FBI canvass streets for anthrax suspect

Kathy Hennessy, Princeton

An FBI spokesman would not identify the man in the photo and merchants interviewed by The Associated Press didn't recognise him. However, several published reports yesterday said the photo showed former Army biological weapons researcher Steven J. Hatfill, under scrutiny in last fall's anthrax-by-mail attacks.

Residents in downtown Princeton told The New York Times they recognised the photo carried by agents as being Hatfill. The Daily News also reported that Hatfill was the man in the picture. Several merchants said agents spent two days circulating the picture and asking employees if they recall seeing the man in the area last September and October the height of the anthrax attacks. They said the agents didn't reveal the man's identity.

"He looked like a regular, average guy," Stefani Squitieri, who works at the Origins store on Nassau Street, said about the photo. Squitieri said she didn't work there last fall and hadn't seen the man.

Bill Evanina, an FBI agent in Newark, said the agents' presence was related to Monday's announcement of the positive anthrax test but would not give details: "We are conducting a logical investigation and canvassing the area."

It wasn't clear when the anthrax spores were found on the mailbox on Nassau Street, the main thoroughfare through downtown Princeton. Authorities received the test results last Thursday, but did not make them public until this week. They have not said when the tests were done.