FBI Chief Says Rogers’ Van Bombing May Not Be Solved

FBI Director William S. Sessions said Wednesday that “I can’t express with strong confidence” that federal investigators will be able to solve the San Diego bombing last March of a van driven by Sharon Rogers, the wife of the then-skipper of the guided missile cruiser Vincennes.

In a Washington press conference Wednesday, Sessions indicated that he was more confident about identifying those responsible for the bombing of Pan American Flight 103 from London to New York last Dec. 21 than he was about solving the bombing of Rogers’ van.

Her vehicle was destroyed in what some officials speculate was a retaliation for the order last summer by her husband, Capt. Will Rogers III, to shoot down what turned out to be a civilian Iranian jetliner in the Persian Gulf.

On the Rogers van bombing probe, Sessions said the dispatch of 15 agents to San Diego earlier this month did not signal that the investigation was stymied.

But he added: “I can’t express with strong confidence that we will solve that particular case, but I hope we are able to do it.”

Rogers’ van exploded and burned at a busy La Jolla intersection on the morning of March 10 as she drove to work at a private school where she taught the fourth grade. She escaped unharmed.

Ron Orrantia, an FBI spokesman in San Diego, said Wednesday that agents with both the bureau and the Naval Investigative Service continue to actively pursue the case. He noted that a “management decision” was made several weeks ago to bring the additional 15 FBI agents to San Diego to assist in the investigation.

“There has been a tremendous amount of leads that have been developed,” he said. “That’s why we have the number of agents working this thing that we do have. We continue to have a strong commitment from the FBI and the NIS.”

‘Seriously Working the Investigation’

“We are still seriously working the investigation and it will continue that way until we solve it.”

He added that there are more than 100 agents in the San Diego FBI office and that “we have committed a number of agents to this case and they continue to work it.”

Orrantia said the probe has been time-consuming in part because federal investigators are still awaiting the results of extensive lab results being conducted at FBI headquarters in Washington.

He said those tests are being performed on evidence recovered at the crime scene, along with the shell of Sharon Rogers’ van, which has been removed and placed in storage.

San Diego fire and bomb experts have speculated that the explosive device used on the van was a heat-sensitive pipe bomb, but Orrantia said no clear determination will be made about the detonating device until the lab reports are completed.

Asked if investigators have concluded whether the attack was the result of international terrorism, Orrantia said: “Oh heavens no! We’re looking at all avenues.”

He added that the investigation will continue until the case is solved. How long that will take is uncertain.

“It depends on the demands of the case,” he said. “We’re busy and it depends on what kind of information develops. And it continues to be one of the major cases that the FBI is involved in.”

Richard Serrano reported from San Diego and Ronald Ostrow from Washington.