Disclaimer: This article contains mentions of bombing and death. Reader discretion is advised.
Atlanta Olympics bomber Eric Rudolph is now serving life in prison for the July 1996 explosion in Centennial Park and a series of other bombings. Rudolph went on a crime spree in the mid and late 1990s, orchestrating multiple explosions. He also made it to the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted List. Then, in 1998, the bomber faced charges of the attacks on Centennial Olympic Park, New Woman Clinic, and the Otherside nightclub in Atlanta. However, authorities failed to take him into custody until his arrest in North Carolina in 2003.
Reportedly, in 2005, Eric Rudolph, notoriously known as the Atlanta Olympics bomber, pleaded guilty to multiple charges. These counts stemmed from the bombings in Alabama’s abortion clinic and three more Atlanta area explosions. He ended up receiving multiple life sentences as part of the plea deal he accepted to evade the death penalty.
Where is Atlanta Olympics bomber Eric Rudolph now?
According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Atlanta Olympics bomber Eric Rudolph is now in the United States Penitentiary in Florence, Colorado. The facility is commonly known as USP Florence ADMAX. The 57-year-old inmate is serving multiple life sentences for a series of bombings he committed in the mid and late 90s.
CNN reported that Eric Rudolph executed the Atlanta Olympics bombings in Centennial Park on July 27, 1996. The incident killed two individuals, including a mother who had traveled with her daughter to watch the event. Additionally, the explosion injured more than 100 people. An FBI report mentioned that the perpetrator had even called 911 twice before the bomb went off.
In the next two years, Rudolph set off multiple bombs across separate locations in the Atlanta area and one in Alabama. These included the 1997 explosions in an abortion clinic in the Atlanta suburb of Sandy Springs. Two bombs went off the clinic within a couple of hours, injuring even people. The incident occurred on January 16.
On February 21 of that year, he detonated a bomb in an Atlanta-based lesbian nightclub called Otherside Lounge. The attack left four people injured. Moreover, investigators were able to stop a second bomb from exploding.
Nearly a year later, on January 29, 1998, Eric Rudolph planted a bomb in a shrub that exploded at the New Woman All Women Clinic. The clinic was located in Birmingham, Alabama, and the explosion killed a security guard named Robert Sanderson. Reportedly, Sanderson was a 35-year-old off-duty police officer working at the clinic, who was standing over the bomb when Rudolph used a remote control to detonate it. The explosion also gravely injured a nurse named Emily Lyons.
After the Atlanta clinic explosion, authorities actively began looking for the suspect. Witnesses had come forward and reported seeing a gray 1989 Nissan pickup near the Birmingham clinic in Alabama before the incident. Detectives then linked the vehicle to Eric Rudolph. He managed to elude arrest for months and even made it to the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted List.
Later, in October 1998, officials formally charged Eric Rudolph in connection with the Centennial Olympic Park bombings in Atlanta. They also charged him with the New Woman Clinic and the Otherside Lounge bombings. It wasn’t until 2003 that authorities finally took Rudolph into custody.
Two years later, Eric Rudolph accepted a plea deal in exchange for multiple life sentences without the possibility of parole. He agreed to the deal to evade the death penalty. A judge then sentenced Rudolph to two life terms for the Alabama bombing. He also received four consecutive life sentences with an additional 120 years for the remaining attack, including the Atlanta Olympics bombing.
Eric Rudolph recently attempted to have his sentenced thrown out but the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld in life sentences. The court ruled that Rudolph will remain in prison for life without the possibility of parole as per the plea deal he accepted in 2005, per CBS 42.
An acclaimed film called Richard Jewell looks into the horrific Centennial Park bombing during the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Several true crime shows, such as Catching Killers and The Crimes That Changed Us, also look into the tragedy.
