OK family, I know you remember this one. 2001 people were opening envelopes with a strange white powder on the inside. Post marked from Ashland Virginia we would have said it was biscuit flower, postmarked Miami we would have said cocaine. But since there were various postmarks and five people died...it was deadly Antrhrax. Tuesday the body of government scientist Bruce Ivins was found. Dead of an apparent overdose hours after learning authorities were coming to bring him in.
The death in Maryland of Ivins, who helped the FBI analyse anthrax samples used in the attacks, may bring to a close a long-running mystery in the US "war on terror". Following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the anthrax assaults crippled the US mail system and sowed fears the US was under attack from al-Qaida terrorists who had acquired biological weapons.
Ivins, whose name had not surfaced publicly in connection to the attacks, was a civilian bio-defence researcher at a top military research laboratory at Fort Detrick, Maryland. The 62-year-old scientist had worked at the lab for the past 18 years.
According to the Los Angeles Times, which first reported the death, Ivins had recently been informed of his impending prosecution. He died Tuesday in a Maryland hospital after ingesting a large dose of prescription Tylenol with codeine, a friend told the Los Angeles Times.
We like this scoop from across the ocean GuardianUK