I found this on my biweekly Avweb newsletter.

Flight 587 -- Accident Investigation Continues

Wake Turbulence Encounters Identified...
The investigation into the crash of American Airlines Flight 587, which crashed last Monday shortly after departure from New York's JFK, continues -- now, with some new developments. Last Thursday, NTSB officials announced that they had analyzed the data from the jet's cockpit and flight data recorders. While all of the data had not been thoroughly analyzed or precisely correlated chronologically, investigators were able to determine that the A300-600 did encounter two wake turbulence events. The jet was reportedly 140 seconds in trail of a departing Japan Airlines Boeing 747-400. The time separation appropriate under current separation standards -- it's actually 20 seconds over the minimum spacing requirement. During the last eight seconds of FDR recording, the data shows that the aircraft underwent lateral accelerations (side movements) during the second wake turbulence encounter. The aircraft then rolled left 25 degrees at a rate of 10 degrees per second. The Airbus also pitched down at least 30 degrees and dove into a residential neighborhood approximately five miles southwest of JFK airport. Investigators are quick to point out that no conclusions have been made as to the precise cause of the accident.

...Vertical Stabilizer Puzzles NTSB...
Just as puzzling to investigators is the disturbingly clean structural failure that resulted in departure of the aircraft's vertical stabilizer. The jet's fin was recovered in the waters of Jamaica Bay and found to be largely intact. The attachment bolts seemed to be in place with failure having occurred in the area just above the attachment fittings. The existing evidence does not immediately answer any of the questions investigators have regarding the cause of the materials failure. NTSB member George Black Jr. said that investigators are now almost certain that the tail section was the first part to break off the plane, which also lost both of its engines prior to impact. He said the pilots likely had no idea what had happened at the rear of the aircraft as they fought to control it. A JetBlue Airways pilot waiting for takeoff at Kennedy saw Flight 587, which had been bound for Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, as it fell from the sky accompanied by smoke and a smaller piece of the aircraft, according to an internal JetBlue report provided to Reuters Thursday. Before it exploded on impact, the aircraft was accompanied by the smaller piece above and to the right or southwest of the smoke trail behind the main body, according to the report. Investigators also revealed that strong rudder inputs recorded by the flight data recorder might have contributed to stresses sustained by the tail.

...And FAA Orders Inspections
Flight 587's 27-foot-tall tail section bore no marks indicating it was hit by the jet's engines, which also broke free prior to impact. (The engines actually took their mounting pylons with them -- which is not the way they are supposed to break away under extremely high stresses.) Investigators are also looking closely at the composite structure of the tail. The FAA and France's DGAC have both moved to issue and order inspections of the Airbus A300-600 U.S. fleet. The agencies have ordered airlines to check Airbus A300-600s and A310s for tail and rudder damage. The FAA and French directives are giving airlines 15 days to check fittings on the tails and rudders for loose fasteners, distorted surfaces and cracks, and corrosion. The goal is to uncover defects, fatigue and/or signs of "delaminated" layers of the lightweight, yet extremely rigid and strong, composite material that comprises much of the fin's structure.

Detailed photos of the 587 vertical stabilizer, rudder, and attach points. There is no sign of impact damage on the vertical stabilizer that you would see if something struck it.