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Past few years of Olympic bomber tracked by US FBI

Suspected Olympic park bomber Eric Rudolph remained under heavy guard in jail on Sunday as federal agents in camouflage headed into the surrounding woods once again, this time hoping to figure out how he eluded them for five years.

Dozens of law enforcement vehicles on Sunday lined US Highway 74 across from Murphy High School, a short distance from the grocery store where Rudolph was caught early Saturday when a rookie police officer spotted him scrounging for food.

Activity centered on a trail leading from the highway into the woods, where investigators were believed to be examining a campsite Rudolph had occupied.

"We're following logical leads as to where he might have been," said Chris Swecker, special agent in charge of the FBI in North Carolina.

He declined to say what Rudolph may have told authorities after his arrest.

In normally quiet downtown Murphy, streets leading to the jail were blocked off Sunday. Government snipers surveyed the scene from atop buildings, while residents took snapshots and home movies of the activity.

Security has long been a concern among investigators in the case. Three men were sentenced to federal prison for firing into the command post coordinating the hunt for Rudolph. No one was injured when a bullet pierced a wall and brushed past the head of an FBI agent.

Rudolph, a 36-year-old former soldier and survivalist, is scheduled to appear in federal court Monday morning in Asheville.

He faces six federal counts of using an explosive against a facility in interstate commerce. The charges stem from the explosion in Atlanta's Olympic Centennial Park during the 1996 summer Olympics; a 1998 bombing at an abortion clinic in Birmingham, Alabama; and 1997 bombings in Atlanta outside a gay nightclub and an office building that housed an abortion clinic.

In all, two people were killed and about 150 were injured. Rudolph could face the death penalty if convicted.

At Monday's hearing, federal prosecutors are expected to say whether they want Rudolph moved to Birmingham or Atlanta -- a decision that was to be made by US Attorney General John Ashcroft's office.

Doug Jones, who was the top federal prosecutor in north Alabama during the height of the Rudolph manhunt, said he feels strongly that Rudolph should be tried first in Birmingham.

Rudolph, who had been working as a carpenter and handyman in North Carolina, first came to investigators' attention when a truck registered in his name was spotted leaving the scene of the Alabama explosion. It was also the first bombing with which he was charged.
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