TRENTON, N.J. – The man held as a material witness in the sniper shootings case has been released from custody and is now living here with his mother and other relatives.
Nathaniel O. Osbourne, 26, was arrested in Michigan on Oct. 26. He was not suspected of carrying out any of the attacks, but he co-owned the blue 1990 Chevrolet Caprice believed to have been used in the attacks.
Osbourne would not say when he had been released or how long he had been living in Trenton. He also refused to discuss the case against sniper suspects John Allen Muhammad, the car's other owner, and John Lee Malvo.
"I am willing to talk about myself, but not now. I just want all this behind me," Osbourne told The Times of Trenton for Friday's editions. "There is no guilt in me."
Authorities have said Osbourne, whose last known address was in Camden, N.J., apparently helped Muhammad buy the car in which the suspects were arrested at a rest stop near Frederick, Md., on Oct. 24.
The car was purchased for $250 from Sure Shot Auto Sales Inc. in Trenton on Sept. 10, and Muhammad and Osbourne registered it the next day. Osbourne and Muhammad had listed the same New Jersey address.
"I did something out of the kindness of my heart and I got in a big mess," he told The New York Times in its Saturday edition. "I didn't do anything wrong."
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