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Home » Context of 'February 28 - March 4, 1997: Press Reports McVeigh Confesses; Defense Says Press Used Illegally Gained Documents, Denies Confession'
Context of 'February 28 - March 4, 1997: Press Reports McVeigh Confesses; Defense Says Press Used Illegally Gained Documents, Denies Confession'
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December 22 or 23, 1988: Future Oklahoma City Bombing Conspirator's Brother Formulates Plan to Use 'Megabomb' to Destroy Building
James Nichols, a Michigan farmer, anti-government white separatist, and the brother of Terry Nichols (see March 24, 1988 - Late 1990), formulates a plan to use a "megabomb" to destroy an Oklahoma City federal building; an unnamed FBI informant will later tell the FBI that James Nichols specifically indicates the Murrah Federal Building. Nichols, who says he is upset over the US's "role" in the terrorist bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, shares the plan with the informant, who will swear to the information in 1995, after James's brother Terry Nichols is arrested for helping destroy the Murrah Building (see 8:35 a.m. - 9:02 a.m. April 19, 1995). "[James] Nichols… made a specific reference to a federal building in Oklahoma City and began looking through the toolshed and workbench for a newspaper clipping depicting the Oklahoma City building," the informant will say, according to an FBI affidavit. Nichols is unable to find the newspaper clipping, the informant will say, and instead draws a diagram remarkably similar to the Murrah Building. Nichols "later located a newspaper article containing a reference to the Federal Building in Oklahoma City and showed it" to the informer, the affidavit says. The informer is a regular visitor to the Nichols farm. [New York Times, 6/13/1995; Nicole Nichols, 2003] James Nichols routinely stamps US currency with red ink in a protest against the government, and calls his neighbors "sheeple" for obeying authority "like livestock." A neighbor, Dan Stomber, will recall Nichols criticizing him and others for using drivers' licences and Social Security cards, and for voting and paying taxes. "He said we were all puppets and sheeple," Stomber will tell a reporter. "That was the first time I ever heard that word." Stomber will not recall Nichols discussing any plans to bomb any federal buildings. [New York Times, 4/24/1995] After the Oklahoma City bombing, a friend of Nichols, an Indiana seed dealer named Dave Shafer, will tell authorities that Nichols showed him a diagram of a building remarkably similar to the Murrah Building, still under construction at the time, and said that building would be an excellent target. Shafer will say that he thought Nichols was joking. [Serrano, 1998, pp. 110] It is possible that Shafer and the unnamed FBI informant are the same person. Five years ago, a group of white supremacists had conceived of a plan to destroy the Murrah Building (see 1983).
Entity Tags: Terry Lynn Nichols, Murrah Federal Building, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Dave Shafer, James Nichols, Dan Stomber
January 23, 1993 - Early 1994: Future Oklahoma City Bomber Networks with Racists, Militia Members at Gun Shows
White separatist Timothy McVeigh (see March 24, 1988 - Late 1990), already mulling over plans to bomb an Oklahoma City federal building (see 8:35 a.m. - 9:02 a.m. April 19, 1995), quits his job with an upstate New York security company (see November 1991 - Summer 1992), sells all of his belongings except what will fit into his car, and begins traveling around the US attending gun shows and militia events. Not all militia movements are characterized by the racist ideology that helps impel McVeigh, but many are, and many white hate groups are making common cause with militias. McVeigh ekes out enough money selling knives, fatigues, and copies of The Turner Diaries (see 1978) to continue his travels, and meets a number of like-minded people. One gun collector who knows McVeigh from the circuit will later tell investigators: "He carried that book all the time. He sold it at the shows. He'd have a few copies in the cargo pocket of his cammies. They were supposed to be $10, but he'd sell them for $5. It was like he was looking for converts.… He could make 10 friends at a show, just by his manner and demeanor. He's polite, he doesn't interrupt." The gun collector, who refuses to give his name to a reporter, also recalls McVeigh living mostly in his car and carrying a "big pistol" with him at all times. An undercover detective will later recall McVeigh showing people at one 1993 gun show in Phoenix how to convert a flare gun into a rocket launcher, and giving out documents with the name and address of the FBI sniper who had shot the wife of white supremacist Randy Weaver at Ruby Ridge (see August 31, 1992). Psychology professor Gerald Post will later say, "Gun shows have become town hall meetings for racists and antigovernment radicals." At McVeigh's trial, prosecutors will say that McVeigh used the gun shows to "fence stolen weapons, make contacts to buy bomb materials, and hone his terrorist skills." During his travels, McVeigh writes to his sister Jennifer, saying that the government is planning to disarm gun owners and incarcerate them in concentration camps. [New York Times, 7/5/1995; PBS Frontline, 1/22/1996; Douglas O. Linder, 2001] Author Brandon M. Stickney will later write: "Today, this part of McVeigh's life would be difficult even for Tim to document, but it was during this odyssey of uncertainty that he became seriously involved in a dangerous world. Tim was now driven by a desire for 'citizen action,' or a movement by the people to alter the liberal thinking of politicians and officials in power.… [I]t is believed that during those lost days, he was frequently exposed to the growing 'paramilitary' underworld of Michigan and other states. Groups whose members were upset with taxes, political corruption, and incidents like Ruby Ridge spoke of organizing 'militias.'" [Stickney, 1996, pp. 150]
Meets Fellow Anti-Government Figures at Gun Shows - Along the way, McVeigh meets Andreas Strassmeir, the head of security for the far-right white supremacist community at Elohim City, Oklahoma (see 1973 and After). He also meets gun dealer Roger Moore at a gun show; McVeigh's partner Terry Nichols will later rob Moore (see November 5, 1994) as part of McVeigh and Nichols's bomb plot. [New York Times, 7/5/1995; PBS Frontline, 1/22/1996; Douglas O. Linder, 2001; Nicole Nichols, 2003] Moore is an outspoken man who loudly boasts about his love of country and his hatred for the federal government. He frequently says he would be more than willing to take part in a violent assault against federal law enforcement officials, but, he says, his girlfriend, Karen Anderson, will not let him get involved in such activities. He will later tell a reporter: "I don't give a sh_t. I'll put on my flak vest, take a bunch of godd_mn guns in my van, and if I get in a firefight, so be it. I wanna run around and dig up a lot of stuff, but she will not let me go anywhere." [Serrano, 1998, pp. 59]
Admires Davidian Attack on Federal Law Enforcement Officials - McVeigh has recently developed a crippling habit of gambling on football games, and has maxed out several credit cards, severely damaging his financial status, though by the end of 1992 he had paid off all but one $10,000 debt. According to his later recollections, he is depressed and frustrated by his inability to find someone to love. He spends some time in Florida, living with his sister and working for her husband as an electrician. He meets Moore while in Florida, and shares a table with him at one gun show. He finds Miami too loud and the people offensive, so he leaves shortly after his arrival. It is at this time that he first learns of the federal raid on the Branch Davidian compound outside Waco (see 5:00 A.M. - 9:30 A.M. February 28, 1993), and while watching news coverage of the event, tells his sister that the Davidians "must be doing something right, they are killing Feds." [PBS Frontline, 1/22/1996]
Entity Tags: Roger E. ("Bob") Moore, Karen Anderson, Jennifer McVeigh, Andreas Strassmeir, Brandon M. Stickney, Gerald Post, Timothy James McVeigh, Terry Lynn Nichols
February - July 1994: Future Oklahoma City Bomber Moves to Arizona; Conflicting Stories of Problems at Trailer Park
Future Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh (see November 1991 - Summer 1992 and 8:35 a.m. - 9:02 a.m. April 19, 1995) returns to Kingman, Arizona, where he moves in again with his Army friend Michael Fortier (see May-September 1993). During this time, McVeigh takes, and loses, a number of jobs, including a security guard position and as a clerk at a Tru-Value hardware store (see February - July 1994). (A chronology of McVeigh's actions completed by his lawyers will say that shortly after arriving, he leaves Fortier's home and moves into a house in Golden Valley, Arizona, about 20 miles outside of Kingman, where he lives for six months—see Early 2005. Other evidence disputes this claim.) He turns the house into a bunker, and begins experimenting with bombs and explosives. He renounces his US citizenship on March 16, begins openly speaking of his apocalyptic world views, and continues taking methamphetamines and smoking marijuana (see May-September 1993). In July, McVeigh and Fortier steal items from a National Guard armory. [New York Times, 4/23/1995; New York Times, 4/24/1995; PBS Frontline, 1/22/1996; Douglas O. Linder, 2001] In April, McVeigh spends a brief period of time at the home of Roger Moore, a gun dealer in Arkansas (see March 1993). In June, he goes to upstate New York to visit his ailing grandfather. McVeigh serves as best man in the Fortiers' July wedding. [PBS Frontline, 1/22/1996]
Conflicting Stories of Problems at Residence - For a time, McVeigh lives in a Kingman, Arizona, trailer park (see May-September 1993). Residents will later tell some reporters that he was arrogant and standoffish, and full of anger against the US government. "He drank a lot of beer and threw out the cans, and I always had to pick them up," Bob Ragin, owner of the park, will be quoted as saying. Ragin will remember having frequent quarrels with McVeigh, whom Ragin says played loud music and kept a dog in violation of his lease. "Basically he just had a poor attitude, a chip on the shoulder kind of thing," Ragin will recall. "He was very cocky. He looked like he was ready to get in a fight pretty easy. I'll tell you, I was a little afraid of him and I'm not afraid of too many people.… You'd tell him there were beer cans all over the yard and he'd just mumble. When I went to talk to him, I'd tell somebody, 'If you hear fighting or windows breaking, call the police.'… [H]e piled up so many violations, I asked him to leave. When he did, the trailer was a disaster. It was trashed." A neighbor, Danny Bundy, later recalls, "Him and his girlfriend drove like maniacs through here." Some reports will say McVeigh's alleged girlfriend was pregnant. Bundy will also recall McVeigh standing at the edge of the trailer park and firing rounds from a semiautomatic weapon into the desert. In 1996, author Brandon M. Stickney will write that the characterizations of McVeigh's troublesome behavior at the mobile home park are largely wrong. He will quote Ragin as calling McVeigh "the perfect tenant," and will write: "These stories, published by many top news agencies like the Associated Press and the New York Times, were completely wrong. One of the sources quoted even recanted his statements. Timothy McVeigh may have been unstable, but he was never the type to drink a lot of beer, play loud music (he is known for using headphones unless he was in his car), or have a girlfriend, much less a pregnant one." Stickney will write that McVeigh spent much of this period, not living in a rented trailer, but with the Fortiers, and later in a small rental house in Golden Valley, a claim that tallies with the chronology later created by McVeigh's lawyers. The FBI will learn that McVeigh owned a Tec-9 semiautomatic assault weapon, which is illegal to own (see September 13, 1994) but was legal when McVeigh bought it in early 1993. Another Kingman resident, Jeff Arrowood, will recall seeing McVeigh frequent a local shooting range. Arrowood will say that McVeigh fires hundreds of rounds at random targets. "Quite frankly, it scared the hell out of me," he will say. "He pretty much went crazy, emptying on anything—trees, rocks, anything there. He just went ballistic." [New York Times, 4/23/1995; New York Times, 4/23/1995; New York Times, 4/24/1995; Stickney, 1996, pp. 152, 163-165]
Entity Tags: Bob Ragin, Danny Bundy, Associated Press, Brandon M. Stickney, Timothy James McVeigh, New York Times, Roger E. ("Bob") Moore, Jeff Arrowood, Michael Joseph Fortier, Lori Fortier
October 3, 1994: Oklahoma City Bombing Conspirators Burglarize Quarry, Take Explosive Components
Oklahoma City bombing conspirators Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols (see November 1991 - Summer 1992, September 13, 1994 and After, September 13, 1994, September 13, 1994, and 8:35 a.m. - 9:02 a.m. April 19, 1995) burglarize the Martin Marietta Aggregates quarry near Marion, Kansas. They steal 299 sticks of dynamite, 544 blasting caps, around 93 non-electric blasting caps, several cases of Tovex explosive, and a box of Primadet cord often used to detonate explosives. They take the explosives in separate cars to Kingman, Arizona (see September 13, 1994 and After); McVeigh is almost rear-ended during this trip. They store the blasting caps and Tovex in Flagstaff, Arizona, for three weeks, and later move the explosives to a Kingman storage unit (see October 4 - Late October, 1994). [PBS Frontline, 1/22/1996; Mickolus and Simmons, 6/1997, pp. 810; Washington Post, 12/24/1997; Douglas O. Linder, 2001; Southern Poverty Law Center, 6/2001] FBI investigators will later say that a cordless Makita drill found in Nichols's home after the bombing (see 3:15 p.m. and After, April 21-22, 1995) matches drill marks made on the lock of the storage locker at the quarry. They will also find Primadet cord in Nichols's home. [New York Times, 8/29/1997]
Entity Tags: Martin Marietta Aggregates, Terry Lynn Nichols, Timothy James McVeigh
October 21 or 22, 1994: Future Oklahoma City Bombers Purchase, Test Explosive Ingredients
Wearing a biker disguise, future Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh (see September 13, 1994, October 20, 1994, and 8:35 a.m. - 9:02 a.m. April 19, 1995) purchases $2,775 worth of nitromethane, a racing fuel used in bomb construction, from an Ennis, Texas, drag-racing track, in three large drums. After purchasing the fuel, McVeigh and co-conspirator Terry Nichols travel to Kingman, Arizona, where McVeigh and his friend Michael Fortier (see February - July 1994) test the explosives mixture. [PBS Frontline, 1/22/1996; New York Times, 8/29/1997; Douglas O. Linder, 2001; Indianapolis Star, 2003] Reportedly, McVeigh buys the fuel with $3,000 obtained by Nichols from the sale of gold. It is unclear where Nichols obtained the gold. They had some trouble finding a venue for the purchase, even driving McVeigh to contact his hometown friend David Darlak (see 1987-1988), but McVeigh learned of a source on the Funny Car Racing Circuit by hanging around "pit" areas on local race tracks. The source is located in Manhattan, Kansas, but Nichols and McVeigh had to drive to Ennis to get the fuel. McVeigh goes to the track alone, letting Nichols out before driving to the track itself. Timothy Chambers, a VP Racing Fuels truck manager, sells McVeigh three drums of nitromethane for $925 each; McVeigh pays in cash. Chambers does not ask McVeigh his name, but does ask what he plans on doing with it. McVeigh responds that he and his friends like to race Harley-Davidson motorcycles around Oklahoma City, an explanation Chambers will later say he does not believe. Chambers will later identify McVeigh to federal investigators as the man who bought such a large amount of nitromethane for cash, saying he clearly remembers McVeigh's "possum face." McVeigh and Nichols take the drums of fuel to Kansas, storing them in one of the sheds they have rented in Herington. They also buy six black plastic barrels with full take-off lids, six white plastic barrels with smaller lids, and a blue plastic barrel. They obtain the white barrels free from the Hillsboro Milk Co-op, and pay $12 each for the black barrels. They obtain the blue barrel from a plastics manufacturing company in Council Grove. Afterwards, they drive to Kingman, Arizona, where McVeigh stays for four days with Fortier, and shows Fortier some of the materials. [PBS Frontline, 1/22/1996; Serrano, 1998, pp. 94-95] The New York Times will later state the date of the fuel-oil purchase as October 20. [New York Times, 8/29/1997] A chronology of events compiled by McVeigh's lawyers will give the date as October 22. In September, McVeigh attempted to buy similar racing fuel from a Topeka, Kansas, race track (see September 1994). McVeigh and Nichols stay in a room at the Amish Inn in Pauls Valley, Oklahoma, before driving to Ennis to get the racing fuel. The room is rented with cash under the name of "Joe Kyle," an alias used by Nichols (see October 17, 1994). "Kyle"'s address is given as "Rt. 2, Box 28, Hillsboro, KS," the same information given by Nichols using the alias "Terry Havens" in an earlier motel stay (see October 16, 1994). [PBS Frontline, 1/22/1996] McVeigh tries to persuade Fortier to take an active part in the bombing plot, but Fortier refuses, asking, "What about all the people?" Fortier is referring to the people who will die or be injured in such a blast. McVeigh advises Fortier to think of the victims as "storm troopers in Star Wars" who, although individually innocent, "are guilty because they work for the evil empire." Fortier makes it clear that he will not take an active role in the bombing. [PBS Frontline, 1/22/1996; Serrano, 1998, pp. 97; Douglas O. Linder, 2006]
Entity Tags: Michael Joseph Fortier, Timothy Chambers, Hillsboro Milk Co-op, Timothy James McVeigh, David Darlak, Terry Lynn Nichols
November 5, 1994: Future Oklahoma City Bombing Conspirator Robs Gun Dealer, Hides Cash with Ex-Wife
Roger Moore. [Source: Free Republic (.com)]White separatists Terry Nichols (see March 24, 1988 - Late 1990, December 22 or 23, 1988, October 12, 1993 - January 1994, and February - July 1994) and Timothy McVeigh (see September 13, 1994 and October 20, 1994) plan and execute the robbery of Roger Moore, a Royal, Arkansas, gun dealer and acquaintance of McVeigh's. Nichols and McVeigh are planning the Oklahoma City bombing (see 8:35 a.m. - 9:02 a.m. April 19, 1995). Moore cannot positively identify his single masked assailant, though he will tell FBI investigators he believes McVeigh is the masked assailant who knocks him unconscious, binds and gags him, and takes guns, military gear, jewelry and gemstones, Indian artifacts, cameras, gold, silver, a safe-deposit key, and cash worth around $60,000 from his dealership. Moore, according to investigators' reports, "believes that Tim McVeigh may have been involved in the robbery, in that he had visited the owner on several occasions and was familiar with the gun collection." Moore will give further descriptive details: the robber wears a full camouflage uniform, a black ski mask, and gloves, and wields a pistol-grip shotgun. Moore believes a second man is also involved, but will say he is unsure, because he is quickly bound and tied up while the assailant or assailants ransack his house for 90 minutes before packing the stolen goods into his van and driving off with it. Moore frees himself after about 30 minutes and calls the police, who find the van abandoned some two hours later. Moore gives McVeigh's name as the first person he suspects of the robbery; after the bombing, though, Moore will tell a reporter that McVeigh "wasn't the one who pulled off the robbery; I would have recognized him. Tim really stands out in a crowd and there's no mistaking him." Instead, Moore will say, "He just set us up for it." The guns alone make an impressive list: the robber(s) make off with 66 rifles, including expensive AR-15 assault rifles and Mini-14s, along with eight handguns. Moore will not list serial numbers, nor will he file for insurance reimbursement, later explaining that none of the stolen items were insured. Subsequent investigation finds key evidence of the robbery, and of Nichols's subsequent flight to the Philippines (see November 5, 1994 - Early January 1995), while searching Nichols's home in Herington, Kansas (see (February 20, 1995)). Circumstantial evidence later ties McVeigh closer to the crime, as neither he nor Nichols make much money from their jobs, but McVeigh will often be seen paying for items with cash from a large roll of bills, and the two have told friends that in spite of their meager resources, they intend to set up an itinerant gun dealing business together (see (September 30, 1994)). Authorities will come to believe that the Moore robbery may be just one of an entire series of unsolved robberies carried out by Nichols and McVeigh. Nichols takes the proceeds and flees to Las Vegas, where he hides the cash in the home of his ex-wife Lana Padilla. [New York Times, 6/15/1995; New York Times, 6/18/1995; PBS Frontline, 1/22/1996; Washington Post, 12/24/1997; Douglas O. Linder, 2001; Nicole Nichols, 2003] Investigators later learn that the safe-deposit key is for a box in a bank in Hot Springs, Arkansas. Press reports will later state that the person who robs Moore may be someone other than Nichols or McVeigh, but someone shorter and stockier than McVeigh and larger than Nichols. [New York Times, 8/13/1995] Prosecutors in the 1997 Nichols trial will say that Nichols alone robbed Moore. [New York Times, 8/29/1997] In 2006, law professor Douglas O. Linder will speculate that the robbery may have been carried off with the participation of white supremacists from Elohim City (see 1973 and After and August - September 1994). [Douglas O. Linder, 2006] After leaving the scene of the robbery, Nichols stays in the Sunset Motel in Junction City, Kansas, using the alias "Joe Kyle" (see October 21 or 22, 1994) and giving his address as "1400 Decker, Lum, Michigan, 48447." According to McVeigh, he and Nichols began considering the Moore robbery as early as August 1994. [PBS Frontline, 1/22/1996] Moore himself will interfere with the robbery investigation, giving law enforcement officials conflicting versions of the story and changing key facts such as whether one or two men carried out the robbery. Moore and his girlfriend Karen Anderson will conduct their own "investigation" into the robbery, and will write McVeigh a series of letters mailed to a Kingman, Arizona, postal box, first accusing him of perpetuating the robbery and later asking for his help in solving it. Some of Moore's letters are written in odd codes, confusing investigators who remain unsure if Moore was writing to McVeigh as one anti-government zealot to another, or trying to trick McVeigh into returning to Arkansas so he can have him arrested. [Serrano, 1998, pp. 89-90]
Entity Tags: Terry Lynn Nichols, Roger E. ("Bob") Moore, Karen Anderson, Lana Padilla, Timothy James McVeigh, Douglas O. Linder
8:35 a.m. - 9:02 a.m. April 19, 1995: Oklahoma City Bombing Destroys Federal Building, Kills 168
The Alfred P. Murrah Building after being bombed. [Source: CBS News]A truck bomb destroys the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people in America's worst domestic terrorist attack. Timothy McVeigh, later convicted in the bombing, has ideological roots both in the Patriot world and among neo-Nazis like William Pierce, whose novel, The Turner Diaries (see 1978), served as a blueprint for the attack. [Washington Post, 4/20/1995; Southern Poverty Law Center, 6/2001; Clarke, 2004, pp. 127] Initially, many believe that no American set off the bomb, and suspect Islamist terrorists of actually carrying out the bombing (see 10:00 a.m. April 19, 1995 and After). Their suspicions prove groundless. Investigators will find that the bomb is constructed of some 5,000 pounds of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil, carried in 20 or so blue plastic 55-gallon barrels arranged inside a rented Ryder truck (see April 15, 1995). The bomb is detonated by a slow-burning safety fuse, most likely lit by hand. The fuse is attached to a much faster-burning detonation cord ("det cord") which ignites the fertilizer and fuel-oil mixture. [New York Times, 4/27/1995] The Murrah Federal Building houses a number of federal agencies, including offices for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (BATF); the Social Security Administration; the Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Veterans Affairs, and Agriculture departments; and the Secret Service. [Washington Post, 4/20/1995] It encompasses an entire city block, between 5th and 4th Streets and Harvey and Robinson Streets, and features a U-shaped, indented drive on 5th that allows for quick pickup and delivery parking. The entire building's facade on this side is made of glass, allowing passersby to see into the offices in the building, as well as into the America's Kids day care center on the second floor, which by this time is filling with children. It is in this driveway that McVeigh parks his truck. [Serrano, 1998, pp. 99-102]
Entering the City - McVeigh drives into Oklahoma City, entering around 8:30 a.m. from his overnight stop in Ponca City, Oklahoma; the details reported of his entrance into the city vary (see 7:00 a.m. - 8:35 a.m., April 19, 1995). At 8:55 a.m., a security camera captures the Ryder truck as it heads towards downtown Oklahoma City [Douglas O. Linder, 2006] , a sighting bolstered by three people leaving the building who later say they saw the truck parked in front of the Murrah Building around this time. At 8:57, a security camera captures an image of McVeigh's Ryder truck being parked outside the Murrah Building in a handicapped zone. One survivor of the blast, Marine recruiter Michael Norfleet, later recalls seeing the Ryder truck parked just outside the building next to the little circle drive on 5th Street leading up to the main entrance of the building. Norfleet had parked his black Ford Ranger in front of the Ryder.
McVeigh Lights Fuses - McVeigh drives the Ryder truck west past the Murrah Building on NW Fourth Street, turns north on a one-way street, and turns right on Fifth Street. He pulls the truck over and parks near the Firestone store, next to a chain-link fence. He then lights the five-minute fuses from inside the cab (see 8:15 a.m. and After, April 18, 1995), sets the parking brake, drops the key behind the seat, opens the door, locks the truck, exits, and shuts the door behind him. A man later claims to have hit his brakes to avoid someone matching McVeigh's description as he crossed Fifth Street around 9:00 a.m. McVeigh walks quickly toward a nearby YMCA building where he has hidden his getaway car, a battered yellow Mercury Marquis (see April 13, 1995), in the adjoining alleyway, crossing Robinson Street and crossing another street to get to the alleyway. He begins to jog as he approaches his car. He later says he remembers a woman looking at him as she is walking down the steps to enter the building; he will describe her as white, in her mid-30s, with dirty blonde hair. According to McVeigh's own recollection, he is about 20 feet into the alley when the bomb goes off. [Stickney, 1996, pp. 184-185; PBS Frontline, 1/22/1996; Serrano, 1998, pp. 158; Douglas O. Linder, 2006; The Oklahoman, 4/2009]
Truck Explodes - At 9:02 a.m., the truck explodes, destroying most of the Murrah Building and seriously damaging many nearby buildings. Eventually, it will be determined that 168 people die in the blast, including 19 children. Over 500 are injured. The children are in the second-story day care center just above the parking space where McVeigh leaves the Ryder truck. McVeigh will later tell his biographers that he is lifted off his feet by the power of the blast.
Devastation and Death - When the bomb detonates, the day care center and the children plummet into the basement. The building, constructed with large glass windows, collapses, sending a wave of flying glass shards and debris into the building and the surrounding area. The oldest victim is 73-year-old Charles Hurlbert, who has come to the Social Security office on the first floor. Hurlbert's wife Jean, 67, also dies in the blast. The youngest victim is four-month-old Gabeon Bruce, whose mother is also in the Social Security office. One victim, Rebecca Anderson, is a nurse who runs towards the building to render assistance. She never makes it to the building; she is struck in the head by a piece of falling debris and will die in a hospital four days after the blast. Her heart and kidneys will be transplanted into survivors of the bombing. [Denver Post, 6/3/1997; New York Times, 6/3/1997; Serrano, 1998, pp. 153-154; Oklahoma City Journal Record, 3/29/2001] Sherri Sparks, who has friends still unaccounted for in the building, tells a reporter in the hours after the blast, "Oh, I can't stand the thought of… those innocent children, sitting there playing, thinking they're safe, and then this happens." The explosion leaves a 30-foot-wide, 8-foot-deep crater in the street that is covered by the wreckage of the building's upper floors. The north face of the nine-story building collapses entirely. [Washington Post, 4/20/1995; Washington Post, 4/22/1995] Mary Heath, a psychologist who works about 20 blocks from the Murrah Building, says the blast "shook the daylights out of things—it scared us to death. We felt the windows shake before we heard the noise." In a neighboring building, a Water Resources Board meeting is just commencing; the audiotape of the meeting captures the sound of the blast (see 9:02 a.m. and After, April 19, 1995). [Washington Post, 4/20/1995; The Oklahoman, 4/2009] Norfleet, trapped in the Marine Corps office, is thrown into a wall by the explosion. His skull is fractured, and a shard of glass punctures his right eye. Three separate arteries are pierced, and Norfleet begins bleeding heavily. Two supply sergeants in the office are far less injured; Norfleet asks one, "How bad am I hurt?" and one replies, "Sir, you look really bad." One of the two begins giving Norfleet first aid; Norfleet later recalls: "He immediately went into combat mode and started taking care of me. He laid me on a table and he started looking for bandages to administer first aid. And while I was laying on that table, I just knew that I was losing strength and that if I stayed in the building, I would die." Norfleet wraps a shirt around his head and face to slow the bleeding, and the two sergeants help him to the stairs, through the fallen rubble, and eventually out. Norfleet will later say that he follows "a blood trail of somebody that had gone down the steps before me" to get outside, where he is quickly put into an ambulance. He loses almost half his body's blood supply and his right eye. He will never fly again, and will soon be discharged for medical incapacity. [Serrano, 1998, pp. 161-162] Eighteen-month-old Phillip Allen, called "P.J." by his parents, miraculously survives the blast. The floor gives way beneath him and he plunges 18 feet to land on the stomach of an adult worker on the floor below, Calvin Johnson. Landing on Johnson's stomach saves P.J.'s life. Johnson is knocked unconscious by the blast and by the impact of the little boy falling on him, but when he awakes, he carries the toddler to safety. P.J.'s grandfather calls the child "Oklahoma's miracle kid," and media reports use the label when retelling the story of the miraculous rescue. P.J. is one of six children in the day care center to survive the blast. [Stickney, 1996, pp. 275-277] Some people later report their belief that the Murrah Building was rocked by a second explosion just moments after the first one, the second coming from a secure area managed by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (BATF) that illegally stored explosives. Law professor Douglas O. Linder will later write, "Both seismic evidence and witness testimony supports the 'two blast theory.'" [Douglas O. Linder, 2006] That theory is later disputed (see After 9:02 a.m. April 19, 1995).
Explosion's Effects Felt Miles Away - Buildings near the Murrah are also damaged, seven severely, including the Journal Record newspaper building, the offices of Southwestern Bell, the Water Resources Board, an Athenian restaurant, the YMCA, a post office building, and the Regency Tower Hotel. Two Water Resources Board employees and a restaurant worker are killed in the blast. The Journal Record building loses its roof. Assistant Fire Chief Jon Hansen later recalls, "The entire block looked like something out of war-torn Bosnia." Every building within four blocks of the Murrah suffers some effects. A United Parcel Service truck 10 miles away has its windows shattered by the blast. Cars in parking lots around the area catch fire and burn. Millions of sheets of paper, and an innumerable number of glass shards, shower down for hundreds of feet around the building. [Stickney, 1996, pp. 28-30]
Truck Axle Crushes Nearby Car - Richard Nichols (no relation to bomber Timothy McVeigh's co-conspirator Terry Nichols), a maintenance worker standing with his wife a block and a half away from the Murrah Building, is spun around by the force of the blast. They throw open the back door of their car and begin taking their young nephew Chad Nichols out of the back seat, when Richard sees a large shaft of metal hurtling towards them. The "humongous object… spinning like a boomerang," as Richard later describes it, hits the front of their Ford Festiva, smashing the windshield, crushing the front end, driving the rear end high into the air, and sending the entire car spinning backwards about 10 feet. Chad is not seriously injured. The metal shaft is the rear axle of the Ryder truck. Later, investigators determine that it weighs 250 pounds and was blown 575 feet from where the truck was parked. Governor Frank Keating (R-OK) points out the axle to reporters when he walks the scene a day or so later, causing some media outlets to incorrectly report that Keating "discovered" the axle. The scene will take investigators days to process for evidence. [Stickney, 1996, pp. 32; New York Times, 6/3/1997; Serrano, 1998, pp. 187-189]
First Responders Begin Arriving - Within minutes, survivors begin evacuating the building, and first responders appear on the scene (see 9:02 a.m. - 10:35 a.m. April 19, 1995).
McVeigh's Getaway - McVeigh flees the bomb site in his Mercury getaway car (see 9:02 a.m. and After, April 19, 1995), but is captured less than 90 minutes later (see 9:03 a.m. -- 10:17 a.m. April 19, 1995).
Entity Tags: Mary Heath, Phillip ("P.J.") Allen, Regency Tower Hotel (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma), Oklahoma City Journal Record, Michael Norfleet, Murrah Federal Building, Richard Nichols, Social Security Administration, Sherri Sparks, Timothy James McVeigh, US Department of Housing and Urban Development, Terry Lynn Nichols, Jon Hansen, Southwestern Bell, Jean Hurlbert, Ed Kirkpatrick, Frank Keating, US Secret Service, US Department of Veterans Affairs, Water Resources Board (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma ), Young Men's Christian Association, William Pierce, Gabeon Bruce, America's Kids (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma ), Chad Nichols, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Calvin Johnson, US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Charles Hurlbert, US Department of Agriculture, Douglas O. Linder
Timeline Tags: Complete 911 Timeline, Domestic Propaganda, US Domestic Terrorism
9:02 a.m. and After, April 19, 1995: Oklahoma City Bomber Flees Bombing Scene
Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, having just set a massive fertilizer bomb to explode in the heart of downtown Oklahoma City (see 8:35 a.m. - 9:02 a.m. April 19, 1995), executes his getaway plan, which centers around a Mercury Marquis (see April 13, 1995) parked near the Murrah Federal Building, the target of the bomb. McVeigh is almost into a parking lot when the bomb goes off. The wall of the building on his left comes down, and he is struck by falling debris in the left leg. He steps over a fallen power line and removes ear plugs he has been wearing. He crosses Broadway and is seen by a woman exiting a shop; he shakes his head at her as if to say he does not know what has happened. He turns right on Broadway and 7th, walks a quarter of a block, crosses NW 7th Street, and walks north along an alleyway before turning east on 8th Street. He crosses a set of railroad tracks, approaching the building where he parked the Ryder truck containing the bomb (see April 15, 1995). According to one source, a mail delivery man approaches McVeigh and says, "Man, for a second I thought that was us that blew up!" McVeigh reportedly replies, "Yeah, so did I" and keeps walking. (The source for the mailman's statement is a document purportedly created by the McVeigh legal defense team—see February 28 - March 4, 1997; other reporters will try and fail to corroborate the statement.) McVeigh checks over the Mercury for damage, gets in, and starts the car; it takes about 30 seconds to start. He lets it warm up for another 30 seconds, by which time he can hear sirens approaching. After briefly working with the transmission, the car lurches into gear and he pulls out slowly, driving through the alleyway to Oklahoma Street, a one-way southbound street. He manages to get onto Highway 235 to Interstate 44, then finally to I-35 north. He is captured by a state trooper less than 90 minutes later (see 9:03 a.m. -- 10:17 a.m. April 19, 1995). [PBS Frontline, 1/22/1996; Serrano, 1998, pp. 272]
Entity Tags: Timothy James McVeigh, Murrah Federal Building
April 20, 1995: FBI Releases Police Sketches of Two Oklahoma City Bombing Suspects, Learn Key Details
The sketches of "John Doe No. 1" and "John Doe No. 2" as released by the FBI. [Source: The Oklahoman]The FBI releases sketches of the two men believed to be responsible for the Oklahoma City bombing the day before (see 8:35 a.m. - 9:02 a.m. April 19, 1995). The men are identified as "John Doe No. 1" and "John Doe No. 2." [Indianapolis Star, 2003; The Oklahoman, 4/2009] The sketches are based on interviews with witnesses in Oklahoma City and in Kansas (see April 15, 1995). FBI agent Raymond Rozycki speaks to three employees at Elliott's Body Shop in Junction City, Kansas, who give him most of the details used to compile the sketches (see April 13, 1995 and April 15, 1995). [Fox News, 4/13/2005] Additionally, Attorney General Janet Reno announces a $2 million reward for information leading to the capture and conviction of the bombers. [Mickolus and Simmons, 6/1997, pp. 809] The sketches are released on the authority of lead FBI agent in charge Weldon Kennedy (see After 9:02 a.m., April 19, 1995). In the following days, updated sketches are released, showing "John Doe No. 2" in profile and wearing a baseball cap with lightning streaks on the side. [Serrano, 1998, pp. 193, 261]
One Identified within a Day; Second Never Identified, May Not Exist - Within a day, "John Doe No. 1" is identified as Timothy McVeigh (see April 21, 1995). Lea McGown, the owner of the Dreamland Motel in Junction City, Kansas, speaks to FBI agents and recognizes "Robert Kling" as "Tom McVeigh," a man who stayed in the motel the week before (see April 13, 1995, 5:00 a.m. April 18, 1995 and 8:15 a.m. and After, April 18, 1995). McVeigh had checked into Room 25 on Friday, April 14, she says, and stayed through the weekend. She also remembers McVeigh driving a large Ryder truck to the motel. "John Doe No. 2," described as a stocky, swarthy man with a lantern jaw and a tattoo on his arm, will never be conclusively identified (see June 14, 1995). Agents seal off Room 25 and begin going over it for forensic evidence. [New York Times, 4/24/1995; New York Times, 6/3/1997; Serrano, 1998, pp. 194; Indianapolis Star, 2003] In 1998, author Richard A. Serrano will characterize "John Doe No. 2" as the man who "either got away with the biggest crime in US history or is a man who never lived.… Discounting the crank or 'hysterical' sightings (see February 17, 1995 and After, April 13, 1995, April 15, 1995, April 15, 1995, 3:00 p.m. April 17, 1995, 3:00 - 5:00 p.m. April 17, 1995, 9:00 p.m. April 17, 1995, 8:00 a.m. April 18, 1995, April 18, 1995, and (1:00 a.m.) April 19, 1995), only three people ever saw John Doe No. 2. Eldon Elliott, Vicki Beemer, and Tom Kessinger, the three Ryder employees (see April 13, 1995 and April 15, 1995), would recall only minor details about the man, and their recollections were as shadowy as his face." Beemer will later say: "They were both in the office. I really don't recall what the other guy—he was in there, but I don't really recall where he was standing exactly." [Serrano, 1998, pp. 259-260]
False Sightings - Bogus sightings and detentions will abound after the sketches of "John Doe No. 2" are released. In Georgia, motorist Scott Sweely is stopped by a local sheriff and ordered to crawl out of his car window and lie facedown on the asphalt. Someone at a gas station told local police that Sweely looked like the sketch of Doe No. 2. Sweely is taken into custody and grilled by federal agents for four hours before being released. In Minnesota, a man resembling Doe No. 2 is arrested at gunpoint at the Mall of America. In California, a man AWOL from the US Army is rousted from his home and transferred to Los Angeles, where crowds scream and demand "justice" be carried out against him. A former Army friend of McVeigh's, Roger L. Barnett (see January - March 1991 and After and January - March 1991 and After), is considered a possible Doe No. 2. Barnett resembles the descriptions of the supposed accomplice—he is stocky and has a skull-and-crossbones tattoo on his arm. He also lives near the Arkansas state line, close to the gun dealer whom alleged co-conspirator Terry Nichols robbed to help finance the bombing (see November 5, 1994). However, time cards from his workplace show Barnett was at work the entire week of the bombing, and he passes a lie detector test. Another Army friend, Ray Jimboy, now working as a fry cook in Okemah, Oklahoma, is briefly considered a possibility, but a lie detector test clears him. For a time, Joshua Nichols, Terry Nichols's son, is considered a possible Doe No. 2, though Joshua is 13 years old. The FBI is bombarded with calls; one husband even tells agents that the Doe No. 2 sketch is his wife. [Serrano, 1998, pp. 260-262]
Entity Tags: Janet Reno, Vicki Beemer, Elliott's Body Shop (Junction City, Kansas), Federal Bureau of Investigation, Eldon Elliott, Dreamland Motel (Junction City, Kansas), Tom Kessinger, Timothy James McVeigh, Weldon Kennedy, Scott Sweely, Raymond Rozycki, Lea McGown, Ray Jimboy, Richard A. Serrano, Joshua Nichols, Roger L. Barnett, Terry Lynn Nichols
April 25, 1995: Nichols Brothers Charged with Making Explosive Devices, Charges Not Directly Linked to Oklahoma City Bombing
Terry Nichols and his brother James Nichols are charged by a Michigan federal court with conspiring to help suspected Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh build explosives at Terry Nichols's farm in Michigan (see December 22 or 23, 1988). Judge Monti Belot rules that Terry Nichols will be held without bail, and will be transferred to Oklahoma City sometime after noon on May 5; the delay in the transfer gives Nichols's public defender, Steven Gradert, time to file a possible appeal. (Gradert also alleges that when the FBI first interviewed Nichols—see 3:15 p.m. and After, April 21-22, 1995—he may not have understood his rights under the law.) The complaint, filed in a federal court in Michigan, does not directly link either of the brothers to the Oklahoma bombing. It does accuse both brothers of building what the complaint calls "bottle bombs" and of experimenting with other explosives with McVeigh in 1992 and 1994 (see April 2, 1992 and After, November 1991 - Summer 1992, October 12, 1993 - January 1994, October 12, 1993 - January 1994, and February - July 1994). Until today, both the brothers were held, not as suspects, but as material witnesses (see 3:15 p.m. and After, April 21-22, 1995); the conspiracy charges are designed to keep them behind bars until investigators can find more solid links between them and the bombing plot. An affidavit accompanying the complaint says that, like McVeigh, both Nichols brothers blamed the government for the 1993 Branch Davidian tragedy (see April 19, 1993 and April 19, 1993 and After); authorities have alleged that part of McVeigh's motivation for the bombing was revenge for the 1993 debacle (see April 24, 1995). An initial version of the affidavit says a witness, Daniel Stomber of Evergreen Township, Michigan, had heard James Nichols "stating that judges and President Clinton should be killed, and that he blamed the FBI and the ATF [Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms] for killing the Branch Davidians in Waco." A revised affidavit made public later deletes that information. James Nichols's lawyer, Miriam Siefer, calls the information in the affidavit "quite stale." The complaint itself says that James Nichols informed federal agents that his brother and McVeigh had been at his Michigan farm off and on since December 1991. James also told agents that his brother had obtained survival books that had information about bombs, and said he believed McVeigh knew how to build a bomb. The affidavit says James has admitted to building small bombs with McVeigh and his brother, but denied ever buying ammonium nitrate, one of the key ingredients in the Oklahoma City bomb. However, the affidavit says all three men were known to possess quantities of fertilizer and fuel oil, the same materials used in the Oklahoma City bomb, and says that Terry Nichols admitted to FBI investigators that he had bought at least 100 pounds of ammonium nitrate in the recent past. The affidavit says a witness told agents that all three men built other devices made of prescription vials, black powder, blasting caps, and safety fuses, which they detonated in empty fields of James Nichols's 500 acres. Shrapnel was found in the fields, the affidavit says. Investigators found 28 50-pound bags of ammonium nitrate fertilizer and a 55-gallon drum of fuel oil on James Nichols's farm; both ingredients are common on many farms, but James Nichols has claimed to be an organic farmer and thusly would not ordinarily use such materials. The affidavit says that in December 1993, McVeigh used an alias to buy liquid nitro airplane fuel, which could be used with other chemicals to improvise explosives (see December 1993). The complaint and affidavit will be presented to a federal court in Wichita, Kansas, on April 26. James Nichols will be released a month later without bond; US District Judge Paul Borman will rule that the government failed to link him to the bombing (see May 22, 1995). [New York Times, 4/26/1995; Boston Globe, 4/26/1995; New York Times, 4/25/1996; Mickolus and Simmons, 6/1997, pp. 810-811]
Entity Tags: Monti Belot, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Dan Stomber, Miriam Siefer, William Jefferson ("Bill") Clinton, Terry Lynn Nichols, Paul Borman, Steven Gradert, James Nichols, Timothy James McVeigh, US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
May 11, 1995: Accused Oklahoma Bombing Conspirator's Brother Charged with Conspiracy to Build Explosives
A federal grand jury in Detroit charges James Nichols (see December 22 or 23, 1988, April 21, 1995 and After, and April 25, 1995) with conspiracy to build explosives. James is the brother of Terry Nichols (see 3:15 p.m. and After, April 21-22, 1995 and April 24, 1995), accused of conspiring with Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh (see 8:35 a.m. - 9:02 a.m. April 19, 1995 and April 21, 1995). The charges against James Nichols do not directly accuse him of conspiring with his brother and McVeigh to build the Oklahoma City bomb; the three-count indictment, brought by Assistant US Attorney Robert Cares, applies only to crimes Nichols is alleged to have committed in Michigan. It also refers to "other persons, whose names are known and unknown to jury" who joined in the conspiracy. The indictment says the conspiracy stretched from 1988 until federal agents raided Nichols's farm on April 21, two days after the Oklahoma City bombing, and says the government has reason to believe Nichols had "prior knowledge" of the bombing. The indictment allows law enforcement authorities to keep Nichols in custody and to cancel an upcoming hearing for Nichols's possible release. Nichols is being held pending arraignment before a federal magistrate. The indictment is based largely on testimony from Nichols's neighbors (see April 21, 1995 and After), and is apparently similar to evidence provided in a criminal complaint filed in late April (see April 25, 1995). The indictment adds new details, such as the allegation that in 1994 he and his brother made and stored grenades at the Nichols farm, and in 1992 the brothers and McVeigh experimented with making and detonating bombs made of "readily available materials" like brake fluid. It also cites a letter McVeigh wrote James Nichols that said in part, "Keep me posted on any 'trouble,'" a statement Cares interprets as pertaining to the bombing. [New York Times, 5/12/1995; Serrano, 1998, pp. 235]
Entity Tags: Robert Cares, James Nichols, Terry Lynn Nichols, Timothy James McVeigh
May 19, 1995: Army Friend Implicates Accused Oklahoma City Bomber McVeigh in Bomb Plot, Execution
An Army friend of accused Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh (see 8:35 a.m. - 9:02 a.m. April 19, 1995, April 21, 1995, After May 6, 1995, and May 16, 1995), Michael Fortier, tells federal authorities that he and McVeigh inspected the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City as a potential bombing target in the days before the blast (see December 16, 1994 and After). Fortier knew McVeigh from their time together at Fort Riley, Kansas (see March 24, 1988 - Late 1990), and says he knew of McVeigh's plans for the bombing while the two lived in Kingman, Arizona (see May-September 1993, February - July 1994, August 1994, September 13, 1994 and After, September 13, 1994, October 4 - Late October, 1994, October 21 or 22, 1994, and February 17, 1995 and After). Fortier and his wife Lori decided to stop lying about their involvement with McVeigh and the bomb plot (see April 19, 1995 and After, April 23 - May 6, 1995, and May 8, 1995) and tell the truth after receiving subpoenas for their testimony before a grand jury investigating the bombing; instead of testifying under oath, Fortier opens a discussion with prosecutors about a settlement, and gives his statements about McVeigh in an initial offer of the evidence he says he can provide. They also ask the authorities about retaining a lawyer. Michael Fortier admits that a statement he signed in Kingman, Arizona, is mostly false. Fortier and his wife testify for hours about their involvement with McVeigh and their complicity in the bomb plot. Fortier is negotiating with federal prosecutors for a plea deal, and for immunity for his wife, in return for his cooperation in their prosecution of McVeigh and co-conspirator Terry Nichols (see 3:15 p.m. and After, April 21-22, 1995, April 24, 1995, and May 11, 1995). Fortier says he and McVeigh drove from Arizona to the Murrah Federal Building about a week before the bombing in an apparent effort to "case" the building. Fortier denies he had any direct role in the blast, but authorities have been very interested in him since the day of the bombing. Authorities have searched his trailer in Kingman and questioned him thoroughly, though officials say they have no basis to charge him with any direct involvement in the bombing. Fortier may still be charged as an accessory to the bombing, or on other related charges. It is doubtful, people involved in the case say, that the government would give Fortier full immunity from prosecution. Fortier is the first person to directly implicate McVeigh in the bombing; until now, investigators have only a large amount of circumstantial evidence tying McVeigh to the blast. Nichols has denied any direct knowledge of the bombing, and currently is not cooperating with investigators. Some investigators believe that Fortier may be the elusive "John Doe No. 2" (see April 20, 1995), who is considered either a co-conspirator or a material witness with knowledge of the plot, though Fortier does not clearly match the description of the suspect. [New York Times, 5/19/1995; Serrano, 1998, pp. 244-245]
Entity Tags: Timothy James McVeigh, Lori Fortier, Murrah Federal Building, Michael Joseph Fortier, Terry Lynn Nichols
June 14, 1995: Officials Call Off Search for Bombing Suspect
Law enforcement authorities call off the search for the so-called "John Doe No. 2," believed to be another person involved in the Oklahoma City bombing (see 8:35 a.m. - 9:02 a.m. April 19, 1995 and April 20, 1995). Officials say the sketch identifying the man is of an innocent person. The sketch has been "enhanced" twice to further aid in identification. [Douglas O. Linder, 2001; Indianapolis Star, 2003] Government prosecutors say that the person believed to be depicted in the sketches is Todd David Bunting, an Army private from Fort Riley, Kansas; they say that Bunting has no connections to McVeigh or the bombing. A witness has told the FBI that he saw Bunting at Elliott's Body Shop, a truck rental agency in Junction City, Kansas, on April 17, two days before the blast, either in the company of accused bomber Timothy McVeigh (see April 21, 1995 and April 24, 1995) or standing close to him while McVeigh rented the Ryder truck used in the bombing (see 5:00 a.m. April 18, 1995 and 8:15 a.m. and After, April 18, 1995). Authorities now believe that Bunting was at the rental shop on April 16, the day before McVeigh's visit, or perhaps April 18, the day after. The FBI releases a statement that says in part: "That individual… resembles the sketch previously circulated as the second of two men who rented the truck on April 17 and who has been called John Doe No. 2.… [The FBI] has determined that individual who has been interviewed was not connected to the bombing." Some investigators believe that the witness, the rental agent at the shop, became confused under pressure from investigators to recall the details of the second man he says he saw with McVeigh. [New York Times, 6/14/1995; Mickolus and Simmons, 6/1997, pp. 811; The Oklahoman, 4/2009] Bunting will later say that it is his face depicted in the composite sketches of "John Doe No. 2." [New York Times, 12/3/1995] He closely resembles the sketch, and has a Carolina Panthers baseball cap with lightning strikes down the sides, much like the cap Doe No. 2 was said to wear. He even has a tattoo on his right arm where one witness said Doe No. 2 has a tattoo. The press learns of the Bunting identification before the FBI can hold an official press conference announcing its findings, and reporters trek to Timmonsville, South Carolina, where Bunting is attending the funeral of his mother-in-law, to interivew him; some reporters even barge into the funeral home. Bunting will later stand before cameras and reporters in a press conference held in Fort Riley, where he says he was at Elliott's Body Shop in the company of another man, Sergeant Michael Hertig, to rent a truck and pack up his belongings to transfer to Fort Benning. He talks of the FBI's questioning of him, and of the chill he felt when he learned he was being connected to the bombing, however tenuously. Author Richard A. Serrano will later write that after repeated humiliating press reports of false identifications of Doe No. 2 (see April 20, 1995 and May 1-2, 1995), the FBI wants the problems of Doe No. 2 to "go away… dissolve from the nation's consciousness." Serrano will suggest that agents deliberately found an innocent man, Bunting, who bears a strong resemblance to the sketch, and decided to use him to end the speculation. If true, the FBI's efforts will be fruitless: the speculation will continue for years, with a Web site, "John Doe Times," posted by an Alabama militiaman, hosting anti-government postings and criticism of the ongoing investigation. The far-right "Spotlight" newsletter will say in 1996 that federal agents had employed "dupes" to bomb the Murrah Building, and that McVeigh and Doe No. 2 were mere patsies. The newsletter will claim that Doe No. 2, a government provocateur, lives in hiding on an Indian reservation in upstate New York. Others will speculate that Doe No. 2 is white supremacist Michael Brescia (see August 1994 - March 1995, (April 1) - April 18, 1995, April 8, 1995, and 8:35 a.m. - 9:02 a.m. April 19, 1995), who bears a close resemblance to the sketch. Brescia later pleads guilty to crimes unrelated to the bombing and will deny any involvement. [Serrano, 1998, pp. 265-266] Author Nicole Nichols, an expert in right-wing domestic terrorism unrelated to accused co-conspirator Terry Nichols, will later speculate that Doe No. 2 is actually Andreas Strassmeir, a gun aficianado and member of the militaristic Elohim City compound along with Brescia (see 1973 and After). Press reports later state that McVeigh denies any involvement by Strassmeir (see February 28 - March 4, 1997). Prosecutors will later reiterate that Bunting is "John Doe No. 2" and reiterate that he has no connection to the bombing (see January 29, 1997).
Entity Tags: Andreas Strassmeir, Elliott's Body Shop (Junction City, Kansas), Federal Bureau of Investigation, Nicole Nichols, Michael Hertig, Todd David Bunting, Michael William Brescia, Richard A. Serrano, Timothy James McVeigh
June 26, 1995: Lawyer for Accused Oklahoma City Bomber Attempts to 'Soften' Image of Client
Stephen Jones, the lawyer for accused Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, (see 8:35 a.m. - 9:02 a.m. April 19, 1995 and April 21, 1995), releases flattering photographs and videotapes of his client, along with McVeigh's US Army records, saying that the public has a right to know McVeigh "as he really is." McVeigh is a patriotic, happy young man, Jones says, and, quoting McVeigh's military records, an "inspiration to young soldiers." The photos and videotapes show McVeigh smiling and laughing with his lawyers. Jones has also allowed McVeigh to be interviewed by retired Colonel David Hackworth, a Newsweek columnist (see June 26, 1995, July 3, 1995) and June 26, 1995). "The public is entitled to know more about Mr. McVeigh than the government has released anonymously," Jones says. Jones has already discussed the large amount of "supportive" mail McVeigh is receiving in prison (see June 9, 1995). Newsweek has released excerpts from Hackworth's interview with McVeigh. Jones denies trying to influence potential jurors, saying: "If I were trying to influence potential jurors, I could say a lot more. The principal purpose behind it is to present our client to the public, to the families of the victims, to the victims who survived, as we believe he really is, to let them see something other than the 10 to 15 seconds of him walking out of the Noble County Courthouse. What I think you should draw from the record is that this is a young man who served his country honorably for four years." Jones explains that he and McVeigh granted the interview with Hackworth because "Hack wrote him and said that he wanted to talk with my client, soldier-to-soldier." [Associated Press, 6/26/1995; Chicago Sun-Times, 6/26/1995] The public-relations blitz is not entirely successful. Janet Walker, who lost her husband David in the blast, says: "They can't make him innocent by putting a smile on his face, and they can't make him guilty until they convict him. It's nothing more than a ploy. I know that. He'll get his in the end, if he's guilty." [Stickney, 1996, pp. 237-238] Jones tells reporters that McVeigh had been mistreated during his initial incarceration: telephone lines had been disconnected when he attempted to call a lawyer, and jailers had refused to give him a bulletproof vest during his "perp walk" transfer from the Noble County Courthouse (see April 21, 1995) because, Jones says, "It was like they were hoping Jack Ruby would come out." Jones is referring to the man who shot accused Kennedy assassin Lee Harvey Oswald before Oswald could be arraigned. Noble County Undersheriff Raymond Jones strongly denies both of Jones's claims. Jones also says that a camera set up to monitor McVeigh in his El Reno Federal Corrections Center cell, which is active 24 hours a day, is there to "engage in a kind of psychological warfare" that might "ultimately, perhaps… have an effect on [McVeigh's] mental stability, which in turn might affect the trial." The camera is later turned off for four hours a day, complying somewhat with Jones's wishes. Jones also accuses prosecutors of "wiretapping" McVeigh's conversations with his lawyers, and says that government wiretaps have been placed on his own phones, charges the prosecution denies. [Stickney, 1996, pp. 233-234, 239] Judge David L. Russell notes that Jones "slipped" Hackworth and photographer Peter Annin into the El Reno facility by pretending they were members of McVeigh's legal team, and later asks McVeigh if he is comfortable with his lawyer conducting himself in such a manner. "Obviously, you don't want somebody representing you that is not going to give you their all, would you agree with that?" Russell asks McVeigh. McVeigh says he is confident that Jones is representing him well, and assures Russell that he is "mentally competent" to make that determination. [Serrano, 1998, pp. 247-248]
Entity Tags: El Reno Federal Corrections Center, Stephen Jones, Janet Walker, David L. Russell, David Hackworth, Peter Annin, Timothy James McVeigh, Raymond Jones
Before July 3, 1995: Guns from Arkansas Robbery Tied to Oklahoma City Bombing Conspirators
Federal investigators probing the Oklahoma City bombing (see 8:35 a.m. - 9:02 a.m. April 19, 1995) link weapons stolen in a 1994 Arkansas robbery (see November 5, 1994) to one of the bombing suspects, Terry Nichols (see March 1995, April 16-17, 1995, 5:00 a.m. April 18, 1995, 8:15 a.m. and After, April 18, 1995, and June 23, 1995). Nichols is accused of plotting the bombing with Timothy McVeigh (see April 21, 1995 and April 24, 1995); both are suspected in the robbery. Some of the 66 rifles and shotguns, and eight handguns, stolen from Arkansas gun collector and dealer Roger Moore were found in a recent search of Nichols's home in Herington, Kansas (see 3:15 p.m. and After, April 21-22, 1995 and April 24, 1995). Thirty-three weapons were found in Nichols's home, as well as a safe-deposit key stolen in the Moore robbery. Investigators have also determined that a rare, customized Winchester Model-43 .22-caliber Horner rifle stolen from Moore was discovered in a gun shop in Kingman, Arizona, where McVeigh has lived on and off for years (see March 1993, May-September 1993, February - July 1994, September 13, 1994 and After, October 4 - Late October, 1994, October 21 or 22, 1994, February 1995, February 17, 1995 and After, and March 31 - April 12, 1995). The gun shop owner, Jim Fuller, says he bought the rifle from a known associate of McVeigh's, James Rosencrans (see May 1, 1995). [New York Times, 7/3/1995]
Entity Tags: Timothy James McVeigh, James Rosencrans, Jim Fuller, Roger E. ("Bob") Moore, Terry Lynn Nichols
August 8, 1995: Oklahoma City Bombing Conspirators Testify before Grand Jury
Michael Fortier, a friend of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh who participated to an extent in the planning of the bombing (see March 24, 1988 - Late 1990, March 1993, May-September 1993, February - July 1994, August 1994, September 13, 1994, October 21 or 22, 1994, December 16, 1994 and After, 8:35 a.m. - 9:02 a.m. April 19, 1995, April 19, 1995 and After, After May 6, 1995, and May 19, 1995), testifies to a grand jury about his involvement in the bombing plot. Fortier's wife Lori also testifies; her attorney, Mack Martin, says: "Her testimony had nothing to do with Mr. Fortier. Her testimony had to do with other people involved in the bombing." She has been given given a grant of immunity in return for her testimony. Michael Fortier tells the jury of his visit to the Murrah Federal Building with McVeigh to reconnoiter the building, and admits that McVeigh told him he intended to bomb the building (see December 16, 1994 and After). He has pled guilty to illegal firearms trafficking, knowledge of the bombing, and lying to federal agents (see April 19, 1995 and After and April 23 - May 6, 1995). [New York Times, 8/7/1995; Washington Post, 8/9/1995; Washington Post, 8/11/1995; Mickolus and Simmons, 6/1997, pp. 811; Serrano, 1998, pp. 245; Douglas O. Linder, 2001; Fox News, 4/13/2005] McVeigh's lawyer Stephen Jones says Michael Fortier is anything but a credible witness, and notes that Fortier has previously said in a television interview that he did not think McVeigh had any involvement in the bombing (see May 8, 1995). [Washington Post, 8/9/1995] Instead, Jones says in a court filing that the grand jury should begin looking for evidence of a "broad domestic or foreign conspiracy to bomb the Oklahoma City Federal building" by demanding intelligence reports on Iran and other avenues of investigation (see 10:00 a.m. April 19, 1995 and After). [New York Times, 8/9/1995] Fortier's lawyer, Michael McGuire, will say his client came forward out of guilt and remorse. "There is no expression of grief or words sufficient to describe his anguish over the responsibility he feels for knowing about the plans to bomb the Murrah building," McGuire will say. "The defining thing that made him want to cooperate was his conscience." Jones says, "I think any time the government has to give two [potential] co-defendants a pretty good deal, there are weaknesses in the case." Fortier faces a maximum of 23 years in prison and fines totaling $1 million. [Washington Post, 8/11/1995] Through his lawyers, Fortier cut a deal to testify if he was assured he would not be charged as a co-conspirator in the plot, though prosecutors refused to grant him full immunity. Some observers have speculated that Fortier may have agreed to cooperate if prosecutors granted his wife immunity [New York Times, 6/21/1995; New York Times, 8/7/1995] , a deal later confirmed by reporters. [New York Times, 8/8/1995] Lori Fortier tells grand jurors about witnessing McVeigh conduct a demonstration using soup cans on her kitchen floor that illustrated the effects of a massive bombing (see (February 1994)). McVeigh, she says, arranged soup cans to simulate the pattern he could make with barrels of explosives. McVeigh placed the soup cans in a triangle, she says, to direct the force of an explosion at a desired target, with two of the three points of the triangle flush against the side of the truck to maximize the damage. Michael Fortier did not witness the demonstration, she testifies. She also says that McVeigh once drew a diagram that showed how to blow up a building. [New York Times, 9/4/1995; Serrano, 1998, pp. 91] Both the Fortiers will repeat their testimony in McVeigh's trial (see May 12-13, 1997).
Entity Tags: Michael McGuire, Mack Martin, Murrah Federal Building, Lori Fortier, Timothy James McVeigh, Stephen Jones, Michael Joseph Fortier
August 10, 1995: Grand Jury Indicts McVeigh, Nichols in Oklahoma City Bomb Plot
A federal grand jury indicts Oklahoma City bombers Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols (see 8:35 a.m. - 9:02 a.m. April 19, 1995) on 11 counts of murder and conspiracy. Neither McVeigh nor Nichols are present during the hearing. The grand jury is only empowered to bring federal charges; the eight murder charges are in regards to the eight federal agents slain in the bombing: Secret Service agents Mickey Maroney, Donald Leonard, Alan Whicher, and Cynthia Campbell-Brown; DEA agent Kenneth McCullough; Customs Service agents Paul Ice and Claude Madearis; and Paul Broxterman, an agent in the Office of the Inspector General at the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Both Nichols and McVeigh are expected to face 160 counts of murder brought by the state of Oklahoma; both will plead not guilty to all counts of the indictment (see August 15, 1995). The indictment levels the following charges:
on September 30, 1994, McVeigh and Nichols purchased 40 50-pound bags of ammonium nitrate (2,000 pounds in total, or one ton) in McPherson, Kansas, under the alias "Mike Havens" (see September 30, 1994);
on October 1, 1994, McVeigh and Nichols stole explosives from a storage locker in Marion, Kansas (the actual date of the theft is October 3—see October 3, 1994);
on October 3-4, 1994, McVeigh and Nichols transported the stolen explosives to Kingman, Arizona, and stored them in a rented storage unit (see October 4 - Late October, 1994);
on October 18, 1994, McVeigh and Nichols bought another ton of ammonium nitrate in McPherson, Kansas, again using the "Mike Havens" alias (see October 18, 1994);
in October 1994, McVeigh and Nichols planned the robbery of a firearms dealer in Arkansas as a means to finance the bombing, and on November 5 they "caused" firearms, ammunition, coins, cash, precious metals, and other items to be stolen from gun dealer Roger Moore (see November 5, 1994);
on December 16, 1994, McVeigh drove with Michael Fortier to Oklahoma City and identified the Murrah Federal Building as the target of the upcoming bombing (see December 16, 1994 and After);
in March 1995 McVeigh obtained a driver's license in the name of "Robert Kling," bearing a date of birth of April 19, 1972 (see Mid-March, 1995);
on April 14, 1995, McVeigh bought a 1977 Mercury Marquis in Junction City, Kansas, called Nichols in Herington, Kansas, used the "Kling" alias to set up the rental of a Ryder truck capable of transporting 5,000 pounds of cargo, and rented a room in Junction City (see April 13, 1995);
on April 15, 1995, McVeigh put down a deposit on a rental truck under the name of "Robert Kling" (see April 15, 1995);
on April 17, 1995, McVeigh took possession of the rental truck in Junction City (see 3:00 - 5:00 p.m. April 17, 1995);
on April 18, 1995, at Geary Lake State Park in Kansas, McVeigh and Nichols constructed the truck bomb using barrels filled with ammonium nitrate, fuel, and other explosives, and placed the cargo in the compartment of the Ryder truck (see 5:00 a.m. April 18, 1995 and 8:15 a.m. and After, April 18, 1995);
on April 19, 1995, McVeigh parked the truck bomb directly outside the Murrah Building during regular business hours; and
on April 19, 1995, McVeigh "caused the truck bomb to explode" (see 8:35 a.m. - 9:02 a.m. April 19, 1995).
The indictment accuses McVeigh and Nichols of plotting the bombing "with others unknown to the Grand Jury." It does not mention the person identified earlier as "John Doe No. 2" (see June 14, 1995). The grand jury says it is confident others, as yet unidentified, also participated in the plot. Lead prosecutor Joseph Hartzler says: "The indictment mentions unknown co-conspirators. We will try to determine if there are others who aided and abetted this crime." After the indictments are handed down, Attorney General Janet Reno says: "We will pursue every lead based on the evidence.… [M]ost of these leads have been pursued and exhausted.… [W]e have charged everyone involved that we have evidence of at this point." Prosecutors say that while others may well have been involved, the plot was closely held between McVeigh and Nichols. US Attorney Patrick Ryan has already announced he will seek the death penalty against both McVeigh and Nichols (see July 11-13, 1995), a decision supported by Reno (see 4:00 p.m., April 19, 1995). A third conspirator, Michael Fortier, has pled guilty to lesser crimes regarding his involvement; Fortier has testified against McVeigh and Nichols in return for the lesser charges (see May 19, 1995 and August 8, 1995), and defense lawyers are expected to assail Fortier's credibility during the trials (see April 19, 1995 and After, April 23 - May 6, 1995, and May 8, 1995). Nichols's lawyer Michael Tigar says, "Terry Nichols is not guilty of the allegations of which he is charged," calls the case against his client "flimsy" and "irresponsible," and accuses prosecutors of attempting to try his client "in the national media." Periodically, Tigar holds up hand-lettered signs reading, among other messages, "Terry Nichols Wasn't There" and "A Fair Trial in a Fair Forum." Prosecutors have dropped all charges against Nichols's brother James Nichols, who was indicted on three related explosive charges (see December 22 or 23, 1988, April 25, 1995, and May 11, 1995). US Attorney Saul A. Green says that "additional investigation failed to corroborate some of the important evidence on which the government initially relied." [Washington Post, 8/11/1995; New York Times, 8/11/1995; Stickney, 1996, pp. 189-191; Mickolus and Simmons, 6/1997, pp. 811; Washington Post, 12/24/1997; Serrano, 1998, pp. 245; Douglas O. Linder, 2001] McVeigh's lawyer, Stephen Jones, tells reporters after the hearing that he has been in contact with a man who, he says, told the government early in the fall of 1994 of plans to blow up federal buildings. This man, Jones says, was given a "letter of immunity" by the authorities in exchange for information involving a trip he had taken to Kingman, Arizona, Fortier's hometown, and for information about his discussions with potential bombers whom, Jones says, the man had described as either "Latin American or Arab." Jones refuses to identify the person to whom he is referring. [New York Times, 8/11/1995]
Entity Tags: Terry Lynn Nichols, Timothy James McVeigh, Geary State Fishing Lake And Wildlife Area, Cynthia Campbell-Brown, Alan Whicher, Stephen Jones, Donald Leonard, Claude Madearis, Roger E. ("Bob") Moore, Saul A. Green, Paul Broxterman, Paul Douglas Ice, Janet Reno, James Nichols, Kenneth McCullough, Joseph H. Hartzler, Michael Joseph Fortier, Patrick M. Ryan, Mickey Maroney, Michael E. Tigar
February 28 - March 4, 1997: Press Reports McVeigh Confesses; Defense Says Press Used Illegally Gained Documents, Denies Confession
According to reports by the Dallas Morning News, indicted Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh (see 8:35 a.m. - 9:02 a.m. April 19, 1995 and August 10, 1995) has confessed to planning the bombing and detonating a bomb in front of the Murrah Federal Building. [Douglas O. Linder, 2001; Indianapolis Star, 2003] Reporter Pete Slover cites as his source "summaries of several 1995 interviews with a defense team member" [New York Times, 3/1/1997] , though he later admits in a court filing that he could not be sure the story was true before filing it. [Serrano, 1998, pp. 271] Researchers will later learn that McVeigh suspects his lead attorney Stephen Jones of leaking his purported confession to the press. The leak is later shown to be from a member of Jones's staff, who gave a computer disk containing FBI reports to Slover, apparently unaware that the McVeigh "confession" was also on the disk. [Douglas O. Linder, 2006] However, this reported speculation is countered by an opinion advanced in 1998 by author Richard A. Serrano, who will write that the defense's work to humanize McVeigh and "soften" his image (see June 26, 1995) "was blown apart" by the leaked information. [Serrano, 1998, pp. 271] The Morning News prints the article on its Web site seven hours before its next print edition can be published, and later cites a desire to match the immediacy of television and to ensure its exclusive isn't "scooped" by a competitor. Editors worried before publication that McVeigh's lawyers might leak the story in one fashion or another to another media outlet. [New York Times, 3/3/1997]
Details of Bombing Plot, Involvement by Co-Conspirator Nichols, Denials of Wider Conspiracy - According to documents obtained by the Morning News, McVeigh's defense lawyers wrote that McVeigh told one of them that his bombing of the Murrah Federal Building during working hours would leave a "body count" that would make a statement to the federal government. McVeigh also named his friend, alleged co-conspirator Terry Nichols, as being intimately involved with the bomb plot (see August 10, 1995), but insisted he alone drove the Ryder truck containing the bomb that destroyed the Murrah Building. McVeigh also denied any involvement by Terry Nichols's brother James Nichols (see December 22 or 23, 1988, May 11, 1995, and April 25, 1995). The Morning News describes the source of its reporting as summaries of several 1995 interviews with a member of the defense team's staff, conducted between July and December 1995 at the El Reno Federal Corrections Center in Oklahoma, where McVeigh was held before his transfer to the Denver area in March 1996. The summaries, the Morning News says, validate much of the prosecution's contention that McVeigh and Nichols committed robberies and burglary in the course of assembling money and materials for the bombing, even as it acknowledges that they could not be used by prosecutors in either man's trial. One summary of a July 1995 interview has a staffer asking McVeigh if it would have been better to bomb the building at night when relatively few people would have been present. According to the staffer: "Mr. McVeigh looked directly into my eyes and told me: 'That would not have gotten the point across to the government. We needed a body count to make our point.'" According to the documents, McVeigh and Nichols used significantly more ammonium nitrate than federal investigators have estimated—some 5,400 pounds as compared to federal estimates of 4,800 pounds—and about $3,000 worth of high-powered racing fuel to make a lethal explosive combination. "Mr. McVeigh states that 108 50-pound bags of ammonium nitrate fertilizer were mixed with the nitro fuel purchased by Terry Nichols," one summary reads. The summaries also have McVeigh admitting to his involvement in a 1994 robbery carried out by Nichols and himself to fund the bombing plot (see November 5, 1994 and Before July 3, 1995). "Mr. McVeigh stated that he laid out the plan and that Terry Nichols alone broke into [gun dealer Roger] Moore's house and stole the weapons," one summary reads. The summary tallies closely with recent statements by McVeigh's friend Michael Fortier, who pled guilty to helping transport the stolen weapons and is now helping the prosecution (see May 19, 1995 and August 8, 1995). Fortier has testified that he and McVeigh sold the weapons stolen from Moore in Arizona. McVeigh also detailed a burglary committed by himself and Nichols at a Kansas rock quarry (see October 3, 1994). He also gave information about a third burglary carried out by himself and Fortier of a National Guard armory (see February - July 1994), where they attempted to steal welding tools but only made off with hand tools. According to the summaries, McVeigh denied being part of a larger conspiracy, and said the bomb plot was conceived and executed by himself and Nichols. He called a witness who claimed knowledge of a Middle Eastern or Islamist connection (see February - July 1994) a "bullsh_t artist." He also said that another conspiracy theory centered around right-wing activist Andreas Strassmeir is groundless (see January 23, 1993 - Early 1994 and April 20, 1995). [Dallas Morning News, 3/1/1997; Washington Post, 3/1/1997] Initially, McVeigh's lead defense attorney Stephen Jones calls the documents "a hoax" and denies that McVeigh made any of those statements. The Dallas Morning News is trying to garner attention and subscriptions, Jones says, and implies that the Morning News's source is "setting up" the paper: "They just bought the Brooklyn Bridge," he says. The Morning News has informed Jones of the identity of the source that provided it with the documents. [Washington Post, 3/1/1997] "This is about the most irresponsible form of journalism," Jones says. He says that after McVeigh learned of the story, his client said, "There's a practical joker every week." [New York Times, 3/1/1997]
Defense Alleges Press Stole Documents - The Morning News denies a subsequent defense allegation that Slover stole thousands of computerized documents belonging to McVeigh's defense lawyers, documents Jones says were used in the Morning News's reporting. Jones says the documents acknowledge McVeigh's responsibility for the bombing, but do not constitute a confession. The Morning News, Jones says, got the documents "by fraud, deception, misrepresentation, and theft" involving the defense's computer files. Attorney Paul Watler, speaking for the Morning News, "categorically denies it committed any crime," and says the documents were obtained through "routine news-gathering techniques." The Morning News "did not hack into Mr. Jones' computer system, and it did not assist anyone else in doing so," Watler says. Jones says the documents are not, as some reports say, notes of a defense staffer's conversations with McVeigh; defense lawyers have previously alleged that they produced a "fake confession" designed to persuade a witness to talk to defense investigators. Jones says any such false confessions, if they exist, would not be used during McVeigh's trial. Jones says he may ask Judge Richard Matsch to delay the trial for 90 days to allow for a "cooling-off period" and allow "people to move on." Watler says Jones is using the allegations to cloud the trial proceedings. [Dallas Morning News, 3/4/1997; New York Times, 3/4/1997] Freelance journalist J.D. Cash, who writes for a far-right publication called The Jubilee and a small Oklahoma newspaper, the McCurtain Daily Gazette, denies reports that he is the source of the article. Cash says he is not "the intermediary who set up The Dallas Morning News," but says he is familiar with the documents described in the newspaper's accounts. The confession, Cash says, is "a mixture of fact and fantasy."
Possible Negative Impact on Jury - Observers worry that the story may prejudice a potential jury. "It's a worst-case scenario," says legal studies professor Jeffrey Abramson. "At the witching hour, but before people have been isolated from pretrial publicity, you get explosive evidence, exactly the kind of thing that makes it very difficult for a defendant to think he hasn't already been tried in the press." Law professor Rita J. Simon says the article could make a fair trial very difficult. "The jurors will know there was some report about a confession," she says. "I can't imagine, no matter where you hold the trial, that the jurors will not hear about it. As soon as the trial gets under way, the story will come out afresh." [New York Times, 3/2/1997]
Second Purported Confession - Days later, a second confession from McVeigh is reported, this time published by Playboy magazine. The article containing the purported confession is written by freelance reporter Ben Fenwick, and is apparently based on an internal summary of the case compiled by the McVeigh defense team (see Early 2005). Fenwick had obtained the document in 1996, he later says, and had kept it under wraps in the hopes of eventually writing a book about the case. He quickly wrote an article based on the document and sold it to Playboy after Slover's article hit the press. According to Fenwick's article, McVeigh says he detonated the bomb when he was a block away from the Murrah Building, and admitted to the bombing during a lie detector test administered by his lawyers. Other details in the article contradict physical evidence already presented in open court. Jones says: "These escalating reports of alleged statements by Mr. McVeigh are corrupting the heart of the jury system. The American ideals of justice are being held hostage to sensationalism." Fenwick is soon hired by ABC News as a legal consultant, an arrangement that allows ABC to quote extensively from the article in a special broadcast aired shortly before the trial begins. Fenwick will later admit that he did not authenticate the document before using it. The document and the article will lead the FBI to discover McVeigh's purchase of racing fuel from an Ennis, Texas, dealer (see October 21 or 22, 1994). [New York Times, 3/14/1997; New York Times, 3/18/1997; Serrano, 1998, pp. 271]
Entity Tags: Jeffrey Abramson, James Nichols, Terry Lynn Nichols, Andreas Strassmeir, Dallas Morning News, J.D. Cash, Ben Fenwick, Stephen Jones, Timothy James McVeigh, Rita J. Simon, Roger E. ("Bob") Moore, Murrah Federal Building, Michael Joseph Fortier, Paul Watler, Playboy, Pete Slover, Richard P. Matsch, Richard A. Serrano
March 15-17, 1997: McVeigh Lawyers Demand Dismissal of Charges; Judge Rejects Plea
Stephen Jones, the lead lawyer for accused Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh (see 8:35 a.m. - 9:02 a.m. April 19, 1995 and August 10, 1995), demands that the charges against his client be dismissed "with prejudice," citing what Jones calls "paralyzing pretrial publicity." Jones is specifically referring to news articles that report McVeigh has confessed to the bombing (see February 28 - March 4, 1997). As an alternative, Jones asks Judge Richard P. Matsch to delay the trial for a year and change the venue to either Alaska, Hawaii, Vermont, Puerto Rico, or the Virgin Islands. Jones says the purported confessions are fabrications, but also says that the confessions used materials whose publication breaches the attorney-client privilege. Prosecutors object to Jones's requests, and say that a delay would offer "no guarantee that equally bizarre events would not recur as a new trial date approached." [New York Times, 3/15/1997] Matsch rejects the motion to dismiss the charges, and the motions to delay and change the venue of the trial. [New York Times, 3/18/1997]
Entity Tags: Stephen Jones, Richard P. Matsch, Timothy James McVeigh
March 31, 1997 and After: McVeigh Jury Begins Selection; Questions Surround Knowledge, Capabilities of Potential Jurors
Jury selection begins in the trial of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh (see 8:35 a.m. - 9:02 a.m. April 19, 1995 and August 10, 1995). Judge Richard Matsch has denied defense attempts to delay the trial after a brief controversy erupted over media reports using defense documents (see February 28 - March 4, 1997). "I have full confidence that a fair-minded jury can and will be impaneled and that those selected will return a just verdict based on the law and evidence presented to them," Matsch wrote on March 17. Jurors' identities are kept hidden from the press. One potential juror, asked by US Attorney Patrick Ryan, "Did you watch a lot of the coverage?" answers: "It was unavoidable. In Oklahoma, it was wall to wall and floor to ceiling." Another potential juror says he worries about his safety in regards to what he will learn in the course of the trial: "It would seem this case goes further, wider, and deeper in many ways. A juror is going to be an insider on information he might just as soon not know." [Washington Post, 3/18/1997; New York Times, 4/1/1997; Douglas O. Linder, 2001] The pressure of this being a death-penalty trial, and the prospect of potentially confusing forensic evidence countered by the raw emotions of the bombing itself and of the conspiracy theories surrounding the proceedings, raises oft-asked questions about the competence of 12 jurors to find the truth in such a complex situation. The difference between an open-minded juror and one who is ignorant or intellectually challenged is difficult for lawyers and observers to assess. New York Times reporter Laura Mansnerus reflects on the trial of Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North, charged with crimes relating to the Iran-Contra scandal (see July 7-10, 1987 and May-June, 1989), in which, she writes: "When the jury was selected for the 1989 trial of Oliver North, a search went out for 12 people who knew nothing about Oliver North, which produced, well, 12 people who knew nothing about Oliver North. One person who qualified for service said she had seen him on television, but added, 'It was just like I was focusing on the Three Stooges or something.'" That ill-informed jury proved remarkably pliable to North's theatrics, Mansnerus writes, and many believe McVeigh's defense team hopes for a similar jury pool that may be willing to set aside scientific evidence in favor of conspiracy theories and emotional pleas. Jury expert Jeffrey Abramson of Brandeis University tells Mansnerus: "In a case that's heavy on scientific, forensic evidence, the defense is going to favor people who are less sophisticated about scientific matters and who are prone to conspiracy theories. That's the classic defense approach." Philadelphia prosecutor Jack McMahon warned in a well-known 1986 instructional video of the pitfalls that can result in letting "smart people" on the jury, saying: "Smart people will analyze the hell out of your case. They have a higher standard. They take those words 'reasonable doubt' and they actually try to think about them. You don't want those people." Moreover, people with jobs requiring any real level of responsibility are routinely excused from jury service; this case is no exception, leaving a pool of jurors with little or no steady employment, spotty educational status, and somtimes limited intellectual capabilities to judge McVeigh's innocence or guilt. [New York Times, 4/6/1997]
Entity Tags: Jeffrey Abramson, Timothy James McVeigh, Jack McMahon, Patrick M. Ryan, Laura Mansnerus, Richard P. Matsch
May 9, 1997: Prosecutors Establish Timeline of Events Leading up to Rental of Truck Used in Oklahoma City Bombing
Prosecutors in the trial of Timothy McVeigh (see 8:35 a.m. - 9:02 a.m. April 19, 1995, August 10, 1995, and April 24, 1997) use a number of witnesses to establish a timeline leading up to McVeigh's rental of a Ryder truck (under the alias "Robert D. Kling"—see Mid-March, 1995) that, they say, he used to bomb an Oklahoma City federal building (see April 15, 1995). Eldon Elliott, the owner of the Junction City, Kansas, truck rental agency that rented McVeigh the truck (see February 19, 1997), identifies McVeigh as the truck renter "Kling." McVeigh's lawyer, Stephen Jones, presses Elliott to admit that he does not remember what McVeigh was wearing the day he rented the truck, though Elliott maintains he remembers McVeigh quite clearly. Jones notes that in his initial statement to the FBI, Elliott told investigators that "Kling" was either 5'10" or 5'11" "or a little taller," whereas McVeigh is 6'1". Other witnesses show that a Junction City taxi took a passenger identified as McVeigh from a shopping center near the Dreamland Motel to a McDonald's restaurant on April 17; McVeigh was staying at the Dreamland on that day (see 5:00 a.m. April 18, 1995 and 8:15 a.m. and After, April 18, 1995) under the alias "Robert Kling." Security photographs from the Junction City McDonald's show a man closely resembling McVeigh buying a meal, and, in court, the McDonald's manager identifies McVeigh as the customer. Prosecutors say McVeigh was in Junction City that afternoon without a car because he had parked his car the night before in Oklahoma City to use for his getaway after the blast. Another witness says he delivered an order of Chinese food ordered by "Kling" to Room 25 of the Dreamland Motel during the time McVeigh stayed in that room, though under cross-examination he says the man who accepted the food was not McVeigh. Perhaps the most memorable witness is Marife Nichols, the Filipina bride of McVeigh's accused co-conspirator Terry Nichols (see July - December 1990). She testifies that McVeigh had stayed with her and her husband in their Marion, Kansas, home for a few days in September 1994 (see (September 30, 1994)). She testifies that on April 16, 1995, her family's dinner was interrupted by a telephone call; her husband then left the house and did not return until the following morning. Prosecutors say that Terry Nichols drove 220 miles from their house in Herington, Kansas, to Oklahoma City, where he picked up McVeigh after McVeigh had stashed his car for his planned getaway (see April 16-17, 1995). Press reports have alleged (see February 28 - March 4, 1997) that McVeigh and Marife Nichols had an affair during the summer of 1994; lawyers do not broach the subject during the trial. [CNN, 5/9/1997; New York Times, 5/10/1997; New York Times, 5/16/1997] Marife Nichols will confirm the affair in 2004. [New York Times, 4/9/2004]
Entity Tags: Stephen Jones, Dreamland Motel (Junction City, Kansas), Marife Torres Nichols, Timothy James McVeigh, Terry Lynn Nichols, Eldon Elliott
January 16, 1998: Convicted Oklahoma City Bomber Requests New Trial
Lawyers for convicted Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh (see June 2, 1997 and June 11-13, 1997) ask the US Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit, based in Denver, for a new trial for their client. They argue that McVeigh did not receive a fair trial. In a 225-page brief, McVeigh's lawyers say that Judge Richard P. Matsch, the federal district judge who presided over McVeigh's trial and sentencing, made a number of errors in his rulings, jurors had been exposed to prejudicial information in news reports that McVeigh had confessed to his defense team (see February 28 - March 4, 1997), Matsch ignored juror misconduct, and Matsch allowed "unfairly prejudicial, inflammatory" testimony from bombing survivors. [New York Times, 1/17/1998]
Entity Tags: Timothy James McVeigh, Richard P. Matsch

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Finally finished my first Spitfire.
A nice job there Stephen, the only real hiccup I can see you had was with some silvering under your wing walkway decals, they're often sods to get right, however, I wonder if you might be able to fix them by running some Klear or similar under them by pricking the silvered ares with a pin carefully & then dabbing the Klear onto that area with a small brush . A read through this might help. If your haven't got Klear, Pascoes Long Life Self Shining Floor polish seems to do OK too.
Good to hear there's an alternative the Klear as I believe they've changed the formula. My bottle's still going strong but will run out one day.
Anyway, a very nice Spitfire in those pre-Battle of Britain colours. This is an aircraft flown by the great Kiwi ace Colin Gray, if I'm not mistaken. He claimed a probable Me109 in it on 25th May over Dunkirk. The aircraft was severely damaged during the combat but Gray managed to nurse it back to Hornchurch. It was repaired and later issued to 152 Squadron. Sadly it was lost with its pilot, Australian Sgt K C Holland after he had destroyed an He111 on 20th September.
Steve in NZ I won't worry about fixing the decal. It is a reminder to never answer the phone when it rings even if it is the bloody plumber to install the wife's new oven. How I would love to go to NZ for a holiday, we can't leave Billy (dog) he frets when the wife goes to work. He is an Animal rescue dog and I think he has been dumped a few times before.
Meatbox8 you have given me an idea for my next Spitfire build, Sgt K. C. Holland's aircraft. Do you have any info on this particular aircraft?
Hi Stephen. I can certainly look in to it. Most of the information in my previous post was gleaned from the Osprey Aircraft of the Aces No.12 'Spitfire Mk.I/II Aces 1939-41'.
What I can tell is that the aircraft's registration was N3173, although, like your model, it didn't appear to have had the serial in evidence in the usual place to the rear of the fuselage, at least not when it was with 54 Squadron. 152 (Hyderabad) Squadron's codes were UM but I'm afraid I don't know the individual letter for this aircraft. Their codes seem to have been applied in quite a large font. The aircraft would almost certainly have had the underside re-painted in Sky with large 'Type A' roundels applied at this time.
Kenneth Christopher Holland was born in Sydney and was only 20 when he was lost, the tenth and, quite possibly, the youngest Aussie who was killed during the Battle. Below is a link to 152 Squadron's memorial website. It's a really good site and there is a whole section dedicated to the memory of Holland. Well worth a look.
Sorry I can't be more help at the moment but hopefully this info will be useful.
Just a bit of info which might be of interest. The aircraft Holland shot down was a Heinkel He111P of 6/KG55. Apparently, having mortally damaged the bomber Holland went in closer to check on his aim when the Heinkel's gunner fired at him. Both aircraft came down in the vicinity of Bath, Somerset. There is a memorial to him there to this day, I'm glad to say.
Thanks for the info Meatbox8, I will definitely try an build Kenneth's aircraft.
I got hold of Osprey Aircraft of the Aces No.12 'Spitfire Mk.I/II Aces 1939-41 and I will get some decals and attempt to build young Holland's aircraft.
I look forward to seeing it. Sorry I couldn't get you the aircraft code but it may come up somewhere. I'm sure it will be a fitting tribute to a very young and courageous one of 'the few'.