New evidence suggests that the U.S. Army biologist the U.S. government has long blamed for the deadly anthrax attacks in 2001 may have been innocent of the allegations. A collaborative investigation by PBS Frontline, McClatchy and ProPublica has raised serious doubts about the government’s case against Bruce Ivins. Ivins was an elite government scientist at a bio-defense research lab at Fort Detrick, Maryland. Ivins committed suicide soon after learning the U.S. Department of Justice was about to file criminal charges against him for the 2001 anthrax attacks that killed five people and sickened 17 others, crippling the national mail service. He had been part of a team that helped the government investigate the attacks and won the Pentagon’s highest civilian award in 2003. Documents gathered through the investigation reveal for the first time Ivins made at least three spore samples available to authorities at the time he was being investigated, contradicting the government’s argument that he tried to hide his guilt by submitting a false single set of samples in 2002. According to Ivins’ attorney, the discovery debunks the claim that the biologist was trying to cover his tracks. Investigators who worked on the case now doubt whether a court would be able to convict Ivins based on the new information that has come to light.