Prologue
Matsch quote from a March 25, 1998, post-conviction hearing in the Nichols federal trial; quote from Kerry Noble, Jim Ellison’s sidekick in the 1980s paramilitary sect the Covenant, the Sword, and the Arm of the Lord (CSA), from a never-released documentary made by a production company named MGA (Made for General Audiences); transcript of interview, dated March 22, 1999, obtained by authors. Ashcroft turned down FBI requests for $50 million in new counterterrorism funds the day before 9/11; see Richard Clarke, Against All Enemies, p. 254, and Dan Eggen, “Ashcroft’s Pre–9/11 Priorities Scrutinized,” Washington Post, April 13, 2004. He faced at least two high-profile lawsuits, Raich v. Ashcroft and Santa Cruz v. Ashcroft, because of his opposition to California’s medical marijuana laws. Infamously, Ashcroft paid $8,000 to cover up a nude female statue, the Spirit of Justice, in the Great Hall of the Main Justice building in Washington. “Curtains for Semi-Nude Justice Statue,” BBC News, January 29, 2002. Janet Reno on deadbeat dads, see Justice Department news release of December 22, 1994, “Attorney General Reno Announces Plan to Crack Down on Dead-Beat Parents Who Fail to Pay Child Support”; Danny Defenbaugh said in an April 5, 2011, interview (Gumbel) that this priority was met with consternation at the FBI, because it tied up resources the offices wanted to expend on serious crime. Reno did not respond to interview requests. The Department of Homeland Security study, prepared in coordination with the FBI, is Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment, published April 7, 2009. Most controversial was its finding that neo-Nazis, skinheads, and other white supremacists were learning combat skills in the army and that “rightwing extremists will attempt to recruit and radicalize returning veterans in order to exploit their skills and knowledge derived from military training and combat…. The willingness of a small percentage of military personnel to join extremist groups during the 1990s because they were disgruntled, disillusioned, or suffering from the psychological effects of war is being replicated today.” Jonathan Franzen, Freedom, p. 445; James William Gibson, Warrior Dreams, p. 12. Sign on prosecutors’ door related by Larry Mackey, interview (Gumbel), April 28, 2011; Joe Hartzler remembered the sign reading: “Don’t hide the crime in the clutter,” interview (Gumbel), June 2, 2011. Keating quoted in Jon Hersley, Larry Tongate, and Bob Burke, Simple Truths, p. 10; Michael E. Tigar, Nine Principles of Litigation and Life, p. 161; the last two sentences take their inspiration from a similar sentiment expressed by Michael Tigar in his opening argument in the Nichols trial on November 3, 1997. Tigar said: “To the living, we owe respect. To the dead, we owe the truth.”
Chapter 1
EOD team:
Interview (Gumbel and Charles) with confidential source familiar with Mogg and Humphries, May 13, 2010; Mogg partial travel records released by Defense Finance and Accounting Service, letter to Roger Charles, February 10, 1998; Mogg phone interviews with Don Devereux, June 6, 2001, and Mary Mapes, June 17, 2001, graciously shared with authors. Mogg’s words to Devereux, when asked what he was doing in Oklahoma City, were: “You’ll have to ask the FBI about that.” A number of senior FBI agents responsible for domestic security or for Oklahoma said they knew nothing about the EOD team or its mission.
McVeigh and Nichols meet to build the bomb:
Terry Nichols handwritten account, “Morning of April 18, 1995,” November 29, 2007; Nichols’s written answers to author questions, March 20, 2010; McVeigh’s version in Lou Michel and Dan Herbeck, American Terrorist, pp. 214–20.
Wayne Snell predicting a bomb:
Prison official Alan Ables’s interview with Canadian Broadcasting Service Fifth Estate program, broadcast October 22, 1996. Also quoted in Howard Pankratz, “Blast blamed on revenge attack linked to militant’s execution,” Denver Post, May 12, 1996, and in John Solomon, “Government had information suggesting Oklahoma City attack weeks before McVeigh struck,” Associated Press, February 12, 2003; Ellison quoted in Kerry Noble, Tabernacle of Hate: Why They Bombed Oklahoma City, pp. 134–35.
Walter Reed Army Institute of Research:
Interviews (Charles) with Karyn Armstrong and Adolph Januszkiewicz, February 6, 1998. Dennis Dutsch, Governor Frank Keating’s chief of security, said he was sure the query did not originate with his office. The governor’s office would never go through the Pentagon for a request of this nature. (Interview with Gumbel, June 22, 2011.)
Steam-generating plant incident:
Trigen log quoted in Richard Sherrow, “Aftershocks and Subterfuge: Cloud of Doubt Lingers Over Government Cover-Up,” Soldier of Fortune, April 1996; Glenn Wilburn’s conversations with Charles Gaines and Harvey Weathers quoted in Kathy Sanders, After Oklahoma: A Grieving Grandmother Uncovers Shocking Truths About the Bombing…and Herself, pp. 89–90; Wilburn also interviewed by Tom Jarriel of ABC’s 20/20, November 18, 1996. His account is corroborated by Harvey Weathers in his FBI FD-302 interview of May 15, 1996, file no. 14935, and by Oklahoma City fire chief Gary Marrs in his FBI FD-302, May 21, 1996, file no. 15006. The sarin gas alert story is also from Marrs. See also Judy Keen, “An Army of Agents, Experts Following Hundreds of Leads,” USA Today, April 20, 1995.
McVeigh and Nichols at Geary Lake:
Terry Nichols’s handwritten account, “Morning of April 18, 1995,” op. cit. McVeigh’s line about sacrificing himself if necessary, from Nichols’s answers to author questions, February 21, 2011. McVeigh’s account, from Michel and Herbeck, American Terrorist, pp. 216–20; expert opinion on explosives: interviews with, among others, Special Agent Tristan Moreland of ATF, November 5, 2009, and February 4, 2010 (Gumbel), and noted explosives expert and government consultant Pharis E. Williams, September 21, 2010 (Gumbel and Charles, by e-mail); Andrew Macdonald [William Pierce alias], Hunter, pp. 176–79.
Links between Snell, Beam, and others, etc.:
Jack Knox interview (Gumbel), May 10, 2010; Bruce Campbell interview (Gumbel), October 21, 2009; Cheri Seymour interview (Gumbel), July 22, 2009; confidential informant reporting Beam meeting Mary Snell in April 1995, contained in January 29, 1996, FBI insert, file no. E 7453; Mary Snell, interviewed by the FBI on August 12, 1995, FD-302, file no. 9384, said her husband had no advance knowledge of the bombing; FBI interview with Roy L. Byrd, Florence, Arizona, January 25, 1996, FD-302, file no. 13856; Bill Buford interview (Gumbel), May 11, 2010; Mary Snell letter to Michigan militia, quoted in Daniel Levitas, The Terrorist Next Door: The Militia Movement and the Radical Right, p. 5.
Odd departures from Elohim City:
Millar quoted in interview with MGA documentary crew, May 23, 2000; Andreas Strassmeir, interviews (Gumbel), June 30–July 3, 2010; “Field marshal of Elohim City” line from Dave Hollaway interview (Gumbel), July 10, 2010; information on Aryan Republican Army robberies/meeting to disband from FBI FD-302 interview with Richard Lee Guthrie, case no. 91A-CI-63809 (MC-124), dated March 4–15, 1996, esp. p. 17 for this time frame; and also Guthrie’s unpublished handwritten prison memoir, The Taunting Bandits, aka Banks for the Memories, esp. p. 155; on Thomas getting money from the Des Moines robbery and giving Stedeford a fake driver’s license, see Mark S. Hamm, In Bad Company: America’s Terrorist Underground, p. 221; Stedeford’s and McCarthy’s movements, see McCarthy’s FBI FD-302 interviews, June 17, 1996 (not in the bombing case file), and September 20, 1996; Mark and Nathan Thomases’ movements, per FD-302 interview with Mark Thomas, April 17, 1997 (not in the bombing case file). Information on Nathan Thomas at Elohim City from Carol Howe, see ATF report of investigation for November 1994, op. cit.; Sonny Ward leaving Elohim City for elsewhere in Oklahoma, then Valdosta, Georgia, see FBI FD-302 interview with Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper John Haynie, April 28, 1995, file no. 389; Priscilla Ward’s Sunday-school teacher Kennilee Mooney, see her FBI FD-302, file no. 14818, April 27, 1996; on Pete Ward and the Ward parents, see FBI FD-302 with Pete Ward, September 23, 1996, file no. 16069.
Ken Stern report:
Militias: A Growing Danger, published in Issues in National Affairs, vol. 5, no. 1 (New York, American Jewish Committee, 1995); cover memo provided to Gumbel by e-mail, December 23, 2009, along with information on researcher group pooling information; LaPierre and Liddy quoted in Kenneth S. Stern, A Force Upon the Plain, p. 222.
Dave Hollaway’s strange phone call:
Dave Hollaway interview (Gumbel), May 6, 2010, FBI FD-302; interview with Hollaway, August 12, 1996, file no. 15886; Kirk Lyons interviews (Gumbel), March 23, 2010 and May 27, 2010.
McVeigh traveling from Kansas to Oklahoma:
McVeigh’s account told to defense lawyer Jim Hankins in May 1995 and quoted in a confidential defense memo dated January 22, 1996, written by Amber McLaughlin and Bob Wyatt. The memo was first obtained by freelance reporter Ben Fenwick and subsequently released by producer Martin Smith of PBS’s Frontline. See http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/documents/mcveigh/; J. W. Odom, interviewed by the FBI, April 28, 1995, file no. 17075; Ingrid Mae Willmurth, interviewed April 24, 1995, by Agent Mario Reyes of ATF, see FBI FD-302, file no. 207; Cattle Baron’s Steakhouse sighting and Jackie’s Farmers Store sighting cited in Arnold Hamilton, “Ryder Truck, Trail of Food Take Bomb Inquiry Along Back Road; Reported Sightings of Suspects Studied Up and Down U.S. 77,” Dallas Morning News, November 27, 1995.
Wilburn household breakfast:
Glenn and Kathy Wilburn, interviewed by Tom Jarriel of ABC’s 20/20, November 18, 1996. Quotes taken from ABC internal transcript.
Bill Grimsley and the bomb squad truck:
Grimsley FBI FD-302, file no. 15426, dated July 8, 1996; FBI interviews, file nos. 11607 and 11735, with bomb squad captain Bob Heady and his squad, dated November 7, 1995; Heady reinterviewed May 20, 1996, file no. 15002; witnesses include Dan Adomitis, interviewed by Tom Jarriel of ABC News, November 19, 1996 (information taken from raw ABC transcript); J. D. Reed, who wrote an account titled “Wednesday, April 19, 1995, A Black Day for Us All,” in Workin’ Interest, a company newsletter of Parker & Parsley Petroleum USA Inc., vol. 96, issue 3; and Norma Joslin, quoted in Laura Vozella, “Pair See Conspiracy in Blast; Government Tipped Off, Couple Say,” Fort Worth Star-Telegram, March 31, 1996. Joslin’s insistence on being driven into underground garage for grand jury hearing taken from notes (Charles) from her meeting with Oklahoma State Representative Charles Key, October 3, 1997; Sheriff J. D. Sharp denying presence of bomb squad downtown to local Oklahoma media cited in Petition for Writ of Mandamus of Petitioner-Defendant, Timothy James McVeigh and Brief in Support, filed in the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals on March 25, 1997; bomb squad in blue jeans, quoted in NBC Extra, March 19, 1997; interviews (Gumbel) with bomb squad members Kyle Kilgore and Stanley D. Brown, September 21, 2010.
Bomb squad/sniffer dogs:
Renee Cooper FBI FD-302, file no. 11474, November 22, 1995; see also Sanders, op. cit., pp. 66–67; private investigator Claude Criss interviewed by Tom Jarriel of ABC News, November 19, 1996; interview (Gumbel), August 18, 2010; Debbie Nakanashi told congressional investigator John Culbertson that her bosses and the U.S. Attorney’s Office had put limits on what she, as a federal employee, could say in court. In her exact words: “They also said that if I had seen, like, for instance…if I had noticed bomb dogs on the outside of the building as I was coming to work on the day of the bombing, that was something that I could not testify as to that I had seen that.” The interview was recorded and entered into the congressional record July 27, 2000, at a hearing of the House Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law. See http://commdocs.house.gov/committees/judiciary/hju67342.000/hju67342_0.htm; Randall Yount interview (Gumbel), September 30, 2010; John Haynie, FBI FD-302, dated May 20, 1996, file no. 15004. Surveillance training explanation from his testimony before the Oklahoma County grand jury, January 28, 1998, obtained by authors; Haynie quotes from interview (Gumbel), December 17, 2010, the culmination of three months of phone calls and e-mail correspondence; OHP time logs obtained through an open records request; Rick Stephens interviews (Gumbel), October 12, 2010, February 1 and February 14, 2011.
Ryder truck/other vehicle sightings after 8 A.M.:
McVeigh arriving in Oklahoma City at 8:50 A.M., see Michel and Herbeck, op. cit., pp. 223, 229. Leonard Long, interviewed by J. D. Cash, November 14, 1995, tape obtained by authors. See also J. D. Cash and Jeff Holladay, “Startling New Evidence: At Least 4 People Directly Involved in Bombing,” McCurtain Daily Gazette, January 23, 1996; Morris John Kuper, FBI FD-302, interviews on October 24 and November 1, 1995 file nos. 10935 and 11356; Kyle Hunt, quoted in Sanders, op. cit., pp. 87–88; Mike Moroz, FBI FD-302, file no. 68, dated April 21, 1995, also quoted in Peter Gelzinis, “FBI Turns Tragedy into ‘Nightmare,’” Boston Globe, May 13, 2001; Dave Snider, interviewed by MGA documentary crew, March 27, 1999. Transcript obtained by authors; James Linehan, FBI FD-302, file no. 1645, dated April 25, 1995, also interviewed by MGA documentary crew, April 13, 1999, transcript obtained by authors. Danny Wilkerson’s story told by Jannie Coverdale, interview April 2001, see Andrew Gumbel, “Timothy McVeigh: A Deadly Silence,” The Independent (UK), April 17, 2001; Danny Coulson, quoted on BBC television program The Conspiracy Files, March 2, 2007. Also, interview (Gumbel), May 19, 2010; the “innocent” Ryder truck, see Billy Holdson’s FBI FD-302, file no. 17699, April 16, 1997. The Turner Diaries passage describing FBI headquarters bombing, see Macdonald, op. cit., pp. 36–42; Jane Graham, public statement, “Murrah Building Bombing/Information and MisInformation,” November 15, 1996; Dave Hollaway, interview (Gumbel), May 6, 2010. Underground parking lot story also related by Andreas Strassmeir, interview (Gumbel), July 3, 2010; Kirk Lyons, interview (Gumbel), May 27, 2010; sighting of Ryder truck attempting to enter alley behind federal courthouse, interview (Charles) with former Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper Steve Newby, citing fellow OHP trooper Mike Stroud, September 12, 1997; interview with the head of Federal Protective Service, Tom Hunt (Gumbel), December 16, 2010, and with John Magaw (Gumbel), June 22, 2010.
Prank call to Justice Department:
Jones and Israel, Others Unknown, pp. 3–4, 242–50; in The Turner Diaries, a character called Henry uses a public phone booth to call the Washington Post one minute before a truck bomb destroys FBI headquarters. See Macdonald, op. cit., p. 40.
Fax to Steve Stockman’s office:
Statement, with text of fax, put out by Stockman’s staff, April 24, 1995. More information in Richard Whittle, “Fax to Congressman on Day of Blast Explained by Sender; Woman Says She’d Hoped to Limit Disinformation,” Christian Science Monitor, April 26, 1995; and in Bennett Roth, “Oklahoma City Tragedy: Threat or a Promise? Stockman Reveals Fax Author’s Taped Vow to ‘Go Ballistic,’” Houston Chronicle, April 27, 1995.
Final minutes before the explosion:
Gary Lewis, quoted in J. D. Cash, “Eyewitness to Bombing Saw McVeigh, Smiling Mideasterner,” McCurtain Daily Gazette, August 11, 1995; Glenn Grossman FBI FD-302, file no. 198, dated April 23, 1995; second FBI FD-302, file no. 14843, dated April 30, 1996; Daina Bradley, see McVeigh trial transcript, May 23, 1997; Rodney Johnson, from MGA documentary transcript, interviewed March 18, 1999. Leah Moore, see J. D. Cash, “The Final Moments Before the Oklahoma City Bombing,” McCurtain Daily Gazette, January 24, 1996. (Leah Moore misspelled Lea Mohr.) Levoid Jack Gage, FBI FD-302, file no. 7221, July 27, 1995; McVeigh’s description of putting in earplugs and walking away, Michel and Herbeck, op. cit., pp. 229–31; Secret Service timeline obtained by authors, timeline entry on Grossman at 1930 on April 24, 1995; Richard A. Serrano and Ronald J. Ostrow, “FBI Re-Creates Events Leading to Bomb Blast,” Los Angeles Times, October 25, 1995.
Chapter 2
Oklahoma Military Academy:
Stanley Brown, contemporaneous notes, written April 19, 1995, and revised April 20, 1995, made available to authors. Also, interview (Gumbel), September 21, 2010.
Federal courthouse:
Gary Knight, interview (Gumbel), September 1, 2010; more details in John Perry, “A Day of Terror,” Daily Oklahoman, April 23, 1995.
Rear axle hits Richard Nichols’s car:
Nichols testified in the McVeigh trial, May 14, 1997. Nichols is no relation of Terry or James Nichols.
Glenn Wilburn on scene:
From transcript of interview with ABC’s 20/20, November 18, 1996.
Murrah Building:
Some details of America’s Kids day-care center taken from Rick Bragg, “Tender Memories of Day-Care Center Are All That Remain After the Bomb,” New York Times, May 3, 1995; on the mini-scandal concerning Danielle Hunt’s work as operator, see notes to chapter 3. According to inspection reports from the Oklahoma Department of Human Services, obtained by Gumbel, attendance at 9:00 A.M. was consistent at about thirty kids in the first three months of the year, nine or ten more than were present on April 19. On Dana Cooper’s educational qualifications, see “Those Who Were Killed” section of the Oklahoma City National Memorial Web site, http://www.oklahomacitynationalmemorial.org; story of Brandon and Jessica Denny from Tom and Danielle Hunt, interviews (Gumbel), December 16 and 17, 2010. On Brandon Denny’s medical travails, see Arnold Hamilton, “Life Goes on for Young Survivors of Oklahoma City Bombing,” Dallas Morning News, April 19, 2005; on Daina Bradley and her family, see Marc Peyser with Peter Annin, “Survivor: ‘All I Saw Were Bright Lights,’” Newsweek, June 5, 1995; particulars of victim trauma from a detailed, body part by body part, inventory compiled by the military, titled “Body Locations,” dated May 2, 1995, and obtained by Gumbel; account of OCFD rescue operations chief, see Mike Shannon, “Rescue Operations: Doing Battle with the Building,” Fire Engineering, October 1995, pp. 64–93, Priscilla Salyers story: Daniel LeDuc, Jeffrey Fleishman, Terence Samuel, Larry Copeland, Dan Meyers, et al,. “Just Another Day, Then Disaster in Federal Building,” Philadelphia Inquirer, April 30, 1995; breakdown of fatalities: “Victims of the Oklahoma City Bombing,” Associated Press, June 11, 2001.
Fragility of Murrah Building:
FEMA report on the building damage: W. Gene Corley, Mete A. Sozen, Charles H. Thornton, and Paul F. Mlakar, “The Oklahoma City Bombing: Improving Building Performance Through Multi-Hazard Mitigation,” FEMA, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., August 1996; a useful summary and further conclusions can be found in W. Gene Corley, “Applicability of Seismic Design in Mitigating Progressive Collapse,” CTL Group, Skokie, Illinois, 2004. National Research Council report: Committee on the Protection of Federal Facilities Against Terrorism, “Protection of Federal Office Buildings Against Terrorism,” National Academy Press, Washington, D.C., 1988, line about explosive-laden vehicle, p. 30; NRC author John Pignato and other experts interviewed in Mike McGraw and Joe Stephens, “88 Warnings on Terrorism Left Unheeded; Study Advised Ways to Prevent Attacks on Federal Buildings,” Kansas City Star, April 29, 1995; Ronald L. Howland, interview (Gumbel), January 3, 2011; Tom Hunt, interviews (Gumbel), December 16 and 17, 2010; five-hour gap in daily security-guard coverage and other arrangements detailed in GSA Federal Protective Service Physical Security Survey, dated February 21, 1995, obtained by Gumbel.
Bomb detonation:
Raymon Brown’s initial findings are in a brief report, “Seismograms Possibly Associated with the OKC Explosion,” May 9, 1995. This and more is included in rogue former FBI agent Ted Gunderson’s report on the bombing, with its conclusion that the blast was the result of a super bomb. See Ted L. Gunderson and Associates, “The Gunderson Report on the Bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. April 19, 1995,” Las Vegas, November 1, 1996, amended October 26, 2000. Viewed online at http://www.tedgunderson.net, October 20, 2010; Brown told an Oklahoma County grand jury in September 1997 he now regarded the results as inconclusive and they could not, on their own, support the two-bomb theory. His boss, OGS director Charles Mankin, told the grand jury the two-bomb theory had been a mistake. See Ed Godfrey, Diana Baldwin, and Judy Kuhlman, “Grand Jury Told Seismic Readings Unclear in Bombing,” Daily Oklahoman, September 19, 1997, and Diana Baldwin, “Expert Rejects 2-Bomb Idea, Grand Jury Told Seismic Report a Mistake,” Daily Oklahoman, October 7, 1997; for a scientific explanation of why the seismograms are consistent with a single bomb, see Thomas L. Holzer, Joe B. Fletcher, Gary S. Fuis, Trond Ryberg, Thomas M. Brocher, and Christopher M. Dietel, “Seismograms Offer Insight into Oklahoma City Bombing,” Eos (a publication of the American Geophysical Union), vol. 77, no. 41, October 8, 1996; Brigadier General Partin’s report, “Bomb Damage Analysis of Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma,” is dated July 30, 1995, and was sent to Senator Trent Lott of Mississippi, then the Senate Majority Whip. For a take-down of his arguments, and a cogent explanation of the bomb blast and its effects, see Richard Sherrow, “Bombast, Bomb Blasts & Baloney,” Soldier of Fortune, January 1996, pp. 41–43 and 72–77; others supporting Sherrow’s contentions about the negative blast-pressure wave include Bill Buford, another veteran bomb expert for the ATF turned commander of the Arkansas State Police Bomb Squad, interview (Gumbel), May 11, 2010. See also, Globalsecurity.org’s online article on munitions damage at http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/munitions/damage.htm (accessed October 20, 2010); Dave Hollaway interview (Gumbel), May 6, 2010.
Scenes from the bowels of hell:
Franklin Alexander, account in official written statement, FBI FD-302, file no. 15498, dictated July 7, 1996; John Avera, interviewed by his police department colleagues. Report included in undated FBI document F-9442, April 20, 1995 (not in bombing case file); some details also from Mike Shannon’s piece in Fire Engineering, op. cit.
Suspicions of Middle East connection, smart suspicions of a Waco connection:
Jim Kamen quoted in Jim Naureckas, “The Oklahoma City Bombing: The Jihad that Wasn’t,” Extra! (a publication of FAIR, or Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting), Washington, D.C., July/August 1995; warning issued to federal courthouses, see John Solomon, “Weeks Before 1995 Oklahoma Bombing, Government Warned of Possible Terror Bombings of Federal Buildings,” Associated Press, June 20, 2002, and Robert Rudolph, “Lawmen Get Warning of Plot on U.S. Targets,” Newark Star-Ledger, March 22, 1995. Also Judge Wayne Alley interview (Gumbel), August 18, 2010; Abraham Ahmad story detailed in his FBI FD-302s, file numbers 3939 (April 19, 1995, in Chicago), 3354 (April 20–21, from his FBI interrogation in northern Virginia), and 230 (April 20, itemizing the contents of his luggage recovered in Rome). Pentagon sends Arab translators: Pentagon Department of Military Support memo, obtained by authors, titled “Linguist Support for Federal Bureau of Investigation” and dated April 19, 1995, and e-mail, obtained by authors, from Lieutenant Colonel Frederick S. Gisler of Forces Command headquarters at Fort McPherson, Georgia; Ricks telling police and fire chiefs the significance of April 19, interview (Gumbel) with Assistant City Manager Joe Van Bullard, August 25, 2010. Ricks wondering if he was a target, interview (Gumbel), August 17, 2010; Danny Coulson–Rita Braver phone call, see Danny O. Coulson, with Elaine Shannon, No Heroes: Inside the FBI’s Secret Counter-Terror Force, p. 3.
McVeigh and the missing license plate:
McVeigh’s version of purchasing the Mercury, stashing it in Oklahoma City, and driving away after the bombing: see Michel and Herbeck, op. cit., pp. 206–207, 211–13, and 230–32; theories of why no license plate: Bob Ricks, the FBI special agent in charge in Oklahoma City (interview by Gumbel, August 9, 2010), thought McVeigh simply forgot to reattach it in the heat of the moment; Scott Mendeloff, a member of the government prosecution team (interview by Gumbel, July 16, 2010), thought it fell off; Weldon Kennedy, the FBI’s first on-scene commander (interview by Gumbel, August 26, 2010), thought the license plate was stolen; Terry Nichols, echoing some of the crazier theories floating around the Internet, has suggested that McVeigh was programmed by a government “handler” to (a) remove the license plate and (b) make sure he was caught and take the fall for the bombing (Nichols’s handwritten answers to questions posed by Salt Lake City lawyer Jesse Trentadue, dated January 27, 2010); McVeigh said (Michel and Herbeck, p. 226) he expected to be captured or killed, though he didn’t say this in connection with the missing license plate. Two witnesses who saw plate dangling by a single bolt: Lea McGown, owner of the Dreamland Motel in Junction City, Kansas, where McVeigh checked in hours after purchasing the Mercury (McGown interview with MGA documentary crew, March 13, 1999, transcript obtained by authors; and Gary Lewis, the Journal Record employee, who saw what he believed was an Oklahoma license plate dangling by a single bolt—see notes to chapter 1); “Nice and solid, two screws right on top” quote reported by defense lawyer Jim Hankins (see notes to chapter 1) based on interview with McVeigh in May 1995. “Network of friends” letter to Jennifer, which is undated, is quoted in Michel and Herbeck, op. cit., p. 197. In her grand jury testimony on August 2, 1995, Jennifer told prosecuting attorney Vicki Behenna she thought the letter was written sometime after October 1993. (Summary of her testimony in Alliance Services investigative memo to the Nichols federal defense team, memo written by H. C. Bodley, July 10, 1997.) Items in McVeigh’s car, exhibits at his trial including nos. 447 (“abandoned do not tow” note under windshield), 448A (copy of Declaration of Independence with message on the back), 451 (quote from John Locke, hand-copied by McVeigh), 453 (photocopied excerpt from The Turner Diaries), and 458 (article on Lexington and Concord); Terry Nichols corroborating story about removing license plate, from Nichols’s handwritten answers to author questions, March 20, 2010.
The getaway from Oklahoma City:
McVeigh’s version reported by Hankins as well as Michel and Herbeck; Germaine Johnston account based on her testimony at the Terry Nichols trial (December 5, 1997). Johnston estimated she saw McVeigh 20–25 minutes after the bombing, which would not leave him enough time to drive the Mercury to the point on I-35 where he was arrested just before 10:20 A.M. The FBI never seriously considered the possibility that Johnston was mistaken about how much time had elapsed (as opposed to mistaken about absolutely everything else); the other witness who saw McVeigh in the alley was Morris John Kuper (see notes to chapter 1).
Chevie Kehoe at the Shadows Motel in Spokane:
Details in Bill Morlin, “McVeigh in Spokane Before Bombing? Innkeeper Links Kehoe, McVeigh in Months Before Oklahoma City Blast,” Spokane Spokesman Review, January 16, 1998; Morlin, “Kehoe Implicates Brother in Bombing; Cheyne Kehoe Says He Has Knowledge of Chevie’s Role in Attack on a Federal Building,” Spokane Spokesman Review, January 21, 1998; and in Kim Murphy, “Savage Saga of Radical Right Told in Trial,” Los Angeles Times, April 18, 1999. Kehoe at Elohim City, interview (Gumbel) with Andreas Strassmeir, June 30, 2010; talk of “delivery,” see FBI FD-302 interview with Montana prison inmate John Shults, file no. 17735, dated April 2, 1997. For a more detailed report of the first interview see ATF Report of Investigation, Helena Field Office, dated April 3, 1997.
Wayne Snell’s final day:
Details from death row prison guard log, as reported in Howard Pankratz’s May 12, 1996, piece for the Denver Post, cited in chapter 1; in Associated Press’s “Chronology of an Execution,” published April 20, 1995; in “Snell Executed at Cummins; Last Words Lash at Governor,” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, April 20, 1995; and in Michael Daly, “His Hatred Survives,” New York Daily News, April 23, 1995; Jeff Rosenzweig’s account of Snell denouncing the bombing as unprofessional because it targeted children is echoed in an FBI FD-302 interview with Mary Snell, file no. 9384, August 12, 1995.
Radical anger at McVeigh/time of attack changed:
Kale Kelly, prison interview with FBI agent Tym Burkey, quoted in Dave Hall and Tym Burkey, with Katherine Ramsland, Into the Devil’s Den, p. 78; Strassmeir quotes, interview (Gumbel), July 3, 2010; Oliphant talking about “something big,” see FBI FD-302 interviews with Dyane Partridge, file no. 1215, May 10, 1995; Oliphant saying McVeigh would have been a hero if he had blown up the building at night, quoted in, e.g., Tony Perry, “Godfather of Arizona’s Militiamen; Oklahoma City Bombing Puts Jack Oliphant, an Ex-Con and Survivalist, Back in Limelight,” Los Angeles Times, May 21, 1995; Bobby Joe Farrington, FBI FD-302, file no. 13458, April 29, 1995. Terry Nichols also alluded to a series of attacks on federal courthouses, according to an FBI Synopsis of Investigation dated March 3, 2005 (when the feds were trying to establish the veracity of claims that more explosives were concealed under Nichols’s old house in Herington). “Nichols advised that the aforementioned bomb components were to be used by the group to bomb other federal courthouses after the Oklahoma City bombing,” the synopsis said. The word “other” implies, of course, that one had already been targeted if not actually hit. Nichols did not repeat this line in his correspondence with the authors, saying instead that he had no idea what McVeigh’s target might have been; in The Turner Diaries, the FBI building bomb goes off at 9:15 A.M. on October 13, 1991, see Macdonald, op. cit., p. 38.
Fishy stories from the ATF:
Franey’s story, from his testimony in the McVeigh trial, May 6, 1997. Also, interviews (Gumbel) March 1 and March 19, 2010; sheriff’s office video shot by Sergeant Melvin Sumter, obtained by authors; Magaw interview (Gumbel), January 18, 2010; Harry Eberhardt, FBI FD-302, file no. 13012 (written by Eberhardt), February 3, 1996. Franey squirmed around considerably when challenged on his story. First, after he was shown a still picture from the sheriff’s office video with his hands unbandaged, he said he “had a good chuckle,” because the figure in the picture clearly was not him. Then, given the opportunity to review the video as a whole, he backed down, acknowledged the figure was him, after all, and suggested that he and a colleague from across the country jump on a plane to explain in person. Soon after that, he dropped the in-person visit idea, and said he stood by his original story. DEA agent who went up to ninth floor, see FBI interview with customs office chief Terry Don Wilson, November 16, 1995, file no. 11457; Wilson describes Dave Schickedanz going up shortly after getting out of the stalled elevator. McCauley story, see ATF news release dated May 23, 1995. Also pleading in McVeigh case, November 7, 1996, in which Joe Harztler repeats the story; Duane James and Oscar Johnson, interviewed by Tom Jarriel of ABC, November 19, 1996, transcript obtained by authors; Dave Schickedanz, interview (Gumbel), August 13, 2010. For other versions of his account, see, e.g., Pam Proctor, “A Portrait in Bravery,” Parade magazine, October 27, 1996; the elevator story being a factor in McCauley’s transfer, from interview (Gumbel) with Tommy Wittman, at the time an assistant special agent in charge in Dallas, with oversight responsibility for Oklahoma City, interview date September 27, 2010.
McVeigh arrested by Charlie Hanger:
McVeigh’s version, see Michel and Herbeck, op. cit., pp. 238–43; Hanger’s version taken from transcripts of testimony in the McVeigh trial, April 28, 1997, and Terry Nichols’s federal trial, November 5, 1997. Speculation on McVeigh’s destination: Wichita suggested in interview (Gumbel) with Randy Yount, September 30, 2010, based on his law enforcement contacts. Fortier telling FBI McVeigh was headed to Arizona via the Kansas City airport, interview (Gumbel) with Weldon Kennedy, August 26, 2010. The possibility he was heading to Pittsburg was apparently investigated by FBI, which subpoenaed pay phone records along the most likely route from the location of McVeigh’s arrest to the safe house.
10:30 bomb scare and evacuation:
Stanley Brown interview (Gumbel), September 21, 2010; also his contemporaneous notes. Second bomb bigger than the first: see John Avera’s interview with the FBI, cited above. Leaving Daina Bradley: Mike Shannon’s article in Fire Engineering, op. cit., especially pp. 69, 71; Don Browning, interviewed by MGA documentary crew, March 18, 1999. Possible causes of evacuation: Shannon interviewed by FBI, see FD-302, file no. 17238, August 22, 1996; Danny Defenbaugh interview (Gumbel), September 22, 2010. Evidence of ordinance and government weaponry in Murrah Building: assault rifles seen taken out of the rubble in a sheriff’s department video shot by Sumter; see also discussion later in this chapter of TOW missile, whose presence has been confirmed; Virgil Steele, sworn statement dated June 22, 1998, obtained by authors. Such storage issues were relatively common. The Tulsa ATF office was later the subject of internal scrutiny, because of problems with its weapons inventory, as revealed by ATF supervisor Tommy Wittman, interview (Gumbel), September 27, 2010. FBI headquarters was damaged by a fire in 1987 caused by explosive materials accidentally ripping through the crime lab. The incident was investigated internally as well as by the ATF, but kept largely out of the public eye. Shane Slovacek interviewed by the FBI November 16, 1995, insert no. 13569; Randy Yount interview (Gumbel), September 30, 2010; John Magaw interview (Gumbel), January 18, 2010; John Haynie, FBI FD-302 interview, file no. 11699, October 25, 1995.
McVeigh booked at the Noble County courthouse: Hanger’s account taken from testimony in the Nichols federal trial, November 5, 1997. See also Michel and Herbeck, op. cit., p. 244. McVeigh throwing the Nichols brothers to the wolves: McVeigh also used the Decker address when checking into the Dreamland Motel in Junction City, Kansas, on April 14. Many years later, Terry Nichols expressed fury against McVeigh. “It’s clear McVeigh holds some grudge or animosity of some type against me,” he wrote on March 20, 2010. The use of the present tense, almost nine years after McVeigh’s execution, underlines how keenly he still felt the betrayal.
FBI gets an early jump on McVeigh, which it ignores:
Interview (Gumbel) with Dennis Dutsch, June 22, 2011.
Doctors get to work rescuing Daina Bradley:
Material taken from Andy Sullivan’s testimony in the McVeigh trial, June 5, 1997, and from Roy Wenzl, “In Search of an Ending; Timothy McVeigh’s Deadly Act Turned Two Doctors into Reluctant Heroes,” Wichita Eagle, May 16, 2001.
TOW missile episode:
Account from Stanley Brown’s handwritten journal; FBI interviews with OHP officers Fred Horn (November 8, 1995) and John Haynie (October 25, 1995), both under insert file no. 6853; Bill Grimsley’s testimony to the Oklahoma County grand jury, February 25, 1998, transcript obtained by authors; Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Evidence/Ordnance Acceptance Form dated April 19, 1995, and completed by Bob Heady, the head of the sheriff’s office bomb squad. That form says the missile was checked by an army explosives and ordnance disposal technician from Fort Sill; the army’s own paperwork (per an e-mail, obtained by the authors, from Lieutenant Colonel Frederick S. Gisler of Forces Command headquarters, time-stamped 12:10 P.M.) shows that the 61st EOD from Fort Sill was not yet in Oklahoma City at that time. Even at 12:10 P.M., the EOD team was only on standby. The missile was shown to the county grand jury on September 15, 1998, according to an article three days later in the Daily Oklahoman. Bob Sanders quote taken from transcript of interview with MGA documentary crew, March 13, 1998; technical details of TOW missile, both in fully operational and inert mode, from FBI FD-302 interview with Bill Stewart of Army CID at the Anniston Army Depot, file no. 15530, June 22, 1996. Lack of paperwork on TOW missile detailed in a letter to the FBI from Bruce F. Murray, acting assistant director (operations) of Strategic Investigations Division of the U.S. Customs. The letter, dated January 13, 1997, includes this observation: “A member of my staff…personally searched all available headquarters files for any documentation relating to the inert TOW, with negative results.” Murray speculates any records may have been purged. Stanley Brown quote about Bob Heady taken from interview (Gumbel), October 18, 2010. Wrong story circulated about timing of TOW missile discovery: see, e.g., Diana Baldwin, Judy Kuhlman, “Jury Shown Missile from Bomb Site Weapon Triggered Post-Explosion Bomb Scare,” Daily Oklahoman, September 18, 1998. In this version, the missile triggered the first evacuation; the second was triggered by the discovery of a desk clock that looked like an explosive. Such a clock was on the desk of ATF agent Harry Eberhardt, but there is no evidence it was connected to either alert.
Chapter 3
Louis Freeh passes over Bob Ricks:
Ronald Kessler, The Bureau; I. C. Smith’s review of Freeh’s book Sins of Omission in American Spectator, vol. 38, issue 10 (December 1, 2005), pp. 24–29; Weldon L. Kennedy, On-Scene Commander; Oliver “Buck” Revell and Dwight Williams, A G-Man’s Journal; Freeh praising field agents for doing “the real work,” see Freeh, p. 200; Ricks recommended for FBI director, see Revell and Williams, pp. 448–49; Kennedy interview (Gumbel), August 26, 2010; Ricks interview (Gumbel), August 9, 2010.
Bragging rights over rear axle discovery:
McPherson version told, e.g., in Harry Levins, “The Pieces of the Puzzle; Bent Truck Axle Spotted by Alert Detective Provided Key Clue in Finding Oklahoma Bombing Suspect,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 28, 1995; traffic cops Earl Faubion and Fred Moon variation told in Arnold Hamilton, “Puzzling Pieces Tell a Story; Officers’ Efforts Yield Bomb Truck’s Axles,” Dallas Morning News, May 15, 1995; for FBI version, see Kessler, op. cit., p. 392, and also Jon Hersley, Larry Tongate, and Bob Burke, Simple Truths, pp. 35–39; Sumter interviewed by the FBI, FD-302, file no. 3705, May 3, 1995; Agent Jim Norman written declaration, FBI FD-302, file no. 392, April 19, 1995; Agent James F. Elliott Jr. written declarations, FBI FD-302, file nos. 12 and 1360, April 19, 1995.
Investigators lose control of the crime scene:
Joe Van Bullard interview (Gumbel), August 25, 2010; some information about perimeter also in Mike Shannon, “Rescue Operations: Doing Battle with the Building,” Fire Engineering magazine, October 1995, p. 71; Powell, Kelso, and Gadson testimony to Department of Justice inspector general, quoted in John F. Kelly and Philip K. Wearne, Tainting Evidence, pp. 199–200. The interviews did not make it into the final report, titled “The FBI Laboratory: An Investigation into Laboratory Practices and Alleged Misconduct in Explosives-Related and Other Cases” (USDOJ Office of Inspector General Special Report, April 1997); John Magaw interview (Gumbel), January 18, 2010; Magaw estimates bomb at 1,000–1,200 lbs., CNN, April 19, 1995 (transcript headlined “One ATF Agent Vows Intensive Investigation into Bomb”). The same figure is later found in Forscom (U.S. Army Forces Command) logs.
Pete Langan and Richard Guthrie on the morning of the bombing: List of ARA hardware including explosives taken from: Guthrie’s FBI FD-302, dated March 4–15, 1996; from an FBI inventory of items recovered from a second safe house in Columbus, Ohio, after Langan’s arrest on January 18, 1996—see Mark S. Hamm, In Bad Company, pp. 10–12; and from MGA documentary interview with Langan, April 7, 2000, transcript obtained by authors. ARA plans to stage multipronged attacks on the government, see Guthrie’s memoir The Taunting Bandits, p. 74; recruitment video, The Aryan Republican Army Presents: The Armed Struggle Underground, obtained by authors; biographical information on Langan taken from Hamm, op. cit.; “small person you didn’t wanna fuck with” quote, Hamm, p. 80; biographical information on Guthrie taken from his FBI FD-302 and from his memoir; his threat to blow up the White House taken from Secret Service memorandum, dated December 29, 1995. Evidence of McVeigh’s possible involvement with ARA: Terry Nichols said in a letter to Salt Lake City lawyer Jesse Trentadue, dated October 18, 2006, that McVeigh talked “a couple of times” about robbing a bank; on the car ride from Oklahoma City back to Kansas on April 16, 1995, McVeigh alluded to big plans and Nichols asked him: “What are you going to do, rob a bank?” (from Nichols’s letter to reporter John Solomon, dated September 30, 2007). Nichols’s ex-wife Lana Padilla said she wondered about Nichols and McVeigh both being involved in a bank robbery after finding wigs, masks, and pantyhose, as well as $20,000 in cash, at her home and at a storage locker in Las Vegas in November 1994 (Padilla interview [Gumbel], September 25, 2010). For McVeigh telling his sister of involvement in a robbery, see Jennifer McVeigh affidavit dated May 2, 1995, admitted into evidence at her brother’s trial. Guthrie account of April 19 taken from his memoir, p. 156; Langan’s account taken from MGA documentary interview, op. cit., and also from a legal declaration filed with the U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City, April 9, 2007, case no.: 2:04 CV 00772 DAK. Detail about 1979 Chevy van, see Hamm, op. cit., p. 225, and also Guthrie’s FD-302 interview, March 22, 1996, pp. 25–26; details on Langan’s “mysterious,” see Hamm, op. cit., p. 183. McCarthy’s extreme views on homosexuals and cross-dressers from a document by Mark Thomas, “Bible Cites Against Sexual Deviancy,” date unknown. McCarthy, Thomas writes, “was especially disgusted by any moral departure from the Law of Moses.” Thomas cites Leviticus 20:13: “If a man lieth with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; and their blood shall be upon them.” And Deuteronomy 22:5: “The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth to a man, neither shall a man put on a woman’s garment: for all that do so are an abomination unto the Lord thy God.” Thomas continues: “The penalty for ‘abomination’ is universally understood to be death. It is important to note that Identity is unique from institutional Christianity in that it is considered to be a terrible sin not to execute the penalty upon the transgressor.” Langan quote about Guthrie, Hamm, op. cit., p. 22; sketch resembling Langan drawn by regular FBI sketch artist Jeanne Boylan based on the recall of David Snider, the warehouse foreman in Bricktown, who saw the Ryder truck. Sketch reproduced in Hamm, op. cit., opposite p. 119.
McCarthy and Stedeford unable to account for whereabouts:
Biographical information on McCarthy and Stedeford from Hamm, op. cit. Quote from Stedeford, see Hamm, p. 115; McCarthy’s first statement to FBI, FD-302, file interview, June 17, 1996 (not in bombing case file), summarized in FD-302, file no. 15847, August 1, 1996. A follow-up statement is in FD-302, file no. 16027, September 18, 1996. The information on the Chevy Suburban comes from an FBI intra-agency memo dated August 22, 1996, which shows that the car was purchased in Fort Smith on April 17 and registered in Iowa on April 21. Quote: “The Iowa Certificate of Title was issued on 4/21/1995”; Langan’s version taken from his legal declaration filed with the U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City, April 9, 2007; Guthrie’s “young Mr. Wizard line” quoted by Mark Thomas in an interview with the Allentown Morning Call on the day of his arrest. See “Thomas Indicted in Bank Robberies,” Allentown Morning Call, January 31, 1997; Guthrie leaves article about McVeigh at bank robbery scene, see his big FD-302 interview, March 4–15, 1996, p. 85. Detail about him being drunk on tequila, see Hamm, op. cit., p. 255; Donna Marazoff quoting Mark Thomas, see Marazoff’s FBI FD-302 interview, file no. 17777, dated April 2, 1997; Thomas interview with Washington Post reporter Rich Leiby, January 23, 1997. Unpublished. Tape of interview kindly provided to Gumbel by Leiby.
Video surveillance cameras: John Hippard interview (Gumbel), June 15, 2010; Tom Hunt interviews (Gumbel), December 16 and 17, 2010; Danny Defenbaugh interview (Gumbel), December 9, 2010. Channel 4 report on surveillance tapes, exact date unknown, viewed January 4, 2011, on YouTube.com under title “Oklahoma City Bombing Federal Surveillance Tapes Coverup”; Secret Service timeline references to video tape of the detonation site at 1745 hours for April 25, 1995, and at 1930 hours for April 24, 1995. Stacy Bauerschmidt, the assistant to the special agent in charge of the Secret Service’s intelligence division, testified at Terry Nichols’s state trial that the government knew of no such videotape; according to the Associated Press, she said that reports in the timeline “may have been based on mere speculation and the agency does not vouch for its reliability” (John Solomon, “Secret Service Documents Cite Mystery Video in Oklahoma City Bombing,” Associated Press, April 19, 2004). Confirmation of no video cameras at from GSA Federal Protective Service Physical Security Survey, dated February 21, 1995, and obtained by authors; the same report indicates that there was a video surveillance camera trained on Don Rogers’s office door and another at the HUD office; Don Rogers interview (Gumbel), February 14, 2011; Regency Towers tape handover detailed in handwritten report by Oklahoma City police officer Ritch Willis (see FBI FD-302, file no. 1818, April 19, 1995) and in an undated written statement, obtained by authors, from John Hurley, the building’s security chief. See also Hurley’s testimony in McVeigh trial, May 13, 1997; Journal Record handing over tapes still in video players, see FBI FD-302 interview with Danny Payne of TMK Hogan Commercial Real Estate Services, who was in charge of the building’s security; interview date April 19, 1995, file no. 4553; inventory report by FBI on video collection on April 19, insert no. E-8981, dated April 19, 1995. A different report, file no. 3105, dated April 20, 1995, states that Walt Lamar released six videotapes for transport to FBI headquarters in Washington at 9:00 A.M. on April 20. The tapes correspond to the locations given in the text. Lamar’s “son of a bitch!” moment, interview (Gumbel) with FBI source speaking on condition of anonymity, January 27, 2011; FBI tries and fails to enhance Journal Record video footage, interviews (Gumbel) with John Hippard, June 15, 2010, and Danny Defenbaugh, December 9, 2010; gaps in post office footage detailed in a letter dated June 23, 2009, from the FBI records department to Jesse Trentadue, in response to FOIA request.
Dave Hollaway’s curious memory lapse:
Hollaway’s different versions, from interviews (Gumbel), May 6, May 20, May 24, July 10, and July 13, 2010, and voice-mail message left January 26, 2011. Among those sure Hollaway was not at the Waco commemoration were Jim Pate of Soldier of Fortune, who had hosted Hollaway at his Virginia home weeks earlier, interview (Charles), May 27, 2010, and ceremony organizer Carol Moore, interview (Charles), June 14, 2010. Video of the event available via the “Ashes of Waco” collection (the papers and documents of journalist Dick J. Reavis) at the Texas State University, San Marcos. Dick DeGuerin, interview (Gumbel, via e-mail and phone), July 13, 2010; Joe Phillips, interview (via e-mail, Gumbel), July 18, 2010; Rick Sherrow, interview (Gumbel), January 24, 2011; Kirk Lyons, interview (Gumbel), May 27, 2010.
Andreas Strassmeir’s conveniently watertight alibi:
Dave Hollaway, interview (Gumbel), July 9, 2010; Kirk Lyons, interview (Gumbel), January 26, 2011; Strassmeir alibi corroborated, e.g., in FBI FD-302 interview of Otis Phelps, file no. 14948, May 25, 1996. FBI appears to accept alibi, see FD-302 interview with Strassmeir, file no. 14897, April 30–May 1, 1996.
Strassmeir’s surprising past:
Strassmeir, interviews (Gumbel), June 30–July 3, 2010; a copy of Strassmeir’s open-ended multiple-entry visa obtained by Gumbel. The Justice Department would later misrepresent his entries into the United States, saying he traveled each time on single-entry tourist visas (see also chapter 9). Kirk Lyons disclosed the Petruskie story about the dead Soviet spy in an e-mail, December 1, 2010. Lyons also said Petruskie “may very well have worked for the CIA,” interview (Gumbel), April 22; 2010. On Strassmeir as a possible government agent: a retired senior CIA official told Charles in 2006 that, in 1995 or 1996, he reviewed a report by the CIA inspector general in the course of his official duties and remembered seeing a mention of Strassmeir as a German government asset whose information was shared with the FBI. He gave no specifics on how this was sourced in the document or what time period it referred to. Sofameir line, story about Helmut Kohl, from Lyons interview (Gumbel), March 23, 2010. “Shameless hobo,” financial arrangement enabling Strassmeir to stay after his German pay ran out, Hollaway interview (Gumbel), May 6, 2010; “Go nuclear” line confirmed by Lyons, interview (Gumbel), April 19, 2011.
FEMA makes itself unpopular:
FEMA complaints, from interviews (Gumbel) with Magaw, Bullard, and Kennedy, August 26, 2010. “Leon” story also told, slightly differently, in Danny O. Coulson, with Elaine Shannon, No Heroes, pp. 487–88. “Whining” line from Forscom (U.S. Army Forces Command) log for April 28, 1995, at 0915, log obtained by authors; Don Browning, interview with MGA documentary crew, March 18, 1999; Witt seeing himself as in charge, see James Lee Witt and James Morgan, Stronger in the Broken Places, p. 104. Kennedy accusing Witt of dragging out the rescue operation, see Witt and Morgan, pp. 112–13; line confirmed by Kennedy, interview (Gumbel), December 16, 2010. In the book, Witt characterizes the overextended rescue phase as a good thing and a personal victory; erroneous information about FEMA carrying out the bodies at the Web site of the Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team at the NASA Ames Research Center, as of December 14, 2010. http://dart2.arc.nasa.gov/Deployments/OklahomaCityBombing1995/Oklahoma.html; FEMA Web site with misleading information, as of December 14, 2010; http://www.fema.gov/emergency/usr/usrok95.shtm; Witt’s failure to acknowledge Oklahoma City Fire Department, see Witt and Morgan, p. 104; Witt was given a full rundown of the accusations in this section, and chose not to comment.
The FBI reaches Eldon Elliott’s body shop:
FBI FD-302 reports on interviews with Elliott (file nos. 1347 and 1348), Vicki Beemer (nos. 8570 and 1349), and Tom Kessinger (nos. 1197, 14259, 14803), April 19 and April 20, 1995; Eldon Elliott, interview with MGA documentary crew, March 9, 1995, transcript obtained by authors. Prosecutors have low opinion of body shop employees’ value as witnesses, argue they talked among themselves and tainted their own reliability: interviews (Gumbel) with prosecutor Scott Mendeloff, July 16, 2010, and prosecutor Larry Mackey, October 11, 2010; Kessinger on Ray Rozycki’s picture book, see Jeanne Boylan, Portraits of Guilt, p. 206.
Tim McVeigh at the Noble County jail:
Herbert Ferguson (mistakenly identified as a guard) quoted in Jonathan Franklin, “Timothy McVeigh, Soldier,” Playboy, October 1995, p. 78; account of his time in the jail taken from Richard Serrano, “Clues Sought in Details from McVeigh’s Arrest,” Los Angeles Times, September 10, 1995, and Paul Queary, “Cellmate Calls McVeigh Calm at First, Then Anxious,” Associated Press, May 19, 1995; interview with Brent Goad from David Talbot, “McVeigh Was Desperate for Freedom,” Boston Herald, May 3, 1995. Detail about need for cosigner on bond, from Julie Delcour, “Bondsman Tells of McVeigh Call,” Tulsa World, April 24, 1995; call to Goad captured in Noble County jail phone records subpoenaed by the FBI and obtained by the authors. The call was made at 8:23 A.M. on April 20 and lasted 2 minutes 27 seconds; for clinical details on methamphetamine withdrawal, see, e.g., C. C. Cruickshank, K. R. Dyer, “A Review of the Clinical Pharmacology of Methamphetamine,” Addiction, July 2009, pp. 1085–99; T. F. Newton, A. D. Kalechstein, S. Duran, N. Vansluis, W. Ling, “Methampetamine Abstinence Syndrome: Preliminary Findings,” American Journal on Addictions, May–June 2004, pp. 248–55; C. McGregor, M. Srisurapanont, J. Jittiwutikarn, S. Laobhripatr, T. Wongtan, J. M. White, “The Nature, Time Course and Severity of Methamphetamine Withdrawal,” Addiction, September 2005, pp. 1320–29; Mark Gibson quote, interview with Ted Koppel on ABC’s Nightline, April 21, 1995.
Mark Bouton and Garry Berges visit the Dreamland Motel:
Chronology of what Lea McGown said when, taken from FBI FD-302 interviews dated April 20–21, 1995 (single document), April 22, April 23, April 25, April 26, and April 27, 1995; file nos. 2612–2617, sequentially. The complete roster of FBI 302s, inserts, and lead sheets handed over in discovery to the defense teams in the McVeigh trial and in the two Nichols trials includes no document dated April 20 alone from either Lea or Eric McGown. McGown’s account of Bouton and Berges’s first visit taken from McGown interview with MGA documentary crew, March 12–13, 1999, transcript obtained by authors; Bouton’s version taken from interview (Gumbel), July 24, 2010, and follow-up e-mail correspondence July 27–31, 2010, and January 14–February 12, 2011; Garry Berges interview (Gumbel), July 26, 2010; Joseph Bross, interview (Gumbel), December 2, 2011; through his former FBI colleagues, Bross obtained the text of the teletype he sent from Fort Riley in the middle of the night and read it out; Michael Fleenor was considered suspicious, in part, because he faced a disciplinary proceeding over his use of a credit card, see his FBI FD-302, file no. 8005, May 1, 1995; by coincidence, Terry Nichols had bought a bedroom set from his wife Donna a few days before the bombing, see her FD-302, file no. 8004, May 1, 1995, and Nichols’s answers to authors’ questions, dated January 3 and January 27, 2010 (this was not yet known on April 20, however); details on the criminal division at FBI headquarters being understaffed and overwhelmed, interview (Gumbel) with I. C. Smith, who took over the night shift a day or two later, December 5, 2011. The two Dreamland guests who also saw the Ryder truck on Easter Sunday were Herta King and Renda Truong (see their testimony in McVeigh trial; both appeared on May 22, 1997). Criminal complaint against McVeigh filed in U.S. District Court in Oklahoma City, April 21, 2010.
Pat Livingston fingers McVeigh:
Pat Livingston interviews (Gumbel), August 20 and December 21, 2010; record of McVeigh’s Glock purchase, ATF 4437 form and bounced check, copies obtained by Gumbel; Livingston account largely corroborated by FBI FD-302 interviews, file nos. 3946 and 3947, dated April 21, 1995; the FBI at Fort Riley not getting his information right away, per Joseph Bross e-mail correspondence with Gumbel, December 11, 2011; rapid acquisition of information on Nichols brothers, from Chancellor interview (Gumbel), see above; Sanilac County, Michigan, sheriff having information on the Nichols brothers, including Kelli Langenburg’s November 1994 complaint, see Howard Pankratz and Peter G. Chronis, “Family Says U.S. Framing Nichols but Some Neighbors Saw Signs of Trouble,” Denver Post, September 21, 1997; information, including Sheriff Virgil Strickler pegging the Nicholses as “crazies,” confirmed by senior FBI source speaking on condition of anonymity; Kelli Langenburg talks to FBI, see Serrano, One of Ours, p. 200; her information, given without her name, is included in the criminal complaint filed against McVeigh on April 21, 2010.
Nichols shipping supplies to the Philippines, seeming flush at Fort Riley auctions, confirmed by Junction City army surplus salesman David Batsell, interview (Gumbel), August 24, 2010. Livingston talked about the overspending in an e-mail dated March 2, 2011. Nichols told the authors (handwritten answers to questions, dated February 23, 2011) that he sent a small number of military uniform items as a present for Marife’s younger brother Michael, who was going through military school in the Philippines, where battle-dress uniforms were hard to find. Nichols said he spent little at the first couple of auctions he attended at Fort Riley in early 1995, because he was still getting a feel for how they worked. At the auction that raised Livingston and Batsell’s eyebrows, in late March, he spent about $3,000, he said, because he saw lots of items he felt confident he could sell at shows and because it was an open auction, which he preferred to the closed type.
List of names of extreme interest posted at Oklahoma City command post, interview (Gumbel) with FBI source who did not wish to be named, August 30, 2010.
“Dust storm” postcard sent to Liberty Lobby:
Mark Lane, MGA documentary interview, June 23, 1999, transcript obtained by authors.
Nichols clears McVeigh’s stuff from storage locker:
Nichols’s account taken from handwritten document, “Events Leading Up to the Oklahoma City Bombing, a Condensed Narrative,” dated November 9, 2006, and from his written answers to author questions, dated January 22, 2010. Some details about the electric blasting caps from handwritten document “OKC Bombing Materials and the Missing Explosives,” December 1, 2007, from handwritten document “Morning of April 18, 1995,” November 29, 2007, and from Michel and Herbeck, op. cit., p. 218.
Louis Freeh breathes down necks of field office SACs:
Account of Freeh’s approach taken from Buck Revell’s book, A G-Man’s Journal; from Ronald Kessler’s book, The Bureau, and from interview (Gumbel and Charles) with I. C. Smith, June 18, 2010; senior FBI manager quote, from interview on condition of anonymity, January 5, 2011. Walt Lamar initiates NCIC offline search, see Hersley, Tongate, and Burke, op. cit., pp. 53–54. Account confirmed by FBI source speaking on background.
FBI hits the jackpot with Lana Padilla:
Padilla’s account laid out in her testimony at the Nichols trial, November 19, 1997; see also her book, By Blood Betrayed; some material from interviews, August 14 (Charles) and September 25, 2010 (Gumbel).
Carl LeBron’s providential phone call to the FBI:
Bare bones of his call laid out in the criminal complaint against McVeigh filed in U.S. District Court, April 21, 2010. For more details, see Richard A. Serrano, “Friend of McVeigh Proved Key for FBI, Papers Reveal,” Los Angeles Times, January 4, 1997. Also Serrano, One of Ours, p. 194.
Nichols gets rid of incriminating evidence:
Account from Nichols’s written answers to author questions, January 22, 2010, and March 30, 2010. Details on disposing of the fertilizer come from his initial FBI interview, see FD-302 of Nichols, file no. 9954, interview date April 21–22, 1995; also trial testimony of Gladys Wendt, November 20, 1997. Details of 50-caliber rifle and grenade included in a memo from the FBI Kansas City office, case ID no. 11117, May 16, 2005; “dumbass” quote from Mike Batsell interview (Gumbel), August 24, 2010; nitromethane tubes and other items recovered from beneath the crawl space detailed in an FBI crime lab analysis and inventory obtained by authors, dated April 8, 2005.
Feds find McVeigh:
Account taken from Coulson, No Heroes, pp. 495–96, Hersley, Tongate, and Burke, op. cit., p. 54, interview (Gumbel) with Steve Chancellor (who was sitting next to Michalic), August 12, 2010, and interview (Gumbel) with FBI source who did not want to be named, August 30, 2010. Michalic’s own version, in various media interviews, is more or less consistent with the others, see, e.g., Peter Annin, Evan Thomas, and Randy Collier, “Judgment Day,” Newsweek, March 24, 1997.
Chapter 4
FBI questions McVeigh:
Bare bones of the account taken from Serrano, One of Ours, pp. 3–7, Michel and Herbeck, op. cit., pp. 253–55, and Coulson and Shannon, op. cit., pp. 500–503; Mark Gibson ironed out some of the contradictions and conflicting versions, interview (Gumbel), January 10, 2011; detail of three phone calls to Royce Hobbs from Hobbs’s FBI FD-302, file no. 4692, May 4, 1995; some of the Walt Lamar material and other insights provided by Hank Gibbons, interview (Gumbel), January 7, 2011; Gibbons, an FBI agent in Oklahoma City, wrote the criminal complaint against McVeigh that day, as well as the warrants to search his car and personal effects; details on news crew that got wise to events in Perry, interview (Gumbel) with former FBI agent who did not wish to be named, January 27, 2011; Jerry Cook, interview (Gumbel), February 4, 2011; “I think they think it’s me” line, quoted by cell mate Cecil Brown in Paul Queary, “Cellmate Calls McVeigh Calm at First, Then Anxious,” Associated Press, May 19, 1995.
Feds swoop on James Nichols:
Details of FBI deployment from source who was present but did not wish to be named, interview (Gumbel), January 6, 2011; details of evidence-gathering, witnesses, from the criminal complaint filed against James Nichols in the Eastern District of Michigan, April 25, 1995; James Nichols’s account of the start of the raid, see James D. Nichols, as told to Robert S. Papovich, Freedom’s End, pp. 15–20.
Agent Smith tails Terry Nichols:
See Smith’s testimony in Nichols’s federal trial, November 20, 1997.
Josh Nichols makes telling revelations:
Lana Padilla, By Blood Betrayed, pp. 41–42; Padilla interviews (Gumbel), September 25, 2010, and January 17, 2011.
Terry Nichols panics, goes to the Herington police station:
Nichols gives his own account in a handwritten document, “Events Leading Up to the Oklahoma City Bombing,” dated November 9, 2006, obtained by authors; see Nichols federal trial testimony from Dale Kuhn (December 9, 1997), Barry Thacker (December 9, 1997), Marife Nichols (December 10–11, 1997), and Stephen Smith (November 20–21, 1997); details about Marife getting mad, wanting to go home to the Philippines, from Agent Smith’s testimony on cross-examination (November 21, 1997) and from Nichols’s handwritten answers to author questions, January 3, 2010; phone calls to James and Lana, and the call from CNN, from phone records on Nichols’s home line obtained by authors.
Michael Fortier sweats:
Account from FBI FD-302 interview with Jim Rosencrans, July 5–6, 1995, file no. 9178, and from FD-302 interview with Rosencrans’s girlfriend Patty Edwards, July 1, 1995, file no. 6696. “Our boy’s been busy” quote from Rosencrans interview in Richard A. Serrano and Ronald J. Ostrow, “McVeigh Viewed as ‘A Driving Force’ in Six-Month Plot,” Los Angeles Times, May 4, 1995.
FBI takes McVeigh into federal custody:
Richard A. Serrano and Ronald Ostrow, “Legal Issues May Jeopardize Evidence Against McVeigh,” Los Angeles Times, September 14, 1995; Mark Gibson interview (Gumbel), January 10, 2011; Michel and Herbeck, op. cit., pp. 255–59; Coulson and Shannon, op. cit., p. 504.
Day-care center operator recognizes McVeigh:
Danielle Hunt interview (Gumbel), February 14, 2011; Tom Hunt interview (Gumbel), December 16, 2010; FBI FD-302 interview with Danielle Hunt, file no. 466, April 29, 1995.
McVeigh not a match for John Doe One:
Eldon Elliott not asked to match McVeigh to John Doe One until June 8, from his testimony in the McVeigh trial, May 9, 1997. See also FBI FD-302, file no. 6107, dated June 8, 1995; no McVeigh fingerprints found at body shop, testimony of FBI fingerprint expert Louis Hupp at the McVeigh trial, May 15, 1997; official doubts also reflected in Secret Service timeline entry for 1440 on April 21: “SA [Special Agent] Stephenson, OKC/CP [Oklahoma City Command Post], reports that McVeigh does not physically match the composite of the two featured suspects.”
Carol Howe hands the feds a monster lead, which they disregard:
Detail on swastika tattoo, other biographical details from Carol Howe’s testimony in the trial of James Viefhaus in federal court in Tulsa, July 24, 1997, transcript viewed by Gumbel; Mahon appeared on Oprah sometime in the late 1980s, confirmed by ATF agent Tristan Moreland, who arrested him in 2009, Moreland interview (Gumbel), October 14, 2009; drug buy to test her loyalty, see Finley’s testimony in pretrial hearing in federal court in Tulsa, April 24, 1997; ATF Report of Investigation on Carol Howe, May 22, 1995; also, FBI insert on Howe (named only as “Carol”), lead control no. E427, April 21, 1995; Millar’s inconsequential son-in-law was Larry Duncan, who offered no information of consequence, interviewed April 22, 1995, file no. 3952; Bob Ricks interview (Gumbel), August 17, 2010; Danny Defenbaugh interview (Gumbel), May 17, 2010; Andreas Strassmeir interview (Gumbel), June 30, 2010.
Nichols sits down with the FBI:
FBI FD-302 interview with Nichols, dated April 21–22, 1995, file no. 9954; many details corroborated by Agent Stephen Smith’s testimony in Nichols’ federal trial, November 20–21, 1997. Application and affidavit for search warrant, signed by Scott Crabtree, April 22, 1995; Nichols’s later comments on his initial interview from handwritten answers to author questions, March 20, 2010, and July 22, 2010; McVeigh thought Nichols “hosed” him, see Michel and Herbeck, op. cit., p. 297. The timing of the material witness arrest warrant is detailed in an order issued by Judge Matsch on August 14, 1996, following a pretrial hearing on the admissibility of evidence from Nichols’s nine-hour interrogation in the Herington police station; the efforts of federal public defender Dave Phillips to reach Nichols on April 21 were detailed by defense attorney Ron Woods in his opening statement in the Nichols trial, November 3, 1997.
Jennifer McVeigh tracked down in Florida:
Account taken largely from Jennifer’s testimony in the McVeigh trial, May 5–6, 1997; see also Joseph B. Treaster, “The Sister’s Story: For Figure in Oklahoma Inquiry, Ties of Blood and Something More,” New York Times, August 4, 1995.
McVeigh fingered in the lineup:
Steve Chancellor interview (Gumbel), August 12, 2010; Moroz lineup outcome described in FBI FD-302, file no. 69, dated April 22, 1995.
Jimboy fiasco:
Some details on Jimboy from interview (Gumbel) with Dave Dilly, December 13, 2010. On knife scars and knife play, FBI FD-302 interview with Larry Frame, file no. 3118, May 4, 1995; Bob Ricks interview (Gumbel), August 9, 2010; N. R. Kleinfeld, “For Bombing ‘Suspects,’ Looks Aren’t Everything,” New York Times, April 30, 1995; investigation tracked in FBI FD-302s, file nos. 234 and 832 (April 21, 1995) and 1094 (April 22), and also in Secret Service timeline (“Jimboy has legitimate alibi”—0058, April 22—“Jimboy polygraphed through the night, eliminated as suspect—0724).
Nichols digs himself in deeper, gets arrested:
Details taken from the FBI FD-302 interview with Nichols, dated April 21–22, 1995, and from Agent Smith’s testimony of November 20, 1997; the two warrants for Nichols’s arrest obtained by authors. The issue arose in pretrial proceedings and is discussed in Judge Matsch’s August 14, 1996, ruling, in which he broadly accepts the government’s explanation that the first warrant was a mistake, but makes clear Judge Russell was not informed that Nichols was in the Herington police station and already cooperating; FBI agents look through Nichols’s garage window, FBI insert, number illegible, April 24, 1995; the link between the blue plastic shards and the barrels at Nichols’s home was included in the criminal complaint filed on May 9, 1995; the recycling bins, kept next to the first-floor restrooms on the south side of the building, were described to the FBI by Richard Williams, the deputy building manager, FD-302, file no. 12707, January 26, 1996.
Manic hunt for coconspirators:
Freeh picking out lineup photos, Oliver “Buck” Revell and Dwight Williams, A G-Man’s Journal, p. 474. Story confirmed by I. C. Smith, who worked the bombing case as a senior manager at headquarters, interview (Gumbel and Charles), June 18, 2010; quote on micromanaging from Louis Freeh, My FBI, p. 210; Steve Chancellor interview (Gumbel), August 12, 2010.
McVeigh screws Dave Paulsen:
Charlie Hanger, testimony in Nichols trial, November 5, 1997. Details of Paulsen interrogation in FBI FD-302, file no. 727 (April 23), in which he describes his interest in AR-15 parts, his purchases, McVeigh offering blasting caps, and his explanation that he was “stringing McVeigh along”; file no. 719 (April 24, 1995), in which he admits lying about the number of phone calls he had received from McVeigh; and file no. 724, which details his polygraph test and gives his “cocksucker” line as a direct quote. The Daryl Bridges phone records entered into evidence at trial show 37 calls to Paulsen either at home or at the Paulsen’s Military Supply shop; not all were completed calls. McVeigh admitting he dropped the business card as a “dirty trick,” Michel and Herbeck, op. cit., p. 243; Nichols’s version from answers to author questions, January 3, 2010.
The feds botch their search of Nichols’s house:
Testimony of Mary Jasnowski, an evidence recovery specialist sent in from Omaha, in the McVeigh trial (May 5, 1997) and in the Nichols federal trial (November 6, 1997); consent forms signed by Terry and Marife Nichols on April 21 obtained by authors. Agent Stephen Smith erroneously testified at the Nichols federal trial (November 20, 1997) that Nichols’s consent to search the house was conditional on Marife being present. The paperwork reflects no such stipulation. Nichols’s home phone records, admitted into evidence and obtained by authors, show a phone call from the Herington house to James Nichols’s number in Decker beginning at 8:40:45 P.M. and continuing for 19 minutes and 18 seconds; account of FBI agents’ activities, from insert, number illegible, dated April 24, 1995; Marife Nichols describing how she could not return home on the night of April 21–22, see transcript of her testimony in the Nichols federal trial, December 10, 1997. She repeated the story at a pretrial hearing in state court in Oklahoma on May 9, 2003; list of items found by evidence recovery team corroborated by official inventories obtained by authors.
Nichols on discovery of ammonium nitrate receipt, answers to author questions, January 3, 2010; incredulous U.S. attorney from Danny Defenbaugh, interview (Gumbel), January 25, 2011; Bear Bryant story told by I. C. Smith, interview (Gumbel and Charles), June 18, 2010; recovery of cash, gold coins, confirmed by FBI property receipt dated April 23 and signed by agents Larry Tongate and Eugene Thomeczek. Marife alerted agents at 4:55 P.M.; the valuables were reported to be safely retrieved at 6:59 P.M; recovery of food mixer detailed in FBI FD-302, file no. 4223, dated May 8, 1995; affidavit supporting federal charges against Terry Nichols, filed May 9, 1995, with Magistrate Judge Ronald Howland of the western district of Oklahoma, case no. M-95-105-H; no lids on barrels confirmed in Jasnowski’s court testimony, among other places; FBI inventory based on search through the garbage, FBI FD-302, file no. 8588, April 23, 1995. The agents who searched the garbage were C. Allen Maxwell and Everett F. Barger.
The secret history of the Daryl Bridges phone records:
Accounts that either imply or state that the reconstruction of the phone records began with the discovery of the Daryl Bridges card at Terry Nichols’s house include Coulson and Shannon, No Heroes, pp. 514–15, and Julie DelCour and Barbara Hoberock, “Bit by Bit, the Government Makes Its Case,” Tulsa World, May 18, 1997. In the book Simple Truths (pp. 133–34), former FBI agent Jon Hersley finesses the issue when he mentions the Daryl Bridges phone calls, “evidence of which had been found in Terry Nichols’s house when it was searched by the FBI…. The FBI had already discovered that the Daryl Bridges calling card was obtained from the Spotlight company in November 1993….” [Italics ours. Note that Hersley ascribes the discovery to the FBI, when, in fact, this discovery was secondhand and originated with Mary Riley’s investigation.] Airbrushing Mary Riley from the record: In his testimony in the McVeigh trial (May 6, 1997), John Kane makes constant generic references to “investigators” and “they” without mentioning Riley’s name. At one point he refers to “Secret Service investigators” in the plural, and is immediately interrupted by a government lawyer asking another question. One FBI FD-302 naming Riley (file no. 186, dated April 22, 1995) made it into discovery. But she was never mentioned in court. Fax copies of Mary Riley’s field notes for April 20–26, 1995, titled “Information from Miami Field Office (Telephone Records),” obtained unredacted and mostly complete by the authors.
The April 14 phone call to Eldon Elliott was important to the prosecution, but it also offered an opening to the defense, because a technological glitch in the routing systems made it impossible to say conclusively that Daryl Bridges was the Spotlight subscriber who made this call, and because the car dealer who sold McVeigh the Mercury was interviewed eight times by the FBI, and twice more by the defense, without mentioning McVeigh leaving in the middle. At trial (May 6–8, 1997), the prosecution argued around both problems, and the defense could not get traction on its contention that the call was made by someone else.
Riley faxing her findings to Bucella and Stephenson mentioned in her notes, also substantiated by fax headers obtained by authors. Weldon Kennedy interview (Gumbel), August 26, 2010; Kennedy said in his interview that Riley had messed up the time stamps on the calls because she did not realize the West Coast Telephone records were all on Pacific time. But Riley did realize this and recorded in her notes repeated conversations with John Kane and others about both the time zone question and inaccuracies associated with the recent switch to Daylight Savings Time (mentioned in her field notes for April 22 and April 23, 1995). Danny Defenbaugh interview (Gumbel), December 9, 2010; internal investigation of Riley mentioned in John Solomon, “Secret Service Documents Cite Mystery Video in Oklahoma City Bombing,” Associated Press, April 19, 2004, and confirmed by senior task force member cited here; John Kane interview (Gumbel), January 25, 2011.
Feds come up mostly empty at James Nichols’s farm:
The most incriminating findings are detailed in the affidavit supporting James Nichols’s arrest on firearms charges, May 11, 1995. Other details are in the FBI’s FD-302 interview report on Nichols, April 21, 1995, file no. 6384; see also Serrano, One of Ours, pp. 234–35; Nichols’s perspective from Nichols and Papovic, Freedom’s End, pp. 21, 58; law enforcement official involved in search, speaking on condition of anonymity, interview (Gumbel), January 5, 2011; Martinolich-Freeh confrontation reported by Kessler, The Bureau, pp. 349–50; corroborated by Revell, A G-Man’s Journal, p. 474, by I. C. Smith, interview (Gumbel and Charles), June 18, 2010, and by confidential FBI source. Story of resignation offer/Bear Bryant phone call from confidential source.
The shortcomings of the FBI’s sledgehammer approach:
Bob Ricks interview (Gumbel), August 9, 2010; Weldon Kennedy quotes information on the leaks, interview (Gumbel), August 26, 2010; James Nichols complaining that his arrest was part of a dark conspiracy to protect the “real” bombers, Freedom’s End, op. cit., pp. 57–58.
Chapter 5
McVeigh’s combat experience:
The work of Jonathan Franklin stands head and shoulders above the rest in assessing McVeigh’s military career. See his pieces “Timothy McVeigh, Soldier,” Playboy, October 1995, vol. 42, issue 10, p. 78, and “The Good Soldier,” Spin, April 1997, p. 133; Franklin very kindly provided the raw notes from his McVeigh interview, via e-mail (Gumbel), July 29, 2010; quadrupling nightmare quote provided by Greg Henry, interview (Gumbel), February 9, 2011; James Rockwell interview (Gumbel), January 4, 2011; Dave Dilly interview (Gumbel), December 13, 2010; McVeigh’s version of events from Michel and Herbeck, op. cit., pp. 66–88; medal and award citations, see McVeigh’s trial exhibit nos. AA2X-AA10X; these include the Bronze Star, Army Commendation Medal, and a Certificate of Commendation from the Gulf War, plus another Army Commendation Medal and one other award for target shooting; McVeigh’s marksmanship also merited a glowing write-up in the official history of the 16th Infantry, written well after his conviction and sentencing for the bombing: Steven E. Clay, Blood and Sacrifice: The History of the 16th Infantry Regiment from the Civil War Through the Gulf War (Cantigny First Divison Foundation, Wheaton, Illinois, 2001), p. 364.
Possible involvement in war crimes, and McVeigh’s disillusionment:
The relevant sections of the Geneva Conventions are the First Convention, Articles 16 and 17 (on treatment of the dead and wounded), and the Third Convention, Article 3 (on treatment of surrendering soldiers and noncombatants). Frame’s FBI FD-302, file no. 3118, May 4, 1995; Cerney’s FBI FD-302, file no. 488, April 28, 1995. Frame and Regier were interviewed by Jonathan Franklin, per e-mail to Gumbel dated August 21, 2010. Frame was interviewed by Franklin on May 17, 1995, and Regier on May 22, 1995; Scott Rutter interviews (Gumbel), December 6 and December 31, 2009; James Rockwell interview (Gumbel), January 4, 2011.
Jennifer McVeigh gets the third degree:
FBI FD-302 interview of Jennifer, April 24–May 2, 1995, file no. 2298. Many other details from her testimony in the McVeigh trial, May 5–6, 1997, and from Weldon Kennedy interview (Gumbel), August 26, 2011. FBI agents showing her photographs of dead children corroborated by FBI FD-302, file no. 2024, April 29, 1995.
Brief history of the Nichols family:
Details from Lana Padilla and Ron Delpit, op. cit., pp. 36–37, and 163–68, from James Nichols and Robert Papovich, op. cit., pp. 154–57, and from Stephen Braun and Judy Pasternak, “Nichols Brothers Swept Up in Dark Maelstrom of Fury,” Los Angeles Times, May 28, 1995; also, Padilla, interview (Gumbel), September 25, 2010, and Padilla’s statements to the FBI, see her FD-302 interview reports for April 21, 1995 (file no. 9330) and April 28, 1995 (file no. 5827); Nichols’s Asperger syndrome in an FBI memo of July 12, 2005, from the Oklahoma City office to the Denver office, case ID no. 11120, and confirmed both by Lana Padilla—interview (Gumbel), February 1, 2011—and by Nichols himself, written answers to author questions, February 23, 2011; “complicating matters some,” from Nichols’s handwritten answers to author questions, January 3, 2010.
McVeigh and Nichols in the army:
Lana Padilla interview (Gumbel), September 25, 2010; Scott Rutter interview (Gumbel), December 6, 2009; Dave Dilly interview (Gumbel), December 13, 2010; James Rockwell interview (Gumbel), January 4, 2011; McVeigh’s racism and Klan membership, Michel and Herbeck, op. cit., pp. 87–88.
Jeanne Boylan corrects John Doe Two sketch, told to forget about John Doe One:
Jeanne Boylan, op. cit., pp. 201–209. Also Boylan interview by MGA documentary crew, June 1, 2000, transcript obtained by authors.
Terry Nichols maxes out his credit cards:
Nichols’s written answers to author questions, January 22, 2010; Wickstrom quotes taken from Daniel Levitas, The Terrorist Next Door, p. 179, and from Susy Buchanan, “Return of the Pastor,” Southern Poverty Law Center Intelligence Report, Winter 2004; Sanilac County court records on both the First Deposit National Bank and Chase Manhattan claims, including filings by Nichols and by the plaintiffs, exhibits, and hearing transcripts, obtained by authors.
McVeigh comes unstuck, hits the gun-show circuit:
McVeigh calling VA hospital for mental health counseling disclosed by Dr. John R. Smith, his prison psychiatrist, in an interview with NPR’s Wayne Goodwin, All Things Considered, June 8, 2001; for McVeigh’s version of the year between his discharge from the army and his departure from New York State, see Michel and Herbeck, op. cit., pp. 95–116; his letter to the Lockport Union Sun & Journal was published February 11, 1992; William Pierce on gun shows, quoted in Morris Dees with James Corcoran, Gathering Storm: America’s Militia Threat, p. 79; Kristen Rand, Gun Shows in America: Tupperware Parties for Criminals; McVeigh selling smoke grenades and blast simulators, Richard A. Serrano, One of Ours, p. 56; the best account of the Ruby Ridge fiasco is Jess Walter, Ruby Ridge: The Truth and Tragedy of the Randy Weaver Family; emergency meeting in Estes Park, Colorado—the Rocky Mountain Rendezvous—described at length in Dees and Corcoran, op. cit., pp. 1–2, 46–66; video of Louis Beam speech obtained by authors; Louis Beam, Leaderless Resistance, Seditionist, issue 12, February 1992, available at Beam’s Web site www.louisbeam.com; McVeigh’s grievance list detailed in Stuart A. Wright, Patriots, Politics and the Oklahoma City Bombing, pp. 129–38; Wright was given access to McVeigh through his defense team and interviewed him at length; McVeigh quitting security guard job on January 26, from defense memo obtained by authors; Roger Moore meeting in Fort Lauderdale and plan to share a table at upcoming Miami gun show detailed in FBI FD-302 interview with Moore on April 28, 1995, file no. 810, and also in FBI FD-302 interview with Moore’s wife, Carol, on November 7, 1995, file no. 12689.
Jennifer McVeigh and the bank robbery letter:
McVeigh’s letter of December 24, 1993, entered into evidence at trial; the call to the FBI crime lab is documented in a May 4 memo from the lab to Bob Ricks, Lab no. E-3427. The subject line says, “Telephone call April 26, 1995.” The tests on five latent prints from a Cleveland-area robbery and one latent impression from the St. Louis area came back negative.
FBI almost misses key evidence from Geary Lake witness:
Account from Budke’s testimony in the Nichols federal trial, December 11, 1997. A handwritten lead sheet about his encounter with Wahl, timed 12:45 P.M. on April 26, 1995, was (belatedly) entered into evidence at trial.
McVeigh meets Roger Moore, goes to Waco:
Fort Lauderdale meeting detailed in FBI FD-302 interviews with Roger and Carol Moore, cited above; details about the Confederate flag and the camo pants come from an FBI FD-302 interview with Karen Anderson, May 19, 1995, file no. 5435; Floyd Hays interview (Gumbel), July 14, 2010; for McVeigh’s account of this period, see Michel and Herbeck, op. cit., pp. 117–20. The Waco disaster has spawned an entire literature. See for example: Dick J. Reavis, The Ashes of Waco; Danny O. Coulson and Elaine Shannon, No Heroes, pp. 429–48; Gary Noesner, Stalling for Time, pp. 94–132; also, Department of Justice “Report to the Deputy Attorney General on the Events at Waco, Texas,” October 8, 1993. Louis Beam gave his own account of the “forbidden question” in an interview with The Spotlight magazine, July 12, 1993. The confrontations were covered in the local media and in Mark Potok, “Siege in Texas Attracts a Crew from the Fringes,” USA Today, March 19, 1993. Likelihood that Beam and McVeigh met: Beam was thrown out of the news briefing on March 14 and handcuffed at the news briefing on March 17. Student journalist Michelle Rauch drove to Waco on her spring break from Southern Methodist University and later testified (on June 10, 1997) about interviewing McVeigh. She did not specify the date of her interview, but SMU’s spring break that year ran from March 13 to March 21 (per Veronica Decena of the SMU Registrar’s office, e-mail sent February 10, 2011). So Beam and McVeigh were almost certainly at Waco at the same time. Jim Cavanaugh interview (Gumbel), August 2, 2010.
The FBI grills Michael Fortier:
Much of this material is from Fortier’s testimony in McVeigh’s trial, May 12, 1997; typewriter ribbon story from Lori Fortier’s testimony in the McVeigh trial, April 29, 1997; “I’m a dead man” quote cited in U.S. Secret Service timeline for April 24, 1995, at 1930. Details of evidence the Fortiers ditched are only partly covered by their trial testimony; the Hornet rifle and galvanized tubing, which Fortier did not discuss, are detailed in an FD-302 interview report on Rosencrans, July 1, 1995, file no. 6700; and in an FD-302 on Rosencrans’s girlfriend, Patty Edwards (Patricia Ann Edwards, July 1, 1995, file no. 6696). The detail about Rosencrans’s half-brother being married to his mother comes from Edwards’s 302, quote: “EDWARDS explained CHUCK and JIM have the same father, but different mothers. EDWARDS also advised CHUCK is JIM’s priest”; Coulson’s part of the story recounted in Coulson and Elaine Shannon, No Heroes, pp. 521–26; Rosencrans arrest story detailed in Mohave County Sheriff’s Department arrest report, dated May 1, 1995, obtained by authors.
McVeigh meets Karen Anderson and Andreas Strassmeir at Tulsa gun show:
Quick trip to Kingman detailed in McVeigh defense team memo, obtained by authors; encounter with Anderson from Anderson’s testimony in the Nichols trial, November 17–18, 1997. Encounter with Strassmeir, see FD-302 interview with Strassmeir, conducted by phone with two Justice Department lawyers, April 30–May 1, 1996, file no. 14897; Strassmeir interview (Gumbel), July 3, 2010; and a confidential defense memo, obtained by authors, in which McVeigh says he and Strassmeir are “brothers in arms.” McVeigh variously told investigators he swapped the knife for several pairs of long johns, not the battle uniform and gloves, or that he wanted to swap the knife for the long johns but Strassmeir insisted on having the cash. Strassmeir’s memory seems more reliable, since his account is more consistent and since he was the one who ended up with the items.
Offer of undercover agent to sniff out Strassmeir rebuffed:
Steve Chancellor interview (Gumbel), August 12, 2010; State Department diplomatic security memo of April 28, 1995, obtained by authors.
McVeigh visits Roger Moore’s ranch, witnesses end of the Waco siege:
Account of visit to the Arkansas ranch mostly from Moore and Anderson testimony in the Nichols trial; McVeigh’s account of seeing the end of the siege on television, see Michel and Herbeck, op. cit., p. 135; episode also recounted by Michael Fortier at McVeigh trial, May 12, 1997.
Roger Moore’s coded letter to McVeigh:
Letter entered into evidence at the Nichols trial. For federal law enforcement considering that Moore and McVeigh were in cahoots over the robbery, see Secret Service timeline entry for April 29, 1995, at 1034: “McVeigh and Terry Nichols may have been involved in an insurance fraud scam with a subject identified as Bob Moore AKA Roger Miller and Roger Moore…. An initial analysis of the letter indicates that Moore and McVeigh set up the robbery.” Details of interrogation of Moore and Anderson from their FD-302s of April 28, 1995, full citation above.
McVeigh orders a significant book, discovers Waco: The Big Lie:
Extracts from Homemade C-4 cited in Hersley, Tongate, and Burke, Simple Truths: The Real Story of the Oklahoma City Bombing Investigation, pp. 124–25; specifics of McVeigh’s purchases from Paladin Press detailed by the company’s Dana Rogers in the McVeigh trial, May 1, 1997; an updated version of Linda Thompson’s Waco: The Big Lie is available online (viewed February 17, 2011, at Google Videos); promotional teaser quoted in Serrano, op. cit., p. 77.
Jennifer McVeigh comes clean:
Jennifer McVeigh affidavit, dated May 2, 1995, obtained by authors; McVeigh’s mother flown in from Florida, Stephen Jones and Peter Israel, Others Unknown, p. 89; “Tim is fried anyways” line from her FD-302, April 24–May 2, 1995; details of FBI wanting her to testify against her brother from her testimony in McVeigh’s trial, May 5, 1997; Fortier speculating on motive for Roger Moore robbery, from his testimony in McVeigh trial, May 12, 1997.
Chapter 6
McVeigh draws attention of law enforcement, FBI and ATF yawn:
Al Shearer, FBI FD-302, file no. 1974, April 28, 1995; this story was broken by Mark Flatten of the Cox News Service—see Flatten, “FBI and ATF Were Warned About McVeigh in 1993,” Seattle Post-Intelligencer, June 2, 1995.
Coulson gets shafted, Potts gets promoted, Freeh gets distracted:
Danny Coulson interview (Gumbel), May 19, 2010; Reno announcement of Potts as deputy director contained in transcript of her news briefing, May 3, 1995, distributed by the U.S. News Service; Potts and Freeh working the Judge Vance mail-bombing case, Kessler, The FBI, p. 522; unreleased Department of Justice report is “Report of the Ruby Ridge Task Force to the Office of Professional Responsibility of Investigation of Allegations of Improper Governmental Conduct in the Investigation, Apprehension and Prosecution of Randall C. Weaver and Kevin L. Harris,” June 10, 1994. Parts of this report were eventually released and were, as of November 2011, available at the DOJ Web site at http://www.justice.gov/opr/readingroom/rubyreportcover_39.pdf. Glenn letter covered in David Johnston, “FBI Leader at 1992 Standoff in Idaho Says Review Shielded Top Officials,” New York Times, May 10, 1995; on Freeh’s clash with Gorelick, see James Rowley, “FBI-Justice Clashes Are Nothing New,” Associated Press, December 3, 1997; Office of Professional Responsibility investigation into Glenn allegations detailed in a Department of Justice news release, “Evidence from Investigation of 1992 Ruby Ridge Matter Only Sufficient to Charge One Official with Criminal Conduct,” August 15, 1997.
Government disregards own evidence of second Ryder truck:
Rick Wahl initially identifying the pickup as gray, from lead sheet drawn up by FBI Agent Budke on April 26, 1995; Bob Nelson testified in the Nichols trial, November 20, 1997; Rucker and Sargent both testified in the Nichols trial on December 4, 1997. Rucker quote from MGA documentary interview, March 6, 1999; Sargent quote from MGA documentary interview, March 25, 1999 (transcripts obtained by authors); Bob Ricks interview (Gumbel), August 9, 2010. The government’s initial interest in the second Ryder truck theory is documented, e.g., in attorney notes on a witness named Barbara Whittenberg, who claimed to have served breakfast to three men who drove up to her diner in Herington in a Ryder truck. The attorney review is dated October 22, 1996, and initialed ALM, an apparent reference to Larry Mackey, whose initials were, in fact, LAM but were accidentally transposed.
McVeigh creates a “network of friends”:
McVeigh and Guthrie meeting: in Mark Hamm’s book In Bad Company, p. 145, Pete Langan is quoted as saying: “Guthrie knew McVeigh. Guthrie met him through the gun shows”; McVeigh and Nichols stayed at a Motel 6 in Fayetteville on October 11–12, 1993, and the booking was in Nichols’s name; copy of McVeigh’s October 12 traffic citation near Elohim City obtained by authors; Guthrie gives an account of the planned (but never attempted) armored car heist in the Fayetteville area in his unpublished handwritten memoir, The Taunting Bandits, pp. 13–16. He says the participants were himself, Langan, and Shawn Kenny, whom he calls Dan Kenny; Guthrie meeting Robb in 1992 included in his FBI FD-302, March 4–15, 1996; Nichols’s account from a letter to Jesse Trentadue, October 18, 2006, obtained by authors.
The hunt for Steve Colbern:
Colbern is first mentioned in the Secret Service timeline at 1937 on May 5: “Steve Colburn [sic], a federal fugitive being pursued by the U.S. Marshal Service, shared a P.O. Box with McVeigh at one time. Colbern fits description of John Doe #2.” Colbern said in his first FBI interview (FD-302, file no. 2178, May 12, 1995) that he did once have a mailbox in Kingman but not in the last ten years. A U.S. Marshals’ Report of Investigation into Colbern, May 6, 1995, details the letter postmarked from Texarkana and confirms the mailbox link. The report was shared with the ATF, and eventually handed over to defense lawyers in the bombing case in 2001. McVeigh’s note to “S.C.” entered into evidence at the federal trials; court documents on the search of Colbern’s pickup were unsealed in September 1995 and published, e.g., in Michelle Boorstein, “Judge Unseals Documents on Searches Involving McVeigh, Colbern,” Associated Press, September 14, 1995; Colbern’s neighbor Maybelle Hertig quoted in David Johnston, “Bomb Inquiry Leads to Arrest of Biochemist,” New York Times, May 13, 1995; details on snakes, ex-wife, from FBI interview with Colbern’s uncle, Dr. Edwin Colbern, FD-302, file no. 3223, May 12, 1995.
The brief, disturbing life of Jason Nichols:
McVeigh sends Nichols to Pendleton, Michel and Herbeck, op. cit., p. 138; the account of McVeigh’s 1993 stay in Decker and Jason’s death is taken from a Nichols defense team memorandum amalgamating all of Marife Nichols’s interview statements about her son, dated July 15, 1997; from Marife’s FBI FD-302 interview report, file no. 4944, dated May 1, 1995; from Nichols’s handwritten answers to author questions, dated January 3, 2010; and, regarding McVeigh’s CPR efforts, from Michel and Herbeck, op. cit., pp. 147–50.
Evidence teams grapple with the “red pyramid”:
Weldon Kennedy interview (Gumbel), December 15, 2010; a FEMA Situation Report for April 25, 1995, 1:30 P.M. EDT, reads: “On April 24, President Clinton directed the General Services Administration to rebuild the Murrah Building after the recovery effort”; people who saw sinister intent in the decision to demolish the building were largely fans of General Partin’s multiple-explosive theory of the bombing (debunked in chapter 2), see, e.g., William F. Jasper, “Explosive Evidence of a Cover-Up,” New American, August 7, 1995; Oscar Johnson, interview with a defense investigator for McVeigh, dated February 16, 1996. Defenbaugh-Eberhardt spat: interviews (Gumbel) with Defenbaugh, May 18, June 13, and September 22, 2010; interviews (Gumbel) with Eberhardt, May 26 and July 9, 2010. More than nine months after the bombing, Eberhardt wrote up an FBI FD-302 describing how he returned to his ninth-floor office sometime in early May, removed a dummy bomb device, threw it in a bag, and later disposed of it (file no. 13012, February 3, 1996). The existence and delayed timing of this 302 lend some credence to Defenbaugh’s memory that Eberhardt’s handling of the device was subject to FBI investigation. If there is further documentation on the matter, the FBI and ATF have not disclosed it.
Stephen Jones’s inauspicious beginning as McVeigh’s defense counsel:
Jones’s biographical details, approach by Judge Russell, from Others Unknown, op. cit., pp. 11–12; Michel and Herbeck (op. cit., p. 281) have Gerry Spence turning down McVeigh’s defense. But Spence said in an e-mail (to Gumbel, March 12, 2011) that, while he couldn’t remember for sure, he didn’t think he was ever asked. Dick DeGuerin turning it down, interview (Gumbel), July 14, 2010; Jones’s first meeting with McVeigh recounted in a confidential memo by ABC producer Don Thrasher to his bosses, dated March 26, 1996, and obtained by authors; Jones’s brief on halting the demolition of the Murrah Building: “Defendant’s Motion to Preserve Evidence Scheduled to Be Destroyed by the Government, and Brief in Support,” filed around May 10, 1995 (no date on author copy); on delay in demolition of Murrah Building, see from the Daily Oklahoman, Chris Casteel, “Agency Plans to Raze Building, GSA Weighs Effects of Using Explosives,” May 9, 1995; Casteel, “Explosives to Demolish Building Work May Begin by This Weekend,” May 10, 1995; and Nolan Clay, “Defense Experts Study Ruins, Team Disappointed to Find Crater Filled,” May 21, 1995; quote from Coyle’s clerk from Serrano, op. cit., p. 350.
The FBI’s brief bout of insanity over Josh Nichols:
The Oklahoma City command post holding all John Doe Two leads “in abeyance,” from insert E-4153, dated May 3, 1995, written by Special Agent Thomas P. Ravenelle of the San Francisco office, explaining why he was no longer pursuing a John Doe Two lead he had taken up on May 3. Josh calling Agent Calhoun after hours, see Lana Padilla and Ron Delpit, op. cit., pp. 142–43. Account of Josh being accused, op. cit., pp. 98–106, and the following FBI FD-302s: Josh Nichols, file no. 5098, May 6, 1995; Lana Padilla, file no. 5834, May 6, 1995. Nichols (handwritten answers to author questions, March 30, 2010) said he regarded the naming of Josh as John Doe Two “a form of threat and coercion.” He wrote: “I took it as a sign that it would be best if I just shut my mouth and ‘take the fall,’ which is pretty much what I did in my federal trial.” Lana and Josh in Las Vegas, handing over clothes and baseball caps, By Blood Betrayed, pp. 112–32; the Secret Service timeline entry for May 11 discussing the resumption of investigation into John Doe Two leads is at 1810 hours.
McVeigh spends the night with Karen Anderson:
Karen Anderson, FBI FD-302 interview, file no. 5435, May 19, 1995; Anderson “very fond” of McVeigh, from FBI FD-302 interview with Steve Colbern, file no. 5344, dated May 20, 1995; McVeigh dropping in on Lori Fortier, see testimony of Deborah Brown, Fortier’s colleague at The Beach Club tanning salon, at McVeigh’s trial, May 28, 1997; Jim Rosencrans, FBI FD-302, file no. 6700, July 1, 1995; Patty Edwards, FBI FD-302, file no. 6696, July 1, 1995; “Virgin McVeigh” taunt, from a self-published memoir by McVeigh’s fellow federal death row inmate David Paul Hammer, with input from Jeffery Paul, Secrets Worth Dying For: Timothy James McVeigh and the Oklahoma City Bombing (2003).
Bill Maloney raises prospect of John Doe Three:
FBI FD-302 interview with Maloney, file no. 3576, May 10, 1995; Maloney interview (Gumbel), April 30, 2010. Terry Nichols denied being in Cassville in November 1994 (but did not say he had never been there) or knowing a Robert Jacques. When Marife was asked why the name Jacks or Jacques appeared in her address book, she said she was trying to write the word “yuk” or “yucky” but didn’t know how to spell it and tried a number of different ways, to see what looked right. (Terry Nichols, handwritten answers to author questions, January 3, 2010; Marife Nichols, interview with defense investigator H. C. Bodley, August 17, 1995, and also FBI FD-302, file no. 14297, dated August 4–8, 1995.) The U.S. embassy official in the Philippines who interviewed Marife on this question did not find her answer wholly convincing (detailed in Teater’s Robert Jacques report, see below). Bill Teater interview (Gumbel), August 11, 2010; Jeanne Boylan, op. cit., pp. 210–11 (about her interview of postal worker Debbie Nakanashi) and p. 228 (her quote about Maloney); confirmation of McVeigh’s discolored tooth, from an FBI report written by Teater, “Comprehensive summary of investigation concerning Robert Jacques, possible associate of Timothy James McVeigh and Terry Lynn Nichols,” April 19, 2000, obtained by Gumbel (Teater’s name redacted, but his initials in lowercase, “wet,” left visible); details of Defenbaugh’s biography, taken from his Web site www.dannydefenbaugh.com; he formally took over the investigation on May 11, the day after Terry Nichols’s indictment on bombing charges. I. C. Smith interviews, June 18 (Gumbel and Charles) and October 4, 2010 (Gumbel). The only other senior FBI veteran willing to address the issue of Defenbaugh’s leadership on the record was Bob Ricks, who contrasted Weldon Kennedy’s ability to set an agenda and exercise judgment on what mattered with “other people,” who “may have a limited investigative background”; “It’s about different capabilities people had, and putting people in the right spots,” he said; interview (Gumbel), August 9, 2010. Teater quote from interview (Gumbel), August 13, 2010; Defenbaugh characterizing his role, interviews (Gumbel), May 17, 2010, and April 4, 2011.
Colbern gets arrested, the FBI loses interest almost immediately:
Account of arrest from David Johnston, “Bomb Inquiry Leads to Arrest of Biochemist,” New York Times, May 13, 1995; Colbern’s first FBI interview detailed in FD-302, file no. 2178, May 12, 1995; Preston Haney, interviewed by the ATF, see FBI FD-302, file no. 1879, May 15, 1995; letter to Barbara Harris, from FBI interview with Harris, FD-302, file no. 1294, May 11, 1995; the Mail Room manager recognizing Colbern’s picture, from Lynda Willoughby’s FBI FD-302, file no. 4461, May 12, 1995 (interview conducted by the ATF). Details on the Browning video from ATF and U.S. Marshals Service files handed over in discovery to Nichols’s state trial lawyers in 2001, confirmed also by Richard Hanawalt, interview (Gumbel), March 18, 2011; Edwin Colbern, FBI FD-302, file no. 3223, dated May 12, 1995; government’s belief that Colbern was too weird to be involved based on subsequent documentation on Colbern (detailed in later section in this chapter) and on interview (Gumbel) with Danny Defenbaugh, May 19, 2010; Michael Tigar interview (Gumbel), March 1, 2011: Edwin Colbern’s 302 described Colbern smelling like a “billy goat.”
Fortier reaches out to the FBI:
FBI FD-302, file no. 4477, May 12, 1995, was written by Agent David Beiter, who received the Kit Kat wrapper from Fortier.
Stephen Jones leaks own client’s guilt to the New York Times:
Pam Belluck, “McVeigh Is Reported to Claim Responsibility for the Bombing,” New York Times, May 17, 1995; account of Jones’s attempt to negotiate with Reno for his client’s life, interview with Jones (Gumbel and Charles), September 17, 2010; leak justification in Jones and Israel, op. cit., pp. xv, 60–62. Jones never explicitly writes that he obtained authorization before talking to Belluck. The closest he comes is this line: “He gave me the authorization to proceed, and I called Pam Belluck at the New York Times.” Jones could have been clearer about the time sequence in this sentence considering the importance of the issue. Jones was made aware of the allegations in this section. In an initial response (an e-mail dated March 16, 2011), he wrote: “These questions and the incident I discussed at length in the second edition of my book. I do not know I can add anything to them at this time. My memory would probably have been better ten years ago.” In a second e-mail, on March 22, 2011, he raised the issue again, unprompted, and explicitly denied leaking the story before obtaining McVeigh’s authorization. “I had met Pam Belluck,” he wrote, “and may have talked with her briefly on the telephone, but we had no such discussion until after Mr. McVeigh and I discussed it at length and I had his authority to discuss it with her.” Rob Nigh interview (Gumbel), April 5, 2011; McVeigh’s version in Michel and Herbeck, op. cit., pp. 283–84.
Michael and Lori Fortier come clean…ish:
Account of May 17 FBI questioning taken from FD-302, file no. 3495, May 17, 1995, and from Michael Fortier’s testimony in McVeigh’s trial, May 12–13, 1997.
McVeigh’s misadventures in Arizona:
Jim Rosencrans, FBI FD-302, July 1, 1995, file no. 6700; Michael Fortier testimony in McVeigh’s trial, May 12, 1997; McCarty quoted in Serge F. Koveleski and Pierre Thomas “3rd Man’s Fate Dangles in Okla. Bombing Case; Prosecutors Divided Over Strategy on Fortier,” Washington Post, August 7, 1995; background on the Arizona Patriots, see Brent L. Smith, Terrorism in America, pp. 79–84, and Tony Perry, “Godfather of Arizona’s Militiamen; Oklahoma City Bombing Puts Jack Oliphant, an Ex-Con and Survivalist, Back in Limelight,” Los Angeles Times, May 21, 1995; on Oliphant and McVeigh, see Dyane Partridge’s FBI FD-302 interviews, file no. 1215, dated May 10, 1995, and file no. 14486, dated March 28, 1996; also, interview (Gumbel) with the FBI agent who talked to her, Lee Fabrizio, December 11, 2009; McVeigh shooting near Oliphant’s ranch, from a letter to Kingman radio journalist Dave Hawkins, postmarked April 13, 2001, provided to the authors by Hawkins; Tom Hoover interview (Gumbel), February 23, 2010, and follow-up e-mail chat, February 25, 2010.
Colbern talks to the feds, the feds drop him as a suspect:
Meeting with prosecutors detailed in Colbern FBI FD-302, file no. 5344, May 20, 1995; Moore and Anderson discuss selling .50-caliber ammunition to Colbern in their interviews of May 19, 1995, the day before Colbern’s big interview; Dennis Malzac, interviewed by the ATF, FBI FD-302, file no. 3791, May 13, 1995; Malzac’s 2000 revelations taken from motion filed by Terry Nichols’s lawyers in state court in Oklahoma, February 9, 2004, requesting more government documents on Colbern (obtained by authors); Colbern, prisoner no. 41130-008, was released on February 24, 1999, according to Bureau of Prisons records; Richard Hanawalt interview (Gumbel), March 18, 2011; Bob Sanders interview (Charles), March 18, 2011.
Carol Howe’s Elohim City investigation falls apart:
ATF Report of Investigation on Carol Howe (informant no. 53270-183), May 31, 1995; ATF Report of Investigation, May 18, 1995 (reactivating Howe); ATF Request for Advance of Funds, May 18, 1995; $250 received on May 22.
Michael Tigar goes to bat for Terry and Marife Nichols:
Tigar’s filing and subsequent hearing reported in John Kifner, “Release Without Bail Is Sought for Bombing Suspect,” New York Times, May 26, 1995, and Richard A. Serrano, “Nichols Bail Hearing Judge Faults Interrogators’ Tactics,” Los Angeles Times, June 3, 1995; Marife’s visit to Nichols memorialized in FBI FD-302, file no. 5618, May 25, 1995; return of money, being told she has to pay her own way, see FBI FD-302, file nos. 3231–3, dated May 25, 26, 27, 1995 (one per day); voice mail memorialized in FBI FD-302, file no. 5748, May 31, 1995.
FBI finds a reason not to believe in John Doe Two:
Michael Hertig, FBI FD-302, file no. 5532, May 23, 1995; Todd Bunting, FBI FD-302, file nos. 5682 and 5690, May 28 and 29, 1995; Hertig acknowledged his mustache at the time of the Ryder rental in the McVeigh trial, May 23, 1997; Eldon Elliott talked about not being in the office on May 18 in the McVeigh trial, May 9, 1997; Vicki Beemer explaining how she knew Hertig, was sure two men came in on April 17, see her testimony in the McVeigh trial, May 22–23, 1997; Danny Coulson interview (Gumbel), May 19, 2010; I. C. Smith interview (Gumbel), October 4, 2010.
Fortier leads the FBI on a wild-goose chase in the desert:
Fortier FBI FD-302, file nos. 9161 and 9162, May 30, 1995; Weldon Kennedy interview (Gumbel), August 26, 2010.
FBI and prosecutors skirt holes in evidence at Eldon Elliott’s body shop:
McDonald’s video and timing of McVeigh’s supposed walk to Eldon Elliott’s body shop discussed, e.g., in Jon Hersley, Larry Tongate, and Bob Burke, Simple Truths, pp. 217–19. Agent Gary Witt retracing McVeigh’s steps also recounted here; “light mist” line from Eldon Elliott’s testimony in the McVeigh trial, May 9, 1997; Scott Mendeloff interviews (Gumbel), July 16, 2010, and October 4, 2010; McVeigh’s version, Michel and Herbeck, op. cit., p. 213; Linda James interview (Gumbel), August 3, 2010, and e-mails, December 7, 2010. She saw only two indications that there might be a resemblance to McVeigh’s handwriting—the “li” in “Kling” and the backward slant. But James said the slant could be misleading. Weldon L. Kennedy, On-Scene Commander, p. 219; Kennedy interview (Gumbel), August 26, 2010. In his FBI FD-302 interview of May 19, 1995, file no. 9256, Roger Moore described how, after spring 1994, his “only means of contact with McVeigh was when McVeigh would call, or by letter”; Karen Anderson mentioned the phone call in January or February 1994 in her testimony in the Nichols trial, November 17–18, 1997. Nichols described seeing McVeigh with a non-Bridges calling card on two occasions. He says in his handwritten document “Timeline: From April 1994 thru September 1994, Tracking McVeigh’s Travels” (November 11, 2006), the card was a Fone America prepaid debit card similar to those reported to be used by the Aryan Republican Army. In answers to author questions, dated January 3, 2010, he said he didn’t know what kind of card it was.
Chapter 7
Moore, McVeigh, and the Kinestik mystery:
Moore and Karen Anderson’s initial stories are contained in their FBI FD-302s for April 28 and May 19, 1995. Moore did not mention meeting McVeigh at a gun show in Knob Creek, Kentucky, in 1993 in his first interview. Karen Anderson made no mention of meeting McVeigh in Kentucky, or at the Soldier of Fortune Convention in Las Vegas, in any of her FBI interviews or court appearances. Anderson said in her May 19 FBI interview that McVeigh’s first visit to the Arkansas ranch, in April 1993, lasted two and a half days; Moore testified at McVeigh trial on November 18, 1997, that it lasted ten days. “Top sergeant” line from Moore’s trial testimony; account of McVeigh’s April 1994 visit from Moore and Anderson’s FBI FD-302s of May 19, 1995, and their testimony in the Nichols trial (November 17–18, 1997).
The defense information on the Kinestik comes from a purported interview with McVeigh conducted by defense investigator Richard Reyna on December 12, 1995, write-up by Reyna obtained by authors. It was later alleged that no such interview took place (Stephen Jones, e-mail to Gumbel, March 22, 2011, and Rob Nigh, interview with Gumbel, April 5, 2011). Still, the understanding among the defense team members was that the underlying facts were accurate (Stuart Wright, interview with Gumbel, April 28, 2011). McVeigh himself also confirmed that the material was genuine (Michel and Herbeck, op. cit., p. 301). See also chapter 9.
Nichols’s allegations concerning the Kinestik he said McVeigh obtained from Roger Moore are in two of his prison writings, one titled “Timeline: From April 1994 thru September 1994 Tracking McVeigh’s Travels” (November 11, 2006) and the other “OKC Bombing Materials and the Missing Explosives” (December 1, 2007); more details in his answers to author questions, one batch dated April 27, 2010, and the other February 21, 2011; McVeigh’s allusions to Kinestik appear on pp. 163–64 of Michel and Herbeck; Roger Moore responds to allegations in Richard A. Serrano, “Man Says He Had No Role in Oklahoma Plot,” Los Angeles Times, May 5, 2005.
No fingerprints on nitromethane tubes or box: in a preliminary finding on May 4, 2005 (included in summary report dated June 24, 2005), the FBI crime lab reported that 16 of the 68 nitromethane tubes bore fingerprints but could not yet say if they were recoverable; almost three years later (February 21, 2008), the lab concluded that they were not—a time delay that has raised suspicions in some quarters; documents obtained by authors. Attempts to contact Moore for this book were unsuccessful. On May 4, 2010, a woman—presumably his wife, Carol, or Karen Anderson—answered the phone at his Florida residence, acknowledged receipt of a letter outlining Nichols’s allegations, and said curtly: “We’re not interested.”
Terry Nichols teeters on the brink:
Nichols input mostly from his “Timeline” document of November 11, 2006, and his answers to author questions, January 3, 2010, and March 20, 2010; McVeigh’s version from Michel and Herbeck, op. cit., p. 158; Marion County Clerk Marquetta Eilerts, FBI FD-302, file no. 15830, August 6, 1996; Nichols’s employer, Timothy Donahue, testified in the Nichols federal trial, November 5, 1997; Marife Nichols testified about her affair with McVeigh at the Nichols state trial, from Tim Talley, “Nichols’s second wife says she had affair with McVeigh,” Associated Press, April 8, 2004; McVeigh shooting at Nichols, told by Lana Padilla, interview (Gumbel), September 25, 2010.
Moore’s quirky, murky past:
Moore biographical details from Carol Moore’s FBI FD-302, file no. 12689, November 7, 1995, from Moore’s interview with Roland Leeds, November 11, 1996, and from Moore’s FBI FD-302 interview of May 19, 1995, file no. 9256; he described building boats for the navy in Vietnam in his first big FBI interview, FD-302, file no. 810, April 28, 1995; Bill Stoneman interviewed by defense investigator John Hough, December 16, 1996, report obtained by authors; Rodney Bowers, interviews (Gumbel), March 10 and May 6, 2010; smoke bomb incident, from Lance Powell interview with defense investigator Roland Leeds, December 10, 1996; more details from Martin “Walt” Powell interview with Leeds, November 12, 1996 (reports obtained by authors). The housekeeper was Patricia Cicatello, and details of her cash robbery are from a Garland County sheriff’s report, August 11, 1986; she committed suicide in 1994 (documents obtained by authors); suicide of Moore’s friend Layton Noel detailed in Garland County sheriff’s report, October 20, 1986. Unverified stories about Moore: Camp Peary instructor lead from former intelligence operative, interview (Charles), April 9, 1997. Bowers had a source who suggested Moore had played a role in the U.S. government’s support of the Nicaraguan contras; see also, Al Martin, The Conspirators, pp. 56–58; Moore’s credit history investigated by Charles Sullivan for Nichols defense team, his report dated December 16, 1996, obtained by authors; Rodney Bowers and Michael Whiteley, “‘Cover’ Blown, Victim Details Royal Robbery,” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, June 22, 1995.
Moore wriggles out of FBI, ATF investigations:
On Operation Punchout, see FBI FD-302, file no. 16800, March 13–14, 1996 (on the videotapes), and FD-302, file no. 13675, February 27, 1996, on Assistant U.S. Attorney Bruce Lubeck’s decision not to prosecute Moore; defense investigator Roland Leeds’s review of the surveillance tapes is dated December 31, 1996, obtained by authors; the ATF investigations of 1989 and 1993 are detailed in an FBI insert written by Special Agent Steven Crutchfield, file no. E-7052, January 11 and January 18, 1996; Birdsong interview with defense investigator John Hough, November 20, 1996; Bill Buford, interviews (Gumbel), May 11 and June 16, 2010.
McVeigh and Nichols buy ammonium nitrate, steal explosives:
Nichols narrative from the following handwritten documents: “Events Leading Up to the Oklahoma City Bombing: A Condensed Narrative,” November 9, 2006; written answers to questions from investigative reporter John Solomon, September 30, 2007; “OKC Bombing Materials and the Missing Explosives,” December 1, 2007; answers to authors’ questions, March 20, 2010. Rick Schlender did not testify at trial, but his observations—minus his memory of two men making the purchase—were reported by FBI agent Christopher Budke at the McVeigh trial, May 19, 1997; Schledner’s FBI FD-302 interviews of April 30, 1995 (file no. 7748), and May 2, 1995 (file no. 7772), refer to the second man as a “white male, approximately the same age [as Nichols], mid-30s or a little older, with ‘clean-cut’ hair” and as having “dark-colored hair, which was slightly longer than the purchaser’s hair”; for McVeigh’s account of quarry robbery, see Michel and Herbeck, op. cit., pp. 163–64; inventory of stolen items and sheriff’s account of investigation from FBI FD-302 interview of Ed Davis, file no. 7936, April 25–26, 1995. Davis testified at a preliminary hearing in Nichols’ state trial, May 7, 2003, that he notified the ATF about the robbery, but the ATF did not investigate.
Moore arrested for road rage, drops strange hints to lawyer, bail bond agent:
Richard McLaughlin, FBI FD-302, file no. 12655, December 18, 1995; Dianna Sanders Burk, FBI FD-302, file no. 11941, December 8, 1995; story of the $50,000 dug up from the ranch from Bill Stoneman interview with Nichols defense investigator John Hough, December 16, 1996; detail about McLaughlin pulling a gun to run Moore out of his office from interview (Gumbel) with his brother Marty McLaughlin, April 20, 2010; Richard McLaughlin died in 1996.
McVeigh and Nichols complete their shopping spree:
Nichols account from same documents as in last section, plus “Facts Regarding Roger Moore’s Home Robbery,” November 21, 2006, and his answers to author questions, January 22, 2010; McVeigh’s version of the jug bomb, Michel and Herbeck, op. cit., p. 165; Wichita coin dealer Robert Dunlap testified in the Nichols trial, November 25, 1997; he confirmed Nichols came in on October 19, 1994, and exchanged gold coins for cash but could not recall how big the transaction was; VP Racing Fuels salesman Tim Chambers, McVeigh trial testimony, May 5, 1997; McVeigh’s Star Wars speech, as rendered by Fortier, much quoted, example during Fortier’s testimony in the Nichols federal trial, November 13, 1997.
The bizarre Roger Moore robbery from Moore’s and Nichols’s perspective:
Moore’s account is taken largely from his testimony in the Nichols trial, November 18, 1997. The detail about the serge on the ski mask is from Moore’s grand jury testimony of June 1, 1995, as reported in a defense investigator’s report by John Hough, February 7, 1997, obtained by authors; Terry Nichols documents on the robbery include “Facts Regarding Roger Moore’s Home Robbery,” November 21, 2006, and his answers to author questions, January 22, 2010, and March 20, 2010; insurance adjuster Rick Spivey interviewed by Hough, November 25, 1996; the flyer featuring the picture of the law enforcement agent in a black ski mask was entered into evidence at the Nichols trial as exhibit no. D1549; in her FBI FD-302 interview of May 19, 1995, Anderson said the only person who knew she was going to a gun show in Shreveport was the owner of a gun shop in Hot Springs; the defense team in Nichols’s state trial found evidence that Guthrie possessed the shotgun and garrote wire, plus Israeli combat boots, plastic ties, and a ski mask like the ones Moore described (see defense motion in the Nichols state trial, dated April 12, 2004, and titled “Terry Lynn Nichols’ Motion to Dismiss Based on the State’s Failure to Comply with Brady v. Maryland”); Robert Miller ID found among ARA’s things, task force not told, see John Solomon, “FBI Suspected McVeigh Link to Robbers,” Associated Press, February 25, 2004.
Moore seeks help, underwhelms neighbors, police, insurance agents:
Material on the Powells from testimony in the Nichols trial (Walt on December 3, Verta and Lance on December 4, 1997) and from interviews with defense investigator Roland Leeds (Walt on November 12, Verta—misspelled Verda—on November 13, and Lance on December 10, 1996); Moore’s version from his testimony in the Nichols trial, November 18, 1997, and from his FBI FD-302, dated May 19, 1995; Hough interviewed Spivey on November 25, 1996, Dies on November 12, 1996, and Priddy on November 11, 1996.
Who told McVeigh about the robbery?
Nichols walks through this argument in his document “Facts Regarding Roger Moore’s Home Robbery,” November 21, 2006, and his facts check out; Michael Fortier, testimony in the Nichols federal trial, November 13, 1997; the Daryl Bridges records (trial exhibit no. 554) show that at 8:09 P.M. Eastern (7:09 P.M. in Kansas), a call was placed to the Fortiers’ residence from a BP gas station pay phone in Kent, Ohio, and lasted 11 minutes and 12 seconds; Fortier testified at trial that the call came in mid-morning, but either he or the reconstructed phone records are wrong; Fortier also testified that McVeigh asked him to call back from a pay phone, but the length of the call as documented in the Bridges records casts doubt on his story.
Nichols flees the country:
Nichols’s narrative from document “Facts Regarding Roger Moore’s Home Robbery,” November 21, 2006; explanation of reason to be afraid for his life in the Philippines, details on stun guns, from Nichols’s answers to author questions, April 27, 2010; more on stun guns from FBI FD-302, file no. 4261, May 2, 1995, including the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department report on the incident; Lana Padilla narrative from December 8, 1995, interview with defense investigator H. C. Bodley, obtained by authors, and from By Blood Betrayed, op. cit., p. 162.
McVeigh tries to recruit Fortier, crashes his car:
Fortier acknowledged under cross-examination in the Nichols federal trial that Lori had never told him the soup-can story, testimony on November 13, 1997; McVeigh’s account of accident from his January 10, 1995, letter to Roger Moore, obtained by authors; Roger Moore interview with Nichols defense investigator Roland Leeds, November 11, 1996.
The FBI babysits Roger Moore:
Floyd Hays interview (Gumbel), July 13, 2010; Jon Hersley, Larry Tongate, and Bob Burke, Simple Truths, p. 173.
McVeigh and Nichols get indicted:
On Magaw, see Joyce Peterson and Nolan Clay, “ATF Chief Sees 3–4 Indictments in City Bombing; Director Says All Participants Known,” Daily Oklahoman, August 5, 1995; Magaw interview (Gumbel), January 18, 2010; Larry Mackey interview (Gumbel), October 11, 2010.
Chapter 8
Carol Howe goes undercover at Elohim City:
Howe’s assessment of Strassmeir, descriptions of Mahon and grenades, from her handwritten informant notes, dated October 9 and October 19, 1994, obtained by authors; these and subsequent findings are memorialized in Angela Finley’s Reports of Investigation for the ATF, dated October, November, and December 1994 and January 1995; Millar’s sermon recounted in an ATF Report of Investigation, dated January 11, 1995; Howe’s report on Mahon and the 500-pound bomb, from her handwritten notes, obtained by authors; Strassmeir interview (Gumbel), June 30, 2010; Kirk Lyons interview (Gumbel), March 23, 2010; Bob Sanders’s review and analysis of the Carol Howe file, performed for her criminal defense lawyer Clark Brewster, dated June 20, 1997, and obtained by authors; Dave Roberts, testimony before a county grand jury in Oklahoma City, March 23, 1998, transcript obtained by authors.
The FBI’s uncomfortable history with Elohim City and the radical right:
Jack Knox, interview (Gumbel), May 10, 2010; Sarah Wallington sleeping on banknotes, story from Dave Hollaway, interview (Gumbel), May 20, 2010; a useful account of the sedition trial is in Leonard Zeskind, Blood and Politics, pp. 158–69; other details here taken from Bruce Campbell’s essay “Louis and Sheila” (available at Beam’s Web site www.louisbeam.com), from Howard Pankratz, “Blast Blamed on Revenge Attack Linked to Militant’s Execution,” Denver Post, May 12, 1996, and “A Defiant and Victorious Beam Meets a Throng of Reporters After He Is Found Innocent,” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, April 8, 1988; Horace Mewborn, interviews (Gumbel), May 26 and July 29, 2010; for the history of various attorney general guidelines on intelligence-gathering versus investigation, including the CISPES issue, see DOJ inspector general’s report, “The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Compliance with the Attorney General’s Investigative Guidelines (Redacted), Special Report,” Washington, D.C., September 2005; Bob Ricks interview (Gumbel), August 9, 2010.
Strassmeir’s Elohim City idyll:
Strassmeir interviews (Gumbel), June 30–July 3, 2010; the ATF issued its ban on steel-core ammunition on February 2, 1994, see, e.g., Carolyn Skorneck, “Government Bans Armor-Piercing Bullets,” Associated Press, February 5, 1994; Kirk Lyons interviews (Gumbel), March 23, April 22, July 15, 2010, April 19, 2011; Dave Hollaway interviews (Gumbel), May 6, May 10, July 9, July 10, 2010; Bob Sisente’s relationship with Louis Beam detailed in the final judgment handed down by the U.S. District Court in Houston in a suit brought by the Vietnamese Fishermen’s Association against the Ku Klux Klan, June 9, 1982; Kenny Pence’s account from an interview with McVeigh defense investigators Marty Reed and Wilma Sparks, September 7, 1996, report obtained by authors.
The feds’ struggles to figure out Robert Millar:
Horace Mewborn, interview (Gumbel), May 26, 2010; Bill Buford, interview (Gumbel), September 8, 2010; Buck Revell’s comments from his book A G-Man’s Journal, p. 446; early history of Millar from Somer Shook, Wesley Delano, Robert W. Balch, “Elohim City: A Participant-Observer Study of a Christian Identity Community,” Nova Religio, vol. 2, April 1999, and from Kerry Noble, Tabernacle of Hate, pp. 111–12; description of Millar at the CSA siege from Coulson’s book No Heroes, p. 305; Millar business-card wording reported in his FBI FD-302 interview, file no. 6416, dated June 21, 1995; Bethel Christian School brochure with photo of Millar doing Hitler salute, obtained by authors; Millar’s child out of wedlock and other details included in a ruling by Judge D. K. Kirkland of the Hastings County family court in Belleville, Ontario, in which he awards full custody to Dan Irwin; ruling dated August 31, 1983, obtained by authors; unsuccessful police raid to reclaim Irwin’s children in “Millar Expresses City’s Beliefs, Connection to CSA Community,” Sequoia County Times, July 18, 1985; Elohim City neighbors Carl Wright and Paul Powers described their feelings of intimidation in court proceedings in Adair County, Oklahoma, in the Irwin custody case; Wright (testifying on December 13, 1985) said Powers was passing information to the FBI; Powers (testifying on February 21, 1985) refused to answer a question about passing information to law enforcement. Early law enforcement interest in Elohim City: Oklahoma Department of Public safety memo, dated April 21, 1985, and ATF Report of Investigation on Elohim City, July 9, 1985; Tim Arney, interview (Gumbel), August 26, 2010; Coulson on Ricks and Miller, from his book No Heroes, p. 539; Bob Ricks, interview (Gumbel), August 9, 2010.
Carol Howe operation starts unraveling:
Reasons why Mahon was not pursued, Tristan Moreland, interview (Gumbel), October 14 and 15, 2009. The FBI’s opinion of Mahon in the early-to-mid-1990s is laid out in a series of teletypes from the Oklahoma City division office, dated February 14, 1992; February 18, 1992; January 24, 1994; and March 29, 1994. The first two were in response to inquiries from the U.S. legal attaché in Bonn in the wake of Mahon being banned from Germany. The second two were in response to a preliminary inquiry into Mahon, opened on January 14, 1994. The March 29 teletype, which formally closed that inquiry, echoes the findings of all the previous documents. “Local and federal law enforcement sources familiar with Mahon,” it read, “are in general agreement that while MAHON’s rhetoric continues to be the usual, and constitutionally permitted, inflammatory ‘supremacist’ speech directed against Jews and minorities, his actions, at this time, are considerably less and do not rise to a criminal threshold.” Clearly, those law enforcement sources did not include the ATF. Tommy Wittman, interview (Gumbel), September 27, 2010; “crap” line from interview (Gumbel) with Neal Kirkpatrick, then an assistant U.S. attorney in Tulsa, who ended up prosecuting Carol Howe, May 24, 2010; Lester Martz quotes from his testimony before the Oklahoma County grand jury, April 23, 1998, transcript obtained by authors; “shit sandwich” line from Tim Arney, interview (Gumbel), August 26, 2010; Dave Roberts material from his testimony before the same grand jury, March 23, 1998; limited role/response from U.S. Attorney’s Offices, taken from interviews (Gumbel) with Steve Lewis, then the U.S. attorney in Tulsa (May 18 and August 10, 2010) and Sheldon Sperling, then the U.S. attorney in Muskogee (August 10, 2010); Finley’s correspondence with the INS, including the certificate on Strassmeir issued February 16, 1995, obtained by authors; Howe’s trip to Oklahoma City, the fixed-wing aircraft flight and the two weeks of inactivity all recorded in the ATF’s Report of Investigation on her for February 1995, dated February 28, 1995; Ken Stafford’s “trooper safety” BOLO notice obtained by authors; Bob Ricks, interviews (Gumbel), August 9 and August 17, 2010; in his grand jury testimony, Lester Martz denied having met Ricks to discuss Elohim City, but this is contradicted both by Ricks and by the ATF’s February 1995 Report of Investigation on Howe, which describes plans being made in the last week of February for Ricks and Martz to meet.
McVeigh recalibrates his plans:
Nichols’s account of reconnecting with McVeigh on his return from the Philippines is from his handwritten document “McVeigh and Potts/Govt. Connection,” November 23, 2007; the shadowy government operative Nichols refers to as Potts in this document appears to be similar or the same as a man he described to the FBI in April 2005 as “Top Dog #2,” see FD-302 on Nichols, dated April 1, 2005, file no. 18253. Fortier’s interactions with McVeigh, see his FD-302 of June 21–22, 1995, file no. 9171, and his testimony in the Nichols trial, November 13, 1997. McVeigh reaches out to Coffman, Bangerter: Bangerter and Bangerter’s mother were interviewed by defense investigator Richard Reyna in February 1996 and they described meeting McVeigh at the St. George gun show a year earlier. Reyna’s research is contained in a memo dated September 2–4, 1996, and titled “Michael Joseph Fortier’s Involvement in the Bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.” If McVeigh made phone contact with either, it was not, at this stage, with the Daryl Bridges card. Coffman, interviewed on five separate occasions by the FBI, acknowledged receiving phone messages from a Tim Tuttle in April 1995—they were part of the Daryl Bridges phone record—but denied meeting him and denied talking about him with Bangerter. (See, e.g., his FBI FD-302, file no. 16229, of September 23–24, 1996.) However, Coffman was asked at least twice to take a polygraph test and refused (FD-302, file no. 6350, of June 12, 1995, and file no. 15876 of June 14, 1995). No FBI interview of Bangerter appears in the files handed over to the defense teams at trial. Rosencrans described McVeigh’s offer in his FD-302, file no. 6700, dated July 1, 1995; Patty Edwards corroborated the story in her own FD-302 interview of the same date, file no. 6696.
The ATF closes its Elohim City operation at the worst possible moment:
Finley gave her version of Howe’s association with the Tulsa skinheads in an April 24, 1997, preliminary hearing ahead of Howe’s trial. Her line about not documenting every meeting with Howe comes from the same day’s court proceedings. Transcript viewed by Gumbel at the National Archives repository in Fort Worth, April 4, 2011. Howe’s version taken from her testimony in the trial of James Viefhaus, July 24, 1997; the emergency confidential informant removal application made by Finley on March 20, 1995, was read into the record at Viefhaus’s trial during Finley’s testimony, July 25, 1997; the ATF’s official line on Howe—that her information was useless, and that the informant operation at Elohim City was shut down by Bob Ricks—was echoed in both particulars by the federal prosecutor, Neal Kirkpatrick, in his interview with Gumbel, see above; John Magaw, interviews (Gumbel), January 18, June 22, and October 12, 2010; among those making the case that Carol Howe warned feds in advance is William F. Jasper, “Undercover: The Howe Revelations,” New American, September 15, 1997; Finley talked about threats “in general” and the fact that such talk was commonplace in her April 24, 1997, preliminary hearing; anecdote about DOJ spokesperson Leesa Brown told by Don Thrasher in a phone call with McVeigh’s lawyer Stephen Jones, February 11, 1997; transcript of call obtained by authors. Danny Defenbaugh, interview (Gumbel), May 17, 2010; Danny Coulson, interview (Gumbel), September 27, 2010.
McVeigh’s “penis party” with Richard Rogers:
Rogers was interviewed by the ATF on May 9, 1995 (later categorized as FBI FD-302, file no. 1251, dated May 10, 1995), and then by the FBI, most extensively on July 4, 1995 (FD-302, file no. 6721). The interviewing agent was Kenneth Williams, later the author of the “Phoenix Memo,” which alerted the FBI two months before 9/11 to al-Qaida followers attending flight schools and planning attacks on civil aviation targets.
The ghost of McVeigh flits over Elohim City:
Joan Millar described the call from McVeigh to defense investigator Richard Reyna on October 28, 1995 (report, dated October 30, 1995, obtained by authors), and, six months later, to the FBI, FD-302, file no. 15826, May 2, 1996; the April 5 phone call is included in the Daryl Bridges records entered into evidence in the bombing trials; it was made from the Imperial Motel at 1:46 P.M. Arizona time, 3:46 in Oklahoma. The April 17 phone call to Elohim City is described in an FBI teletype from headquarters dated January 4, 1996; the same teletype also talks about April 5 as “a day that he [McVeigh] was believed to have been attempting to recruit a second conspirator to assist in the OKBOMB attack”; Richard Cohen, interview (Gumbel), June 3, 2010; Dees quoted saying McVeigh had been to Elohim City “several times” in Howard Pankratz, “Records Hint at Link with Elohim City, Blast Followed Commune Calls,” Denver Post, May 12, 1996 (the event took place on May 3), and also in Hamm, In Bad Company, p. 191; Dees’s appearance at Southeastern Oklahoma State College was recorded by J. D. Cash of the McCurtain Daily Gazette; Mark Potok, interview (Gumbel), June 1, 2010; Bill Buford, interview (Gumbel), June 16, 2010. One possible candidate for the document Buford saw, or saw referred to, was a teletype from the FBI’s Mobile, Alabama, office dated December 21, 1995, reporting on Southern Poverty Law Center intelligence concerning McVeigh and Elohim City. This document, available to the authors only in heavily redacted form, is discussed further in chapter 9. Bob Ricks, interview (Gumbel), August 17, 2010; Danny Defenbaugh, interview (Gumbel), April 4, 2011; Scott Mendeloff, interview (Gumbel), September 29, 2010. FBI agent Jim Carlile, who conducted several interviews in and around Elohim City in 1996, came out with this intriguing line in an October 18, 2010, interview with Gumbel. “Other than the fact that McVeigh had been in there and had probably tried to recruit somebody,” Carlile said, “it did not appear that any of the people who remained at Elohim City were people with a positive connection to the bombing investigation. They had met McVeigh, he had been there, but of the people that remained, there was no-one with a connection.” McVeigh’s “pretty fucking hardcore” line reported by defense attorney Randy Coyne on December 14, 1995, and included in a defense memo obtained by authors; Tom Metzger, interview (Gumbel), December 24, 2009; McVeigh’s motel records from the Imperial Motel and the Dreamland, as well as a receipt from the Arkansas City Walmart, were entered into evidence at his trial; the owner of the Imperial, Helmut Hofer, talked about the undisturbed bed in an interview with the MGA documentary crew, April 21, 1999, transcript obtained by authors; Kirk Lyons, interview (Gumbel), November 30, 2010; Millar told Richard Reyna about McVeigh possibly having visited Elohim City on December 13, 1995, memo dated December 15 and December 23–26, 1995; Millar also quoted in Jonathan Franklin, “God City,” Vibe, November 1997; Kerry Noble quote from interview with MGA documentary team, March 22, 1999.
Chapter 9
The FBI’s Night of the Long Knives:
Danny Coulson, interview (Gumbel), May 19, 2010; Revell quotes from his book, A G-Man’s Journal, pp. 467, 469; Horace Mewborn, interview (Gumbel), May 26, 2010.
Lawyers for McVeigh and Nichols fall out:
“Sanctuary in the jungle” line from Tigar’s argument before Judge Matsch for a change of venue, February 3, 1996, and quoted in Tigar’s book, Nine Principles of Litigation and Life, pp. 73–77; Judge Alley gave an account of the damage to his offices, interview (Gumbel), August 18, 2010; Alley’s September 14, 1995, refusal to recuse himself reported in John Parker, “Judge Alley Taken Off Bomb Case, 10th Circuit Cites Doubts of Impartiality,” Daily Oklahoman, December 2, 1995; Jones’s reluctance to rock the boat with Judge Alley documented in Diana Baldwin and John Parker “Jones May Accept Lawton Venue; McVeigh’s Attorney Polling Area Residents,” Daily Oklahoman, September 27, 1995, and Lee Hancock and David Jackson, “Bomb-case Judge’s Recusal Sought,” Dallas Morning News, September 28, 1995; Michael Tigar, interviews (Gumbel), March 1 and May 7, 2011; Jones mentioned his decision to stay out of the appeal in the 1998 edition of his book Others Unknown, but not in the account he gave of the change of venue issue in the 2001 edition (pp. 138–39). He took issue with Tigar’s claim that they had fallen out at all. (“Mike’s memory fails him about Judge Alley,” he wrote in an e-mail to Gumbel, March 22, 2011.) Jones on the frustrations of his assignment, from his article “Representing Timothy McVeigh,” Litigation, vol. 28, no. 3, Spring 2002; polygraph test described in Jones and Israel, Others Unknown, pp. 118–25; rebuke from Judge Matsch quoted in Arnold Hamilton and Lee Hancock, “McVeigh, Nichols Appear Before New Judge in Bomb Case,” Dallas Morning News, December 14, 1995; the hearing took place on December 12, 1995.
Strassmeir booted out of Elohim City:
Andreas Strassmeir, interviews (Gumbel), June 30 and July 1, 2010; Lyons, interview (Gumbel), July 15, 2010.
Strassmeir gets sucked into the case, prepares to flee the country:
The first news story to reference Elohim City was a Newsweek brief headlined “More Arrests to Come,” which appeared in the May 29, 1995, print edition of the magazine; Millar’s first recorded post-bombing conversation with the FBI was written up as FD-302, file no. 6146, dated June 21, 1995; Richard Reyna interviewed Grandpa Millar on October 16, October 28, and December 13, 1995. His alert about law enforcement being interested in Strassmeir was dated December 8, 1995 (all his reports obtained by authors); Kirk Lyons, interviews (Gumbel), March 23, April 22, and July 15, 2010. Evidence of media interest in Strassmeir: New York Times correspondent Jo Thomas filed a Freedom of Information Act request on Strassmeir with the Immigration and Naturalization Service, receipt stamp with the date December 13, 1995, obtained by authors; Dave Hollaway, interviews (Gumbel), May 24 and July 15, 2010; Andreas Strassmeir, interview (Gumbel), July 1, 2010; copies of Strassmeir’s old passport, which expired June 12, 1993, and his new one, valid from October 4, 1995, obtained by authors.
Defense teams push to squeeze discovery material out of government:
Early discovery disputes summarized in a ruling by Judge Matsch, dated January 28, 1997, in which he lays the burden for proper disclosure on the prosecution, not the court; Jones’s “check in the mail” remark quoted in Arnold Hamilton, “Bombing Prosecutors Criticized; McVeigh’s Attorney Says U.S. Dragging Feet on Evidence,” Dallas Morning News, November 5, 1995; details of deal on discovery described by Michael Tigar, interview (Gumbel), March 1, 2011, and confirmed, in parts, by Ron Woods, interview (Gumbel), June 1, 2011, Rob Nigh, interview (Gumbel), April 5, 2011, and Joe Hartzler, interview (Gumbel), June 2, 2011. It appears the reciprocal agreement was never enshrined in a written document. If it was, it was sealed by Judge Matsch, but Matsch said (in a letter to Gumbel, May 27, 2011) that he had “no independent recollection” of such an agreement, suggesting it never went through him. The lack of a written document almost certainly helped the prosecution pick and choose the disclosures it made beyond its legal obligations under Brady v. Maryland. Jones describes government stonewalling on body shop witnesses, et al. in Others Unknown, pp. 191–93; Scott Mendeloff interview (Gumbel), July 16, 2010.
The FBI gets serious about Strassmeir, just too late:
Danny Defenbaugh, interview (Gumbel), June 13, 2010; teletype from the FBI’s Mobile, Alabama, field office, dated December 21, 1995, obtained by authors. The most tantalizing line reads: “Sources have told [redacted] that [redacted redacted] Elohim City anywhere from two days before the Oklahoma City bombing to two weeks before the bombing.” Since this is separate from a discussion of McVeigh’s phone call to Elohim City (it comes in the next paragraph), the most plausible interpolation would be: “Sources have told [unknown] that McVeigh visited Elohim City…” Richard Cohen of the Southern Poverty Law Center, in an interview (Gumbel) on May 5, 2011, said he could not remember seeing the document before but guessed this paragraph referred not to McVeigh but Strassmeir. A senior FBI official with the investigation, however, said his best memory was that it did indeed refer to a visit by McVeigh between April 5 and April 17, although without seeing the unredacted document he could not be sure. Second teletype indicating Strassmeir was about to leave the country dated January 4, 1996, and obtained by authors; Agent John Hippard’s January 11, 1996, alert to the INS obtained by authors.
Strassmeir’s Great Escape:
Dave Hollaway, interviews (Gumbel), May 6, May 10, May 20, May 24, July 15, and July 18, 2010. Kirk Lyons, interview (Gumbel), May 27, 2010; Andreas Strassmeir, interviews (Gumbel), June 30 and July 2, 2010; the French resistance codes were also used in the 1984 Cold War warrior-fantasy movie Red Dawn, which is where Hollaway probably learned them.
The feds arrest Guthrie and Langan:
“Big bolitas” line from Guthrie’s memoir, The Taunting Bandits, p. 48; collapse of ARA, ibid., pp. 204–19, 239–50, 269–71; see also his FD-302 of March 4–15, 1996. Guthrie’s arrest from pp. 274–75 and from Mark S. Hamm, In Bad Company, pp. 266–67; account of Langan’s arrest from Hamm, pp. 4–20, and from Langan’s interview with the MGA documentary crew, April 7, 2000, transcript obtained by authors; FBI explosives expert William Davitch and Danny Defenbaugh quoted in Leslie Blade and Gregory Flannery, “Queen City Terror,” Cincinnati CityBeat, September 8, 2004. On the unexamined evidence, see also John Solomon, “FBI Suspected McVeigh Link to Robbers,” Associated Press, February 25, 2004. Defenbaugh, interview (Gumbel), January 25, 2011. He said the Christmas wrappings were not the same, but saw plenty of other reasons to examine the caps for possible links to McVeigh.
The FBI chases, then loses interest in Strassmeir:
Defenbaugh’s January 18 teletype to the legal attaché in Germany is memorialized in a later teletype from the Oklahoma City command post, dated January 29, 1996, obtained by authors; Defenbaugh, interview (Gumbel), June 13, 2010; Cash’s January 1996 interview with Mahon written up in his article “Mahon: McVeigh Planned Bank Heists, Wanted to Be ‘Patriot Hero,’” McCurtain Daily Gazette, April 1, 1997. He also described it in a sworn deposition given to the McVeigh defense team, March 26, 1996, obtained by authors, and in an FBI FD-302 interview conducted on April 14, 1997, but given a case and file number unrelated to the bombing (266A-OC-57917-82). Cash subsequently drew up a three-page letter, obtained by authors, pointing out mistakes in the FD-302. Jones passes on death threat to FBI, see FD-302, file no. 12701, dated January 27, 1996, written up by Defenbaugh; Dave Hollaway, interview (Gumbel), May 6, 2010. He was at the Bundeskriminalamt with Strassmeir. Kirk Lyons, interview (Gumbel), April 29, 2011; Strassmeir’s statement dated February 1996 (exact date not specified), obtained by authors; Strassmeir’s FBI FD-302, dated April 30–May 1, 1996, is file no. 14897. The prosecutors on the call were Beth Wilkinson and Aitan Goelman; the FBI agent was LouAnn Sandstrom, who had taken over the Strassmeir beat from John Hippard. Kirk Lyons was also on the call from Black Mountain; Strassmeir, interview (Gumbel), June 30, 2010; letter from Wilkinson quoted in Jones and Israel, Others Unknown, p. 179; the printout from the State Department was accompanied by an explanatory note from Paul Brown, the liaison to the task force from the department’s diplomatic security section, dated March 18, 1996. A previous printout on December 13, 1994—generated, presumably, as a result of the ATF’s investigation at Elohim City—included the “A O” status. In a pretrial hearing on March 10, 1997, prosecutor Beth Wilkinson said she had been told by the State Department that the A stood for “admitted” and the O for “overstay.” There are grounds, however, to doubt this: the “A O” designation also applied to trips he took in 1988–90, when he was not an overstay. Wilkinson stated, at the same hearing, that Strassmeir came into the United States on separate single-entry visas—contradicted by the evidence of Strassmeir’s own passport, obtained by the authors.
The extra leg:
Much of the previously known history of the extra leg is summarized in a prosecution court filing from February 1996, titled “Brief of the United States in Opposition to Defendant McVeigh’s Motion to Allow Representatives to Attend Exhumation and Examination of Lakesha Levy”; Marshall quoted in Jones and Israel, Others Unknown, p. 206; Marshall gave very similar testimony at the McVeigh trial on May 22, 1997; Fred Jordan testified at the McVeigh trial, May 22, 1997; the unnamed sources cited here include one from the FBI and one forensics expert, both of whom were directly involved in the investigation; Clyde Snow, interview (Gumbel), September 15, 2011.
Carol Howe outed:
Finley informing Howe of the security breach, written up in an ATF Report of Investigation, April 1, 1996, obtained by authors; the March 20, 1995, emergency request to remove Howe as an informant was read into the record at James Viefhaus’s trial in Tulsa, July 25, 1997; the May 18, 1995, request to reinstate her is in an ATF Report of Investigation of the same date, obtained by authors; further ROIs, for January 9 and January 31, 1996, first urge her removal and then accept her continuation on the ATF books; Finley’s letter endorsing Howe and stating that her life was in danger, obtained by authors, is dated April 22, 1996; Howe’s account is from her testimony in James Viefhaus trial, July 24, 1997.
The ARA’s links to the bombing considered and then rejected:
List of items recovered from the ARA taken, in part, from Hamm, In Bad Company, pp. 12–13; arrest of McCarthy and Stedeford detailed ibid., pp. 269–76; Langan’s story about grabbing Agent Woods’s attention, from a declaration he filed in federal court in Utah on April 9, 2007; Langan discussed the government’s offer of a deal in exchange for information about the Oklahoma City bombing in his interview with the MGA documentary crew, April 7, 2000; the story was corroborated by his lawyer, Kevin Durkin, in an affidavit filed at the request of the Nichols state trial defense team on April 12, 2004; Matthew Moning material from his sworn affidavit signed in Cincinnati on June 13, 2004; Guthrie’s July 1 plea agreement, suicide notes, and death certificate all obtained by authors; Kelly Johnson, interview (Gumbel), April 22, 2011.
Efforts to get former FBI agent Ed Woods to talk about Guthrie, Langan, and ways in which the Oklahoma City bombing came up in his dealings with them were unsuccessful. Woods responded positively at first to an interview request (Gumbel). But he backed off in a hurry as soon as the subject of the bombing came up. “It’s been a long time (15 years) so I’m not going to speculate or guess what may have been asked or answered,” he wrote on April 8, 2011. On April 10, he said he would not answer questions that betrayed the author’s “bias and agenda”—questions that were mostly to do with how much contact, if any, the robbery investigators had with the Oklahoma bombing investigators. When asked to comment, finally, on Moning’s affidavit, he claimed not to have received the e-mail, sending it back with the words “Auto Response…Returned Unopened…” in the subject line (April 11).
Ward brother weirdness in Oregon:
Details of the Wards’ arrest and detention come from the Jackson County district attorney’s files, obtained by the authors; Kerry Larsen, interview (Gumbel), September 3, 2010; Pete Ward’s FBI interview was on September 23, 1996, on his fifth day in custody, see FBI FD-302, file no. 16069; Ward’s grandfather Richard Kirby confirmed in an interview (Gumbel, August 20, 2010) he had never been an FBI agent, although there was once an agent of the same name.
Stephen Jones travels the world, annoys his client:
Jones addressed this issue at great length in an e-mail to Gumbel, March 14, 2011; Jones criticized for foreign travel, see David Jackson, “Oklahoma City Bombing Case Cost Justice Department $82.5 Million,” Knight Ridder, November 2, 1998; Jones’s writ of mandamus filed March 25, 1997; Hartzler’s “wacky theories” controversy, see Jo Thomas, “Starting Date Set for Trial on Oklahoma Bombing,” New York Times, November 16, 1996.
Prosecution team fights over evidence, separation of trials:
Larry Mackey, interviews (Gumbel), October 11 and December 3, 2011; Judge Matsch’s arguments summarized in his ruling in favor of severance, October 25, 1996. Beth Wilkinson, a former military lawyer, and Scott Mendeloff, a bulldog litigator from Chicago, were generally regarded as the hawks on the team. Joseph Hartzler, also from Chicago, was somewhere in the middle. Pat Ryan, Arlene Joplin, and Vicki Behenna, who were from Oklahoma, were anxious to meet the demands of the bombing victims and their families. Mackey was seen almost universally as a gentleman, regardless of people’s opinions of his positions, while Aitan Goelman, a young Justice Department attorney, was seen as a high-flier in the making, with a temperament not too far from Mackey’s. Other team members had less influence.
Carol Howe is indicted on the eve of the McVeigh trial:
Details from the case file on the federal prosecution of Viefhaus and Howe; Morlin listening to the message, alerting the FBI’s Ken Pernick, from Neal Kirkpatrick’s opening in the Viefhaus trial, July 22, 1997, and confirmed on the stand by FBI agent Peter Rickel the same day; Angie Finley described the physical evidence in a pretrial hearing on April 24, 1997; text of the hotline message entered into evidence.
Brescia and Thomas are arrested, the ARA connection is closed down for good:
Dave Hollaway, interview (Gumbel), May 24, 2010; “Unwanted by the FBI” posters, see Hamm, In Bad Company, p. 295. The campaign was orchestrated by an Alabama militia leader whose online publication, the John Doe Times, was obsessed with Brescia for a while. The John Doe Times archives could still be accessed, as of April 2011, at http://www.constitution.org/okc/jdt.htm; Thomas’s arrest, stories, from “Thomas Indicted in Bank Robberies,” Allentown Morning Call, January 31, 1997, and from an interview with Washington Post reporter Richard Leiby; details of search of bus from later Allentown Morning Call article, May 3, 1997, headline unavailable; Donna Marazoff, FBI FD-302, file no. 17777, April 2, 1997, and no. 17778, April 5, 1997; Michael A. Schwartz, interview (Gumbel), June 7, 2010; Justice Department unsealing Todd Bunting material, declaring that John Doe Two does not exist, see Jo Thomas, “Suspects Sketch in Oklahoma Case Called an Error,” New York Times, January 30, 1997.
The prosecution requestions inconvenient witnesses:
Eric McGown was challenged on his changed testimony under cross-examination in the McVeigh trial, May 8, 1997; Jeff Davis spoke to the MGA documentary crew, March 11, 1999, transcript obtained by authors; ABC News interviewed him in April 1996. Jeanne Boylan, who worked up a sketch of the man Davis saw in room 25, described her encounter with him in Portraits in Guilt, p. 260. Boylan has Davis telling her that he saw a second man inside the room. But this appears to be contradicted by accounts Davis has given elsewhere. The dinner he was carrying, a serving of moo goo gai pan, was for one person only. Daina Bradley appeared at the McVeigh trial as a defense witness and was challenged on the backward-parked truck on cross-examination, May 23, 1997; Mendeloff, interviews (Gumbel), July 16 and October 4, 2010; Larry Mackey, interview (Gumbel), October 11, 2010. Interestingly, there is nothing illegal about grilling witnesses until they change their stories. Rob Nigh, the number two on the McVeigh defense team, said in an April 5, 2011, interview: “The law on eyewitness identification is bad…. Testimony is admissible even when the evidence suggests they are not making their identification based on actual memory but are making it based on the power of suggestion…. In other words, coaching of witnesses is permissible.” Mendeloff said he and Hersley had asked Kessinger only open questions, not leading ones, and took issue with the notion that they had applied any undue pressure; interview (Gumbel), June 2, 2011. “We didn’t have to press him on much of this, or any of this that I can remember,” he said. “I don’t remember pressing him.” Defenbaugh, interviews (Gumbel), May 19 and September 22, 2010; Hersley’s version of the Cassville evidence is in his book Simple Truths, pp. 249–50. One of the assertions Defenbaugh objected to was: “The FBI was able to substantiate that one day after the alleged sighting of McVeigh in Missouri, he was in Pendleton, New York, at his father’s home, a fact proven by McVeigh’s use of the Bridges calling card.” There are, in fact, no Bridges phone records for November 3, 1994. Hersley turned down multiple requests to be interviewed for this book, including a specific invitation to respond to Defenbaugh’s accusations.
Jones team undone by leaks, damaging revelations:
The first damaging piece was Pete Slover, “In Defense Documents, Timothy McVeigh Describes How He Bombed Oklahoma City Federal Building,” Dallas Morning News, February 28, 1997; Jones describes the episode at length in Jones and Israel, Others Unknown, pp. 286–311; the Rocky Mountain News editorial blast was titled “Stephen Jones’ Tangled Web,” March 5, 1997; Pete Slover’s December 1997 disciplinary hearing and its outcome from interview (Gumbel) with Slover, November 28, 2011, and from the docket of the Texas 68th District Court in Dallas County, obtained by Gumbel; Slover would not comment on the stories of how he obtained the material, citing his journalistic obligation not to discuss his sources. Jones reiterated in an e-mail to Gumbel, dated March 22, 2011, that the Reyna memos dated July and December 1995 were not legitimate defense memoranda; Rob Nigh said Reyna never spent time alone with McVeigh, interview (Gumbel), April 5, 2011; Wright quotes McVeigh on the “body count” in his book Patriots, Politics and the Oklahoma City Bombing, p. 6 (Wright interview with Gumbel, April 28, 2011); McVeigh standing by the contents of the Reyna memos, see Michel and Herbeck, op. cit., p. 301; Ben Fenwick’s reporting for Playboy culminated in a piece for the magazine, “The Road to Oklahoma City,” vol. 44, no. 6, June 1997; the lawyers’ dealings with Judge Matsch in this matter are summarized and, in places, cited verbatim, in Matsch’s ruling, dated October 12, 2000, denying McVeigh post-conviction relief under a habeas corpus petition; final Jones quote from Jones and Jennifer Gideon, “United States v. McVeigh: Defending the ‘Most Hated Man in America,’” Oklahoma Law Review, Winter 1998.
Chapter 10
Jury selection does not help McVeigh’s cause:
Ryan Ross, “McVeigh’s Trial Lean and Trim,” ABA Journal, July 1997, p. 24; defense team member who called voir dire “ineffective,” from an interview with Gumbel; McVeigh was described thinking of the jurors as “a staid, conservative group with whom he failed to identify in any way,” see Michel and Herbeck, op. cit., p. 313 (McVeigh blamed this on Jones’s jury consultants); the air force veteran who believed gun ownership should be mandatory was no. 106 and appeared on April 18 and 21, 1997; “Penalty phase fucked right here” line from Gumbel interview with Nichols defense attorney; Dick Burr, interview (Gumbel), June 13, 2011; some details of voir dire—the jury vetting process—from Jo Thomas, “McVeigh Jury Is Selected After 3 Weeks,” New York Times, April 23, 1997; jury candidate no. 947 appeared April 1, 1997.
Justice Department inspector general blows the government’s forensics out of the water:
The report by Department of Justice inspector general Michael R. Bromwich is “The FBI Laboratory: An Investigation into Laboratory Practices and Alleged Misconduct in Explosives-Related and Other Cases,” published April 15, 1997; Lloyd quoted in John F. Kelly and Philip K. Wearne, Tainting Evidence, p. 213.
Hartzler starts the way the prosecution means to go on:
Quotes from transcript of his opening statement, April 24, 1997.
Jones hits the wrong note right away:
Quotes from transcript of his opening statement, April 24, 1997; for evidence that some people in the courtroom found Jones’s opening either boring or offensive, see Paul Queary, “Families Weep as Bombing Victims Names Are Recited,” Associated Press, April 24, 1997; Bill Scanlon, “Reading of Names Brings Tears,” Rocky Mountain News, April 25, 1997; Sue Lindsay, Bill Scanlon, Karen Abbott, Lynn Bartels, “Memories Flood Courtroom,” Rocky Mountain News, April 25, 1997; the stepfather who thought Jones was a showboat was Tom Kight, quoted in Michel and Herbeck, op. cit., p. 321; ABA Journal line from Ryan Ross’s July 1997 piece, see above.
Prosecution keeps it emotional, defense wrongfooted:
Rob Nigh, interview (Gumbel), April 5, 2011; Jones’s account of the trial is in Others Unknown, op. cit., pp. 315–43.
The Roger Moore question divides the government side:
Larry Mackey, interview (Gumbel), October 11, 2010; Danny Defenbaugh, interviews (Gumbel), May 19 and September 22, 2010.
Defense blasts the forensic evidence:
Fred Whitehurst and Steven Burmeister testified on May 28, 1997; the “magic crystals” line is from Chris Tritico’s summation, May 29, 1997; see also Kelly and Wearne, Tainting Evidence, pp. 221–25.
Defense fails to get Carol Howe on the stand:
Jones’s version from Jones and Israel, Others Unknown, pp. 334–38; Burrage expressing concern about Carol Howe interfering with the McVeigh trial, from a pretrial hearing in his court on June 11, 1997, from the official transcript; Daniel Capra, a law professor at Fordham University, thought Howe’s testimony would have been “highly probative,” see “Questions of Fairness in ‘McVeigh’ Case,” New York Law Journal, January 8, 1999; see also Kevin Flynn, “Ruling Deals Blow to Plot Defense,” Rocky Mountain News, May 28, 1997.
McVeigh looks engaged and open, quietly seethes:
John Ross, Unintended Consequences; McVeigh’s account of reading Unintended Consequences and sitting through the trial is in Michel and Herbeck, op. cit. pp. 304–38; John R. Smith material from his interview on NPR’s All Things Considered, “Looking into the Psyche of Timothy McVeigh,” June 8, 2001; Chambers testified on May 5, 1997.
McVeigh convicted and sentenced to death:
Larry Mackey’s closing statement was on May 29, 1997; Jones’s closing statement followed Mackey’s; the Michael Fortier line is from his testimony, under direct examination, on May 12. The verdict was delivered on June 2, Jones’s summation in the penalty phase was on June 12, and the death sentence was delivered on June 13; Dick Burr, interview (Gumbel), June 13, 2011; Rob Nigh, interview (Gumbel), April 5, 2011. Jones agreed with the premise that a death sentence would make it much harder to establish the truth behind the bombing. In his penalty phase summation, on June 12, he said: “Dead men do not tell tales. I say again the government may not be the only people that want my client executed.” Joe Hartzler interjected and said he found this assertion “objectionable.” Matsch overruled him.
Carol Howe is acquitted, her former handlers are left to swing:
Neal Kirkpatrick, interview (Gumbel), May 24, 2010; Finley testified to the Oklahoma County grand jury on February 17, 1998, Roberts on March 23; Martz said in his grand jury testimony, on April 23, 1998, that Roberts was removed because of problems revealed by an audit of his weapons vault in Tulsa; Wittman said Roberts addressed these problems and argued that the real reason for removing him was Elohim City. Martz could not be reached for comment; Tommy Wittman, interview (Gumbel), September 27, 2010.
McVeigh blasts Jones, gets him off his appeal team:
Lou Michel, “McVeigh Rips Lawyer; Convicted Bomber Wants Jones Dismissed from Case for Allegedly Lying,” Buffalo News, August 13, 1997. McVeigh communicated his willingness to proceed with the trial after the Dallas Morning News leak in a conversation with Rob Nigh, whom he trusted. See Judge Matsch’s October 12, 2000, ruling denying post-conviction habeas relief, cited in chapter 9. McVeigh statement comes from transcript of sentencing hearing, August 14, 1997; it is not clear if he realized—or cared—that Brandeis was the first Jew to be appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court. Jones’s response reported in Nolan Clay, “Jones, McVeigh Not Meeting Face to Face; Judges Told Attorney Asks for Removal From Case,” Daily Oklahoman, August 21, 1997; see also Nolan Clay, “Jones Off Bombing Case; McVeigh Gets New Lawyer,” Daily Oklahoman, August 28, 1997.
Larry Mackey asked to replace Scott Mendeloff:
Mackey approached by Janet Reno, interview (Gumbel), December 3, 2010; details of how Mendeloff was removed, and the rest of the prosecution team’s opinions of him, culled from numerous off-the-record accounts by prosecutors and investigators. Mendeloff (interview with Gumbel, June 2, 2011) would not comment on the account but also took no issue with the factual record—Litt’s visit, the way his appointment to head the Nichols team was thrown into doubt, and his decision to quit rather than fight for the job.
Michael Tigar charms his way into juror no. 215’s heart:
Account from voir dire transcript for September 29, 1997, and from interview (Gumbel) with Tigar, March 1, 2011.
The Nichols team triumphs in jury selection:
Matsch’s apology to the juror is in the trial transcript for September 30, 1997; Michael Tigar, interview (Gumbel), March 1, 2011; one prosecutor unconnected to the Nichols trial who accused Matsch of favoring Nichols was interviewed by Gumbel. Stephen Jones also thought the judge was deliberately tipping the field in the Nichols trial—not because he was against the death penalty but because he believed other coconspirators were still out there. In Others Unknown, op. cit., pp. 344–55, Jones concludes: “Could it be that Richard Matsch, persuaded by evidence he refused to let our jury hear, has himself become a conspiracy theorist?”
Government’s opening betrays doubts about extent of Nichols’s guilt:
The opening statements were heard on November 3, 1997; Larry Mackey, interview (Gumbel), December 3, 2010.
The Nichols team’s Perry Mason moments:
Louis Hupp testified on November 14, 1997; Tigar quote on Hupp testimony from the first part of his closing argument, December 15, 1997. On November 17, 1997, Tigar asked Karen Anderson: “Is it your testimony that you and Mr. Moore—or Mr. Moore—were the owners of a Ruger Mini-30 with the Serial No. 189-57425?” To which she responded: “To the best of my knowledge, yes.” On November 18, Tigar produced the ATF documentation proving that the gun, in fact, belonged to Nichols. Wilkinson quote from her closing argument, December 15, 1997; Tigar quote from the second part of his closing argument, December 16, 1997. Agent Smith was cross-examined on his notes on November 21, 1997; Tigar referred to it in his December 16 summation. Theodore Udell testified for the government on November 26, 1997, and again, for the defense, on December 8; Agent Jeff Hayes testified on December 8 and said: “I asked Mr. Mendeloff how he wanted me to report the information that I was gleaning from the conversations I had with these manufacturers. He told me to put it in a chart form, not to provide any FD-302s.” Asked for a response, Mendeloff dismissed Tigar’s charges that the government didn’t care as a “defense lawyer argument” to make something out of “not a very big deal”; interview (Gumbel), June 2, 2011. Was it true, though, that Mendeloff had overreached and instructed an FBI agent to circumvent bureau protocols? “I can’t answer one way or another,” he said. “I can’t remember.” Judge Matsch told the jury to disregard a significant portion of the testimony on December 10; Tigar picked up the story again in his December 15 closing argument.
Budke testimony blows open the problem of the 40,000 missing lead sheets:
Tigar, interviews (Gumbel), March 1 and May 7, 2011; “time to throw up” line quoted in Michael E. Tigar, Fighting Injustice, p. 3; line about unprofessional conduct from Tigar, Persuasion: The Litigator’s Art, p. xiv; Christopher Budke testified on December 11; the discovery of the lead sheet in Mackey’s briefcase is not included in the trial transcript, but was confirmed by both Tigar and Mackey; Mackey, interview (Gumbel), April 28, 2011. The lead sheet issue is addressed at length in a filing in the Nichols state trial, “Defendant’s Supplemental Brief Regarding Lead Sheets,” dated March 26, 2001, and obtained by authors.
Nichols acquitted of first-degree murder, dodges death penalty:
Carol Howe testified on December 10, 1997; Marife Nichols testified on December 10–11. Mackey’s rebuttal was on December 16. The jury then withdrew, returning their verdict on December 23. The penalty phase began after Christmas, with closing arguments on January 5, 1998. The jury announced its deadlock on the death penalty on January 7. On jury voting, see James Brooke, “Nichols’s Life Was Saved by a Handful of Holdouts,” New York Times, January 11, 1998; transcript of Deutchman’s January 7 news conference viewed through Washington Transcript Service; Bob Macy quoted in James Brooke, “Nichols Could Face Death for Role in Blast,” New York Times, December 25, 1997.
Nichols offered a deal, then sentenced:
Mackey, interview (Gumbel), October 11, 2010; Matsch quote from post-conviction hearing on March 25, 1998; sentencing was on June 4. Nichols quote from handwritten prison document, “Why Am I Speaking Out Now,” November 24, 2006; Kathy Wilburn left the Hersley story in a voice-mail message (to Gumbel), October 30, 2009.
McVeigh’s colorful journey toward execution:
On McVeigh’s friendship with Kaczynski and his sudden transfer to Terre Haute, see Michel and Herbeck, op. cit., pp. 358–73; the fine slapped on Nigh and Burr, interview (Gumbel) with Jeralyn Merritt, another of McVeigh’s trial lawyers, April 15, 2011; details of Hammer’s relationship with McVeigh also in a prison memoir written by Hammer and Paul, Secrets Worth Dying For: Timothy James McVeigh and the Oklahoma City Bombing, first written in 2003 and obtained by the authors; the history of McVeigh’s decision to waive his appeals, including his citation of the Hammer precedent, is detailed in the transcript of a December 28, 2000, hearing before Judge Matsch, in which he explained his position and successfully defended his competence to make the decision. On the late disclosure of discovery materials, see “An Investigation of the Belated Production of Documents in the Oklahoma City Bombing Case,” Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General, March 19, 2002; also the defense team’s “Petition for Stay of Execution, Together with Memorandum in Support,” filed May 31, 2001. On Ashcroft and some of the other reaction, see Ron Fournier, “Ashcroft Postpones McVeigh Execution,” Associated Press, May 11, 2001. Ashcroft later blamed the late disclosure on the reciprocal discovery agreement and rapped prosecutors on the knuckles for ever agreeing to it. “What the law requires is plenty good in American justice,” he told the Daily Oklahoman in an interview on October 3, 2006, to promote his memoir Never Again. “When the Justice Department goes above and beyond what the law requires, we get ourselves in trouble…. We significantly elevated the risks of disruption, which I think were unnecessary.” Ashcroft is apparently alone in making this argument.
Details on the most pertinent late documents: three independent sources either directly or indirectly familiar with the contents of the sealed list compiled by McVeigh’s defense team offered pointers on the documents mentioned, and these were then cross-checked against the discovery material in the authors’ possession; the “smoke some Okies” line comes from an FBI FD-302 interview with John Albert Newland on January 30, 1996, file no. 15040; Dave Shafer was interviewed ten times between April 24, 1995, and April 11, 1996; the first and longest 302 on him is file no. 9848; the government’s lack of faith in his credibility is memorialized in FBI FD-302, file no. 14560, dated April 11, 1996; Terry Nichols told the authors (July 22, 2010) he considered Shafer a “bozo,” and the FBI concluded his account lacked credibility; Danny Defenbaugh, interview (Gumbel), May 17, 2010; Louis Freeh, My Life, p. 213.
McVeigh and Jones fight to the end:
McVeigh motivating Jones to update his book, see Michel and Herbeck, op. cit., p. xvii; Jones’s justification, see Jones and Israel, op. cit., pp. xiii, 365–70; Tigar, interview (Gumbel), March 1, 2011; another critic of Jones’s decision to break attorney-client privilege was Dick Burr, quoted in Joel Dyer, “Jonesin’ for Justice: Selling Out McVeigh,” Boulder Weekly, March 29, 2001; Jones, e-mail to Gumbel, March 22, 2011; Matsch’s final decision reported in David Johnston, “Judge Refuses McVeigh’s Bid for a Reprieve,” New York Times, June 7, 2001; Nigh interview (Gumbel), April 5, 2011.
McVeigh goes very publicly to the gallows:
For Hammer’s account of McVeigh’s execution, as seen from Dog Unit, see his memoir Secrets Worth Dying For, op. cit. Also Andrew Gumbel, “McVeigh’s Friend Tells of ‘Bad Day’ on Death Row,” The Independent (UK), July 4, 2001; “Still breathin’” line recounted in interview (Gumbel) with Jeralyn Merritt, April 15, 2011; the execution was widely covered in the world’s media, e.g., Rick Bragg, “McVeigh Dies for Oklahoma City Blast,” New York Times, June 12, 2001; Rob Nigh’s statement on McVeigh’s execution, dated June 11, 2001, was carried by many news sources and is still available online, e.g., at ABCNews.com (retrieved May 12, 2011).
Afterword
The post-conviction travails of Terry Nichols:
Account of Gregory Scarpa Jr. extracting the story of the buried explosives boxes, taken from Sandra Harmon, Mafia Son, pp. 211–18; an affidavit by Nichols, dated November 8, 2006, obtained by authors; Nichols’s handwritten answers to authors’ questions, January 3, 2010, and February 21, 2011; and documents generated by the late Stephen Dresch and still, as of May 2011, posted at his Web site http://forensic-intelligence.org.
Scarpa’s prison writings presenting his version of issues relating to Nichols and the Oklahoma City bombing kindly provided to Gumbel by Sandra Harmon, June 24, 2010; Rohrabacher’s report, “The Oklahoma City Bombing: Was There a Foreign Connection?” was released by the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee of the House International Relations Committee on December 26, 2006; Nichols on Rohrabacher, from Nichols letter to the Salt Lake City lawyer Jesse Trentadue, November 8, 2006, obtained by authors; Rohrabacher’s interview of Nichols on June 27, 2005, is recounted in detail in a teletype from the FBI Denver office to headquarters dated June 28, 2005, and obtained by authors; details on the Nichols state trial from Jay Hughes, “Terry Nichols Faces State Charges,” Associated Press, March 30, 1999; Tim Talley, “OKC District Attorney Off Nichols Case,” Associated Press, October 16, 2000; “Nichols’ Defense Challenges State’s Key Witness; Judge Rejects Motion to Toss Murder Case,” CNN, April 21, 2004; and Tim Talley, “Prison Conversion May Have Saved Nichols,” Associated Press, June 13, 2004. Mark Earnest’s legwork on the ARA and many other subjects is in a defense brief titled “Terry Lynn Nichols’ Motion to Dismiss Based on the State’s Failure to Comply With Brady v. Maryland,” filed April 12, 2004; Nichols’s letter to John Ashcroft, dated September 3, 2004, obtained by authors; information on Josh Nichols from Lana Padilla interview (Gumbel), September 25, 2010.
De Niro–dead:
Jim Cavanaugh, interview (Gumbel), August 2, 2010; Danny Defenbaugh, interview (Gumbel), January 25, 2011. Defenbaugh said the only time he and his mentor Bear Bryant fought was over his decision to collect the motel records; statistics on extent of investigation supplied by Defenbaugh in an e-mail, May 21, 2010; McDonald’s telephone story told by FBI agent Tim Arney, interview (Gumbel), August 26, 2011; Defenbaugh (interview with Gumbel, May 17, 2010) confirmed he pressed for an eleventh-hour opportunity to question McVeigh; Nichols wrote about the unaccounted-for bomb components in his document “OKC Bombing Materials and the Missing Explosives,” December 1, 2007; Keating quote from the foreword to Hersley, Tongate, and Burke, Simple Truths, p. 10; Louis Freeh, My Life, p. 211; Weldon Kennedy, interview (Gumbel), August 26, 2010.