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Scientist’s therapist was ‘scared to death’ of him

Bruce Ivins, the late microbiologist suspected in the 2001 anthrax attacks, had attempted to poison people and his therapist said she was “scared to death” of him, court testimony shows.

Social worker Jean Duley testified at a court hearing in Frederick, Maryland, on July 24 in a successful bid for a protective order against Ivins that he “actually attempted to murder several other people.”

Ivins, 62, five days after the court hearing took a fatal dose of acetaminophen, the active drug in Tylenol, as federal authorities monitored his movements and prepared to charge him with murder from anthrax poisoning in the weeks after the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

TESTIMONY

An audio recording of the court session was obtained by the New York Times and posted on its Web site on Saturday.

“As far back as the year 2000, the respondent has actually attempted to murder several other people … through poisoning … He is a revenge killer. When he feels that he’s been slighted or has had — especially toward women — he plots and actually tries to carry out revenge killings,” Duley said.

SOCIOPATHIC KILLER

She added that Ivins “has been forensically diagnosed by several top psychiatrists as a sociopathic, homicidal killer.”

“I have that in evidence. And through my working with him, I also believe that to be very true,” she said.

Ivins was removed from his lab in Maryland by police on July 10 and temporarily hospitalized, court records showed, because it was feared that he was a danger to himself and others.

In the testimony, Duley told the court that she had known Ivins for six months and that on July 9, Ivins showed up for a group session “extremely agitated, out of control.”

Ivins said he had obtained a gun and described to the group “a very long and detailed homicidal plan” to kill his co-workers, she said.

Duley said she then called Ivins’ two lawyers and the city police, who went to Ivins’ workplace and had him committed to Frederick Memorial Hospital for a psychiatric evaluation.
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