• How the alleged bomber was caught.
DNA, fingerprints and pings from a cellphone tower led authorities to an auto parts store parking lot in South Florida where they arrested a 56-year-old man Friday morning. The arrest brought an end to a four-day nationwide manhunt for the alleged mailer of over a dozen suspected pipe bombs to prominent critics of President Donald Trump.
A key break in the case came Thursday, according to a criminal complaint and multiple law enforcement officials, when five packages were traced to the OpaLocka processing and distribution center outside of Miami.
That allowed authorities to narrow their search, which — combined with DNA and fingerprint samples left on a package sent to Rep. Maxine Waters and cellphone geolocation information — led to Cesar Sayoc, even as new devices were being found in New York and California.
FBI agents arrested Mr. Sayoc at an AutoZone parking lot in Plantation, Fla., about 6 miles west of Fort Lauderdale, on Friday morning as he was nearing his white van. The van was covered with images political in nature, including images of notable liberals such as Hillary Clinton and former President Barack Obama.
Friday’s arrest was the culmination of a multiagency federal, state and local law enforcement and civilian effort that began Monday after the first suspected pipe bomb sent to George Soros, a billionaire philanthropist who has supported Democrats, was intercepted.
Three other suspected bombs were detected Friday morning in Florida, New York and California as agents in South Florida were preparing to apprehend Mr. Sayoc at the parking lot. The packages were nearly identical — 6-inch PVC pipes with wires, stuffed inside a bubblewrap lined manila envelope, according to the complaint. Six American flag stamps were affixed to each envelope with the return address of Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s office.
“These are not hoax devices,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said at a news conference Friday.
The investigation, led by the FBI with the involvement of the Joint Terrorism Task Force of the NYPD, U.S. Postal Inspectors and other federal agencies and local law enforcement, depended heavily on the quick work of private security and postal workers who detected bombs as they arrived at office buildings and post offices.
As explosive devices were sent to the FBI forensics lab in Quantico, Va., investigators there detected DNA and a fingerprint found on the device intended for Ms. Waters and, working with local law enforcement, matched it late Thursday to a sample of Mr. Sayoc’s DNA that had been previously collected, Mr. Wray said.
Traces of DNA collected from two of the other bombs appeared related to Mr. Sayoc, according to the complaint filed in federal court Friday.
With his possible identity known, investigators checked his cellphone number against towers in the vicinity to see if they matched the location and timing for when the packages originated, according to a law enforcement official.
By Thursday night or Friday morning, law enforcement officers, confident they had found the alleged bomber, were combing through social media posts and watching Mr. Sayoc.
Clues appeared to confirm their suspicions. Mr. Sayoc misspelled words on posts that matched some of those on the packages. Some posts said, “Hilary” instead of “Hillary” Clinton, while another said “Shultz” instead of Schultz for Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
Investigators first went to the home of Mr. Sayoc’s mother in Aventura but were told he wasn’t there, according to a law enforcement official.
Meanwhile, they detected a ping identifying Mr. Sayoc’s cellphone. In the AutoZone parking lot, agents found the white van, where he appeared to be living.
Mr. Sayoc was initially somewhat cooperative, one official said. He told investigators that the pipe bombs wouldn’t have hurt anyone and that he didn’t want to hurt anyone. But he has since retained a lawyer so questioning has ceased. He is scheduled to appear in federal court on Monday in Florida.