Feds: Toxin defendant was soliciting to kill wife
By SARAH SUTSCHEK - ssutschek@nwherald.com
ROCKFORD – Bond was denied for a Lake in the Hills man accused of having at least 64 vials of a lethal neurotoxin after federal prosecutors revealed Monday that dozens of weapons and fake CIA identification were also found in his home.
Prosecutors also said the intended target of a 2006 online murder-for-hire solicitation was Edward F. Bachner’s wife Rebecca. Authorities said Bachner had obtained a $5 million life insurance policy on her.
Judge P. Michael Mahoney cited Edward F. Bachner's recent "unpredictable behavior" as reasoning for keeping him in federal custody.
FBI special agent Mark Mahoney testified that Bachner told agents that he considered using the tetrodotoxin, also called TTX, to commit suicide, "among other things."
Nineteen vials remain missing. Twenty-five were found in Bachner's car with one milligram of TTX inside each, another 20 with residue were in the trunk, and another six empty vials were found inside his home when 30 to 40 investigators searched it June 30 the day of Bachner’s arrest, prosecutor Mark Karner said.
Bachner was only interviewed by federal investigators about the 2006 murder-for-hire e-mail plot on a White supremacist Web site. He was never charged with any crime, said his attorney, James Marcus.
His wife was never told about it and three years have passed since the alleged threat, he said.
"She's still walking around," Marcus said. "How many opportunities did he have? Countless."
Rebecca Bachner sat calmly as the details came forward, including mention of the $5 million insurance policy her husband took out on her with language that included payment in the event of a terrorist attack.
Prosecutors also said that Bachner had $183,000 in a bank account that his wife did not know about.
Their home had a $37,000 lien and Bachner had $8,000 in unpaid debt, but he was also the beneficiary of a $1.5 million trust set up by his father, they said.
According to prosecutors, investigators also found two passports during their search, both in Bachner's name, although one was expired. They found fake CIA credentials, a 9-mm Glock handgun, more than 50 knives, other weaponry and books with topics such as lock-picking and how to make silencers.
Castor beans, which are the precursor to ricin, were also recovered, they said.
Marcus implied that there was an explanation for the materials found at Bachner's home, but declined to comment further. In court, he noted that the statute allows for possession of TTX in the event that it was for a "peaceful purpose."
To get the tetrodotoxin, federal investigators said Bachner posed as a medical researcher for EB Strategic Research under the alias Edmund Backer. He tried to buy it from New Jersey-based Ascent Scientific LLC, investigators said.
Authorities said that when Bachner tried to order 98 milligrams of the toxin at a cost of $7,056, an employee became suspicious and contacted the FBI.
An agent then posed as an employee at the Algonquin UPS Store where Bachner had the TTX delivered and gave him the package, officials said. He was arrested while leaving the store.
More than two years earlier, federal investigators said they interviewed Bachner after he allegedly offered cash and an assault rifle for killing a 32-year-old woman. FBI officials said the plot was hatched over a Canadian e-mail service that does not maintain subscriber information or collect IP address. During the interview, Bachner initially denied any involvement, but then said, “I was bored. I had no intent,” court records said.
Bachner is due in court July 29 for a status check.
town: Lake in the Hills
