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CNN Live Today
Man Admits to Bombing Spree
Aired May 09, 2002 - 10:01 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Up first this hour on CNN, the latest on Luke Helder, the college student accused of unleashing a terror campaign on the heartland and at the curb. Authorities say that he has admitted to rigging the mailboxes with explosives and leaving six people injured and much of the Midwest very nervous.
Our Martin Savidge is in Reno, Nevada. That is where the 21- year-old may come face-to-face with his parents today.
Marty, good morning.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Daryn.
This is going to be an emotional day for two parents and one young man, the young man being obviously Luke Helder.
Last night in the middle of the night in Reno, Nevada, his parents arrived from that small town in Minnesota. You may remember well. It was Cameron Helder, his father, who made that emotional plea for Luke to get in contact with authorities, and we now know by FBI documents, it was also his father that had an instrumental role in identifying to authorities his belief that his son may be involved in that bombing spree.
It was obviously the right decision, but for a parent, it would a very difficult decision. How the father reached that decision was described by a family spokesperson.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REV. DENNIS KAMPA, HELDER FAMILY SPOKESMAN: What they were worried about is that they didn't want anything worse to happen. Already, people were injured from the mailbox bombings. Now, they didn't want him to do anything drastic or to have a shootout with the police. So therefore, they thought the best thing was to try to stop him as soon as possible.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAVIDGE: One of the things that has struck so many people here as a result of Luke's arrest is the fact that this young man seemed so calm, so cool and so collected, and the fact that he can even smile without showing any signs of remorse. This is something that has also struck his family. His mother apparently in a conversation with him says that she doesn't fully believe that he knows the trouble that he is in. Again, the family spokesperson.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAMPA: The mother just mentioned that she was so worried, because she thought that Luke did not understand the seriousness of all this. That the statement she made to me was that Luke had said that, do you think I will go to jail because of this? And she said, he still perhaps doesn't realize that this was not a childish prank, that a very serious matter.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAVIDGE: With already the charges that are against him, it is possible, if he were convicted, this young man could spend up to 70 years in prison.
Now, when is this reunion going to be taking place? There is some question about that. Maybe today, however there are some regulations that we have heard about that say the family may have to wait a number of days. No doubt when it does take place, that is going to be one tough conversation -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Martin, in trying to understand why this young man might have done what he is accused of doing, the reports he was trying to make the design of a happy face. Have you heard anything like that?
SAVIDGE: No, I haven't heard anything about that, Daryn. I mean, a lot of people at this point are very confused. They say up until his sudden dropping out from school and disappearing from Wisconsin, he had been a regular kind of guy, a good guy, maybe who played bad music, but that was about the only thing he did badly up until now apparently.
KAGAN: Well, compared to what he is accused of doing, bad music is not a crime. Martin Savidge in Reno, thank you -- we will check back with you.
And for most of us, our first glimpse of Luke Helder came in the nighttime video of his being led into jail. He was smiling. He was seemingly confused. It was a baffling image of someone who stands accused of waging a campaign of domestic terrorism.
Our Jeanne Meserve now looks at who is Luke Helder through the eyes of those who know him.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MESERVE (voice over): They say the face reflects the character. This face gave no clues that Luke Helder might have a dark side and neither did his behavior, says a former roommate.
MATT DECORSEY, HELDER'S FRESHMAN ROOMMATE: I don't think I've ever seen him mad or yell or just get upset about anything the whole year that I lived with him. It was just -- he was just an easy-going guy. MESERVE: Other acquaintances from freshman year concur, describing Helder, a junior and an art major, as normal, mild mannered, and apolitical. They say Helder had friends, was not a loner, but did seem solitary in his pursuits.
ANDY DOMOROVSKY, UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDENT: He didn't go out of the room that often. He played his guitar, hung out, watched TV, spent time on the Internet.
MESERVE: This past September, Helder was issued a citation for possessing a marijuana pipe, but those who knew him freshman year say they never saw him use drugs. Helder did form a grunge band, Apathy. Mike Stanton was the drummer.
MIKE STANTON, DRUMMER: I always thought Luke was a really nice guy. I never thought anything like this.
MESERVE: Acquaintances say music was Helder's obsession, particularly the band Nirvana and its lead singer.
ANDY ARMSTRONG, UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDENT: He seemed to have a fascination with Kurt Cobain. He dressed like him. He was a lot like him.
MESERVE: He was even wearing a Cobain tee shirt when he was arrested. Cobain committed suicide and recent communications attributed to Helder were peppered with references to death, including his own. Fascinations with death and even anti-government viewpoints are not unusual in teenagers, according to former FBI profiler Clint Van Zandt.
CLINT VAN ZANDT, FORMER FBI PROFILER: He still was experiencing basically what you and I and everybody else experience and all of our kids experience in college. What makes this guy built bombs and go across America? What changed that?
MESERVE: A university classmate says he did see changes in Helder in recent weeks.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He sort of had a real direct approach, talked all over the professor, get into arguments, disrupt class.
MESERVE: But at the Servicemaster franchise, where Helder had a part-time job, coworkers say they had seen no change in the young man they describe as nice, cheerful, even sweet. If they are struggling to understand his apparent transformation, imagine the difficulty his parents are having back in Pine Island, Minnesota.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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