. >> originally from england, in the '70s stevens and his wife maureen had moved to florida. he worked for american media incorporated. a tabloid publisher. >> there's no one that can say they didn't like him. he was just full of life and he loved everybody. >> in early october 2001, stevens has what seems like the flu. two days later, slurred speech. and a trip to the hospital. >> she said, it's anthrax. now, i'm getting shivers thinking about it. and she said, "the cdc had been informed, the fbi, and the president has been informed." and i was in shock. >> robert stevens dies the next day. anthrax had shut down his vital organs. >> he was just the perfect person for me and i do miss him. you know, my heart's still not in one piece yet. >> lab work reveals the type of anthrax that killed stevens. it's called the aim strain. with terrifying implications. >> the aim strain was a lab strain. it was not out there in the wild. >> david willman, a pulitzer prize winning investigative reporter, is the author of a recent book on the anthrax attacks. >> the fact that this is a labora

but to maureen stevens whose husband robert was the first anthrax victim, the reason sounds hollow. >first, whether safety or money. >> she's suing the government seeking $50 million for the wrongful death of her husband. the government said it was not reasonably foreseeable. but maureen stevens says his death might have been prevented if usamrid had psychological screening and a rule requiring two people in the lab. >> if any of those things, maybe not perfect, if any of those or all had been working, my husband might be alive. >> bruce ivins dreamed of his own legacy, a new and improved anthrax vaccine, the one he helped invent. it is still being tested. but bruce ivins' real legacy is a darker one. his name is forever tied to the threat of an unstable scientist handling dge