Posted on 06/07/2003 4:30:33 AM PDT by Vigilantcitizen
The Birmingham News story has a few more details:
06/07/03VAL WALTON
News staff writer
Traces of an explosive believed used to bomb the Southside abortion clinic were found in Eric Robert Rudolph's pickup truck and his rented North Carolina mobile home, according to court documents filed in Birmingham's federal court.
The documents an affidavit compiled by the FBI and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms give more details of evidence that authorities contend links Rudolph to the Jan. 29, 1998, bombing that killed off-duty Police Officer Robert "Sande" Sanderson and critically injured nurse Emily Lyons.
Investigators have said the Birmingham bomb used dynamite, which contains nitroglycerin. The affidavit detailed evidence found at the blast site, including either intact or fragmented nails, batteries, wires, a possible clockwork mechanism, green plastic and electrical wire fragments.
The documents said ethylene glycol dinitrate (EGDN) the primary explosive ingredient in nitroglycerin-based dynamite was found on a towel taped to the doorway bottom in Rudolph's master bedroom, on a turquoise and black baseball hat found on a dresser in that bedroom and on a cushion from a rocking chair in the room. They were found during a Feb. 4, 1998, search of Rudolph's home.
The filings also said EGDN was found on his truck's steering wheel cover and a brown paper Bi-Lo shopping bag in the truck bed.
"The finding of EGDN on items in a vehicle or residence demonstrates primary or secondary contact with dynamite," the affidavit said. "Specifically, either dynamite was present at that location or dynamite residue was transferred to those locations via contact with someone or something contaminated by dynamite."
The affidavit was used to obtain a complaint and arrest warrant for Rudolph, who became a material witness then a suspect in the bombing. Police arrested Rudolph last Saturday in Murphy, N.C., after a five-year manhunt.
The U.S. Marshals Service transferred Rudolph to Birmingham, where he is being held in the Jefferson County jail. He is accused of detonating the bomb that exploded outside the New Woman All Women Health Care Clinic at 7:30 a.m.
Inadmissable in court:
Rudolph has pleaded not guilty to the two-count indictment charging him in the crime. His attorney, Richard Jaffe, has said that Rudolph is the subject of speculation and innuendo, should be presumed innocent and be judged in court. The U.S. attorney has said she will request the death penalty.
Jaffe said Friday he had received the documents, but had not had the chance to study them.
"It appears to be affidavits, which are by nature hearsay and inadmissible in court, " Jaffe said.
Rudolph also is charged with setting off the bomb that killed a woman and injured more than 100 people in the 1996 Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta. He also is charged in a pair of 1997 bombings of an Atlanta gay nightclub and an office building.
On Friday, unsealed documents in Atlanta were released at the petition of The Associated Press that show at least 15 witnesses have said the person who called 911 warning of the impending bombing at the Olympics sounded like Rudolph, and his handwriting and punctuation pattern are very similar to four letters taking credit for other blasts.
Also, the documents say, the FBI lab determined that five shell casings found in a storage locker belonging to Rudolph contained powder chemically consistent with the debris from the Olympic bomb.
A Rudolph sibling told authorities that, shortly after the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, Rudolph speculated that the Olympics would be a prime target for a future terrorist attack because the whole world would be watching. "Rudolph said something to the effect of `Yeah, something like the Olympics,'" FBI special agent Tracey A. North wrote in the previously sealed search warrant affidavit.
Witnesses followed:
The Birmingham affidavit gives a detailed description of how authorities tracked Rudolph through a description of a gray Nissan truck registered to him seen by witnesses near the bombed clinic.
The affidavit also details how a witness who heard the explosion looked out a window in the clinic's direction and saw a white male walking away.
The affidavit said the witness's attention was drawn to the man because, unlike everyone else, he was walking away from the blast area. The man had shoulder-length brown hair, wore a thigh-length coat, dark trousers and a black, fitted baseball hat and carried a black knapsack that appeared to be empty.
That witness got in his vehicle and followed the man, and saw him again, now wearing sunglasses but not a jacket or baseball cap. He was carrying a full large blue shopping-type bag. The affidavit also details how a separate witness saw a man wearing a black baseball cap and sunglasses on a day that was not sunny. Both witnesses followed the pickup truck.
Six days later, authorities searched Rudolph's mobile home. The affidavit said no visible explosives were found, but an explosive detection dog indicated the presence of explosives at a red tool box, the hat, the cushion, sunglasses, some items of clothing and a towel.
Rudolph's truck was found abandoned Feb. 7, 1998, in a heavily wooded area outside Murphy, N.C. Agents found numerous items, including a Bi-Lo grocery bag and a Jan. 30, 1998, Bi-Lo receipt. Rudolph's fingerprint also was detected on the receipt, the affidavit showed
Seems to me it would take a large package of dynamite to produce damage that far away from the blast site. The glass used on those pavillions is not ordinary glass.
Plus, I have heard dynamite detonate, and that bomb sounded a lot more powerful than that, even on TV. Compare the Olympic park detonation with the one they caught on camera at the abortion clinic in Atlanta, when the perp set a second device to go off minutes after the first in order to kill responders. It's a lot more powerful detonation. (I'll try to find clips).
IMHO..Due to the bad run the feds suffered in the early nineties, I'm sure they were eager to make quick work of the bombing, especially since it was the world stage of the olympics.
The reporting on this story by CNN's Art Harris has been pretty straightforward. For them, it's a local story.
If this is true and can be proven, it's pretty damning in itself. Seems pretty dumb to use exactly the same materials for every device, especially materials that are easily substituted.
I agree.
Rudolph will be no different. He's toast.
I can only hope and pray that you are right.
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