Suspect's dad tipped off FBI
Posted on 05/09/2002 4:47:13 AM PDT by MeekOneGOP
Suspect's dad tipped off FBI
In letter, student warned 'mailboxes are exploding'
05/09/2002
RENO, Nev. - The FBI zeroed in on 21-year-old Luke John Helder as the suspect in the string of pipe-bomb attacks after his father called police about a disturbing letter in which his son warned, "Mailboxes are exploding," authorities said Wednesday.
Mr. Helder was captured Tuesday in Nevada after holding a shotgun to his head during a car chase and telling a friend by telephone, "I might have to blow myself away," authorities said.
AP Suspected pipe bomber Luke Helder is escorted by law enforcement official. |
The FBI used the signal from his cellphone and a tip from a motorist who spotted his Honda Accord to pinpoint his location about 1,400 miles from his home in Pine Island, Minn.
During his odyssey halfway across the country, Mr. Helder was stopped by police and released three times over the weekend for traffic violations. But that was before his father called police and an all-points-bulletin for Mr. Helder was issued on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, the FBI said, Mr. Helder confessed to making 24 pipe bombs out of tape, paper clips and Christmas bulbs and placing 18 in mailboxes in five states, along with anti-government notes. Mr. Helder had the six other bombs when he was arrested, authorities said. The 6-inch bombs were packed with smokeless gunpowder and BBs or nails, and were wrapped in black electrical tape, authorities said.
Six bombs , exploded, injuring six people in Iowa and Illinois. The FBI said the final 10 bombs found in Nebraska, Colorado and Texas were not rigged to detonate.
Mr. Helder faces federal charges in at least three Midwestern states. At a brief hearing in Reno on Wednesday, he was ordered held without bail for transfer to Iowa. He could be sent to prison for life if convicted.
His public defender, Vito de la Cruz, did not immediately return calls.
The FBI issued an alert for Mr. Helder after his father, Cameron Helder, called police late Monday night about letters from his son that included references to death, anti-government comments and the phrase "Mailboxes are exploding." The same phrase was in the notes found with the bombs.
Before Mr. Helder's arrest, criminal profiling experts had speculated that an older man was responsible. But the improbable suspect proved to be a guitar player in a punk band called Apathy and a junior studying art and industrial design at the University of Wisconsin-Stout in Menomonie. Until this week, his criminal record showed only a marijuana possession charge last October.
His possible involvement in the case stunned people in his hometown and his college town.
"For heaven's sake, he's not a terrorist," said Rachel Stanton, whose son played in Mr. Helder's band. "Nobody saw this coming."
Citing his writings and statements from friends, however, the FBI said that Mr. Helder had become obsessed recently with death and the afterlife.
The FBI said Mr. Helder admitted making the first of his eight bombs in his apartment after buying some of the raw materials in mid-April. He made 16 more bombs at a motel near Omaha, Neb., the FBI said.
Cameron Helder told the FBI his son had called his best friend while he was on the run and spoke of dying if "this" doesn't work, according to the FBI. "I might have to blow myself away," he was quoted as saying.
Mr. Helder's father also told authorities that his son's roommate told him Monday that he had found possible bomb-making materials under Mr. Helder's bed.
Mr. Helder's family has not commented publicly since his arrest, and a sheriff's deputy was posted at their property to prevent reporters from asking questions. "It's finally set in that it was, unfortunately, their son," said the Rev. Dennis Kampa, the Helders' longtime priest. "They're thankful no one was killed. They're very grateful nothing worse happened."
Early Wednesday, a handcuffed Mr. Helder was led into the Washoe County Jail by federal agents. Mr. Helder answered "no" when asked by a reporter if he had anything to say.
Mr. Helder was charged in Iowa and Illinois with using a pipe bomb in a crime of violence and destroying property used in interstate commerce. He was charged in Nebraska with interstate transportation of explosives.
Washoe County Sheriff Dennis Balaam said he arranged for Mr. Helder to talk with his parents by telephone Wednesday morning. He said Mr. Helder was put on suicide watch overnight.
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MAILBOX BOMBS TEXT FROM THE LETTER THAT ACCOMPANIED THE DEVICES: Mailboxes are exploding! Why, you ask? Attention people. I'm here to help you realize/understand that you will live no matter what! It is up to you people to open your hearts and minds. There is no such thing as death. The people I've dismissed from this reality are not at all dead. Conforming to the boundaries, and restrictions imposed by the government only reduces the substance in your lives. When 1 percent of the nation The United States strives to provide freedom for their people. Do we really have personal Freedom? I've lived here for many years, and I see much limitation. Does the definition of freedom include limitation? I've learned about the history of various civilizations in history, and I see more and more limitation. Do you people enjoy this trend of limitation? If not, As long as you are uninformed about death you will continue to say "how high", when the government tells you to "jump". As long as the government is uninformed about death they will continue tell you to "jump." Is the government uninformed about death, or are they pretending? Sincerely, PS. More info. will be delivered to various locations around the country. |
So...what kept him from executing the plan?
Why is he still alive?
Now I feel better... knowing this.
And the point about freedom is lost, I suppose...
Did you read that letter? The kid is nuts! The lawyer
might as well just tell them to throw him UNDER the jail!
Excerpt from his letter:
I'm here to help you realize/understand that you will live no matter what! It is up to you people to open your hearts and minds. There is no such thing as death. The people I've dismissed from this reality are not at all dead. Conforming to the boundaries, and restrictions imposed by the government only reduces the substance in your lives. When 1 percent of the nation controls 99 percent of the nations [sic] total wealth, is it a wonder why there are control problems?..............He's a TinFoiler!As long as you are uninformed about death you will continue to say "how high", when the government tells you to "jump". As long as the government is uninformed about death they will continue tell you to "jump." Is the government uninformed about death, or are they pretending?
The only thing ol' Vito can do for him is make sure he gets a fair trial or work out a deal to send him to jail for a very long time and save us the expense of a long, drawn-out court process when we already know he's guilty.
I mentioned on another thread that I have a relative who flipped out in college in a similar fashion (although all he did was drive aimlessly around town--he didn't commit any crimes). He was starting to weird out a few weeks before he actually flipped out, but it still came as a complete surprise to everyone, including his psychiatrist father. He ended up hearing voices coming out of the radio, and he went on and on about God and death and evil, very similar to the way this Luke kid writes.
LOL! Don't we all? I meant he heard voices coming out of the radio speaking directly to him, when the radio wasn't on.
That's an understandmenty of the silly and completely wrong profiles that come out!
If he used in any of the letters he sent out (I understand there is a 7 page diatribe he sent to a college newspaper,) the phrase "government hugger" we'll know immediately whose former FR leadership he's been following, won't we?!
Profiling using a representative sample of one: Ted Kaczynski. That's why they're called "experts", doncha know?
You mean those voices coming out of the radio are all in our heads? What about the voices coming out of our ovens? You won't believe this, but I once heard voices coming out of my kitchen stove which somehow was picking up radio waves. (Or else one of my kids was baking his Walkman!)
Come again?
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