Others May Be Charged With Couple in Fatal 1980 Mail Bombing

A federal prosecutor said Tuesday that additional defendants may be charged soon in connection with a 1980 fatal bombing in which Robert Manning, a suspect in the 1985 killing of pro-Arab activist Alex Odeh, was indicted earlier this summer.

Robert and Rochelle Manning have both been charged in the 1980 mail bombing, which killed Manhattan Beach secretary Patricia Wilkerson. Authorities say that the bomb was intended for Wilkerson’s boss and that the crime has no political overtones.

At a hearing Tuesday in Los Angeles, Assistant U.S. Atty. Nancy Wieben Stock joined in a defense attorney’s request for a delay in the trial of Rochelle Manning, citing the possibility of a new indictment in the case that would name more defendants.

U.S. District Judge Dickran Tevrizian set a Nov. 1 trial date and allowed two private attorneys to take over Rochelle Manning’s defense, replacing the federal public defender’s office.

One of the lawyers, Alan Rubin, said money to pay for her defense has been raised by friends, whom he did not identify, and family members.

The Mannings were both Los Angeles Jewish Defense League members before emigrating to Israel, where they settled in a militant anti-Arab village on the West Bank. Rochelle Manning was arrested in June at Los Angeles International Airport and is being held in Terminal Island Federal Prison. Robert Manning remains a fugitive in Israel.

Authorities have identified Robert Manning as a suspect in the investigation into the 1985 bombing death of Odeh at his Santa Ana office.

Stock told Tevrizian Tuesday that the possibility of more indictments in the Wilkerson case justified a delay. If a new indictment is issued, it will happen “relatively soon,” Stock told the judge.

The charges filed against the Mannings on June 15 mentioned they had acted “with other persons both known and unknown.” The indictment returned against them last month stated only that the Mannings were “aided and abetted by each other.”

Wilkerson died July 17, 1980, when a disguised bomb that had been delivered by mail exploded. The package was addressed to Brenda Adams, owner of the firm for which Wilkerson worked.

Fingerprints of both Mannings were found on the remains of the package containing the bomb and a letter accompanying it, according to U.S. postal inspectors who investigated the case. No other aspects of the prosecution’s case have been revealed.