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Finally the FBI has something to show after all the guy been ton the top 10 wanted list
7 years to look for that guy?!
MURPHY, N.C. - Eric Rudolph, the longtime fugitive charged in the 1996 Olympic Park bombing and in attacks at an abortion clinic and a gay nightclub, was arrested early Saturday in the mountains of North Carolina.
Rudolph had been on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list (news - web sites) and had eluded a massive manhunt for five years, much of it in the western North Carolina mountains near where he was caught Saturday.
He was captured when Police Officer Jeffrey Postell spotted a man near a grocery about 4:30 a.m. in the small town of Murphy. Worried that he might try to break into a business, he arrested him.
"I did not have a clue" who he was, Postell said.
Postell took the man to the Cherokee County Sheriff's Department, where he gave a false name and birthdate, Sheriff Keith Lovin said. A deputy who thought he recognized him asked for his name, and he then admitted he was Eric Robert Rudolph, Lovin said.
The FBI (news - web sites), confirmed Rudolph's identity through a fingerprint match, authorities said.
The next step will be a hearing in federal court in Asheville, where authorities will decide whether Rudolph should be taken to Atlanta or Birmingham, Ala., where the bombings occurred. The FBI had offered a $1 million reward for his capture.
"This sends a clear message that we will never cease in our efforts to hunt down all terrorists, foreign or domestic, and stop them from harming the innocent," Attorney General John Ashcroft (news - web sites) said in a statement.
The 36-year-old Army veteran and experienced outdoorsman hadn't been seen since July 1998 after he took supplies from a health store owner in North Carolina.
Authorities believed he had fled into the mountains, and as more time passed with no reported sightings of him, some believed he was dead.
"We always thought he was in the mountains of North Carolina somewhere," said Chris Swecker, the lead FBI agent in the state. "No law enforcement agent ever gave up on finding him."
The small police and sheriff's departments that cover the region continued to look. Early in the search, authorities ran across some camping sites believed to be Rudolph's and found cartons of oatmeal and raisins, jars of peanuts and vitamins, and cans of tuna.
"Quite some time ago, I made the comment if he was in our area, a local officer would be the most likely to stumble across him," Thigpen said. "It's a very appropriate way for him to be captured."
Lovin said Rudolph appeared to have lost quite a bit of weight but still looked very much like his picture on wanted posters. He was wearing blue work pants and shirt, jogging shoes, a camouflage jacket and backpack when he was caught.
He had a flashlight, but no weapon, and didn't resist when he was arrested, Lovin said.
"He was very cooperative, not a bit disrespectful," Postell said.
The 1996 bombing at the crowded Olympic park during the summer Olympics (news - web sites) in Atlanta followed closely on the heels of the Oklahoma City federal building bombing and stunned the world.
The bomb was left hidden in a knapsack in the crowded Centennial Olympic Park on July 27, 1996. When it exploded, it killed one woman and injured 111 other people.
Two years later, Rudolph was charged with that attack and in three others — at a gay nightclub in Atlanta and at an office building north of Atlanta in 1997, and at an abortion clinic in Birmingham in 1998. One police officer was killed.
In all, the bombings killed two people and wounded more than 100 people, according to the FBI.
Jeff Lyons, whose wife, Emily, was critically injured in the women's clinic attack in Birmingham, said they had never given up hope that Rudolph would be caught. Saturday morning, a friend called after hearing the news.
"I turned to Emily, and I said 'What news would be worth being woken up for?'" he said. "This is indeed one of the best days we've had in quite some time."
Emily Lyons said she is looking forward to seeing Rudolph face to face when he goes to trial.
"You don't have to go to the Middle East to find terrorists. Rudolph is one of them. He terrorized and he murdered," Lyons said.
Robert Stadler, whose wife worked at an attorney's office in the Atlanta building that was bombed in 1997, had been inside the building with the couple's baby twins when the bomb exploded. They had made it outside when a second bomb exploded that injured several police officers.
"We had moved on from what happened in 1997," Stadler said Saturday, "but always there was a feeling that Eric Rudolph was somewhere."
Rudolph, a Florida native who moved to western North Carolina in 1981, was believed to adhere to Christian Identity, a white supremacist religion that is anti-gay, anti-Semitic and anti-foreigner. Some of the four bombs he is charged with planting included messages from the shadowy "Army of God."
The search for Rudolph began a day after the Birmingham blast. He was initially sought as a witness: A gray 1989 Nissan pickup truck registered in his name was seen near the clinic following the explosion.
He was tied to the bombings when authorities who searched a storage locker he had rented in Murphy found nails like those used in the clinic attacks.
At its height, the search for Rudolph in the mountainous region in western North Carolina, just over the Tennessee border, included more than 200 federal agents. In 2000, it was scaled back to less than a handful of agents working out of a National Guard Armory just outside Murphy.
Pockets of western North Carolina have had a reputation as a haven for right-wing extremists. Some there mocked the government's inability to find Rudolph with bloodhounds, infrared-equipped helicopters and space-age motion detectors — and some said they would hide him if asked.
The FBI had said it believed Rudolph was somewhere in the Nantahala National Forest, living on his own, breaking into vacant vacation cabins, stealing from local gardens.
7 years to look for that guy?!
MURPHY, N.C. - Eric Rudolph, the longtime fugitive charged in the 1996 Olympic Park bombing and in attacks at an abortion clinic and a gay nightclub, was arrested early Saturday in the mountains of North Carolina.
Rudolph had been on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list (news - web sites) and had eluded a massive manhunt for five years, much of it in the western North Carolina mountains near where he was caught Saturday.
He was captured when Police Officer Jeffrey Postell spotted a man near a grocery about 4:30 a.m. in the small town of Murphy. Worried that he might try to break into a business, he arrested him.
"I did not have a clue" who he was, Postell said.
Postell took the man to the Cherokee County Sheriff's Department, where he gave a false name and birthdate, Sheriff Keith Lovin said. A deputy who thought he recognized him asked for his name, and he then admitted he was Eric Robert Rudolph, Lovin said.
The FBI (news - web sites), confirmed Rudolph's identity through a fingerprint match, authorities said.
The next step will be a hearing in federal court in Asheville, where authorities will decide whether Rudolph should be taken to Atlanta or Birmingham, Ala., where the bombings occurred. The FBI had offered a $1 million reward for his capture.
"This sends a clear message that we will never cease in our efforts to hunt down all terrorists, foreign or domestic, and stop them from harming the innocent," Attorney General John Ashcroft (news - web sites) said in a statement.
The 36-year-old Army veteran and experienced outdoorsman hadn't been seen since July 1998 after he took supplies from a health store owner in North Carolina.
Authorities believed he had fled into the mountains, and as more time passed with no reported sightings of him, some believed he was dead.
"We always thought he was in the mountains of North Carolina somewhere," said Chris Swecker, the lead FBI agent in the state. "No law enforcement agent ever gave up on finding him."
The small police and sheriff's departments that cover the region continued to look. Early in the search, authorities ran across some camping sites believed to be Rudolph's and found cartons of oatmeal and raisins, jars of peanuts and vitamins, and cans of tuna.
"Quite some time ago, I made the comment if he was in our area, a local officer would be the most likely to stumble across him," Thigpen said. "It's a very appropriate way for him to be captured."
Lovin said Rudolph appeared to have lost quite a bit of weight but still looked very much like his picture on wanted posters. He was wearing blue work pants and shirt, jogging shoes, a camouflage jacket and backpack when he was caught.
He had a flashlight, but no weapon, and didn't resist when he was arrested, Lovin said.
"He was very cooperative, not a bit disrespectful," Postell said.
The 1996 bombing at the crowded Olympic park during the summer Olympics (news - web sites) in Atlanta followed closely on the heels of the Oklahoma City federal building bombing and stunned the world.
The bomb was left hidden in a knapsack in the crowded Centennial Olympic Park on July 27, 1996. When it exploded, it killed one woman and injured 111 other people.
Two years later, Rudolph was charged with that attack and in three others — at a gay nightclub in Atlanta and at an office building north of Atlanta in 1997, and at an abortion clinic in Birmingham in 1998. One police officer was killed.
In all, the bombings killed two people and wounded more than 100 people, according to the FBI.
Jeff Lyons, whose wife, Emily, was critically injured in the women's clinic attack in Birmingham, said they had never given up hope that Rudolph would be caught. Saturday morning, a friend called after hearing the news.
"I turned to Emily, and I said 'What news would be worth being woken up for?'" he said. "This is indeed one of the best days we've had in quite some time."
Emily Lyons said she is looking forward to seeing Rudolph face to face when he goes to trial.
"You don't have to go to the Middle East to find terrorists. Rudolph is one of them. He terrorized and he murdered," Lyons said.
Robert Stadler, whose wife worked at an attorney's office in the Atlanta building that was bombed in 1997, had been inside the building with the couple's baby twins when the bomb exploded. They had made it outside when a second bomb exploded that injured several police officers.
"We had moved on from what happened in 1997," Stadler said Saturday, "but always there was a feeling that Eric Rudolph was somewhere."
Rudolph, a Florida native who moved to western North Carolina in 1981, was believed to adhere to Christian Identity, a white supremacist religion that is anti-gay, anti-Semitic and anti-foreigner. Some of the four bombs he is charged with planting included messages from the shadowy "Army of God."
The search for Rudolph began a day after the Birmingham blast. He was initially sought as a witness: A gray 1989 Nissan pickup truck registered in his name was seen near the clinic following the explosion.
He was tied to the bombings when authorities who searched a storage locker he had rented in Murphy found nails like those used in the clinic attacks.
At its height, the search for Rudolph in the mountainous region in western North Carolina, just over the Tennessee border, included more than 200 federal agents. In 2000, it was scaled back to less than a handful of agents working out of a National Guard Armory just outside Murphy.
Pockets of western North Carolina have had a reputation as a haven for right-wing extremists. Some there mocked the government's inability to find Rudolph with bloodhounds, infrared-equipped helicopters and space-age motion detectors — and some said they would hide him if asked.
The FBI had said it believed Rudolph was somewhere in the Nantahala National Forest, living on his own, breaking into vacant vacation cabins, stealing from local gardens.
