PALM SPRINGS — Lengthy earlier than Man Bartkus’ private battle in opposition to life ended with him the only suspect in blowing up a fertility clinic, and himself, there was a fascination with pyrotechnics.
In a stream of movies posted to a YouTube web site that regulation enforcement officers say they imagine belonged to Bartkus, solely a single one fell within the style of recent male youth: a battle video games online game clip.
The remaining run via solitary experiments in chemistry, physics and explosives: A hydrogen balloon is ready on fireplace. M-80s explode within the desert sand. A bucket of radioactive uranium ore units a Geiger counter wailing.
In a single video, a small tube of a “soften solid” explosive punches a deep socket right into a heavy steel bar, detonating so loudly the sound rockets from one bouldered slope to a different.
A display shot from a YouTube web page tied to Man Edward Bartkus reveals him experimenting with high-velocity explosives.
(YouTube)
“Holy s—!,” a younger man laughs in amazed delight.
It’s the similar voice captured on a 30-minute audio manifesto that investigators tie to Bartkus, wherein he makes an attempt to clarify his animosity towards those that conceive kids and seemingly his choice to assault a Palm Springs fertility clinic.
On Saturday morning, a bomb was detonated at American Reproductive Facilities in Palm Springs, destroying a lot of the constructing, injuring 4 individuals and killing the bomber. Bartkus is the only suspect within the bombing, which the FBI has labeled as home terrorism.
DNA exams of physique components discovered on the scene present Bartkus was killed within the blast. The FBI case investigators, in addition to regulation enforcement sources, characterize the 25-year-old as having “nihilistic ideations,” conclusions drawn from social media postings they hyperlink to Bartkus.
In these public postings, Bartkus argued that procreation with out consent of the unborn is unethical and unjustifiable in a world combating environmental hurt, violence and overpopulation. Regulation enforcement sources advised The Occasions that also they are wanting into whether or not childhood trauma laid the inspiration for his beliefs.
Bartkus’ father, who has not seen him in over a decade, advised The Occasions he was unaware of his son’s extremist views.
“It’s like, this isn’t my son,” mentioned Richard Bartkus, 75. “I haven’t seen him in 10 years, however I nonetheless know his coronary heart. His coronary heart was extra for serving to individuals, not destroying individuals.”
The complete image of Man Edward Bartkus is way from full. However an interview together with his father, in addition to authorized filings in San Bernardino County Superior Courtroom, provide a window into the discord that shadowed Bartkus’ upbringing. His childhood was touched by divorce, allegations of abuse and a eager early curiosity in explosives.
Little has been made public about his grownup life — aside from he held a string of short-term jobs, engaged on an electronics meeting line and as a faculty bus monitor for particular wants kids. Neither his mom or sister, with whom he reportedly lived in Twentynine Palms, could possibly be reached for remark.
The web path that authorities are scouring to glean some perception into Bartkus’ motives embrace an internet site that seems devoted to the Palm Springs bombing. It includes a 30-minute recording that web site knowledge signifies was uploaded on the time of the explosion, and guarantees a video — by no means posted — of the blast. There are additionally YouTube movies underneath an internet alias related to Bartkus, and threads on Reddit and a suicide discussion board.
In these, Bartkus voiced despondence over the demise of a “finest good friend,” Sophie, a girl who lived in Washington who ran a number of social media websites espousing radical feminism, veganism and intentional suicide. She died in April, allegedly shot within the head by her accomplice. That man advised police he was appearing at her request.
Ultimately, grief might have performed a component in Bartkus’ self-destruction.
“I received’t permit my mind to recover from you, Sophie,” the bomber wrote within the hidden remark code of his web site. “There’s no purpose to in any case…”
Born in Waterbury, Conn., Bartkus moved to California together with his household when he was about 1 1/2, in response to his father. After settling in North Palm Springs, the household moved to Joshua Tree and Yucca Valley.
He was a curious boy who appreciated to experiment, the daddy mentioned.
He advised of returning to their Yucca Valley rental house sooner or later and seeing his 9-year-old son disguise one thing underneath the shed and hurry indoors. He assumed his son was simply racing to beat him to the pc.
“However he had slightly fireplace going,” mentioned Richard Bartkus. “He pushed it underneath the shed, pondering that the sand would put it out. But it surely didn’t, it caught the shed on fireplace. And when the shed caught on fireplace, it unfold to the home and burned the home down.”
He mentioned his son took it arduous.
“He felt actually unhealthy,” mentioned Richard Bartkus. “For some time, he type of shied away from everyone.”
In his teenagers, Man Bartkus ramped up his experiments with stink bombs and rockets. His father mentioned he turned stricter together with his son, fearful that the fascination with explosives was getting out of hand.
“Initially, you begin constructing small explosives,” he mentioned. “Subsequent factor you already know, you need to go slightly greater. You’re making these little poppers. Subsequent, you need to get slightly louder. You begin making these little rockets. However they solely go up to now. … Now you’re doing extra of a selfmade gunpowder. Earlier than you already know it, you simply gone too far.”
Richard Bartkus mentioned he and Man’s mom, Dianne Bartkus, disagreed on the best way to deal with their son.
Their household life appeared to grow to be more and more fractious.
In August 2012, Dianne Bartkus moved out of the household’s house with their two kids. Quickly after, she sought a restraining order in opposition to Richard Bartkus. In court docket paperwork, she described feeling “terrified of his irrational conduct” and “threatened” by her husband.
In a single occasion, she alleged in court docket filings, Richard Bartkus visited her on the smoke store the place she labored and introduced a sniper rifle. “If I catch you with one other man throughout the subsequent three months, I’ll shoot him 10 occasions within the head or between the eyes,” he allegedly mentioned.
“His random conduct scares me and I’m fearful for the protection of my kids,” she mentioned in court docket paperwork.
The court docket recordsdata additionally embrace Richard Bartkus’ rebuttals of her allegations. He denied mistreating her or the youngsters — “until you name my yelling at them for the cuss phrases they use and nasty reveals and music they watch and take heed to abuse. I name it being father or mother.”
The court docket granted Dianne Bartkus’ request for a restraining order, however gave the daddy visitation rights. Man was 13 on the time, and his sister, Regina, was 14.
In November 2013, Dianne Bartkus filed for divorce.
Richard Bartkus mentioned he had not seen his son since a go to in 2014. He’d had a coronary heart assault, he mentioned, and his ex-wife and kids got here to feed him and drop off treatment.
In a 2015 request to amend the restraining order to incorporate the youngsters, Dianne Bartkus mentioned there had been “few visitations” between the daddy and kids on account of “emotional/verbal abuse.” She alleged Richard Bartkus had mocked his son’s sexuality — a cost he denied to The Occasions, saying his spouse made up tales to make him look unhealthy.
Nonetheless, in 2021, an Instagram account with the identify Richard Bartkus publicly ridiculed Man Bartkus for burning down the household house.
“Man Bartkus determined he was sensible sufficient to play with stick matches exterior and burned down the entire home and all the pieces in it, and now he thinks he’s so sensible and so good and by no means made any errors in life.”
Richard Bartkus advised The Occasions he was responding to a different submit from his son, now deleted, accusing him of being too arduous on his son.
“He was attempting to come back off like all the pieces was my fault,” he mentioned. “I attempted to clarify to him the explanation why I obtained so strict on him. He burned my home down! Me and my spouse, my youngsters are in the home. You destroy all of our property by burning the entire home down. I’m gonna come down strict on you!”
Finally, Richard Bartkus mentioned his son was “ child,” sensible and inquisitive, who constructed his personal computer systems at an early age. In highschool, he mentioned, his son obtained Cs and Ds, till he switched to the district’s unbiased examine program. With one-on-one consideration, he mentioned, his son became an A and B pupil.
His son, he mentioned, ended up graduating with honors from Yucca Valley Excessive Faculty. Richard Bartkus didn’t attend the commencement.
A display shot from a YouTube web page tied to Man Edward Bartkus.
(YouTube)
In 2019, at 18, Man Bartkus started to submit movies of his desert explosions on a YouTube channel known as “IndictEvolution.” The movies have since been taken down, however The Occasions was in a position to entry them via an archival web site. Regulation enforcement sources confirmed they’ve been linked to Bartkus.
Early on, the movies fall into the realm of hobbyist experiments: He exploded a small hydrogen balloon; he concocted glass beakers of acids. However by the point Bartkus was 24, his movies present him enjoying with a number of the most harmful explosives accessible to novice hobbyists.
He demonstrates detonation of erythritol tetranitrate (ETN), characterised in scientific literature as practically as highly effective as plastic explosives utilized by the navy. That 12 months, the username on a gaming platform tied to Bartkus’ e mail deal with was “Pyrotechnical.”
In that very same interval, Bartkus’ rhetoric on different social media websites was darkish.
“I’d not acknowledge replica as a human proper, however as a substitute as a type of rape,” IndictEvolution wrote on Lemmy.World in July 2023. “I’m additionally not bothered by infanticide so long as it’s completed humanely…”
A display shot from a YouTube web page tied to Man Edward Bartkus.
(YouTube)
In early Might, Bartkus engaged with a suicide dialogue web site, presenting knowledge from his exams on ingesting weak doses of sodium nitrite or looking for to generate carbon monoxide inside a automobile, alongside graphs and charts.
“I’m glad I’m an extremist,” he wrote. “Makes me WAY much less tethered to this turd of a planet.”
He volunteered that he wished to kill himself by strapping an explosive to his head, setting the timer for one hour and drugging himself to sleep. He mentioned he lacked entry to any drug stronger than codeine. Obtainable explosives weren’t the issue.
Then on Thursday night time, he reached out to the discussion board once more. He mentioned he deliberate to kill himself in his automobile, with a chemical response that may produce carbon monoxide, together with “some further drama that I most likely mustn’t say haha.”
Occasions workers writers Libor Jany and Melody Gutierrez contributed to this report.
