on july 27th, 1996, a massive bomb explodes at the olympics in atlanta, georgia. >> i don't think anyone expected someone to come in to try to bomb a park, where you basically had spectator, women and

childre children. >> a series of terrifying bombs follows. >> where were you in this building and where was the explosion? >> my god! >> we clearly believed that we are dealing with a deranged kille killer. >> in the bottom of my heart, i knew we had a serial bomber. >> the man behind the attacks is labelled a far right activist. a member of a national anti-government movement. but this bomber works alone. >> a lone wolf, declaring war on the institutions and symbols of the society he believe is at war with the tradition wail of life. >> using rarely seen evidence, investigators describe what drove the bomber to kill. >> he wasn't going to be somebody who really mattered. he really needed to be that.

he needed to matter in the world. >> and the chase that became the largest domestic man hunt in fbi history? we realized this is like nothing we've ever done before. >> the hunt for a serial bomber, through the eyes of those who lived it. >> at the end of the day, he's a murderer, just likeny other murderer. there is a bomb in centennial park.

you have 30 minutes. >> [ explosion ]. >> terror at the olympic games. a pipe bomb explosion. >> people are bleeding, people were screaming and howling in pai pain. >> everybody needs to move off the street. >> july, 1996, a bomb explodes at the olympic games in atlanta, georgia. >> about 1:00, police discovered what they said was a suspicious package. authorities said the device appeared to be a pipe bomb, loaded with nails and screw, desi designed to penetrate human flesh. >> at the time of the bombing, i was a supervisor on intelligence detail during the olympics.

by the time we heard about the phone-in threat, the device already detonated. >> the blast injuries 111 people and claims the life of one woman. alice hawthorne, visiting the games with her daughter. >> on the scene, dr. john vogel, a first year hospital resident tried to resuscitate a female victim with the health of a nurse. >> she started doing chest compressions while i continued the mouth-to-mouth. but it was not successful. >> the bomb in centennial park was the largest pipe bomb in u.s. history. it spewed a mix of shrapnel, predominantly of case hardened nails. the mason airy nails designed for driving in brick, stone and

concrete. miss hawthorne was killed when one of the nails struck her in the head. these are traveling at over 2,000 feet per second. it's like a small missile. other people were struck by pieces of the pipe that the explosive was contained in. >> when you find something like nails in a device, it's flut for a purpose, called anti-personnel. if you will put something that will just damage, you don't need bolts or screws or steel ball bearings or things like that. when you-point that in there, it's definitely designed to kill or in injure people. >> a little more than 24 hours after the bomb, investigators zero in on a person of interest.

>> at the time of the blast, the question came up about the person who discovered the bomb, richard jewel. richard was a security officer at the olympics. he discovered the bomb, brought it to everyone's attention and it detonated a short time later. in the natural course of an investigation, you, of course, will look at the person who found the bomb. >> when i heard from my friends at the profiling unit that they thought they had their guy and it was this security guy, richard jewel, i thought, oh, no, this is going to get them in terrible trouble because we didn't have enough information at the time. a lot of people say a lot of things during investigations. you hope they don't all get into the media. >> as authorities continued their investigation, richard jewel is no longer a viable lead. >> the issue, the timing of the

911 call alerting atlanta authorities to the bomb. police records show that call came in at 12:58 a.m. state phone logs show a georgia investigator called the bomb squad at 12:57, just one minute before. the state investigator says he made that call immediately after richard jewel pointed out the backpack that contained the bomb. jewel's lawyer says there's no way jewel could have pointed out the backpack then made that 911 call one minute later at the pay phone several blocks away. >> with jewel cleared, investigators are forced to make up for lost time. they focus their efforts on the mysterious 911 call. >> to me, that call tells you to get the people out of the way, which our people tried to do. if everybody's gone, who's left? nobody but law enforcement and bomb techs. if it blows up now, that's who's going to get killed.

>> the search for a new suspect yields a promising lead and they get a look at the man that may be behind the bombing. >> the fbi released a sketch of a man between 20 and 30 years old, about six feet tall with dark hair wearing a dark cap. several witnesses told investigators said they saw him sitting on the bench where the bomb was planted. >> investigators raced to find the mystery man in the sketch before the bomber strikes again. congratulations. today, the city of charlotte can use verizon technology to inspire businesses to conserve energy and monitor costs. making communities greener... congratulations. ... and buildings as valuable to the bottom line... whoa ! ... as the people inside them. congratulations. because when you add verizon to your company,

you don't just add, you multiply. ♪ discover something new... verizon. laces? really? slip-on's the way to go. more people do that, security would be like -- there's no charge for the bag. thanks. i know a quiet little place where we can get some work done. there's a three-prong plug. i have club passes. [ male announcer ] now there's a mileage card that offers special perks on united, like a free checked bag, united club passes, and priority boarding. thanks. ♪ okay. what's your secret? ♪ [ male announcer ] the new united mileageplus explorer card. get it and you're in.

but proven technologies allow natural gas producers to supply affordable, cleaner energy, while protecting our environment. across america, these technologies protect air - by monitoring air quality and reducing emissions... ...protect water - through conservation and self-contained recycling systems... ... and protect land - by reducing our footprint and respecting wildlife. america's natural gas... domestic, abundant, clean energy to power our lives... that's smarter power today.

domestihave cuts or sores, energhave had hepatitis b,.. have been treated for heart failure, or if, while on enbrel, you experience persistent fever, bruising, bleeding, or paleness. if you've had enough, ask your dermatologist about enbrel.

we were at work and the next thing we knew, the building was trembling. >> tics months after the olympic park bomb, another take. this time, the bomb rocks a family planning clinic in the atlanta suburb of sandy springs, less than 14 miles way from the olympic park bomb site. >> we are not ruling out the possibility of domestic terrorism unrelate to clinic violence. >> as domestic terrorism raced to the scene, the unthinkable happened. >> where were you and -- >> my god! >> about an hour after the first bomb, a second bomb shows up. >> they had cars around the first bombing and brought it around the area of the dumpster and parked it. that device had a lot of number 4 cut flooring nails.

had that car not been there, there would have been several people probably killed. it just so happened the majority of the nails force went into this automobile. >> this bomb and the bomb at centennial park seemed to share a target. law enforcement on the scene. >> by them putting that bomb there, it's designed to get these responders who will be working the scene. there's no other reason. >> in atlanta last night, a bomb sent shrapnel flying into a nightclub popular with homosexuals? playing pool, dance, having drinks, having a good time. all of a sudden, bam. >> it was about how it was.

>> it was littered over the dance floor and all. >> investigators make their way in the nightclub, attempting to secure the area and quickly discover something suspicious. a backpack, containing the second bomb. >> law enforcement this time were looking for a secondary device and they actually found it. >> the bomb squad uses a robot to remove the second bomb. saving the lives of law enforcement working the scene. >> it did go off while they were trying to disarm it. it blew up a robot. >> the bombers efforts and law enforcement at the scene brought investigators closer to an ominous investigation. >> in 25 years of police experience told me i don't believe in coincidences, especially when we got the fr k forensics from the bomb and

directional had been used and steel plates had been used and it was not released to the public. i knew in the bottom of my heart, we had a serial bomber. >> investigators say they're on the verge of concluding three atlantic bombings are linked, w whoever set off the bombing at the olympic games is likely from atlanta and abortion clinic in january and gay nightclub after that. >> at this point, we believe they're likely to be linked together and the work of one of individual or small group of individuals. >> three bombings in the atlanta, georgia area under a year. with authorities no closer to landing a suspect, the media hands them a promising lead. a local cnbc affiliate, reuters, journal cushionstitution have a letter claimed to be sent from the bomber. >> it came from a group federal

agents now believe may be responsible for the attack, a group claiming to be from the army of god, saying it targeted the abortion clinic because the murder of 3.5 million children will not be tolerated and borm -- bombed the lesbian nightclub calling it the arsodomite. >> you join this army by committing an act of violence. >> these lone terrorist bombers who fashion themselves or style themselves as a group almost never are. first of all, to present yourself as a group is to present yourself as a much stronger entity. there's strength in numbers. the real truth of it is that these people are socially unable

to connect to a social network in a group. >> the fbi examines the letters. they yield little forensic evidence but contain a chilling warning. more bombs are on the way. [ thunder crashes ] [ snoring ] [ male announcer ] vicks nyquil cold and flu. the nighttime, sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, fever, best sleep you ever got with a cold... medicine. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] vicks dayquil. defeats 5 cold & flu symptoms. ♪ ♪ sen♪ co-signed her credit card - "buy books, not beer!" ♪ ♪ut the second at she shut the door ♪ ♪ girl started blowing up their credit score ♪ ♪ she bought a pizza party for the whole dorm floor ♪

♪ hundred pounds of makeup at the makeup store ♪ ♪ and a ticket down to spring break in mexico ♪ ♪ but her folks didn't know 'cause her folks didn't go ♪ ♪ to free-credit-score-dot-com hard times for daddy and mom. ♪ v.o.: offer applies with enrollment in freecreditscore.com hey... there's mom! hey, let mom try. ready, go! ♪ yeah, rock on, mom! [ male announcer ] sometimes a hint is all the wrapping a gift needs. wait a minute...i... [ laughs ] [ male announcer ] the lexus december to remember sales event is here, but only for a limited time. see your lexus dealer for exclusive lease offers on the 2012 rx 350 and, as a gift from lexus, we'll make your first month's payment.

the van went through the clinic at 7:33 this morning, just as employees were preparing to open for business. >> we have one concern. >> that was an off-duty policeman working security at the clinic. officer robert sanderson, a nurse injured in the blast is tonight in critical condition.

>> the bombing in birmingham, alabama, the morning it occur d occurred, officer sandy sanderson approached the device. the device was camouflaged. he approached it, extended his baton, bent over it and it detonate detonated! subsequent investigation revealed fairly quickly that it was a command detonated device, which meant the bomber was standing there watching the officer approach the bomb. >> remote control is like me having a rifle and i'm sitting in the woods watching to shoot somebody when they come by. i'm in control. i'm the one that will pull the trigger. i think that the cop just happened to find it a little too soon and he was forced to set it off before he wanted to.

>> centennial olympic park, sandy springs abortion clinic and the other side of atlanta, they were all timed devices. he was not getting results he wanted. he did not get the injuries, fatalities he wanted. >> this command detonate dead vice places the killer very close to the crime scene, a mistake that may lead to his capture. >> one of the most amazing stories i have seen in law enforcement history is a story about instincts, following your instincts, getting involved, doing your civic duty. this college student, here's all this noise. he looks out the window and sees all these people running towards the scene of smoke. as these people are going towards this explosion, he sees one lone male walking away. he decides that's suspicious. then he made the decision that

it's suspicious enough for me to follow that person. >> birmingham 911. >> this is really important. you know that explosion downtown. i seen a guy walking from that direction and he had a wig on. i was following him and he took the wig off. i think this is him. i don't know. >> what's he got on? >> i don't know. he just walked in the woods. >> when he's about to give up, who walks out the other side of the trees but this lone male. >> authorities say right after the bomb blast, witnesses saw a man run away, take off a wig and then jump into a grey pickup truck parked nearby. >> the 1989 pickup has north carolina plates, kmd 1117. it is registered to a man named eric robert rudolph.

>> a little more than 24 hours after the birmingham bomb blast, federal agents arrive in the rural town of murphy, north carolina, the home of eric rudolph. unfortunately, the news travels faster than they do. >> the investigation of a deadly bombing at a clinic in alabama that performs abortions is centering on a grey nissan pickup and man who nay know something about it. just moments ago, investigators announced they have issued a material witness warrant for eric robert rudolph. they say he may have information about that truck. >> investigators rush to eric rudolph's last known address, hoping to catch him before he

hears the news. >> by the time law enforcement authorities, both local and the local sheriff's office and fbi and atf showed up at the trailer, the door was swinging in the wind. when you step inside here, you can tell the individual who left this trailer left in a big, big hurry. >> there were guns left in the trailer. there was a fairly substantial amount of cash hidden behind a picture frame, left in the trailer, some of the same type clothing the bomber in bi birmingham supposed to have worn, a disguise in there. we were pleased some of the things that would immediately tie him back possibly to birmingham were found. that was our main focus at that point. we wanted to catch the guy who had killed the police officer and injured the nurse.

>> then, investigators find a clue. >> today, investigators in north carolina hope to get a warrant to a truck found over the weekend. the truck belongs to eric robert rudolph, a man sought as a material witness in the bombing clinic of birmingham, alabama? a search of the truck reveals no sign of eric rudolph. police prepare to head into the mountains of north carolina, for what will become the largest domestic man hunt in fbi history. they came to see us in florida... make that alabama... make that mississippi. the best part of the gulf is wherever you choose... and now is a great time to discover it. this year millions of people did. we set all kinds of records. next year we're out to do even better. so come on down to louisiana... florida... alabama... mississippi. we can't wait to see you. brought to you by bp and all of us who call the gulf home.

try bayer advanced aspirin. it's not the bayer aspirin you know. it's different. first, it's been re-engineered with micro-particles. second, it enters the bloodstream fast, and rushes relief to the site of your tough pain. the best part? it's proven to relieve pain twice as fast as before. bayer advanced aspirin. test how fast it works for you. love it, or get your money back. test how fast it works for you. [ engine revving ] [ male announcer ] you won't find the toughness of a ram 1500 combined with the legendary power of a hemi v8 in any other truck. it's a beautiful thing. guts. glory. ram.

you really want to be careful, you can't use something as abrasive as a toothpaste because it will cause scratches. as a result of those scratches, bacteria will get lodged in that denture and as they multiply in the mouth the odor can get stronger. i always advise my patients to use polident. it has specific agents in it that can kill bacteria. using polident daily, you definitely will not be creating the scratches. you're going to have a fresh bright smile, and you're going to feel confident.

msnbc now, i'm page hopkins, former republican presidential front-runner, herman cain announces he is suspending his campaign. the toll on his fomly of allegations of sexual im p impropriety. an 84-year-old woman claims she was strip-searched after she

asked to skip the body scanners and they deny a strip-search took place. now, take you back to hunting a serial bomber. as the search for eric rudolph enters its third week, today, federal authorities announce he's more than just a material witness but the man believed responsible for the deadly bombing of that birmingham women's clinic last month. a $100,000 reward is being offered. the massive search for rudolph believed armed and dangerous has been focused on his hometown in cherokee county, north carolina. >> based on eyewitness accounts on the scene and evidence found in the trailer, authorities officially charge eric rudolph for the birmingham clinic bombing. where he's hiding will make finding him no easy task. >> we brought in an army officer who specialized in this type of tracking. he said, look, you could

literally have an army out here walking side by side across the entire 500,000 acres of the nata ha hala forest archnd eric could bn the middle of that and you could walk right over him. i have seen places you can hide and army in these type of situations. we realized this is like nothing we have done before. >> adding to the difficulty of the terrain, some residents of rural north carolina seem unsure about playing host to hundreds of federal agents. >> we had s.w.a.t. and srt guys from new york city and chicago and detroit. did we stand out sxwlrchlt obviously, we stood out. these people had lived there all their life and they knew who was from here and who wasn't. >> it's just changed things. there's not as much privacy as there used to be. >> fear is something we have

here. >> people aren't used to be bothered, particularly not used to being bothered by horsed of quote federal agents. people simply didn't want to see fed is in the woods. we had at least two dozen, federal, state and local. we had at any one time 200 people working in the mountains of north carolina. it literally looked like a traveling road show. >> adding to their concerns, this rural area of north carolina has a small percentage of armed residents in the form of militias. >> [ gunshots ]. >> by the spring of 1995, the militia movement reaches 39 states including north carolina. >> . >> there were a variety of factors that helped sculpt and give birth to the militia movement.

in the early to mid 90s, we had a war. we had a recession. we also, in the united states, had the ascension of the democrats to both houses, the appointment of left leaning supreme court justices and the election of a southern liberal. leaving traditional conservative white males feeling d disenfranchised. what came out of that was a notion that the government itself was selling america out and going after citizens who merely were different and dissented. >> authorities worried that local sentiment will be on rudolph's side. some residents seemed to support that fear. >> we started to get some t-shirts. you got some bumper stickers. the hunt for rudolph.

run, rudolph, run, that type of thing. again, that was portrayed in the media, i think, as support for rudolph. >> despite having the support of some of the locals, eric rudolph isn't one for company. by all accounts, he's preferred solitude since childhood. >> we put on a foull-court pres to determine and learn as much information as we could about eric rudolph. >> eric rudolph was raised in kind of counter culture background. big family. they had a lot of kids and they were -- they became more extreme in their religious beliefs as

time went on. the only thing i know about eric rudolph's mother was that she was a very very strong influence on him. he was very very close to her. she has a strong internal compass on what's right and what's wrong. she transferred that to her son. >> eric's mother, patty, certainly believed, and i'm sure, still believes in holistic medicine. whether or not patty's distrust of doctors and the medical field, traditional medical field in general was tied into her distrust for authority, really don't know. but i do know that eric never went to a doctor. >> when eric rudolph was a teenager, his father is diagnosed with malignant melanoma. despite the severity of his diagnosis, rudolph's father refuses conventional medical treatment.

>> patty and bob sought the n - non-traditional way of combatting cancer, when the 1960s was considerably more radical than it is now. >> rudolph's parents seek out a cancer treatment called laitr laitrill, an fda banned treatment from crushed apricot pits. during his illness, his mother sends him to live with a family friend, tom brannon. >> patty and bob had met tom brannon in florida at some religion gathering. tom was more-or-less a surrogate father at a very fragile time in eric's life, when his father was dying.

they talked a lot. they talked about philosophy, they talked about religion, they talked about anything and everything. and certainly, a much older tom brannon, who is clearly intelligent, with extremist view s certainly influenced him in a pretty profound manner. >> shortly after rudolph begins living with tom brannon, his father dies. though rudolph denies it, some think it solidified his resentment to the federal government. >> eric had been preached to by his family members for years how his father edhad died from canc. he could not get treatment in this united states because of the federal government. i think all this flavoring shaped his philosophy.

i still believe in my heart, that's what turned him into the person he was. >> he was, as someone who had difficulty making connections with other people, really intent on making a relationship with someone who had a unique viewpoint that he shared about the world, which was your beliefs are your own and you don't have to conform. that would have appealed to rudolph in a paternalistic way but also appealed to him in a justification for not being like everybody else. after her husband's death, rudolph's mother moves the entire family to the woods of north carolina. there, she is close to tom brannon and his family and further away from mainstream society. >> there was a real feeling in

the family that the government and the health establishment and the medical establishment failed them and failed their father, so they became more and more isolated from mainstream society and more and more distrustful. >> craving solitude over company, rudolph spends nearly all of his free time in the woods surrounding the town. >> eric would sometimes, while in new york, disappear for days, even a week or so at a time. and he clearly learned survivalist skills, because i think he had an interest in it. i think it challenged him. he was just so good at it. >> in conversations with eric's girlfriends and family members, we learned he grew up in the woods in western north carolina. he loved to play what amounted

to escape and evasion games, an adult form of hide-and-seek in the woods. >> when rudolph is 20, he joins the military. >> we learned he had military training. we learned he had a lot of explosives trainings that did not normally take place but his company commander had an interest in explosives an got his troop some additional training. >> eric rudolph was looking for a purpose in his life from a very young age. he wanted to be in some sort of special forces capacity in the army, but washed out of it. he was somebody who couldn't find his purpose in the military. he wasn't going to be somebody who really mattered. he really needed to be that. he needed to matter in the world. congratulations.

congratulations. congratulations. today, the city of charlotte can use verizon technology to inspire businesses to conserve energy and monitor costs. making communities greener... congratulations. ... and buildings as valuable to the bottom line... whoa ! ... as the people inside them. congratulations. because when you add verizon to your company, you don't just add, you multiply. ♪ discover something new... verizon. and here's what we did today: supported nearly 3 million steady jobs across our country... ... scientists, technicians, engineers, machinists... ... adding nearly 400 billion dollars to our economy... we're at work providing power to almost a quarter of our homes and businesses... ... and giving us cleaner rides to work and school... and tomorrow, we could do even more. cleaner, domestic, abundant and creating jobs now. we're america's natural gas. the smarter power, today.

learn more at anga.us. can i help you? yeah, can i get a full-sized car? for full-sized cars, please listen to the following menu. for convertibles, press star one. i didn't catch that. to speak to a representative, please say representative now. representative. goodbye! you don't like automated customer service, and neither do we. that's why, unlike other cards, no matter when you call chase sapphire preferred, you immediately get a person not a prompt. chase sapphire preferred. a card of a different color. (phone ringing) chase sapphire preferred, this is julie in springfield. how about making it brighter. more colorful. ♪ and putting all our helpers to work? so we can build on our favorite traditions by adding a few new ones. we've all got garlands and budgets to stretch. and this year, we can keep them both evergreen. more saving. more doing. that's the power of the home depot. can you smell those savings? fresh cut christmas trees are arriving weekly.

i wish my patients could see what i see. ♪ that over time, having high cholesterol plus diabetes... or high blood pressure... or family history of early heart disease... can put them at increased risk for plaque buildup. and they'd see that it's more important to get their cholesterol where their doctor wants. and why for these patients, when diet and exercise alone aren't enough, i prescribe crestor. adding crestor lowers bad cholesterol by up to 52%. and is also proven to slow plaque buildup. [ female announcer ] crestor is not right for everyone. like people with liver disease... or women who are nursing, pregnant, or may become pregnant. simple blood tests will check for liver problems. tell your doctor about other medicines you're taking. or if you have muscle pain or weakness. that could be a sign of a rare but serious side effect. is your cholesterol where your doctor wants? ask your doctor if crestor is right for you. [ female announcer ] if you can't afford your medication,

astra zeneca may be able to help. hundreds of agents, volunteers bard in hunters have combed these mountains in search of the suspected bomber. >> eric rudolph is added to the fbi's most wanted list. with no sightings of the fugitive, some speculate that he is dead. >> people can't conceptualize of someone like this having this level of resolve and dedication

to this mission. eric rudolph is not like everybody else. his anti-government and anti-abortion philosophy and ideology was the motivating force for him. doing something that would achieve the objective of furthering that cause trumped other needs that he might have had in his life, for companionship or money or anything like that. >> he had the skills to survive a long long time. and he had the will. because in his mind, if he had died in the woods, then, in a sense to him, the government would have won. >> as the investigators'

frustration mounts, their fugitive makes a mistake that hands them the biggest break of the case. >> this morning, the police and fbi are intensifying their search in north carolina for suspected abortion clinic bomber, eric rudolph. they're concentrating on the home where rudolph is believed to have taken some food and a pickup truck. >> a local citizen told the atf agent eric rudolph was in my driveway a couple months ago. he came out of the mountains, wanted supplies and to give him food. he wanted norton to give him a pickup truck, an old truck to make a get away because he had a place he was going to stash some of these supplies in the woods. rudolph had actually come back and stolen the truck and he took food. we mar shalled the resources of the task force and we spent that

weekend looking for that truck. >> this was the first time that we had confirmation that he was still in the area. we had a hot trail and we hadn't had one for a long time. >> it was a real big moment in the task force because up to now, this is in july of 1998, people are saying he's long gone, he's not in the woods. the task force, all these city slickers have no idea what they're talking about. and now we're really, we feel, close. we feel we're like within hours, minutes, days, of finding rudolph. we did finally find that truck, several days later, abandoned at a campground in the forest, but rudolph was nowhere to be found. >> to find a fugitive this

elusive, investigators need an expert who has studied bomb eer to aid in the capture. >> by the time i got involved in the eric rudolph case, we had just come off the euna euna-the bomber investigation. ir rick was one of the most separate bombers not because he wanted to take the heat off a group or be a loyal servant to ideology, because he connected to the ideology itself instead of the group. >> committed to staying in the woods, rudolph lives like a hunted animal. as described in his personal writings, he resolves to stay live. >> it was a brutal starving time. burying food, digging shelters,

freezing. hunting and eating acorns and salamanders. i had an improvised bed, which was made of leaves and plastic. i used a small dugout underneath a rock to avoid helicopters and their heat sensitive equipment. in defiance, i looked toward the ridge over which the chopper had just gone and said, i am still here. >> i don't know that he could have stayed out in the woods indefinitely. but i don't think that he had any intention of sur rendering himself to the authorities. >> i believe after a period of time, he would have come back and put down another bomb, mainly to excite the game again.

it's easy to see what subaru owners care about. that's why we created the share the love event. get a great deal on a new subaru and $250 goes to your choice of 5 charities. with your help, we can reach $20 million dollars by the end of this, our fourth year.

four years after the explosion that shook the olympic games in atlanta and two years after rudolph was formally accused of planting the bomb, investigators simply have no idea where he is and, they admit, no current leads that might help find him. >> 3 1/2 years into the hunt for eric rudolph, the world changes. in the aftermath of 9/11, resources for domestic terrorism are focused on international threats. the few investigators left on rudolph's case continue their search. hopeful that rudolph will make the mistake they've been waiting for.

early morning in murphy, north carolina. all is quiet, as a local police officer nears the end of his patro patrol. >> it was a young rookie officer, jeff postel, who was working the night shift, taking his marked unit behind the grocery store parking lot, happened upon an individual that was going through the dumpsters. the individual looked homeless. didn't look like -- looked like he had a stick in his hand, concerned about his safety. he secured a cowl for backup. when backup arrived to help get

postel out behind the grocery store, one of the backup units was a county deputy, who had been familiar with eric rudolph. >> he knew he had gone to school with eric and he glanced at him and he told jeff, he said, i think that's eric rudolph. so they loaded him up in a patrol car and carried him up to the sheriff's office, printed out one of the posters on the intern internet. er >> eric say, you got me. i'm eric robert rudolph. >> this is an msnbc news special report. >> msnbc news has confirmed one of the fbi's most wanted fudgetives, eric robert rudolph, charged in a series of bombings including the olympic park bombing in atlanta in 1996, has been arrested in north carolina. >> my only initial contact with eric rudolph was that monday

morning when we were transporting him to ashville. they had already put a vest on him. i walked around the corner, i think probably the only time in this investigation i had on an atf jacket. you could hear him before we walked around the corner, he was just talking to the local deputies and talking to the jailers. we walked around the corner and he immediately stiffened up, quit talk, went eyes forward, basically looking straight ahead. >> when the federal government agent would come in, he knew that they, the government, intended to kill him. >> extremist, eric rudolph, now admits he did it. it's part of a deal that will spare his life. he'll get four straight life sentences. >> can you please explain why

eric rudolph was able to make a deal like this in the first place avoiding the penalty? >> it boils down to one word, dynamite. he had stoll an lot of dynamite from the murphy, new yoorth car area and he had hidden underground and had made a bomb. had it gone to trial, if there was appeal and boy scouts troops put a stake in and blew up. >> professionally, the plea deal, i can understand the reason it was made. expedite things, insures he'll never harm anybody else. it shortened the whole procedure by years. personally, i wished there had been a trial and he had been sentenced to death because i have a strong belief in retributio retribution. >> i think had rudolph had an opportunity to commit more bombings, had he not been arrested, not found and arrested, he would have in fact done that.

>> eric rudolph is sentenced to six life terms, plus 120 years, for the bombings in birmingham, alabama and atlanta, georgia, but his motivations may never be entirely understood. >> eric rudolph was at war. he was at war in the classic sense of the radicalized extreme right wing domestic terrorist, a lone wolf. declaring war on the institutions and symbols of society that he believes is at war with the traditional way of life. in that sense, eric robert rudolph, in so many ways, as a fugiti fugitive, as a lone wolf, in the targets he selected, was a microcosm of a movement that was much bigger than he was. >> somebody like eric rudolph wasn't distracted by wife, children, anything else but his

goal. that's what these people share, is their single-minded determination to act violently on a large scale, to make a huge impact, because they're true believers in the ideology in what they're serving. should we be worried about lone wolves? we should be prepared. >> rudolph was a coward. those people that he injured and kill killed, he didn't know. he didn't have a vendetta. he didn't have an issue with them. they were innocent people who had nothing to do with eric rudolph. at the end of the day, he's a murderer, just like any other murderer.