Copyright 1995 Chicago Sun-Times, Inc.
Chicago Sun-Times
April 25, 1995,TUESDAY,Late Sports Final Edition
SECTION: NEWS;Pg. 17
LENGTH: 350 words
HEADLINE: Serial Bomber Blamed In Fatal Calif. Attack
BYLINE: BY DAN MORAIN and JENIFER WARREN
DATELINE: SACRAMENTO, Calif.
BODY:
A mail bomb that exploded in a forestry trade group's headquarters Monday and killed a man probably was sent by the bomber known as Unabomber, the FBI said.
Authorities said the bomb--contained in a heavy package the size of a shoebox--was addressed to the California Forestry Association, an industry group that lobbies for legislation on behalf of timber and mill companies. The victim was identified as Gilbert B. Murray, 47, of suburban Roseville, Calif. He was an association lobbyist and vice president. He had a wife and three children.
Over the last 16 years, Unabomber has been blamed for 15 attacks that have killed two other people and injured 23.
Monday's explosion occurred shortly after 2 p.m. when a female clerical worker gave the package--sent through the mail and wrapped in brown paper--to Murray, police said. The bomb exploded immediately and killed Murray. None of the five other people in the office was hurt.
"The similarities in the forensics preliminarily reviewed at the crime scene strongly suggest the Unabomber," FBI Special Agent Richard Ross said.
The special federal Unabom task force from San Francisco arrived Monday afternoon and is taking over the case, Ross said.
Investigators say the Unabomber appears to be fascinated with wood. Some of his bomb parts were carved out of wood and twigs have been included in a bomb. His most recent victim, advertising executive Thomas Mosser, killed at his home in December, lived on Aspen Drive in North Caldwell, N.J.
The president of United Airlines, Percy A. Wood of Lake Forest, received one of the bombs in 1980 and was injured.
The California Forestry Association is a nonprofit trade association representing wood products companies and commercial forest landowners. In 1993, it filed an unsuccessful petition asking that the northern spotted owl be removed from the endangered species list.
The name "Unabomber" is derived from the FBI's designation of the case as Unabom. It was so named because universities were among the early targets.
Contributing: Associated Press, Reuters
GRAPHIC: LOS ANGELES TIMES