A government scientist who helped law enforcement search for the 2001 anthrax killer has reportedly committed suicide just as he was about to be charged with the attacks, the Los Angeles Times reported yesterday.
Bruce Ivins, 62, had not been publicly named as a suspect in the case of anthrax-laced letters sent to officials and high-profile journalists that sparked widespread fear in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks.
But the Times reported that Ivins had been informed of “impending prosecution” in connection with the case, citing sources familiar with the FBI investigation.
Five people died after handling the tainted letters in the deadliest bio-terrorism attack in US history.
Ivins worked for 18 years for the US biodefense research laboratories at Fort Detrick, Maryland, preparing anthrax formulations used in vaccine experiments, the daily said.
He also helped the FBI analyze one of the envelopes filled with anthrax spores sent to a US senator’s office in Washington.
His death, with no mention of suicide, was announced to his former colleagues in an e-mail, the Times reported.
“People here are pretty shook up about it,” said Caree Vander Linden, a spokeswoman for the agency where he worked.
A friend told the Times Ivins died of an overdose of prescription Tylenol mixed with codeine and a former coworker said he had been treated for depression and had threatened suicide.
Ivins’ death came a month after the government paid a former “person of interest” in the case,
Steven Hatfill, almost US$6 million in a settlement over the FBI’s public pursuit of him.
Soon after the settlement, Ivins’ access to sensitive areas at work was limited, the Times reported, adding that he was to be forced to retire in September.
One of his two brothers, Thomas Ivins, told the Times he was not surprised by the suicide.
“He buckled under the pressure from the federal government,” Thomas Ivins said, adding that FBI agents came to Ohio last year to question him about his brother.
“I was questioned by the feds and I sung like a canary” about Bruce Ivins’ personality, Thomas Ivins said.
“He had in his mind that he was omnipotent,” he said.
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