The bombs were planted the night before the Capitol insurrection, and remain one of the biggest unsolved mysteries of that day. On the night of January 5, a masked person in a grey hoodie and Nike Air Max Speed Turf sneakers planted two pipe bombs in Washington, D.C.—one at the RNC headquarters, the other a few blocks away at the DNC headquarters. A passerby spotted one of the devices the next day at around 12:45 p.m., nestled between a rat trap and a recycling bin by the RNC down the street from the Capitol. Thirty minutes later, during a sweep of the area, police discovered the second device by the DNC. Meanwhile, an angry pro-Trump mob was crashing through the Capitol barriers just blocks away. The discovery of the bombs on January 6 added another sinister layer to the violent Capitol insurrection that left five dead, and has remained one of the biggest unsolved mysteries of that day. Nearly two months later, authorities have arrested 275 people from 40 states in connection to the violent uprising, aided in part by photographic evidence and social media. But the bomber has remained at large, despite the FBI increasing the reward for information to $100,000 over the weekend. Bomb investigations are a tense business because they require a careful, thorough, and accurate analysis of components involved, and close examination for any forensic evidence the bomb-maker might have left on the devices, like hairs, fingerprints or DNA. There’s also a time crunch: Experts who have worked high-profile bomb cases told VICE News that bomb-makers, when they aren’t caught, tend to keep going. “This person is still on the loose. And as we have seen with past bomb-makers, if they are able to stay out there and keep experimenting, working on their ‘art,’ they can become more sophisticated,” said Scott Stewart, a former State Department special agent and Vice President of TorchStone Global, a strategic security advisory company. And over time, Stewart said, those devices can become more dangerous, even deadly.
via vice: The DC Pipe Bomber Is Still at Large But They Left Some Key Clues