ANDREWS, N.C. (AP) -- Bombing suspect Eric Robert Rudolph may have broken into up to 12 mountain homes to steal food and toilet paper or sometimes just to get a shower and a shave, a federal agent says.
The break-ins from July to January were very similar and happened in a defined area, Woody Enderson of the Southeast Bomb Task Force said Monday."We do feel they are a strong indication of his presence," he said, despite the absence of hair or other evidence that might specifically link the break-ins to Rudolph.
He described the break-ins as very significant in the hunt for Rudolph, the suspect in a fatal Birmingham, Ala., abortion clinic bombing last year and others in Atlanta, including the 1996 Olympic Park bombing.
"Normally, someone wouldn't go into someone's house to take a shower and shave," Enderson said.
Despite the leads, Enderson and other members of the task force announced a reduction in the number of agents involved in the search in the Nantahala Forest in western North Carolina.