11x34 - Small Town Terror

[bunniefuu]

Three bombings
within a two mile area

were more than a coincidence.

But no one claimed
responsibility,

and no one in
particular was targeted.

What finally stopped the bomber
were some tiny marks on a metal

fragment, and his inability
to control his rage.

The biggest employer in
Grand Junction, Colorado

isn't the ski industry, or the
wineries that have sprouted up

over the last dozen or so years.

Surprisingly, it's the
local school district.

Dennis Lamb was a
vocational teacher

in the district's Career Center.

- I taught computer
applications, computer

repair, and video production.

It's mainly for
students who did not

fit in the mainstream of the
academics, for whatever reason.

On a February evening in 1991,

Dennis and his co-workers
attended a vocational awards

banquet in the convention center
in downtown Grand Junction.

Afterwards, as they
walked to their cars

in an underground
parking lot, there

was a deafening expl*si*n.

- I
- thought I'd been shot.

I was hit in the lower leg.

The expl*si*n was a b*mb

detonated about 30 yards away.

A piece of shrapnel had
ripped through Dennis' leg.

An expl*sive
device was set on a vehicle.

The device fell either
off of the vehicle,

or certainly down to the ground,
and an expl*si*n occurred.

- And I did not, at the time,
think that there was anybody

after me, specifically,
because of the location of it.

Fortunately, Dennis didn't

suffer any permanent injury.

No one claimed responsibility
for the bombing.

expl*sive experts knew
from the amount of debris

that it was a fairly
sophisticated pipe b*mb.

- We actually had
schematics of how

far b*mb fragmentation flew.

And you do that
because you could

tell how well the
b*mb was constructed.

If a pipe b*mb blows
apart in two pieces,

obviously it's
not too effective.

If it blows apart in


has made a better pipe b*mb.

Three weeks
later, the Gonzales family

was going shopping
at a nearby mall,

and everyone had piled
into the family van.

Just as the van started
moving, there was an expl*si*n!

- We have an emergency.

Something happened to the
van and my... my little sister

got something in her back and
she's bleeding real bad, hurry!

Need you to hold on.

The rescue squad is
already on the way.

But it was too late.

By the time the
ambulance got there,


Gonzales was dead.

The expl*si*n sent
a piece of shrapnel

directly through the seat
back and into Maria's heart.

Grand Junction, Colorado

did not have a lot of homicides.

And to have something that
tragic happen to a little girl

was just very,
very startling and

shocking to the
entire community.

No one else in the
vehicle was seriously injured.

Investigators discovered
that the b*mb had been placed

in the rear wheel well
of the Gonzales van.

This bombing was only
about two miles away

from the first b*mb site.

Once again, no one
claimed responsibility,

and there was no reason why the
Gonzales family was targeted.

- There were some
concern about, do

we have someone who
is a serial bomber.

Do we have a copycat
who's heard about one b*mb

and... and planted another b*mb
also in the downtown area?

Or what exactly do we have?

But one thing we knew
was we had a problem.

A problem that
was soon to get worse.

The detonation devices in
two Grand Junction bombs

were highly sophisticated.

Each used a 9-volt battery
that was placed on a vehicle

and then went off when
the vehicle moved.

- If you make a pipe b*mb, and
you want to set if off so it's

booby trapped,
you're going to try

to do it so whatever that
individual that you target,

or unsuspecting person,
moves, jars, tilts, twists,

would set it off.

In the rubble, investigators

found pieces of curved
glass, the outer shell

of a mercury switch.

- The mercury switch
connected and exploded,

and when these bombs explode
there's tremendous force.

There's greater force, greater
speed, greater acceleration

than with a fired
.45 caliber p*stol.

A mercury switch is a glass ball

filled with mercury,
a liquid metal.

It's a hair-trigger device.

And it looked like the bomber
would have hand-carried it

from his home to
the target vehicle.

Once you close it up,

you now have carry it
in the same position

that you built it.

If you tilt it up,
roll it sideways,

it's going to blow up.

So very few people
do that unless they

have mental instability.

Investigators
searched their files

for anyone who had prior arrests
from making expl*sive devices.

One was 19-year-old Shannon
Keith, a factory worker who

lived just 10 minutes
outside of town in Clifton.

He'd been arrested 15 months
earlier for possessing pipe

bombs, and was sentenced
to two months probation.

- He had had some
involvement with pipe bombs

but with a significant
difference from the pipe bombs

that we were talking about here.

Keith claimed he
wasn't in Grand Junction when

the bombs were planted,
an alibi that checked out.

So he was eliminated
as a suspect.

A closer look at the b*mb debris
revealed the steel endcaps had

a distinctive stamp
from the manufacturer.

It was Coin brand pipe.

It's a circle.

And it was on the
side of the endcap,

and on the inside of the stamp
of the circle was a square.

And the manufacturer of
that was from Taiwan.

It was a substandard
product that

was being imported
into America, and was

subsequently discontinued.

The Coin brand was
not only an inferior product,

it hadn't been sold
in the United States

for several years, but
investigators were convinced

that the bomber was
mentally unstable.

- This case was unique in that
we had obviously an individual

that was randomly
placing bombs in public

to randomly k*ll people.

That's much more different
than if I'm mad at you

because we're in the
middle of a divorce,

I feel you cheated
me out of money.

Three months later,
Henry Ruble and his wife

Suzanne, left a downtown
restaurant to head home.

As he got into their
truck, he noticed a package

on the ground near
the passenger side.

Mr. Ruble
was k*lled instantly.

Everybody was scared.

Henry was very well liked.

It took such a positive
man away from everybody

and you're just scared.

I mean you felt like you
couldn't go anywhere.

I mean, where's it
going to pop up next?

Henry's body shielded
his wife from the blast.

She walked away unharmed.

- An expl*si*n of that nature,
there's a... a... lot of shrapnel

that is flying
through the air and it

was through the grace of
God that she wasn't k*lled.

This was the most
powerful of the three bombs.

Shrapnel went completely
through the truck and some of it

was found two blocks away.

In the debris, analysts
found a b*mb fragment

with the Coin brand stamp, along
with shards of curved glass

from a mercury switch.

This was no copycat.

The same bomber
was at work, and he

was building bigger,
more powerful bombs.

- We can all
understand frustration

and we can all understand rage.

What I cannot understand is
once you've k*lled a 12-year-old

girl, how do you do this again?

Grand Junction had been rocked

by three bombs within
a three-month period.

Components indicated they
were made by the same person,

but there was no connection
among the victims.

The bomber was k*lling
randomly, but why?

We tried to see if there

was any connection
between the victims.

And we didn't believe
that there was.

The devices were
placed randomly,

which added to the danger
in that it made everybody

susceptible to
becoming a victim.

The bombs were
similar in construction,

and were planted within
blocks of one another.

- And now I'm putting
together a detailed chart

of the difference in the bombs.

And from the first
to the last b*mb,

we saw an increase in talent
as far as making a better b*mb.

And associated with that was the
increase in injury and death.

Since the bombs
used a mercury switch,

investigators believed the
bomber hand-carried them

to the b*mb sites, rather than
risking an expl*si*n by jarring

or bumping the package
in a car or bus.

And if he hand-carried
the bombs,

he probably lived
close to the b*mb

sites, which were near the
Two Rivers Convention Center.

- Does he have to have a car?

No.

Can he walk around?

Yes.

On a hunch, investigators

asked convention center
management if they knew

of any disgruntled
employees, past or present.

- They went through their list
of employees and there was one

that, at least, stood
out in their mind,

that was a former
employee, if I recall,

who didn't quite
fit with the group.

His Name was James Genrich,

a 29-year-old dishwasher who
worked in the convention center

cafeteria until he left
his job a few months

before the bombings.

- He was a disgruntled
employee, and they

finally told him
to hit the road.

But it was a mutual
agreement, if I recall right.

Genrich lived
in a boarding house

just two blocks from
the convention center.

A background check revealed
Genrich had prior arrests

for minor incidents of
burglary and vandalism.

He never served time in jail.

- He fit the profile, not
only for being a white male

of that age bracket,
but he fit the profile

for being a person that is
more or less a loner, that

has a problem dealing
in life, everyday life.

When questioned
by law enforcement,

Genrich denied any
involvement and willingly

allowed them to search his room.

But they found no
traces of expl*sives

or b*mb-making materials.

- And I didn't have any pipes,
expl*sives, bombs or anything

like that, anything
to do with bombs.

In Genrich's room, investigators

found a handwritten note
on the back of an envelope.

It was addressed to
Whom it may concern.

Valentine's Day is coming

and I still don't
have a sweetheart.

All I've wanted
was a girlfriend.

But these girls
won't talk to me.

If you won't help me
find a girlfriend,

then I'll have to k*ll some
poor innocent stranger tonight.

- Yeah, that's was I wrote
when I was drunk and pissed

off, and in a bad
mood and stuff.

: These b*tches

still won't even talk to me.

If I can't be happy, I
might as well k*ll one.

- I was going to a
therapist for a while.

They said that uh... I
should write things down

and then just throw them away.

And obviously I didn't
throw this one away.

During a background check,

investigators learned that
Genrich tried to order a book

in a local store that
described how to make a b*mb.

He was confronted with,

what you need that
type of book for,

that shows how to make
bombs or what have you.

He tells her that,
oh no, there's

other uses for that book.

Nice try.

The clerk in the local
bookshop refused to order it.

- He throws a tantrum.

So we have an adult who throws
a tantrum over a woman who won't

let him order the book he wants.

But this still
wasn't proof of m*rder.

James Genrich was the prime
suspect in the bombings

in Grand Junction, Colorado
that k*lled two people,

and injured a third.

Without enough
evidence to arrest him,

investigators put Genrich
under surveillance,

and they didn't
care if he knew it.

It was probably
about three or four months.

It was very stressful.

It was weird because
sometimes they'd be,

you know, they'd just be
kind of walking about 10 feet

behind me, walking with
their walkie-talkies,

like they're trying to let
everybody know, you know,

that they're following me.

Interestingly, during that time

there were no more
bombings, and investigators

learned two more
things about Genrich.

First, a few years
earlier, he took

electronics courses in Arizona.

Second, his mother
once tried to commit

him to a mental health facility.

- In her petition, there
was mention that he became

frustrated at people
looking at him,

and he threw rocks
at their vehicles

while they're on this vacation,
uh... things of that nature.

He went out, I guess, one night,
and was yelling and screaming

at a neighbor, and
things of that nature.

So investigators search

Genrich's boarding
house one more time.

The second search,
we didn't find any pipe ends,

galvanized pipes, gunpowder,
things of that nature.

We did recover tools that
they had in the apartment.

There was some
electrical circuits,

wiring type material or items.

Investigators sent
the tools to John O'Neil, a tool

mark examiner with the Bureau of
Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

By this time, he had spent
months looking for tool marks

on the more than 300 fragments
from the Grand Junction bombs.

He found several, and for
comparison, made sample marks

from tools found in
James Genrich's room.

Pliers had been used to tighten
the end caps on the bombs,

and this left distinctive
marks that survived the blasts.

- We're Looking at the
topography of the surface

as the mark left by that tool.

O'Neil found the
same number of striations

with the same thickness, on
the test marks from Genrich's

pliers and from one of
the b*mb's end caps.

When compared
under a microscope,

it was a perfect match.

Next, on pieces of wire
wrapped around the bombs,

O'Neil also found
distinct tool marks.

When compared with the marks
made by Genrich's wire cutters,

the tool marks
matched up perfectly.

- The point of it
being another tool,

would be almost at a point
of being beyond probability.

- Matching the tool
marks to a tool that

is found in the possession of
the suspect is pretty damning.

On one of the wires
one hundredth of an inch

in diameter, O'Neil not
only found tool marks made

by Genrich's needle
nose pliers, he also

discovered that it
was the same brand

wire as all the other bombs.

- So we were able, in fact, to
tie three tools to the devices

and then those fine
wires being manufactured

in the same machine or
have a common source.

But what was the motive?

Genrich never held a steady
job, barely made enough money

to support himself, never
had a steady relationship,

and when he lost his
job as a dishwasher

at the convention center,
something apparently snapped.

He spent the next several
months in his rented

room planning his revenge.

- Pretty soon you
get to the point,

especially if
you're a psychopath,

the world's against me.

I'm going to get even.

I therefore, I have this
need I need to k*ll people.

I didn't get a girlfriend.

I need to go out and k*ll.

He used his
electronics knowledge

to build bigger,
more lethal bombs.

He was meticulous enough
to make sure no gunpowder

residue remained in his room.

But he didn't know that his
tools left unique marks that

survived the explosions,
and ultimately exposed him.

Despite the evidence, Genrich
denied any involvement.

- I was kind of a
loner and you know

I was always in a
pissed-off mood.

And he said that uh... I just...
I think they just wanted

to pin this crime on
somebody and they figured

they could get
it... pin it on me.

- Emotion, we call it human
emotion, he doesn't have it.

Does he?

He's like I'm disconnected.

But the first thing
he let's you know

is I'm normal because
everybody else is up.

And that's why I have a problem.

But he tells you that.

So when anybody tells
you, I'm really a good guy

but I'm screwed up because
people have done me wrong,

hello.

In May of 1993, James Genrich

was convicted of two counts
of first degree m*rder,

and a dozen
b*mb-related charges.

He was sentenced to life
in prison without parole.

- Well, I got a lawyer
still working on my appeal.

So I think that's my
best hope right now.

But hopefully somebody will see
this and come forward and say

that you know, I
know the guy that did

or something like that.
But you never know.

- I'd love to smack him.

I mean, I-I still feel a
lot of anger because he...

He cheated me out of
something that you

know I felt I had a right to.

You know, Henry
was my... my father

and... and I don't have
that right anymore.

He... he took something away.

Investigators say
there's no doubt James Genrich

would have continued to k*ll
if he haven't been caught.

But old-fashioned
police work exposed him.

And forensic science
provided the proof.

- He had a lot of
circumstances that

sort of pointed towards him.

But you don't put
somebody in prison

for the rest of his life,
based on circumstances.

You put him there
based on proof.

And in that regard I think that
it was John O'Neil's testimony

and Jerry Taylor's
testimony that did that.