Bruce Ivins was suspected by the FBI and DOJ of sending powdered anthrax to government agencies and killing five people in 2001. In 2008 he committed suicide. Most assumed he was guilty. But maybe he wasn’t?
In recently released court papers, court prosecutors admitted the possibility that Ivins wasn’t the Anthrax Killer at all, though they still thought he was. According to PBS Frontline, the documents say investigators never discovered the necessary equipment for creating powered Anthrax in Ivins’ lab.
The government said it continues to believe that Ivins was “more likely than not” the killer. But the filing in a Florida court did not explain where or how Ivins could have made the powder, saying only that the lab “did not have the specialised equipment” in Ivins’ secure lab “that would be required to prepare the dried spore preparations that were used in the letters.”
Despite a $US100 million investigation, the FBI couldn’t find spores on/in any of Ivins’ belongings or property. Nor was there any incriminating evidence pointing them to another secret lab. But hey, more likely than not, right? RIGHT? [Frontline via Village Voice]
Image via Shutterstock/Carolina K. Smith, MD.