JEFFERSON COUNTY - Two former FBI experts predict it won't be much longer before the man at the center of a nationwide manhunt is captured.
Clint Van Zandt, a former FBI profiler, says Earl Albert Moore is "probably one of America's most wanted men."
Bob Pence, former FBI Special Agent in Charge of Denver, says Moore's face and distinctive tattoos are widely publicized and recognizable.
"It's hard to believe he'll be in fugitive status for more than a few days," Van Zandt said.
Moore doesn't necessarily have the kind of criminal past that instills confidence in his ability to elude investigators. Even still, FBI investigators very much consider him "armed and dangerous."
"Is he simply looking for attention?" Van Zandt asked. "Is he simply looking to go back to prison? Or does he want to have some sort of final confrontation with law enforcement, perhaps when he would go out in a very big way?"
The FBI believes Moore placed a makeshift bomb inside Southwest Plaza Mall last week. While the bomb, which included two propane tanks and a smaller pipe bomb, never went off as perhaps intended, investigators consider Moore's actions a case of domestic terrorism.
"I don't think it was a random thing, I think he had something in mind," Pence said.
In 2004, Aurora Police say they caught Moore trying to steal more than $1,500 worth of computer storage equipment from a local Costco. At the time, a police report suggested he was overheard confessing to a security agent at the store shortly after he was caught with the disks inside a hidden compartment in his jacket. The Colorado Department of Corrections says he never served any prison time for the crime.
In 2005, it took Raleigh County, West Virginia, detectives "10 minutes" to arrest Moore for robbing a local bank, according to published reports with the Beckley Register-Herald. One report suggested "detectives set a 'local record' Tuesday when they nabbed [Moore]" after he "waved a revolver and demanded the teller hand over cash."
Moore originally pleaded guilty to the crime in federal court, but after a judge sentenced him to 18 years in prison, he decided to appeal the conviction. Court records suggest Moore made some sort of deal with prosecutors in the months that followed after he provided "substantial assistance to the United States in the investigation and prosecution of other persons."
While the majority of his crimes seemed to benefit himself, this latest bombing attempt could have caused serious injuries or death, had the device worked properly.
"This was more a vengeance, more of an attempt to deliver a message to someone or some company or institution," Pence said. "By doing it, it is going to instill fear in a lot of people, particularly when you do it in a public place."
9NEWS tried to get a comment from the U.S. Attorney's Office in West Virginia about that deal, but our call went unreturned as of Monday afternoon. Court records indicate certain aspects of a decision to reduce Moore's sentence in 2007 have been sealed.
Moore then served a reduced sentence inside a federal prison in South Carolina. On April 13, he left the prison, and a week later investigators say he walked into Southwest Plaza with the tanks he purchased from a nearby Target.
Moore's release from prison was reliant upon him completing five years of supervised probation. Court records indicate he was supposed to check in with a federal probation officer within 72 hours of his release. It's unclear if he ever checked in, and numerous calls to federal probation officers in South Carolina and West Virginia have not yet been returned.
As for where Moore is now, Pence believes he has likely left Colorado.
"I think he probably could be drifting on to some other place," Pence said.
"If he's in Colorado, it would have to be someplace that he had pre-arranged where he could crash," said Van Zandt.
Then there's the question of the possible to the Columbine shootings.
The attempted bombing happened near Columbine High School on the 12th anniversary of the attack.
FBI spokesman Dave Jolly told 9NEWS there is no clear way to determine a motive until Moore is arrested and any other ideas floating around would be speculation.
"I think for profilers it will be very interesting if it turns out to be a fluke," Van Zandt said. "But again, investigators don't believe in coincidences they'll think there is some connection."
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