Army scientist commits suicide; Brothers say scientist was pursued on anthrax attacks

WASHINGTON (AP) _ A top U.S. biodefense researcher whose brother says was being aggressively pursued by the FBI in connection with a series of anthrax mailings after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks apparently committed suicide.

Criminal charges were about to be filed against Bruce E. Ivins, 62, who died Tuesday at Frederick Memorial Hospital in Maryland of an apparent overdose of prescription Tylenol mixed with codeine, the Los Angeles Times reported in Friday's editions.

Ivins, who had worked for the past 18 years at the government's biodefense labs at Fort Detrick, Md., had been told about the impending prosecution, the newspaper said.

The Maryland laboratory has been at the center of the FBI's investigation of the anthrax attacks, which killed five people. ...