He drove 7 hours to deliver pipe bomb in gift box to kill ‘romantic rival,’ feds say

A man put a pipe bomb inside a gift box, wrapped it with red ribbon and drove seven hours to deliver it to the home of a “romantic rival” in an attempt to kill him, federal prosecutors say.

Clayton McCoy’s “rival” was his friend — but McCoy learned he was dating the woman he had expressed romantic feelings for, according to the Justice Department. When the woman rejected McCoy, saying she was in a relationship with the friend, McCoy devised a murder plot, investigators say. This came after the trio each became friends years before through a live action game.

Now McCoy, 32, of Chesterland, Ohio, pleaded guilty on Oct. 12 after the Justice Department accused him of driving his homemade pipe bomb from the state and delivering it hundreds of miles away to the boyfriend’s Maryland home in an attempt to “remove” him.

Ultimately, McCoy did not succeed in killing his “rival” and friend, prosecutors say. But the bomb did detonate, sending the victim to the hospital and temporarily destroying the home where his grandparents also lived.

McClatchy News contacted McCoy’s attorney for comment on Oct. 13 and was awaiting a response.

The case

McCoy was previously friends with the woman, whom he later became romantically interested in, for seven years after meeting through an online and in-person live action role-playing battle game called Dagorhir, which is based in the Washington, D.C. area, according to court documents.

He also met and became friends with the “rival” through the social game before investigators say the plan to kill him unfolded.

In October 2020, after McCoy faced rejection from the woman, he began researching how to build a “victim operated” pipe bomb so it would explode upon interaction with a person, according to the release.

McCoy set out to buy several bomb-making materials, but avoided raising suspicion with law enforcement by traveling to a number of stores where he would buy a single item in cash, prosecutors say.

Then, he acquired materials for explosive powder and sliced scrap metal into tiny pieces to create shrapnel, according to prosecutors.

McCoy put the shrapnel and bb’s inside a metal pipe “to increase the deadliness” of the weapon, according to the Justice Department.

He built at least two bombs, including one he detonated in his yard as a prototype for testing, prosecutors say.

The second bomb was concealed inside a white gift box and wrapped with red ribbon before McCoy placed it inside a bigger, cardboard box, according to the release.

The bomb gets dropped off

The morning of Oct. 30, McCoy made it to Maryland where he dropped off the cardboard box hiding the pipe bomb on his “rival’s” front porch, prosecutors say. The boyfriend’s grandfather brought the box inside where it sat on the kitchen counter for hours until he arrived home around 5:30 p.m., according to the Justice Department.

Upon opening the cardboard box and seeing the smaller white box, the boyfriend texted his girlfriend asking if it was from her, before bringing it to his bedroom to open it, the release states.

There, he saw a small nail sticking out of the white box and removed it before hearing a whistling noise, according to an affidavit.

Then a big explosion came.

The blast sent shrapnel piercing his body, causing injuries all over before he was brought to a hospital, prosecutors say. Additionally, the detonation rendered the Maryland home “uninhabitable.”

The day after the bomb went off, the girlfriend told investigators her rejection of McCoy “may be related” to the events,” the affidavit states.

Her boyfriend ultimately survived and stayed in the hospital until Nov. 17 as the shrapnel was removed during several surgeries, according to the release. He also had to use a walker for two weeks.

In the hospital, the boyfriend told investigators that while “McCoy, like most members of Dagorhir, is proficient at wood and metal and may have the ability to have created the device that exploded,” he did not believe his friend, who he knew for three years, did it, according to the affidavit.

Meanwhile, for months, the man’s grandparents had to live somewhere else due to $46,690 worth of damages done to the home from the pipe bomb’s explosion, prosecutors say.

Ultimately, in March 2021, an investigation led investigators to McCoy’s home in Ohio, where a search warrant was executed and bomb-making materials were found, the release says.

At first, McCoy denied responsibility for the explosion until law enforcement produced evidence showing that they knew he traveled from Ohio to Maryland on Oct. 30, according to the Justice Department. As a result, he admitted guilt, prosecutors say.

Now McCoy faces a maximum sentence of up to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to “transporting explosives with intent to injure,” and up to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to possessing an unregistered explosive, according to the release.

Chesterland, Ohio, is located just east of Cleveland.

‘There is a bomb on the way.’ Fake threat puts children’s hospital on lockdown, feds say

Civil War re-enactor plants bomb at battlefield after being removed from unit, feds say

Contractor working at Safeway finds pipe bomb, Colorado police say

Convicted bombmaker who escaped prison is back in custody, Nevada officials say