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FBI anthrax probe leads to Maryland pond

Emergency Management Alert, May 14, 2003

The FBI may drain a Maryland pond to determine whether it was the site where anthrax used in a series of mailings in 2001 was assembled, the Washington Post reports.

The spring-fed pond in Frederick Municipal Forest is 10 feet deep and up to an acre in size. The FBI's new theory in the case is that the person behind the attacks could have packed anthrax into envelopes under water without being infected or leaving traces on open land. The theory is based on evidence recovered from the pond over the winter, according to anonymous sources cited by the Post.

The attacks in the fall of 2001 killed five people and sickened 13 others.

The FBI recovered from the pond a clear box with holes that could accommodate gloves to protect the user during work, as well as vials wrapped in plastic, the Post reports. To protect against airborne bacteria, a person could put envelopes and secured anthrax powder into the box, then wade into shallow water and submerge it to put the bacteria inside the envelopes, some involved in the case believe. Afterward, the envelopes could have been sealed in plastic bags before being removed from the underwater chamber. Another possibility is that the work was done on land and the materials discarded in the pond.

The FBI may drain the pond to search for more materials, Frederick Mayor Jennifer Dougherty told the Associated Press Sunday.

The water theory is the result of the FBI's interest in Steven Hatfill, a physician and bioterrorism expert who formerly worked as a researcher in the Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick in Frederick. Hatfill formerly lived in an apartment about eight miles from the ponds, but he has denied any involvement in the anthrax attacks.

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