23 Facts About Richard Jewell

Richard Jewell discovered a backpack containing three pipe bombs on the park grounds and helped evacuate the area before the bomb exploded, saving many people from injury or death.

Richard Jewell was cleared as a suspect after 88 days of heavy public scrutiny.

Richard Jewell was working as a security guard for the event.

Richard Jewell discovered the bag and alerted Georgia Bureau of Investigation officers.

Richard Jewell was never officially charged, but the FBI thoroughly and publicly searched his home twice, questioned his associates, investigated his background, and maintained 24-hour surveillance of him.

The pressure began to ease only after Richard Jewell's attorneys hired an ex-FBI agent to administer a polygraph, which Richard Jewell passed.

Richard Jewell is not considered a target of the federal criminal investigation into the bombing on July 27,1996, at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta.

Richard Jewell was arrested in 2003 after a lengthy manhunt.

Richard Jewell worked in various law enforcement jobs, including as a police officer in Pendergrass, Georgia.

Richard Jewell worked as a deputy sheriff in Meriwether County, Georgia, until his death.

Richard Jewell appeared in Michael Moore's 1997 film The Big One.

Richard Jewell married Dana Richard Jewell in 1998; they remained married until his death.

In 2001, Richard Jewell was honored as the Grand Marshal of Carmel, Indiana's Independence Day Parade.

Richard Jewell's estate continued to press the case even after his death in 2007, but in July 2011, the Georgia Court of Appeals ruled for the defendant.

On July 23,1997, Richard Jewell sued the New York Post for $15 million in damages, contending that the paper portrayed him in articles, photographs, and an editorial cartoon as an "aberrant" person with a "bizarre employment history" who was probably guilty of the bombing.

Richard Jewell eventually settled with the newspaper for an undisclosed amount.

Richard Jewell filed suit against his former employer Piedmont College, its president Raymond Cleere, and college spokesman Scott Rawles.

Richard Jewell's attorneys contended that Cleere called the FBI and spoke to the Atlanta newspapers, providing them with false information on Richard Jewell and his employment there as a security guard.

In 2006, Richard Jewell said the lawsuits were not about money, and that the vast majority of the settlements went to lawyers or taxes.

Richard Jewell said the lawsuits were about clearing his name.

Richard Jewell is played by Paul Walter Hauser while Kathy Bates played mother Bobi.

Reference is made to the unjust allegations against Richard Jewell based on a psychological profile in the television series Criminal Minds.

Richard Jewell had been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in February 2007 and suffered kidney failure and other medical problems related to his diagnosis in the following months.