Domestic Detonation - The Upstate NY Bomb Plot

Episode 99

Some crimes are impulsive.
This one wasn’t.

In December 1993, six bombs were delivered across upstate New York in less than ninety minutes. Five people were killed. One survived by pure chance. Another device failed to detonate. And one bomb was unknowingly driven around the region in the back of a courier van before police could stop it.

The victims weren’t politicians. They weren’t business rivals. They weren’t part of an organized crime war.

They were a family.

In this episode, we begin breaking down Domestic Detonation—a coordinated bombing campaign driven not by ideology or profit, but by control. According to investigators, the targets shared one connection: they were the support system of a woman trying to leave a volatile relationship.

Part 1 focuses on the human story and the investigation:

• The victims and the nearly identical package bombs

• How investigators realized these attacks were connected

• Why one woman was spared while the rest of her family was targeted

• The early suspects—and why nothing was as simple as it first appeared

• The unsettling role of loyalty, manipulation, and obsession in escalating violence

We’ll also introduce the two men at the center of the case—and the red flags investigators couldn’t ignore.

In Part 2, we’ll shift into the forensic evidence:

• How investigators linked the bombs

• What the explosive components revealed

• The confession—and the questions surrounding it

• How forensic reconstruction unraveled the plot piece by piece

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Inner Sanctum Acknowledgments:
Eternal gratitude to our Inner Sanctum patrons, Melanie Curtis, Jenny Mercer and Laura Pisciotta, for helping us bring light to the stories others would rather leave in the ashes.

Listener discretion is advised.

Background music by Not Notoriously Coordinated 

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• Miller, Wayne M. Bang Boom Burn: Explosive True Crime Gun, Bombing, and Arson Cases from a Federal Agent’s Career. AuthorHouse, 2021. ISBN 978-1-7333403-5-9.

• Craig, Gary. “Christmas package bomber who killed 5 in New York dies in prison.” Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. Updated Nov. 14, 2024.

• “His mouth got him in trouble.” Associated Press, published in The Roanoke Times, Dec. 31, 1993 (Virginia Tech newspaper archive).

• United States of America v. Michael T. Stevens, 83 F.3d 60 (2d Cir. 1996). Justia.

• Van Biema, David. “Death on Delivery.” TIME. Jan. 10, 1994.

• “A Conviction in Case of 5 Deaths by Bombs.” The New York Times. Apr. 1, 1995. (Accessed via Murderpedia; direct link not captured.)

• “Jury Is Seated in Upstate Mail Bombing.” The New York Times. Mar. 7, 1995. (Accessed via Murderpedia; direct link not captured.)

• Van Gelder, Lawrence. “Plea Bargain in Mail Bombings That Killed 5 Upstate.” The New York Times. Feb. 9, 1995. (Accessed via Murderpedia; direct link not captured.)

• “How Detectives Caught the New York Serial Bomber.” Real Responders (YouTube). Posted Feb. 24, 2020.

• “N.Y. bombing plot may have taken shape as long as year ago.” Tampa Bay Times. Published Jan. 2, 1994; updated Oct. 6, 2005.