Just four hours before he blew himself up as police closed in, Austin Serial Bomber Mark Conditt recorded a 25 minute video that police were able to recover from his cell phone after his death, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
Austin Police Chief Brian Manley says Conditt didn't talk about 'hate' for any people or group and didn't mention terrorism, but he did spell out his state of mind.
"It is the outcry of a very challenged young man, talking about challenges in his personal life that led him to this point," Manley said.
Conditt's home and his parents home nearby in the north Austin suburb of Pflugerville were thoroughly searched by police and federal agents last night, and at least one former roommate was detained for questioning. Late last night, the neighborhood was cleared and was reopened to residents. Federal agents said they found bomb making materials in the home where Conditt lived with roommates, but did not find any completed bombs.
Manley said Conditt did give a list of future addresses he wanted to bomb before he was arrested, but he said he is now confident that there are no more bombs in circulation.
"He described seven explosive devices, and we have identified and are no longer in play those seven devices, and it think it is important to put it out there," he said. "We want to remain vigilant, but we have accounted for the seven devices that we have known about."
Those would be the five bombs that exploded, four in Austin and one in Schertz, the bomb that was found in the FedEx office in south Austin which did not explode, and the bomb he used to kill himself in his car on I-35 early yesterday morning.
Far from being a 'mastermind' with military experience, it turns out that Conditt built the bombs with materials available at home improvement stores, and used 'mousetrap' or 'clothespin' triggers.
Police say they first got on Conditt's track by figuring out which cell phones 'pinged' at the locations where Conditt was known to be at, like the east Austin homes were package bombs were placed on porches, and the mailing center in southwest Austin where the FedEx packages that exploded in Schertz and did not explode in Austin were dropped off.
There was also a surveillance video of Conditt, wearing a bizarre wig and pink gloves inside the FedEx Center which gave police confirmation of the person they were looking for.
Manley is hoping to deetrmine a motive, but he conceded that may be elusive.
"There was no indication of why these specific addresses and those that were delivered to homes or those that were placed in the community or those that were mailed," Manley said. "There is no indication why he selected those individuals."
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