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'The life I once had is gone'
An interview with Richard JewellRichard Jewell faces cloudy future
ATLANTA (CNN) -- Richard Jewell went from hero to hell in just three days.
The portly 34-year-old security guard, with a soft Southern drawl and a passion for police work, was hailed for his bravery and professionalism after he found a bomb underneath a bench in Atlanta's Centennial Olympic Park.
He helped clear people from the area before the bomb went off early on July 27, 1996, quick action that likely saved lives. But despite what he did, Jewell never claimed the mantle of hero for himself. He was, he insisted, just doing his job.
But within days, the story of the Olympic Park bombing seemed to take an unbelievable, melodramatic turn: The FBI suspected that Jewell had planted the bomb himself.
The tidal wave that overwhelmed Jewell began on the afternoon of July 30 when the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, citing unidentified law enforcement sources, published a special edition saying the FBI considered him a suspect.
Just who leaked that information has never been publicly revealed and has been the focus of a federal investigation. But with thousands of journalists from all over the world in the city for the Olympics, the Atlanta newspapers' report triggered a feeding frenzy.
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