News coverage here in New York City now. Craig melvin at msnbc headquarters. The nation on high alert, on high alert over a domestic tryst terrorist whos been waging war through the u. S. Mail all week. Pete williams just a few moments ago reporting that a person has been taken into custody at this point, a person were told perhaps in his 50s taken into custody in florida for questioning in connection with the mail bombs that have been sent to prominent americans all over this country over the past few days. Details as to this persons connection right now, those Details Remain unclear. This coming as two more explosive devices were discovered today, a total of 12 devices have now been sent, 12 explosive devices. Today one package found at a new york postal facility on the west side of manhattan. That one was addressed to former director of national
intelligence James Clapper. The other intercepted in florida. That one was addressed to new jersey democrat cory booker. All of these devic
stomach, on the floor, and my hands and feet were bound with duct tape. my mouth was bound with duct tape, but my eyes were not. i knew i was in danger. reporter: no kidding. i started to scream through the tape as loud as i could, i was trying to break free from the tape. reporter: where was she? what was she inside? who was that man on top of her? no idea. as i was screaming, trying to break free i remember a rope or something being put across my next. and some words were said to me. reporter: words we are simply not going to repeat. i remember that vividly and i kept screaming and screaming, and that i remember getting hit in the face, right here, a pretty good blow. reporter: amber could not see her attacker s face or recognize his voice. but there was one thing she was
understand how she was feeling? the grueling pain, the unrelenting terror, humiliation, loss? amber smith was a mess. i don t even know how to describe that feeling. reporter: black, darkness? yes, a place i never want to go again. reporter: if they could only find her attacker, arrest him, put him where he couldn t get at her anymore. investigators watch the clock for the dna results, and speculated. an attack like this is not somebody s first rodeo. they have had to have done something in the past. in my mind on a case of this gravity, we will get an answer within days. if we have the offender in codis. reporter: quotas, the national dna database that houses dna profiles of people who have been arrested for or convicted of felonies. detective senior also submitted
people extracted what evidence they could. we did a sex assault examination on her, she was processed forensically for dna. her hands were processed, her face was, her neck. any area that we believe the suspect may have come into contact with was examined. reporter: the attacker had left his semen behind. and, may be, touched dna. they swab every inch of that red duck tape. as investigators tried to fathom the motive. the brutality of this was unlike anything that i had heard about. why would you attack somebody and brutalized them to such a degree if you didn t know them, or have a grudge against them? this didn t seem like a stranger thing to me. reporter: and detective seymour knew there was one person she needed to get a look at right away. the last person amber remembered being with, her friend, aric vanagunas.
amber was in the attackers first victim. how is this guy not in the system? i was dumbfounded honestly. if this is his opening act, where is he gonna go from here? reporter: and amber? she found it hard to even offside. quotas is a great big system with every felon in the nation, and somebody who would do a thing like that to you must be in the list, right? yes, i definitely thought so. reporter: when that result came back, nothing. nobody there. what was that like? frustrating, irritating. i thought that it was rigged. i thought that they missed something. reporter: but they did have one, call it a small consolation. the dna toll than it had to be one guy. one attacker. a seaman stained recovered