Searching for Leo Burt

Leslie Bellais, curator of Social History and university lecturer at UW-Madison, gave her take on the potential whereabouts of 75-year-old Leo Burt.  

“I guess he’s dead, but it’s been 53 years,” she told Media Milwaukee.

Many have wondered where “Wisconsin’s state ghost” went after disappearing 53 years ago. That ghost was Leo Burt, one of the four accomplices in the infamous 1970 Vietnam War era Sterling Hall bombing.

One of the last sighting claims came around 2010 when a man swore that he saw Burt residing at a homeless shelter in Denver, Colorado. Once again, this case was never verified by officials.

Even his brother, Donald Burt, who still lives in Pennsylvania, where the brothers grew up, told Media Milwaukee that the FBI thinks Burt is dead.

Burt was raised in a Catholic family in Havertown, Pennsylvania. Growing up, Burt was surrounded by structure and discipline while attending Monsignor Bonner High School in the mid-1960s. This was an all-boys school with a heavy religious design, his high school yearbook shows.  

Burt was involved in many extracurricular activities in high school, such as the rowing team, physics club, and student guard.  

After graduating high school, Burt was accepted and accepted at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. After being released from the varsity rowing team, he became engulfed in different practices, such as politics and student journalism.

He then began working as a writer for the campus newspaper called the Daily Cardinal. At the Daily Cardinal, Burt would go on to meet his future bombing accomplice, David Fine.

Burt was not very politically radical up until he experienced police brutality while covering the infamous Kent State shootings on May 4, 1970.  

He is believed to be one of the minds behind the preparation of the fertilizer and fuel bomb and packing it into a stolen van for detonation. They proceeded to park the van outside of the Army Research Center, where it eventually exploded, killing 33-year-old American Physics researcher Robert Fassnacht and injuring others.

On Dec. 27, 1970, the FBI began their nationwide search for the elusive bombing suspect.  

Burt and the others traveled to Canada while being tracked by the FBI. In one of the last glimpses of Burt, the fugitive dropped his wallet. This is where law enforcement learned of his alias, Eugene Donald Fieldston.   

Unlike his partners in crime, who were caught after attempting a temporary underground living situation, Burt ultimately evaded law enforcement and has been living off the grid with no known whereabouts since.  

Since that incident, there have been no legitimate sightings of Leo Burt. Leaving many to speculate whether the 76-year-old is even alive at this point. Some theorists believe that he went into working for the FBI after being apprehended. Others believe he is potentially residing in Canada, where he works as a college professor. 

His three accomplices would end up only serving eight years out of 23-year initial sentences and would go on resuming their everyday lives. Meanwhile, if still alive, Burt has likely spent the last 53 years looking over his shoulder daily, wondering if someone would spot him and notify the FBI.  

It was not until April 7, 1976, that Leo Burt was dropped from the FBI’s top 10 most wanted list. However, he remains on the wanted list to this day.  

There have been many instances where individuals have claimed to have seen the recluse bomber over the past couple of decades. However, no verification has followed suit in any of these cases.   

A few weeks after the attack, a waitress living in Cleveland claimed to have seen the fugitive. However, nothing was ever verified.  

Another case involved someone seeing Burt reportedly working at a resort in Costa Rica. Like many others, no official claims came of it.  

During the mid-1970s, Joe Muldowney, who rowed with Burt at Penn AC, notified FBI officials of his alleged encounter with Leo while walking on Chestnut Street.   

Muldowney recalled to other news outlets walking up to Burt and saying hello to him. To which Leo acknowledged his presence without saying a word back and then proceeded to walk away.  

This interaction stifled Muldowney as the two used to be buddies back on the rowing team.

Earlier this year, for the 53rd anniversary of the bombing, the FBI released an age-processed photo of Burt to give people an idea of what the now 75-year-old bomber could potentially look like. 

They also added a $150,000 reward for any information leading to his arrest.