On 09/21/1995,
Center, Texas was up buzz with discussions at
the local Barber shop about the upcoming high
school football game featuring the tigers.
Woody smoke house a popular gasoline filling station,
known for its beef jerky in Texas barbecue
was bustling with activity.
As a mail carrier made his rounds on
the Leon County Square,
he approached the probation department.
Situated near 1 of Texas oldest courthouse houses,
a distinguished example of Renaissance revival
architecture, built of red brick in 18 86.
The postman shoulder style Satchel was notably heavier,
that day, burdened by a cardboard box mail
from Dallas the previous day.
S a small Town, 900 residents is located
midway between Dallas and Houston
interstate 45.
Rebecca Roll, a Leon County probation department Clerk,
accepted the box, which was addressed to her
attention,
Handling the daily mail, which included opening and
sorting, the office correspondence was part of her
routine duties.
After opening the cardboard box,
Roland cannot remove a heavy metal box
stuck inside.
She asked the office supervisor to help. He
vigorously
shook the box and banged it against the
desk until finally,
The mel box inside fell out.
Up upon opening the lid, he immediately yelled.
Bomb, bomb.
A federal prosecutor Bill Johnston describes the terrifying
moments of what happened next.
Or
and a a click
took place.
And within 30 seconds everyone ran out of
that building screaming.
It was a double
pipe bomb.
Heavy
pipe,
heavy, screwed in
and on both double.
With so called refrigerator switches, so when it
when the lid pops up much like when
your refrigerator door opens, the light comes on
it completes the circuit, they pop.
The pipe bomb did not explode.
Experts were baffled by why it failed given
its perfect construction.
Police sum of the Us Army bomb disposal
unit to Center, Texas, the county seat founded
that in 18 50.
The Army bomb squad determined that they had
a live bomb on their hands.
The switch like the 1 on a refrigerator
door that turns on the light.
Should have set off the bomb when the
office supervisor open the lid of the metal
box.
1 brave soldier
carefully carried
this object this box.
To the middle of the courthouse square,
it placed it down. They put sand bags
all around it. Thousands pounds of sand bags.
Once the pipe bomb was securely placed inside
the bake makeshift sand bag bunker.
Disposal technicians fired a 50 caliber round through
the pipes
to d the bomb.
And I had a photo for trial. It
was a fireball, about 4 feet in diameter
and
I had a
Atf bomb
expert out of Tennessee
who said
that had that happen in the probation department,
it would have killed everyone in there. It
would have killed everyone in the bank next
door, and it would collapsed the entire part
of the block. It was so large.
And she further said, and I cannot tell
you why it did not go off.
Because everything I saw, everything I... Would it
remained and everything I saw in the photos
or actually photos that it port went off.
It appeared to be a perfectly put together
huge pipe bomb double pipe bomb.
Investigators
discovered that Rebecca Roll the address he on
the package containing the bomb had a protective
order against her estranged husband for domestic abuse
and stalking.
The Her husband, Lauren Bruce Pearson
had assaulted role and her teenage daughter with
his crutch.
Following the assault, roll and informed Pearson that
she was leaving him, prompting Pearson to threaten
her with death if she followed through.
The mother and daughter subsequently moved to a
nearby mobile home.
A Pearson continued his harassment by shouting up
obscene threats.
And taking pots shots at the trailer where
roland resided.
Pearson knew she would be at work on
that fateful day
making his plan even more sinister.
It was clever.
He was gonna just kill 1 in the
office and everyone in the bank. He didn't
care. There might be 10 or 15 people
killed, but she'd be 1 of them. He
knew she was at work that day.
And
he was very clever because
he was a suspect in it.
We had
ci substantial evidence,
that pointed
to it. And, you know, we had the
packaging of the bomb,
we... That is to say the paper part,
there were no fingerprints on it.
There was no evidence of human
touching in any way,
and
A search warrant of his home was done.
We
we wrote a search warrant and put the
best facts we could together as thin.
They went to his home. There was no
black powder. There was no pipe. There were
no tools to make a pipe bomb.
It was clean.
As agents approach Pearson home to execute the
search warrant, he aroused more suspicion by asking
if anything had happened to his wife.
The mailing label for the bomb was typed
in the widely used times new Roman font.
During the search, investigators,
confiscated
Pearson packard bell computer and printer
to determine whether he had used them to
type the label.
A forensic analysis revealed that the Times new
Roman fought had been deleted from Pearson computer
on the very day of the attempted bombing.
He deleted New times Roman from his computer,
so that
his computer
could not have printed the label because he
didn't have new times Roman. Well, that's very
clever.
But anyway, so that was found and then
The rest of the evidence... I mean, we
just didn't have much else. We needed something
forensic
besides that and besides a motive and besides
a few people that knew he had said
some things not saying he he's gonna blow
up, but it said some things he might
not let her leave him.
And...
But we didn't want him out.
During the search, agents also seized a 30
30 str rifle in Marlin shotgun from Pearson
home.
However, Pearson was under a family violence protective
order.
The order prohibited him from possessing firearms.
Johnston found legal means to keep Pearson locked
up and is a estranged wife safe while
the investigation continued.
And I remembered that
Congress had just passed something called the violence
against women act va, the violence against Women
act. It was a big deal,
and we hadn't received any training on it,
but I remembered that it existed and I
called some people with justice Farm and yates.
What I have to have well, you have
to have a family violence protective order where
the person got notice.
Okay? Got that. And then they have to
be in possession of a firearm.
That's it. Yep.
So I charged him. He's the first person
in the United States charge, under
Violence against Women act. With being person under
a protective order being in possession of firearm.
With Pearson held behind bars without bond,
the forensic
investigation by Us postal inspectors continued.
They discovered his estranged wife's palm and fingerprints
on cardboard
inserts that fell out of the package when...
The pipe bomb was opened at the probation
office.
However, Rebecca Roll did not touch the contents
of the box at the office.
The and she recognized the inserts as parts
of a cardboard box that had been seen
in their home.
Despite this ci
evidence,
investigators
still needed proof that tied Lauren Pearson
directly to the bomb.
He left no fingerprints on the
on the package.
The tape had no. It was taped up.
Had no fingerprints, no human hair in it.
But when they looked at it, there was
a strange thing.
It was a...
Appeared to be an animal hair.
But like a cattle hair from cattle. This
guy didn't have any cattle and didn't live
in your cattle.
They said it was a animal hair with
an
body, another... A dark o body. So in
other words, there were these little blip in
a in what looked like a clear hair
of dark Oval,
microscopic.
And
they saw that, but it didn't mean anything
to us Again, again... They said tip found
in cattle. Well,
so we
talked to them Got them to...
Give us a little information, and I wrote
a second search warrant,
and we ask permission from the federal judge
to vacuum his house.
And to take his vacuum if it were
still there, and we did both. During the
second search, investigators comb Pearson home with a
forensic vacuum cleaner
and seize the use bags and his vacuum
cleaner.
Then they got a break in the case
The smoking gun came from an unlikely source.
Pier dog, a large mu.
And we got a call 1 day,
and they said,
did he have a...
Dog, kind of a big mixed breed dog.
Was they did.
Just a big... Almost a great dane looking,
but it wasn't. It was been mixed breed.
Well,
that's it.
This is very strange here. We don't see
it. It's not 1 a million, but it's
almost.
You vacuum
clear hairs with avoid bodies that totally match
the clear hair with avoid bodies, the single
hair.
On the tape of the bomb package.
And
that and some other evidence,
we went to trial
and he was convicted and got about 38
years in federal prison.
Did he have a bomb making experience in
his background. I mean, it felt like I
knew what he was doing? No. No. He
he he didn't. He had a brief military
career, brief unsuccessful military career.
I don't remember now
why had to do with maybe either where
they lived or the type of system, we
could not backtrack it in that day, it
was older It was few years ago, could
not backtrack his searches
as as we can do today. Sure. So
whether he, you know, looked at the Ana
Cookbook or he got some other publication or
whether he read about it in some of
the fashion. We don't know how he learned
to do it, but he built a beautiful
bomb. It just didn't work that 1 time.
In January of 2012
after serving 16 years,
Lauren Bruce Pearson died inside a federal pen
at age 62,
bringing a final close to this chilling chapter
of a small town Texas crime story.