A firebombing of an anti- abortion office was the result of a half- eaten burrito

Hridindu Sankar Roychowdhury, 29, of Madison, Wis., is charged with a 2022 fire bombing attack on an anti-abortion organization

A Wisconsin man was arrested Tuesday in connection with a 2022 firebombing attack on an anti-abortion organization’s office in the state’s capital after DNA evidence linked him to the crime scene, prosecutors said.

The Department of Justice announced on Tuesday that it had arrested Madison, Wis., resident Hridindu Sankar Roychowdhury, 29, at an airport in Boston. He had a one-way ticket to Guatemala, the agency said.

Roychowdhury’s arrest relates to a May 2022 incident in which a Madison office of Wisconsin Family Action, a political organization that lobbies against abortion rights, was vandalized and damaged by fire, authorities said.

Law enforcement sent that evidence to the lab for analysis, and swabbed the burrito for DNA. The results from the lab matched the sample that was recovered from the scene of the fire.

Roychowdhury was scheduled to appear in US District Court in Boston on Tuesday, and a date for his appearance in federal court in Madison has not been set. It is unclear if he has obtained an attorney.

FBI Detector of the Firebombing of an Anti-abortion Lobbyist’s Office in Madison, Wisconsin, on May 8, 2022

The Madison firefighters put out the fire at the building after a passerby saw the fire on May 8, 2022, officials said. No injuries were reported.

Two Molotov cocktails that did not ignite, but appeared to have been started by a fire, were located inside the building, police said at the time. The graffiti read, “If abortions aren’t safe then you don’t either”, according to the US attorney’s office.

Madison police said at the time that they were investigating a “suspicious fire” inside an office building on the city’s north side, where “it appears a specific non-profit that supports anti-abortion measures was targeted.”

A few days before the fire, a draft of a US Supreme Court majority opinion that would strike down Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling that the constitution protected a woman’s right to an abortion, was leaked.

Wisconsin was one of a number of states with an abortion restriction in place prior to the Roe ruling. Its 1849 ban on nearly all abortions is being challenged in court and likely to land before the state Supreme Court.

A suspect in the firebombing of an anti-abortion lobbyist’s office in Wisconsin was brought to justice with the help of a half- eaten burrito.

“According to the complaint, Mr. Roychowdhury used an incendiary device in violation of federal law in connection with his efforts to terrorize and intimidate a private organization,” Matthew Olsen, assistant attorney general of the DOJ’s National Security Division, said in a statement.

“Violence is never an acceptable way for anyone to express their views or their disagreement,” Robert Wells, assistant director of the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division, said in a statement. The FBI is committed to vigorously pursue those responsible for this attack and others, and to hold them accountable for their criminal actions.

Wisconsin Family Action: We Will Get Revenge, Not Shoot. The Case of an Arson by a Woman at the Wisconsin State Capitol

The office belongs to Wisconsin Family Action (WFA), a nonprofit organization with a stated mission of advancing “Judeo-Christian principles and values in Wisconsin by strengthening, preserving, and promoting marriage, family, life, and liberty.”

The president of the organization told police that in press releases and interviews after the opinion leak, they were very vocal about their position on abortion rights.

The complaint says police found Molotov cocktails made out of mason jars after responding to a fire just after 6 a.m. on Mother’s Day.

One of the jars — found broken with its lid and top “burnt black” and a disposable lighter nearby — set a bookcase on fire, while the other had failed to ignite and was spotted across the room “about half full of a clear fluid that smelled like an accelerant.”

They went on to accuse liberals of hypocrisy and blamed Democratic leaders like Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers for suggesting “that violence is an acceptable tactic to employ.”

Did the attack intimidate us? No,” WFA President Julaine Appling wrote. It made us stronger. We will repair our offices and build a stronger grassroots effort.

Investigators sent the glass jar and other evidence from the scene to a lab for further analysis, which in turn obtained DNA profiles from three different individuals.

Swabs found DNA from a man, who the complaint calls “Male 1,” on the top and bottom of the office window glass, the exterior of the jar, the lighter and the cloth used in the Molotov cocktail.

Authorities from many state and federal agencies had to look for other clues when they realized that that DNA wasn’t a match for anyone already in the national database.

“For months, our detectives remained committed to finding those responsible for this arson,” Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes said. “When tips and leads were limited, they never gave up.”

There was a protest at the state capitol in Wisconsin after a police shooting in Atlanta, and there were people spray-painting on the capitol grounds. One wrote “We will get revenge” in cursive script that looked similar to the graffiti from WFA’s wall.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2023/03/29/1166754516/wisconsin-anti-abortion-firebomb-burrito-roychowdhury-dna-arrest

A search for Roychowdhury in connection with a red-tacoma pickup truck traveling from Madison to Portland, Maine

Authorities were able able to track that suspect to a white Toyota Tacoma pickup truck, registered to an address in Madison. Further investigation linked him to the same address.

“The contents of the bag included a quarter portion of a partially eaten burrito wrapped in waxed paper, a soiled napkin, a crumpled napkin, a stack of napkins, the wrapper of the burrito, a crumpled food wrapper, four unopened hot sauce packets, and the brown paper bag itself,” the complaint says.

In March Roychowdhury traveled from Madison to Portland, Maine. Authorities say he purchased a one way ticket to Guatemala from Boston Logan International Airport and was scheduled to depart on Tuesday.

He was arrested at the airport and appeared in a Boston federal court the same day, according to the Associated Press. A judge has set a hearing for Thursday.