Eric Robert Rudolph Fast Facts

Here is a look at the life of convicted serial bomber Eric Robert Rudolph.

Birth date: September 19, 1966

Birth place: Merritt Island, Florida

Birth name: Eric Robert Rudolph

Father: Robert Rudolph

Mother: Patricia (Murphy) Rudolph

Education: Attended Western Carolina University, 1985-1986

Military service: US Army, 1987-1989, discharged for smoking marijuana

1981 – After his father dies, Rudolph moves from Florida with his mother and siblings to Nantahala, North Carolina.

1984 – Spends time at Church of Israel, a Christian Identity retreat in Schell City, Missouri.

1989 – Works as a self-employed carpenter in western North Carolina, eastern Tennessee and northern Georgia.

1996 – Begins using the aliases “Bob Randolph” and “Bob Rudolph.”

July 27, 1996 – A bomb explodes in Atlanta’s Centennial Olympic Park during the Summer Olympic Games, killing two.

January 16, 1997 – A bomb explodes at an abortion clinic in the Atlanta suburb of Sandy Springs. An hour later, a second bomb explodes. Seven people are injured.

February 21, 1997 – A bomb explodes at the Otherside Lounge, a lesbian nightclub in northeast Atlanta, injuring four people. Investigators find a second bomb before it detonates.

January 29, 1998 – A bomb hidden beneath a shrub explodes at the New Woman All Women Clinic in Birmingham, Alabama. Robert Sanderson, a 35-year-old off-duty police officer working as a security guard, is killed. Nurse Emily Lyons, 41, is seriously injured. In his 2005 plea agreement, Rudolph admits that he detonated the bomb by remote control, as Sanderson stood over it.

January 30, 1998 – Law enforcement agencies begin looking for Rudolph after witnesses report seeing his gray 1989 Nissan pickup near the Birmingham, Alabama clinic before the blast.

February 7, 1998 – Rudolph’s abandoned truck is discovered by two raccoon hunters in the woods eight miles from Murphy, North Carolina. Hundreds of law enforcement officers conduct a door-to-door search and comb the woods, but Rudolph eludes them.

February 14, 1998 – A federal warrant is issued charging Rudolph with the Birmingham, Alabama bombing.

March 8, 1998 – To protest what he feels is the persecution of his brother by the FBI and the media, Daniel Rudolph sets up a camera in his Summerville, South Carolina, garage. He cuts off his hand with a circular saw. It is later surgically reattached.

May 5, 1998 – Rudolph is added to the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list. A $1 million reward is offered for information leading to his arrest.

July 11, 1998 – Andrews, North Carolina, health food store owner George Nordmann tells authorities that Rudolph came to his Nantahala home July 7 asking to buy food and other supplies. Nordmann says that at first he agreed, and then changed his mind.

October 14, 1998 – Rudolph is formally charged with the bombings at Centennial Olympic Park, New Woman Clinic and the Otherside nightclub in Atlanta, though not in custody.

May 31, 2003 – Rudolph is captured and arrested in Murphy, North Carolina, by 21-year-old rookie police officer Jeff Postell.

June 3, 2003 – Pleads not guilty at an arraignment hearing.

April 8, 2005 – Agrees to plead guilty to all charges against him in exchange for life sentences with no possibility of parole.

April 13, 2005 – Pleads guilty to the bombing of the abortion clinic in Birmingham, Alabama. He also pleads guilty to the three Atlanta-area bombings in Georgia, then releases an 11-page statement blaming the violence on the legalization of abortion.

July 18, 2005 – US District Judge Lynwood Smith sentences Rudolph to two life terms in connection with the January 1998 Birmingham, Alabama, bombing.

August 22, 2005 – Rudolph apologizes to his victims and their families for the 1996 bombing of Centennial Olympic Park while appearing in court for sentencing. He does not apologize for any of the other attacks to which he has confessed. He is sentenced to serve a total of four consecutive sentences of life in prison plus 120 years for the attacks.

February 2013 – With help from his brother, Rudolph publishes his autobiography, “Between the Lines of Drift: The Memoirs of a Militant.”

March 11, 2013 – The US Attorney’s Office in Birmingham, Alabama, states in court documents it is seizing Rudolph’s royalties from book sales, totaling $200, to pay back the $1 million Rudolph owes in restitution.

June 22, 2020 – Rudolph files an 11-page, handwritten appellate motion to vacate two of his life sentences, claiming they were in violation of the constitution and “in excess of the maximum” allowed by law. In July 2021, Judge Smith denies Rudolph’s motion.

February 12, 2024 – Judges of the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals rule that Rudolph is bound to his 2005 plea agreement and will continue to serve a total of four consecutive life sentences in prison.