All language subtitles for Historys.Greatest.Mysteries.S07E19.1080p.WEB.h264-EDITH_track3_[eng]

[suspenseful music]

- Tonight, in the
shadow of 9/11,

a new kind of terror strikes
at the heart of America.

- This is the first death by
Anthrax in the United States

in more than 25 years.

- This silent
killer is out there.

You could just simply
open up your mailbox,

and that could just kill you.

- Every day, it seems as
if more and more people

are getting sick.

- Panic spreads around the
country as the poisoned letters

keep coming.

- This can spread very rapidly
and it's very dangerous.

You could be looking at
thousands of victims.

- Random people seem to
be getting sick and dying.

Fear and terror is
really at a high.

- The killer has access to
military bioweapons labs.

Perhaps something has gone on

that the government
doesn't want us to know.

- Now, we investigate
the top theories

surrounding the deadly
act of bioterrorism

that shocked the nation.

Just who was responsible for
the anthrax attacks of 2001?

[dramatic music]

- [Laurence] October 2nd,
2001, just a few weeks

after the 9/11 attacks,
63-year-old Robert Stevens,

a photo editor for the
"National Enquirer" tabloid,

stumbles into the ER
with flu-like symptoms.

- Robert Stevens
is showing symptoms

including high fever,
vomiting, and disorientation.

And the hospital admits
him with a diagnosis

of bacterial
meningitis, which is

swelling of the tissue
around the brain.

After he's admitted,
within five hours,

he starts having seizures
and he slips into a coma.

- Very quickly, multiple
organs start failing

inside of his body,

and they recognize that
they're in a race against time

to determine what's
making this man ill.

When they take a spinal tap

and subject it to
microscopic analysis,

they have a a real shock.

They're surprised to discover

that it's not
bacterial meningitis.

This man has been
infected with anthrax.

- Anthrax disease caused by the
bacteria Bacillus anthracis

and it's usually
transferred cutaneously,

so through the skin.

Another type of way to get
it is through ingestion

or the type of anthrax that
Stevens has, inhalation.

And with inhalatial anthrax,
about a hundred percent chance

that you're gonna die
without treatment.

You don't get
symptoms right away.

So it takes a while for
those symptoms to show up

and by that time, sometimes
people don't even respond

to antibiotics.

Then, your body just starts
to really fail very quickly.

- Stevens fails to
respond to antibiotics

and the infection continues
to ravage his body,

causing sepsis, and
ultimately organ failure.

- [Laurence] Stevens
dies on October 5th,

four days after checking
into the hospital.

The first anthrax fatality in
the US in more than 25 years.

- When Stevens dies from
his anthrax infection,

basically a panic ensues,
because they're not certain

where he could have possibly
come into contact with anthrax.

This can spread very rapidly
and it's very dangerous.

And if you have a massive
outbreak, its self-propagates.

You could be looking at
thousands of victims.

- This is 2001, and
it's less than a month

after the 9/11 attacks, so
people are a bit on edge.

The Center for Disease Control,

even the FBI has gotten involved

'cause anthrax is a very, very
scary and virulent condition.

- What's also
tricky with anthrax

is that it can take
up to seven days

for anybody to exhibit symptoms.

Investigators go
everywhere Stevens had been

in the last week, including
his offices at American Media,

which owns the
"National Enquirer".

- They start doing a
pretty intensive search

for the anthrax bacteria.

One place that pops up is
on Robert Steven's keyboard.

They also find it in
a mail room employee.

He's showing some symptoms.

So, they have those two cases.

And after that, they shut
down the AMI offices.

- [Brandy] If you're going into
a space that has random spores

of anthrax just
in the atmosphere,

that means hazmat suits,
that means ventilators,

that means people
in big masks in.

It looks like a
science fiction movie.

It's very, very scary.

And now, you can't keep
this under wraps anymore.

You've got additional
people infected.

It's clearly not
an isolated event.

- [Laurence] For
the authorities,

there's only one
logical explanation.

This has to be an
act of bioterrorism.

- [Paul] After World War I,
there was a recognition

that chemical warfare
was unacceptable,

but they did not necessarily
extend to biological weapons.

In the post-World War II
era, both the United States

and the Soviet Union produce
substantial stockpiles

of bioweapons to include
weaponized anthrax.

- [Eric] Anthrax, for a long
time, has been thought of

as a potentially potent
biological weapon.

It's indestructible, and
that can be made into forms

that are very hard to
detect and very small.

- [Paul] Ostensibly, biological
weapons are outlawed

by the Biological
Weapons Convention,

but they are allowed
to produce stockpiles

for the purpose of research
and the production of things

like vaccines, inoculations,
and treatments.

- The FBI tries to head off
growing panic by insisting

that they're treating
this as an isolated case.

But behind the scenes, there's
definitely growing concern

that this might be part
of a much broader attack.

- [Laurence] On October 12th,

just four days later, the
FBI's fears are realized.

An employee from "NBC
News" in New York

has also been
exposed to anthrax.

- Casey Chamberlain, who
works for Tom Brokaw,

opens his mail.

She'd received a letter,
and it was very upsetting.

It had a childish hand scrawl,

and it said "Death
to America.

Death to Israel.

Allah is great," in it.

And in addition, it seemed
to have this strange,

powdery, sandy-like
substance in the envelope.

She starts having
flu-like symptoms.

It doesn't take long for
it to become apparent,

she too has come
down with anthrax.

- [Reporter] The news raced
across the city's ticker tape.

The mayor tried to
reassure the population

this was just an isolated case.

- It is likely that this issue

all began way back
on September 25th.

So, one piece of good news

is that if anyone else
was gonna be infected,

it would've happened by now.

- [Kavitha] Over
the next few days,

seven additional anthrax
cases are reported

at news organizations
around New York,

including at NBC, ABC, CBS,
and the New York Post.

And less than a
month after 9/11,

everybody in New
York is on edge.

- [Eric] We've been hearing
since September 11th,

the enemy of America, who has
shown a spectacular ability

to attack America, is Al-Qaeda.

So when a biological
attack begins

so soon after September
11th, makes sense

that Al-Qaeda would be the
first place you'd look.

[tense music]

- [Laurence] On October 15th,

fears of a coordinated
terrorist attack

are seemingly
confirmed when anthrax

reaches the heart of
the federal government.

- Grant Leslie, an intern
for Senator Tom Daschle,

opens up his mail,

and she sees an envelope

that's addressed to
Senator Tom Daschle.

The return address is 4th
Grade, Greendale School.

So she thinks by
the block lettering

that this is a nice letter
from some school children.

She opens it up

and a white powder comes
out of the envelope.

- The letter that is
received is hand scrawled.

It's almost childish
in the way it looks

and the message is similar too,
but it's longer this time.

- [Matthew] It reads, "9-11-01.

You can't stop us.

We have this anthrax.

You die now.

Are you afraid?
Death to America.

Death to Israel.
Allah is great."

Investigators come, they
quarantine the office

and they find another letter.

This letter was addressed
to Senator Patrick Leahy.

That letter also
contained anthrax.

So, they close
down the Capitol.

They treat all of the staffers
there with antibiotics

and they find about
another 30 infections

due to inhalation anthrax.

- People are terrified,
because they can't see anthrax.

They have no mechanism to

protect themselves
against anthrax

and now, you have
three discreet attacks

that are very obviously
an ongoing campaign

and it's got the
public in a panic.

The vast majority
of the population

has leapt to the expectation
that this is Al-Qaeda

carrying out the next
stage in a terror campaign.

- The narrative was
already in place

that this was more
likely another Al-Qaeda

terrorist attack on
the United States

and so, people tried to start
putting pieces together.

- [Eric] The ringleader of the
9/11 attacks, Mohamed Atta,

had been in South Florida,

not far from that AMI office,

learning to fly aircraft
near an airfield,

where they had a crop duster

and he was asking a lot of
questions about the crop duster.

It seems to some people

like there was certainly a lot
of smoke there, if not fire.

- [Ali] That, of course,
heightens the fear,

because the crop
duster with anthrax

could put millions of
spores across a large city

and kill millions of people.

- [Laurence] Despite
this public concern,

investigators can't find
a clear link to Al-Qaeda.

The question is, who
else is a suspect?

- So the one unifying factor

between the attacks at the
Capitol, the attacks on media

is that these are all
being sent through the mail

at a large facility that
actually sorts the mail

for the Capitol, two postal
workers end up dying.

More people are infected.

Lots of people
have been exposed.

- So, the FBI immediately
goes to the postal facilities

and starts backtracking
where the mail was sent from

and they start
checking the cameras.

They do multiple searches
across dozens of sites

and nothing to show for it.

And so, the FBI really doesn't
have a clue who's behind it.

- By late October,
2001, nearly 20 people

have contracted
anthrax infections

and three have died, with
hundreds more being treated

for exposure.

Still, investigators
have no idea

who's been sending the deadly
spores through the mail.

- As this investigation
continues to expand,

the United States government
sets up an anthrax task force

and they're going to pull
in multiple agencies,

all of whom have
overlapping responsibilities

to try to bring all of
the resources together

to stop these attacks.

- The first wave of letters
sent to the news agencies

in New York all have a Trenton,
New Jersey postmark address

and were all sent
on the same date.

September 18th, 2001.

- The letter to Tom Brokaw
has no return address.

It's just addressed to
Tom Brokaw, NBC News.

The letter to Tom Daschle
does have a return address.

Return address is
the Greendale School

in Franklin, New Jersey.

There is no Greendale School
in Franklin, New Jersey.

It's a fake return address.

- It becomes apparent
that all of these letters

have been photocopied
on a photocopy machine,

and then cut to
slightly different sizes

before they're sent.

The other commonality between
the two sets of letters

is they can't find any
fingerprints, no DNA.

Whoever is doing these letters

actually understands
how not to get caught.

What's most concerning

has to do with the
anthrax spores themselves.

- [Kavitha] The airborne anthrax
spores sent to the Senate,

which sickened many and
killed two postal workers,

is found to be even
more refined and potent

than the spores sent to
the news organizations.

- [Paul] As they dig
deeper, they determine

that this is
weapons-grade anthrax,

which means by definition,
it almost certainly

came from a bioweapons lab,

possessed by a
major nation state,

but the one we're more
focused on is Iraq.

- [Kavitha] Starting around
1985, Saddam Hussein begins

to develop massive
biological weapons,

including anthrax.

- During the Iran-Iraq
war of the 1980s,

Iraq had deliberately
subjected Iranian POWs

to chemical and
biological weapons.

- One story is that prisoners
of war were tied to beds

inside of a room
that was sealed up,

and then they released
anthrax into this room.

And through an
observation window,

scientists and
military personnel

observed their horrific deaths.

- [Paul] After 1991, the
Iraqis were expected

by the armistice negotiations

to destroy all of
their stockpiles

of biological and
chemical weapons,

as well as end any
nuclear weapons ambitions.

But the Iraqis played
a lot of games.

They tried to hide at least
some of their materials

from weapons inspectors.

While the Iraqis
publicly claimed

that they had destroyed
the stockpiles, privately,

it's clear that they
were holding things back.

- [Kavitha] Saddam Hussein has
also been threatening revenge

against the US after his
defeat in the First Gulf War.

In the immediate
aftermath of 9/11,

the US starts to point to Iraq

as a possible partner with
Al-Qaeda in the 9/11 attacks

and any ensuing terror
attacks against the country.

- [Laurence] When scientists
test the anthrax used

on Capitol Hill, some say
they uncover the proof

of an Iraqi connection.

- And in late October, we
get this bombshell report

from "ABC News,"
that the anthrax

contained another
material called bentonite

and it was made to
weaponize anthrax

and make it easier to
disperse and more lethal.

The intelligence
said that bentonite

was only used for the
production of anthrax

by one country in the world,

and that country was Iraq.

- [Laurence] On October 31st,

two days after the news report

tying the anthrax
attacks to Iraq,

there's another fatality.

- So far, all of these
have been targeted attacks,

the media, the
financial institutions,

but then we have a 61-year-old
stock clerk in the Bronx

who comes down with
anthrax and she dies.

- [Reporter] 61-year-old
Kathy Nguyen of the Bronx

died of the inhaled
form of anthrax.

So far, officials have
not been able to trace

how she got it.

- [Eric] She hasn't been to the
offices of NBC News, recently.

She hasn't been to the offices
of the "New York Post."

She hasn't been sorting mail.

So, how did she get this?

It raises this
possibility that anthrax

is being dispersed in
a way that could infect

anybody, anywhere,
which is very scary.

- [Matthew] A couple of weeks
later,

94-year-old Ottilie
Lundgren from Connecticut

also contracts inhalation
anthrax and dies.

Now, this is a person that
was basically home bound.

She did not leave
her home very often.

She did not work for the media,

did not work for the government.

This is another innocent
person that has no connection

to be a typical target for
this attack, but another death.

Again, just showing how
this killer is out there

and that you could just
simply open up your mailbox

and that will just kill you.

- [Paul] This is a stark
reminder that this is a spore

that has been upgraded

from its naturally occurring,
very dangerous state

to make it possible
for it to propagate

as widely as possible.

It's essentially an
uncontrollable weapon.

Once you release it on the
public, it could go anywhere

and this absolutely
terrifies people.

And if there's a connection
to an external actor,

like Iraq, that
might be supporting

the world's largest and
deadliest terror organization,

panic is about to ensue.

- [Laurence] Reports then emerge

of a top secret Al-Qaeda and
Iraqi intelligence meeting

in Prague, which if true would
have explosive consequences.

- [Eric] There's one
intelligence report

that the ringleader of the
9/11 attacks, Mohamed Atta,

met with a member of
the Iraqi intelligence

in a meeting in Prague.

- [Kavitha] The report backs up
a growing suspicion of a link

between Al-Qaeda
and Saddam Hussein.

So when the anthrax
attacks happen,

it's not a stretch to think
that we're in the midst

of another targeted,
coordinated attack,

with Al-Qaeda and
Iraq working together.

- [Paul] Vice President Dick
Cheney publicly confirms

that Mohamed Atta had
met with an Iraqi agent

during a national
media appearance.

- [Laurence] Despite Cheney's
suspicions,

no Iraqi link to
Al-Qaeda is ever proven.

Scientists also begin
to back off their claim

that there was bentonite, an
Iraqi bioweapons signature,

found in any of the
anthrax letters.

- [Brandy] Despite the fact that
it seems

like these two
things are connected,

no link ever really emerges.

There's never proof that
Al-Qaeda is working with Iraq

or with Saddam Hussein.

So ultimately, we're back to
square one, not really knowing

where the attacks are coming
from or who is targeting us.

- [Laurence] In late October,
2001,

the anthrax investigation
turns in a new direction.

The FBI reveals that the
spores used in the attacks

came from a strain of bacteria

developed in US military labs.

It's known as the Ames strain.

- [Kavitha] The Ames strain was
originally isolated

from an infected cow
back in the 1980s

and it was taken and
used by the military

to try and develop
an anthrax vaccine.

- [Laurence] Even
after identifying the strain,

investigators are no closer

to finding out who's
been sending it.

- There's not really
a way to narrow down

exactly where the
source must have been,

because it is still distributed
into multiple facilities.

And so, the next attack
could be around the corner

and you're still not sure

where the original
source material was

or how much of it was
available to the attacker.

- [David] The strain was kept
and used for research purposes

in 15 labs across
the United States

and three labs internationally.

So, that was the initial focus

was to try to determine
who in those labs

might have had the the
means and the motive

to weaponize the spores
for the anthrax attacks.

- [Kavitha] Meanwhile, Americans
continue to brace

for another possible
attack from Osama bin Laden

and Al-Qaeda.

With the public already on edge

about an external
terrorism attack,

the FBI is wary of making
the public even more jittery

about potential
homegrown terrorism,

so they continue
their investigation

in complete secrecy.

- [Laurence] As the weeks pass
with no news,

frustration grows,

especially within the
scientific community.

- [Paul] For the scientists,
they're horrified

that something they might
have had a hand in producing

is being used to target
and kill Americans,

but the FBI seems to be
becoming more suspicious

and even adversarial
towards them

as they the leadership
of the investigation

becomes more convinced

that this was probably
a domestic attack.

[suspenseful music]

- [Kavitha] In February, 2002,
Barbara Hatch Rosenberg,

who is the chairwoman

of the Federation of
American Scientists

and somebody who's
been a staunch

anti-bioweapons crusader,

she publishes a blog post called

"Is the FBI
'dragging its feet.'"

And she says that based
on her conversations

with scientists, she
believes that the attacks

are the result of a
military-led bioweapons project

that's gone awry.

She claims that for
months, the FBI has known

that the perpetrator
of the anthrax attacks

is actually an American.

- [Ali] For the scientists
investigating

this outbreak or
attack on Americans,

they went from assisting
with the investigation

to potentially being suspects
of the investigation.

Then, you had no idea that
all of this information

that you were being given
by these various scientists,

if one of them was the culprit,

you may have gotten
inaccurate information.

So, it completely
changes the whole dynamic

of the investigation
all of a sudden.

- [Brandy] Rosenberg suggests

that the person
who has done this,

the person who is
behind these attacks

was probably preparing the
anthrax in the summer of 2001.

Then 9/11 happens in September

and offers the perfect cover.

That instead of Al-Qaeda
being behind this,

the killer is actually
blaming Al-Qaeda

to hide their own
nefarious activity.

- [Paul] There are certainly
some that argue that handwritten

notes with basic
grammatical errors

are not the hallmark of
an Al-Qaeda communication,

but in the American mindset it
played towards a stereotype.

If these attacks were
carried out by an American,

that individual was
using the anthrax letters

to throw off suspicion.

- [Brandy] Rosenberg isn't
alone in feeling

that something is amiss here
in the FBI's investigation.

Other scientists claim
that for one thing,

a single lone rogue worker
wouldn't be able to create

the kind of spores that
we see in the attacks.

She also suggests that the FBI

must know that the
killer has access

to military bioweapons labs

and in these bioweapons labs,

perhaps something has gone
on that the government

doesn't want us to know.

- [Laurence] The assertion is
tied

to an international
bioweapons ban

that the US signed in 1972.

- [Kavitha] There are suspicions
that despite signing this

treaty, the United States never
actually dismantled this program

and that they've continued

to develop military
grade bioweapons,

including anthrax for years.

- [Paul] If the US was
caught in violation

of something like the
Biological Weapons Convention,

certainly the US would lose
some of its moral authority

in the international sphere.

It would certainly make
us look like hypocrites.

- [Brandy] Rosenberg's most
shocking claim

is that the government
is afraid to arrest

the person involved,
because it will show

that the problem is
linked to bioweapons labs,

potentially to activity
that the government

isn't supposed to be doing

and that they're
doing in secret,

and that as a result, they're
looking the other way.

- [Paul] There's an enormous
amount of political

and public pressure on
the FBI to get results.

The public is starting to wonder

if maybe the FBI is
the wrong organization

for this type of investigation.

- [Kavitha] The FBI vehemently
denies dragging its feet

in order to prevent a
national security scandal.

The FBI now turns
its investigation

to homegrown terrorists.

They start focusing on suspects
with scientific backgrounds

and access to the
deadly pathogen

with ties to military
infectious disease labs.

- [Laurence] More than nine
months

since the anthrax
terror attacks began,

there's seemingly little
progress in the case

and the FBI is under
enormous pressure

to catch the perpetrator.

The FBI interviews
hundreds of scientists

working in the field,
pulls together their list

of potential suspects,
and in June of 2002,

they close in on their man.

- [Brandy] Steven Hatfill has a
lot of the credentials.

He is somebody who
works in microbiology.

He is a scientist
and has connections

to an army research lab
on infectious diseases

at Fort Detrick in Maryland

- [Kavitha] Under FBI
questioning,

Hatfill denies having
any involvement

or knowledge in
the anthrax attacks

and even agrees to
take a polygraph,

which he reportedly passes.

- [Paul] The FBI knows full
well that polygraphs

are not legally admissible
and they're not infallible

and so they continue to dig
deeper into Hatfill's life.

So that they can go
into Hatfill's home

and look for any evidence
of any anthrax spores

or anything else that might
implicate him in the attacks.

However, the FBI or at
least someone within it

tipped off the press as
to what they were doing.

An enormous media
circus follows.

Hatfill's home is under
constant observation by media

and Hatfill himself
cannot set foot

outside without being
constantly harassed.

- [Brandy] As more information
comes out about his background

in bioweapons, the public
also becomes convinced

that he's guilty.

This is long before any trial.

He is not even
been arrested yet,

but there's this sense that
he must be the right guy.

[suspenseful music]

- [Paul] The bureau seems to be
developing almost tunnel vision.

They think they found
the right person

and they're going
to follow it up

until they prove that he's
the responsible actor.

- [Laurence] As agents

comb through
Hatfill's background,

they uncover even more troubling
connections to the case.

- [Eric] There's another
weird coincidence

with Stephen Hatfill.

The return addresses
to the Tom Daschle

and Patrick Leahy
letters were from a place

called the Greendale School
in Franklin, New Jersey.

Well, it turns out
where Steven Hatfill

went to medical
school in Zimbabwe,

there was a town right next to
that place called Greendale.

- [Kavitha] In the late '90s,
Hatfill gets a job

working for a large defense
contractor with ties to the CIA,

but when he applies for a
high level security clearance,

he reportedly fails
his polygraph test.

This all happened in
the summer of 2001,

about a month before the
first of the Anthrax letters

is mailed.

- [Brandy] A few years earlier,

Hatfill had been working on
a contract about biodefense

and he commissions a study.

And this study was what
would we do in the situation

where the US was being attacked
by Anthrax through the mail.

He even figures out
exactly how much anthrax

would have to be in each
letter to be lethal.

- [Laurence] Investigators
believe

this could have served as a
dry run for the 2001 attacks.

They soon find even more
suspicious material.

- On Dr. Hatfill's
computer in his home,

when they execute the
warrant, they find a novel

that he had written three years
before the Anthrax letters

and it's about a rogue scientist

that unleashes a biological
attack on Washington, D.C.

- [Paul] Another piece of
interesting circumstantial

evidence is that Hatfill had
actually been taking Cipro,

the very antibiotic that's used

to treat anthrax infections
a couple of weeks prior

to the first launch
of the attacks.

- [Laurence] Although the case

against Hatfill seems solid,

he continues to
insist he's innocent.

- I am not the anthrax killer.

I know nothing about
the anthrax attacks.

I had absolutely nothing to
do with this terrible crime.

- [Matthew] Investigators
connecting these dots.

He wrote this book.

He wrote the blueprint
to the anthrax letter.

He's taking Cipro, the actual
drug that you would take

if you came in
contact with anthrax.

It's not hard for
them to believe that.

I mean, this has gotta
be the guy, right?

- [Kavitha] Despite all the
circumstantial evidence against

Hatfill, there's still not
enough to arrest him,

but that doesn't stop
FBI investigators

from continuing to look into
him and surveil his home.

- [Brandy] There are people
following him everywhere he

goes, following him so
closely that in fact,

in one instance, they run
over his foot in a car.

Try as they might to connect
the dots, they can't.

There just isn't any direct line

between the events of the
anthrax attack and Hatfill.

They can't make it stick.

- [Eric] So the investigation
against Hatfill

basically goes nowhere.

In 2003, Hatfill sues
the federal government,

"The New York Times,"

and he eventually wins the
lawsuit against the government

and they settle with him
for about $6 million.

By the mid 2000s,
this investigation,

they've had 9,000 interviews.

They've had 6,000 subpoenas.

They've done 67 searches,

and they have come
up with nothing.

- [Laurence] Five years after
the anthrax attack,

the FBI regroups.

The new agent heading
the investigation

orders task force members

to review the case files
for overlooked leads.

- The FBI never gives
up on the investigation

and they are still following up

at the various bioweapons labs.

In particular, they're
looking at Fort Detrick,

partially because its
geographic location

puts it relatively close

to where the letters
have been mailed.

- [David] One of the first
things they do

is seize additional samples.

They wind up seizing a flask

of very synthesized,
purified anthrax

labeled RMR 1029.

That's happens to be
in the sole possession

of Dr. Bruce Ivins.

- [Brandy] Bruce Ivins had been
working with the FBI

all throughout
the investigation.

He had supplied
them with samples.

He trained them to
recognize anthrax spores.

At the same time,
he too had access

to the kinds of materials
that you would need,

access to labs, and
for the first time,

the FBI starts to zero in and
question his own motivations.

[suspenseful music]

- [David] Bruce Ivins is a
senior microbiologist,

who has worked at Fort
Detrick for 27 years.

20 of those years
working with anthrax.

He is Dr. Anthrax.

- [Kavitha] He's one of the
leading anthrax researchers

in the United States
and after 9/11,

he's put under enormous pressure

to develop an anthrax
vaccine for troops.

Just after the anthrax
letters are postmarked,

he sends a letter to a friend

saying that bin Laden
definitely has access to anthrax

and that he just decreed death
to all Jews and Americans.

- [Paul] Many believe that he's
really trying to draw attention

to the potential danger

associated with a widespread
biological attack.

- [David] The argument is
that he did this

to justify his own
continued research.

That there had not been any
anthrax attacks prior to this,

and so 9/11 gives him
the perfect backdrop

to demonstrate the
need for a vaccine

and the continued funding
to continue to research

a viable vaccine.

And that according to the
FBI is what prompted him

to carry out these attacks.

- [Paul] If Ivins is responsible

for carrying out
these anthrax attacks,

he did a pretty good job
of covering his tracks.

The FBI doesn't have
hard evidence linking him

to the attacks yet and
really doesn't have a clue

who's behind it.

- [Laurence] Then a major
scientific discovery

leads to a potential
break in the case.

- [Brandy] In 2007,
breakthroughs in genetic testing

allow them to
reanalyze the spores.

And this means they
can trace the anthrax

back to its original batch.

- [Paul] They start analyzing

a thousand or more
different samples

of the Ames strain from
all the different places

that it's held and they discover

that there are unique markers
in the specific spores

that were used in the attacks.

They're actually
able to backtrack it

to one very specific
batch of anthrax

that had been cultured and
stockpiled at Fort Detrick.

- [Laurence] For the FBI,

the discovery is a game changer.

What had once been the
subject of a global hunt

now sits inside one
flask on a lab desk.

- [Kavitha] There are around
a hundred scientists

with access to the flask of
anthrax that's labeled RMR 1029,

but the FBI turns its attention
to the man at the top,

the sole person who has had
sole possession of the flask

since the very beginning

and that's none other
than Dr. Bruce Ivins.

- [Ali] There was numerous
reasons to suspect Dr. Bruce

Ivins besides the fact that the
Ames strain was his repository.

For example, right
before the time

when the two batches of
letters would've gone out,

he had late nights
and weekends of work

that were unexplained, which
was absolutely atypical

of anything he's ever
done in the past.

He also tested
his own laboratory

without authorization,

and then sterilized everything
without telling people

what he was doing.

There was a lot of suspicious
behavior on his part

that he himself couldn't explain

that suggested that he
was a likely perpetrator.

- [Paul] When the FBI questioned
him

about his changed
behavioral patterns,

Ivins claimed that he was
having marital troubles at home

and he was essentially
throwing himself into his work,

but the FBI wasn't
buying that story.

On November 1st, 2007, they
executed a search warrant

for Bruce Ivins' home.

When they got inside,
they discovered

that there was evidence
of a lot of the materials

that would've been associated

with carrying out
these types of attacks.

- [Brandy] It's also found out
that Ivins

had a history of mental
health challenges,

but what's most damning for
him is an email he sends

to his friends and colleagues.

In his emails, he seems to
be suffering from delusions

and in addition, he
states that he's afraid,

he will not be able to
control his own behavior.

- [Laurence] But Ivins

continues to stay a
step ahead of the FBI

until he's tripped up by
an old act of deception.

- [Brandy] In the original
investigation,

the FBI asked for samples
from all of the different labs

that had military grade anthrax.

And the sample that
Bruce Ivins had sent in

had been declared clear

from the strain they
were looking for.

Around the same time,
Bruce had sent core samples

to colleagues for safekeeping.

Now upon going back,
the FBI would discover

these samples did test positive

for the strains that
were used in the attacks.

- [David] The FBI contended that
he had submitted false samples.

So in July of 2008,
he's informed by the FBI

that he is about to be indicted

by a federal grand jury on
multiple counts of murder.

He goes home.

He takes a fatal dose of
acetaminophen with codeine

and three days later, dies.

- [Laurence] After seven years

with more than 600
investigators on the job

at a cost of nearly
$100 million,

the FBI believes the
case is finally solved.

- [Paul] On August 6th, 2008 in
the aftermath of Ivins' suicide,

the Department of
Justice announces

that they hold him
singularly responsible

for the anthrax terror
attacks of 2001.

As far as the
Department of Justice

and the FBI are concerned,
the case has been closed

and because Ivins is dead,

there's no further
requirement for action.

- [Laurence] Despite
the government's insistence

many remain unconvinced.

- [David] There are some critics
of the investigation,

including some
scientists who contend

that if the FBI fingered the
wrong man in Steven Hatfill,

they also fingered the
wrong man in Bruce Ivins.

That Ivins was incapable of
carrying out these crimes.

It does leave open the door

in the minds of
some people anyway

that the real killer may never
have been brought to justice.

- [Laurence] Despite the FBI's
certainty

that Bruce Ivins is guilty
of the anthrax attacks,

many believe the case
remains unsolved.

- The FBI is convinced and
they close the investigation.

But in the months and years
that follow, more gaps and holes

and questions remain.

One of the problems is exactly
how you get the anthrax

to the very refined spores

that were sent in the
anthrax attack letters.

Other scientists believe

that he didn't have
the equipment necessary

to actually make
that process happen,

at least not in the quantities

and certainly not
in the refinement

that we see in the spores
that were used in the attacks.

- [Paul] According to the former
deputy director at Fort Detrick,

the spores that were used
in the anthrax attacks

were actually
substantially smaller

than anything that
had ever been produced

in a US or Russian
bioweapons program.

- What's even
stranger is the FBI

was never able to find any
trace of spores on the equipment

Ivins was accused of using
to develop the bioweapon.

- [Brandy] Really, the most
incriminating piece of evidence

the FBI was able to
use against Ivins

was that he was in the
vicinity of the flask

and that he had access to it,

but of course we already knew
that other people had access.

- There will always be debate

about the efficacy
of the science

that was associated
with this investigation

and it does leave the door open

as to whether the real
killer was ever caught.

[suspenseful music]

- [Matthew] There is no direct
physical evidence

to convict Bruce
Ivins in this case.

Everything is circumstantial

and traditional
forensics on this

come up with a big fat zero.

So no fingerprints, no DNA.

They do handwriting
analysis of the envelopes

to known exemplars
from his own writing

and they're not a match there.

There's no conclusive evidence

saying that he
wrote these letters.

- [Paul] Handwriting analysis
is not perfect

and so for the FBI, it's
not really a surprise

that the handwriting
on the letters

that accompanied
the anthrax attacks

could never be perfectly
tied to Bruce Ivins.

But for people looking to
poke holes in the case,

that's yet another example

of this not being the
perfect investigation.

- [Brandy] Of course, the FBI
was under enormous pressure.

A lot of time had gone by,

and there was a real
desire to close the case.

That might mean pressure

to sweep inconsistencies
under the rug.

- [Matthew] Friends and
colleagues to Dr. Ivins

state that it's the
pressure from the FBI

that caused him
to commit suicide,

not the guilt of
committing this act.

And in just like
Dr. Steven Hatfill,

many believe that if
this went to court,

Dr. Ivins also would
be exonerated of this.

- [Laurence] Through the years,

several notable organizations

have also challenged
the FBI's conclusions.

- [Kavitha] In 2011, the
National Academy of Sciences

determines that the
scientific evidence alone

was not enough to link
the flask from Ivins' lab

to the anthrax used
in the attacks.

- [Paul] The FBI's entire
physical case around Bruce Ivins

revolves around the idea

that a single flask of anthrax
spores was the murder weapon.

If for some reason
that was an error,

then the entire
case falls apart.

- [Brandy] In 2014, a government
body that was nonpartisan

also releases its report
saying that the actual science

performed by the
FBI was insufficient

and in fact, that
genetic signature

might not have been that unique.

- [Kavitha] Perhaps most
suspicious of all,

there's no way to go
back into the evidence

with new eyes and
new technology,

because the FBI
destroyed everything,

including the spores,

when they officially closed
the case back in 2010.

- [Eric] This is an
investigation that's covered so

much ground.

It's been one of the most
expensive investigations

in the history of the FBI.

They've interviewed
10,000 people.

They've issued 6,000
grand jury subpoenas.

And at the end, it
has this conclusion

that to most people
isn't very satisfying.

It's not just that
there's some questions.

There are a lot of questions.

- [Paul] The constant
speculation

and second guessing of
the FBI investigation

definitely provides no comfort
to the victim's families.

The idea that someone
might have died

just for opening their mail
is a terrifying concept

and we want to believe that
our law enforcement agencies

are capable of solving
this type of case.

And so to have somebody
constantly questioning it

on the basis of a belief

that the FBI is not
good at their job

can be very frustrating to a
lot of those victims' families.

- [Brandy] For many people,
there's a great desire

to accept the FBI's conclusions.

For one thing, it means
that they got their man

and we can stop worrying
about any future attacks.

It's comforting, but it
might not be the truth.

And if you don't accept
those conclusions,

it means that it's possible
that the anthrax killer

is still at large.

[suspenseful music]

- We may never definitively
know if Bruce Ivins

was the man responsible for
making weaponized anthrax

and sending the lethal letters.

His case was never
brought to trial.

And while some have
called on the FBI

to reopen the investigation,
for now it remains closed,

leaving one of the deadliest
bio-terrorism events

on US soil forever
cloaked in mystery.

I'm Laurence Fishburne.

Thank you for watching
"History's Greatest Mysteries."