On this day, Oct. 5, 2001, Robert Stevens became the first victim in the 2001 anthrax attacks. Stevens, 63, a photo editor at the Sun tabloid newspaper in Boca Raton, Fla., died after inhaling anthrax spores from a letter sent to his office.
Letters were mailed one week after the Sept. 11 attacks to media representatives and two U.S. senators, causing a widespread scare.
Four other people died, including two D.C. postal workers.
In 2008, the FBI declared a scientist at Fort Detrick in Frederick, Md., Bruce Edwards Ivins, was the sole culprit in the bioterrorism attacks. Ivins killed himself weeks before the announcement.
-Scott McCabe
