page_title: 2001 anthrax attacks
section_title: The letters
hierarchical_section_title: 2001 anthrax attacks / The letters
caption_attribution_description: English: copy of "amerithrax" letter
context_page_description: The 2001 anthrax attacks, also known as Amerithrax from its FBI case name, occurred in the United States over the course of several weeks beginning on September 18, 2001, one week after the September 11 terrorist attacks. Letters containing anthrax spores were mailed to several news media offices and to Democratic Senators Tom Daschle and Patrick Leahy, killing five people and infecting 17 others. According to the FBI, the ensuing investigation became "one of the largest and most complex in the history of law enforcement".
  A major focus in the early years of the investigation was bioweapons expert Steven Hatfill, who was eventually exonerated. Bruce Edwards Ivins, a scientist at the government's biodefense labs at Fort Detrick in Frederick, Maryland, became a focus around April 4, 2005. On April 11, 2007, Ivins was put under periodic surveillance and an FBI document stated that he was "an extremely sensitive suspect in the 2001 anthrax attacks". On July 29, 2008, Ivins died by suicide with an overdose of acetaminophen.
  Federal prosecutors declared Ivins the sole culprit on August 6, 2008, based on DNA evidence leading to an anthrax vial in his lab.
context_section_description: Authorities believe that the anthrax letters were mailed from Princeton, New Jersey. Investigators found anthrax spores in a city street mailbox located at 10 Nassau Street near the Princeton University campus. About 600 mailboxes were tested for anthrax which could have been used to mail the letters, and the Nassau Street box was the only one to test positive.
  The New York Post and NBC News letters contained the following note:
  09-11-01
  
  THIS IS NEXT
  
  TAKE PENACILIN  [sic] NOW
  
  DEATH TO AMERICA
  
  DEATH TO ISRAEL
  
  ALLAH IS GREAT
  The second note was addressed to Senators Daschle and Leahy and read:
  09-11-01
  
  YOU CAN NOT STOP US.
  
  WE HAVE THIS ANTHRAX.
  
  YOU DIE NOW.
  
  ARE YOU AFRAID?
  
  DEATH TO AMERICA.
  
  DEATH TO ISRAEL.
  
  ALLAH IS GREAT.
  All the letters were copies made by a copy machine, and the originals were never found. Each letter was trimmed to a slightly different size. The senate letter uses punctuation, while the media letter does not. The handwriting on the media letter and envelopes is roughly twice the size of the handwriting on the senate letter and envelopes. The envelopes addressed to Senators Daschle and Leahy had a fictitious return address:
  4th Grade
  
  Greendale School
  
  Franklin Park NJ 08852
  Franklin Park, New Jersey exists, but the ZIP code 08852 is for nearby Monmouth Junction, New Jersey. There is no Greendale School in Franklin Park or Monmouth Junction, New Jersey, though there is a Greenbrook Elementary School in adjacent South Brunswick Township, New Jersey.
caption: The Tom Brokaw (NBC) note
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