By RUSTY DENNEN

Nearly seven years have passed since Leroy Richmond lay gravely ill in a Northern Virginia hospital, one of the victims of the notorious anthrax attack that killed five people and sent scores of others to hospitals.

The Stafford County man said yesterday that he was surprised at the news that the case might finally be closed.

Authorities now say that an Army scientist who committed suicide Tuesday before federal prosecutors could charge him in the attacks was responsible.

"I often thought that, because of the potency of the bacteria, they'd never find that person; that they wouldn't have protected themselves and would have died," said Richmond, who lives in Stone Hill Estates in North Stafford.

"I hadn't heard anything from the FBI for a year and a half or two years. I thought that the investigation had closed down."

Richmond, who was 56 at the time of the attack, worked at the Brentwood mail facility in Washington. He was admitted to the hospital in October 2001, suffering from a bad headache, night sweats, a sore throat and a dry, hacking cough.

The next day a blood test and chest X-rays showed he didn't have the flu but was a victim of bioterrorism, infected with inhalation anthrax. Just a few weeks after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the Brentwood air-mail facility had processed an anthrax-laced letter that went to then-Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle.

For weeks, doctors weren't sure that Richmond would survive. Two of his co-workers died.

Today, he says, he has come a long way, but his ordeal is still not over.

"I'm doing quite well. I do have some residual problems occurring--short-term memory loss, and I get tired easily."

A father of three, he recently retired from the Postal Service and does volunteer work at a local school.

He's grateful for the support he has received since that fateful fall day.

"I love Stafford and I appreciate the people who prayed and helped in my recovery," he said. "Maybe now we can get some closure and get this behind us."

Rusty Dennen: 540/374-5431
Email: rdennen@freelancestar.com