Anthrax suspect dies in apparent suicide

[Mach]

Who would have guessed?!


Anthrax suspect dies in apparent suicide

mercurynews.com

By David Willman
Los Angeles Times
Article Launched: 08/01/2008 01:31:11 AM PDT

A top government scientist who helped the FBI analyze samples from the 2001 anthrax attacks has died in Maryland from an apparent suicide, just as the Justice Department was about to file criminal charges against him for the attacks, the Los Angeles Times has learned.

Bruce Ivins, 62, who for the past 18 years worked at the government's elite biodefense research laboratories at Fort Detrick, Md., had been informed of his impending prosecution, said people familiar with Ivins, his death and with the FBI investigation.

Ivins, whose name had not been disclosed publicly as a suspect in the case, had played a central role in research to improve anthrax vaccines by preparing anthrax formulations used in experiments on animals.

Regarded as a skilled microbiologist, Ivins also had helped the FBI analyze the powdery material recovered from one of the anthrax-tainted envelopes sent to a U.S. senator's office in Washington, D.C.

Ivins died Tuesday at Frederick Memorial Hospital after having ingested a massive dose of prescription Tylenol mixed with codeine, said a friend and colleague who declined to be identified out of concern, he said, that he would be harassed by the FBI.

The death - without any mention of suicide - was announced to Ivins' colleagues at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) in an e-mail.

"People here are pretty shook up about it," said Caree Vander Linden, a spokeswoman
for USAMRIID, who said she was not at liberty to discuss details surrounding the death.

The anthrax mailings killed five people, crippled national mail service, shut down a Senate office building and spread fear of terrorism in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks.

The extraordinary turn of events came after the government's payment in June of a settlement valued at $5.82 million to a former government scientist, Steven Hatfill, who was long targeted as the FBI's chief suspect despite a lack of any evidence that he had ever possessed anthrax.

Soon after the government's settlement with Hatfill was announced June 27, Ivins began showing signs of serious strain. One of his longtime colleagues told the Times that Ivins, who was being treated for depression, indicated to a therapist that he was considering suicide. Soon thereafter, family members and local police officers escorted Ivins away from USAMRIID, where his access to sensitive areas was curtailed, the colleague said.

Ivins was committed to a facility in Frederick for treatment of his depression. July 24, he was released from the facility.

The scientist faced forced retirement, planned for September, said his longtime colleague, who described Ivins as emotionally fractured by the federal scrutiny.

A spokeswoman for the FBI, Debra Weierman, said Thursday that the bureau would not comment regarding the death of Ivins. Last week, however, FBI Director Mueller told CNN that, "in some sense, there have been breakthroughs" in the case.

[MoneyWhereMyMouthIs2]

[B]Ivins died Tuesday at Frederick Memorial Hospital after having ingested a massive dose of prescription Tylenol mixed with codeine

Is that how a skilled microbiologist would kill himeself?

[GunnyFreedom]

Is that how a skilled microbiologist would kill himeself?

Not that I seriously believe that he OD'd himself, that report is just way too damn suspicious on so many levels, but yeah - anybody with a real medical background who wanted to check out without fuss or pain would be quite likely to pick Vicodin. It's easy to get, and you get very high until you finally die peacefully in your sleep.

[sparebulb]

It appears as if this case has been conveniently "wrapped up". Once again, another victory for law enforcement and the public's attention will be forever turned away from this matter. All who continue to query the anthrax killings will be accused of wearing tin foil hats.

[Anti Federalist]

Lost in this, is the simple fact, that was our stuff, from our labs, from our army.

Noooo, there's no such thing as "inside jobs".

[Sandra]

Suicide.... how convenient...

[GunnyFreedom]

Lost in this, is the simple fact, that was our stuff, from our labs, from our army.

Noooo, there's no such thing as "inside jobs".

Not so much lost, as simply unstated. The very fact we believe this guy was a murder covered up to look like a suicide seems an indication that we think it's likely the anthrax was a Northwood operation. (False flag doesn't cut it, as in the GWOT there really are no 'flags' per se)

[Anti Federalist]

Not so much lost, as simply unstated. The very fact we believe this guy was a murder covered up to look like a suicide seems an indication that we think it's likely the anthrax was a Northwood operation. (False flag doesn't cut it, as in the GWOT there really are no 'flags' per se)

True enough, left unstated as it being so obvious as to need no further explanation.

[acptulsa]

Suicide.... how convenient...

From General Curtis LeMay to Jack Ruby to the "D.C. Madame" to the whole of Daley Plaza, suspect suicides are quite the modern American tradition, aren't they?

[Sarge]

All might want to read the top article on ABC.

Very revealing, if correct, that some people were instructed to take cipro before they knew that it was anthrax.

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/

And yes, now we find out it was a government lab.

Why is the media not all over this? Oh, I forgot that they are told what they can report.

It sounds like one man here has the courage to stir the pot.

I note that the article doesn't come up. Check Glenn Greenwald on the site. Well written.

Found this to help locate the article,

http://reason.com/blog/show/127871.html

[New York For Paul]

When these people are put under extreme pressure and possible jail time, suicide could look pretty tempting. I wouldn't always assume it is not a suicide.

On the other hand, there probably have been some murders made to look like suicide.

Vince Foster sure looks like a cover up. No bullet was found, nobody heard any gunshots and one witness who reported suspicious activity.

[DadaOrwell]

From RidleyReport.com -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZ7wqPM1YOQ

FBI says 9/18 was an inside job. The suspect: high-level Army researcher. But when will media outlets begin to question the Federal Government the way they questioned America's much less violent militia movement?

[PatriotOne]

Suicide.... how convenient...

How convenient indeed. Case closed.....lone nutter did it.

[Godfather89]

Pissh, this scientist stuff dying, for all we know he was going to come public with this, someone betrayed him and killed him via prescription drugs. Or someone did not want the cure to be made as I have heard and bumped him off. Either way awfully suspicious.

[Mach]

They go for years without anything happening, people won't just forget all about it so then they start picking suspects out of the crowd, that other scientist "said" you're not pulling that stuff on me and took them to court ($$$) and right after that they already had another guy on the list.... NEXT! Of course, when you get a suspect and he dies, there's nothing he can do to totally prove his innocence, now they can drop the case and feed the MSM all of their "evidence."

Now, if you want to go the other way, he was in on it, but, he was just a "worker" that knew too much, he would name names for sure. This guy was so nervous and fragile like, but, he carried out all of this Anthrax stealing, smuggling, mailing etc. all by himself, not to mention who to mail it to and why.

Am I missing something here? From wikipedia..... gee, quick info huh.....

"For some time, the FBI was focused on Steven Hatfill and considered him to be the chief suspect in the attacks. In March 2008, however, authorities exonerated Hatfill and settled a suit started by him for $5.8 million. FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III changed leadership of the investigation in late 2006, and at that time Ivins became the main focus of the investigation."

Hatfill was the chief suspect until 2008, when he sued them, BUT.... Ivin was the main focus since 2006?

Bruce Ivins
.
.

[fase2000tdi]

This is so 1984ish.....


Hey, the chocolate ration is up!

[Mach]

The FBI head agent in charge of the anthrax investigation – Richard Lambert – has just filed a federal whistleblower lawsuit calling the entire FBI investigation bullsh!t:

http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2015/...calls-b-s.html

Further, the killer anthrax in the letters had a very high-tech anti-static coating so that the anthrax sample “floated off the glass slide and was lost” when scientists tried to examine it. Specifically, the killer anthrax was coated with polyglass and each anthrax spore given an electrostatic charge, so that it would repel other spores and “float”. This was very advanced bio-weapons technology to which even Ivins’ bosses said he didn’t have access.

Top anthrax experts like Richard Spertzel say that Ivins didn’t do it. Spertzel also says that only 4 or 5 people in the entire country knew how to make anthrax of the “quality” used in the letters, that Spertzel was one of them, and it would have taken him a year with a full lab and a staff of helpers to do it. As such, the FBI’s claim that Ivins did it alone working a few nights is ludicrous.