life after the family's pickup truck crashed as they drove home from Thanksgiving dinner.

Titus Adams and his sisters, Tiffany, 4, and Tier, 1, were in their pajamas when the truck veered off the road and rolled five times. Their mother was thrown from the vehicle and was unconscious.

When the truck came to a rest, Titus checked on his sisters, who were still buckled into their child safety seats and had escaped serious injury. Then he went for help.

"He was in his pajamas with no shoes," said his father, Glenn Adams, who wasn't with them at the time. "He walked through a muddy field, squeezed under an electric fence and then had to break the gate on another fence to get through."

Titus walked about a half mile in the 23-degree weather to the Galeton Dairy.

"He kept walking and finally he saw three guys and he just hollered out, 'Hey, there's been an accident!"' Adams said. The dairy workers called for emergency help.

Four hunters saved after cell phone signals traced

HARRISON TOWNSHIP, Mich. -- Four hunters who became stranded after their boat capsized in Lake Erie were rescued after Canadian authorities traced their cell phone calls for help.

The four Canadian duck hunters drifted to a small island where they built a fire. But they wondered if their calls to a 911 dispatcher were connecting.

About 10 a.m. Friday, two hours after they became stranded, a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter was dispatched to rescue the men, Petty Officer Josh Taggart of the Coast Guard told the Detroit Free Press.

The men's calls had been traced by Canadian authorities, Taggart said.

"The calls made it, but the signal was lost," he said. As they tried to explain where they were, the call cut off, he said.

The men, who were not identified, were treated for minor cases of hypothermia, Taggart said.

After 3 1/2 years lying in coma, officer dies

WESTMINSTER, Mass. -- A police officer who had been in a coma for 3 1/2 years since being shot by a man he was chasing has died.

Lawrence Jupin, 34, died Friday. He was shot in the face, hand and hip in May 1999 while pursuing a man later diagnosed to be paranoid schizophrenic.

"It's been the end of a long 3 1/2 years," police chief Robert Cudak said. "He's at rest now."

The alleged assailant, Jason Rivers, was ruled mentally incompetent to stand trial and committed to a state hospital. He is due in court on Jan. 15 for a status report on his mental competency.

Charges including assault with intent to murder will likely be upgraded to murder, said Elizabeth A. Stammo, a spokeswoman for District Attorney John J. Conte.

--From wire reports