AUSTIN, Texas _ An affidavit filed in federal court against Austin bomber Mark Anthony Conditt gives new details about how police closed in on him and the contents of the bombs that detonated across the city last month.
The newly unsealed affidavit said investigators were able to identify several similarities among the devices, including their delivery method, manner of detonation and making. All six bombs contained shrapnel, the document said.
The first bomb exploded in the hands of Anthony Stephan House at his home in the 1100 block of Haverford Drive on March 2.
On March 12, two more package bombs detonated. The first killed 17-year-old Draylen Mason and injured his mother in the 4800 block of Oldfort Hill Drive. The second critically injured Esperanza Herrera in the 6700 block of Galindo Street hours later, though the affidavit said it may have been addressed to a different home on the same street.
The next bomb attack happened on March 18 when Colton Mathes and Will Grote hit a trip wire on Dawn Song Drive in Southwest Austin.
The affidavit said a witness told investigators she'd seen a "drive like your children live here" sign when she returned to her home around 8:25 p.m. She told investigators the sign was not there when she left.
Authorities concluded that the sign was used to conceal the explosive device.
On March 20, two more devices were found, one of which exploded at a FedEx facility in Schertz.
The affidavit said the second device, which bomb technicians rendered safe at a FedEx facility in Southeast Austin, was inside a package and composed of a PVC pipe casing with a metal pipe inside surrounded by shrapnel.
The device was rigged to ignite when the flap of the package was opened, the affidavit said.
On Feb. 27, several days before the first bombing, a man purchased several items from a Fry's Electronics store in the 12700 block of North Mopac Expressway (Loop 1), which included five items that were present in all of the bombs.
"The customer utilized a U.S. Bank credit card issued to Mark Conditt, who according to Texas Department of Public Safety driver's license records, resides at 403 2nd Street N., TX, 78660," the affidavit said. "Conditt has a 2002 Red Ford Ranger with an extended cab registered to him."
Investigators also found surveillance footage from a Home Depot in Round Rock of a man who looked like Conditt purchasing a "Drive Like Your Kids Live Here" sign consistent with the one seen before the March 18 explosion in Southwest Austin, and a six pack of work gloves that matched those seen on the FedEx Office video.
Investigators took the footage they had collected to a confidential informant who confirmed that the man in the footage looked like Conditt, and that the red pickup looked like his truck as well.
After terrorizing Austin for three weeks with the series of package bombs, Conditt died March 21when he detonated a package inside his vehicle on Interstate 35 as authorities moved in to take him into custody.
Investigators said he left behind a nearly 30-minute video confession on his cellphone, in which he referred to himself as a psychopath and described the bombs he had made.
