The Suspect: An Olympic Bombing, the FBI, the Media, and Richard Jewell, the Man Caught in the Middle

Kent Alexander · Kevin Salwen

nov 2019 · Abrams

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The “intensively reported and fluidly written” true-crime account of the heroic security guard accused of the 1996 Centennial Olympic Park bombing (Wall Street Journal).

On July 27, 1996, security guard Richard Jewell spotted a suspicious bag in Atlanta’s Centennial Olympic Park, the town square of the 1996 Summer Games. Inside was a bomb, the largest of its kind in FBI and ATF history. The bomb detonated amid a crowd of fifty thousand people. But thanks to Jewell, it only wounded 111 and killed two, not the untold scores who would have otherwise died.

Yet seventy-two hours later, the FBI turned Jewell from a national hero into their main suspect. The decision not only changed Jewell’s life, it let the true bomber roam free to strike again. Today, most of what we remember of this tragedy is wrong.

In a triumph of investigative journalism, former U.S. Attorney Kent Alexander and reporter Kevin Salwen reconstruct events before, during, and after the bombing. Drawn from law enforcement evidence and the extensive personal records of key players—including Richard himself—The Suspect, is a gripping story of domestic terrorism and an innocent man’s fight to clear his name.

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Kent Alexander was the US Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia at the time of the 1996 Olympics. He spent hundreds of hours in meetings with the FBI about the bombing, and ultimately, he wrote and hand-delivered Jewell’s clearance letter. Journalist Kevin Salwen was a longtime Wall Street Journal reporter and editor, who ran the paper’s southeastern section during the Olympic Games. He is the co-author (with his daughter, Hannah) of The Power of Half: One Family’s Decision to Stop Taking and Start Giving Back.