07x08 - Bio-Attack

[bunniefuu]

[theme music]

NARRATOR: In a small
town in Oregon in 1984,

the first biological
attack was launched

against the United States.

For over a decade, the details
of this nearly catastrophic

event were withheld
from the public.

This is how forensic science
unearthed the biological trail.

[theme music]

NARRATOR: This small town in
Oregon is called The Dalles.

And it's perched high
above the Columbia River,

about 80 miles due
east of Portland.

LEZ ZAITZ: It seems like you've
driven back from the 50s.

And It seems-- in the
physical appearance-- it

seems frozen in time that way.

NARRATOR: Dave and Sandy
Lutgens are among the 11,000

residents who find The
Dalles the perfect place

to raise a family.

DAVID LUTGENS: A half
an hour or an hour

from skiing-- a lot
of water sports,

a lot of hiking-- it has
pretty decent schools.

We have pretty low crime.

DAVID LUTGENS: On
September 25th 1984,

David and Sandy both became
violently ill with cramps,

diarrhea, and vomiting.

Their dehydration
caused delirium.

DAVID LUTGENS: I've
never felt that my life.

The room was spinning and I
just didn't care about anything.

SANDY LUTGENS: Well,
let's put it this way.

I would never want to
be that sick again.

NARRATOR: When David and his
wife went to the hospital,

they weren't the only
ones seriously ill.

And then suddenly, there
were so many people.

We had people
laying on the floor.

We had people leaning
up against the wall.

There were people in the lobby.

NARRATOR: They all
had the same symptoms.

Microbiologists identified
the cause-- salmonella.

Salmonella is a bacteria
commonly found in eggs, meat,

poultry, on pasteurized milk,
water-- and in animal feces,

especially that of reptiles.

It is rarely fatal.

But sometimes death occurs
in infants and the elderly.


outbreak, a second wave hit.

The number of patients exploded
from dozens to hundreds.

Every hospital bed was filled.

By the time Dave Lutgens emerged
from four days of delirium,

he encountered a disaster.

Lutgens owned a
small restaurant.


sick, along with hundreds

of his customers.

DAVID LUTGENS: We had
virtually no business.

I mean it just disappeared.

It was tough.

I mean, that was-- I was
in the process of building

another facility in Hood River.

I was gonna have it all paid
for and open it up debt- free

and it didn't work out that way.

NARRATOR: But what was the
source of the outbreak.

Food handlers who
don't properly wash

their hands after using
the bathroom sometimes

transmit salmonella.

But hundreds of
people were sick.

And they hadn't eaten in
the same restaurant, or even

the same restaurant chain.

Tests of the water
supply revealed nothing.

The Centers for Disease
Control in Atlanta, Georgia

was asked to investigate
whether it was some type

of accidental outbreak.

Or, was it intentional.

[ambulance sirens]

NARRATOR: Solving the riddle
of the salmonella outbreak

in Oregon is the job of
epidemiologists-- scientists

who study how disease moves
through large populations.

TOM TOROK: It seemed
to be unrelated events

complicated things greatly.

It was almost like
doing multiple

simultaneous investigations.

NARRATOR: There seemed
to be no common link

among the hundreds of
residents who had gotten sick.

Dave and Sandy Lutgens
both remembered

eating a salad in their
restaurant before getting ill.

SANDY LUTGENS: I think we
were too sick to worry that

much about it at that time.

It was later that
we started wondering

if it was gonna close us down.

NARRATOR: Hundreds
of their customers

and most of their
employees became ill too.

At the county health department,
nurse Dianne Kerr contacted

everyone who fell ill.

And discovered they had
all eaten a salad from one

of 10 local restaurants.

TOM TOROK: Most of
the people seemed

to have eaten potato salad.

In another restaurant,
most people

seemed to have a green salad.

So what was going on?

DIANNE KERR: They looked at
common suppliers of food.

They looked-- where did
everybody get their lettuce?

Where did everybody get this?

Where did everybody get that?

ROBERT TAUXE: We
couldn't find one source

of cucumbers, or
lettuce, or meat

or of anything that would
explain all those restaurants

being contaminated at once.

NARRATOR: Dr.
Michael Skeels runs

the laboratory that processed
samples from The Dalles

salmonella outbreak.

Microbiologists discovered
that all of the victims

had the same strain
of salmonella.

One that was exceptionally rare.

DR. MICHAEL SKEELS: It
was [inaudible] negative,

which means it didn't
biochemically break down

a sugar called [inaudible].

And that's only the case for


NARRATOR: This salmonella had
another odd characteristic.

Unlike most bacteria,
this one was

not resistant to antibiotics.

When all the cases were
tallied, there had been 751

cases of salmonella poisoning.

Ten percent were
restaurant workers.

TOM TOROK: And these people
became ill before outbreaks--

the outbreak was
noticed among customers.

NARRATOR: Nevertheless, two
months after the outbreak,

the state of Oregon reported
that poor hygiene of restaurant

workers and cross-contamination
were the most

likely causes of the outbreak.

In other words,
they didn't know.

DAVID LUTGENS: The
Oregon Health Department

basically hung us out-- and said
well, it was-- dirty employees.

It was unsafe practices--
unsafe handling of food.

NARRATOR: Officials
found no salmonella

in Dave Lutgens' restaurant.

But they did find
traces of it in some

of the other restaurants.

DIANNE KERR: If you've worked
in public health long enough,

you'll figure out that
lots of times, you

really can't pinpoint
where things come from.

LEZ ZAITZ: The health
officials said, this

is the best we can tell you.

It wasn't a very
satisfying explanation

for them, or for the
public, or for the press.

But at that time, there
was no other explanation.

NARRATOR: Local
officials now began

to suspect a religious cult
outside town-- the Rajneeshees.

As the Rajneeshees
expanded their compound,

there had been growing tension
between the cult leaders

and local politicians.

Just a year earlier, one
of the cult's leaders,

Ma Anand Sheela, hinted
at potential v*olence.

She said, quote, "we are
here in Oregon to stay,

at whatever the cost.

If that means some
blood is spilled,

then this is the price
we are prepared to pay."

A guru from India,
Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh,

started the farming
commune in 1981.

After two years,
and $30 million,

the 64,000 acre organic
farming and meditation compound

had its own post office, school,
hospital, and shopping mall--

with housing for
over 1,000 followers.

LEZ ZAITZ: There were doctors,
and lawyers, and accountants

who've given up everything
for dry crackers

and plant potatoes.

And have daily chants.

NARRATOR: As he drove
through the compound each day

in one of his 80 Rolls
Royce automobiles,

the guru preached the benefits
of meditation, and free love.

Published reports
say that the Bhagwan

claimed to have had
more sex partners

than anyone in history.

In 1982, the Rajneeshees
took over the nearby town

of Antelope, and with
it, the majority of seats

on the city council
and school board,

which horrified long time
residents of the small town.

Before the outbreak,
the Rajneeshees

had set their sights on
control of the larger

town of The Dalles.

And had put up their
own slate of candidates

running in the
November election.

In the absence of a
scientific explanation,

some thought the
Rajneeshees might

have intentionally poisoned
the community in some way.

DIANNE KERR: So
there was suspicion,

but there was no evidence,

DAVID LUTGENS: Why
would they do this.

And the other
thought was there was

somebody-- some hothead trying
to incriminate the Rajneesh.

NARRATOR: One year later,
the Rajneeshee's behavior

grew even more bizarre,
revealing evidence that would

eventually solve the mystery.

Since health officials
could not find the source

of the salmonella
outbreak in The Dalles,

Oregon, suspicion
among local officials

continued to be the Rajneeshees,
a religious cult living

on a farm outside of town.

[WOMAN ON TV: Like
criminals being

accused of poisoning someone
who we had nothing to do with.

NARRATOR: Leaders of the
cult and town officials

were often at odds.

The cult was founded by
Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh.

But the day- to- day operations
were run by his associate,

Ma Anand Sheela.

LEZ ZAITZ: They met
each others' needs.

Sheela provided for
him whatever he wanted.

You want 60 Rolls Royces?

We'll get 60 Rolls Royces.

Do you want a new
disciple tonight,

we'll get you a new disciple.

You want to fly in a
jet, we'll get you--

whatever can make you happy.

And the trade off was
that the Bhagwan would

say, OK, you're number one.

You're in control.

You take care of
all the details.

I don't care how you do it.

NARRATOR: The
Rajneeshees were becoming

paranoid for many reasons.

They were being investigated
for possible immigration fraud.

And there was growing internal
conflict between Sheela

and other commune leaders.

SHEELA: Any nonsense,
you'd better believe me.

I'm a tiger.

ROBERT HAMILTON: She and her
group were in a power struggle

with another group--
which we always

called the Hollywood faction.

They were rich
members of the cult,

headed up by a lady
who was the ex-wife

of a Hollywood producer.

They had money.

They had access to Rajneesh.

And Sheela and her
group were very paranoid

about these people.

NARRATOR: The struggle was
for control of the guru,

the cult, and its finances.

Former cult members
told of plans

to assassinate several local
politicians, rival cult

members, a United States
Attorney, and journalist Lez

Zaitz, in retaliation for
some investigative pieces

he had written about the
group in the local newspaper.

LEZ ZAITZ: To be
told that you're

on a hit list for a group that
I believed at the time they were

capable of-- that they were just
purely evil folks by that time.

It was really a chilling,
chilling way to start the day.

NARRATOR: One year after
the salmonella outbreak,

without warning,
Sheela and the head

of the Rajneesh medical
clinic, a nurse named Puja,

fled to Europe.

Rajneesh disowned them.

BHAGWAN: They had turned it into
a fascist concentration camp.

NARRATOR: Prosecuters
heard that Puja

had been experimenting
with biological poisons

at the clinic,
including salmonella.

But there was no hard evidence.

With the increasing scrutiny,
the Bhagwan stepped up

the level of personal security.

ROBERT HAMILTON: There were
times when he would move

from one end of the
town to the other--

where he would be in a
bulletproof limousine.

He would have a lead SUV
with armed guards in it.

He would have a trailing
SUV with armed guards in it.

And he'd have a jet
Ranger helicopter.

We felt we could be confronted
by a 45- person private army

with fully a*t*matic weapons.

NARRATOR: In October of


issued a 35- page indictment,
charging the Bhagwan

with lying on his
visa application,

and arranging sham marriages
so his followers could

remain in the United States.

When officials planned
to search the compound,

they asked
epidemiologist Dr. Mike

Skeels to come along
because of fears

of biological retaliation.

DR. MICHAEL SKEELS: And as
we were going up that road,

I was thinking for
a microbiologist,

this is going to be a
pretty interesting day.

NARRATOR: No sh*ts were fired.

In the commune's
licensed medical center,

Skeels found samples of various
bacteria, standard testing

material for a small clinic.

DR. MICHAEL SKEELS: One
of these vials contained

salmonella typhimurium.

And I remember at the
time thinking well they

told me to look for salmonella.

If I find any, I'm supposed
to seize it as evidence.

Well there it is,
so I'll seize it.

But I wasn't thinking
at all that this

was related to the outbreak.

NARRATOR: Shortly
after the raid,

Rajneesh left on one
of his private jets.

He was arrested
in North Carolina

on the immigration charges.

Meanwhile, the CDC tested
the salmonella found

in the commune's lab
using a technique

called plasmid profiling.

Plasmids are sections of
free-floating genetic material

outside a bacterial chromosome.

Bacteria can exchange
plasmids, allowing

a colony to genetically adapt.

DR. MICHAEL SKEELS:
You would then

use the size of the plasmid
and some other characteristics

of it to see whether
it matched the plasmids

from other bacteria--
mostly the size.

And so, if you found that you
had a the same plasma type,

you could assume that these
were related or similar strains.

NARRATOR: The salmonella
from the Rajneeshees' clinic

had a plasmid profile similar
to the organism from The Dalles.

And it could be k*lled
by antibiotics, just

like the strain used
in the epidemic.

DR. MICHAEL SKEELS: That
really was the smoking g*n.

That showed us that the isolate
that I found in their clinic

and the isolates
that we were getting

from the people in
this outbreak really

were the same bacterial strain.

NARRATOR: The
question remained--

why would the Rajneeshees
poison the residents

of this small town.

Inside the Rajneeshee
commune, investigators

found evidence connecting the
group to the mass salmonella

poisonings.

And they discovered
other bizarre activities.

Sheela had installed
surveillance devices

everywhere in the commune.

Every payphone in
the town was tapped,

and almost every building.

ROBERT HAMILTON: is the largest
incident of wire-tapping

in the United States.

They wired this whole town.

There were illegal
interceptions.

There were thousands of them.

They had banks of tape
recorders running all the time.

It's indescribable.

NARRATOR: Most
Rajneeshees didn't

know they were being monitored.

It was kept quiet by Sheela
and her inner circle,

which held their meetings
on her round bed.

TV NARRATOR: a bookcase
concealed a metal

door opening up to a tunnel.

NARRATOR: Or in secret rooms
complete with escape tunnels.

DR. MICHAEL SKEELS: The FBI
also found a number of manuals

for making bombs and
doing dirty tricks.

And they found a
number of articles

about bioterrorism
and biowarfare.

NARRATOR: The salmonella
was the w*apon

chosen for a power struggle,
but not an internal one.

TV REPORTER: Did I understand
you correctly yesterday

when you said that you were
in fact now going to attempt

to takeover Wasco County?

SHEELA: That's correct.

You understood right.

NARRATOR: When the Rajneeshees
put up their own candidates

to run for election for the
local county commission,

they wanted to make sure
their candidates won.

To do that, they wanted
to make the local voters

sick enough so they couldn't get
to the polling places to vote.

LEZ ZAITZ: The Rajneeshees would
have enough people in Antelope

and other nearby places, that
they would all vote-- a 100%

turnout among the Rajneeshees.

Enough that they would
install their own candidates

on the county commission.

NARRATOR: But why had the
outbreak happened in September?

Informants say it
was a rehearsal.

And it wasn't their first.

At Sheela's direction,
the Rajneeshees

took off their red robes
and put on regular clothing,

and went through the town
with spray containers

filled with salmonella.

In August, their
first experiment

was spraying the door handles
in the county courthouse,

and produce in the
local supermarkets.

But no one got sick.

Their second experiment
in September,

was to spray salmonella
on salad bars

in ten local restaurants--
which worked, contaminating

over 700 residents.

Just before election
day, the Rajneeshees

made plans to contaminate
the city's water supply.

Apparently, they
were unsuccessful.

LEZ ZAITZ: There was
evidence that someone

had gotten to the reservoir
for the city of The Dalles

and had gotten into it.

But no evidence that they
actually were contaminated.

NARRATOR: All of the
Rajneeshee candidates

lost in the November elections.

Armed with the forensic
biological evidence,

Sheela and Puja were
extradited from Europe,

and charged with tampering
with consumer products.

They both pled guilty,
served less than three years

in federal prison,
were released,

and fled to Switzerland before
state charges could be filed.

LEZ ZAITZ: Last we knew,
Sheela was in Europe running

the equivalent of
a nursing home,

which is sort of
chilling to think about.

Turning grandma over to
Sheela in her final days.

NARRATOR: There was
no proof Rajneesh

himself ever knew anything
about the salmonella plot.

He pleaded guilty to
immigration violations,

was departed, and
died in India in 1990.

Most of the restaurants
targeted in the attack

never recovered from
the economic blow,

and went out of business.

That's what happened to
Dave Lutgens' restaurant.

DAVID LUTGENS: We never
regained the position.

We had in the
community afterwards.

I had people that
would tell me that I

know it wasn't your fault, but
I just can't eat there anymore.

NARRATOR: He now runs
a catering service.

The scientists who
investigated the outbreak

wrote a paper about it.

But the Centers
for Disease Control

asked that it not published,
fearing copycat crimes.

In 1997, 13 years after the
outbreak when bioterrorism had

become a growing
concern, the paper

was finally published in
the Journal of the American

Medical Association.

Evidence discovered in the
Rajneeshees health clinic

revealed that they had even
more potent biological weapons

in their possession.

Had they been used, the results
would have been catastrophic.

ROBERT TAUXE: Neither
the epidemiology alone,

nor, a criminal
investigation alone,

would have cracked this-- it
took both to put together.

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