American Shrapnel Part 1: How a Birmingham College Student Caught the Olympic Bomber

American Shrapnel Part 3: What fueled Eric Rudolph’s evolution from pot dealer to terrorist

Eric Rudolph was a chameleon. A Bible thumper and a skilled pot grower, a Holocaust denier and an avid reader. Stories from family and friends reveal a dangerous, contradictory man. And his secrets.

American Shrapnel Ch. 1: The Blob Man

A blast at the 1996 Olympics shakes the American South. A woman is killed and scores injured. As cops wrongly target a security guard named Richard Jewell, the real bomber slips away, only to bomb again. And again. Thousands of photos and videos produce one blurry image of the attacker, a photo so grainy the FBI called him “Blob Man.”

American Shrapnel Part 1: How a Birmingham college student caught the Olympic bomber

A blast at the ‘96 Olympics, and the bomber slips away. Two more bombs. A photo of the suspect so grainy the FBI called him “Blob Man.” Then? Birmingham.