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Forensic Files

Postal Mortem

Forensic Files

HLN

True Crime, Society & Culture

4.43.2K Ratings

🗓️ 1 June 2020

⏱️ 21 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

A man kills two people with bombs in an effort to get investors off his back and is sentenced to life with no chance of parole.

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Transcript

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0:00.0

So Steve, I see you here, your breakfast of champions there with you.

0:06.0

Janet McDermott planned to stop by her office only briefly on the morning of October 15,

0:12.0

1985.

0:13.0

You have a nice day, Steve.

0:15.0

She had a number of business appointments around Salt Lake City that day.

0:22.0

Moments later, an explosion rocked the building, killing her colleague who worked next door.

0:29.0

Fans uncovered a tale of forgery, fraud, and murder.

0:36.0

The explosion occurred on the sixth floor of the historic judge building in downtown Salt Lake City.

0:49.0

Killed in the blast was 31-year-old Steve Christensen, a financial consultant who left behind his wife Terry and the young family.

0:58.0

He was lying in the doorway of his office, and he was lying on his right side, burn marks on his face, smoke marks, and blood.

1:09.0

The explosion ripped the door off its hinges and the location of the debris told investigators that the blast occurred directly in front of Steve Christensen's office door.

1:20.0

You could tell the precise location where the bomb exploded.

1:24.0

Match that with the autopsy and we could tell where the bomb was when it exploded because of its shearing power, breaking bones, going through skin, things of that nature.

1:34.0

Small pieces of batteries and fragments of pipe were found in the hallway as well.

1:39.0

Many of the parts had the name Tandy Imprinted, a brand sold exclusively in Radio Shack electronic stores.

1:47.0

All of the fragments were collected and pieced back together, revealing that the explosion was caused by a pipe bomb.

1:56.0

This is a replica of the type which was used.

1:59.0

But who wanted to kill Steve Christensen? And why?

2:04.0

Christensen had recently resigned his job as vice president of consolidated financial services or CFS, a real estate investment company which was undergoing

2:16.0

serious financial difficulties. Many clients had lost large sums of money and some were alleging fraud.

2:25.0

In the debris, police discovered a piece of brown wrapping paper with Christensen's first name written in thick black marker.

2:34.0

Bruce Passy had a jewelry business a few floors below Steve Christensen's office. He told police he noticed something unusual in the elevator that morning.

...

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