Extremist Writes of Life on the Run After Crimes

Associated Press in NY Times/June 26, 2005

Birmingham, Ala. -- The anti-abortion extremist Eric Rudolph, who is awaiting sentencing for the 1996 Olympic bombing and three other attacks, says in an account posted on the Internet that he survived on the run for five years by stealing grain from silos.

The 5,500-word account appeared on a Web site maintained by an abortion opponent based in Virginia, along with the manifesto Mr. Rudolph distributed in April that cast the bombings as a protest against abortion.

In the Internet account, Mr. Rudolph, a former Army explosives expert, said he used wheeled garbage containers and bags to steal grain from silos near Murphy, N.C., where he was captured in 2003 after more than five years on the run.

"It was the best of foods. It was the worst of foods," he wrote. "Whole corn, wheat and soybeans, this was the staple that sustained me for many years."

He put the grain in garbage cans and once, he said, he feared the stash would be discovered by a hunting party with a dog named Lil. But when the dog was killed by a speeding car, the hunters drove off.

One time, he said, a squirrel hunter happened by, and Mr. Rudolph fled so quickly that he forgot about his campfire. He said he expected searchers to soon swarm the area, but nothing ever happened.

More installments are promised. The current installment ends: "Just wait until you hear about the time the cops took me to get some gas for my stolen truck. Maybe next time."

Mr. Rudolph is scheduled to receive life sentences on July 18 after pleading guilty in April to killing 2 people and injuring more than 100 at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996 and an abortion clinic in Birmingham in 1998. He has also admitted bombing a clinic and a gay bar in Atlanta in 1997, wounding a total of 11 people.

The Webmaster of the site, Donald Spitz, a minister whose site also includes photographs of aborted fetuses, said Friday that he had been writing to Mr. Rudolph in jail for months, and that Mr. Rudolph had mailed him the 21-page handwritten account.

Mr. Spitz said he posted the account at www.armyofgod.com/EricRudolphTil.html with Mr. Rudolph's approval.

Emily Lyons, a nurse who was critically injured in the Birmingham clinic bombing, said Friday that Mr. Rudolph seemed to be "a puppet" of Mr. Spitz and other anti-abortion activists who accept donations through their Web sites.

"Eric Rudolph does the time and those creating the Web sites get money for publishing Rudolph's ramblings," she said in a statement.