Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 26, 1995 TAG: 9504260105
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: SAN FRANCISCO LENGTH: Medium
``We anticipated something before the summer,'' said one source, who spoke on condition of anonymity. ``This guy has flipped out.''
The latest victim: A lobbyist for the timber industry in California, Gilbert B. Murray, 47, was killed Monday when a mailed package bomb went off in his Sacramento office.
Murray, president of the California Forestry Association, was the third person killed in 16 attacks attributed to the Unabomber since 1978. Twenty-three people have been injured.
Only once before has the bomber written a letter - in June 1993 to The New York Times in which he claimed to be part of a group and espoused an anarchistic philosophy. Agents said, however, that they doubt he belongs to a group and called the Times letter a ``trial balloon.''
Now, in light of the recent letters in Murray's case, investigators believe the bomber has broken his long silence, said the law enforcement source.
A San Francisco-based task force of FBI, Postal Service and Treasury Department investigators was expecting the latest bombing, the source said.
``There have been some letters delivered,'' said the source, who refused to elaborate.
A second federal source confirmed letters from the Unabomber were received. He suggested some may have been timed to arrive the day of the bombing. He also refused to discuss the contents or addresses of the letters.
Sacramento homicide Lt. Joe Enloe said bomb fragments contained the ``signature'' of the Unabomber.
``This is a very brave, brazen person in the sense that he's not really hiding the fact that the bomb is his,'' Enloe said. The force of the shoebox-size bomb sent fragments 140 feet into the building's reception area, he said.
The package was addressed to Murray's predecessor, William Dennison, who left the job a year ago. The Postal Inspection Service is tracking where and when the bomb was mailed, said spokesman Dan DeMiglio.
``It was an extremely cleanly wrapped package, almost flawlessly wrapped. It appeared to have no seams. It was clearly addressed,'' DeMiglio said.
The Unabomber, who got the name because he initially targeted university and airline officials, is known for careful craftsmanship and meticulous wrapping. The Murray bomb was his 16th.
A composite drawing of the bomber was distributed after he was spotted dropping off a package in Salt Lake City in 1987. He was quiet for six years, but resumed his work with two bombings in June 1993. His latest, before Monday's attack, was in December, when a bomb killed advertising executive Thomas Mosser in his New Jersey home.
Monday's bombing about four months after the Mosser attack fits a pattern similar to bombings since 1982. In each case except one, a first bombing was followed by a second in a week to a few months.
The Mosser attack and Monday's bombing are the latest to show the Unabomber's apparent fascination with wood.
Mosser lived on Aspen Drive. Earlier victims included Percy Wood, then-head of United Airlines. He lived in Lake Forest. The Unabomber has used phony return addresses on his mail bombs that have included Ravenswood and Forest Glen Road.
by CNB