Search For "The Bishop" Intensifies
Postal inspectors in Chicago are asking for the public's help in their investigation into the mailing of two pipe bombs and numerous threatening letters from a man who identifies himself as "The Bishop." Investigators gave CBS News correspondent Bob Orr an exclusive look at the evidence.
Two bombs and letters were sent to various financial institutions. One pipe bomb arrived in Kansas City, Mo., on Jan. 31. The other showed up the next day in Chicago. They were wrapped in plain white boxes and sent Priority Mail, Orr reports. Both pipe bombs were duds, but that has no effect on the investigation.
Investigators in Chicago released a composite sketch of a person of interest, describing him as a white male in his late 30s or early 40s, about six feet tall and weighing between 180 and 190 pounds. The drawing was taken from descriptions given by people inside a suburban Chicago post office, where the two bombs were mailed Jan. 26.
Postal inspectors said the threatening letters came from a man identifying himself as "The Bishop," and included phrases like, "Bang, you're dead" and "Tick tock." "The Bishop" also demands that financial firms manipulate stock prices to $6.66, Orr reports.
In all, the inspectors said 15 threatening letters and two packages have been sent since May 2005. One was originally mailed to a Denver business and then forwarded to Chicago.
"We are hoping that somebody sees that and if they recognize it as somebody's handwriting that they might know, that they pick up the phone and they call us," U.S. Postal Inspector Dave Colen told Orr. Colen is leading a team of more than 100 federal agents, searching for a person they consider to be extremely dangerous.
"We've tied it all together to one person," Colen added. "The person did raise the stakes when the took it the next step and created these devices and send them through the mail stream."
Investigators are going over the dud pipe bombs, which have been transferred to a lab in Washington. Investigators can't ignore the threats, Orr reports, because the bombs had all the parts necessary for an explosion, though "The Bishop," perhaps deliberately, left some wires unconnected.
Investigators want to reassure the public that the mail is safe, Orr adds, but at the same time they're openly asking for help in catching "The Bishop" before more pipe bombs are sent