Anthrax In The Mail
Key dates leading up to the 2001 anthrax attacks and the investigation that followed. Information about suspect Bruce Ivins is highlighted:
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Microbiologist Bruce Ivins begins to spend more
evenings in his lab at the Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, at Fort Detrick, Md. His normal shift was 7:30 a.m. to 4:45 p.m.
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Ivins spends three consecutive evening shifts at the lab.
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Ivins does not enter the lab.
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The date of postmarks on letters containing anthrax to
members of the news media in New York and Florida.
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In an e-mail, Ivins discusses his therapy group and
how all of the other people in it are battling depression, sadness and stress. But he's different, he says. "I'm really the only scary one in the group."
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Ivins works eight consecutive nights in the lab. The total time ranges from 20 minutes to three hours and 42 minutes.
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Robert Stevens, 63, a photo editor at the Sun, a
supermarket tabloid published by American Media Inc., dies after inhaling anthrax mailed to AMI's headquarters in Boca Raton, Fla.
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The date of postmarks on letters containing anthrax to
Democratic Sens. Tom Daschle and Patrick Leahy in Washington.
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A co-worker of Ivins tells a friend in an e-mail that
"Bruce has been an absolute manic basket case the last few days."
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Thomas L. Morris Jr., 55, a postal worker in Washington, dies.
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Joseph P. Curseen Jr., 47, a postal worker in Washington, dies.
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Kathy T. Nguyen, 61, a hospital employee in New York City, dies.
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Ottilie Lundgren, 94, of Oxford, Conn., dies. She apparently inhaled anthrax from her mail.
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At least 22 people contracted anthrax as a result of the mailings; 31 others tested positive for exposure.
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The Hart Senate Office Building, where anthrax-tainted letters were sent, reopens after three months and fumigation. FBI doubles the reward for helping solve the case to $2.5 million.
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Ivins does not follow protocol in anthrax samples he
submits to the FBI, rendering them unusable.
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Ivins provides a second set of samples for genetic
testing. Both samples were found to have no presence of the anthrax used in the attacks.
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FBI scrutinizes 20 to 30 scientists who might have had
the knowledge and opportunity to send the anthrax letters, a U.S. official says.
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Law enforcement officials and Attorney General John
Ashcroft call Steven J. Hatfill, a biowarfare expert, shown above, a "person of interest" in the investigation.
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FBI drains pond in Frederick, Md., in search of
anthrax-related evidence. Frederick is the home of the Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, one of the nation's main anthrax research centers. Nothing suspicious is found.
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Hatfill sues Ashcroft and other government officials, accusing them of using him as a scapegoat and demanding that they clear his name.
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Postal workers begin moving back into Washington's
main mail center, almost two years after anthrax-laced letters killed two employees. The Brentwood facility underwent more than $130 million worth of decontamination and renovation.
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An FBI special agent accompanies Ivins to the lab and
identifies samples that had not been submitted.
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A white powder determined to be the deadly poison
ricin is found in an office of Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist. No one is hurt and no arrests are made.
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An FBI special agent seizes additional samples from Ivins' lab.
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One of the samples taken from the Fort Detrick lab
tests positive for the four genetic markers common to the anthrax in the attacks.
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BioONE, a company founded by former New York City Mayor
Rudolph Giuliani, begins fumigating the former headquarters of The Sun, the Florida supermarket tabloid that was the first target in the anthrax attacks.
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Following fumigation, testing determines American Media
Inc.'s former headquarters is free of anthrax.
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Hatfill sues The New York Times for defamation, claiming the newspaper ruined his reputation after it published a series of columns pointing to him as the culprit.
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FBI searches homes of Dr. Kenneth M. Berry, who founded a group to train medical staff to respond to biological disasters, as part of anthrax investigation. No charges are filed.
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Sensor at Pentagon mailroom indicates possible presence of anthrax.
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Alarm at second Pentagon mail facility also sounds possible anthrax presence. Post office in Hamilton, N.J., that handled anthrax-laced letters in 2001 reopens. Further testing determines no anthrax in Pentagon mailrooms.
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Investigators ask Ivins about his access to the Fort
Detrick lab in 2001. He tells them he went there "to escape" his home life. A review determines that Ivins' role in experiments does not justify the time he spent in the lab in 2001. Investigators ask Ivins to explain the differences in samples he submitted to the FBI in 2002 and those an investigator seized in April 2004.
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The Supreme Court declines to block Hatfill's suit
against the Times.
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It's reported that Hatfill's lawyers have questioned
at least two journalists and are subpoenaeing other reporters, seeking the identities of their confidential government sources.
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A federal judge orders The New York Times to disclose a
columnist's confidential sources as part of a libel lawsuit filed over the newspaper's coverage of the 2001 anthrax attacks.
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The New York Times asks a federal judge to dismiss
Hatfill's lawsuit.
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A federal judge dismisses libel lawsuit filed against
The New York Times by Hatfill.
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Explaining his ruling, the judge says a New York Times columnist did not act with malice when writing about whether a Hatfill was responsible for the 2001 anthrax attacks.
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Ivins tells investigators that, within three months after the attacks, he had been told by co-workers that anthrax samples in his lab were similiar to the anthrax used in the attacks. Investigators interviewed the co-workers, who deny disclosing such information to Ivins.
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A federal judge says five journalists must identify the
government officials who leaked them details about Hatfill.
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Hatfill asks a federal judge to hold two journalists in contempt for refusing to identify the government officials who leaked details about the investigation into the attacks.
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Authorities search Ivins' home, taking 22 swabs of
vacuum filters and radiators and seizing dozens of items.
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A federal judge holds a former USA Today reporter in contempt and orders her to pay up to $5,000 a day if she refuses to identify her sources for stories about Hatfill.
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A federal appeals court blocks the fines.
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The federal government awards Hatfill $5.8 million to
settle his violation of privacy lawsuit against the Justice
Department.
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Bruce E. Ivins, 62, dies of an apparent suicide at a
hospital in Frederick, Md., after being informed by the FBI that charges likely were being brought against him in connection with the 2001 anthrax attacks.
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The Bush administration partially lifted the veil of secrecy surrounding the investigation into the deadly anthrax mailings in 2001, presenting details to families of the victims after a federal judge ordered the release of hundreds of pages of documents. Two officials said the FBI was ready to end its probe of the case.
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Credits:
The Associated Press
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