FBI: S.F. man at center of explosives threat in custody

SAN FRANCISCO – The FBI reports a man who was the subject of a manhunt after suspicions that he had explosives was in custody Monday night.

The arrest of Ryan Kelly Chamberlain II, 42, of San Francisco came after reports from the FBI that he was no longer an immediate threat and that the agency had received word of a credible sighting at a bar.

Earlier Monday, reports surfaced that the political and media consultant sent out a timed suicide note via social media Monday morning.

FBI spokesman Peter Lee said Chamberlain was last seen Sunday.

In a three-page letter titled "Goodbye" timed to go out to his Facebook connections Monday morning, Chamberlain wrote that he has dealt with depression "for as long as I can recall" and that he was saying farewell to family and friends, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

Chamberlain discussed issues in the note involving a romantic heartbreak, lost of a job and his mother, who he described as a "religious addict certain that the Rapture is coming any day now."

The FBI said Chamberlain was considered armed and dangerous. He was believed to be traveling in a white 2008 Nissan Altima with Texas license plates.

Police and federal agents spent 14 hours searching Chamberlain's apartment in San Francisco's Russian Hill neighborhood Saturday.

"There were people all over the building in hazmat suits," said Jessica Schlenoff, who lives across the street from Chamberlain's building.

She said police on the scene told her they exploded some devices.

Chamberlain graduated from Iowa State University in 1993 with majors in journalism and political science. He wrote music reviews for The Des Moines Register in 1995 and 1996. Some of his work included concert reviews of Van Halen, Hootie & the Blowfish and Brooks & Dunn.

A Des Moines Register article from 1994 said Chamberlain previously worked as promotional director at Hooter's of Des Moines, and in Sen. Chuck Grassley's Washington, D.C., office. Grassley's office could not confirm Sunday whether Chamberlain worked there.

Schlenoff said she had known Chamberlain slightly for several years, seeing him on the street and on social occasions.

"He was a pretty normal guy," she said. "I would never ever have thought that this was a dangerous person at all."

Contributing: Melanie Eversley in New York, Sharyn Jackson, The Des Moines Register; The Associated Press