Police: Teen was cooperative and remorseful

IndyStar
Jul. 26, 2006

Asked if Zachariah Blanton, the suspect in the highway sniper case, had confessed, State Police Superintendent Paul Whitesell said the teen was remorseful and cooperated with investigators after they contacted him late Monday night..

“I would call that a confession,” Whitesell said.
No motive was known for the shootings, which included gunfire on two trucks near Seymour that left one motorist dead and another injured. Two other trucks were fired on near Muncie.

After examining shell casings from an I-65 overpass near Seymour, investigators determined they were looking for a Remington 710 hunting rifle firing .270-caliber rounds.

Police found a rifle of that model, with a telescopic aiming sight, at the place where Blanton was staying, Whitesell said. Tests have not yet matched the weapon with bullets that were recovered.

The teen had hunted in the Seymour area previously and knew the area well, Whitesell said.

“That helps explain why he was able to perpetrate a crime from that overpass, because it requires a certain esoteric knowledge of the lay of the land to get there and to egress out of there in the fashion that the shooter did.”

The dozens of tips police received included one ominous warning, Whitesell said.

“Yesterday afternoon we received a note written on bathroom tissue paper that said there would be a bloodbath on I-69 on the 25th of July,” he said.

“I think it was quite likely from someone else, although we are still investigating that part.”