How many people have used the mail to commit murder?

Answer 1

As strange as it sounds, the mail seems to be a good way to commit crimes and remain un-named. The most well known is probably the Unibomber, Ted Kaczynski, but about a handful of cases occur yearly where bombs, poisons, or other items are sent through the mail.

In the 19th century, lesser known mail murder occurred in the year 1898 in New York City. Harry Cornish, sports director of New York's exclusive Knickerbocker Athletic Club, received a toothpick holder and a bottle of some kind of liquid. After he brought them home, his aunt drank some of the liquid, and died the next day from cyanide poisoning. Two months earlier, another member of the Knickerbocker Club had died after receiving some liquid in the mail. Police thought it was too much of a coincidence, and it was. The guilty party was a Mr. Roland Molineux, a rival of the first victim. He was convicted and sentenced to death. The verdict was set aside on appeal and he was given another trial. He was acquitted the second time around, and wrote a book about life in prison. But he later contracted syphilis, was divorced by his wife, and died in a lunatic asylum on November 2, 1917.

In 2001, three letters postmarked September 18, and two letters dated October 9 were sent to NBC News, ABC News, and The New York Post, and to US Senators Patrick Leahy and Tom Daschle in Washington, DC. When opened, the letters were found to contain cryptic warnings and small amounts of cultured anthrax spores.

A letter was also sent to the tabloid The Sun in Boca Raton, FL and to an aide at CBS News. Persons at these locations were also infected by anthrax. The FBI estimates that a total of five people died as a result of these letters and seventeen people were sickened. Not all of the deaths or infections were limited to the agencies that received the letters. Two postal workers in a Washington facility later died, and others believed to have handled contaminated mail were also infected, two fatally.

To date, many theories have been advanced, none conclusive. A germ-lab employee was suspected, and later committed suicide. No one was ever indicted or arrested. On February 19, 2010, the Dept. of Justice and the FBI issued a statement that they were officially closing the investigation, saying that "(the) investigation found that the late Dr. Bruce Ivins acted alone in planning and executing these attacks." Dr. Ivins had been their chief suspect prior to his suicide. There are many who believe that the investigation was botched or evidence covered up, and some have their own theories about how and why the crime was committed.