Attacks leave indelible impression on ranger

Monday, May 8, 2000 | 2:21 a.m.

On the night of March 27, 1995, a bomb left on the windowsill of his Carson City office exploded.

The Carson City sheriff's office received calls from people who reported hearing what they thought was a loud gunshot about 7:30 that night, but the damage was not discovered until the next morning.

The blast broke four windows, gouged a hole in the windowsill, tore off rock facing and broke wall framing and plasterboard.

A computer terminal, telephone and other items on Pence's desk were damaged, along with the desk and other office equipment. Pence's baseball cap was found in shreds.

The building was unoccupied at the time of the blast and no one was hurt.

About four months later, on Aug. 4, another nighttime explosion, this one at Pence's Carson City residence, destroyed the family van and blew out windows in the home.

Pence and his youngest daughter, Sitka, had left that day on a Forest Service horse-pack excursion to Table Mountain in central Nevada. Former Humboldt-Toiyabe Supervisor Jim Nelson, Nevada U.S. Attorney Kathryn Landreth, and others also were on the trip.

Pence's wife, Linda, and the couple's two other daughters, Morgan and Colter, were home. They had been canning pickles in the kitchen and planned to watch a video, "Little Women."

It was a hot summer night and the windows were open. Morgan heard footsteps on the gravel driveway outside, Pence said.

Just then, the timer in the kitchen went off, and Linda asked Morgan to check the pickles on the stove.

"Linda went to the door and turned on a light," Pence said.

For some reason - call it divine intervention, a hunch or just plain luck - she didn't venture outside.

"She started to the van but stopped for no particular reason," Pence said. "She stepped back in and locked the door."

Seconds later, at 9:45 p.m., the bomb left under the front of the van in the driveway exploded, destroying the vehicle and shattering the front windows in the living room where Linda and Morgan had been sitting on a sofa only moments earlier.

"I know had they not left the sofa," Pence said, struggling with what-if images too disturbing to verbalize.

"I don't believe anybody came to scare anybody," he said of the bomber's intent.

Despite a $30,000 reward and a re-enactment on the television show "America's Most Wanted," no arrests have been made.

As the statute of limitations of the house bombing approaches, Pence wonders if those responsible ever will be caught.

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Howard Zlotnick said he understands Pence's frustration.

"I feel very sympathetic toward Mr. Pence and his family," Zlotnick said.

"It's a case that's never left its presence for us," he said. "We have been doing and will continue to do everything to solve it.

"It was vigorously worked," Zlotnick added. "It's never been shelved."