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On 09/21/1995,

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Center, Texas was up buzz with discussions at

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the local Barber shop about the upcoming high

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school football game featuring the tigers.

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Woody smoke house a popular gasoline filling station,

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known for its beef jerky in Texas barbecue

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was bustling with activity.

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As a mail carrier made his rounds on

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the Leon County Square,

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he approached the probation department.

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Situated near 1 of Texas oldest courthouse houses,

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a distinguished example of Renaissance revival

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architecture, built of red brick in 18 86.

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The postman shoulder style Satchel was notably heavier,

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that day, burdened by a cardboard box mail

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from Dallas the previous day.

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S a small Town, 900 residents is located

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midway between Dallas and Houston

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interstate 45.

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Rebecca Roll, a Leon County probation department Clerk,

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accepted the box, which was addressed to her

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attention,

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Handling the daily mail, which included opening and

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sorting, the office correspondence was part of her

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routine duties.

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After opening the cardboard box,

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Roland cannot remove a heavy metal box

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stuck inside.

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She asked the office supervisor to help. He

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vigorously

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shook the box and banged it against the

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desk until finally,

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The mel box inside fell out.

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Up upon opening the lid, he immediately yelled.

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Bomb, bomb.

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A federal prosecutor Bill Johnston describes the terrifying

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moments of what happened next.

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Or

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and a a click

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took place.

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And within 30 seconds everyone ran out of

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that building screaming.

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It was a double

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pipe bomb.

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Heavy

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pipe,

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heavy, screwed in

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and on both double.

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With so called refrigerator switches, so when it

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when the lid pops up much like when

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your refrigerator door opens, the light comes on

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it completes the circuit, they pop.

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The pipe bomb did not explode.

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Experts were baffled by why it failed given

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its perfect construction.

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Police sum of the Us Army bomb disposal

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unit to Center, Texas, the county seat founded

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that in 18 50.

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The Army bomb squad determined that they had

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a live bomb on their hands.

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The switch like the 1 on a refrigerator

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door that turns on the light.

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Should have set off the bomb when the

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office supervisor open the lid of the metal

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box.

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1 brave soldier

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carefully carried

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this object this box.

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To the middle of the courthouse square,

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it placed it down. They put sand bags

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all around it. Thousands pounds of sand bags.

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Once the pipe bomb was securely placed inside

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the bake makeshift sand bag bunker.

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Disposal technicians fired a 50 caliber round through

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the pipes

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to d the bomb.

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And I had a photo for trial. It

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was a fireball, about 4 feet in diameter

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and

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I had a

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Atf bomb

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expert out of Tennessee

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who said

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that had that happen in the probation department,

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it would have killed everyone in there. It

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would have killed everyone in the bank next

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door, and it would collapsed the entire part

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of the block. It was so large.

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And she further said, and I cannot tell

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you why it did not go off.

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Because everything I saw, everything I... Would it

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remained and everything I saw in the photos

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or actually photos that it port went off.

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It appeared to be a perfectly put together

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huge pipe bomb double pipe bomb.

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Investigators

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discovered that Rebecca Roll the address he on

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the package containing the bomb had a protective

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order against her estranged husband for domestic abuse

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and stalking.

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The Her husband, Lauren Bruce Pearson

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had assaulted role and her teenage daughter with

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his crutch.

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Following the assault, roll and informed Pearson that

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she was leaving him, prompting Pearson to threaten

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her with death if she followed through.

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The mother and daughter subsequently moved to a

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nearby mobile home.

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A Pearson continued his harassment by shouting up

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obscene threats.

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And taking pots shots at the trailer where

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roland resided.

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Pearson knew she would be at work on

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that fateful day

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making his plan even more sinister.

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It was clever.

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He was gonna just kill 1 in the

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office and everyone in the bank. He didn't

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care. There might be 10 or 15 people

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killed, but she'd be 1 of them. He

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knew she was at work that day.

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And

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he was very clever because

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he was a suspect in it.

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We had

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ci substantial evidence,

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that pointed

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to it. And, you know, we had the

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packaging of the bomb,

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we... That is to say the paper part,

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there were no fingerprints on it.

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There was no evidence of human

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touching in any way,

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and

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A search warrant of his home was done.

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We

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we wrote a search warrant and put the

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best facts we could together as thin.

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They went to his home. There was no

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black powder. There was no pipe. There were

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no tools to make a pipe bomb.

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It was clean.

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As agents approach Pearson home to execute the

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search warrant, he aroused more suspicion by asking

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if anything had happened to his wife.

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The mailing label for the bomb was typed

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in the widely used times new Roman font.

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During the search, investigators,

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confiscated

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Pearson packard bell computer and printer

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to determine whether he had used them to

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type the label.

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A forensic analysis revealed that the Times new

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Roman fought had been deleted from Pearson computer

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on the very day of the attempted bombing.

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He deleted New times Roman from his computer,

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so that

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his computer

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could not have printed the label because he

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didn't have new times Roman. Well, that's very

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clever.

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But anyway, so that was found and then

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The rest of the evidence... I mean, we

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just didn't have much else. We needed something

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forensic

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besides that and besides a motive and besides

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a few people that knew he had said

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some things not saying he he's gonna blow

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up, but it said some things he might

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not let her leave him.

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And...

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But we didn't want him out.

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During the search, agents also seized a 30

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30 str rifle in Marlin shotgun from Pearson

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home.

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However, Pearson was under a family violence protective

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order.

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The order prohibited him from possessing firearms.

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Johnston found legal means to keep Pearson locked

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up and is a estranged wife safe while

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the investigation continued.

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And I remembered that

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Congress had just passed something called the violence

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against women act va, the violence against Women

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act. It was a big deal,

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and we hadn't received any training on it,

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but I remembered that it existed and I

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called some people with justice Farm and yates.

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What I have to have well, you have

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to have a family violence protective order where

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the person got notice.

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Okay? Got that. And then they have to

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be in possession of a firearm.

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That's it. Yep.

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So I charged him. He's the first person

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in the United States charge, under

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Violence against Women act. With being person under

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a protective order being in possession of firearm.

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With Pearson held behind bars without bond,

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the forensic

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investigation by Us postal inspectors continued.

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They discovered his estranged wife's palm and fingerprints

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on cardboard

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inserts that fell out of the package when...

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The pipe bomb was opened at the probation

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office.

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However, Rebecca Roll did not touch the contents

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of the box at the office.

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The and she recognized the inserts as parts

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of a cardboard box that had been seen

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in their home.

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Despite this ci

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evidence,

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investigators

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still needed proof that tied Lauren Pearson

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directly to the bomb.

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He left no fingerprints on the

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on the package.

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The tape had no. It was taped up.

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Had no fingerprints, no human hair in it.

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But when they looked at it, there was

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a strange thing.

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It was a...

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Appeared to be an animal hair.

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But like a cattle hair from cattle. This

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guy didn't have any cattle and didn't live

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in your cattle.

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They said it was a animal hair with

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an

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body, another... A dark o body. So in

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other words, there were these little blip in

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a in what looked like a clear hair

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of dark Oval,

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microscopic.

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And

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they saw that, but it didn't mean anything

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to us Again, again... They said tip found

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in cattle. Well,

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so we

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talked to them Got them to...

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Give us a little information, and I wrote

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a second search warrant,

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and we ask permission from the federal judge

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to vacuum his house.

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And to take his vacuum if it were

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still there, and we did both. During the

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second search, investigators comb Pearson home with a

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forensic vacuum cleaner

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and seize the use bags and his vacuum

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cleaner.

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Then they got a break in the case

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The smoking gun came from an unlikely source.

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Pier dog, a large mu.

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And we got a call 1 day,

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and they said,

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did he have a...

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Dog, kind of a big mixed breed dog.

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Was they did.

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Just a big... Almost a great dane looking,

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but it wasn't. It was been mixed breed.

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Well,

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that's it.

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This is very strange here. We don't see

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it. It's not 1 a million, but it's

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almost.

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You vacuum

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clear hairs with avoid bodies that totally match

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the clear hair with avoid bodies, the single

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hair.

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On the tape of the bomb package.

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And

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that and some other evidence,

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we went to trial

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and he was convicted and got about 38

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years in federal prison.

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Did he have a bomb making experience in

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his background. I mean, it felt like I

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knew what he was doing? No. No. He

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he he didn't. He had a brief military

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career, brief unsuccessful military career.

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I don't remember now

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why had to do with maybe either where

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they lived or the type of system, we

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could not backtrack it in that day, it

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was older It was few years ago, could

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not backtrack his searches

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as as we can do today. Sure. So

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whether he, you know, looked at the Ana

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Cookbook or he got some other publication or

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whether he read about it in some of

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the fashion. We don't know how he learned

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to do it, but he built a beautiful

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bomb. It just didn't work that 1 time.

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In January of 2012

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after serving 16 years,

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Lauren Bruce Pearson died inside a federal pen

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at age 62,

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bringing a final close to this chilling chapter

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of a small town Texas crime story.