PLANNED ATTACK

Letters from man to police detail car blast plot that killed him, two others

AMAN killed in a car explosion last weekend with his toddler son and adult friend blew it up with homemade explosives, detailing his plans in letters to police and family in which he lamented how miserable his life was, authorities said yesterday.

Jacob Schmoyer, 26, sent the letters shortly before the blast in Allentown that killed him, his two-year-old son Jonathan ‘J.J.’ Schmoyer, and a friend, 66-year-old David Hallman, authorities said. One letter was delivered on Tuesday, the rest on Wednesday, and were dated September 29, agent Don Robinson of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms said at a news conference.

“He was miserable,” Robinson said. “Basically, the four letters described a miserable life. He was unhappy with himself.” He admitted to a number of criminal acts, and he didn’t think it was going to get any better. There was a lot of hatred there, some directed at Mr Hallman and some at his son.”

The crimes he admitted to included petty thefts and burglaries, Robinson said.

PENT-UP ANGER

It wasn’t clear why Schmoyer targeted Hallman, but Robinson said that Schmoyer “lured” the man to his vehicle on the night of the blast, which scattered debris and body parts over a wide area and forced the closure of several city blocks for days.

“There’s a lot of anger, there’s a lot of vitriol in the letters, and he was very meticulous about wanting to make sure that we knew how he put this thing together,” Robinson said.

The investigation showed that the homemade device, composed of two unspecified explosives, was either in the centre console of the vehicle or near the passenger seat. Schmoyer was in the driver’s seat, Hallman in the front passenger seat, and the toddler in a car seat, in the back.

Schmoyer’s grandmother, Kathleen Pond, told WFMZ that she received one of Schmoyer’s letters on Wednesday. She did not detail its contents but said, “I really did believe he would never do this, maybe in my heart I knew he would do it to himself, but never to J.J.”

AP In this Monday, October 1, file photo, authorities investigate the scene of Saturday’s fatal car explosion in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Officials with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives held a news conference yesterday with prosecutors and Allentown police.