13x27 - Holy Terror

[bunniefuu]

Up next, an
expl*si*n rips through an

Illinois church.

The town was terrified.

Evidence was everywhere.

We found evidence on top of
buildings.

The debris field was huge.

Two teenagers
implicate one another.

"Dungeons & dragons" looks like
the cause.

I thought that was an
incredibly stupid thing to do.

But a thin blue
wire tells a different story.

Oakwood, Illinois, is a quiet,
small town of less than a

thousand residents and little,
if any, violent crime.

At the oakwood methodist church,
as volunteers prepared for their

Christmas celebration, church
member Brian plawer walked

outside, where something caught
his attention.

Some of us thought that maybe
a vehicle had driven into the

church.

We got there right after the
first responders did, and their

first reaction was that it was a
gas expl*si*n.


Brian plawer was k*lled

instantly.

He left behind a wife and three
children.

Very charismatic, gregarious.

Brian never met anybody he
didn't like.

Bill Adams'
daughter walked out just moments

before the expl*si*n.

It is by pure chance that it
could have been my daughter, you

know?

I've often thought that Brian
took what could have happened to

my daughter.

Agents from the
bureau of alcohol, tobacco,

firearms, and expl*sives were
called in to investigate.

We found metal fragmentation.

We found pieces of pipe nipple.

We picked up any pieces of wire
we found, batteries.

We did find some 9-volt
batteries.

We picked up everything.

This clearly
eliminated a gas-line expl*si*n.

These were the ingredients of a
pipe b*mb, a homemade device in

which gunpowder is packed into a
steel pipe, closed with metal

end caps.

In this case, fragments of red
painted end caps were found in

the rubble, along with 30-Gauge
blue insulated silver-coated

copper wire.

This was not very common wire.

It could be a particular
signature of the bomber.

A signature is
something unusual or unique left

by the bomber, often without
knowing it.

We actually found a piece of
green plastic that had a label

on it that said
"igloo legend 12," which is a

cooler.

This meant the pipe
b*mb was inside the cooler,

activated with a trip wire.

Investigators did not believe
that the victim was the intended

target.

It was very apparent to us
that this was very random.

There was nothing in
Mr. plawer's background to

indicate him being the target of
a crime.

After some digging,
investigators learn two

important pieces of information.

First, the only store within


insulated silver-coated copper
wire was the local radioshack

electronics store.

Since only one merchandiser
sold that wire, if they kept

records of their transactions,
that that could prove helpful in

getting a lead.

And there was only
one store that sold the

igloo-brand legend 12 cooler.

We found out that that color
scheme was only sold at

Wal-Mart, so that narrowed our
focus, then, on where that

cooler could have been
purchased.

Then, investigators
got an anonymous tip that two

students at oakwood high school
might have been involved.

One of them had a past
criminal history, with one of

the offenses being arson.

One of the subjects had been
seen in possession of a notebook

that had, handwritten on the
front of it, "b*mb recipes."

The teenagers...


alibis for the time of the

bombing.

At first, they said that they
were driving past the scene when

the expl*si*n happened.

Then they said that they were
there within moments and saw

Brian plawer in the moments just
before the expl*si*n.

From a photo
lineup, employees at the local

radioshack store identified
Jimmy Morris as having been in

their store but couldn't recall
what he purchased.

Everything that the
investigation showed about the

teenagers indicated that they
could be involved in this.

Investigators also
learned that the boys were

heavily involved in the game
"dungeons & dragons," a

fantasy-oriented game played by
more than 20 million people

worldwide.

It allows participants to assume
imaginary, often violent

identities.

There had been, across the
country, instances where the

role-playing within the game of
"dungeons & dragons" had turned

violent in real life.

Both teenagers
denied involvement in the

bombing and were given
polygraphs.

The polygraph indicated that
they were giving some deceptive

answers when questioned about
bombs and b*mb-making.

Eventually, they
each implicated the other.

Both subjects stated that
they saw the other subject in

possession of a green cooler.

It looked like
investigators had solved the

case...

Until there was another bombing
just 5 miles away.

Of god church in danville,
Illinois, was located 5 miles

away from the location of the
first bombing.

The blast injured 33 people...

most of them teenagers.

The youths injured in the
church bombing may never

recover emotionally.

This second bombing
was more powerful than the

first.

When we first arrived on the
scene, we were in shock.

There was a hole in the west
wall that was big enough to

drive a truck through.

It was unbelievable.

The expl*si*n
happened next to the pews where

a church youth group was
sitting.



They had shrapnel that had
been imbedded in their face,

some in their ears.

This was just an expl*si*n of
such a powerful magnitude that

debris rained down on them.

Just something that you don't
see every day involved two

churches.

You don't see a lot of crime
against churches.

The A*F looked
everywhere for pieces of the

expl*sive device.

We found evidence on top of
buildings.

Everywhere.

There was just...
The debris field was huge.

Eventually, A*F
investigators found more than 20

different b*mb components, which
enable them to build a replica.

This one was triggered with a
timer and was clearly larger and

more powerful than the first.

There were a lot of
differences there, which leaves

you with two alternatives...
Either he's experimenting,

graduating up to bigger and
better things.

The other alternative is that it
was two separate people that

made these devices.

To find out,
forensic examiners looked at the

wire from the second b*mb site.

Was this the same signature wire
used in the first b*mb?

It was a silver-coated,
single-strand copper wire with

blue insulation.



But was it the same wire?

A*F examiner Greg klees examined
the extrusion marks made on the

plastic insulation as it
squeezed through the die during

the manufacturing process.

This process makes the wire its
uniform size.

Those marks will be imparted
on that plastic insulation for a

number of feet before it changes
dramatically.

Lined up on a
comparison microscope, there was

no doubt.

The wire from both b*mb sites
came from the same source.

In fact, these were produced
on the same forming die at the

same plant.

They also
discovered both bombs used the

same glue and the same cotton
string.

Since both bombs appeared to be
made by the same individual,

this eliminated Jimmy Morris and
Phil Ryan.

They both had solid alibis for
the second bombing.

But why did these boys implicate
themselves in the first place?

They offered an explanation
that they were doing this

because they were playing this
"dungeons & dragons" game.

They really spent a lot of
time wasting the time of

investigators.

I thought that was an
incredibly stupid thing to do.

Then a witness came
forward, saying she'd seen a

white male walking a
German Shepherd dog near the

church parking lot a few hours
before the first bombing.

She remembered the dog had a
brown leather collar with a

brass name tag on it, but she
couldn't provide a description

of the man.

Was this the break investigators
needed?

After two
high-school students were

eliminated as suspects, the A*F
continued to search for leads.

They suspected that the blue
copper wire was purchased at the

local radioshack store.

Unfortunately, most customers
who bought this wire paid cash,

so this was a dead end.

The pipe had been inside a
plastic cooler sold only in

Wal-Mart stores.

Of the hundreds sold, only three
were purchased with a credit

card or check.

Those individuals were
interviewed and cleared.

It was a dead end.

We were unable to associate that
cooler with anyone that could be

considered a person of interest.

All of the other
b*mb components were common and

could have been purchased
anywhere.

But investigators needed to find
the bomber before he could

strike again since his devices
were getting more sophisticated.

We did feel that this was an
escalation.

It was a bigger device.

It happened when more people
were present.

Then, a tipster
came forward, a member of the

church where the second bombing
took place.

The member of the church come
up, said, "I don't know if this

means much, but there was this
gentleman by the name of

Mr. white that I know and that
he had actually attended this

church approximately five to six
years prior and had seeked

actually getting into the church
as a member and had been turned

down."


Richard white lived just


with his mother and his teenage

daughter.

We also start interviewing
everyone that knows Mr. white...

Friends, family, everyone.

We were told by a lot of the
neighbors that

Richard Dean white was somebody
that you didn't want to mess

with.

A background check
revealed a troubled past.

White was a high-school dropout
and spent time in the U.S. army

but was discharged after only
six weeks.

Later, he spent time in four
different psychiatric hospitals,

where he was diagnosed as a
paranoid schizophrenic.

I believe that he was
completely confused.

At one time, he felt that there
was demons underneath the floor

in the bathroom, and he cut the
bathroom floor out to get the

demons out of there.

Eventually, white
got married and landed a job

with general motors.

His marriage ended after just
six months, and he was laid off

from his job in 1987.

He had such a hard time
becoming involved back in the

community.

He lost his job, he wasn't able
to retain friends or any

relationships and really was
forced to move back home with

his mother.

White's psychiatric
problems may have been the

reason why the danville church
rejected his application for

membership.

There has to be an agreement
between the board, and because

of some of the things that
happened that was contributed to

him, we didn't think that that
would be quite what we wanted at

that particular time.

Investigators also
learned that Rick's ex-wife was

a member of the
oakwood united methodist church

where the first bombing took
place.

I felt like that that was
what he was trying to strike out

against her or get even with
her at the time that that

happened.

That was purely speculation on
my part.

I have no idea.

Then, four days
after the second church bombing,

before investigators could
interview Rick white, there was

another bombing, this time in a
residential neighborhood several

miles away.

"b*mb number three...
What are we gonna do now?"

After two bombings
and five months of

investigation, the A*F finally
had a potential suspect in

Rick white.

A background check revealed
white had a history of

psychiatric problems.

I don't know that he had
problems making friends.

I just don't think Rick wanted
friends.

His dog was his friend, and so
that satisfied Rick.

So investigators
decided to pay white a visit.

Uh...

Tell them I'll be in the garage.

Okay.

They asked
Rick white's mother if they

could speak to him.

Is Richard home?

We need to speak with him.

What's this all about?

Conducting an investigation.

Investigators found

the garage behind the whites'
home in ruins.

I could see steam, smoke.

When the expl*si*n went off, it
actually pushed the walls out.

Like, I could actually see into
the building itself.

And there was one victim inside
the building, along with a

dog... a large dog.

The victim had been decapitated.

A driver's license found on the
workbench identified him as

Richard white.

We did not know if we had a
victim or a suspect.

But that question
was answered as investigators

sifted through the rubble.

There were parts of bombs in
there, in the process of being

made, and tools, wiring, all
kinds of things that you could

use to make pipe bombs.

Circumstantial evidence would
indicate that he intended to

k*ll himself to avoid having to
talk to the police.

Next to white's
body was his German Shepherd

dog.

It matched the description of
the dog given by the witness

near the first b*mb site.

He was obviously clutching
the b*mb close to his body, and

he had his one friend in the
world there with him... his

other arm around his dog.

Also in the garage,
investigators found blue

silver-coated wire... the kind
used in the two church bombings.

They also found a pair of wire
cutters.

Scientists compared the
toolmarks from white's wire

cutters to the toolmarks on the
copper wire found at the

danville b*mb site.

From that comparison, I was
able to conclude that this

diagonal cutter that they had
recovered in Richard white's

garage was, in fact, the
diagonal cutter that cut that

wire end that was found on the
danville device.

This was forensic
proof that white was the bomber.

We found an area of the
garage that had red spray paint

on it.

And contained on that red spray
paint were perfectly round

circles.

The reason that was important
was, the device that k*lled

Mr. plawer, which was a pipe
b*mb with end caps on it, those

end caps were painted red with a
gold coating.

But questions remained.

Why did Rick white target
churches?

Investigators believe white was
angry at the

first assembly of god church for
turning down his membership

application.

But he couldn't b*mb that
church... at least, not right

away.

It would have been too obvious.

So he chose the
oakwood united methodist church

as his first target, possibly
because his ex-wife was a

member.

He was experimenting.

He was trying to get different
things to work... different

initiators for the device,
different triggering systems.

The forensic
evidence shows that white placed

the pipe b*mb in a green cooler,
not caring who would pick it up.

Church member Brian plawer was
simply in the wrong place at the

wrong time.

In the first assembly of god
church bombing, white used a

stronger b*mb, since this was
his primary target.

He placed the b*mb on top of an
outdoor air conditioner.

This one had a timer designed to
explode during the Sunday

service.



Were in absolute shock, just
like the people in the

community, that no one had been
k*lled.

In October of 1998,
a grand jury concluded

Richard white built both bombs
and m*rder*d Brian plawer.

The forensic evidence left no
doubt.

These investigations did not
result in the prosecution.

It was closure for the victim's
family.

Richard white did this.

We know that he did it.

It doesn't really, you know,
answer those questions why.

It doesn't, uh, make the hurt
less.

You know, there's still pain.

There's still, you know, anger.

There's still hurt and... and
loss and grief that continues

and continues and continues.

With a bombing, the
misconception is, the blast

destroys the evidence.

The blast disperses the
evidence, where it makes it

harder for us to find it.

But we'll find it.