Army Microbiologist Who Committed Suicide Was to be Indicted in Anthrax Cases

WASHINGTON — An award-winning Army anthrax expert killed himself this week, as federal prosecutors prepared to indict him on charges stemming from the lethal anthrax attacks that shook the country seven years ago, officials said Friday.

The scientist, Ohio native Bruce Ivins, helped develop a new generation of anthrax vaccine in his 35 years as a microbiologist for the Army's biowarfare lab outside Washington, said lab spokeswoman Caree Vander Linden.

Ivins died Tuesday in a Frederick, Md., hospital of an apparent overdose of Tylenol mixed with codeine, a narcotic. Relatives told the Associated Press that Ivins killed himself.

His apparent suicide came five days after a Frederick County court issued a temporary restraining order against Ivins, after a social worker who was counseling him complained in court documents that Ivins had stalked, harassed and threatened to kill her.

In her petition for the restraining order, Jean Duley wrote that she had received a subpoena to testify Friday before a federal grand jury assessing evidence against Ivins. In handwritten testimony, Duley said Ivins "has a history dating to his graduate days of homicidal threats."

Ivins' attorney, Paul Kemp, did not return phone calls on Friday.

Kemp told the Associated Press, however, that Ivin had cooperated with federal investigators for more than a year.

"We are saddened by his death and disappointed that we will not have the opportunity to defend his good name and reputation in a court of law," Kemp said. He attributed Ivins' death to the government's "relentless pressure of accusation and innuendo."

Ivins, who was married and had a son and a daughter, is not the first to be accused of the crime.

In the summer of 2002, Steven Hatfill, who also worked for the Army's bio-defense labs, was singled out as a "person of interest" in the anthrax investigation. Hatfill filled a lawsuit against the Justice Department, accusing federal investigators of "leaking anonymous, defamatory and erroneous information about his character and criminal culpability" and waging a campaign of "harassment" and "intimidation" against him.

Earlier this summer, the government awarded Hatfill $5.9 million to drop the suit.

The Justice Department declined to comment Friday on Ivins, saying only that it had made "substantial progress" in its investigation of the anthrax attacks, which killed five people and sent 17 to the hospital.

"We anticipate being able to provide additional details in the near future," the Justice Department said in a statement.

Weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, letters laced with anthrax were mailed from a postal box in Princeton, N.J., to newsrooms in Florida and New York, as well as the Capitol Hill offices of two U.S. senators, Thomas Daschle, D-S.D., since voted out of office, and Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. The attacks panicked much of the nation and triggered one of the largest investigations in recent history.

Codenamed "Amerithrax," the investigation has involved 17 FBI special agents and 10 U.S. Postal Service Inspectors. Together they've conducted 75 searches and more than 9,100 interviews in what the Justice Department called "relentless pursuit" of the perpetrators.

The anthrax bacterium - bacillus anthracis - occurs naturally in spores and is lethal, killing about 90 percent of people who ingest it and go untreated.

Ivins helped to develop and improve anthrax vaccines in his career at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) at Ft. Detrick, Md.

"The USAMRIID family mourns the loss of Dr. Bruce Ivins, who served the Institute for more than 35 years as a civilian microbiologist," Vander Linden said in a statement. "In addition to his long and faithful government service, Bruce contributed to our community as a Red Cross volunteer with the Frederick County chapter. We will miss him very much."

Ivins had special expertise in the production, purification, storage and use of anthrax spores.

Five years ago, he was one of three USAMRIID scientists to receive the Decoration for Exceptional Civilian Service, the highest honor the Pentagon bestows upon civilian staff, for helping to resolve anthrax vaccine production problems.

"Awards are nice," Ivins said at the time, "but the real satisfaction is knowing the vaccine is back on-line."

Ivins also reportedly helped the FBI analyze anthrax recovered from one of the tainted envelopes sent to a U.S. senator's office in Washington.

However, the L.A. Times reported that Ivins failed to report anthrax contaminations to Army officials for five months. In sworn oral and written statements to an Army investigator, Ivins said that he had erred by keeping the episodes secret — from December 2001 to late April 2002. He said he had swabbed and bleached more than 20 areas that he suspected were contaminated by a sloppy lab technician.

Some familiar with the investigation also told the Times he was vague about whether he reswabbed areas near and within his personal office - what should have been an essential step — possibly out of fear that investigators would find more anthrax spores inside or near his office.

Ivins was born in Lebanon, Ohio. The oldest of his two brothers, Tom Ivins, of nearby Middletown, Ohio, said Friday that the scientist might have been persuaded to launch the 2001 attacks.

"People around him used his position to do this," said Tom Ivins, who settled in Middletown after suffering a stroke. "I think it happened and somebody influenced him, making him think he wasn't doing wrong."

Federal investigators questioned Tom Ivins in April 2007 about his family history and relationship with his brother, but Ivins said he knew nothing of his brother's alleged involvement in the anthrax assaults until news of his death surfaced.

"They didn't infer that my brother Bruce was involved with this anthrax situation," he said Friday between calls from media organizations from around the world.

Ivins, 73, said he had not spoken to Bruce in 20 years and does not have a "guilty conscious" about speaking with investigators about his brother.

Ivins said he does not blame anyone for his brother's death and he is confident authorities will determine who was involved in the mailings.

Ivins is survived by a second brother, C.W. Ivins.