Has there ever been more leads in this case? All I remember is that the FBI all but convicted this fat guy, Richard Jewel, who was a security guard at the scene when it happened in 1996.
They ripped apart his house, and the media destroyed his reputation, until the FBI dropped the charges. Jewel then cashed in suing everyone and his brother for falsely accusing him of being the Olypic Bomber.
Then the case kind of was swept under the carpet. Has anyone heard of any other leads?
Or . . and I want to be careful, so I dont get sued as well. . . did the FBI “botch” the investigation, and let “the prime suspect” go because the case would not hold up in court due to some techincality?
The FBI bungled up bigtime on this investigation. Essentially what happened was that someone decided that Richard Jewell fit a “profile” of being the type of person who would fake a crime to call attention to himself. The FBI then focused its investigation on Jewell but was unable to find any corroborating evidence that implicated him. So they publically named him as a suspect hoping that this would shake loose some new evidence. Instead what happened was Jewell was completely innocent (which even the FBI now admits) and evidence now indicates that Eric Rudolph is the main suspect. Jewell has joined a local police department. Rudolph is still a fugitive. The FBI is presumedly not dwelling on their handling of this case.
In case you guys didn’t already know this (I’m sure you did, but we must be complete here), Eric Rudolph is also the suspect in a series of related crimes throughout the South.
A bomb exploding in/near a gay nightclub in Atlanta(?).
A couple of abortion clinic bombings in the South; I know of at least one in North Carolina. There may have been more.
Rudolph is suspected of hiding in the mountains in Southwestern North Carolina. However, I’d be willing to bet that he’s in a condo in Barbados by now, pointing at his TV and laughing hysterically at the FBI.
Rudolph is the primary suspect for the bombing of the Othersyde Lounge and an abortion clinic in Atlanta and an abortion clinic in Alabama as well as the Olympic Park bombing.
“Drink your coffee! Remember, there are people sleeping in China.”
Call me cynical, but it seems almost too serendipitous to pin the Atlanta bombing on Rudolph. They did not come up with that theory until after he was long gone, and it was a really good way to close an old case that was seriously embarssing the FBI. Rudolph certainly could of done it, but it seems to me that any number of other madmen here in the Deep South could have done it as well. As for Rudolph, I think he is probably dead. Out in the woods, hungry and scared and alone, it is awful easy to slip and break a leg, and if he died out there it could be decades before the remains were found, if ever.
Well from what I have heard, and I am sure the FBI could have told it so it would make sense.
But, evidence was found that almost definitely link Eric to the Birmingham, AL bombing. They found his truck with bomb residue and components that matched the Birmingham bombing. Then from this they were also able to link the Atlanta abortion clinic bombing, the Other side lounge bombing and the Olympic park bombing.
I guess the bombs were very similar and the components and all were very similar. So they had nothing to link the other bombings to Eric, until they found his truck after the AL bombing.
They are also saying that they believe he is dead in a cave somewhere in the NC mountains.
If he strikes again they will likely get him, if he does not he will go free, if he is still alive.
Eric Rudolph was supposed to have been an expert hunter and woodsman. He probably slipped past the FBI, called a buddy or relative, and is now in the Midwest or Pacific Northwest, keeping as low a profile as possable.
“I had a feeling that in Hell there would be mushrooms.” -The Secret of Monkey Island