The packages themselves turned out to tell the story.
Law enforcement officials said they got a break in the pipe-bombing case with the help of keen-eyed forensic sleuths at the FBI lab, who found evidence in the packages pointing to the suspect who is now under arrest.
FBI Director Christopher Wray said a fingerprint from suspect Cesar Sayoc, 56, of Aventura, Fla., was found on one of the envelopes that contained a device sent to US Representative Maxine Waters.
“We have confirmed this fingerprint is that of Cesar Sayoc,” he said at a Justice Department news conference.
Wray also said there was a “possible DNA connection” found between samples collected from pieces of two pipe bombs that were mailed in two separate envelopes, and a sample collected from Sayoc in connection with an earlier arrest down in Florida.
In a criminal complaint filed in support of the charges against Sayoc, an FBI agent said one of the DNA samples came from the bomb in the envelope sent to Waters, while the other came from a bomb sent to former president Barack Obama.
Wray said at the news conference that the FBI had turned to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement late Thursday to confirm the DNA connection.
He said the FBI lab had done “amazing work.”
“This is phenomenal work, with the greatest pressure, under an incredibly tight time frame. We see unbelievable work like this on TV and in Hollywood, but to see it up close in reality is something to behold, and we are so proud of our team at the lab for their work in keeping people safe and helping us to find the individual responsible,” he said.
The criminal complaint also noted that a number of the packages were routed through a mail processing center in Opa-Locka, Florida, and that is the center that services the county where Sayoc lives.
The complaint noted a Twitter account with the name of “Cesar Altieri” (Sayoc’s middle name is Altieri) with tweets that included the same misspellings that were on the package labels. The account also included tweett this week, after the bomb targeting liberal billionaire George Soros was found, that was critical of Soros, Obama, and others.
Wray warned that more packages might be out there somewhere, making their way through the mail. He said the investigation continued, but “we do believe we have caught the right guy.”
Experts said earlier this week the bomber, or bombers, had probably left behind a wealth of clues.
Sayoc has been charged with five crimes including mailing explosives and threatening former US presidents. Sayoc is a registered Republican and is apparently an ardent Trump supporter who reportedly pushed far-right conspiracy theories online. He faces a potential penalty of decades in prison, said Geoffrey S. Berman, US attorney for the Southern District of New York, which is prosecuting the case.