An ex-convict who was said to be angry at his girlfriend's family was arrested along with a friend in the parcel bombings that killed five people across New York.
Michael Stevens and Earl Figley were charged Wednesday with transporting across state lines the explosives used in two of the slayings. They could get the death penalty if convicted on the federal charges.Investigators said the bombs were targeted at members of the family of Brenda Lazore, Stevens' girlfriend. Among those killed in four nearly simultaneous blasts Tuesday night were her mother, her stepfather and a sister; an uncle was wounded.
The Rochester Democrat & Chronicle quoted an unidentified source as saying that Stevens "felt the family had turned his girlfriend against him."
The Buffalo News and The New York Times said relations between Stevens and Lazore's family became particularly strained around the holidays.
"If there was a precipitous act," an investigator told the News, "it might have been a (family) Christmas party where Stevens was asked to leave."
Stevens, 53, of Victor and Figley, 56, of Farmington were ordered held without bail. The men could also face state murder charges.
Jack Killorin, a spokesman for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, said Thursday in Washington that he didn't want to speculate on a motive. "But I would note that among crimes committed with anti-personnel devices, revenge or vengeance is the No. 1 motive."
Lazore spent Wednesday night at a home she shared with Stevens in Victor, about 15 miles southeast of Rochester. She declined to comment on the case. "The phone's been ringing off the hook with press," she said Thursday morning. "I can't speak to my family if I want to."
She was questioned for several hours Wednesday but then was released.
Investigators said that at Stevens' request, Figley bought nearly 200 sticks of dynamite and 50 blasting caps from the Kentucky Powder Co. in Mount Vernon, Ky., in June.