Richard Jewell, falsely linked to '96 blast, dies at 44

ATLANTA — Richard Jewell, the former security guard who was wrongly linked to the 1996 Olympic bombing and waged a decade-long battle with news organizations to defend his reputation, died Wednesday. He was 44.

Mr. Jewell was found dead in his west Georgia home. An autopsy was scheduled for today.

"There's no suspicion whatsoever of any type of foul play," said Meriwether County Coroner Johnny Worley.

Mr. Jewell was diagnosed with diabetes this year and a few of his toes were amputated. He had recently been on dialysis, the coroner said.

In an e-mail, Lin Wood, Mr. Jewell's longtime attorney, described Mr. Jewell as "a dedicated public servant whose heroism the night of the Centennial Olympic Park bombing saved the lives of many people."

The Jewell episode led to soul-searching among news organizations about the use of unattributed or anonymously sourced information.

Mr. Jewell, who was working as a sheriff's deputy as recently as last year, was a security guard in 1996 at the Olympics in Atlanta. He was initially hailed as a hero for noticing a suspicious backpack in a park and moving people out of harm's way just before a bomb exploded during a concert.

The blast killed one and injured 111 others.

Three days after the bombing, an unattributed report in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution described him as "the focus" of the investigation.

Other media, to varying degrees, also linked Mr. Jewell to the investigation and portrayed him as a loser and law-enforcement wannabe who may have planted the bomb so he would look like a hero when he discovered it.

He was never arrested or charged, although he was questioned and was a subject of search warrants.

Eighty-eight days after the Journal-Constitution report, U.S. Attorney Kent Alexander said Mr. Jewell "is not a target" of the investigation.

The bomber turned out to be anti-government extremist Eric Rudolph, who also planted three other bombs in the Atlanta area and in Birmingham, Ala. Those bombs killed a police officer, maimed a nurse and injured several other people.

Rudolph was captured after spending five years hiding in the mountains of western North Carolina. He pleaded guilty to all four bombings in 2005 and is serving life in prison.

Mr. Jewell sued several media companies, including NBC, CNN and the New York Post, and settled for undisclosed amounts. According to Wood, Mr. Jewell also settled a lawsuit against Piedmont College, a former employer. That amount was also confidential.

The Journal-Constitution never settled a lawsuit Mr. Jewell filed against it. Wood said Wednesday that the case is set for trial in January. "I expect to pursue it for Richard and his estate," Wood said.

Last year, Mr. Jewell said he spent most of the money he won from lawsuits on lawyer fees and a new home for his mother. He married in recent years, and his wife is among his survivors.

Material from The Washington Post is included in this report.