Undated photo of Dr. Bruce Ivins, the biodefense researcher who died of an apparent suicide Tuesday in Frederick, Md. U.S. prosecutors investigating the 2001 anthrax attacks were planning to indict and seek the death penalty for Ivins. (AP Photo/Frederick News Post)

More on the recent life of anthrax investigation target Bruce Ivins from the New York Times: “Maryland court documents show he had been under psychiatric treatment and had been served with a restraining order directing him to stay away from a woman he was accused of stalking and threatening.” The L.A. Times report also mentioned that he had recently been removed from his workplace and stripped of his security clearance due to threats of suicide.

The Justice Department has confirmed they were planning on seeking the death penalty for Ivins for his alleged role in the deaths of five people.

Former Sen. Tom Daschle, one of the targets of the anthrax attacks, told the Post that “the FBI owes it to the country to provide some accounting of their investigation and their expectations for a successful conclusion.”

Should the eventual release of details of the investigation reveal that Ivins was indeed the culprit, we suppose we can only hope that he left behind some letters or journals that could help explain why he did it. The 2001 anthrax attacks terrified the D.C. area and the country as whole for weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks.