WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A government anthrax researcher apparently committed suicide this week as the Justice Department was considering criminal charges against him in the 2001 anthrax attacks.
Authorities were investigating Bruce Ivins, a former researcher at the Army's bioweapons laboratory at Fort Detrick, Maryland, according to a source who spoke to CNN on the condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing.
Ivins' brother, Tom Ivins, told CNN he was told that Ivins committed suicide.
The Los Angeles Times first reported Ivins' death on its Web site early Friday.
The paper said he apparently killed himself after learning of the possible prosecution. It cited unnamed people familiar with him, his death and the FBI investigation.
Tom Ivins said the FBI questioned him about his brother about a year and a half ago. Investigators "asked about personal life, how you got along with brothers growing up," he said.
"They said they were investigating him when they talked to me," said Ivins, who said he was not close to his brother and never spoke to him about the anthrax investigation.
"I stay away from him," Ivins said.
Stephanie Becker, a forensic investigator with the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Maryland, told CNN that Ivins died Tuesday. She said she had no information on a cause of death.
An FBI spokeswoman declined to comment about Ivins on Friday. A Justice Department spokesman could not be reached for comment.
A friend and colleague of Ivins told the Times the scientist died after taking a massive dose of prescription Tylenol mixed with codeine. The friend declined to be identified out of concern that he would be harassed by the FBI, the Times said.
Ivins worked for 36 years at the nation's biodefense research lab at Fort Detrick, according to the Frederick News Post.
Investigators have made no arrests in the anthrax investigation, which started after someone sent letters laced with spores of deadly anthrax to congressional offices and several news organizations, heightening national anxiety just weeks after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.
The letters killed five people, including two postal workers, and caused 17 people to become seriously ill. Two contaminated letters were sent to senators, exposing 30 staffers.
FBI Director Robert Mueller told CNN in June that "there have been breakthroughs" in the investigation and he was confident it would be resolved.
"We've made great progress in the investigation and it's in no way dormant," Mueller said.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/08/01/anthrax.death/index.html
