Ch. 3: A Bomber in Search of a Target

Summary

American Shrapnel: Ch. 3 – A Bomber in Search of a Target

Release Date: July 30, 2025

Overview

In the third chapter of American Shrapnel, hosted by Alabama Media Group’s John Archibald and Becca Andrews, listeners delve deep into the intricate manhunt for Eric Robert Rudolph—the notorious bomber behind a series of deadly attacks, including the 1996 Olympic Park bombing in Atlanta. This episode, titled "A Bomber in Search of a Target," explores Rudolph’s background, motivations, the extensive investigation to capture him, and the lingering questions surrounding his actions.

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1. Setting the Scene: The Chase Begins

The episode opens by painting a vivid picture of the challenging terrain surrounding Murphy, North Carolina, where Rudolph meticulously planned his winter hideout. John Archibald describes the area:

"We're about 10 miles outside of Murphy, North Carolina, on a winding mountain road along the Fire Creek Wildlife Management Area. The beauty will steal your breath." (01:22)

Here, listeners are introduced to Paul Wolf, an outdoorsman and professor who, along with others, scours the Nantahala Forest searching for traces left by Rudolph.

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2. Eric Rudolph’s Preparations and Disappearance

The narrative details Rudolph’s long-term preparation for evading capture, influenced by past events like Ruby Ridge and the Waco siege. Archibald explains:

"Eric Rudolph had prepared for this for years, really. He began to plan his bombings after Ruby Ridge and Waco." (03:08)

Rudolph had established both winter and summer hideouts, stockpiled supplies, and developed a network of resources to sustain his two-year plan. Despite meticulous planning, a key moment occurs when Rudolph hears a press conference mentioning his name:

"So he went to Burger King and ordered a double Whopper and a large fry. He knew he would need calories. He knew it was time." (05:00)

This pivotal moment marks the beginning of Rudolph’s intensified efforts to evade law enforcement.

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3. The Family and Early Influences

A significant portion of the episode examines Rudolph’s upbringing and the ideological influences that shaped his worldview. Interviews with Deborah Rudolph, Eric’s sister-in-law, provide personal insights:

"He was either going to do something great or he was going to do something that was just going to shock the hell out of everybody just because of the way... his demeanor, just the way that he was." (15:03)

Rudolph’s mother, Patty, and family friend Tom Branham are highlighted as key figures. Branham, described as a radical and Holocaust denier, served as a father figure to Eric, exposing him to extremist ideologies:

"Eric learned to question everything. Well, everything but his own certainty and his own take on the Bible." (09:32)

This section underscores the complex interplay between family dynamics and extremist influences in shaping Rudolph’s path.

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4. Life on the Run: The Manhunt Intensifies

As Rudolph evades capture, the episode details the relentless efforts of federal agents to locate him. Investigators uncover various pieces of evidence linking Rudolph to the bombings, including:

• Mail Order Receipts: Authorities traced purchases of explosive components under false names like "Z. Randolph."

"They ordered Ragnar's Homemade Detonators using that same name that once came." (23:29)

• Physical Evidence: Fibers matching those found on bombs were discovered in Rudolph’s truck, along with nitroglycerin dynamite residue.

Additionally, Rudolph’s interactions with acquaintances like George Nordman reveal moments that nearly led to his capture:

"He killed Nordman's dog because it was bothering him. And then after, George ended up changing the locks on the door because he noticed that something was wrong." (27:55)

Despite these breakthroughs, Rudolph remains elusive, prompting ongoing debates about the possibility of external assistance.

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5. Motivations and Ideological Drive

The hosts and interviewees delve into Rudolph’s motivations, revealing a complex blend of anti-government sentiment, religious fervor, and personal grievances. Becca Andrews reflects on his ideological stance:

"He was really anti US Government even though he had served in the military. I think he blamed the government. So it was as if he was a rebel." (14:02)

Rudolph’s manifesto and personal writings indicate a desire to target specific societal issues, such as abortion and homosexuality, perceived through a warped religious lens:

"He loved his gay brother but hated the people he called sodomites." (14:13)

These motivations underscore the intersection of personal belief systems and extremist actions.

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6. Close Calls and Near Captures

The episode recounts several instances where Rudolph came dangerously close to being apprehended. One notable event involved Rudolph planting a bomb near FBI headquarters in Murphy, a strategic move that ultimately did not result in his capture:

"He observed the agents and personalized them, thinking about what their children would say. He questioned the necessity of furthering his cause through their deaths." (33:03)

This introspection indicates a complex psychological landscape, where personal connections momentarily tempered Rudolph’s lethal intentions.

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7. Unresolved Questions and Theories

Despite extensive evidence, the episode concludes by highlighting lingering questions regarding Rudolph’s actions:

"There was one question they couldn't agree on. Did Eric Robert Rudolph really act alone?" (34:24)

John Archibald expresses skepticism about Rudolph’s lone wolf status, suggesting potential external assistance:

"Do I personally believe that he acted alone? No, I do not." (34:29)

Becca Andrews adds nuance, distinguishing between his actions in different locations:

"I do think he acted alone in Birmingham. I have no idea. In Atlanta. If you're talking about while he was on the run, I suspect he had help, whether knowingly or not." (34:33)

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8. Looking Ahead

The episode teases the next installment, promising to explore the broader network that may have influenced and assisted Rudolph:

"Next time on American Shrapnel, we'll meet the forces that influenced Eric Rudolph. Those who may have helped him up close and at arm's length and those who’ve been far more effective spreading that gospel in the years since." (35:03)

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• John Archibald (03:08): "Eric Rudolph had prepared for this for years, really. He began to plan his bombings after Ruby Ridge and Waco."

• Deborah Rudolph (15:03): "He was either going to do something great or he was going to do something that was just going to shock the hell out of everybody just because of the way... his demeanor, just the way that he was."

• Becca Andrews (14:02): "I think he was really anti US Government even though he had served in the military. I think he blamed the government. So it was as if he was a rebel."

• John Archibald (34:24): "There was one question they couldn't agree on. Did Eric Robert Rudolph really act alone?"

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Conclusion

Chapter 3 of American Shrapnel offers a comprehensive exploration of Eric Rudolph’s descent into extremism, the relentless manhunt to capture him, and the complex interplay of personal and ideological factors that fueled his actions. Through detailed narration and personal testimonies, the episode sheds light on the challenges faced by law enforcement and the enduring questions surrounding one of the most infamous manhunts in American history.

Transcript

[John Archibald]

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[Becca Andrews]

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[Paul Wolf]

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[Paul Wolf]

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[Paul Wolf]

Adams, I see you're trying to distract yourself from your own banal thoughts.

[John Archibald]

Let me help.

[Paul Wolf]

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[Richard Jaffe]

We're basically two side roads off of a side road off of the gravel road.

[John Archibald]

We're about 10 miles outside of Murphy, North Carolina, on a winding mountain road along the Fire Creek Wildlife Management Area. The beauty will steal your breath. Outside, the wind is biting, it's raining in January, the creek is roaring, and there's no one to be seen except for the rare kayaker. Half crazy, I think.

[Richard Jaffe]

The encampment is directly across to our left. Up here rises up to Wolf Ridge, and Wolf Ridge rises up to 3,000ft and it's pretty much a sight line straight across.

[Paul Wolf]

That's Paul Wolf. He's an outdoorsman and professor at a college near here. Few people know the Nantahala Forest like he does. He's hiked these woods with students hundreds of times, scouring the hills to look for what Eric Rudolph left behind.

[Richard Jaffe]

When Eric came here on the run that night, you know, he left his trailer, he very hastily had to load things into his truck. He went into town, he drove out here just a little further than where we're standing, where we turned around and somewhere he stashed the stuff from the truck.

[John Archibald]

We're nearing Tarquiln Ridge, where Rudolph chose his winter hideout. These woods have been thinned by disease, which ravaged the hemlocks and left holes in the forest canopy since Rudolph hit here. Fire swept through more recently, as did floods from Hurricane Helene, leaving the forest even more sparse. But the rhododendron is still thick, almost impenetrable in places. And we're still a long way from the camp.

[Richard Jaffe]

We are on essentially the as the crow flies or aerial time, the 18 mile trek he had to make upon dumping the truck for the very first time and flee into the hideout.

[Paul Wolf]

Eric Rudolph had prepared for this for years, really. He began to plan his bombings after Ruby Ridge and Waco. In Oklahoma City, he'd buried supplies, weapons and camping equipment in the mountains, just in case. He stored drums filled with grain and beans and packed more trash cans at his trailer. Basics that would keep him alive for two years, he thought, ready to load in his truck at a moment's notice.

[John Archibald]

He had the winter camp picked out and the summer camp miles away. When he learned on the radio that the jig was up, all he had to do was run.

[Richard Jaffe]

He spent the next two days coming back here and then shuttling his stuff up to the encampment. Now, this is a spot he had to have scouted out years before because he knew exactly where he was coming back to. And that's approximately where he spent the first six months. Because he had enough supplies, he did have his rifle.

[John Archibald]

Eric Rudolph thought about disappearing into the woods right after he got back from Birmingham, or so he wrote in his manifesto. He spent a night hiding supplies in the bush. But when he didn't hear his name on the news, he thought he'd gotten away with it. He went to the Plaza video store, where he'd rented 197 movies in the previous nine months. He didn't have good TV reception, and it seemed like he planned to hang around Murphy.

[Paul Wolf]

He shopped for the ingredients to make spaghetti. And then this. According to his own account, he turned on the radio one more time.

[John Archibald]

A witness saw the man get into a gray truck. Authorities are now searching for that man as a material witness. The truck was last seen going east on 2059 toward Atlanta.

[Paul Wolf]

He listened to the 6pm Broadcast of an FBI press conference from Birmingham. He heard U.S. attorney Doug Jones say his name.

[John Archibald]

We have issued the warrant for a Mr. Eric Robert Rudolph. So he went to Burger King and ordered a double Whopper and a large fry. He knew he would need calories. He knew it was time.

[Paul Wolf]

So he disappeared into the hills.

[John Archibald]

Hi, I'm John Archibald.

[Paul Wolf]

And I'm Becca Andrews. And this is American Shrapnel. It's the story of Eric Robert Rudolph and the largest American manhunt of the 20th century. But it's more than that.

[John Archibald]

It's a story of survival, of cruelty and occasional conscience. It's about myths and lies.

[Paul Wolf]

You and I could talk about myths and lies and the sort of anger, this sense all day long. But let's go back to the beginning.

[John Archibald]

Eric Rudolph's family was tight knit and maybe a little uptight. This is Richard Jaffe, a lawyer who would later represent him. Eric was a gifted baseball player in homestead, Florida, where he and his siblings and his parents lived. And his mother Patty and his father Bob, were super religious. That governed everything about their lives. Patty, she described herself as a seeker, and she was constantly experimenting with different religions.

[Paul Wolf]

Patricia Rudolph had thought about becoming a nun. She'd even been an activist in New York with Dorothy Day, an anarchist who stood for catholic workers, pacifism and women's suffrage. It was a far cry from where she and her son would end up on the ideological spectrum.

[John Archibald]

She would describe herself to me as, first I was a liberal, then I was a conservative, and then I'm was a liberal again and I'm liberal now. But they kept going from religion to religion, and ultimately Patty gravitated to the pentecostal religion where people talk in tongues. We don't know a ton about Eric's father, but he was a mechanic. He got cancer in the late 70s and sought treatment the FDA did not allow. The family went to Mexico for laetril injections. But Bob died in 1981.

[Paul Wolf]

Some people think that reinforced Eric's distrust and disgust for government, though Rudolph himself has called that laughable. Either way, Pat moved the family to the North Carolina mountains after Bob died. There, Eric came to better know a family friend they had met in Florida, Tom Branham, who had become a profound influence.

[John Archibald]

And he was so influenced by Tom Branham. And Tom Branham was a radical and a holocaust denier. Anti government to the core. Had this library of books that included all of this religion and philosophy and war, books on war and everything you can think of. But it was all radical right. And Eric was deeply influenced by Tom, who became basically a father figure for Eric.

[Paul Wolf]

They moved right next door to Branham on a long stretch of winding, unpaved road above the Nantahala river.

[John Archibald]

It's a stunningly beautiful place with high mountains, deep valleys and roaring whitewater. Nantahala is a Cherokee word that means land of the midday sun, because light only finds the deepest of those valleys at noon.

[Paul Wolf]

Brandon was an anti government prepper who was once arrested for possession of weapons, including a submachine gun and dynamite. He was ultimately cleared, but in a sign of how close their families were, the New York Times reported that Patricia Rudolph put their house up as security for his bond.

[John Archibald]

Rudolph grew up among Branham's friends and followers, People like Nord Davis, a Christian identity leader who organized and trained local militias. We'll learn more about him next episode. And George Nordman, a health food store owner who had his own set of views and who, according to Rudolph's mom, baked a mean loaf of bread.

[Paul Wolf]

Eric learned to question everything. Well, everything but his own certainty and his own take on the Bible.

[John Archibald]

These were some of the major influences he had. And so everywhere around him, surrounding him, engulfing him, were these radical views that he adopted that became part and parcel of who he became.

[Paul Wolf]

Nordman died in 2008, and neither Rudolph's immediate family nor Branham responded to requests for interviews.

[John Archibald]

We're on Partridge Creek Road in Topton now, a spot I stood in 1998 as I tried to get Rudolph's family or Branham to talk to me in the days after the Birmingham bombing. Maybe it was on the day Rudolph made his way into the woods. It's littered with warnings. Here's Wolf.

[Richard Jaffe]

This is where his childhood home is at. So take a look. That dark green around it, that's all national forest land. And you really can't get more back of beyond than that. It's actually, as a crow flies, only about a mile off of the Appalachian Trail and the fire tower and all these little extra roads and stuff you see are not really accessible. They're all gated off and things. And the other unnerving thing, there's a lot of trails and stuff that are not marked on the map. Like all the old logging activity.

[John Archibald]

Branham's driveway is gated and a little ominous. The yard's filled with old cars and machinery with the hallmarks of a prepper who wants to be left alone no matter what happens to the rest of the world.

[Paul Wolf]

One of Rudolph's classmates at Nantahala School told the feds in 98 that everybody knew not to go down that driveway uninvited.

[John Archibald]

That was Randy Bryant, who said Rudolph hung out almost exclusively with Branham's nephews. And they all, including Bryant, knew how to improvise explosives from fertilizer or black powder. They could all make booby traps from gasoline or light bulbs. They blew stuff up for fun all the time.

[Paul Wolf]

Rudolph wrote an ATV to school to avoid the bus and and the other kids. He and the Branham boys dug bunkers all night and stocked them with supplies. They blew stuff up for fun all the time and would come to school exhausted.

[John Archibald]

Bryant told the feds nobody wanted to step on that land because it was said to be booby trapped with pits full of punji sticks and tripwires rigged to fire shotgun shells. I did get A few words with Branham here in 98, though it was hardly revealing. He told me he'd known Rudolph for years, but that they hadn't spoken for a long time. That Rudolph kept to himself.

[Paul Wolf]

In an interview with an FBI agent, Branham called Rudolph a dangerous man with a mean streak. Apparently, he had shot Branham's daughter's cat because it was killing wild rabbits that he said he might need for food someday. Branham also said that Rudolph had killed two of his own dogs, one because it was barking too much.

[John Archibald]

Federal investigators at the time, I guess Rudolph would have called them what? Agents of tyranny. They weren't just looking for Rudolph in the woods. They were tracking his movements over the past years, talking to his family and former schoolmates, to those who served with him in the army or knew him from his travels.

[Paul Wolf]

Rudolph's mom told agents he had been disillusioned with the army. He'd been upset when he failed to become an army Ranger. And she says he changed when he witnessed a helicopter crash and a night exercise. She said he had seen several of his buddies killed. He did not want it to happen to him.

[John Archibald]

We're not 100% sure that crash actually happened, but the feds also heard how he kept swastikas and the confederate flag in his locker, that he hated taking orders from anybody who wasn't a white man, that he tried so hard to get kicked out of the army after failing to make special forces that he threatened to piss on his commander's desk for not getting rid of him fast enough. He was eventually discharged after testing positive for marijuana.

[Paul Wolf]

Somehow they called that an honorable discharge. But Rudolph was full of contradictions. This is Alice Martin, who George W. Bush appointed to replace Doug Jones as U.S. attorney in North Alabama.

[Becca Andrews]

I think he was really anti US Government even though he had served in the military. I think he blamed the government. So it was as if he was a rebel. And he attached to a lot of causes. Gay, just Americans celebrating America in Olympics, abortion, you know, find me a cause and let my anger release on it.

[John Archibald]

Agents heard he was a genius and that he was a loon. That he was a bible thumper with doubts about religion. But one who quoted Revelations when it seemed to support his arguments that he loved his gay brother but hated the people he called sodomites.

[Paul Wolf]

They got some answers from Deborah Rudolph, who always had a habit of speaking her mind.

[Becca Andrews]

Well, my name is Deborah Rudolph. I am the sister in law of Eric Rudolph, the Olympic park bomber, and various other bombings. And I was married to his brother Joel. I always told Joel that he would either be famous or infamous, that he was either going to do something great or he was going to do something that was just going to shock the hell out of everybody just because of the way. Just his demeanor, just the way that he was, just his attitude, his. And even Joel said the reason he moved out, moved in to his sisters, was he said, I just can't. I just couldn't stand the hate. You know, he said, all he does is spout hate.

[Paul Wolf]

Deborah had stories to tell about Rudolph and a family that grew to disdain her. She told us how the family wandered in search of religion and direction from cults and militant groups. She told us how Eric stockpiled weapons, how the simple act of watching TV in the Rudolph household often led to rants.

[Becca Andrews]

We'd be watching a comedy, comedy, and the credits would roll, and it was like they would literally pick out Jewish people. Oh, did you know? Did you know Mike Douglas is really a Jew? He changed his name. I mean, it's like they knew every celebrity that changed their name because they were Jewish. I mean, it was crazy. I was like, really? I mean, who knows that? But that's. That's kind of. They. They felt like the. The Jews had a little too much control over everything. Money, government, law, stock market, banks, the media, newspaper publishing.

[John Archibald]

But there was more she had to tell them. Eric was infuriating at times, but he was good at some things. Real good.

[Becca Andrews]

So he started first growing little. He just started experimenting. And then he. They went to Holland, and I overheard him and Joel talking one night because I used to have ears like a hound dog. But he had smuggled some seeds back in the heel of his boots and brought them back, and it was some really good pot. So he started really, really good growing the pot. I know. I moved the pot through Nashville for him. So I was dealing the pot. The property that they had in Topton backed up to Army Corps of Engineer property. So he wasn't growing it on their property. He was growing it over on Army Corps of Engineer property. I mean, it was hard work. He would have to carry two, five pounds buckets of water up and down that hill to grow this pot. So he would hang it up in the treetops to dry it out.

[Paul Wolf]

Eric brought pounds of weed at a time to Nashville. Deborah sold it in small amounts to get the highest return on investment. It was an uncomfortable arrangement, and Eric was a difficult collaborator, to say the least.

[Becca Andrews]

I mean, I would come home from selling pot. I would come home with thousands of Dollars, thousands of dollars in cash. And he would not let me have control, and he didn't want me to make any money. I mean, he never said, oh, here, here, here's a hundred, or, oh, here, you know, whatever.

[Paul Wolf]

Wait, you didn't get a cut?

[Becca Andrews]

No.

[Paul Wolf]

What?

[Becca Andrews]

I got a cut, but he just didn't know I got a cut.

[John Archibald]

The arrangement made for a difficult conversation when federal agents came asking about Eric.

[Becca Andrews]

The day they identified Eric, I saw it on the news, and I went to work. I'd only been at my job three days, and I got a phone call. And they said, is this. Is this Deborah Rudolph? And I said, who wants to know? And they said, well, are you the Deborah Rudolph that lives on this certain street? And I said, I don't live on that street. You got the wrong person. Hung up the phone. Next thing you know, three FBI agents show up at my work asking to talk to me.

[John Archibald]

She agreed to meet them at a restaurant across the street.

[Becca Andrews]

Well, little did I know there was going to be the abi, the tbi, the atf, the gbi, and everybody else flew in from all over God's creation. So it was. It was scary. I mean, I was standing there shaking. My knees were shaking. And I go, how am I going to tell these men? I need to tell them before they find out. Or maybe they already know. There's, like a circle of about eight or nine men. And I put my purse in a chair and I stood there and I said, well, first of all, we gotta establish something right now. I said, I dealt Eric's pot, moved it through Nashville, did it for several seasons. And I said, so I want to know what your feelings are about that. And they said, you know what? We got bigger fish to fry. So we. We established right off the bat that there was not going to be any repercussions. And I think I developed a trust from that point on. You know, it was a bond, if you will. If you can bond with the FBI, can you bond with the FBI?

[Paul Wolf]

The search for Rudolph continued to frustrate the feds, but the evidence against him was piling up. He had disappeared for weeks after the Olympic park bombing without plausible explanation. Family members, Deborah being one, identified his voice as the 911 caller the night of that bomb.

[Becca Andrews]

FBI asked me if I. If I could recognize his writing. They also had me listen to the recording of when he bombed the Olympics. He called and warned him, there's a bomb in Centennial Park. I did not recognize the writing, but I did recognize his voice on the phone.

[John Archibald]

Archival Notes from investigators and their written reports tell how explosives sniffing dogs hit on a towel and seat cushion and toolbox on Rudolph's property. CSIs at Rudolph's home found baseball caps and dark sunglasses, a blue plastic bag and a wig as worn by the man. Jermaine Hughes followed.

[Paul Wolf]

In Birmingham, an eyewitness to the bombing of the Sandy Springs clinic told agents he was 99% sure Rudolph was the suspicious man he saw in a hoodie outside the facility before it was bombed. The feds found nitroglycerin dynamite residue in his home and his truck, just like the dynamite that was used in the Sandy Springs, Otherside Lounge and Birmingham bombings.

[John Archibald]

Rudolph didn't use banks anymore, whether because of distrust in institutions or because he was a pot farmer. He'd gone off the grid and conducted all his business in cash. Used false names like Bob Randolph, but he did order books and magazines by mail.

[Paul Wolf]

Agents tracked down the receipts. This is David Namius, who went on to coordinate the counterterrorism division of the justice department after 9 11.

[John Archibald]

Well, it turns out mail order receipts are compiled nationally at some warehouse for the U.S. postal Service. And we sent a team of agents to go through like three years or five years of all the. For the post offices within a 10 mile radius. Like all the mail order receipts. You know, it's brutal work, but they did it. And one of the things they found was a mail order receipt. There was this. The Anarchist Cookbook. That was a popular one, but the better one was Ragnar's Homemade Detonators, which actually explained how to make a detonator. That was pretty unusual. And was the detonator used in at least one of the Atlanta bombs, Maybe in Birmingham too.

[Paul Wolf]

He used the name Z. Randolph. Randolph without an H to buy a manual called Kitchen Improvised Fertilizer Explosives, though it never got to him. He ordered Ragnar's homemade detonators using that same name that one came.

[John Archibald]

Agents found fibers in Rudolph's truck that seemed to match fibers on bombs and the army of God letters that took credit for the bombings. They analyzed Rudolf's writing and found he pluralized words with an apostrophe s, just like those letters did. A former girlfriend, among others, told them that he often used many of the words common in those letters, like regime commissars, bureaucratic lackeys, and New World Order.

[Paul Wolf]

They found batteries in his truck with the identifying numbers scratched off, just like the batteries in the bombs. They really got into the nitty gritty of how he made the bombs.

[John Archibald]

Here's the receipt From Walmart we found in his apartment. You can see the hose clamp right there. He also bought some gloves, some deadbolt locks, soft white light bulbs. And it was on Christmas Eve at 4:41. Walmart closed at 5:00'.

[Becca Andrews]

Clock.

[John Archibald]

This Popular Mechanics hose clamp is what we found. And if you look on the coast clamp itself you can see this. And that was the same that was on the original, on the one we found in the body. They found a piece of crystal in Birmingham nurse Emily Lyon's body. The kind from a remote control like you used to fly model airplanes or to detonate a homemade bomb.

[Paul Wolf]

Eric had watched the arrest of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy moveay. And he'd mentioned to his friend Randy Cochran that the Olympics would make a good stage for a bomb. He told his brother Joel depra's ex husband his theory that change could be brought about by violence. He called it justifiable revenge. And Joel said the two argued over whether the end justifies the means.

[John Archibald]

The Fed still had to prove that Rudolph was in Atlanta. They looked at the Blob Man. That blurry photo didn't just match Rudolph as a metaphor for anger and hatred. It matched his clothing too. Khaki shorts and hiking boots, his light colored socks and a gray T shirt.

[Paul Wolf]

As the evidence piled up, there was little doubt that Eric Rudolph was the Blob Man. He was soon placed on the most wanted list with a reward that ballooned to a million dollars. His possessions from a storage unit were all auctioned off. A gas mask sold for $27.50. A crate of motor oil for three bucks and the original warrant to search the unit brought in $370.

[John Archibald]

People who were buying that shit saw it as an investment. He was public enemy number one. As months passed, investigators media wondered if he was dead or gone. They wondered how much help he could be getting from friends and sympathizers in the mountains. Here's David Namius again. You know, there were people who were not cooperative, certainly a lot of people who were not affirmatively cooperative with the government, you know, partly because Rudolph was clearly paranoid even of his very close family, people he'd known. So the idea that he was out, you know, finding other people, I think that's very far fetched. People disagree on that. But still the feds put Eric's mom under surveillance. They tracked her phone records and those of Eric's friends Tom Branham and George Nordman. Agents thought those people and others they were tracking became more active, even desperate to signal one another whenever there Was news in the case. They thought it was a clue.

[Paul Wolf]

Like one day in July of 1998 when Eric was running out of food and decided to stake out Nordman's house for supplies.

[John Archibald]

The incident with Norman's a weird one, and it would almost get him caught. It seemed to be the first big break in the search for Rudolph, which is why right now we're trying to get to Norman's house. Paul wolf is showing us the way.

[Richard Jaffe]

So as we're coming up the bend here to our right and then to the left Would be where his George Nordman's house was at. And if we look up to her right to this ridge that's above Would be where he was looking down and watching. Basically, we can see right there he'd be looking through. He knew when George would leave and go to his health food store in Andrews. And he ended up poisoning George's dog because it was bothering him. And then after, George ended up changing the locks on the door because he noticed that something was wrong. And that's when Eric confronted George and asked him if he could help out. He had a list for supplies. George was very troubled by it and said he was going to pray.

[Paul Wolf]

Norman gave Rudolph a bag of food, but ultimately balked when Rudolph wanted more.

[John Archibald]

Rudolph needed supplies as he prepared to leave his winter camp, Crossed the fires creek trails, and set up a summer home closer to Murphy. So he killed Nordman's dog, stole his truck, and took months worth of food out of the house. He left him $500. I don't know if that was kindness or spite.

[Paul Wolf]

The truck had a leaky head gasket and the headlights didn't work, but it was full of gas. He planned to drive it back, but as he neared the Bob Allison campground, the truck began to putter.

[Richard Jaffe]

And that's when he drove it into the campground, Put the note on the dashboard that says truck broke down. Please return to George Nordman when he got back and cached all the supplies. He immediately filled up his backpack and he headed north and went across into the snowbirds. And he stayed up there for four or five months While the big part of the search was going on.

[Paul Wolf]

On the truck, they found a single fingerprint of Rudolph's. Some locals argue it was deliberately placed there to signal to Rudolph's family and supporters that he was still alive. Phone records showed Branham called another man about that time. That man then called Nordman. It seemed suspicious, but the feds never proved a connection.

[John Archibald]

Rudolph stayed on the move, Burying supplies at various places, Planning More bombings and trying to stay ahead of the law, if you believe his accounts. As we've said, he's not always the most reliable narrator. He had close calls and ran into some Keystone Cops along the way. At one point, he claims he stole another truck, intending to drive to Asheville to plant a bomb at another abortion clinic, but it was low on gas.

[Richard Jaffe]

Rather than try to stop in Marble or Andrews, where he thought he'd be known, he figured he'd drive the opposite way to Murphy, Fill up, go to Asheville, plant the bomb. Well, on the way to Murphy, that's when he ran out of gas. He started walking to the gas station. The Murphy deputies picked him up, drove him there, drove him back. And that's when he lost his nerve. So he had the bomb. And that's when he decided, at least from the reading of his memoir, that's the one he took and planted at the FBI headquarters at Murphy, at the National Guard. And that's when he lost his nerve.

[Paul Wolf]

Think about it. He went to the headquarters where the search for him had been directed, where the helicopters and dogs had been dispatched to find him, and he planted a bomb. This was two years in. We asked Paul Kish, who would later become one of his lawyers, if the bomb was ready to blow.

[Becca Andrews]

Yes, indeed.

[John Archibald]

Yes, he did.

[Becca Andrews]

At one point he told me he.

[John Archibald]

Could see Sally Yates, the first, who's.

[Richard Jaffe]

You know, later became very prominent.

[Paul Wolf]

But he could watch Sally walking in.

[John Archibald]

And out because she was one of the few women on the DOJ side. And he considered placing it in the path of where she would have been walking to her car. I told Sally that once. It was not a pleasant conversation. There's some disagreement about where this bomb was, whether in the doorway of the command center or nearby. Regardless, Rudolph watched the agents from a small peak across from the headquarters. Somebody described it as a nine iron shot away from the feds. But it was more like a Tiger woods driver in his prime.

[Paul Wolf]

We went to the old headquarters with Wolf. It's abandoned now, but you can see the peak across the way. You can see the doorway where the bomb was thought to be planted. And you can't help but see the similarities between. Between the armory and the new Woman All Women clinic in Birmingham. All he had to do was push a button.

[Richard Jaffe]

So he found this to be the ideal situation because the force of the bomb would be contained within the entry. So he had planted in here where obviously there were some bushes. There's a leftover azalea there, and some privet coming up, hidden as such and then he had a clean visual shot as they came and it was a radio trigger on the bomb. And as soon as they had stepped in, he knew he had him basically in the trap.

[John Archibald]

For whatever reason, he didn't press the trigger.

[Richard Jaffe]

He said after watching the same two agents for over a two year period that he had come to maybe personalize the them a little bit more as people. And he did make comment about what, you know, I think what one of their children would say afterwards. And then he also started to think about that these two agents weren't. What good would that cause, Would he really further his cause by killing them?

[Paul Wolf]

Over time, the search began to taper off even as they continued to build the case against him. Here's Mike Wisenin again.

[John Archibald]

We'd already pretty much gathered all of our evidence, so it was a matter of the manhunt. And after a while we felt like we had covered everywhere we could cover up there. And the daily manhunts were not very productive. So the FBI cut that back substantially. They kept some agents up there, but it was only a shadow of what it had been.

[Paul Wolf]

A lot of contradictions remained friends and investigators debated whether he truly cared more about abortion or homosexuality or the Bible itself. But they had evidence, they had theories, they had an idea of who he was and why he was motivated to kill.

[John Archibald]

There was one question they couldn't agree on. Did Eric Robert Rudolph really act alone? Do I personally believe that he acted alone? No, I do not.

[Becca Andrews]

I do think he acted alone in. In Birmingham. I have no idea. In Atlanta. If you're talking about while he was on the run, I suspect he had help, whether knowingly or not. You know what I mean?

[Paul Wolf]

Next time on American Shrapnel, we'll meet the forces that influenced Eric Rudolph. Those who may have helped him up close and at arm's length and those.

[John Archibald]

Who'Ve been far more effective spreading that gospel in the years since. Influencing America in much the same way.

[Paul Wolf]

American Shrapnel is a production of Alabama Media Group. It was written and hosted by me.

[John Archibald]

Becca Andrews and me, John Archibald. Our co creator and executive producer is John Hammondree.

[Paul Wolf]

This episode was edited by Chris Hoff.

[John Archibald]

Our field producer is Sarah Weitz Kodachek. And our social media producers are Caroline Vincent and Mila Oliveira. Our logo and cover art were designed by Jack Browning. The song you're hearing right now is Birmingham by Beth Thornley and Rob Cairns.

[Paul Wolf]

Chalyn Stevens is our editor in chief. Consulting producers Dan Carson and Ashley Remkus provided valuable feedback.

[John Archibald]

Special thanks to Paul Wolf, Richard Jaffe, Deborah Rudolph, Alice Martin, David Namias, Mike Wisenet and Paul Kish. Thanks also to Kathryn Osaya's Champion and the Birmingham Public Library and the radio voice of Dan Carson.

[Paul Wolf]

If you like our show, please leave us a rating and review and follow us on Apple Podcasts, YouTube or your favorite podcast app.

[John Archibald]

Thanks for listening.