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[music playing ] NARRATOR: Bombings are
often difficult to solve since the perpetrator
usually has left the scene,--
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[explosion] --and the evidence
goes up in smoke. But there are clues,
if investigators
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know what to look for. In this case, a tiny
piece of plastic, the size of a grain
of sand, would
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hold the key to a man's murder. [theme music] At one time, the Bethlehem
Steel mill in Sparrows Point,
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Maryland was the world's
largest steel-making plant. More than 30,000
employees produced
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an incredible 15 tons
of steel per minute. 45-year-old Nathan
Allen worked at the mill
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to support his five
growing children, who ranged in age
from seven to 16. DANIEL P. BOEH: Nathan
Allen was well-liked.
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He was a hardworking man. He worked. And when he wasn't
working, he was taking care of his children.
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NATHAN ALLEN JR.He was
dedicated to raising us kids, taking care of five
kids with a job.
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And that's all he did was
work and take care of us. NARRATOR: Around 11:00
PM on May 10, 1979,
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Nathan Allen and a friend
had just finished work and were heading home. When Nathan got into his
truck and started it,
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there was an explosion. [explosion] Nathan was blown
through the windshield. [siren]
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JUDGE LYNNE A. BATTAGLIA:
He didn't die right away. He lived for a period of time
in what the doctors called
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was excruciating pain. They couldn't even
describe it to us. -Maybe we were hoping it was
a mistake, but it wasn't.
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And we were just devastated. We didn't know what
we were going to do. It was really rough.
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NARRATOR: Nathan Allen died. But miraculously, the
passenger, Robert Riffey, was not badly hurt.
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DANIEL P. BOEH: Robert Riffey
received minor injuries, hearing loss, and some
other minor injuries,
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but he survived. NARRATOR: When
questioned, Riffey was able to provide some
important information.
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He said the explosion
didn't happen until after Nathan
started the truck. [explosion]
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At first, investigators
suspected that a gasoline leak might have caused the
explosion, but that
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was eliminated fairly quickly. DANIEL P. BOEH: We could see
that the crater was actually
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blown in towards the gas tank,
not out from the gas tank. So we knew that
the gas tank didn't
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have anything to do
with the explosion. NARRATOR: Investigators
performed a grid search,
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examining every inch
of the parking lot, and found a key
piece of evidence. RAYMOND J. KOZLOWSKI JR.:
In one of the squares,
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I located what was the end cap,
a small, plastic, rubber-type material that is the end cap
to an electric blasting cap.
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NARRATOR: A blasting
cap is a device used to detonate explosives. DANIEL P. BOEH: That
find is quite unique.
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Usually, you do not find
the end of the blasting cap because it is-- it's
inserted into the explosives
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and usually is
completely destroyed. NARRATOR: And they
also found small pieces of blue and yellow
plastic-coated wire.
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RAYMOND J. KOZLOWSKI
JR.: And those are the colors and
the type that are used in the electric
blasting caps used
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in the initiation for
commercial-type explosives or even military-type explosive.
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NARRATOR: The detonation wires
were attached to the truck's electrical system, specifically
the secondary lights,
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meaning the bomb exploded when
the driver hit the brake lights or used the turn signal.
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[explosion] JERRY RUDDEN: When the first thing
that you need to be able to do, at least
in the first 72 hours,
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is you need to be able to
identify the type of device that was used, how
it was initiated.
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And what that does is it
establishes a window of time during which the device
may have been placed.
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NARRATOR: Nathan's truck
had been in the parking lot from 3:00 PM until the
explosion around 11:00 p.m.
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This proved that someone
tampered with the truck's wiring while it sat
in the parking lot.
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JERRY RUDDEN: It
became significant. Obviously, he didn't drive
there without using the brakes.
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So it let us know
that the device had to have been connected
in the parking lot.
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-The bomber does not have to
be around and watch his victim. He doesn't-- it's not what
we call a command detonation.
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There's no wire
leading somewhere, and he has a big plunger
to make the thing go off.
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The bomb is a
self-contained unit because it uses the
automobile's own power to set the explosive off.
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So the bomber could
watch if he wants, or he could be 1,000 miles away. It doesn't make any difference.
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NARRATOR: But investigators
had no obvious suspects, which meant that if the bomber
decided to strike again,
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they'd have no way to stop him. Investigators
believed the explosion that killed Nathan Allen
was a commercial explosive,
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the type used by experts. JERRY RUDDEN: The
intricacy of the device would be the understanding
that the bomber needed
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to have of the electrical
wiring system of the vehicle, so as to preclude himself
from being blown up
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when he connected the wires
to the electrical system. It would-- it
would have required
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more than just a
grassroots knowledge. NARRATOR: And they had to
consider whether tensions
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between steel workers
and company management had finally turned deadly. JUDGE LYNNE A.
BATTAGLIA: No one knew
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why anyone wanted
to kill Nate Allen, and so the agents began looking
at possible reasons why.
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One was Nate Allen
had been involved in some union activity. RAYMOND J. KOZLOWSKI JR.: The
first things we kick around
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on almost any of the cases
were, was it somebody they knew? Was it somebody
they worked with?
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Who did they have
an argument with? Or, you know, who would want to
do something like this to him,
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you know? NARRATOR: But according to
co-workers, Nathan Allen and his passenger,
Robert Riffey,
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were both popular and
friendly with fellow workers and management. JERRY RUDDEN: It didn't
appear that any of them
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had any obvious enemies. Nothing jumped out
and said, here I am. NARRATOR: The bomb had
been placed directly
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under the driver's seat, which
indicated that the truck's owner, Nathan Allen,
was the intended victim.
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Police asked Allen's
family if anyone in Nathan's personal life
may have wanted to harm him.
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Nathan's estranged wife was in
a psychiatric hospital hundreds of miles away when
the bombing occurred
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and was not
considered a suspect. NATHAN ALLEN JR.: My parents
were separated and divorced.
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And we all wanted to
live with our father, so we did, because my mom
was always kind of sick
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and if she didn't
take her medicine, she wasn't doing real well. NARRATOR: Nathan's aunt,
Sandra Sue McFillin,
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took care of Nathan's
children while he was at work. She and her husband
Pete insisted
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he had no known enemies. JERRY RUDDEN: Inspector
Clouseau had a saying, we suspect everyone,
we suspect no one.
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Basically, you need to come
in-- into an investigation like this with no
predisposition.
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If you come in with
a predisposition, you have a tendency
to follow avenues that-- that may not
be the right avenues.
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NARRATOR: Investigators knew
that someone had armed the bomb while Nathan's car
was parked at work.
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Unfortunately, the parking lot
was open to anyone, not just employees, and there was
no video surveillance.
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With no suspects and
no apparent motive, investigators hoped
debris at the bomb site
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would help identify the killer. DANIEL P. BOEH: One way
of solving a bombing, and I believe it's the best
way, is trace the evidence.
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Find something that's
unique and trace it back to the actual bomb scene or
trace it back to the suspect.
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NARRATOR: There were
thousands of pieces of potential evidence
in the bomb debris.
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Foam padding and other
materials from the truck needed to be separated
from potential evidence,
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and for that investigators
used a black light. RONALD PEIMER: There was
material that was standing out
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pretty strongly, and I
was able to recover them. They, they, they
clearly were not
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pieces of fabric
or other material. NARRATOR: Peimer saw
thousands of granules, each
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the size of a
grain of sand, that looked as if they
were made of plastic. Under a microscope, each one
had six layers, each layer
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a different color, white, blue,
white, purple, yellow, and red. -[laughs].
I was absolutely stunned.
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When I found them, I
didn't believe it at first. I went away. I got some coffee.
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I came back, and I
looked at them again. NARRATOR: And then,
he remembered. RONALD PEIMER: Once
I looked at them,
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there was nothing else
it could possibly be. NARRATOR: It was
a discovery that would make scientific history.
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Investigators found thousands
of multi-colored plastic fragments, each the
size of a grain of sand,
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in the bomb debris that
killed Nathan Allen. At first they were baffled. But then, they remembered.
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These fragments were taggants. They were put into explosives
as an experiment by the ATF
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as an aid to investigators. RAYMOND J. KOZLOWSKI JR.:
It was a microscopic chip that they place inside of a--
the explosives themselves.
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They're microscopic, but
they are color-coded. NARRATOR: At the time, only
1% of all explosives had them.
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RONALD PEIMER: In addition
to having the colors, the chips also had
a fluorescent layer
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on one side and a magnetic
layer on the other. NARRATOR: Peimer called the ATF,
gave them the color sequence.
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And he was given the
corresponding date/shift code. -It's like finding the
explosives unexploded
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and finding the date/shift
code on the explosive and being able to
trace them out.
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And once you can do that,
you go through the records and see who bought it, or who
stored it, or who stole it,
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or whatever it happens to be. NARRATOR: The
order of the colors indicated the code
was 8DEO2A146.
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These meant that the explosives
were made by the DuPont Company and were a brand
called Tovex 220.
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The code number also identified
the plant, the date, the time it was manufactured,
and the lot number.
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In other words, investigators
could trace the explosive from the plant to the
store which sold it.
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This lot of explosives was sent
to a dealer in West Virginia, which sold them
out of his garage.
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The dealer provided a
list of every customer who had purchased Tovex 220
explosives from this lot.
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RONALD PEIMER: Back then,
essentially what you needed was a driver's license
or some form of identification
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to fill-- to be able to fill
out the ATF explosive form. Today, it's a lot different.
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NARRATOR: There were
15 people on the list, and investigators
recognized one of them.
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It was Pete McFillin,
Nathan Allen's uncle, whose wife babysat
for Nathan's children.
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JERRY RUDDEN: The taggants
were the first really big break with the date/shift code.
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Subsequently, seeing the
McFillin name attached to the purchase of-- to the
purchase of the explosives
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was absolutely significant. It was jubilation. It was like scoring a
touchdown and spiking
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the ball in the end zone. NARRATOR: Family members
couldn't believe it. NATHAN ALLEN JR.: My
dad and my Uncle Pete,
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they grew up together, and they
were close their whole lives. They were more like brothers,
probably, than anything.
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-Sometimes he called
himself "Pete, the bad man." So he wanted to be a tough guy.
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I don't know how tough he was. NARRATOR: When
questioned, McFillin said he'd bought the
explosives to remove some tree
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stumps on a piece
of land he owned. And he said he still
had them in his garage.
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JERRY RUDDEN: Pete McFillin
said, I found my explosives. I have them right here.
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We went. Interestingly enough,
the Tovex that he had was Tovex 210, an entirely
different product.
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NARRATOR: Pete McFillin wasn't
able to produce the Tovex 220, which he'd purchased
in West Virginia.
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And investigators discovered
McFillin was an automobile mechanic, who regularly
serviced Nathan's truck.
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JIM MCFILLIN JR.: My father
was a real good mechanic. He could fix about anything.
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And I was told about a week
before the explosion happened that Nathan was having a
problem with his brake lights,
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and he'd asked my
father to fix them. And my father rewired
the brake lights, or whatever he did
to the vehicle.
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NARRATOR: In a toolbox
in McFillin's car, investigators found some
blue and yellow wires.
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Forensic analysts used
infrared spectrography to analyze the chemical
components of the wires.
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RONALD PEIMER: A beam
of infrared light is passed through the material. The material that
you're testing either
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absorbs or reflects the light. And as it absorbs or
reflects the light, the graph goes up and down,
and this produces a tracing.
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NARRATOR: The results
indicated that the plastic used to make the wires found
in Pete McFillin's toolbox
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was identical to the
plastic in the wires found at the bomb scene. RONALD PEIMER: Another
piece of evidence
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that was found during
the search warrant was a notebook, which contained
the information that showed
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the shifts and the times
that the victim worked. This information was
examined forensically,
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and an association was made
between the handwriting in the notebook and the
handwriting of the suspect.
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NARRATOR: Pete
McFillin was arrested and charged with
his nephew's murder. All investigators needed
now was the motive.
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Investigators, family,
and friends all wanted to know why
Pete McFillin would murder his nephew Nathan Allen.
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Family members provided
a possible explanation. They said that Nathan Allen and
Pete McFillin's wife, Sandra
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Sue, used to date when
they were teenagers. -I imagine, in around
1955, Nathan and Sue
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kind of hit it off, and they
were boyfriend and girlfriend. I don't think there was
any reason for my father
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to be jealous, but
it was probably always that in the
back of his mind that there-- something
could happen.
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NARRATOR: 25 years later,
Nathan was a single father, and Sandra Sue babysat his
children when he was at work.
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JERRY RUDDEN: Pete McFillin felt
that Sandra Sue was spending entirely too much
time with the Allens,
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and particularly
with Nathan Allen. And he felt that she was not
spending enough time with him
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and not fulfilling her
responsibilities as a wife to him, and felt
that Nathan Allen was
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the person responsible for this. -My father would just say, Pete,
come on now, you know better.
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But that would be
the end of that, and they would just leave,
you know, well enough alone
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and go on. -He had a potential to
do something drastic, and I-- I would think, from
his previous experiences
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with my mother, he
was-- I think he was pretty jealous of my mother. And I know he was-- he had
threatened her a lot of times,
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threatened to kill her. JAMES L. MCFILLIN
III: Everybody knew that she did not have
this affair with him.
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The only person that
knew that there was one was my father, Pete McFillin. He had an affair in his own
mind because he was crazy.
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He was just a son of a bitch. That's all there was to it. He was a crazy son of a bitch.
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There was never an affair. NARRATOR: Prosecutors believe
jealousy got the best of Pete
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McFillin, who set out to
kill his nephew Nathan Allen, and he had the skills to do it.
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When Nathan asked his uncle to
fix the lights in his truck, Pete seized the opportunity.
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He made a bomb
using the explosives he'd purchased in West
Virginia and attached it
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to the underside
of Nathan's truck directly beneath
the driver's seat. He mistakenly left some
of the excess wiring
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in his tool chest. [music playing] On the day of the murder, Pete
drove into the Bethlehem Steel
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parking lot and wired
the bomb to the truck's secondary lighting system. [music playing]
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McFillin knew Nathan's schedule,
which was found in his garage, but he had no way of knowing
that Nathan had offered
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his friend, Robert Riffey,
a ride home that night. [music playing] [explosion] Most of the evidence
went up in smoke,
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except for the
microscopic taggants put into the explosives,
which tied Pete McFillin directly
to its purchase.
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Pete McFillin was tried
and convicted of murder and was sentenced
to life in prison.
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JUDGE LYNNE A. BATTAGLIA: Even
though we could prove that Pete McFillin might have a motive
to kill Nate Allen because
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of his jealousy, motive
doesn't take you to guilt. The only thing, I believe, that
took us to guilt in this case
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was the forensic evidence. -Especially the
taggants was-- made the investigation
a lot easier, .
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I don't think we
could have solved it, and-- and I don't believe we
would have got a conviction
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without the taggant
evidence that we had. -In a lot of instances
in explosive cases,
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you can say to yourself, I
know that he's the bomber. But you cannot put
the-- you cannot
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put him forensically
with the bomb. The taggants allowed
us to forensically attach the suspect to the bomb.
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NARRATOR: Pete McFillin was
the only person in the United States to be convicted
with taggant evidence.
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The ATF abandoned its
taggant program in 1979 because of the costs involved
as well as political concerns.
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RONALD PEIMER: The
explosive taggant program should have continued. It provides a lot of
information for investigators.
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It acts as a
deterrent to bombers. There are a lot of
reasons to-- to tag, and the number one reason
is just solve cases.
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NARRATOR: Today, Switzerland
is the only country with a mandatory
taggant program.
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[theme music]