FBI came calling when profile seemed to fit Ogden man
But computer specialist jokes that his only possible 'bombs’ are his prose.

OGDEN—Craig Knudsen is into computers, works at a university. enjoys writing when he gets the chance and was a student at the U in the early BUs.

But lie's not the Unabomber.

And that’s exactly what he told FBI Supervisory Special Agent Dennis O Williams three weeks ago when the feds showed up on his Ogden doorstep for a few questions.

“I think someone ratted on me. That is. they thought I looked like the composite sketch and called the FBI.” Knudsen said Thursday. “I don't think I fit the profile, but when (Williams) pulled out the (sketch), my wife thought it looked like me. But it's not me.

"I mean, if I've got a problem with someone. I'd rather fight them with a pen than the sword," the 42-year-old occasional fiction and screenplay writer said.

"Bombs? That's the last thing op my mind."

That's all good and well, but we’re talking about the FBI and the Unabomber, he said. And the FBI special agent was not in the mood for Knudsen waxing poetic.

"I mean he showed up and came in, and I said. ‘Excuse the mess, we’re remodeling.' And he says. “Yes. I know” Knudson said. "I knew from that point that I had been under surveillance for some time."

Williams spent "about two hours" at Knudsen's home, asking the Weber State University computer specialist about the past 20-years of his life.

"He asked if I played with fireworks as a kid. and I said, ‘Yeah,' like every kid plays with fireworks, I guess'. Then he asked if I've ever built a bomb, and I said, ‘Well my writing might qualify.'"

Wiliams didn't crack a smile.

After the two-hour “interview," however. Williams was a little more comfortable with Knudsen. Comfortable enough that Knudsen autographed Williams' copy of the now-famous sketch. "He thought that was OK, but my wife didn't think that was too neat," he said.

But the agent had one final question.

"He asked me, ‘Are you the Unabomber?’ and I said no," Knudsen said “I have enough of a problem disciplining my dog, let alone committing murder."

He said the only really "disconcerting thing” about the investigation — besides the fact that someone thought he was the Unabomber—was wondering where the “piles of information” in his now-active FBI dossier would end up.

"I mean, are they stored forever, and then when the FBI needs another suspect that fits this profile are they going to come knocking again?"

Apparently satisfied. Williams left, and Knudsen was left thinking he wasn't the man the feds were looking for.

A couple of days after Williams' visit, however, Knudsen said he and his wife were a little concerned what might happen next.

“I guess I was walking around looking underneath the table for bugs and stuff." he said. "I mean, it’s a little alarming to have a federal agency investigate you for being a murderer. And even if they would have apprehended me, I know I'd be able to defend myself.

"But I think they were just grasping at 18-year-old straws," Knudsen said, referring to the amount of time the killer has eluded the law. "You know, the FBI can get any kind of information. and that makes you wonder what kind of balance they use to keep innocent people from being persecuted."

Knudsen's family "just shook their heads incredulously," at the news he was being investigated, and laughed and joked about the ordeal.

"I think they're going to throw me a you're-not-the-Unabomber party," he said.