A dust mask that tested positive for ricin also contained DNA from a man suspected of sending poison-laced letters to President Obama and others, an FBI agent has testified.
The testimony came yesterday during a preliminary hearing for James Everett Dutschke, 41, who was arrested Saturday and charged with making ricin, the same substance mailed on April 8 to Obama, US Senator Roger Wicker and Mississippi judge Sadie Holland.
Magistrate Judge S Allan Alexander ruled that there was enough probable cause to send the case to a grand jury.
Dutschke's lawyer George Lucas waived a detention hearing but reserved the right to ask for one later.
That means Dutschke will remain behind bars for now.
FBI agent Stephen Thomason said on April 22, agents saw Dutschke go to his former martial arts studio in Mississippi and then throw items in a trash can down the street.
One of those items was a dust mask that tested positive for ricin, he said.
Thomason said the mask had DNA from two people on it.
He said Dustchke was the "major contributor." The agent did not say who else's DNA was on it.
Dutschke is second person to be charged in the case.
The first suspect, Elvis impersonator Paul Kevin Curtis, 45, was arrested on April 17, but the charges were dropped six days later.
After his arrest, Curtis said he was framed and gave investigators Dutschke's name as someone who could have sent the letters, according to an FBI affidavit filed in federal court.
Curtis said he knows Dutschke and they feuded over the years.
No possible motive was discussed at yesterday's hearing.
Much of Thomason's testimony was from an FBI affidavit made public earlier this week, which said trace amounts of ricin was found in Dutschke's former martial arts studio.
Thomason said Dutschke used the Internet to make three purchases of castor beans, from which ricin is derived.
The affidavit had said two, but Thomason said the investigation turned up another.
The FBI has not revealed details about how lethal the ricin was.
A Senate official has said the ricin was not weaponised, meaning it wasn't in a form that could easily enter the body. If inhaled, ricin can cause respiratory failure, among other symptoms. No antidote exists.
Dutschke faces up to life in prison if convicted in the ricin case. He's also facing unrelated charges of child molestation.
