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2002-05-07 Home Front
Mailbox Boy in Texas?
A pipe bomb was found Tuesday morning in a mailbox near Amarillo, Texas, and FBI officials said it was similar to 17 others found since Friday in Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska and Colorado. "It's another pipe bomb. It looks similar to the others," said FBI agent Larry Holmquist in Omaha. "Upon our initial inspection, it appears it would be from the same source."
That would appear to bruise the Lone Boomboy theory. Amarillo's a pretty long drive from Salida. Suppose he could have looped back east as soon as he dropped his Colorado load, though.
Posted by Fred Pruitt 2002-05-07 08:36 am|| || Front Page|| [11138 views since 2007-05-07]  Top

#1 They are looking for a blue or gray 1992 4 door Honda (Accord?). Minnesota licence plate. EZL 783. Name: Luke John Helder.
22 years old, 5'9", brown hair green eyes.
(you win on the age -- probably origin too)
Posted by Kathy Kinsley 2002-05-07 11:34:04|| [site-essential.com]  2002-05-07 11:34:04|| Front Page Top

#2 Bingo!
Posted by Fred 2002-05-07 11:47:48||   2002-05-07 11:47:48|| Front Page Top

#3 Saved you a bit of posting, did I? Still, 'innocent till proven guilty'.
Posted by Kathy 2002-05-07 12:11:31|| [site-essential.com]  2002-05-07 12:11:31|| Front Page Top

#4 Betcha he write bad poetry and the other kids picked on him, too.
Posted by Fred 2002-05-07 12:34:23||   2002-05-07 12:34:23|| Front Page Top

#5 Kathy has the details on his homepage: "I'm a huge Nirvana fan. I really am quite infatuated with this band. I know everything about Kurt...."

He's in a (heh heh) band, too. So lemme qualify my last statement to read "Betcha he write bad songs, too."
Posted by Fred  2002-05-07 13:06:43||   2002-05-07 13:06:43|| Front Page Top

#6 I think my "s" key is sticking. Normally I can type the word "writes" with the "s" on the end...
Posted by Fred 2002-05-07 13:09:06||   2002-05-07 13:09:06|| Front Page Top

#7 I think I'm your guest reporter today. FBI had a conference and corrected some things -- license plate is EZL 873 (not 783 as media were reporting). Car is black or dark gray.
Posted by KathyK 2002-05-07 13:27:39|| [site-essential.com]  2002-05-07 13:27:39|| Front Page Top

#8 Feel free to add what you get.


Helder, a junior at the University of Wisconsin-Stout in Menomonie, is described as armed and dangerous... He said Helder is a junior at the college, majoring in art with an industrial design concentration.

Posted by Fred  2002-05-07 13:56:32||   2002-05-07 13:56:32|| Front Page Top

#9 Fred: I'm putting up the picture of the little snotnosed troublemaker on my site in about 4 minutes. Get this.. he turned 21 on Sunday. Nice work Fred. Mary Lu
Posted by Mary Wehmeier  2002-05-07 15:22:58|| [radio.weblogs.com/0100243/]  2002-05-07 15:22:58|| Front Page Top

#10 Fred- Something isn't adding up. The Fox News and other news is saying he's been in Southern Utah, as well as the little packages he dropped off in Salida, CO-- And now he's in Amirillo area? May be he got lost? Made a wrong turn? He's got to be on meth' and driving faster than the speed limit-- you'd think a highway patrol might spot him. Amarillo is a small town. He should stick out like a sore thumb. Mary Lu
Posted by Mary Wehmeier  2002-05-07 16:02:00|| [radio.weblogs.com/0100243/]  2002-05-07 16:02:00|| Front Page Top

#11 I saw the Utah report, too - too busy at work to update. A kopycat kiddy? False alarm? Dunno yet. They say they have "reasonable grounds" but no explosives have been found. My guess would be that they plotted him on a map, thought he was headed for Utah, and it's a false alarm. Either than or you're right, he's a meth freak driving 110 miles an hour and nobody's noticed, which doesn't seem likely...
Posted by Fred  2002-05-07 16:16:32||   2002-05-07 16:16:32|| Front Page Top

#12 Depends on when he left that Colorado 'info'. He did have Sunday off, so to speak. If he left the Colorado bomb Saturday (the Nebraska one was almost certainly left Friday), he could have hit Utah, gone back to Texas and even got a few hours sleep.
Posted by Kathy 2002-05-07 17:13:08||   2002-05-07 17:13:08|| Front Page Top

#13 With any luck, we'll know soon. He's been caught. If I grin any harder my lips are going to meet in back of my head...
Posted by Kathy 2002-05-07 18:39:40|| [site-essential.com]  2002-05-07 18:39:40|| Front Page Top

#14 It appears he didn't take Sunday off, but kept on moving like a bat out of hell. (sortaspeak) Now the other question is, did he put the pipebombs in the mailboxes in Texas or do we have a copycat?
Posted by Mary Wehmeier  2002-05-07 18:51:55|| [radio.weblogs.com/0100243/]  2002-05-07 18:51:55|| Front Page Top

#15 My best guess is that he did the one in Texas. I think we may find a few more, even now that he's been caught.
Posted by Kathy K 2002-05-07 19:05:35|| [site-essential.com]  2002-05-07 19:05:35|| Front Page Top

#16 Also The University of Wisconsin - Madison, student newspaper THE BADGER HERALD received a letter from Helder postmarked from Omaha on Friday. The contents of the letter are over here. The Newspaper turned over the contents of the letter which was recieved on Tueday (today) to the FBI. It's also noted in the letter Helder "may have had a drug problem." I have the links over on my site.

Posted by Mary Wehmeier  2002-05-07 19:26:19|| [radio.weblogs.com/0100243/]  2002-05-07 19:26:19|| Front Page Top

#17 Really nice wrapup, Mary Lu and Kathy. It was a little drug-sodden, bad poetry-writin' snot, barely old enough to vote, ending up with a gun pressed to his head at the end but without the nerve to pull the trigger. Yuck.


Now the little brat can live with the consequences for the rest of his life, like his victims will have to. I'll probably feel like mocking him again tomorrow, but tonight I feel more like taking a shower.
Posted by Fred  2002-05-07 20:20:01||   2002-05-07 20:20:01|| Front Page Top

#18 One tiny little correction, the reference to his drug habit is in the ARTICLE not the letter. My guess he's on meth'. It's the cheap drug of choice out there. Another thought-- His folks appear to be farmers as well-- or at least they live out in the country. My guess is our bomber had issues at home, and thought his folks (and all adults) weren't listening to him. Like Fred I want to take a shower, but first I need to call tonight to see if one of the people who got hurt by this little bastard is going to get her hearing back.
Posted by Mary Wehmeier  2002-05-07 20:50:24|| [radio.weblogs.com/0100243/]  2002-05-07 20:50:24|| Front Page Top

#19 Looks a bit confused. wuz the othez makin fun?
Posted by Anonymous 2002-05-07 23:51:47||   2002-05-07 23:51:47|| Front Page Top

#20 I'll have a wrap up and time line done on MailBombBoy by morning. It appears he had a couple firearms and more bombs inside the car. It appears it was a call on his cell phone from the FBI and his folks that got him to stop his 100+ mph car chase. Well that Honda's engine is toast. Too bad the stupid kid hadn't watched more LA car chases. Honda engines always blow up if they drive them too hard for too long. Jeeze. Mary Lu
Posted by Mary Wehmeier  2002-05-08 02:13:06|| [radio.weblogs.com/0100243/]  2002-05-08 02:13:06|| Front Page Top

#21 Fred: Here's a giggle for the morning. I ran across the ATF's Official: ATF BOMB THREAT CHECKLIST at http://www.atf.treas.gov/explarson/information/bombthreat/checklist.htm
Here's a read... everyone needs one of these for the office kitchen refridgerator. ;-) Mary Lu
Posted by Mary Wehmeier 2002-05-08 05:22:24|| [radio.weblogs.com/0100243/]  2002-05-08 05:22:24|| Front Page Top

#22 I'll print it and hang it on my fridge, next to the pizza delivery number. I think ABCNNBCETC should hire us as profilers next time. No wonder that ex-FBI guy's an ex-.
Posted by Fred  2002-05-08 07:11:54||   2002-05-08 07:11:54|| Front Page Top

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