Suspect in FBI anthrax inquiry dies

[stefan]

Suspect in FBI anthrax inquiry dies
By Demetri Sevastopulo in Washington
Financial Times

A leading US government bioweapons scientist apparently killed himself this week after learning that the Justice department was going to charge him over the 2001 anthrax attacks that terrorised the country.

Bruce Ivins, a microbiologist who worked on anthrax vaccines at the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, died at a Maryland hospital after overdosing on painkillers, the Los Angeles Times newspaper reported.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has spent seven years investigating the anthrax mailings that shocked the US in the weeks following the September 11 terrorist attacks.

Letters contaminated with anthrax spores were mailed anonymously to several media organisations and the Senate offices of Tom Daschle, then Senate majority leader, and Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat.

The attacks resulted in the deaths of five people, including two postal workers, while another 17 people were taken ill. The mailings also caused serious disruption in postal services as government offices had to screen incoming letters. Ivins, 62, died at Frederick Memorial Hospital, Maryland, where he was reportedly being treated for depression that had worsened as the FBI investigation intensified. The Associated Press news agency reported that prosecutors were planning to seek the death penalty.

Ivins had once helped the FBI with its investigation into the anthrax attacks by analysing the spores that tainted one of the letters sent to Congress.

It remained unclear on Friday whether his death would end the long-running investigation into the attacks. The FBI had been criticised for failing to solve the case. Last week, Robert Mueller, FBI director, dismissed suggestions that the investigation had gone cold, telling CNN television that

[sparker1]

I read that this guy once bought body armor and guns with the intent to go into his workplace and blow everyone away. We may never be sure he was the one who mailed the anthrax, but it sounds like he may have been crazy enough to do it. Of course, the FBI has been known to screw up investigations before.