Despite opposing government control, Rudolph joined Army.(Knight Ridder Newspapers)

Byline: Anna Griffin

CHARLOTTE, N.C. _ Since vanishing into the North Carolina mountains more than five years ago, Eric Robert Rudolph has become a mythic figure to many, an enigma whose motivations were almost as mysterious as his whereabouts.

He is, investigators say, a religious zealot who grew high-grade marijuana in his home and spent much of his time enjoying his own supplies. He's a former member of the Army's 101st Airborne Division who hates the federal government. He's a skilled outdoorsman who was known, even back in high school, to disappear into the woods for days and weeks at a time.

The second-youngest of six children, Rudolph was born on Sept. 19, 1966, in Merritt Island, Fla. His mother, Patricia, trained as a nun but never took her vows and left the Catholic Church. His father died in 1981 from cancer.

Some investigators believe that his resentment of government grew out of his father's death; a doctor apparently refused to give Robert Rudolph an experimental treatment made of ground apricot pits because it was not authorized by the Food and Drug Administration. The family eventually bought the drug in Mexico, to no avail.

Soon after her husband's death, Patricia Rudolph moved the family to the tiny mountain community of Nantahala. They lived on six acres at the foot of a mountain, and next door to family friend Thomas Wayne Branham, known for holding anti-government views and not being afraid to act on them. Patricia Rudolph paid his bail on firearms charges in 1986.

The Rudolph family tried to live as self-sufficiently as possible. She made her own goat cheese and grew her own vegetables. The family kept chickens in a coop built by Rudolph and his brothers and bathed and cooked with spring water pumped into the house.