Scientist Borrowed Device that Freeze-Dries Anthrax
The government scientist who committed suicide before he could be indicted in the 2001 anthrax attacks had checked out freeze-drying equipment that can convert liquid anthrax into dry spores.
Bruce Ivins worked on at least one project that would have given him access to the device known as a lyopholizer, but it was not often used by scientists at his lab in Fort Detrick, Md., the Washington Post reports.
The New York Times also mentions the device in a story that also outlines other evidence and “personal quirks” of Ivins. The article reveals that Ivins had a history of alcohol abuse and maintained a post office box under an assumed name where he received pornographic pictures of blindfolded women.
Ivins also had an obsession with the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority, the Associated Press reports. The sorority has an office in Princeton, N.J., the city where the anthrax-laced letters were mailed. There is no evidence placing Ivins in Princeton at the time of the mailings, however.
Ivins was obsessed with the sorority since he was rebuffed by a member when he was in college, the Associated Press says.
Earlier reports explain that Ivins was linked to the attacks through the DNA of the anthrax strain in his lab, which was handled by at least 10 scientists. He also aroused suspicion when he cleaned up anthrax contamination in and around his own office in late 2001 and early 2002, but didn’t report it.
Ivins’ lawyer maintains he would have been proven innocent. A former colleague, Dr. W. Russell Byrne, believes authorities focused on Ivins because of his weaknesses. “They figured he was the weakest link,” Byrne told the New York Times. “If they had real evidence on him, why did they not just arrest him?”
