19 days of terror: Inside the Austin bombings investigation

AUSTIN, Texas – Twelve days after Mark Anthony Conditt killed himself by detonating what police said was one of his own bombs, Channel 2 Investigates sat down with the head of the Houston office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Is the investigation closed?

No, the investigation remains open.

“We just want to make sure that there was no one else that helped him in any way,” said Fred Milanowski, special agent-in-charge of the ATF’s Houston office.

Milanowski said while investigators are confident none of Conditt’s bombs are unaccounted for, investigators are still following up on some of the hundreds of tips generated during the search for the bomber.

Are investigators closer to determining a motive, or how victims were chosen?

“We may never know that," Milanowski said. "He may have taken that with him to the grave. We do know this person was evil.”

Milanowski said neither Conditt’s 25-minute recorded confession, nor an exhaustive search of his home and personal life, helped pinpoint a motive.

Milanowski said all victims appear to have been chosen at random. He added Conditt had no connection to the victims and they did not have any connections to one another.

Was surveillance video key to finding his identity?

Milanowski said the information and video generated from Conditt’s attempt to mail bombs via FedEx helped speed up the investigative timetable, but the net was already starting to tighten around a suspect.

Milanowski said ATF agents worked around the clock to sift through blast sites and then piece together the different bomb components.

PHOTOS: Inside the ATF investigation

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The effort was aimed at getting “DNA, fingerprints and most importantly tell us what the explosive mixture was in these devices,” Milanowski said.

Once they knew the components, ATF and FBI agents, along with Austin police, began scouring stores that sold those components. Investigators compiled a list of names of people who bought those items and started working leads.

“Most of the components can be purchased in the commercial market, including the explosive filler he used,” Milanowski said. “You can’t buy it all in one place, but in multiple locations it was available.”

Were more bombings planned?

“We do think he was ramping up and things were going to get more sophisticated and more directed,” said Milanowski.

Reiterating that no bombs are unaccounted for, Milanowski said Conditt had a large cache of components in his house. Milanowski said it is believed Conditt practiced bomb-making before the blast.

“There is probably some location or remote area in Texas where he practiced his devices,” Milanowski said. “Once (a bomber) finds a device that functions the way they want it to, they pretty much stick with that design, which this person did.”


About the Author:

Award winning investigative journalist who joined KPRC 2 in July 2000. Husband and father of the Master of Disaster and Chaos Gremlin. “I don’t drink coffee to wake up, I wake up to drink coffee.”