[iwar] [fc:FBI.is.watching.case.of.missing.biologist]

From: Fred Cohen (fc@all.net)
Date: 2001-11-26 06:41:20
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From: Fred Cohen <fc@all.net>
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Date: Mon, 26 Nov 2001 06:41:20 -0800 (PST)
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Subject: [iwar] [fc:FBI.is.watching.case.of.missing.biologist]
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FBI is watching case of missing biologist 
By Michael Rosenwald, Globe Staff
11/24/2001 

Federal agents are closely monitoring the disappearance case of Harvard 
biology professor Don C. Wiley because of his research interests in a number 
of potentially deadly viruses, including Ebola, the FBI said yesterday in 
Memphis. Wiley's whereabouts remained a mystery yesterday, a week after his 
car was found on a bridge over the Mississippi River. His family continued to 
insist that the noted biologist, whose papers explored the workings of some 
of the deadliest viruses in the world, would not have killed himself. 

William Woerner, the acting assistant special agent in charge of the Memphis 
FBI office, said his agents became interested in the case after learning of 
Wiley's profession, then made their interest known to Memphis detectives. 
''His line of work and field of expertise [are] what prompted our call to 
them,'' Woerner said, adding that his office was concerned ''given our state 
of affairs post-Sept. 11.'' Federal authorities are paying close attention to 
potential bioterrorist threats. 

The Ebola virus - about which Wiley was a national expert, along with HIV and 
influenza - is a hemorrhagic fever that causes the body's fluids to ooze out 
of tissues and orifices. Ebola is highly contagious and lethal, killing 
between 50 and 90 percent of people infected in known outbreaks. There is no 
vaccine. 

Wiley's wife, Katrin Valgeirsdottir, said that while she is baffled by her 
husband's disappearance, she did not think it was related to his work or 
papers, which can be found on his lab's Web site. ''That just doesn't seem 
plausible,'' Valgeirsdottir said. ''I mean, there are a lot of kooks out 
there, and I don't know for a fact that this wasn't the reason, but you'd 
have to have someone who read his Web site and decided they found something 
interesting.'' Woerner said he wasn't sure whether top FBI officials in 
Washington had been notified about Wiley, who has been missing since Nov. 16. 


''It's very likely that Washington has been notified, but I can't confirm 
that,'' he said. Memphis police have control over the investigation, Woerner 
said. Lieutenant Walter Norris of the city's homicide squad refused to 
confirm whether detectives were considering Wiley's profession as a reason 
for his disappearance. ''We're checking anything that can be thought of,'' he 
said. ''Some things the FBI can help us on, so there is involvement there 
also.'' 

Norris said there were no developments in the case yesterday. Authorities 
continued to patrol, in boats and helicopters, the area of the Mississippi 
River where Wiley's rented car was found nearby early in the morning of Nov. 
16. Based on her daily communications with Memphis police about her husband's 
case, Valgeirsdottir said, she thinks investigators are focusing on the 
river. ''They've mentioned that maybe it was an accident, that he fell in, or 
that he jumped, but clearly they are focusing on the river as being the site 
to whatever happened,'' she said. She recently learned that there was some 
small damage to the car, but said she did not know what it was. 

Memphis police refused to confirm or deny there was any damage. Norris said 
missing-person cases are not unusual in and around the city. ''People come up 
missing all the time,'' he said, ''and a lot of times they turn up.'' If 
Wiley somehow wound up in the river and drowned, it could be weeks or even 
months before a body is found, Norris said. Wiley has not been seen since 
about midnight on Nov. 16, when he attended a banquet with colleagues on the 
scientific advisory board of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital at The 
Peabody hotel in Memphis. 

Police discovered his rented Mitsubishi Galant at 4 a.m. on the Hernando 
DeSoto Bridge, which is a five-minute drive from the hotel. The car was 
pointed toward Arkansas, and police have said the car was probably there no 
longer than 15 minutes before an officer saw it, because a stopped vehicle 
would have backed up traffic on the two-lane bridge. There was no sign of a 
struggle. ''This whole thing,'' Valgeirsdottir said, ''just doesn't add up.'' 


Michael Rosenwald can be reached at &lt;A HREF="mailto:<a href="mailto:%2520mrosenwald@globe.com?Subject=Re:%20(ai)%20FBI%20is%20watching%20case%20of%20missing%20biologist%2526In-Reply-To=%2526lt;4c.2369dd8.2931487f@aol.com">%20mrosenwald@globe.com</a>"<a
 
href="mailto:mrosenwald@globe.com?Subject=Re:%20(ai)%20FBI%20is%20watching%20case%20of%20missing%20biologist%2526In-Reply-To=%2526lt;4c.2369dd8.2931487f@aol.com">mrosenwald@globe.com</a>&lt;/A. 

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