more news on Bill 's passing : AZ IMC

Arson suspect dead in jail cell
By MIRSADA BURIC-ADAM
The Prescott Daily Courier 12/23/05

PRESCOTT – The Friends of the Catalyst Infoshop in Prescott were in shock Thursday to learn the bookstore owner and their friend, William Rodgers, committed suicide in a jail cell in Flagstaff.

Rodgers, 40, who is one of the six people arrested on Dec. 7 in connection with alleged eco-terrorism, suffocated after placing a plastic bag over his head, a county examiner determined, according to the Coconino County Sheriff’s Office.

“Bill was a great friend to many of us,” said Sarah Launius, a spokesperson for the Friends of Catalyst Infoshop, a book store that Rodgers ran with a business partner. “I’m very proud of who he was as a human being and the work he did. As friends we are able to continue that work through this physical space (the bookstore). And we have every intention to do so.”

Jailers in Flagstaff found Rodgers dead shortly before 7 a.m., Lt. Charlie Wong said. Lights out at the jail is at 10 p.m. so he could have died anytime during the night, Wong said. He said Rodgers gave no indication he was depressed or intended to take his own life.

Rodgers’ passing comes two weeks after his arrest when FBI agents took him in custody along with five other suspects in connection with a nine-year investigation of numerous arsons in the Northwest. The Animal Liberation Front (ALF) and the Earth Liberation Front (ELF) claimed responsibility for many of them, the U.S. Attorney Office in Portland said.

Rodgers faced charges in connection with a 1998 arson at an animal and plant inspection site.

In the light of all these events, Launius said, “We never saw any formal charges. There is still a big question mark there. Now, we’ll never know what the real truth is.”

Rodger’s attorney, David Barrow of Flagstaff, said that in the short time he knew Rodgers, the two became good friends.

“I’m deeply saddened by this,” he said. “He was a beautiful man with high principles and we’re worse for his passing.”

A federal magistrate court refused to release Rodgers on bail last week, declaring he was a danger to society and likely to flee. He also took notice of testimony by an FBI agent that more charges from other arsons totaling $20 million were likely.

An affidavit authorities unsealed in a Eugene, Ore., federal court states that Rodgers helped plan the 1998 firebombing of a Vail, Colo.

The affidavit also implicated Rodgers in a fire at a lumber mill in Glendale, Ore, and taking part in a “dry run” of an arson attack in 2001.

Marilyn O’Donnell, owner of Whim Z in the McCormick Art District in Prescott, expressed shock on learning of Rodgers’ death.

“He was always a gentleman to me and very neighborly,” she said. “That is just horrific.”

Barrow said Rodgers told him he planned to fight the charges.

“In a sense he’s denied the opportunity to clear his name,” he said.

http://prescottdailycourier.1upsoftware.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=38182

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Suspect in lab arson found dead in cell
By Christian Hill
The Olympian 12/23/05

One of two men indicted for the 1998 arson of a wildlife research laboratory outside Olympia died of a suspected suicide in Arizona.

William C. Rodgers, 40, was found unresponsive Thursday morning in his county jail cell in Flagstaff. Nurses attempted to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation on him without success.

He was being held there waiting for federal marshals to transport him to Washington state for his arraignment and possible trial.

The county medical examiner ruled the cause of death to be asphyxia, and authorities are investigating it as a possible suicide. He was found with a plastic bag around his head in his single-person cell.

Rodgers was arrested Dec. 7 by federal authorities in Prescott, Ariz., where he co-founded a bookstore, The Catalyst Infoshop, focusing on environmental and social issues.

In a brief statement to The Olympian and other media outlets, his supporters noted his tireless work for the causes of social justice and environmental sustainability.

“We ask that he be remembered as the gentle, kind and compassionate person we all knew and loved here in Prescott,” it read.

“We remain committed to continuing the work of community building and ecological awareness through the Catalyst Infoshop, as part of the legacy Bill helped to create.”

Sarah Launius, a friend of Rodgers and a volunteer at his bookstore, said she and his girlfriend last spoke with him Sunday.

“He actually seemed in pretty good spirits and at peace,” she told The Olympian during a telephone interview Thursday evening.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington said Rodgers’ death was unfortunate for several different reasons.

“It was a tragedy for his family,” Emily Langlie told The Associated Press. “And we had hoped that the justice system could move forward and bring closure to the victims of these fires.”

How it happened

Inmates order items from the jail commissary, such as snacks, and deputies deliver them to the cells in the same plastic bag that Rodgers used to kill himself, said Lt. Charlie Wong, the jail’s housing officer.

Cash found on inmates when they’re processed is transferred to an account allowing them to buy items from the commissary, Wong continued.

“We’ve never had an issue with the plastic bags before — ever,” he told The Olympian.

Deputies did an inmate inspection Wednesday night and found nothing amiss, Wong said. Rodgers was scheduled to begin his journey to Washington state Thursday morning in the custody of federal marshals.

A federal grand jury in Washington indicted Rodgers and a second man, 36-year-old Kevin M. Tubbs, for the June 21, 1998, arson at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal, Plant and Health Inspection Services facility near Littlerock. Damage was estimated at $1.2 million. Tubbs was arrested in Springfield, Ore.

The indictment

Both men maliciously damaged and destroyed, and aided and abetted in damaging and destroying the building with fire and explosives, according to the indictment.

The building at 9701 Blomberg St. S.W. was the first of two damaged by arson that morning. Firefighters later responded to an arson at an animal damage control facility in a business park off Madrona Beach Road, west of Olympia.

No indictments have been handed down for the second arson, but the U.S. Attorney’s Office has said the investigation is continuing and additional arrests are possible.

The two men were among six people arrested in four states recently for sabotage attacks going back several years.

Tubbs has since been charged for his alleged role in the firebombing at a Eugene, Ore., car dealership that destroyed 35 sport utility vehicles in 2001. Tubbs has pleaded not guilty in both crimes.

He will be prosecuted in Oregon before being transported to Washington to face charges.

In an affidavit filed in federal court last week, an FBI agent said Rodgers attended a meeting of Earth Liberation Front members in western Colorado where the arson of a Vail, Colo., ski resort was planned.

Rodgers’ former court-appointed lawyer, David Barrow of Flagstaff, Ariz., said that in the short time he knew Rodgers the two became good friends.

A federal magistrate refused to release Rodgers on bail last week, declaring that he was a danger to society and likely to flee. He also took notice of testimony by an FBI agent that additional charges stemming from other arsons totaling $20 million were likely.

Barrow said Rodgers told him he planned to fight the charges. “In a sense, he’s denied the opportunity to clear his name,” he told The Associated Press.

Another of the suspects, Chelsea Gerlach, was placed on suicide watch as a result of Rodgers’ death because of her close relationship with him, Assistant U.S. Attorney Kirk Engdall said during her bail hearing Thursday in Eugene.

Gerlach’s attorney, public defender Craig Weinerman, denied the close relationship.

Magistrate Thomas Coffin denied Gerlach’s request for bail after Engdall said a search Wednesday of her apartment in Portland had turned up false identification documents with her picture, and materials to make more.

It strongly suggests she might try to flee if released on bail, Coffin said. Weinerman had argued that she should be released because the government’s case is based on the testimony of two other people who had admitted setting other fires.

Engdall added that she was also a suspect in the Oct. 14, 2001, arson of federal wild horse corrals in Susanville, Calif. No charges have been filed in that case.

In another development in the case, Daniel McGowan of New York City appeared in court in Eugene, Ore., for the first time since his arrest in New York. Coffin set Feb. 28 for the start of his trial on charges he set fire to a lumber mill office in Glendale, Ore., and a tree farm in Clatskanie, Ore.

http://159.54.227.3/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051223/NEWS/51223001

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Vail arson suspect dead
By Alicia Caldwell, Steve Lipsher and Joey Bunch
Denver Post 12/23/05

A suspect in the 1998 Vail arsons that caused $12 million in damage apparently killed himself in an Arizona jail late Wednesday or early Thursday as he awaited extradition in another eco-terrorism case, authorities said.

William C. Rodgers, 40, used a clear plastic bag from the jail commissary to suffocate himself, said Lt. Charles Wong of the Coconino County Sheriff's Office.

Rodgers, who faced possible life imprisonment, was in federal custody, alone in his Flagstaff cell, when he was found dead at 6:30 a.m. Thursday, Wong said.

In a related case, Chelsea Gerlach, who also has been named as a suspect in the Vail fires and is being held in Eugene, Ore., was put on suicide watch, prosecutors said in court Thursday.

Sheets, socks and other items that could be used for suicide were moved from Gerlach's cell, prosecutors said, because of her close relationship with Rodgers.

Authorities arrested Rodgers, Gerlach and four others earlier this month in a nationwide sweep - contending they are members of Earth Liberation Front, or ELF, a secretive environmental terrorism group.

Prosecutors believe they are responsible for a string of arsons in the West between 1998 and 2001.

When federal agents searched Rodgers' bookstore in Prescott, Ariz., shortly after his arrest, they seized documents that appeared to deal with explosives, environmental sabotage and plans to stop Vail Resorts' expansion, records show.

Investigators have had a difficult time building a case against members of ELF, which has no hierarchy or membership lists.

Alliances between members in the Oregon cell of the group appeared to be dissolving as news emerged Thursday that at least three co-conspirators had agreed to cooperate with authorities.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Kirk Engdall said Thursday that at least two of those cooperating were involved in the Vail fires.

During a hearing Thursday for Gerlach, Engdall defended the credibility of the cooperating witnesses, saying they are "eyewitnesses and would be considered strong evidence in any court."

The hearing ended with a federal judge denying bail for Gerlach.

Although federal prosecutors publicly called Rodgers and Gerlach suspects in the Vail fires that destroyed several mountaintop buildings, including Two Elk Lodge, they have not been charged in the case.

The fires were notorious at the time for being the most costly acts of eco-terrorism in U.S. history.

Karin Immergut, U.S. attorney for Oregon, said Rodgers' death would not undermine the case against the other defendants.

"We're confident that there's a good case against all of the defendants who we've charged," Immergut said.

Gerlach is charged in the tearing down of an electrical transmission tower near Bend, Ore., the firebombing of a meat processing plant in Eugene in 1999, and the setting of a fire at a tree farm in Clatskanie, Ore., in 1999.

Prosecutors said Thursday that they have new information linking Gerlach to an October 2001 arson at a Bureau of Land Management horse and burro stable in Susanville, Calif.

Rodgers and another man, Kevin Tubbs, were accused of setting fire to an agricultural research facility in Olympia, Wash.

The others who have been arrested in the related eco-terrorism cases are Stanislaus Meyerhoff, Daniel Gerard McGowan and Sarah Harvey.

Rodgers' death sent shock waves through the Prescott, Ariz., community where he had run a used bookstore, the Catalyst Infoshop.

Don Roth, one of more than 50 of Rodgers' friends who attended a hearing for him last Friday, said news of his suicide spread quickly.

"Everybody is taking this very hard," Roth said. "None of us have any idea if he actually did anything."

Rodgers' action, Roth said, is "more of an indication of the kind of person who shouldn't be put in jail. He couldn't handle it."

Another friend, Sarah Launius, said she talked with Rodgers on the phone while he was in jail and he seemed to be "holding up better than the rest of us."

She added, "I think on some level, Bill knew that the best thing for him, for his soul, was to seek alternate freedom, rather than spend the rest of his life behind bars."

http://www.denverpost.com/nationworld/ci_3336636

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Vail fire suspect kills self
Accused eco-terror figure found dead in Arizona jail cell
By Joe Garner, Rocky Mountain News, 12/23/05

A man suspected in the 1998 Vail Mountain firebombings killed himself in his Arizona jail cell Thursday, while a federal judge in Oregon denied the release of a woman linked to the same eco-terrorism strike.

William C. Rodgers, 40, labeled the "mastermind" of radical environmentalists who left a nationwide swath of firebombings linked to the Environmental Liberation Front, was found dead early Thursday in his single cell at the Coconino County Jail in Flagstaff, authorities said.

In response, the U.S. Marshal's Office in Eugene, Ore., ordered a suicide watch for Chelsea Gerlach, 28, in the Lane County Jail.

Craig Weinerman, Gerlach's federal public defender, said Rodgers' death "had ramifications on her."

"The way law enforcement thinks, they isolated my client and put her on suicide watch, although she's not suicidal."

A deputy sheriff rousing Rodgers about 6:15 a.m. found him with "multiple plastic bags, like grocery bags, wrapped around his head," said Deputy U.S. Marshal Brenda McLaughlin. She said prisoners who are not on suicide watch typically are given such bags to carry toiletries and other belongings.

Officers, who arrested Rodgers and Gerlach Dec. 7 in a nationwide roundup of six suspected eco-saboteurs, had no reason to think Rodgers might kill himself, said Coconino County Sheriff Bill Pribil.

Sarah Launius, 27, a friend of Rodgers and a spokeswoman for the bookstore he owned in Prescott, Ariz., was shocked to hear of his death.

"We have been talking a lot on the phone," she said. "I didn't have any concerns about him doing this. I was very surprised this morning to learn of this. I know that all of the friends in Prescott are equally kind of shocked."

Launius recalled Rodgers as "an extraordinarily gentle and loving human being."

"I think he is also one who took great strength in feeling free," she said. "He lived a life of great reverence of others and the world around him. I have no doubt he is doing that now."

Rodgers had been scheduled to be transported to Phoenix later Thursday en route to Washington state, where he was charged with setting fire to a U.S. Department of Agriculture building in 1998.

Neither he, nor Gerlach, has been formally charged in the seven simultaneous fires in 1998 on Vail Mountain. Federal prosecutors simply had named them as prime suspects, while proceeding against them on charges growing out of other alleged eco-sabotage.

In Flagstaff, Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Lodge, who argued at a Dec. 16 hearing that Rodgers should remain in custody, said he would have no comment on Rodgers' death. "No comment at all," Lodge said. "None."

Dr. Mark Fischione, the Coconino County medical examiner, ruled that Rodgers died of asphyxia - too little oxygen and too much carbon dioxide in the blood - as a result of suffocation, McLaughlin said.

In apparent coordination between federal prosecutors in Oregon and Arizona, Rodgers and Gerlach were named prime suspects in the $12 million damage to the original Two Elk Lodge and other structures on the Vail ski mountain. The arson was the costliest attack attributed to the Animal Liberation Front or the Environmental Liberation Front until the ELF claimed responsibility for torching a condominium under construction in San Diego in 2003, causing more than $20 million in damage.

Renee Gerlach, Chelsea's stepmother, said she and her husband, Harry, had not attended Thursday's 30-minute detention hearing about 50 miles away in Eugene.

Judge Thomas Coffin refused bail for Chelsea Gerlach, who is charged with three eco-terrorism strikes in her native Oregon.

Weinerman, Gerlach's public defender, said he argued that his client has been abandoned by one-time boyfriend Stanislas Meyerhoff, who also was arrested Dec. 7 in the eco-terrorism sweep, and by "admitted serial arsonist" Jacob Ferguson. Weinerman said the men have turned against Gerlach because federal prosecutors offered them deals if they would testify against her.

"Needless to say, following his arrest, Meyerhoff felt tremendous pressure to shift blame to others in order to save himself from a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment," Weinerman said. "His motive is that he simply doesn't want to spend the rest of his life in prison."

Meyerhoff, also 28, and Gerlach attended South Eugene High School together a decade ago. She was photographed for the school yearbook wearing a T-shirt emblazoned "Resist" when they were members of the Student Coalition for Peace and Equality, which called itself a consciousness-raising group.

Gerlach wrote in the Eugenean yearbook that she was "born to save the Earth."

Weinerman said that, during the 30-minute hearing, "The word Vail never crossed anyone's lips. We just talked about the Oregon charges."

The public defender said he expects to be ready to go to court Feb. 28, when Gerlach's trial on the first of the three charges is scheduled. She also faces March trial dates on the other two charges.

Kirk Engdall, lead attorney for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Gerlach's cases, said he "will not be making any more comments about Vail." He was the first to link her to the Vail arsons when she appeared in U.S. District Court in Eugene on Dec. 13.

Engdall referred questions about Gerlach's suspected role in the Vail fires and possible charges against her to Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas O'Rourke in Denver.

O'Rourke will have no comment because the Vail case is a continuing criminal investigation, said Jeff Dorschner, spokesman for the Denver U.S. Attorney's Office.

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_4337222,00.html

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Ecoterror suspect commits suicide
By LARRY HENDRICKS
AZ Daily Sun 12/23/2005

A Prescott man, accused by federal authorities of being a radical environmentalist involved in a half-dozen arsons across the West, committed suicide in his jail cell in Flagstaff Wednesday night.

His friends and supporters mourned his death Thursday.

William Rodgers, 40, was pronounced dead at 6:40 a.m. Thursday, said Coconino County Sheriff Bill Pribil.

A detention officer made the rounds in C unit of the county jail at 6:15 a.m. for breakfast call, Pribil said. The detention officer also went to Rodgers' cell, pod 100, where he was housed by himself.

"When he was found, he was in his bunk," Pribil said. "Our officer went in to shake him awake, and at that time determined that he was probably deceased."

The detention officer discovered that Rodgers had placed a plastic bag, believed to be a bag distributed by the commissary, over his head, Pribil said.

According to a document sent to the sheriff's office by Dr. Mark Fischione, medical examiner, Rodgers died by asphyxia, suffocation by plastic bag.

Rodgers' body was removed from the jail to undergo autopsy Thursday, Pribil said.

"We had no indication that he was suicidal," Pribil said, adding that investigators began interviewing inmates Thursday morning.

INVESTIGATORS SEARCH FOR CLUES

According to inmate statements, Pribil said Rodgers had become somewhat withdrawn from the rest of the inmates in the unit Wednesday. And on Wednesday night, Rodgers began writing several letters.

Sheriff's detectives seized those letters and will be examining them for possible references to suicide, Pribil said, adding that detectives have not advised him of finding a suicide note.

"This is the first suicide we've had in the new facility since it opened in 2000," Pribil said.

The old facility downtown experienced "several," but suicides nationally have plummeted in recent years, Pribil added.

The primary reason for the downturn is increased training and vigilance on behalf of jail and prison staffs, Pribil said.

"We're going to sit down and we will evaluate our policies and procedures and we will have a discussion as far as if there's anything that could have been done that would have prevented this," Pribil said.

Also, jail officials will review policies on suicide as it pertains to inmates who are offering no indications they are contemplating taking their lives, Pribil said.

The sheriff's office has written policy on suicidal inmates (See related story).

PROSECUTORS: THE 'MASTERMIND'

Rodgers was indicted two weeks ago by a federal grand jury on the charge that he and another person set fire to a U.S. Department of Agriculture building in Olympia, Wash., on June 21, 1998. Estimated damage was $1.2 million.

During his detention hearing in Flagstaff last week, federal prosecutors also alleged that Rodgers was involved in at least six acts of ecoterrorism associated with the Animal Liberation Front and the Earth Liberation Front. Prosecutors said he even "masterminded" some of the arsons, including a ski resort in Vail, Colo., that caused $12 million in damage.

Rodgers' arrest was one of six throughout the country, including the arrest of one woman in Flagstaff. He was scheduled to be transported to Washington state to face the charges.

When Rodgers' home, attached to the Catalyst InfoShop bookstore in Prescott, was searched, federal agents alleged they found a box of explosive components -- timers, sponges and relighting candles -- as well as literature on how to make bombs and other bomb components. Agents also found three weapons, including two assault-type rifles.

Rodgers' friends and supporters in Flagstaff characterized him as a kind, compassionate man dedicated to social service, community building and non-violence. During Rodgers' detention hearing last week, supporters filled the courtroom gallery, while dozens more protested out on North San Francisco Street.

Flagstaff woman Kendall Tankersley, 28, also accused of ecoterrorist actions by the government, was in the county jail at the time of Rodgers' death, Pribil said. She was immediately transported by U.S. Marshals out of the jail.

"She was not aware, to our knowledge, that he committed suicide," Pribil said, adding that U.S. Marshals advised him when Tankersley reaches her destination, she will be put under suicide watch.

http://www.azdailysun.com/non_sec/nav_includes/story.cfm?storyID=121704

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Supporters recall 'kind, wise' person
By LARRY HENDRICKS
AZ Daily Sun 12/23/2005

News of Williams Rodgers' suicide spread quickly Thursday through his network of friends and associates in Prescott and beyond.

Sarah Launius, media coordinator for Friends of the Catalyst, testified as a character witness at William Rodgers' detention hearing.

Rodgers, accused by federal authorities of being involved of a half-dozen ecoterror-type arsons, was found dead in his jail cell Thursday.

"We're pretty shocked right now," Launius said. "There are a lot of teary eyes in Prescott today, and I think a lot of people are just trying to come to terms with knowing they won't see their friend Bill anymore."

Rodgers was the best kind of friend, she said. He was always accessible to his friends and a good person to talk to.

"Bill was always willing to be that friend," she said. "He's always been an amazing confidant and someone you could talk to about situations that might be wearing on your heart, troubles in life."

She described him as a kind, wise person. His wisdom tended to remind people that they are strong and loved, and it is through the love of others where people find their strength.

"He had a good way of reminding people about what was important in life," Launius said.

There are no immediate plans for memorial services.

"But there will most certainly be a gathering of his friends here in Prescott to memorialize Bill and to be together as friends," Launius said. "That was so much of what Bill wanted to teach us, to join together as a community."

She called it a "vision for a kinder world."

Donald Roth, a friend of Rodgers, was also present at the detention hearing last week.

"We first heard about this thing about 11 this morning," Roth said, adding that the word spread fast of his death. "There's a lot of upset people in Prescott right now because a lot of people loved Bill."

Roth said an informal gathering of Rodgers friends was planned for Thursday night.

"He was certainly one of the gentlest most caring people I've ever known," Roth said. "He had a great sensitivity about how people are ruining the planet. He was interested in teaching people about sustainable living."

The Catalyst InfoShop was a place to offer that kind of information and learning, Roth said. A place of gathering.

"We were just floored, just speechless," Roth said of Rodgers' death. "You see a lot of silence, a lot of people who don't know what to say."

He was a sensitive person who didn't belong in jail, Roth said.

And to the future of the Catalyst?

"I would imagine people would try to keep the Catalyst InfoShop running in his honor," Roth said.

http://www.azdailysun.com/non_sec/nav_includes/story.cfm?storyID=121724

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Suspect in ecoterror case found dead in jail
By Bob Christie, Associated Press, 12/23/05

PHOENIX - An Arizona bookstore owner charged with eco-sabotage in Washington was found dead in a Flagstaff jail cell early Thursday, authorities said.

William C. Rodgers, 40, of Prescott, Ariz., committed suicide, according to the Coconino County Sheriff's Office. The county medical examiner determined that Rodgers suffocated after placing a plastic bag over his head while he was being held in a one-person cell.

Rodgers was one of six people arrested this month in connection with eco-terrorist attacks in Oregon and Washington in recent years. He was charged in the firebombing of a federal Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service facility outside Olympia, Wash. The arson caused $1.2 million in damage.

In an affidavit filed in federal court in Oregon last week, an FBI agent said Rodgers attended a meeting of Earth Liberation Front members in western Colorado where the arson of a Vail ski resort was planned, although he had not been charged in that case.

Rodgers was denied bail at a hearing in Flagstaff Friday and ordered transferred to Washington for further hearings.

Rodgers was supposed to be transported to Seattle to face the charges, Assistant U.S. Attorney Kirk Engdall said during a court hearing Thursday in Eugene, for another suspect, Chelsea Gerlach.

Engdall said Gerlach was placed on suicide watch as a result of Rodgers' death because of her close relationship with Rodgers.

Gerlach's attorney, public defender Craig Weinerman, denied the two were close.

Magistrate Thomas Coffin denied Gerlach's request for bail after Engdall said a search of her apartment in Portland on Wednesday had turned up false identification documents with her picture and materials to make others. The judge said that strongly suggested she might try to flee if released.

Weinerman had argued that she should be released because the government's case was based on the testimony of two other people who had admitted setting other fires.

Engdall added that she also was a suspect in the Oct. 14, 2001, arson of federal wild horse corrals in Susanville, Calif. No charges have been filed in that case.

In another development in the case, Daniel McGowan of New York City appeared in court in Eugene, for the first time since his arrest in New York. Coffin set Feb. 28, 2006, for the start of his trial on charges he set fire to a lumber mill office in Glendale, and a tree farm in Clatskanie.

Jailers in Flagstaff found Rodgers dead shortly before 7 a.m. Thursday, Lt. Charlie Wong said. Lights out at the jail is at 10 p.m., so he could have died anytime during the night, Wong said. He said there had been no indication that Rodgers was depressed or intended to take his own life.

“There was no indication of any distress,” Wong said. “He was completely normal.”

Another Arizona resident arrested the same day as Rodgers was also being held in the Coconino County jail when he committed suicide.

Sarah Kendall Harvey, a 28-year-old Flagstaff resident also known as Kendall Tankersley, faces charges related to another firebombing. She's accused of arson against a U.S. Forest Industries office building in Medford, Ore., in 1998.

The U.S. Marshals Service picked her up from the jail on Thursday morning. Wong said Rodgers was scheduled to be transferred with her.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's office in Washington said Rodgers' death was unfortunate for several different reasons.

“It was a tragedy for his family,” said Emily Langlie. “And we had hoped that the justice system could move forward and bring closure to the victims of these fires.”

Rodgers ran a bookstore in downtown Prescott called the Catalyst Infoshop that friends called a combination bookstore and community meeting room. Friends calling themselves the Friends of the Catalyst traveled the two hours to Flagstaff to support Rodgers during his court hearings.

His court-appointed lawyer, David Barrow of Flagstaff, said that in the short time he knew Rodgers the two became good friends.

“I'm deeply saddened by this,” Barrow said. “He was a beautiful man with high principles and we're worse for his passing.”

A federal magistrate refused to release Rodgers on bail last week, declaring that he was a danger to society and likely to flee. He also took notice of testimony by an FBI agent that more charges from other arsons totaling $20 million were likely.

Barrow said Rodgers told him he planned to fight the charges.

“In a sense he's denied the opportunity to clear his name,” Barrow said.

http://www.theworldlink.com/articles/2005/12/23/news/news09.txt