Frederick pond being drained in anthrax case investigation (Scott Shane article)

Baltimore Sun ^ | June 10, 2003 | Scott Shane

[Shermy]

FREDERICK - In a costly and unusual step in its hunt for the anthrax killer, the FBI began draining a 1-acre trout pond in a Frederick County forest yesterday, hoping to find discarded biological equipment or telltale anthrax spores on its muddy bottom.

The project, estimated to cost about $250,000 and take several weeks, began yesterday morning after a state biologist told investigators how to avoid trampling a rare yellow-fringed orchid and other endangered species in the area.

The search follows the discovery in the pond last winter of a plastic box that some investigators believe may have been used by the person who mailed anthrax-laced letters to news media organizations and U.S. senators in 2001. The attacks killed five and sickened at least 17.

The object appeared to be a homemade glove box, a biological safety device fitted with gloves to protect someone working with dangerous germs, though no gloves were attached. Anthrax tests on a rope also found in the pond have been inconclusive, according to a law enforcement official.

...One official who talks regularly to investigators said the task force is divided into one faction that believes Hatfill is still a promising suspect and another that is frustrated by the failure to find substantive evidence against him. "Even the ones who favor draining the pond aren't all that certain they'll find anything," the source said.

"When Steve heard the news this morning, he just chuckled and shook his head that they would waste all that money," said his spokesman, Pat Clawson. "They can search every pond in Maryland and drain the Pacific Ocean and they won't find evidence linking Steve Hatfill to the anthrax attacks, because there is no such evidence. On the other hand, if this will help further establish Steve's innocence, we welcome it." ...

[Fred Mertz]

Anthrax tests on a rope also found in the pond have been inconclusive, according to a law enforcement official.

I believe that this is the rope that held the minnow box/trap. LOL

[The Great Satan]

"Exhaustive testing did not support that anthrax was present anywhere the hijackers had been."

Hatfill must be held to a higher standard. He used to invite fellow grad students to "poke and puke" parties. Al-Haznawi only flew a jumbo jet into a skyscraper. Let's be logical about this.

[The Great Satan]

Speaking of S.H., was there ever actually anything stated or claimed which specifically linked him to this pond? (not a rhetorical question)

Back when they first searched the pond, the story fed by to the press by the FBI was that the search was inspired by a scene in Hatfill's unpublished novel, Emergence. When they revived the pond story after the invasion of Iraq, the story changed: now the search was motivated by a friend of Hatfill who told the FBI he'd heard Hatfill opining that the anthrax killer could have filled the envelopes under water. And then, in the last day or two, the FBI has fed the media the story that they were led to the pond by the bloodhound Tinkerbell. So, I guess you gots yer choice. Which story gets you all tingly and excited? Which would you like to be true?

"In wartime, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies." -- Winston Churchill

[American in Israel]

Trust me, I have no friends in the Mosad. I highly doubt they approve of me writing here. Foreigners should be seen and not heard.

[American in Israel]

They could have found just as significant stuff in my garage back home. Rubber gloves, test tubes and medical equiptment. Bet you could find significant stuff about anywhere in American insided a two mile diameter circle.

Normaly you look for clues then the suspect, not the other way around I would think.

[ravingnutter]

Normaly you look for clues then the suspect, not the other way around I would think.

When they receive a lead, they should follow up on it. They received the lead from one of Hatfill's aquaintances who stated Hatfill had told them how he would get rid of such evidence. Just so happens they found the glove box in the pond within miles of his house, disposed of in the same manner he had previously described to the aquaintance. What do you expect them to do? Ignore the lead just because it is connected to Hatfill in some manner? I just don't understand your logic.

While I am not saying he is the guilty party, it is a lead worth looking into to find the culprit. The anthrax used in the mailings was traced to weapons labs at Ft. Detrick. Also, if I remember correctly, the anthrax that was sent to Daschle's office did not disperse as it normally would have because it was damp, another indication of being assembled under or around water. Add in the glove box found in the pond and the vials and I would say they have all the justification in the world to investigate this pond further.

[ravingnutter]

Correction on my previous post: It was the NY Post letter that was delivered damp, there was "clumping" in the anthrax spores. Daschle's letter was declared damp, but it was later determined it was due to spilled bleach during testing.

[Darksheare]

Ah yes, the Kinder, Gentler FBI.
It would seem that way.
ANd yet, they aren't investigating ANYTHING that points away from Hatfill.
That's a violation of several regs, as well as procedures.
If it goes to court and tehy try to indict Hatfill, I hope he gets a smart enough lawyer to prove that procedures were derailed to persecute a single lead rather than follow the trail wherever it goes.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the heads up!

[muawiyah]

Your questions could only be answered by the AlQaida leadership itself.

Now, let me ask you this one, once AlQaida was driven from power in Afghanistan why wouldn't their next course of business be to take over yet a different country so they could carry on their war with Saudi and the West?

Why wouldn't AlQaida want to be running Iraq?

Start answering those questions and maybe we can get around to your questions.

[Shermy]

"Agents also have been working to coax many who knew and worked with Hatfill to come forward with information. One such person -- a business associate of Hatfill's -- led the FBI's anthrax team to explore the possibility that the anthrax was put into envelopes in or around the murky Frederick pond. "

Just a reminder to you guys. Who could that be?

[muawiyah]

I'd look to some woman that Hatfil and Barbara Hatch Rosenberg might have, so to speak, "shared" in the past.