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Uncover Introduces | Aftermath: Hunt for the Anthrax Killer
Sat, 12 Apr 2025 09:10:00 EDT
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In the wake of 9/11, anthrax-laced letters unleashed a new wave of terror across the nation. But who was behind the attacks — and why has America nearly forgotten this story?As government buildings shut down and law enforcement scrambled to track the perpetrator, the FBI launched one of the largest and most complex investigations in its history. Untangling a web of scientific evidence and false leads, the case took unexpected turns with lasting consequences.From Wolf Entertainment, USG Audio, Dig Studios and CBC, this eight-part series grants unprecedented access to declassified materials and firsthand accounts, revealing how the anthrax attacks reshaped America—and the hidden impact that still lingers today. More episodes of Aftermath: Hunt for the Anthrax Killer are available at: https://link.mgln.ai/JRKpUZ
Chapter 1: What were the anthrax attacks and their impact?
In this series, I'll take you inside one of the largest, twistiest investigations in FBI history, with the agents, scientists, and experts who were there. From the science that cracked it, to the mistakes that almost derailed it, to the lives nearly ruined by it. This eight-part series reveals how the attacks and this sometimes controversial investigation
reshaped America, and the surprising hidden consequences that still linger today. You're about to hear episode one. If you like it, you'll find more by searching Aftermath, Hunt for the Anthrax Killer, wherever you get your podcasts. Okay, here we go.
I mean, this was a huge crime scene. Most people don't think of that as a crime scene, but it was a crime scene of seven blocks.
The unthinkable happened today. The World Trade Center, both towers, gone. Thousands are dead and injured. The skyline of New York and the psyche of the American population has been forever changed. Now it's obvious, I think. I think we have a terrorist act of proportions that we cannot begin to imagine at this juncture.
It was the evening of September 11th, about 12 hours after the terrorist attacks, and Scott Decker, a special agent with the FBI, was already on the move. He'd packed his bags and said goodbye to his family in Virginia.
I was told to grab four of the guys, load up our Suburbans with evidence collection equipment, hazmat gear, Tyvek suits, masks, gloves. We loaded up the trucks that evening. Oh, dark 30. September 12, we started heading up to New York. I think five black Suburbans in a row.
While everyone else was trying like hell to get out of New York City, Decker drove all night to get in.
As we went through Maryland, we went through Delaware on Route 95, the main corridor. We got to the Delaware Memorial Bridge and the big alert sign above the traffic. And usually the letters are in yellow, but in my memory it was orange. I don't know why, but I remember orange. And it just said in bold letters, New York City closed.
They arrived outside Manhattan near dawn. But those orange letters were right. New York City was closed. Even to the FBI. Bridges were shut down. Landlines were out. And cell phones weren't working well. So Decker went to an FBI field office in New Jersey, just across the river.
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Chapter 2: Who is Jeremiah Crowell and what is his role?
Anthrax.
Larry can't get his head around this. Most of us are now familiar with anthrax largely because of this case. But back then, in 2001, this was nuts. Most people didn't think about anthrax at all. And for doctors, it was something you read about in textbooks, not something you expected to see in a patient.
There were a lot of things going through my mind. There's nothing else that explains it.
But it just doesn't make sense. Anthrax is a natural bacteria that usually only infects livestock. Cattle tend to catch it in dry rural areas. They eat or breathe in anthrax cells called spores while they're grazing. So it's not like a guy in suburban Florida is going to just accidentally breathe this stuff in while going about his life.
And if he did somehow, he'd be the first person in the entire U.S. in almost 25 years. And that person had gotten it from inhaling anthrax spores off of wool shipped over from Pakistan. Larry runs more tests.
He had an overwhelming amount of bacteria, but what struck me was the shape and the color of these bacteria.
He sees tiny, blue-stained bacterial rectangles all in a line. Imagine looking down on a train from high in the air.
I'm an infectious disease person. I lecture, I write on infectious diseases. I look at bacteria under a microscope every day. I knew what I was looking at.
In retrospect, now knowing how everything would play out, This is the moment that it all began. Right here, for the first time in 25 years, it seems that someone in America has anthrax in their lungs.
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Chapter 3: What was the FBI's response to the anthrax attacks?
In the backyard, they had lots of plants and lots of trees. We looked for any type of white powder substances that could have been in the trees or on the ground. I remember distinctly bending down and taking samples off of various bushes that were in the backyard.
On the surface, nothing looks suspicious. There's no obvious white powder anywhere. But Jean sends samples she's taken to her lab. She then heads back to the hospital to check on Robert Stevens and discovers... A deadly disease putting a Lantana man in the hospital... The story was out.
Muhammad Atta, who was the lead terrorist on board one of the flights that crashed into the World Trade Center, apparently took flight lessons in Palm Beach County at a flight school. Anthrax can enter the body in three ways. It can be swallowed, seeped through cuts in the skin, and the most deadly way, inhaled.
State and federal health officials hurry to put together press conferences to address everyone's concerns.
This individual is being cared for by a very well-trained and expert team of physicians. from within the hospital in Palm Beach.
As one of those well-trained physicians, Dr. Larry Bush is called upon to answer some tough questions.
The difficult part for me in that press conference was Maureen Stevens was sitting in the front, and they said to me, is Bob Stevens going to die?
Larry knows that historically, inhalation anthrax is likely fatal, but he's conflicted about sharing the worst-case scenario.
But I'm looking at Maureen Stevens, and I said, well, you know, he's seriously ill, He's on the right medication, and we have hope that he could survive.
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