Ex-girlfriend of man who blew up his RV in Nashville last Christmas sues for the $284,000 in reward money she says she deserves for reporting his ID
The ex-girlfriend of the man who detonated an explosive in downtown Nashville last Christmas has filed a lawsuit, saying she should receive $284,000 in rewards offered after the blast.
Pamela Perry filed suit Friday in Davidson County Chancery Court seeking the reward because she came forward 'at great personal risk to aid law enforcement in identifying' Anthony Quinn Warner as the bomber.
Warner parked an RV in the middle of a Nashville tourist district early on December 25, 2020 before setting off the blast that killed him, injured several others and heavily damaged dozens of buildings, including a key AT&T network facility.
Police were responding to a report of shots on the morning of Christmas Day when they encountered the RV blaring a recorded warning that a bomb would detonate in 15 minutes.
Then, inexplicably, the audio switched to a recording of Petula Clark's 1964 hit Downtown shortly before the blast.
Pamela Perry filed a lawsuit on Friday seeking $284,000 in rewards offered after the blast. She says she told police Warner was responsible after recognizing his RV
The image above was taken from surveillance footage showing Warner's RV before it exploded on Christmas Day in downtown Nashville
The explosion disrupted phone and data service for days over hundreds of miles in multiple states.
After the blast, Camping World CEO Marcus Lemonis offered a $250,000 reward and Nashville Convention and Visitors Corp. offered $34,500 to anyone who came forward with information identifying the bomber.
The Nashville Convention and Visitors Corp. later gave the $34,500 it raised to law enforcement organizations including the Metro Nashville Police Department.
Perry has said in a prior interview with WTVF-TV that she immediately recognized Warner's RV from pictures released by police.
She also recalled Warner's affinity for the song Downtown, which rang out eerily seconds before the detonation.
'I heard the music of that song. And I remember hearing that on a CD he played for me,' Perry said.
On Friday, convention officials said they hadn't seen the lawsuit and couldn't comment, but CEO Butch Spyridon said in May that hundreds of tips were called in and an FBI report thanked law enforcement but didn't identify citizens who gave tips.
'I don't have documentation to say this helped more than anything else,' Spyridon said.
Three people were injured and dozens of buildings were damaged by the blast on Christmas Day (seen above)
Warner appeared to target the AT&T transmission building in Nashville (above). His father worked at BellSouth, later acquired by AT&T, before his death in 2006 of dementia
A spokesperson for Marcus Lemonis told WTVF that the reward was for information leading to the 'capture and conviction' of the person responsible.
Warner died in the blast, so he was neither captured or convicted.
Perry's lawyer Raymond Throckmorton had called Nashville police on August 21, 2019 to warn them about Warner.
When they arrived Perry told officers that Anthony Warner was wiring up explosives inside the RV he kept parked in his home, half a mile from her own.
Yet officers failed to search the RV which was used to devastating effect 16 months later, in an elaborate suicide staged by Warner.
An FBI probe found that Warner was grappling with paranoia and eccentric conspiracy theories, but there are no indications he was motivated by social or political ideology.
The FBI statement sets out to resolve some of the lingering mysteries of an explosion that initially perplexed investigators and the public because it appeared to lack an obvious motive or fit a clear profile.
Though the blast damaged dozens of buildings, it took place early on a holiday morning when the normally bustling streets were utterly deserted, and was preceded by a recorded announcement warning anyone in the area that a bomb would soon detonate.
The FBI has wrapped up its investigation into the case. It found that Warner was not motivated by any political or social ideology
The FBI concluded that Warner chose the location and timing so that it would be impactful while still minimizing the likelihood of 'undue injury.'
Three people were injured and several dozen buildings were damaged.
The report found that Warner acted alone and set off the bomb to end his own life, driven in part by his longtime beliefs in several 'eccentric' conspiracy theories and paranoia as well as 'the loss of stabilizing anchors and deteriorating interpersonal relationships.'
The Associated Press has previously reported that investigators scrutinized Warner's interest in conspiracy theories after being told by some of the people they've interviewed that he believed shape-shifting reptiles take on a human form to gain control over society and that he discussed taking trips to hunt aliens.
Despite online speculation that Warner may have been motivated by conspiracy theories about 5G technology, given the proximity of the explosion to an AT&T building and the resulting havoc to cellphone service in the area, the FBI statement gives no indication that that is the case and said that the bombing was not related to terrorism.
'The FBI's analysis did not reveal indications of a broader ideological motive to use violence to bring about social or political change, nor does it reveal indications of a specific personal grievance focused on individuals or entities in and around the location of the explosion,' the FBI said.
The FBI said Warner held far-fetched beliefs and espoused wild conspiracy theories. He was also said to have been driven by a desire to end his life
Investigators conducted more than 250 interviews and combed through more than 2,500 tips, the FBI said.
Authorities were able to identify Warner through DNA recovered from the blast site, quickly zeroing in on him as the culprit and concluding early on that he had acted alone.
Even if Warner didn't leave behind a clear motive, he did take steps in the weeks leading up to the bombing that suggested he didn't expect to survive.
For instance, he gave away his car, telling the recipient that he had cancer - though it was not clear if he did - and signed a document that transferred his home in a Nashville suburb to a California woman for nothing in return.
He told an employer he was retiring.
A neighbor who made small talk with Warner about the upcoming Christmas holiday later recalled to the AP that Warner said something to the effect of, 'Oh, yeah, Nashville and the world is never going to forget me.'
Law enforcement actions received scrutiny in the days after the bombing when it was revealed that Nashville police in 2019 had visited Warner's home after his girlfriend reported that he was building bombs in a recreational vehicle at his residence.
But the police did not make contact with him or see inside his RV.
No comments