The South County Bomber

Between October and November of 1977, a series of car bombs would kill and injure multiple people in eastern Missouri. The victims were middle-class individuals living in apartment buildings in southern St. Louis County, who appeared to have no connection to one another…

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Ronald Sterghos - born and raised in Greenwood, South Carolina - moved to the region of St. Louis, Missouri in May of 1976. The young man moved to Mehlville, a suburb on the southern reaches of St. Louis, located near the Illinois border. There, he lived alone in the 1100 block of Casa Brazilia Court, at an apartment complex bearing the Brazilia name, just off of Interstate 270, wedged between Lemay Ferry Road and Lindbergh Boulevard.

Ronald, who was unmarried and had no children, worked as a chemical engineer for Monsanto. He was employed at their plant in nearby Sauget, Illinois, located just across the Mississippi River, near East St. Louis. He would make this 20-minute drive almost every day in his two-door 1976 Toyota sedan, which he kept parked outside of his apartment door.

On the morning of October 7th, 1977, 23-year-old Ronald prepared to head off to work like he would on any other Friday. He woke up, got dressed, and stepped outside to make the short drive to his workplace. As he sat down in his car, he placed the keys into the ignition and twisted his wrist.

A brief, powerful explosion underneath the vehicle would jolt Ronald, causing two of his Toyota's windows to blow out and destroying the underside of the vehicle. Meanwhile, Ronald would be thrown from the vehicle, and his glasses would be blown even further.

The blast was heard several blocks away and was strong enough to blow out several windows in the apartment complex. Neighbors that were home at the time would begin pouring out of their apartments to survey the damage and help out, finding Ronald laying on the ground nearby the smoking wreck of his vehicle. Thankfully, he was almost entirely unharmed - with the blast proving ineffective at hurting him inside of the vehicle - but would cause extensive damage to the Toyota and leave Ronald completely stunned. As described by reporters with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Ronald was unable to recall his own name in the wake of the blast, and later told onlookers "I think my car blew up", perhaps unaware of the blast's impact.

Local police would respond to the incident that morning and would be joined in their pursuit by the Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms Bureau (ATF), who would begin to take a vested interest in the case in the weeks to come. Unfortunately, this collection of law enforcement agents were unable to decipher any kind of motive, especially since Ronald was so young at the time (just 23 years old at the time of the explosion). While Ronald did work for Monsanto - a company that had received criticism for their involvement in creating and distributing Agent Orange, a chemical weapon used by the U.S. during the Vietnam War - they had only just started experimenting with genetically-modified crops during this period, which is what the company is mostly known for today (and what attracts most modern-day criticism).

When speaking to investigators, Ronald would recount:

"I have no troubles with anyone."

And investigators had a hard time disputing that. Ronald had lived in the area for just over a year and mostly kept to himself. None of his coworkers or acquaintances in the area reported having any suspicions of Ronald or people in his orbit, leading investigators to believe that he had been randomly selected by the person(s) that stuck the explosive under his vehicle.

It would later be determined that Ronald had parked his vehicle in front of his apartment at around 7:30 PM on Thursday, which would have given the bomber approximately 12 hours to fix the stick of dynamite to his undercarriage, rigging it to blow up with the engine ignited. Whoever had done this, however, would prove to be a mystery; with their motivation for doing so remaining as elusive to police as their name.

Unfortunately, this would be just the first incident of several tied to a serial offender, who tormented this region of eastern Missouri for weeks.

This is the story of the South County Bomber.

Robert Curtis Jackson was a 39-year-old that lived in the 5000 block of Clayridge Drive, on the third floor of the Oakbrook Apartments. Robert had lived there for nearly approximately eight years and was known as a quiet neighbor that generally kept to himself. However, he was well-liked by those that knew him, with the apartment's manager Theresa Raisch later telling reporters:

"He had always been a gentleman. He was congenial and always had a 'hello' for everyone he saw."

Robert, an avid sports fan, worked for United Parcel Service as a safety supervisor at their headquarters in Earth City. He had worked for the company since 1965 when he had been hired as a driver; but had been promoted to management in 1967 and continued to stick around. A decade later, he was well-liked - adored, even - by most of his coworkers, and was not the sort to attract much attention or any enemies.

Robert would spend a few days each week out on the road, traveling throughout the state of Missouri and giving lectures on driver and plant safety to other United Parcel Service employees. However, he would somehow find his way back home every Friday so that he could go to the Pines on St. Charles Rock Road, a bar that United Parcel staff members and drivers would flock to on the weekend. The staff at the Pines recall him being a patron that kept to himself and never got into any trouble but was known as a friendly and kind man to everyone. He just-so-happened to keep to himself, more often than not.

On the morning of October 18th, 1977, Robert headed out to his 1976 Ford Thunderbird, which was parked in the lot of his apartment complex in southern St. Louis County. That day, he was scheduled to drive to Union for an employee training session and was likely hoping to leave early to avoid any morning traffic.

At approximately 5:10 AM, a large explosion would rock this apartment complex, which originated from Robert's Thunderbird, which he had been attempting to start at the time. The blast would rip apart the vehicle and cause damage to several others around it, and a neighbor of Robert's would tell reporters with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that it:

"... sounded like an earthquake."

Police would arrive at the scene that morning and were able to identify 39-year-old Robert C. Jackson as the lone casualty of the bombing, which had originated from beneath the front seat of his vehicle. Authorities were able to recover his driver's license from the crime scene, and identified him through that; as well as through components of a wristwatch found at the scene, which was ID'd by staff members of the apartment complex as Robert's.

Despite this explosion taking place about three miles southwest of the prior bomb - which had shocked Ronald Sterghos, but not killed him - police beginning their investigation stated that there were no known connections.

Sgt. John McCrady of the St. Louis County Police Department would tell reporters early on:

"We have nothing to indicate that these two incidents were related. We don't even think the men knew each other... We just don't have anything to go on in either of these cases. That's the only connection we can make between the two."

As had been the case in the explosion eleven days earlier, police found no possible motive for anyone to have targeted Robert Jackson - who, like Ronald Sterghos, lived alone and had no known enemies. A thorough investigation of Jackson and his past would reveal nothing close to a shady tie: no links to any local mobsters, no gambling debts... nothing that would have made him a target for a car bomb. Despite that, however, this bomb seems to have been specifically targeted at the 39-year-old bachelor, with ATF assistant special agent James Cahill telling reporters with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

"We don't think this was a random incident... We know there is a motive of some sort - we just have to dig it out."

An examination of the bomb itself would reveal that high-yield explosives had been used, which was either 2-3 sticks of dynamite or possibly even C-4, which had been wired to the ignition of the vehicle. Because of the wiring used to create the bomb's explosion, this indicated that the offender had a good knowledge of explosives and how to wire them into a car's ignition.

Investigators looking into this bizarre incident would find it odd that Robert had been leaving for work at 5:30 since most neighbors recalled him leaving closer to 6:30. However, because he was scheduled to drive about an hour west - to Union, Missouri - it was believed that this could have been entirely coincidental.

Police would search the parking lots of the apartment complex and the surrounding area for any similar vehicles to Robert's 1976 Ford Thunderbird, theorizing that this might have been a case of mistaken identity. However, they could find nothing indicating this had been a mistake, as there were no vehicles near Robert's that matched the same description. Speaking to this, ATF assistant special agent James Cahill would tell the press:

"We are reasonably certain that Jackson was the correct target."

Shirley Marie Flynn was a 33-year-old divorcee, whose marriage to her husband - a St. Louis County police officer - had ended years prior. Shirley had since settled into the Southmoor apartment complex along the 5500 block of Terrace View Court, near Butler Hill Road and Highway 21. There, she lived with her 36-year-old boyfriend, William Ohlhausen, who - despite being described as a friend and/or roommate by local newspaper reports at the time - had been seeing Shirley romantically for some time. The two were reportedly discussing marriage at the time and had been living together for approximately four years.

Described as a "super-person" by one of her neighbors, Shirley was a computer programmer and analyst at Interstate Supply Company. There, she was well-liked and respected by her bosses and coworkers; but behind the scenes, Shirley was beginning to grow dissatisfied with her work, and was preparing to quit.

On the morning of November 3rd, 1977, Shirley was preparing to head to work. While walking out to her vehicle at around 8:30, she passed by a neighbor, who each said good morning to one another. This would sadly be Shirley's last interaction with another person, as her neighbor, Carol Burton, recalled moments later:

"I heard a hideous explosion. A piece of metal flew over my head."

Shirley had climbed into a 1972 Ford Pinto, which belonged to her boyfriend, William. The vehicle had not been moved in nearly a week, because Shirley had been driving another vehicle to work that entire week; her own vehicle, a 1976 Chrysler. However, William had driven that vehicle that morning, telling her that it needed to be repaired. As she put the keys in the ignition and started the engine, however, an explosion would rip apart the vehicle, killing Shirley instantly.

The 33-year-old woman's body was blown backward in the vehicle, towards the Pinto's hatchback, while the windshield was later found on the roof of a nearby building, having been thrown dozens of feet in the blast. Glass from nearby vehicles would be shattered by the explosion, which was heard several blocks around the crime scene.

As first responders arrived at the scene, they would note that this crime seemed almost identical to the previous two. All three explosions had taken place within a 2-3 mile radius, and had been separated by mere weeks; with the time elapsing between the first and third explosions being just 27.

Despite insisting that there had been no connections between the first and second bombings - which had shocked Ronald Sterghos and killed Robert Jackson - investigators would immediately begin to float the idea that this explosion was related to the others. In particular, to the October 18th bombing, which had taken the life of Robert Jackson and unfolded just minutes away from this crime scene.

Speaking to the press, St. Louis County Police Captain E.J. Hanneken would state (perhaps understating the obvious):

"We're leaning to the theory now that someone with a problem is causing these bombings."

Despite the obvious connections, it was unknown if the first bombing - that of Ronald Sterghos - was linked to these two, simply because the details of the bombing seemed remarkably different. In that bombing attempt, the offender had placed the explosives underneath the car, not under the driver's seat, and had only used one stick of dynamite, instead of two or three. It's also worth pointing out that Sterghos had lived, with his car absorbing the brunt of the damage. Some would theorize that that bombing attempt had been a practice run, resulting in the heftier explosions weeks later.

In this case, the bomb was believed to have been a device placed under the driver's eat, which had then been wired to the car's ignition. This was a method similar to that seen in the first bombing, and nearly identical to the second. The explosive used had either been dynamite or some kind of plastic explosive (like C-4), which had been wired to the vehicle's ignition system. To the police, this indicated extensive knowledge and experience with electronics and explosives by the person(s) responsible.

Investigators would send residue from the explosive off to be tested at an ATF Firearms Lab in Washington DC and would begin to conduct a thorough examination of victim Shirley Flynn's background. Just like the others, they discovered that there was no apparent motive for someone to have targeted her; but would note that the bomb in-question had been placed on Shirley's boyfriend's vehicle, a Ford Pinto, which had not been moved in nearly a week. This made the investigation surrounding this explosion a fair bit more complicated and would begin to transition into an investigation of Shirley's boyfriend, William Ohlhausen (but more on him later).

Following the third car bomb explosion in less than a month, residents of the St. Louis area were on-edge, fearing that any one of them could be next. As far as police knew, there was no motive for the placement of the prior three bombs, so it was hard to determine whether the bomber(s) had a rationale for their crimes, or were just lashing out and choosing vehicles at random. This paranoia would be hard to wash away, with heightened police patrols in the area around the crimes and government-run seminars, which taught citizens how to check their vehicles for any sign of tampering.

So far, the three car bombs had been placed within a 2-3 mile radius, with each of the victims living in moderate-sized apartment complexes in the southern portion of St. Louis County (which eventually led to this unknown culprit receiving the nickname of "The South County Bomber"). Because each of the victims had lived in an apartment complex, this might have shielded the bomber from identification, allowing them to hide in plain sight. If they had decided to tamper with vehicles in a more suburban area, for example, they might have stuck out like a sore thumb; but the communal living brought forth by apartments allowed them relative anonymity.

Investigators would begin to look into possible connections between where the vehicles had been serviced - with it being reported that the victims had either purchased or sought repairs from a local automobile agency - but no solid link would be established.

Despite remaining hesitant to admit this early on, police officials would begin to state that they believed one person had been behind all three car bombs. This person, they believed, was well-versed in munitions, but not enough to make him or her a professional; these bombs seemed less sophisticated than those typically seen in organized crime bombings. As police officials would tell the press, this person simply knew enough to "keep from blowing himself up."

That being said, authorities would reveal that the intricate wiring of the bombs to the vehicles' ignitions would have required more than twenty minutes to set up, which was significantly more than other bombs that had been used in years prior (most of which were linked to mob activity).

Police would begin to operate under the belief that these were "random bombings" performed by "someone with a mental problem or who is deranged," similar to the Son of Sam killer, David Berkowitz. They would announce a $20,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the person(s) responsible, hoping that leads from this would augment their ongoing investigation... which was sadly running on fumes just days after the most recent explosion.

Speaking to reporters, St. Louis County Police Captain E.J. Hanneken would announce:

"We're looking for any pattern in the bombings - geographic, social, cultural, anything.

"So far, the only links between the victims that we have are the fact that they were all from the same general area, all middle-class, [and] all the targets of bombs wired in almost exactly the same way."

In the weeks to come, investigators would work with mental health experts and officials from other federal agencies to compile a profile of this bomber, who had managed to covertly place bombs on three different vehicles and kill two people in less than a month.

As I've mentioned before, this was likely not a professional killer, as their style of bombing showed no connections to the car bombs prevalent throughout the 1960s and 1970s. This was not a style of bombing utilized by the mob or any other criminal organization in the area, and this individual was likely not committing these bombings on behalf of any other person or organization. Rather, they were most likely just lashing out at random people in the area, but the method for determining their victims remained similarly unknown.

This person(s) had at least a rudimentary understanding of car wiring, knowing how to connect bombs to the ignition wiring, and knowing which wires would be "hot" (preventing them from blowing themselves up while setting up the explosives). Because of their method of connecting the bombs to the vehicles, they might have planted the explosives in the car well ahead of when they exploded, with investigators theorizing that the bombs might have been wired into the vehicles hours, days, or even weeks before the explosions took place.

Police would begin to check in with mental hospitals in the surrounding area, believing that the person(s) responsible had a history of mental illness. This belief would be shared by some mental health experts, such as Dr. Thomas Thale, the acting chairman of St. Louis University's psychiatry department, who told the Post-Dispatch:

"The person would probably be very much of a loner, someone with virtually no ability to appreciate the feelings or rights of someone else, and someone who falls into a tiny minority of those with psychiatric disorders..."

Dr. Bruce Danto, a psychiatrist from Detroit, would agree with the assertion that the bomber was a skilled and calculating loner, who likely followed along with the story in the press. This individual, he believed, likely gained satisfaction from reading about his exploits, and was likely to commit similar crimes again in the future to chase this feeling.

Dr. Lachman Abichandani, a psychiatric resident with the Malcolm Bliss Mental Health Center, would tell reporters with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

"I would not consider him a sociopath because the thing he is doing is almost bizarre, and on a psychotic level... This would be [a] more or less dissatisifed person, and probably nothing in particular triggered the bombing... In general, people like this seldom give up until they either get caught or treated."

Other mental health experts would weigh in on the case and push back against the theory that the bomber was mentally ill to a significant degree or "deranged," as some police officials insisted. However, they would agree that he likely shared sociopathic tendencies, and seemed not to care about the damage they caused.

While not specific to this case, noted FBI criminal profiler John Douglas would write about bombers in his incredible 1995 book, Mindhunter:

"Bombers tend to fall into one of three categories. There are power-motivated bombers attracted to the destruction. There are mission oriented bombers attracted to the thrill of designing, making, and placing the devices. And there are technician types who get gratification from the brilliance and cleverness of their actual design and construction. As far as motives, they range from extortion to labor disputes, revenge or even suicide.

"Our research into bombers shows a repeating general profile. They're usually white males, the age determined by the victim or target. They're of at least average intelligence, often quite above, though underachievers. They're neat, orderly, and meticulous, careful planners, non-confrontational, non-athletic, cowardly, inadequate personalities. The profile comes from assessing the target or victim and the type of device (is it more explosive or incendiary, for instance), much as we profile a serial killer from a crime scene. We would consider the risk factors associated with both the victim and the offender, whether the victim was random or intended, how accessible he or she was, what time of day the attack occurred, the method of conveyance (such as through the mail), as well as any idiosyncrasies in the components or workmanship of the bomb."

This insight reveals an inner look into the likely mind of this unknown killer, who would begin to be referred to as the South County Bomber following the third bombing from November of 1977.

In the weeks and months after the three explosions in southern St. Louis County, police would receive hundreds of tips from residents, but had a hard time deciphering which were legitimate and which were more erroneous, perhaps spurred on by personal relationships. Some of these tips were called in by certain people attempting to get one over on their ex, or - as described by Captain E.J. Hanneken - by people telling police that "my brother-in-law's first cousin once threatened to blow something up". This was in addition to numerous calls from psychics, which led to nothing worth following up on.

Authorities would state weeks after the bombings that a few tips had led to credible persons-of-interest, but that, unfortunately, the investigation itself had not gained much traction. Nearly a month after the most recent bombing, the investigation was still in the same place it had been when police arrived at the third crime scene on the southern outskirts of the St. Louis area.

In November of 1977 - weeks later - a pair of roommates would report seeing a man attempting to break into a car in the Brazilia apartment complex (where the first bombing had taken place more than a month prior). One of the roommates would give chase, while the other phoned police, describing this individual as standing 5'10" with black wavy hair and wearing a yellow jacket at the time. Unfortunately, the man got away from the other roommate, and responding police officers - despite insisting that anyone in the area call in if they saw anything suspicious - told the roommates that they were "seeing shadows."

Then, weeks later, police would be called out to a supposedly similar bombing that had taken place in Perryville, a small town about 70 miles south of St. Louis. In this case, a 39-year-old man had been thrown out of his vehicle in an explosion that destroyed his 1958 Dodge, but thankfully led to just minor injuries for the vehicle's owner and no one else. While the case seemed to be just as random as the other bombings, authorities would later state that this case was unrelated, as the explosive used was a pipe bomb, which had been wired into the ignition in an entirely different way than the rest. While it was possible for the South County Bomber to have recalibrated their method - to avoid being identified - the likelihood of them creating a new system just to carry out this one bombing seemed incredibly low. If there was a connection to the bombings from St. Louis County, it wasn't clear to law enforcement in any way.

One of the working theories that investigators operated under when it came to these three still-unsolved car bombings was the notion that one of the bombings may have been deliberately targeted towards the victim, but the other two were not specific. In this situation, two out of the three victims would have been chosen at random to make this entire spree seem chaotic, while one would have been specifically tailored to take out a specific person.

This is an M.O. that has been seen in the past, in particular, during the D.C. Sniper shootings from the early 2000s. During the commission of those crimes, John Allen Muhammad tried to set up a series of disconnected shootings, which he hoped would include his ex-wife; so that when she died, he wouldn't be officially linked to the case in any way. She would appear to be the victim of a chaotic madman, who targeted their victims randomly.

In the past, this has been referred to as a "shuffling the deck theory," and has been seen in other criminal cases than the D.C. Sniper, but that remains perhaps the most prominent example.

An issue that investigators did have with this theory, however, was that they could not find a motive for anyone to have targeted any of the three victims: both the surviving victim (Ronald Sterghos) as well as both deceased victims (Robert Jackson and Shirley Flynn). County and federal investigators would conduct extensive investigations into each of these individuals' backstories, charting their school and work history, their romantic and sexual relationships, and other various details of their personal lives, finding no kind of apparent motive whatsoever. At least, nothing that should have made them targets for violence, let alone sticks of dynamite.

That being said, one of the victims was intimately connected to someone that police investigated thoroughly in the wake of these explosions, who would end up becoming a prominent part of the story in their own right months later...

Following the bombing of Shirley Flynn in November of 1977, her boyfriend, 36-year-old William Ohlhausen, found himself to be a prime suspect for investigators.

After Shirley's suspicious death, William would be interviewed by police several times, who were following up on rumors and allegations from those close to the murdered woman. His neighbors began to believe him responsible for the bombing, with Robert Martin (a friend of William's that lived nearby) telling reporters with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

"He knew he was the number one suspect."

William Ohlhausen had grown up in Blackwell, Oklahoma, and was raised by his grandmother. After receiving a degree in electrical engineering from New Mexico State University, William had gone on to work for companies in Wisconsin and Illinois, eventually ending up in the St. Louis area, where he began working for the St. Louis Ship Company as an engineer while attending graduate school at St. Louis University, hoping to obtain a master's degree in business administration.

William and Shirley had started to see each other after her divorce and had lived together for approximately four years before the bombing that took her life. During those years together, they were reported to be friendly and amicable. However, there were some cracks in the foundation, which only seemed to stick out in retrospect.

The primary reason that people began to find William Ohlhausen suspicious is that he had seemed unusually controlling of Shirley in the months leading up to her death, to the tune of influencing her life decisions to a significant degree. She had complained to some family members about him refusing to get married, citing a lack of success in that department in the past (he had been divorced twice, whereas she had also been divorced). Despite that, however, Shirley had told relatives about William spending her money rather recklessly, forcing her to continue working a job she hated; according to sources, she had already written a letter of resignation but was unable to turn it in because of William's insistence that she keep her job.

To make this even more concerning, it was learned later on that her quitting her job would have canceled her life insurance policies... which, it's worth pointing out, were set to pay out to William Ohlhausen following her death. These two life insurance policies were worth an estimated $46,000 (approximately $200,000 in modern money) and would be contested by Shirley's family in the wake of her death, who believed that William had exercised "undue influence" over Shirley while the two were living together.

As if that wasn't bad enough, investigators would learn that William Ohlhausen had performed extensive repairs on his Ford Pinto several days before Shirley's death, with the vehicle remaining untouched for about a week until she got into it to drive to work on November 3rd, 1977. Despite him having driven a motorcycle all week - despite the rainy weather - he had decided to drive Shirley's 1976 Chrysler that day, later telling police that it needed to be repaired. This decision forced Shirley into driving his Ford Pinto, where she would meet her demise that fateful morning.

Following her death, William Ohlhausen would be interviewed by police several times. During one of these interviews, Ohlhausen would let them know that he had been at a motel across the street from Robert Jackson's apartment on the night before his life was ended. He admitted that he had stayed there under the guise of going out-of-town for work, lying to Shirley, and ending up within a stone's throw of another crime scene. This would prove to be one of the few connections between the crimes, which would continue to mystify investigators months later.

During this period - as the investigation into the South County Bomber stagnated - William Ohlhausen would become incredibly withdrawn, barely leaving his apartment unless he was heading to work and refusing to speak to reporters about the case that had killed his longtime girlfriend. Because of this behavior, he was seen as a primary suspect by police and the apartment complex he lived in, but this perception would be flipped on its head months later, when he became not only a suspect in this case but a victim, as well.

On the morning of March 8th, 1978, William Ohlhausen was critically injured when a car he was driving exploded in the parking lot of a motel in Paducah, Kentucky, where he regularly traveled for work. The explosion happened at around 7:00 AM and destroyed the 1977 GMC van that William had been driving that week, which happened to belong to the company he worked for.

William was not killed in the bombing and was taken to Western Baptist Hospital in critical condition, with several internal injuries and extensive wounds to his legs, abdomen, and backside (the parts of his body closest to the bomb). He would remain in critical condition for days after the blast, and despite being quickly stabilized, would remain hospitalized for over a month.

Like the bombs used by the South County car bomber, the explosive, in this case, had been placed under Ohlhausen's driver's seat and was later revealed to share a similar wiring system as the others, which would have required at least twenty minutes to install in front of William's motel room. William had only been at this Best Western Motel for a single evening, having checked in the night prior, approximately 12 hours before the blast itself.

Tests would later reveal that the 36-year-old's life was only saved by his hat, with the explosion launching him up into the roof of the car, and the hat protecting him from significant trauma to the brain. The 9-inch car seat he had been sitting on had done a fair job in its own right, containing the blast beneath him and destroying both the seat and everything below it, but minimizing the damage done to William's body.

Immediately after this blast landed William Ohlhausen in the hospital, police would begin to investigate 41-year-old John Steinkoetter, who had previously worked with William but had last his job - presumably, directly because of him. John Steinkoetter had spoken angrily about William in the past, and those closest to him would later recall that he "hated his guts" because of his lost job a year prior.

At the time of this bombing, John Steinkoetter was facing criminal charges from an incident about a month prior, in which he had held his wife and children hostage - at gunpoint - inside of their St. Louis County home, and would later be held on rape & assault charges related to this incident. However, he was also linked to an unexploded pipe bomb, which had been left in the home of his mother-in-law, who lived in Paducah. It was believed that Steinkoetter might have done so because his wife was set to inherit approximately $150,000 following her stepmother's death. Following his arrest for holding his family hostage, he had confessed to leaving the pipe bomb inside of a tape cassette in his mother-in-law's home, which had thankfully not been touched in nearly two months (he had set it up so that if it was moved, it would explode immediately).

Weeks later, police would clear John Steinkoetter as a suspect in the bombing of William Ohlhausen's vehicle, due to him having a pretty definitive alibi: he was still in jail, facing numerous criminal charges, at the time of the bombing itself. After passing a polygraph, investigators became certain that he was not "directly" involved in this most recent bombing incident, and seemed to also have an airtight alibi for two out of the three South County car bombings months prior.

However, it is worth noting that investigators were unsure of when the car bombs were planted in any of the vehicles chosen by the South County Bomber, and it was possible for the bomb to have been installed in William Ohlhausen's work vehicle days, weeks, or even months earlier. It's also worth highlighting that police had been called out to John Steinkoetter's home at around the same time that the South County Bombings began, in the early Fall of 1977, after a neighbor saw him place a suspicious item in a neighborhood garbage bin. Police would discover that the suspicious item was an ether bomb, which was later destroyed at a local landfill. These connections remained tentative at best, however, and were anything but incriminating.

John Steinkoetter and his wife would eventually be indicted in a plot to bomb and kill Gladys Walden, his mother-in-law, to obtain an inheritance. They were later sentenced to 18 and 8 years, respectively, although his wife's sentence would later be appealed (and her case was ultimately dropped in 1981, following a few years of legal back-and-forth).

Following this most recent bombing - the fourth in approximately five months - police began to question their original belief that William Ohlhausen might have been a suspect. Would he really have been crazy enough to bomb (and potentially kill) himself in order to throw investigators off of his scent?

Authorities would note in private that they had extensively questioned William approximately one week before the explosion that had critically injured him, sending him to the hospital for several weeks. During this most recent bout of questioning, he had reportedly been evasive in many of his statements, providing several inconsistencies and failing to address rumors that he had been having an affair with another woman. Then, following this bombing, he was questioned again, and again provided inconsistent answers, unable to properly fill in gaps in his timeline from the night before the explosion that had nearly claimed his life. This led police to believe that he might have been involved in setting up the bomb in his own vehicle, although they would never admit this suspicion publicly.

Eventually, it seems like investigators had moved on from the theory that William Ohlhausen was involved, theorizing that he might have been the original target of the car bomb that claimed the life of his girlfriend, Shirley Flynn. If you recall, the bomb had been placed in his Ford Pinto, which she had just-so-happened to drive on the morning of her death.

However, if so, that would indicate that the South County Bomber had intended to target three men - ranging in age from 23 to 39 - in St. Louis County. This would mean that they might have had more of a victim type than originally thought, and may have been intending to target William Ohlhausen instead of Shirley Flynn... resulting in their second attempt months later.

Despite county and federal law enforcement dedicated thousands of man-hours to this case, no charges were ever filed against anyone for the car bombs from St. Louis County between October and November of 1977.

In October of 1979, it was reported that the investigation into this mysterious bomber was coming to an end, with federal and local officials having worked on the case exhaustively for the better part of two years, but having absolutely nothing to show for it: no suspects, few remaining leads, and little evidence left to pursue.

The car bombings had attracted a lot of attention early on, simply because the offender seemed to be targeting random individuals. With seemingly no specific target, this led to the entire region believing that anyone could be next (and that nobody was safe). However, as time went on and the story grew more convoluted - and months passed - attention on the case waned. It eventually led to the point where the story was almost entirely forgotten, and outside of some obscure Reddit posts, it seems like no one has written about this case in decades.

The South County Bomber would eventually be overshadowed by other bombings in the area, which were determined to have been tied into personal vendettas, organized crime hits, or disputes between labor union officials. Sometimes, all three combined. While many of these bombings share similarities, none of them seem to match this case in the specifics: the type of bomb used, the specific style of wiring the explosives into the car ignition, etc. It seems like this case stands alone, and for that reason, it remains unsolved years later.

As a result, the stories of Robert Jackson and Shirley Flynn - as well as Ronald Sterghos and William Ohlhausen - remain unresolved.

Episode Information

Writing, research, hosting, and production by Micheal Whelan

Published on on March 21st, 2021

Producers: Roberta Janson, Ben Krokum, Gabriella Bromley, Steven Wilson, Quil Carter, Travis Scsepko, Laura Hannan, Bryan Hall, Damion Moore, Scott Meesey, Amy Hampton, Scott Patzold, Marie Vanglund, Astrid Kneier, Aimee McGregor, Jo Wong, Sara Moscaritolo, Sydney Scotton, Thomas Ahearn, Marion Welsh, Patrick Laakso, Rebecca O'Sullivan, Meadow Landry, Tatum Bautista, Sally Ranford, Kevin McCracken, Ruth Durbin, Michele Watson, Jared Midwood, Teunia Elzinga, Ryan Green, Jacinda C., Stephanie Joyner, Cherish Brady, and Lauren