After the 2001 anthrax attacks, Dr. Butler realized there would probably be a national inventory of hazardous biomaterials like bubonic plague samples. One problem – in his research he had routinely used and destroyed his samples without documenting his actions, so that there really WAS no tangible inventory of the stuff in his lab. Sloppy work habits for a lab receiving federal funding, perhaps, but not as bad as what came next.

Defense attorney Chuck Meadows admitted in opening trial statements that Butler was having problems with members of the Texas Tech Internal Review Board (IRB). “It is no secret that Dr. Butler, like most research scientists, did not get along with the IRB at Texas Tech,” Meadows said. “He got into a cat fight with a lady named Dr. Pence … they were like two kids in a sandbox fighting for toys.”

Extending this analogy, Dr. Butler decided to bury his toys in the sandbox. In a Jan. 11 notebook entry, Butler mentions for the first time that samples of the deadly bacteria were unaccounted for. The next day, he was even more specific. “Rechecked missing tubes … can’t explain other than intentional removal. Suspect theft,” Butler wrote. On Jan. 14, Butler told his boss that 30 vials were missing from the lab.

BAM. Next thing you know, the FBI is swarming all over Texas Tech, trying to figure out what dorm Al-Qaeda operatives were staying in when they swiped Dr. Butler’s samples. Dr. Butler stuck to his story of sample theft before eventually signing an FBI confession (one he now says he was tricked into signing) stating that there was no theft and he had in fact destroyed the samples himself.

Testimony continues. Stay tuned.