James Kopp, aka "Atomic Dog," has been arrested in France. He is accused of the shooting death two years ago of New York abortionist Barnett Slepian.

Slepian, age 52, had just returned from synagogue and was heating soup in his kitchen when he was struck dead by a single bullet fired from a rifle through the window of his Amherst, New York home in October of 1998.

Kopp's car had been spotted in Slepian's neighborhood during the weeks before the shooting. It was later found abandoned at Newark International Airport.

A rifle was later found buried near the Slepian home. A strand of hair, DNA tested to be identical to hair found in a home where police believe Kopp lived, was found near where the shot was believed to have been fired, investigators say.

Kopp differs from other accused/convicted abortionist-shooters in that he was actually an accepted prolife activist, known for having invented a reinforced bicycle lock used by rescuers to chain the doors of abortion facilities. Kopp, according to Operation Rescue, spent three years with Dr. Francis Schaeffer in Switzerland, where he took vows of chastity and poverty.

The prolife movement is divided on Kopp. Those who knew him personally continue to support him, saying that he is a gentle man who can not be guilty of the shooting because it is not the sort of thing he would do. Those who did not know him are divided into the growing fringe who support violence and the remaining core who condemn violence.

If Kopp is innocent, as his friends claim, why was he on the lam? Why was there hair in the place police believed he was staying that matched hair found on the scene? Is this a whodunnit straight out of Perry Mason, or is the obvious suspect the real culprit?

The thing to keep in mind at this point is that Kopp is still a suspect; he has not been tried or convicted. His defenders in Operation Rescue, who say he is not a violent man, might yet be vindicated. But if that is the case, who murdered Slepian?

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