Why the Anthrax Murders Are Re-Surfacing 10 Years Later

A decade after the anthrax attacks killed five people and sent 17 to the hospital, and a year after the FBI officially closed the case, it's once again rearing its ugly head.


1. Bruce E. Ivins, the Fort Detrick scientist who the FBI believes mailed out packages of anthrax spores, committed suicide in 2008 before he could be tried for the crimes. Even though the FBI officially named Ivins the killer in 2010, his absence inevitably leaves the case vulnerable to conspiracy theories.


But those reasons won't likely re-open the case, and they probably shouldn't. I love a good conspiracy theory as much as anyone, but Ivins sure looks guilty: He made majorly incriminating remarks regarding plots to murder a psychiatrist and a counselor, and a year before the 2001 attacks he wrote that he might do "terrible things." The image above is a page from Ivins' lab notebook. He also spent an inordinate amount of time burning the midnight oil in the lab around the time of the attacks. But let's not speak ill of the dead; maybe he was just loony.



Also consider the fact that Barbara Hatch Rosenberg, one of the authors of the Bioterrorism and Biodefence paper, pushed the FBI to investigate another researcher, Steven J. Hatfill, who ended up winning a $5.82 million settlement from the government and was formally exonerated. Lastly, the Frontline program uses Jenifer Smith as a source, saying she was concerned about hastiness in solving the case. But she told the LA Times that despite that she actually thinks the FBI got the right guy.

PBS' Frontline, McClatchy and ProPublica also aired a television program detailing their criticism of the FBI's anthrax investigation. Three days later, ProPublica published an article saying the case would likely not be reopened. Despite the attempts at surfacing new evidence, I'm convinced Ivins did it. [LA Times, New York Times, ProPublica; Image: FBI]
