Ryan Chamberlain, focus of FBI manhunt, arrested in S.F.

After three days on the run as the focus of a nationwide manhunt, San Francisco political and media consultant Ryan Chamberlain was captured within city limits on Monday evening, the FBI said, hours after an apparent suicide note was posted on social media.

Chamberlain was taken to a police station after being detained near Crissy Field and booked on suspicion of possessing explosives in violation of federal law, said a law enforcement official who asked not to be identified.

The police bomb squad, meanwhile, used a robot mechanism to search Chamberlain's car. The vehicle was towed out of the parking lot about 9 p.m.

According to the law enforcement official, police had spotted Chamberlain's white four-door Nissan sedan parked outside the Beach Hut Cafe at 6:22 p.m. A witness there reported seeing police and federal agents detain Chamberlain within view of the Golden Gate Bridge.

"He looked pretty surprised and frantic. He was asking for help," said Morgan Manos, an Uber driver who recognized Chamberlain from media photos. "He saw me recording (with a phone camera) and asked me for help."

Manos said Chamberlain was wearing shorts, a sweatshirt and a beanie and looked scared. "They took him down hard," Manos said.

Apparent suicide note

A bomb squad member with the help of a robot investigates the automobile that Ryan Chamberlain was arrested in at Crissy Field in San Francisco on Monday, June 2, 2014. A bomb squad member with the help of a robot investigates the automobile that Ryan Chamberlain was arrested in at Crissy Field in San Francisco on Monday, June 2, 2014. Photo: Mathew Sumner, Special To The Chronicle Photo: Mathew Sumner, Special To The Chronicle Image 1 of / 45 Caption Close Ryan Chamberlain, focus of FBI manhunt, arrested in S.F. 1 / 45 Back to Gallery

Earlier Monday, Chamberlain's 718 Facebook friends were jolted by a posting of an apparent suicide note titled "Goodbye" - a letter he had apparently written Saturday, shortly after federal agents searched his Polk Street home and allegedly found explosives.

Chamberlain said he had used a program, HootSuite, to delay the posting of the note, in which he bade farewell to loved ones and spoke about suffering from depression "for as long as I can recall."

"So much was broken from this past year-and-a-half, and from moments way back before that," the three-page letter stated. "I guess it was just insurmountable, and the time's up."

At one point Monday, a second note - also posted using HootSuite - showed up on Facebook and Twitter. It wasn't clear when the note was written, but Chamberlain indicated he had been following media reports about the raid and was compelled to correct them.

"A panicked update to my letter that should have posted by now," he wrote. "Nothing they're reporting is true. No 'stashes.' Not 'armed and dangerous.' No car 'rigged to explode.' "

Chamberlain suggested he had taken actions online that had drawn the FBI's scrutiny.

"I explored some ugly websites, a year-ish ago. I was depressed. I let Walter White get to me. I thought I was done. That's it. No one was ever in danger. And recently I was all better. I owe my friends and my girlfriend for that. But I guess I did enough for the damage to be done. I'm so sorry everyone."

Later in the day, federal agents rushed to Mad Dog in the Fog, a bar in the Lower Haight, after Chamberlain's debit card was apparently used at an ATM on the premises, according to a bartender who gave only her first name of Jules.

The notes added to a perplexing story of a 42-year-old who struck many people as successful and happy but was apparently struggling to cope.

The "Goodbye" letter detailed issues with his mother, whom Chamberlain called a "religious addict certain that the Rapture is coming any day now," as well as a romantic heartbreak and the loss of a job. He mentioned past traumas and disappointments, saying he was denied credit for the biggest success of his career in political consulting: helping Gavin Newsom during his winning 2003 mayoral campaign.

The turn of events startled people like Bob Brigham, 36, who worked with Chamberlain on the Newsom campaign and described him as a close friend.

"He's one of the top two or three strategic minds in Bay Area politics. It just seems so out of character," said Brigham, who now runs a consulting firm in Montana.

Called incredibly social

Brigham described his friend as incredibly social. He said Chamberlain was the guy who would come up with the costume idea for the Bay to Breakers race, then make sure there was a keg of beer on hand. Brigham said his friend occasionally showed signs of depression but not to a degree that would cause such distress.

Chamberlain, a social media specialist who used the handle Poliholic, became a well-known figure in San Francisco's political world after moving to the city from Iowa at age 30. He worked for consulting firms on elections and once ran for a seat on the Republican Party County Central Committee in San Francisco, the party's local organizing body.

More recently, he did public relations work for technology, apparel and marketing firms. In 2012, he worked as an independent contractor for The Chronicle and promoted the San Francisco 49ers Insider iPad app on social media.

On Saturday, more than two dozen federal agents, hazardous materials specialists, police officers and firefighters raided his apartment at 1831 Polk St. Chamberlain was not home at the time.

'I got real dark'

It wasn't immediately clear what Chamberlain was referring to when he spoke of online activity that may have triggered the FBI investigation.

"I got dark. I got real dark. I explored myriad ways I could put an end to what I was going through," Chamberlain wrote. "I binged-watched dark TV, sometimes didn't get off the couch for days, and scoured the Internet absorbing fuel for morbid fantasies. Some of that activity seemed to attract the attention of some visitors today ... who have made it rather evident that this is the end of the line for me."

Chronicle staff writer Bob Egelko contributed to this report.