Suspect Described as Loner

ARLINGTON, Mass.--The man accused of damaging millions of dollars worth of Widener Library books lived with his mother on a small, suburban street 30 minutes from Harvard where, neighbors said, he was very quiet and extremely private.

Stephen L. Womack, 42, has lived on Walnut Terrace with his mother, Louise, for at least 25 years, neighbors said last night.

He attended nearby Arlington High School, but while other kids played in the street, Womack and his mother rarely came out of their house.

"He would go right in the house through the back way," a neighbor said. "He's always been very quiets he never talked."

Reached at her home last night at roughly 6:45 p.m., Louise Womack, who appeared dressed in her nightgown, denied that she is Stephen J. Womack's mother, She would not comment further on the case, threatening to call police.

Louise Womack is roughly 60 years old and appears to have raised her son and a daughter alone. Neighbors said they have never seen Stephen Womack's father. Womack's sister does not live at the family home here anymore.

"Nobody ever comes to the house," a neighbor said. "No one was allowed in the house."

In the more than 25 years they have lived on Walnut Terrace, the Womacks have never visited or said more than a simple hello to neighbors.

"We are out there talking," one neighbor said as she looked at the Womack house, "but she never talks."

"You could live in this neighborhood and have not seen them," another neighbor said.

The usually quiet street was disrupted at roughly 4 p.m. Wednesday when more than ten police cars converged on this peaceful neighborhood and parked in front of the Womack house, according to neighbors.

The cars remained outside the house for several hours while federal, state and local authorities executed a search warrant. Louise Womack returned to her home at roughly 6:30 p.m., when she was greeted by police.

Yesterday, television trucks swarmed around the musty, yellow house at #16. Reporters knocked all day on neighbors' doors.

Even though Stephen Womack is now being held without ball, people on Walnut Terrace said they worry that their otherwise quiet neighborhood may change.

Said one neighbors "I think the anxiety will be there."