Mystery of Anthrax Murders

From Unsolved Mystery to a Conclusion:

Five individuals lost their lives due to exposure to anthrax.

Who was responsible for sending anthrax through the mail?

The letters were postmarked from Trenton, NJ.

Case Details:

All the letters were sent by the same person.

On Tuesday, October 16, 2001, Norma Wallace reported to work at the postal office in Trenton, New Jersey. Initially feeling unwell, she dismissed it as a mild case of the flu. However, as the day progressed, her condition worsened. She experienced severe difficulty in breathing.

Simultaneously, about 200 miles away in Washington, DC, another postal worker named Leroy Richmond exhibited almost identical symptoms. He too became critically ill. Within a matter of days, both Norma and Leroy were hospitalized, and their conditions deteriorated rapidly. It seemed as if they were slowly suffocating to death, and doctors struggled to determine the cause. After conducting numerous tests, they eventually diagnosed anthrax poisoning.

Like millions of other Americans, Norma and Leroy were aware that anthrax had claimed the life of a man in Florida just a few days prior. Now, they were suffering from the most lethal form of the disease. In the aftermath of the September 11th attacks, the nation faced a second wave of terrorism.

The Perpetrator Identified:

The anthrax terror plot came to light on October 5, 2001, in Boca Raton, Florida. Robert Stevens, a 63-year-old photo editor at the Sun newspaper, died after being exposed to anthrax spores. Experts believed that the spores originated from a letter that had been opened, though its source remained unknown. Suddenly, federal investigators were thrust into the realm of bioterrorism. Van A. Harp, Assistant Director of the FBI's Washington field office, described it as an extraordinary crime scene:

"We don't have a crime scene in the traditional sense. We don't have witnesses. And, we really don't have anyone that we can call an informant at this point."

In the same week, NBC News and the New York Post in Manhattan received letters tainted with anthrax. This time, there was a clue—the envelopes were postmarked from Trenton, New Jersey. A team of FBI agents scoured every mailbox in the town in search of anthrax traces but found none.

Then, on October 9th, 2001, in Washington, DC, two additional letters containing anthrax were discovered. Again, they were postmarked Trenton, New Jersey. This time, the targets were politicians—Senators Tom Daschle and Patrick Leahy at their offices in DC. According to Dr. Meryl Nass, the letters contained an exceptionally pure and concentrated form of anthrax, known as "weapons grade":

"This is dangerous, dangerous stuff. It was estimated that two trillion spores went into each of those envelopes, which would have been two grams. One envelope may have had a hundred million lethal doses."

Under the right conditions, just two grams of anthrax could potentially wipe out one-third of the U.S. population. Investigators reached a significant conclusion: the notes found within the anthrax-laden envelopes displayed similar handwriting, leading authorities to believe they originated from the same source. Did references to 9/11, "Death to Israel," and "Allah is Great" point to Arab terrorists? Or did they indicate someone who wanted investigators to suspect the involvement of Arab extremists? Assistant Director Harp stated that the FBI was considering three broad possibilities:

"The first being international terrorists. Domestic terrorism. We're looking at some of the individuals within the

United States. And then we're looking at the lone wolf as well."

By October 20th, postal worker Norma Wallace was fighting for her life. Her temperature soared above 100, and she went into shock. The anthrax spores released a lethal toxin, causing blood vessels to rupture and the bacteria to spread through her bloodstream. Norma described her experience:

"I felt like I was dying. I felt like I couldn't breathe. Once the spores enter your lungs, they attack the tissues and the lymph nodes, allowing the anthrax to take control of your body."

Leroy Richmond's prognosis was equally grim. He endured excruciating pain as his lungs filled with fluid. To make matters worse, doctors knew that their most potent drugs were seldom effective in combating this silent killer. Leroy vividly recalled how he came face to face with death:

"I think I was... as close to death then as I ever was going to get. My breathing had become so shallow that I was actually panting like a dog would breathe. And I heard a couple of guys say, 'Man, he's not going to last but a couple of hours, and that'll be it for him.'"

Miraculously, both Norma and Leroy survived their harrowing ordeals. However, four other victims of anthrax were not as fortunate, bringing the death toll to five: Leroy's coworkers Thomas Morris and Joseph Curseen in Washington, DC, and hospital worker Kathy Nyugen in New York City. Three weeks later, Ottilie Lundgren in Derby, Connecticut, also succumbed to the disease.

Update:

On July 27th, 2008, government scientist Bruce Ivins was rushed to a Maryland hospital after a massive overdose of prescription drugs. He passed away two days later. Shortly after, the FBI announced that Dr. Ivins had been the primary suspect in the 2001 anthrax terror attacks.

Dr. Ivins, one of the country's leading anthrax researchers, had assisted in investigating the attacks that claimed the lives of five Americans and terrified the nation. However, he eventually became a suspect himself, and according to the FBI, there is no doubt that he was the anthrax killer. The case is officially closed, though a motive for Dr. Ivins' alleged crimes has not been established.