WASHINGTON —

Never did Karlin Younger expect an everyday chore to spark a federal investigation. But the lunch break she decided to use to do laundry on Jan. 6 did just that in our nation's Capitol.

"I was doing a now infamous load of laundry, just changing it over from the washer to the dryer," she recalled.

It was that load, the Wisconsin native who now lives and works in D.C., was taking back to her building when she looked down and saw something odd.

"My first reaction was, 'This has got to be trash,' until I kind of leaned closer and saw that it was, in fact, something that looked like a bomb.

She noticed the piping, wires and a timer pointed to the number 20.

"You're on that edge of, 'I don't want to bother anybody, I want to make sure this is real,'" she recalled from her home in Washington. "You don't want to go down as the person who evacuates a city block for a hoax. But at the same time, there was just enough of that gut instinct that said, 'This isn't a place you put a hoax, I have to have somebody check this out.'"

She decided to alert a security guard nearby. The bomb had been placed next to the headquarters of the Republican National Committee.

Younger would later learn it was the first of two pipe bombs discovered that day, the same day a mob attacked the United States Capitol in support of President Donald Trump and his false claims alleging the election was "stolen."

Investigators found the other potentially deadly device near the Democratic headquarters about a quarter-mile south of Younger's building.

Federal investigators published a wanted poster with an image of the person they believe planted both bombs. The FBI is offering a $50,000 reward to find the person.

For younger, the personal reward was knowing she was in a position to help.

"I mostly say I just got really lucky," she said. "The lesson I've learned is really to just trust your gut and if you see something, say something."

Police in Ankeny, Iowa, reported that a pipe bomb was found near a voting location on Tuesday, which forced voters to go to other nearby voting locations.

The Ankeny Police said that the pipe bomb was “rendered safe” by a technician and that no other devices were found at the Lakeside Center

Polk County Auditor Jamie Fitzgerald said that there is no way of knowing how long the device had been at the voting center, and it may not have been related to the election. The device was found by a “couple of alert people walking their dog” that told Fitzgerald’s staff about the device.

“Our office was in constant contact today with the Iowa Secretary of State staff during the evacuation,” Fitzgerald wrote. “Polk County Election Office staff were on the scene ensuring voters that were coming to the Lakeside Center to vote were given other voting locations that they could attend.”

Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate said on Wednesday that “there is no indication of an ongoing threat to Iowa polling places.”

The only item on the ballot in Ankeny was for an initiative on directing the use of school funds from the State of Iowa. A total of 1,470 ballots were cast in Tuesday’s special election at 14 precincts. It’s unclear how many voters were affected by relocating the ballot box.