Army: 3 missing disease samples likely destroyed

FREDERICK, Md. Army officials say an investigation of three disease samples missing from a Fort Detrick lab found that the samples were likely destroyed.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick said Wednesday that the samples of Venezuelan Equine Encephalitis were discovered missing last year in an inventory of a group of samples left by a departing researcher.

Spokeswoman Caree Vander Linden says the report that the vials were missing triggered the investigation, which found that the samples were likely among those destroyed when a freezer malfunctioned.

U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command spokesman Chris Grey says an extensive investigation found no evidence of criminal activity.