Anthrax 'suspect' is found dead

[TriWooOx]

Quote:A top US scientist suspected of anthrax attacks in 2001 has died from an apparent suicide just as he was about to be charged, a newspaper reported.

The Los Angeles Times says government scientist Bruce Ivins was found dead after an overdose of painkillers.

The paper said that he had recently been told of the impending prosecution.

Five people died when anthrax was posted to media organisations and politicians in the US shortly after the 11 September attacks in 2001.

Mr Ivins, 62, had helped the FBI investigate anthrax-tainted envelopes as a microbiologist for a government laboratory.

The newspaper said Mr Ivins had worked at the government biodefense research laboratories in Fort Detrick, Maryland, for the past 18 years.

Security measures

The US justice department has not commented on the newspaper report.

Security measures in the wake of the 2001 anthrax attacks crippled the US mail service and temporarily closed a Senate building.

As well as the five deaths, more than 20 other people were made ill.

In June 2008, the US justice department agreed a multimillion-dollar settlement with another scientist at the Fort Detrick laboratory it had said was a "person of interest" in the anthrax attacks.

Dr Steven Hatfill sued the department saying it had violated his privacy rights by speaking to reporters about the case.

He has denied any involvement in the attacks.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7536890.stm

[waxzy]

suicide...yeah right

[TeslaandLyne]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080801/ap_on_...thrax_scientist

Some job.

The government recently paid Hatfill $5.82 million to settle a lawsuit contending he was falsely accused.
Hatfill's lawyer, Tom Connolly, said he would not discuss the case until the FBI has time to speak with
the family members of victims of the anthrax attacks.

The only way to get back at the big F&G (FBI and Government) would be to do a Hatfill.

They were co workers and Ivins never said anything. Like, excuse me old Hatty but I posted those letters.

[Guest]

You beat me to it...

[TriWooOx]

Quote:A new DNA identification process led US investigators to an army scientist said to be behind a lethal 2001 anthrax attack, a government scientist says.

The unnamed source told the Associated Press that Dr Bruce Ivins, 62, had been a prime suspect for more than a year for the deaths of five people.

He killed himself last week after being told he would face murder charges.

The anthrax was posted to politicians and media offices shortly after the 11 September 2001 attacks.

A lawyer for Dr Ivins said after his death that he had suffered "relentless accusation and innuendo", and that his innocence would have been proven in court.

The sole deadly biological attack on US soil, which also left 17 people ill, unsettled a public already nervous of further terror attacks.

'Untimely death'

DNA taken from the bodies of the five people killed helped lead investigators to Dr Ivins, who oversaw the highly specific type of toxin in an army biological weapons laboratory in Fort Detrick, Maryland, the government scientist said.

Using new genome technology, researchers looked at samples of cells from the victims to identify the kind of anthrax Ames strain that killed them, the scientist said.

They noticed very subtle differences in the DNA of the strain used in the attacks than in other types of Ames anthrax.

Spores taken from envelopes used to mail the anthrax, as well as from the sites where they were sent, also were scrutinised.

"It had to do with the very specific characteristics in the DNA of the letters and what was in Bruce's labs," said the government scientist, who is said by AP to be close to the investigation.

"They were cultures he was personally responsible for."

Dr Ivins had been actively involved in the investigation to find the perpetrators of the anthrax attacks.

Sources said earlier that a decision would be made in the next week whether to close the case - indicating that investigators believed Dr Ivins had acted alone.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7540023.stm

[clark-kent]

This sounds way fishy to me.