Surveillance, cellphone led to Austin bomber
FedEx video proved to be biggest break in case
AUSTIN — The FBI agents and police investigators tasked with identifying who was responsible for planting a series of bombs here seemed at times to be chasing ghosts.
They ran down theories of drug dealer retaliation gone awry, and struggled to understand the significance of family connections between the victims. All the while, the bomber escalated his attacks first using a trip wire, and then by sending explosives through FedEx.
But behind the scenes, investigators had used cell tower data to tie Mark Anthony Conditt, a 23-year-old from the Austin suburbs, to the bombing sites and other important locations, the Texas governor said Wednesday. And when the suspected bomber used FedEx, law enforcement caught an ever bigger break: He had been captured on a store’s video surveillance system.
The furious manhunt for Conditt culminated early Wednesday morning after one of the police surveillance teams scouring the area spotted his red SUV in a hotel parking lot in Round Rock, Texas, about 18 miles north of the Texas capital.
Officers closed in, and Conditt ultimately detonated a bomb and was killed. The bloody confrontation brought an end to three weeks of terror in which investigators believe Conditt planted at least six bombs either at homes or in the FedEx delivery system. The devices killed two people and injured several others, and officials warned he could have left more bombs elsewhere that have yet to be found.
“This is the culmination of three very long weeks for our community,” said Austin Police Chief Brian Manley, adding, “We don’t know where this suspect has spent his last 24 hours, and therefore, we still need to remain vigilant to ensure that no other packages or devices have been left through the community.”
On Wednesday, FBI officials searched Conditt’s home for clues about what might have motivated the attacks as they advised Austin residents to remain wary. They took two of his roommates into custody for questioning - though they released one and said neither was under arrest. A neighbor to a home owned by the Conditt family said an officer with a megaphone had yelled that the FBI was there with a search warrant, and a young man came out of the house and was immediately handcuffed and led to an unmarked SUV.
Conditt attended Austin Community College between 2010 and 2012 but did not graduate, according to the school. Mark Roessler, 57, a neighbor, described Conditt as “quiet, introverted, polite and clean-cut,” adding that he never had a lot of visitors, loud parties or other social events.
He said he last saw Conditt about a week ago, when they both arrived home at the same time. “We didn’t make eye contact,” Roessler said. “In retrospect, he was certainly in the midst of all of this.”
Eddie Harp, who has been friends with the Conditt family for 15 years, read a short statement to the media outside the Conditts’ home, saying: “I have a simple and heartfelt statement from the family. This will be their only statement. The family is grieved not only for their loss for but also for the loss of those affected by these heinous actions. The family’s present focus is on dealing with their shock and loss and cooperating with the police investigation. If you are a praying person, please join us in praying for the families of all who have lost loved ones.”
Law enforcement officials said they had no idea what might have triggered him to carry out the bombings, but Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, R, said he expected they would find a “treasure trove of information” inside Conditt’s home. Agents have found components that match materials used in the bombs inside the suspect’s house but not completed bombs, officials said.
The ATF has been able to reconstruct all the bombs he made. “We know it’s the same person who manufactured all of these,” said ATF Deputy Assistant Director Fred Milanowski.
Conditt had been an enigma to law enforcement. After the first explosion killed 39-year-old Anthony House on March 2, police were reluctant to even call the episode a homicide and said they believed the incident was isolated.
Investigators at first explored a theory in which House might have been the unintended recipient of a bomb meant for a drug dealing neighbor. Austin police had recently raided a home nearby, and seized marijuana and hundreds of thousands of dollars, according to an attorney for the man who lived there.
The attorney, Mark McCrimmon, said investigators asked his client, who he declined to identify, to come in for an interview on the day the bomb went off. They seemed convinced that the bomb was meant for his client, and tried to play “good cop, bad cop,” McCrimmon said, asking him, “Who’s trying to kill you?” and warning him that his roommate might be in danger.When two more bombs went off 10 days later, investigators rapidly shifted gears. More than 350 law enforcement personnel - including FBI behavioral analysts and ATF forensic scientists - soon descended on Austin. The bombs, though, continued. A device activated with a trip wire injured two people, and investigators then discovered two packages that had been sent through FedEx. One of the packages exploded at a FedEx facility in Schertz, Tex., while the other was recovered from a different facility in Austin.
The company turned over that package and extensive information, including surveillance footage, to law enforcement.