00:00:00
[Music]
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up next
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an explosion rips through an illinois
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church
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the town was terrified evidence was
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everywhere
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we found evidence on top of buildings
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the debris field was huge
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two teenagers implicate one another
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dungeons and dragons
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looks like the cause i thought that was
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an incredibly stupid thing to do
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but a thin blue wire tells a different
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story
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[Music]
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oakwood illinois is a quiet small town
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of less than a thousand residents and
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little if any violent crime
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at the oakwood methodist church as
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volunteers prepared for their christmas
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celebration
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church member brian plower walked
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outside
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where something caught his attention
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[Music]
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some of us thought that maybe a vehicle
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had driven into the church
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we got there right after the first
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responders did and
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their first reaction was that it was a
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gas explosion
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46 year old brian plower was killed
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instantly
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he left behind a wife and three children
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very charismatic gregarious uh
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brian never met anybody he didn't like
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bill adams's daughter walked out
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just moments before the explosion
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it is by pure chance that it could have
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been my daughter you know
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i've often thought that brian
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took what could have happened to my
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daughter
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agents from the bureau of alcohol
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tobacco firearms and explosives
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were called in to investigate we found
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metal fragmentation we found pieces of
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pipe nipple we picked up any pieces of
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wire we found
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batteries we did find some nine volt
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batteries we picked up
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everything this clearly eliminated a gas
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line explosion these were the
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ingredients
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of a pipe bomb a homemade device in
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which
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gunpowder is packed into a steel pipe
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closed with metal end caps
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in this case fragments of red painted
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end caps were found in the rubble
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along with 30 gauge blue insulated
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silver
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coated copper wire this was not very
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common wire it could be
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a particular signature of the bomber a
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signature is something
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unusual or unique left by the bomber
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often without knowing it we actually
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found a piece of green plastic that had
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a
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label on it that said igloo
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legend 12 which is a cooler
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this meant the pipe bomb was inside the
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cooler
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activated with the trip wire
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investigators did not believe that the
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victim
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was the intended target it was
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very apparent to us that this was very
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random there was nothing in mr plower's
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background to indicate
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him being the target of a crime
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after some digging investigators learned
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two important pieces of information
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first the only store within 25 miles
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that
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sold 30 gauge blue insulated silver
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coated copper wire
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was the local radio shack electronics
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store
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since only one merchandiser sold that
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wire
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if they kept records of their
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transactions that that could
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prove helpful in getting a lead and
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there was only
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one store that sold the igloo brand
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legend 12 cooler we found out that
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that color scheme was only sold at
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walmart
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so that narrowed our focus then on where
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that cooler could have been purchased
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then
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investigators got an anonymous tip
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that two students at oakwood high school
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might have been involved
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one of them had a past criminal history
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with one of the offenses being arson one
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of the subjects
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had been seen in possession of a
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notebook that had handwritten on the
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front of it bomb recipes
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the teenagers 18 year old jimmy morris
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and 16 year old phil ryan had no alibis
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for the time of the bombing
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at first they said that they were
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driving past the scene when the
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explosion happened
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then they said that they were there
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within moments and saw brian plower in
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the moments just before the explosion
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from a photo lineup employees at the
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local radio shack store identified
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jimmy morris as having been in their
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store
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but couldn't recall what he purchased
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everything that the investigation showed
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about the teenagers
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indicated that they could be involved in
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this
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investigators also learned that the boys
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were heavily involved in the game
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dungeons and dragons a fantasy-oriented
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game played by more than 20 million
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people
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worldwide it allows participants to
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assume
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imaginary often violent identities
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there had been across the country
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instances where the role playing
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within the game of dungeons and dragons
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had turned violent
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in real life teenagers denied
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involvement in the bombing
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and were given polygraphs the polygraph
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indicated that they
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were giving some deceptive answers
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uh when questioned about bombs
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and bomb making eventually
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they each implicated the other
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both subjects stated that they saw the
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other subject
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in possession of a green cooler it
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looked like
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investigators had solved the case
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until there was another bombing just
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five
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miles away
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[Music]
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the first assembly of god church in
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danville
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illinois was located five miles away
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from the location of the first
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bombing
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[Music]
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the blast injured 33 people most of them
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teenagers
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injured in the church bombing may never
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recover emotionally
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this second bombing was more powerful
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than the first
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when we first arrived on the scene we
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were in shock
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there was a hole in the west wall that
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was big enough to drive a truck through
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it was unbelievable
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the explosion happened next to the pews
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where a church youth group was sitting
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33 people were injured
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they had shrapnel that had been embedded
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in their face
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some in their ears this was
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just an explosion of such a powerful
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magnitude that
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debris rained down on them which is
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something that you don't see every day
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involved two churches you don't see a
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lot of crime against churches
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the atf looked everywhere for pieces of
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the explosive device
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we found evidence on top of buildings
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everywhere it was just the debris field
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was huge
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eventually atf investigators found
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more than 20 different bomb components
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which enabled them to build a replica
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this one was triggered with a timer and
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was clearly larger
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and more powerful than the first
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there were a lot of differences there
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which leaves you with two alternatives
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either is experimenting graduating up to
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bigger and better things the other
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alternative is
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it was two separate people that made
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these devices
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to find out forensic examiners looked at
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the wire from the second bomb site
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was this the same signature wire used
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in the first bond it was a
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silver coated single strand copper wire
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with blue insulation it's 30 gauge
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it's very very small wire but was it
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the same wire atf examiner greg cleese
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examined the extrusion marks made
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on the plastic insulation as it squeezed
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through the die
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during the manufacturing process this
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process makes the wire
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its uniform size those marks will be
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imported
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on the on that plastic insulation for a
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number of feet before it changes
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dramatically
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lined up on a comparison microscope
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there was no doubt
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the wire from both bomb sites came
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from the same source in fact that these
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were produced
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on the same forming die at the same
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plant they also discovered
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both bombs used the same glue
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and the same cotton string
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[Music]
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since both bombs appeared to be made by
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the same individual
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this eliminated jimmy morris and phil
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ryan they both had
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solid alibis for the second bombing
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but why did these boys implicate
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themselves in the first place they
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offered an explanation
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that they were doing this because they
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were playing this dungeons and dragons
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game
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they really spent a lot of time wasting
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the time of investigators
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i thought that was an incredibly stupid
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thing to do
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then a witness came forward saying she'd
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seen
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a white male walking a german shepherd
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dog
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near the church parking lot a few hours
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before the first bombing
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she remembered the dog had a brown
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leather collar with a brass name tag on
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it but
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she couldn't provide a description of
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the man
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was this the break investigators needed
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after two high school students were
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eliminated as suspects
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the atf continued to search for leads
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they suspected that the blue copper wire
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was purchased at the local radio shack
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store
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unfortunately most customers who bought
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this wire
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paid cash so this was a dead end
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the pipe had been inside a plastic
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cooler
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sold only in walmart stores of the
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hundreds sold
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only three were purchased with a credit
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card or check
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those individuals were interviewed and
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cleared
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it was a dead end we were unable to
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associate that cooler with anyone that
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could be considered a person of interest
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all of the other bomb
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components were common and could have
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been purchased
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anywhere but investigators needed to
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find the bomber before he could strike
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again
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since his devices were getting more
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sophisticated
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we did feel that this was an escalation
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it was a bigger device it happened when
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more people were present
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then a tipster came forward a member of
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the church
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where the second bombing took place the
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member of the church come up
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said i don't know if this means much but
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there was this gentleman by the name of
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mr white
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that i know and that he had actually
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attended this church approximately five
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to six years prior
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and it seeked actually getting into the
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church as a member
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and had been turned down forty-year-old
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richard white
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lived just 12 miles away from the church
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with his mother and his teenage daughter
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we also start interviewing everyone that
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knows mr white
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friends family everyone
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we were told by a lot of the neighbors
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that richard dean white was somebody
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that you didn't want to mess with
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a background check revealed a troubled
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past
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white was a high school dropout and
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spent time in the u.s
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army but was discharged after only six
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weeks
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later he spent time in four different
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psychiatric hospitals where he was
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diagnosed
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as a paranoid schizophrenic i believe
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that he was completely confused
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at one time he felt that there was
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demons underneath the floor in the
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bathroom
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and he cut the bathroom floor out to get
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the demons out of there
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eventually white got married and landed
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a job with general motors
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his marriage ended after just six months
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and he was laid off from his job in
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1987.
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he had such a hard time becoming
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involved back in the community he lost
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his job
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he wasn't able to retain friends or any
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relationships and really was forced to
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move back home with his mother
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white's psychiatric problems may have
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been the reason why
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the danville church rejected his
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application for membership
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there has to be an agreement between the
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board and
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because of some of the things that
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happened that was contributed to him
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we didn't think that that would be quite
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what we wanted at that particular time
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investigators also learned that rick's
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ex-wife was a member of the oakwood
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united methodist
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church where the first bombing took
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place
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i felt like that that was what he was
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trying to strike out against her and get
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even with her
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at the time that that happened that was
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purely speculation on my part i have no
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idea
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then four days after the second church
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bombing
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before investigators could interview
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rick white
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there was another bombing this time in a
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residential neighborhood
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several miles away bomb number three
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what are we gonna do now
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[Music]
00:14:50
after two bombings and five months of
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investigation
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the atf finally had a potential suspect
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in rick white a background check
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revealed
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white had a history of psychiatric
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problems
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i don't know that he had problems making
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friends i just don't think rick wanted
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friends
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his dog was his friend and so that
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satisfied rick
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[Music]
00:15:17
so investigators decided to pay white
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a visit
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they asked rick white's mother
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investigators found the garage behind
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the white's home
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in ruins i could see steam
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smoke when the explosion went off and
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actually pushed the walls out like
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actually see into the building itself
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and there was one victim inside the
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building along with a
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dog a large dog the victim had been
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decapitated a driver's license found on
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the workbench
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identified him as richard white
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we did not know if we had a victim or a
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suspect
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but that question was answered as
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investigators
00:16:22
sifted through the rubble there were
00:16:24
parts of bombs
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in there in the process of being made
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and tools wiring
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all kinds of things that you could use
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to make pipe bombs
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circumstantial evidence would indicate
00:16:38
that he
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intended to kill himself to avoid having
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to
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talk to the police
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next to white's body was his german
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shepherd dog
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it matched the description of the dog
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given by the witness near
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the first bomb site he was obviously
00:17:00
clutching the bomb
00:17:02
close to his body and
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he had his one friend in the world there
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with him his other arm around his dog
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also in the garage investigators found
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blue silver coated wire
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the kind used in the two church bombings
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they also found a pair of wire cutters
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scientists compared the tool marks from
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white's wire cutters
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to the tool marks on the copper wire
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found
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at the danville bomb site
00:17:40
from that comparison i was able to
00:17:42
conclude
00:17:43
that this diagonal cutter that they've
00:17:44
recovered in richard white's garage
00:17:47
was in fact the dial cutter that cut
00:17:49
that wire end that was found on the
00:17:50
dandel device
00:17:52
this was forensic proof that
00:17:55
white was the bomber we found an area of
00:17:59
the garage
00:18:00
that had red spray paint on it and
00:18:03
contained on that red spray paint were
00:18:05
perfectly round circles the reason that
00:18:08
was
00:18:08
important was the device
00:18:11
that killed mr plower which was a pipe
00:18:14
bomb with end caps on it
00:18:15
those end caps were painted red
00:18:18
with a gold coating
00:18:22
but questions remained why
00:18:26
did rick white target churches
00:18:30
investigators believe white was angry at
00:18:33
the first assembly of god church for
00:18:35
turning down his membership application
00:18:39
but he couldn't bomb that church at
00:18:41
least
00:18:42
not right away it would have been too
00:18:44
obvious
00:18:45
so he chose the oakwood united methodist
00:18:48
church
00:18:49
as his first target possibly because
00:18:52
his ex-wife was a member he was
00:18:55
experimenting
00:18:56
he was trying to get different things to
00:19:00
work different
00:19:00
initiators for the device different
00:19:03
triggering systems
00:19:05
the forensic evidence shows that white
00:19:07
placed the pipe bomb
00:19:09
in a green cooler not caring who
00:19:12
would pick it up church member brian
00:19:16
plower was simply
00:19:17
in the wrong place at the wrong time
00:19:23
[Music]
00:19:31
in the first assembly of god church
00:19:32
bombing white used
00:19:34
a stronger bomb since this was his
00:19:38
primary target
00:19:41
he placed the bomb on top of an outdoor
00:19:44
air conditioner
00:19:45
this one had a timer designed to explode
00:19:49
during the sunday service
00:19:54
33 people were injured
00:19:58
we were in absolute shock just like the
00:20:01
people in the community that no one had
00:20:03
been killed
00:20:05
in october of 1998 a grand jury
00:20:09
concluded
00:20:10
richard white built both bombs
00:20:13
and murdered brian plower
00:20:17
the forensic evidence left no doubt
00:20:21
these investigations did not result in
00:20:24
the prosecution
00:20:25
it was closure for the victim's family
00:20:29
richard white did this we know that he
00:20:31
did it it doesn't
00:20:34
really you know answer those questions
00:20:36
why it doesn't
00:20:38
uh make the hurt
00:20:41
less you know there's still pain there's
00:20:44
still
00:20:45
you know anger there's still hurt
00:20:49
and and loss and grief that continues
00:20:52
and continues and continues
00:20:55
with the bombing the misconception is
00:20:59
the blast destroys the evidence the
00:21:02
blast
00:21:03
disperses the evidence where
00:21:06
it makes it harder for us to find it but
00:21:09
we'll find it
