Anti-Abortion Witness Sought in Doctor’s Death Is Sighted, FBI Says

An anti-abortion activist sought as a witness in the sniper killing of an abortion provider near Buffalo, N.Y., has been spotted in at least two locations in New Jersey, the FBI said Wednesday.

James Charles Kopp now looks different from photographs distributed by authorities, FBI Special Agent Monica M. Patton said.

“He is wearing a bushier beard, and he also has gained approximately 10 to 15 pounds,” said Patton, a spokeswoman for the FBI office in Newark. “He may additionally be wearing large reading-type glasses.

“The bushier beard is a recent sighting . . . within the past few days,” she said.

Kopp, 44, has been spotted in the central part of the state, in the Red Bank area, and in Essex County, in northern New Jersey, she said.

Kopp is wanted on a federal material witness warrant in the Oct. 23 shooting of Dr. Barnett Slepian of Amherst, N.Y.

Patton said she could not give specifics about the sightings.

“Mr. Kopp appears to be very transient in nature, so we don’t have him linked for any period of time with any individual,” she said.

He is believed to be driving his black 1987 Chevrolet Cavalier with Vermont tags, Patton said.

The material witness warrant was based on reports that the car was spotted in Amherst in the weeks before the 52-year-old obstetrician/gynecologist was killed.

Investigators believe the Slepian killing is linked to four earlier nonfatal shootings targeting doctors in Canada and the United States.

On Monday, U.S. Atty. Gen. Janet Reno posted a $500,000 reward for the arrest of the sniper who killed Slepian.