This theres no way. They have the wrong. Her mother was nearly killed by a bomb. I remember coming out to the truck, put in the key and then kaboom. The police told me this bomb was meant for you. They say to you who does not like you enough to try to kill you . I could think of no one. But police could. And if the target was a surprise, so was the suspect. Whoa. Its you. But he claimed he was framed and A Man Named Indian Joe could prove it. Even he admitted his story sounded crazy. If i was a guy out there watching dateline, i wouldnt believe this. This is like watching a tv show. Youre telling us to go search for the onearmed man. Yes. Well, we found indian joe. Thats all true . Oh, yeah, thats all true. What else would we find . Theres a maniac out there. Hello and welcome to dateline. Family and faith were everything to Connie Hoagland. A devoted mother of 3 and wife of a Church Leader. So when a car bomb shattered life as she knew it, investigators were baffled. The motive remained a mystery until a stunning twist led detectives in a direction that was hard to believe, even for connie herself. Here is Josh Mankiewicz with deadly intent. Youre looking at the life of the Hoagland Family of san diego played out in brief. Moments stretching across the years from the prosaic to the profound. Thats the mom, connie. Just after she gave birth to son jonathan. Look over here, guys, one, two, three. Good one. Here he is, six years later, after losing a tooth. Hey, jonathan, thats a great smile you have there. This is oldest daughter, jill, learning to play golf. Thats a nice one, jill. And this is her little sister jaclyn. Today the kids are grown. When we met them jill has a child of her own. Jaclyn had gotten married and jonathan has graduated high school. Looking back, the childhood they described was one of stability and routine. Just normal happy family, id say it would be. Mmhmm. We go to church on sundays. Wed have movie nights or Family Vacation that we had taken, usually disneyland, which is our favorite. Everything was just as a family. Everything was perfect. They loved each other and they had a great marriage. Exactly. The patriarch of the Hoagland Family, larry, was a leader in their church and a professional photographer who can be heard off camera gently directing his children through these precious kodak moments. Dad that was good. Keep going. I always remember getting sick of it because i just wanted to have fun and we always had to pause and take a picture, which kind of got annoying after a while, but looking back, its nice to see the pictures, i guess. The mom, connie, loved being with her kids so much, that as they grew older, she found a Job Taking Care of toddlers at this day care home. But on september the 23rd, 2010, as connie was leaving her job for the day, her life and family were quite literally blown apart. A thunderous explosion rocks an east county neighborhood. The first thing i said to myself when i heard the explosion was oh, my goodness, what was that . Teddy williams is the owner of the day care home. So i ran out the gate. I come to this point and i stopped because connies car is rolling at full speed and smacked into my van. I ran around her truck, and this is where i found connie, right here, on her side, in the street. Connie hoagland was her best friend. Connie was laying on her side, curled up in a ball. I rolled her over. There was glass, there was shrapnel, there was shards of metal everywhere. Everywhere. Teddy knew all the Hoagland Familys Cell Phone Numbers and she was the one who broke the news. I was driving, and she said that there was an explosion and my moms truck blew up. So i immediately pulled over, stopped, and called my dad, asked him whats going on. What do we do . What did he say . He said, i just heard, too. I dont really know all the details. The Hoagland Family gathered at Uc San Diego Medical Center where connie had been taken for emergency surgery. We got to quickly see her rushed from the hallway into surgery. It was probably ten seconds. And i just remember telling her, i love you, and her being awake but kind of being out of it. And then that was it. Seeing her like that and all the wires coming out of her and the bags hanging and the blood and all that, it was very, very shocking, taken back, i almost felt sick. What did you think had happened . I thought her truck malfunctioned. We didnt know was it an accident, was it the gas tank, whats going on . I didnt know what exactly had happened. By now though, investigators knew this explosion was no accident, because they found Bomb Fragments embedded inside connies truck, making it clear this was an intentional act, a car bomb, which got investigators wondering if it was the work of terrorists. Almost immediately when we came on scene, we made a plan of how we wanted to sweep the area. And what we were doing was looking for secondary devices, so we didnt walk into an area and actually get hit by another device of some sort. Robert luke of the San Diego County sheriffs bomb squad and atf agent matt beals were the lead investigators. They quickly learned that something about the day care may have made it a target. On that particular day care center, we were aware that there were other Law Enforcement officials who had their children in that particular home during the day. Was it possible someone was out to kill cops and their kids . If so, connie, who always parked in front of the day care home, could have been the perfect yet unwitting Delivery System for the bomb. They were looking for any known or suspected domestic terrorists or possible watchlist type people that may be in the area. No question that this was an ied, an Improvised Explosive Device . No. And suddenly, they had more questions after they ran connies address and discovered that, in her neighborhood, two weeks earlier, police had found another bomb. Two bombs with one explosive connection. Investigators discovered this attack was personal. Coming up had connie or her family been targeted before . We were like, wow, this is for real. When dateline continues. My moderateeczema,ere it hasnt been easy. Now, im staying ahead of it. Dupixent helps heal your skin from within. So, you can clearer skin and noticeably less itch serious allergic reactions can occur, that can be severe. Tell your doctor about new or worsening eye problems, such as eye pain or vision changes, including blurred vision, joint aches and pains, or a parasitic infection. Dont change or stop asthma medicines without talking to your doctor. Ask your doctor about dupixent [coughing] when caroline has a cough she takes robitussin. So, she can have those one on ones again. 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Those with weakened Immune Systems may have a lower response to the vaccine. The most common side effects are injection site pain, fatigue, muscle pain, headache, and joint pain. I chose arexvy. Rsv . Make it arexvy. When Connie Hoaglands truck exploded outside a san diego daycare center. Exploded outside a san diego day care center, investigators suspected terrorism. A suspicion that only grew stronger when they realized that this bomb might well be related to another unexploded bomb found two weeks earlier lying in the street just blocks from the hoaglands house. This is a device we had not seen in the united states. Detective chris evert and Bomb Squad Commander john wood had taken that earlier call. Between them, theyve investigated and disarmed hundreds of explosive devices. But this one was a first. These particular devices had only been seen in war countries, afghanistan and iraq. The small but powerful device was hidden in a fedex envelope, but what really got everyones attention was the detonator linked to a cell phone. And that to you says what . This is somebody that can build a bomb and it can sit there from anywhere in the world and set it off. We have breaking news. A bomb squad investigates a suspicious object in rolando. Taking no chances they sent in a robot to disarm the bomb. Fire in the hole a firefighter was then put in one of those famous suits to make a final safety check and found the Cell Phone Detonator had 18 missed calls. Only a broken wire had prevented the bomb from going off. Were like, wow, this is for real. Police ran the Phone Numbers, of course, but they belonged to untraceable throwaway phones, available almost anywhere. The bomber or bombers had left no trace of themselves. No fingerprints, no dna. The only real clues were found on the fedex envelope, duct tape and soot, suggesting the bomb might have fallen off of the underside of a car. And so, two weeks later, when connies truck blew up at the day care home, investigators immediately wondered were these two sophisticated bombs really the work of terrorists . Or was all this personal . We went through all those gamuts and we had a lot of people just going out chasing every lead there was trying to get this stuff done. And while he was still at the crime scene, Detective Luke had what seemed to be an odd visit from an old colleague, eric stellmacher. The former commander of the San Diego Fire Department bomb squad. Thats luke to the left of your screen and stellmacher on the far right. He was the first one to contact me as soon as i got on the scene. I says, what are you doing here . He tells me he had retired to colorado, came back to visit some friends here in town and he heard about the bomb and he came over to try to assist us. And there was one more thing. He turns out to be an acquaintance of the Hoagland Family, so he knew the victim and the husband. First thing that popped into my mind is we have a bombing here, we have a bomb guy on the scene thats retired and now hes also has some nexus to do with the family. That was definitely a curveball. John wood was Bomb Squad Commander then and he also had the same unsettling concerns. One of our own sitting there going, wow, why did he show up . Now he just became a suspect. This guy used to have your job before you. Exactly. Hes the one that appointed me before i left. Everybody here knows him, trusts him, likes him. Yep. And hes a friend of the family and hed know how to make that device. Exactly. Stellmacher had a tip offering up a potential suspect, Connie Hoaglands exsoninlaw Who Stellmacher claimed may have had it in for the family. That was absolutely a lead we needed to follow up on immediately. Because hes the only person you could think of that didnt like connie and larry. Exactly. Or so we were told and led to believe. So beals hit the road bound for vegas and a meeting with connies soninlaw. He didnt have a negative thing to say about connie in any way, shape or form. Just as important, the soninlaw had a solid alibi. Corroborated his story as to where he was and he had received the backup that he was at a store at one time and clearly not in san diego, not in california and his alibi all checked out. All of which put the guy who fingered him, stellmacher, under more suspicion. Meanwhile, investigators put connies truck up on a lift for a closer inspection. And in the soot dust on the floor pan, they saw an outline the size of a fedex envelope framed in traces of duct tape. The imprint of the earlier unexploded bomb. Hardening their suspicion that whoever built the bombs was targeting connie or her family. This appeared, for all intents and purposes, to be directed at one person. Whoever the driver of that truck was. In this case, connie. Back at the hospital, the Hoagland Family, holding a vigil by connies bedside, was unaware there was a criminal investigation under way until luke and beals paid them a visit. Then they asked if she had any enemies, if anyone would want to hurt her, if we could think of anybody. And i couldnt think of anybody. There wasnt anybody. Im guessing that the only thing stranger than hearing that your moms been the victim of an explosion is hearing that it was not an accident and that it was directed at her specifically. I said, what . I couldnt i didnt believe it. I didnt understand it. And i just started crying, because i didnt know who could do that, who would want to do that. What made a strange case all the more baffling occurred four days after the bombing, when a large fedex box was delivered to this san diego Area High School addressed to one of their students. His name . Jonathan hoagland. That got san diegos bomb squad scrambling. And it got the towns attention. Coming up Connie Hoagland, wife, mother and survivor. I remember coming out to the truck, put in the key and then, kaboom. And the police told me, this bomb was meant to kill you. But who was trying to kill her . When dateline continues. So, we switched to Verizon Business internet. They have business grade internet, nationwide. vo make the switch. Its your business. Its your verizon. sean i wish for the amazing new iphone 15 pro jason sean do you mean this one the one with titanium . Switch to verizon, you can trade in any iphone, and get the new iphone 15 pro on them. vo trade in any iphone in any condition for a new iphone 15 pro on us. Only on verizon. As the world keeps changing, so does covid19. Thats why this seasons covid19 shots have been updated. Theyre one of the best ways to help protect yourself against covid19. Learn more and schedule at vaccines. Gov vo the new iphone 15 pro with titanium is here. Get it on us, with verizons best Business Unlimited plans. Get the new iphone 15 pro, on us. Its your business, its your verizon. Nice footwork. Man, youre lucky, watching live sports never used to be this easy. Now you can stream all your games like its nothing. Yes [ cheers ] yeah woho running up and down that field looks tough. Its a pitch. Get way more into what youre into September 2010 may well be when you stream on the xfinity 10g network. May well be remembered remembered as hoagland month, for san diegos busy bomb squad. This picture perfect family suddenly seemed to be the target of a Relentless Campaign of terror. First there was the Cell Phone Device placed inside a fedex pack found just down the street from the hoagland home. Then there was the pipe bomb that detonated inside Connie Hoaglands pickup. And now there was a mysterious fedex box addressed to Jonathan Hoagland but delivered to his high school. I guess it had something to do with the car bomb that happened last week. It may be from the same person, so were not sure. Immediately the school was shut down because now we still wasnt sure who was going to be involved. The box was removed and destroyed. Inside investigators were hoping to find some evidence that could lead them to the bomber. Instead they found party favors that jonathan had forgotten hed ordered for a high school dance. Something that he was in charge of getting and he didnt remember it. But it shows the State Of Mind at the time. It was pretty rough, school was closed down, bomb squad coming out, everything. While this particular event turned out to be a bust in terms of finding any workable evidence, luke and beals believed the bomber had to be somebody who knew the hoaglands. Knew where they worked, where they lived, knew their routines and had access to their cars. The only problem was that connie, a Devout Christian and mother of three, had no known enemies. But luke and beals had one witness who might be able to shed some light on that part of their investigation. A witness they had yet to question. Connie hoagland. Always i had a sense that she was going to live. I dont know why, but i always knew that she was going to live. I just didnt know how. Sedated and in icu, after having gone through seven different surgeries to save her right foot and left leg, and yet somehow, still alive. I remember coming out to the truck, put in the key and then kaboom, just a huge explosion. It scared me. First i thought maybe the air bag went off. Smoke, flames . Smoke started filling up and i looked out the door and i noticed the truck started to move. And my feet and legs hurt really bad. I could tell, oh, that hurts. But i thought i have to get out of the truck. So i pushed the door open, started to get out. I did not want to see my injuries. It felt so bad, it felt like my feet were blown off. What did you think had happened . I dont know. I really just laying there, i thought it was a random act. And so she says she was stunned when investigators first spoke with her in the hospital. And the police told me, this bomb was meant for you. And that was weir