Lucas John Helder (born May 5, 1981) also known as the Midwest Pipe Bomber, is an American domestic terrorist and former University of Wisconsin–Stout student from Pine Island, Minnesota.

[5] When he was intercepted after a 40-mile car chase, Helder held a gun to his head, but was convinced to lower it by Federal Bureau of Investigation negotiators.

[7][8] But his roommate noted that Helder had recently become obsessed with death, had begun smoking marijuana,[7] and had been reciting extended monologues about his new spiritual beliefs to his friends (which they had mostly "laughed off").

Within the year prior to his arrest, Helder had become passionate about astral projection techniques and came to believe that death of the flesh and body is not the end of existence, as evidenced by the manifesto he sent to The Badger Herald of the University of Wisconsin–Madison at the beginning of the bombing spree.

I'm dismissing a few individuals from reality, to change all of you for the better"[9][10]Notes attached to the bombs denounced government control over daily lives, denied that anyone who had died was really dead, and promised more of the same kind of message.

[11] While a judge could free Helder if doctors find he is not a threat to society, legal experts doubt this possibility due to the violent nature of his crimes.

A bandmate in Apathy remarked Helder had "an interesting style of singing" and would write much of the lyrics of the group's tracks, not having a full understanding of their meaning.