Four years after last bombing, Rudolph still missing

ASHEVILLE, N.C. - Nearly four years after the last bombing blamed on Eric Rudolph, FBI agents say they continue to hunt for him in the mountains of Western North Carolina. <br> <br> ``The investigation continues,&#39;&#39; said Todd Letcher, the third FBI special agent to lead the Southeast Bomb Task Force. ``We still consider this a priority investigation, and we&#39;re not going to give up until he&#39;s found. There hasn&#39;t been any abatement.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Investigators have scoured the area since 1998 looking for the suspected serial bomber they say was responsible for six bombs and four attacks. The last target in his 18-month spree was an Alabama abortion clinic, and the bomb killed an off-duty police officer and maimed a nurse. <br> <br> The bombing will be four years old Tuesday. <br> <br> Rudolph is also suspected of setting off a bomb during a party at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta that killed a woman and injured 100. <br> <br> More than 200 people at a time searched for Rudolph at one time, making it the largest manhunt in history before the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington on Sept. 11. <br> <br> Residents say they haven&#39;t seen or heard much about Rudolph recently. <br> <br> Todd Bateman, proprietor and sole employee of Bateman&#39;s Lakeside store in the Nantahala community, said he can&#39;t remember the last time he saw a federal agent in this northwestern corner of Macon County about 125 miles west of Asheville. He also has trouble remembering the last time that anyone asked him about Nantahala&#39;s most notorious resident. <br> <br> ``You hardly ever hear it,&#39;&#39; he said. <br> <br> Bateman still displays paraphernalia in his tiny store that reminds visitors of the suspected bomber. <br> <br> There is a cartoon, a wooden sign bearing ``Rudolph patrols here&#39;&#39; and a poster of Rudolph with antlers on his head that says: ``Christmas is cancelled this year because the Feds can&#39;t find Rudolph.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> The last confirmed sighting of Rudolph was in July 1998, when George Nordmann told the Macon County sheriff&#39;s deputy that Rudolph took a pickup truck and about six months&#39; worth of supplies from his home, leaving five $100 bills in payment. The truck was found abandoned nearby. <br> <br> Kenny Cope, a Nantahala resident and former police officer who helped agents searching for Rudolph, said he believes Rudolph is still nearby. <br> <br> ``I swear, I think he&#39;s still around,&#39;&#39; Cope said. ``Maybe not right here, but in the area. I don&#39;t think he&#39;s stuck up in the woods somewhere in a cave. I think he&#39;s got a good comfortable place to live.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> The task force continues to receive tips about Rudolph from residents from across the nation and from overseas, Letcher said. <br> <br> He said there&#39;s no evidence to show Rudolph is dead and nothing that indicates he has left Western North Carolina. <br> <br> Bernard Dougherty, a former assistant director of the U.S. State Department&#39;s Diplomatic Security Service and an adjunct professor of criminal justice at Western Carolina University, doesn&#39;t believe the FBI and other federal agencies will shy from pursuing any terrorism case, including tracking down Rudolph. <br> <br> ``I would say that it is certainly not dead,&#39;&#39; he said of the case. ``The U.S. government, as a matter of policy, said they will use any means necessary to track down anyone involved in terrorism, international and domestic.&#39;&#39;