Pipe-Bomb Suspect Treated Chase Like Joke

May 10, 2002 -- In the end, it all seemed like a big joke to the man wanted for terrorizing America's heartland in a five-state pipe-bombing spree, an investigator who helped catch the man told ABCNEWS.com.

"He didn't seem to understand the severity of the situation," said Pershing County Sheriff's Department Investigator Ted Bolzley.

"He acted almost as if the law enforcement officers were his old chums, and we had thrown a big surprise party for him."

Friends Saw Signs of Problems

Investigators finally caught up to Luke Helder, a 21-year-old college student accused in the bombing wave that injured six people, on a remote part of Interstate 80 in northern Nevada Tuesday afternoon.

FBI sources said Helder had been on the phone to his father Cameron. According to court papers, Cameron Helder already had told authorities about a letter his son sent him that seemed to take credit for the bomb attacks.

Cameron Helder tipped off the FBI to the call, and that apparently enabled authorities to track him down.

The Chase Is On

"At around three we got a teletype from the FBI, alerting all law enforcement in northern Nevada," said Bolzley, who explained that federal investigators were able to trace Helder's signal to a cell-phone relay tower at Battle Mountain, Nev., an old mining and railroad town.

At 3:51 p.m. Bolzley and the rest of the department got a call from dispatch that someone phoning 911 had just seen the dark gray Honda that Helder was diving on I-80.

Soon after that, the chase was on. And just as quickly, it became anything but a normal high-speed chase.

The suspect hit speeds pushing 100 mph, but he didn't seem to mind, said Bolzley, a narcotics investigator who at times was driving alongside Helder in an unmarked pickup.

Smiling, Swerving, a Gun to His Head

"As I was driving along side him, he was talking on a cell phone, with the Rand McNally map spread out in his lap, smiling," said Bolzley, referring to a map that sources said Helder later used to point out some of the locations he allegedly planted bombs.

It was about then that Helder must have been talking to an FBI hostage negotiator, although from Bolzley's vantage, it would have been impossible to tell. He could, however, see the young man pointing a shotgun at his own head, but even after apparently threatening suicide, Helder seemed happy.

"He was quite jovial the whole time. Even in the pursuit with the units, he was kind of playing around, swerving to the units," said Bolzley. "It was almost playful, like two buddies out joyriding around."

A Smiley Face?

Even after he was stopped and dropped his gun out the window before federal agents and police grabbed him, the investigator said, Helder seemed undisturbed, and chatted happily with his captors.

"He was saying things like: 'That was a pretty good move you did there [during the chase]. I didn't know you were a cop. I just thought you were a regular guy and you were pissed at me,'" said Bolzley, recounting some of the conversations.

It was somewhere during the apprehension that Helder allegedly said he was hoping to map out a giant smiley face across the heart of the country with the locations of the pipe bombs.

"It was just something that was overheard at the scene, that I related to one of our lieutenants," said Bolzley, although, considering everything else he had just seen, he wasn't sure if Helder meant it.

"He wasn't serious in any of his endeavors," said the investigator.

He was sure of one thing. Northern Nevada hasn't seen a case like that for a long time, and probably wouldn't again soon.

"It'll be hard for something to compare to this."