FBI Agent Chris Swecker Discusses Eric Rudolph

WSOC ^

[Stew Padasso]

FBI Agent Chris Swecker Discusses Eric Rudolph

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Eyewitness News has new information in the longtime search for fugitive Eric Rudolph.

Rudolph is charged with the 1996 bombing of Atlanta's centennial Olympic park and the 1997 bombing of a Birmingham, Alabama abortion clinic.

Chris Swecker, FBI agent in charge for Charlotte, still keeps a poster of Rudolph in his office.

As special agent in charge of the FBI's Charlotte headquarters, he's privy to all the latest intelligence on Rudolph.

"The book on him is that if somebody's hiding him, it's probably a woman. He's had several girlfriends over the years," Swecker said.

Seven years after the Olympic park bombing and six years after the deadly abortion clinic bombing in Alabama, Rudolph has yet to be caught.

The search was well-publicized, lengthy and expensive. For months, authorities combed the mountains near Andrews, in western North Carolina in a search that cost more than $30 million.

Swecker says the terrain, which Rudolph grew up around, offers the perfect hiding place.

"You could be 5 feet away from him in those rhododendron thickets and you wouldn't see him. He'd see you, but you wouldn't see him," Swecker said.

The search for Rudolph isn't nearly what it once was. Other matters have taken the FBI's priority.

But, Swecker says 18 hunters and trappers who live in the area are still being paid to look for clues.

"And I think we've done some things to sort of set some trip wires so that if he does show himself, he's gonna get caught," Swecker said.

Rudolph is 36 and authorities say nobody knows if he has changed his appearence.

Swecker continues to hope Rudolph will be caught and brought to justice. Short of that, he says the FBI has already accomplished one thing:

"Since the Birmingham bombings, nothing else has happened so if we've accomplished something it's that we've kept him either hiding in the woods or totally completely underground and he hasn't hurt anybody else."

The FBI says Rudolph has used aliases over the years including Bob Rudolph and Bob Randolph.

[Stew Padasso]

"a search that cost more than $30 million"

Are the feds/military/local law enforcement still operating out of that compound in Andrews, NC?

[The Duke]

They seek him here...

They seek him there...

Those jackboots seek him everywhere...

Is he in heaven?

Is he in hell?

That damnable Eric Rudolph!

[Dubh_Ghlase]

Speculation abounds, from rumors that he was killed early on and his body made to "disappear" (no marytrs here, move along!), to him changing his appearance and living in another state under an assumed name, hidden by "friendlies".

Does the bounty ($1 milliion) still exist?

[The Duke]

Agent Swecker: "We're not patrolling the area any more, however we are paying an old man named 'D.B. Cooper' to keep an eye open for Rudolph."

[Catspaw]

Yup, the reward is still $1 million.

 

MALICIOUSLY DAMAGED, BY MEANS OF AN EXPLOSIVE DEVICE, BUILDINGS AND PROPERTY AFFECTING INTERSTATE COMMERCE WHICH RESULTED IN DEATH AND INJURY

 

ERIC ROBERT RUDOLPH

 

Date of photograph unknown

Date of photograph unknown

Date of Sketch July 1998

 

 

Aliases:

Bob Randolph, Robert Randolph, Bob Rudolph, Eric Rudolph and Eric R. Rudolph.

 

DESCRIPTION

 

Date of Birth:	September 19, 1966	Hair:	Brown
Place of Birth:	Merritt Island, Florida	Eyes:	Blue
Height:	5'11"	Complexion:	Fair
Weight:	165 to 180 pounds	Sex:	Male
Build:	Medium	Race:	White
Occupation(s):	Carpenter, roofer and handyman	Nationality:	American
Scars and Marks:	He has a noticeable scar on his chin.
Remarks:	None

 

CAUTION

 

ERIC ROBERT RUDOLPH IS CHARGED IN CONNECTION WITH THE BOMBING OF A HEALTH CLINIC IN BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA, IN WHICH A POLICE OFFICER WAS KILLED AND A NURSE CRITICALLY WOUNDED. HE IS ALSO CHARGED IN CONNECTION WITH THE FATAL BOMBINGS AT CENTENNIAL OLYMPIC PARK IN DOWNTOWN ATLANTA, GEORGIA, THE DOUBLE BOMBINGS AT THE SANDY SPRINGS PROFESSIONAL OFFICE BUILDING NORTH OF ATLANTA, AND THE DOUBLE BOMBINGS AT THE OTHERSIDE LOUNGE IN MIDTOWN ATLANTA. THESE BOMB BLASTS INJURED MORE THAN 150 PEOPLE. RUDOLPH IS KNOWN TO OWN FIREARMS AND TO HAVE TARGETED LAW ENFORCEMENT.

CONSIDERED ARMED AND EXTREMELY DANGEROUS.

 

IF YOU HAVE ANY INFORMATION CONCERNING THIS PERSON, PLEASE CONTACT YOUR LOCAL FBI OFFICE OR THE NEAREST U.S. EMBASSY OR CONSULATE.

 

REWARD

 

The FBI is offering a $1,000,000 reward for information leading directly to the arrest of Eric Robert Rudolph.

May 1998
Poster Revised April 2000

 

[Fred Mertz]

"The book on him is that if somebody's hiding him, it's probably a woman. He's had several girlfriends over the years," Swecker said.

I doubt it. Many women can't keep their yaps shut.

The last substantial article I read about Rudolph, the FBI claimed he was probably dead in the woods.

My theory is that he's sitting on some beach in Latin America sipping on a cool beverage.

What evidence is there that he was involved in the Atlanta Olympics bombing?

[night reader]

Swecker continues to hope Rudolph will be caught and brought to justice.
==============================
They ought'a offer him amnesty and send him out to look for Osama. Sounds like the boy knows the techniques of hiding out!

[thinden]

My theory is that he's sitting on some beach in Latin America sipping on a cool beverage.

prolly just a few beach chairs down from saddam, OBL, and timmy mc.

[The Magical Mischief Tour]

E.R.R. is gone.
If I had to guess I’d say he slipped the FBI dragnet very early on, maybe even before the feds got the whole NC search thingy underway and fled to Canada. From there if he was smart he’d make his way to Europe, specifically France where he could be shielded from extradition over the inevitable death penalty flap that would occur upon his capture.
TMMT

[zeugma]

What evidence is there that he was involved in the Atlanta Olympics bombing?

Don't you know? They've recycled all the 'evidence' the had against Richard Jewell, by using industrial-strength white-out to change the name on the documents!

The FBI (Fabulously Bungling Incompentents) got a major black eye over the Atlanta bombing. They have to pin it on someone. I'd not trust a thing they say about it.

[aristeides]

Considering the timing and M.O. of the Olympic Park bombing (nail bomb in backpack,) I strongly sustpect Middle Eastern terrorism. It was government policy under Clinton to blame ME terrorism on domestic terrorists.

[aristeides]

Or he may be dead, and the FBI may know it. If you want to blame something on a scapegoat, what better scapegoat than someone you know is dead?

[Stew Padasso]

"What evidence is there that he was involved in the Atlanta Olympics bombing?"

I think it was something about matching up the bomb materials found to some dealers/pipe manufacturers in the Andrews area???

[ThanhPhero]

What evidence is there that he was involved in the Atlanta Olympics bombing?

FBI assertion.For the moment Rudolph is the designated perp to show that the FBI is not completely incompetent completely after wasting time and resources trying to frame Jewell.

[Trailerpark Badass]

"You could be 5 feet away from him in those rhododendron thickets and you wouldn't see him. He'd see you, but you wouldn't see him," Swecker said.

One-way rhododendrons?

But, Swecker says 18 hunters and trappers who live in the area are still being paid to look for clues.

Yeah, I bet they're busting their asses. Only the FBI would be so brainless to pay someone "to look for clues."

[ThanhPhero]

Completely. yes.

[Renfield]

About a year after the FBI manhunt for Rudolph ended, a friend of mine was backpacking in a remote area of the Smokies with a couple of pals. A skinny, wraithlike figure approached them and asked directions to some nearby trail. They gave him directions and parted. Back home sometime later, my friend saw a picture of Eric Rudolph on TV, and is now certain that the fellow he met on the trail was an underfed Rudolph.

[Vigilantcitizen]

"Considering the timing and M.O. of the Olympic Park bombing (nail bomb in backpack,) I strongly sustpect Middle Eastern terrorism. It was government policy under Clinton to blame ME terrorism on domestic terrorists."

There are some here in Atlanta that share your opinion.

[aristeides]

FBI assertion.For the moment Rudolph is the designated perp to show that the FBI is not completely incompetent completely after wasting time and resources trying to frame Jewell.

Did somebody say "Steve Hatfill"?

[Fred Mertz]

ERIC ROBERT RUDOLPH IS CHARGED IN CONNECTION WITH THE BOMBING OF A HEALTH CLINIC IN BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA, IN WHICH A POLICE OFFICER WAS KILLED AND A NURSE CRITICALLY WOUNDED. HE IS ALSO CHARGED IN CONNECTION WITH THE FATAL BOMBINGS AT CENTENNIAL OLYMPIC PARK IN DOWNTOWN ATLANTA, GEORGIA, THE DOUBLE BOMBINGS AT THE SANDY SPRINGS PROFESSIONAL OFFICE BUILDING NORTH OF ATLANTA, AND THE DOUBLE BOMBINGS AT THE OTHERSIDE LOUNGE IN MIDTOWN ATLANTA. THESE BOMB BLASTS INJURED MORE THAN 150 PEOPLE. RUDOLPH IS KNOWN TO OWN FIREARMS AND TO HAVE TARGETED LAW ENFORCEMENT.

Wow, the FBI solved lots of its bombing cases by pinning them on a 'dead' man.

They use the plural form of bombing in the Olympic Park incident. I thought it was a solo bomb. Is my memory correct?