Police Find Possible Rudolph Hiding Place
June 2 -- Officials searching the mountains of western North Carolina found a campsite where they believe bombing suspect Eric Robert Rudolph hid out during his winters on the run.
Officers found a rifle at the site and have identified another possible hideout, law enforcement sources told ABCNEWS. Rudolph told police about one campsite but it was not clear if it was either of those discovered by searchers.
What officials want to know is how Rudolph — suspected in a string of bombings dating back to the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta — eluded authorities since he was identified as a suspect in 1998. Also, officials are trying to learn more about Rudolph's beliefs and possible motivations.
"We're doing interviews, we're combing the forest area for any evidence that he had any help, we're trying to see what type of places he stayed in up there and trying to assess whether those are long-term places or places that he just moved to and from on a short-term basis," FBI Special Agent in Charge Chris Swecker said today on ABCNEWS' Good Morning America. "Those are questions we have to get answered."
Added Swecker: "He's a good enough outdoorsman that he wouldn't necessarily have to have any help. Certainly, in the past, he's had friends and associates in that area. We've tried to stay very close to those friends and associates and keep in touch with them."
‘He Wanted to Further Our Race’
Deborah Rudolph, the bombing suspect's former sister-in-law, described him as a man whose opposition to abortion seemed based more on racial concerns than moral issues.
"If he is guilty, I think that if he did do this, I think the reasoning behind it would be … he wanted to bring issues such as the abortion issue to the forefront of the media," she told Good Morning America. "He wanted to bring it to people's attention, this is wrong. Killing babies, predominantly white babies. He thought the white race was slowly becoming a minority. He felt that the abortions were performed predominantly on white women, and he was against that. He wanted to further our race, to better our race."
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