ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, December 12, 1996 TAG: 9612120061
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: ATLANTA
SOURCE: Associated Press
A man who took pictures in Centennial Olympic Park hours before the fatal bombing says he gave the FBI one photograph of a spectator wearing a green military-style backpack, similar to the one that held the bomb.
Prompted by the agency's request for tips Monday, Ted Miltiades said he remembered snapping photos about 61/2 hours before a 40-pound pipe bomb exploded.
FBI agents had said a military-style knapsack carrying the pipe bomb was placed under a bench near a Greek statue commemorating the 100th anniversary of the modern Olympics.
Miltiades said he remember taking a picture of the statue ``because I'm Greek.''
``I just pulled [the photos] out and looked at them and I noticed the man with the backpack,'' the 35-year-old Atlanta man said.
The photograph shows the back of a white man of medium height and shoulder-length brown hair wearing white or khaki shorts, a dark T-shirt and a baseball cap.
An FBI agent picked up the photo within minutes after Miltiades called the hot line. He later found the negative and took it to the FBI on Wednesday.
The bomb exploded July 27, killing one woman and injuring more than 100 other people during an early morning concert. A cameraman rushing to the scene died of a heart attack.
Miltiades was one of more than 1,000 people who called an FBI hot line on the first day it was set up. The agency is offering a $500,000 reward for information leading to the bomber.
FBI spokesman Jay Spadafore declined comment on Miltiades or the photograph. He said the agency had no plans to release any photos.
The FBI also is seeking anyone who might recognize the deep, slow voice of the man who called police to warn of the bomb. A tape of the 911 call was released at Monday's news conference.
As of 5 p.m. Wednesday, the FBI had received 1,500 calls to the hot line, and had referred 1,000 for further review or investigation, FBI spokeswoman Susan Lloyd said Wednesday.
The agency also created a page on the World Wide Web this week with photos and illustrations of the bomb site and the backpack, a recording of the 911 call and the hot line number.
``It's been very heavy,'' Spadafore said of the number of hits the page had generated, ``so heavy that some callers can't get through, so we tell them to keep on trying.''
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