KSL TV Video Report
May 8, 2002--
Post office officials said Wednesday that residents can close their mailboxes now that a suspect in a spate of mailbox bombings has been captured.
On Tuesday, the federal agency had requested residents in rural areas leave curbside mailboxes open so postal workers could see inside.
The measure was a safety precaution against bombs allegedly left by Luke J. Helder, who authorities say went on a bomb-planting spree.
The 21-year-old was arrested Tuesday in Nevada for allegedly planting 18 pipe bombs in mailboxes in five states between Friday and Monday, including six devices that exploded. Anti-government notes were found with most of the bombs.
Helder has told authorities he did not leave any bombs in Utah.
(Copyright 2002 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
May 7, 2002
The FBI on Tuesday evening said the student sought in mailbox bombings has been arrested near Reno, Nev.
Earlier Tuesday, Utah police said the suspect in connection with a string of pipe bombings around the Midwest apparently was in Moab the day before.
Grand County Sheriff Jim Nyland said Tuesday that he spoke to agents with the FBI task force tracking suspect Luke John Helder, 21, after hearing reports from the local postmaster.
Nyland said the FBI told him that a trucker had reported seeing Helder's car driving westbound on I-70 just east of Green River about 6 p.m. Monday. Green River is 45 miles northeast of Moab and 150 miles southeast of Salt Lake City.
The FBI said Helder had made a cell call that would have been relayed through the tower in the La Sal mountains outside of Moab, Nyland said.
Earlier reports that the call was relayed over a cell-phone tower in Cedar City led to the erroneous assumption that he had been in that city. said Iron County Sheriff David "Dude" Benson.
Moab and Cedar City are at opposite sides of southern Utah.
The FBI had issued an all-points bulletin that Helder was driving a gray Honda Accord with Minnesota license plates.
At a noon news conference, Utah Highway Patrol Col. Earl Morris said police had "reasonable grounds" to believe Helder had been in Utah in the past 24 hours, but that no one knew whether Helder had left a bomb in the state.
Morris further advised all Utah residents to be "extra cautious."
"We live in a time when that is necessary," Morris said.
"If you have anything that appears suspicious, call the FBI or postal service "before you pull it out and shake it around," he said.
Nyland said the FBI told him they were tracking Helder via the cell phone.
"We have no sightings of the car anywhere in Moab," Nyland said. "We have no confirmation that he's been in Moab. But he could have been here."
Nyland said he was angry that the FBI didn't contact him. "I have to hear it on the FM radio," he said. "I have thousands of citizens I have to answer to, and I don't have any answers."
He said he first heard of Helder's possible travel in Utah when the county postmaster told him of the U.S. Postal Service directive ordering all mail carriers south of Provo off their routes.
Beverly Burge, spokeswoman for Salt Lake City district of the U.S. Postal Service. "That's purely a precaution. We think it's a good thing to do for our carriers."
For Wednesday, they are asking all curbside customers to keep mailboxes taped open or otherwise secured.
That is the same policy as in states where bombs have been found.
(Copyright 2002 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
