We talked yesterday about a letter sent to Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) that, according to preliminary tests, included ricin, a potentially dangerous poison. As Rachel noted on the show last night, there have been a series of important developments since, including another ricin letter, apparently from the same person, sent to President Obama.
As of this morning, the matter has been dealt with extremely quickly, and federal officials have a suspect, Paul Kevin Curtis, already in custody.
Both letters carried an identical closing statement, according to an FBI bulletin obtained by NBC News on Wednesday.
According to the FBI bulletin, both letters, postmarked April 8, 2013 out of Memphis, Tenn., included an identical phrase, “to see a wrong and not expose it, is to become a silent partner to its continuance.”
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In addition, both letters are signed: “I am KC and I approve this message.”
Curtis was arrested at his home in Corinth, Miss., at about 5:15 CT, after an investigation by federal, state and local agencies.
Not much is known about the motivation behind the letters, and tests are still underway as to what dangers, if any, were posed by the substance included in the mailings. What’s more, note that no one was hurt by the letters and law enforcement officials do not believe this is related to the attack on the Boston Marathon on Monday.
We also don’t yet know much about the suspect, though the local AP reported that Curtis, who has been an Elvis impersonator, believed he had “uncovered a conspiracy to sell human body parts on the black market and claimed ‘various parties within the government’ were trying to ruin his reputation.”
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