A man named Dan on West Memphis bombing investigators' radar - MSNewsNow.com - Jackson, MS

By Janice Broach - bio | email

WEST MEMPHIS, AR (WMC-TV) - On February 4, 2009, a homemade bomb exploded in the driveway of a West Memphis home, severely injuring Arkansas State Medical Board chair Dr. Trent Pierce.  

Grover Crossland with the Arkansas division of the ATF said it is one of the biggest cases the agency has ever investigated.

"I personally, in 45 years in law enforcement, never have utilized this many investigative techniques in any case I have ever worked," said Crossland.  "Bar none."

Within hours of the explosion, investigators set their sites on another Arkansas doctor, Dr. Randeep Mann, a doctor who had been previously disciplined by Pierce.

Court documents revealed ATF agents questioned Mann the same day the bomb exploded.  Exactly one month later, agents arrested Mann for unlawfully possessing 40-millimeter high explosive grenades at his home near Russellville, Arkansas.

Investigators said it was a grenade that blew up in Pierce's driveway.  Within months of their discovery, Mann was charged Mann with masterminding the attack, but not planting the bomb.

"We're not alleging that Dr. Mann actually, physically set the device," said Crossland.  "He has an alibi that we have checked out."

This leaves many asking who placed the bomb in Pierce's driveway.

"We had witnesses that saw certain things but did not see the bomb or the bomber," said Crossland.  "We do have an unidentified co-conspirator in this case."

Testimony during Mann's trial revealed that Mann approached several inmates at Pulaski County Detention Center and asked them to finish the job.  He considered the bombing of Pierce a botched job.

In court documents obtained by Action News 5, one of those inmates testified Mann offered him $50,000 to finish the job because, "Dan didn't do it right the first time."

There is a Dan associated with the case.  Kundan Mann is Randeep Mann's son, though there is no evidence directly linking him to the bombing.

Action News 5 went to the Mann home in Russellville, Arkansas to speak to Kundan Mann.  After some discussion, his mother, Sangeeta Mann, asked the reporter to leave.

Investigators would not say if they ever talked to Kundan Mann.  He has not been charged with anything.

"We're really working on it aggressively in trying to identify the perpetrator and trying to build the evidence on him to prosecute," said Crossland.

Until the actual bomber is arrested, the case is still open.

A judge denied Randeep Mann's request for a new trial earlier this month.  Investigators said in court Pierce received death threats in the weeks after the explosion from someone threatening to finish the job.

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