Austin, Texas, serial bomber Mark Conditt was "a very challenged young man" who left a phone-recorded "confession" that meticulously detailed the deadly arsenal he had built, Police Chief Brian Manley said Wednesday.
In an extraordinary news conference, Manley said after the 23-year-old suspect killed himself with the seventh of his homemade bombs as police closed in early Wednesday, investigators recovered information about his state of mind — and stash of explosives.
"We have made the discovery of a recording where he talks about what he has done," Manley said. "I would classify this as a confession. This was on a phone that we found in his possession early this morning after we had the officer-involved shooting after he detonated the bomb he had with him."
"On the recording, the suspect describes the six bombs that he constructed with a level of specificity that he identified the differences among those six bombs."
He also described a seventh bomb — the one he used to end his own life, Manley said.
"He described seven explosive devices," Manley said — and every one has been accounted for.
Manley then delivered a sobering assessment of what might be considered Conditt's motive for the chilling bomb spree.
"After listening to the recording, he does not at all mention anything about terrorism, nor does he mention anything about hate," Manley said, referencing early theories the bomber had a racial motive in targeting blacks and Hispanics.
"But instead, this is the outcry of a very challenged young man talking about challenging things in his personal life that led him to this point."
Experts also removed explosive device components on Wednesday from Conditt's home.
Hours earlier, police had tracked Conditt to a hotel about 20 miles north of Austin. They were following his vehicle when he pulled to the side of the road and detonated a device, killing himself, Manley told reporters near the scene.
Police cautioned that he may have planted or mailed other bombs, asking the public to remain vigilant, but his death came as a relief to Austin, a fast-growing city of 1 million people. In addition to killing two people in the area, the bombings that had begun on March 2 injured at least five others.
Experts from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) discovered bomb parts similar to those used in the attacks at Conditt's home.
"I wouldn't call it a bomb-making factory, but there's definitely components consistent with what we've seen in all these other devices," Fred Milanowski, special agent in charge of the ATF's Houston field division, told reporters.
Investigators detained two of Conditt's roommates who lived at the home, the Austin Police Department said. One was questioned and released and the other was still being questioned. Police said their names would not be released because they were not under arrest.
During his three-week campaign, the bomber left three parcels on doorsteps, activated another by trip wire, and sent at least two via FedEx, one of which blew up on a conveyer belt in a sorting facility on Tuesday. The other was recovered before it exploded.
FedEx said it had supplied investigators with "extensive evidence," though officials have yet to publicly detail how or when they identified Conditt as the suspect. The criminal charge and arrest warrant were filed on Tuesday night.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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