U.S. Attorney May Re-open Bishop Pipe Bomb Case

Hmmm, very curious.

After two pipe bombs arrived at the Newton home of Dr. Paul Rosenberg in December 1993, a witness told investigators that Jimmy E. Anderson Jr. had said he “wanted to get back at’’ the doctor by shooting, bombing, stabbing, or strangling him, according to files released yesterday by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Sure doesn't sound like the meek, docile type he's been portrayed as.

Nothing in the files indicated whether investigators found the unidentified witness credible. But the files confirmed that Anderson and his wife, Amy Bishop, were questioned in the attempted mail bombing. The documents also provided more details about why investigators may have focused on them - although they were never charged.

Rosenberg, a Harvard Medical School professor and physician at Children’s Hospital, told investigators that weeks before the attempted bombing, he played a role in Bishop’s resignation from her job as a postdoctoral research fellow in the hospital’s neurobiology lab because “he felt she could not meet the standards required for the work,’’ according to the documents.

Rosenberg said Bishop’s co-workers felt she had “problems with depression,’’ that he thought “she was not stable,’’ and that there had been growing concerns because she had “exhibited violent behavior.’’

The case remains unsolved. But yesterday, former US attorney Donald K. Stern, who presided over the office when prosecutors oversaw the attempted mail bombing investigation, said the case should be reviewed, following Bishop’s arrest in the Feb. 12 shooting death of three of her colleagues at the University of Alabama at Huntsville.

“There’s a reason to take a fresh look because you want to make sure things were done properly,’’ Stern said. “I have no reason to believe that they weren’t, but sometimes it’s useful to take a look back because it could suggest improvements.’’

Bishop appears to be a one-woman crime wave since the mid-1980's and only now are people taking a closer look at things, or running for cover in some instances.

The files obtained yesterday by the Globe said the investigation identified “two suspects, a married couple,’’ and that one of the pair “had quit employment . . . and was reportedly upset and on the verge of a nervous breakdown, according to witnesses interviewed.’’

The names are blacked out in most of the files, but three people familiar with the investigation have confirmed on condition of anonymity that the documents refer to Anderson and Bishop. In one document, Anderson’s name is not redacted, and he is identified as the person who allegedly told a witness in 1993 that he “wanted to get back’’ at Rosenberg and wanted to “shoot him, bomb him, stab him or strangle Rosenberg.’’

The files indicate that the witness said someone had purchased a 9mm pistol years earlier, but it was unclear whom he was referring to because portions of the document were redacted.

The files reveal that federal authorities searched seven sites related to the couple. Bishop allegedly refused to open the door when investigators arrived with a warrant to search the couple’s Braintree home in April 1994, prompting them to break a window to enter.

During the search of the home and an office, investigators found items similar to those used to construct the pipe bombs, including a partially used tube of DuroMend epoxy and an Avery Dennison five-column Analysis Pad, according to the files.

However, laboratory analysis of physical evidence seized during the searches were “unable to tie any of the items’’ to the explosives mailed to Rosenberg, according to the files.

Sounds to me as if they didn't want to tie the items to Bishop and Anderson.

Instapundit links. Thanks!