WORLD : Hacker Suspect Apparent Suicide

A West German computer hacker suspected of providing the Soviet KGB with code words to gain access to Western research and defense computers apparently has committed suicide by dousing himself with gasoline and igniting it, police said today.

The body of a man found burned to death Thursday near the city of Gifhorn, about 25 miles east of Hanover, has been identified as that of Karl Koch, police said. Koch, 24, was under investigation for his part in a computer scandal that resulted in international headlines in March. He was one of eight West German computer hackers under investigation for allegedly supplying Soviet agents with code words to gain access to Western computers. Those computers included the U.S. Defense Department’s general data bank, known as Optimus, and a NASA “Star Wars” research computer.