Rudolph sold drugs to get by, records show

ASHEVILLE, N.C. - Federal search warrant applications alleged that serial bomber Eric Rudolph sold marijuana for $3,000 a pound and owned a book on Timothy McVeigh before embarking on his five years as a fugitive.

The documents released in federal court here Wednesday also credit a witness in the 1998 bombing of an Alabama abortion clinic as the crucial link that ties that blast to Rudolph.

According to the documents, the witness was washing his clothes in a laundry room one block from the Jan. 29, 1998, explosion at the New Woman All Women health clinic in Birmingham. He watched as people rushed to the scene, except for one man who calmly walked away.

His suspicions grew when he saw the man duck into an alley after the bombing. When the man emerged, he no longer wore a jacket or baseball cap. His hair seemed shorter and he had on a light-colored shirt, according to documents.

The witness got in his car and followed the man. Another witness took down the license plate number.

The North Carolina tag, KND1117, on the gray Nissan pickup with a camper shell was registered to Rudolph, according to the court documents. That eventually led investigators to Rudolph's rented mobile home outside of the western North Carolina town of Murphy.

When agents arrived in Cherokee County two days after the bombing, the reclusive Army veteran and self-employed carpenter was gone. The lights were on and the front door was open, according to documents.

Investigators searched the home, a storage unit and truck. The 1998-dated documents show agents were looking for explosives and other bombmaking materials. Agents found possible traces of explosives, a marijuana-growing operation, $1,600 in cash and a book about Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, according to the documents.

A witness told agents most of Rudolph's income before he fled was generated by selling the illegal drug for about $3,000 per pound, the court documents said.

Agents had earlier learned that Rudolph was given an honorable discharge from the Army, but the reason given was "misconduct-abuse of illegal drugs." He served for less than two years.

It wasn't until May 31 of this year that a rookie Murphy police officer caught Rudolph near a grocery store trash bin.

Rudolph is now awaiting trial in Birmingham, Ala. The original witness and the man who recorded Rudolph's license plate number are the likely lynchpins of prosecutors' case. Their names and identities remain tightly guarded secrets.

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