Roger Bergendorff regained consciousness on Wednesday but remains in criticalcondition at a Las Vegas medical center.
His younger brother, Erich Bergendorff, told The Associated Press that they spokebriefly on the telephone Sunday for the first time since the ricin was found, and said Rogerclaimed he had never had any intention of endangering anyone with the toxin.
"He did mention that he would have never done anything to anybody," said ErichBergendorff. "He himself is under the impression he was contaminated by it — he did mention thericin and seemed to say something like, ‘Gee, it sure worked on me."'
Erich Bergendorff said his brother told him the ricin was easy to make. But headded that his brother, who was on a ventilator until last week, still had a hard time speakingclearly, so it was not clear whether Roger Bergendorff made it himself or watched someone elsemanufacture the powder.
"He did talk as thought he just had it there, he was almost kind of casual aboutit," said Erich Bergendorff, who talked to his brother on the phone from his home in Escondido,Calif., north of San Diego. "It's almost as though in his own mind it wasn't that big of adeal."
Roger Bergendorff, 57, was questioned by investigators from the FBI and the LasVegas police on Friday in hopes that he could provide information about the Feb. 28 discovery ofthe ricin powder and castor beans, from which it is derived.
Officials from both agencies declined to comment about what they learned.
Doctors have not formally diagnosed Roger Bergendorff. Experts said his symptomsappeared consistent with ricin exposure, but the poison breaks down in the body within days, makingit hard to trace.
Ricin can be lethal in amounts the size of the head of a pin. It has no antidoteand is only legal for cancer research.
In court documents, police described the amount of ricin found in the vials as "alarge quantity" and characterized the poison as a "biological weapon." But officials have said theyhave not found evidence in the motel room or elsewhere of contamination and have downplayed thepossibility that Bergendorff posed a threat.
Friends and family members described Bergendorff, an illustrator, as a loner whostruggled to pay his bills while moving around California, Nevada and Utah with his beloved dog,Angel, and pet cats. He had lived in recent months at the Extended Stay America motel severalblocks off the Las Vegas Strip while waiting for a freelance job contract.
Erich Bergendorff said his brother was deeply saddened by the death of their olderbrother in January, but insisted Roger Bergendorff had not been suicidal.
"He did say he felt very empty with his loss," said Erich Bergendorff, who addedthat his brother was lonely in the hospital and newly distraught after learning that his dog waseuthanized after the Humane Society found her starving and without water in his motel room.
Police say a cousin, Thomas Tholen, of Riverton, Utah, was collecting Bergendorff'sbelongings from his room on Feb. 28 when he gave a motel manager a plastic bag containing severalvials of what turned out to be ricin powder. Police later found four "anarchists cookbooks" in theroom marked at sections describing how to make ricin. Firearms also were found in the room.
Authorities said they found no traces of ricin in the room, in the motel manager'soffice, in a Las Vegas Strip hotel room where Tholen stayed, or in vehicles belonging to Tholen andBergendorff.
Bergendorff had, by that time, been hospitalized for two weeks. Police said he summoned anambulance Feb. 14, complaining of respiratory distress. He was taken to the Spring Valley HospitalMedical Center, where his condition was variously described later as comatose and unconscious.
