Tests on WWS letter may take up to a week

The test results of a suspicious, oily, paint-like substance found in a letter sent to Robertson Hall could take up to a week to be announced, according to University Director of Communications Lauren Robinson-Brown '85.

"We can't do much more than wait," she said. "The state is testing the substance and we'll hopefully get results as soon as possible."

Borough Police Lt. John Reading said the suspicious substance was sent to the New Jersey Department of Health for analysis.

"We're not sure when the results will be coming back," he said. "It could take up to seven days because the state lab is so backlogged."

A hazardous materials team was sent into an office in Robertson Monday morning. According to Robinson-Brown, a two-person hazmat team determined the substance to be a "credible threat," and the entire hazmat team was then sent in. Robertson was closed from about 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. with no one allowed to enter or exit the building.

"The letter was suspicious," Robinson-Brown said. "It had no return address, came from a different country and wasn't addressed to a specific person."

She said the letter was treated as more of a credible threat than the substance found on the 100-level of the Frist Campus Center on Oct. 22, which was determined not to be credible largely because it did not come in the mail.

Two people were in the immediate vicinity of the letter when it was opened Monday.

"Hazmat interacted with two individuals at the scene," Robinson-Brown said, "both of whom were offered antibiotics."

Reading said the woman who opened the letter was immediately suspicious of the envelope and dawned gloves before opening it.

"The letter was stained dark red at the bottom blending into light red and then fading into a light-yellow color," Reading said. "The letter itself was threatening and also rambling."

The text of the letter was hand-written and made reference to "dark winter," which could be construed as a reference to nuclear war, Reading said.

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The report filed at the Trenton fire department said the suspicious letter was sent from Canada and was described as containing a "yellowish, gooey-type substance."

According to fire department Battalion Chief Mark Rosen, the letter had the word "anthrax" written on it.

"The hazmat team mitigated the scene," he said. "The first two [hazmat team members] triple-bagged [the letter] and sealed it for evidence."

Wearing full-body safety suits, the hazmat team then used a mixture of soapy water with 10 percent bleach to disinfect the site, Rosen said.

"Even if the results come back positive, there's probably nothing else we can do on-site," he said.

According to Robinson-Brown, after the hazmat team disinfected the room, administrators reopened Robertson except for the room in which the letter was found.

The room itself will remain closed until the investigation is complete, she said.

Rosen said once the department of health has the test results, it will notify the University. If the substance is found to contain anthrax, the FBI will assume control of the investigation because it would be considered a federal case.

"The substance doesn't fit the common description of anthrax," Rosen said. "But that doesn't mean it couldn't be."

According to Rosen, the party responsible for sending the threatening letter will be prosecuted regardless of the test results.

"The procedure is to wait for the results," after which the appropriate response will be determined, Reading said.

With results taking up to a week to be complete, the University community can do little more than play the waiting game.

"I think [the health department] is taking way too long to get results back," Rosen said. "But the large amount of cases are pushing the department of health way behind."