Unabomber

Unabomber News History

Copyright 1994 Gannett Company, Inc.

USA TODAY

December 13, 1994, Tuesday, FINAL EDITION

SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 1A

LENGTH: 318 words

HEADLINE: Another mail bomb feared

BYLINE: Andrea Stone

BODY:

The bomb that killed a New Jersey advertising executive was mailed from San Francisco, the FBI said Monday.

And the bomber may be poised to strike again.

The FBI notes two attacks in 1993 - and others in 1982 and 1985 - came in pairs, suggesting a pattern.

"The bomber knows to get attention he has to start killing people," says Lawrence Myer, who is writing a book on serial bombers. "He will not stop."

Officials warn people not to open unexpected packages and to contact police about any suspicious parcels.

The latest bomb is believed the handiwork of the "Unabom" case suspect, an elusive killer believed responsible for 14 other explosions since 1978.

The bomber's toll: two dead and 23 injured. Saturday's bomb killed Young & Rubicam's Thomas Mosser, 50.

The blast was the first linked to the Unabom case in 18 months. The videotape-size package that exploded at Mosser's home in North Caldwell, N.J., included a return address and was postmarked Dec. 3.

"The (bomb) components, its construction, make us believe the bombs are linked," says FBI agent Barry Mawn.

The letters "FC" have been on fragments of up to 11 bombs. A letter last year to The New York Times said "FC" is an anarchist group. It also may be an anti-computer phrase.

Mosser was the fourth bomb target to get prior mention in the Times involving high-tech fields. His firm was recently hired by computer giants Xerox and Digital Equipment.

The latest mail explosion, during the holiday season, sent jitters nationwide.

In Meriden, Conn., postal workers called police to check a ticking parcel. It turned out to be an answering machine.

Still, experts urge caution.

"Unless they know where a package has come from and they know the person who sent it, they should call that person to verify," says Thomas Brodie, author of Bombs & Bombings: A Handbook to Detection.

FBI's Unabom hot line: 1-800-701-BOMB.