Posted on 06/04/2002 6:34:56 AM PDT by GailA
Threats linked to ambush of Smith Letter writer focus of investigation
By Yolanda Jones yojones@gomemphis.com June 4, 2002
Investigators believe the anonymous author of threatening letters about Dr. O. C. Smith last year is the same culprit who ambushed the medical examiner this weekend.
Smith was attacked outside his office about 10 Saturday night by a man who threw a chemical substance in his face and then wrapped him in barbed wire and strapped a home-made bomb to his chest.
"There is a good chance that the man who wrote these letters is the bomber," ATF agent Jim Cavanaugh said during a Monday afternoon press conference.
"This person is someone in this area who has strong religious beliefs, and we are asking for the public's help to find him because he is dangerous. The explosives make him a danger in the community, and he has escalated his attack from the letters to a personal level toward Dr. Smith."
Smith, 49, was subdued as he left work at the Shelby County Regional Forensic Center. The man then bound Smith from head to toe in barbed wire.
The medical examiner suffered minor cuts and bruises to hands, fingers and mouth.
Smith was immobile for nearly three hours until he was found by a security guard in the outside stairwell of the forensic medical center at 1060 Madison.
The attacker is described as a white man, 20-30 years old, 5-8 to 6-feet-tall, and pale complexioned; he was wearing neutral clothing. He has numerous cuts to his arm and fingers from the barbed wire.
Authorities said he attacked the medical examiner because Smith was a prosecution witness in the long-running case of convicted Memphis cop killer Philip Workman.
Smith said ballistics and laboratory tests proved Workman's bullet killed Memphis police Lt. Ronald Oliver in 1981.
Workman's attorney had challenged the validity of Smith's tests.
And so did the anonymous letter writer.
In one letter sent to Dist. Atty. Gen. Bill Gibbons, the writer called Smith a liar and said, "He (Smith) is BEARING FALSE WITNESS with his lies deceit and untruths in an effort to MURDER PHILLIP (sic) R. WORKMAN. . . . He must be returned to HELL for no PURGATORY can cleanse a soulless DEMON inhabiting a body made by THE EVIL ONE."
The letters weren't sent directly to Smith but to Lawrence Buser, a reporter for The Commercial Appeal; Gibbons; and an unnamed private citizen.
They were received last year on April 3 and 4.
Soon after the letters, state and local authorities launched an investigation that has been ongoing for 14 months.
When a bomb and two smaller explosive devices were left on the doorstep of Smith's office in March, officials said they connected the threatening Workman letter writer with this incident. They did not elaborate on how the link was made.
And when Smith was attacked, it pointed them right back to the letter writer.
"We think the perpetrator is intelligent and is a pretty good writer," Cavanaugh said.
"We have the three letters he sent," Cavanaugh added, but authorities don't think the letter writer has said all he wants to say.
Cavanaugh said in addition to protecting Smith, they have also alerted others working on the Workman case.
"Caution dictates that we alert everyone in this case," he said. "We can't predict the writer's behavior and we think he has a lot more to say."
So far, the letters have centered around the Workman case and the death penalty and are peppered with religious doctrine.
"STEEL in the hand of the KING of KINGS," is how each letter ends.
Authorities had said Smith would attend the press conference at the Criminal Justice Center. However, at the last minute, they decided not to let him appear.
He was in the building, dressed in his signature hospital scrubs tucked in his combat boots and sporting a white lab coat, but authorities advised against his speaking to the media.
"We did this because he is a victim of a crime and this is an ongoing investigation," Cavanaugh said.
He said a 13-agency task force made up of local, state and federal agencies has been formed to find Smith's assailant.
The agencies include: Memphis Police, the Shelby County Sheriff's Department, ATF, FBI, the U.S. Postal Inspector's Office, TBI and the Germantown police.
Asked if the suspect lived in Germantown and if that is why its agency was involved, Cavanaugh said, "We had leads that went that way."
Germantown police said a prosecutor who worked on the Workman case lives in the Germantown area and they were sent to check his home.
"We are working diligently on our case and are appealing to all citizens, even the suspect, to come forward," Cavanaugh said.
Authorities are asking anyone with information to call Crime Stoppers at 528-CASH or the ATF at (888) ATF-BOMB.
- Yolanda Jones: 529-2380
TEXT OF THREATENING LETTERS
June 4, 2002
Authorities believe three letters threatening Shelby County Medical Examiner Dr. O. C. Smith were written by the man who attacked Smith outside his office Saturday night.
The letters from an anonymous author were mailed to Lawrence Buser, a reporter for The Commercial Appeal; Dist. Atty. Gen. Bill Gibbons and an unidentified private citizen in April 2001. (Misspellings are left intact.)
"Long have I waited for my HOLY ORDER to fight against the DOCTOR-KILLER abortionists but now I know OUR LORD was saving me for something larger.
"Through your help I understand better the "Little General'' commands a host of DEMONS doing the work of SATAN in CESAR's WORLD.
"GOD BLESS YOU A THOUSAND TIMES.
"John 15:13
"STEEL in the hand of the KING OF KINGS"
To the prirvate citizen on April 3, 2001: "BLESSED Mr. . . . "Your words today came to me through the Mike Fleming show as the VOICE of the slain LAMB OF GOD. Truly you have been sent as HIS MESSENGER to me his TOOL in the HAND OF CLEANSING.
"Your armored breast thrust through the many arrows of lies deceit and conspiracy has brought you beyond the turmoil and into the battle's respite to utter the WORD OF GOD into mine ears.
"Long have I awaited the SACRAMENT OF HOLY ORDERS to fight against the DOCTOR-KILLER abortionists but now the path is clear before my eyes. A greater task you have given me to destroy the LIAR who would bear false witness and the DOCTOR-KILLER who would murder the INNOCENT child of the HOLY FAMILY, PHILLIP R. WORKMAN. The EVIL ONE is in the body of O. C. SMITH soulless PAWN OF THE DEVIL, guilty of TWO MORTAL SINS. SATAN was given DOMINION over the WORLD, but now that CESAR'S WORLD is the underworld the ONE TRUE CHURCH must ACT.
"These two MORTAL SINS will condemn him into HELL forever. No ACT OF CONTRITION can turn him, no penance can REDEEM his DAMANATION. But his EVIL actions on EARTH must END.
"DOCTOR-KILLERS killing the INNOCENT and UNBORN offend GOD and the CHRISTIANS of the ONE TRUE CHURCH. God is calling upon US TO ACT and DESTROY the EVIL DOERS, pawns of SATAN with souls lost and SPAWNED in HELL. He cannot have the DEMONS cast from him. Only by DEATH is GOD's WORLD RECLAIMED.
"I will not fail, by YOUR FAITH am I led. Let your HOLY MISSION proceed shortly unopposed, for the greater GLORY OF JESUS CHRIST AND HIS CHURCH.
"John 15:13
"STEEL in the hand of the KING OF KINGS"
To Gibbons on April 4, 2001: "Long have I sought to do OUR LORD'S WORK here on earth in CESAR'S WORLD . . . . . ONE TRUE CHURCH and a MESSANGER OF GOD on Friday speaking to me through the Mike Fleming show. He told of the LIAR, O. C. SMITH, a DOCTOR-KILLER committing two MORTAL SINS. HE is BEARING FALSE WITNESS with his lies deceit and untruths in an effort to MURDER PHILLIP R. WORKMAN. Long have I waited for my HOLY ORDER to fight against the DOCTOR-KILLER abortionists but now I know OUR LORD WAS saving me for something greater. "Do not use this beyond redemption SPAWN OF SATAN. He must be returned to HELL for no PURGATORY can cleanse a soulless DEMON inhabiting a body made by THE EVIL ONE. My HOLY ORDERS are clear, my preparations are complete. My aim is TRUE and SURE, my strokes are POWERFUL and QUICK, my heart is RESOLVED and my SALVATION is assured through the HOLINESS of my GOOD WORKS.
"Your case pivots about his LIES, abandon him to THE LORD'S VENGENCE, he will not have time to be of use to you." John 15:13
"STEEL in the hand of the KING OF KINGS"
Wow, a pale white man. Whodda thunk?
Red herring IMHO.
Why am I reminded of Dr. Evil here?
Lawrence of Arabia Memphis??
He probably did, and the writer thought it was irrelevant information.
Ditto "one true Church."
I wonder if there's some connection between Smith and abortion? If this letter-writer is the perp, and he's bonkers, you might assume he just changed horses in mid-stream, for no apparent reason other than the perceived "death of an innocent."
Still, even in the deranged mind, you would think there would be a connection...unless Workman, the convicted cop-killer, was an anti-abortion militant, or related in some other way to the letter writer.
(I don't know where you go to church, but purgatory figures large in an assortment of denominations, not to mention the Catholic church.)
After hearing a broadcast about the Workman case controversy and internalized it into his "call" to action.
Not so much because he's religious, but because he's nuts.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.