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Dr. Bruce Ivins is hired as a microbiologist at U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Disease. His salary is $26,951.
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Microbiologist Bruce Ivins begins to spend more evenings in his lab at the Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, at Fort Detrick, Md. His normal shift was 7:30 a.m. to 4:45 p.m.
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Ivins spends three consecutive evening shifts at the lab, from Sept. 14 to 16.
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The date of postmarks on letters containing anthrax to members of the news media in New York and Florida. Letters are sent from Trenton, NJ.
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In an e-mail, Ivins discusses his therapy group and how all of the other people in it are battling depression, sadness and stress. But he's different, he says. "I'm really the only scary one in the group."
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Ivins works eight consecutive nights in the lab. The total time ranges from 20 minutes to three hours and 42 minutes.
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Robert Stevens, 63, a photo editor at the Sun, a supermarket tabloid published by American Media Inc., dies after inhaling anthrax mailed to AMI's headquarters in Boca Raton, Fla.
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Letters to lawmakers sent sometime beween Oct. 6 and Oct. 9, accoding to postmark in Trenton, NJ.
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A former co-worker of Ivins tells another former colleague of his in an e-mail that "Bruce has been an absolute manic basket case the last few days." Ivins had sent numerous emails over the years to both, detailing his dips into depression and other psychiatric treatment.
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Thomas L. Morris Jr., 55, a postal worker in Washington, dies.
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Joseph P. Curseen Jr., 47, a postal worker in Washington, dies.
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Kathy T. Nguyen, 61, a hospital employee in New York City, dies.
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Ottilie Lundgren, 94, of Oxford, Conn., dies. She apparently inhaled anthrax from her mail.
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Senate office building reopensSenate office building where anthrax-tainted letters were sent reopens after three months and fumigation. FBI doubles the reward for helping solve the case to $2.5 million.<P>
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Ivins does not follow protocol in anthrax samples he submits to the FBI, rendering them unusable.
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Ivins provides a second set of samples for genetic testing. Both samples were found to have no presence of the anthrax used in the attacks.
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Bruce Ivins takes more than 50 unauthorized samples outside laboratory containment areas a week after two USAMRIID investigators are potentially exposed to anthrax and four days after tests show contamination in areas around a biocontainment suite where the initial event occurred.
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After word about a potential breach makes its way up the chain of command, USAMRIID begins sampling. Two oit of 838 samples test positive for the non-pathogenic Sterne anthrax strain used in vaccines. Someone notifies U.S. Rep. Roscoe Bartlett who says the incident was blown out of proportion and publicizing it gives the terrorists an advantages. He askes to have the soil on his farm tested.
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Department of the Army Safety Office says it will investigate gap in reporting time of USAMRIID internal breach
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USAMRIID containment lab and change room cleared for en-occupancy after decontamination and and retesting show up negative for anthrax. The medical clinic evaluated a total 88 people as of April 26, 2002, collecting swabs from 57, None test positive for anthrax.
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FBI is scrutinizing 20 to 30 scientists who might have had the knowledge and opportunity to send the anthrax letters, a U.S. official says.<P>
FBI searches home near Fort Detrick for anthrax -
Law enforcement officials and Attorney General John Ashcroft call Steven J. Hatfill, a biowarfare expert, a “person of interest” in the investigation.<P>
FBI looks for anthrax clues<P>
"Person of Interest" -
Fort Detrick Commanding Maj. Gen. Lester Martinez-Lopez orders an investigation after spores isolated from nasal swab of two exposed emplyees from early April are found to be differ from the ones found outside the containment lab.
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FBI drains pond in Frederick, Md., in search of anthrax-related evidence. Frederick is the home of the Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, one of the nation’s main anthrax research centers. Nothing suspicious is found.<P>
Anthrax probe: FBI begins draining pond in search for evidence -
Hatfill sues Ashcroft and other government officials, accusing them of using him as a scapegoat and demanding that they clear his name.<P>
Anthrax 'person of interest' sues Ashcroft, FBI<P> -
Postal workers begin moving back into Washington’s main mail center, almost two years after anthrax-laced letters killed two employees. The Brentwood facility underwent more than $130 million worth of decontamination and renovation.<P>
Mail center in anthrax case reopens -
An FBI special agent accompanies Ivins to the lab and identifies samples that had not been submitted.
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An FBI special agent seizes additional samples from Ivins' lab.
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One of the samples taken from the Fort Detrick lab tests positive for the four genetic markers common to the anthrax in the attacks.
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Alarm at second Pentagon mail facility also sounds possible anthrax presence. Post office in Hamilton, N.J., that handled anthrax-laced letters in 2001 reopens. Further testing determines no anthrax in Pentagon mailrooms.<P>
Hamilton, N.J., post office reopens after anthrax attacks -
Investigators ask Ivins about his access to the Fort Detrick lab in 2001. He tells them he went there "to escape" his home life. A review determines that Ivins' role in experiments does not justify the time he spent in the lab in 2001. Investigators ask Ivins to explain the differences in samples he submitted to the FBI in 2002 and those an investigator seized in April 2004.
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Ivins tells investigators that, within three months after the attacks, he had been told by co-workers that anthrax samples in his lab were similiar to the anthrax used in the attacks. Investigators interviewed the co-workers, who deny disclosing such information to Ivins.
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Investigators execute search warrants for Ivins' home, vehicles and USAMRIID office.
A collection of letters, three handguns, two stun guns, a taser, electronic detection device, computer snooping software and evidence that parts of the home's basement was used as a firing range are found, according to the U.S. Department of Justrice. -
A 911 call is made from by Ivins' wife after she comes home and finds him unconscious. He is taken to Frederick Memorial Hospital by ambulance.
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The federal government awards Hatfill $5.8 million to settle his violation of privacy lawsuit against the Justice Department.<P>
Hatfill to receive $5.8 million<P> -
Ivins tells others in a group therapy session that he is a suspect in the FBI's anthrax investigation and describes plans to harm coworkers who wronged him. He is taken into custody the next day and eventually enters a Maryland psychiatric treatment facility.
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Based on threats made during the group therapy session on July 9, investigators again search Ivins home. They recovered a bullet proof vest, handmade body armor, hundreds of rounds of ammunition and smokeless handgun powder, according to the Department of Justice.
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Jean Duley, Ivins' therapist, files a protective order against him in Frederick County District Court claiming he had a history of homicidal threats, actions and plans toward his therapist. Duley also notes on the document that she's been subpoenad to testify before a federal grand jury Aug. 1, 2008 in Washington, D.C.
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Bruce E. Ivins, 62, dies from an overdose of acetaminophen after being found unconscious on the floor of a bathroom in his Frederick home on July 27, 2008. He had learned that the FBI was likely to bring charges against him in connection with the 2001 anthrax attacks.<P>
Detrick anthrax scientist commits suicide as FBI closes in -
FBI briefs families of victims and releases documents about investigation of Ivins.
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The U.S. Department of Justice releases its Amerithrax Investigative Summary detailing its case against Ivins.
DOJ Amerithrax Investigative Summary -
A National Research Council committee announces that conclusions reached by the FBI about the 2001 anthrax attacks are not fully supported by science.
The committee said in a lengthy report that "it is not possible to reach a definitive conclusion about the origins of the anthrax in letters mailed to New York City and Washington, D.C., based solely on the available scientific evidence." -
The Justice Department settles a civil case filed by the family of photo researcher Robert Stevens
