Eric Rudolph...survivalist, escape artist or lucky?

P

Plainsman

Joined
Apr 5, 1999
Messages
1,168
What do you think about Eric Rudolph and his evasion of the Feds?

I saw a show the other night, where they are pulling ALL but about a dozen agents out of the area. They say the only way they'll get him is when he comes down from the mountains now.

They showed the terrain and talked to some locals. It is heavily wooded and mountainous. There are thick patches so tough to get through a person could walk within feet of another and never see them. There are also TONS of caves thoughout the countryside. Many have fresh water and are big enough to hide somebody for quite a while. They suspect that he has found one that is well hidden and provisioned it far in advance for his flight. Many have tunnels leading away from them and more than one entrance.

Between being able to hide in the hills and having friends who will cover for him, I think he comes and goes more than they believe. I can't see him having stayed up there alone for this long without outside help. I'm sure when the heat gets too close, he hikes back out to his hidey hole(s) and waits the Feds out.

What do you think?



------------------
Plainsman :)
primitiveguy@hotmail.com

You use what you have on you, then you improvise! :)
 
While it would be possible to live off the land in the area he's in for this amount of time I am 100% positive he hasn't. I have done some solo primitive camping and done a few SAR's and believe that anyone that has been alone that long has lost their mind. How many of you have also had lost kids run from you when they've been missing for three or four days?
 
I just think he was lucky and excaped a long time ago, or he died in one of the caves.

no offence, but I just don't think somebody could be in the woods that long without making any trails or without being seen.
 
While T4 may have a point, I think he's simply had a fair amount of help from friends to stay hidden as long as he has. I don't think that, short of a scorched earth policy, the Feds have put enough people on the ground in the right places. Like Rudolph is gonna stroll down one of the roads into town for a case of beans and franks? Wow, those roadblocks sure must be doing their jobs.

With his knowledge of the terrain, its ruggedness and density, caves, holes, tunnels, friends on the outside, I guess I can see how he could've been vanished for so long. Hell, he could've been hiding in someone's basement or barn when they thought he was in the woods. Some people also have a desire to help the "folk hero" against the mighty "feds", so he may be getting more help then the LEA's think.

Then again, maybe he's hiding out with D.B. Cooper somewhere.

------------------
Don LeHue

Rome did not create a great empire by having meetings...they did it by killing all those who opposed them.
 
I think he has disappeared into the anti-government underground. Have not heard of that exactly but that is what I am betting.

------------------
Lee

LIfe is too important to be taken seriously. Oscar Wilde
 
A good friend of mine is a Forest Ranger here in Maine. He showed me a wanted poster that had been given to every ranger in the state in the event Rudolph had hiked up the Appalachian trail and was hiding out in the woods up here! Evidently not even the feds really believe he is still in the same area. By the way, this was last summer!
 
Another thing to remember is that not all fed's are skilled in the outdoors. Chances are most of them are from the city and are not used to searching for someone in the woods. They may get some basic training, but things like tracking take practice, and a lot of natural skill that they don't necessarily have. When the woods are that thick, like you guys said, you could walk right by someone and not see them. So you can't just start waking up the mountain hoping to spot him, you have to figure where its most likely he'll be, and look for any signs that he's been there or is there.
And I bet he has a lot of help from friends.

------------------
Fix it right the first time, use Baling Wire !
 
Well I do think he is either dead or hanging out with Elvis, Bigfoot and the Roswell aliens. Or he just left the country.

Either way I think that it is funny on the amount of people electronics and manpower used to try to find him.
 
By now if the anti-government"forces" haven't rescued him, he could have walked to Mexico or Canada, by now!!

------------------
Big-Target>>>>>>SI VIS PACEM PARA BELLUM

[This message has been edited by Big-Target (edited 04-01-2000).]
 
Wow, such a show of force to get one guy.

I'm pretty far from the christian right,
but it kind of makes you sympathize with him.
 
Talk about a waste of tax payer dollars, how
long have they been looking for this guy? Isnt it three years plus. Anyhow the feds have been outsmarted but they will never admit that. Instead they will keep wondering
the woods looking for a ghost. The guy is to
elusive and will doubtfully ever be found.
Buckshot
 
Personally I don't think he's as smart as everyone gives him credit for being - at least not solo.

Second, I'll bet he didn't stay in the woods too long after ditching the truck.

In due time this case will be solved also. The 'feds' have gotten smarter in resolving cases over the years. They're learning that patience pays off in the long run. Just as with the case of the guy shooting into the Command Center at Andrews....one arrest has already been made and I would bet they're not to far from closing the door on that particular incident.

Eric Robert Rudolph...a wilderness survivalist? Bull****.

------------------
Randall's Adventure & Training
jeff@jungletraining.com

 
I knew I'd get some good comments on this one!
smile.gif




------------------
Plainsman :)
primitiveguy@hotmail.com

You use what you have on you, then you improvise! :)
 
They maybe getting close but I doubt it. Look how long it took them to catch the
uni bomber. Think of all the money they have
spent trying to find Eric R. Probablly millions meanwhile ugly murders are happening
every day. The FBI would never admit they
have been outsmarted their egos are to big.
I think the only way they will find him
will be an tip from someone in the area.
Buckshot
 
I stick by my opinion, he has had help and disappeared into the underground. But if they see him, I do hope they treat him like any other rabid animal, I have no sympathy for his like and hope we do not have to waste money paying for him in prison.

Just my opinion.



------------------
Lee

LIfe is too important to be taken seriously. Oscar Wilde
 
Originally posted by Buckshot:
They maybe getting close but I doubt it. Look how long it took them to catch the
uni bomber. Think of all the money they have
spent trying to find Eric R. Probablly millions meanwhile ugly murders are happening
every day.
Click to expand...

So what's the answer? Just forget about him?
Personally I don't think they are too close to catching him. I do believe that Eric is being helped and probably still in the area being run through a series of 'safe houses'. Again, in due time this one will be resolved. As time goes on and the press loses interest, there will most likely be another action by this bunch of nuts to bring attention back to themselves.

The thing about most of the US based 'dissident' crowd is they're a bored bunch of idiots, expecially the Christian Identity nutcases and damn near ALL of the militia crowd. These organizations thrive on occasional grandstanding. Once someone is trusted within their cell, the fools tell all, and what usually gets them is not the 'big one' but some chest beating about a simple destructive device or firearm that's been converted to full auto. These types of incidents are their way of saying 'See, I am smart, I figured out how to make something...and the press and government thinks we're stupid rednecks.'

Soon enough there will be a tip within their own organization that will initiate case closure on Rudolph and a few other unsolved things that the press is not even aware of.

Personally I think the government is doing a good job of just plodding along and collecting what tips and info they can. Shutting down the Command Center in Andrews may be the smartest move they could make since taking publicity off the case may very well put those who know something at ease and cause them to make dumb mistakes.

Jeff

------------------
Randall's Adventure & Training
jeff@jungletraining.com

 
As far as "everything being resolved", bull. It is stupid to think that everything will just fall into place at some magical moment in the future. They just arrested a woman who was part of the Symbionese Liberation Army, and she was on the run for over 20 years. If she had left the country, they never would have ogtten her. I think that he got away a long, long time ago.

About someone being alone for that long going crazy, people who are "all there" don't kill innocent people. I don't want to get into the abortion debate, but he seems to me to be another one of thoe extremist Christian zealots who think that they are doing the owrk of God.

Kind of makes you want to re-examine your own religion, doesn't it?

As far as his skills go, he has them. BUT, even more importantly, he knew the territory. NOBODY will find you in you own back yard if you are A) prepared and B) careful. He was both, and the feds lost.

Just like Vietnam: You can't fight and win in a place where you have no experience and no influence. The locals helped him, and he got away. End of story.
 
I believe he is a very skilled survivalist, and I don't know if they'll ever get him. His skills at survival, awareness, evasion, resistance, and escape are excellent; or at least it appears that way. I don't admire or agree with him, if indeed he is guilty of what they've charged him with. Nor do I hold blameless all the baby butchers.

It is very possible to survive for many years in the woods alone, without going crazy. Many have done just that.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top