Bombs Keep Town On Edge Investigators In Wenatchee Fear Culprit Will Strike Again With Deadly Results

It’s the kind of widespread anxiety that usually sets in here when an untimely frost is about to wipe out the region’s fruit crop.

But this time the people of this Central Washington community are worried about bombs - five of them found in the past two weeks.

No one’s been caught, even though three dozen local and federal investigators are looking for the bomb-maker.

Each bomb is more sophisticated than the last, leaving many residents wondering what the next one will be like - and whether someone might get killed.

Only one of the devices has actually exploded, causing no injuries. Federal agents are handling the case as domestic terrorism and aren’t talking. Investigators say it may just be the work of local teenagers.

“We’re concerned and (residents) should be, too,” Chelan County Sheriff’s Inspector Mike Harum told reporters at a Friday afternoon press conference. “I, at this point, cannot ensure their safety.”

He said investigators, backed with an analysis from an FBI behavioral scientist, believe the bomb-maker will strike again. The targets so far include a medical clinic, a federal building and a school.

Harum said “persons of interest” have been identified. One of them, convicted in the early 1980s of building pipe bombs in Wenatchee, was questioned and eliminated as a suspect in the recent cases, Harum said.

“We’re very nervous, extremely nervous,” said Debbie Sphar, a 45-year-old computer-imaging specialist with the Wenatchee World newspaper.

“We’re on lock-down status right now because we feel like the newspaper is a big, wide-open target,” she said.

Mayor Earl Tilly called the bombs “a threat to our well-being.”

But he said he didn’t want to use “sensationalist media terms” to describe the mood. “I’d say there is concern. Naturally, there is, because we’re being threatened.”

Tilly spoke Friday as he walked from City Hall to dedicate a new $7.5 million Amtrak depot and transit complex. He said the bombs and earlier attention given to a child-sex ring case only serve to darken the image of “this fine community.”

Everywhere, though, residents were talking about the bombs.

“The whole town is really nervous,” said Sphar, as she and two friends walked down Wenatchee Avenue on a coffee break. “Everybody is really spooked.”

Joyce Sturm, a 45-year-old retail clerk and mother of three, said the bombs “are a sign of the times.”

“Our town is growing up,” she said. “I’m sorry that it has to lose its small town atmosphere this way, by developing the big city problems.”

One bomb exploded harmlessly, and three others were taken away by military munitions experts. One of those bombs, with an electronic ignition device, was found Wednesday in a shoebox in the Wenatchee federal building.

That bomb was the biggest so far and easily could have killed someone if detonated, Harum said.

The fifth device, left on a door knob at Wenatchee Valley College, was assembled as a bomb, but lacked explosive powder.

When the bomb was found in the federal building, the FBI entered the investigation, joining agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. ATF agents are specially trained to investigate bombings.

This weekend, two dozen federal agents and a dozen sheriff’s deputies and Wenatchee police officers are on hand working the case, paired in federal-local teams.

One of the FBI agents is a behaviorist from FBI headquarters in Quantico, Va., who provided investigators with a personality profile of the person building the bombs.

Harum wouldn’t elaborate on the profile, but said the bomber is someone who is deliberately picking high-profile targets, which may suggest a political motive.

No group or individual is claiming responsibility.

Investigators said their initial inclination is to suspect youths, maybe persons trying to build the perfect Fourth of July firecracker, who’s not fully aware of the consequences of their actions.

“We’ve found no notes or any indications they’re specially targeting any government agency, group or business,” Harum said.

The inspector said there is no reason to suspect the bombs have any link to right-wing militia or white supremacy groups, such as those tied to other recent bombings in the Pacific Northwest, including those in Spokane.

But of concern to investigators, Harum said, is that each device gets bigger and more sophisticated.

“Every one is a little more complex, a little more dangerous,” Harum said.

The first one went off at 1:20 a.m. on June 16. It was made of PVC plastic - the same kind orchardists use to build piping for their fields. The bomb was dropped in the driveway of the rural, Sleepy Hollow Road home of orchardists Jack and Joyce Day.

“We’re just simple farmers, living quiet lives out here, and then this happens,” Joyce Day said, shaking her head in disgust.

“My German shepherd Arnie sleeps by me,” Jack Day said. “When that thing went off, he came alive and we did, too.”

A white flash pierced the curtains of the couple’s second-story bedroom, about 30 feet from where the bomb exploded.

The blast left a scorch mark on the asphalt driveway. Pieces of the bomb were found 100 yards away in the lush green orchards where the Days grow their red and golden “Sweetheart” apples.

Jack Day said deputies told him the bomb was about 6 inches long and made out of 1-1/4-inch PVC pipe. It didn’t break any windows or cause other damage.

“It was so scary that it made my heart beat like I was going to die,” Joyce Day said.

The Days, who also operate a used-car business in downtown Wenatchee, have no idea why someone would explode a bomb in their driveway.

“We have no enemies, no one that would do something like this,” Jack Day said.