Sterling Hall bombing
40 years later, FBI still looking for suspected terrorist Leo Burt
By RON SEELY and DEBORAH ZIFF
July 21, 2010
With the 40th anniversary of the Sterling Hall bombing approaching,
the news from the Federal Bureau of Investigation is really no news
at all Leo Burt is still on the lam.
The FBI held a press conference Wednesday in Madison to issue an
update on its 40-year investigation into the whereabouts of Burt, the
last remaining fugitive from the bombing and one of the
longest-listed individuals on the agency's list of domestic terrorism suspects.
The agents in the FBI's Madison office said Wednesday morning they
are still looking.
"Until we've got credible information that he's no longer alive it
remains a priority," said Chris Cole, supervisory special agent in
the Madison office. "He killed someone. Obviously there's a certain
mystique in the early 70s. But the reality is that there was a young
researcher doing nothing more than his job who lost his life."
The bombing of UW-Madison's Sterling Hall in the pre-dawn hours of
August 24, 1970 was a watershed moment in Madison and in a country
torn by anti-war protests. Investigators said Burt was part of a
group of campus radicals, called the New Year's Gang, that targeted
the Army Math Research Center located in Sterling Hall as a protest
to the Vietnam War. The explosion damaged 26 buildings and killed
Robert Fassnacht, a 33-year-old physics researcher, working late in
the building to wrap up research before leaving on vacation. However,
it barely touched the military's research center.
Eventually, brothers Karl and Dwight Armstrong and David Fine were
arrested and served time for the bombing.
Burt disappeared. The last confirmed sighting of Burt, who would now
be 62, was just days after the bombing when he and Fine fled through
the rear window of a boarding house in Peterborough, Canada as Royal
Canadian Mounted Police knocked at the front door. Burt left behind a
wallet with a fake ID bearing the alias "Eugene Donald Fieldston,''
said FBI special agent Kevin Cassidy at Wednesday morning's press conference.
A "Wanted" poster shows an age-enhanced photo of Burt as he might
look now, a smiling face with graying hair and a full beard. He's
wanted for sabotage, destruction of government property, and
conspiracy. Even after all these years, the FBI is still offering a
$150,000 reward and warns that Burt could be armed and dangerous.
Cassidy said hundreds of leads have been pursued, including many
received after repeated airings of Burt's story on the television
show America's Most Wanted.
Dwight Armstrong died of lung cancer on June 20 at the age of 58.
Karl Armstrong remains in Madison where he operates a fruit juice
cart. David Fine is in Portland, Oregon where he works as a paralegal.
Forty years later, Sterling Hall is undergoing a renovation, but it
still bears the marks from the bombing. An angry scar lines the
yellow bricks in the narrow alley, where the bombers pulled up in a
Ford Econoline van with six 55-gallon drums of fuel oil and ammonium nitrate.
But don't go looking for the plaque that was dedicated in 2007 to
Fassnacht. It was taken down for the renovation and hasn't been
returned to its place on the brick wall, near where the white van was
parked that early August morning.
--
Ron Seely can be reached at 608-252-6131 or rseely@madison.com.
Deborah Ziff can be reached at 608-252-6234 or dziff@madison.com.
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FBI Continues Hunt for 1970 UW Bomber
http://www.nbc26.com/Global/story.asp?S=12849799
7/22/10
MADISON - It's been a manhunt 40 years in the making, and the FBI
says they refuse to up in their search for Leo Burt.
He's the man who blew up Sterling Hall on the UW campus.
If you look closely enough, you can still see where a bomb exploded
near Sterling Hall on the UW-Madison campus 40 years ago.
"We have been looking for him for 40 years," said an FBI official.
The FBI says Burt and three other anti-war activists bombed Sterling
Hall, killing a 33-year-old researcher, injuring six others and
causing $6 million damage.
"He needs to be held responsible for those actions," said the FBI staffer.
Burt is the only suspect who is still on the loose. The FBI came
close to catching him in Canada shortly after the bombing.
Four decades later, officials says they are following up on promising
leads, but have nothing significant to report.
UW-Madison Police Detective Bruce Carroll assists with the
investigation, but he's unsure they'll ever find Burt.
"I kind of wonder if he's still alive," said Carroll.
"This thing has gone underground for 40 years."
The search continues for a man who has been on the run longer than
any other fugitive of his kind, a man who unfortunately taught us
long before Oklahoma City and 911 that terrorism can happen anywhere.
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Search Continues For Fugitive 40 Years After UW Campus Bombing
http://www.channel3000.com/news/24331573/detail.html
FBI Will Speak Wednesday About Manhunt For Leo Burt
July 20, 2010
MADISON, Wis. -- It's been nearly 40 years since a deadly bombing on
the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus, but authorities said the
search for one of the men responsible for the bombing continues.
The FBI will speak to the media Wednesday about the manhunt for Leo Burt.
The FBI said he's been on the run since he and three other anti-war
activists blew up Sterling Hall on Aug. 24, 1970.
The blast killed a 33-year-old researcher.
Burt was never found and he remains on the FBI's domestic terrorism
most wanted list.
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