Security angers anthrax victim's widow

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla., Aug. 7 (UPI) -- The wife of the first victim of the 2001 U.S. anthrax attacks said Thursday she is shocked that a mentally ill scientist could work with the deadly disease.

Maureen Stevens held a news conference in West Palm Beach to speak out about news that Bruce Ivins, a researcher at Fort Dietrich, Md., is believed to be the person who mailed letters containing anthrax spores in 2001, the Palm Beach Post reported. Ivins apparently committed suicide last week.

"To us, my family, this is shocking. We have persisted in our belief from the beginning that this was a crime done by a United States government insider, with the access and ability to get this substance out of the Fort Dietrich lab as a result of poor or non-existent security," she said. "Our view has proven to be correct."

Bob Stevens, a photo editor at New American Media in Boca Raton, died in 2001. His wife said she believes he was a random victim.

Stevens said she would have liked to be able to sit in court, hear the evidence and see Ivins pronounced guilty.