Lucas John Helder (born May 5, 1981) also known as the Midwest Pipe Bomber,[1] is an American terrorist.
He was arrested in 2002 as a suspect in pipe bombings in mailboxes, which injured several people. In 2004, he was found mentally unable to stand trial and is still imprisoned in a federal medical facility.
Bombings
In 2002, Helder planned to plant pipe bombs around the United States in mailboxes to create a smiley face on the United States map.[1] Helder planted 18 bombs packed with BBs and nails that covered 3,200 miles (5,100 km) in Nebraska, Colorado, Texas, Illinois and Iowa. In Iowa, six people were injured when the bombs were detonated.[2]
He was stopped in Nebraska, Oklahoma and Colorado for speeding and failure to wear a seat belt, but he was not arrested.[3] He was captured in Nevada before he was able to make the full smile.
Trial
In April 2004, a federal judge found Helder unfit to stand trial. A judge could free him if doctors find he isn't a threat to society anymore, but legal experts doubt this as the nature of the crime committed was violent. Helder has been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder.[4]
Multiple status checks have been conducted but they have came to the conclusion he is unfit for trial.[5]
Before his bombing spree, he was a member of Rochester grunge band Apathy. Containing members Mike Stanton on drums, Eric Hielscher on bass and Helder on guitar and vocals.[6] He was heavily inspired by Nirvana and was a fan of Kurt Cobain.[7] Drummer of Apathy, Mike Stanton described Helder's singing as "interesting" and his lyrics never seemed like they had they had an anti government message, according to Stanton, although it may be due to him not paying much attention to the lyrics.[8]
Apathy only recorded one album called Sacks of People which was released in 2001. The album remained mostly lost other than 2 tracks, Conformity and Black and Back which were found in 2021. A third song, Mindsight was confirmed to exist but never initially surfaced.
The whole album was found in September of 2023 by YouTube channel "scorche" who came into contact with someone who unknowingly had the entire album on an old hard drive of theirs.[9]
