The conspiracy theory of the lizard or reptiles involves the belief that shape-shifting reptile creatures occur in human form and are prone to world domination.
According to authorities, Warner also spent time in a nearby state park looking for strange life forms.
It is unclear whether any of these beliefs or behaviors are related to the bombing.
This is a recent update. An earlier version of this report is below.
In the days before he detonated a bomb in downtown Nashville at Christmas, Anthony Quinn Warner changed his life in a way that suggests he never intended to survive the explosion that killed him and three other people have not been injured.
Warner, 63, gave away his car and told the recipient he had cancer. A month before the bombing, he signed a document transferring his longtime home in a suburb of Nashville to a California woman for nothing back. The computer consultant told an employer he was retiring.
But he did not leave a clear digital footprint or any other clear clues to explain why he tackled the explosion in his parked recreational vehicle or played a message to flee people before damaging dozens of buildings and cellphone services in the area.
WATCH: Nashville PD releases body recordings from Christmas Day explosion
While investigators tried to put together a possible motive for the attack, a neighbor recalled a recent conversation with Warner that only seemed ominous afterwards.
Rick Laude told The Associated Press on Monday that he saw Warner standing at his mailbox less than a week before Christmas and pulled over in his car to speak. After asking how things were with Warner’s elderly mother, Laude said he casually asked him, “Are you going to bring Santa something good for Christmas?”
Warner smiles and says, “Oh, yes, Nashville and the world will never forget me,” Laude recalls.
Laude said he does not think much of the remark and thinks Warner only means that ‘something good’ will happen to him financially. He was speechless when he learned that authorities had identified Warner as the bomber.
“Nothing to this man raised any red flags,” Laude said.
While investigators searched for a motive, the Nashville police camera released late Monday more insight into the moments that led to the explosion and its aftermath.
The recording of police officer Michael Sipos catching officers standing past the RV parked across the street while the recorded warning blared and then helping people evacuate after the thunderous explosion of the camera. Car alarms and sirens sound as police send a call to all available staff and people stumbling through streets in the city center.
David Rausch, the director of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, said authorities hope to establish a motive, but sometimes not.
“The best way to find motives is to talk to the individual. We will not be able to do that in this case,” Rausch said in an interview with the NBC program “Today” on Monday.
Investigators are analyzing Warner’s belongings collected during the investigation, including a computer and a portable storage, and conducting an interview with witnesses while trying to identify a possible motive, an official from the law enforcement said. An overview of its financial transactions also revealed the purchases of potential bomb production components, the official said.
WATCH: Police camera shows the moment the Nashville bomb goes off in the city center
Warner recently gave away a vehicle and told the person he gave it to that he had been diagnosed with cancer, although it was unclear if he did have cancer, the official said. Investigators used some items collected from the vehicle with a hat and gloves to match Warner’s DNA, and the DNA was taken from one of his family members, the official said.
The officer could not discuss the matter in public and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.
Warner apparently also gave away his home in Antioch, Tennessee, to a woman from Los Angeles a month before the bombing. According to a November 25 property record, Warner transferred the house to the woman in exchange for no money. The woman’s signature does not appear on the document.
Warner worked as a computer consultant for Nashville real estate agent Steve Fridrich, who told the AP in a text message that Warner was retiring earlier this month.
WATCH: Video shows the aftermath of the blast:
Officials said Warner had not been on their radar before Christmas. A law enforcement report released Monday showed Warner’s only arrest was for a 1978 marijuana charge.
“It appears that the intent was more destruction than death, but it is still all speculated at this stage as we continue our investigation with all our partners,” Rausch said.
Officials did not provide insight into why Warner chose the specific location for the bombing, which damaged an AT&T building and wreaked havoc with the telephone service and police and hospital communications in several southern states. By Monday, the company said most services for residents and businesses had been restored.
Forensic analysts have examined evidence from the blast site to try to identify the components of the explosives, as well as information from the U.S. Bomb Data Center for Intelligence and Investigative Clues, according to a law enforcement official who said Warner’s digital footprint and financial investigate investigate history.
The official, who was not authorized to discuss an ongoing investigation and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity, said federal agents were investigating a number of potential clues and following several theories, including the possibility that the AT&T building is targeted.
The bombing took place on a holiday morning before the streets in the city center swarmed. Police responded to a report of shots being fired on Friday when they encountered the RV, eliminating a warning that a bomb would explode within 15 minutes. For reasons that may never be known, the sound switched shortly after the explosion to a recording of Petula Clark’s hit “Downtown” in 1964.
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