Feds to blow up Rudolph's pickup truck
Government doesn't want it bought by admirers
The Associated Press
Published on: 09/14/05
BIRMINGHAM ? The government has seized Eric Rudolph's gray pickup truck, which he was driving when he bombed an Alabama abortion clinic, and plans to blow up the vehicle in a training drill rather than risk letting it fall into the hands of admirers.
Some of Rudolph's victims said Wednesday the truck should come to them, however, as partial compensation for the pain and injuries they endured.
Kennesaw police trainee dies after accidental shooting Suspect in carjacking a molester
Fake evacuee leaves donor feeling burned
Mega Millions jackpot grows to $250 million
Former cheerleading coach gets 15 years
The truck ? a 1989 Nissan with the North Carolina license plate KND-1117 ? likely will be loaded with explosives and detonated by either the FBI or the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, said Jim Cavanaugh, regional director of ATF.
Both agencies routinely blow up vehicles in classes to teach officers about explosives and bomb reconstruction.
"They were like, 'That may be better than having it show up as some kind of morbid trophy on the Internet,'" Cavanaugh said in an interview. "You've got to think of the victims. That would be bad for them."
But nurse Emily Lyons, who was badly wounded in the clinic bombing, believes the truck should go to Rudolph's victims, who are unlikely to get any other compensation, according to her husband, Jeff Lyons.
In 2003, a state court judge awarded the couple $115 million in a lawsuit against Rudolph, who was declared indigent in federal court and hasn't paid anything.
"We had the judgment before they did the seizure," Jeff Lyons said Wednesday.
FBI spokesman Jeff Fuqua said talks were still under way about which agency would get to destroy the vehicle, which two witnesses spotted in Birmingham after the clinic bombing. The bombing killed a police officer aside from critically injuring Lyons.
A witness recorded the truck's license plate number shortly after the bombing and reported it to police, who used the information to identify Rudolph as a suspect in the Alabama explosion. He was later tied to the 1996 Olympic park bombing and two other bombings in Atlanta in 1997.
The truck has been in temporary federal custody since 1998, when two hunters found it in woods in western North Carolina after Rudolph disappeared into the wilderness. He was finally captured in May 2003.
Rudolph pleaded guilty in four bombings, which he said were linked to his hatred of abortion and a desire to embarrass the federal government.
With Rudolph now in federal prison serving four life terms, a federal judge in Birmingham last month approved the government's request to permanently seize the truck, which had been held as evidence for Rudolph's trial.
"It was done partly out of concern that it would show up on eBay," said Assistant U.S. Attorney James Ingram, referring to the Internet auction site. "Somebody would plunk down some money for it."
Similar trucks have a retail value of about $1,700, according to Kelley Blue Book, a pricing guide for used vehicles.
.............................................................
This just seems nuts to me. You blow up the truck of a person who was blowing up things
and got away for a long time.
Where is their heads. ?
Government doesn't want it bought by admirers
The Associated Press
Published on: 09/14/05
BIRMINGHAM ? The government has seized Eric Rudolph's gray pickup truck, which he was driving when he bombed an Alabama abortion clinic, and plans to blow up the vehicle in a training drill rather than risk letting it fall into the hands of admirers.
Some of Rudolph's victims said Wednesday the truck should come to them, however, as partial compensation for the pain and injuries they endured.
Kennesaw police trainee dies after accidental shooting Suspect in carjacking a molester
Fake evacuee leaves donor feeling burned
Mega Millions jackpot grows to $250 million
Former cheerleading coach gets 15 years
The truck ? a 1989 Nissan with the North Carolina license plate KND-1117 ? likely will be loaded with explosives and detonated by either the FBI or the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, said Jim Cavanaugh, regional director of ATF.
Both agencies routinely blow up vehicles in classes to teach officers about explosives and bomb reconstruction.
"They were like, 'That may be better than having it show up as some kind of morbid trophy on the Internet,'" Cavanaugh said in an interview. "You've got to think of the victims. That would be bad for them."
But nurse Emily Lyons, who was badly wounded in the clinic bombing, believes the truck should go to Rudolph's victims, who are unlikely to get any other compensation, according to her husband, Jeff Lyons.
In 2003, a state court judge awarded the couple $115 million in a lawsuit against Rudolph, who was declared indigent in federal court and hasn't paid anything.
"We had the judgment before they did the seizure," Jeff Lyons said Wednesday.
FBI spokesman Jeff Fuqua said talks were still under way about which agency would get to destroy the vehicle, which two witnesses spotted in Birmingham after the clinic bombing. The bombing killed a police officer aside from critically injuring Lyons.
A witness recorded the truck's license plate number shortly after the bombing and reported it to police, who used the information to identify Rudolph as a suspect in the Alabama explosion. He was later tied to the 1996 Olympic park bombing and two other bombings in Atlanta in 1997.
The truck has been in temporary federal custody since 1998, when two hunters found it in woods in western North Carolina after Rudolph disappeared into the wilderness. He was finally captured in May 2003.
Rudolph pleaded guilty in four bombings, which he said were linked to his hatred of abortion and a desire to embarrass the federal government.
With Rudolph now in federal prison serving four life terms, a federal judge in Birmingham last month approved the government's request to permanently seize the truck, which had been held as evidence for Rudolph's trial.
"It was done partly out of concern that it would show up on eBay," said Assistant U.S. Attorney James Ingram, referring to the Internet auction site. "Somebody would plunk down some money for it."
Similar trucks have a retail value of about $1,700, according to Kelley Blue Book, a pricing guide for used vehicles.
.............................................................
This just seems nuts to me. You blow up the truck of a person who was blowing up things
and got away for a long time.
Where is their heads. ?
