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Anthrax Suspect Was on Brink Before Suicide
As feds closed in, Ivins drank, popped pills, perhaps planned to kill
By Kevin Spak
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Posted Aug 6, 08 10:34 AM CDT
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(Newser)
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As FBI agents closed in on Bruce Ivins last fall, the anthrax suspect’s life was falling apart, the Washington Post reports. Ivins would sometimes drink a liter of vodka while downing sleeping pills and anti-anxiety drugs. He “was emailing me late at night with gobbledygook, ranting and raving,” a fellow scientist said. Ivins went to rehab twice before his death, as the scientist tried to help him through a 12-step recovery program.
Ivans ranted about "persecution" of his family by the FBI, the colleague said, as agents were pushing his family for evidence, even offering his son the $2.5 million reward in the fatal 2001 anthrax attacks. A therapist who saw Ivins in group sessions said he had “a very detailed plan to kill his co-workers.” The therapist , who acknowledges being a former drug user herself, sought a restraining order against Ivins, telling a Maryland judge he was a “sociopathic, homicidal killer.” Ivins told the colleague he suspected the therapist of being in league with the FBI.