Events in Rudolph's life

Eric Robert Rudolph

(CNN) -- Authorities in Murphy, North Carolina, believe a man arrested Friday night may be Eric Robert Rudolph, who is suspected of the 1996 bombing in Atlanta's Centennial Olympic Park and three other bombings -- two in the Atlanta area and one in Birmingham, Alabama.

November 15, 2000 – Eric Robert Rudolph is simultaneously indicted by federal grand juries in Atlanta and Birmingham on a total of 23 charges. The indictments formalize charges previously filed against Rudolph for the three bombings in Atlanta and one in Birmingham.

August 19, 2000 -- The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that the search for Rudolph has cost state and federal agencies $24.6 million. Of that amount, $11.2 million is attributed to the FBI, which reported expenses only for the period from October 1, 1998, to September 30, 1999.

July 11, 2000 -- Agents searching a rugged part of the Nantahala forest just four miles from where Rudolph was last seen find the remains of a campfire on a high, narrow ridge. Mold on the fire residue indicates it is at least a year old, and there is no proof it was Rudolph's. But the branches had been cut with a small saw, which is quieter than breaking them, and the site offered a commanding view in the direction from which searchers would approach.

March 21, 2000 -- More than two years into the hunt for Rudolph, Southeast Bomb Task Force chief Steve McCraw announces that the command center in Andrews, North Carolina, would close in June. A small detachment of agents, however, will remain in the area, and, McCraw says, "We will catch him."

December 14, 1999 -- Noting there have been no signs of Rudolph and no recent reports of stolen food or clothing, John Magaw, retiring director of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, tells USA Today that he thinks Rudolph is dead.

February 1999 -- A burglary at a restaurant on the Nantahala River is later blamed by investigators on Rudolph.

July 20, 1999 -- Woody Enderson, chief of the Southeast Bomb Task Force, announces he is retiring. He predicts Rudolph will be captured. "Time is on our side," he said. "Eventually, everyone makes a mistake."

November 24, 1998 -- FBI Director Louis Freeh makes his second visit to Andrews, North Carolina, in a year and vows that investigators will remain there "as long as necessary" to find Rudolph.

November 11, 1998 -- Eight shots are fired into a compound in Andrews, North Carolina, where the investigation is headquartered. One of them grazes the skull of an FBI agent. Two local men are later charged, one of whom had been drinking and fired the shots. Authorities said there is no evidence linking the suspects to Rudolph.

October 14, 1998 -- Rudolph is formally charged with the bombings at Centennial Olympic Park, a women's clinic that performed abortions in suburban Atlanta and an Atlanta lesbian nightclub.

August 13, 1998 -- Militia leader and former Green Beret James "Bo" Gritz arrives in Andrews, North Carolina, from Idaho, announcing that he and other volunteers will attempt to find Rudolph and persuade him to surrender. A week later, they give up.

July 11, 1998 -- Andrews, North Carolina, health food store owner George Nordmann tells authorities that Rudolph came to his Nantahala home July 7 asking to buy food and other supplies. Nordmann said that at first he agreed, then opted not to help Rudolph. Nordmann returned to his home July 9 and found that 75 pounds of food and his pickup were missing. On a table, he found five $100 bills. The truck was found July 13 in Nantahala National Forest, along with a note asking that the truck be returned to Nordmann. An intense manhunt follows, to no avail.

May 5, 1998 -- Rudolph is added to the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list. A $1 million reward is offered for information leading to his arrest.

March 8, 1998 -- To protest what he feels is the persecution of his brother by the FBI and the media, Daniel Rudolph, 37, sets up a camera in his Summerville, South Carolina, garage. He then turns on a circular saw and thrusts his left arm into it, cutting off the hand. It is later surgically reattached.

February 14, 1998 -- A federal warrant is issued charging Rudolph with the Birmingham, Alabama, bombing.

February 8, 1998 -- Rudolph's abandoned truck is discovered by two raccoon hunters in the woods eight miles from Murphy, North Carolina. Hundreds of law enforcement officers conduct a door-to-door search and comb the woods, but Rudolph eludes them.

January 30, 1998 -- Law enforcement agencies begin looking for Rudolph, of Murphy, North Carolina, after witnesses report seeing his gray 1989 Nissan pickup near the Birmingham clinic before the blast.

January 29, 1998 -- At 7:33 a.m., a bomb hidden beneath a shrub explodes at the New Woman All Women Clinic in Birmingham, Alabama. Robert Sanderson, a 35-year-old off-duty police officer working as a security guard, is killed. Nurse Emily Lyons, 41, is seriously injured. Unlike the previous explosions, this one is believed to have been hand-detonated.

February 21, 1997 -- A bomb explodes at the Otherside Lounge, a lesbian nightclub in northeast Atlanta, injuring four. Investigators find a second bomb before it detonates.

January 16, 1997 -- A bomb explodes at a women's clinic that performs abortions in the Atlanta suburb of Sandy Springs. An hour later, a second bomb explodes. Seven are injured.

July 27, 1996 -- An anonymous 911 call warns that a bomb will explode in Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, Georgia, during the Olympic Games. Twenty-two minutes later, at 1:20 a.m., a 40-pound pipe bomb explodes, killing Alice Hawthorne, 44, of Albany, Georgia, and injuring more than 100, according to the FBI. A Turkish cameraman, Melih Uzunyol, dies of a heart attack as he rushes to film the scene.

May 1996 -- Rudolph sells the two-bedroom house in Nantahala, North Carolina, where he had lived with his mother and lives in a series of rental homes in the area. He also begins using the aliases Bob Randolph, Robert Randolph and Bob Rudolph.

1989 -- Rudolph works as a self-employed carpenter in western North Carolina, eastern Tennessee and northern Georgia.

1987 -- Rudolph enlists in the U.S. Army in August and undergoes basic training at Fort Benning, Georgia. He is discharged in January 1989, reportedly for smoking marijuana, while serving with the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Kentucky.

1985-1986 -- After receiving a General Equivalency Diploma, Rudolph attends Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, North Carolina, for two semesters.

1981 -- After his father, Robert, dies, Rudolph moves from Florida with his mother and siblings to Nantahala in northwestern Macon County, North Carolina. He attends Nantahala School as a ninth-grader but drops out after that year and works as a carpenter with his older brother, Daniel.

September 19, 1966 -- Rudolph is born in Merritt Island, Florida.