How Did Alleged Anthrax Killer Keep His Job?

Details are emerging from the alleged anthrax killer investigation that leaves most regular folks wondering how in the world someone with the deceased suspect's mental health problems continue to work in such a sensitive field?

Bruce E. Ivins killed himself recently after he learned an indictment was coming down charging him with multiple counts of first-degree murder in the 2001 anthrax killings. He was a research scientist who worked with the deadly stuff for years.

Mental health professionals have testified that he's threatened people, acted mentally ill and clearly was unstable. Even those professionals felt threatened by him. Now more evidence is coming out to show just how deranged Ivins apparently was for many years.

A device that dried liquid anthrax was borrowed by Ivins, which explains how he could have manufactured the deadly agent that frightened the nation. It's also been shown that he took home toxins that he never should have been allowed to possess outside a laboratory that can handle it.

Ivins' friends and family maintain that he was a good man incapable of such crimes. They say the continuing investigation by the FBI drove him to severe depression and eventually suicide. Perhaps they are right, but evidence is appearing that makes Ivins look guilty. It appears that the FBI had the right man, until he killed himself. But that wasn't always the case.

Investigators had another scientist in their crosshairs for a few years, and he won a major settlement against them for publicly naming him and ruining his good name. It's truly a regretful situation.

What's most perplexing, though, is that if Ivins had all the problems that apparently he had, and there's so much coming out now about him, why was he even in the position he was in with access to deadly toxins? It seems that strict guidelines would be in place for any researchers dealing with such dangerous material.

We hope Ivins is the guilty party, because this case needs to be solved. Most Americans had forgotten about the anthrax murders, but we should never forget the fear that swept our nation during that horrible time. And the murder victims' families certainly never forgot.