Larry Ford

Larry C. Ford (1951 – March 2, 2000) was a biomedical researcher and gynecologist from Irvine, California, United States who was suspected of conspiring to murder his business partner, James Patrick Riley and subsequently found to have stored lethal biological toxins in his home and office.

On February 28, 2000, Ford's business partner at Biofem, Inc., James Patrick Riley, was shot and wounded by a masked gunman at the company's office near the Irvine Spectrum. Police quickly discovered that the owner of the gunman's getaway van, Dino D'Saachs, made a phone call to Ford the morning of the attack. Following police questioning on March 2, Ford committed suicide with a shotgun at his Woodbridge home. His suicide note claimed he was innocent of the attempted murder, but added that there was information hidden in the house of interest to the police. When authorities searched the home, they discovered containers buried next to his swimming pool containing anthrax, assault rifles and C-4 plastic explosives. The deadly poison ricin was stored, with a blowgun and darts, in a plastic bag in the family room. In refrigerators at his home and office, next to the salad dressing and employee lunches, were 266 bottles and vials of pathogens. Among them were the bacterial agents of cholera ("vibrio cholerae"), botulism ("clostridium botulinum"), and typhoid ("salmonella typhi"). City officials closed an elementary school and evacuated 48 Woodbridge families (about 250 residents) in the immediate area while they performed a thorough search of Ford's home.

Alleged ties to biological warfare development in South Africa

After Ford killed himself, a number of newspapers alleged that he and Riley had corporate ties with biological warfare development in apartheid-era South Africa. Ford was also linked to Dr. Neil Knobel, former chief medical officer for the South African National Defence Force. During the apartheid-era, Knobel oversaw South Africa's notorious Project Coast, a covert biological program directed by Dr. Wouter Basson, nicknamed "Dr. Death." South African newspapers have claimed that Basson considered employing everything from anthrax to AIDS against black militants during the struggle against apartheid.

References

* [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0DEED8173EF930A35752C1A9649C8B63 New York Times - "California Doctor's Suicide Leaves Many Troubling Mysteries Unsolved"]
* [http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/10/30/60minutes/main527530.shtml 60 Minutes -" 'Dr. Death' And His Accomplice"]
* [http://educate-yourself.org/ct/irvinecanistersandbioweapons10mar00.shtml Los Angeles Times - "Suspicious Canisters, Clues Unearthed in Orange County, California"]
* [http://archive.salon.com/health/feature/2000/06/26/biofem/print.html Salon - "Mad Scientist"]
* [http://www.ocgov.com/press/2000/2000_May11.asp County of Orange Press Release - "Biologic Agents Identified by Mark Harton, M.D."]