A Sonoma County man wanted for bombing two Bay Area businesses he accused of abusing animals and who managed to elude FBI agents in hot pursuit 21 years ago by disappearing into a San Francisco fog has been located, arrested, and is facing extradition back to the United States.
Daniel Andreas San Diego, formerly of Sebastopol, held the dubious distinction of being the only American national on the FBI’s most wanted list before the 47-year-old was traced to a remote cottage and arrested near Conwy, Wales, by the UK’s National Crime Agency in November 2024. He is due in court this week to determine if he will be extradited back to the Bay Area for trial.
Former FBI agents assigned to investigate the case told the BBC there were “missed opportunities” to arrest San Diego prior to the night he eluded them in a high-speed pursuit from Sonoma County to San Francisco, where agents found the fugitive’s car abandoned, engine running, a “bomb-making factory” in the trunk.
San Diego, known to be involved with a group called SHAC — Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty — was wanted for his alleged involvement in bombing two biotech facilities that did business with Huntingdon Life Sciences, a company that conducts animal experimentation for the medical and pharmaceutical industries.
The first bombing occurred on August 28, 2003, outside Chiron Life Science Center in Emeryville. When authorities responded, a secondary device was discovered, but exploded before it could be disarmed, raising the possibility that the device was planted specifically to target first responders.
Less than a month later, another bomb exploded outside a company based in Pleasanton. That bomb was made with metal nails to create more powerful shrapnel and destruction.
After each crime, claims of responsibility were posted on the Internet demanding that the businesses end their affiliation with Huntingdon Life Sciences. Future violence was threatened if these demands were not met. No one was killed in either explosion though property damage was extensive.
Sounds like something for HBO