AK, great work, even if these guys are dead ends. I’m curious, why would these guys hang around so long when they could have simply walked off sooner? Also, two different pressure cookers couldnt fit in one bag,right? Maybe a two man job,or two diff backpacks,but a guy carrying two diff packs would stand out

AK, wow, we have 46 guests on our site now…..amazing

EDIT: scratch that, now it’s 54!

See the most counter. It was 139 last week at one point.

EDIT: Also scratch lol. Surpassed by 143 yesterday, or today where you are.

See the most counter. It was 139 last week at one point.

EDIT: Also scratch lol. Surpassed by 143 yesterday, or today where you are.

Wonder if that’s online in a single day, or at once

There is huge interest in this story, and the angle that amateur sleuths may (or may not) have correctly identified persons involved in the bombing.

Media reports – which are sometimes wrong – indicate the FBI is seeking "white cap" man and "blue jacket" man.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWBJ4IBgjA4

If these men are completely innocent, which they certainly may well be, they can come forward and clear the matter with the FBI, as the Saudi national did who was incorrectly suspected right after the bombing.

If it turns out that I and/or other members of the public helped play some small role in giving information and images that lead to the identification of the persons responsible for this horrific taking and maiming of innocent life that would be great.

I think the public can play a role in helping, not by accusing or being vigilantes, but by doing research and giving information to the authorities.

I cropped and closed up another image from Reddit poster "sleuther75" which shows they got their early. This seems to show blue jacket man talking to white cap man, but white cap man may have on a different shirt/jacket, one with writing on it. Or is this a different man with a white cap?

Close up. Is this the white capped same man with a different shirt? Are the visible letters "ALL"?

EDIT BY MORF PHOTOS REMOVED

And just to be clear, we are doing what the FBI asked. They asked for help from the public.

They asked for people who have information about the event to come forward, not for people who have nothing to do with the event to look at images without context and try to draw their own conclusions about what they represent.

Also the people on reddit who posted these pictures asked for people to not repost them to other sites.

Looking into cold cases is one thing, but I’m sorry, I think interjecting yourself into an ongoing investigation is irresponsible. Don’t you think part of the reason that the Zodiac was never solved is because police wasted so much of their time on false leads being fed to them by people who had nothing to do with the case?

BLUE JACKET MAN CLEARED, NO INVOLVEMENT IN BOMBING, HE HAS COME FORWARD TO IDENTIFY HIMSELF.

It appears the FBI wanted to talk to them as POI’s and/or witnesses, but it seems blue jacket man is CLEARED he is a local and known. White capped man not yet cleared, there appears to be some confusion, I have read a report saying blue jacket man claims not to know him, another says he did.

We still have the FBI saying they have a video of a man with a white hat on backwards in a black jacket with a grey hoodie who is a POI in as he is seen dropping a bag where the bomb went off and talking on a cell phone going from bomb site one to bomb site two. I guess this must be a different white capped man with a bag?

Damn I want so bad for the bomber(s) to be caught. Clearing people helps. I just hope the video image is in fact as damning as the FBI seems to suggest, or at least the media reports of what the FBI says. I hope the people who did this are caught. I still believe the public can help, not by profiling or accusing anyone, but by giving images, information and ideas to the authorities. This what they are asking the public to do.

Apparently the FBI still wants to talk to the man they see in the video with a backwards white hat, grey hoodie and black jacket.

The media is saying that the FBI is looking for a white male wearing a white hat backwards, with a grey hood and dark jacket. The media reports say a man with this description is seen dropping a bag at one bomb site, walking away to the other and talking on a cell phone. Pictures show two men who may meet this description. .These men may not be the one on the video. They may have nothing to do with the case. I am not posting their pictures as I don’t think it would be helpful at this time. The FBI apparently has a good video image of this man, so hopefully they can find him soon, and include or exclude him as the actual bomber.

And just to be clear, we are doing what the FBI asked. They asked for help from the public.

They asked for people who have information about the event to come forward, not for people who have nothing to do with the event to look at images without context and try to draw their own conclusions about what they represent.

Also the people on reddit who posted these pictures asked for people to not repost them to other sites.

Looking into cold cases is one thing, but I’m sorry, I think interjecting yourself into an ongoing investigation is irresponsible. Don’t you think part of the reason that the Zodiac was never solved is because police wasted so much of their time on false leads being fed to them by people who had nothing to do with the case?

BLUE JACKET MAN CLEARED, NO INVOLVEMENT IN BOMBING, HE HAS COME FORWARD TO IDENTIFY HIMSELF.

No I think the Zodiac case was not solved for many reasons. Yes police do get false leads, but when they put out a call for info from the public, they know 99% of the leads they get will prove to be wrong. That is how you do an investigation. You investigate people, clear the innocent, exclude, exclude until hopefully you get the right person.

The FBI asked for images, information and said nothing is too small, please send in any leads. I can tell you this request includes people who were not there, but may have a new discovery or new idea about a photograph that they may or may not have already seen.

If these two particular men are cleared, as appears to be the case, that is good. Other POI’s have been identified through pictures, and apparently the FBI asking for images got them the video and pictures of the backwards white capped grey hoodie black jacket man, who may be the bomber.

If you think the public can’t help, why belong to this website?

I gave info based on my research on the Zodiac and Tylenol cases which led law enforcement to seek the DNA of Kaczynski. That may ultimately include or exclude him as a suspect.

Maybe I am naïve I think amateur researchers can help.

But we certainly have to be careful. Look at the FBI with the Richard Jewel case. Innocent until proven guilty must always be remembered. Weird coincidences do happen. Someone who "looks" guilty or seems to acting strange may not be, there is often an explanation. People have been wrongly accused in this country, hundreds have been wrongly convicted and later exonerated by DNA.

It is a double edged sword I guess. The possible good of the public correctly indentifying a criminal, which has happened many times, is balanced by possible harm of false accusations. The role for the public and amateur researchers is to give information that can be helpful, but not accuse or act as vigilantes.

http://m.theatlanticwire.com/national/2 … ase/64312/

http://m.theatlanticwire.com/national/2 … tim/64302/

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/authoriti … W-cSy7D_UA

Thanks for saying a few words on responsibility AKW. I know that you are just trying to help.

When discussing amateur POI’s for the Z case I know that this site has a policy to handle information in a sensitive way. I just want to make sure that extends to other areas as well.

It’s not so much people on here that I think will act irresponsibly, but about the potential for information that is posted on here or wherever to be used by others in a slanderous, incriminating, or just misleading way. This is particularly prevalent with media outlets that are eager to report any new information and will often broadcast wrong or unverified claims to that effect. I know that some of the amateur works on the bombing case have been reported in the media, announcing certain people in the pictures as "suspects" based on this information when those people were not officially named by LE as such.

Possibly against my better judgement, I’m going to throw in my two cents.

I do not think what reddit (or even 4chan) is doing is vigilantism. Pictures are being posted, certainly, many of them. But in this day and age everyone and their grandmother has a camera of some kind, be it a stand-alone, a cellphone cam, a go-pro, or whatever. And no matter how good the FBI is at investigation, they don’t have access to all of these photos (evidence) unless they receive them, somehow. Certainly some people have sent their photos, videos etc directly to the FBI. Others may have posted theirs online, instead. But every single bit of it is evidence, isn’t it?

It is not vigilantism. I don’t think anyone is going out and taking the law into their own hands and lynching anyone. I do think the posting of pictures with speculated people circled, arrows pointing to them, etc. is irresponsible. It is.

But the actual photos and videos themselves? I’d call it evidence. It might be what solves the whole thing.

-glurk

I dont think people on Reddit are doing anything wrong at all. They are trying to help and they are pouring over video & photos and supplying anything that looks out of the ordinary to police. If a guy matches the description that has been put out,and has a backpack in one pic and it’s gone in the next, why wouldn’t that go to the FBI? Let them decide it’s not important,especially like that one pic when the guy’s backpack clearly looks like it’s bulged right down to the shape of the handle. BUT,they kept on saying "guy with a white hat turned backwards", and that guy never had it backwards that I saw.

Also, as far as the Z case not being solved because of "too many leads from people", I have to strongly disagree with that. That could be bad police work, or simple dis-organization. For example, it’s 44+ years after the first attack, and there still is not one single pool that ALL of the various departments share in as far as evidence,suspects, etc,and thats a BIG issue. Or how about Riverside PD putting on blinders after 46 years and refusing to consider that the Zodiac was involved in some level in Cheri’s case?

They apparently are confirming that the suspect DID have a white baseball cap on backwards, and was wearing a black jacket

Check out this pic somebody posted, the bulge in his backpack matches the handle on the pressure cooker used. Plus, the clothes fit too (although the guy supposedly had his hat on backwardsmand this guy doesnt)

As of 8:24am eastern today, news articles are reporting that these two guys ARE the suspects,has this changed?
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/f … wmysU42scJ

EDIT BY MORF,PHOTOS REMOVED

At this point we don’t know. Confusion reigns.

Keep in mind we have many agencies involved – FBI, ATF, Boston PD. One agency may consider a person a POI wanted for questioning, another might say this person is just a potential witness we want to speak to. We have multiple media quoting different off the record sources.

This is what I can piece together at this time.

Based on multiple media accounts quoting law enforcement it seems law enforcement does want to speak to the two men we identified here and that were identified on Reddit. They were in the area of the explosion. And the pictures show that white cap man did have a black backpack, then is later seen without the backpack. Of course that could be perfectly innocent. Bags get heavy! He may well have set it down. Put in one the pictures without the bag he is in a dense crowd where IMO it would be difficult to set down a full backpack. And another picture he seems to be moving without the pack. Again there are likely perfectly reasonable explanations for this, but it was enough to catch my eye, along with the bulging nature of the pack. Apparently the FBI was also interested enough to want to talk to and clear these men.

Several posters on Reddit have said the seeming companion of white cap man, lets call him blue jacket man, has done what we would tend to expect an innocent person to do, which is come forward and say yes I am in those pictures but I had nothing to do with the bombing and I am going to police to clear myself. Of course a guilty person might also do that. The FBI will talk to these men, and if they are innocent they will be cleared, for example by producing their bags, background checks, etc.

Now we ALSO have the report that man in a backwards white cap with a black jacket but wearing a grey hood is seen on the store video camera actually dropping a bag at the explosion site, and casually walking away talking a on a cell phone before and after the explosion. He is reported to be of high interest and considered a suspect wanted for questioning. Is this the same man we have called white cap man? Did he just add a hood at this crucial moment to help cover his face? Maybe but what I have seen makes me think this is a different man. For one thing he is most often described as a white male, not middle eastern appearance, although a minority of reports have said dark skinned, but the two pictures I have seen of a backwards white cap wearer with a grey hood I would call white men of European descent. Other reports say based on the video police are looking for two men and will release the pictures today. Either they will be of the two men discussed here, or more likely, will not.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/rep … 08345.html

http://news.yahoo.com/boston-marathon-b … 43865.html

AK, thanks for the updates. Does anybody have a photo of the guy with the backwards white hat on? If so, can you post it?

I do not know if either of these men are the men in the video, but they match some aspects of the description.

These men are not being accused of anything.

Even if one or both of these men are the men in the video, they may well have reasonable explanations for their actions.

Hopefully the FBI will release today the actual images from the video which are said to be very clear.

Based on the little I know, I think this man is less likely to be the man on the FBI video, but he does match some elements of the description, he has a black jacket and grey hood, cannot see if he is wearing a hat. I think he is likely a victim, not involved in the bombing:

This man matches many elements of the description of the man on the video, he has backward white cap, black jacket and grey hood, but he may have no involvement.