Fatal Bombing in Sacramento Linked to 10 Others Since ’78

Investigators have linked a fatal bombing last week to 10 other bombings or attempted bombings across the country since 1978, including one that exploded on an airplane in flight, law enforcement officials said Thursday.

One man in Sacramento was killed and at least 19 people have been injured in the explosions, which have taken place in eight states and the District of Columbia.

Sheriff Robbie Waters said at a news conference that the existence of the serial bomber had not been made public before.

Mike McCrystal, public information officer for the Federal Bureau of Investigation here, said the FBI and the Postal Service have been working on the bombings since a device exploded on a plane flying from Chicago to Washington on Nov. 14, 1979. It detonated in the cargo compartment and caused 12 injuries by smoke inhalation, he said.

The bombing here on Dec. 11 killed Hugh Scrutton, 38, owner of a computer rental store in a shopping center. The bomb was apparently left at the rear of the shop and Scrutton may have touched it accidentally.

Waters said there has been no message from the bomber either before or after any of the incidents and no motive has been established.

Sheriff’s Lt. Ray Biondi said the bombings were linked because of the similarity of the materials used. He refused to be more specific, but said the Sacramento bomb was loaded with gunpowder. He said shrapnel was found 150 yards away and went through the store’s walls.

Sheriff’s Capt. Alex Magness said she hoped that publicity about the bombings will lead somebody to come up with a suspect. She said the bomber might be involved with universities, computer facilities or airlines, and might be a disgruntled employee, academic or someone displaced from his job by a computer.

The Postal Service has offered a $25,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the bomber.

McCrystal and Gerald Miera of the Postal Inspection Service in Seattle said two of the other incidents to which the Sacramento bombing has been linked occurred at UC, Berkeley.

A professor was injured on July 2, 1982, while attempting to move a device placed in a coffee break room in Cory Hall. Three years later, on May 15, 1985, a student was severely injured when a bomb exploded in a computer terminal room at Cory Hall.

Two other incidents occurred this year, the officials said.

Last May 8, a bomb was mailed from Oakland to the Boeing Co. in Auburn, Wash., with a fictitious return address. It was rendered safe without injury after employees discovered it was a bomb while trying to open it.