Aug 3, 2008 11:17 pm US/Eastern
Therapist: Ivins Angry FBI Planned To Charge Him
BALTIMORE (WJZ) ―
-
-
The Justice Department was about to file criminal charges against the scientist, 62-year-old Bruce E. Ivins, a leading military anthrax researcher who worked for the past 18 years at the government's biodefense labs at Fort Detrick.
CBS
New details seem to emerge by the hour about who Bruce Ivins was and what led investigators to start focusing on the Fort Detrick scientist.
Frederick scientist and leading anthrax expert Dr. Bruce Ivins knew the FBI was about to charge him with the 2001 anthrax attacks.
Derek Valcourt reports according to Jean Duley, a therapist who had been treating Ivins for six months, he was angry.
In late July she went to court in Frederick for a protective order citing a threat Ivins made in a group session.
"He proceeded to describe to the group a very detailed plan to kill his co-workers, that because he was about to be indicted on capital murder charges he was going to go out in a blaze of glory, that he was going to take everybody out with him," said Duley.
Ivins killed himself on Thursday with an overdose of acetomorphine and codeine upsetting many in his hometown.
Ivins was an active member of St. John's the Evangelist Catholic Church in Frederick. In fact they held a memorial service for him this weekend.
"The few parishioners that I've talked to, we've all been shocked by it and I think nobody ever saw anything like this coming, so it was a shock for all of us," said Mike Bianchini.
New DNA tests on the anthrax victims led the FBI to believe Ivins was the mastermind of the 2001 mailings of anthrax-laced letters through the postal system to media outlets and members of Congress. One of them was former Senator Tom Daschle.
"I don't have any idea how close they were of accusing him, of indicting him. I don't know whether this is another false track or a real diversion from where they need to be. We don't know and they aren't telling us," said Daschle.
On FOX News Sunday, Daschle criticized the FBI for not releasing more information on their investigation into the attacks that left five dead and 17 others injured.
"I don't know anything about the most recent development and that's most unfortunate. All of us, not only those of us that were directly affected, all of us need to know a lot more than we do today," said Daschle.
Ivins worked at the same Fort Detrick science lab as Dr. Steven Hatfield, the FBI's original person of interest in the case.
Hatfield was never charged and later accepted a $6 million settlement for the damage the allegations did to his reputation.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Great NFL Hair
CBS News Interactive: Anthrax
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
Reporting
