FBI ends probe of pond for anthrax

0 Comments | Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Jun 29, 2003 | by The Washington Post

FBI agents searching a pond near Frederick, Md., for clues in the 2001 anthrax attacks finished their work and left the area Saturday after finding no additional physical evidence to immediately suggest any links to the case, law enforcement sources said.

Those sources said the FBI took soil samples from the bottom of the pond for testing. Investigators earlier this month diverted 1.45 million gallons of water from the pond and began sifting through mud for clues to the case that brought the prospect of bioterrorism into the average U.S. household.

Frederick Mayor Jennifer Dougherty said the FBI told her Saturday that "they found a bicycle, some logs and a street sign," leaving the items for workers to dispose of in a public landfill. She said it was unclear whether that was a complete list of what was found. Law enforcement officials said other items found in the pond included coins, fishing lures and a handgun, which was given to local authorities.

The FBI began draining the one-acre pond in the Frederick Municipal Forest, about eight miles from downtown Frederick, on June 9. Investigators were hoping to find clues that could lead to an arrest in the attacks, which killed five people and sickened 17 others.

The pond is about eight miles from the Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick in Frederick, one of the nation's primary anthrax research centers. It is one of several ponds searched by divers in December and January after FBI officials received a tip that a bioterrorism expert who formerly worked as a researcher at the institute once talked hypothetically about how he might dispose of contaminated materials in water.