Survivor of 2001 Anthrax Attack Expresses Relief
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. _ Ernest Blanco is a man of fortitude and faith.
After a near-lethal struggle with anthrax that left him weak and sick for months, the mail room clerk remained convinced the FBI would find out who sent the deadly, bacteria-filled letters that killed five people and made 17 people ill, even as the investigation stretched into its seventh year.
A fellow employee _ photo editor Bob Stevens, 63, of Lantana, Fla. _ didn’t survive the anthrax that was delivered to the American Media Inc. offices in Boca Raton, Fla., heightening national tensions in the weeks after the 9-11 terrorism attacks. Stevens was the first victim in the string of attacks when he died Oct. 5, 2001.
Blanco, now 80, had his confidence boosted last fall during an FBI briefing for the anthrax survivors and family members of the dead.
“I left convinced that sooner or later they would get him,” the West Palm Beach, Fla., man said.
Friday was a welcome, long-awaited day. Blanco expressed relief that the FBI had a prime suspect in the anthrax mailings. Bruce E. Ivins, 62, a civilian anthrax scientist at an Army biological lab, committed suicide Tuesday, overdosing on prescription drugs as federal prosecutors were preparing to charge him and seek the death penalty.
“I think that’ll be the last of it,” said Blanco, who still works for American Media, a tabloid publisher.
He was surprised to learn the suspect was a government scientist, and he’s still anxious to learn more details of the FBI’s investigation. The Los Angeles Times reported the break in the case Friday.
Federal authorities were tight-lipped Friday, with a Justice Department statement saying only that “significant developments” in the investigation had been made. If Ivins was the lone suspect, more details could emerge when the FBI closes its investigation.
Stevens’ widow, Maureen, has waged a legal battle against the government since 2003 in an effort to get answers in her husband’s death.
“I want to know more. They must have more information, and I’m not sure they are going to share it with us, quite frankly,” Stevens said Friday in a telephone interview. “I can feel as though I can breathe again. I think it will be a while before I can get some relief from it. I think we have a ways to go, but I can breathe a little easier.”
Boca Raton Mayor Susan Whelchel said Ivins’ suicide is disappointing because his motives may never be known.
“You just want more closure,” she said. “But hopefully the end result is that one individual was responsible and he has been found.”
Steven Abrams, Boca Raton’s mayor at the time of the mailings, said he was impressed by the FBI’s persistence in the complex case, which initially focused on another Army scientist.
“This whole thing has been a long nightmare for Boca, from the attack to the cleanup,” he said. “Now finally, it’s a relief that the FBI has apparently found this person.”
Dr. Jean Malecki, director of the Palm Beach County Health Department, travels around the country talking about her experiences in the initial anthrax investigation.
“I’ve always said the ultimate prevention is finding the person or persons who did this,” Malecki said from a conference in Orlando, Fla. “We’ve never had the ability to say this case is closed.”
In June, the government exonerated former Army scientist Steven Hatfill _ the only suspect publicly identified as a “person of interest” _ and paid him $5.8 million to settle a lawsuit.
The Los Angeles Times reported federal investigators moved away from Hatfill and concluded Ivins was the culprit after FBI Director Robert Mueller changed the lead investigators in 2006. Ivins’ attorney said in a statement that Ivins was not responsible for the attacks.
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