Wanted By Feds, Anthrax Suspect Kills Self

Official: U.S. Sought Death Penalty Against Top Biodefense Researcher For 2001 Attacks

(CBS/AP)  Federal prosecutors investigating the 2001 anthrax attacks were planning to indict and seek the death penalty against a top Army microbiologist in connection with anthrax mailings that killed five people. The scientist, who was developing a vaccine against the deadly toxin, committed suicide this week.

The scientist, Bruce E. Ivins, worked for the past 18 years at the government's biodefense labs at Fort Detrick, Md. For more than a decade, he worked to develop an anthrax vaccine that was effective even in cases where different strains of anthrax were mixed, which made vaccines ineffective, according to federal documents reviewed by the AP.

U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the ongoing grand jury investigation, said prosecutors were closing in on Ivins, 62. They were planning an indictment that would have sought the death penalty for the attacks, which killed five people, crippled the postal system and traumatized a nation still reeling from the Sept. 11 attacks.

Authorities were investigating whether Ivins released the anthrax as a way to test his vaccine, officials said. The Justice Department has not yet decided whether to close the investigation, officials said, meaning it's still not certain whether Ivins acted alone or had help. One official close to the case said that decision was expected within days.

If the case is closed soon, one official said, that will indicate that Ivins was the lone suspect.

Ivins was "hounded" by aggressive FBI agents who raided his home twice, said Dr. W. Russell Byrne, a colleague who worked in the bacteriology division of the Fort Detrick research facility for 15 years. Byrne said Ivins was forcefully removed from his job by local police recently because of fears that he had become a danger to himself or others. The investigation led to Ivins being hospitalized for depression earlier this month, Byrne said.

He said he does not believe Ivins was behind the anthrax attacks.

A 16-year-old girl who lives in Ivins' neighborhood told CBS News that for about a year there have been cars parked in front of her house that have come and gone on a regular schedule. When asked what they were doing, the girl said the reply was "official FBI business."

Ivins died Tuesday at Frederick Memorial Hospital in Maryland. Tom Ivins, a brother of the scientist, told The Associated Press that his other brother, Charles, had told him that Bruce committed suicide and Tylenol might have been involved. The Los Angeles Times, which first reported that Ivins was under suspicion, said the scientist had taken a massive dose of a prescription Tylenol mixed with codeine.

The Fort Detrick laboratory and its specialized scientists for years have been at the center of the FBI's investigation of the anthrax mailings. In late June, the government exonerated a colleague of Ivins', Steven Hatfill. Hatfill's name has for years had been associated with the attacks after investigators named him a "person of interest" in 2002.

Unusual behavior by Ivins was noted at Fort Detrick in the six months following the anthrax mailings, when he conducted unauthorized testing for anthrax spores outside containment areas at the infectious disease research unit where he worked, according to an internal report. But the focus long stayed on Hatfill.

The government paid Hatfill $5.82 million to settle a lawsuit he filed against the Justice Department in which he claimed the department violated his privacy rights by speaking with reporters about the case.

Hatfill was never arrested and never charged, CBS News correspondent Bob Orr reported.

Ivins was the co-author of numerous anthrax studies, including one on a treatment for inhalation anthrax published in the July 7 issue of the journal Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy.

Henry S. Heine, a scientist who had worked with Ivins on inhalation anthrax research at Fort Detrick, said he and others on their team have testified before a federal grand jury in Washington that has been investigating the anthrax mailings for more than a year. He declined to comment on Ivins' death.

FBI vehicles with tinted windows had watched Ivins' home for a year, neighbor Natalie Duggan, 16, said.

"They said, 'We're on official business,' " she said.

Tom Ivins said Friday that federal officials working on the anthrax case questioned him about his brother a year and a half ago. "They said they were investigating him," he said from Ohio, where he lives, in a CNN interview.

"We are not at this time making any official statements or comments regarding this situation," said Debbie Weierman, a spokeswoman for the FBI's Washington field office, which is investigating the anthrax attacks, said Friday.

Five people died and 17 were sickened by anthrax powder in letters that were mailed to lawmakers' Capitol Hill offices, TV networks in New York, and tabloid newspaper offices in Florida. Two postal workers in a Washington mail facility, a New York hospital worker, a Florida photo editor and an elderly Connecticut woman were killed.

[smurfcrusher]

I wonder what his motivation was. Hopefully a motive will be published. The timing appeared to correlate closely with the 9/11 attacks, and even Islamic references were in the notes he wrote. Let''s look for a connection!

[smurfcrusher]

So Hatfill is exonerated! The GOP carelessly destroyed the reputation of this scientist in their lust for an arrest, and now paid him $Millions for their reckless mistake.

He''s lucky Bush and his henchmen didn''t have the Guantanamo torture infrastructure in place when he was accused.

After all, this president claims he can detain any US citizen without charge, trial, or recourse indefinitely.

[bud28dy]

Uh sure smurfcrasher. You be sure to work on this incredibly exciting conundrum. The rest of us are just going to get laid.

[smurfcrusher]

See for yourself

%u201CGovernment lawyers told federal judges that the president can send the military into any U.S. neighborhood, capture a citizen and hold him in prison without charge, indefinitely. %u201C

from

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/05/24/national/main4125235.shtml#Post



http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/09/AR2005090900772_pf.html

I don''t know who you plan to lay in prison, but he probably won''t be too pretty... Sorry to hear you don''t get your one phone call, but it''s for the good of the country

[o2bewealthy]

Although justice was denied, at least this case has closure.

[smurfcrusher]

Well, let''s look at the evidence.

If he was found hung, shot five times, and stabbed three times and the GOP claims "it''s the most determined suicide we''ve ever seen" be suspicious. Be VERY suspicious.

[jedi080808]

The first anthrax victim, a journalist named Robert Stevens, was "eliminated" by the CIA at the beginning of October 2001 because his investigative research led him to the truth behind the September 11, 2001 attack. The other anthrax victims were killed simply to give the public the impression of a conspiracy.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by anon00

You realize you sound like a complete nut. ANyone who things 9/11 was an inside job obviously has no grasp of reality or science for that matter.

[downtowner97]

Sounds like Vince Foster. I worked in the medical field for decades, and I''ve never heard of a doctor prescribing enough Tylenol 3 at a time to be fatal. There''s just a little bit of codeine in it. Limbaugh used to eat a whole bottle of Oxycontin just to get right in the morning.

It''s like the yacht I''ve always wanted: I''m having trouble buying it.

[downtowner97]

Jedi - 9/11 wasn''t a conspiracy, it was a heist. Billions of dollars of gold were stolen from under the towers while people watched planes crash into the buildings. Hundreds of people say they heard and felt the wall of the gold depository under the twin towers being blown out minutes before the first plane hit.

[cbs_bull]

Good job, Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney! Now, what about the mistakes or crimes you guys have done to Iraq?

[cbs_bull]

Good job, Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney! Now, what about the mistakes or crimes you guys have done to Iraq?

[blondchic]

What the heck took so long? 9/11 was 7 years ago and they were now just going to arrest this guy!!! You have to be kidding, he has has access to anthrax for 7 years!!! WOW

[greglawrence-2009]

Ummm...on 9/11 the explosions that were heard underground were the shape charges cutting through the steel core beams that supported the Twin Towers.
You are in denial if you think that these THREE buildings fell perfectly onto their own footprint in freefall speed...all on their own.
...And yes, the gold was probably removed whenever convenient. -But the gold is a mute point, since we have the Federal Reserve Bank issuing our currency, and printing more and more, devaluing it against foreign monies.
Stick to 9/11 and pressure CBS for real in-depth investigative reporting.

[smurfcrusher]

greglawrence: apparently you haven''t seen the famous footage of the Twin Towers each "pancaking" from the site of impact (and heat weakened steel) more than 1/2 way up the towers, NOT at the base.

I disagree with your assertion. The towers did not "keel over" as they might if the bottom floor was weakened with shape charges.

Pure fantasy.

[greglawrence-2009]

The pancake theory was debunked long ago by most scientific and architectural agencies. Apparently you need to catch up.
It would take quite a long time for pancaking to collapse a tower. It would not fall at the same rate as free fall speed.
Steel would not weaken with just Kerosene fuel, Kerosene is a hydrocarbon, which burns at a max temperature of 1700 degrees F. When was the last time your stove top melted from a hotter longer sustained temeperature...never.

[greglawrence-2009]

The steel was certified to over 3000 degrees for over 6 hours of exposure. It would not fail with such a low temp in less than 1 hour. A first, no a second, no, for the third time in one day...steel buildings collapsed due to fire? NOT.

[greglawrence-2009]

Oh, and another thing... Fire does NOT vaporize and pulverize concrete into dust that blows outward and upward with such immense force.
- How about we just see the full Pentagon footage?

[greglawrence-2009]

Oh - let''s not forget about the smoking gun... WTC Bldg # 7.
Nothing but small contained fires the sprinklers should have taken care of, but yet at 5:45 in the afternoon, they apparently fell in the same fashion, a historical first for ANY steel building to collapse due to fire (wrong.) - Please explain this, as it wasn''t even bothered to be addressed in the Official 9/11 Commision Report. NOT EVEN MENTIONED!

[oneworldusa]

Bush is an idiot. Face it. There''s no way he could have orchestrated 9-11. He''s not smart enough to even think of attempting to pull off such a ploy.

9-11 was the result of a religious extremist faction jealous of our way of life.

[oneworldusa]

This guy finally got caught, so he bumps himself off. Unfortunately, if his life insurance is more than 2 years old, his family may get it.

So, we may never truly know the whole story. At least we''re no longer spending tax dollars on this chump and providing him a life of luxury in our prisons at taxpayer expense.

If he had nothing to hide, he wouldn''t have committed suicide and he DID apparently have the right credentials to have access to toxins. GUILTY.

[greglawrence-2009]

Bush is a politician.
He does not even have simple mastery of the English language.
My favorite 9/11 quote: "If Americans were confronted by four hijackers wielding boxcutters, they would have beaten them to death with their luggage." -Arron Russo.

[greglawrence-2009]

Sure - he committed suicide... I believe everything I see and hear on the TV.

[o2bewealthy]

greglawrence - great facts. Too bad so many people are just blind to them and accept the official explanation; for who wants to believe the alternative?

[clew37]

Yes Bush is an idiot. Cheney is not. He''s a ruthless, self-serving little weasel and him and his bretheren are the ones pulling the puppet strings. He and Haliburton, his former company, have profited the most off defense and oil contracts. He is the one that put forward a "proposed" invasion plan of Iraq BEFORE 9/11 ever occured. He said it was just one of many scenarios his company had toyed with over the years. I think the 9/11 terrorists were used the same way Oswald may have been. Just something for the public to focus on while professional killers go about doing the real assassinations. Not all conspiracy theories are just imagined, some are real.

[blackyowe]

Something is not right with all this. It feels like a Bush cover up for something. It''s VERY creepy!

[brianbwb-2009]

And yet there are those who still believe that Muslim terrorists are behind the anthrax murders.

"Sure - he committed suicide... I believe everything I see and hear on the TV." Posted by greglawrence

He might very well have done so, but the fact that he was tipped off about the investigation allowed him time to destroy any evidence of groups he may have belonged to, or associated with, like for example the kkk, aryan nations, or other neo Nazi groups that used to describe just this type of attack in their literature.

"... who wants to believe the alternative?" Posted by O2BeWealthy

Anyone who survived the civil rights struggles of the 60s knows full well that the "alternative" is very likely the correct explanation.

[mtracy9]

The anthrax attacks of Oct. 2001 were obviously carried out by a neocon Black Op team in concert with the team that took down the WTC. The anthrax attacks were aimed at two Democratic Senators: Tom Daschle and Patrick Leahy who were holding up the "Patriot Act" out of constitutional concerns. The History Channel in Britain did a documentary on this and concluded that the anthrax attacks were an inside job. This documentary has yet to be shown in the United States. See it for youself on YouTube.

[waqahi]

1 + 2 3 = How much? Is this an easy equation to solve or is it not?
So the anthrax mailing "coincided" with 9/11 that is one. Fingers were pointed to Iraq and Osama, this is two. Almost SEVEN years later the ALLEGED perpetrator commits suicide, and this is three. How convenient Mr. ViSe president!! Do you have any fear of the lord whatsoever? Do you ever see yourself in the presence of the ALL KNOWING ALL JUST answering to some hard questions? One question comes to mind; "Let us not assassinate this lad further, Senator. You have done enough. Have you no sense of decency sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?" (Let us not assassinate this lad further, VP. You have done enough. Have you no sense of compassion sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of humanity?)

[smurfcrusher]

"The steel was certified to over 3000 degrees for over 6 hours of exposure. It would not fail with such a low temp in less than 1 hour. A first, no a second, no, for the third time in one day...steel buildings collapsed due to fire? NOT."

Posted by greglawrence

(obviously) thousands of people saw the pancaking collapse "live".
As collaborated by many hundreds of video cameras private and public, all showing the same thing: Failure at the impact sites resulting in a pancake collapse from the upper third of the towers, NOT the bottom.

Keep in mind that the structures has fairly loose insulation on the steel that was blasted off by the impact of the jet. That''s why the steel heated so quickly.

I encourage you to review the following :

The Collapse: An Engineer''s Perspective
http://911research.wtc7.net/disinfo/experts/articles/eagar_nova/nova_eagar1.html

[smurfcrusher]

Correction: I copied a misinformation link by mistake. Here''s the real one.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/wtc/sunder.html

I did see the NOVA show in person - it was very well done.

[slim1h2o]

I love the following paragraph. It''s one of them head scratchers, that makes you say ,Huh?

A woman who answered the phone at Charles Ivins'' home in Etowah, N.C., refused to wake him and declined to comment on his death. "This is a grieving time," she said.

[marshall_nee]

Posted by ccfsdca at 06:13 AM : Aug 01, 2008

You forgot Ken Lay.

[closethippy1]

Timothy McVeigh bombs a federal building, this guy uses anthrax to try to kill liberal senators, a few days ago a rightwing whacko went into a church that welcomes *** and kills two people with his shotgun.
And all this on top of a history of racism and lynching, denied civil rights, rightwing Senator McCarthy accusing everyone of being a "Communist sympathizer", and Rush Limbaugh and his ilk accusing everyone for the sake of accusing everyone.
The rightwing in this country has lost its mind and are fighting ghosts in their heads.
Too bad that real people and fellow citizens in good standing get hurt in the process.

[closethippy1]

*** is for G.AYS in my post below.

[tapsettle]

Who had most to gain from spreading further fear of terrorism? Who were given the blank cheques and stronger powers to do as they wanted? Who needed a scapegoat to cover it all up behind them? Who have the authority and means to arrange a convenient suicide so it can be swept away? Looks like some of you are starting to wake up, shame it''s too late.

[gmond]

I too would refuse to wake someone who is dead.

[rudy654-2009]

Posted by tapsettle at 07:26 AM

I agree. I remember that this became a convenient way to connect Iraq to 9/11 because it was first published that the spores came from there. Then we discovered that Bush and administration had already been taking cipricol in anticipation of an anthrax terror attack well before the developments. Furthermore, these spores were sent to liberal targets. I don''t know if this guy was guilty or not, but I sure would like to know the details.

[nojoy01]

Bruce E. Ivins is the scientist who committed suicide, Charles Ivins is the dead scientist''s brother & the one whose wife refused to wake. Pay attention to what you read.

[nojoy01]

Actually, conspriacy theories are a whole lot more fun than just accepting that dumb people are doing dumb things whether they are red or blue because they are basically STUPID. No vast right wing conspiracy & no liberal movement to establish a one world government.

[impeach__w]

Sounds a little fishy and its conveinent he is also dead. Like the english guy who said we fabricated (sexed up) the Iraq war reasoning and killed himself... Who kills themselves with tylenol and codine anyway. he could have let ANYTHING loose! What was his motive? how did he send stuff from england and NJ. more facts please. I still think it was isrealis but until we hear some details, we''ll have to keep guessing.

[aeasus]

Ivins died Tuesday at Frederick (Md.) Memorial Hospital. The Times, quoting an unidentified colleague, said the scientist had taken a massive dose of a prescription Tylenol mixed with codeine.
----------------
He died at a hospital of drug overdose.

why was he at the hospital?
who called the ambulance?
how long was he at the hospital before he died?
how did they determine what he overdosed on?
was the codine/tylenol administered orally or injection?
why did he have so much access to narcotic drugs?
IF he was a person of suspect and government employee for 18 years, why wasn''t he suspended?
What would his motives have been?
Could he have acted alone?
How much is required to be considered a massive overdose?
How was he able to transport anthrax off site?
Who was responsible for security?
why was the Los Angeles Times reporting the Maryland story? Where was the rest of the media?
Why did the grand jury wait until just a year ago to start hearing testimony?
what is the definition of "a very intent guy"
Are intent people depressed and suicidal?
the first paragraph refers to a report...what report is that?
How was he able to do his work as recently as july 7 while being suicidal?
Why didn''t anyone notice/report some anthrax missing?

Does this mean "case closed" and the end of FACT finding? No more questions will be answered?

If so,then it appears to be convience killing!

[impeach__w]

Another question. How many Fort Detrick scientists have killed themselves or died mysteriously? This is not the first one folks. The one who comes to mind first was Frank Olsen who was killed by the CIA ( ask Rumsfield and Cheney who settled with the family who was to sue). There were many more.

[aeasus]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Olsen

Another scientist conviently dead!!!!!!!!

[aeasus]

demslie2u,

you must have been part of that drug testing back in the 60''s

[vnveteran72]

"Committed "Suicide"......*wink-wink....

[barbaraf4]

Another fall-guy hits the dust.

[miamimama3]

The conspiracy theories on this board are hilarious today. It must be the Israeli''s. No, it has to be the angry democrats, because they are really terrorists in disguise. Not to mention the mind readers that are here today. They have the answers for all the questions. He did it to make an anti-war statement. He was killed by the CIA. It''s a convenience killing. Or, check out Frank Olsen, who died in 1953. He was dosed with LSD without his knowledge during the CIA mind control experiments, never fully came back from his trip and either jumped or was pushed out a window. Yeah, I can see the parallel between that and someone sending envelopes of Anthrax. Thanks for the morning laughs.

[messiahx4eve]

You all know the answers already from the questions you ask. When you have executive priviledge, executive clearence, and are owned by the TOP 3% of the elitist population, whom of which OWN all the industry on a global level, what & where are YOUR limits? These are your "christian" God and you are their sheepeople. BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

[summarex]

Assuming the guy reallly did himself in, how do we know he was the culprit. What if he went into panic mode at the thought of being dragged through the mud like Hatfill was. This all seems too convenient and sudden. Something stinks here.

[closethippy1]

Closet Hippy -- Go back to the 60''''s, man! Your far out conspiracy theories about the "rightwing" in this country are really funny. Thank God for the right wing in this country....without it we''''d be speaking German and saying "Heil Hitler!" (And soon may be speaking Arabic and saying "Allah Akbar!")
Posted by earthlives at 07:22 AM : Aug 01, 2008

I know this has nothing to do with the subject matter but I just to remind this bozo that a Democrat was president when we defeated the Nazis.
A true Democrat who knew how to use the government to help the victims of the Depression that was brought on by a Republican president.