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Rudolph intrigues, even after captureBirmingham sheriff: 'I told him he would be safe here'
MURPHY, North Carolina (CNN) -- Even with Eric Robert Rudolph behind bars, the mystery about who he is seems to grow. Items found at campsites where he allegedly stayed reportedly have ranged from a Gandhi biography to an assault rifle. The man whom authorities portrayed over the years as an antigovernment zealot has been described as cooperative with law enforcement. At least one official said Rudolph appeared to be relieved that the five-year manhunt had come to an end. Some residents in this town -- a tight-knit community where "Run Eric Run" bumper stickers flourished during his years on the lam -- have come forward with third-hand stories of Rudolph spottings. No one turned him in, even with a posted federal reward of $1 million. One resident said she remembered talking to a lady about the time a new reward poster was being distributed. "Do you think he's still alive?" the woman said she asked. "She said, 'I know he is. My brother just saw him not long ago camping.' And she told me where, and I was really surprised that they didn't want to turn him in for the reward money. "These were local people, and I said, 'You wouldn't turn him in?' And she said, 'No, oh no, we wouldn't turn him in.'" Meanwhile, victims wounded in the bombings Rudolph has been charged with expressed relief at his capture early Saturday. "The smile hasn't left my face since Saturday morning," said Emily Lyons, a nurse who was critically wounded when an abortion clinic in Birmingham, Alabama, was bombed in 1998. "We've waited five years for this day and, if he is the one that is guilty of this, we want the legal system to provide appropriate punishment for him." Memrie Wells Creswell, who was wounded in the bombing of a gay nightclub in Atlanta, Georgia, told CNN, "I just want to make sure he stays behind bars. Forever." She added: "If he gets the death penalty, that's OK too." Authorities: Rudolph motivated by hateThe 36-year-old former fugitive, Army veteran and expert survivalist faces arraignment Tuesday in Birmingham on charges related to the fatal clinic bombing. Rudolph arrived in Birmingham on a flight from North Carolina on Monday amid heavy security. "He was cooperative and soft-spoken, and seemed relieved. I told him he would be safe here," Jefferson County Sheriff Mike Hale said. Rudolph is also charged in the 1996 bombing at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, which killed a woman from Albany, Georgia, and wounded dozens more. In addition, he is charged in the 1997 bombings at a suburban Atlanta abortion clinic and another at the lesbian nightclub. Eleven people were wounded in those attacks. Authorities have described Rudolph as being motivated by hate, borne from a childhood that exposed him to the Christian Identity Movement, a right-wing group that espouses anti-Semitic, antigay, anti-abortion and antigovernment beliefs. Morris Dees with the Southern Poverty Law Center said Rudolph's father died when he was a teenager, and it was his mother that "brought him up at a very young age to be indoctrinated" with Christian Identity philosophy. "The Christian Identity is less of a religion and more a political philosophy. They believe Jews are evil, that they're not God's children -- that white non-Jews are. Therefore, it's OK to kill Jews," Dees said. "They believe our government is run by Jews. They call our government ZOG, the Zionist-Occupied Government." Deborah Rudolph, his former sister-in-law, said Rudolph was "pretty outspoken" and "more your revolutionary-type person." Rudolph's court-appointed attorney in North Carolina took issue with that characterization. "I think he's been portrayed some over the years in the media as some sort of zealot or fanatic, and he's not," Sean Devereux told reporters. Gun found at alleged Rudolph campDevereux met with Rudolph for about an hour Sunday night. He said he has represented white supremacists in the past. "Generally speaking, when you walk into the cell, they reach through and grab you by the lapels and start spouting that stuff to you, and telling you why the court doesn't have jurisdiction and the intergalactic law that governs their conduct, and so forth. There was none of that," he said of his meeting with Rudolph. He said Rudolph told authorities about at least one campsite where he stayed. Devereux noted that a Gandhi biography was found there. Sources familiar with the investigation told CNN that authorities have found two campsites in North Carolina's Nantahala National Forest where Rudolph allegedly stayed. At one of them, a semiautomatic assault rifle was found. In an interview with USA Today published Monday, Rudolph's mother, Patricia Rudolph, said her son never talked about abortion with her, and "he wasn't taught violence at home. "I've been a pacifist all my life," she said in the interview. "I would protest with a placard, not with a bomb." In Alabama, U.S. Attorney Alice H. Martin said she was prepared to move forward. "We are thankful Rudolph will now face justice in a court of law," she said in a written statement. CNN correspondents Art Harris and Mike Brooks contributed to this report.
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