Pipe Bomb Suspect's Grungy Past

Luke Helder, the 21-year-old college student arrested tonight (5/7) in connection with the mailbox bombing investigation, fronted a rock band called Apathy and used an e-mail address that seems to contain an anti-Semitic slur, according to web pages devoted to the Minnesota-based group. Click here to see Helder's online biography. Click here for a photo of the suspect rocking out. And to see Helder's e-mail [email protected]click here.

In addition, TSG has also obtained this copy of the two-page "Mailboxes are exploding!" letter that was found alongside pipe bombs placed in various rural mailboxes across the Midwest. We've also posted a copy of a bizarre six-page manifesto, of sorts, written by Helder and sent last week to a college newspaper in Wisconsin, where Helder attends school. In the rambling letter, Helder writes, "I'm taking very drastic measures in attempt to provide this information to you... I will die/change in the end for this, but that's ok, hahaha paradise awaits! I'm dismissing a few individuals from reality, to change all of you for the better, surely you can understand my logic." The letter, the first page of which is imprinted with the initials LH, was signed "Lucas Helder" and postmarked May 3 in Omaha,Nebraska.

We've also posted the FBI's probable cause affidavit filed in the Helder case. Along with a blow-by-blow of the bureau's investigation, the document also discloses--rather amazingly--that Helder's car was stopped three separate times (over two days) by law enforcement officials during his bomb-planting spree. On May 4, Helder's Honda Accord was pulled over in Nebraska and Oklahoma for, respectively, speeding and failure to wear a seat belt. The following day, he was caught speeding in Colorado. During the first May 4 traffic stop, Helder told the Nebraska cop who approached him, "I didn't mean to hurt anybody." The officer, the FBI affidavit notes, told Helder that he "had only been stopped for speeding."

Finally, if you want to hear a taste of Luke's grunge-influenced music, we have a pair of MP3s from Apathy. One cut is called "Conformity" and the other is "Back and Black." As you might have guessed, they're both derivative of Nirvana, with abrupt tempo changes and choruses (in "Black and Back") like "Can we feel the pain."