Sari Horwitz - Sniper. The Hunt for the Killers Who Terrorized the Nation

CONTENTS

To those whose lives were lost and to those who were wounded or terrorized by the events of October 2002

What a loss; a life taken by an evil or deranged person with access to a deadly rifle. He didnt know the people he shot, but every one of them left behind shattered lives and broken hearts....
May your memory always be for a blessing, and may your memory inspire us to be a blessing to our own families, to those who love us, and to the whole world.

Rabbi David Saperstein at the funeral for sniper victim Lori Lewis Rivera

CAST OF CHARACTERS

Suspects

John Allen Muhammad

Lee Boyd Malvo

State and Local Police

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, MARYLAND, POLICE DEPARTMENT

Chief Charles A. Moose, Montgomery County Police Chief

Captain Bernard (Barney) J. Forsythe, Director of the Major Crimes Division

Captain Nancy Demme, Police Spokesperson

Commander Drew Tracy, Third District Station

Lieutenant Philip C. Raum, Deputy Director of the Major Crimes Division

Sergeant Nick DeCarlo, Major Crimes Division, Homicide/Sex Section

Sergeant Roger Thomson, Major Crimes Division, Homicide/Sex Section

Corporal Gene Curtis, Major Crimes Division, Homicide/Sex Section

Detective Patrick McNerney, Major Crimes Division, Homicide/Sex Section

Detective Terry Ryan, Major Crimes Division, Homicide/Sex Section

Detective Jim Drewry, Major Crimes Division, Homicide/Sex Section

David McGill, Forensic Specialist, Tactical Operations Division, Tactical Division

Officer Jeff Nyce, Tactical Operations Division, Tactical Division

Officer Derek Baliles, Public Information Officer

Officer Alan Felsen, Fourth District Station

BALTIMORE CITY POLICE

Officer James Snyder

Officer Deborah Kirk

PRINCE GEORGES COUNTY, MARYLAND, POLICE

Chief Gerald M. Wilson

Dr. William Vosburgh, Director of Forensics Lab

Detective Joseph Bergstrom, Criminal Investigation, Homicide Unit

MARYLAND STATE POLICE

Major Thomas Bowers

Lieutenant David Reichenbaugh

First Sergeant Keith Runk

Trooper First Class Rob Draskovich

Trooper First Class Chris Paschal

METROPOLITAN POLICE DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, D.C.

Chief Charles H. Ramsey

Detective Tony Patterson, Major Crimes Section

FAIRFAX COUNTY, VIRGINIA, POLICE

Chief J. Thomas Manger

Detective June Boyle, Homicide Division

HANOVER COUNTY, VIRGINIA, POLICE

Sheriff V. Stuart Cook

HENRICO COUNTY, VIRGINIA, POLICE

Chief Henry W. Stanley

PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY, VIRGINIA, POLICE

Chief Charlie T. Deane

SPOTSYLVANIA COUNTY, VIRGINIA, POLICE

Major Howard Smith

VIRGINIA STATE POLICE

Lieutenant Tom Martin

MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA, POLICE

Chief John H. Wilson

Sergeant Scott Martino

Federal Agencies

BUREAU OF ALCOHOL, TOBACCO AND FIREARMS

Michael Bouchard, Special Agent in Charge, Baltimore Field Division

Jim Cavanaugh, Special Agent in Charge, Nashville Field Division

Jeffrey R. Roehm, Special Agent in Charge, Washington Field Division

Joseph M. Riehl, Assistant Special Agent in Charge, Baltimore Field Division

Walter A. Dandridge Jr., Chief Ballistics Examiner

FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION

Gary M. Bald, Special Agent in Charge, Baltimore Field Office

Van A. Harp, Assistant Director in Charge, Washington Field Office

Gary Noesner, Unit Chief, Crisis Negotiation Unit

Kevin Lewis, Assistant Special Agent in Charge, Baltimore Field Office

Toni M. Fogle, Assistant Special Agent in Charge, Washington Field Office

Vincent Montagnino, Technical Supervisor, Washington Field Office

Brad Garrett, Special Agent, Washington Field Office

Charles B. Pierce, Special Agent, Hostage Rescue Team

U.S. MARSHALS SERVICE

Johnny L. Hughes, U.S. Marshal for the District of Maryland

Lenny DePaul, Supervisory Inspector, N.Y./N.J. Regional Fugitive Task Force

William J. Sorukas Jr., Senior Inspector, Technical Operations Group

Michael P. Moran, Senior Inspector, Technical Operations Group

Tim Hein, Inspector, Technical Operations Group

Kevin Engel, Inspector, N.Y./N.J. Regional Fugitive Task Force

U.S. CAPITOL POLICE

Chief Terrance W. Gainer

Prosecutors

JUSTICE DEPARTMENT

Attorney General John Ashcroft

Deputy Attorney General Larry D. Thompson

U.S. ATTORNEY, DISTRICT OF MARYLAND

Thomas M. DiBiagio, U.S. Attorney

A. David Copperthite, Assistant U.S. Attorney

MONTGOMERY COUNTY STATES ATTORNEYS OFFICE

Douglas F. Gansler, States Attorney

Katherine Winfree, Deputy States Attorney

John J. McCarthy, Deputy States Attorney

COMMONWEALTH ATTORNEY FOR FAIRFAX COUNTY

Robert F. Horan Jr., Commonwealth Attorney

COMMONWEALTH ATTORNEY FOR PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY

Paul B. Ebert, Commonwealth Attorney

Richard A. Conway, Assistant Commonwealth Attorney

James A. Willett, Assistant Commonwealth Attorney

SNIPER

PREFACE

For three weeks in the fall of 2002, the prospect of sudden death haunted millions of Americans across a stretch of the mid-Atlantic and upper South, from Pennsylvania to the Carolinas. With good reason. Between October 2 and October 22, thirteen people were selected and shot, investigators believe, by two drifters with an old car and a military-style rifle. Ten people diedthree of ghastly head wounds, seven from wounds of the back, chest, or stomach. The victims were chosen at random as they were going about the daily chores of life.

During one of the first interviews for this book, an accomplished Maryland prosecutor began to cry when she recalled the terror of just going to work for much of that month. She described the seconds ticking by as she waited for a traffic light to change, the walk from her car to her building, the relief she felt upon reaching the sanctuary of her office each morning. We too were deeply affected by the killings. We lived and worked in the threatened communities. Our children attended schools in the area, in one case within a mile of two of the Maryland shootings. We felt the same fear.

Washington, like New York, was a target of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. In the months that followed, the armed guards, security checks, and fighter jets flying round-the-clock overhead were constant reminders that the nations capital and its surrounding suburbs were still under threat. The sniper attacks, less than thirteen months later, were terrorist acts of another shocking kind, and no less instructive in revealing the vulnerabilities of a free society.

In response to the shootings, one of the largest investigations in the history of American law enforcement was concentrated in the Washington area. It involved thousands of local and state police; sheriffs deputies; federal agents, marshals, and technicians; state and federal prosecutors; and police departments across the country. This is the story of that investigation.