Bomb Plot Dates Back To 1971, Suspect Indicates Guilty Plea
BOULDER COUNTY, Colo. (CBS4)- A hearing has been scheduled for next week after a man indicated he plans to plead guilty to attempting to bomb the Nederland Police Department.
David Michael Ansberry, 65, allegedly planted the bomb for revenge in the killing of his friend by a law enforcement official.
Ansberry, from San Rafael, California, was arrested a few days after the Oct. 11 incident, at an airport in Chicago. His arrest came after surveillance video captured him at the stores where he bought the cellphones that he expected to trigger the explosive.
Government-filed court documents confirm that Ansberry's motive dates back to 1971 at a bar called the Pioneer Inn.
Former Boulder County Sheriff George Epp recalls there was a problem with a patron, identified as Guy Goughnor, also known as "Deputy Dawg."
"Evidently he was causing a disturbance and the bartender called the marshal who came and loaded him into a car and that's the last anybody saw of him until his body was found in Clear Creek County," said Epp.
The town marshal at the time was Renner Forbes. He eventually confessed to the murder of Dawg. He was part of a group known as STP. Ansberry was also part of that group, although he was known then as Midget Jesse, due to his 3½ foot height.
Years later, an STP sticker was found on a laundromat near the police station in Nederland with the words "Rest in Peace Deputy Dawg."
Ansberry as traced to a Nederland motel where he was staying at the time of the bombing attempt.
"I'm very happy. I didn't want our town to go through the trauma of reliving the entire thing," said Barbara Hardt, whose husband owns the music store which is three doors down from the police office.
The bomb was found in a backpack at the police station.
Ansberry is expected to plead guilty to use of a weapon of mass destruction. Authorities say the bomb could have destroyed the Nederland Police Department and some of the businesses around it.
"For me, personally, there's no motive for murder. Whatever he was thinking, was his own personal battle," said Hardt.