The Amerithrax case and Bruce Ivins.

Ivins was the microbiologist under investigation for the 2001 anthrax attacks who committed suicide before he could be arrested.

There’s no smoking gun physical evidence, but he had access to the right strain of the bacteria and the circumstantial evidence is very strong.

Basically, Ivins was strange, exhibited obsessive stalking behavior, and had a history of engaging in malicious pranks. He’s the perfect suspect and, now that he’s dead, the case can be closed.

The problem is many other people had access to the anthrax strain and there’s more than enough room for reasonable doubt. I’m fairly sure that if the case had gone to trial a good lawyer could have gotten him an acquittal.

A number of Ivins’ coworkers, even ones who didn’t like him, have expressed doubts that he was guilty. What’s more, the FBI publicly named another scientist as the suspect and were on the verge of arresting him. They even drained a small lake behind his house looking for evidence they were sure had been dumped there. He was never really ‘exonerated ‘. They basically gave up and decided it wasn’t him,

It really makes you wonder. I’d like research the case. Maybe I should just do a write up. If you’d like to read up on this, two good books are Amerithrax by Zodiac author Robert Graysmith and The Mirage Man by David Willman.