The State : Singleton Kin a Bomb Target

Police were scrutinizing remnants of a crude homemade bomb tossed at the home of rapist Lawrence Singleton’s brother, but investigators said they had no idea who hurled the explosive in a normally quiet Tampa, Fla., suburb. Walter Singleton and his wife, Dianne, were alone in their house when the bomb exploded in their front yard, about 30 feet from the front door, investigators said. They were uninjured, and the house was not damaged. “Our bomb squad has the fragments that are left,” said a sheriff’s spokeswoman. “We think it was a homemade device. We found pieces of cardboard and duct tape. We’re processing them so hopefully we’ll be able to tell something from that.” Singleton was convicted of raping a 15-year-old hitchhiker, chopping her forearms off with an ax and leaving her for dead in a ditch southeast of San Francisco in 1978. The girl survived. Since Lawrence Singleton listed his brother’s address as his residence in Florida, neighbors have been frightened and upset.