FBI Hopes Billboards Lead To Bay Area Fugitive Daniel San Diego
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- The FBI has started a new campaign searching for a man suspected of two Bay Area bombings in 2003 who has evaded authorities for more than a decade, FBI officials said.
Billboards bearing the image of Daniel Andreas San Diego, 35, who is believed to be responsible for setting two bombs at Chiron Corp., a biotechnology company in Emeryville, that went off an hour apart, according to the FBI.
The FBI also suspects San Diego of setting a timed bomb with nails strapped to it at Shaklee Corp., a nutritional products company in Pleasanton, on Sept. 26, 2003.
No one was injured in the explosions.
San Diego was placed under federal surveillance after the explosions but disappeared while being followed by federal agents in San Francisco on Oct. 6, 2003. He entered a BART station and hasn't been seen since, according to the FBI.
The FBI alleges San Diego targeted the two companies as part of his animal rights activism.
A group called Revolutionary Cells Animal Liberation Brigade claimed responsibility for the explosions, charging that the companies did business with Huntingdon Life Sciences, which conducts animal testing.
While the FBI has raised suspicions that San Diego may be hiding overseas, there have been reports that he was sighted in Novato, Santa Cruz, San Rafael and Northampton, Mass., the FBI said. He also has ties to Germany, Spain, France, Italy, Costa Rica and Bolivia.
The billboards with his photo will be placed in California, on the U.S.-Canada border in New York and Washington, and in Massachusetts, Oregon, Nevada and Florida, the FBI said.
Previously, the FBI has offered a $250,000 reward in the effort to find San Diego and in 2009 he became the first domestic terrorist to be placed on the FBI's Most Wanted Terrorists list.
When he was last seen, San Diego was described as a white man with a light complexion, standing 6 feet tall and weighing 160 pounds with brown hair and brown eyes.
He has several distinctive tattoos, including a round image of burning hillsides in the center of his chest with the words, "It only takes a spark" printed in a semicircle, an image of burning and collapsing buildings on the sides of his abdomen and back, and a single lifeless tree rising from a road in the center of his lower back.
The tattoos may have been removed, altered or drawn over at this point, or San Diego may avoid taking off his shirt, the FBI said.
He was vegan when he disappeared and might still be living a lifestyle where he refuses to eat or wear anything made with animal products, which also might make him stand out, the FBI said.
In 2003 he unsuccessfully tried to launch a vegan bakery in Schellville, according to the FBI, and he might be doing similar work as a source of income and mainly dealing with cash to avoid detection.
He also has training in computer networking and might be working in that field, or teaching English or translating, and also has an interest in sailing, the FBI said.
San Diego is considered armed and dangerous, according to the FBI.
Anyone who sees San Diego has been asked to contact their nearest FBI office or dial 911. The FBI in San Francisco can be reached at (415) 553-7400 and tips can be submitted at tips.fbi.gov.
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