A Cold December Day

During my career, I have assisted with two investigations involving homemade explosives. The second investigation involved a Cuban immigrant, Luis Cristobal, who during the early morning hours of February 7, 2000, set explosive devices in three locations in Chesterfield and Dinwiddie Counties. He placed one device under a pickup truck driven by a man he suspected of having an affair with his wife. Two other bombs were directed at his wife’s brother; one device was placed under his pickup truck, and one device was placed at his business. All three bombs exploded with minimal injuries. A fourth live bomb was discovered under a church altar where Cristobal was hiding.

This story is about my first bombing experience, which occurred on December 3, 1997, a Wednesday and my day off. It proved to be the longest day of my career. At 4:45 AM, I was asleep, nestled in the warmth of my bed when the phone rang. It was a Virginia State Police dispatcher who explained that there had been an explosion in the rural town of Louisa and a woman lay dead on the sidewalk. He felt it probably was a gas explosion. I tried my best to persuade the caller to notify another agent since my response to the scene would be costly to taxpayers due to the overtime wage that I would claim. My pleading proved futile. So, I dressed warmly and raced for an hour through the empty darkness, hoping not to meet any wayward deer along the way. Bombings are rare in Virginia, so the possibility of an intentional explosion occurring in Louisa, a town with a population of 1,200 citizens, seemed incredulous.

I was the first investigator to arrive on the scene. The location was Loch Lane Apartments, a series of four duplex buildings situated linearly along a short dead-end road. Troopers and local law enforcement had blocked access to the parking lot with ubiquitous yellow crime scene tape. The cordoned off scene would prove to be inadequate as evidence would be discovered far beyond its parameters. Later in the day, a twisted hunk of metal was found on a golf course 629 feet away.

It was still dark when I arrived. I passed a tattered black shoe in the parking lot and headed towards a white blanket on the gravel in front of one of the apartments. As I drew closer, I saw that the blanket partially covered a body of a woman with flowing strawberry-blonde hair. She was facedown with her arms bent at the elbows, her head resting upon her hands as if she were asleep. A parked car with its engine running idled next to her. Pointing to the blanket, I asked who messed with the crime scene and was told a neighbor had come out after hearing the explosion and covered the body.

As the sun slowly peaked through the barren trees, the scene of devastation became more apparent. This was no explosion from a gas leak. The body was intact but shattered; it had been pierced by innumerous bits of metal, the hands were gone, and a shin was broken in half. Directly on the other side of the concrete walkway, in the grass, was a semicircle gouge in the earth filled with debris. It was a bomb crater.

I entered the apartment; lights and the television were on, and a purse was on a sofa next to the front door. The powerful explosion had spewed shards of jagged metal through the facade, ricocheting off walls and blasting through the ceiling up into the attic. A coating of installation dusted the interior.

The victim was identified as Tammy Baker, a 24-year-old single woman who worked at a convenience center. She was 8 months pregnant.

The Bureau of Alcohol. Tobacco, and Firearms was of great assistance. Within a few days, their laboratory took all the collected fragments and reassembled the explosive device. The deadly package consisted of a steel lock box containing two galvanized metal pipes with threaded endcaps and filled with Bullseye smokeless powder. Power to ignite the powder came from 2 C batteries. Inside each pipe was an Estes model rocket engine, utilized as an ignition source, secured with Bondo, a body filler used in car restoration. The initiator was a pressure switch on the base of the lock box. Lifting the box off the ground caused the switch to activate, setting off the two pipe bombs. To ensure that only Tammy discovered the lethal surprise, the bomber placed it by her front steps and covered it with the plastic lid of her trashcan. It was cold and dark with no pedestrian traffic when Tammy started up her car. It would be nearly impossible for her to miss the disguised bomb on the sidewalk next to her steps.

Investigative Thoughts

 The victim was specifically targeted. She had a daily morning routine preparing for work. The bomber knew the victim and was familiar with her routine. He specifically chose the day (middle of the week, as opposed to a Monday or Friday when there was a greater chance she might take off from work), time (darkness and the victim going to work), and bomb location (no nosey pedestrians, directly in the path Tammy would take between her apartment and car).

The motive appears to be either an act of revenge or domestic-related violence.

The Offender:

 He is intelligent. The explosive device was sophisticated. There are basically two types of bombers: smart ones and dumb ones. Dumb ones make only one bomb.

 He is a high school graduate.

 He is into model rocketry.

 He might work on car restoration.

 He is single. He has freedom to build bombs and freedom to roam at night.

The investigation eventually led to the father of Baker’s unborn child, Coleman "Mike" Johnson, a 29-year-old man living in Newport News with his mother. He was a high school graduate with some college. He graduated from an aircraft maintenance school, worked as a pipe fitter and a carpenter in Louisa County, was divorced, and was angrily adamant against paying the child support that Tammy Baker demanded.

He was convicted by a jury and sentenced to life without parole in 2001.