Letter to FBI called Roeder a danger to abortion providers

More than a month before Wichita abortion provider George Tiller's shooting death, the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Kansas City received an anonymous letter warning that the man now charged in the case "would do physical harm" to Tiller or any other abortion provider, the agency said.

The letter writer, who later revealed himself to the FBI, and his wife are in a custody battle over a girl fathered by Scott Roeder, the man accused in Tiller's May 31 death. The April 3 letter contained no specific or credible threat, according to the FBI.

Mark Archer of Tunkhannock, Pa., acknowledged in an interview with the Associated Press this week that he sent the letter in an effort to get the FBI to put Roeder on its no-fly list as a "domestic terrorist" so Roeder could not visit his 7-year-old daughter.

"I did have an ulterior motive," Archer said.

Roeder fathered the child, but she was born after Susan and Mark Archer married, Archer said.

Roeder is charged with first-degree murder and aggravated assault in the shooting at Tiller's church. He has pleaded not guilty, but confessed to reporters Monday that he shot Tiller, saying it was necessary to protect the unborn.

Prosecutors on Thursday asked a judge to bar the so-called necessity defense from Roeder's trial, scheduled for January. Roeder's public defender has said he has no plans to present such a defense.

FBI spokeswoman Bridget Patton said she did not believe there was surveillance of Roeder at the time of the shooting because of the letter, and said she did not know if Tiller was told about it.

"We get intelligence in every day — it is looked at, it is screened, it is vetted, it is followed up on," Patton said. "This is anonymous information that came in. The information is still taken in as intelligence — but again there was not a direct, specific, credible threat there."

Roeder confirmed his lawyers had shown him a copy of the anonymous letter while going over case material, and said he instantly recognized who likely sent it.

Attorney Lee Thompson, who represents the Tiller family, said Friday that he would reserve comment on the letter until he has a chance to visit with his client and the district attorney's office.

In a phone interview from Pennsylvania, Archer said he basically did a "psychological profile" of Roeder.

Archer said he tied together Roeder's 1996 arrest for having explosives in his car and a September 2008 conversation Roeder had with Susan Archer during a custody visit.

Archer also considered blog postings Roeder reportedly wrote advocating protests at Tiller's church.

Archer said his letter included links to that posting.

Archer eventually acknowledged to the FBI that he wrote the letter — when agents came to Pennsylvania after the shooting to investigate Roeder's frequent trips there, he said.

"They wanted to make sure I wasn't in cahoots with Scott on killing Dr. Tiller," he said.

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