[5] Rudolph attended ninth grade at the Nantahala School but dropped out after that year and worked as a carpenter with his older brother Daniel.

[12][13][11] Rudolph's motive for the bombing, according to his April 13, 2005 statement, was political: In the summer of 1996, the world converged upon Atlanta for the Olympic Games.

The plan was to force the cancellation of the games, or at least create a state of insecurity in order to empty the streets around the venues and thereby eat into the vast amounts of money that had been invested in them.

Despite having been initially hailed as a hero for being the first one to spot Rudolph's explosive device and helping to clear the area, Jewell came under FBI scrutiny in the days following the attack, ultimately becoming the prime suspect and the subject of international media attention.

Rudolph confessed to three other bombings: 1) an abortion clinic in the Atlanta suburb of Sandy Springs on January 16, 1997, 2) the Otherside Lounge of Atlanta, a lesbian bar, on February 21, 1997, injuring five,[14] and 3) an abortion clinic in Birmingham, Alabama on January 29, 1998, killing Birmingham police officer Robert Sanderson, who was off-duty but working as security in uniform, and critically injuring nurse Emily Lyons.

Rudolph was first identified as a suspect in the Alabama bombing by the Department of Justice on February 14, 1998, following tips from two witnesses, Jeffrey Tickal and Jermaine Hughes.

He spent more than five years in the Appalachian wilderness as a fugitive, during which time federal and amateur search teams scoured the area without success.

[17] On March 7, 1998, Rudolph's older brother, Daniel, videotaped himself cutting off his left hand with a radial arm saw in order to, in his words, "send a message to the FBI and the media.

[19] According to Rudolph's own writings, he survived during his years as a fugitive by camping in the Nantahala National Forest near Cherokee and Graham Counties, in North Carolina, by gathering acorns and salamanders, pilfering vegetables from gardens, stealing grain from a grain silo, and raiding dumpsters in Murphy, North Carolina.

When arrested, he was clean-shaven with a trimmed mustache, had dyed black hair and wore a camouflage jacket, work clothes, and new sneakers.

In April 2005, the Department of Justice announced that Rudolph had agreed to a plea bargain under which he would plead guilty to all charges he was accused of in exchange for avoiding the death penalty.

"[37] The Voice of America reported that Rudolph could be seen as part of an "attempt to try to use a Christian faith to try to forge a kind of racial and social purity.

"[38] Writing in 2004, authors Michael Shermer and Dennis McFarland saw Rudolph's story as an example of "religious extremism in America," warning that the phenomenon he represented was "particularly potent when gathered together under the umbrella of militia groups".

[39] The Anti-Defamation League noted in 2003 that "extremist chatter on the Internet has praised Rudolph as 'a hero' and some followers of hate groups are calling for further acts of violence to be modeled after the bombings he is accused of committing.

Essays written by Rudolph that condone violence and militant action have been published on the Internet by an Army of God anti-abortion activist.

[45] As reported in an April 8, 2013, Alabama blog article,[46] Rudolph's book Between the Lines of Drift: The Memoirs of a Militant was published, with help from his brother, by Lulu.com in February 2013.