Government researcher apparently killed himself as prosecutors closed in
NBC News and news services
updated 14 minutes ago
WASHINGTON - A top U.S. biodefense researcher apparently committed suicide this week as prosecutors prepared to seek indictment and the death penalty against him for the deadly 2001 anthrax attacks, U.S. officials said Friday.
The scientist, Bruce E. Ivins, was a leading military anthrax researcher who worked for the past 18 years at the government's biodefense labs at Fort Detrick, Md. The laboratory has been at the center of the FBI's investigation of the anthrax mailings.
Federal officials told NBC News that Ivins was asked to help analyze some of the anthrax material recovered from mailings that killed five people in the weeks following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. He also helped develop the anthrax vaccine widely given to U.S. troops.
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