Copyright 1994 Chicago Sun-Times, Inc.
Chicago Sun-Times
December 12, 1994,MONDAY,Late Sports Final Edition
SECTION: NEWS;Pg. 1
LENGTH: 646 words
HEADLINE: Mail Bomber Strikes Again; N.J. Death Linked to Case That Started Here in 1978 SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
BYLINE: By Roberto Suro
BODY:
The killing of a New Jersey advertising executive apparently was the latest in a 16-year series of attacks by a bomber who specializes in mailing lethal packages, the FBI said Sunday.
The bomber, code-named UNABOM by federal authorities, has been held responsible for 14 previous incidents that have resulted in 23 injuries and one other death. The code name reflects the fact that most of the bomber's early targets involved universities or airlines.
The attacks began in 1978, when a security guard at the University of Illinois at Chicago opened a suspicious package and it exploded. Two months later, there was a bombing at Northwestern University in Evanston, and 18 months later, a bomb went off on a Chicago-to-Washington jetliner.
On Saturday morning, Thomas J. Mosser, 50, died at his home in North Caldwell, N.J., after opening a package delivered by the Postal Service. A statement issued by the FBI's Newark field office Sunday said the bomb that killed Mosser "appears to have been constructed and mailed by
the same individual" involved in the other UNABOM cases.
"A physical examination of the bomb's components have led us to believe that this is linked to the other cases because there are some unique characteristics," said FBI Special Agent Rick Smith.
Investigators are also trying to determine where the bomb was mailed from and whether Mosser had any connection to either the airline industry or scientific research, especially in the area of computers. Most of the bomber's previous victims have worked in those fields, Smith said.
The bomb that killed Mosser was about the size of a videotape. Experts have described previous bombs as "diabolical" in construction because they involved hundreds of hours of meticulous work, including the creation of handcrafted parts.
The FBI statement said the bomber is believed to be a white man in his late 30s to 40s "with a high school education who has an exposure to and; or familiarity with the college environment."
The only known sighting of the bomber came in 1987, when a man was seen behind a computer store placing a package that later exploded, injuring one person. The man was described as white with a ruddy complexion and blond or red hair. The FBI Sunday issued a sketch based on this sighting.
Mosser recently was named executive vice president and general manager of Young & Rubicam Inc. Worldwide, one of the largest ad agencies in the world. He does not seem to fit the pattern of the bomber's other victims, most of whom have worked at universities or been involved in research.
The package to Mosser arrived Friday, but sat unopened in a pile of mail as the Mossers spent the evening hosting a party for one of their daughters. It exploded Saturday as Mosser was opening it in his kitchen. Family members elsewhere in the house were not hurt.
The other death among the UNABOM cases was that of Hugh C. Scrutton, a Sacramento, Calif., businessman, who was killed on Dec. 11, 1985, when he picked up a bomb disguised as a block of wood near the rear entrance of his computer rental store.
The bomber has sometimes appeared to take some care in selecting and preparing his targets. For example, Percy Wood, a former president of United Airlines, received a letter in his Lake Forest, Ill., home in June, 1980, telling him to expect a book he needed to read about a week before he received a book-sized package containing a bomb.
In other cases, the bomber has been less discriminating. On Nov. 15, 1979, a bomb exploded on American Airlines Flight 444 as it flew from Chicago to Washington. The device was designed to explode at high altitude and caused 12 injuries.
The UNABOM Task Force is offering a reward of up to $ 1 million for information leading to arrest and conviction in the case. The task force can be reached at (800) 701-2662.
Contributing: Newsday
GRAPHIC: A firefighter comforts Susan Mosser, wife of mail-bomb victim Thomas J. Mosser, outside her home in North Caldwell, N.J., on Saturday. Mosser's death was apparently the latest in a 16-year series he FBI said.; SEE Related Chart on Page 20 ;Washington Post